Comments on: Things to Read

By: Lauredhel

Lauredhel — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 12:32:31 +0000

God, the idea of sharing a room with someone at college is awful! I also think it is US specific. Any other Europeans care to chime in?

I’m not European, but in the Australian residential colleges I’ve been in, all the bedrooms are single, typically sharing a kitchenette/lounge area and bathrooms between 4-8 students.

By: Linda

Linda — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 20:40:08 +0000

The Saudi “pamper your maid” link, by the way, doesn’t work.

By: exholt

exholt — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 18:06:16 +0000

God, the idea of sharing a room with someone at college is awful! I also think it is US specific.

Not just in the US, I’m afraid. In the Republic of China(Taiwan) of the ’50s-’60s and mainland Chinese dorms at least in the late 90′s, 6-8 students would be piled into one bunk-straddled room with one table and a chest for each student to place his/her belongings. It is understandable in their case because nearly all universities are government sponsored/administered…and economic circumstances until recently would not permit them to provide students more space.

Comparatively speaking, colleges/universities in the US cannot credibly claim poor economic circumstances to the same extent…especially the elite private institutions.

By: Katherine

Katherine — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 17:23:50 +0000

God, the idea of sharing a room with someone at college is awful! I also think it is US specific. Any other Europeans care to chime in? In the UK at least, Halls of Residence (translation – dorms?) have individual bedrooms with shared kitchens and bathrooms usually, although each individual room will usually have its own washbasin. At my particular college, there were suites – i.e. two bedrooms and a shared living room, but they were only for third year students who had decided to share one.

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 13:42:10 +0000

Re: Girl Scouts

Girl Scouts of America does not (and I don’t think ever has) ban atheist or gay leaders or members. However, activities vary widely from troop to troop. The first troop I joined, all we did was color and watch “Just Say No To Drugs” videos. Then I moved to a different town and the troop was much more active. We did volunteer work, went to theater productions, went horseback riding, and were encouraged to look through the handbook and start our own projects for badges. There was a psychology/sociology one I was totally into. We also did some hiking and a camping trip.

By: luzzleanne

luzzleanne — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 08:53:28 +0000

Seconding the statement about Girl Scout activities depending on the troop and on the limits set by the meeting place. My group in elementary school did focus a lot on crafts, cooking, and singing, largely because we were stationed in the school caffeteria and couldn’t do much else besides. The more permanent group in middle school, which was stationed in a church community center did a lot of volunteer work and, for some reason, almost extracurricular education: cultural studies, biology and anatomy, the kinds of things that would fit in with what you were learning at school, but wouldn’t necessarily be part of the curriculum. All of my camp experiences were pretty wilderness training intensive, regardless of the “theme” for that year (one of which was rock climbing, so take from that what you will).

On an interesting side note, my mother rigorously refused to donate to the Boy Scouts as long as she lived, not out of any political principles, but simply because of the way they fundraised. It angered her to no end that when the Girl Scouts needed money they would sell the traditional candy and cookies, hold private bake sales, make crafts to sell, etc., and when the Boy Scouts needed money they asked for donations from parents and former members. It made her so mad that the girls had to work for their money while the boys essentially had theirs handed to them; I’d never seen her quite so peeved by the basic unfairness of anything else.

Why yes, my mother is the reason I’m a feminist. Why do you ask?

By: EoL

EoL — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 07:30:34 +0000

Hosts and hostesses (sorry to beat the dead horse, but–like geisha, they’re also not sex workers, just paid to flirt and talk and be pretty) aren’t a new thing. If I walk down to kabukicho I can see dozens of establishments with boards advertising their menus of men and women you can buy for the night. Generally at these establishments, any sex trade is strictly under the table. But it surprises me how many people get the wrong idea. A coworker of mine kept going on about how she and her sister were approached by “man-whores,” and she was sure that all hosts and hostesses were actually prostitutes. (Even after I told her many times that no, they’re not. At least, not in a strict money-for-sex sense.) Then she was convinced that they were only for gay men. (Nooooo …)

I’ve been tempted to go to a host club just to see what it’s like, but I don’t really want to pay $50 to enter/join, plus drinks, plus whatever the prettyboy costs per hour …

By: prefer not to say

prefer not to say — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 04:02:25 +0000

The six conservative women on dating was very interesting. Thanks for including a piece that shows conservatives to be as varied in their personalities and approaches as feminists are.

By: ChrisR

ChrisR — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 03:15:28 +0000

Top Bush advisers approved “enhanced interrogation” techniques. In other words, it was the guys at the top who sanctioned torture. Disgusting.

Can we please have a war crimes trial?

Aggressive war, torture, murder of civilians–what else do we need?

By: mike

mike — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 02:36:35 +0000

My mom worked for one of those pregnancy crisis centers, for a while, because she believed it was to help women – but they actually started to require her to attend church regularly, after a while, which needless to say puts their intentions in a suspicious light pretty much right away. It’s sick when organizations prey on and manipulate the most vulnerable under the guise of ‘helping’.