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Headphones Can Be Risky

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Editor
– September 4, 2010Posted in: Cover Stories, Features, Health & Fitness

Personal listening devices like iPods have become increasingly popular among young — and not-so-young — people in recent years. But music played through headphones too loud or too long might pose a significant risk to hearing, according to a 24-year study of adolescent girls.

The study, which appears online in the Journal of Adolescent Health, involved 8,710 students of lower socioeconomic status, whose average age was about 16. Their hearing was tested when they entered a residential facility in the U.S Northeast.

“I had the rare opportunity, as an audiologist, to see how this population changed over the years,” said Abbey Berg, Ph.D., lead study author and a professor in the Department of Biology & Health Sciences at Pace University in New York.

In this period, high-frequency hearing loss — a common casualty of excessive noise exposure — nearly doubled, from 10.1 percent in 1985 to 19.2 percent, she found.

Between 2001, when testers first asked about it, and 2008, personal music player use rose fourfold, from 18.3 percent to 76.4 percent. High-frequency hearing loss increased from 12.4 percent to 19.2 percent during these years, while the proportion of students reporting tinnitus —ringing, buzzing or hissing in the ears — nearly tripled, from 4.6 percent to 12.5 percent.

Overall, teens using the devices were 80 percent more likely to have impaired hearing than those who did not; of the teens reporting tinnitus, all but one (99.7 percent) were users.

However, “just because there’s an association, it doesn’t mean cause and effect,” Berg said. For the teens who took part in the study, other aspects of their lives — poverty, poor air quality, substance abuse, risk-taking behavior —might Sadd to the effects of noise exposure.

“This paper offers compelling evidence that the inappropriate use of headphones is indeed affecting some people’s hearing, and the number of ‘some people’ is not small,” said Brian Fligor, director of diagnostic audiology at Children’s Hospital Boston.

The level of impairment detected in this study might have been relatively subtle “but the point is that it is completely avoidable,” said Fligor, who has no affiliation with the study.

“The ear is going to be damaged throughout your lifetime; what we’re seeing here resembles early onset age-related hearing loss — you might think of it as prematurely aging the ear,” he said.

“I don’t demonize headphones,” said Fligor, who encourages moderation, not prohibition. At a reasonable volume — conversational or slightly louder—there’s little risk, he said: “It’s when you start overworking the ear that you get problems.”

Berg said her findings suggest the need for more effective educational efforts to reduce unsafe listening behavior, particularly among disadvantaged youth. “You have to target them at a much younger age, when they are liable be more receptive,” she said.

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Laws Equate Sex to Love

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Editor
– September 1, 2010Posted in: Advice & Editorials, Cover Stories, Daily, Gay FAQ, Health & Fitness, Politics

What do banning sex toys, being fired for an off-hours affair, or losing custody of a child because of sexual orientation have in common?

They’re all the result of legal rulings, thanks in part to narrow interpretations of a 2003 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that eliminated criminal prohibitions against sodomy according to Laura Rosenbury, JD, professor of law, at Washington University in St. Louis.

In the landmark case Lawrence v. Texas, the high court ruled 6-3 that Texas’ criminal ban on sodomy between consenting adults was unconstitutional. The decision, which overturned similar laws in other states, was expected to broaden, not restrict, sexual rights.

The petitioners in Lawrence, two men who had been arrested for engaging in sodomy in a private home, were not in a committed, romantic relationship with each other. (It was a jealous partner who called police.) But since the ruling was handed down, scores of lower court cases have held that the case applies only to sexual activity involving emotional intimacy.

These subsequent rulings stem from Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy’s wording of the decision, according to Rosenbury, who co-authored “Sex In and Out of Intimacy,” published in July in the Emory Law Journal.

“Justice Kennedy actually overlooked the actual facts of the case and instead reasoned that consensual sexual activity should be constitutionally protected because it’s an important part of relationships,” Rosenbury says. “And the lower courts have used that language, not the facts of the case, to protect sex only when it’s in this relationship context.”

LONG HISTORY OF CORRALLING SEX, RELATIONSHIPS

States have long protected sexual activity only when it serves the states’ own interests, typically marriage and procreation. While Lawrence has reined in that effort in some cases, the ruling has reinforced the link between sex and relationships in others by suggesting the protection of sexual activity should occur only in long-lasting, intimate associations.

“States used to be much more coercive, punishing sex outside of marriage, and have gradually become less coercive but they still maintain this idea that sex is only valuable in relationships,” Rosenbury says. “We’re trying to highlight how such practices remain to this day, and to provide arguments for really letting go of the channeling of sex into marriage or other relationships that have the potential of long-term intimacy.”

States’ constant linking of sex and intimacy diminishes not only sex outside of relationships but also intimate relationships that are not sexual. Rosenbury’s article asks: Why shouldn’t states allow people to divide the rights and obligations currently attached to marriage among a variety of others: spouses, friends, siblings and sexual partners.

The sex-intimacy connection also reinforces gender stereotypes, assuming that that men achieve intimacy primarily through sex and that women desire intimacy over sex, according to Rosenbury.

“There have long been sexual double standards, and protecting sex only when it is in the service of intimacy does nothing to change those standards,” Rosenbury says. “Although Lawrence acknowledged that emotional intimacy need not involve women, it did nothing to disrupt the idea that sexual pleasure is a male domain.”

Rosenbury, whose research and teaching focuses on sex, family, work and other everyday issues, is committed to examining ways that the law influences seemingly private relationships and conduct. “Sex In and Out of Intimacy” is her most recent examination of that phenomenon.

Popularity: 15% [?]

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Book Explores Two-Spirit Literature

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Editor
– August 28, 2010Posted in: Cover Stories, Daily, Features, Homosexual History

Western culture’s grappling with homosexuality and alternate genders isn’t strictly limited to the United States, but is also prevalent in many Native American and native Alaskan groups — or native nations. That issue is the focus of work by one Kansas State University researcher.

Lisa Tatonetti, associate professor of English and American ethnic studies, received a fellowship to “Native Cultures of Western Alaska and the Pacific Northwest Coast,” a National Endowment for the Humanities’ summer institute. She used the opportunity to meet with various native groups to learn about their policies and cultures, including those on alternative sexualities and genders.

Her findings will contribute to her upcoming book, “Queering American Indian Literature: The Rise of Contemporary Two-Spirit Texts and Criticism.” It will be the first literary exploration into recorded Two-Spirit literature, mapping its inception in the early 1970s to its rise in present day and its criticism.

“Two-Spirit is a term coined in the ’90s that refers to people of native cultures who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender/transsexual or queer,” said Tatonetti, who is a foremost scholar in this field. “There’s been this explosion of Two-Spirit literature since the ’70s.”

A native nation refers to a collective body of Native American people who are citizens in an indigenous nation existing within the U.S. or Canada, Tatonetti said. In Alaska alone, more than 300 native cultures exist.

“Traditionally in native cultures, many native nations have alternate genders and different sexuality spaces,” she said.

But when Spanish and French missionaries and settlers first encountered these beliefs and practices in native cultures, they deemed them barbaric, often resulting in the practitioners’ deaths because they did not adhere to beliefs of Judeo-Christian origin. Consequently, this forced the Two-Spirit movement underground, Tatonetti said.

Although the summer institute wasn’t focused on Two-Spirit work, Tatonetti said it allowed her insight into the Yup’ik, Tlingit, Tsimshian, Haida and Kwakwaka’wakw nations, whose cultures differ greatly from those of native nations in the lower 48 states.

For her research she met with internationally known scholars and native artists every day for month.

“When I learned about a particular culture, I asked if their nation had these Two-Spirit traditions. It was amazing because everywhere I went these traditions existed,” Tatonetti said.

Even though a part of many cultures’ histories, she found that acceptance of Two-Spirit practices varied, and contemporary Two-Spirit people often faced the same tribulations as those with alternative sexuality and gender roles in the U.S.

“There are Two-Spirit societies all over the northwest area I visited and also throughout the U.S.,” Tatonetti said. “It’s funny, because while nations like the Navajo and Cherokee have multiple gender traditions, they also have passed their own defense of marriage acts.

“It’s been a back-and-forth in many nations for a long time. I think this literature is blossoming right now because of shifts in the larger conversations in academia and queer studies, and because of the changes in understanding happening in the U.S.,” Tatonetti said. “Historically these native nations are ahead of where American culture currently is in terms of their understanding of the complexity of gender and sex roles, but today they face similar debates and challenges.”

Tatonetti recently co-edited and contributed to “Sovereign Erotics: A Collection of Contemporary Two-Spirit Literature,” which is slated for release with the University of Arizona Press in spring 2011. Her work on Two-Spirit literature has appeared in various journals, edited collections and contemporary magazines.

Tatonetti began studying Two-Spirit literature soon after earning her doctorate from Ohio State University in 2001.

Popularity: 23% [?]

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The Four Best Exercises

By
Editor
– August 28, 2010Posted in: Body Talk, Features, Health & Fitness

Exercise trends are called trends for a reason. They last about as long as a head of lettuce and offer about as many benefits. But some have been around since the birth of weight lifting, and that’s because they work.

But which are the best of the best, and how can you maximize them?

Push-ups
imageWhat’s great about pushups is that you can do them even though you may be weaker than a pick up line. You can start with a few, and over time increase repetitions at a good, even pace that builds muscle in the chest, shoulders and triceps. Different variations of the exercise can work the abdominals as well.

The one-arm pushup: It’s the pushup that impresses, the one that only the strongest and bravest should attempt. That’s right I’m talking about you.

Widen your feet and place your hand on the floor beneath the middle of your chest. Tuck your other arm behind your back. As you lower yourself, you’ll realize that this isn’t a straight-up-and-down movement like a regular pushup.

You’ll twist on the ball of your foot and untwist as you push yourself back up—if you can. You’ll feel muscles working all up and down the side of your body that corresponds to which hand is on the floor.

Do an equal number with each arm, and don’t even try one-arm pushups unless you can bench-press your own body weight eight to 10 times.

imageThe Arm-Blaster Curl
The arm blaster hangs from your shoulders and prevents your elbows from moving forward and back during a curl.

This forces your biceps to work much harder than they would if allowed to swing a little.

Consequently, this curl is the best single exercise for working all parts of the biceps with maximum intensity.

The Squat
imageIf you aren’t doing squats in your workout, then you don’t have a workout. Squats shape the body and develop performance power.

It’s the easiest power move to learn, and you’ll see the fastest results in both strength and muscle size.

To get more out of the squat: Focus on squatting deeper, rather than heavier. The key is to descend until your thighs are parallel to the floor, while still keeping your heels on the floor and maintaining the natural arch in your lower back.

Use a light weight until you develop the correct form.

This deeper squat builds muscle faster and is safer for your knees than a squat in which you stop before your thighs are parallel to the floor. When you cut a squat short, you turn your knees into brakes. And you know what happens to brakes. They wear out.

The Clean and Jerk
imageThe clean and jerk used to be a staple move in hard-core gyms where guys would throw around weights the size of small cars.

But it’s making a big comeback in collegiate training rooms and with the popularity of its champion, Ivan Stoitsov (photo). It requires a combination of speed, strength, skill and balance that few exercises can match.

Place your feet hip-width apart with the bar directly over the balls of your feet. Set the bar right above the point where your toes meet the rest of your foot. Place your hands just about shoulder width apart.

Begin to lift the bar by pushing your feet through the floor. Keep your shoulders, hips and the bar all moving at the same rate of speed. The bar will get to about mid-thigh.

Give your shoulders a big “shrug” and jump your feet out to the sides as you raise the bar to your shoulders. Catch the bar across your shoulders with your elbows held high. You’ll be in a squat position with bar slightly under your chin.

Slowly rise up out of the squat until you’re standing straight with the bar on your chest. Take a deep breath and dip down before you raise the bar overhead.

When complete, split your feet with one leg forward, the other one back and hold. Get steady then bring your legs even with each other again.

So go ahead and jerk. Get a spotter, and start with light weights. Focus on building speed more than building strength. Add weight only when your form is fluid and the move feels natural.

If you’re not ready, use dumbbells instead of a barbell.

imageContributing blogger Troy Meyers is a certified personal trainer and sports conditioner with more than 10 years of experience. He owns Atlanta-based JockBoyLocker.comand contributes to the site’s Lockerroom Blog.

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Web Access Improves Chances at Relationships

By
Editor
– August 25, 2010Posted in: Cover Stories, Culture, Daily, Features, Gay Marriage, The Whole Man

Adults who have Internet access at home are much more likely to be in romantic relationships than adults without Internet access, according to research to be presented at the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association.

“Although prior research on the social impacts of Internet use has been rather ambiguous about the social cost of time spent online, our research suggests that Internet access has an important role to play in helping Americans find mates,” said Michael J. Rosenfeld, an associate professor of sociology at Stanford University and the lead author of the study, “Meeting Online: The Rise of the Internet as a Social Intermediary.”

According to the study, 82.2 percent of participants who had Internet access at home also had a spouse or romantic partner, compared to a 62.8-percent partnership rate for adults who did not have Internet access. The paper uses data from Wave I of the How Couples Meet and Stay Together (HCMST) survey, a nationally representative survey of 4,002 adults, of whom 3,009 had a spouse or romantic partner.

In addition to finding that people are more likely to be in romantic relationships if they have Internet access in their homes, Rosenfeld and study co-author Reuben J. Thomas, an assistant professor of sociology at the City University of New York, found that the Internet is the one social arena that is unambiguously gaining importance over time as a place where couples meet.

“With the meteoric rise of the Internet as a way couples have met in the past few years, and the concomitant recent decline in the central role of friends, it is possible that in the next several years the Internet could eclipse friends as the most influential way Americans meet their romantic partners, displacing friends out of the top position for the first time since the early 1940s,” Rosenfeld said.

The study also found that the Internet is especially important for finding potential partners in groups where the supply is small or difficult to identify such as in the gay, lesbian, and middle-aged heterosexual communities.

Among couples who met within two years of the HCMST Wave I survey in the winter of 2009, 61 percent of same-sex couples and 21.5 percent of heterosexual couples met online.

“Couples who meet online are much more likely to be same-sex couples, and somewhat more likely to be from different religious backgrounds,” Rosenfeld said. “The Internet is not simply a new and more efficient way to keep in touch with our existing networks; rather the Internet is a new kind of social intermediary that may reshape the kinds of partners and relationships we have.”

The paper, “Meeting Online: The Rise of the Internet as a Social Intermediary,” will be presented on Monday, Aug. 16, at 8:30 a.m. EST in the Atlanta Marriott Marquis at the American Sociological Association’s 105th Annual Meeting.

About the American Sociological Association
The American Sociological Association (www.asanet.org), founded in 1905, is a non-profit membership association dedicated to serving sociologists in their work, advancing sociology as a science and profession, and promoting the contributions to and use of sociology by society.

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