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.

The singer-songwriter Katy Perry is running number one in the US and likely soon in the UK as well with a song that has strirred the Gay community — for the the second time. This time it's her song "I Kissed a Girl." The line "You're my experimental game" and the coy references to the boyfriend should sum up well enough what it's about.

It has long been common knowledge that boys are more talented in mathematics, while girls' talents are more often expressed in verbal skills and communication. By processes still unknown to science some abstract mathematical thinking takes place in the testicles, whereas development of the mammary glands has beneficial effect on the coordination of the larynx. This phenomenon has been used to explain how fields such as technology and business, where arithmetic skills are needed, are dominated by men, while poets, writers and especially literary Nobelists have mostly been... er, lets look at an empirical study on the subject instead:

There's no real difference between the scores of U.S. boys and girls on common math tests, according to a massive new study. Educators hope the finding will finally dispel lingering perceptions that girls don't measure up to boys when it comes to crunching numbers.

On jo pitkään tiedetty, että pojat ovat lahjakkaampia matematiikassa, kun taas tyttöjen lahjakkuus ilmenee useammin verbaalisissa kyvyissä ja kommunikaatiossa. Luonnontieteelle vielä toistaiseksi tuntemattomalla tavalla kiveksissä tapahtuu abstraktia matemaattista ajattelua ja maitorauhasten kehittymisellä puolestaan on äänihuulten ja kurkunpään hallintaa edistävä vaikutus. Tämä ilmiöllä on selitetty mm. se, että miehet ovat yliedustettuina sellaisilla aloilla, joilla matemaattista päättelykykyä tarvitaan, kuten tekniikka ja liiketalous, kun taasen runoilijat, kirjailijat ja etenkin kirjallisuuden Nobelistit ovat olleet etupäässä... öh, tarkastellaanpa mieluummin aiheeseen liittyvää empiiristä tutkimusta:

There's no real difference between the scores of U.S. boys and girls on common math tests, according to a massive new study. Educators hope the finding will finally dispel lingering perceptions that girls don't measure up to boys when it comes to crunching numbers.

Spending a moment in a bookshop in Bangkok’s airport Suvarnabhumi waiting for my connecting flight to Singapore, I spotted this book that immediately caught my attention, The Third Sex, by Richard Totman.

The book is a study of the kathoeys of Thailand, boys that from an early age know that they want to grow up to be women, not men. Not the first sex they were biologically equipped to be, not the second sex they socially identify with, but a third. Totman lived with the family of one of these kathoey boys for some time so the study is even empirical.

It's the kind of loophole the sex industry must have been dreaming of: in 2003, when the Licensing Act came into force, lapdancing clubs could suddenly be opened as easily as a karaoke bar or a Starbucks. Previously they needed a special nudity licence. The results are striking - the number of clubs in Britain has doubled, to 300, in just four years.

Arto Kotron ja Hannu T. Sepposen toimittama antologia Mies vailla tasa-arvoa on saanut tilaa julkisuudessa. "Alan miehenä" minunkin oli tietenkin tutustuttava tähän "tärkeään keskustelunavaukseen."

Asked whether I could write down a few reflections on how it is to be married to a strong and independent woman I thoughtlessly agreed. But when I sat down to start the writing I realized I have noting to compare to – I never was married to a dependent woman – never wanted to be either, could probably have found one though if I’d really wanted to.

A group of women among the poorest in India have gotten into direct action against men's violence and corruption. The Guardian reports:

Eduskunnan pääsihteeri Seppo Tiitinen julistaa miehisellä auktoriteetillaan, että seksuaalinen häirintä ei ole erityinen ongelma eduskunnassa. Tiitinen spekuloi syntyneen kohun liittyvän jotenkin eduskunnan avustajakuntaan:

Ehkä tämä vähän uudenlainen henkilöstöryhmä on omalta osaltaan vaikuttanut tilanteeseen ja lisännyt tilanteita, joissa häirintää on voitu kokea, Tiitinen pohti.

Singapore's feminist organization AWARE has become increasingly aware of the need for but lack of male support for gender equality efforts - in this society 'proudly calling itself patriarchal' as the government puts it (there isn't a single female minister in the cabinet either). So when I came up with this idea of starting a men's group for gender awareness & development, it was like trying to break an open door - I got a lot of support from the beginning.

A few excerpts from my email correspondence during the preparation process:

The marriage rate in Japan is decreasing; at the age of 29, only 30% of well-educated women are married, as compared to 75% in 1980. And almost 30% do not want to marry at all. That leaves 40% who are still considering.. And the divorce rate has been rising steadily for decades.

Today I'm going to be interviewed by a (female of course) journalist from a Chinese-speaking newspaper about the White Ribbon Campaign, together with Connie Singam, the chair of AWARE. She sent us (in very bad English) the questions she's going to ask us, for my part:
1) This is the first time the Male Chapter is leading the campaign, how do you intend to do this ?
2) Why is it important to have the Male Chapter to lead this ?

And this is what I'm going to tell her:

The Guardian reports:

Dutch doctor Rebecca Gomperts has caused huge controversy by providing abortions for women in countries where the procedure is illegal - by treating them on a ship anchored in international waters.

I happened to see Persepolis, a cartoon movie made by and / or based on the book by Marjane Satrapi. The movie is on at Kino Engel (in Helsinki, that is) currently, but Allah only knows for how long - so go and see it.

It's a very important movie. It's a profeminist movie. It's a political movie. It's a very enjoyable and fascinating movie. It's a humorous movie. It's a serious movie. It's a movie you won't forget.

There's an article up on Alternet, a response to Robert Jensen's book, Getting Off: Pornography and the End of Masculinity. One of the authors admits that

The actors in these films are degraded, underpaid and used up by an industry with the morals of a slaughterhouse, despite what Jenna Jameson and Nina Hartley say. The women come into the industry with the self-esteem of earthworms, histories of physical and sexual abuse, and are often plunged into alcohol and drug abuse as a way of coping with their jobs.

Study: Sexist Humor Is No Joke
Jokes about female drivers and dumb blondes may be told in good fun, but they can promote discrimination against women, researchers say.

[...]

"We found that men with a high level of sexism were less likely to donate to the women’s organization after reading sexist jokes, but not after reading either sexist statements or neutral jokes," Ford said.

I cannot resist the temptation to quote today's (Thu Nov 1) The Straits Times on the emotional abuse of Malaysia's Muslim men:

Malaysia's Muslim men are suffering sleepless nights and cannot pray properly because their thoughts are distracted by a growing number of women who wear sexy clothes in public, a prominent opposition cleric said.

Yle Uutiset kirjoittaa:

Kristillisdemokraattisen puolueen puheenjohtaja, kansanedustaja Päivi Räsänen vaatii lääkäreille lakiin kirjattua oikeutta kieltäytyä aborttien tekemisestä.

[...]

Räsänen sanoo nykyisen aborttilainsäädännön suojaavan vain niiden vakaumusta, jotka katsovat ihmisen elämän alkavan vasta syntymästä. Onkin olemassa suuri vaara, että aborttiin kielteisesti suhtautuvat lääkärit ja hoitajat joutuvat syrjinnän kohteiksi vakaumuksensa vuoksi, Räsänen epäilee.