more on male privilege

Aggravating incident on the day:

Someone told me today that he finds it irritating that our text book uses default female pronouns.

I told him that I was sorry that his male privilege was being disrupted.

the 350 Teach-In and INTERNATIONAL Day of Action

I've been involved in the environmental movement for 2 years, and I have to say that our actions just keep getting better and better and cooler and cooler.

The latest from 350 is a national teach-in held throughout thousands of campuses across the country. And you, yes you, can sign up to present in your campus community! After the speakers give it a go, there will be an hour for discussion.

Click here to sign up at your local teach-in

But it gets better. The teach-ins will be taking place on the 350 International Day of Action. It all goes down October 24th, before world leaders get together in Copenhagen to discuss the climate.

To get ideas and register an action, click here. I'm sure a list of registered actions will pop up in weeks to come.

So exciting!

taking eating disorders to the Hill

Over 100 grassroots lobbyists converged on Capitol Hill last Thursday with The Eating Disorders Coalition (EDC), pressuring their representatives to co-sponsor the Federal Response to Eliminating Eating Disorders (FREED) Act. Introduced by Representative Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) the FREED Act is a comprehensive bill that provides federal action for research, treatment, and education/prevention of eating disorders. The EDC is an umbrella advocacy organization seeking to advance federal recognition of eating disorders as a public health priority.

While an estimated 9 million Americans suffer from bulimia nervosa, anorexia nervosa, binge eating disorder, and eating disorders not otherwise specified (EDNOS), research remains drastically underfunded and the genetic predispositions to eating disorders remain largely unexplored. Over 50% of factors that make one vulnerable to eating disorders are hereditary. More to the point, two people may share the same environment, but only one with certain genetic susceptibilities will develop an eating disorder. It was once explained to me that eating disorders are relationship disorders—relationships with self and others. As Dr. Lisa Lilenfeld shared at the FREED Act congressional briefing, “put someone with an eating disorder on a desert island alone, that person will still have an eating disorder.” Additionally, eating disorders impact males and females alike, with a previously understood ratio of 10:1 now approaching 3-4:1. Yet the stigma of eating disorders as passing phases or afflictions of the superficial and stupid cripple funding for research and awareness, keeping the problem in the closet and unaddressed—hiding the fact that eating disorders have the highest death rate of any psychiatric illness. Consequently, FREED includes provisions to determine the prevalence, incidence and correlates of eating disorders, as well as more accurate mortality rates.

While the bill itself is an exciting advance in promoting science over stigma, participants in the lobby day had their own telling stories to share. One recovered anorectic explained that, despite her doctor’s warning that her parents should prepare for her death, her insurance would not cover hospitalization unless she lost more weight. Fortunately, her parents were able to use retirement savings and take money out of their home. Another recovering bulimic shared concerns that none of her in-network therapists had any specialization in eating disorders at all. While the Paul Wellstone Mental Health Parity made some progress, the bill still leaves open the opportunity for insurance companies to decide who gets money and how much. Under these conditions, insurance companies undermine the advice of doctors and implement their own ambiguous criteria in determining coverage.

While eating disorders may be expensive to treat, the economic burden is even greater when these illnesses go under-treated or ignored. The lack of access to modern, science-based treatment means that thousands of families are spending thousands—and sometimes hundreds of thousands—of dollars on care models that simply do not work. The research portion of the FREED Act includes an economic analysis to determine years of productive life lost, missed days of work, reduced work productivity, costs medical/psychiatric treatment, prescription medications, hospitalizations, costs of other comorbidites, and other costs to society and family.

Considering these factors, it is fitting that The FREED Act comes into play during political discourse favoring prevention as a healthier and more cost-efficient plan over treatment after-the-fact. This specifically involves better training for professionals dealing with children and adolescents, and reconsideration of the way that BMI is discussed, measured, and reported in schools. Various legislative assistants commented that certain provisions of the FREED Act could feasibly be incorporated into larger healthcare reform packages to come. With time, increased visibility, research and education can combat harmful stereotypes that create barriers to information, care, and the willingness of survivors to share their experiences. Having faced the difficulties of recovery myself and as a junior board member of the EDC, I was touched by the turnout of the event and the candid stories of the participants. However, I will admit that I was struck by the male to female representation. As the lobby day was dominated by women, I milled over two thoughts. First, how perceptions of eating disorders as (upper-class, white) female neurosis create a cultural climate wherein male sufferers are less likely to come out and advocate for themselves. And secondly, even if more women suffer, where are the fathers, brothers, husbands, boyfriends and male friends who know first-hand how scary and painful these diseases truly are?

elementary school renamed for Obama

ABC News reports:

A New York elementary school has been re-named in honor of President-elect Barack Obama. Ludlum Elementary School in Long Island's Hempstead Union Free School District was re-named at a board meeting Thursday, at the request of numerous school students. (full article)

girls and boys perform equally in standardized math tests

Put this in your pipe and smoke it.

“Now that enrollment in advanced math courses is equalized, we don’t see gender differences in test performance,” said Marcia C. Linn of the University of California, Berkeley, a co-author of the study. “But people are surprised by these findings, which suggests to me that the stereotypes are still there.”

LA parents demand equal education

Read full article here

Thousands of parents will join forces today to march in Downtown Los Angeles to demand that charter school students no longer be treated as second-class citizens by school districts such as Los Angeles Unified, and to launch the first-ever statewide advocacy organization on behalf of charter school families.

This new parent organization, "Families That Can," will advocate for choice, equity and accountability in California's public school system.

More than 100 charter schools, representing tens of thousands of students throughout the state, have already committed to the vision of Families That Can. With 240,000 charter students throughout the state, the movement is geared to organize hundreds of thousands of parents to demand that school districts and the state treat charter school students fairly.

16% of science teachers are Creationists

Despite a court-ordered ban on teaching creationism in school, 1 in 8 teachers are teaching god, Adam, Eve, a snake, and a magic apple as science. Read more.

Eating Disorders Awareness Helps Mental Health Equity Bill Pass in the House

Press Release from the Eating Disorders Coalition, 03/06/08

Eating disorders were front and center in the debate leading to
yesterday’s passage of mental health parity in the U.S. House of
Representatives. The House passed the parity bill by a vote of
268 to 148.

The House version of a national mental health parity bill
includes broad definitions of mental illness that would include
eating disorders. A Senate bill passed last year offers fewer
protections but is likely to become the final version that
Congress will send for the president’s signature. The Eating
Disorders Coalition has supported both House and Senate versions,
but prefers the House bill.

Yesterday’s action in the House marks the first time in 12 years
that mental health parity has been brought to a vote. House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi agreed to schedule a vote, reversing the long-
held opposition of former House Speaker Dennis Hastert. The EDC
was in the front row during yesterday’s rally at the Capitol.
Speakers included House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Majority
Leader Steny Hoyer, Rep. Jim Ramstad, Rep. Patrick Kennedy,
former first lady Rosalynn Carter, and David Wellstone. The
audience included singer-songwriter Carole King and U.S. Senate
candidate Al Franken.

Since the beginning of the 110th Congress, the Eating Disorders
Coalition and other mental health advocates have had numerous
opportunities to bring the issue to the attention of
congressional committees. EDC President Kitty Westin testified in
Congress and spoke at a parity rally with Speaker Pelosi in 2007,
recalling the loss of her daughter after the family’s insurance
company denied treatment for Anna Westin’s eating disorder.

EDC Executive Director Marc Lerro says, “We made our points so
often that members of Congress started making our points for us.
In committee meetings, Republicans and Democrats alike described
how parity could affect people with eating disorders.”

David Wellstone, founder of Wellstone Action, campaigned
aggressively for the passage of the House bill. He often cited
eating disorders as an example of mental health conditions that
may not be fully covered under the weaker Senate bill. Wellstone
was critical of the Senate bill and refused to allow the bill to
be named in memory of his father, the late Senator Paul
Wellstone.

Wellstone told National Public Radio’s Julie Rovner, “My dad
always believed that you can’t leave people out. You can’t have
people like Kitty Westin, who was his friend and my friend, who’s
daughter had an eating disorder and went in and was told ‘we have
to figure out if this is a medical necessity.’”

During a national speaking tour in support of parity, members of
Congress in several major cities appeared with speakers who had
first-hand experience with eating disorders. In Washington, D.C.,
the EDC hosted educational briefings and sent mailings that also
kept the issue before policymakers at the Capitol. Last week, the
Coalition hosted a briefing in the House of Representatives
titled “Eating Disorders: From Stigma to Science,” which drew a
capacity bipartisan audience.

Next, negotiations between the House and Senate must close the
gap between the two bills before a final piece of legislation can
be sent to the president. Rep. Kennedy is willing to compromise.
He told NPR, “I’m not an all-or-nothing person. I want something,
and then I can add to it next year, and the year after, and the
year after that. That’s the way Congress works. I’ve watched my
father over the years. I’ve taken lessons.”

Brown University is eliminating tuition for students whose parents earn less than $60,000

Brown's announcement follows similar moves by Harvard, Yale and Stanford universities to waive tuition for lower-income students and cut students' debt burden.