• On the heels of reports that Going Rogue confirms there was tension between Sarah Palin and John McCain's aides during the 2008 campaign, Ann Coulter says, "Wow, I hope she pays them back in this book, and I can't wait to read it. No, I mean, McCain — he was the media's favorite Republican. So, any criticism his side made of Palin was instantly printed, and now we finally get the payback. And I'm looking forward to it." • Palin will visit Fort Hood next month as part of her book tour for Going Rogue. She planned the visit before last week's shooting, and a representative from the base called her and said she should still make her planned appearance on December 4. • The British government has proposed a ban on people under the age of 18 using tanning beds to reduce the risk of young people developing skin cancer. It was reported today that in some areas of the U.K. up to half of all girls aged 15-17 are tanning, which doctors say significantly increases the risk of malignant melanoma. • In February, Jen Ivers will become the first female student to participate in the Mr. Yale contest. Ivers prefers to dress as a man, is openly gay, and doesn't identify as a man or a woman. Her residential college overwhelmingly voted for her to represent them, but initially the college rejected her application. Yale claims it was a miscommunication and a rep says, "It'll be really cool and unique to have her compete." • Scientists from the University of California tested the pain threshold of 25 women in various situations and found that they didn't hurt as much when their romantic partner was holding their hand, and experienced even less pain when just looking at his picture. Researchers say the person's picture brings up pleasant thoughts, but when they're actually in the room they may be upset that their partner is worried about them. They recommend patients bring loved ones' pictures to painful procedures. • Jill Berry, president of the Girls' Schools Association, says that schools should tell teenage girls that they don't need to beat themselves up if they decide to take time off from their future careers to raise children. ''They will need to realise that there may be times when they might not want to work, or they might want to take a lesser job because their priorities have changed. It is important that they leave school at 18 with their eyes open," she said. • Kirsty Moore, who became the first woman admitted to Britain's Royal Air Force display team, says she hopes her position will make girls "think that this is something they could be part of and they should go for it." • Caster Semenya says after the international controversy over her gender, "People want to stare at me now. They want to touch me. I'm supposed to be famous but I don't think I like it so much." • Oreo, the dog who was nursed back to health after her owner threw her off the roof of his six-floor Brooklyn apartment building, was killed today by lethal injection. After Oreo's owner was convicted of animal cruelty many people offered to adopt her and pay for her medical care, but the A.S.P.C.A. said she was a danger to the public because she was "unpredictably aggressive." Supporters had requested that the organization delay the euthanization and negotiate the dog's transfer to an animal sanctuary. • No African country has developed a program to give the cervical cancer vaccines to girls, even though 71,000 of the 500,000 who are diagnosed with cervical cancer every year are from Africa, and 78 percent of cases result in death. Professor Lutz Gissman, one of the researchers who discovered the virus said, "If you can persuade [African] girls to get a vaccine shot, the problem will be drastically reduced in the next 10, 20 years." • Police are hunting for a Brazilian blogger they say posted the names of 300 people who are cheating on their partner in the small rural town of Lagoa da Prata on Orkut. "This is not a very nice joke – for people to say that your boyfriend or your husband is a cuckold," says one woman whose boyfriend's name was on the list. "I don't really know what to say to people." • Police arrested a Florida man who repeatedly called 911 and made sexual comments to the dispatcher, asking to come to her house. There's a perfectly reasonable explanation: He told police that he'd run out of cell phone minutes and 911 was the only number he could call. •

Of course, just off the top of our heads we can think of more than a few exceptions to this study, but according to those Yalies, there are physical manifestations of this male emotional avoidance. "Men had greater blood pressure response to stress, but did not report greater sadness and anxiety, may reflect that they are more likely to try to distract themselves from their physiological arousal, possibly through the use of alcohol," Chaplin tells Science Daily. So the next time your best dude wants to drown his sorrows in booze, perhaps you should get him to talk it out...though you'll probably just end up doing Jaeger bombs with him anyway.

Men Are More Likely Than Women To Crave Alcohol When They Feel Negative Emotions [Science Daily]

The YDN also asked a bunch of doctors whether Aliza's little stunt was medically possible. Dr. Edward Funai, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology and chief of obstetrics at Yale-New Haven Hospital totally pwns Shvarts. "The most likely scenario," he told the YDN, "is that all Shvarts was seeing every month was her own menstrual blood. Half of the Yale community sees art of similar quality when taking care of their monthly hygiene." (Oh, snap!)

Yale brass are standing firm on their decision to keep Shvarts's work out of the exhibition. They told her last week that in order to have her work show, she would have to confirm that "her project was 'a work of fiction,' [admitted] that she did not inseminate herself or induce miscarriages and promis[ed] that no human blood will appear in the project." Shvarts would agree to none of those conditions, and so her work was not shown.

Since there was little to no hubbub at the exhibition, I'm hoping that this will soon disappear into the internet ether and I won't have to see those scuffed, fringed cowboy boots ever, ever again. Unless, on graduation day, she decides to smear her cap and gown with menstrual blood to protest Yale's suppression of her ideas — then I just really hope someone tapes that and sends it to us, with or without the cowboy boots.

After Buildup, A Quiet Opening [Yale Daily News]
Experts Shed Doubt On Shvarts' Claim [Yale Daily News]

Earlier:
Avant Garde Assholes
One Thing Is Certain: Right Now, Yale University & Aliza Shvarts '08 Are 100% Annoying
Aliza Shvarts: The Halloween How-To For Harvard Students
Yale: Abortion Art Piece Was "Creative Fiction"
Just How Do You Give Yourself An Herbal Abortion?
Yale Senior Undergoes Multiple Self-Induced Miscarriages In The Name Of Art

Only once have I seen someone masturbate in public, on a subway train several years ago. I was the only passenger in the car other than the man in question and, fortunately, I was able to exit at the next stop and wait for the next train to come. But I couldn't help but wonder what would happen to a woman who might get onto that car after me; was I wrong for not doing anything more? I imagined myself grabbing a cop off the street and telling him or her that there was a guy jerking off on the downtown 1 train; I could only imagine the response I might have received.

Meanwhile, Yale University is also continuing to deal with a non-traditional form of sexual harassment, specifically one perpetuated by members of the Zeta Psi chapter, who, as was mentioned before, held up a sign in front of the university's Women's Center reading, "We Love Yale Sluts." (The Women's Center is demanding apologies not only from Zeta Psi, but also from the administration, whom it is urging to take disciplinary action while simultaneously upping the center's budget.) In my mind, words like those hoisted by Zeta Psi fraternity members are just as dangerous, if not more so, than the public exposure occurring at Tufts: The actions of Zeta Psi aren't those by a mentally disabled man, unaware of his actions, but my overly educated, highly privileged young men who are perpetuating hate and harassment with malicious intent.

Public Masturbation A Persistent Problem At Tisch Library [Tufts Daily]
Yale Women's Center Demands Change Over Sign [US News & World Report]

Earlier: Yale University Sluts Strike Back At Sexist Frat Boys