8 Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof.
See other: Often Ignored Bible Verses
“I was trying to get a program going about fundamentalist Islam, or not even fundamentalist actually beyond… where it’s extreme radical Islam, so-called you know, basically people who support ISIS, of which there are some in the UK. Although, they’re hard to interview because it’s actually a crime to Glorify Terrorism is what it’s called. And so they have to talk very gingerly around the subject.
But if you get into a debate with someone who is sincerely committed to ISIS’ brand of Sunni Islam, where they’re saying “Actually, yes, sex slaves are okay,” they’ll say “Slaves isn’t quite the right term but we approve of that.” And then they say, “By what authority do you challenge what we believe?” Continue reading
[The typical commercial directed at women.]
Generic woman: Ouch, my stomach!
Male voice over: Do you suffer from gut agony?
Generic woman: And my head!
Male voice over: Tension head? Got that bloated feeling? Inevitable wrinkles? The beginnings of lady moustache? And now you’ve pissed yourself again? Women, you’re leaking, ageing, hairy, overweight, and everything hurts. And your children’s clothes are filthy. No wonder men long for other less clammy women. For god’s sake sort yourself out!
Generic woman: Now I’m free to live my own life, my way!
[The typical commercial directed at men.]
Male voice over: Men, shave and get drunk! Because you’re already brilliant!
– That Mitchell and Webb Look (2006-2010)
“A gentleman is a someone who can describe Sophia Loren without using gestures.”
– Michel Audiard
In the summer of 2013, male train drivers in Sweden circumvented a ban on shorts by wearing skirts to work in hot weather. Because of Swedish anti-sexist laws, men and women are allowed to wear the same clothes to work.
An American could become President of the United States by winning the majority of the votes in just 11 U.S. States.
The tomato has been brought back from the verge of extinction at least three times since it was first domesticated.
The word acalculia describes the inability to do sums.
Hummingbirds, bees and ants spend 80% of their day doing absolutely nothing.
See other: Quite Interesting Facts
A human being has about the same number of genes as a cabbage.
Pumpkin Island, Australia, has been renamed XXXX Island.
Lipstick can still contain lead, but no more than 20 parts per million; arsenic, but no more than 3 parts per million; and mercury, but no more than one part per million.
The Dutch for ‘piglet’ is big.
According to the Quran, the testimony of two women is needed to contradict that of a man.
See other: Quite Interesting Facts
Anthropologies believe that man has known how to use fire for 500,000 years, but only learned how to make it himself 12,000 years ago.
Prior to 1962, sodomy was illegal in every US State.
The flag of Paraguay is the only current national flag whose obverse and reverse sides are neither identical nor mirrored.
Legendary Cuban Communist revolutionary Che Guevara was born in Argentina.
Until 1857, in the UK, a husband wishing to end an unhappy marriage could sell his wife. The cost was about £3,000 – roughly £223,000 in today’s money.
See other: Quite Interesting Facts
Over the course of a century, many strides have been made to further the cause of women, and the new millennium has witnessed a significant change and attitudinal shift in both women’s and society’s thoughts about women’s equality and emancipation.
The unfortunate fact is that women are still not paid equally to that of their male counterparts, women still are not present in equal numbers in business or politics, and globally women’s education, health and the violence against them is worse than that of men.
These are all well known problems, but there is a specific kind of sexism that is more covert and far less obvious in its misogyny: advertisement. Here is a rather passionate criticism of contemporary advertisement with regards to the portrayal of women:
The average person in the western world sees more than 500 ads every day. Very few of the women in those ads look like people we see in our everyday lives; so, maybe it is time to change the way women are generally portrayed in advertisements.
“Feminism is the radical notion that women are human beings.”
― Cheris Kramarae
Why does it feel so different to see pictures of realistic women? Why aren’t we seeing women we recognise in real life and why weren’t we paying more attention to this before?
Where are the women who swept through the thrust-upon feminine superficialities of the patriarchal society? – Girls who help those who can hardly help themselves. Mothers who want to learn from their children and raise a generation of individuals. Happy, free and egalitarian.
When we condone airbrushed faces and photoshopped bodies, what are we saying about women? – That their strengths aren’t strong enough? Their feelings not deep enough? Their cheers not loud enough? If all the women we see in ads look the same, what illusion are we promoting for our daughters? And our sons?
Maybe we should start by seeing women we can relate to. Ladies with style and personality who are not afraid of their ideas. Experts who revolutionise their fields. Independent and fulfilled girls who thrive on their own merit. Women who are individuals.
Let’s see women doing the things that women really do. Let’s appreciate the beauty of overcoming real struggles. Let’s see more women like those we already know, real women living in the real world.
“A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle.”
― Gloria Steinem
Maybe all we need to do is look around to remember that the women in our lives carry real beauty of all kinds – and that real beauty is all that is worth seeing.
Knowledge Guild 