You know those movie characters who are always extremely motivated in their jobs? Like the stereotypical detective who takes on extra cases and spends their nights in the station, poring over endless paperwork? Or the confident entrepreneur who seems invigorated by confrontational business calls and tight budgets? Those characters are motivated, passionate, and inspired by… read more
Keep Your Job From Defining You
It’s often the first question we’re asked when we meet someone new: “What do you do?” And while we may do any number of things in our daily lives, from engaging in hobbies to caring for loved ones, those aren’t the answers the other person is looking for. Instead, we’re expected to answer the broad,… read more
Should You Try Animal-Assisted Therapy?
Few people will deny the feel-good qualities of a goofy cat video or a picture of a dog and a bunny cuddling. Yet animals have much deeper therapeutic powers than you may find on a routine Youtube or Tumblr search. More and more people are turning to animals to provide treatment for a variety of… read more
Why Aging Makes Us Smarter
Did you know that thinking positively about aging can increase your life expectancy by 7.5 years? It’s true—which makes it a total shame that aging has such a negative stigma in our society. Ageism, defined as stereotyping, prejudice, or discrimination against people based on age, has cast an unpleasant shadow over the process of growing… read more
Boost Your Brain Health
Can you name three ways to keep your body healthy? Chances are, you can rattle off more than three pretty easily: exercise, drink water, get sleep, etc… What about three methods for keeping your brain in shape? This one’s a little harder. Despite the fact that our brain’s health has a direct effect on our… read more
What Do Our Nightmares Mean?
Sleep is supposed to be restful; yet when we’re having a nightmare, it’s anything but. Whether we’re being terrorized by a fictional monster (that girl from The Ring, anyone?) or grieving a dreamed loss, nightmares steal our energy away rather than restoring it. So why do we have nightmares? And how can we reduce their… read more
The Connection Between Anxiety & Sleep Disturbances
We all have our poor sleep horror stories; that night before a presentation when our minds were racing too quickly to let us nod off, or the time we went to a party we’d been anticipating for weeks, only to find ourselves too exhausted to enjoy it. Like bad weather, blemishes, and other unpleasantries, poor… read more
Planning a Stress-Free Vacation
Summer is finally here, and many of us are getting ready for some much needed rest and relaxation. We know that taking vacation time helps us feel refreshed and energized; that’s why schools and offices have weekends and scheduled holiday time. Just as sleep helps us recharge after a day of activity, time off of… read more
Could I Benefit From Sex Therapy? ft. Alina McClerklin, LICSW
Sex is a natural part of life—as are the occasional sexual health concerns. According to Dr. Derek Polonsky of Harvard Medical School, between 35 and 50 percent of all humans will experience a long-term sexual issue (anything from difficulty reaching orgasm, to post-traumatic anxiety, to mismatched sex drives between partners) at some point in their… read more
The Psychological Impact of Sexual Objectification
Have you heard of the “Headless Women of Hollywood?” No, it’s not the name of a low-budget horror film—it’s a twitter account started by comedian Marcia Belsky, which calls attention to the Hollywood trend of featuring women’s headless bodies in their advertising materials. The goal of the project, Belsky states, “is to show how female sexuality is fragmented and sold to us in parts, so that our bodies become interchangeable for men and marketed without our pleasure in mind.”
In other words, Belsky is shining a light on the ways in which the (typically cisgendered) female body is objectified and used as a tool to sell films. While there are many types of objectification, her project looks specifically at sexual objectification, which occurs when people (often, but not always, women) are portrayed “solely as de-personalised objects of desire instead of as individuals with complex personalities and desires/plans of their own.”
