Author: TheConversation

By Joseph B. Walther, Visiting Scholar at Harvard University, Distinguished Professor of Communication, University of California, Santa Barbara The rampant increase of hate messages on social media is a scourge in today’s technology-infused society. Racism, homophobia, xenophobia and even personal attacks on people who have the audacity to disagree with someone else’s political opinion – these and other forms of online hate present an ugly side of humanity. The derision on social media appears in vile and profane terms for all to see. Obviously, the sole purpose of posting online hate is to harass and harm one’s victims, right?...

By Eliga Gould, Professor of History, University of New Hampshire On the evening of December 16, 1773, a crowd of armed men, some allegedly wearing costumes meant to disguise them as Native American warriors, boarded three ships docked at Griffin’s Wharf in Boston. In the vessels’ holds were 340 chests containing 92,000 pounds of tea, the most popular drink in America. With support from the patriot group known as the Sons of Liberty, the intruders methodically searched the ships and dumped their tea into Boston Harbor. According to the British East India Company, whose proprietors owned the destroyed cargo,...

By G. Samantha Rosenthal, Associate Professor of History, Roanoke College In the past century, there have been three waves of opposition to transgender health care. In 1933, when the Nazis rose to power, they cracked down on transgender medical research and clinical practice in Europe. In 1979, a research report critical of transgender medicine led to the closure of the most well-respected clinics in the United States. And since 2021, when Arkansas became the first U.S. state among now at least 21 other states banning gender-affirming care for minors, we have been living in a third wave. In my...

By Jonathan Wynn, Department Chair and Professor of Sociology, UMass Amherst; Daniel Skinner, Associate Professor of Health Policy, Ohio University Have you ever asked if living near a hospital make you more likely to get the health care you need? Even though the federal government requires nonprofit hospitals to regularly assess the health needs of their surrounding communities and publicly post a plan to address those concerns, many people living nearby struggle to get basic health care. We are a political scientist and an urban sociologist who study how hospitals interact with and shape the communities in which they...

By Leah Koenig, PhD Candidate in Public Health, University of California, San Francisco; Ushma Upadhyay, Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Science, University of California, San Francisco Access to telehealth abortion care can determine whether a person can obtain an abortion in the United States. For young people and those living on low incomes, telehealth makes a critical difference in getting timely abortion care. These are the key findings from our recent studies published in the American Journal of Public Health and the Journal of Medical Internet Research. We surveyed 1,600 people across the country who accessed telehealth abortion...