I’m not getting into any specific arguments about who thought or did what regarding Jordan Blake, George Floyd, or any of the other black and brown people we’ve seen mercilessly killed. I’m not going to explain away, justify or even say the name(s) of those who have enacted white supremacy by taking the law into […]
Sexual Assault: How it Happens, What to Do
My letter to the editor in the New York Times discusses the issue of sexual abuse in relationship to the alleged assault that took place at St Paul’s. Below I offer a more thorough discussion of the role of cognitive confusion in sexual abuse and what to do to help prevent it. Update: Also see […]
Where You Go is Not Who You’ll Be: An Encounter with Frank Bruni
A year ago Frank Bruni wrote a series of columns that were to become his book Where You Go Is Not Who You’ll Be: An Antidote to the College Admissions Mania, published March 17. I read those articles avidly. After many years of offering words of wisdom and comfort to many anxious and wigged out teens […]
An Open Letter to Young Adults about Sex, Drugs and Alcohol
Dear Young Person: Alcohol, drugs and sexuality can enhance and create life. They work. They can alter your moods, change your perceptions and disinhibit you. It’s fun to be able to behave differently. Blotting out discomfort relieves anxiety. Going wild can release tension. Alcohol, drugs and sexuality have always been part of the human experience. […]
Teach Your Children Well
I’m not going to link to every reported instance of college or high school partying getting out of hand. Nor am I going to link to the number of emergency room visits that occur every weekend due to alcohol poisoning or drug overdoses; nor every instance of campus sexual abuse. In almost every adolescent community […]
How to Date in Five (not so easy) Lessons
I’m not sure why exactly it is easier to arm the student population than to simply reinforce the idea that sexuality is an extension of a relationship. I’m not advocating a return to a repressive sexuality. Rather, I’m thinking that the brilliant talented kids who constitute our country’s future might benefit from learning how to […]
Shades of Intimacy
Everyone is talking about Shades of Grey. Having neither read the book nor seen the movie and with no plans to do so, I can’t comment on whether this creation is liberating for women or an exemplar of abuse. I can, however, say this: sexuality without the constraints of judgment harms men and women. No […]
And the violence, it goes round and round . . .
Let me make one thing clear. As of May 2014 there have been at least 70 mass shootings or shooting sprees with legally purchased guns, according to Rolling Stone. As Ezra Klein reported in 2012, while violence in general declines, more episodes of a lone individual, or team, involved in killing sprees or mass murders […]
Thinking Through Diversity
I have been very involved in thinking about how the ideas of diversity help us build our shared society. I recently published this piece on CNN.com trying to pull together a way of conceptualizing how in our diversity we are together.
Unresponsiveness to climate change: one reason
The more news about the impending consequences of climate change, the more I wonder why individuals react so slowly to the reality of climate change. Many behavioral scientists now attempt to address this issue. In the UK an organization called Climate Psychology Alliance serves as a hub for analysts and other practitioners of therapy who […]
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