May 31, 2012
All little girls want to be princesses… right?! It’s bad enough that toy aisles are separated out by what a shop considers gender appropriate for each sex of child. And on more than one occasion I have been forced to buy a so-called “boy’s toy” for a girl (including my daughter) as a present because ...
Tags: Barbie,
Brave,
children,
Cthulhu Barbie,
Disney,
gendered toys,
hero,
Mattel,
Merida,
Popping Culture,
princess,
role model,
sexism
May 22, 2012
One of Australia’s leading female politicians has suggested that women facing sexual discrimination at work should just ignore it and it will disappear. Isobel Redmond made the comments at a women’s leadership event in Adelaide. These comments seem more suited to a grey-suited politician from the an earlier era, not a liberal Australian political leader. ...
May 19, 2012
My attention was drawn this week to an article about the reaction at a Canadian university to proposals to start a “men’s centre” on campus, as a place for men (according to the would-be founders) to discuss “men’s issues and mental wellness and all the different things that come along with that.” The article was ...
May 18, 2012
With summer on its way, there will be an onslaught of Hollywood blockbusters created to entice audiences to the theatres. Most of these films rely on the usual stereotypes to carry the story: the new film What to Expect When You’re Expecting is no different. In the movie, men have a great disdain for fatherhood ...
May 17, 2012
The Cannes film festival has kicked off this week with controversy over the lack of films made by women that are up for consideration. The all-male list in contention for the prestigious Palme d’Or prize has been criticized as evidence of gender bias. Whilst it is true that, of course, women make films these days, and ...
May 11, 2012
When women experience or witness violence they are more likely to have “risky sex,” like having unprotected sex or multiple sexual partners, according to a new study. The study, published in the journal Psychology of Violence, suggests that women have this kind of sex in order to cope with trauma. True, many women are survivors ...
May 5, 2012
My attention was brought this week to an article claiming that men exaggerate more than women. Nothing new in that, many of us would think. This report also claimed that men actually gain from being such fibbers. Again, this sort of declaration possibly isn’t going to shake the earth on its axis. But what was ...
Tags: arrogant,
boy's club,
bullshitters,
business,
career advancement,
confidence,
exaggerate,
lying,
men's behaviour,
rude,
sexism,
the why chromosome
April 27, 2012
Women who breastfeed their babies see a drop in their wages for as long as five years, a new study suggests. After studying 1,300 first-time mothers, researchers at Acadia University found a strong correlation between mother who breastfed and a drop in their incomes. Mothers who used formula did not see this drop. This is ...
April 20, 2012
Sandwiches. Gender conspiracy. War on women. Let me explain. It was a sunny afternoon here in southern Germany. I’d escaped from the office to the organic bakery across the street, and found an outdoor table where I could read my book and drink the peppermint tea I’ve taken to drinking instead of coffee, to avoid ...
April 19, 2012
Anyone browsing on the Voice website (the online version of the British Columbia-based Indo-Canadian newspaper the Voice) this week may have noticed an advert for sex selection IVF treatment at a Washington State-based clinic. Not only is this treatment unethical, it is illegal in Canada, so what exactly is going on here? Sex-selection techniques are ...
Tags: abortion,
boy,
Canada,
female infanticide,
gender,
girl,
Indo-Canadians,
IVF,
sex selection,
sex-selective abortions,
sexism