Dear Mr. Dad: My 13-year old son told my husband and me that his gender identity is “non-binary” and that he wants to start using different pronouns—“they” and “their” instead of “he” and “him.” We asked whether that means he’s gay, but he just laughed and said that there’s a big difference between gender identity...Continue reading
Tag: gender
Feminizing Boys as We Masculinize Girls
Should we try to make our sons like what our daughters used to be? One of the things I remember from my graduate school experience was learning about “Occam’s razor.” Basically, what I recall is that it meant that when competing theories arise, it is best to use the one that makes the fewest...Continue reading
How Men Win when They Support Women in Technology
Forging healthy relationships in and out of the workplace has benefits for everyone. When it comes to technology in the workplace, men historically have always had the edge, occupying the majority of jobs. These days however, it’s not just men who are geeking out over technology and occupying the majority of seats in colleges...Continue reading
Public Health in Action – Time for a Reality Check
Back in 2008, in the summer between semesters at graduate school, I took an internship with the Men’s Health Network (MHN) in Washington, D.C. I had no idea then how transformative it would be. Looking back now, it was a reality check of sorts. In the semester before my internship, I took a class on...Continue reading
Beyond Health Care
Health reform has been a topic of great importance here in Washington for the past few months since discussions and debates have intensified in June, 2009. Health reform, however, has primarily focused on one aspect of health – health care. In the broader sense, though, health encompasses a wider reach. For example, health professionals are...
The Questions We Don’t Ask
Socioeconomic status, discrimination, housing, physical environment, food security, child development, culture, social support, health care services, transportation, working conditions, age, gender and race. What do they have in common? The factors listed above are believed to contribute, in one way or another, to our overall health status. In essence, the aforementioned factors, collectively called the...Continue reading