School starts in about three and a half weeks and it can't come sooner. I'm so excited for this semester. I'm taking an awesome course about totalitarianism that allows me to read Arendt, Wolin, and Weber again. I'm also taking a course on the biological perspectives on gender and sex which should bring some interesting posts. I'm trying to keep up with the McCain and Obama race, but until the conventions and debates begin, there is little to report. The media appears to be repeating itself. I will be going to an Ani DiFranco concert in October, which will bring a much needed release after all the law school application frenzy.

I'm a little disappointed that I haven't had much time to paint or write [for fun] recently, but hopefully during school, I will find ample time to do so. Somehow, I think no matter how much I study for this ridiculous GRE, I'm not going to do better or worse. The math portion is going to be my bitch, but my vocabulary needs some work, so that is going to be tough. Why is it that one must take such silly standardized tests to even be considered for additional education? Isn't the fact that you graduated, or will be graduating, from college enough? Why does the Political Science department need to know how well I am with math to consider me? Why not just submit your grades and some samples of writing? That seems to be the best way. Unfortunately, this world doesn't seem to be interested in rational solutions.

Next week brings Jahna's birthday, work, an advisor appointment, getting my hair done, payday, visiting my sister, and studying. Here's your homework: please comment with any big words I should know.

Experts at the lab, located at the Peking Union Medical College Hospital, will evaluate cases based on their external appearance and take blood samples to test hormones, genes and chromosomes, said Prof. Tian Qinjie of the college hospital, according to the Xinhua news agency.

Gender verification tests emerged in the 1960s when Communist countries in Eastern Europe were thought to be using male athletes in women’s competitions. The tests were used at the Olympics for the first time at the 1968 Mexico City Games.

The test aims to maintain fairness of the Games, and to rule out inaccurate test results.

Experts say test results for about one in 500 to 600 athletes are abnormal.

The practice has come under fire from those that feel that the testing is humiliating, socially insensitive, and not entirely accurate or effective anyway. The testing is especially difficult and problematic in the case of people who could be considered intersexual. The genetic tests provide potentially inaccurate results and discriminate against women with disorders of sexual development. Genetic anomalies can allow a person to have a male genetic make-up but be physiologically female.
A commentary published in the Journal of the American Medical Association stated,
"gender verification tests are difficult, expensive, and potentially inaccurate. Furthermore, these tests fail to exclude all potential impostors (eg, some 46,XX males), are discriminatory against women with disorders of sexual development, and may have shattering consequences for athletes who 'fail' a test."

The article also states:
"Gender verification has long been criticized by geneticists, endocrinologists, and others in the medical community. One major problem was unfairly excluding women who had a birth defect involving gonads and external genitalia (i.e., male pseudohermaphroditism).
A second problem is that only women, not men, were stigmatized by gender verification testing. Systematic follow-up was rarely available for female athletes "failing" the test, which often was performed under very public circumstances. Follow-up was crucial because the problem was not male impostors, but rather confusion caused by misunderstanding of male pseudohermaphroditism."

The film was absolutely amazing and I would recommend it to anyone. I would also recommend But I'm A Cheerleader! as well. I saw that one on Friday with a room full of ex- Queer Theory students. So funny!

Via New York Times.

Tix are $17.76 and go on sale on Friday, 7/25/08.

The Netroots Nation, a gathering of liberal bloggers, are gathering in Texas for a four day conference lasting until Sunday. If anyone from Fox News happens to appear at the conference, they will have to wear Opinion Media labels. Hehe :)

Did you hear the one about the woman who is attacked on the street by a gorilla, beaten senseless, raped repeatedly and left to die? When she finally regains consciousness and tries to speak, her doctor leans over to hear her sigh contently and to feebly ask, "Where is that marvelous ape?"

Cool :)

UPDATE: Also over at BlogHer, this Saturday will be a Q&A session with advisers from both the McCain and Obama campaigns to discuss women's issues.

Way cool :)

Don't stories like this make you sad? It makes me want to stop paying taxes altogether. Of course, I still care about the bridge that fell a mere 2 blocks from my home and the fact that my sister and the other Minnesota children aren't getting adequate education. You know, all that important stuff.

The Bush administration wants to require all recipients of aid under federal health programs to certify that they will not refuse to hire nurses and other providers who object to abortion and even certain types of birth control.
Under the draft of a proposed rule, hospitals, clinics, researchers and medical schools would have to sign "written certifications" as a prerequisite to getting money under any program run by the Department of Health and Human Services.

The thing about this is that the article is unclear what, if any, requirements there are after hiring. And since it's a bona fide occupational qualification for a nurse or practitioner to provide care uninfluenced by their own personal prejudices, I don't see this lasting very long. It's on extremely shaky legal ground anyway, and seems like a disgusting but pointless symbolic gesture.