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By Margie Nichols, Ph.D. California just passed a law, SB 21172, making it illegal to practice ‘conversion therapy’ – the attempt to convert a homosexual to a heterosexual orientation – on minors. Few people understand the importance of this law, not only for gay teens, but also for all trans and gender nonconforming children, some…
By Margie Nichols, Ph.D. There’s good news and bad news, in my opinion, about the success of ‘Fifty Shades of Grey.’ The good news is that women’s erotic life is getting a boost…as in ‘validated’…as is women’s interest in kinky fantasy sex. The bad news: Christian Grey’s kinky predilections are attributed to childhood abuse,…
By Margie Nichols, Ph.D. Recently someone sent me a blog post written by Christina Patterson in 2009. In it, she takes some shots at the ‘Positive Thinking’ movement and cites research showing the advantages of negative mood on thought. Critiques of the Positive Psychology movement – psychology’s antidote to focusing on mental illness – are…
By Margie Nichols, Ph.D. The Journal of Sex Research is one of my favorite professional journals, and a recent issue included a study on sexual identity and sexual behavior in older lesbians, those 51 or older at the time of the survey – Baby Boomer lesbians, born before 1960. Some of the results are really…
By Margie Nichols, Ph.D. Recently, there’s been renewed buzz about the 2010 book “Sex at Dawn” but it’s unclear whether people appreciate the book’s true importance. Authors Ryan and Jetha assert “Like bonobos and chimps, we are the randy descendants of hypersexual ancestors” and although much of the book makes the case for non-monogamy, their…
By Margie Nichols, Ph.D. Recently, Scientific American published a piece called “Are All Psychotherapies Created Equal”? The article reports on a debate that, incredibly, has been going on since 1936, when psychologist Saul Rosenzweig used the metaphor of the Dodo Bird in ‘Alice in Wonderland’ to describe research comparing the effectiveness of different types of psychotherapy. …
By Margie Nichols, Ph.D. Many people are puzzled and confused by what seems to an explosion of people who identify as transgender, genderqueer, gender fluid, or something else that is not ‘male’ or ‘female.’ Even to LGB folk, the changes seem to have occurred almost overnight. So let’s start our exploration of trans issues by…
By Margie Nichols, Ph.D. This blog is named after a workshop designed in the 1980’s by Luis Palacios and Michael Shernoff, two gay social workers and friends who worked with GMHC- Gay Men’s Health Crisis- in the early days. Their workshop was subtitled ‘Eroticizing Safer Sex’ and – it did exactly that. Gay men in…
Thomas Szasz , the psychiatrist who himself was one of psychiatry’s most strident critic, died on Saturday September 8 at the age of 92. I’ve read several obits, some praising and some ridiculing the man, but none that capture his real importance. The writers are taking the arguments of Szasz’ seminal book, “The Myth of…
In recent months there has been a show of rebellion against what some have called the fetishization of motherhood, including some articles that even question that most sacred of cows (no pun intended), breast-feeding. The Time Magazine cover story of May 2012, “Are You Mom Enough?” is the most well known, but other similar articles…
