Links - 18th November 2013

Testosterone and the Gender Wage Gap - "Testosterone, which induces sexual differentiation of the male fetus, is believed to transfer from males to their littermates in placental mammals. Among humans, individuals with a male twin have been found to exhibit greater masculinization of sexually dimorphic attributes relative to those with a female twin. We therefore regard twinning as a plausible natural experiment to test the link between prenatal exposure to testosterone and labor market earnings. For men, the results suggest positive returns to testosterone exposure. For women, however, the results indicate that prenatal testosterone does not generate higher earnings and may even be associated with modest declines"

How to take the perfect naked selfie - "I hope this project encourages and normalizes a female gaze; I hope it shifts the framing of dick pics from “artless abominations that are thrust at women unsolicited” to “decent pictures that women (or other receivers) find enjoyable and want to receive.” The only way we can tell what women really enjoy about porn (or anything) is by listening to women. My Tumblr is one of many places on the Internet that you can do that."

Powerful Portraits of Secluded Cultures on the Brink of Extinction - "From Ethiopia and Nepal to Papua New Guinea and Siberia, Nelson exhibits a wide array of environments that these diverse tribes inhabit."

Group of male German soldiers developing breasts from drill training - "According to a medical report, the soldiers use their rifles to repeatedly slap the left side of their chests – which stimulates hormones on that side of the body. As a result, breasts start to grow only on their left side."

At the Library - The People's Funny Pictures Blog - Quora

Swedish cinemas launch feminist movie rating - "“There are far too many films that pass the Bechdel test that don’t help at all in making society more equal or better, and lots of films that don’t pass the test but are fantastic at those things,” said Swedish film critic Hynek Pallas. Ms Pallas, who moved from communist Czechoslovakia to Sweden in the 1970s, also criticised the state-funded Swedish Film Institute — the biggest financier of Swedish film — for vocally supporting the project, saying a state institution should not “send out signals about what one should or shouldn’t include in a movie”."

▶ Animals With Low Self Esteem. - YouTube

Khem Raj's answer to Trolling: What is the best troll photo or image you recently came across? - Quora

Council bans brainstorming - "The move came as council chiefs feared the word brainstorming might offend mentally ill people and those with epilepsy... some have been given training which encouraged them to use the alternative of thought showers... A spokesman for Tunbridge Wells Borough Council in Kent said: "We take diversity awareness very seriously. "The majority of staff have taken part in training and been asked to use the term thought showers.""
Since offence is subjective, everything goes out of the window

Sohil Gandhi's answer to Trolling: What is the best troll photo or image you recently came across? - Quora

Shweta Arunachalam's answer to Trolling: What is the best troll photo or image you recently came across? - Quora

Forced circumcision of men (abridged) - "The forced circumcision of men is a widespread human rights abuse that often accompanies other human rights violations. It occurs in clashes between circumcising and non-circumcising cultures, or when individuals in circumcising cultures reject circumcision. This article documents the forced circumcision of men against their will, shows how evidence of forced circumcision has been downplayed and discounted, and outlines and discusses some measures that could help to reduce its prevalence. "

Russia hands India long-awaited aircraft carrier - "Officials lowered the Russian flag on the ship and raised the flag of the Indian navy in its place. The wife of the ship's captain broke a coconut against its side."

“No True Christian Would Do That…” - "When Christians claim their every good deed as “the work of Christ” and every bad deed as “their sinful nature” there is no observable difference between a normal person’s propensities to do good and bad. There is no proof that anything different is going on than with non-Christians in making the good happen or the bad. And when Christians talk about the True Invisible Church of people really saved and the Merely Apparent Church of people which is filled with people both genuinely saved and people who only seem to be so, this is laughably transparent. Every time someone turns out to be good, they were really a Christian. Every time they turn out to be bad, they only appeared to be one. In that case, becoming a Christian and spreading Christianity cannot be expected to actually improve people in the main. There will still be just as many bad people. We’ll just now call them “not real Christians”. What in the world is the difference then? Where is the evidence that anything supernaturally different about people thanks to Christianity and the gift of the Holy Spirit? And, further, you cannot try to prove your faith by how much it improves people but then ignore all the ways that not only do Christians wind up making the same mistakes as everyone else but many Christians have certain bad behaviors that are either created or exacerbated by their interpretations of their faith themselves"

Is Pi Wrong? | The Tau Movement Pushes for Tau, Not Pi, In Math Calculations with Circles, Angles - "Aside from preventing errors, as Palais put it in his article, "The opportunity to impress students with a beautiful and natural simplification has turned into an absurd exercise in memorization and dogma." Indeed, other tau advocates have said they've noticed a significant improvement in the ability of students to learn math, especially geometry and trigonometry where factors of 2pi show up the most, when the students learn with tau rather than pi."

S'porean women have height issues when finding dates - "70 per cent of the women surveyed said they will not date a shorter man. This is despite the fact that the Singaporean men surveyed said they are happy to date a taller woman. The survey also found that Singaporean women also prefer to date a man who is better educated and have higher salaries as compared to them. While such results may appear to show that Singaporean women are demanding, Lunch Actually CEO Violet Lim explained the reason for her female clients' requirements. She said: "I think it is understandable that women have high requirements when it comes to dating because as women are getting more educated and doing better for themselves when it comes to their career, they feel that they have achieved a certain comfort level in their life, and they are not willing to compromise on their quality of living.""
I doubt we would get this justification if it were the men who were demanding

Alison DeNisco: Dating: Women May Care More Than Men Who's Taller - "A 2008 study of 382 undergraduates in the journal Personality and Individual Differences found that both sexes preferred relationships where the woman was shorter than the man. Curiously, the research also showed that women enforced the norm more strongly than men. Twenty-three percent of men but only four percent of women said they were open to a relationship in which the woman was taller... ABC News conducted an unscientific experiment to explore how willing women were to date shorter men. They lined up several short men next to tall men, and asked women to choose a date. They gave the short men exceptional résumés, including those for a doctor and millionaire venture capitalist. Despite their glowing qualities, the women always chose the taller men. Some said they would only choose the shortest of the bunch if they learned the taller men were murders or child molesters. Some relationship trends are showing a reversal of traditional gender roles, like the rise in breadwinning mothers and stay-at-home fathers, according to a study in the journalWomen and Language. Yet dating in the U.S. has remained highly gender-typed in over the past 35 years, according to a 2011 study in the journal Sex Roles. Heterosexual dating followed traditional gender roles for beliefs and expectations, as well as interpersonal actions. Though there was some variation in terms of more women initiating dates, it was not widespread enough to challenge the dominant roles... researchers examined 547 personal ads... despite what preference they expressed, women preferred a physically fit partner, while most men indicated that a number of body sizes would be acceptable"

Attractive women expect their date to pay for dinner because they're worth it - "Pretty women are less likely than plain Janes to offer to contribute towards the bill on a first date, research shows. But they are not worried about the expense - it is likely to be because they believe their date should pay for the pleasure of being with them"
Self-objectification!

Why Men Are Settling for Mrs. Good Enough - "A whopping 31 percent of adult men said they’d commit to a person they were not in love with—as long as as she had all the other attributes they were looking for in a mate—and 21 percent said they'd commit under those same circumstances to somebody they weren't sexually attracted to. The equivalent numbers for women were far lower... Women now have the ability to choose a mate for reasons other than his pocketbook; many are in fact choosing to reject having a mate at all. Where this leaves men? Well, as women’s independence has increased, it seems, romantic opportunity for men has suffered the opposite fate. "And that problem is bound to be worse for poorer men... “It’s kind of like feminism on its head: for years, women were trying to earn the right to get out of the house, and here are all these men dying to get back into [it]”"
This actually coheres with the theory of female mate choice

30 South African men killed in ritual circumcision - "Botched circumcisions killed 30 young men and landed almost 300 more in hospital during traditional initiation rites in a South African province... Botched circumcisions leading to penis amputations and deaths are an annual tragedy. In May around 34 deaths in two other provinces were reported."
Of course, no one is going to condemn male genital mutilation

Govt keeps lid on eateries in Tiong Bahru - "This will help ensure a better mix of shops and services for residents of the pre-war estate, with mom-and-pop businesses such as hair salons, textile shops, coffee shops and medical halls having made way for 13 new cafes, bakeries and eateries in the past three years. The estate is now left with a sundry store, two convenience stores, a tailor, two hardware shops, a Chinese medical shop, two clinics, an optical shop and 10 coffee shops"
Gentrification!

Longer waits for cabs during peak hours in Orchard - "On one Friday last month, The Straits Times found that it took between 17.5 and 29 minutes to get a cab at Far East Plaza, Paragon and Ngee Ann City - three of Orchard's busiest malls - between 5pm and 6pm. During 9pm to 10pm, passengers had to wait for as long as 26.5 minutes. These sort of waiting times make Orchard Road taxi stands one of the worst places in Singapore to get a cab. "It's the worst thing I hate about Singapore - standing in taxi queues," said Sri Lankan entrepreneur Irshad Muhseen, 40, as he stood in line at a Ngee Ann City taxi stand... Singapore, with 29,000 taxis on the road and more than 90,000 licensed cabbies, has a higher cab-to-resident ratio than most developed cities. But taxi usage here is less than optimal. Hong Kong's 18,000 taxis, for instance, make about one million trips daily, compared to under a million trips by cabs here. This is despite commuters, for example, paying a $3 city area surcharge when they take a cab within the city, including Orchard Road and Shenton Way."
More taxis but less availability than in Hong Kong?!