Showdown at Newsagent's

Gah! Just had a (civil - I hope) row with my local Newsagent. We can call him Raj.

I have discussed with him previously the positioning of the lads mags (next to the sweets) but to no avail. This morning I noticed that Loaded had a 18 cert DVD attached to it and asked him if he would sell it to children. "Yeah, cos there's no age restriction on the magazine".
"But the DVD has an age restriction."
"Doesn't matter because it comes with the magazine."
"So you'd sell it to a five year old if they wanted it."
"Yeah. Would have to innit?"
"Um, no."
"I've got to make a living."

Legal issue: What the fuck is going on here? Talked to MWABH about it and he said legally it is no different to sticking a cigarette packet on a lollipop and selling it to under 16s. It's stuck to a lollipop so that makes it ok then.

18 cert (um, porn) DVD footage is being sold to children and it is sanctioned by law.

People! Get complaining! This is NOT ON. Loophole or what?

Raj then started muttering about women making lots of money from these mags and choosing to pose for them on their own steam, and basically it's all their fault that these mags exist. NO. Whether some women choose to take advantage of the demand to see them naked is NOT THE POINT. Men are making so much money from it and gain so much control, as a group, over women from it, that if no women chose to be in the mags, some would be FORCED to.

Parting words from Raj: "People like you in the minority though innit?"

Don't we fucking know it.

29

Happy birthday to me
I sat up a tree
I saw a hairy-legged feminist
And she looked just like me

It is also Wednesday when Witchy does her Wows and I thought I'd Wow one of her own posts. In this comment thread a guy called Stuart is in a muddle. He says he likes porn because it degrades women and he "uses prostitutes" in order to do the sex acts he sees in porn. Then he says he doesn't want to see women abused - in fact it is a turn-off! Then he is asked if he knows whether or not the prostitutes are trafficked and he responds with "I didn't ask them. Do you ask whether or not your clothes are made in sweat-shops?" (Paraphrased).

Most clothes are made in sweat-shops so maybe he should think about that.

Really, it's worth a read. Straight from the horse's mouth so to speak.

Counting games

To people who say "we're all equal now" or "women have won the fight - in fact the pendulum has swung too far in the other direction!" (what sodding pendulum?), shut them up with the result of your fantastic counting games.

In a Sunday paper a few weeks ago (I think it was the Times) I counted the pictures: around 250 men and about 50 women.

In today's Guardian I counted 55 men and 13 women. Of those 13, one was Uma Thurman advertising a watch, one was Kate Moss wearing underwear, and one was dead.

Counting on TV. Flick through channels of an evening and count the men and women you see. Then count up how much talk time the men have compared to the women. Also note what they are talking about.

At the moment I'm watching "Loose Women"; four women chatting in front of an audience, which is hardly typical. They're talking about fashion models though.

Get counting and tell everyone the results!

(Please note, you can also play counting games with race, thin/fat, young/old or whatever is bee-ing in your bonnet.)

PLEASE READ: Woman jailed for a year for accusing her husband of rape

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1939283,00.html

Sally Henderson has been named, shamed, and jailed for "falsely accusing" her husband of rape. She still insists she is telling the truth. The evidence that she is lying? She also claimed her ex-boyfriend raped her. Neither man was charged because they simply did not believe her.

As there is no evidence that she is lying, she could well have been repeatedly raped and jailed for it.

And this won't deter rape victims coming forward how?