Non-binary Isn’t a Funny Word: Success and Failure in a Contemporary Children’s Health Text

Even as a wider variety of sexual identities and practices are accepted in contemporary American society, the updating of sex education to reflect this new normal remains a controversial subject. While the American Academy of Pediatrics (2018) now advocates for transgender and intersex children to not be forced into gender and sex conformity, warning of the alarmingly high health risks associated with such practices, gender diverse people continue to be ignored in sex education. When public school sex education is recognized as insufficient and detrimentally binary, some parents turn to children’s books considered progressive as a tool to aid in sex education at home. However, even award-winning children’s books on the subject still impose a gender binary as normal. Sex is a Funny Word by Cory Silverberg (2015) is one such highly praised contemporary text (American Library Continue reading “Non-binary Isn’t a Funny Word: Success and Failure in a Contemporary Children’s Health Text”

#Fitspo: Health, Privacy, and Instagram

Fitness as a publicly discussed facet of identity is a relatively new phenomenon in pop culture. I attempt to explore the disruption of health and fitness privacy norms by the social media technology Instagram and its role in promoting negative social comparison. I will explain why we should be mindful of the impact of this technology on social comparison, define what social comparison is and the context-relative information norms for this practice, and then show how those norms are affected by Instagram use. I will conclude by exploring the normative value of those effects, and how the technology could be used to motivate better health outcomes for users. Continue reading “#Fitspo: Health, Privacy, and Instagram”