The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Puberty Is Racist!

Posted on | August 9, 2010 | 28 Comments

A new study finds U.S. girls are reaching puberty at earlier ages:

Compared to the 1997 findings from girls across the U.S., girls in the current study – especially white girls – were more developed at a younger age. As previous research has shown, there were also large differences in development based on race.
At age 7, approximately 10 percent of white girls and 23 percent of black girls had started developing breasts – compared to 5 percent of white girls and 15 percent of black girls in 1997, the authors write.
Among 8-year-olds in the study, 18 percent of white girls and 43 percent of black girls had entered puberty – an increase from around 11 percent of white girls from 1997, but the same as black girls in that year.

So, black girls were more than twice as likely to have entered puberty before age 9. Will Al Sharpton lead a protest march against puberty, which is clearly guilty of racial discrimination?

Category: Racism, Science

Comments

28 Responses to “Puberty Is Racist!”

  1. Cindy
    August 9th, 2010 @ 1:00 pm

    I can’t imagine! 7! I’ve read that puberty’s onset is a lot earlier among girls whose father’s aren’t present. So it’s not puberty that’s racist. It’s those little girls’ fathers.

  2. Cindy
    August 9th, 2010 @ 9:00 am

    I can’t imagine! 7! I’ve read that puberty’s onset is a lot earlier among girls whose father’s aren’t present. So it’s not puberty that’s racist. It’s those little girls’ fathers.

  3. Cindy
    August 9th, 2010 @ 1:01 pm

    Gah! Misplaced apostrophe. Knew I was going to do that. 🙁

  4. Cindy
    August 9th, 2010 @ 9:01 am

    Gah! Misplaced apostrophe. Knew I was going to do that. 🙁

  5. Kojocaro
    August 9th, 2010 @ 1:10 pm

    cindy he is snarking on the greivance mongers but your not wrong

  6. Kojocaro
    August 9th, 2010 @ 9:10 am

    cindy he is snarking on the greivance mongers but your not wrong

  7. Joe
    August 9th, 2010 @ 1:19 pm

    Jokes aside, there is something not good about this accelerating rate of puberty.

    A father not being present accelerates puberty? Really?

  8. Joe
    August 9th, 2010 @ 9:19 am

    Jokes aside, there is something not good about this accelerating rate of puberty.

    A father not being present accelerates puberty? Really?

  9. Ben (The Tiger)
    August 9th, 2010 @ 2:48 pm

    Could be mistaken… but I remember everyone getting upset about the lower ages of puberty for years (was it hormones in the air, etc), and then it came out that it was related to weight…

    http://www.ajc.com/health/content/shared-auto/healthnews/cdev/602438.html

  10. Ben (The Tiger)
    August 9th, 2010 @ 10:48 am

    Could be mistaken… but I remember everyone getting upset about the lower ages of puberty for years (was it hormones in the air, etc), and then it came out that it was related to weight…

    http://www.ajc.com/health/content/shared-auto/healthnews/cdev/602438.html

  11. Andrew the Noisy
    August 9th, 2010 @ 3:32 pm

    That’s interesting, Ben. It’s almost as though nature has a “readiness ratio” to determine if the body is ready to start doing its fecund duty.

    And someone will find a way to call this racist. They’ll blame it on Frank Perdue. A way will be found to manufacture a grievance from this. Just you wait.

  12. Andrew the Noisy
    August 9th, 2010 @ 11:32 am

    That’s interesting, Ben. It’s almost as though nature has a “readiness ratio” to determine if the body is ready to start doing its fecund duty.

    And someone will find a way to call this racist. They’ll blame it on Frank Perdue. A way will be found to manufacture a grievance from this. Just you wait.

  13. John S
    August 9th, 2010 @ 4:04 pm

    7 years old? 8 years old? I’d guess it’s part-diet, part-sexualized culture. But mother nature’s racist tendencies are probably a better explanation.

    I always thought the tendency of birds to flock/reproduce with only their own species was an obvious symbol of racism.

  14. John S
    August 9th, 2010 @ 12:04 pm

    7 years old? 8 years old? I’d guess it’s part-diet, part-sexualized culture. But mother nature’s racist tendencies are probably a better explanation.

    I always thought the tendency of birds to flock/reproduce with only their own species was an obvious symbol of racism.

  15. Ben (The Tiger)
    August 9th, 2010 @ 5:35 pm

    Of course, that makes it worse.

    “Are you calling [Group X] fat?! Raaaaacist!”

  16. Ben (The Tiger)
    August 9th, 2010 @ 1:35 pm

    Of course, that makes it worse.

    “Are you calling [Group X] fat?! Raaaaacist!”

  17. Robert Stacy McCain
    August 9th, 2010 @ 7:24 pm

    I always thought the tendency of birds to flock/reproduce with only their own species was an obvious symbol of racism.

    Arguments from nature, arguments from history, arguments based on observed facts — whenever the political class takes interest in a subject, all such arguments must yield to whatever ideological abstractions are involved. There was a time, about a century ago, when the political class was obsessed with Darwinian evolution as distinguishing “advanced” from “primitive” peoples, and therefore endorsed eugenics, etc. Now, of course, the obsessions of the political class are different, and so they argue in terms of other abstractions. The principle is the same, however, and the politically motivated abuse of truth is just as obnoxious and harmful.

  18. Robert Stacy McCain
    August 9th, 2010 @ 3:24 pm

    I always thought the tendency of birds to flock/reproduce with only their own species was an obvious symbol of racism.

    Arguments from nature, arguments from history, arguments based on observed facts — whenever the political class takes interest in a subject, all such arguments must yield to whatever ideological abstractions are involved. There was a time, about a century ago, when the political class was obsessed with Darwinian evolution as distinguishing “advanced” from “primitive” peoples, and therefore endorsed eugenics, etc. Now, of course, the obsessions of the political class are different, and so they argue in terms of other abstractions. The principle is the same, however, and the politically motivated abuse of truth is just as obnoxious and harmful.

  19. Cindy
    August 9th, 2010 @ 7:25 pm

    Kojocaro, you don’t really think I didn’t catch the snark, do you? I look dumb, I know, but I’m not.

  20. Cindy
    August 9th, 2010 @ 3:25 pm

    Kojocaro, you don’t really think I didn’t catch the snark, do you? I look dumb, I know, but I’m not.

  21. Live Free Or Die
    August 10th, 2010 @ 12:02 am

    Islamic countries consider early onset female puberty to be Allah’s way of saying it’s all right to marry 9 year olds. Hey, it was good enough for MoHammed, it’s good enough for the Jihadis.

  22. Live Free Or Die
    August 9th, 2010 @ 8:02 pm

    Islamic countries consider early onset female puberty to be Allah’s way of saying it’s all right to marry 9 year olds. Hey, it was good enough for MoHammed, it’s good enough for the Jihadis.

  23. Jack
    August 10th, 2010 @ 2:28 am

    Q: What’s the best thing about twenty nine year olds?

    A: There’s twenty of them!!!

  24. Jack
    August 9th, 2010 @ 10:28 pm

    Q: What’s the best thing about twenty nine year olds?

    A: There’s twenty of them!!!

  25. Roxeanne de Luca
    August 10th, 2010 @ 3:23 am

    Early onset of female puberty is highly correlated with breast and ovarian cancer (esp. at young ages). I wonder how this will play out with the Obama Administration’s statement that it’s not worthwhile to screen women for breast cancer until they are 50. Racist?

  26. Roxeanne de Luca
    August 9th, 2010 @ 11:23 pm

    Early onset of female puberty is highly correlated with breast and ovarian cancer (esp. at young ages). I wonder how this will play out with the Obama Administration’s statement that it’s not worthwhile to screen women for breast cancer until they are 50. Racist?

  27. Kevin J Jones
    August 10th, 2010 @ 4:42 am

    Another possibility: the presence of a biological father tends to delay puberty. Google Science Daily article “Father-Daughter Relationship Crucial To When Girls Enter Puberty, Researchers Say”

    “The researchers found that girls raised in father-absent homes or dysfunctional father-present homes experienced relatively early pubertal timing.”

    Does the puberty rate correlate with the illegitimacy rate?

  28. Kevin J Jones
    August 10th, 2010 @ 12:42 am

    Another possibility: the presence of a biological father tends to delay puberty. Google Science Daily article “Father-Daughter Relationship Crucial To When Girls Enter Puberty, Researchers Say”

    “The researchers found that girls raised in father-absent homes or dysfunctional father-present homes experienced relatively early pubertal timing.”

    Does the puberty rate correlate with the illegitimacy rate?