· August, 2006

Stories about Women & Gender from August, 2006

Iranian Women's campaign demands changes to discriminatory laws

Iranian women continue their struggle for equal rights beyond all governmental obstacles. A few days ago, a group of tireless Iranian women activists launched another campaign against discrimination entitled “One Million Signatures Demanding Changes to Discriminatory Laws.” This demonstration was backed by personalities such as Nasser Zaarafshan, writer and human...

Japan: sexless marriage

  30 August 2006

Lee in Tokyo Times shows the statistic of sex life in Asia countries and reconfirms the social phenomena of sexless marriage in Japan.

Jamaica: Singles

  29 August 2006

Mikaila discusses the ins and outs of dating in Jamaica: “I have stories that could be episodes of Sex and the City. There are so many more women here than men. Dating anywhere is difficult. Last week I watched a special Dateline on AIDS in African American communities and was...

Sudan: Rape still a weapon

  29 August 2006

The Concoction reports that Darfur women are still being raped three months after a key peace deal in Sudan. “Fetching fire wood or water often ends up in the women being raped. Just imagine running to the grocery store to get a gallon of milk and there is a very...

Caribbean: Licensing sex workers

  28 August 2006

Barbados Free Press has some questions for the government officials who are considering licensing prostitutes (or is it “sex workers”) for the duration of next year's Cricket World Cup tournament.

Kenya: Wedding season hits Nairobi

  28 August 2006

AfroFeminista talks us through the travails of being single during the busy wedding season in Kenya's capital Nairobi. “Why do i feel on a subconscious level like my present experience is invalidated every time someone says they are getting married; having a baby or buying a house?“

African Women This Month

  27 August 2006

Literature, music and blog redesigns are three of the themes in the African women's blogosphere this month. Molara Wood and Mama's Junkyard have both redesigned their blogs. Molara has chosen to stick with blogger.com but takes on a new name, Wordsbody. Mama's Junkyard ungrades to WordPress with a new colour...

Poland: Miss World and the Topless Mermaid

  24 August 2006

The beatroot writes about the upcoming Miss World contest (to be held in Warsaw Sept. 30) topless mermaid controversy: “Not want to attach what to the Miss World contest? Erotic? Oh, I see. It's a contest that is without any sexy bits at all – it's a contest to promote...

Saudi Arabia: The Terrible Crime

Ahmed writes about the latest case of DWF (aka Driving While Female) and wonders: “Since when has driving a car become a crime? And not just an ordinary crime that you might commit everyday without even realizing it, but a terrible one, for that matter.”

Sri Lanka: Women, harems and history

  22 August 2006

Life in Taprobane on women in Sri Lanka. “Not that the island lacked pretty women of suitable stature or the Kings got bored of their harems, they wanted to make some symbolic gestures. The Lankan women were a common topic of admiration, as evident in Sigiriya frescos, various temple paintings,...

Costa Rica: Safe for Women

  21 August 2006

Uri Ridelman writes that JonBenet Ramsey's murder suspect had been an English teacher in Costa Rica. Scott celebrates a recent article in USA Today calling Costa Rica the third safest travel destination for women worldwide.

Cambodia: New Story Tellers on the Internet

  20 August 2006

According to a research report released recently by Pew Internet, most webloggers don't consider themselves doing journalism. In most cases they are not up to what a journalist does. In Cambodian blogosphere, there exists a series of interviews done by digital citizens playing the role of citizen's media. Chan Bopha,...

Cuba: Sweet 15

  18 August 2006

Robin Thom had the good fortune to be on the right balcony at the right time in order to capture this lovely scene on the Paseo de Prado in Havana, Cuba. “I had always assumed this was a wedding,” writes Robin on his Flickr page, “but it was pointed out...

Voices from Kazakhstan

  17 August 2006

Almaty Opera House Welcome to our latest round-up of blog posts and online discussions that took place in Kazakh blogosphere. neweurasia's Basil B. Akimov, a Karaganda journalist and editor of www.mediaprovinces.kz and www.medialaw.kz sites, writes about change of rules in the Supreme Court in Astana (RU). You have to show...

China: SARFT and farts, castrations feigned and intended: let the spoofing begin!

  17 August 2006

In a recent edition of MindMeters columnist Fang Jun's Marriagement column entitled Love in the Internet Age [zh] is a spoiler of the recently-released Hollywood movie Hard Candy: 危险的水果硬糖 Dangerous Fruit Hard Candy 《Hard Candy》是我看的第一部与网络密切相关的电影。中文翻译为《水果硬糖》,其实“Hard candy”是网络俚语,指未成年少女。 Hard Candy is the first movie I've seen that deals with internet intimacy. It's...

Uzbekistan: Women Making Ends Meet

  16 August 2006

At neweurasia, Shohruh writes about women struggling to make ends meet in Uzbekistan. In another post on the same blog, Ben Paarmann profiles a blog dealing with women's issues written in Uzbek called Ayollar Bekati (Women's Station).