The new movie about Charles Darwin, starring (former neighbors!) Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly, is having trouble finding a US distributor because it’s “controversial.”

I don’t even have words for how stupid this is. I mean, I guess there’s the old, “If you don’t want to see it, don’t go to the movie.” I don’t like Megan Fox or horror movies, so Jennifer’s Body will not be getting my $12.50. See how easy that was, Science Haters? But we could even dial it down a bit and say it’s just a story about a man who had a crisis of faith when his daughter died.

Or, you know, we could point out that saying “Evolution is just a theory” is the same as saying George W. Bush was just a government official.

But whatever. We’re apparently willing to accept giant fighting robots in movie theaters but not a movie based on a story about one of the most important scientific discoveries ever. Fine, Middle America. Deprive me of seeing this movie. Only makes me want to see it more.

Here’s the trailer:

I bring you another edition of: Interesting things I ran into on the internet this week that I did not also Twitter about. That’s right, bitches, original content!

Anyway. Possibly some unpopular opinions follow.

+ Every couple of years, someone publishes an alarmist article about how girls are outperforming boys academically. I’ve seen some theories on this phenomenon, mostly that the women’s movement has encouraged more girls to be competitive and study traditionally male disciplines like math and science, while boys, who have had an easier go of it generally, are more complacent about their academic success. Well, believe what you want; Isis the Scientist gets steaming mad over an article about boys not competing in science fairs. Her whole post is pretty insightful, but I agree whole-heartedly with her conclusion:

I am so pleased that young girls are becoming better represented in science and I certainly hate to think that young boys are not pursuing science. However, to conflate this with the success of women in science is short-sighted and fails to appreciate the complexity of the factors that keep women from transitioning from trainee to career scientist

+ The headline on this Jezebel post is a little needlessly alarmist, but I think it highlights an interesting consequence of the fundamentalist abstinence movement: This couple has been married for 2 years and they’re both still virgins. Why? Well, it sounds like the wife has vaginismus, and I think it’s a great tragedy that such a condition even exists. My amateur postulating has led me to conclude that the psychological aspects of the disorder are due mostly the conflation of sex with sin and then pressure to make the wedding night “special.” The fear of sex drilled into this woman from a young age combined with her feeling pressure to make the honeymoon magical led her to not be able to perform at all. I wouldn’t go so far as to argue that this happens to all couples who wait; I’m sure there are plenty of people who wait for marriage to have sex that have perfectly healthy and satisfying sex lives. But I feel terrible for the woman in the Jezebel post and I wonder if her problems could have been avoided if she’d been taught about sex differently.

I’ve been meaning to get a post up for, like, a week, and there are lots of things I want to write about. So.

+ I have yet to meet a person who does not have a crush on Rachel Maddow, myself included. Maybe that’s why profiles of her can’t stop mentioning that she’s a lesbian.

+ Is RENT too edgy for high school? I think I heard the music for the first time when I was maybe 16, right after it came out. We listened to the soundtrack a lot in the work room of my high school lit mag. Our adviser didn’t object. I mean, it’s not The Music Man, but it’s also not as groundbreaking as it was 15 years ago.

+ 50 must read women in science bloggers

+ How to get from Washington to Lincoln via the subway.

Let’s just get to it, shall we:

+ HBO has a new show called The Black List about prominent African Americans. Jezebel has clips. What Toni Morrison says is particularly poignant. She says both that she writes for herself: “It’s the only place where I’m not doing what somebody else wants or asks or needs. Writing is mine.” She also says that, once you take white men off of the menu, there’s a lot you’re free to write about.

+ Smarter than lolcats: the Catorialist.

+ The Times has an article about a Florida teacher teaching evolution in evangelical classrooms.

+ I only just saw Michelle Obama’s speech at the Convention. It was pretty great, am I right?

+ The real issues being addressed at the Convention.

+ Marketing New Jersey.

+ We know now that Joe Biden is our veep candidate. Will this bring him fame and fortune? Historic veep candidates as predictors.

This is really old news, but I just read about a science museum in North Carolina that, back in 2005, opted not to show an IMAX movie about undersea volcanoes because they were afraid they might offend people who don’t believe evolution. Yes, folks, a science museum. “People who don’t believe in evolution” are not so much on my list of people I need to be careful about offending, particularly if they decide to go to a science museum where odds are high they will be exposed to, you know, science. I mean (and I can’t believe I’m making this argument) it’s not like school; people can opt not to see the movie.

Also, the guy who does Garfield minus Garfield got a book deal that will coincide with Garfield’s 30th anniversary. Actually, wait, that’s pretty awesome.

Call this soon, I guess.

Scientists find some water on Mars.

In honor of the anniversary of Griswold vs. Connecticut and today’s anti-choice demonstration called “The Pill Kills,” I present to you some Actual Facts about birth control and the so-called “pro-life” movement.

First, hearken back to my previous post about why this Pill Kills movement is full of nonsense and lies. There’s also a link to the recent Times article about women going to extraordinary measures pre-Roe to end pregnancies, in some cases with fatal results.

Feministing calls out for people to help defend clinics in the wake of the protest.

More lies about the pill killing embryos, which it doesn’t, and comparing of those 9-day-old embryos with 9-day-old children. The writer of the article about such calls us Neanderthals, but she can’t even bother to get her facts or terminology straight.

This is pretty simple science here. The Pill prevents ovulation via tricking your body with hormones. Thus there is nothing to be fertilized. Thus no babies are conceived. Women have been known to conceive children while taking the Pill because it’s not fool-proof. The Pill is not an abortofacient; it does not cause abortions nor does it harm embryos implanted in the uterus. The Pill does not, in fact, kill. This whole campaign is built on misinformation and lies, and the purpose of it is not to save babies but to control women, plain and simple. This anti-choice group wants to control women’s bodies. They aren’t even doing a good job of pretending it’s about babies anymore. For example:

Lest you think it’s all about babies, more evidence that anti-choicers don’t actually give a crap about “life” after it’s born: an anti-abortion group (I believe the same one sponsoring the Pill Kills BS) has basically halted the building of houses by Habitat for Humanity that would benefit low-income families. Why? Because the houses are being built on land that was recently owned by Planned Parenthood. (PP “sold” the land to Habitat for Humanity for $10.) That’s right; association with Planned Parenthood is so nefarious that this “pro-life” group would deprive low-income families of housing to stomp it out.

Tangentially related, a doctor in California refused to treat a lesbian woman who wanted to go through IVF treatment. Why? Because she’s a lesbian. So what was that about babies? Click the link and read all of Jill’s most excellent rant.

I have a hard time believing this movement will gain a lot of momentum. Many, many people rely on their birth control, and I’d be willing to bet there are a lot of women who oppose abortion but still take a Pill every day so, you know, they are never in the position of having to decide whether or not to have an abortion. Taking the Pill away would mean more unintended pregnancies, which means more abortion, and taking away the right to abortion means more women will go to terrifying measures to end pregnancies, which means a lot of them could end up killing themselves. So, by anti-choice logic, I’d say anti-choicers kill.

I won’t dignify it by linking to it, but there’s a movement afoot called The Pill Kills, put together by some anti-choicers who want you to think that the pill causes abortion.

Feministing has a post by a real doctor who points out the campaign is misleading and, you know, based on big fat lies. (But this is the same song and dance we’ve been through before. The Pill prevents pregnancy from starting, it doesn’t kill babies, la dee da.)

Also worth mentioning, there’s a terrifying essay in the Times by a doctor who describes what women did to themselves to end pregnancies before Roe. It highlights that, in a world without legal abortion, abortions will still happen. You know how you prevent all this death? You let women take their Pills.

*sigh* I’ve been out of town without my computer. Here’s what’s come up since last we met:

+ Studying E. coli is demonstrating interesting things about evolution.

+ Is the New York Magazine cover with the girls from SATC with duct tape over their mouths telling the movie to shut up or telling women to shut up?

+ Polygamist Watch! Kids allowed to go back to their parents, but there were a few proven cases of sexual abuse. The church won’t accept marriages of underage girls anymore, allegedly.

+ Cool random historical thing: Construction in my neighborhood is unearthing some old trolley tracks.

+ And speaking of odd historical things: pneumatic tubes in New York.

+ And also from historical New York, the 1840s equivalent of a skin mag.

+ And also bad driving in 1928. Look out for the cameo by a constipated-looking Babe Ruth!

+ Blogging is good for you! I should do it more!

+ Props to the MBTA! The Boston transit authority is running ads targeting harassers.

+ You might be going to hell if you’re a sports fan.

I mean, come on. You can’t deny that “In the Air Tonight” is a great song.

+ A friend of mine is working at Starbucks part time, so stories about Starbucks are much more amusing than they might otherwise be to my non-coffee-drinking self. Thus I knew about the new (old) Starbucks logo even though I am not a frequent Starbucks customer by any stretch. And the logo (which always makes me think about Leviathan) has boobies. So, of course, some crazy Christian group is boycotting.

+ fshk blog idol Toni Morrison sets the record straight about calling Bill Clinton “the first black president.”

+ Interesting story on NPR about raising boys who want to be girls in different ways. One kid got hurt on the playground for playing with a Barbie, so the mom and the psychologist worked hard to socialize the boy as a boy. The other boy’s parents are letting him be a her, and she seems to be all the happier for it. Makes you think about trying to stick kids in specific gender boxes.

+ Presidential candidates as represented by groups of New Yorkers. My favorite comparison? “John McCain Supporters and Tourists Who Stop in the Middle of the Goddamn Sidewalk”

+ Some history for ya: Evelyn Nesbit as forerunner of Lindsay Lohan: here’s a woman whose whole career happened from age 14 to age 21, attracting public scandal and being indirectly responsible for the murder of one of New York’s great architects. Well, so, I guess Paris, Lindsay, or Miley haven’t gotten anyone killed. Yet.

+ Polygamy Watch: Creepy story about teen cult led by a scraggly old guy. The clips will make your skin crawl. — Tim Gunn on polygamist fashion — Of the teen girls taken from the Eldorado ranch, nearly half have babies or are pregnant.

+ I just thought this was interesting: Ashley White was featured in the movie Spellbound, but her dream was deferred more or less by the birth of her daughter. Now she’s finished college and plans to do more. There’s a lesson in here about race and opportunity, but I’ll let you ponder it out.

+ Speaking of race, Mildred Loving died recently. (See Jezebel) When I was in high school, all seniors were required to take this basic civics class, and we watched the cinematic classic Mr. and Mrs. Loving starring Timothy Hutton and Lela Rochon. I kid, but it was actually pretty good for a made-for-TV movie. I remember it being one of those, “How could that have ever happened?” moments for me, as I hadn’t realized at age 17 that there had been a time so recently that people could not marry who they loved. Hey, wait, we still live in that time. *sigh* Anyway, Mildred Loving was a trailblazer and deserves to be recognized as such.

I mean, come on. Is “Against All Odds” not one of the greatest breakup songs ever? You know you sing it in the shower.