Rebecca Coffey

Humans are Great Apes, a taxonomic family of primates that includes orangutans, gorillas, and pans (chimps and bonobos). The job of the human male is to spread his seed widely. The job of the female is to be selective about whose seed she receives. Those are dramatically different biological blueprints. And therein lies one explanation for the many recent headlines about sexual misconduct by men.

Our animal nature is undeniable. But is beastly behavior inevitable? This speech sheds light on the #MeToo movement and some of the controversies surrounding it.

Speaker Coffey is author of "Science and Lust" (Beck and Branch, 2018), which Kirkus called "entertaining and envelope-pushing popular science," likening Coffey to Mary Roach, known for her research, curiosity, and humor.

The children being held in huge encampments near the Mexican border: Do they get regular visits from their parents? Do they live in small “family” groups headed by Mexican and Central American refugees who are familiar with the children’s cultures of origin? Is someone watching each child closely and seeing how his or her fears come to life through play?

You say “No?” and “Probably not”? Well, that’s alarming—considering that, since World War II, visits from parents, life in “family” groups, and help handling difficult emotions have constituted a virtual catalog of universally respected ways that caring people use with children living in institutional settings.

It was Sigmund Freud’s daughter, Anna Freud (author of the ground-breaking book Beyond the Best Interests of the Child) who educated teachers and others about the emotional needs of immigrant children....

Rebecca Coffey is author of th, fact-based, highly acclaimed novel, "Hysterical: Anna Freud's Story" (SWP, 2014).

"What do women want?" Sigmund Freud never found an answer to his question. But moral guidance was what he thought they needed. And that chain of thought began with his ideas about what he called the Castration Complex.

Freud believed that, descended as we all are from beasts, every little boy worries that punishment from his father may go dangerously further than a slap on the bottom. Specifically, an enraged papa might chop off his son's penis. Fear of castration, then, is what puts boys on the path of righteousness.

Having no penis, a girl has no incentive to become virtuous — which means that females are essentially untrustworthy and need lifelong guidance from fathers and husbands. They are inherently dangerous to themselves and others. Or so said Freud. His daughter, a lesbian in a committed relationship, helped him see the light....

Speaker Rebecca Coffey is author of the highly acclaimed, fact-based novel, "Hysterical: Anna Freud's Story" (She Writes Press, 2014).

"How bold one gets when one is sure of being loved," Sigmund Freud wrote to his fiancé in 1882. By all accounts, Martha Bernays was not a smart woman. Nor was she pretty. She was, however, unstintingly servile. The Freud family story was that Sigmund never so much as put toothpaste on his own toothbrush during their 53-year marriage. And this was, according to Freud, "a good enough solution to the marriage problem."

With the Supreme Court's decision to put to bed our nation's angsty debate about gay marriage, homosexuals nationwide now enjoy the boldness of being loved and wed. What would the man who so lauded romantic contentment think about legalizing gay marriage?

Speaker Rebecca Coffey is an award-winning science journalist and author of the highly acclaimed, fact-based novel, "Hysterical: Anna Freud's Story" (She Writes Press, 2014).

In 1927 in Bath Township, Michigan, school board member Andrew Kehoe detonated the local elementary school, killing 37 children and seven adults.

These days, though, slaughter in schools is mostly done with guns, and by boys.

As a country, we don't want to ban boys from campuses. But we can talk about gun control.

The FBI says that school massacres are rarely impulsive actions. Murderers brood for months before acting. During this period, they usually they "leak" about their intentions, either explicitly or indirectly. For example, Columbine killer Eric Harris leaked about mass murder by decorating himself with Nazi paraphernalia and barking about in German. Prior to his rampage, one high school freshman told friends that he had guns and that “Monday would be the day of reckoning.” One16 year-old killer’s schoolwork began swimming in references to carnage a full three years before his rampage.

Coffey wrote the 2012 book "Murders Most Foul: And the School Shooters in Our Midst."