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  • A Possible Poet-Ruler, The Schiava Turca; The Poet’s Pen or the Painter’s Brush

    La Turca

    Francesco Mazzola, known as Parmigianino, Schiava turca, ca. 1531–1534. Oil on panel. Galleria Nazionale di Parma. Photograph © Ministry of National Heritage, Culture, and Tourism

    Francesco Mazzola (1503–1540), called Parmigianino after Parma, the Northern Italian city of his birth, was one of the most prolific and celebrated artists of the sixteenth century. Known as “Raphael reborn,” he mastered the arts of painting, drawing, and printmaking and was renowned for his portraits. Today his exquisite portrait of an unknown woman called the Schiava Turca (Turkish Slave) is an icon of Parma. The painting, which has rarely been seen outside its home institution, the Galleria Nazionale di Parma, traveled to the United States for the first time for its presentation at The Frick Collection and  is presently at the Legion of Honor, part of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. The showing at the Frick marked the museum’s third collaboration with the Foundation for Italian Art & Culture (FIAC), a series of loans focused on the female portrait in the Renaissance. The collaboration previously featured Raphael’s La Fornarina (Rome, Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica, Palazzo Barberini) and Parmigianino’s Antea (Naples, Museo di Capodimonte). 

    Parmigianino painted the Schiava Turca in the early to mid-1530s. The sitter wears an extravagant, almost theatrical costume comprised of a ball-shaped headdress, voluminous sleeves, and a striped garment with a plunging neckline. She holds an ostrich-feather fan in her left hand. In the early eighteenth century, when the portrait was in the collection of the Uffizi Gallery, the style of the woman’s costume inspired a cataloguer to invent the title Turkish Slave by which she has since been known. He likely mistook her headdress for a turban, associated her feather fan with the exotic East, and interpreted the small gold chain tucked into the slashes of her right sleeve as a reference to captivity.

    Her costume, however, is not Turkish, and is certainly not that of a slave. Her sumptuous garments of silk, accessories of gold, and a fan made from imported feathers and ivory reveal her elite social status. Her turban-like headdress, called a balzo, was worn by Italian Renaissance women of high standing and identifies her as a member of the Northern Italian courts.

    For centuries the Schiava Turca has eluded interpretation and, to date, no proposed identity for Parmigianino’s mysterious woman has been convincing. Scholars even have suggested that the portrait does not depict an actual person but rather an ideal woman invented by the artist for the delectation of male viewers.

    At the center of the sitter’s headdress is a gold ornament depicting the winged horse, Pegasus. Classical myths tell how Pegasus struck the ground of Mount Helicon with his hoof, thereby creating the Hippocrene spring, whose water was the source of poetic inspiration sacred to Apollo and the Muses. In Renaissance Italy, Pegasus was the quintessential emblem of poetic inspiration. (Pietro Bembo, the most significant poet of Parmigianino’s time, adopted Pegasus as his personal device in the 1540s.) Poetry was often associated with portraits of women through the Petrarchan tradition, in which the poet Petrarch competed against the painter Simone Martini to determine what best captured female beauty — the poet’s pen or the painter’s brush. Because the Schiava Turca wears the poetic emblem of Pegasus, scholars have emphasized her connection to poetry, although the precise nature of this relationship remains to be clarified.

  • Young Forever? No Thanks!

    Tap Dancing Class, Iowa State College

    Tap dancing class in the gymnasium at Iowa State College. Ames, Iowa, 1942. Jack Delano, photographer.Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

    By Julia Sneden

    The other day, I received a communication from an agent at a public relations firm, inquiring whether or not I’d be interested in conducting an interview with one of her clients who had developed a list of “ten tips to help the elderly keep old age at bay.”

    There followed a ten-step list that was absolutely generic, and would have been pertinent for anyone over the age of sixteen. It brought to mind those interchangeable columns in magazines which bear titles like: “How To Keep Hubby Interested In You,” or “Ten Ways to Improve Your Mind” (or “Body” or “Sex Appeal” — which one you choose  won’t matter, because they’re all pretty much the same).

    If the list of tips for the elderly that the person sent to me hadn’t been so earnest, and so laughable, and so perfectly simple-minded, I’d have been insulted. As it was, I shared it with some of my friends, an action which produced a lot of hilarity, as well as more than a little disbelief.

    In addition to the no-brainers like “go on new adventures” and “learn new things,” the list urges oldsters to “get a dog,” “play games,” and “hang out with people who are younger than you …”  or  “take … care of your skin … and teeth” and “keep drinking and smoking to a minimum.”  

    The one that absolutely boggled my mind began with “Be in love … do cute romantic gestures you used to do, like leave little love notes around the house …”.  I realize that the youngster who wrote these probably hasn’t lived long enough to understand that love can be expressed in ways more mundane but somehow more effective than cute little love notes:  a good, home-cooked meal;  a hand reaching across the bed to clasp another hand in the dark; a bout of silly laughter over something that happened years ago, and even the occasional wild embrace.

    I have not responded to the offer of an interview with the author of the list, simply because it’s fairly plain that we don’t speak the same language. But were I to do so, I’d have to start off with:

    “Dear Child,”

    Thanks so much for the Ten-Step Plan, but  if you insist on trying to instruct the elders of the community, have you considered that we quite certainly have already received this absolutely generic information via churches, magazines, tv programs, 10-step programs, divorce courts, and our very own grandmothers?

    Go out and look around you, instead of looking into your mirror. There is not much you have thought or done that has not been thought or done by the generations before you, even though we didn’t have your electronic social networks.

    There is nothing wrong with being old. Like those generations before us, we, too, were young, and we, too, have aged, just as you, too, will age. It’s what happens to the human race despite all those wise tips. No amount of exercise or cosmetic surgery or brain games or vitamin pills or even love notes will change the fact that biology is destiny. We age, and if we have put any energy into living, our faces and bodies show it. Remembering my grandmother’s beloved faces, lined and soft and gentle as they were, is dear to me. I hope that my face, too, gives  evidence of a life lived energetically, with past sorrow and joy and fatigue right there for the world to see.

    I cannot imagine a life less interesting than one in which one remains eternally young, even though I enjoy fond memories of my own youth. But “memories” is what they are, not a longing for continuance. I am old, but I have learned a lot, had a lot of fun, dealt with sorrows and regained joy, and am still interested in the world around me. I read; I write; I laugh; I listen to music; I cook; I play card games with my grandson, not because I want to stay young, but because we enjoy one another (even when I lose). I swim, because I love the water and am grateful for the strength it gives me.

    Those things suit me. Codifying them per your list does not.

    The generic stuff you advise for “old folks” applies to living well at any age. I suggest you get a life, go out, and live it.

    Yrs truly

    An Old Hand

    ©2014 Julia Sneden for SeniorWomen.com

  • Operator? Business, Insurer Take On End-of-Life Issues By Phone

    By Elana Gordon, WHYY*

    Imagine you’re at home. Maybe that’s in Florida, Wisconsin, Rhode Island, wherever. You have cancer. You just had another round of chemo, and the phone rings.

    From her cubicle at Vital Decisions in Cherry Hill, N.J., Kate Schleicher counsels people with terminal illnesses. (Photo by Emma Lee/WHYY)

    “My name is Kate. I’m a health care counselor,” the gentle voice says from her cubicle in Cherry Hill, N.J..

    This is no telemarketing call …  it’s about the end of your life.  

    Kate Schleicher, 27,  is a licensed clinical social worker, who knows almost as little about you as you do about her. Except she knows your phone number, your insurance provider and that you are pretty sick.

    Schleicher is one of 50 social workers at a company called Vital Decisions. After sending a letter (people rarely respond) counselors essentially cold-call to offer what they describe as ‘nondirected’ end-of-life counseling. The company gave a reporter permission to listen to and record the social workers’ side of some of these calls.

     “When you say that getting better is the most important thing on your mind, what does that look like for you?” Schleicher asks a man in Rhode Island.

    “Breathing. Ok,” she repeats back, as he describes what a struggle it has become for him. “I also hear concern from you that I don’t think that’s necessarily going to happen,” Schleicher continues. “Has someone told you that, or is that your own feeling?”

    The call lasts about 15 minutes. Schleicher asks if it’s ok to follow up, in a month or so. The hope of this program, she says, is to build a relationship over the phone, so he might be comfortable discussing his situation and his goals. Then he’ll be empowered to communicate those things with others, including his family and his doctors. He could also choose to allow the counselor to talk to his doctors or family directly. It’s paid for by insurers and federal privacy rules permit this for business purposes.  

    An Often-Avoided Topic 

    CEO Mitchell Daitz believes critical conversations about end-of-life care just aren’t happening enough and the company’s goal is to foster them.

    “The accepted norm in terms of the role of the individual who’s going through this advanced illness experience is to be passive and be along for the ride, not to take charge, not to take control and ask for help,” says Daitz, adding that navigating care and an individual’s priorities can become increasingly difficult as a disease progresses. “So when you’re faced with a set of choices, that none of which represent a really good choice, you become ambivalent.”

    *This story is part of a partnership that includes WHYY’s Newsworks, NPR and Kaiser Health News.

  • A Slightly Malicious Poetry Puzzle Perhaps Intended to Confuse and Mystify

     

    Keats House Museum

    Keats House in Hampstead, England taken just prior to reopening on 24 July 2009 after restoration, costing  £424,000 from a Heritage Lottery Fund grant.  On the right is the Heath Branch Public Library. Wikimedia Commons

    By Joan L. Cannon

    The longer time goes on (and it goes on more than I thought it would), the more impatient I get with what seems to be deliberate obfuscation. At the risk of raising too many eyebrows, I’m going to cite my favorite examples of this. At the risk of libel suits, I won’t be specific. I’m talking about the kind of poetry that has become too often the choice of poetry editors in prestigious magazines like The New Yorker,  which is the prime example in my reading experience, followed closely by too much that shows up in Poetry.

    Besides annoying me what baffles me about a poem with a title I can’t connect to the text is why the poet wants to be bothered to offer what seems a slightly malicious puzzle. Is this some passive/aggressive response to his or her own problems? Is it just to see how many hopeful poetry lovers can be snared in a verbal Tanglefoot more than one remove from the Objective Co-relative (that always defied explanation anyway)?  I might be inclined to forgive a comment or suggestion in the beginning of the work that says it’s intended to confuse and mystify.  Since that doesn’t appear, the reader is left wondering if it’s a necessity to belong to yet another secret society.

    This is not to claim that a poem should ever be prose that’s been type-set in short lines and/or rhyme to disguise itself. The point of poetry, to me, is its ability to imply more than it states, and make it a pleasure for the reader to recognize resonances in his or her own life, or suggests new perspectives and places to investigate. Sure, I’m willing to ponder a metaphor, slow down to search for the congruent image, savor the music. I expect to come away, even from the first reading, with the sense that the words aren’t in a foreign language, or a code to which I don’t own the key. I even expect to reread.

    While the target of these remarks is primarily contemporary poetry, they apply equally well to advertising, politics, too much journalism, and anagram crosswords. The latter, however, present a challenge that can often bring real satisfaction because it’s possible to guess and eliminate and ‘think outside the box’ and get the answers. For the rest, at present I have a feeling that as an octogenarian I’m being discriminated against.

    Most of us have long since learned the folly of accepting at face value most of what one reads in the papers, but the Internet makes that bit of cynicism laughable. Politicians are shameless, and most interviewees on Public Television have perfected the art of not answering — at length — the questions put to them. It’s enough to make a person stick to soap operas and Masterpiece Theater. A poet, though, seems to me ought to have an inverse motive. Surely his or her objective is to engage and kindle that wonderful spark of recognition with the artistry of suggestion, inference, uncommon but recognizable  references … to cause a frisson of laughter or tears or identification and resulting satisfaction.

     So I come back to my initial point. Most people read poetry (if they read it at all) for the pleasure of it. I get very irritable when the author makes that impossible on purpose — very much like the ‘modern’ artists and composers who seem not to care a whit if their production is pure fraud. Of course, they get a way with it a lot because no one can figure out how to prove it’s bogus.

    Maybe beauty isn’t everything, or maybe I have an antique attitude that started off in high school when I read Keats. All truth is, of course, not beauty, nor all beauty truth, but it would be a better world if more artists and public figures and leaders could at least try to combine the two in a way that would benefit those on the receiving ends.

    ©2014 Joan L. Cannon for SeniorWomen.com

  • Some States Buck National Trend of Stagnant Incomes: How Did Your State Do?

    By Tim Henderson, Stateline

    In one state, a high-school dropout can land a six-figure job.  In another area of the country, only college graduates can compete for that kind of salary.Night View of Drilling the Baaken

    Income growth has been stagnant (without adjusting for inflation) in many states since the recession, but a Stateline analysis of Census Bureau data released today shows a wide variation between some states, from booms in the District of Columbia and the oil-producing states of North Dakota and Wyoming to shrinking paychecks in Nevada, Georgia and Arizona.

    See how your state’s median household income changed 2008-2013.

    Nationwide, the median household income is roughly $52,000, according to national figures released Tuesday, which is about the same as it was in 2008. Since 2008, the median household income has increased by double digits in only two states: North Dakota, where it increased 22 percent to $55,759; and Wyoming, where it was up 10 percent to $58,752. In the District of Columbia, the median household income increased 17 percent, to $67,572.

    But the wealthiest 5 percent of households experienced double-digit income increases in 12 states, and their incomes grew by a greater percentage than the earnings of middle-income (the middle 20 percent) of Americans in all but eight states. The biggest contrast was in New Hampshire, where the incomes of the wealthiest residents grew 14 percent to $339,000, while middle-income earnings remained stagnant at around $64,000. 

    Kevin Iverson, manager of the North Dakota census office, said a typical oil industry worker there now makes $115,000 or more, making it hard for other businesses to compete. Some restaurants have closed or cut back hours because they can’t find enough workers, he said.

    Oil extraction from the Bakken formation in the state of North Dakota. Wikimedia Commons

    “You have kids dropping out of school, because why should you go to college when you can get $60,000 to start in the oil field — or get your commercial driver’s license and you’ll start at $80,000, easy?” said Glenn Muske, acting director of Center for Community Vitality at North Dakota State University. To compete for workers, some fast food chains have been offering as much as $15 an hour.

    But with prices rising quickly, and apartment rents up from $600 to $2,400 in many cases, “I suspect those high median incomes are going right out the door again in cost of living,” Muske said.

    Where College Degrees Matter

    College degrees may not matter for now in North Dakota, but they do in the District of Columbia, said Jenny Reed, deputy director of the DC Fiscal Policy Institute. The institute’s research shows that District residents with at least a four-year degree have done well financially, but others struggle in a local economy dominated by the federal government, lobbyists, law firms and academia.

    “Those with a bachelor’s degree are getting a lot of the well-paying jobs that are being created here. If you have that college degree, you’re doing well. Your wages are rising,” Reed said. “If you don’t, you are really struggling.”

    Incomes are rising because job growth has been fastest at the top of the wage scale, Reed said, and also because the District is attracting affluent newcomers from other parts of the country. After inflation, she said, wages for unskilled work slipped from $13 an hour to $12 since 2008, while increasing for skilled professions.

    “The gap between low-wage and high-wage workers is now at the widest level it has been since 1979,” Reed said. 

    Oil Boom Fallout

    Some of the high energy prices fueling salaries in North Dakota and Wyoming, the nation’s top coal producer, are taking a toll on income in Nevada, where tourism has waned because of rising travel costs.

    “The cost of airline tickets is really driving traffic down for our tourist sector,” said Jeff Hardcastle, Nevada’s state demographer. “It was really a triple whammy for us — we got hit by the end of the housing bubble, the high fuel costs and gas prices and the drop in the financial sector really affected the active elderly and the people with second homes here.”

    On a positive note, mining activity and the gaming industry have rebounded in Nevada, causing some small income gains in recent years, he said.

    Nevada’s median household income fell 9 percent to $51,230 between 2008 and 2013, the largest percentage decrease among states. Other states with falling median incomes were Georgia, dropping 6 percent to $47,829; and Arizona, down 5 percent to $48,510.

    Maryland has the top median income in the nation, at $73,022, followed by Alaska at $72,626 and New Jersey at $70,223. Since 2008, Alaska has overtaken New Jersey and Connecticut to become the state with the second highest median income, thanks to a 6 percent increase.

    Maryland’s income did not change significantly, said demographer Mark Goldstein of the Maryland Data Center, but commuting times, already among the nation’s highest, are on the rise. That may mean more people are commuting farther to places like Washington, DC, to earn a living, he said.

    “In a smart-growth environment, you would hope that the workers and jobs are relatively close to each other,” Goldstein said.

    Editor’s Note:

    “Assessment of Undiscovered Oil Resources in the Bakken and Three Forks Formations, Williston Basin Province, Montana,
    North Dakota, and South Dakota, 2013.” USGS National Assessment of Oil and Gas Fact Sheet

    “Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated mean undiscovered volumes of 7.4 billion barrels of oil, 6.7 trillion cubic feet of associated/dissolved natural gas, and 0.53 billion barrels of natural gas liquids in the Bakken and Three Forks Formations in the Williston Basin Province of Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota.”

  • Ageism and Car Loans: CFPB Proposes New Federal Oversight of NonBank Auto Finance Companies

     Locomobile logo, 1905

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is proposing to oversee larger nonbank auto finance companies for the first time at the federal level. The Bureau also released a supervision report that details the auto-lending discrimination that the Bureau has uncovered at banks. The report highlights that the Bureau’s supervisory actions against banks will result in about $56 million in redress for up to 190,000 consumers harmed by discriminatory practices.

    Logo of The Locomobile Company of America.  Bridgeport, Connecticut – 1905

    “Many people depend on auto financing to pay for the car they need to get to work,” said CFPB Director Richard Cordray. “Nonbank auto finance companies extend hundreds of billions of dollars in credit to American consumers, yet they have never been supervised at the federal level. We took action after we uncovered auto-lending discrimination at banks we supervise. Today’s proposal would extend our oversight, allowing us to root out discrimination and ensure consumers are being treated fairly across this market.”

    Cars are indispensable for most working Americans. Nearly 90 percent of the US workforce commutes to work by car. Auto loans are the third largest category of household debt, behind mortgage and student loans. With the average loan for a new car nearing $27,000, American consumers had 87.4 million outstanding auto loans valued at nearly $900 billion in the first quarter of 2014. The leasing market also continues to grow as more than a quarter of new cars are acquired through leases.

    Auto loans are financed by both banks and nonbanks. Consumers can either get a loan through direct financing where they seek credit directly from a lender or through indirect financing where an auto dealer typically facilitates a loan from a third party. Banks, credit unions, and nonbank auto finance companies provide credit to consumers both directly and indirectly.  Some nonbank finance companies are “captive” nonbanks, meaning finance companies owned by auto manufacturers who generally do only indirect lending.

    Currently, the Bureau supervises large banks making auto loans, but not nonbank auto finance companies. Today the CFPB is proposing to extend its supervision authority to the larger participants of the nonbank auto finance market. Under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (Dodd-Frank Act), the CFPB has authority to supervise certain nonbanks the Bureau defines through rulemaking as “larger participants” in a market.

    Today’s proposed rule would generally allow the Bureau to supervise nonbank auto finance companies that make, acquire, or refinance 10,000 or more loans or leases in a year. The Bureau would be supervising them to ensure they are complying with federal consumer financial law. The Bureau estimates that about 38 auto finance companies would be subject to this new oversight. These companies originate around 90 percent of nonbank auto loans and leases, and in 2013 provided financing to approximately 6.8 million consumers.

    Given the significance of car ownership in the lives of consumers, the CFPB wants to make sure that auto lenders, including auto finance companies, are treating consumers fairly throughout the life of loan by:

    • Fairly marketing and disclosing auto financing: The Bureau wants to make sure that auto finance companies who market directly to consumers are not using deceptive tactics to market loans or leases. The Bureau would be concerned if consumers are being misled about the benefits or terms of financial products. The Bureau is also looking to ensure that consumers are getting terms they understand and accept.
    • Providing accurate information to credit bureaus: The Bureau wants to make sure that information provided to the credit bureaus is accurate. The CFPB recently took an enforcement action against an auto finance company that distorted consumer credit records by inaccurately reporting information like the consumer’s payment history and delinquency status to credit bureaus. The CFPB is looking to prevent inaccurate information from being reported in the future.
    • Treating consumers fairly when collecting debts: The Bureau wants to make sure that auto finance companies are not using illegal debt collection tactics. The Bureau has received complaints from consumers who say that their autos have been repossessed while they are current on the loan or have a payment arrangement in place. The Bureau also is looking to ensure that collectors are relying on accurate information and using legal processes when they collect on debts or repossess autos.

    Today’s proposed rule is open for comment for 60 days after the rule is published in the Federal Register.

    Discrimination in the Auto-Lending Market

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is proposing to oversee larger nonbank auto finance companies for the first time at the federal level. The Bureau also released a supervision report that details the auto-lending discrimination that the Bureau has uncovered at banks.When consumers receive indirect financing, often the finance company or other indirect lender authorizes the dealer to mark up the interest rate. Markups lead to dealers and indirect lenders charging different rates to similarly situated consumers, which increases the risk of discrimination. Discriminatory markups on auto loans may result in tens of millions of dollars in consumer harm each year.

  • A Quebec Odyssey With Joey: Becoming Immersed in Canadian History and French Culture

    By Marcia Schonberg

    After days of bantering with my soon-to-be 16-year-old grandson over a fun birthday gift, we hit the jackpot.

    “What about a passport?” I asked.Montmorency Falls Park, Quebec

    “Hmmm,” he contemplated, before agreeing it was a great idea as he spewed a jet stream of exotic and far off destinations.

    “I’m thinking closer, say Canada — Windsor or Toronto,” I say, “just to try it out.”

    “What about Québec? Neither of us have ever been,” he said, breaking into an excited laugh. And our summer vacation was in the making before I had time to realize I had just set a new precedent in my gift-giving budget.

    Montmorency Falls outside Québec City, taken from the top of a very, very long set of stairs set into the cliffside. Grendelkhan, Wikimedia Commons

    “Okay, I’ll work on the air and land accommodations; you research what to see and do,” I complied, catching his enthusiasm.

    Multigenerational travel is the term used when two family members (one over 60 and the other under than 18) take a vacation together. Oh, and they don’t live in the same household either. This type of travel isn’t the same as being a part of a couple or even going solo, but discovering options both an energetic teen and a boomer-aged grandparent enjoy wasn’t as daunting as it seemed and Québec bestowed a perfect backdrop for my world traveler wanabee of a grandson, Joey. The province is European in style and as French as you can get on this continent.

    The trip’s overview: three nights in Québec City and three more in Montreal, roundtrip flights to and from Montreal and the VIA rail between our two destinations.   

    Both cities are so pedestrian friendly, we decided to either walk or take public transportation (no rental car). Some of our even minor decisions created new experiences for both of us, adding a sense of adventure to our vacation.

    Before we departed, my grandson learned that Québec City, known as the cradle of French civilization in North America, dates back to 1608 when Samuel de Champlain set claim to the land along the St. Lawrence River. The city, shaped by some six military scrimmages, touts the distinction as the first urban area in North America to become a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985.

    I knew we’d be doing some plaque reading and museum hopping to become immersed in Canadian history. And that we would integrate a moderate dose of regional art as well. Like me, or perhaps, from me, he’s gained an enthusiastic appreciation for art and music so I knew we’d make an easy team.

    Once we reached Québec City, it was but a short walk to our B&B within the 400-year-old walled city. There are no shortages of overnight accommodations (at least 16,800 rooms according to press information) from the famous and, supposedly, most photographed hotel, Fairmont’s Le Château Frontenac (with rates beginning in the mid-$300s) to small B&Bs sans elevators but including breakfast. In between are lovely small hotels, such as the Hotel Champlain with rates more moderately priced in the low-$200s per night.

    We chose Castel d’Amérique Française, a B&B recommended on Tripadvisor, not only because of its reasonable price ($150 Canadian) and great location, but because the innkeeper sounded personable, accommodating and so French when I inquired by phone. She thought it was lovely that I was bringing my grandson and found us a room with a queen and double bed situated in large ornately decorated room with a balcony overlooking the city. My grandson never before stayed in a B&B and the provided breakfast, while not extravagant, made for an easy start of the day for both of us. Plus it gave us the chance to meet and chat with friendly fellow travelers all nuances not found at hotel chains.

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  • The Fifty Shades of Grey Effect: A Study in the Journal of Women’s Health

    Amy Bonomi is chairperson and professor in Michigan State University’s Department of Human Development and Family Studies.

    By Andy Henion

    Young adult women who read Fifty Shades of Grey are more likely than non-readers to exhibit signs of eating disorders and have a verbally abusive partner, finds a new study led by a Michigan State University researcher.

    Further, women who read all three books in the blockbuster Fifty Shades erotic romance series are at increased risk of engaging in binge drinking and having multiple sex partners.

    All are known risks associated with being in an abusive relationship, much like the lead character, Anastasia, is in Fifty Shades, said Amy Bonomi, the study’s lead investigator. And while the study did not distinguish whether women experienced the health behaviors before or after reading the books, it’s a potential problem either way, she said.

    “If women experienced adverse health behaviors such as disordered eating first, reading Fifty Shades might reaffirm those experiences and potentially aggravate related trauma,” said Bonomi, chairperson and professor in MSU’s Department of Human Development and Family Studies.

    “Likewise, if they read ‘Fifty Shades‘ before experiencing the health behaviors seen in our study, it’s possible the books influenced the onset of these behaviors.”

    The study, which appears in the Journal of Women’s Health, is one of the first to investigate the relationship between health risks and reading popular fiction depicting violence against women. Past research has tied watching violent television programs to real-life violence and antisocial behaviors, as well as reading glamour magazines to being obsessed with body image.

    The researchers studied more than 650 women aged 18-24, a prime period for exploring greater sexual intimacy in relationships, Bonomi said. Compared to participants who didn’t read the book, those who read the first Fifty Shades novel were 25 percent more likely to have a partner who yelled or swore at them; 34 percent more likely to have a partner who demonstrated stalking tendencies; and more than 75 percent more likely to have used diet aids or fasted for more than 24 hours.

    Those who read all three books in the series were 65 percent more likely than nonreaders to binge drink — or drink five or more drinks on a single occasion on six or more days per month — and 63 percent more likely to have five or more intercourse partners during their lifetime.

    Bonomi, who has a doctoral degree in health services and a master’s in public health, said she is not suggesting the book be banned or that women should not be free to read whatever books they wish or to have a love life.

    However, it’s important women understand that the health behaviors assessed in the study are known risk factors for being in a violent relationship. Toward that end, Bonomi said parents and educators should engage kids in constructive conversations about sexuality, body image and gender role expectations — and that these conversations start as early as grade school.

    Prevention programs can also be beneficial, such as Safe Dates, which targets abuse prevention through relationship skills training and gender role examination.

    Finally, kids and young adults should be taught to consume fiction, television, movies, magazines and other mass media with a critical eye, Bonomi said.

    “We recognize that the depiction of violence against women in and of itself is not problematic, especially if the depiction attempts to shed serious light on the problem,” Bonomi said. “The problem comes when the depiction reinforces the acceptance of the status quo, rather than challenging it.”

    A previous study led by Bonomi found that Fifty Shades perpetuated the problem of violence against women.

    Bonomi’s co-authors on the new study are Julianna Nemeth, Lauren Altenburger, Anastasia Snyder and Irma Dotto from Ohio State University and Melissa Anderson from the Group Health Research Institute in Seattle.

    The Fifty Shades series has sold more than 100 million copies worldwide. A movie adaptation is scheduled for release in early 2015.

    Editor’s Note: We’ve just finished the Liane Moriarty’s new novel, Big Little Lies, which fictionalizes the issue of domestic abuse, among other themes. We recommend it.

  • State of the Birds Report: “We all will see the effects of changing climate in our own backyards”

    Allen's Hummingbird
    A male Allen’s Hummingbird guards his flower patch near Santa Cruz, CA. Wikimedia

    Climate change threatens nearly half the bird species in the continental United States and Canada, including the Bald Eagle and dozens of iconic birds like the Common Loon, Baltimore Oriole and Brown Pelican, according to a new study by National Audubon Society.

    The study identifies 126 species that will lose more than 50 percent of their current ranges — in some cases up to 100 percent — by 2050, with no possibility of moving elsewhere if global warming continues on its current trajectory. A further 188 species face more than 50 percent range loss by 2080 but may be able to make up some of this loss if they are able to colonize new areas. These 314 species include many not previously considered at risk. The report indicates that numerous extinctions are likely if global temperature increases are not stopped.

    “It’s a punch in the gut. The greatest threat our birds face today is global warming,” said Audubon Chief Scientist Gary Langham, who led the investigation. “That’s our unequivocal conclusion after seven years of painstakingly careful and thorough research. Global warming threatens the basic fabric of life on which birds — and the rest of us — depend, and we have to act quickly and decisively if we are going to avoid catastrophe for them and for us.”

    “The prospect of such staggering loss is horrific, but we can build a bridge to the future for America’s birds,” said Audubon President and CEO David Yarnold. “This report is a roadmap, and it’s telling us two big things: We have to preserve and protect the places birds live, and we have to work together to reduce the severity of global warming.”

    Langham and other Audubon ornithologists analyzed 30 years of North American climate data and tens of thousands of historical bird observations from the Audubon Christmas Bird Count and U.S. Geological Survey’s North American Breeding Bird Survey to understand the links between where birds live and the climatic conditions that support them. Understanding those links allows scientists to project where birds are likely to be able to survive — and not survive — in the future.

    While some species will be able to adapt to shifting climates, many of North America’s most familiar and iconic species will not. The national symbol of the United States, the Bald Eagle, could see its current summer range decrease by nearly 75 percent in the next 65 years. The Common Loon, icon of the north and state bird of Minnesota, may no longer be able to breed in the lower 48 states by 2080. The Baltimore Oriole, state bird of Maryland and mascot for Baltimore’s baseball team, may no longer nest in the Mid-Atlantic, shifting north instead to follow the climatic conditions it requires. Other state birds at risk include Brown Pelican (Louisiana), California Gull (Utah), Hermit Thrush (Vermont), Mountain Bluebird (Idaho and Nevada), Ruffed Grouse (Pennsylvania), Purple Finch (New Hampshire) and Wood Thrush (Washington, DC).