About Me
- Lotus Reads
- Book fiend,culture-vulture, world traveller, daughter of the tropics now living in the Great White North.
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
TLC's "Little People, Big World"
TLC's "Little People, Big World" is making waves among the viewing public in North America. They portray the everyday lives of the Roloff family. Matt and Amy Roloff are in their mid-40's and both are dwarfs or little people. They have four children, just one of whom is a "little person".
What I would like to know is this: Is "Little People, Big World" a legit excuse for voyeurism into a dwarf's world, or is the show really helping to educate people about dwarfs and dwarfism?
Will we allow little people to truly live "normal" lives doing everyday things like most of us? Or will we continue to gawk at them making them feel that their physical differences do separate them from the rest of us?
Finally, I would love to read some books on dwarfism, so if anyone has any titles to suggest, please pass them on.
What I would like to know is this: Is "Little People, Big World" a legit excuse for voyeurism into a dwarf's world, or is the show really helping to educate people about dwarfs and dwarfism?
Will we allow little people to truly live "normal" lives doing everyday things like most of us? Or will we continue to gawk at them making them feel that their physical differences do separate them from the rest of us?
Finally, I would love to read some books on dwarfism, so if anyone has any titles to suggest, please pass them on.
Monday, March 06, 2006
SABAH, The Movie.
While everyone else was watching the Oscars, I watched "Sabah, the movie" instead. Here's a short synopsis: It's about a 40-year old Syrian woman who lives in Canada. Sabah has never married because, after her father died, she allowed herself to fall into the role of her mother's caretaker while her brother took over as head of the household, ruling all the women in his family with an iron fist.
I guess, this being a movie, one has to forgive the stereotyping, but Sabah is the kind of woman who would just cower under the glance of a man, so firmly embedded in her cultural consciousness is the expectation that a woman is never seen to do anything that would seem provocative and that includes, never having a bare head, never looking a man in the eye, never giving him the "come on" even inadvertently. Anyway, one day, Sabah does something radical - she goes swimming!!! She is usually the lone swimmer in the gym pool until one day a man joins her and accidently uses her towel when he gets out to answer a call on his cell phone. When Sabah goes to reclaim her towel it sparks off a highly unlikely friendship between the two which leads to a wonderful romance, at once bashful and passionate. Unfortunately, because he's a white man and a Christian, Sabah cannot let anyone in her conservative Muslim family know about her boyfriend...obviously I cannot tell you what happens next because that would amount to a "spoiler" and I would hate to be accused of that, what I can tell you however, is I would have called this movie, "A 40-year Old Virgin-2"!
Seriously though, this is a wonderful movie where culture and romance are conflicted - makes you so appreciative of how falling in love is so uncomplicated in the western world, or is it?
While everyone else was watching the Oscars, I watched "Sabah, the movie" instead. Here's a short synopsis: It's about a 40-year old Syrian woman who lives in Canada. Sabah has never married because, after her father died, she allowed herself to fall into the role of her mother's caretaker while her brother took over as head of the household, ruling all the women in his family with an iron fist.
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Seriously though, this is a wonderful movie where culture and romance are conflicted - makes you so appreciative of how falling in love is so uncomplicated in the western world, or is it?
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
Apparently blondes have been having fun since the end of the "Ice Age"
A new study has found that north European women evolved blonde hair and blue eyes at the end of the Ice Age to make them stand out from their rivals at a time of fierce competition for scarce males.
According to the article in "Evolution and Human Behavior", "...blond hair originated in the region because of food shortages 10,000-11,000 years ago. Until then, humans had the dark brown hair and dark eyes that still dominate in the rest of the world. Almost the only sustenance in northern Europe came from roaming herds of mammoths, reindeer, bison and horses. Finding them required long, arduous hunting trips in which numerous males died, leading to a high ratio of surviving women to men.The increase in competition for males led to rapid change as women struggled to evolve the most alluring qualities. Peter Frost (a Canadian anthropologist) believes his theory is supported by studies which show blonde hair is an indicator for high oestrogen levels in women..."
Now we all know that celebrity blondes such as Marilyn Monroe, Jessica Simpson, Reese Witherspoon and Paris Hilton are held up as ideals of feminine allure. However, the future of the blonde is uncertain.
A study by the World Health Organisation found that natural blonds are likely to be extinct within 200 years because there are too few people carrying the blond gene. According to the WHO study, the last natural blond is likely to be born in Finland during 2202.
A new study has found that north European women evolved blonde hair and blue eyes at the end of the Ice Age to make them stand out from their rivals at a time of fierce competition for scarce males.
According to the article in "Evolution and Human Behavior", "...blond hair originated in the region because of food shortages 10,000-11,000 years ago. Until then, humans had the dark brown hair and dark eyes that still dominate in the rest of the world. Almost the only sustenance in northern Europe came from roaming herds of mammoths, reindeer, bison and horses. Finding them required long, arduous hunting trips in which numerous males died, leading to a high ratio of surviving women to men.The increase in competition for males led to rapid change as women struggled to evolve the most alluring qualities. Peter Frost (a Canadian anthropologist) believes his theory is supported by studies which show blonde hair is an indicator for high oestrogen levels in women..."
Now we all know that celebrity blondes such as Marilyn Monroe, Jessica Simpson, Reese Witherspoon and Paris Hilton are held up as ideals of feminine allure. However, the future of the blonde is uncertain.
A study by the World Health Organisation found that natural blonds are likely to be extinct within 200 years because there are too few people carrying the blond gene. According to the WHO study, the last natural blond is likely to be born in Finland during 2202.
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