13 april 2020

one good result is that the virus is encouraging social scientists to take a longer and closer look at inequalities and the possible causes beyond raw racism. gender inequalities are especially vexing and difficult to diagnose. why are there gender differences in death rates?

i laugh at one aspect of the concern about more men than women dying of the virus. would this be equally alarming if more women than men were dying at a higher rate?

i was especially interested in the x and y chromosome differences with respect to how the virus works and how immunity responses differing between males and females factor into understanding why and how the virus affects us informed by gender.

although not a peer reviewed scientific study, a brief bbc article explores gender and racial differences. there is a lot more work to do, but surely the virus will force many of us to pay more attention to differences–especially those differences that are a result of socially sanctioned discrimination and differences between male and female daily tasks (in both the home environment and in the workplace). also of interest would be the  genre social interactions as well as the racial social interactions.

read the article here and then draw your own conclusions, seek your own follow-up. more in a minute, as we investigate and find out more about who we were, who we are and how we actually live both now and in our historic past. the overall virus response with an emphasis on social isolation gives us more impetus and also more time to investigate and solve a major health related issue that affects all of us.

be well. struggle forward. investigation can lead to knowledge. old beliefs may only lead to fear. we can choose to believe without evidence or choose to gain courage and insight from investigation.

–kalamu