The Houston area branch of the National Organization for Women recently announced that it and several other groups had formed the Andrea Pia Yates Support Coalition to raise money for the defense of Yates, 37, who admitted drowning her five children. As Debora Bell, president of the group explained, “One of our feminist beliefs is to be there for other women. Some good may come out of this tragedy.”

Along with possible future fund raisers, the group is planning to hold a candle light vigil on Sept. 12 for Yates — the day before she is supposed to appear in court for a hearing to determine whether she is competent to stand trial.

In a column on the topic, Wendy McElroy report that FEMNET, an online forum used by the Houston area NOW, included a request to send “cards or notes of caring” to Yates in prison. McElroy adds, “I searched but found no record of FEMNET requesting ‘notes of caring’ be sent to the funeral of her children.”

I wonder if Nikolay Soltys, who is still on the loose and accused of murdering his wife and unborn baby, 3 year-old son, and five other family members, will receive similar sympathy and outpourings if he explains that he was insane at the time of the killings. Even if he does, however, I don’t think any men’s groups will come out and say they have to support Soltys because they have to “be there for other men.”

Sources:

Rallying Around a Baby-Killer. Wendy McElroy, IFeminists.Com, August 28, 2001.

NOW, ACLU oppose seeking death penalty for Yates. Pam Easton, Associated Press, August 28, 2001.

NOW creates coalition to raise funds for Yates. Lisa Teachey, The Houston Chronicle, August 23, 2001.

The Daily Telegraph (London) had an interesting summary of an Ohio State University study of using hypnosis to recover memories . The results confirm a lot of skeptical suspicions about the practice — the memories of people who underwent hypnosis were no more accurate than those who had not undergone the procedure, but the subjects who were hypnotized were far more convinced that there erroneous memories were accurate than were the control group.

Subjects in the study were either hypnotized or given a relaxation exercise. They were then asked to estimate the dates that certain historical events took place, such as the Persian Gulf War. Both groups were just as likely to be accurate, but when their memories were faulty the group that had been hypnotized were more likely to insist that their memories were accurate even after the errors were pointed out.

As Joseph Green, an associate professor of psychology who conducted the study, said, “While hypnosis does not enhance the reliability of memory there is evidence that it leads to increased confidence in memories.”

Those two effects in combination — enhanced confidence without an increase in reliability — is a potentially dangerous combination and the results add yet one more nail into the coffin of the supposed benefits of using hypnosis to recover forgotten memories.

Source:

Hypnosis does not help accurate memory recall, says study. Celia Hall, The Daily Telegraph (London), August 27, 2001.

In an appearance at the Edinburgh book festival, novelist Doris Lessing (best known for her books, “The Grass is Singing” and “The Golden Notebook”) lashed out at what she described as an “unthinking and automatic rubbishing of men which is no so part of our culture that it is hardly even noticed.”

Apparently what set Lessing off was a visit to a classroom of young boys and girls where the teacher offered a simple stereotype for why wars happen. Lessing said,

I was in a class of nine- and 10-year-olds, girls and boys, and this young woman was telling these kids that the reason for wars was the innately violent nature of men. You could see the little girls, fat with complacency and conceit while the boys sat there crumpled, apologizing for their existence, thinking this was going to be a pattern of their lives.

…

This kind of thing is happening in schools all over the place and no one says a thing. It has become a kind of religion that you can’t criticize because they you become a traitor to the great cause, which I am not.

Lessing said that the energy the feminist movement had created had “been lost in hot air and fine words when we should have been concentrating on changing laws.”

Source:

Lay off men, Lessing tells feminists. Fiachra Gibbons, The Guardian (UK), August 14, 2001.