Girls who drink sugary soda more often are more likely to start their menstrual cycles at a younger age, according to a new study (pdf) out of Harvard Medical School. Researchers analyzed data from 5,583 girls in the Growing up Today Study (GUTS), surveying American children from 1996 to 2001, beginning when they were between the ages of 9 to 14. The study, published in the journal Human Reproduction, found […]

Ladke nahi rote hain!” All too often, parents trot this hoary old chestnut, throwing the words “Are you a girl?” or “Don’t behave like a girl” and “Boys don’t cry!” at every sobbing male baby, child or young adult. Only the ‘weaker sex’ can cry, not boys and definitely not men, implies this desi admonition used by parents, grandparents, siblings and teachers to tell boys they are meant to be […]

 The heavily armed militants stormed the girl’s dormitory in the middle of the night, herding more than 100 students on to vehicles and burning down nearby buildings as they made their escape. That was a week ago Monday. Of the 129 students abducted from the Government Girls Secondary School from the Nigerian town of Chibok, 77 are still missing. No one knows where they are. And surprising still, no one’s […]