I am often reluctant to criticize the work of other academics but this one seemed a bit problematic. The Old Dominion University was awarded a $1 million grant by the National Institutes of Health to conduct a study of lesbian couples to see if stress makes them drink too much. Most people would say that stress drinking for any couple would seem well established in history without a million-dollar study.
We have an epidemic of heroin overdoses and a national mental health crisis. Yet, we are spending one million dollars for a study on whether stress drives some lesbians to drink.
The grant states that “Sexual minority women (i.e., women who self-identify as lesbian and bisexual) report more heavy drinking, more alcohol-related problems, and higher rates of alcohol use disorders as compared to heterosexual women.” The researchers note that “Despite this awareness, no studies have examined how relationship factors and partners’ alcohol use contribute to hazardous drinking among female sexual minority couples.”
There may be a good reason for that.
Rush just told us that they are taking over all the farming, now we have to worry about our booze?
follow the money!!!
I would argue that for every family member couple,one likes Rye the other likes Pie.
PS. As some commenters have pointed out: no wonder so many are angry/violent/etc.
If the majority of the population is heterosexual, that means heterosexuals have more mainstream venues and more opportunities from which to find a significant other. LGBT people have less venues and a more restricted/limited population from which to find significant other. I think that itself might encourage self-medication among the LGBT populace.
Sorry, SkaterDude, that doesn’t make any sense. If homosexuals are an estimated 5% of the population, that still means there are a lot more of them than some minority groups. Jews are 3% of the U.S. population, and I’m sure most find mates without becoming angry drunks. Muslims in the U.S. are about 2%; the same is true of Japanese-Americans. I could go on, but there are all kinds of people in this country who are very few in number and that doesn’t turn them into alcoholics. The issue with gays is that they are angry and possessed of self-hate became they want to be something they can never be. A man can never be a woman, and a woman who wants to be a man is never going to get that. Yes, they can mutilate their bodies, but in the end, Bruce Jenner is just a freaky guy who chopped off his dick. He’s never going to be a woman. That’s the source of depression and self-hate with homosexuals. Sad, really…
So many assumptions there without any basis. Clearly this grant does research in an area where it is much needed, where the fogs of misinformation and dysinformation do real damage now.
Can we double the amount?
These grants are highly competitive, by the way. I’m loathe to criticize scientists whose work is approved by other highly-qualified scientists as necessary contributions to our store of knowledge.
The amount of the grant is a fraction of the amount right-wing, anti-LGBT organizations spend to denigrate lesbians in any given year, especially on radio. Good health of any group of people benefits all of us. What were the competing proposals, do you know?
I forgot to add that the original killer whale in captivity was caught due to a botched attempt to kill one on commission for the Vancouver Aquarium. They needed a dead whale for a sculptor to use as a model. They harpooned a young whale, but it didn’t die. It’s pod mates lifted it to the surface so it could breathe. They shot it, but it wouldn’t die. It was whistling so shrilly that accounts said that it could be heard hundreds of feet away, above the surface of the water. So they dragged it by the harpoon for over 15 hours, through choppy seas, as the family pod finally fell behind. Then it became this most wonderful sensation and tourist attraction.
And there are a lot of stuffed, dead animals with which we photograph our kids. How were they obtained? They do not look old and grizzled. Are we all paying money to see trophy kills? Don’t have the answer to that. And then, of course, there are the scientists who kill hundreds and hundreds of animals for scientific study, or merely for mounting as anatomical studies for students.
I do not like trophy hunting. But I am uncomfortably aware that there is a bit of hypocrasy in my opinion.
Wrong thread, darn it!
If the national debt doesn’t matter, why doesn’t the federal government just print money to pay it’s bills? Why do we have to pay taxes? Why doesn’t the federal government just keep borrowing money from China(amongst others) and just pay them back with money we print? Am I missing something here?