Providentia

Three Arrested Following U.K. Woman's Death at "Slapping" Workshop

Paida laijin is  a controversial Chinese therapeutic technique in which patients vigorously slap different parts of their bodies.   Developed by therapist Xiao Hongchi who claimed he learned the technique from a Taoist monk, the name comes from the Mandarin words "pai" (patting) and "da" (slapping) while "laijin" refers to stretching muscles through using different postures.    As Xiao explaineed in a media interview, "the slapping and stretching work together to clear the meridians of blocks and help the body get rid of the disease,” he explained.   Slapping the body, he said, “builds heat, causing blood vessels to expand, and ‘chi’ to flow strongly. Yang rises, yin melts and long-held toxins and blocks are released.”

Since first shooting to fame following the publication of Xiao Hongchi's book, The World of Medicine: The Paida Lajin Self-Healing Method, in 2009, paida laijin workshops have become extremely popular across much of Asia.   Workshops have been held in Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, Malaysia, and Singapore and are routinely sold out.  And the movement has been spreading to Western countries as well.   While critics have condemned Xiao's teaching, especially following the death of a seven-year-old diabetic child in Sydney, Australia at one of his workshops, paida laijin remains popular.

But new controversy has erupted due to the death of a 71-year-old woman just hours after attending a paida laijin workshop in Wiltshire, England.  Danielle Carr-Gomm was an alternative medicine enthusiast who had reportedly attended a previous paida laijin workshop in Bulgaria and had signed up for the new workshop to repeat the experience.   In describing that previous workshop, she wrote in her blog that “After an initial sharing we began with administering paida on ourselves and on others in pairs or groups of three...At the end of the first session large areas of my body were bruised and blue which indicated that a lot of ‘sha’ or poisoned blood and toxins had been released.”    Despite the bruising, she said  of the paida laijin therapy that “the results are totally astonishing and encouraging”.

The week long course that she attended was run by Xiao Hongchi and cost 750 UK pounds to attend.  Hours after the Wiltshire workshop ended on October 19, police were called to her home in Seend, Wilthshire following her sudden death at three AM.   They subsequently declared the death be "suspicious"  and arrested two men and a women on suspicion of manslaughter.  Their names were not given and it is unclear whether they were running the workshop or were participants.  All three suspects were subsequently released on bail.  

At the inquest into Ms. Carr-Gomm's death, the coroner reported that an autopsy failed to yield any conclusive findings though toxicological tests were still pending.    She was known to be  a Type I diabetic and may have stopped taking insulin during the course of the workshop.   Her son told reporters that Ms. Carr-Gomm had attended the course in the hope of being cured of her diabetes. 

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The Man Who Talked to Apes (Part Two)

Continued from Part One

Despite his reputation being in tatters due to the fraud accusation, R.L.Garner managed to return to Gabon and resume his research.  Though he spent most of his time on Gabon's southern coast, he to travel along many of the country's waterways and jungles in his search for monkeys, chimpanzees, gorillas, and whatever other animals he could find.   After two years he headed home but nothing had really changed for him there.  

Still, it was at about this point when he came up with what would be his most grandiose scheme.  Having met wealthy socialite Ida Vera Simonton at a party in 1904, Garner was struck by her enthusiasm for writing (and her beauty considering his own marriage had broken up by then).   Though apparently infatuated with her from the beginning, he was careful not to let her know it.  Instead, he invited her to Gabon to help him edit three of his books and also to provide her with material for her own writing.   After arranging for her to come over in the summer of 1906, he returned to Gabon and immediately spent most of his remaining savings on renovations for the house they would be living in together.  

But he had other plans besides romance.  Political upheaval in Gabon due to the revolt of some of the tribal clans against the French colonial rulers created what seemed to Garner to be a golden opportunity.  As he would describe in a lengthy letter to his son, he planned to end the revolt by introducing Ida Simonton to the local chiefs.  From his racist perspective, she would be an ideal candidate to become their ota nwato ntangani (or "female white chief" in the local lingua franca used in Gabon).   She would then use her position to persuade the French government to grant more freedom to the natives and thus end the revolt. 

Despite the boldness of this scheme, it had a few problems.  First of all, he didn't speak any of the local languages despite the time he had spent in Gabon.  This meant that he really didn't have any real insight into how tribal politics worked.   Most of his scheme rested on his own racist assumption about how easily the natives could be led.   Then there was the fact that Ida Simonton had no idea what her host was planning.  As far as she was concerned, she was visiting Gabon to pursue her dream of being a writer and to gain some valuable travel experience. 

Another stumbling block was that Garner and Simonton had very different ideas about how a "proper" woman should behave.  Though Ida wanted to be adventurous and independent in exploring Gabon, Garner pictured himself as a chivalrous gentleman who would protect her honour from the natives and the brutish traders.  In his own writings, he often denounced feminists for their "masculine" behaviour and their refusal to submit to a man's authority.    When planning his venture, Garner obviously didn't think through the fact that Ida Simonton was independently wealthy and that he would have no way of controlling her once she arrived in Gabon. 

And so it quickly proved.   With Ida taking his bedroom while Garner slept on the veranda, she quickly showed just how independent she could be.  This included spending time with many of the local traders (who did their best to impress the attractive and unattached heiress).   Garner's anger at her behaviour quickly escalated to the point of his getting into a fistfight with a man he had caught in her bedroom.   By 1907, Ida Simonton had enough of R.L. Garner and dismissed him as being incompetent.   Garner, on the other hand, openly denounced her as "one of the most unwomanly women that I have ever known—She has an idea that rudeness and bravado, insolence and vehemence [sic], coarseness and invectives are equivalent to courage and talent, but as I know her she is simply a masculine female.” 

After Ida left Gabon,  Garner was worse off than ever.  Spending virtually all of his money on house renovations had left him left him penniless except for what he could earn with his writing.  While most of his articles were never published, his stories about the adventures he had in Gabon were starting to win over some fans back in the United States.    His reputation being redeemed to some extent, Garner finally return returned to the United States in 1909.  

But he didn't come back alone.  With him was a young chimpanzee named Susie with whom Garner claimed to be capable of holding a conversation.   Newspapers were more favourable this time around and described him as a "modern Ulysses" and an adventurer.  Beginning a widely publicized lecture tour in 1910, J.L. Garner and Susie became a media sensation as they appeared across the country. While Susie wasn't particularly cooperative (she often stayed mute despite her partner's best efforts to get her to speak), the sight of the boisterous chimpanzee and her antics was usually enough to win over audiences.  They even performed before then-President William Taft. 

More importantly, Garner was able to make valuable contacts with many of the wealthy members of the New York Zoological Society.  He also formed a partnership with Bronx Zoo curator William Hornaday for what would be a lucrative business importing animals from Gabon for display in the Bronx zoo.  After Hornaday commissioned Garner to return to Gabon in 1913, he managed to return with numerous specimens, including a gorilla and several chimpanzees, which reinforced his reputation as an intrepid traveler. 

Though the outbreak of World War One made travel to and from Gabon more dangerous, Garner managed to return with an expedition sponsored by the Smithsonian Institute.   Though his long-ago dream of talking to monkeys had been quietly forgotten, R.L. Garner had finally managed to earn some respect from the scientific community.  After his last expedition in 1917, he decided to settle down and founded a centre for primate communication in Florida.   Now a widely praised writer whose articles were published in newspapers across the country, his career was unexpectedly cut short by Bright's Disease (now known as nephritis)  that took his life while he was staying in a Chatanooga hotel in 1920.   He was 72 years old.

Shortly after his death, Garner's son Harry donated his papers to the Smithsonian Institute.  That, along with his books and articles, represent the main legacy of a man who had to be one of the most colourful and  controversial characters of the early 20th century.   Though largely forgotten today,  Richard Lynch Garner was still a pioneer for his observations of primates in the wild.  Even if he never managed to talk to monkeys, he still managed to be heard by academics and laymen alike.  

 

The Statesman's Suicide

The suicide of Robert Stewart, First Marquess of Londonderry on August 12, 1822 probably could have been avoided.

Despite a glorious political career including representing England at the Congress of Vienna, he had become increasingly unpopular at home. His reputation for integrity and honesty had made him numerous political enemies and he went into a decline after the death of his father in 1821. There are different theories over why be became mentally unbalanced (including the possibility that he was suffering from neurosyphilis) but no actual evidence exists.

Suffering from chronic gout pain and agitated over the stormy sessions in Parliament, Stewart became increasingly paranoid. He was heard to say, ""My mind, my mind, is, as it were, gone" and began suspecting friends and colleagues of conspiring against him. His colleagues all saw that Stewart was getting worse and, on the advice of his doctor, he returned to his home in Kent.

Called to an audience with King George IV, Robert Stewart seemed even more agitated than usual and claimed that he was being accused of homosexual conduct (there was no actual evidence of that either). The king promptly notified Stewart's doctor of what had happened. Although the doctor promptly went to Stewart's residence in Kent and took away all of his razors as a safety precaution, it wasn't enough. A penknife had been forgotten in a drawer and, after seeing his wife and the doctor talking together, Stewart used the knife to cut his throat.

The resulting inquest into Robert Stewart's death concluded that the suicide had been committed in a fit of insanity. The family was greatly relieved and with good reason. Under the English common law of the time, the penalty for suicide (known as a felo de se or crime against the self) was, to put it mildly, harsh. If a verdict of insanity had not been brought in, not only would Stewart's property have been confiscated by the Crown, but he would have been denied a religious burial.

Since the deceased could no longer be punished for the crime, the law also called for the body of a suicide to receive what was termed an ignominious burial (children were exempt). This usually involved burying the deceased in a crossroad with a stake driven through the heart (the reasons for this were never clear although it may have related to old superstitions concerning vampires).

While there were no real statistics regarding how often this was actually done (digging up crossroads can be expensive), the threat of family disgrace was very real. Families of suicides often either concealed the actual circumstances of the death or else obtained the all-important medical certificate verifying that the deceased had been mentally unbalanced.

While the verdict ensured that Stewart could be buried with full honours, it placed a double burden on the surviving family members. Not only did they have to cope with the stigma of suicide, but the stigma of insanity as well (and both were considered to be hereditary). It didn't help that Stewart's political rivals and critics used the suicide and the accusations of homosexuality to undermine his reputation (libel laws were a lot looser in those days).

One family member who took Stewart's suicide especially hard was his nephew, Robert Fitzroy. Despite a long and illustrious career (including serving as captain of the H.M.S. Beagle on its fateful voyage), he lived in dread of the "taint of insanity" in his family. He became increasingly depressed in his old age (helped no doubt by the unintended role that he played in Darwin's theory of evolution, but that's another story). In 1865, he cut his throat almost exactly the way his uncle had so many years before.

It was fortunate that he died penniless since the law concerning property forfeiture in suicide wasn't abolished in England until 1870 (although the last ignominious burial was in 1823). Suicide in the United Kingdom didn't actually stop being a crime until the passing of the Suicide Act in 1961.

While attempted suicide is grounds for mandatory psychiatric evaluation in most jurisdictions these days, actual criminal charges are usually reserved for aiding, inciting, or assisting suicide in any way. There are still places where attempted suicide is punishable with a prison sentence (i.e., Singapore and India), but legal sanctions over successful suicides usually focus on issues of neglect on the part of caregivers.

Although many religions view suicide as a mortal sin and have traditionally denied the deceased religious burial, this is slowly passing (some clerics still request proof of mental instability before authorizing religious rites). Fortunately, a stake through the heart is no longer required.

But the stigma lives on.

The Online Narcissist

We've all dealt with narcissists at some time or another but we usually have the option of walking away if they get too annoying.  Usually.  

Still, the rise of social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. has provided greater greater opportunities to stay in contact with people around the world.  Unfortunately, narcissists have quickly discovered how useful social media can be in sharing words and images with countless people worldwide.  And all with the click of a mouse.

To explain some of the latest research looking at how narcissists interact with social media, I should probably begin with some background.   Narcissism is usually defined as "extreme selfishness, the pursuit of gratification from self or others, and an inflated admiration for one's own qualities."   First introduced by Sigmund Freud in his 1914 essay on narcissism, it has since become a favourite topic for researchers and therapists.  It has also been included in various editions of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (usually under the term narcissistic personality disorder) as well as being regarded as part of the Dark Triad of personality traits along with psychopathy and machiavellianism.

While there are different ways of classifying narcissists,  two categories of narcissism which have become an important part of research are:

• Grandiose narcissism - usually characterized by extreme confidence in their own superiority and are prone to going into a vindictive rage against anyone who dares to criticize them.  They have no sense of shame and have often grown up with the knowledge that they are superior to everyone else. As adults, they may have multiple affairs and often pride themselves on how admired they are by the people around them.  They can also be very aggressive in establishing dominance over other people.
• Vulnerable narcissism - people high in vulnerable narcissism tend to be more emotionally sensitive (often to the point of being neurotic).  They are distressed whenever they don't get the treatment they feel they deserve and often have problem with fear of rejection or being abandoned.  In a real sense, vulnerable narcissists are over-compensating for poor self-esteem or a history of neglect that can go back to early childhood.  They can often shift from feeling superior to feeling inferior depending on how their lives happen to be going at any particular time.

For reasons that are still unclear, narcissism seems to be on the increase in modern society.   A recent book by Jean M. Twenge and W. Keith Campbell makes a compelling case that the United States, among other countries, is experiencing a narcissism epidemic.  Along with reality television shows such as the Real Housewives franchise and My Super Sweet Sixteen, we are seeing a proliferation of media stars whose only claim to fame rests in the indulgent lifestyles that they lead.  

Then there is the role that social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram can play in allowing people to broadcast information about themselves to a worldwide audience, not to mention allowing them to .  Though people can use social media for a wide variety of reasons, recent research does suggest that narcissists are spending more time online than ever though it still isn't clear exactly why.  How they prefer to use social media seems to depend on what kind of needs are being fulfilled.   For example, while everyone enjoys posting selfies, narcissists seem to prefer taking it to extremes, often to the point of posting highly inappropriate selfies to show off their physique or physical attractiveness.  Narcissists also prefer posting under their own name t ensure that they get full credit for their posts (unless they need to attack people who have offended them, then anonymous posting on Twitter or 4chan comes in handy.)  

To read more, check out my new Psychology Today blog post.

UK Christian Schools Accused of Anti-Gay Curriculum

Since its initial release in 1970, the Accelerated Christian Education (ACE) curriculum has introduced in more than 6,000 schools across 145 counties.  Produced by a company based in Texas, the ACE curriculum has come under fire for its emphasis on biblical literalism, Young Earth creationism, and opposition to sexual equality.   Intended as an alternative to more secular schools, students enrolled in ACE schools work towards an International Christian Certificate of Education and many homeschooling families and private schools have adopted the curriculum.   In the United Kingdom, though  ACE schools are technically under the supervision of the U.K.'s Office of Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted),  they are not held to the same standards as public schools

A new investigation has raised fresh concerns about the use of the ACE in United Kingdom schools and what they are teaching students.    As part of the investigation, Vice reporter Martin Williams phoned one Christian school and posed as the father of a son who came out as gay.    The unnamed teacher to whom he spoke reportedly stated that the school arranged "deliverances" for gay students to save them from the Devil.  Similar to exorcisms, deliverances are intended to "cleanse" people of evil spirits.   When questioned further on the phone about how the deliverances were carried out, she replied " We have to be sensitive because obviously we wouldn't want a deliverance going on in a room and then have Ofsted walk in. That would be a bit awkward to explain."

She explained: "Sometimes we'll have spiritual retreats for youth, for teens. These will be done over a period of three days on the weekend. We do it in a hotel in Bournemouth and all these things are going on there – deliverance and all these kinds of things."    The teacher also expressed doubt about whether a gay student would be accepted or not.  ""I wouldn't say we wouldn't take him," she said.  "But I think our pastors would like to sit down and see where you are as a family," she said. "Always, when we have a sensitive case, it's always best to take it to pastors and they would make the final decision."

Previous investigations have already raised concern about what is being taught to students at ACE schools.    Textbooks being used in ACE schools have been found to contain passages teaching that homosexuality is a choice, evolution is false and abortion is murder.   One textbook passage reads:  "The Bible teaches that homosexuality is sin. In Old Testament times, God commanded that homosexuals be put to death. Since God never commanded death for normal or acceptable actions, it is as unreasonable to say that homosexuality is normal as it is to say that murder or stealing is normal."

Despite attempts by Vice at contacting officials at Ofsted for comments on the story, no responses have been received to date.  Previous Ofsted reports on ACE schools describe the curriculum as positive for student welfare despite concerns about what is being taught to children.   Opposition MPs have already gone on record as opposing the use of the ACE curriculum in publicly supported schools.

 

 

 

The Man Who Talked to Apes (Part One)

When Richard Lynch Garner (more popularly known as R.L. Garner) announced his plan to travel to Africa to do scientific research, he quickly became the butt of numerous jokes and ridicule by scientists.  Not only did Garner lack any real scientific credentials, but the actual purpose of his research seemed downright bizarre.  Believing that many species of primates were intelligent in their own right, he announced his intention to learn the language spoken by monkeys.     That he managed to get a popular magazine to subsidize his expedition seems incredible enough, but his amazing career would make him a  minor celebrity status later in life (including a strange attempt to establish a new monarchy in Gabon).

Born and raised in Abingdon, Tennessee as part of a large, middle class family long before the outbreak of the Civil War, Garner showed little sign of the strange destiny that lay ahead of him.  Enlisting as a Confederate soldier at the age of fourteen, his military service record included several stints in prisoner-of-war camps.   After the end of the war, he managed to attend an academy for two years before eventually returning finding work as a schoolteacher.  

Despite his modest life, including a wife and son, R.L. Garner managed to keep up to date with many of the hot scientific debates going on at the time.   With the publication of Darwin's groundbreaking book On the Origin of Species in 1859,  evolutionary theories were all the rage.  Newspapers and magazines carried stories speculating aout primitive ape-men who might still be living in remote parts of the world.   Around this time, sideshow exhibits including Krao the Monkey Girl and Jo Jo the Dog-Faced Boy seemed to blur the line between humans and animals   even further.

As for Garner, he soon found himself inspired after seeing monkeys cavorting in their cages during a visit to a Cincinnati zoo in 1884.  Reading books by Darwin, Max Muller, Alfred Russel Wallace, and Thomas Huxley, he formulated the theory that monkeys, along with many other "dumb animals"  could have a language of their own.   Though frequently ridiculed whenever he tried to float this idea at the various scientific conferences he managed to attend, Garner became more convinced than ever that he was right.

With the timely development of Thomas Edison's wax cylinder phonograph, Garner realized that this new technology could be invaluable in proving his claims.   While pursuing his research, he managed to keep himself and his family fed by establishing himself as a freelance writer.  Not incidentally, he also used the power of the press to generate support for his ideas as well as to establish his "brand" as an intrepid researcher and explorer.   Which may have been what attracted the interest of Samuel McClure of McClure's Magazine.   

Though forgotten today, McClure's Magazine was a monthly periodical that became extremely popular for its muckraking style of journalism and original literary content.    It's hard to say exactly why Samuel McClure decided to sponsor Garner but the new publicity over his theories quickly made him an overnight sensation.  And not just for readers of McClure's Magazine.   McClure launched a marketing campaign that aggressively sold Garner's story to dozens of newspapers.   Suddenly, those bizarre theories didn't seem so bizarre.

With the publication of his first book, The Speech of Monkeys, in 1892, Garner's claims were suddenly being taken seriously (at least by non-scientists).   The book contained transcripts of his sessions with monkeys in zoos across the United States and set the stage for what he saw as the next step in his research:  traveling to Africa to study the language of monkeys in the wild.   That same year, with the full financial backing of Samuel McClure, "Professor" Garner, as he was often called in the press, set sail for Gabon on Africa's west coast. 

To aid his research, he brought along all of his equipment, including his phonograph, as well as  a steel cage.  Very much a man of his time, Garner's racist views about white superiority constantly came through in his writing about his experiences in Gabon.   All of which seemed ironic considering how dependent he was on the locals for virtually all of his needs.   But the locals hoped he could help them as well. At the time, Gabonese natives were suffering under French colonial rule and they were hoping that Garner could help them gain more freedom.   Though living conditions were not as horrific as in the neighbouring Congo under Belgian rule, Garner frequently found himself negotiating with natives and French administrators alike.

 He also laid down the groundwork of what would be a long career with extensive time spent in the wild.   Through his writings, which were chronicled in McClure's Magazine and syndicated to newspapers across the U.S., Garner shared his experiences dealing with tsetse flies, wild animals, and fierce native tribes.   Unfortunately, even with the help of Gabonese natives who took him deep into remote regions of the country,  what he couldn't provide was any proof that he could learn the language of monkeys. 

Finally, after his financial assets dried up, he was forced to declare his first expedition to Gabon a failure.   Returning the the U.S., he became an object of ridicule with most newspapers abandoning him completely (including Samuel McClure).   Though Garner insisted that he could find the proof he needed with another expedition, finding the funding he needed was much more difficult this time around.  After considerable scrounging, he managed to find new backers and returned to Gabon for another year.

While in Gabon however, the English journal Truth published a series of damning articles denouncing Garner as a fake.  According to the articles, Garner's claims of traveling into Gabon's jungles had been a lie and he had actually spent all his time at a Catholic mission.  He was even said to have left behind his steel cage and a sizable bill when he first expedition ended.  Completely unaware of what had been said about him, Garner returned to the United States to discover that he had become a laughingstock.   While he publicly threatened to punch the Truth's editor, the damage had been done.    Even as he prepared to return to Gabon, the stigma of fakery made finding funding harder than ever.

But that wasn't the end for R.L. Garner.

Continue to Part Two

The Captain

The arrest of the dashing Captain Leslie Barker on February 28, 1929 seemed routine enough. After the war veteran failed to appear at a bankruptcy hearing in the previous December, a warrant for his arrest was issued for contempt of court. Despite his reputation as a sportsman, boxer, and womanizer, Captain Barker surrendered to police without  incident.The big surprise came later when he was remanded to Brixton Prison to await his trial date. It's easy to imagine the prison doctor's astonishment when he gave Barker a routine medical examination and made a rather unexpected discovery:  Captain Leslie Ivor Victor Gauntlett Slight Barker was a woman.

Despite early attempts at hiding the news of Barker's true gender, the information quickly leaked to the press. Although Barker's friends were astonished enough, the revelation was even more of a shock to his wife Elfrida. In a news interview which she gave shortly after her husband's arrest, she stated that she was "dazed, stunned! In our six years of married life I never once suspected that dear Victor was a woman too!" As she would later state, their lack of normal sexual relations had been explained away as being due to her "husband's" war wounds. Her family, who had been charmed by the gallant officer's courting of their daughter, also expressed their amazement at the revelation.

As police began interviewing Captain Barker (who had been hastily transferred to a women's prison), the full story gradually emerged. Born Lilias Irma Valerie Barker in 1895, available information on her early life suggests that her upbringing was fairly unremarkable. Her father was a wealthy proprietor on the Isle of Jersey and Lilias had been raised as a proper young woman of her generation. After serving in World War I as a Red Cross Nurse, ambulance driver, and horse trainer, she married Lieutenant Harold Arkell-Smith in 1918. This marriage ended in divorce after just a few months and she went on to have two children from another relationship that ended as well. It's hard to say when her fascination with cross-dressing began but, by 1923, she was already well established as "Colonel" Leslie Barker when she courted and married Elfrida Emma Howard.

Along with her two children, Leslie and Elfrida settled down to a somewhat unsettled family life while Barker drifted from job to job. Under the stage name of "Ivor Gauntlett", she pursued a career as an actor before drifting to jobs as a boxing club manager, furniture dealer, dog kennel manager, dairy worker, and farmhand. By 1928, Elfrida decided she had enough and returned home to her father in 1929 although she and Leslie remained married until his arrest.

Leslie Barker became involved in the British Organization of Fascists and quickly distinguished herself during the 1926 British General Strike by participating in various "Raids on Reds" (breaking up Communist mass meetings in London's Hyde Park). She also ran a boxing program for the Fascists and eventually found a job as a desk clerk in the Regent Palace Hotel (she had since demoted herself from being a Colonel to being a retired Captain). Unfortunately, financial problems led to the bankruptcy charge and her eventually exposure as a woman.

For obvious reasons, details of trial at the Old Bailey was eagerly followed by the people of London (many of whom had never heard the word "transvestite" before). Shortly after being outed as a woman, she sold her story to London's Daily Mail.  Titled "My Own Story", it gave "Captain Leslie Barker" as the byline and presented some of the backstory to her strange life.  Excepts from this story include: "I was reared as a boy and always thought a boy had a jolly good time" and "The first tragedy of my life was when the man I loved and should have married was made a prisoner early in the War. Now I am fond of nobody and have no feelings—I only adore my son."

The prosecutors were left floundering as to the exact nature of the charges that were laid against Lilias/Leslie in addition to the original bankruptcy charge.  Although same-sex marriage was illegal in the U.K. (and still is), prosecutors declined to charge her under the U.K.'s Sexual Offenses Act. Instead, they decided to charge her with perjury due to her posing as "Colonel Leslie Barker" when she married Elfrida. As Barker had also posed as an officer when she was charged with possessing a forged firearms certificate two years previously, a second perjury charge was added as well. She was eventually sentenced to nine months in Holloway Prison.

The time spent in a women's prison did nothing to change Lilias' cross-dressing habits and she quickly went back to being Victor Barker after her release. After drifting between different short-term jobs, she eventually became a sideshow attraction under the name of Colonel Barker by 1937. Using the name of Jeffrey Norton, she entered into a common-law relationship with a woman that apparently lasted for the rest of Lilias' life. During WWII, she worked at a switchboard operator in a London hospital while also serving in the Home Guard. After the war, she and her wife Eva moved to Suffolk where they lived until Ilias/Victor Barker died of Parkinson's Disease in 1960. Her death certificate gave her name as Geoffrey Norton and she is buried on the grounds of St. Edmund's church.

While not as well known as James Barry or the Chevalier d'Eon, Lilias Barker's case remains one of the most fascinating examples of its kind.  There's no medical evidence to suggest that she was intersexual or suffering from a gender disorder (the diagnosis of which continues to be controversial even today). In 2002, author Rose Collis released a book titled Colonel Barker's Monstrous Regiment: A Tale of Female Husbandry, it ensures that Lilias Barker's amazing story will be remembered.

For more information.

Stress and the Startle Response

Cortisol release in a stressful situation can be beneficial for memory encoding and memory consolidation. Stimuli, such as odors, related to the stressful episode may successfully cue memory contents of the stress experience. A new study published in the journal Behavioral Neuroscence aimed at testing the potency of stress to influence startle responsivity 24 hr later and to implicitly reactivate emotional memory traces triggered by an odor involved. Participants were assigned to either a stress (Trier Social Stress Test [TSST]) or control (friendly TSST [f-TSST]) condition featuring an ambient odor. On the next day, participants underwent an auditory startle paradigm while their eyeblink reflex was recorded by an electrooculogram. Three different olfactory stimuli were delivered, one being the target odor presented the day before. Additionally, negative, positive, and pictures of the committee members were included for comparing general startle responsivity and fear-potentiated startle. Participants of the stress group demonstrated an enhanced startle response across all stimuli compared to participants of the control group. There were no specific effects with regard to the target odor. The typical fear-potentiated startle response occurred. Stressed participants tended to rate the target odor more aversive than control participants. Odor recognition memory did not differ between the groups, suggesting an implicit effect on odor valence. Our results show that acute stress exposure enhances startle responsivity 24 hr later. This effect might be caused by a shift of amygdala function causing heightened sensitivity, but lower levels of specificity

For the abstract

Making Your Sexual Debut

Is there a right time for a first sexual experience? 

Despite the controversy surrounding first-time sex, most young people in the United States become sexually active long before they reach adulthood.  According to a 2012 research study, look at participants in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, sexual debut (first sexual experience) is classified as "early" if it occurs before the age of 15, "normative" if it occurs between 15 and 19 years of age, and "late" if it occurs after the age of 19.  

But does the age at which this sexual debut occurs make a difference in terms of later problems?  Considering how important the first sexual experience can be in establishing normal sexual relations and romantic pairings, it's essential that potential risks such as pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease be recognized.   Research has consistently shown that adolescents having a sexual debut before the age of 15 are less likely to use contraception than those in the normative or late debut groups.  They are also more likely to have a history of substance abuse and, especially for females, are more likely to suffer from depression. 

To read more, check out my new Psychology Today blog post.

 

What is U-47700?

There's nothing particularly remarkable about its appearance, just a simple white powder that can be sold in bags, capsule, or pill form.   And it's also perfectly legal in most jurisdictions despite growing reports of fatalities linked to its use.

When an Upjohn research team first developed the opioid analgesic they named U-47700, it was originally intended to be used in treating severe pain.   Seven times more potent than morphine and chemically similar to fentanyl, the new drug was eventually discontinued due to concerns about its potential for abuse. Though never tested on humans in the United States, Chinese researchers have identified a wide range of side effects such as rectal bleeding and severe nerve damage.  

Despite the health dangers associated with U-47700, or "Pink" as it's known on the street, the euphoria and sedative effects reported by users has been enough to fuel a growing demand for the new drug in many countries around the world.    While Upjohn still owns the patents on U-47700, the published studies have provided enough information for underground laboratories to replicate the formula and make it available for recreational use.   

Since the first incident in Knoxville, Tennessee in 2005, there have been numerous reports of fatalities across the United States (some estimates suggest there have well over one hundred deaths).   Emergency departments treating patients for U-47700 overdoses are often stymied considering how little information is available regarding the drug and how to treat cases as they arise.   Much like W-18, another powerful opiate that also occupies a legal grey area, overseas labs are taking advantage of loopholes in drug laws to stay ahead of law enforcement and feed the high demand for newer and stronger opioids. 

To help prevent further deaths,  the United States Drug Enforcement Agency arranged for the temporary placement of U-4770 on Schedule One of the Controlled Substances Act in September.  Even before the DEA's action, Ohio, Florida, Wyoming Illinois, and Georgia enacted their own emergency bans and many other states are expected to follow suit.  Unfortunately, even as drug laws and enforcement agencies play catch-up, new psychoactive products are expected to take their place.

According to the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, new psychoactive substances are coming along at an average rate of one per week.   Not only are underground labs coming up with new drugs on their own, they are also taking advantage of the findings of legitimate drug laboratories seeking to develop new pain remedies, many of which are ultimately abandoned because they are seen as too dangerous for humans.

Many of these labs are from China and sell their products openly using online drug marketing sites.  With online forums providing users with an opportunity to share their own experiences with the new drugs, the drug labs can create a market for their product and make it available for willing users.

Though the DEA and the U.S. Congress continues to add new drugs to Schedule 1, the process is largely reactive as drug producers manage to stay ahead of the law.  In the meantime, the death toll linked to U-47700 continues to rise.

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