Jezebel
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foreign affairs
Japan's "Herbivore Men" Refuse To Adhere To Stereotypes
Please note: This post on BoingBoing warns that "Herbivore Men" are not to be confused with "vegan guys." This has to do with what's "expected" of a man. More »
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By DodaiComment by Mrs Lovett: Any one who thinks this trend is a bad thing should read pretty much anything by Yukio Mishima. Or... 8 Responses | Other threads
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foreign affairs
Sex Theme Park Is Too Hot For Chinese Officials
Love Land, China's first sex theme park, has been demolished before it ever opened after officials declared it an "evil influence on society." More »
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By MargaretComment by hacienda51: I'm a prude, but I'm not sure if I lived near there that I'd want to look at that giant... 6 Responses | Other threads
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foreign affairs
Katie Asks Why "Sexism" Against Men Is Abhorrent To Saudis
Katie Couric, having ditched her abaya and gotten back to the gym after returning from Saudi Arabia, wonders why, with all the discrimination against women, some Saudi men are upset at separate-but-equal facilities for women.
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By MeganComment by Diziet_Sma: Which is why Muslim women wearing headscarves - willingly - drives me insane. Thin end of the wedge. 51 Responses | Other threads
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foreign affairs
Sex Theme Park Has Chinese Hot & Bothered
Love Land, an "adult" theme park, opens in October in the city of Chongqing, China. The creator of the park claims people need more information about sex; guess what residents near the park think? More »
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By DodaiComment by Vivelafat says Sweep the leg, Johnny.: What the fuck is this happy horseshit? Exactly what is going on here? 14 Responses | Other threads
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foreign affairs
Burmese Activist Charged After Visit By "Wretched American"
Aung San Suu Kyi, Burmese pro-democracy leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, was charged today with violating the terms of her house arrest after an American man snuck into her house uninvited. More »
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By Anna N.Comment by RustyHeadedGirl thinks everything just tasted purple for a second: Man, normally I never apologize for being American, but I feel like I need to apologize for being American for... 12 Responses | Other threads
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foreign affairs
German Pop Star Arrested For Spreading More Than Bad Pop Music
Nadja Benaissa, a member of No Angels (Germany's Dannity Kane), has been arrested for allegedly knowingly had unprotected sex with multiple partners while HIV positive. Before her arrest, her HIV status was not public. [Guardian]
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By MeganComment by merv: Is that illegal in the US? Or can you just be sued? 32 Responses | Other threads
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foreign affairs
In A "Culture Of Silence" Women's Shelters Provide Safe Haven
Until 2003, an abused woman living in Afghanistan would have two choices: stay with her husband or return shamed to her family. Police were no help, and women's shelters did not exist. More »
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By Intern KatyComment by PilgrimSoul: "Foreign intrusion" my foot. Ask the women who are being protected by these shelters whether they think it impinges... 3 Responses | Other threads
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foreign affairs
Is It A Good Sign That Brazilian Carnival Is Getting More "Mature"?
Carnival kicks off next month in Brazil, and this year, two of Rio’s most famous samba schools have chosen women in their 40s as carnival queens. More »
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By DodaiComment by jgh: Yeah... as someone with ties to Brazilian culture, I don't want to say that American feminists aren't allowed to critique... 11 Responses | Other threads
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foreign affairs
First Person: "We Are Now Unable To Distinguish Joy From Fear"
Journalist Safa Joudeh's Time magazine account of the bombing of her family's apartment building in Gaza sent chills down our spines. More »
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By Anna N.Comment by Mkp-hearts-NYC: Man. A few people on my facebook friends list keep "donating their statuses" to counting the number of rockets launched... 15 Responses | Other threads
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ashley judd
Ashley Judd Is Not Just Another Tinseltown Disaster Tourist
Newsweek writer Christopher Dickey recently interviewed Ashley Judd, who visited eastern Congo about six months ago with Population Services International, and witnessed the tens of thousands of refugees there. "Goma," says Judd, "is a shithole." Writes Dickey, "the description is perfectly accurate." There are no paved roads, there are giant potholes, there's rubble and dust, and there was a volcanic eruption not that long ago. More »
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By DodaiComment by BeckySharper: Note to self: do not complain about your life EVER. 9 Responses | Other threads
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pakistani abuse victims
Set Ablaze, Some Pakistani Women Blaze A New Path
Saira Liaqat (pictured) and Urooj Akbar are 2 of the 240 kerosene and acid attack burn victims registered with the Depilex Smileagain Foundation [Note: Yes, the story crashed their site, but it's an accurate link], profiled by the Associated Press this weekend. Most of the women served by the foundation are victims of attacks by their husbands, rejected suitors or rapists and many are shunned and ostracized by their families for having the audacity to survive disfigurement and/or leave the men who disfigured them. More » -
foreign affairs
Two Gypsy girls drowned at the beach of Torregaveta in southern Italy Saturday. Their bodies were placed under towels to await the arrival of authorities. Photos from the scene show sunbathers going about their day as the corpses lie nearby. "While the lifeless bodies of the girls were still on the sand, there were those who carried on sunbathing or having lunch just a few meters away," La Repubblica reported. Pair this with the fact Italians are openly hostile to Gypsies, or Roma, as they are called. (A recent survey found that 68% of people want Italy's Gypsies expelled, whether or not they hold Italian passports.) A civil liberties group, EveryOne, cast doubt on the reported version of events, suggesting that it was unusual for the Roma girls to wade into the sea — Gypsies are extremely modest and the girls could not swim. [CNN, Guardian, Guardian]
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By DodaiComment by lovingyourworkrightnow: Damn it, tried to post this yesterday but it's not showing :( Can people *please* stop talking about the 'gyspy problem'?... more » | Other threads
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international studies
When The Going Gets Tough, Women Are The First To Suffer
Skyrocketing prices for food and fuel have pushed more than 130 million poor people across parts of Africa, Asia and Latin America deeper into poverty in the past year, and guess who are the "hungriest" and "skinniest" victims? Women. Malnutrition among females is emerging as a "hidden consequence" of the food crisis, reports Kevin Sullivan for the Washington Post. Sullivan's focus is the African nation of Burkina Faso, where he follows the life of a woman named Fanta Lingani, who starts her backbreaking streetsweeping job at 4:30 am and makes $10 a month. More » -
anna wintour
Dear Anna: I'm Outsourcing Your Job To Vogue India. 8 Pictures That Explain Why…
Anna: Trust you're having a merry Fourth. Please don't let what I'm about to say put too much of a damper on it. Listen, you've been impeccable these past 20 years. You're British, everyone fears you, there was that movie, etc. etc. And let's face it: in your absence, everyone who works here will probably start eating again and that's bad for health insurance premiums. But when in the course of human events you have to cut off the clothing allowance of an old paramour, well…you give them the good news first! It's not Carine. No, I'm actually giving your job to Priya Tanna, the editor of Vogue India. Have you ever looked at Vogue India? I hadn't either, really, but the other day I was in Bombay or Mumbai or whatever they're calling it these days for a business meeting and it occurred to me that the whole reason we have ceded so much of the old "service economy" to them is that they know English there, and if they know English I might be able to read their magazines, not that stylish prose was the first thing on my mind when I walked into the newsstand and found myself face to face with the most fucking wildly gorgeous specimen of femininity I have ever seen. It not being some overspackled underfreckled overexposed celebublonde, it took me awhile to process that it was Vogue I was looking at.
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By MoeComment by SydneyGal: I'm kind of distracted about how she's squatting on those stilettos on the beach but not sinking in. How is... 1 Responses | Other threads
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prom and circumstance
British Kids Manage To Make "Prom" An Even More Hateful Institution
Just one of the valuable export sectors keeping the American economy afloat, folks, but don't underestimate prom. Prom has come to Britain, and oh my god I hope it stays here. Two intrepid Wall Street Journal reporters today descend upon the prom of Michael Clarke, third from left, whose parents "at first balked when their 16-year-old son begged them to rent him a bright yellow Lamborghini plus driver for prom night." Mercifully, reason prevailed. "They gave in after their son promised to study harder in return." And the Clarkes, like many other British parents, ended up shelling out more than a grand to secure this promise. Inexplicably, school teachers are resisting this method of motivating their pupils, filling education websites with hateration along the lines of: "Ghastly import. Conspicuous consumption and pointless excess." But with the American economy going to shit (and the My Super Sweet 16 hosts of yore going to jail?) we are pleased to usher in this trend with some evidence that it will benefit our economy — and a fun video of dressed-up British high schoolers acting as obnoxious as American ones — after the jump. More »
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By MoeComment by Hell Kitty: "They gave in after their son promised to study harder in return." Michael Clarke's parents: Kids don't understand the concept of... more » | Other threads
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letter from london
It's 3 a.m., And I Could Use A Tampon Or At Least A Beer
Greetings from London. I am sitting in a pub in the financial district nursing a hangover with the absolute worst cheeseburger I have ever fucking eaten. And I lived in China as a kid and we ate water buffalo burgers there, true story. You know how they say the "bad British food" thing is a misnomer? It is not. I have had exactly one meal here to which McDonald's would not be preferable. And I don't even actually like food. But being here is sort of throwing into doubt a lot of my Marxist sensibilities, I realized yesterday the second time I walked past a house where Friederich Engels lived during a long and winding and near-abortive search for a newsstand that was open at seven p.m. on a Sunday. The night before last I arrived back to a hotel at midnight and asked where I could get a drink to put me to sleep; nowhere was the answer I got from the concierge. Two couples standing next to me seemed confused. More » -
foreign affairs
Big Deals
Mayawati is a 5-foot tall chief minister of the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. She had a 12 foot bronze statue of herself replaced with a larger one because it was 3 feet shorter than nearby statues of other leaders. She didn't want to get short changed, okay? But! The cost of two statues? $950,000. As CBS News reports, that's "no small fee in a region of India notorious for its bad roads, spotty electricity and endemic poverty." Still, Mayawati is a heroine to dalits, "the so-called untouchables" on the bottom of the caste system, who have faced centuries of often violent discrimination. So she'd better be represented properly! [CBS News] -
foreign affairs
Wang Zhijun returned home to Sichuan province two days before the earthquake. He had been traveling more cosmopolitan sections of the country for years, trying and failing at the rough business of making money in a corrupt and desperate place run by hucksters and plutocrats, when his wife convinced him to do the proverbial "coming up for air" thing and return home for a few weeks. (Air is not what they got.) (Yeah, pun, sorry.) Some choice moments of a story that reads like a Jimmy Stewart movie when you click the pic. [NYT] More »
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By MoeComment by Sparker_Pants: @Sparker_Pants: Well not really "cheers" considering the story. . .more like "tears". more » | Other threads
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international titocracy
Meet Italian Cabinet Member Mara Carfagna, A Woman Of Many, Um, Parts
Usually when my little brother sends me tips they have to do with the idiocy of Bush or organized religion or... well anyway, to get to the point, I was somewhat baffled when he sent me a link to this picture on a German website. I clicked about as far as here before I was just like "We're all always searching for new sources of free porn but um now's not the time, broseph!" But as it turns out, this is a serious issue! Meet Mara Carfagna, Silvio Berlusconi's new Minister Of Equal Opportunities. A lot of hands have been wrung over why the Italians would vote for that guy again — aside, you know, from his whole King of all media thing — but until now we did not really realize he had such inspired brain trust. See, Mara Carfagna — rhymes with Barack Obama! — is one of those transcendent politicians whose rich and varied biography gives her a persona that can resonate with anyone. A photo essay of Hope (and humps!) after the jump. More »
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By MoeComment by AprilHamit: Another whiny liberal columnist. Don't have 50 million of them yet. more » | Other threads
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foreign affairs
Welcome To Basra, Where Beating Your Daughter To Death Gets You High-Fived By Cops
There are no photos of 17-year-old Rand Abdel-Qader or "Paul," the British soldier she fell in love with, so this will have to do, as it's an image we have probably all probably allowed to enter our hippocampuses when the teenage infatuation reaches such a crescendo it starts to seem impossible that it won't end tragically — and suffice it to say, this post is tragic enough. Two months ago Abdel-Qader, an English speaking student from Basra, was beaten to death by her father Ali and brothers after she talked to "Paul" in public one day, and now, thanks to the Guardian we know that her father not only feels zero remorse and has the full support of the Basra police and social norms — "some honor killings are impossible not to commit," after all — he blames his wife's "bad genes" for causing his daughter to fall in love with a foreigner. (Bad genes! What, you thought the Shias believed in intelligent design?)
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By MoeComment by AbnerKaploofah: i think it is a disgrace she should have had freedom so she could deciede for herself her father is... more » | Other threads
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foreign affairs
Sarah Left Women's Magazines To Try And Learn "Why They Hate Us." She Could Use A Drink.
Meet Sarah. She used to live in New York and cover fashion for women's magazines. Then she moved to Yemen. What's Yemen? Just a little country where prisoners go to when they get released from Guantanamo, where Al Qaeda is like the Beatles, where eight-year-olds have to go to court to get their own divorces and where women aren't allowed to laugh in public. They've been trying to blow up foreigners lately in Yemen, and the Embassy and its stash of liquor is gone for the moment, but Sarah is sticking around because the food is cheap and she never really liked showing her hair or speaking in public that much to begin with. Herewith, an IM interview with Yemenista, the only Jezebel reader with ready access to qat. It's nature's adderall.
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cock ups
Foreign Affairs
The Kanamara festival was held yesterday in Japan, which means the town of Kawaskai was inundated with huge pink and black penises, cross-dressers, and tourists posing for pictures with cock-shaped lollipops. The three-hundred year old fertility festival takes place near a phallus shrine and draws visitors from around the globe. "In general, traditional Japanese festivals are not very accessible to foreigners, but this one is different," says Kimiko Nakamura, the head priestess. (Haha, "head" priestess.) [Reuters] -
miss world
Global Beauty
The "Miss Landmine Survivor" pageant will be held April 2nd in Luanda, Angola, reports the BBC. The contest, organized by Angola's de-mining commission, aims not only to give victims confidence, but to raise awareness. Millions of mines were planted in Angola during a 27-year civil war that ended in 2002. Tens of thousands of Angolans have lost limbs or suffered injuries from mines and the UN says that millions of landmines remain hidden in the country. Eighteen women will take part in the pageant: One from every province in the country. All of the contestants have been maimed by mines. [BBC News]
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By DodaiComment by BlindKarma: I'm all for it. If you can shine light on something that gets a 30 sound bit then forgotten... more » | Other threads
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foreign affairs
Siberian Inmates Compete For Prettiest Prisoner
"A woman should always be beautiful," says Natalya Khapova, 26 (pictured at left). "Not just outside the fence. Even if she's in here, she should show her beauty. A woman is everything gentle and wonderful - or she should be." The "fence" Khapova speaks of? The one separating her from the population at large. See, Khapova has six-and-a-half years left of her eight-year sentence for assault. She lives in an all-women's prison. In Siberia. Since 1990, the jail has an annual beauty pageant with its own rules and three categories: Greek Goddesses, Flower Gowns and "Imaginary Uniforms," which lets inmates design their ideal prison getups. Guards and unit chiefs judge the contestants on their appearance and creativity, crowning the winner "Miss Spring." Runners-up are "Miss Charm" and "Miss Grace". Russia has 35 women's prisons and the female incarceration rate is almost five times as high as Britain's. Half of the women at UF 91/9 are doing time for narcotics. Does that mean it's OK for them to play dress-up? More »
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By DodaiComment by bruitdautrui: They may be criminals, but "these women" are also people. Couldn't Keep It To Myself is a book of essays... more » | Other threads
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heroines
Ousted Hot Obama Adviser Samantha Power's Advice On Love
In our free time we've been learning all we can about ousted Obama foreign policy adviser Samantha Power, so here you have it for your attempts at intelligent barroom conversation: she's a big drinker and a big talker. She did not plan to take a position in any sort of Obama cabinet precisely because she likes to talk too much. She was inspired to be a foreign correspondent during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. Calls Obama a "seriously special dude." Thinks too much conviction can be a dangerous thing because it erodes empathy. Thinks genocide has "brutalized" the sensibilities of all who recognize it, making for something like a trickle-down effect that gave us Abu Ghraib. Has that same problem all smart pretty girls have where dudes don't pay attention to what she's saying because they are too busy trying to feel her up which may be why she has to say reckless things. Is dating a fellow Obama adviser. But most endearing of all, we found, was her advice on love, offered in this 2006 commencement speech. More »
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By MoeComment by whitedevil: Does this mean that she loses her UWW-WWW card? If so, she can always move to the south where they... more » | Other threads
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foreign affairs
French Femmes Fond Of Le Fucking
A new study has found that French women are "increasingly assertive" in their sexual habits. Which basically means they're sleeping around more: In 1970, 68% claimed to have had only one partner, In 1992, 43% made that claim; in 2006 the number had dropped to 34%. A paper called Le Nouvel Observateur said of the findings: "The good old dichotomy (male predators, females patiently awaiting the warrior's return in front of the cave entrance) is in big trouble." Let's hope so! Progress from Cro-Mag days is a good thing, right? In any case, the "female sexual emancipation" is a hot topic in France right now, thanks to Ms. Carla Bruni. Last year, she told French paper Le Figaro: "I am a tamer [of men], a cat, an Italian. I am faithful... to myself. I am monogamous from time to time but I prefer polygamy and polyandry." Now she's married to the president. Quelle horror!
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foreign affairs
Foreign Affairs
Over on Guanabee, writer Gabriel Caro has created something called "The International Fuckability Hierarchy Index: Latin Countries." Basically, where you're from dictates how much you get laid, and Caro has created a useful bar graph (as seen here) in which penises illustrate Spain's superior allure over Guatemala, for instance. Plus! "If your country's name has an ñ add 5 points; if your country has hosted, participated in, or applauded terrorist activity, subtract 5 points; add 5 points if Pablo Neruda ever lived in your country; if Che Guevara visited your country in one of his "reconnaissance" trips, do nothing but ponder the significance of it all; if your country is an island, subtract 3 points." The index also name drops Shakira, Benicio Del Toro, Daddy Yankee and, uh, Hugo Chavez. It's not right, but it's okay. [Guanabee]
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By DodaiComment by Schadenfruit: Spain is not part of Latin America. Spaniards are not Latinos. I think the term they were going... more » | Other threads
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foreign affairs
"Small" Bottoms Are The Least Of Some Women's Problems
The hot new dance craze in the Ivory Coast is "Bobaraba," which translates to "Big Bottom." The problem? Some women are worried that their derrieres are not up to par, so they're getting black market injections for more junk in the trunk. Ivorian gynecologist Dr. Marcel Sissoko says the injections might be dangerous, "because we don't know the ingredients. It's being used without a medical prescription. The health ministry hasn't authorized this and doctors don't know what's in there, so there are risks." More » -
foreign affairs
Meet Satoshi Fujita: The Japanese "Mystery" With A Wig And A Prayer
"I always teach my students that sex comes first. Then you figure out whether the woman is worth marrying later." So says Satoshi Fujita (left), head of Tokyo's Pickup School For Men Who Can't Get Any. Fujita is like the Mystery of Japan: He helps insecure geeks get laid! And, like Mystery, Fujita has all kinds of tricks up his sleeve: For starters, he wears a wig. "It was so shocking when my hair started to fall out," he says. "I was scared to look in the mirror and completely froze up when I talked to women." His wig gave him confidence; he soon developed a "science" of chatting up chicks, using humor, compliments and, uh, magic tricks. Now he teaches other lame dudes nanpa, the art of picking up women. According to Wired, there are half a dozen nanpa schools in the Tokyo area, and Fujita's is the most popular. Classes are held on street corners: "Picking up women on the streets is the best method for people who need miracles," Fujita claims.
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foreign affairs
Wife-Carrying, Rosary Clutching, Speed Dating: Valentine's Day Is A Global Affair
Whether you're getting wined and dined or just indulging your inner wino this Valentine's Day, you might be curious to know how folks around the world are getting their rocks off this February 14th. Did you know that Valentine's Day, though initially celebrating a Christian martyr, was first linked to romance by Chaucer? So if you hate this crappy, commercialized farce of love, blame his Canterbury Tales-writin' ass. Anyway, from teens giving blood and husbands carrying their wives in China to speed dating on Bondi Beach in Australia, we've got a rundown of what's going down this V-D, after the jump. More » -
foreign affairs
Men Are Awful At Picking Up Women The World Over
Valentine's Day: One week away! And in honor of the not-so-momentous holiday, the Times of London is offering up a valentine of sorts called "The Best Chat-Up Lines In The World". Thing is, the pickup lines listed are some of the worst we've ever heard. (From Germany: "Your eyes are the same color as my Porsche.") Actually, the story is really just about all the fumbling ways dudes try to approach women: A German writer says his countrymen suffer from Caligynephobia (also known as Venustraphobia) - the fear of chatting up hot chicks. As for Italian men, they're "pretty forthright," says an Alitalia flight attendant named Daniela. "They don't hesitate to compliment you in the street on your beauty, ciao bella and all that. They even whistle." Classy! More » -
foreign affairs
Depressed Princess Eats Truffles; Nation Freaks
While Britney Spears gathers her wits about her from the comfort of a padded room, the future Empress of Japan, Crown Princess Masako, is the target of tabloid reports and grave disappointment in the Far East. Why? Because she went out to dinner. According to the Times of London, the Princess recently had Mexican food, a plate of black truffles and a bowl of shark-fin soup. Explains another Times newspaper (this one in New York), this behavior violates "the standards of imperial austerity as the economy shows signs of faltering." So there are two issues here: Firstly, the 44-year-old Harvard-educated princess was diagnosed with depression four years ago. Second, Japan, like the United States, is on the verge of a recession. So while a plate of truffles might not seem like a big deal, the Japanese feel she is wasting public money, living the "high life" when she won't even make public appearances due to her "condition." More » -
foreign affairs
The British Ambassador, The Uzbek Stripper And The Dictator Who Boils Men Alive
Perhaps you remember hearing things about Uzbekistan, such as: it was catapulted to "important American ally" status after 9/11 for its border with Afghanistan; they employ torture there; by torturing I mean "boiling a man to death" torture; these and other human rights abuses were brought to light by a British ambassador Craig Murray; Craig Murray was basically forced to resign. Well, it is more complicated than that. He was forced to resign, he thinks, because he stumbled upon the American "extraordinary rendition" program, whereby terror suspects are flown for questioning to countries where they can, say, boil people. But it did not help that also, he was sort of a drunk who left his wife for an Uzbek heroin addict's daugher who stripped at a North Korean club and was dating a 19-year-old American soldier when first she laid eyes on him.:He took a seat in a booth with two Russian girls, but he kept looking to the stage, where she was dancing. Meeting his eyes, she thought, "Who is that old foreigner? Does he have any money?
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By MoeComment by mymanicpixiedreamcatsnores: Wow. he rescued her out if the goodness of his heart. If he were truly concerned about whether she... more » | Other threads
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foreign affairs
Glasnost, Not Genetics, Made Russian Women Beautiful
Over on Slate yesterday, Anne Applebaum decided to pose the question, "Where Did All Those Gorgeous Russians Come From?" and then offer an answer: The collapse of the Soviet Union ushered in an era of makeup and Vogue, and, consequently, attractive Russian women! This is a notion of course, that is completely preposterous, perhaps a joke, and subject of a rebuttal on the site of The Economist today, which calls bullshit on Ms. Applebaum's theory. A writer on the magazine's Free Exchange blog says: "I agree that improved access to the means of aesthetic enhancement will generally lead to enhanced aesthetics, but I'd like to think I'd notice a towering Siberian goddess with or without spike-heeled boots and a layer of L'Oreal." Indeed! More »
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By dodaiComment by LoveNoelG: @scandalouscandice: Since you said it...what is the deal with that? I went to an international school and without fail, the... 1 Responses | Other threads
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foreign affairs
Women Around The World Swear That British Men Suck
This one goes out to Tad Safran (you remember, the guy living in the UK who wrote that British women were unkempt fatties?): Women who move to the UK from abroad find British men highly disappointing, writes Julia Llewellyn Smith for Telegraph. Jennifer Rohn moved to London from Idaho. She says British men are "witty and charming" but terrified of women: "Basically, they charm the pants off you but then they run away when they see your knickers."
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By dodaiComment by JoaquinPhoenix's Hairstylist: @erma66: Yeah when I lived there I ended up hooking up with a scottish guy! The british were kinda boring. 1 Responses | Other threads
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foreign affairs
French president Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni won't have to worry about whether Queen Elizabeth II thinks that they're living in sin when they visit Buckingham Palace later this month. Sarkozy and Bruni are barely legal (the couple were reportedly married in secret on Thursday; they have known one another for two months.) Mazel tov? Vive la France? As the editor of Flaunt magazine put it: "A has-been or a junkie would have been much easier for people to accept [as first lady]. It's not a matter of whether ex-model is a career path for a first lady. It's that nobody can stand a person who has it all." [Telegraph] -
great expectations
Some Women Make Choices Their Peers (And Parents) Just Don't Understand
We all do stuff our moms and dads just don't understand. (Princess Diana's mother called her a whore for "messing around with effing Muslim men.") But how different is your life from the one your parents imagined for you? For American women who have married Saudis, things are tough, reports Jeffrey Fleishman of the Los Angeles Times. Lori Baker met her husband at Ohio State University in 1982. They fell in love, she converted to Islam, they have two sons. But she's sacrificed family and friends. "My mother and father were just devastated at my conversion," she says. Her husband's family wasn't thrilled he was marrying an American, but just wanted him to come home after living in the States for years. "The feeling was, 'If you have to bring her with you, go ahead,'" Ms. Baker explains. But, she adds, "My husband is the man of my dreams, and I decided to go wherever that took us." She and other American wives are always fully covered in public. "When I first got here, I felt naked without my head scarf," Ms. Baker says. Now she feels comfortable in her abaya: "Nobody knows me. They can't see me, and if you're covered, they respect you. Sometimes without a covered face it's like walking down Main Street wearing a bikini."
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foreign affairs
Crisis In Italy: Men Left To Fend For Themselves
People! Let us be the first to inform you that dudes in Italy have serious problems. According to the Times of London, a customer in a barber shop in Rome put it thusly: "Our women have become independent-minded, they all go out to work, they don't cook so much any more, we have to look after ourselves. We are second-class citizens." Tragic! Anecdotally, Italian men are often known as mama's boys who live at home until well into their 40s. Fabio Capello, a former player and now the manager of the England football squad, has been married for four decades, likes jazz, reads philosophy, goes to Mass, etc. When he got his new job, his mother told reporters she was "worried about my boy." He is 61; she is 85. So what has become of the O.L. — original lothario — the tall, dark and handsome Latin lover? Might he be a myth? More » -
foreign affairs
Carla Bruni, French President Nicolas Sarkozy: It's Serious & Sartorial
Now that it's been confirmed that Nicole Kidman is pregnant, we're relieved that we can fully devote our energies to obsessing over whether or not former model Carla Bruni and French president Nicolas Sarkozy are really engaged or just like, totally committed to each other, but sans a wedding date. Chanel designer and resident expert on everything under the sun Karl Lagerfeld tells Women's Wear Daily:It's very 'our times.' Carla is great: chic, modern, speaks many languages, perfectly educated, beautiful. I see only quality... I loved the Chiracs, but politics are like fashion: It's about change and there has to be a first lady in a place like the Elysée Palace. Why not such a beautiful one?...[Bruni can] reinvent that look — it will be great for the image of France.
But what does President Sarkozy have to say? Well, according to a press conference he held this morning, he seems to believe that his relationship with Bruni is setting a new trend, too, but one that has nothing to do with fashion: More » -
broad generalizations
Daily Mail Columnist: American Women Are "Mindbogglingly Stupid"
Writer and Sexist of the Year Tad Safran, who has spent the past month insulting both British and American women (and in some cases, American women playing British women, like Renee Zellweger in Bridget Jones), is ostensibly the subject of a column in today's Daily Mail called The Man Who Called British Women 'Ugly' Goes On A Date - With Liz Jones. Who is Liz Jones? A writer (pictured here with Tad) who spends the first half of her article slagging American women. Why does she hold such a grudge against the Yankee birds? Because her ex-husband cheated on her with one, naturally!
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By JessicaComment by lfw1031: Also, she is right. American women are fearsomely ambitious, thankyouverymuch. Compared to the sorry example of English women that she... 1 Responses | Other threads
foreign affairs
New York, 9:30 PM
Fri Jul 3
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