Lauren Jamison sets up her case against feminism by acknowledging the good things about feminism: more women in the workplace, female CEOs, yada yada. She then goes onto accuse feminism of ruining dating:

Feminism has grown and has been applauded by women everywhere, but when it comes to love and the act of dating is it possible that feminism has had an adverse effect on the age old game?

Men are no longer paying offering to shell out for both dinner and a movie, so something must be wrong, right? And since feminism has taught women to see men as pigs, it seems almost logical to blame the women's movement for the recent loss of romance. But before we convict feminism for murdering romance, we want you to consider a few other suspects.


Patrick Bateman. He's tall, dark, and handsome. Just the kind of guy romance might go for, and suave, too.


Professor Snape. Spoiler Alert! Snape killed Dumbledore. Is it possible that he avada kedavra-ed romance into oblivion as well?


Video. We all know what happened to the radio star. And who really knows when video might strike again?


Miss Scarlet. As we know, women can be killers nowadays too. Thank feminism for that. Perhaps it was in the library, with the candlestick.


What about Norman Bates? He clearly has serious issues with women.


O.J. Simpson. Issues with rage, problems with women, sounds like a deadly cocktail.


John Wilkes Booth. Because when you're writing an idiotic, reactionary trend piece, anything is possible, right?


Did Feminism Kill Romance? [ChickSpeak]

It seems the mysterious Jane Doe was one Audrey Mountford, 49. As the Independent tells it, shortly before her disappearance, she'd been "jilted" by the fiance for whom she'd recently converted to Catholicism. When she disappeared, her family assumed she was traveling to assuage her heartbreak. Now, investigators believe she instead fled to the remote cave, where she lived for two years before probably dying of exposure. Scraps of letters found on her person suggest she'd planned on doing some painting in the wilderness. Contrary to all descriptions, there's no indication that she clung to anything wedding-related, whatever the motivation for her flight.

Her nephew, now 65, described her as

an adventurous person who had travelled to Africa and New Zealand. Somewhat "flighty", she would "breeze in and out" of their lives. "I know that being left by a man would have affected her very badly. She was a dreamer and a bit unrealistic, so for her to go and live in a cave is something I would believe suited her personality."

It also seems that none of her family ever bothered to report her disappearance, figuring she'd show up when she felt like it.

Perhaps it's merely a coincidence, but today we also ran across a rather appalling Australian government memo from 1968, via BoingBoing, right around the time the "flighty," "jilted spinster" would have disappeared. In it, the Director of the Trade Commission explains why women are ineligible for postings. "A woman could not stay young and attractive for ever, and later on could well become a problem...a spinster lady can, and very often does, turn into something of a battleaxe with the passing years. A man usually mellows." He goes on to explain that, as such, "I've already begun to regretfully decline my daughter's requests for education and social opportunities, explaining to her that "she could not be regarded as a long-term investment in the same sense as we regard" her brother." Again, this is merely coincidental, but it does point to a distinct attitude towards unmarried ladies of the time: and it somehow seems less bizarre that this woman, and her family, should regard her "jilting," and the prospect of life alone, as a tragedy. In some ways, the story's reminiscent of that of Connie Converse, the folk singer whose disappearance (again, around this same period) seems to have been accepted as the natural consequence of being, presumably, lonely, unmarried, and unfulfilled. When invisible to society, it seems, some people preferred to make it a reality.

Australia's Miss Havisham: The Jilted Lover Who Spent Her Dying Days In A Cave [Independent]
Australian Govt Memo, 1968: Women Become "Spinster Battle Axes;" "Men Usually Mellow" [BoingBoing]
Related: Converse All-Star

Deborah Perez, a 47-year-old real estate agent from Southern California, gave a press conference on Wednesday in front of the headquarters of The San Francisco Chronicle. Perez said her father, Guy Ward Hendrickson, committed at least two of the murders attributed to the "Zodiac killer" who is believed to have committed at least five murders in the San Francisco area in the late 1960s, the Chronicle reports.

Perez says she first saw a sketch of the Zodiac Killer while watching a 2007 episode of America's Most Wanted. "I recognized the individual as my father," said Perez. She did not provide a photo of her father, an Orange County carpenter who died of cancer in 1983. She said after working with a forensic psychologist she made sense of some of her childhood memories, "but remembering what happened really wasn't a problem. I just had no idea what they all meant."

Perez's claims include that her father took her along on some of the murders and had her wait in the car. (She says heard gunshots but at the time he told her they were "just firecrackers.") Perez also says she has a pair of glasses taken from Paul Stine, a cab driver shot on October 11, 1969, which she is turning over to police. She also wants police to test her DNA against stamps on letters from the Zodiac killer, but experts say the DNA evidence may not be reliable.

She also claims that, as a child, she wrote a letter as the killer to San Francisco attorney Melvin Belli. The letter contains erratic punctuation and misspellings and starts, "Dear Melvin This is the Zodiac speaking I wish you a happy Christmass. ... please help me." She says she wrote the letter when she was 7 becase she wanted to get help for her father, and that she saw a scrapbook with mementos from more than 30 killings, but she can't find it now. "I was a child and just thought I was helping my father," Perez said. "He kept telling me he was sick and he killed many, many people. I had no idea."

Many people believe that the Zodiac Killer was Arthur Leigh Allen, a convicted child molester who died in 1992. San Francisco Police Sergeant Lyn Tomioka told the Associated Press, "We get a significant number of calls a year. We will look into whatever evidence that is presented to us." The timing of Perez's announcement is suspect, since there is a documentary being filmed about her that is close to being finished. Also, her press conference was publicized by Hollywood public relations agent Edward Lozzi, who is known for having dated Anna Nicole Smith. Perez's attorney, Kevin McLean, who was present at the press conference, said that they came forward because another man is selling his own documentary in which he claims his late stepfather was the Zodiac and, "We want to set the record straight."

Dad Was the Zodiac, And I Can Prove It [The San Francisco Chronicle]
Woman: My Father Was The Zodiac Killer [The Associated Press]
Police Say Man, 72, Tied to SoCal Serial Killings [The Associated Press]

Women need fat to signal the pituitary gland to ovulate—without it, their bodies go into a kind of famine mode and won't use up energy to maintain reproductive processes.

According to Wikipedia, which we trust when we're being lazy:

The North Korean government seems to perceive its population as too small in relation to that of South Korea. In its public pronouncements...The state provides t'agaso (nurseries) in order to lessen the burden of childrearing for parents and offers a seventy-seven-day paid leave after childbirth.