Pink stinks

I picked this web address up in the NUT magazine. Add to the links.

Iceland's women take charge?

Is this the way forward, out of recession? Guardian article about Icelandic women and their business values.

"We have five core feminine values. First, risk awareness: we will not invest in things we don't understand. Second, profit with principles - we like a wider definition so it is not just economic profit, but a positive social and environmental impact. Third, emotional capital. When we invest, we do an emotional due diligence - or check on the company - we look at the people, at whether the corporate culture is an asset or a liability. Fourth, straight talking. We believe the language of finance should be accessible, and not part of the alienating nature of banking culture. Fifth, independence. We would like to see women increasingly financially independent, because with that comes the greatest freedom to be who you want to be, but also unbiased advice."

Biology is Destiny

Is it just me, or is all scientific research which backs up this thesis receiving more publicity than any other? It so often boils down to 'You are what you are and how others see you, so don't even think about changing society'. Or just do your best to conform to the physical ideal!

One example:
How Your Looks Betray Your Personality in this week's New Scientist.

The BBC website has picked up on this under the headline Women's traits 'written on face'.

Blame the mothers again?

A report, called The Good Childhood Inquiry and commissioned by the Children's Society, is quoted on the BBC website today.

It suggests, among other reasons, that having many more working mothers has contributed to the damage done to children.

"Most women now work and their new economic independence contributes to levels of family break-up which are higher in the UK than in any other Western European country."

At least the Beeb hasn't used this as its headline, unlike AOL news - headline Working women 'damaging children'.

In different circumstances, could this headline be 'Workshy mums damage children ?'

men's studies

Just found an interesting blog with an article about the story of Rumpelstiltskin. A little off-topic for this blog perhaps, but I like the idea of R as our darker self.

I quote one paragraph:

"one of the older members of the group began a very productive line of thought along Jungian lines. He suggested that, perhaps, the bizarre character of Rumpelstilzkin could be interpreted as one’s “shadow,” that part of us which we suppress but comes out anyway as a kind of dangerous but creative alter-ego. That shadow must be honored in order to deal with crises in life. One must deal with the devil, so to speak, in order to meet the demands of the “king” (or father), that archetype which would direct us in life directions. The king’s men who go out through the kingdom to figure out Rumpelstilskin’s name are expressions of the “warrior,” the get-it-done part of the soul .... And, lest the shadow dominate our lives too much, at some point the shadow must be “named,” exposed for what it is in the limits of its power. "