• In efforts to better understand the causes of anorexia, scientists are using new imaging technology to study the brains of anorexic patients. They have found patterns of dysfunction in certain neural circuits of the brain, which they believe may be related to the onset of the disease. • A UK radio commercial for sausage that asked listeners to reveal "where you like to stick yours" has come under fire for the "offensive" sexual innuendo. Another line from the ad is even more explicit: "Think about all the things you can stick this tasty, extraordinarily large sausage in." • Farmers in eastern India have discovered a new way of dealing with the shortage of rain: Roping their unmarried daughters into plowing the fields while nude. "They (villagers) believe their acts would get the weather gods badly embarrassed, who in turn would ensure bumper crops by sending rains," said Upendra Kumar, a village council official, which still does not explain why it has to be naked girls doing all the work. • Katrina Vanden Heuvel disagrees with Feminist Majority Foundation President Ellie Smeal and thinks withdrawing our military from Afghanistan would be best for women and children there. • Women in Herat, Afghanistan are increasingly likely to choose divorce over self-immolation, despite laws that all but automatically award custody to fathers. • In another slightly-less-than-entirely-depressing development, Afghan women are getting more midwives. • An Australian bus driver attempted to force a woman wearing a niqab to remove it to get on the bus. • But the Japanese want to make sure you're smiling on the trains. • Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been caught on tape admitting that it takes him forever to have an orgasm and advising a sex worker to masturbate more. La dolce vita, indeed. • Australian men are really, really, really concerned that they have small penises. • Borders Group has announced plans to expand their teen department, which will include various merchandise in addition to young adult fiction. Kathryn Popoff, vice president of merchandising, said that they have noticed more adults browsing in the teen section. • A woman who pimped out a mentally ill woman received a 20 year sentence. • A mother in Florida is suing because her kids learned an African-American spiritual, claiming she's upset because it has a religious theme. • If giant inflatable vaginas are your thing, we have a (NSFW) picture for you. • Some dickhead state representative in Ohio introduced a bill that has no chance of passing that would require a woman to receive the permission of the father of her embryo to consent to an abortion. And look! He got the publicity he wanted. • Congress introduced a decent common-ground-on-abortion bill, though, focusing on contraception and education. • According to the Center for Reproductive Rights, the number of doctors and clinics that provide abortions has fallen by 25% since the 1990s, and some states, such as Mississippi and North Dakota, have only one abortion provider. The study, UPI notes, was concluded before the murder of Dr. George Tiller. •

• Oliver Burkeman of The Guardian writes, " There are few more wonderfully enjoyable ways to spend a touristy weekend in Manhattan than on a Sex and the City vacation package, unless of course you count buying a souvenir New York penknife and then repeatedly stabbing yourself in the face." • Chicks are more open-minded about smaller cars than men are. • Women are underrepresented in research focusing on significant health issues unrelated to reproduction. • Jennifer Sharpe of Dearborn, MI sold 17,328 boxes of Girl Scout cookies this year, which is probably a new national record. Jennifer's mom says selling cookies has made her really confident. "When she first started selling, she was very shy and quiet and you had to push her out to talk to customers, but now she's right out there, first to the door."

Her daughter wanted something more, Blume explains:

She had read several novels about teenagers in love. If they had sex, the girl was always punished — an unplanned pregnancy, a hasty trip to a relative in another state, a grisly abortion, sometimes even death. Lies. Secrets. Girls in these books had no sexual feelings and boys had no feelings other than sexual.

Judy Blume's Lessons In Love [Telegraph]
Related: Judy Blume's Blog [JudyBlume.com]
Earlier: Then Again, Maybe I Won't: Close Your Eyes, And Think Of Jersey City
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