We have a new face at Ma'yan!  Beth Benjamin, our Director of Research, interviewed Pippi Kessler, the newest member of the Ma'yan team, to get the scoop on what she's working on.

First off... Who are you, Pippi Kessler?  What brought you to Ma'yan? 

In late 1950s the Jewish American psychologist, Lawrence Kohlberg, set out to map the development of human moral reasoning.  Following World War II, Kohlberg had served on a ship smuggling Jews through the British blockade of Palestine.  As a scholar, Kohlberg was committed to identifying universal principles of moral thought—believing that in the wake of the Holocaust, it was simply indefensible for psychologists to remain morally neutral or relativist. 

Welcome to the first in an occasional series by guest blogger, Sarah Sechan, who will be applying strong magnification and good humor to gender issues in popular culture.  In the coming weeks, Sarah will take us to some of the more remote corners of the culture, exploring some surprising developments in mass media, fandom, and self-presentation.   In her first post, below, she considers the phenomenon of “bronies,” adult (mostly male) fans of a new My Little Pony cartoon, originally created for little girls.

Cain, infuriated when God refused his sacrifice, killed his brother Abel. Jacob’s sons, angry when their father played favorites, sold their brother Joseph into slavery.  The Bible is filled with stories of the rebellious teenager who channels his anger into violence.

The same remains true today. Youth are often portrayed as angry at authority, dissatisfied with the system. We grow up surrounded by parenting books on “negotiating with your teenager” and films that worry over whether those crazy, unmanageable “Kids Are All Right.”

Ma’yan joins the Jewish community in mourning the death of Debbie Friedman, a dear friend and valued colleague.

Heard a lot lately about violent girls running amok in American towns and high school?  Yup, us too.  Thank goodness for Mike Males and Meda Chesney-Lind, who have actually done the research and determined that the "increased incidence" of girl aggression is all hype.  Their thoughtful and reasoned analysis in the New York Times explains why this story continues to sell, year after year, despite all evidence to the contrary.

This week, I’m diving into some troubled water around gender stereotypes in the design and marketing of toys.  The interwebs have been all atwitter—or should I say, ablog?—over a recent Toys ’R Us ad featuring, on a page of black and gray toy science gear, microscopes and telescopes in cotton candy pink.

Long before the fictional society debut of Blair Waldorf or Serena Van Der Woodsen, or the ascendancy of Bella Swan, there were Betsy Ray, Tacy Kelly, and Tib Muller, protagonists of the Betsy-Tacy book series by Maud Hart Lovelace.  As a girl, these were my most favoritest books—even more than the iconic Little House on the Prairie series.  As an adult, I have been saddened to see their popularity wane. 

I know almost nothing about soccer.  So when I read about the indefinite suspension of the University of New Mexico’s Elizabeth Lambert, for pulling an opponent down by the ponytail during an intense semifinal game against Brigham Young University, I had no idea how to judge the egregiousness of her rough play.  Nor could I evaluate the assertions that the referee and Lambert’s coach should have seen the widespread aggressive play in the game and intervened earlier by issuing penalties or pulling Lambert from the game.  In fact, it’s been two weeks since this incident took place, and despite the media firestorm, it came to my attention only today, when I saw an interview with Lambert in the New York Times. 

On Sunday, November First, nine Jewish teen girls reminded me why I am committed to sharing power and authority with girls.  The girls in question were Ma’yan’s second cohort of Research Training Interns (RTI) – a program built on the model of “participatory action research,” where members of the group being studied serve on a collaborative research team.  That Sunday was the culmination of their work: a presentation of initial research fi