horace mann school's publication for gender issues

folio fifty one
horace mann school’s publication for gender issues
INSIDE
-The Rise in Sexting
-Twilight’s Objectification
of Men
-Early Onset of Puberty
in Girls
Fall 2010
Vol. 12, Issue 1

folio 51
volume 12, issue 1
Editors-in-Chief
Sinclaire Marber
Victoria Marlin
Sarah Swong
Editor Emeritus
Maia Salholz-Hillel
Managing Editor
Jessica Chi
Layout Editor
Alex Ma
Associate Layout Editor: Halle Liebman
Section Editors
Maya Chung
Jasmine Mariano
Zoe Rubin
Rebecca Segall
Olivia Spector
Art Editors
Alice Taranto & Jenny Lim
Associate Art Editor: Alex Brachfeld
Copy Editor
Pamela Mishkin
front & back cover by alice taranto
Letter from the Editors
Folio 51 is a gender issues publication that strives to inform the Horace Mann community about men’s and women’s issues and to
provide writers and artists with a comfortable forum to discuss opinions on international, domestic, art, health, sports, and school news.
In your hands is Volume XII’s first issue. From Billie Kanfer’s report on the phenomenon of sexting to Vivianna Lin’s investigation on
the debate surrounding masculinity in China’s boys, This issues addresses “High School,” or adolescent, gender issues to illuminate and
elaborate on gender issues that affect the student body and people our age most directly. The magazine has also allowed vocal members
of the community to share their thoughts on gender issues in opinion pieces, such as Dr. Casdin’s reflections on his experience at an
all boys school. As we approach the end of our time at Horace Mann, this issue is particularly meaningful to us and we hope you enjoy
it as much as we’ve enjoyed working on it. We would like to thank our writers and artists for their thought-provoking work and Ms.
Woods and Ms. McFeely for their support.
Sarah Swong, Sinclaire Marber, and Vicky Marlin
Class of 2011

table of contents
table ofcontents
horace mann
For Boys 4
Defining Success: A Difference Between Male and Female Adolescents 6
The Stigma About Male Performers 6
Poll: Leadership, Expectation, and Gender at HM 7
domestic
The Social Phenomenon of Sexting 8
Strangulation 9
Transgender Adolescents Face Discrimination, Violence 10
international
Saving the Boys 12
Yemeni Child Marriages 13
health
Precocious Puberty 14
The Importance of a Father-Son Relationship 15
COMPUGIRLS: A Click in the Right Direction 15
arts
Sexism in Twilight 16
“Growing” by Larry Rivers: Art or Child Pornography 16
Interview with Wendy Cromwell 17
sports
Uniform Inequity: The Dangers of Female Sports Attire 18
Equitable Athletics: Gender Identity in Track 19

Opinions horace mann
horace mann
For Boysby
Adam Casdin
I attended an all boys school from first grade to twelfth. Every
morning we entered through red doors into our formal education
with the school’s name arched above us as we went in, and, nestled
underneath it, the declaration “for Boys.” Was that really what our
school was for We were boys, yes, later young men, ragamuffins
mostly, ties and jackets notwithstanding, with the occasional
gentleman thrown in. Sweet ones and wayward ones, funny, sly and
wild ones, a mix of treacherous and wise and curious boys. In other
words, typical students. To us it was “all boys,” a term descriptive
rather than proscriptive, with none of the unseen agency of “for.”
In fact, the school never really seemed for us anyway.
What or who was it for We’d have said, the amusement of our
teachers, the edification of our parents, the sadism of certain
upper classmen, the perpetuation of some ancient acculturation
ritual supposedly dating back to the seventeenth century. We were
well trained, of course. Very well trained. Yet much of what we
valued at the time we picked up by the way, our inclinations at
odds with the bare white walls of our classrooms and the chilly,
formal culture. Our rebellions, though, as we no doubt intuitively
realized, were winked at, our tricks and treasons appreciated, even
when punished. Marauding around the school, we felt ourselves
participating in unspoken rites observed by our elders with a quiet
pride. Self-definition, as our teachers no doubt knew, requires an
authority to struggle against.
Looking back, I’d say we had too many authorities, too much
competition, too many struggles. Is that the nature of a boys’ school
Not necessarily. Across town, another all boys school claims to
raise up “scholars and gentleman.” At my school, they were training
pirates. I mean that in the best sense—“privateers,” if you prefer,
or, more euphemistically, “entrepreneurs.” Think Odysseus, not
Black Beard. Piratical preppies—spirited, adventurous, sometimes
heroic—we lived up to the word’s root in “trial, attempt, endeavor.”
Intellectual courage was the school’s greatest gift to us, and we
emerged game, trained to think our way through, or out of, any
situation. Sometimes, that situation happened to be school itself.
Years later, I heard a mocking anecdote about a professor I
admired. Desperately shaking clenched his fists, he cried out to his
students, “The Primal Horde is real!” His was emphatic support for
Freud’s idea that collectivism emerged out of a mythic rebellion,
when sons banded together to destroy a repressive, dictatorial
father. Sounds strange, but I knew exactly what he was talking
about. My horde was real, and our struggle against the school’s
strong, central authority helped us define our identities and our
view of society, at least up to that point. That is as it should be.
Students are meant to surpass the adults who guide them, to go on
to become authorities for the next generation to struggle against.
We won the fight, after a fashion, most of us anyway, not so
much by defeating the father-figure as by outlasting him. That
aspect of our education, if savage, was healthy. The energy of our
horde, however, was not focused solely on a repressive system or
leader. Unbridled competition trained us to be on the attack. We
attacked everything: our work, opposing teams, Saturday nights,
our teachers, and, sadly, each other. Rather than, in Freud’s vision,
our collective outrage propelling us out of fearful servitude, we
were enslaved to the battle itself. Instead of war buddies, we were
adversaries. I say “we” but really speak, of course, about my own
experience, though one echoed often enough by classmates over
the years that I am willing to generalize.
Casual cruelty, a certain off-hand viciousness was the norm.
We were all implicated. A classmate of mine recently recalled our
attending an assembly on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have
a Dream” speech, introduced by a history teacher as, despite its
“syntactical errors,” overall ‘a solid effort,’ or some similar quaint
phrase. We were not stunned as we should have been. It was all part
of the training. I know that children are cruel, that empathy comes
later, perhaps only with a sense of our own mortality. If you had
asked us then, we’d have said we meant no harm, that our slights
and put-downs were playful jousting, not unlike cubs wrestling
as preparation for the hunt. Serious play. Yet we were trained not
only to win arguments, but to avoid losing. To lose was to open
oneself up to ridicule and attack. Experts in finding and correcting
weakness, in ourselves and in others, we also learned to mask it
in ourselves and exploit it in others. We attacked instinctively,
efficiently.
4

horace mann
The story I would like to tell, finally, has to do with what became
of me in this environment, a kid who never went through an antigirl
phase, who was as happy playing with an Easy Bake Oven as
with a GI Joe, who picked honeysuckles, loved frogs, and idolized
the older boy who dressed in three-piece suits, wore a bowler,
carried a cane and was called Radio T. Fybog. What changed all
that It wasn’t the over-critical history teacher, or the irrational
desk dumping, hang-you-by-your-ankles outbursts of the three
hundred pound former karate champ English teacher, or the dread
that the L----- brothers might catch you in the stairwell, or the wild
eyed, white bearded, whiskey soaked History teacher who might
go off at any minute like an exploding cigar. I wonder if women,
in class and as teachers, would have humanized the place. I’m not
sure. Mostly, I think, it was that our competitive energies were
unchecked and ultimately misdirected, that it was an “all boys”
school rather than one designed “for boys.”
Whatever it was, I hit a low point in my eighth grade English
class. I wish I could say that that recognition was brought on by
something I read. My teacher did hand me a copy of The Catcher
in the Rye with the words, “Adam, you are going to like this book,”
but that only guaranteed I’d hate it. I out Holden’d Holden—he’s
the phony, I thought. That year we had a particularly rowdy class,
still only on its way to becoming truly vicious, and our teacher was
new, idealistic, and a little shaky. A bad combination. I seemed
not to have learned yet that the last person to disrupt class gets
kicked out. Or else I enjoyed getting the boot. Whichever it was, I
spent a fair amount of time in the hall, sitting on the floor outside
the room as punishment. We made a sport of getting each other
kicked out of class, and really I was happy sitting there lost in my
own thoughts. My classmates, though, not content with my being
tossed out, developed a game of pretending to see me peaking
through the sliver of glass in the door, then making a big show
of waving me away in warning until the teacher noticed them
and came steaming out of the room, screaming down at me, arms
flailing. Sitting there daydreaming, I looked so innocent I had to
be guilty. Once, after getting particularly exercised, he slammed
the door hard, shattering the glass. We thought, how do we top
that The madder he got, the more inventive we became. It wasn’t
just us. Another class hid in the closet, marching out singing the
“Star Spangled Banner” after five minutes, walking by his desk and
out the door as he sat there, head in hand. I developed a trick of
raising my hand, answering a question, crawling under the desks
to the other side of the room and raising my hand again. Simple
but effective. My colleagues developed other pranks that I can no
longer remember, all disruptive and disrespectful and all carried
out without a second thought. One of the sloppy boys, shirt tails
always untucked, snot everywhere, read a creative story about
outer space warfare that went on the entire class and consisted
mostly of stitched together curse words: “Holy shit, Captain, the
goddamn f------- space cruiser is going to blow the crap out of
our port engines, shit, fire on the mother, shit goddamn crap she’s
coming at us…..” Our teacher was trying to be sensitive to his
nascent literary talent. Actually, I don’t think that was a prank; he
was always like that.
As your experience may tell you, we were not inventing new
classroom antics: we manufactured disagreements, argued petty
points, concocted wild defenses of our essays to get the teacher
to change our grades, and generally manipulated the class in any
way we could. Through it all, our teacher tried hard to win us over
in his sincere, sweet way, cajoling, bargaining, even appealing to
our better selves. When he hung my “I hate my parents” poem
in the main hall for the entire school to read, and ridicule for
years to come—the one I scribbled out last minute in class on the
only subject close at hand—he was probably trying to reach out
to me, sympathetically. Sadly, that was his undoing. Our grand
finale came towards the end of the year, when a classmate had
the idea to bring a tape recorder into the class. Our job was to
rattle the teacher, disrupt him as much as we could without letting
on that it was a game, while the spectacle was captured on tape.
We succeeded beyond our expectations. As the class unraveled,
the teacher pleaded, punished, tried playing along, lashed out,
and finally broke down, sobbing quietly as he walked out of the
room. We were stunned, and exultant. After a pause, we piled into
the bathroom, pushing to get close enough to hear the tape, to
review our triumph. We listened, snickering, gleeful, hearing him
unravel again in the face of our repeated attacks, and then he was
there, standing over us, as surprised to see us as we him. I will
never forget the look he gave us that said, I knew you were rotten
and vicious, but I did not know you were evil. All I remember is
thinking, you’re right.
alice taranto
5

Opinions horace mann
Defining Success: A Difference Between
Male and Female Adolescents BY ERICA CHIANG
alice taranto
What do you want to do when you grow up This is the age-old question that adults ask children. But what happens when you ask
a young adult Do males and females view this question differently as they become adults Recently, when talking to a mixed-gender
group of teenagers, I noticed a trend in the answers. Females often gave personal answers, aspiring to make a difference to the world
or their life like “helping third-world countries as an environmental engineer.” Whereas, the males answered the question in a more
general way, responding in ways like “being successful” or “getting the big bucks.” Hearing these answers by my male friends was very
disappointing to me, and even though not all men answer in this materialistic way, I am starting to hear it more and more. Why is
that Is it because they feel the need to support their family Or they feel that is the only way to show they are successful in life The
traditional breadwinner idea is coming back more and more into male society. I feel that some men feel it is their duty to effectively
support their future family, might I add, a family they don’t know, in order to feel like they succeeded in their own life. Wealth does
not define how successful someone is or isn’t, it is himself/herself that determines it. What amazes me, is that when I was talking
to this group of teenagers, one of the “ambitious” guys even claimed that as long as he had bragging rights in terms of wealth, then
he is successful, no matter how boring his job is. The fact that some people are so obsessed with being rich and successful and not
committing themselves to something that they love and want to passionately pursue really doesn’t make sense to me. I think everyone
should try to pursue what the love, and if they love it so much, they will definitely succeed.
The Stigma About Male Performers
BY MATT TAUB
I’m no athlete. That’s not to say that I’m not a huge sports fan and that I don’t enjoy following, watching, analyzing, debating,
and casually playing sports, because I do, but there really is no chance that I can participate at a competitive level as an athlete. So
instead, I’ve gravitated toward the arts, and as a student at Horace Mann I feel I’ve found my niche in the Theatre Company. I’ve
enjoyed theater ever since I can remember, and to be part of the process of preparing and putting on a show was a thrill in my
freshman year. Though I was on no athletic teams last year, I still feel I got a team experience in the arts. It’s not hard to equate an
athletic team with a cast and crew: both are groups working hard day in and day out to achieve a goal, polishing their crafts and
developing strong bonds in the process. Luckily, students seem to understand this at Horace Mann. I personally haven’t come by
any adversity for being a guy in the artistic community; I haven’t fallen victim to cliché taunts or questions about my manliness.
Why should I (or anyone else) Many of the men whose masculinity we question least are artists themselves, such as Brad Pitt or
Jay-Z, men who are envied by other guys for their fame, style, and of course their superstar wives. These are examples of men that
high school boys everywhere look to emulate and who are fawned over for their artistic abilities. Why flock to the movies then flee
from the theater It makes no sense, then, for a high school boy to be considered un-cool solely for being better able to deliver a
monologue than to deliver a touchdown pass. And here at Horace Mann, he isn’t. Many of my friends are athletes, and even more
interesting, there are many students that are athletes one trimester and actors the next. It’s comforting to go to a school that has a
“you can be both” mentality, and even if Horace Mann did not have such an attitude, it wouldn’t make the sentiment untrue. I, for
example, may not stay after school every day running laps around the field, practicing my jumper, or working on my swing, but
that doesn’t mean that I don’t watch ESPN, manage my fantasy basketball team, or lament over a trade I disagree with. The Horace
Mann community owes itself a pat on the back for respecting individuals and their different interests, likes, and talents - and as
discussed above - there’s really no reason for any community not to.
6

horace mann
Poll: Leadership, Expectation, and
Gender at HM
We polled you, the student body, with questions on leadership, expectations, and gender. Here’s what your peers had to say. (93 girls, 103 boys polled)
Poll conducted by Rebecca Segall
7

Opinions arts domestic horace international mann
domestic
the social phenomenon of
sextingby Billie Kafner
When your private life becomes public,
who can you blame Could something
that seemed so fun and flirty really turn
dangerous Sexting is the act of sending
sexually explicit messages or photographs,
primarily between mobile phones. The
term “sexting” became popular around
2005 when teenagers aged 13-19 started
sending provocative messages through cell
phones. Sexing started when teenagers sent
text messages on answers to test questions
via cell phones, then it expanded to taking
nude photographs, or sending suggestive
messages. At first it seemed harmless,
especially if one trusted the person on the
receiving end, but a simple text message
or picture can spread like wildfire. The
definition of sexting is very vague and
many don’t understand that even sending
a suggestive text message is considered
sexting. Sexting begins due to many factors,
one cause may be that a girl has broken up
with her boyfriend and in desperation to get
him back she sends a provocative picture.
Another case may be that a guy wants to
impress a girl and will text her a suggestive
message, or maybe send her a picture. There
are different cases for many people and that
is why sexting is so vague in its definition.
Across the United States, 20% of teens
have admitted to engaging in sexting. This
percentage has been increasing throughout
the years due to higher accessibility to
phones and picture messaging. Although
it may seem that 20% is a small number,
sexting comes in all forms. A survey released
by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen
and Unplanned Pregnancy shows that about
jean mariano
49% of teens said they had received sexts
and 39% said they had posted suggestive
message to each others. “The consequences
of sexting can involve widespread public
embarrassment and humiliation that’s tough
to live down,” says Susan Lypkins, PhD. In
one tragic case, Jessica Logan, a senior at
Sycamore High School in Cincinnati, was so
distraught after her ex-boyfriend forwarded
a nude picture she sent to him that she
hung herself. Another girl, Hope Wistell,
also committed suicide in the aftermath of
a sext she had sent. She had forwarded a
nude image to a boy she liked, this photo
found its way to other students, and soon it
was circulating the whole middle and high
school. Kids called her names and shouted
things at her, causing her suicide about two
weeks later. Hope’s death was the second in
the nation as a result of sexting. Although
this is an extreme case, sexting can cause
many smaller problems; and affects both
ends of the sext. If the teen receiving the
sext passes it on, he or she could get caught
and get expelled from school, as could the
person who initiated the sexting. In another
case, the person who began the sexting
could be humiliated and embarrassed as
they walked down the halls and are called
names because that picture or message had
spread throughout the school. Either way,
one simple message causes a whirlwind of
problems. In the end, sexting could seem
like a small message in a way to resolve a
conflict or impress another person. Sexting
is well known to many schools across the
nation, but whether or not they are taking
action is the real question. Educators in
some states have started certain programs
to address the issue. Other educators have
hosted workshops for parents to discuss the
issue. Another issue that has been raised is,
when does sexting become an issue of child
pornography One situation occurred where
an 18 year old man sent a nude picture of
his 16 year old girlfriend to his friends
and family after they had a fight. He was
prosecuted under child-porn laws and now
has to register as a sex offender. He wasn’t a
producer of porn but his sending this one
simple message got him into much more
trouble than he intended. Sexting will never
be prevented because in this age because
technology is a bridge between people, but if
you do consider sexting, think twice because
you never know the true consequences.
8

horace international domestic mann arts
strangulation by Alex Perry
Simply put, under normal circumstances,
causing another person physical harm is not
only unethical, but also punishable by law.
Specific criteria exist to determine whether
a person’s conduct is legal. For example,
the law defines assault as an intentional
threat to cause bodily injury to another by
force under circumstances that cause the
other person to have well-founded fear of
imminent peril. An important distinction
that must be made when referring to
assault is the existence of contact. A charge
of assault can be made even if the threat
of harm is not completed. To put this
jean mariano
definition in perspective, a person that
pulls out a fake gun that looks real may be
liable for assault, even though there was
never any intention of a shot being fired.
The threat is what constitutes assault, not
the actual fulfillment of the threat. The
legal definition of battery is the intentional
touching of a person against that person’s
will; whether injury occurs as a result is not
pertinent. An extreme example of battery
can be a situation in which somebody spits
on another person. Even though this is in
no way life threatening, a charge of a battery
has still been committed. While keeping
these definitions of illegal actions in mind,
it should be very surprising to anybody that
it was not until recently that the intentional
strangling of a person was determined
to be illegal in the state of New York. On
June 7 th , 2010, New York State passed the
anti-strangulation bill, sponsored by State
Senator Eric Schneiderman and Assembly
members Joseph Lenton and Helene
Weinstein.
Strangulation is an action that can be
considered somewhat common in domestic
violence and sex crime cases. The original
reasoning for the lack of punishment
after strangulation is that this act does
not always leave visible signs of injury. In
reality, the lack of physical signs should be
disregarded when considering whether or
not strangulation is an illegal act. Strangling
can be more dangerous than punching, and
death by strangulation can occur in only
a few minutes. The anti-strangulation bill
urged the state of New York to make this
“terrifying and life-threatening” abuse
illicit and put the perpetrator under the
jurisdiction of the law.
The way the law handles (or does not
handle) strangling has had a negative effect
on adolescents. It has become increasingly
aware to doctors that teenagers are playing
a very dangerous game that involves
choking themselves almost to the point
of unconsciousness in an attempt to get
high. A recent article published in the
New York Times focused on a 16 year old
that had killed himself using a homemade
noose trying to play this game. Although
obviously not the only way to play, there
have been instances of participants choking
each other as a method to play this absurd
game. Videos showing how to play this
game have shown up on Myspace; some are
considered “instructional” videos, while
others are just examples of kids playing this
game. The teenagers playing this game are
obviously not taking the risks associated
with it seriously enough, although it seems
as though the law is not either. If the law
does not determine the strangling of a
person a crime, why should these people
view their game as more dangerous than
engaging in illicit drug use
9

Opinions arts domestic horace international mann
Transgender Adolescents Face
Discrimination, Violence by Alexis Ziebelman
Being anything that is not “normal” is
difficult, but during teenage years, it can
make life miserable. We live in a country
known for being the land of the free, but
even today, discrimination is present. The
judgment used to be directed towards
African Americans and immigrants,
especially in New York City. As the years
have passed though, the focus has now
shifted to those who are gay, lesbian, or
transgender.
In Florida, a teenager by the name
of Zikerria Bellamy experienced this
discrimination first hand. Six years ago, this
17 year old changed her gender from male
to female. Now, she is trying to get a job
at McDonald’s but has been unsuccessful
because of the prejudice towards
transgender individuals. In addition to
not getting the job, she had to deal with an
obscene message left on her voicemail. In
the message, (now up on YouTube) a man
uses a gay slur to describe why the fastfood
chain would never hire her. When she
showed up for an interview wearing a suit,
a manager saw her and simply laughed.
Finding work as a transgender can be
difficult. The New York-based Transgender
Legal Defense and Education Fund (TLDEF)
says that nearly 50% of transgender people
in the US have been fired or not given a
job because of their transgender status.
There are very few laws in the US in place
protecting these people in the workplace,
which does not help the situation either.
In 2009, Governor Patterson helped to
expand antidiscrimination protections
to include transgender peoples, which is
a big step in their acceptance into state
policy. But New York is not the first state
to begin incorporating transgender into
its laws, in fact some claim it is behind.
Antidiscrimination laws have been
expanding to include gays and lesbians,
but transgender laws only began spreading
in 1975, beginning with Minneapolis. In
New York State, 300,000 residents identify
as transgender according to a survey
conducted by the State Department of
Health.
In 2008, a 15-year-old Californian boy
named Lawrence King who began crossdressing
and identifying himself as gay
in eighth grade, was shot in the head
in a classroom full of students. He was
assaulted because of his sexuality by his
classmates and declared brain dead after
the attack. 66% of gay and transgender
kids say they have been the victims of
homophobic remarks but about the same
percentage, (62%) also hear sexist remarks.
Transgender kids have to deal with the
normal harassment every kid goes though
as well—body image, weight, overall
appearance, etc.
jean mariano
It is devastating that tragedies like
this still occur. Being a teenager is hard
enough without the added pressure of
being labeled as different and unwelcome.
Studies show that society is progressing,
though; 57 % of gay and transgender
students are now comfortable raising gay
and transgender issues in a classroom and
71% have talked about these matters with
a teacher at least once. 57 % of students in
public schools now know at least one kid
who is gay and 20% have “a close friend”
who is gay. If these statistics, unimaginable
twenty years ago, continue to rise, then
the future generations will hopefully not
have to deal with the torment gay and
transgender kids today face.
10

horace international domestic mann arts
alice taranto
11

Opinions arts horace international mann
international
Saving the Boys
by Vivianna Lin
A book called “Save the Boys,” written
by the deputy director of China Youth
and Children Research Center, Sun
Yunxiao, claims that China’s boys are
currently undergoing a masculinity crisis.
Sun believes that boys are becoming
less capable than previous generations,
having weaker bodies and a lesser sense
of responsibility. Other educators describe
the “crisis” as a fallacy and believe girls are
finally gaining equal rights with boys.
The most glaring signs of the masculinity
crisis are found in education. In all levels of
academic performance, boys have poorer
academic performances than girls. Sun
believes boys are discouraged from acting
like boys in school and are forced to sit still
and be obedient. Some become frustrated
because their natural hyperactivity and
rebelliousness are criticized, thus lowering
their self esteem. According to Sun, both
boys and girls are oppressed in schools
where high academic performance is
prized and physical activities are regarded
as rebellious, though boys are affected
more than girls. Sun believes the academic
burden in China should be relieved and
more attention should be paid to the allaround
development of children.
Sun emphasizes gender education’s
importance in boys’ childhoods, as boys
and girls have differences that should
be respected. He believes characteristics
such as responsibility and exploration
to be intrinsically male, and the loss of
these traits to be ‘feminization.’ Currently,
gender education in China is poor, and
many teenagers are confused about their
identities. Sun also believes that some
curriculums, such as physical education
and crafts, should be separate for boys
and girls to develop different skills and
abilities.
Boys also suffer from the lack of role
models in primary schools because the
overwhelming majority of teachers are
female, and Chinese fathers are absent due
to work, which Sun claims makes boys
more feminine. Furthermore, strong role
models need to be put in place for boys,
and there should be a strong emphasis on
responsibility and courage. Sun uses the
example of boys running away rather than
saving people in danger as a testament
to the weakening sense of responsibility
in boys. As shown with Western studies,
same-sex streaming has raised boys’ test
scores and is beneficial psychologically to
them as well.
Gender-blurring male icons have also
appeared in China’s popular industry in
recent years. Television icons influence
those watching them, and the boys will
try to imitate these role models. Teenage
cross-dresser Liu Zhu became famous
overnight for participating in a talent show
like that of American Idol. Sun believes
that more masculine role models should
be put in place, as these more feminine
role models can mislead young boys.
Sociologist and sexologist Li Yinhe, of
the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences,
however, finds nothing wrong with boys
expressing feminine beauty. She believes
the blurring gender divide to be a global
trend that is a form of entertainment.
The one-child policy enacted in the
1980’s has also contributed problems
to the masculinity crisis. As a result of
China’s patriarchal society, parents tend
to spoil their sons and take delicate care
of them, leading to a weakening of boys’
willpower, some educators say. The
parents treat their boys like little emperors
and do not encourage independence. Boys
do not become ‘real men’ unless they learn
to stand on their own without the help of
their parents, something rarely practiced
in China. Parents have high expectations
for their daughters however, wanting them
to outdo boys in school, thus causing the
better academic performance of girls.
The traditional patriarchal society
of China still exerts a heavy influence
on the modern-day China, despite
the achievements in women’s work
and education. Many detractors of the
masculinity crisis have attributed it to
patriarchal discrimination. For many
years, women had been viewed as lesser
beings than men. Now, however, girls
enjoy equal education opportunities
and women can take the lead. Li Yinhe
describes the current epoch an age of
‘girl empowerment,’ rather than that of
a masculinity crisis. There has also been
success in changing the views of girls and
boys, and the practice of valuing sons
more than daughters has diminished.
Whether boys currently suffer from a
masculinity crisis, the debate over “Save
the Boys” has forced many to consider the
way education, family values, and national
policy shape gender identity.
12

horace international mann arts
Yemeni Child Marriages
by Emily Feldstein
A twelve-year old Yemeni girl died
recently. Why Because her much older
husband (yes, she was married at age twelve)
beat and raped her. Three days later, she
died from internal bleeding. Unfortunately,
this is not an isolated incident. The United
Nations believes that approximately one in
three Yemeni girls are married before they
turn eighteen.
Child marriages occurred long before
this public outcry. However, they were
a different type of marriage. Twelve or
thirteen year old girls married twelve or
thirteen year old boys. The boy’s family
cared for the girl and ensured the marriage
was not consummated until the girl reached
puberty. Now, girls are married to men
over twice their age, often to lighten their
parents’ financial loads.
Controversy is now raging over a new
law that attempts to ban child marriage.
Recently, conservative women gathered
and protested the law, claiming that it
undermined sharia law. Those against the
minimum age argue that it is better for girls
to be married before they attract unwanted
attention from men. As an example, they
cite the prophet Mohammed and his wife,
Aisha, who was nine years old when they
were engaged.
Two days later, hundreds of women met
with the opposite intent. They want to
ensure that the law, which set a minimum
age of 17 for women and 18 for men,
passes. According to Wafa Ahmad Ali of
the Yemeni Women’s Union, “The greatest
problem facing Yemeni women today is
child marriages. These early marriages rob
the girl of the right to a normal childhood
and education.” By age twelve, these girls
are leading the lives of women fifteen years
older.
The adversity facing these young girls is
exemplified by Nujood Ali’s situation. At
age nine, in February 2008, she married a
man in his 30s. Her father, a poor shepherd
and father of over twelve children, received
a dowry of around $750. Essentially,
her husband had purchased her. After
enduring beatings and rapes, Ali convinced
her husband to allow her to visit her
stepmother. Her stepmother advised her
that the only way to escape was to go to
court. Traveling in a minibus and then a
taxi, Ali finally arrived at the courthouse.
Anxiously, she approached the judge and
asked for a divorce. In April 2008, she
received that divorce and is now an emblem
of this movement.
This movement is facing hurdle after
hurdle. It is hard to concede that the world
is changing, but it must be done. The
traditions of the past have been warped
into the tragedies of the present. As the
world changes, people, and the laws that
govern them, must change as well. The
battleground may be in Yemen, but the
world must be involved. When rights are
at stake, all issues become concerns of the
global community. If we refuse to fight
for the rights of others, then how can we
demand rights ourselves
alice taranto
13

Opinions arts domestic horace health international mann
health
Precocious Puberty
Harmless Biological Glitch, or Dangerous Warning
by Deborah Leffell
American girls are developing breasts at as
early as an early an age as 7 or 8 years old:
a new reality. Recent studies are showing,
more and more, the huge number of girls in
America whose bodies are maturing faster
than ever.
There is much speculation as to what
might be the cause of this strange biological
change. The root of this issue is not known
for certain, but some potential factors
might be exposure of America’s youth to
certain chemicals in plastic that are similar
to estrogen, hormones in food, a lack of
physical activity, or the growth of obesity in
our country’s youth. Obesity is a very likely
suspect due to the fact that fat can produce
certain sex hormones.
Experts are also calling for further
exploration concerning the issue of artificial
chemicals in plastic and the hormones
in food that may contribute to the early
maturation of children. If research were to
prove this a valid hypothesis, there would
be a very apparent demand that Americans
need to be more careful about what
substances they put in their bodies. It seems
to be an open question as to whether these
estrogen-like chemicals and hormones are
also having injurious effects on boys.
The signs of precocious puberty in
girls consist of early breast development,
underarm and pubic hair growth, rapid
and early height growth, acne, early
menstruation, and mature body odor. This
sudden hastening of the maturing process
is both a social obstacle for young girls,
and it also may be a red flag indicating
serious disease. Understandably, it is very
difficult for those girls who begin puberty
at an early age. They may be confused and
embarrassed about certain changes in their
bodies such as early breast development,
early menstruation, or pubic hair growth.
Bullying and teasing from peers is also
inevitable.
Another emotional issue, kidshealth.org
reports, is that, “Even emotions and behavior
may change in kids with precocious puberty.
Girls can become moody and irritable.”
It is also true that many of the girls who
undergo puberty prematurely are simply not
emotionally and psychologically prepared
to understand and deal with their bodies’
changes.
There is wide supposition that girls who
mature early, in terms of menstruation, are
more likely to have breast cancer later on.
This is because there is longer exposure
to estrogen and progesterone, which can
feed certain tumors. There is also a theory
concerning early height growth. Growth
in bones stops as puberty slows down and
comes to an end. Since girls have their
growth spurts earlier with early puberty,
they stop growing early as well, preventing
danielle marcano
them from reaching their full adult height
potential. Furthermore, there is thought that
this precocious puberty may have some ties
to cardiovascular disease.
Studies have been conducted to observe
the demographic of girls dealing with
precocious puberty. In a recent study,
1,239 girls between the ages of 6 and 8 were
examined. Of the girls, 30 percent were white,
30 percent Hispanic, 30 percent black, and 5
percent Asian. Each girl was to be examined
in one of three locations: Mount Sinai School
of Medicine in Manhattan, Cincinnati
Children’s Hospital or Kaiser Permanente
Northern California, San Francisco. At age
seven, 10.4% of white, 23.4% of black and
14.9% of Hispanic girls had begun puberty.
At age eight, 18.3% among whites, 42.9%
among blacks and 30.9% among Hispanics.
The New York Times reported that “The
percentages for blacks and whites were even
higher than those found by a 1997 study that
was one of the first to suggest that puberty
was occurring earlier in girls.”
It is very difficult to determine a “correct
age” for girls to begin menstruation and
puberty. In some cases puberty occurs late
if a girl does not have enough body fat; if
she is ill or suffers from malnutrition. In
countries known for widespread starvation
and disease, it may be cause for celebration
if there is a downward trend in the average
age of puberty because it may indicate that
children are getting better nutrition. It is not
easy to establish whether premature puberty
is a sign of health and progress, or a sign of
something that may be detrimental to the
health of young girls.
Still, it is important not to ignore the
indications that precocious puberty may
carry. This epidemic of hyper-maturity may
be a signal of a much greater American issue.
14

horace international domestic health mann arts
The Importance of a Father-Son Relationship
by Greg Swong
A recent study by the American Psychological Association (APA) found
that men who developed strong relationships with their fathers when they
were young manage stressful interactions with others better than men who
did not have that connection with their fathers. These results highlight the
importance of male role models in the development of coping mechanisms,
psychology professor Melanie Mallers of California State University, Fullerton
said.
Researchers interviewed 912 men and women over a course of eight
days about their day-to-day emotional and psychological states and their
relationships with their parents as children. Their research found that men
who recalled bad relationships with their fathers encountered arguments,
disagreements, work-related, and family-related tensions and discrimination
more frequently and were more likely to react unstably and emotionally when
confronting these stresses than those who had healthy relationships. Study
authors attribute these results to men’s tendency to learn coping mechanisms
mainly from their fathers. Women who reported weak relationships with
either parent did not show the same levels of stress over everyday life, a
difference researchers attribute to the alternative coping skills women adopt,
such as relying on people besides their parents for support.
The research showed the importance of a positive parent-child relationship,
especially between fathers and sons, in teaching children how to handle their
relationships with others, study authors have said. Mallers noted that drawing
concrete conclusions about father-son relationships required more detailed
research since the study included men who grew up in different eras in which
parental and gender norms differed greatly. “The role of fathers has changed
dramatically from the time the oldest participants were children,” she said.
“We do know that fathers have a unique style of interacting with their
children, especially their sons. We need more research to help us uncover
further influences of both mothers and fathers on the enduring emotional
experiences of their children.”
alice taranto
COMPUGIRLS: A Click in the Right Direction by Juliet Zou
In 2008, only 18% of women worked in the computer and information technology fields and that 56% of women in the technology
workforce left at the mid-point of their careers. To respond to the lack of women involved in the technology industry, programs such have
sprung up across the country to motivate young girls to be interested in technology and computer science. Although programs to retain
women in the technology industry do exist, many feel that the most important thing to do is teach girls about technology while they are still
young.
One of these programs is the COMPUGIRLS program, which is part of the School of Social Transformation at Arizona State University.
Available to girls in 8th through 12th grade from under-resourced school districts in the Greater Phoenix area, the program consists of
six distinct courses in which students learn to bridge technology and social justice. The courses make use of various types of technology,
especially those that are most appealing to teens today, such as The Sims, Scratch, and Teen Second Life.
Each student is loaned a laptop, digital camera, and digital camcorder, and participants have the chance to create podcasts, Wikis, and
other various databases. The girls are assigned projects like developing social justice projects to affect change in the Second Life world.
Every summer, four girls get the opportunity to complete internships at firms such as the Morrison Institute for Public Policy and the Intel
Corporation, which invites students to gain experience and explore career opportunities.
In the current economy, the technology industry is one of the few that has not been severely affected. The COMPUGIRLS program and its
many counterparts provides girls with a solid education in technology and allows them to take full advantage of technological job openings.
Additionally, technology is one of the fastest developing areas in our world today, and it can be applied to solve many issues in the world.
The COMPUGIRLS program not only teaches girls about technology in order to provide them with a greater range of activities, it also
teaches them to use that technology as a means to find out more about the world and eventually solve issues facing us today.
15

Opinions arts horace mann
arts
Sexism in Twilight
by Katie Cacouris
Imagine a media empire based on the following movie and
book: a teenage boy choosing between two girls. The guy is good
looking, but the girls are gorgeous. The guy doesn’t have much
of a personality, and, when you look more closely, neither do the
girls. If this isn’t bad enough, the girl who gets rejected then only
appears in scenes where she’s in a skimpy bikini top, showcasing
her incredibly toned body and constantly tempting the protagonist.
This would be a public outrage—young women throwing
themselves at a man. How far forward have we moved since the
1960s Backwards, some people might argue, since gender roles
are now more connected with sexuality than they were then. How
could these books be a mass phenomenon Girls would be told
that this is not the model they should be following and to embrace
the fact that they have something to offer besides sex appeal. I
know if I were a publishing house, I wouldn’t want to print such a
blatantly sexist book for teenagers. Sexist, because women would
be objectified, portrayed as nothing more than objects for men to
pick and choose from.
Now, take the same scenario, switch the male and female roles,
add a dash of supernatural, one cup of an overdramatic film score,
and stir until all the clumps of batter are gone. Put it in the oven for
an hour and a half, and out comes Twilight.
Men are objectified in Twilight, yet no one blinks an eye. No one
preaches to men about how they should embrace their personalities
instead of their looks; no one calls the books sexist. Why is that
Is it because audiences recognize that Edward and Jacob don’t
represent all men, or is it because people are more hesitant to call
things sexist if they mischaracterize men or compromise their
identities
There is value to both arguments. To assume that every
protagonist of a film or book represents their sex as a whole, or
their nationality as a whole, would yield a very limited window
for “acceptable” lead characters. For example, Barbie dolls don’t
represent all women, but they have received a slew of criticism for
representing a disproportionate and unrealistic body image for
girls.
But the gender-related double standard doesn’t just appear in
the best-selling vampire novels and films. In the musical Hairspray,
Tracy is attracted to Link solely for his looks, while he is chastised
in the beginning for not liking her because she is overweight.
In Twilight, such an objectification of men has heaps of positive
attention, creating a commercial empire. Marketers have taken
the competition between the two male characters further than
just a movie and book series. Today, “Team Edward” and “Team
Jacob” is a commercial phenomenon in which fans (usually girls)
choose which of the two characters they prefer and then buy tons
of memorabilia celebrating their decision. The only difference
between the two, aside from their respective monster DNAs, is
their appearance. Edward (the vampire) is a pale, with “bronze”
hair and sharply defined facial features, while Jacob (the werewolf)
has darker skin, softer features, and thoroughly flaunted abs. There
is no basis for a fan to choose one character over another (unless
she – or he – has a particular fascination with either werewolves or
vampires) aside from looks.
Perhaps society wants to objectify people in general; to degrade
everyone to a status based on appearance, regardless of gender.
When was the last time you saw a movie where the unattractive
character was the heroic one, and the attractive one the villain
This isn’t to say that all sexism should go unnoticed. Instead,
just as there is attention given to situations in which women are
reduced to their appearance, circumstances that compromise men
deserve the same attention and thought.
“Growing” by Larry Rivers
Art or Child Pornography
by Anjali Dutta
In a few weeks, New York University will consider receiving the recently purchased archive of the late American artist Larry Rivers. The
collection has the potential to grant art scholars insight into the 40s and 50s vibrant art community, of which Rivers was an affluent memaber.
However, among other works within the collection, is a piece that has demanded from the art world a questioning of the boundary-free
nature of the profession.
This piece is a 45-minute documentary titled “Growing.” Within the film, Rivers explores the development of his two daughters as they
progress through adolescence. The piece was shot every six months over a period of five years, and includes footage of Rivers interviewing
his topless or sometimes naked daughters on their breasts and growth.
His younger daughter, Emma Tamburlini, who is now 43, has profusely begged the Larry Rivers Foundation in the past for the destruction
of the video. She has said that her involvement in the footage was not exactly consensual; if she refused she would be ostracized and called a
bad daughter. Looking back, Ms. Tamburlini says the scarring experience triggered her encounter with anorexia at the age of 16.
In the past, there have been other instances in which artists have explored nudity and children. However, unlike photographs taken by
Sally Mann or Jock Sturges, “Growth” is overly sexual, thus begging the question; is this even art And if so, at whose expense is such art
being created It seems that Larry Rivers, in making the film faced a conflict of interest” he was a parent, but he was also an artist. Is art not
supposed to push the boundaries
16

An Interview With Wendy Cromwell
Interview Conducted by Sinclaire Marber
horace mann arts
Wendy Cromwell, Horace Mann Class
of 1982, is the President of Cromwell Art,
LLC, a private advisory firm that specializes
in 20th and 21st century art. Having served
previously as a Vice President of Sotheby’s,
New York, and as the director of Lehman
Brother’s art collection, Ms. Cromwell is
a veteran of the corporate art industry.
Ms. Cromwell also has a long history of
involvement in various museums and nonprofit
organizations, such as ArtTable, Inc.,
the largest professional organization for
women in the arts. In an interview with
Folio 51, she reflects upon her experiences as
a woman at HM and later in the art industry.
SM: Did you take art history classes in
high school If so, did you notice a gender
imbalance in the classroom
WC: I took AP Art History at HM. It was
a great class, taught by Don Yates. Unlike
other classes, which were taught by HM oldtimers,
Don’s classroom was progressive.
It was discussion based, and I never felt
any gender bias. Don was undeniably cool
compared to the older generation of staff -
he was openly gay, for starters, which was
not the norm in 1981. At the end of the year
he invited us to his loft in the West Village.
I had never ventured to 11th avenue during
the day, let alone at night - a different scene
in those days. I was treated like an equal, and
I discovered that I was meant for art history
thanks to that class.
SM: Do you remember there being a
gender bias towards males when you were a
student at Horace Mann If so, did you look
at this as something to overcome and did
your ability to overcome this affect your later
career If not, was it an adjustment entering
a field populated with many high-powered
men
WC: I only encountered gender bias in
a few classes taught by a handful of older
teachers, holdovers from the days when
HM was an all boys school. In general, boys
were more outspoken in the classroom, and
those types of teachers tended to call on just
the boys. Maybe it was a self-perpetuating
problem - if I had been more aggressive
about speaking up, it wouldn’t have been
a problem. I was lucky to have a female
teacher, Dr. Liana, for AP English senior
year. She was a graduate of Smith, an all
women’s college, and she was instrumental
in helping me to choose that school over
Middlebury.
I owe much to Smith. I found my voice
there, as a student. And I found my career
there, through the vast network of female
professionals. I must say that Smith was a
welcome relief from the male dominated
HM environment. For the first time, I
consistently participated in class discussions.
I remember feeling freed from the stuffy
HM environment - it wasn’t just some of
the teachers, it was also my peers - there
was a culture of elitism within my HM class,
mostly from the top male students, that
repulsed me.
At Smith, it was assumed that we would
become achievers or leaders in some way.
There was no pressure: it was simply in the
culture. Without men in the classroom,
there were no obstacles, no distractions, we
were surrounded by positive reinforcement
and amazing opportunities. I was lucky to
have access to a strong professional network
of Smith grads in the arts. Sophomore year,
I got an internship at Leo Castelli gallery -
the Director was a Smith alum. To be in
the center of where it was all happening in
1984 was an incredible opportunity, one I
still treasure. The art world didn’t seem male
dominated then. Sure Leo was the king, but
Ileana Sonnabend was upstairs running her
gallery, Paula Cooper was doing the same
and Mary Boone was competing head to
head with Leo. I don’t see the art world as
dominated by powerful men, even though
my teachers at the Institute [of Fine Arts,
where Cromwell earned a masters degree]
were Kirk Varnedoe and Bill Rubin - the
most powerful men in the art world, both at
MoMA at the time (now deceased).
SM: After working at Sotheby’s and other
significant art related jobs, what prompted
you to go into business for yourself
WC: When I started at Sotheby’s, I was
interviewed by the CEO, Dede Brooks. She
asked me what I wanted to be in 10 years
time- I said “you.” This response came
naturally to me - it had nothing to do with
Horace Mann, and everything to do with
Smith. Later, she was caught up in the
price fixing scandal between Christie’s and
Sotheby’s. I actually felt betrayed and let
down by her behavior - women have to hold
themselves to a higher standard because
they are such easy targets as corporate CEO’s
(compared to the bad behavior of so many
men who led us into our current depressed
economic circumstances). Sotheby’s
definitely suffers from a male-dominated
leadership that is not kind to women,
although women populate the ranks at every
level of the company. I had always worked
there as a means to an end - I knew from my
days at Lehman Bros that I wanted to be an
art advisor. Sotheby’s opened many doors
for me. I learned how markets were made
and became well versed in art from 1945 to
the present. After nine years at Sotheby’s, it
was time to start my own business.
WC: One last thing. I come from a
line of strong, independent women. My
grandmother, who was born in Hungary,
wanted to be a Dr. from the time she was
10 years old. Jews were not allowed to enter
University in Hungary, She left home at the
age of 19 to attend medical college in Berlin.
My mother was born in Berlin. When my
grandmother emigrated to the US, she
passed another round of medical exams to
become a U.S. Dr. She practiced pediatric
medicine at NY Hospital for nearly 30 years.
My mother has a PhD in modern European
history from Columbia. She attended
Hunter College High School and worked on
Wall Street for over 25 years. She sent me to
HM as a single parent. At the age of 70, she
realized her life long dream of turning her
PhD dissertation into a published biography;
her book can be found in all the major
libraries. I guess of all the people you could
have asked about gender bias at HM, I would
have been the least likely to be affected by it
- I am fortunate to have been surrounded by
such great female role models.
17

Opinions arts sports domestic horace health international mann
sports
Equitable
Athletics:
Gender
Identity in
Track
BY COURTNEY HODRICK
Canadian runner Jennifer
McCreath is busy training for her
25 th marathon, the Newfoundland
Provincial Marathon on September
26 th. The race will be her first of the
fall, after she raced five in April and
May, including the famous Boston
Marathon. However, training isn’t
all she’s been up to. As a part-op
transitioning transsexual woman,
McCreath is also undertaking the
process of medically adjusting her
sex organs and hormones from
the male body she was born with
to a body that matches her selfidentification
as female. Since
2007, when McCreath realized
her gender identity and began
her transition at the same time as
she began running, the increasing
number of openly transsexual
runners has helped begin to
change the face of the sport. In
summer of 2009 and again this
summer, McCreath competed at
Coppenhagen’s World Outgames
not in the male or female
categories, but in a third category
reserved for athletes in transition.
This new category enables runners
to compete who were historically
sidelined by the International
Olympic Committee’s rule
mandating that all transsexual
athletes wait to compete until two
years after competing their full
medical transition.
Uniform Inequity:
The Dangers of
Female Sports Attire
BY JASMINE AGHRAVI
Have you ever thought about what your sport requires you to wear Did that
uniform ever affect your decision on joining a particular sport because you felt
uncomfortable Uniforms are beginning to affect people’s choice in what sport to
play. Take for example a young girl who excels at swimming but feels uncomfortable
with her body in a swimsuit. That girl may opt out of joining the swim team for fear
of mockery--a decision that is actually hurting herself in the long run.
“What to wear The sexy tight lycra of some netballers, the skimpy swimsuit
of beach volleyball or the drab polyester of the bowls competitions” Jacqueline
Magnay of the Sydney Morning Herald writes, commenting on how uniforms in
today’s times have discouraged more and more girls, especially teenagers, from
joining certain teams.
In Australia in 2006, the Senate began to question the dress code policies of
sports organizations and study how female depiction in the media is affecting sports
participation. Australian commentators also said there has always been an issue with
women’s athletic uniforms in deciding whether to “make them sexy or appropriate
for the sport.” The issue of soft ball players and their shorts being impractical
because of scrapes and bruises they received from sliding was also an issue; the “old
fashioned” longer pants seem too out of style for women, yet men still wear them.
In an article titled “‘I’d Feel Ashamed’: Girls’ Bodies and Sports Participation,”
Bethan Evans discusses how the “male gaze” has now been internalized, causing a
constant body pressure and lack of confidence in girls. This means that whether in
a single-sex or co-ed gym class, girls still feel self--conscious participating it certain
sports.
Blogger Janis Inniss, in her May 3 rd blog entry entitled “Sports, Uniforms, and
Gender,” wrote, “The one question that I haven’t been able to get answered in all my
years of watching the sport is this though: Why are the women’s uniforms so much
more revealing than the men’s” She makes the comparison of long knee-length
body suits in male track and field uniforms vs. female’s tight midriff revealing shirts
and underwear-like shorts.
Bloggers and journalists alike seems to wonder about the beach volleyball
uniforms, whose bathing suit-like string bottoms and bra tops seem to attract much
more attention than is given to the actual sport itself.
While no research is currently underway, it is painfully apparent that athletic
apparel for girls is affecting teenagers’ decisions to join certain sports. Thus we can
wonder if overall female athletic participation in the country and in the world is
going to decrease if no drastic changes are made to help improve the attire of many
sports.
18

horace international domestic sports health mann arts
alice taranto
19