Playing Catch-up . . . again

The Dark End of the Street. "A black woman's body is never her own." Until relatively recently, that was all too true. The reality was that while a black man's wayward glance at a white woman could mean he'd be swinging from a tree, white men were free to rape black women with impunity; there was little risk that he would suffer any consequence, but certainly not a death sentence even though the death penalty was available for rape at that time. "The Dark End of the Street" is a pretty appropos title, given that much of what happened was hidden. The police that raped women, the drunkards who went cruising for a black woman to abduct, story-after-story of women who suffered pain and humiliation with no recourse.

Perhaps the most surprising thing was that Rosa Parks was an activist in the fight for justice. Indeed, until the bus boycott, she was better-known for that. Also surprising was that one of the Little Rock Nine was a victim of an attack by a white man.

I am often reminded that the present is a pretty good time to be alive for women. This book is yet another reminder of the how much things have improved for women, black women in particular.


Sex at Dawn. This was a fascinating book, positing the theory that from an evolutionary or anthropological standpoint, humans were not meant to be monogamous. Rather, our history and our evolution suggest that we are better suited for lots of different partners. The authors theorize that the thing thing that changed the trajectory of human sexual development was the move to agriculture, which led to a need for private property, which resulted in women becoming another object of ownership. They support their theory with evidence that hunters and gathers were more cooperative and collaborative because there was no reason to fight--there was plenty of food and it was easy to move to another area to avoid strife. Rather, sex was used as a way to build cooperation and collaboration. There was little concern about paternity certainty, but rather it was to the advantage of the community that all men protect all children.

The authors further describe a variety of hunter-gatherer peoples in which there is lots of sex among lots of people. In some of those cultures, there is the belief that a young woman must be filled with semen upon menarche or other special occasions, which come from various men.

The authors also build their case with descriptions of bonobos, the primates that are nearest to humans who have multiple partners. Moreover, the question the size of the human penis as compared to that of primates where there is a dominant male or pair-bonding. According to them, in humans, rather thabe men battling by size or other prowess, the real competition occurs at the sperm level, i.e. the man whose sperm has the best shot of hitting the jackpot of the egg will have the best chance of reproducing. A larger penis helps get the job done. Plus why are men so fast on the trigger while women take so long to get going? Because, if there are lots of men doing a woman, it's no problem.

In short, there is a reasonably convincing case that humans are not "naturally" monogamous. I'm not planning on having an affair, but it's an interesting theory.


The Secret Life of the Grown-Up Brain. I felt so much better after reading this book! I'm not losing my mind, and there's little reason to believe that I have early stage dementia just because I find my self questioning what I went to the kitchen to retrieve or do. This is a feel-good book, that reminded me that being middle-aged has its advantages. The studies show that as we age, we are more easily distracted, hence forgetting what we were doing, but we also have a better ability, as compared to younger folks, to focus on what's important and to respond accordingly. We take longer to learn new things, but once we don, we're as good or better as the younguns! Plus, we're happy, happier than the young folks. Provided that we are are in good health with sufficient resources, we tend to be happier than young people because the kids are raised and we have perspective.

Some of what is in this book seems obvious, but I learned some things about what's happening as my brain ages. There's still plenty of plasticity and cell growth that means everything is A-OK, just different.

The Female Brain. A look at what makes a brain female and the developmental stages it goes through, from birth to post-menopausal. It was interesting. Some things were obvious (e.g. girls have a larger area of their brains devoted to talking and teenage girls are very much affected by hormone spikes), but it was nonetheless interesting. If there was one gripe, it was that the author, a psychiatrist, took some of the anecdotes from her practice, which sames made up of far too many whiners who don't need a shrink, but some of Helen Wilson's common sense to just get on with life. Anyway, it was a good read.

Reading: The God Delusion; Pledged: The Secret Life of Sororities
Listening: Nothing currently. something soon.