Get Perspective

I didn't think much could surprise me when it comes to peoples audacious actions and opinions then I came across an article on the Independent online which just made me soo angry!

The article was about a 9 year old Brazilian girl who was repeatedly raped by her stepfather; on top of this the poor girl fell pregnant with his twins. What is outraging about the story is that the Catholic Church are ex-communicating the child’s mother and doctor who supported and carried out the termination of the young girl's pregnancy, yet the paedophile rapist of a stepfather who is in police custody has been spared the church's judgement!

According to the church rep "the real problem is that the twins conceived were two innocent persons. Life must always be protected", that’s the real problem?! - Just gloss over the fact that a 9 year old girl has not just been sexually abused, it was by her parent who she would have trusted; not only is she likely to develop trust issues she al…

Browsing through Topshop Oxford St. recently I came across this black female mannequin displaying the latest wears (and chunky gold chains!), while I'm pleased to see more ethnic diversity in their mannequins to put it bluntly she's kinda ugly, was this the best they could do?

I kinda feel that her black features have been exaggerated on purpose to make her unattractive, if only I'd taken a picture of one of the white mannequin's to show how big her lips and nose was in contrast. Yes black people have broader noses and fuller lips but come on we have plenty of beautiful black women that pull off these features. Think the mannequin makers should have gone back to the drawing board in this case, there are so many black women in the media they could have drawn their inspiration from, here are a few I'd have recommended...


 * (From left to right: Charlene White, Keisha Buchanan, Gabrielle Union, Lauryn Hill)

Is it just me or are female magazines dumbed down?

I say this referring to the free weekly magazines Stylist and Shortlist, whom are brother sister magazines catering to each gender, though in my experience of buying and reading other magazines this argument could easily apply to most gender specific magazine. I'm not talking about the low level salacious gossip or sexist magazines such as Heat and NUTS (if that's still around), I'm talking mid level magazines said to appeal to the average man or woman.

Every week I pick up my free copy of both Stylist and Shortlist to read, with articles from both magazines inspiring posts for the blog, though if I'm honest I much prefer reading the men's Shortlist over the women's Stylist. This is because I find the articles in Shortlist more interesting reads and offer a better variety of topics to read up on, from film, culture, current affairs to general politics their articles are more informative and by far more ground …

Wow, what a cover!

I know their are lots of talk about this cover for various reasons, one of which I read was that it encouraged paedophilia.  Not sure I quite agree but it does raise the debate of 'breast being best' and of course how long is appropriate to breastfeed for or until; I find this especially interesting when celebrities like Beyonce admit to breastfeeding for the first 10 weeks only, is this long enough?

Each to their own I guess, though the boy pictured does seem a little too old to still be on the tit.

Tut tut tut at Dove for this, the people that loves every type of skin on every type of body seems to think their is such a thing as normal skin, what that is I would really like to know!
While I can understand that the Dove product is said to heighten one natural skin pigment for a 'Summer Glow' I don't think it appropriate that they labelled the product suitable for 'fair to normal skin' or 'normal to 'dark skin'.

This is wrong on so many levels and could have been avoided had they used the word medium instead of normal. I'm not angry though it does highlight the existence of racism (for anyone in doubt) and also exemplifies how those who hold influental social/cultural/political roles still uphold racist ways of thinking.

Is it just me or is the front cover of L'Uomo racist and offencive?!

Taken from the upcoming front cover of Vogue's L'Uomo magazine May/June 2012 issue which is dedicated to Africa the front cover sports Ban Ki-moon the Secretary-General of the United Nations pictured in an office where the only reference to the continent or its cultures is an atlas on a board behind Mr. Ki-moon!

Yes this is very racist and offencive since according to the magazines website for this issue "We’ve photographed influential personalities such as Presidents, First Ladies, and Queens, but also artists, writers, musicians, designers and models: they are the evidence that Africa is developing and progressing..." so why didn't they use any of these directly African images on their cover instead of this sterile and imperialistic image which unlike the intent of the issue does not "show how this continent is moving and developing."Instead the cover with its caption 'Rebr…

I laughed (out loud) when I heard that H&M has had to apologies for using a very tanned model in their current swimwear campaign as cancer groups are saying its encouraging the unhealthy practice of using tanning beds to achieve the look. The image in question (see above) is of Brazilian model Isabeli Fontana tanned up and pictured in the shade so that her skin colour resembles far more of the black ethnicity then just a usual tanned person.

While the image is striking I can't imagine white women striving to achieve this particular shade of brown as promoted by H&M - come on its the same shade as me! To be honest the whole argument about the advert promoting an unhealthy obsessions with tanning is ridiculous as had the fashion retailer not exaggerated Fontana's tan, being from Brazil and naturally brown (or tanned) she would still perpetuate an the image of tanned skinned that some Europeans can not achieve naturally.

What stands in my mind the most about the H&…

We're In UK Pride Magazine - May 2012

... Well I am anyway! Not too long ago I attended a round table discussion held by Pride magazine, the discussion was on black female beauty - our representation in the media and how this affects our self esteem - with 5 other black female participants from various backgrounds and ages respectfully sharing our opinions on questions asked by our host.  It was a really insightful discussion, a real meeting of minds, as myself and the other women instantly clicked and discussed with the ease of old friends, it was great!
Asides from the embarrassing picture angles and a quote I wished they'd have left out I am overall pretty happy with the article, though the last question of the article (which was not the last question of the evening) somewhat implies a happy conclusion that black women know their beauty regardless how the media disputes us which is a bit misleading but that's the press for you! 

Another interesting development fro…

According to a recent article found on the Mail Online a $1.3 million museum has opening in the US with a large collection of racist memorabilia, the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia is said to be 'all about teaching, not a shrine to racism,' and can be found at Ferris State University, Michigan.

While I'm all for preserving history to teach the future generations of past lessons learnt, I'm skeptical that such a museum can be anti-racist surely a permanent exhibition of racist memorabilia would do nothing but preserve racist ignorance's the clue is in the name. The word 'memorabilia' doesn't particularly resonate any historical value, otherwise they would have used the word artifact instead, memorabilia conjures ups some sad super-fans collection of Queen Elisabeth crockery or numerous items of worthless Elvis merchandise; or in this case a super racist with a collection of racist memorabilia!

Also the fact that the museum's focus is s…

I came across a really interesting article on the Time online recently about 'birth rape', not to be taken literal, the term has be coined to convey what some mothers have felt of being violated during the whole child birthing experience. I found this concept interesting and wondered if mothers in the UK felt the same.

I've been present for two births and as a female spectator my lasting memory has been how little decency one had during the experience, legs open wide, doctors and nurses coming in and out, poking and prodding the mother. Though having spoken casually to a few women who have had children, all have explained to me that once you are in that much pain, ones 'decency' is the last thing your concerned with.
I even remember once when working in a clothes shop that a customer came into use the changing rooms, after parking her double buggy in the changing cubical she was forced to undress in the walkway, having offered her another cubical to change in sin…