Links - 23rd December 2019 (1)

Breastfeeding Benefits: The Real, the Imagined, and the Exaggerated - "In an ideal world, we would settle this question by conducting several large randomized controlled trials (RCTs), in which new mothers would be randomly assigned to breastfeed. RCTs are the gold standard in medicine for determining whether a true cause and effect relationship exists. In practice, though, such trials are neither feasible nor ethical.Fortunately, we have the next best thing: a handful of studies that have cleverly circumvented the problem of confounding. These fall into two categories:
    sibling studies, which compare siblings from the same families who were breastfed for different lengths of time, or who were not both breastfed.
    a large RCT of a highly successful breastfeeding intervention (PROBIT Trial)...
Nearly all the alleged long-term benefits are likely the result of confounding, not breastfeeding. Better-designed studies find only a handful of real benefits: a reduced chance of severe gastrointestinal infections and a lower risk of eczema during infancy, and perhaps a small boost in childhood IQ... sibling studies show how profoundly biased the observational studies are when it comes to studying breastfeeding.The clearest illustration comes from a study of 1,773 siblings aged 4-14, led by Cynthia Colen of Ohio State University. Dr. Colen first analyzed her data as if it were from a typical observational study, comparing siblings across families. She found the usual result: Children who had been breastfed appeared to have significantly lower rates of obesity, asthma, and hyperactivity, and higher parental attachment, behavioral compliance, vocabulary, reading recognition, math ability, intelligence, and scholastic competence.But then, she reanalyzed the same data, this time comparing siblings within families, thereby eliminating confounding by social and economic factors. And Voilà. She no longer found any apparent benefits of having been breastfed. In fact, the one remaining statistically significant effect was a higher risk of asthma among children who had been breastfed... why does the medical establishment rely on flimsy evidence to overstate the benefits of breastfeeding? To me, these poorly-supported claims feel downright condescending... Worse, such claims do little to help our children. If we as a society truly want to raise children’s IQs, improve behavior, and reduce obesity, our efforts would be better spent addressing systemic problems–providing living wages, paid maternity and paternity leave, and affordable, high- quality childcare–than urging all women to breastfeed.This is why I see the so-called “breastfeeding wars” as nothing more than a media-driven sideshow, an occasionally entertaining distraction from the real underlying problem: a lack of basic support for parents and other caregivers in our society...
formula-fed babies tend to sleep longer at night... exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months is overrated."

Janice Fiamengo on Twitter - "Oak Park trustee Susan Buchanan: "You stop it, you are a white male! You skin is light enough.""
"• I don't want to hear what you have to say.
• You shouldn't have an opinion on that. That is the point. Why do you have an opinion on equity.
• You have been white from birth. Why are you arguing what is a system of oppression? You've never experienced one so shut up! I don't want to hear from you! Just stop Dan, just stop Deno. You are not oppressed and people in Oak Park and we are trying to recognize that as a community. This mayor and this board is obviously not willing to face history. We have a chance to make history. It is time for this community to face equity. Enough! And you stop it! You are a white male! You stop it, you are a white male! You skin is light enough. Stop it!"
"Feminist-left culture: a hysterical white woman spewing sexist and racist abuse, being applauded by some, while the men on the council sit meekly. Why hasn't she been forced to resign? Instead, she is claiming victimhood from death threats"
Once again, the racism of anti-racism and the sexism of feminism
Reddit: "The mayor of Oak Park is Anan Abu-Taleb, born in Palestine, emigrated to the United States at 18 to go to college. Spent his entire childhood on the Gaza strip, only to come to America and be told by a privileged white woman his skin is "light enough" to suppress his opinion."

Germany, South Korea, Singapore Economies Hurt By Export Slump - Bloomberg - "For each of these countries, it’s possible to tell a story about why they’ve done so well. Germany’s strong performance is often attributed to its small but productive manufacturing companies, its harmonious relationship between organized labor and management, its vocational education system, and its substantial trade surpluses. Singapore’s success is sometimes credited to its educational prowess, unique public-housing system, and government investment in biotech and other cutting-edge industries. South Korea’s growth, meanwhile, tends to be ascribed to the strength of its national champion companies, especially Samsung Electronics Ltd. Writers, including myself, often recommend that the U.S. copy some of these policies in order to catch up. But in the past year, these three countries’ economies have begun to look much shakier. Even as U.S. economic numbers look solid, Germany, South Korea and Singapore have all either experienced recessions or come close... all three of these star performers share similar issues – slowing global trade and falling demand for manufacturing imports. The end of China’s rapid catch-up growth, plus the U.S.-China trade war, signals an end to the global economic model that drove growth during the past 20 years... the escalating urgency of climate change will disrupt industries like autos that rely on burning fossil fuels.The economic environment that made Germany, Singapore and South Korea the champions of the 2010s is therefore coming to an end. This doesn’t mean that the U.S. has nothing to learn from these countries’ educational systems, labor relations, and industrial policies; indeed, the U.S. should copy their best elements. But it’s a reminder that different types of economies are suited to different times, and when the times change, the winners and losers change as well."

Justin King on Twitter - "Headline: "Women who own horses live longer" Implied correlation: horses make you live longer. Reality: if you own a horse, you can probably afford health insurance."

Hungover Student Goes On Walk To 'Clear His Head', Ends Up 500 Miles Away - "A hungover student set out on a walk to 'clear his head' after a night out - only to end up 500 miles away in the South of France.Barney Rule, 20, went for a walk after deciding to drop out of the University of Edinburgh on 7 September.The former history and politics student started his stroll in the early hours after leaving a nightclub, but even after walking through whole night, he found he didn't want to stop... and decided to keep going... "I vividly recall being in Shropshire, and because I'd spent the previous three days really just going for it, because I knew I was only 60 miles away from the port, when I asked, I couldn't understand the accent."It might as well have been Mandarin for all I understood, and it was there that I woke up to being surrounded by cows.""

Mayor, doctors and social workers arrested in scheme to brainwash children into believing they had been abused and sell them - "Italian police have arrested 18 people, including a mayor, social workers and psychologists for allegedly “brainwashing” children into believing their parents had abused them, in a scheme to take them away from their families and sell them to foster parents.Authorities in the central Italian city of Reggio Emilia revealed how a network of carers allegedly used hours of psychotherapy sessions and electroshocks to convince children their parents had sexually abused them and “alter their memory ahead of the trials”"

The cautionary tale of Japan's "sex recession" - "A review of Japan's National Fertility Survey reveals virginity is on the rise; one out of every 10 Japanese men in their 30s is still a virgin. That puts Japan's virginity rate well ahead of that of other industrialized nations. "A large proportion of these individuals cannot find a partner in the market," Peter Ueda, a public health researcher at Tokyo University, told CBS News. He's sounding the alarm about Japan's surging virginity rate, which he notes is, "actually the highest ever recorded in a high-income country." For Japan, already well into an unprecedented population decline, the sex drought is more bad news. If current trends hold, Japan's population will collapse by more than half over the next century.The drop in both sex and births is often blamed are long working hours, too much time spent online, and the Japanese fetish for digital companionship, which manifests itself in the popularity of robots and holographic "partners."But Ueda said he suspects financial and job insecurity are what's really fueling Japan's sex recession. "Compared to men who had a regular employment, those with part-time or temporary employment were four-times as likely to be heterosexually inexperienced in ages 25 to 39, and those who were unemployed were eight times more likely"... Researchers have already warned that this problem isn't unique to Japan, and the U.S. could be next."

Cuckoldry is incredibly rare among humans - "A new survey published in Trends in Ecology and Evolution sums up a number of recent studies that show the actual rate of cuckolds in the general population, based on genetic testing and ancestor research, is 1-2 percent... human extra-pair paternity rates "have stayed near constant at around 1% across several human societies over the past several hundred years." The researchers call this a "puzzle," because contraceptives would have been far less available centuries ago. Why are there so few cuckolds? The authors speculate that women may be remaining faithful due to "anti-cuckoldry tactics, such as male sexual jealousy, religious practices that regulate female sexuality, and strongly negative reactions towards female adultery." It's also possible that they fear sexually transmitted diseases, spousal abuse, divorce, or "reduced paternal investment by the social partner or his close relatives if the infidelity was discovered."Ultimately, conclude the researchers, "the (potential) genetic benefits of extra pair children are unlikely to be offset by the (potential) costs of being caught, particularly in such a long-lived species as humans with heavy offspring dependence and massive parental investment.""

A six-figure income isn’t enough to cover this executive’s mortgage, support obligations after divorce - "an executive we’ll call Herb works in the packaging industry. At 53, he is drowning in post-marital obligations and large mortgage payments. His $10,617 monthly after-tax income is dissipated by expenses that are beyond his control.Herb has two children in their early teens from his marriage. Child and spousal support obligations add up to $4,250 per month. His mortgage adds another $3,680 each month. Other expenses push total monthly spending to $11,736. Herb finances the difference by drawing down his savings.“I am borrowing from my financial assets so that I can retain in my home for anther four years”"
A divorce can ruin any man, no matter how rich

The Second Sexism: don't judge a book by its press - "Anyone who has ever debated male-specific gender issues will probably have experienced an encounter like this:
Bloke: “Yeah, but men can also be victims of violence and injustice, why aren’t we talking about that too?”
Feminist: “Of course they can, and if you guys want to campaign on those issues, I’ll applaud you.”
In practice, it doesn’t always work out like that... I want to focus on how the feminist consensus has reacted to the release of his book. While it would be a stretch to describe it as a feminist work, there is much in The Second Sexism that should be music to the ears of the sisterhood. He largely rejects biological gender determinism; argues strongly against social conservatism, and makes clear that the value of challenging the second sexism includes the benefits to women... Benatar’s book is mostly complimentary and complementary to feminist objectives. It’s disappointing, but not surprising, that it met a hostile response from the likes of Suzanne Moore and Julie “It’s bollocks” Bindel. There is often resistance from some feminists to the suggestion that male-specific gender issues even exist. I’ve written elsewhere about the overt hostility of some feminists to International Men’s Day. Male victims of domestic violence, and academics who research that issue, have faced angry and violent feminist attempts to silence them. This kneejerk defensiveness is not one of modern feminism’s more constructive traits... If, in de Beauvoir’s phrase, men and women are to “unequivocally affirm their brotherhood” then empathy and compassion must travel in two directions, not one."

Women are almost 42 per cent more likely to take sick days than men - "after stripping out all other factors including age, profession and employer size, women are on average 42 per cent more likely to take time off... women tend to be the main carer for children or elderly relatives, so take sick days to deal with emergencies."
Another factor that explains the gender wage gap

I'm neither girl nor boy: What it means to be non-binary
And some people claim Singapore is different because it's Asian and won't follow the same path as Anglo Western countries (as with gay marriage, ignoring Taiwan's example)

Mechanical properties of human skin in vivo: a comparative evaluation in 300 men and women - "Previous studies have shown that the clinical genesis and onset of facial wrinkles as well as the morphology of the extracellular matrix differ between the sexes. The aim of this present clinical study was to do the first systematic assessment of gender‐related differences in skin elasticity, with special focus on age‐related changes... At young age results of the relative parameters are higher for women, whereas absolute parameters are higher for men."
Some people were complaining male and female skin products were a scam because men and women have identical skin

Sex Survey Found That Women Feel Horny at Opposite Time Than Men - "Men are horny most often in the morning, while women are horny more often at night... "The current thought is that female libido is very complicated, but most of it is psychological. And, usually, it doesn't have much to do with the woman's partner," Hill says. "Instead, it's more about how the woman feels about herself and her sexuality."... many women want that closeness with their partner and simply want to want more sex... "Women often don't feel desire until after they start foreplay with their partner""
Another issue with enthusiastic consent - since that requires you to feel it before you start (rather than letting you start first and feel it later)

Are Women-Only Gyms Guilty of Discrimination? - "Despite the growing popularity of women only clubs, there are a handful of lawsuits that claim these clubs are discriminatory. In 2000, the Alaskan Human Rights Commission–at the behest of a disgruntled man–made an attempt to ban gender only health clubs. However, the result of that backfired when the Alaskan legislature made it legal for gender discrimination in Alaskan health clubs.More recently, there was a case in 2005 where a civil rights group sued a women only club in Santa Rosa for potentially refusing entry of one man. It turned out that the women only gym had already been told to make changes to accommodate men in 2004, but had failed to do so. This refusal led to the 2005 case being brought up and consequently enforced.What followed were successful lawsuits against women only gyms in Minnesota, Wisconsin, California and Orange County. Some of these cases were won on the premise that men were not only denied access to work out at the clubs but also because they were also denied employment. In a case against Women’s Workout World in Chicago, not only were men finally allowed to work at the gym, but the ones who were turned down were paid $30,000 in damages. In 1997, a lawsuit against a Massachusetts health club, Healthworks Fitness Center, ruled that the club could not exclude men.And despite the small number of men opposed to women only health clubs, you would be surprised to find that they have actually gotten some support from NOW (National Organization for Women) who object to any law they feel is permitting discrimination.Due to the amount of protests from angry women regarding rulings in favor of men, many states have passed legislation to permit single-sex health clubs that benefit both sexes. These states are Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Tennessee and New Jersey. NOW has objected to each of these rulings."

Man arrested for singing 'Kung Fu Fighting' - "Police arrested a singer on racism charges after a man reportedly of Chinese descent complained about his performance of the song "Kung Fu Fighting," according to reports.Simon Ledger, 34, told Britain's The Sun newspaper that he and his band were performing the 1970s classic at the Driftwood Beach Bar on the Isle of Wight off the southern coast of England."We were performing Kung Fu Fighting, as we do during all our sets," he told the newspaper. "People of all races were loving it. Chinese people have never been offended by it before."But Ledger told The Sun an Asian man walking by with his mother hurled an expletive and made an obscene hand gesture at the performers during the Sunday afternoon performance, then took a photo with his cell phone."
"White man getting arrested for singing Asian themed song written by a Black man produced by an Indian guy."
What's even more amazing - this is from 2011