8 Diversity Items for June 19
Should Hormones Define a Woman?
The International Olympic Committee is expected to implement new rules that effectively ban female athletes with high levels of testosterone from competing in the games. The guidelines are opening new debates over what the “normal” level of hormones should be for a woman, and some argue that it could be a slippery slope for the committee to use in order to ensure fair play for them.
Read more here.
Study Finds Shoes Reveal Telltale Signs About the Wearer
The type of shoe you wear could be a telling sign of your personality traits, according to a new report published in the Journal of Research in Personality. Gender, age, income and political stance were all examples of traits that could be determined based on a person’s footwear, the study found.
"Age, gender, and income are usually pretty 'visible" characteristics [from shoes], so it's not surprising that observers picked up on them," Dr. Angela Bahns, assistant professor of psychology at Wellesley College, told MSNBC.
Read more here.
Latinas Love a Good Deal, Study Says
Latinos are among the savviest, most energized shoppers, Univision reported on Monday.
Latinas are more proactive than their other female peers about saving money, according to a new survey by WSL/Strategic Retail.
Hispanic women use mobile devices, coupons, dollar stores, and discount retailers to find the best bargains.
Read more here.
Report: More Hospitals Protect Gay Patients
More U.S. hospitals have adopted policies that ban discriminating against lesbian, gay, and bisexual patients, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday.
The annual survey by the Human Rights Campaign, which advocates on behalf of Lesbians, gays, bisexuals and the transgendered, foudn that over 95 percent of more than 400 hoisptails and clinics include sexual orientation in their nondiscrimination policies.
Nearly 80 percent also included gender identity in those policies.
Read more here.
Southern Baptists to Elect First Black President
The largest Protestant denomination in the country was expected to elect its first black president on Tuesday, Rueters reported.
Church leaders have said that choosing Fred Luter Jr., a New Orleans pastor, to head the Southern Baptist Convention would make an important statement on the group’s efforts to overcome its racist past and embrace diversity.
The election came just weeks after the predominantly white religious group reprimanded one of its its officials for making insensitive comments on race.
Southern Baptists split from the First Baptist Church of America prior to the Civil War over slave ownership.
Read more here.
Lessons From Gay Dads on Father’s Day
On Saturday, Univision took a look at two influential Latino families headed by gay men. The message from actor and pop star Ricky Martin was one of inclusion, love, and freedom. Armando Correa, the managing editor of People En Espanol, said his three children were taught the importance of tolerance.
Read more here.
Ladies Dig Burgers, Beckham
A new advertising campaign for Burger King featuring David Beckham has resonated with female customers, QSR Web reported on Thursday. The ad campaign - which also urges Beckham to take off his shirt - has resulted in a change in women’s perceptions of the chain.
For more than a year, women have had a higher perception rate of the company than men, previously the target of BK commercials, according to the report.
Read more here. Watch Beckham’s BK commercial here.
Women, Young People More Stressed
The most stressed people in the United States are the young, women, and those with low education levels and low income, CBS reported on Thursday.
The report cited a new study, published in the Journal of Applied Psychology in June, which tracked the level of stress across the country over time.
People reported that their levels of stress increased between 10 and 30 percent over all demographic categories between 1983 and 2009.
In general, women were more stressed, and stress levels increased with decreasing age - 20 year olds were more stressed than 30 year olds, for example, according to CBS.
Stress levels for men were also up.
Read more here.
