http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-13140438 This is an interesting story by the BBC which details the role of women in the protests in Yemen. Although the protests in Yemen were expected to fail to gain the support of women, the response has been quite different than initially expected.
Wanted to share an article that will give you a little hope. I keep up with Secretary of State Clinton, and what she is doing around the world, and I am proud to have her working towards peace for our country and world. This article is interesting, I really love the things Clinton has to … Read more
Thought this article and video is very interesting. I just finished a paper for Dr. Russell’s class on homosexuality in the Middle East, and I talked about how organizations that are formed to fight for gay rights in the Middle East don’t usually last more than a few days. I thought it was fascinating the … Read more
http://georgeel-hage.com/GeorgePublications-Beirut75.htm This is a really interesting essay by George El-Hage, a professor of Arabic and Comparative Literature, I found detailing the nature of the autobiographical nature of the 1974 novel Beirut 75. Even though I didn’t fully read this book, I did skim over it and found it to be a rather engaging work. Ghada … Read more
This article from the BBC details a the Malaysian Women’s Minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil’s response to a camp that claims to “un-gay” young Muslim boys. She maintains that characterizing these supposedly effeminate teenage boys as gay or transsexual, and then attempting to “correct” their behavior will be detrimental to their mental and emotional health. Though this is the … Read more
I saw the trailer for this film in my WOST 3510 class yesterday and it looks amazing! Film Summary In her feature-film debut, renowned visual artist Shirin Neshat offers an exquisitely crafted view of Iran in 1953, when a British- and American-backed coup removed the democratically elected government. Adapted from the novel by Iranian author … Read more
Researchers halted a study in Africa testing whether a daily antiretroviral pill can prevent women from becoming infected with the AIDS virus. So far, women taking the pill are just as likely as those taking the placebo to become infected. Of the 1,900 women taking the pill and placebo, 28 in both groups became infected. … Read more
This article explores how the United States is (very) slowly waking up to something that was realized in Sweden long ago (and was proven to work!)…that in order to truly combat the commercial sex trade (both consensual and non-consensual) they must penalize the demand and not the supply. In short, the johns and not the … Read more
By Melinda Seeman It is estimated that somewhere between 40,000 and 100,000 Cambodians are exploited as sex slaves. This translates to 1 in every 150 people in this country being involved. Cambodian, ethnic Vietnamese, Thai and Malaysian women and young girls are forced into sexual slavery under deplorable conditions. In order to develop an effective … Read more
I’m beginning to think that I need to post more light-hearted and uplifting articles on this blog! But, continuing in my (depressing) habits, here is an article about a pregnant Illinois woman who attempted suicide after her boyfriend and business partner left her after she found out he had another family. Distraught, she drank rat … Read more