Geoffrey W. Sutton PhD, Psychology and Culture

  What’s up with women’s wear at the Olympics? In case you don’t know, the Norwegian women’s handball team were fined for wearing shorts instead of regulation bikinis ( NBC ). Is it sexist? It appear so. Here’s a quote from the Herald Sun. While men are allowed to play in tops and shorts “no longer than four inches above the knee”, women are forced to wear midriff tops and bikini bottoms “cut on an upward angle toward the top of the leg” with a maximum side width of 10 centimetres. Why bikinis? According to Jennifer Kessey, USA coach, it’s about performance and beaches. Women wear bikinis on beaches and that’s wear beach handball and volleyball are played. And for some players, a comfortable suit considering the sand and heat is important to performance ( TodayShow ). Do sports wear requirements vary with the sport? Yes. The requirements vary by gender and sport. Some are more flexible than others. Recently, women have challenged rules that do not allow them to wear...

  At first, it seems like a no-brainer—a young male wants to compete as an athlete so he declares himself to be a girl and joins a girls’ team where his maleness will give him/her an advantage. It’s like cheating. Everyone knows boys and girls are not created equal right? Let’s have a look at some data. The reason we have different sports teams for boys and girls is based on evidence that there is a performance gap, which some report as 10% or higher in favour of boys ( Hilton & Lundberg, 2020 ). It depends on the sport. Is there any scientific evidence that can help calm the strong anti-trans girl rhetoric? Well, there is some evidence worth considering by those who believe in the value of scientific evidence. Unfortunately, beliefs, ideologies, and strong emotions are barriers to examining the evidence so, I’m not too optimistic that evidence will win the day. Nevertheless, I will consider what we can learn from science in this post. About words Some readers might won...

Reality is breaking in on my work in an incredibly powerful way. I am writing about racism and sexism in a book about counseling Pentecostal Christians, which I started early in the Covid Spring of 2020. Then along came the horrible videos of violence against Black Americans.  Then, as I am searching for examples of the reality of the lived experience of Black Christians, I read an interview with Dr. Estrelda Y. Alexander that captured so much of the same issues I am trying to convey to young counselors. This post tells about what I learned from Dr. Alexander. Here's the context. Counselors are supposed to be aware of, and knowledgeable about, the culture of their clients. So, I write about Pentecostal cultures. And I find out Alexander shares similar comments with her interviewer. I also want counselors to be aware that race matters and there is a history of racism in Pentecostal churches. Alexander says that too and has a book on the subject! Fortunately, I had ment...