September 2009

I tend to like Civilization style games; I've liked them since before there was a Civilization game, in fact. But there's a Web-browser MMO game that I find more than a little distressing. In its current version, it's called Evony; the Chinese company that owns the game and site originally titled the game Civony; in [cough] respectful homage, I'm sure, of Sid Meier's Civilization. It's a real-time strategy game. The underlying game conceit is medieval civilization; it's a typical online pseudo-medieval feudal warfare game, first created in the venerable Apple II game Santa Paravia by Reverend George Blank. Basically, you settle a city, plant crops, harvest them, and exploit natural resources while you fortify your city and raise tropps—until you can invade your neighbors, or settle new lands.

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If the idea of a cancer you can get from sex makes you scared, there’s a way you can feel more empowered (aside from not having sex, of course…). You can become a Cervical Cancer & HPV Awareness Ambassador and spread the word about this disease to everyone you know.

30 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer every day, and 12,000 people age 24 or younger contract human papilomavirus. The odds are that, while they may not all get cancer, 8 out of 10 women will contract HPV—making it something that touches us all somehow.

As an Ambassador, you can help women (and men—they can become infected, too; did you know that some types of HPV cause genital warts?) protect themselves by learning the necessary information to educate people about HPV and cervical cancer—and spreading the word to everyone you know.

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Very Thin ModelI had no serious idea of how scary bulimia and anorexia really were when I first heard of them in the 80's. "Binge and purge" sounded like a joke to me. As a person who totally avoids "purging" at all costs, I couldn't picture myself in the shoes of someone with an eating disorder. 

The first person I met with an eating disorder was an extremely beautiful girl with what most would call a perfect body. On the outside, she had the perfect life.  Her family was the wealthiest in town and she drove a red hot convertible mustang.

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Purple Ribbon to End Domestic ViolenceIn the recent health care hoopla we have been hearing a lot about the trouble with preexisting conditions and the insurance companies that shamelessly deprive people of treatment because they refuse to cover anything that is a preexisting condition from serious health problems to simple acne. But you might not have been aware of the fact that several states allow insurance companies to deny health care coverage to women who are victims of domestic violence by considering domestic violence a preexisting condition.

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Jon Hanson over at The Situationist blog (which is associated with The Project on Law and Mind Sciences at Harvard Law School) has an interesting and - I think - dead on analysis of Dove's "Real Beauty" campaign, and its "Onslaught" ad in particularly.  If you haven't seen the "Onslaught" ad, you should definitely check it out:

 

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Aside from the whole Kanye ruckus, there has also been quite a lot of discussion on feminist blogs this summer about Beyonce's song.  I think that how you react to "Single Ladies" has more to do with how you feel about the institution of marriage than anything else.  Quite a lot of feminist bloggers unsurprisingly see marriage as a prison, as a transaction in which the man buys the woman for the "price" of a diamond ring, or as an exchange of power in which the women loses hers, and becomes subsidiary to a man.

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If you missed the first Women Master Series last spring featuring some of the most compelling female speakers, coaches and authors of our time—such as SARK, Marci Shimoff, Marcia Wieder and many more—or its summer follow-up, you’re in luck: host Amy Ahlers is running another series this fall, and you can sign up for it here.

The free 12-call teleseminar series, “created for women by women,” is hosted by Wakeup Call Coaching, is described as a “stimulus package for the spirit.” It has been featured on NBC, the Oprah Winfrey Show, CNN, The Washington Post, and The New York Times. The hour-long calls take place every Thursday afternoon—and are absolutely free (though long-distance phone charges may apply). Men are, of course, also welcome to take part.

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The Pants of the ProtestLubna Hussein, a Sudanese journalist and former United Nations staff member, has staged a protest simply by wearing pants in Sudan's capital city, Khartoum.  Hussein began her protest by donning a pair of pants and sitting at an outdoor café last July.  She risked jail time, and a potential punishment of 40 lashes with a plastic whip.  When she appeared before the judge (still wearing the pants which got her arrested) the judge convicted her of public indecency, and ordered her to pay a $200 fine.


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