· July, 2007

Stories about Women & Gender from July, 2007

Alain Mabanckou on Prostitution in Brazzaville

  22 July 2007

Alain Mabanckou posts “Night scenes in Brazzaville” (Fr), a sketch on young prostitutes and their European customers.  “The atmosphere of the country surely helps.  Would they find such an opportunity in their own country? …Money excuses everything…”

Czech Rebublic: Surgical Castration

NvB: Bored in Brno? writes on surgical castration used to treat sex offenders – something that looks like “population engineering and thinly veiled eugenics” – and on the attitudes toward sex in the Czech Republic in general.

South Africa: nothing fancy about Ubuntu

  20 July 2007

Amanda Atwood sees nothing fancy about Ubuntu: “I was speaking with a friend the other day who was saying that she didn’t want her sexuality to be tolerated, she wants it to be embraced. Me? As much as the colour of my hair or the size of my shoe is...

Iran: Man is stoned after 11 years in prison

Jafar Kiani was stoned to death in Takestan in the province of Qazvin on 5 July, after serving an 11-year prison term. His crime was adultery. His partner, Mokarameh Ebrahimi, has also been jailed for 11 years along with her two small children, and may be next on the list....

Arabeyes: Saudi Women Fight for Men's Rights

Saudi women are grabbing the headlines once again - this time with a protest to demand the freedom of their husbands and kin arrested under 'terrorism' charges, in the conservative kingdom where women are not even allowed to drive. While newspapers are shying from covering the demonstration, bloggers are coming up with creative methods to spread their demands and concerns.

Jamaica: The Large Black Woman

  17 July 2007

“How is the large black woman represented in both literary and popular venues? How is she perceived? How do her race, size and gender intersect in her representation?” Geoffrey Philp features Jamaican author Andrea Elizabeth Shaw in her own words.

Guyana: Modern-Day Fairytale?

  17 July 2007

“Once upon a now time, it got a gyal who believe in love and romance…” Guyana-Gyal is torn between her “well-beloved myths” and reality.

South Africa: two lesbian activists tortured, murdered

  16 July 2007

Black Looks writes about the brutal murder of two South African lesbian activists: “Last Sunday two more South African lesbians were brutally raped and murdered in Medowlands, Soweto. Sizakele Sigasa, lesbian activist and outreach worker with the Positive Women’s Network (PWN), and her friend, Salome Masooa, were first tortured and...

Africa: women's rights in Africa

  13 July 2007

Black Looks explores the old and new state of women's rights in Africa: “In Kenya the abortion debate went public when a mock tribunal was supposed to be held with 4 women telling their personal stories. Although anti-abortion activists managed to stop the debate the Vice President has come out...

Cuba: Gay Rights

  12 July 2007

“Following Fidel Castro’s…Cuban revolution, LGBT people were persecuted and imprisoned. Now the Communist Party is set to bring forward a law which would legalise same-sex unions, grant adoption rights to same-sex couples and give lesbians access to reproduction services.” Gay Blog Ruffian reports on the rights of gays in Cuba.