Male Pin-Ups

 

Originally, the so-called pin-up refers to female models posing in a provocative manner.That's until now. Recently, a series of photos showing men posing as pin-ups were released. These images was created by 26-year-old photographer, Rion Sabean, in a collection he's aptly dubbed "Men-Ups." Now, I'm just wondering whether these images are set to mock the whole idea of the pin-up or is it intended to change gendered perceptions....

A growing plus-sized industry

Really good to know.. .

Saudi women finally given the vote

On Sunday, Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, announed officially that Saudi women are allowed to vote. Finally. “Because we refuse to marginalise women in society in all roles that comply with sharia (Islamic law), we have decided, after deliberation with our senior ulama (clerics) and others… to involve women in the Shura Council as members, starting from the next term.” “Women will be able to run as candidates in the municipal election and will even have a right to vote.” 

The announcement came after increasing pressure from liberal activists in the country to expand women's rights. Even though women are not yet allowed to drive and still need male chaperons when going basically anywhere, there seems to be light for women in Middle Eastern countries....

The last matriarchy

I don't know if many of you have seen this post, it was one of my first. But I really love it! In a series of amazingly beautiful photographs, Italian photographer Luca Locatelli documents the lives of the Mosuo tribe. They are often described as one of the last matriarchal societies in the world. Where women see this as their kingdom.

Here,  women are in charge. There isn't even a word for terms we describe as "father" or "husband", Luca says. This place is known as the "Kingdom of Women". Throughout China, 40,000 Mosuo people live in a series of villages around the lake.

Women here, are the ones who make most of the household and political decisions in the community; they control household finances, have the rightful ownership of land and houses, and full rights to the children born to them –this is very different to the arranged marriages that are practiced in other parts of China.

From the age of 13, the women may choose who to marry, take as lovers, having as many or as few as they desire over their lifetime, without being branded a 'slut', as they would be in many other cultures. The men living in these villages have jobs such as fishing and animal rearing, and visit the a woman's home at night.

I find this place and the women so beautiful. It seems like such a mystical and different world. Not to say that women in South Africa or in other countries aren't in control of their lives, but it is to say that patriarchy is still the order of many cultures. Women are often in charge of most of the decisions made in a household, it's just that these decisions are often not highly valued. How can we effectively move towards a society that does not have any gender hierarchy?

More info @: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/dec/19/china-mosuo-tribe-matriarchy

For the whole article go to: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/dec/19/china-mosuo-tribe-matriarchy?intcmp=239

TUSH magazine - A true gender bender

 

TUSH Magazine has some amazing pictures. It is one of the only magazines whose photographs portray the fluidity of gender... 

 For more visit:
http://www.tushmagazine.com/

Prison boot camps

In the U.S., 185 000 women are in prison. This is more than in any other nation on earth. The prison boot camp system is a new alternative to prison warehousing. These boot camps are low-security and usually house 185 males and 22 females.  First-time offenders with a sentence of eight years or less, can vacate their sentence with a 120 day boot camp session. By the looks of it, it seems pretty damn tough. Check out this reportage on Dixon Springs Boot Camp in Illinois, by Julia Rendleman.

For more, visit: http://bit.ly/eys3qp

Are women more trustworthy than men?

Some say, 'Never trust a woman,' but who can be trusted more? Is there even any kind of natural or biological way in which this can be measured? Why are women considered to be more trustworthy than men? Because they are stereotypically seen to be more caring, nurturing, motherly? Or are women naturally more trustworthy than men? Who cheats the most, who tells more lies? This is a very difficult question, especially when you consider that something like gender can be very fluid. However, for some organizations, like the The World Food Programme (WFP) (wfp.org/​women), the answer is pretty clear-cut.

Women and children are usually those who suffer the most in countries where food is scarce and poverty is rife. WFP is  now trying to empower women in these countries by distributing food solely to women, as it's thought to be the best way a whole family gets fed. By providing women with food, the WFP believes that hunger and poverty can be sufficiently alleviated. What do you think of this?

Women from Heather Marie Miller on Vimeo.

Love is Love

Love is Love is a short film made during Proposition 8. It brilliantly shows a world where it's 'normal' to be homosexual and abnormal to be 'heterosexual'. Love is love for everyone. It means the same for all those who love and cannot be contained or explained.

God loves fags

For those of you who haven't seen this Louis Theroux doc, I highly recommend it. This is one of his best. It's about The Westboro Baptist Church - those responsible for the GOD HATES FAGS pickets in the U.S. I love the way even people who are obviously homophobic, saying 'I don't agree with the (gay) lifestyle' or give the picketers the finger as they drive by, are shocked and appauled by this church. This family has obviously taken their beliefs a bit far.



Here is a snippet from the documentary:

In the dumps

This is kind of a follow up on my 'FOOD FOR THOUGHT' blogpost, looking at people who go to extreme measures to find food. This is usually done under extreme circumstances and in dirty, swampy spaces. La Chureca is one of these battlegrounds. It is known as the largest garbage dump in Central America. It is situated on the banks of the capital of Nicaragua. 

This vast dumping ground, which spreads 70 acres, has been a space of accumulated garbage since 1975 and contains 5 million tons of waste. There is no recycling or seperation of garbage that takes place, everything is dumped together. That is inorganic waste, food, dead animals, cans, glass, metals, trash from demolitions, also infectious biowaste. La Chureca is the only wasteland in Central America that also contains solid waste. That is waste brought there from hospitals, such as dead bodies, limbs, remains from surgery, etc. 

Nicaragua is the poorest country of Central America. Hundreds of human waste recyclers search in tons of smouldering garbage mainly metals (copper, aluminium, bronze), others concentrate on glass which is cheap, but in bigger amount. To put this in perspective, selling 20-30kg of glass will buy you one meal on the streets of Nicaragua. Many children search here for food daily, in an effort to help provide for their families. This is their normal way of life. The children very often eat the food they find on the dump, none of them goes to school. Many of them sniff glue, the drug of the poorest.

40 per cent of these 'scavengers' have cutaneous (skin) diseases and more than a half of the children have parasites in their intestines.

Photos by Jon Sochor, Life of a Scavenger

On a day off

Day Off is a photo essay project that was compiled by six photographers. This photo essay tells the story of women, mostly uneducated women from Bangladesh, who leave their poor circumstances at home to work as domestic workers in Singapore. They come here to search for a better life for them and their family. The photos tell stories of what they do on their day off from work, for some its not even a day off at all. They go out for karaoke, go to English or dance class, work in salons or go to Mosque.

Karaoke

Working in a salon

 In dance class

In English class

Applying make-up after mosque

A woman showing pictures of her young daughter, who still lives in Bangladesh.