Columnist.
Literature reviews are a common thing in the world of academic research. They often involve esoteric topics confined to a narrow universe of scholarly interest. Few literature reviews, however, have generated as much controversy as the recently published paper "Sexuality and Gender: Findings from the Biological, Psychological and Social Sciences," by Lawrence Mayer and Paul McHugh. Among the issues attracting attention in the Mayer-McHugh paper is the claim that the causes of sexual orientation are poorly understood, but — most importantly — that genetics is not the sole determinant of sexual orientation. The hypothesis that those who have lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) orientations were born that way is found to be inconsistent with the data.
In MASH, one of America's longest-running TV shows, the beloved character Max Klinger dressed as a woman. Klinger hoped to get a so-called "Section 8," which is a mental-health discharge in the military. Everyone who watched the show when it ran in prime time understood that a man who thought he was a woman had a mental-health challenge. According to the script, not even Klinger himself really believed he was woman. Today we are confronted with the challenge of how to respond to individuals who truly believe their mental experience of gender does not match their biology.
There is much talk and action right now on the issue of a minimum or "just" wage. Typically, those who favor raising the minimum wage tend to the liberal camp. However, some of those who want to raise the minimum wage are social conservatives or have conservative sympathies. They are concerned about those people who are working long hours at honest work, perhaps even achieving supervisory positions while still earning less than $15 an hour. There are too many people working jobs that would have once been careers who do not earn a living wage, and this has consequences.
I expect that I confuse a lot of people at the gym where I work out. I have been asked more than once why I breathe so hard. The short answer is that I do high-intensity interval workouts where I raise my heart rate and then recover before beginning another interval. Some people have looked at me strangely when I talk to myself, probably somewhat loudly because I am wearing headphones. But I suspect there is something about me that is more confusing than either of these. Many are surely confused because I am pudgy; those who are blunt might even say fat. I have been regularly doing intense workouts for years, yet I do not have the physique expected of such a person. I am not alone; the expectation that exercise will result in massive weight loss and a buff body often fails to materialize.
I recently saw the documentary "3801 Lancaster: An American Tragedy." I went home and cried. I don't mean tears of joy. No, I *cried*. The last time I cried was when my dad died. The last time before that I can easily remember crying was when I was in the fifth grade and a friend was struck by a car and killed. "3801 Lancaster" is about the work of physician Kermit Gosnell. Dr. Gosnell performed late-term abortions; the abortions that most other providers refused to do but for which they would refer clients to Gosnell.
