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Wednesday, August 12, 2015

kiss කරන්නේ ඇයි?

බටහිර සංස්කෘතිය තුළ සිටින පුද්ගලයින්ගේ විශ්වාසය වී තිබෙන්නේ kiss කිරීම විශ්වීය හැසිරීමක් බවයි. නමුත් නවතම පර්යේෂණයකින් තහවුරු වී තිබෙන්නේ kissකිරීම බොහෝ සංස්කෘතීන්වලට අනන්‍ය වූ අංගයක් වන බවයි.

නමුත් kiss කිරීම සත්ව ලෝකය තුළ දැකගන්නට හැකි දුර්ලභ සිදුවීමක් වන බවද සැලකේ. සත්වයින් kiss කිරීමට නොපෙළඹෙන්නේ ඒ හරහා ඔවුන්ට කිසිදු පණිවිඩයක් හුවමාරු කර ගැනීමට නොහැකි නිසාවෙනි.

මෑතකදී සිදුකළ අධ්‍යයනයකින් තහවුරු වී තිබෙන්නේ ලොවපුරා තිබෙන සංස්කෘතීන් 168කින් සියයට 46 ක් තුළ පමණක් ප්‍රේමාන්විත හැගීම් හුවමාරු කරගැනීම උදෙසා kiss කරන බවයි. බොහෝ ගෝත්‍රයන් තුළ කිස් කිරීම යන්න සිදුනොවන බවත් සමහර ගෝත්‍රයන් තුළ මෙය පිළිකුල් දනවන කටයුත්තක් ලෙසද හදුන්වන බවද සැලකේ. බ්‍රසීලයෙහි සිටින "මිහිනකු" (Mehinaku) ගෝත්‍රය කිස් කිරීම යන්න සලකන්නේ ඕලාරික ක්‍රියාවක් ලෙසිනි.

මෙම kiss කිරීම යන්න බටහිර සමාජයන් තුළින් පැතිරුණු කාර්යයක් ලෙස පෙනුණත් එය පරම්පරාවන් තුළින් පැතිර ගිය ක්‍රියාවක් බව නෙවාඩා විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයේ සිටින ලේඛකයකු වන විලියම් ජන්කොවික් පවසා සිටියි. මේ පිළිබදව තිබෙන පැරණිතම සාක්ෂිය වන්නේ මීට අවුරුදු3500 කට එපිටින් සංස්කෘත භාෂාවෙන් ලියැවුණු කෘතියක් තුළය. එහිදී kiss කිරීම පැහැදිලි කර ඇත්තේ එකිනෙකා ආත්මය ආඝ්‍රාණය කිරීමක් බවයි. චිම්පන්සින්ගේ චර්යාවන් තුළද සිපගැනීම දැකගත හැකි වුවත් එය ප්‍රේමාන්විත හැගීමකින් කරන චර්යාවක් බව නොකියවේ. එමෙන්ම එම පවුලේම තවත් සත්ව පිරිසක් වන 'බොනොබෝස්' සතුන් ඉහළ ලිංගික හැගීමකින් යුක්ත සතුන් බවත් සිපගැනීම්වලදී ඔවුන් දිව පවා භාවිත කරනු ලබන බවත් පර්යේෂණවලින් තහවුරු කරගෙන ඇත.

එකිනෙකා සිපගැනීම විටෙක ආගන්තුක හැගීමක් ද විටෙක ප්‍රේමෝන්මාදය ඇතිකරවන්නක් ද විය හැකියි. සිප වැළද ගැනීමකදී එකිනෙකා අතර හුවමාරු වන ඛේටය පවා විටෙක ආගන්තුක විය හැකි බව ද එක් සිපවැළද ගැනීමකින් මිලියන 80 ක පමණ බැක්ටීරියාවන් හුවමාරු විය හැකි බව ද පර්යේෂකයෝ පෙන්වා දෙති. 

sathhanda.lk

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

'NO' is not the same as 'YES'

Sexual Abuse, Consent, and Culture:

Sex is complicated in every way imaginable and this is not aided by the fact that we have a general societal taboo against discussing it. And when we do talk about it, it is often shrouded in metaphors and innuendos. That means a lot of the sexual norms of our society and culture are mysterious and we don't actually talk about them, we sort of infer them and that's absolutely ridiculous.

Our culture has an unhealthy and messed up relationship with sex, we have somehow made these relationships into predator-prey interactions. This is a dim-witted system.

A lot of the joy, wonder and excitement in a romantic relationship comes from those moments of excitedly discovering what both parties are interested in. The predator-prey relationship does not encourage that.

Here, I am explaining culture but I am not excusing the behaviour, when we're set up to 'assume' whether the hunted actually wants the hunter or not, that enables abuse. In my opinion this is not all but one of the reasons why sexual abuse is so common in our culture.

When we define 'sexual abuse' legally it has to be of course very specific, so that it can stand up in court. So it's different from country to country.

But for the purposes of having a general definition, let's just say that sexual abuse is when one party is being coerced into doing something sexual that she/he does not want to do. This could be either because the victim is incapacitated or because the abuser is an authority figure or because the victim is placed in a dangerous situation where he/she feels like he/she doesn't have the option of saying no or getting out of said situation.

Yhe gender of the parties is irrelevant. So is the actual act - it can be sex or kissing. One person does not want to do what he/she is doing and being pressured into doing it is what gets deemed as abuse.

It is ubiquitous and needs to not be, because it holds us back as a culture. We have to rid ourselves of that outdated and rotten conception that sexual relationships are like predator-prey relationship, that one is the hunter and the other is the hunted.

For the further success that we hope to reach in advancing this thought process, especially with regards to the relationships, the definition of 'consent' plays a very important role. One imperative detail here is that NOT saying 'NO' is not the same as saying 'YES'.

We need to communicate and we need to be sensitive , there must always be a conversation, we cannot go by what mainstream media may have fed us about these relationship. They are awkward and real and we mustn't assume a thing. It must all be discussed loud and clear, we have to respect and not pressure people when they don't want to do something. All this is just part of a larger whole.

The immediate reactions to sexual abuse include shock, fear or disbelief. Long-term symptoms include anxiety, fear or post-traumatic stress disorder. While efforts to treat sex offenders remain unpromising, psychological interventions for survivors, especially group therapy appears effective.

The term 'survivor' is sometimes used for a living victim, even of usually non-fatal harm, to honour and empower the strength of an individual to heal, in particular a living victim of sexual abuse or assault.

The American Psychological Association has suggested various ways one could aid in their recovery. Writing about difficult, even traumatic, experiences appears to be good for health on several levels, raising immunity and other health measures and improving life functioning.

Recovering emotionally from disaster, Understanding the emotions and normal responses that follow a disaster or other traumatic event can help you cope with your feelings, thoughts and behaviours and can help you on the path to recovery, The effects of trauma need not last a lifetime, Most people will experience a trauma at some point in their lives, and as a result, some will experience debilitating symptoms that interfere with daily life and there are many ways to overcome them, one must only reach out.

by Dimithri Wijesinghe /www.sundayobserver.lk

Tuesday, August 04, 2015

Lost and found

By Ayodya Chinthani Bambaradeniya

I heard a faint clicking sound ringing near my ear. After a few more uncomfortable minutes in bed, I woke up with a sudden jerk to find that my alarm clock had disturbed my sleep. I could hardly open my eyes because the windows of my room were wide open to let the golden rays of sun shine into it.

I was angry at being woken up early in the morning and I wanted to switch it off at once. I wasn't very successful. My numb fingers knocked the clock off the table beside me. I heard it clatter on to the floor and knew it was no more.
Then I heard a loud disturbance that I had been completely unaware of. My younger sisters were rushing around, while our parents were trying to stop them. They were probably fighting about their "lost" toys. I didn't care about these things. I wasn't able to setle down to work because my faithful pet dog died. I let my thoughts travel back to the bitter past.

Shico was not only my pet but also my best friend. He was special to me. First of all, he was a canine and an adorable one at that. He was a cute little pup whom I met on the road side with a careless mother or master. I instantly felt sorry for him. I picked him up and took him home. That was the happiest day of my life, but the happy days did not last long.

One day my father decided to go on a trip to Kataragama. I felt sorry to leave my dog. Days passed and we visited many places. All was well until bad luck struck me and Shico. We came back home but "Shico" wasn't there.

My grandmother looked sadly at me. I realised something has happened. I searched for my Shico everywhere but I couldn't find it. "Did you see my puppy grandmother?" I asked. My grandmother slowly came near me." My darling, I don't know how to tell you this, but I have to tell you." she said. She told me the unfortunate and bad news about my pet. I couldn't believe it. I cried.

"What happened to you?" mother asked.

"Do you know mom, yesterday Shico had been playing on the road and suddenly Shico was run over by a car. He'll never come home again." I said. My family members tried to console me.

I couldn't believe how it had happened. He was an intelligent dog. I was angry about that stupid car driver and also about myself because I couldn't see it's body-I was too late. I went to my room slowly and closed the door. I pulled down my bed cover and pillows. I didn't want any thing. My mother asked me to open the door but I didn't want to listen to her. I was tired and I slept.

Days and weeks had passed, but I was ignorant about time. My daily routine was regular, it never changed. I spent most of my time in my bedroom looking at pictures of my pet dog and me.

My day-dreaming had to stop when I was summoned by my father to the living room, a place I hardly visit. Reluctantly as usual, I pulled myself out of the dark-cave.

I left my bedroom and slowly went down the stairs, wondering what it might be. I stayed a while outside the living room, listening to what it was about.

I slowly walked in there and at once I knew what I had been called for - a friendly bark greeted me as Shico jumped on to me and started licking my face as if it was crazy. Everyone called out "Happy Birthday". This pleasant surprise was followed by a delicious cake and soft drinks. I enjoyed the rest of the party and returned to my bedroom. This was the biggest surprise in my life.

http://www.sundayobserver.lk

Why can't a man think like a woman

.... and a woman think like a man?

by Amy Reichelt

Men and women may feel like they differ on much more than just the possession or not of a Y chromosome. How we react emotionally to a situation, remember events and navigate our way around the environment has also been shown to differ between genders.

Gender differences in some of our physical features can be easily determined, aside from just the obvious differences in terms of genitals. A skeleton can be identified as male or female based on the shape of the pelvis, skull and sternum.

Whether our brains differ structurally is a hot topic in neuroscience. Recently, a neuroimaging study suggested that female brains are functionally more suited to social skills including language, memory and multi-tasking, while men are hard-wired to be better at perception and co-ordinated movement.

But are these abilities innate to our gender, or are they influenced by the environment? Are these studies subject to gender biases themselves?

Boy brain, girl brain?

During foetal development, male and female embryos start off the same. This is why we all have nipples! But the presence of different hormones such as oestrogen and testosterone during gestation causes physical differences to start to arise - for example guiding the formation of ovaries or testes. Exposure to different cocktails of hormones as a foetus may change how the brain develops.

A group of Cambridge scientists led by Simon Baron-Cohen suggested that men are, on average, better at analytical tasks, whereas women are better at empathising and emotional processing. These traits were linked with testosterone levels during development.

Baron-Cohen analyzed foetal testosterone levels from amniotic fluid samples of their mothers. In later life they measured the children's empathising or systemising abilities. He found lower levels of testosterone were correlated with greater empathy during childhood development. This supports the idea that women (low testosterone) are better at empathising and detecting emotion than men.

Size matters...

Male brains are, on average, 10% larger than females (accounting for body size). But some scientists say that a large brain is not simply a smaller brain scaled up. A larger brain means more distance, which can slow the transmission of information down. So differences in structural connections and arrangement may reflect wiring adaptations of larger brains.

A group of researchers found regional size differences of male and female brains, which may balance out the overall size difference. In females, parts of the frontal lobe, responsible for problem-solving and decision-making, and the limbic cortex, responsible for controlling emotions, were larger. In men, the parietal cortex, which is involved in space perception, and the amygdala, which regulates emotion and motivation, particularly those related to survival, were larger.

But experiences change our brain. So are these differences due to the brain adapting to demands - in the way a muscle increases in size with extra use?

Nature or nurture? Or gender stereotyping?

Some scientists disagree completely that male and female brains differ structurally. Neuroscientist Prof Gina Rippon, of Aston University, Birmingham says that differences in male and female brains are caused entirely by environmental factors and are not hard-wired at birth.

The gender specific toys children play with - for example dolls for girls and cars for boys - could be changing how their brains develop.

Many toys aimed at boys involve physical skills and logic, whereas many girl-aimed toys involve nurturing behaviours and socialising. These kinds of gender-specific toys and encouraging only gender-specific play could limit potential in both sexes. This has recently lead to companies developing more gender neutral toys that can aid the development of balanced skills in children.

Why won't men ask for directions?

Men generally perform better at activities that require spatial skills, like navigation. It is proposed men and women process spatial information differently. Women are more likely to rely on landmarks - "go left at the post office", which is proposed to require the frontal cortex to maintain the information. Men are proposed to use the hippocampus to a greater degree. So men are more likely to use spatial and landmark information - "go east then past the post office".

But it's suggested that women use their language skills to an advantage in certain situations. So a woman may be more likely to ask for directions than a man.In laboratory studies it has been shown that male and female rats use different strategies to navigate their way around a maze. Female rats mostly used landmarks, whereas males used global spatial information. Interestingly, both strategies were equally effective.

Neurosexism?

Whether the observed functional differences in male and female brains are innate or a consequence of experience remains difficult to determine. The social phenomenon of gender significantly impacts on the experiences individuals encounter through development and on a daily basis.

It is important in scientific research to avoid neurosexism - jumping to gender stereotypes as conclusions to explain observations. This can lead to misunderstanding and over-selling of discoveries and observations in neuroscience.

But no studies currently exist that have looked and gender differences in brain structure in a human population that hasn't been gender socialised.

(Amy Reichelt is a Research Fellow at UNSW Australia and this article was originally published in The Conversation)

Monday, August 03, 2015

Mothers should not be forced to breast feed

Max Pemberton

A study has shown that breastfed babies have higher IQs, spend longer in education and earn more in their careers - but there are too many variables and women should not be pressurised Another reason for mothers to breastfeed

If there’s one thing we as a society love to do, it’s to have a good go at mothers. Be they single or working, everyone loves to voice an opinion about how to raise children, and unfortunately it’s mothers who tend to bear the brunt of this, rather than fathers. Health professionals are not free from the habit either. We dish out advice to expectant and new mothers and then wag our fingers when it’s not heeded. Do this, don’t do that and never mind that what we say always seems to change and contradict itself. Keep up now, mums, or you’ll be responsible for a generation of feral youths.

Nowhere is the unrelenting pressure mothers are under more evident than in the arena of breastfeeding. This one biological act has become politicised and polarised like no other. Don’t breastfeed your children and you are condemning them to a life of illness and disease, mothers are told. And now, according to research published last week, they’ll also be thick.

A Brazilian study of more than 6,000 babies from a variety of backgrounds showed that those who were breastfed had higher IQs, spent longer in education and earned more in their careers. The longer they were breastfed as a baby, the greater their success. The research was immediately pounced on, feeding in, as it does, to the narrative that problems in a person’s life can be laid wholly at the feet of the mother.

Doctors and midwives have had a difficult time with breastfeeding.

On the one hand it is undoubtedly a good thing and women should be supported and helped if they choose to do it. But what is less often talked about is the stress and difficulty that many women experience with breastfeeding, compounded by the sense that they are failing their children immeasurably if they do not do it. The evidence morphs into dogma that says women are irresponsible if they don’t breastfeed.

The research itself is never questioned or queried. But just how reliable is the latest study on breastfeeding and IQ anyway? It’s a very well-designed project, ambitious in its scope and size. But when it comes to something like breastfeeding, there are so many confounding factors – variables that can inadvertently skew the result and lead us to false conclusions. Because the problem is, the health benefits associated with breastfeeding are also associated with things such as class, wealth and education of the parents.

When factors such as social background are taken into account, the evidence supporting the health benefits of breastfeeding suddenly looks less robust. We know that those who are economically and socially advantaged are more likely to breastfeed, so it is perfectly possible it’s actually the positive aspects of wealth and class we are observing, not the positive aspects of breastfeeding. Of course, this particular study took place in Brazil, which is socially very different to the UK, so again it is difficult to draw any firm conclusions from it.

When it comes to IQ, things get even more complicated. The study is a retrospective analysis, meaning it tested people’s IQ 30 years on from when they were actually breastfed. Over that time an incredible number of variables would have influenced the result, so it’s impossible to say from the way this study is designed whether or not the apparent increased IQ is really the result of breastfeeding, or due to some other factor.

Certainly the findings are interesting, but it is in no way concrete evidence. Rather, it is simply the first in a long, complex series of studies that would need to be done to differentiate between simple association or actual causation.

But the breastfeeding lobby seems too narrow-minded and dogmatic to allow for such caveats or critiques to the research they use to browbeat nervous mothers-to-be.

The “Breast Is Best” mantra was intended to be a liberating, pithy riposte to the slick commercial formula milk advertising, yet it has become a stick with which to beat women. It would be awful if expectant or new mothers read this research and felt under yet more pressure to breastfeed if they are unable to do so. I would far rather have a mother who was bottle-feeding a baby and felt calm and relaxed than one who was depressed and anxious about the fact she was not lactating adequately. Motherhood is stressful enough without feeling the weight of your child’s entire future rests on your breasts.

- Daily Telegraph