HEALTH

Almost half of women with disabilities have experienced sexual harassment or assault in the workplace, according to a new 19th News/SurveyMonkey poll that is one of the first to explore the issue. The number, 48 percent, compares to 32 percent of women without disabilities who reported experiencing sexual assault or harassment at work. While there is a growing body of research and reporting on the sexual violence faced by people with disabilities, little of it has delved into the workplace. Monika Mitra, director of the Lurie Institute for Disability Policy at Brandeis University, said some describe sexual violence against people with disabilities “as a silent epidemic.” Mitra has done research on sexual violence against people with disabilities, but not in the workplace. To her knowled...

It’s time to bust the ‘calories in, calories out’ weight-loss myth. If you’ve ever tried to lose weight, there’s a good chance you’ve been told it all comes down to a simple “calories in, calories out” formula: burn more calories than you consume, and the kilos will disappear. And it’s easy to see the appeal of breaking weight loss down into simple maths – just follow the formula, and you’ll achieve success. It’s also believable because many people do lose weight when they first adopt this approach. Indeed, the diet industry’s reliance on the “calories in, calories out” concept is why society blames people for being overweight. Anyone who can’t follow this simple energy formula is only overweight because they lack the willpower to eat less and exercise more. But the only simple truth he...

Seeking Safety as a Black Woman in New Cities. I have moved three times in the past 13 months. My academic career-climbing has propelled me across the country from my longtime residence near Washington, D.C., to the Dallas–Fort Worth metro area, followed by a brief return to living New York City–adjacent. Now that I’ve finally secured a coveted tenure-track job, I have landed in upstate New York—Syracuse, to be precise. With each new move, I think about my safety as a young Black woman living on her own. The first rule is to never look too out of place; my vigilance is heightened in areas where I know I look like I don’t belong. “Belonging” is a complex concept, but I try to stay in areas that have rich diversity, from race and ethnicity to age, dress, and gender identity. When I first ...