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2009 October

Archive for October, 2009

Jacaranda watch final days

Posted on October 28, 2009, by mercedes, under Gender Masala.

The rainy season has arrived. With every soft evening rain..

The rainy season has arrived. With the soft evening rain, the blossoms drift softly to the ground.

jac-3

Even the light turns purple.

140 Comments

Jacaranda Watch

Posted on October 26, 2009, by mercedes, under Gender Masala, arts.

jac-41

The magic continues...

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... with scarlet bougainvilleas for contrast.

180 Comments

Jacaranda Watch

Posted on October 22, 2009, by mercedes, under Gender Masala.

jac-white

jacarandas-2009-049

White jacarandas are few, and a treasure to find.

90 Comments

Purple rain, purple dreamscape

Posted on October 21, 2009, by mercedes, under Gender Masala, arts, culture.

By F. Beaumont

By F. Beaumont

I just have to do it. This posting is not about gender, politics, foreign aid or photoshopped  models.

It is about beauty. The beauty of nature: the splendid jacarandas blooming just now that turn Pretoria into a lilac-purple dreamscape.

It s said that  50,000 jacarandas line the streets.   When the blossoms drift to the ground, carpetting sidewalks, it’s like  a magical  purple rain. Awesome.

By F. Beaumont

By F. Beaumont

423 Comments

Beauty as an optical illusion

Posted on October 12, 2009, by mercedes, under Gender Masala, adolescents, arts, children, culture, media, stereotypes, women, men and more.

Fashion models in ads are optical illusions and the award-winning  video Evolution of Beauty, from the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty proves the point eloquently. Watch it at:

http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.ca/bblank.asp?id=6895

Digital cosmetic surgery - nip-and-tuck, botox and liposuction, on the screen, with a click - render these models picture-perfect (excuse the pun) and thoroughly unreal.

There is no way a non-photoshopped  woman can attain that perfection. Hey, we are human. We have flaws.

(more…)

108 Comments

Red light for Burqa-wearing drivers in Bahrain

Posted on October 5, 2009, by mercedes, under Gender Masala, culture, human rights, politics, religion, stereotypes, women, men and more.

Guest blogger: Suad Hamada, IPS correspondent in Bahrain

Dressed to drive? By S.Hamada

Dressed to drive? By S.Hamada

Burqa-wearing women may lose the right to drive in Bahrain over a conflict between government and conservative lawmakers.

The government wants to amend the traffic law and grant male traffic officers the right to ask women to lift the veil and show their faces.

On the other hand, some lawmakers are loath to approve the amendment or at least demand that female traffic officers be employed for this task.

Let’s hope that in either way it will be a win-win situation for women: that they will continue to drive, and enter a job sector that has been reserved for men since the 1970s.   Bahrain doesn’t impose a dress code on women. Wearing a burqa (or Niqab, in Bahrain) is a personal choice.

OK, not all women here wear a burqa as personal choice; some do it to obey their male relatives or conservative families. (more…)

32 Comments