Found: Craigslist Creepy

While trolling the interwebs because I may (like oh, millions of people) be out of a job soon, i found this gorgeous nugget under the heading "Looking for Massage/Waitress girl for Poke Game": 

'We are looking for a massage/waitress girl for a Home private Poker Game. With the economy so horrible this gives you a great chance to earn extra income especially around the holiday season. Must Be Attractive, willing to give massages to guys while they play poker, and order and serve them food. Money is anywhere from $300-500+ a night. Game is played in UES doorman building. If interested please send pics and contact # ASAP."

So they are using the economy to lure women into UES penthouses now? Talk about old-school. 

Egypt Gets Modern about Sexual Assault

The Arabs - maybe getting "with it"? 

In Cairo, Sharif Gomaa pulled his van alongside Noha Rushdie Saleh last June and grabbed her breast so hard that she fell. Now, he's going to jail for three years - the first time an Egyptian has EVER gone to prison for sexual harassment. 

But it wasn't easy to take him there. In Egypt, grabbin' a boob is almost like saying a very naughty hello. According to a Reuters poll, an insane 83% of women have been harassed but only 3% ever report the incident. Police don't listen to complaints and most Egyptians think if harassment happens, usually the woman brought it on herself because she didn't wear a veil or hijab - yet harassment occurs even in those cases (72% of the 83% polled)!

After the harassment occured, Noha called out for people to help her, but they told her she was crazy. She jumped on the hood of her attacker's car to keep him from driving off. Noha and her friend managed to drag Gomaa into the police station - where a policeman refused to investigate the complaint. She actually had to put Gomaa and a policeman in her car and drive them to the booking station herself. 

Even though the judge called the case "trivial" (for shame!), Noha got her man in the end, and for that we're going to say "cheers" over some tea and cakes. 

From My Friends at Planned Parenthood

Abortion is on the rise in Mexico - but wait - not because of any "liberal" abortion policy there. In fact, Mexico damns abortion with all of its might! There are extremely intense legal restrictions in the country that, even though abortion is technically legal, make it extremely difficult for the average Mexican woman to obtain an abortion. These legal restrictions have pushed Mexico to an unsafe place - an above average rate for abortions worldwide at 33 abortions per 1,000 women of reproduction age. Legal obstacles and fear and lack of access = these kind of numbers: 

In 2006, 149,676 women were treated in Mexico's public hospitals for complications resulting from unsafe abortions.

Yeah, yeah, this has nothing to do with America per se, but it has a little something to do with WOMEN. This could easy be "149,676" American women, like your daughter, your sister, your aunt, your best friend. Would you want to see them in the hospital because they had to go to some back-alley doctor?

My mother grew up under Communism in Romania - no access to birth control, no abortions - because Ceausescu (glorious leader) wanted to grow the population to work on the farms. He didn't care that babies were being born into families that didn't want them, not because they didn't love them, but because there was no food for them. Babies should be born into families that can give them a chance to survive and thrive, not just because they "should be" born. 

This nugget of truth means you MUST (I'm talkin' to you South Dakota, Colorado etc. etc.) vote NO on the anti-abortion measures being proposed on the ballot in November. See a list here.

Christie Brinkley's Ex is Troubled Douchebag

In case you haven't been watching television, we live in America, the land of non-accountability. Nobody ever blames themselves for their actions - you can see this behavior from your boss, your kids, and Chairman Fuld of Lehman Brothers. 

But when it's your ex-husband blaming you for his own infidelity, that is just so disrespectful and mean-spirited. 

He has an interview with Barbara Walters for 20/20 coming out this week. During the interview, he goes on about how Brinkley wasn't there for him emotionally (he wasn't getting a "thank you now and then") and that's why he had to cheat. 

It's called counseling, it's called family. Sometimes they are supportive, most of the time they don't say thank you. Not an excuse!

QOTD: Simon Doonan

Gay, but a lover of all things womanly, Simon Doonan (of Barneys New York fame), said something that made me smile. 

He bemoans the rise of "porno chic" and notes that there is "a lot of conformity, a lot of blonde hair ... I often wonder if feminism was just a dream. I can't believe how women feel so scrutinised, and they're still so self-critical - I thought they would have let go of that now but they haven't. There's a very masochistic thing with women now that I didn't used to see. My girl friends in the punk era weren't like that at all." He looks slightly forlorn. "You know, at least once a week someone calls me up and says, 'Don't you think it's terrible when fat girls have muffin tops over their jeans?' And I say, 'Not if they're happy.' Who cares?"

The Worst Places on Earth for Women

Flipping through my Marie Claire yesterday, I see a small piece (better than no piece at all!) about the "Worst Places on Earth for Women". 

Some of the nations they included are: Sierre Leone, Haiti, Moldova, and Nepal. 

Even though the U.S. economy is in a tailspin and we're going to have to bring back the W.P.A. and people are going to be begging from a slice of bread, our human rights have passed the crude, physical assault stage. Instead, we modern society types focus on emotional, subversive, "intellectual" woman-focused assault. We (they?) install a "glass ceiling", refuse to adjust the gap in female vs. male pay, don't offer maternity leave. These are hallmarks of our "modern" society out here in the Western world. 

In less developed spheres, ideas like "literacy", "hygiene" and "sexual assault" are only now beginning to enter their societies and become national issues. 

A sampling, from Human Rights Watch: 

Human Rights Watch has found that Russian government officials reject complaints from victims, refuse to investigate rape, neglect to refer victims to forensic doctors for evidence collection, and drop cases when they believe the victim is “at fault.” 

Similarly, in Pakistan, women who attempt to file rape charges face police harassment and disbelief, and may themselves face arrest and prosecution for engaging in extramarital sex. 

Women in India face daunting obstacles in prosecuting rape cases, beginning with lodging reports with the local police to confronting judges’ insensitivity to their plight. If an Indian woman is poor, belongs to a lower caste, or lives in a rural area, it is even more difficult for her to access the justice system.

For the cost of a mani/pedi - donate or talk to your Congressional rep!

Chuck Lorre is a Superb Cynic

Chuck Lorre, he of "The Big Bang Theory" and "Two and A Half Men" producer fame, loves writing these "vanity cards". They are on the end part of his shows and usually are extremely sarcastic of other producers/Warner Brothers. 

I'm a particular fan of Vanity Card #215, although when I read this aloud (in "the voice"), my boy told me to please, stop. 

Workplace Woes: Chauvinist Pigs Make More Money

You know, for their Stepford brides. No, seriously, a study in the United States suggests that "old-fashioned" men, the ones who think women should stay home and make meatloaf instead of mergers, consistently out-earn more than their modern-thinking counterparts. The tune - an extra $8,500 a year!

The study, consisting of 12,686 men and women interviewed in 1979 and three more times in the following two decades, ending in 2005. 

Questions floated around during these interviews, like "do you believe a woman's place is in the home", "do you believe that the employment of women leads to higher rates of juvenile delinquency" and others plucked from "Freakonomics". 

On the other side, women with "modern" views made $1,500 more than "traditional" thinking women. I bet those "traditional" women are at home baking cookies, perchance?

Dr. Magdalena Zawisza, a psychologist involved in the study, noted that there may be several theories which explain the difference, 

"It could be that more traditionally-minded men are interested in power, both in terms of access to resources - money in this case - and also in terms of a woman who is submissive." 

Or...

"Another theory suggests that employers are more likely to promote men who are the sole earner...to those [are] not..."

But what about the woman's position - any single mothers out there? Thoughts? 

No! Not Miniskirts!

After calling to make wearing a miniskirt illegal, Ugandan Ethics and Integrity Minister Nsaba Buturo proceeded to call his people "weak mentally". 

There are definitely people who can't hack a miniskirt. But trying to say that the miniskirt is suddenly indecent after it's been out since the Swingin' London days of the 1960s is a moot point, right? Uganda isn't (by far) the stupidest country in the world. There is a 66% literacy rate and official

language is English and the country seems relatively peaceful considering the neighbors. So why then is the miniskirt suddenly indecent?

Roman Catholics dominate religious thought in Uganda, is it that? Maybe. But I've been to Brazil and it's very Catholic there as well...and I'm sure we've all seen Brazilian cut bathing suits. 

The minister also claims that "indecent dressing"is just one of the vices facing Ugandan society. Right, along with 

"Theft and embezzlement of public funds, sub-standard service delivery, greed, infidelity, prostitution, homosexuality [and] sectarianism..."

A democratic and free society doesn't impose a dress code on their citizens, especially one that is so shamelessly biased toward women. 

I don't like banana hammocks but I don't find it necessary to completely ban them. Maybe if they were banned, we wouldn't have all this "greed" and "theft" we've been hearing so much about from Wall St. lately...

Men Target Breast...Cancer

This is awkward, no?





And the "oh, golly" attitude...it's not 1960. This ad person should be fired. You're not in "Mad Men", genius!