Hokkaido Earthquake

Geological Setting

Hokkaido is Japan’s northernmost and least developed island. The USGS website says that, “the preliminary location and focal-mechanism of this earthquake imply that it occurred as the result of thrust-faulting on the plate interface between the overriding North American plate (which extends into the north- east corner of the Eurasian landmass) and the subducting Pacific plate.”



It was a Magnitude 8.0 quake happening around 5:00 a.m. on Septem ber 26, 2003. About an hour later there was another at about Magnitude 7.1. It affected a 400 km-wide area along the southern coast of the island.

Both the USGS and the EERI sites describe the importance of the area’s history for magnitude 8.0+ earthquakes. There have been three in the same southern area in the last 50 years. Historical evidence from a quake in 1952 shows that some slip distribution happened along the same fault segment.

Landscape and Infrastructure
The first quake caused some tsunamis along the southern coast. The EERI website says that, “despite the large magnitude and high PGA levels, the observed ground failure, liquefaction, and structural, port, and lifeline damage were remarkably minimal.” They report that the hypocenter was located at latitude 41.9° north and longitude144.1° east, at a depth of 42 km.

Damages such as liquefaction and landslides were localized and minor for the most part. The earthquakes did cause embankment and fill failures which “produced cracks, slumps, and in some cases lateral spreads accompanied by sand boils, indicat ing an association with soil liquefaction.

These failures were most common in deep fills that had been constructed to provide a smooth grade for roads passing from valley bot toms to adjacent upland areas. Locally, such fill and embankment failures caused significant damage, especially to roads.” (EERI) I found someone’s personal website with photos after the earthquakes which show the road damages. Unfortunately the website was in Japanese so I don’t have information to the exact location of the photos (see below).

Human Impact

There is conflicting information about the number of deaths attributed to this quake. Some sites say none, others say anywhere from 2-10. There were some fishermen who disappeared in the tsunami, and some cars that were thrown into the water near a port. Otherwise there are just reports for injuries which also ranged from 300-500.

Phone lines and electricity managed to escape the earthquake relatively unharmed. The main problem was damage to sewer systems. Manholes were displaced and lifted up by a few meters. The EERI site says that, “In all cases, the uplift appeared to be related to liquefaction of the pipeline backfill material, and damage was aligned with the layout of the pipe network.”







http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/photo_gallery/3142916.stm

http://www.daisuki-tokachi.net/harunirephot/2003-9-26-jisin.htm

El Paisaje del Latinoamérica

Cuándo los españoles vinieron a Latinoamérica, todos estaban obsesionados por la riqueza que se escondió en la naturaleza. Es una tierra duro con los volcanes que escupen el fuego, los climas extremos, las selvas y los animales indomados. El paisaje del Latinoamérica es un lugar exótico y llena de misterio que afectan todos que viven allí. Cuándo la gente cruza la frontera por el norte, la memoria de la tierra se queda a dentro de sus almas. Para las mujeres que cruzan por el norte, esta memoria de una naturaleza poderosa y significativa continuará a formar sus vidas en los Estados Unidos. Esto es evidente en el cuento The Willow Game por Denise Chávez y también en Antojo por Julia Álvarez. Los dos cuentos proporcionan imágenes distintas de la experiencia de una latina-norteamericana pero tienen temas en común. Este ensayo enfocará en la familiaridad y la importancia de la naturaleza en las vidas de las protagonistas.

En Willow Game la protagonista es una chica norteamericana pero vive en el “borderlands” de Nuevo México. Su voz no es la voz de una estadounidense típica porque su relación con la naturaleza es más latinoamericano. Los lectores pueden ver las tradiciones mexicanas que relatan a la naturaleza en la primera sección del cuento:

My little sister and I would scavenge the neighborhood for flowers that we would then lay at Our Lady’s feet during those long May Day processions of faith that we so loved. A white satin cloth would be spread in front of the altar and we children would come up one by one and place our moist expectations there, on that bridal sheet along with that boundless childish fervor saturated with the mystifying scent of flowers, the vision of flowers, the flowers of our offerings. (p.56)

Chávez describe una tradición sumamente latinoamericana en que el medio ambiente tiene un papel crucial. Las palabras transmiten un sentido de la majestad y la maravilla en las flores como el misterio de las selvas y montañas de México. Pero las flores en realidad son flores sencillas del barrio. La protagonista en este cuento crea un mundo del misticismo tropical en su suburbio estadounidense.

La naturaleza en este mundo tiene una representación crucial. A veces, el medio ambiente de Latinoamérica es brutal y maravilloso. La naturaleza puede tener destrucción y la esencia de la vida. Sin embargo, la vida sin la naturaleza es una vida casi inhóspita. El conflicto entre las culturas del norte y el sur puede destruir las relaciones personales con el ambiente. Cuándo el árbol de sauce está destruido, la protagonista está afectada por la pérdida de la magia,

I am left with recollections of pain, of loss, with holes to be filled. Time, like trees, withstands the winters, bursts forth new leaves from the dried old sorrows—who knows when and why—and shelters us with the shade of later compassions, loves, although at the time the heart is seared so badly that the hope of all future flowerings are gone…The shreds of magic living, like the silken green ropes of the Willow’s branches, dissolved about me, and I was beyond myself, a child no longer. I was filled with immense sadness, the burning of snow in a desert land of consistent warmth. (p.63)

En Antojo también, hay una necesidad de la naturaleza en la vida de la protagonista, Yolanda pero es menos explícito. Yolanda es una mujer muy norteamericana en sus maneras, pero el sentido de la tradición se queda a dentro de ella. Durante el cuento su comprensión del medio ambiente está evolucionando. Al primer, es su deseo para encontrar guayabas que avance el cuento:

All around her are the foothills, a dark enormous green, the sky more a brightness than a color. A breeze blows through the palms below, rustling their branches, so they whisper like voices. Here and there a braid of smoke rises from a hillside—a campesino and his family living out their solitary life. This is what she has been missing all these years without really knowing that she has been missing it. Standing here in the quiet, she believes she has never felt at home in the States, never. (p.12)

Yolanda puede ver los aspectos románticos y bellos de la naturaleza. Ella idealiza la imagen del medio ambiente porque ella está rodeada por la tierra de sus parientes, y por primera vez está capaz de sentirse su verdadera identidad.

Yolanda piensa que ella es una norteamericana, muy diferente que sus tías, “She pulls the Datsun over and enjoys her first solitary moment since her arrival. Every compound outing has been hosted by one gracious aunt or another, presenting the landscape as if it were a floor show mounted for her niece’s appreciation.” (p.12) Todavía Yolanda tiene las ideas opuestas sobre el ambiente porque tiene las culturas opuestas dentro de si misma, “She has sat back quietly, hoping she has learned, at last, to let the mighty wave of tradition roll on through her life and break on some other female shore. She plans to bob up again after the many don’ts to do what she wants.” (p.9) Aquí, la tradición está representada por las olas y una playa simboliza la mujer. Julia Álvarez usa este lenguaje para la prefiguración. Los lectores saben que “the wave of tradition” va a chocar durante el cuento.

Esto es evidente en las ideas de Yolanda cuando ella empieza a cambiar su punto de visto idealizada de la naturaleza. Yolanda aparece a tener miedo del ambiente, “They turn onto a bumpy road off the highway, which grows bumpier and bumpier as it climbs up into wilder, more desolate country…Yolanda wants to turn back, but there is no room.” (p.17) Aquí, ella comienza a ver el peligro en este mundo.

El miedo y desconfía de Yolanda viene de las palabras de sus parientes, “The rustling leaves of the guava trees echo the warnings of her old aunts: you will get lost, you will get kidnapped, you will get raped, you will get killed.” (p.17) Esta cita demuestra lo que es más importante en los dos cuentos: la personificación del medio ambiente. Para las chicas en Willow Game las flores representa la Virgen, el símbolo femenino muy poderoso de México. También por esas chicas, los árboles son como miembros de sus familias, “…the tree was the neighborhood’s and, as such, the presence of this tree was as familiar as our own faces, or the faces of our relatives,” (p. 58). Como una madre universal,

“The Apricot Tree embraced us all selflessly,” (p. 58). Las chicas son árboles también porque dice: “We children drew power, along with the tree, from the penetrating grateful wetness…where we vied for power having previously transcended death,” (p.58). Las niñas han estado reinventadas por la naturaleza para ser más poderosas que la muerte. En este cuento las chicas tratan a conquistar la debilidad humana para ser fuerte como el sauce, “Two sisters, with their arms around each other’s child-delicate necks, stand out—as the warps and the twinings of the willow…” (p. 59).

Para Yolanda, la gente dominicana está representada por la naturaleza. Ella dice, “The dozen rich families have intermarried so many times that family trees are tangles of roots,” (p. 14). Las voces de sus tías en los árboles hablan con ella como una fuerza preventiva. Cuándo ella encara su miedo, encuentre la fuerza y la integridad dentro del mismo ambiente hostil y hermoso, “…he is broad and solid, like something not yet completely carved out of a piece of wood,” (p. 20). El ambiente la confronta en la forma de soldados. Le muestra la cara verdadera de la isla y cambia su actitud de la molestia y el miedo, para la respeta y la confía, “The skin feels rough and dry like the bark of trees,” (p.22).

Los dos cuentos son diferentes en muchos de sus temas, pero la naturaleza es lo que causa el cambio en los personajes. La chica en The Willow Game esta desilusionada por la naturaleza en el fin porque no puede contestar la muerte. El sauce muere y las niñas viven improtegidas. Yolanda tiene la experiencia de lo contrario. En el fin, es su coche, el mecánico que la falla en medio del ambiente. Con la ayuda de la naturaleza ella se puede reconciliar las tradiciones del sur con su actitud norteamericana. Denise Chávez y Julia Álvarez demuestran perfectamente lo que es distinto de la experiencia latina-norteamericana: la mayoridad de los estadounidenses (como los españoles de historia) ven el ambiente como algo para conquistar y los latinos ven el ambiente como algo que forma sus vidas. Aunque hay finales desemejantes en los dos cuentos, es obvio que la naturaleza sea muy trascendental para la formación de la identidad latina-norteamericana.

An Essay Concerning Human Understanding

In Locke’s "An Essay Concerning Human Understanding", Book II, Chapter xxvii, "Of Identity and Diversity,” he discusses the structure of identity. He wants to define the material that makes human beings have a personality or sense of self. He asks the reader to first distinguish what the difference is between a “human” and a “person.” He then asks us to further distinguish between what it is to be a person and what it is to be the same person. In this essay I will discuss the meaning of Locke’s concept of personal identity, focusing on the definition of Locke’s key point: consciousness. I will show that Locke’s theory of personal identity relies too heavily on memory as a foundation.

In Section 9 Locke introduces his theory by saying, “…we must consider what ‘person’ stands for. I think it is a thinking intelligent being, that has reason and reflection, and can consider itself as itself, the same thinking thing at different times and places.” He argues this point in order to define a person as something more than a biological organism. This leads him to his next point that those persons who are able to think are simultaneously aware that they are thinking. This is described hereafter as one’s consciousness.

What makes his theory one of “personal identity” is that Locke believes as long as the consciousness is the same, the body or structure is irrelevant, “…personal identity consists not in the identity of substance but in the identity of consciousness,” (Section 19) He makes reference to his little finger, saying that it is ruled by his consciousness but is separate from it. It could be amputated and he would still be the same person intrinsically, meaning, his consciousness would still function as it had before. “…consciousness unites actions—whether from long ago or from the immediately preceding moment—into the same person. Whatever has the consciousness of present and past actions is the same person to whom they both belong,” (Section 16).

But what is this consciousness? This thing that Locke believes describes the very essence of humanity? At the beginning of Section 17 he says, “Self is that conscious thinking thing that feels or is conscious of pleasure and pain and capable of happiness or misery, and so is concerned for itself as far as that consciousness extends.” He treats the conscious as the personality, though they are not necessarily unique. With Locke’s theory two humans could technically be the same person if they have the same consciousness, or the same memories and experiences.

Locke’s idea of consciousness rests heavily on memories and that could be problematic for people suffering memory loss. Amnesia can occur by either wiping out the patients past memories entirely, or by removing particular memories. Locke argues that they are not the same. And he has a point: Wouldn’t you treat your best friend slightly differently if he couldn’t remember you? You probably wouldn’t be as likely to call him up. But I am not convinced that this person’s lack of memory makes him a completely different person. I believe his personality stays intact. He still has the same predisposition that he had when he was born.

Another problem I see with Locke’s theory is that of false memories. A lot of times my parents will tell stories to my sibling and I about our early childhood and get memories confused. All my life I thought I was the kid who threw up on the Tilt-A-Whirl but my grandmother confirmed recently that it was actually my sister. For many years I thought I remembered that incident at the San Diego County Fair: the horrified look of the teenager operating the ride; the embarrassed stare of an older woman with a fanny pack. The memory was all false. Does that make me the same person as my sister? We share a lot of experiences, and are often unsure whose memories are whose. Locke would argue that in the time that we had the same memories we were also sharing the same consciousness. He claims the structures of our physical forms do not need to be the same. She is 6 years younger than I am, however, so her memory would be skewed by the types of thoughts one has at 6 and mine would be shaped by the thoughts of a 12 year old.

Locke makes a good argument for consciousness as the framework of personal identity but I don’t believe he makes personal identity unique enough. I don’t believe that two different human organisms could ever be the same person. I believe in the interconnectedness of nature only so far as each individual person is shaped by every experience they’ve had, and also the experiences of their relatives (through the stories they tell, and the examples they set), and the experience of their human form. One might still be the same person without his little finger, but he would be changed internally by that loss just as your person is changed by any event. Consciousness is more fluid than Locke argues, more unpredictable and changing, and therefore much more exclusive.

Billy the Kid, Desperado

Billy the Kid’s fast hand and cleverness led him to fame in Mexico, while having a negative effect on society and the law. “From the tales you hear of him everywhere, you might be tempted to fancy him the best loved hero in the state’s history. His crimes are forgotten or condoned, while his loyalty, his gay courage, his superman adventures are treasured in affectionate memory. Men speak of him with admiration; women extol his gallantry and lament his fate.” (1) Many songs have been written about this famous desperado. He was also well-liked, even when he was alive. He was known to be kind, generous and of quick sympathies. He was also a great favorite of women. However, he was also merciless. He placed no value on human life. If one did not give him the things he wanted, he would kill him instantly. This great outlaw affected law and order negatively. At desperate times, law enforcers let criminals try to find and kill him in exchange for their freedom.

To most people, he was known as Billy the Kid. However, he used many other names including William H. Bonney, Henry McCarthy, and Kid Antrim (2).

Billy was born in New York, New York, on November 23, 1859, to Catherine and William Bonney. When Billy turned three, his mother gave birth to his brother named Edward and soon afterwards his dad died in the Civil War. Catherine then married a man named William Antrim and moved out west to Kansas where she opened a boarding house. His stepfather made a living by working in the mines (3).

No one really knows what makes a person turn out bad like Billy did. Many say parents play a large part in the way a child turns out as they can influence children. Billy’s real dad has very little influence on his life for he has been away at war and then d died when Billy was only three years old. His stepfather, Antrim, was most likely a very permissive parent for Billy was said to have roamed the streets freely and to have hung out at the saloons (when not in school) even at the young age of eight years old. While a young boy, Billy developed the talent for card playing and the adults enjoyed playing with him. His mother must have shared the same feelings of permissiveness for she did not mind that her son visited “...the devil’s own school for any boy, and [her son was learning] its lessons well” (4).

As a child he was said to have had a violent temper; one who could not control himself. Upon having an uncontrollable temper fit, his stepfather would sometimes pick him up and lock him in a room. That was the only way he could calm him down. Billy, however, also had a sunny disposition and sense of humor, and was very often heard singing songs to himself. While young, he had very little friends his own age. He considered the outlaws at the saloons his friends and visited them often.

Billy’s first killing occurred at the young age of 12. He and his mom were walking him from doing local shopping, when a man made a joke about his mom. Billy picked up a rock and threw the rock at the man as hard as he could and barely knocked off his hat. The man charged at Billy, but four men held him back. A week later Billy saw the man in the saloon. The man was accused of cheating at cards. He and another man got into a fight and Billy seized the opportunity and pulled out his pocket knife and reportedly stabbed him in the back until he dropped dead. He ran home and told his mom what had happened. Upon hearing of the incident, she gave him the few dollars in her purse, hugged him and kissed him for the last time. He left never to return again. He was headed for Silver City (which would take him four years to reach). He was now on his own, and it was the beginning of his crime-filled life (5).

Over the years it took him to get to Silver City he had killed several men, some over something simple like gambling games. He had claimed to have shot and killed twenty-one men, not including Mexicans and Indians (6). His last killing was a guard who was escorting him to hang on the gallows. He shot the guard , jumped on a horse and rode to Old Mexico. Billy used Old Mexico as a refuge for in that area he was supposedly well known and thought of as a hero. People would welcome him in and even hide him when the sheriff and posse came around. The people cared little that he was breaking the law continually. While hiding out one time, he got the news that Pat Garret, his former comrade, had been hired to hunt him down and kill him. Billy thought to himself that he would never find him down there. Billy had forgotten that Pat Garret knew Billy’s favorite hiding spots.

One night Billy went into one of the town’s local stores without his guns for he hadn’t had to use them for a week. Sure enough, pat Garret was there. Billy grabbed a knife, but it was too late for Pat Garret had already shot at him. Billy died. He was only 21 (7). There has been rumor that some people do not believe that his kissing occurred; but there were two eye witnesses.

Although, Billy the Kid was a famous desperado and regarded as a hero, he did little to deserve it, for he really was a criminal. In trying for his capture, the law was even bent in order to catch him.



Notes


1. Burns, Walter, The Saga of Billy the Kid

NY: Grosser and Dunlap Pub. 1926, p. 53


2. Funk and Wagnalls New Encyclopedia, Vol. 3

MCMLXXI, Funk and Wagnalls, Inc, p. 423

3. Horan, James D., The Gunfighters

NY: Crown Pub., Inc., 1976, p. 13


4. Burns, Walter, The Saga of Billy the Kid

NY: Grosser and Dunlap Pub. 1926, p. 72


5. Burns, Walter, The Saga of Billy the Kid

NY: Grosser and Dunlap Pub. 1926, p. 75


6. Encyclopedia America, p. 749


7. Nash, Jay R., Bloodletters and Badmen

NY: M. Evans and Co., 1973, p. 71

The Science of Homeopathy

Most U.S. medical professionals, and some astronomy/physics professors too, believe that homeopathy is nothing but pseudoscience, or, a set of established ideas that are not scientifically based. According to Wikipedia, “Homeopathy is rejected as pseudoscience (functioning to some extent through the placebo effect) by the majority of the scientific and medical establishment in the United States” (www.wikipedia.org). However, without a clear understanding of what homeopathy is, how it works, or why it works differently than conventional medicine, such unsubstantiated disbelief makes good sense. The purpose here is to remove any inappropriate “pseudoscience” labels, and prove that homeopathy is not pseudoscience, but instead, an emerging science (i.e. it launches sound principles for further research which can be peer reviewed) that renders real, empirical data and results. A holistic, scientifically grounded approach to homeopathy and treatment will be offered. This will be done in five parts: first, a brief background of homeopathy will be presented; second, a definition, description, and premise for what homeopathy is will be provided; third, an explanation will given to explain why homeopathy fulfills the definition of science; fourth, serious risks of using homeopathy will be exposed; and fifth, a closing discussion will address the increasingly common integration of alternative treatment/medicine with the practice of conventional treatment/medicine.

The first step to understanding homeopathy is to reveal its history. According to D'Huyvetter & Cohrssen, “homeopathy dates back 2400 years ago to Hippocrates (2002). However, since its development by German physician Samuel Hahnemann in the early 1800s, “homeopathy has been widely accepted and practiced in Europe ever since and is now the leading alternative therapy used there” (Walker, 15). The main difference between homeopathic treatment in the United States and Europe is that homeopathic remedies in the U.S. are subject to regulation by the Food and Drug Administration. Ironically, Walker warns: “In the September 1997 issue of U.S. News & World Report, as many as 140,000 people die annually from adverse reactions to prescription drugs approved as ‘safe and effective’ by the FDA” (14). Homeopathic treatment, on the contrary, “is not only safe and effective, but are without side effects” (Walker, 13) As such, it is worthy of further scientific study. And, even if scientific elitists consider it a pseudoscience, it’s still safer.

The second step is to define what homeopathy is. In her book, The Alternative Pharmacy, Dr. Walker explains that, “conventional medicine works chemically, whereas homeopathic remedies work on an energetic level. / Homeopathy, therefore, works energetically to stimulate the body’s natural ability to heal itself” (13). The result of this difference between conventional medicine and homeopathic treatment is that symptoms are encouraged instead of suppressed. Although the “alternative medicine…has no chemically active ingredients” (www.wikipedia.org), the body flushes out the toxins, instead of suppressing them. Then, the remedy stimulates the body’s natural defenses, and health and balance is restored. For example, a flu shot works similarly because the inactivated virus triggers the immune system to react by producing antibodies which are programmed to attack it. If the person is exposed to the flu afterwards, his or her immune system recognizes the virus and kills it. This prevents future exposure to sickness. Merrell and Shalts argue that this is similar to traditional Chinese medicine, because “it emphasizes the self-healing potential of the human body” (4). Further, these remedies consist of “minute doses of natural mineral, plant or animal substances” (Walker, 14). At present, though, “no explanation of mechanisms by which homeopathic medicines affect biological systems is available. / The debate around homeopathy always has focused essentially on the legitimacy of a practice for which a plausible scientific explanation for its mechanism of action has been persistently lacking” (Merrell, Homeopathy). The concepts of how energy and matter interface is not perfectly clear. However, there are more slightly clear explanations that explain the molecular make-up and chemistry of homeopathy. Wikipedia sites one study where, “recent research (BBC News: Fresh Clue to Homeopathy Mystery) indicates that in certain situations the further diluted the substance, the more its molecules tend to clump together” (Wikipedia, 8) Although homeopathy does not have the amount of empirical data, this does not mean that is does not work. Defenders of homeopathy, Wikipedia sites, point out the example of aspirin, “which was used for years without anyone knowing how it worked” (www.wikipedia.org). Since the make-up of homeopathy has been introduced, the “basic scientific tenets ” must be explained (Merrell & Shalts).

Homeopathy has been defined, but the make-up of its basic premise, and different types must be made clear. The foundation for homeopathy is essentially based on Hahnemann’s two “natural laws.” The first tenet is called “the law of similars,” or that a “substance can heal a disease if it causes the same symptoms when given in a stronger dose to a healthy person (Walker, 15). In fact, the word homeopathy, from the Greek words homeos and pathos, means "similar suffering." Second, is the “law of infinitesimals,” or the more the substance is diluted, “the more potent it becomes” (www.wikipedia.org). The highest and strongest potencies are the most dilute. Walker explains that the remedies potency can be increased by higher dilutions or even succussing (i.e. shaking it vigorously). (15)

Two distinct categories of homeopathic treatment include classical and clinical (Merrell & Shalts, 2002). First, clinical treatment mimics first aid treatment because minor ailments like rashes, indigestion, and stage fright can easily be treated. This safe and effective manner of treatment requires little skill because low-potency remedies are considered safe and effective. Next, classical treatment, which works on a deeper level, aims to treat the whole person. Walker argues that “constitutional homeopaths can make deep profound changes in health with single, high-potency doses of homeopathic remedies given over a long periods of time” (14). The whole person is treated and not just the symptoms alone.

The third step is to expose the dangers involved when the remedy gets in the wrong hands, even though homeopathic treatment is considered safe. Three distinct problems can emerge if one is not careful. For example, self-diagnosing or self-medicating with homeopathic remedies could ignore larger health issues. Walker argues, “treatment is individualized and largely dependent on the practitioners experience in selecting the correct remedy” (Walker, 15). Help from a professional homeopath is necessary. Another example of how homeopathy could potentially be harmful is when the remedy is confused with other types of alternative medicine (i.e. herbal remedies). “A common misconception is that homeopathic remedies use only (natural and thus presume to be safe) herbal components, but that is herbology” (www.wikipedia.org). Although the basic source is herbal in both, homeopathy “gets diluted beyond measurable quantities” (www.wikipedia.org). Herbal remedies, on the other hand, have measurable amounts of herbs in the remedy. Third, when using homeopathic treatment, it is necessary take certain precautions.

Walker lists these as “general considerations when using homeopathic remedies” (16). Such basics as mint (e.g. toothpaste, floss, gum, tea, etc.), coffee, camphor, menthol, eucalyptus, and even tea tree oil must be avoided. Because the energy in these substances is much higher, the remedy, in effect, will be rendered ineffective and therefore, wasted. Moreover, homeopathic remedies cannot be touched by hands. Such contact also inactivates the remedy. The remedies must also be kept “in a dark place, away from perfumes, medications, foods, herbs, and all strong smelling substances” (Walker, 17). This will also cause damage to the remedy. Storage of remedies in a closet, kept in a Tupperware container, for instance, will preserve the remedy.

Last, Walker also recommends to never letting remedies be x-rayed while traveling. “When remedies are x-rayed, they will be damaged by competing radiation” (17). Without prior knowledge of proper usage and care of homeopathic remedies, treatment cannot only be dangerous, but, in essence, a waste of time and money.

To determine if homeopathy is a true science, the word “science” must first be defined. The American Heritage Dictionary defines “science” as, “the observation, identification, description, experimental investigation, and theoretical explanation of natural phenomenon.” In other words, a true subject of science must be able to be proved false, withstand the scientific method, and also be peer reviewed.

Science is a process of figuring things out. The fact is, whether the technology or the right formula is not yet available for figuring everything out, scientists do not know everything about everything. For example, for the sake of argument, astronomers/physicists still struggle to determine the exact age of the universe. However, a series of studies on homeopathy revealed real, empirical evidence. For example, Wikipedia sites a study conducted by Dana Ullman, author of The Consumer’s Guide to Homeopathy. Ullman 1991 study shows that homeopathy is peer reviewed and therefore a science:

three professors of medicine from the Netherlands, none of them homeopaths, performed a meta-analysis of twenty-five years of clinical studies using homeopathic medicines and published their results in the journal British Medical Journal. This meta-analysis covered 107 controlled trials, of which 81 showed that homeopathic medicines were effective, 24 showed they were ineffective, and 2 were inconclusive. The professor’s concluded, “The amount of positive results came as a surprise to us” (www.wikipedia.org).

Another study, cited by Walker reveals further validation through the scientific community:
on September 29, 1997 , the British medical journal Lancet reported the results of a meta-analysis (a systematic review of a body of research) of 89 blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trials of homeopathy. It found that the homeopathic medicines used in those studies had an average effect that was 2.45 times greater than placebos. (17)

A third convincing study, cited by Merrell & Shalts, reveals further empirical evidence in support of homeopathic treatment. Accordingly, a “double-blind, placebo-controlled study from Harvard found that the homeopathic treatment of mild traumatic brain injury (60 subjects) was beneficial. The authors suggested that homeopathy may have a role in treating persistent mild traumatic brain injury.” (2002)

Another study eliminates the possibility of the placebo effect on animals. Walker notes a laboratory study that involved rats: “Researchers gave rats crude doses of arsenic, bismuth, cadmium, mercury chloride, or lead. Animals pretreated with homeopathic doses of these substances before and after exposure to the crude substances excreted more of the toxic crude substances through urine, feces, and sweat than did animals pretreated with a placebo” (14). In a similar manner, the toxins were flushed out in the animals as the symptoms in humans are “flushed out.”

Theses studies provide empirical evidence and data that illustrates that homeopathy does work, whether on humans or animals. Peers have even reviewed these studies. However, according to the scientific method of determining what is science and what is not, the results must also be proved false.

Merrell & Shalts refer to several negative clinical studies were the results after homeopathic treatment were deemed useless: “Studies done on homeopathy in treatment of migraine headaches consistently have shown negative results. One study done in children with recurrent upper respiratory tract infections found no difference with homeopathy in terms of sick days and use of antibiotics. Placebo and treatment groups had fewer flare-ups, which was attributed to counseling patients about preventive measures.” (14)

Despite the empirical evidence available, the peer reviewed articles and/or journals, or even the support from the science community, more future, well-conducted, randomized trials are essential for accepting homeopathy as a mainstream medicine. Therefore, even though its roots trace back circa 2400 years ago, it could still be considered an emerging science (in its young stages). Although the efficacy debate of homeopathy remains, Merrell & Shalts argue that “increasing public and professional interests calls for attempts to study homeopathy in a more systematic way in order to provide quality academic overview for medical practitioners” (2002) The growing integration of alternative medicine (i.e. acupuncture, herbology) into conventional medicine “provides a solid interface between many emerging complementary and alternative medicine modalities, including homeopathy” (Merrell & Shalts, 2002). This makes good sense because, according to a recent news report, “more than 40% of Americans take at least one prescription drug and one-in-six takes at least three” (www.usatoday.com). In a time when the average American prescription-drug user may experience side effects caused by the drug, as mentioned earlier, homeopathy could be the answer to safety and health.


Bibliography

Arocho, Victoria. “More than 40% of Americans using prescription drugs.” USA TODAY 12 December 2004. (http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2004-12-02-medicated-america_x.htm?POE=click-refer)

D'Huyvetter & Cohrssen, “Homeopathy,” Journal of Primary Care 29(2) 407-18, viii (2002)

Merrell, Shalts, “Homeopathy, ” Journal of Medical Clinics of North America 86(1): 47-62 (2002)

“Homeopathy.” The American Heritage Dictionary. 2nd ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company

“Homeopathy.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia (www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeopathy)

Walker, Lynne, and Brown Ellen. The Alternative Pharmacy. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1998.

Euthanasia in Holland

The government’s proposal for the legal regulation of euthanasia, physician assisted suicide and the termination of a patient’s life without his/her request has been approved by the Dutch Parliament. The defense of the this proposal is, to a large extent, based on a specific interpretation of data published in 1991 in the Remmelink Report. In the course of the discussions that followed this proposal, it has been agreed that the following three categories of action should not be considered forms of euthanasia:

1. Stopping or not beginning a treatment at the request of the patient.

2. Withholding a treatment that is medically useless.

3. Pain and symptom treatment with the possible side-effect of shortening life.

The focus of this paper is to discuss both the inter-relation of the Remmelink Report and other data with the new law and, attempt to undermine the effectiveness of national safeguards and the existence of personal autonomy, under the current system.

The findings of the Remmelink Report disclose that 9,000 requests for physician assisted suicide in the Netherlands led to ‘only’ 2,300 cases of euthanasia (Jochemsen, 212). Such data has been used by euthanasia activists to illustrate that, in reality, physicians in the Netherlands are not, in fact, terminating patients on demand. Indeed, this is not the case; however, more significantly, the data illustrates that the request of the patient is not in practice the basis on which physicians decide to perform euthanasia, but rather they base such decisions on the condition of the patient (Jochemsen, 212). This supports the findings that 1,000 patients had their lives terminated without their consent (Jochemsen, 212). In practice, the request seems to function more as a circumstance making euthanasia legally and perhaps ethically, easier for the physician to perform. Respect for patient autonomy has been put forward as the main argument in favor of the acceptance of euthanasia, however the above research is contradictory and undermines the autonomy of the patient.

The result of the Remmelink Report also indicates that 65-75% of physicians falsely and unlawfully certify death by natural causes after performing euthanasia (Jochemsen, 213). These findings demonstrate that the physicians are reluctant to have their life-terminating actions supervised by legal authorities. Even more alarming is the fact that the data indicates that in majority of cases, it is unknown whether the requirements for careful medical practices are even being observed (Jochemsen 213). Such statements are supported by the recent research by Van der Wal. Some of the most significant results can be summarized as follows:

1. Physicians often fail to inform the proper authorities of the circumstance of their patients death due to their desire to avoid administrative complications, or burden the patient’s family with any investigation.

2. The cases that are reported are representative of a sample of all cases in which the requirements of the court have been met, however, this is less so for the unnoticed cases.

3. The reports of cases that are notified describe the situation of the patient in terms that satisfy the requirements of the legal authorities, some of which, are in conflict with the description give in the anonymous inquiry (Jochemsen, 213). In light of the above research, the ability of legal authorities to adequately control the practice of euthanasia is minimal.

The data collected by the Remmelink Committee illustrate that the Dutch Cabinet’s classification of life-terminating actions, are nuclear. The reportable actions are euthanasia, physician assisted suicide and life-terminating actions (Fernigsen, 167). However, the intensification of pain treatment and the withholding of treatment with the explicit intent of shortening life do not come within the definition of these actions, nor under the definition of those actions that are not to be considered euthanasia. Therefore, it remains difficult to determine, whether in the opinion of the Cabinet, such actions should be reported. It is only in the Memorandum of Reply that the ministers make it clear that the intensification of pain and symptom treatment with the intent to shorten life should not be considered normal medical treatment and must therefore be reported (Fernigsen, 167). This is in conflict with the Remmelink findings, which reports that in 60% of the cases where pain treatment was given in such high doses that life was significantly shortened, there had been no request made by the patient (Jochemsen, 213).

Another source found in The Economist, reports that in addition to 2,300 cases of euthanasia in Holland in 1990, a further 1,040 people had their lives terminated without making a formal request for intervention (Euthanasia, 21).

Such figures give pause for thought. One must question the length to which such practices could continue. Consider the severely depressed 50-year old Dutch woman, who in 1991 asked her psychiatrist named Chabot to assist her in her suicide. After consulting with several other doctors, the psychiatrist, agreed to help her die and gave the patient a large quantity of sleeping pills and a toxic poison. The woman took these pills and died shortly after (Spanjer, 1630). This incident was followed by an inquiry by the supreme court of Holland. However, in June that same year, the psychiatrist was not prosecuted, setting a precedent for future cases (Spanjer, 1630). The ineffectiveness of national safeguards as illustrated by the depressed Dutch woman, adds validity to the slippery slope hypothesis.

Johan Legemaate, legal counsel of the Royal Dutch Medical Association responds to criticism of the manner in which euthanasia is practiced in the Netherlands. He argues that in more than two thirds of the cases where patients request euthanasia, it is denied (Euthanasia, 22). He adds that in most such cases, as cited above, life was shortened only by a matter of hours or days. Legemaate declares, “We feel we have succeeded in creating a large amount of openness and accountability” (Euthanasia, 22). However, determining whether a patient’s life was shortened merely by a matter of hours or days is indeed difficult once the patient’s life has already been terminated. Such logic eliminated the possibility of a misdiagnosis, or improvement, no matter how remote in probability. Moreover, critics counter that the result of the system as it exists, is a climate of indifference in which most cases of euthanasia go unreported and patience’s rights are being eroded (Euthanasia, 23). Such evidence exposes the fallacy of the autonomy of euthanasia. Instead of giving more freedom to the patients, doctors are being given more power over them.

Within the system, as it currently exists in Netherlands, physicians are increasingly being given the power to practice life and death over their patients. Considering the preceding statement, a greater question must be posed. On what basis are value judgments being made with regards to which patients are suitable for euthanasia without the request of the patients themselves? When one comes to such realization, the potential dangers of euthanasia become very pronounced. Those who work with the disabled community have been at the forefront of opposition against the termination of patients (Jennish, 16). Lloyd Samson, 44, a volunteer with the Halifax Regional Cerebral Palsy Association, voices his concern when he declares, “the rights of the disabled must be protected . . . when someone plays God, it’s scary” (Jennish, 16). The Council of Canadians with Disabilities and its member organization, Saskatchewan Voice of the Handicapped, are strongly in opposition of euthanasia (Jennish, 16). The fear of the disabled can by no means be considered unreasonable. The autonomy of the handicapped is clearly in danger of being compromised.

For the community of physicians and nurses, euthanasia is troubling because they are trained to heal and save their patients. Killing a patient, even with noble intentions, is in conflict with the very nature of the medical profession. Furthermore, even with the request of the patient for euthanasia, some physicians, however few, may have ethical reservations about performing such a procedure. Many doctors also fear that practicing euthanasia will lead to some patients to regard them as bringers of death (Economist, 42). The growing palliative care branch of medicine has been at the forefront of medical opposition to euthanasia (Cosh, 22). Practitioners in hospices argue that techniques for controlling pain are now so far advanced that fewer people need die in agony. They are concerned that growing availability of euthanasia as an easy option would diminish the compassionate care of those who prefer to let death take its natural course (Cosh, 22). Admirers of the Dutch system of euthanasia believe it to be the more ‘compassionate’ choice, however, in light of the evidence adduced above, we see an inherent contradiction.

The financial cost for palliative care is sizable, however, recent research has shed new light on the less substantial cost of hospices. Many health care experts assume that a huge chunk of medical cost is spent to briefly extend the lives of those patients whoa re to die anyway (Cosh, 38). But a study published in 1994, in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, illustrates the contrary. The report finds that discontinuing life-prolonging treatments for terminally ill patients would in fact, save little money (Cosh, 38). When the study used patients who had a 10% chance of surviving for two months or more, the savings were considerably more. However, when one considers that the lives of human beings are lying in the balance, discussing ‘savings’ becomes extremely inappropriate. Few would argue that we owe our sick and elderly better than what euthanasia proposes. Such policy would inevitably diminish to a climate whereby patients feel the duty to die.

For the Christian churches, there is little division of opinion with regards to the moral and religious justification of euthanasia. Even in the case of the Netherlands, where the overwhelming majority of the population, has lost the habit of attending church on Sundays, remain influenced by Christian values and ideologies (Economist, 43). One of the most fundamental of all Christian beliefs is the sanctity of life. According to the Christian, life is a precious gift from God, which individuals guard but not own. Another is that human suffering is essentially part of our redemption, and as such, is immensely valuable in itself. The Roman Catholic Church has taken this position, but not, however, an active role in protest (Jennish, 17). Walter Farquharson, a former moderator of the United Church, laments that many church members are dissatisfied with the church’s failure to address concerns such as living wills and euthanasia. After exploring various religious aspects of such concerns, he concludes,

We believe that it is appropriate to withdraw medical treatments that are not benefiting the patient and that are prolonging suffering and dying when . . . firm evidence of disease irreversibility exists. (Skoutajan, 949)

However, both Farquharson, the Catholic Church and the vast majority of Christians do not condone the practice of active euthanasia.

Holland has the most liberal euthanasia laws than any other western country. As a case study, the effectiveness of the Dutch system is the source of intense debate. Admirers cite the care with which the Dutch debated the issue until consensus was reached, and the safeguards that they built into their system. However, the evidence adduced above demonstrates the ineffectiveness of safeguards and that Holland is skidding down the slippery slope towards licensed killing. Works Cited

Cosh, Colby. “Wanted, One Doctor Death.” Alberta Report, July 10,

1995. Vol. 22, p.22.

Fenigsen, Richard. “New Regulations Concerning Euthanasia.”

Issues in Law and Medicine, Fall, 1993 p. 167, 7p.

Jennish, Darcy. “What Would You Do?” Macleans, November 28,

1994.

Jochemsen, Henk. “Euthanasia in Holland.” Journal of Medical

Ethics, December 1994.

Skoutajan, Hanns F. “Post-Sacred Society.” Christian Century,

October 18, 1995

“The Dutch Way of Dying.” The Economist, September 17, 1994.

Vol. 332, p21, 3p.

“To Cease Upon Midnight.” The Economist, September 17, 1994.

Vol. 332, p32, 5p.

Sex Roles & Marital Interaction

Parents of young children inevitably face difficult decisions about how they will balance their work and family responsibilities. Some families decide to have a stay-at-home parent. Some, by necessity or choice, choose to have to working parents, whether full or part time. Some have little leeway in the matter, being single parent families. Whatever their situation, if these parents use media at all, they are exposed to imagery and information about work and family configurations. And, no matter the parent’s choice or circumstance, some media sources will provide reinforcement and some will not. In three steps, this paper will first define and compare traditional family structure to a more conventional, non-traditional family structure; second, analyze how mothers are becoming the breadwinners of the family; and third; examine various media portrayals of the non-traditional family.

In Fitzpatrick’s article, Marital Interaction, traditional families are defined by “their faithfulness to conventional sex roles and marriage” (239). In the 1950’s situational comedies like Leave It To Beaver, women and men’s roles were structured around traditional family roles. The father, in this case, works all day in the office, whereas the mother stays at home, attending to household duties. For centuries, (except during times of war) traditional marriage has been the cornerstone of virtually all societies, the key institution for passing on values and taking care of their children. That was then, this is now. Most American’s, at present, don’t want to return to the narrow-minded one-size-fits-all family of the 1950’s. More father’s choose to be at home; whereas, more mothers choose to pursue careers outside of the home. In a related study called, “Sex-Role Expectations,” Gilbert reports, “Many of these women are not proponents of the conventional model of marriage in which the husband is superior intellectually and occupationally to his wife. (35).

Today, less than ten percent of all households follow the “Ozzie and Harriet” model of the breadwinning father and housewife mother. (Parasuraman & Greenhaus, 1997). The new direction that non-traditional families are taking switches fathers from executives, to what Robert Frank calls, “the primary caregiver.” In his book The Involved Father, Frank defines the primary care giver as “the parent who spends at least 30 hours a week home alone with the children and who take care of them for the greater part of four days a week. (5)” The primary cause behind the stay-at-home father’s arrangement, according to Vavrus, is usually “practical and rational, economic and/or professional. (359)” For instance, the mother may make more money than the father. Career-driven mothers, in this case, work all day in the office, whereas the father assumes the opposite role, and tends to works all day in the home. In two studies in the 1990’s Frank compared about 500 traditional families with 400 families with at-home fathers. Frank argued that the non-traditional family is more complicated than true role-reversal. Fathers are doing what mothers have done all long—domestic housework. But, unlike traditional fathers, working mothers take over in the evenings, usually handling bathing and putting the children to bed. Still, the men hold onto many of their traditional duties—including mowing the lawn and driving the car on family outings. (42)

In other ways, the job of a stay-at-home dad is less demanding than that of the stay-at-home mom. Although women’s roles are changing outside the home, much less has changed inside the home. According to Stebbins, “Responsibility for the household and the children still falls primarily on the women, though men are becoming more involved. (11)” For example, working mothers have two full-time jobs: paid employment, and homemaking and child care. Arlie Hochschild calls this the “second shift. (35)” The first shift from homemaker to paid employment, suddenly makes a subsequent shift back to homemaker. But research on the imbalanced workingwoman’s workload does not stop there. Gilbert argues, “Professional women’s perceived housework and child care responsibilities equals nearly three times as many hours per week more than their spouse. (61)” According to Susan Lewis, “Where masculinity is socially constructed in this way, women have low expectations of assistance from their partners.” But, just the same, there are no days off as a full-time parent. Perhaps the consuming demand of full-time parenting is equivalent to full-time employment. And taking over the “emotional work” of the family and soothing a distraught child is still a less common expectation for fathers.

The changing role of women has surpassed the outdated household categories. Women of the household have embraced a more independent role, and are no longer dependent on the male for financial stability. Women are even more likely to complete their college education. New economic realities require most women to work outside the home. As a result, gender inequality in the workplace is declining and becoming more balanced. The U.S. Board of Statistics shows that more women are graduating from college. College completion rates for young women (ages 25-29) narrowly exceed those for young men, 30 percent and 28 percent, respectively. (www.census.gov/population/soc/demo/education.pdf). Moreover, the rates for women in the labor force have also risen. For example, the number of working women (ages 25-54) in the United States from1978 to 1998 has dramatically increased from 41,589 to 59, 725. In contrast, the U.S. Census Bureau show has determined that rates for working women were declining until 1996-1998, when rates held steady. (www.bls.giv/opub/mlr/1999.htm).

With more women graduating from college and entering the career field, this indicates that the [male centered] traditional family structure is also changing. Authors Nye and Bernardo support working women, and declare, “The fact is that employed mothers currently average more education than mothers not employed. (274)” The traditional pattern of the male breadwinner and the female homemaker is changing to alternative parent roles. The number of women working outside the home has grown at a staggering rate since 1950, according to Hochschild. (23)” American families are more widely acknowledging, and accepting the changing roles from American families.

Even the media is recognizing this shift. Television’s focus on family significantly influences popular culture. In other words, television provides an important source of information for family structure and interaction. But, regardless of the fact the traditional family structure is changing, and more women are working outside the home, that most media does not reflect this change. Gerber, Gross, Morgan, and Signoriealli indicate that how the images of family life as depicted on television are depicted is cause for concern:

As the mass media have come to absorb many socializing functions of the family, they have offered us images of the family that may act as touchstones by which we gauge our experiences. The seductively realistic portrayals of family and family life in the media may be the basis for our most common and pervasive conceptions and beliefs about what is natural and what is right. (3).

Although TV has the power to bring people together, to show viewers a full picture of our society, few shows adequately focus on the reverse gender role-play of working mothers and at-home fathers. In fact, two films that address this topic only present distorted views of the at-home father role. One example is the movie Mr. Mom, which parodies a non-traditional family. The father (Michael Keaton) is a Detroit automobile engineer unjustly fired by his boss. The wife (Terri Garr), is compelled to get a job to make ends meet, and soon is hired as an advertising executive. Confounded by the complexities of domestic housework and childcare, he discovers that the work of a traditional housewife is far more complicated than he realizes; indeed it is a new job. Moving from breadwinner to househusband, this movie portrays the househusband as a creative, but incompetent full-time parent.

The movie Mrs. Doubtfire, is even more extreme example of how the media portrays non-traditional families. In order to get closer to his kids, the desperate father (Robin Williams), following an ugly divorce, dresses as a woman and passes as a nanny, Career focused ex-wife (Sally Fields) gains full custody of the children, which creates an opening for a full-time nanny position. Meeting the physical demands of a housekeeper, the disguised husband fulfills the role. Concentrating on the positive aspects of the relationships, the film teaches that love is the one thing that makes a family, no matter the distance, lifestyle, or circumstance. But on the contrary, the at-home father is portrayed as a hysterical deceptive, cross-dressed nanny.

The television show Who’s the Boss? further exemplifies the media’s incomplete portrayal of a non-traditional family. The widowed father (Tony Danza) works as a housekeeper for divorced an executive mother (Judith Light). Although the work/partner relationship between both parents as depicted in Who’s the Boss? is far more balanced than in Mr. Mom or Mrs. Doubtfire, the marriage link is not established.

Aside from movies and television, advertising is another form of media that communicates a variety of gender roles. The investigation of how gendered behavior exists in ads began several decades ago. Early investigations in the 1970’s conducted by Erving Goffman, illustrate exactly how print advertisements communicates through body, positioning, gaze and gender-specific activities. Goffman found that messages of power and social status were conveyed in ads with men depicted as physically larger and positioned at a higher elevation than women. Women were often shown looking directly at the men, whereas men only averted their gaze to a male superior, such as a boss or executive. The only situation in which men were depicted as inferior or incompetent was in “women’s related work (75)”—such as making breakfast or doing the laundry.

Studies show that television news stories, however, affirm the at-home fatherly role. Vavrus argued, “…news stories depict issues that stay-at-home dads face quite similarly, that reassert the competence and manliness of Mr. Moms…to validate men as a primary parent, to show that dads can be moms to. (358)” The news depicts an at-home father’s role as domestic and neutral. By challenging the more traditional masculine identity as breadwinner, the Mr. Mom role is becoming more widely accepted. Vavrus illustrates this consensus by saying:

Because we raise men to provide for and not care for children, culturally men have some psychological conflict when they begin doing this. And they go through a transitional period where they might doubt themselves. They certainly feel lonely and isolated because they aren’t
a lot of other fathers around. And sometimes their internal conflict can be reflected in marital conflicts as well. But if they can negotiate this transaction, intimate fathering has lots of positive drawbacks. Dads that stay at hoe express much more satisfaction in their fathering role and ultimately have much higher self-esteem and the couple experiences more marital satisfaction because the wife is very happy to have a chance to go out and pursue her career goals and have help at home as well. (359)

These gendered ads also exist in ads that are directed at children. Research indicates that’s ads for toys show boys as, “Strong, independent, athletic, in control of their environment, adventurous, and aggressive. Girls are [shown as] giggling, gentle, and affectionate, fixated on their physical appearance, and extremely well behaved. (Sobieraj)” Further, in commercials for action figures, Sobieraj reports, “Boys are shown manipulating action figures to shoot guns at one another, fight with knives, punch and kick, and inflict harm in various other ways. (44)” Ads directed at children rarely break out of stereotyped expectations for boys and girls. The role expectations created by various provide only a partial or skewed perspective on both family structure and interaction. Moreover, “The traditional view of men as providers and women as homemakers reinforces the myth of separate worlds. (Voydanoff)”

The final question is how—or even whether, children are different for being raised by at-home fathers. There is so little research on this that this paper will consider it an open question.

Parents investing time in ordinary aspects in their children’s lives is important, and having two involved parents demonstrates equality among gender. The bottom line is that men and women must be given the freedom to choose how their family is structured, and not judged for who is financially providing for it. And to support this transition, the media’s distorted portrayal of family must look beyond the traditional family structure, and accurately depict a new generation of at-home fathers.


References
Fitzpatrick, Mary Anne. Between Husbands & Wives; Communication in Marriage. Beverly Hills: Sage Productions, 1988.

Gilbert, Lucia Albino. Men in Dual-Career Families: Current Realities and Future Prospects. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers, 1985.

Goffman, Erving. Gender Advertisements. New York: Harper & Row, 1979.
Hochschild, Arlie. The Second Shift: Workijg Parents and the Reolution at Home. New York: Viking, 1989.

Nye, Ivan F & Felix M. Berardo. The Family: Its Structure and Interaction. New York: Macmillian Publishing Co., Inc., 1973.

Parasuraman, Saroj, and Jeffery H Greenhaus. The Changing World of Work and Family. Pgs. 3-14 in Integrating Work and Family: Challenges and Choices for a Changing World. Westport, CT: Quorom, 1997.

Sobieraj, Sarah. Beauty and the Beast: Toy Commercials and the Social Construction of Gender. Sociological Abstracts, 1996.

Stebbins, Leslie F. Work and Family in America. Santa Barbara, CA: Contemporary World Issues, 2001.

U.S. Bureau of Census. Educational Attainment in the United States: March 2000
(www.census.gov/population/socdemo/education/p.20-536/p20-536.pdf)

U.S. Bureau of Census, Labor Work Force Projections to 2008: Steady Growth and Changing Composition: 1998-2008. (www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/1999/11/art3exec.htm)

Vavrus, Mary Douglas. (2002). Domesticating Patriarchy: Hegemonic Masculinity and Television’s “Mr. Mom.” Critical Studies in Media Communication. 19 (3, September), 352-375.