It’s a girl: The three deadliest words in the world

climateadaptation:

“It’s a Girl, a film being released this year, documents the practice of killing unwanted baby girls in South Asia. The trailer’s most chilling scene is one with an Indian woman who, unable to contain her laughter, confesses to having killed eight infant daughters.

The statistics are sickening. The UN reports approximately 200 million girls in the world today are ‘missing’. India and China are said to eliminate more female infants than the number of girls born in the US each year. Lianyungang in China has the worst infant gender ratio on record with 163 boys born for every 100 girls. Taiwan, South Korea and Pakistan are also countries in which unwanted female babies are aborted, killed or abandoned.

Gendercide in South Asia takes many forms: baby girls are killed or abandoned if not aborted as foetuses. Girls that are not killed often suffer malnutrition and medical neglect as sons are favoured when shelter, medicine and food are scarce. Trafficking, dowry deaths, honour killings and deaths resulting from domestic violence are all further evils perpetrated against women. This femicide has led the Geneva Centre for Democratic Control of Armed Forces to report in ‘Women in an Insecure World’ that a secret genocide is being carried out against women at a time when deaths resulting from armed conflicts have decreased.

The brutal irony of femicide is that it is an evil perpetrated against girls by women. The most insidious force is often the mother in law, the domestic matriarch, under whose authority the daughter in law lives. Policy efforts to halt infanticide have been directed at mothers, who are often victims themselves. The trailer shows tragic scenes of women having to decide between killing their daughters and their own well-being. In India women who fail to produce sons are beaten, raped or killed so that men can remarry in the hope of procuring a more productive wife.

It is an oft-made argument that parental discrimination between children would end if families across south Asia were rescued from poverty. But two factors particularly suggest that femicide is a cultural phenomenon and that development and economic policy are only a partial solution: Firstly, there is no evidence of concerted female infanticide among poverty-stricken societies in Africa or the Caribbean. Secondly, it is the affluent and urban middle classes, who are aware of prenatal screenings, who have access to clinics and who can afford abortions that commit foeticide. Activists fear 8 million female foetuses have been aborted in India in the last decade.

The Chinese cultural bias towards male children is one exacerbated by the birth control policy. India, however, poses a more complex problem where the primary cause is a cultural one.

Activists attribute a culture of valuing children by their economic potential to South Asia’s patriarchal social model in which men are the sole breadwinners. Sons both carry the family name and work from a young age. Daughter, on the other hand, impose the burden of a dowry before leaving the home upon marriage. Strict moral codes, onerous cultural expectations and demanding domestic responsibilities are all forces that further subjugate women.”

Via Ram Mashru for The Independent

veganwithavirtue: jawdust: Why you should be in passionate horny love with Elizabeth ‘Nellie Bly’ Cochrane Born in 1864/65, Elizabeth, one of 15 children, was always ‘the rebellious one’. Fierce as fuck from an early age, she testified against her abusive stepfather in her mother’s divorce trial. In 1880 she enrolled in a teacher-training college but had to leave after her first semester due to lack of funding - then moved to Pittsburgh to help run a goddamn boarding school.  This is where we get to the good shit. Age 18, she wrote a letter-to-the-editor of the Pittsburgh Dispatch bitchslapping the everloving fuck out of a sexist ballsack of an article entitled ‘What Girls Are Good For’.  The editor was so goddamn wooed by her razor-sharp tongue that he RAN AN AD asking her to identify herself. Elizabeth owned up, and was hired instantaneously, her badassery radiating from her pores and intoxicating all within a twenty mile radius. Working under the pen-name Nellie Bly, Elizabeth kicked the butts of morons everywhere, writing articles aimed at social justice, particularly labour laws to protect working ‘girls’ and reform of Pennsylvania’s divorce law, which greatly favoured men. Not content with changing the world from behind her desk, Elizabeth became a founding mother of investigative journalism. She was expelled from Mexico for exposing political corruption, and henceforth wrapped in cotton wool by her editors. Infuriated by their mollycoddling, Lizzie left them a note essentially telling them to fuck themselves and hot footed it to NYC. She was still only 23. Within six months she was hired by Joseph fucking Pulitzer himself, and continued her batshit crazy investigations uninhibited. Her very first assingment had her feigning mental illness to expose repulsive conditions in Blackwell’s Island Insane Asylum. Her cutting report was so fucking horrifying, compelling and persuasive that it triggered public and political action, leading to reform of the institution. In the next couple of years she had herself thrown in jail and hired by a sweatshop, all for shits and giggles. Oh, and to uncover incomprehensible injustice, cruelty, poverty, and the concealed, heinous treatment of the vulnerable and voiceless.  But was pioneering journalism, social revolution and batshit badassery enough for our Liz? Like fuck it was. On a whim Nellie did what any self-respecting 25 year old woman in the 1800s would do - she emulated Jules Verne’s Around the World in Eighty Days, and did it in 72. Millions followed her journey, and its appeal to a semi-literate populace resulted in greatly increased newspaper readership. So while travelling the entire globe (IN THE 1800s, AS A WOMAN) by ship, train, burro and balloon, she helped the world to read. Having essentially conquered the entire goddamn universe before hitting 30, Nellie retired, and wed 72 year old industrialist Robert Seaman. Their marriage was a happy one, and after his death she took over Iron Clad Manufacturing Co. But Lizzie was a writer, what would she know about the metal industry? Well, she INVENTED the steel barrel that became the model for the widely used 55-gallon drum and turned her inherited businesses into multimillion-dollar companies, so apparently a fuck ton. Furthermore, she set a precedent for working conditions, ensuring her workers had good pay, gymnasiums, staffed libraries, and health care, all completely unheard of at the time, while still writing to further the plight of the Suffragette movement. Nellie may have died age 58 of pneumonia, but HBICs live on forever. Yes she was great, HOWEVER. She was 57 when she died And she never invented it, Henry Wehrhahn did. Remarkable lady, but please, get your history correct before you post things.

veganwithavirtue:

jawdust:

Why you should be in passionate horny love with Elizabeth ‘Nellie Bly’ Cochrane

  • Born in 1864/65, Elizabeth, one of 15 children, was always ‘the rebellious one’. Fierce as fuck from an early age, she testified against her abusive stepfather in her mother’s divorce trial.
  • In 1880 she enrolled in a teacher-training college but had to leave after her first semester due to lack of funding - then moved to Pittsburgh to help run a goddamn boarding school. 
  • This is where we get to the good shit. Age 18, she wrote a letter-to-the-editor of the Pittsburgh Dispatch bitchslapping the everloving fuck out of a sexist ballsack of an article entitled ‘What Girls Are Good For’. 
  • The editor was so goddamn wooed by her razor-sharp tongue that he RAN AN AD asking her to identify herself. Elizabeth owned up, and was hired instantaneously, her badassery radiating from her pores and intoxicating all within a twenty mile radius.
  • Working under the pen-name Nellie Bly, Elizabeth kicked the butts of morons everywhere, writing articles aimed at social justice, particularly labour laws to protect working ‘girls’ and reform of Pennsylvania’s divorce law, which greatly favoured men.
  • Not content with changing the world from behind her desk, Elizabeth became a founding mother of investigative journalism. She was expelled from Mexico for exposing political corruption, and henceforth wrapped in cotton wool by her editors. Infuriated by their mollycoddling, Lizzie left them a note essentially telling them to fuck themselves and hot footed it to NYC. She was still only 23.
  • Within six months she was hired by Joseph fucking Pulitzer himself, and continued her batshit crazy investigations uninhibited. Her very first assingment had her feigning mental illness to expose repulsive conditions in Blackwell’s Island Insane Asylum. Her cutting report was so fucking horrifying, compelling and persuasive that it triggered public and political action, leading to reform of the institution.
  • In the next couple of years she had herself thrown in jail and hired by a sweatshop, all for shits and giggles. Oh, and to uncover incomprehensible injustice, cruelty, poverty, and the concealed, heinous treatment of the vulnerable and voiceless. 
  • But was pioneering journalism, social revolution and batshit badassery enough for our Liz? Like fuck it was. On a whim Nellie did what any self-respecting 25 year old woman in the 1800s would do - she emulated Jules Verne’s Around the World in Eighty Days, and did it in 72.
  • Millions followed her journey, and its appeal to a semi-literate populace resulted in greatly increased newspaper readership. So while travelling the entire globe (IN THE 1800s, AS A WOMAN) by ship, train, burro and balloon, she helped the world to read.
  • Having essentially conquered the entire goddamn universe before hitting 30, Nellie retired, and wed 72 year old industrialist Robert Seaman. Their marriage was a happy one, and after his death she took over Iron Clad Manufacturing Co.
  • But Lizzie was a writer, what would she know about the metal industry? Well, she INVENTED the steel barrel that became the model for the widely used 55-gallon drum and turned her inherited businesses into multimillion-dollar companies, so apparently a fuck ton.
  • Furthermore, she set a precedent for working conditions, ensuring her workers had good pay, gymnasiums, staffed libraries, and health care, all completely unheard of at the time, while still writing to further the plight of the Suffragette movement.
  • Nellie may have died age 58 of pneumonia, but HBICs live on forever.

Yes she was great, HOWEVER.

She was 57 when she died

And she never invented it, Henry Wehrhahn did.

Remarkable lady, but please, get your history correct before you post things.

talkstraight: ‘Harry Potter’ actress in hiding from violent extremists Afshan Azad, 22, who plays Padma Patil in the “Harry Potter” film series remains in hiding. She refused to  appear in a London court and press charges, no doubt because she knows there’s no way the British police can protect her. It is open Islamic season on Ms. Azad. What has she done to bring down the wrath of Allah? Ms. Azad’s boyfriend is  Hindi, a non-Muslim. And according to the racist, misogynist doctrine of the Islamists, she is a traitor to the umma, the transnational Muslim community, hence deserving a death sentence. Ms. Azad’s father, Abul Azad, 53, and her brother Ashraf, 28, labeled her a “prostitute” when they discovered her secret boyfriend. Her brother beat her and her father threatened to kill her after she refused an arranged marriage with a Muslim man. Ms. Azad escaped her family home by climbing through a bedroom window. She has been in hiding ever since. And I’m afraid that like the Seattle cartoonist Molly Norris and so many others, she will remain in hiding for the rest of her life. Just so we understand what’s going on: this is the norm in the Muslim world. Women who dare enter a  relationship with non-Muslims are fair game for an honor killing, usually proceeded by various forms of unspeakable torture. You would think that Ms. Azad’s case would sweep through Hollywood like a prairie fire, with celebrities stepping forward to condemn Islam’s war against women and offer support to this unfortunate young actress and the millions of Muslim women who live in perpetual fear of their lives.  And hey, Hollywood is stuffed with card carrying feminists. So doesn’t it make sense that western women—specifically liberals who are always lecturing cave dwelling conservatives about social justice and human rights—would surge forward like an angry wave in support of their sister?  But gee willikers, listen to the silence. More here

talkstraight:

‘Harry Potter’ actress in hiding from violent extremists

Afshan Azad, 22, who plays Padma Patil in the “Harry Potter” film series remains in hiding. She refused to  appear in a London court and press charges, no doubt because she knows there’s no way the British police can protect her. It is open Islamic season on Ms. Azad.

What has she done to bring down the wrath of Allah? Ms. Azad’s boyfriend is  Hindi, a non-Muslim.

And according to the racist, misogynist doctrine of the Islamists, she is a traitor to the umma, the transnational Muslim community, hence deserving a death sentence.

Ms. Azad’s father, Abul Azad, 53, and her brother Ashraf, 28, labeled her a “prostitute” when they discovered her secret boyfriend. Her brother beat her and her father threatened to kill her after she refused an arranged marriage with a Muslim man. Ms. Azad escaped her family home by climbing through a bedroom window. She has been in hiding ever since. And I’m afraid that like the Seattle cartoonist Molly Norris and so many others, she will remain in hiding for the rest of her life.

Just so we understand what’s going on: this is the norm in the Muslim world. Women who dare enter a  relationship with non-Muslims are fair game for an honor killing, usually proceeded by various forms of unspeakable torture.

You would think that Ms. Azad’s case would sweep through Hollywood like a prairie fire, with celebrities stepping forward to condemn Islam’s war against women and offer support to this unfortunate young actress and the millions of Muslim women who live in perpetual fear of their lives.  And hey, Hollywood is stuffed with card carrying feminists. So doesn’t it make sense that western women—specifically liberals who are always lecturing cave dwelling conservatives about social justice and human rights—would surge forward like an angry wave in support of their sister? 

But gee willikers, listen to the silence.

More here

yumravioliyum: One night President Obama and his wife Michelle decided to do something out of routine and go for a casual dinner at a restaurant that wasn’t too luxurious. When they were seated, the owner of the restaurant asked the President’s Secret Service if he could please speak to the First Lady in private. They obliged and Michelle had a conversation with the owner. Following this conversation President Obama asked Michelle, “Why was he so interested in talking to you?” She mentioned that in her teenage years, he had been madly in love with her. President Obama then said, “So if you had married him, you would now be the owner of this lovely restaurant,” to which Michelle responded, “No. If I had married him, he would now be the President.”

yumravioliyum:

One night President Obama and his wife Michelle decided to do something out of routine and go for a casual dinner at a restaurant that wasn’t too luxurious. When they were seated, the owner of the restaurant asked the President’s Secret Service if he could please speak to the First Lady in private. They obliged and Michelle had a conversation with the owner. Following this conversation President Obama asked Michelle, “Why was he so interested in talking to you?” She mentioned that in her teenage years, he had been madly in love with her. President Obama then said, “So if you had married him, you would now be the owner of this lovely restaurant,” to which Michelle responded, “No. If I had married him, he would now be the President.”

(Source: leemrsmn)

Jewelry: Target Women (via Current)

Oh my god, this girl is amazing. I’ve been watching all her videos. LOVE.

"Orgasms are nice—so nice that, for women at least, they kinda make you invincible. Neuroscientists studied women pleasuring themselves while in MRI body scanners, to see what happens inside the brain during orgasm. They found that 30 different parts of the brain light up with pleasure so strong that the nervous system begins to shut down—making it more difficult for a woman to feel pain, the Sun reports."
— Orgasms Make Women ‘Invincible’ - Nervous systems shut down, making it harder to feel pain (via jiffysquid)
jiffysquid: In a “creative” new advertising campaign — really, they used the word “creative” — Kentucky Fried Chicken is giving college girls $500 bucks to walk around campus wearing sweat pants that promote their Double Down sandwich across the ass. It’s a bun-less sandwich and the co-ed girls have the words “double down” across their … oh, nevermind, you get it. Shh, let’s not tell them that Victoria’s Secret and just about every college in the country has beat them to this idea! KFC is pleased to have found so many broke college kids wannabe billboards willing to be exploited take monetary compensation for being objectified and ogled their time … Said John Cywinski, Chief Marketing and Food Innovation Officer for KFC in a press release on KFC’s website, “In an effort to reach consumers coast-to-coast, and especially our key target of young men, we’ve established yet another advertising first — one that’s fitting of the Double Down’s head-turning history.” Guys, you should be offended that KFC thinks the way to a man’s stomach is through a woman’s rear end. Ladies, Who Wants To Rent Their Ass Out To Kentucky Fried Chicken? | The Frisky

jiffysquid:

In a “creative” new advertising campaign — really, they used the word “creative” — Kentucky Fried Chicken is giving college girls $500 bucks to walk around campus wearing sweat pants that promote their Double Down sandwich across the ass. It’s a bun-less sandwich and the co-ed girls have the words “double down” across their … oh, nevermind, you get it. Shh, let’s not tell them that Victoria’s Secret and just about every college in the country has beat them to this idea!

KFC is pleased to have found so many broke college kids wannabe billboards willing to be exploited take monetary compensation for being objectified and ogled their time …

Said John Cywinski, Chief Marketing and Food Innovation Officer for KFC in a press release on KFC’s website, “In an effort to reach consumers coast-to-coast, and especially our key target of young men, we’ve established yet another advertising first — one that’s fitting of the Double Down’s head-turning history.” Guys, you should be offended that KFC thinks the way to a man’s stomach is through a woman’s rear end.

Ladies, Who Wants To Rent Their Ass Out To Kentucky Fried Chicken? | The Frisky

jiffysquid: Women’s breasts are larger than ever - and it’s not due to implants. As stars like Christina Hendricks flaunt their curves, Erika Woods investigates a phenomenon of va-va-voom proportions. Many women may have long suspected it, just as many men have secretly hoped for it. But it’s official: women’s breasts, and particularly those of younger women, are getting bigger. While implants have been putting that little extra va-va-voom into some busts, mostly it’s a phenomenon that has occurred naturally in women, and exponentially so over the past 50 years. In fact, their cup size has tripled. In 1960, the average bra size in Australia was 10B. Ten years ago, it was 12B. Today, it’s 14C. “It’s six to seven sizes up in a comparatively few number of years,” says Sally Berkeley, the general manager of bra company Berlei, which next month launches a new super-sized range of cups, up to an H, to add to the traditional A-to-E dimensions. Rival Eveden now has a K cup, while Triumph is up to a G and is trialling a new cup size, J, for the next season. “Twenty years ago, women couldn’t buy this sort of fashion product with support in these sizes,” says Triumph spokesperson Alana Jones. “But we’ve been getting so many requests from consumers, and we’ve now even got a sports bra coming out in a J cup. (via Boom & bust)

jiffysquid:

Women’s breasts are larger than ever - and it’s not due to implants. As stars like Christina Hendricks flaunt their curves, Erika Woods investigates a phenomenon of va-va-voom proportions.

Many women may have long suspected it, just as many men have secretly hoped for it. But it’s official: women’s breasts, and particularly those of younger women, are getting bigger. While implants have been putting that little extra va-va-voom into some busts, mostly it’s a phenomenon that has occurred naturally in women, and exponentially so over the past 50 years. In fact, their cup size has tripled.

In 1960, the average bra size in Australia was 10B. Ten years ago, it was 12B. Today, it’s 14C. “It’s six to seven sizes up in a comparatively few number of years,” says Sally Berkeley, the general manager of bra company Berlei, which next month launches a new super-sized range of cups, up to an H, to add to the traditional A-to-E dimensions. Rival Eveden now has a K cup, while Triumph is up to a G and is trialling a new cup size, J, for the next season.

“Twenty years ago, women couldn’t buy this sort of fashion product with support in these sizes,” says Triumph spokesperson Alana Jones. “But we’ve been getting so many requests from consumers, and we’ve now even got a sports bra coming out in a J cup.

(via Boom & bust)

The Ten Worst Countries For Women

katheriners:

ripseaports:

missworld:

(via bear-bones)

this is terrible….

I was kind of surprised that US wasn’t listed under one of the best countries to be a woman…

Operation Beautiful

The mission of Operation Beautiful is to post anonymous notes in public places for other women to find. The point is that WE ARE ALL BEAUTIFUL. You are enough… just the way you are!

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