1000 visits have officially happened on my blog! I know, I know, it’s not a huge deal, but hey, I’m just impressed that I could do something that people actually see!
Thank you to all who have visited!
Because of the economic state in Zimbabwe, women are having to give sexual favours to men to be able to support their families.
Miriam Madziwa writes that each time the Zimbabwe dollar tumbles, women’s survival chances take a corresponding knock, as it means more sexual favours to seal deals with men, who by virtue of their jobs or connections are able to make or break women’s survival attempts.
For the cash-strapped women, sex offers an easy and cheap, albeit risky, means of supporting their families. In return, they are able to secure scarce goods as well as discounts on transport and accommodation and their businesses flourish.
So sad.
Twice as much as they were a decade ago. This of course leads to health risks.
Although the total amount of radiation exposure to pregnant women is still relatively low, the doubling effect in just a decade is the latest indicator that medical scans are exposing patients to record amounts of ionizing radiation, a type of radiation that can alter cells and lead to health risks, including cancer.
Of course, as the article states, there are times when it’s better for pregnant women to get the scans to help their health, but the general population of pregnant women shouldn’t need these scans.
This is why I’ve always been a fan of the midwife. And if I have any children, I plan on having a midwife. Much less medicine and machines. Hospitals look at pregnant women as having a disability. I read an interesting article awhile ago that talked about how hospitals either looked at pregnant women as a machine or disable. Or both. I think that definitely true. All this talk of scans and radiation irks me a little, and makes me realize even more that the hospital isn’t always the best route. For me, at least. I’m not here to make decisions for anyone else.
But to all pregnant women, ask your doctors about the alternatives to the scans!
Four elderly women were killed in a car accident after leaving church on Sunday.
The women died after a northbound minivan, a 1993 Mercury Villager, crossed the centre line and crashed into their 2003 Ford Focus.
Three of the women died at the scene of the crash and the fourth while on the way to hospital.
This news breaks my heart. I admit that I have a soft spot for the elderly, and thinking that they were killed after they left church just gets me. It’s even worse that the police say alcohol might have been involved in the accident, from the driver that crashed into them. Sad story of the day.
I hate hearing about rape stories, but new ones seem to pop up everyday. This one is from New Zealand, where the 21-year-old student was almost strangled to death by the rapist with a black nylon rope.
He tried to make small talk with her, then attacked her, Detective Senior Sergeant Steve McGregor said today.
The victim was dragged into a car park off Rattray St, where she was raped and repeatedly beaten about her face and body for two hours, he told Radio New Zealand.
“What is very much a concern is during the course of the rape it would appear that he has tried to subdue her by strangling her with a length of black nylon rope.”
At the end of the rape the man mislaid the rope but continued to manually strangle her, Mr McGregor said.
The police think it’s “lucky” that they aren’t looking at a homicide. Well, no, I don’t think that they’re necessarily lucky. This young woman is still going to be traumatized for the rest of her life, most likely.
Courtney E. Martin, who speaks across country speaking about feminist issues, has written a nice little piece on the stereotypes of feminism and why there are those awful stereotypes. And she also brings up an interesting point of how everyone, no matter race, gender, age or religion, knows the “standard” stereotypes of feminists, and feminism.
I ask them “What are the stereotypes you’ve heard about feminists?” After a few timid moments, folks start shouting a flood of unsavory characteristics: ugly, bitchy, man-hating, boring, angry, bra-burning.
I believe that feminism has attracted so many unsavory stereotypes because of its profound power and potential. It has gained such a reputation, been so inaccurately demonized, because it promises to upset one of the foundations on which this world, its corporations, its families, and its religions are based—gender roles.
I think she has a really good point about the gender roles and that’s the huge reason why everyone is so afraid of feminism. They are so ingrained in our society, culture and our own minds that they can’t possibly be shaken. What people are forgetting though when they think that is that everyone is an individual. I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again as an example. My mother is not the “nurturer”, stay-at-home-mom. She should actually be running the country, because she can. And personally, I like that my mother is not the “nurturer”, because we clash anyway. She’s done her thing, and my dad’s also had a career, but he is far more the “nurturer”, even though I never had any stay-at-home-parent. That was fine with me! I’m not scarred at all. Through this example, I just wanted to show that men and women are all different and it’s wrong to put them in a box because they either have a penis or vagina.
Do you all think that gender roles are breaking down a bit? Or are they still as strong as ever?
A 16-year-old girl has been repeatedly raped and tortured while being held in a prison cell with at least 20 men.
A piece on the word bitch.
GLBT youth are looking for change and ready to act!
A mother in China was fined $2,698 when she had a child through IVF.
Brazil has rejected the government-supported proposal during the 13th National Conference of Health to legalize abortion in the country. Sad.
The proposal on abortion was introduced as a “recommendation” by feminist groups and portrayed abortion as “a public health problem” that should be addressed through the law. Supporters of the proposal were booed by the majority of the participants.
But, the NCH decisions don’t have any legal impact, which is a good thing…but they still affect public policy quite a bit. It really just seems like the Brazilian people are against abortions, not the government who can actually change things. Hopefully this will change in the future, because abortions are necessary for a woman’s health in some situations. And I think they know this full well, as in 2006, some major health issues were infant and maternal mortality. But Brazil is still very conservative in their Catholic ways, as 74% of the population are Catholic, so I see, although I don’t agree with, why they don’t want abortion to be legalized.
The Feminist Majority Foundation, which “works for social and political and economic equality for women by using research and education to improve women’s lives,” have a website. And it’s been hacked. I wonder who thought it would be fun to shut down a feminist website for awhile? Well, the name is The_BeKiR – Secret-Agent – ReaLTurK. Hopefully the website won’t be down for too long!
Heidi Klum Oh, Heidi Klum. She’s in this new commercial for Victoria Secret, and well, I really am speechless. Seriously. Just watch it for yourself!
This Quizno’s commercial reminds us that the “perfect, pretty girls” are always in control and that the “ugly” people will always want to be them. This link unfortunately doesn’t have the last 2 or 3 seconds, when the woman with the sandwich is flattered when the “perfect” woman says “I hate you.” Blech.
I feel like I haven’t been posting as regularly as I usually do, and I apologize for that. I’ve been very busy, but hopefully I’ll get somet hings up before the night is over!
The new Venezuelan Constitution, which will go to the vote in December, will be the first in Latin America to protect citizens on the basis of their sexual preferences.
Under the new amendments added to the constitution, sexual orientation will be added to the categories protected under human rights.
A step in the right direction! There’s no reason that sexual orientation shouldn’t be protected under human rights.
Ok. I think the Pope is…an interesting fellow. I won’t go too far, considering the outrage Sinead O’Connor caused with her whole “rip a picture of the Pope” on SNL. But, ok, I think he, along with the general philosophies of Catholicism are, well, off. At least a little. Probably a lot. This is the latest from the Pope’s trip to Kenya…
Pope Benedict XVI accused international agencies of promoting abortion in Africa and blamed “disordered notions” of marriage and the family for the spread of sexually transmitted diseases there.
He blames the “disordered notions” of marriage and family for the spread of STD’s? Is he serious? There’s a spread of STD’s because people aren’t using protection! And unfortunately, sexual violence and rape are very prevalent in Africa.
It’s clear that he doesn’t want to see the spread of STD’s…maybe he, along with George Bush, should reconsider the condom. But will that ever happen? I doubt it.
I’m going to India in May and I’ll be there for a month! I just had to come here and let everyone know! I’ll be working with women and children in Kolkata and surrounding areas. I’ll be teaching about the positive benefits of women’s empowerment and local capacity-building, as well as educating street children and orphans.
Soooooo excited!
This is a horrible story and a part of me doesn’t even know how this kind of thing happens.
Three boys, ages 8 and 9, were being held Monday in a detention center on charges of kidnapping and raping an 11-year-old girl near a suburban apartment complex, officials said.
However, the fathers of the boys are of course saying that the sex was consensual and the girl is just “blaming it on rape” because she “doesn’t want to get in trouble with her parents.”
However, the police are still investigating.
Acworth Police Chief Mike Wilkie said said one of the boys was accused of threatening to hit the girl with a rock before the alleged assault. Wilkie also said the investigation is “far from over,” and investigators are looking into claims that after the alleged attack, the girl talked about it with her friends at a slumber party.
It’s easy to not believe that this happened, but at some point we do need to put trust in girls. If a girl that age was accused of sexually or physically assaulting a boy, the boy would be believed. I don’t think that there’s any question in that. Girls are not trusted. Young women, and old women are not trusted as much as their male counterparts. Either way, this girl was traumatized one way or another and something like this will most likely stick with her.
It’s a sad case for her and for the boys that are being accused of this. When did kids stop being kids?
A group of teenage girls are training in boxing, which they think will in turn help break down some of the gender barriers that Afghanistan has.
The boxers belong to a new generation of Afghan youth, challenging stereotypes that persist five years after the fall of the Taliban. They train in a room in Kabul’s main sports stadium, a venue for public executions during Taliban rule in the late 1990s.
Boxing is helping them gain confidence and self-respect, the girls say. Their goal: to be Afghanistan’s first women’s boxing team.
I think this is pretty cool. It’s awesome to see a group of teenage girls wanting to make a change and actually doing something about it. They aren’t just waiting for the change to come to them! They discuss how sports isn’t encouraged for girls and women, because it’s supposedly not good for them.
“Many people are trying to stop us from participating in sports by saying it is not good for women,” said 15-year-old Shabnam, who uses only one name. “But I think if you are interested in doing something, you should avoid listening to what people think about you. Sports is a way out of violence for Afghanistan.”
Seems like a confident, determined group of teenage girls about to make a difference!
The Wall Street Journal has made a list of of the 50 women who have made it to vice president or higher in their particular corporations. The article is quick to point out though that only 16.4% of Fortune 500 corporate-officer jobs are held by women. Not too much.
That is an increase of just 0.7 percentage point from 2002, according to a survey by Catalyst, the New York research group. Similarly, they comprise just one-sixth of corporate directors.
But the article thinks it’s very promising for women and this is a step in the right direction. It definitely is a step in the right direction. A lot of changes are unfortunately very slow, and this is one of them. As long as more and more women are getting into those corporate jobs, it’s a good sign. And hopefully, as the article points out, it will only encourage other women to go for those jobs and be successful there!
Women get less ICU attention in hospitals, even if their illness warrents it.
A Muslim’s women’s skirt is too long for her to be working as a security guard at Pearson International Airport in Toronto.
Gender stereotypes are still hindering women in Central Asia.
A Saudi Arabian court ups the punishment for gang-rapists, as well as the gang-rape victim.
So…binge drinking is OK during pregnancy?
Man pleads guilty for two accounts of sexual assault.
UN is urging an end to all forms of sexual violence.
A mother shopped her 7-year-old daughter for sex three times. The mother and two of the “buyers” have been arrested and charged.
Great article about feminism, masculinity and male domination.
Feminism isn’t dead! An article in opposition to Lindyl Crabb’s article, which I’ve had my own opinion about as well.
What People Are Saying