Not Quite Weekly Linklove for 03/12/2011

Arwyn at Raising My Boychick: Thoughts on Radical Acceptance:

I find radical acceptance to be one of the hardest things to explain to anyone else, but also one of the most profound tools of my own wellbeing. It’s NOT about “looking on the bright side” or “staying positive” – it’s seeing exactly what is, even all the shit, and just… accepting the fact of its existence, and, yes, sometimes, seeing the beauty in the ugliness, and the teeny tiny sparks of light in the dark.

s.e. smith at this ain’t livin’: What Does Asexuality Mean to You?:

Of all the myriad expressions of human sexuality, asexuality is probably among the least understood, although many people think they know exactly what it means; the opposite of being sexual. A few persistent themes can be seen in the way people think about asexuality; asexuality means you don’t have sex, right? You also don’t have romantic relationships (you can’t have those without sex!). You’re probably frigid and that’s why you’re asexual; maybe you’re
afraid of sex or you’re refusing to face trauma. No healthy person rejects sexuality. You’re repressed. You’re not kinky or queer, that’s for sure.

Kimberly Greyson at Movies and Mental Health: “Why Doesn’t She Just Leave?” Battered Women in the Media:

The media offers scant opportunities for the average American to be well informed on the matter of what makes a battered woman kill her abuser. To the contrary, there are too many media opportunities for society to enjoy watching women being abused, tortured, and killed. Numerous music videos, video games, and all manner of pornography are carefully crafted to visually elicit male stimulation when viewing images of women fighting, submitting, or being
harmed.

Jane Collingwood at Psych Central: Higher Risk of Mental Health Problems for Homosexuals:

Homosexual people tend to experience more mental health problems than heterosexual people, research indicates. Discrimination may contribute to the higher risk, believes lead researcher Dr. Apu Chakraborty of University College London, UK.

Brittany P. at Butterfly Closures: Dealing with Recovering Memories:

For a few weeks now, after I experienced and wrote about
mother nightmares, I’ve felt myself slipping into old coping mechanisms. The nightmares, one in particular not mentioned, quickly stayed me on the path of dealing with memories of Mother-Daughter sexual abuse. I will say that although I’ve never experienced the process of recovering memories, it is a sensible process if you consider
what childhood abuse survivors are working with.

Read Full Post »

Weekly Linklove for 02/18/2011

A day early, because I will be leaving for a week-end at my boyfriend’s at 5:00 PM, here is this week’s Linklove.

s.e. smith at this ain’t livin’: Cuteifying Disability:

Cuteification of disability was once championed and pretty widely used, to get people to be more accepting of people with disabilities and to enlarge ideas about accommodation and needs. We aren’t disabled, we’re “special needs.” We aren’t handicapped, we’re “handicapable.” Etc. But I think it’s time to move
beyond cuteification of disability when it comes to neutral language used to refer to disability in general, because it has a chilling effect when it comes to talking about disability; cuteification is associated with “childishness” and as a result it tends to create the idea that children are the only disabled people (or the only ones worth caring about) and it contributes to the idea that it’s acceptable to talk down to and patronise people with disabilities of all ages, because we’re cute and defanged and nonthreatening.

William Peace at Bad Cripple: The Human Body: Can Disability Be Cool?:

When I think of my wheelchair I think of one thing: indispensible. I can assure you crawling is not an efficient means of locomotion. I cannot go far on the rare occasion when my wheelchair has a mechanical problem. I firmly believe wheelchairs need to be rugged in the extreme. When I get a wheelchair frame on the day it arrives I drop it out a third story window. If it survives the fall it is good to go. I have high end hubs and wheels. I have top notch upholstery.
I change all parts that experience wear and tear on a regular basis. When I travel or go out on an errand I always carry a spare tire, inner tube and pump. I am in fact entirely dependent upon my wheelchair for locomotion. This dependency does not bother me one iota. I am very attached to my wheelchair. I love that it empowers me. It makes my life go. I feel at home in my wheelchair and there is a bond that is hard to describe. I was thinking about this
bond as well as how frail the human body is this weekend. I am coming to the end of my journey with my wound. Within a few weeks or at most a month or two I will be up and around. I have found myself thinking that I want to in some way remember this time in my life. One way to remember is to modify your body. In a way I have already done that: I have grown a beard. I look like a paralyzed Santa Claus. My hair has little grey but my beard is white. But I was thinking of something more. Perhaps a tattoo or some other permanent mark. Perhaps some intense experience. I want to do something to remind me of this dark time. And if you think I am exaggerating I suggest you spend six months in bed in your own home.

Christy Matta at Dialectical Behavior Therapy Understood: Does Yoga Reduce Anxiety?: A Study on GABA Levels:

So many people who practice yoga expound on its virtues. I’ve heard many talk about the physical and emotional benefits of yoga. People say it makes them feel good, calm, peaceful. Since it’s a practice that’s been around for thousands of years and the people who practice it certainly tend to look healthy and relaxed, I was curious if there was research to back up the benefits I often hear about.

Sarah Mehta at Blog of Rights: Official Blog of the American Civil Liberties Union: At Guantánamo: Enough Already:

Yesterday morning, I watched Sudanese detainee Noor Uthman Muhammed plead guilty before a military commission in Guantánamo as part of a sealed plea deal capping his sentence at an undisclosed number of years. Noor Uthman Muhammed’s case is the only war crimes prosecution currently before the Gitmo military
commissions. He is accused of training recruits at the Khalden terrorist training camp in Afghanistan and providing additional logistical support to the camp’s operations between 1996 and 2002.

Margarita Tartakovsky at World of Psychology: The Birth of the Mental Asylum:

The first hospital in the U.S. opened its doors in 1753 in Philadelphia. While it treated a variety of patients, six of its first patients suffered from mental illness. In fact,
Pennsylvania Hospital would have a pivotal impact on psychiatry.

Daniel Kennedy aat ZDNet: The Country of Facebook Recognizes Civil Unions:

The 600 million user social networking behemoth made a small change to its “Relationship Status” drop down box today, and in doing so recognized “In a civil
union” and “In a domestic partnership” as valid choices in the way one can report their personal relationship on the site.

Read Full Post »

Weekly Linklove for 02/12/2011

Nicholoas Hakalar at The New York Times: On Evolution, Biology Teachers Stray from Lesson Plan:

Researchers found that only 28 percent of biology teachers consistently follow the recommendations of the National Research Council to describe straightforwardly the evidence for evolution and explain the ways in which it is a unifying theme in all of biology. At the other extreme, 13 percent explicitly advocate creationism, and spend at least an hour of class time presenting it in a positive light.

Shannon LC Cate at BlogHer: Top Ten Must-Read Books for White Parents of Black Children:

As an adoptive mother of two African American children (one Black, on biracial Black/white), I am often asked what I think white people who are considering transracial adoption* should do/think/know/read. As with most parenting questions, I think there are just about as many answers as there are families. That said, there are some issues unique to Black/white interracial families — especially when the parents and white and the children are African American — that can be addressed in a way that is useful to most if not all of them.

Suzanne Reisman at BlogHer: Rape Is a Victimless Crime According to Some Lawmakers:

There’s a lot happening these days that is raising my feminist dander. One of the most egregious of the issues is the attempts by various GOP members to undermine the criminality of rape.

Christopher Azalone at Informed Comment: The Muslim Brotherhood Myth:

Since the start of mass popular protests by Egyptians against their country’s autocratic government, headed by the aging president Hosni Mubarak and his new vice president, Omar Suleiman, a great deal of attention has been paid to Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood (al-Ikhwan al-Muslimun). Attention on the opposition
movement has been particularly heavy and skewed in the United States where pundits from both the left and the right breathlessly claim that the Brotherhood is poised to take over Egypt in a repeat of what happened in 1979-1980 in Iran and erroneously tie the Egyptian movement to Usama Bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda Central. Much of this analysis is based on fallacies and conjecture rather than fact.

Rachel at Our Bodies Our Blog: Hearings Held on Anti-Choice Bills HR3 and HR 358:

Yesterday and today House committees are holding hearings on two controversial pieces of proposed legislation, HR3, and HR358, both of which attempt to reduce access to abortion.

Kim Milla at Autism Speaks Official Blog: Putting Self Advocacy to Work:

Sometimes it’s easier to just do a task yourself or make a decision for someone else, especially for those who are unable to speak and act for themselves. However, I think it’s important not to take the easy way out. I think its better in the long run to have conversations with individuals and explain things to them, even if it doesn’t appear that they understand everything you are talking about. If you simplify your wording, rearrange sentences and words as needed, while maintaining a clear solid voice, you can often get your point across and increase their opportunity to be included in a choice.

IP at Modus Dopens: Personal Xare and Sustainability:

The talking heads are always telling us that in Scotland, personal care is free to people over 65. The talking heads also tell us that this is not sustainable. In the last few weeks, I have grown to hate the talking heads, with a passion I did not know that I possessed.

Read Full Post »

Weekly Linklove for 02/05/2011

Many self-respecting bloggers have a daily or weekly link round-up. I until now didn’t have one, since I mostly post my interesting links to Twitter. However, I thought I’d follow suit and create a weekly linklove post. This is the first edition.

differentlysane at Mental Nurse: Soteria – An Alternative to In-Patient Services for People with Unusual Experiences:

I went to a really interesting talk the other a day about the Soteria network and in particular, the attempts to start up a soteria (like) house within the UK.

Faithallen at Blooming Lotus: Child Pornography Involving Infants:

I have shared with you that I suffered from sexual abuse as a toddler. One of my earliest flashbacks is of my mother/abuser removing my diaper to sexually abuse me. When I share my story with people offline, that seems to be the hardest form of child abuse for people to grasp or believe. They cannot fathom that anyone would hurt an innocent baby or toddler, and yet this happens with much more frequency than anyone wants to believe.

Feminists with Female Sexual Dysufnction: Vulvar Pain in Women of Color:

Vulvodynia is a syndrome, a collection of symptoms, centered around chronic vulvar pain, lasting longer than 3 to 6 months. Pain (commonly described as burning, stinging, stabbing, rawness and/or irritation,) may occur in the vulvar vestibule, mons, urethral opening, labia, clitoris, or elsewhere in the vulvar area. Not all instances of vulvar pain are vulvodynia, and for some women vulvar pain may resolve on its own.

Nick Triggle at BBC News: Early Help “Key to Tackling Mental Health Problems”:

It is widely acknowledged that there have been significant improvements in adult services over the past decade, particularly in relation to the support available in the community.

Bill Georde at World of Psychology: Does Schizophrenia Need a New Name?:

I was very nervous when my editorial about schizophrenia
- there we go, a word I ought not to be using – appeared Open Access online in the December 2010 Journal of Mental Health (published by Informa Healthcare, New York). It contains personal details which it is not customary to reveal. Having got over that I had more anxiety when the printed journal was delayed by a month for unknown reasons. Now that it’s out I am calm again.

Amelia Gentleman at The Guardian: Women’s Groups Struggle Amid Funding Cuts:

Buried in a Department for Business document published a few days before Christmas was the news that the UK Resource Centre for Women in Science, Engineering and Technology would lose all its government funding.

Michelle Andrews at The New York Times: Treating Chronic Pain and Managing the Bills:

“If you tally up everybody who has chronic, recurring back, headache and musculoskeletal problems, it includes almost everybody by the time people get into their 30s,” said Dr. Perry Fine, a professor of anesthesiology at
the Pain Research Center and the University of Utah and incoming chairman of the American Academy of Pain Medicine.

Read Full Post »