Many thanks to Jack Alpert for bringing this debate to my attention.
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During the past few years, the size of the world’s population has become a matter of public debate in a way not seen since the late 1960s. At that time, books such as Paul Ehrlich’s “The Population Bomb” (1968) forecast that the number of people would outstrip the world’s capacity to feed and clothe them within a generation; Mr Ehrlich advocated stringent population-control measures. This period was also one of soaring oil and commodity prices, and reflected worries about future famine and raw-material scarcity.

Today, when the total number of people is 6.7 billion and is forecast to surpass 9 billion by 2050, concerns about raw-material scarcities have re-emerged, albeit in a somewhat different form. Many observers now focus on environmental concerns and fear that a world degraded by climate change will not be able to support more numbers people. Support for population controls has also reappeared: half of Britons, according to one opinion poll, think people should not have more than two children.

For full article, visit:
http://www.economist.com/debate/days/view/364

For the Economist’s slide show on Afghanistan’s child brides, see
http://audiovideo.economist.com

Scroll down to the photo shown in the article below of 11-year old Ghulam Haider glancing apprehensively as she sees her middle-aged husband for the first time.

Economist article on child brides (PDF, 1 MB)

Call for Entries for Population Institute’s XXXth Annual Global Media Awards

http://www.populationinstitute.org/external/files/call_for_entries.pdf

The current issue of Global Fund Observer is available at http://www.aidspan.org/documents/gfo/GFO-Issue-106.htm

You might be interested in work being done by my sister, Marjorie Ryerson, to create an anthology of the writings of victims of sexual abuse for the Safer Society Press. See below for the call for submissions.

Anthology Call for Submissions August 09 (Word doc., 32 KB)

Earlier this year Professor Albert Bandura visited London and presented a fascinating talk on the application of social learning theory (SLT – now called social cognitive theory). An edited version of this talk is in the June edition of The Psychologist (which is free online here). The research he discussed provides great support for SLT as well as demonstrating its application to the real world.

The talk focused on how SLT is being used to tackle urgent global problems. For example, in Tanzania the current population is 36 million. This is predicted to soar to 60 million in 25 years. Working with the Population Media Center, Bandura devised a radio drama which would raise people’s belief in their efficacy to control family size. Before many people believed that such control was the will of their deity.The programme has resulted in much wider use of birth control methods.

For full article, visit:
http://www.folensblogs.com/psychcompanion/blog/?p=197

The conference, Engaging Men and Boys on Achieving Gender Equality, that I attended in March-April adopted the following Declaration. See http://www.engagingmen2009.org/24
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Global Symposium on Engaging Men and Boys on
Achieving Gender Equality
Rio de Janeiro
March 29 – April 3, 2009

* To comment please send an e-mail to menengage@menengage.org

PART ONE: PREAMBLE
We come from eighty countries. We are men and women, young and old, working side by side with respect and shared goals. We are active in community organizations, religious and educational institutions; we are representatives of governments, NGOs and the United Nations. We speak many languages, we look like the diverse peoples of the world and carry their diverse beliefs and religions, cultures, physical abilities, and sexual and gender identities. We are indigenous peoples, immigrants, and ones whose ancestors moved across the planet. We are fathers and mothers, daughters and sons, brothers and sisters, partners and lovers, husbands and wives.
Continue Reading »

From the Indian Committee of Youth Organizations newsletter dated August 16, 2009.
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Half the world’s teenagers admit to being dangerously ignorant about HIV risks – and many do not use condoms, a study shows.

One in three youngsters apparently do not believe using protection stops the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.

The scale of the youth ignorance follows the revelation that half of the world’s new HIV infections are among 15- to 24-year-olds.

For full article, visit:
http://www.metro.co.uk/news/article

Officers responding to a report of hysterical screams found an 8-year-old girl partially clothed and four boys, barely in their teens, running from an empty shed.

The boys, ages 9 to 14, face charges ranging from sexual assault to kidnapping, police said Thursday.

Authorities in Phoenix say it’s one of the most horrific cases they’ve ever seen.

All five children are refugees from the West African nation of Liberia.

Investigators said the boys lured the girl to an empty shed on July 16 under the pretense of offering her gum. The boys then held the girl down while they took turns raping her, police said.

For full article, visit:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-07-24-arizona-children-assault_N.htm

Many thanks to Gloria Steinem for this article from the Women’s Media Center.
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With the safe return of journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee from North Korea, where they had been convicted of illegally entering the country, it behooves us to look at the story they were trying to cover when apprehended in March by North Korean officials. Whatever the details of their arrest—yet to emerge—the reported subject of their journalistic quest, human trafficking, is part of a growing global tragedy.

Proportionally, the trafficking of North Korean women into China is a small part of an enormous worldwide criminal enterprise (see sidebar). However, of North Korean women and girl refugees in China, an estimated 80 to 90 percent are victims of trafficking. This is likely the highest percentage of trafficking in a single population.

For full article, visit:
http://womensmediacenter.com/ex/081009.html