I must be a dinosaur too

The current backlash against the 'rape culture'  personified by Roast Busters, dictates, insists,  the 'victim' has no culpability.
I don't accept that and here's why.

Because if I accept that I must tell my 15 year-old she can get herself into any situation of vulnerability, go to someone's house where there will be a bunch of boys or even one boy, drink alcohol, do whatever happens with the loss of inhibitions that causes, and she is totally blameless.

Sorry. I'm not giving her that message.

If I did I wouldn't be protecting her.

Only she can take responsibility for avoiding unwanted events outside of my knowledge or control.

The attitude that she is blameless might be emotionally useful after the event.

But that's too late.

(Published with the consent of my 15 year-old).

Implications of living wage

I have noticed that the living wage is now being touted as the level of income necessary to participate in society. I heard a British proponent using this phrase on NewstalkZB yesterday and here is an earlier reference:

A Living Wage of $18.40 an hour is being launched today - that allows people to have the basics but still participate in society.

This is the exact language used in the 1972 Royal Commission on Social Policy which recommended  benefit levels should be set at a level  "which would enable [beneficiaries] to participate in and belong to the community (Royal Commission of Inquiry 1972:65)..."

So as the living wage gets progressively rolled out, the implications for the benefit system are obvious.

(It might be argued that rather than allowing people to participate in society, benefits allow people to not participate. The need to support themselves and their families through paid work and family networks is often what draws people into society. In some cases benefits allow people to drop out of society.)

Teenagers behaving more responsibly

Amidst all the furore about teenage sex, not only the sordid West Auckland carry on but the supply of free condoms to adolescents, the following statistics are interesting.

In 2012 only 18 girls under 15 years old gave birth.  There is a strong downward trend.

 

1996	27
1997	48
1998	34
1999	30
2000	31
2001	28
2002	29
2003	29
2004	36
2005	37
2006	35
2007	52
2008	39
2009	29
2010	26
2011	25
2012	18

Neither is this downward trend caused by increased abortions. They are also falling rapidly, more than 50 percent since 2006:

 

1996		60
1997		56
1998		65
1999		56
2000		74
2001		66
2002		78
2003		89
2004		85
2005		92
2006		105
2007		104
2008		83
2009		79
2010		84
2011		68
2012		51

These patterns are also reflected in the 15-19 year-old population.

These stats do not prove that teenagers are having less sex. Or that they waiting till they are older to start having sex. But they do show that teenagers are behaving more responsibly in the area of birth control and pregnancy prevention.

A law change won't stop worst offenders

In today's DomPost:

The law could be changed to zero tolerance and have as much effect on drink-drivers as the smacking ban has had on child abusers.

Quote of the day

I couldn't resist posting this one, from the Freedom Foundation today:

The greatest threat to the future of our nation -- to our freedom -- is not foreign military aggression … but the growing dependence of the people on a paternalistic government. A nation is no stronger than its people and the best measure of their strength is how they accept responsibility. There will never be a great society unless the materialism of the welfare state is replaced by individual initiative and responsibility.

 

- Charles B. Shuman

"Real men don't whine" - Cunliffe

Newstalk ZB just featured Labour leader David Cunliffe talking about discomfit with the man ban saying, "Real men don't whine". This is a reference to potential and existing male Labour MPs who have dared to take issue with the gender quota.

That's a nasty new low. But so typical of the left's modus operandi. To paint your detractor as having a flawed or weak character rather than argue the idea.

Achievement should be based on merit. No more and no less. Start basing it on anything else and it becomes meaningless and damaging. But male readers, don't agree with me or you're a wuss, a big girl's blouse.

There is a clear development here. Cunliffe is saying any man that doesn't support feminism is not a "real man".

The Labour party has effectively put up a sign, "Feminists only need apply."

Asia rising

Since changing laptops I have been unable to post images, and my sitemeter and search function both disappeared. The problem is now fixed and am belatedly posting a graph that caught my eye  last week depicting the rising fortunes of Asia and waning fortunes of the West. We are lucky to be well-placed to take advantage. The rankings depicted are 2009-2013.

Does parental separation affect children's partnership outcomes?

I don't want to misrepresent this study and the findings so will just cut and paste the extract and you can draw your own conclusions:

Parental separation/divorce in childhood and partnership outcomes at age 30.

Fergusson DM, McLeod GF, John Horwood L.

Source

Department of Psychological Medicine, Christchurch Health and Development Study, University of Otago, Christchurch, New Zealand.

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Previous research has found that children exposed to separation/divorce may also experience relationship problems in adulthood. The aim of this investigation was to examine this issue in a birth cohort of over 900 New Zealand children studied to age 30.

METHODS:

Data were gathered over the course of the Christchurch Health and Development Study (CHDS). The CHDS is a 30 year longitudinal study of a birth cohort of 1265 children born in Christchurch (NZ) in 1977. The data collected included the following: (a) timing and number of parental separations and divorces from birth to 15 years; (b) partnership outcomes (16-30 years) of the number of cohabiting/marriage partnerships; positive partner relations; negative partner relations; partner adjustment/conduct problems; and interpartner violence victimization and perpetration; and (c) potential covariate factors.

RESULTS:

Study findings showed the presence of significant associations between childhood parental separations/divorces and number of cohabiting/marriage partnerships (16-30 years) (p < .001), negative partner relations (p = .021), extent of partner adjustment/conduct problems (p < .001), and perpetration of interpartner violence (p = .018). Childhood parental separation/divorce explained less than 2.5% of the variance in partnership outcomes. These associations were explained statistically by a series of covariate factors associated with childhood parental separation/divorce including parental history of illicit drug use, childhood sexual abuse, childhood conduct problems (7-9 years), interparental conflict and violence, childhood physical punishment/maltreatment, family socio-economic status at the child's birth, and parental history of criminality. Tests of gender interaction showed that the effect of childhood parental separations/divorces may be the same for males and females. Analysis of the number of childhood parental separations/divorces experienced into three age groups (birth to 5, 5-10 years and 10-15 years) yielded similar results.

CONCLUSIONS:

These findings suggest that the general associations between childhood parental separation/divorce and partner relationships in adulthood reflect the consequences of various contextual factors that are associated with childhood parental separation.
© 2013 The Authors. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry © 2013 Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health.