Equal rights amendments

In True Blood, HBO's racy vampire series, the vampires are struggling to pass the Vampire Rights Amendment, guaranteeing equal rights to vampires. In reality, the United States never successfully passed the Equal Rights Amendment, which guarantees equal rights regardless of sex.

Written in 1923 by Alice Paul, the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was not adopted by Congress until 1972. The text of the amendment reads:
Section 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.
Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
Section 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.

The amendment was not ratified by enough states before its 1982 deadline, and thus was defeated. Although it is re-introduced every year, it has yet to be passed.

Although there remains debate on both sides of the issue (if it passed, would women have to register for the draft? what are the implications for labor protection for women? what are the implications for abortion rights for women? would it erode traditional male/female gender roles?), it appalls me that the country still refuses to admit equality for half its populace.

I wonder how much Alan Ball (creator of True Blood) is familiar with the Equal Rights Amendment. He is known for infusing his shows with politically-charged commentaries on the current state of society (and society's ignorance).

So take this opportunity provided by sexy vampires to learn about the Equal Rights Amendment (http://www.equalrightsamendment.org/, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal_Rights_Amendment).

Anything for a high

Read this article about the "choking game," where adolescents choke themselves or others until just before losing consciousness for the "high" that results. It's perfectly legal -- no illegal substances are involved. But it might be more deadly. And that's what concerns me. We'll regulate marijuana, cocaine, alcohol, cigarettes, even White-out and some cold medicines, because they're dangerous to children, but this game doesn't involve anything illegal. What does it show? That kids will do anything to get high. They're going to do it anyway, so why don't we help them find safe ways of doing it rather than let them choke themselves to death?

Academic study of video games

One of the best parts of getting a certificate/master's in Women's Gender and Sexuality Studies is that it is an outlet for me to study video games. If I were to just focus on my philosophy studies, it is unlikely I would spend as much time studying video games. I would feel that my time would be better spent on more traditional questions. My interest in video games is just a side interest, but I'm glad that I have a reason to pursue it rather than shove it to the side for more "serious" philosophical questions.

I'm working on a project for my feminist methodologies class on the female gamer's experience. One of the tasks I must complete for this project is an interview. (Feminist methodology is primarily qualitative.) So I must identify my interest group (female gamers) and interview one or two to get their experience in their words (without having to fit it into traditional categories). I'm afraid to ask my friends because they know me and my interests/biases and might change their answers based upon that knowledge. So now I need to find some people, friends of friends? college students around campus?, to interview. One thing to keep in mind is the age of the women I interview. The 25-35-year-old demographic of which I am a part may respond very differently than 18-25-year-olds. I think it is an interesting question, but not one I have the time to really work on right now. So I need to figure out which group of women I want to understand. There is no objective answer to this question -- I need to identify my own interests (another aspect of feminist research). Would the older women be more reflective? Would the younger women be more relevant because they are the youngest generation of adult female gamers and their voices would be more interesting to video game companies?

Another thing I would like to do down the road is a survey to get more data and quantitative data (companies understand numbers better than subjective "experiences"). But I'm getting ahead of myself. For now, I need to decide on my demographic. Maybe doing some reading for this literature review I'm working on will help me decide.

Video game ad

Long time no post. I would like to thank the marketers who commented on my transnational feminisms project for reminding me about this blog.

I'm trying out a picture post. Here is Evony's newest ad, 1/23/10, from yfrog (Twitter photo/image site). I wonder how much it depicts actual game play.

Evolutionary psych article

Link to Newsweek article on shortfalls of evolutionary psychology: http://www.newsweek.com/id/202789/page/1

Dinner with philosophers/historians of biology

I just returned from dinner with Dick Burian, his wife Ann, Bob Richardson and his wife Peggy DesAutels, Rob Skipper and his wife Karen, and fellow grad student Clement Loo. Burian is visiting speaker this week as a part of the Philosophy and Evolutionary Biology class nicknamed "Darwiniana." It was a lovely dinner at Aqua in Mt. Lookout. Sushi was fantastic and may I suggest the sake-tini (a martini with sake, cucumber, and vodka)? As always I get tips on what else I need to read. This time it was about philosophy of experiment, exploratory experiments and funding and the new experimentalists.

I forgot to blog about the previous dinners I attended with Mike Dietrich at JeanRo Bistro downtown and Roberta Millstein (earlier in the quarter) at Tinks in the gaslight district. They, too, were part of the Darwiniana course. I've had such great opportunities this quarter to meet and have extended conversations with such respected philosophers of biology.

Philosophers can have fun, too

I hosted a party last night for my fellow grad students. We haven't been socializing as much as we did last year. Perhaps we second-year students don't need the support we did last year. Perhaps we're busier in our second year. Some of us have been away weekends, so I know that has factored into it. I've felt bad that we haven't been around for the first-year students.

But anyway, I put together a party because we've been talking about it for a while. We had out the Wii and rocked out on Rock Band 2. And Ayca, Kaitlin and Iris brought dishes, so there was a ton of food. I had a good time. I hope everyone else did, too. There was the Wii for entertainment, or small groups talking about non-philosophy topics, and a group talking philosophy, so you could wander to fit your interests. It was also significant-other friendly, too, since it wasn't all philosophy all the time.