American Idol this year has connections to two issues dear to my heart: the craniofacial disorders known as cleft lip and palate kids and the cyberbullying they often experience. The connections include a young singer from greater New Orelans, Cameron Richard, and the father of the A.I. winner of last year's runaway hit show Nick Fradiani. Cleft lip and palate. 'A Raceland teen who won over the hearts of many across the country on "American Idol" is bringing attention to Cleft … [Read more...]
Beauty varies by country/sex, but lookism still fuels surgeries.
As we try to fight lookism, we see one obvious factor supporting our cause. It is the fact that beauty and attractiveness vary by sex and by country. That is, men and women have different ideals regarding attractiveness as do people from different countries. (Not so commonly referenced is the factor that attractiveness ideals change over time, e.g., the 1800s, the 1920s, the 1950s, now).Most distressing, however, is the fact that western media (films, magazines, the internet, etc.) are spreading … [Read more...]
Cambodia’s rate of untreated cleft lip and palate: world’s worst.
Cambodia's beauty hides some ugly truths.Cambodia is a beautiful country which allows some of its not-so-beautiful cleft lip and palate babies to go untreated. I traveled there less than a year ago to pay homage to the country's beauty and unbelievable historic ruins. But one could not escape the harsh political climate which may be a holdover from the help neighboring Viet Nam provided in overthrowing the genocidal regime of Pol Pot several decades ago. As a result, many Cambodians must go to … [Read more...]
Jesus with a cleft lip in Mary-Magdalene biopic?
Joaquin Phoenix Will Likely Play Jesus with a cleft lip.Hollywood is abuzz with the news that Joaquin Phoenix will likely play Jesus, with a cleft lip, in a new movie about Mary Magdalene—an important woman in Jesus' life. It will reportedly be "an authentic and humanistic portrait of one of the most enigmatic and misunderstood spiritual figures in history.” Jesus with a cleft lip will be a first.Other actors to have famously taken on the role of Jesus in past films include Willem Dafoe (The … [Read more...]
Lookism equal time: what makes a woman attractive?
In last week's lookism blog post, I passed on six scientifically proven tips on how men can be more physically attractive to women. In the interest of fair play, now we have six for women – all based on scientific studies presented by a respected source. Lookism originally started as men ogling women.Because of the importance of marriage to women historically, many young women have tried to figure outover the ages what makes them attractive to men. Science has recently generated many studies … [Read more...]
Lookism: what do women like in men?
The languid days of summer are upon us in America. That means there's more chance that we men will be socializing with women. Heck, some of us will even be stripping down to bathing suits on beaches.Lookism seems a natural tendency in males.Many young men try to figure out what makes them more attractive to women. A variety of studies have looked at the parts of the body women zero in on as "attractive." Five features are singled out in this videoAs the so-called science of attraction marches … [Read more...]
Cyberbullying: a level playing field for the disabled.
This transcript of an Academic Minute* (way shorter than a TED Talk) describes a power shift in the dynamic involving children with disabilities. Traditionally, kids with physical—and not so obvious intellectual or emotional—disabilities were bullied more often than average children. In fact, half of all kids with observable differences were picked on—way more than the one-in-five norm for everyday kids.The disabled and the risk of cyberbullying.However, Robin Kowalski from Clemson University … [Read more...]