WOMEN WHO KNOW THEIR PLACE

May 5, 2011 at 4:21 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Barbara Walters, of 20/20, did a story on gender roles in Kabul, Afghanistan, several years before the Afghan conflict.

She noted that women customarily walked five paces behind their husbands.

She recently returned to Kabul and observed that women still walk behind their husbands. Despite the overthrow of the oppressive Taliban regime, the women now seem happy to maintain the old custom.

Ms Walters approached one of the Afghan women and asked, ‘Why do you now seem happy with an old custom that you once tried so desperately to change?’

The woman looked Ms Walters straight in the eyes, and without hesitation said, “Land mines.”

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THE NEWS

Odd news from around the world

Women and shoes: “A new study has found the average woman owns 20 pairs of shoes and more than half of them — worth around £400 in total — are never worn, sitting in the wardrobe waiting for the right occasion, which never comes. Behavioural psychologist Jo Hemmings says it’s all to do with the promise and expectation. High-heeled shoes make you look taller and slimmer. And they are forgiving if you put on a few extra pounds. Best-selling author Victoria Hislop tells me she reckons there is something deep and dark about our love of footwear. ‘There is nothing else that you keep on buying which you then put in the wardrobe and never wear because it’s so uncomfortable.’

A serious failure to perform: “An Emirati man is being sued for a whopping $10.99 million for failing to have sex with his wife and causing her mental anguish. The unidentified woman told the court that her Emirati husband did not sleep with her in the first four months of their marriage in 2008 and later she discovered that he suffered from erectile dysfunction, Gulf News said. The newspaper quoted court records as saying that the woman alleged her husband failed to fulfil her needs. “Considering the conservative Arab values, and the woman’s situation in such a society, I remained silent and tried to adapt by praying to God that things would improve,” she said. The woman, whose nationality was unclear, claimed $10.99 million in compensation.”

Jilted groom sues runaway bride: “An Italian groom who was jilted at the altar after splurging money on a lavish wedding is suing his no-show bride for $US743,000. The 32-year-old said he had suffered emotional and material damages after booking a villa for the wedding outside Rome, reserving a honeymoon on a Pacific island and refurbishing an apartment to his fiancee’s tastes. A report by Italy’s ANSA news agency said the man – referred to only by his first name, Riccardo – was already in the church when his fiancee’s brother told him she would not be coming and the priest cancelled the service. The runaway bride was apparently in love with another man. The report said that Riccardo had hired lawyers and filed a lawsuit, which emphasized that he and his family had borne all the costs for the wedding.”

100,000 bees attack homeless man in Phoenix: “A PHOENIX man is in the hospital after being stung by a swarm of about 100,000 bees. The homeless man was walking down the street near Glenrosa when the swarm of Africanised bees descended and stung him several thousand times, sending him into anaphylactic shock. Firefighters rescued him from the swarm by covering the bees in foam. “Probably close to a hundred thousand bees is what they’re saying. It looks like a big dark cloud,” said Scott Walker, with Phoenix Fire. “It doesn’t take a lot for them to … start attacking you.” The victim is expected to recover. It was the 18th bee attack in Phoenix this year.”

‘Quarter-life crisis’?: “They may still be in the prime of their lives – but for many young adults, their 20s and 30s are now a time of panic and self-doubt as they suffer a ‘quarter-life crisis’. Faced with too much choice, they are experiencing the traditional symptoms of a mid-life crisis earlier, research suggests. Today’s young adults often struggle with the multitude of options available, driving them to feel anxiety, depression and a sense of being trapped or ‘locked into’ a marriage or a job that doesn’t feel right. And the phenomenon appears to be more common than in the past, according to Greenwich University researcher Oliver Robinson. Dr Robinson, who interviewed 50 people aged between 25 and 35 about their difficulties coping, said: ‘You are now more footloose to make changes in early adulthood than I think you once were.'”

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