ethics & philosophy

Women as wheelbarrows: Italian PM wants woman in coma alive as fetus container

By lauredhel on 2009-02-09 • ( 21 )

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, in consultation with the Vatican, is trying to overturn a court order to remove the feeding tubes from a woman who has been in a coma for 17 years and been assessed as having no… Read More ›

Salma Hayek cross-nurses needy baby in Africa

By lauredhel on 2009-02-07 • ( 28 )

Remember the fuss over Salma Hayek being “abusive” because she was “still” feeding her toddler?

Salma Hayek took a humanitarian trip to Sierra Leone. This video[1] shows her being there for the death of a baby from tetanus, speaking to a UNICEF representative, and travelling to a remote part of Sierra Leone.

Food for thought

By Mindy on 2009-02-05 • ( 31 )

PJ, a personal trainer in Brunswick has decided to stack on 40kg (on his current 80kg) and maintain that weight for 3 months, then lose it through diet and exercise at the gym with his clients, so that he can understand what they are going through. Interesting idea.

Essure-thetics: “What mark will you leave? None.”

By lauredhel on 2009-01-30 • ( 22 )

Anyone remember “What Cheeses Me Off” on Hey, Hey, It’s Saturday?

No?

Hrm. Nevermind. (This homophobic crapola was about the usual level of it. Largely linked here for the spunky 80s fashion choices of Daryl Somers.)

Anyhow. What cheeses me off today is this advertising for the Essure tubal occlusion system, an alternative to laparoscopic tubal ligation for female sterilisation.

That Ms. Cover

By tigtog on 2009-01-27 • ( 10 )

As no doubt the editors hoped, this cover for Ms. Magazine’s Special Inaugural Issue has generated a lot of controversy. Many feminists feel that Obama’s feminist credentials are not nearly as strong as they could be, while the cover has generated an escalation in panic-mongering and shrill we-told-you-so’s from the religious right plus a great deal more snark about Obamessianic visions and rainbow unicorns from the neocon right.

Friday Saturday Hoyden: Caroline Chisholm

By tigtog on 2009-01-24 • ( 6 )

This fairly blunt profile of Caroline Chisholm presents her as an impressive but uncomfortable woman due to her uncompromising standards, and came as a bit of an eye-opener to me in terms of sanitised school history: the fact that the young immigrant underclass women that she was training had been lured to the Australian colonies where they were left to fend for themselves and would have no options other than prostitution or crime to earn a living was very heavily glossed over

Tip of the hat, Wag of the finger: IKEA Perth

By lauredhel on 2009-01-24 • ( 9 )

ikea

My Tip o’ the hat goes to: The greeter at IKEA Osborne Park in Perth, when I walked in there for the first time this week.

Douchebag oTY contestant: “Uh oh” nurse routinely pulls IUDs out

By lauredhel on 2009-01-19 • ( 16 )

Turns out yesterday’s Douchebag of the Year contestant has a competitor. Already.

Douchebag of the Year – already? The kidney or the bill.

By lauredhel on 2009-01-18 • ( 21 )

Panty-sniffing surgeon Dr Richard Batista, Long Island surgeon, has had a messy breakup with his wife Dawnell.

Just how messy this is going to get is anyone’s guess. He accuses her of infidelity and denying him time with their children. She says he was paranoid – right down to undie-checks for evidence of an affair – and never denied access.

He donated a kidney to her eight years ago, when a pregnancy-related illness made it necessary and he turned out to be a match. Around that time, their marriage was going bad. Four years ago, Dawnell Batista filed for divorce.