On Prefixes, Priorites, and Breast Milk

I am an affiliate of the Women's Studies program here. There is no actual major in Women's Studies, just a program, and I am grateful that we have that. 

Apparently the state's higher board of education want our university and the other university to have the same prefix for their programs to make it easier to transfer credits. I get it. This is one of those little annoying things that isn't a big deal until you find yourself dealing with people's mistakes too much of the time. Go ahead--change the program name and/or the prefix. Let's move on.

Move on? But no. No, no, no, no, no. We can't just get it done and move on, because academics are a bunch of narcissistic crybabies. Not all of them, but too many of them.

Narcissistic crybabies. There, I said it.

I don't go to the Women's Studies meetings because it seems like a lot of drama. I feel bad about not attending, but there are a handful of people that really get under my skin who faithfully attend and I only have so much patience. I try to save it for my child :)

There is an awful lot of mental masturbation (i.e. big words that serve no more function than smaller words, theorizing for the sake of theorizing, using hard-to-understand, insider terminology) going on in this department. My friend C calls it academic masturbation. I think academic masturbators are just subsets of mental masturbators. My ex-husband was an MM, but not in the academic category. He was a music snob MM. Like High Fidelity, but way more "underground."


My friend, K, is a member of the Women's studies curriculum committee. Regarding the meetings about name changes: Oh my god. There was pointing and yelling and crying and all sorts of drama.

Narcissistic crybabies. I told you.

K then went on to say that she must be a bad feminist, because she just didn't care that much about the prefix--she wanted to get on with other challenges and problems in the curriculum.

The thing is, I totally understand why this kind of thing matters. They are currently debating two options to rename the program: Women and Gender Studies vs. Gender and Women's Studies. I find the second-wave feminists favor the first option and third-wave/queer theorists want the second. So while the some of them are duking it out, there are others (4th wave pragmatists?) who are like, um, hey, uh, we just need to get this done so we can move on to important shit.


Personally, I prefer the first option: Women and Gender Studies. I think it's important to include both Women and Gender in the title, but I think Women should come first, if for no reason other than to pay homage to those early programs that were hard to start and controversial. In this regard, I agree with the 2nd-wavers. If women will be subsumed under "Gender," then you might was well just take "Women" out of the name.

Yes, I have an opinion. But at the end of the day, I'll go with any of the options as long as we still have a program and funds to expand. I'm nauseated that this kind of thing is taking up so much time. Let's celebrate that we have a program that needs a name and that we have freedom to bicker about this bullshit. And then move on.

Because seriously, stuff like this is happening, and once again, women are being chastised for daring to assert that they know what is best for their children, even though they are in agreement with the recommendations from the World Health Organization. The overarching message is that women are too irresponsible to be able to care for their children appropriately. The overarching message is that women are really just children, after all. They can create life, but are obviously too feeble-minded to figure out how to boil milk. Obviously, we shouldn't trust them to cook meat to a proper temperature either. Those dirty, weak, imbeciles can't be trusted.

I'd rather put my time and effort into political action like this. This is where academic feminists should be putting their time and energy. The Eats on Feets "movement" didn't initially set out to be political; it has, of course, become political. Anytime women assert control over their bodies, it becomes political. There is always backlash. The medical-pharmaceutical-agricultural-industrial complex always knows best.

This woman started the first Facebook page. She is simply amazing, and I feel honored to know her:

"I'm not saying we need to discount possible concerns because they are real and legitimate," said Walker. "But women are smart enough to figure these things out."

Amen to that.

Food on Your Face

When winter started sneaking up on us this year, my hands suffered badly. No matter how many times I put on lotion, they still end up red and speckled and cracked. I mentioned this to my Introduction to Psychology course, with a request for suggestions on how to win the battle between my hands and the cruel winter air (and I know, it would help if I actually wore my gloves all the time, but the Vitamin D has to leak in SOMEWHERE).

A student emailed me today with a few questions about our most recent study guide, and she also sent me a link to Crunchy Betty. I think I am in love. Here is a post about dry hands, and by golly, it gives me hope! She's got skin care suggestions, household cleaning suggestions, etc. I especially love the subtitle of the site: You've Got Food on Your Face.

This recent post made me laugh, in addition to providing some general advice to live your life by:

Sometimes You Have to Pee In the Snow, Just to See What Happens.

Indeed.

I want to meet Betty some day.

Confessions of a swamped college instructor

Students in my Advanced Social Psychology course have a big research proposal paper due on Wednesday. They've completed several assignments up to the final paper, including a rough draft that I provided feedback on (which is totally time consuming and I'd like students to know that when an instructor asks for a rough draft you shouldn't complain--they are doing you a FAVOR).

I taught this course once before and radically restructured it this time to place more of a focus on their papers because I think it's the most important part of the course. They are asked to come up with a research question, design an experiment to test their question, and give detailed predictions about what they expect to find. They are all required to have individual meetings with me at least once during the process, and additional meetings if necessary. This paper requires that they become familiar with a particular topic (of interest to THEM), think very hard about methodology and control, and really think through their hypotheses so that the resulting paper is coherent and (I hope) theory-driven.

Wednesday was listed as TBA on the syllabus, and my original plan was to watch videos or discuss topics that had been left hanging from other days. I like to build in a few days of "padding" just in case I am sick, classes or canceled, or they are hopelessly confused about something.

I told them today that since their final paper was due on Wednesday that I was canceling class just in case they needed that extra time to do a few more edits, and that they could turn the paper in to my mailbox by 4 PM. I framed the class cancellation as a reward for their hard work, and they have worked hard.

But the other, more earnest reason I decided to cancel class is that I am totally swamped and didn't want to scramble to prep something, especially if it was just something to fill time. In some sense, it was a reward for all of us. I've been very pleased with our class discussions and the amount of material we've covered this semester. If I really felt that there was something they weren't understanding or that they had been slacking off, I wouldn't cancel class, regardless of the prep time required.

I have to say, I am totally looking forward to that extra 75 minutes on Wednesday.

Academic Phone Interviews

A friend who is still in grad school contacted me for tips on academic phone interviews. He's interviewing for a psychology instructor position at a decent sized university, so not all of my stuff was relevant in this case. He specifically asked if I had prepped any questions and answers prior to the interview. Why yes, I had--I still have the document and I sent it to him. I have posted these questions and answers below, because they were fun for me to read and because maybe someone, somewhere, will find them useful. My actual notes were more concise and written in short-hand--I've expanded them here a little into something resembling complete sentences.

I do have to say, after being on the other side of the hiring process, that the thing that most often hurts a candidate is a lack of research about the job they are applying for. When we talk to a candidate who knows nothing about the institution, the people they would be working with, or the classes offered, it really hurts their chances of being invited out for an on-campus interview.

1. What is your dissertation topic and time line for completion?

• My dissertation is a secondary data analysis focusing on abortion and mental health, and how early risk factors and exposure to violence may explain the association that has been reported between abortion history and mental health.
• Because it is a secondary data analysis, the data has already been collected. I have recoded most of the data and conducted some pilot analyses. I have extensive familiarity with the data set at this time.
• My prospectus meeting is scheduled for the beginning of the spring semester and I plan to graduate in May.
• My committee members all agree that this is a reasonable time line for completion.

What I would say now about this answer: 
That was totally not a reasonable time line for completion, but I got it done anyway.


2. What is your teaching philosophy?

• I emphasize critical thinking and the scientific method in all of my courses
• I believe the goal of a liberal arts education is to create well-informed citizens
• I try to provide a solid foundation for future researchers, while ensuring that other students get useful information for their daily lives
• I try to present material in a wide range of formats
• I utilize different modes of assessment whenever possible

What I would say now about this answer:
I feel pretty much the same way. My objectives haven't changed, but I continue to acquire new tools to achieve them. If you have experience with different methods of teaching, you should talk about this. Specifics are helpful.


3. What undergrad courses do you want to teach? 

• Top choices: Introduction to Psychology, Research Methods, Social Psychology, Advanced Social Psychology, Any other social psychology course, Gender, Psychology of Women
• Comfortable teaching, but not top choices: Statistics, Health Psychology, Personality Psychology, History and Systems, HumanSexuality
• Could do if necessary: Cognitive Psychology, Learning
• Absolutely not: Physiological Psychology, Neuroscience, Biological Psychology, Sensation and Perception

What I would say now about this answer:
This was a great answer and it was tailored to a specific institution because I had done my research. When they ask you what you want to or are willing to teach, they really want to here "anything". I went to their website and found out what courses they offered so that I could speak directly to those courses. I tried to craft an answer that was was honest about what I'm absolutely not qualified to teach, but also showed that I was open to stepping in to fill a need. I like teaching things that are outside of my comfort zone because I learn more in the process.

4. What graduate courses can you teach?

• Top choices: Any social psychology topics, research methods, courses on gender/psychology of women
• Could do with prep: History and systems, Univariate statistics, Brown-bag "crash courses" on quantitative psychology topics

What I would say now about this answer: 
I think these are still accurate. At the graduate level, you should really only teach what you are an expert in. I'd still like to do brown-bag seminars on statistics topics, but will all of my other service commitments, it would be hard to find the time.

5. What are your research interests?

• Aggression, especially gender differences and evolutionary influences. I am particularly interested in the role status plays in aggression for men versus women.
• Violence against women and early childhood risk factors on sexuality and reproductive health; abortion and mental health
• Stereotypes about pregnancy and motherhood
• Stereotypes about gays and lesbians 
• Gender identity

What I would say now about these answers:
These were great answers at the time. I just created a short blurb for my faculty listing on the psychology department website: Social and personality psychology: gender roles; gender identity; stereotyping and prejudice; aggression; evolutionary psychology. Not much has changed.

6. What experience do you have with grants?

• I applied for National Science Foundation funding as a first-year graduate student; it was unfunded.
• I applied for grants through the Graduate and Professional Student Association, but these were also unfunded.
• I successfully obtained a research assistantship through the university. This was a short application, but it required a budget estimate and a description of research to be conducted; this was funded.
• I applied for a pre-doctoral fellowship through the National Institute for Health (NIH) with the National Institute for Drug Abuse (NIDA) as the funding agency; this was funded.

What I would say about this now:
That's pretty much all I could say at the time, and there's not much more to say about grants other than you either were funded or weren't.

7.  What do you think your vita (resume) will look like in 5 years?

• A handful of abortion and mental health studies that utilize structural equation modeling
• A program of research that focuses on stereotypes about motherhood and pregnancy and the implications for quality of medical care and employment opportunities
• A few aggression studies that are follow-up studies to my Masters thesis
• Collaborative projects on gender identity
• Potentially some projects about gay and lesbian stereotypes
• Greater breadth of courses taught
• Additional extramural (grant) funding

What I would say about this now:
This was too many answers, even if it was the truth about my goals. I was trying to play up my strengths and show that I had some big goals and some more manageable goals, but it was still too much. The emphasis on teaching was important for the job that I was particularly interested in, so that was good. If I could do this question over, however, I would split it up into what was most promising (the aggression stuff) and what I would like to put more time into after establishing a publication record (pregnancy and motherhood stereotypes) in a way similar to the way I split up my teaching interests.

8. What skills do you bring?

• Broad training in social psychology
• Familiarity with learning, developmental psychopathology, clinical psychology
• Background in Women's studies
• Strong quantitative background
• Experience with secondary data analysis of large scale data sets
• Integration of social and clinical psychology--early risk factors that influence life-course trajectories
• Openness to work with students who have a wide variety of interests; enjoyment of student-led projects
• Openness to collaboration

What I would say about this now:
I would emphasize that I really, really, love working with students. If you are applying for a Research 1 job, that's a bad answer. They want to know that you have a line of research ready to go, and that your students will be working on it. I, however, really enjoy student-driven research even when it's outside of my main areas of interest. This is a major plus for liberal arts jobs, or the unique position I have at UND where research does happen, but teaching is valued. It also turns out that I have way more statistical knowledge than the average faculty member, so I am perfectly happy to analyze data, write up the results, and take a 2nd author position. This may not be a plus in some interviewing situations (like an R1 job), but it's a plus to other faculty once you have arrived (especially in smaller departments).


9. What makes you unique/diverse?

• Non-traditional educational trajectory
• First generation college student; comfortable working with a diverse range of students
• Raised in rural area; sensitive to needs of rural students
• Background in Women's Studies and social psychology with a heavy evolutionary focus has enhanced my ability to consider diverse perspectives
• Training in experimental methods, survey methods, quantitative methods, large-scale data sets, some qualitative methods

What I would say about this now:
I made sure for the interview with UND to mention that I came from a rural area because I had done my research about their student population. This may not be a plus for some jobs, but I think it was a good thing to mention for this job. I would now add that I am approachable--students seem to be comfortable with me and I think that's a good thing, and it probably stems from me feeling like an "impostor" in academia :)


10. What are your weaknesses?

• Physiological/biological/neuropsychology
• Passion for teaching--it's often easier to focus on the immediate gratification of teaching at the expense of finding time for writing

What I would say about this now:
These are still my greatest weaknesses. My love for teaching and the fact that students approach me means that if I am not careful, teaching and working with students sucks up all of my time. I still struggle to get writing done, which is why I don't mind taking a 2nd or 3rd author position on a paper if it means that I just wrote little snippets and analyzed data. However, if I ever want a promotion, I will need more first-author publications. Publish or perish. Publish or perish.

11. What is my theoretical orientation?

• Broad interdisciplinary framework
• Multi-level approach that integrates the power of the situation and the broader social context that gives meaning to a particular situation
• Background in psychology of women as well as social psychology and evolutionary psychology

What I would say about this now:
I'm not even sure what that answer means. After being out of grad school for a short period of time now, I have to say that the theoretical framework that I find myself most often bringing up in conversation is an evolutionary social psych framework, but that's in part due to the fact that I'm the only person in our department with any real expertise in evolutionary social psychology. When I was surrounded by evolutionary psychologists at ASU, I often brought up sociocultural perspectives. I don't think they are at odds with each other--I think they compliment each other. The big trend that's surfacing now is how to merge evolutionary psychology and cultural psychology. Maybe my personal theoretical orientation is "devil's advocate" or "shit disturber".

12. What is your teaching experience?

• Instructor: Research methods lectures and laboratories; Introduction to Psychology, Introduction to Statistics
• Teaching assistant: Social Psychology, Introduction to Psychology, Introduction to Statistics
• Tutor in high school and as undergraduate

13. How do you engage in student mentorship?

• Recruit research assistants from courses taught
• During first semester, research assistants have light duties to prove they are reliable (pass/fail grade)
• Increased responsibility with experience--supervisory roles, training on data analysis, etc.
• Willingness to mentor student-driven projects with students who are motivated and interested in doing so.

What I would say about this answer now:
I would now emphasize that even though I could probably get most of my research done with very few research assistants, I will work with almost anyone who wants research experience. I start the questionable students out on tasks that are less important so that I can determine whether they are reliable. I think one of the greatest things that happens in psychology departments is that undergraduates get research experience--that's where they really learn about psychology. In this regard, I try to make research a teaching activity. I would now emphasize the importance of training a chain of leaders and delegating responsibility. If you have a job where you are supervising grad students, you can pretty much put them in charge of your lab. If you are using undergraduates, you need to find the real stars who function as well as grad students, get them trained, and then delegate. The delegation part is hard, and it takes some time, but hopefully it means that they will then train their replacements. If you are applying for a liberal arts job or a teaching-intensive job, they want to know how your research is an extension of your teaching. I cannot help but make my research an extension of my teaching because I cannot help but want to teach students how to be researchers. Even if they don't pursue careers that have anything to do with psychology research, I hope that they at become better consumers of information and better citizens as a result of the time they spend in my lab.

The menstrual cycle and other wonders

We talked about sex in my introductory psychology class yesterday. I answered the questions that they had submitted. I used this video and this image to discuss the menstrual cycle and pregnancy.

I used this page to discuss why the withdrawal method is not very effective, as well as to address the question, can I have sex without a condom and just put one on before ejaculation?

We discussed the history of the vibrator to "cure" hysteria--I didn't show this slideshow, but I wanted to. We just didn't have enough time. I talked about Freud's views on femininity and a mature female sexual response, such as:

With the change to femininity the clitoris should wholly or in part hand over its sensitivity, and at the same time its importance, to the vagina. 

I love this quote, because in my cartoon brain I see a little clitoris character literally handing something over to the vagina, and the vagina just stands there looking confused.

Many people still feel that there is something "wrong" with a woman if she can't achieve orgasm through vaginal penetration alone. I talked about that for a few minutes too.

On Thursday, we'll be talking about Personality, so we'll discuss Freud some more. I can't wait.

Sex...what they want to know

I am teaching Introduction to Psychology this semester. I allot extra time to talk about sex, sexual motivation, and sexual orientation. I leave a drop box at the back of the classroom so students can submit questions anonymously. Where else can they ask? Most of the kids students in the course are in their first year of college--it's the first time they are away from home, with more freedom than they've ever experienced. I think it's really important to inform them about sex.

What kinds of questions did I get this year? I have tried to answer them here to the best of my knowledge, but if you know more about something, please chime in. I will be editing my answers for the class.

• Why do guys like it doggy style so much?
• I don't know how to answer this. Have you considered asking one of them? I know a lot of women who like it too, myself included.
• What is the best time to have sex if you want to get pregnant?
• Did you pay attention in health class? Wait, did you even have sex ed in high school? There's a good chance the answer is no, or that you had a version of sex ed that was "don't do it until you're married". I'm gonna go find some charts and graphs for class.
• What is a G-spot and where is it?
• Is it okay to start having sex without a condom, then add one before ejaculation/half-way through?
• This is a perfect example of why I want you to submit questions. You are headed for disaster.
• What causes whiskey dick? How can they prevent it?
• I think the cause, and solution, are implied in the term.
• Is it more fun to have sex when you're high?
• High on what? I would like to answer your question, but I don't remember. Just kidding. Sort of.
• Is there something wrong if a female doesn't orgasm during sex?
• "Wrong"? I'm not a fan of that word. Do you mean physically wrong? Probably not. Does she ever orgasm? Is she bothered by not having orgasms during sex? Does she orgasm through masturbation? Many women have trouble achieving orgasm during intercourse, but can still orgasm through masturbation. Very few women orgasm with only vaginal stimulation--most require some sort of clitoral stimulation.
• Does size matter?
• Size of what? Heh. 
• For gay men, why is it more pleasurable to have the penis go in the anus instead of the vagina?
• Maybe because they don't have vaginas? I think you are asking why they prefer anuses instead of vaginas? I think it more about preferring men, as whole people, rather than a particular body part. Also, not all gay men are into anal sex.
• Can you get pregnant on your period?
• Yes.
• How have casual sexual relationships undermined the future relationships of today's youth and young adults? Does casual sex affect the monogamy of a relationship later in an individual's life?
• You're religious, aren't you? I don't know how to answer this. Are you asking whether people who have casual sex will later cheat because they had casual sex? A better question would relate to intimacy. If someone only likes casual sex, they probably have problems with intimacy. Those problems with intimacy are what will likely cause problems later. And I'm not sure that young adults today are particularly casual about their sex, from a really broad historical perspective.
• Why do men wake up with an erection?
• REM sleep causes genital arousal in men and women. Women just don't get erections.
• How does one treat orgasmic disorders?
• This is a big question. For most women, they need to find the clitoris.
• Why are animals more influenced by sex hormones than humans?
•  Are they more influenced, or do we fool ourselves? We probably seem less affected because we have TVs.
• What does sex feel like?
•  Depends on how you define sex and who you do it with.
• If a guy ejaculates in a hot tub, can the girl get pregnant?
• Not likely, but I like Glee too.
• Is penis curvature normal?
• Mostly.
• What is the average penis size?
• I get this question every year.
• Are there any taboos left?
• Depends on who you ask.
• Are there areas of sexuality that we don't know about?
• I'm sure there are.
• Is it true that you can't get pregnant if you have sex in water?
• No.
• Can masturbation ruin your sex life?
• I certainly hope not. I think the consensus is that it helps.
• What is the average age to lose your virginity?
• Depends on the culture. In the United States it's around 17, but there are ethnic/cultural variations. In Japan, it's closer to 22.
• When do kids become curious about sex?
• Define sex. Kids are curious about everything.
• What sort of "sexual" behavior do young kids exhibit?
•  I don't know if it's "sexual", but they will stimulate their genitals at about the same age that they disover them.
• What happens if you bleed after sex?
• If it's just a little blood, nothing. If it's a lot of blood, you might want to call your health care provider.
• What if the condom gets stuck?
• Define "stuck". Stuck inside? Pull it out. Hopefully there is no semen in it yet.
• Is the pill dangerous?
• I don't take it. But I also birthed at home and selectively vaccinate. Generally, I don't trust doctors except in emergencies and I don't like messing around with my body chemistry.
• What are the first signs of pregnancy?
• A missed period is usually the first sign.

These are the questions that 18-22 year old college students in North Dakota most want to know.