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Week of
January 19, 2012 | | ELECTION 2012 She’s an outspoken supporter of her husband’s hard-core pro-life views, but before her marriage, Karen Santorum was in a long-term relationship with an abortion provider. In a Newsweek exclusive, Nancy Hass talks with the Pittsburgh obstetrician and abortion provider, Tom Allen, about the love affair. “Karen had no problems with what I did for a living,” says Dr. Allen, who remains an outspoken crusader for reproductive rights and liberal ideals. MORALIZING There’s no proof that Paula Deen’s cooking caused her diabetes, says University of Colorado professor Paul Campos. When the celebrity chef revealed this week that she has type 2 diabetes, commentators and fellow cooks like Anthony Bourdain pounced on her for pushing—and profiting from—high-fat Southern cooking. But there’s little support that a fatty diet plays any role in causing type 2 diabetes, which is primarily a genetic disease. Campos writes that in the absence of further evidence, this type of rhetoric is tantamount to victim-blaming. CHANGE? Never mind the more profound points about the first lady in Jodi Kantor’s new book The Obamas—what the media seized on was the assertion that Michelle Obama regularly clashed with former chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and often expressed frustration with other advisers. Who knew that nearly four years into her term, she would still have to defend herself against the stereotype of an “angry black woman”? Allison Samuels writes that the unflattering image still hasn't lost its appeal to the mainstream, even though society should realize that Obama's grace, charm, and intellect are not the exception, but more often the rule, in the black community. REWRITE Feminists have long furrowed their brows at studies showing that programs designed to help girls catch up to their male classmates in math and science have fallen short. Now, gender-studies experts Caryl Rivers and Rosalind C. Barnett say that these programs are indeed misguided, but that there are ways to turn the tide. Pointing to recent studies, they suggest girls may benefit from mixed-sex classrooms, and they urge researchers to question the wisdom on how gender stereotypes play out in the learning process. Want to get involved? Check out the National Center for Women & Information Technology, a coalition of more than 200 corporations, academic institutions, government agencies, and nonprofits working to increase women’s participation in information technology. PARITY The number of female lawmakers in the U.S. fell for the first time in years in the last election cycle, prompting a number of organizations, including one called Political Parity, to fight back. Female representatives are more likely than their male counterparts to deliver on issues women care about, including measures for family and children, according to experts. And they’re less likely to recede into smoke-filled clubhouses. “Women bring an interest in transparency and openness in government,” said Debbie Walsh, the director of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. Leslie Bennetts reports on the drive to bring more women into government. | | 
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