Bert's Blog

Meiltä on pyydetty kanta esitykseen miesjärjestöjen keskusliiton perustamisesta. Kannaksi on ehdotettu että koska emme ole miesjärjestö, emme halua osallistua koko hankkeeseen, eli ’kiitos mutta ei kiitos’.

Mutta kun ministeri Wallin haluaa tavata miesjärjestöjen edustajia olemmekin yhtäkkiä miesjärjestö ja menemme tapaamiseen jopa kahdella edustajalla. Miksemme vastaa Wallinillekin että ’kiitos mutta ei kiitos’ ?

Through the mailing list of the Swedish Profeminist Men's network Män för Jämställdhet I was made aware of a very nice initiative - a gender fair recruitment agency, Rättviseförmedlingen. The idea is to provide competent candidates of the underrepresented sex for open positions or events in sexually more or less segregated professions or fields. And to provide this assistance or consultancy for free. Currently they seem to have more than 8000 volunteer agents.

HY:n bio- ja ympäristötieteellisen tiedekunnan tutkijat Jussi Alho kollegoineen ovat havainneet että n. 10% Kilpisjärvellä elävistä naaraspuolisista sammakoista (Rana temporaria) kehittyvät ulkoiselta sukupuoleltaan koiraiksi. Ilmiö vaikuttaa seuraavan sukupolven sukupuolijakaumaan siten että näennäisesti koiraiksi muuttuneiden naaraiden ja tavallisten naaraiden jälkeläiset ovat kaikki naaraita.

Sukupuolinen väkivalta voidaan rinnastaa pahoinpitelyyn ja muuhun fyysiseen väkivältaan ainakin siinä mielessä että sen tarkoituksena on synnyttää pelon ilmapiiri jolla sukupuoleen perustuva valtajärjestelmä – yksilötasolla usein miehinen n.k. ’kunnia’ – yritetään ylläpitää.

Ibrahim Schkupolli’s tragic outrage has provoked discussions on various forums, including unfortunately but predictably racist and xenophobic hate postings.

Swedish journalist Lisa Marklund’s books Gömda (Buried Alive - A True Story) from 1995 and Asyl (Asylum Granted) from 2004, about a local woman being harassed by an immigrant man, were discussed fiercely in Sweden and accused of being too fictional – Ibrahim seems to have proved her right, at least in Finland.

The Council of Gender Equality (TaNe) on November 5 arranged a seminar on buying sex in Finland. The seminar was held in the Parliament Annex building in the center of Helsinki and was attended by some 115 people, 80 % of which were women. The general idea was to look at how the recently passed law against buying sex has affected the sex service business and what the situation is now. When the law, criminalizing the buyer of sex services only if the seller is controlled by a pimp or is a victim of sexual exploitation or trafficking, was passed in 2006, it was criticized as being too soft.

On the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women UN scretary general Ban Ki-Moon has established a network of top managers against gendered violence.

When will Jorma Ollila, my ex-boss, join the network ? Or Nalle Wahlroos ? Or Matti Vanhanen ?

A friend who’s working in a kindergarten recently told me a scaring story. One of the parents had one morning arrived at the kindergarten and asked to see the manager. To the manager this parent had complained that a google search had revealed that my friend was a profeminist. The parent was furious and demanded that my friend be dismissed from his job immediately, or ...

Just repatriated - sorry divorced - from Singapore I notice that the book on divorce to which I was asked to and did contribute a very personal text, has been launched - it was presented in today's Hbl by Pia Ingström.

About to leave a Singapore that I have called my home for two years and learnt to admire in many respects and criticise in some, returning to a much colder corner of the world, I take this opportunity to envision where Singapore could be in the future, a future that might occur in a century or a decennary. An incurable optimist by nature, I will call it tomorrow. And I’ll wear my gender equality glasses.