2014: the year women won?
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/video/2014/dec/17/2014-the-year-women-won-video

Here is another positive part of that year:
First female bishop named as the Reverend Libby Lane
Reverend Libby Lane has been announced as the first female bishop for the Church of England, just a month after a historic change to canon law...
... The appointment will end centuries of male leadership of the Church and comes 20 years after women became priests...
... The first women bishop eligible to take up a seat in the Lords is expected to be announced in the new year...

Great:)
Antje Jackelén was installed as Archbishop of Uppsala Cathedral on June 15, 2014. She is the 70th in order and first woman at the office.
http://www.svenskakyrkan.se/omoss/om-arkebiskop-antje-jackelen

Uber in the news again

"On Wednesday night, another spokesman for the company confirmed that Done worked for Uber and had passed a background check."

Couldn't have been that thorough then.

For those that can pass the physical tests, of course they should be allowed to serve in that capacity. But I suspect that ministers think that many will not be able to do so, so is it just a hollow gesture in the run up to a general election?

Maybe, but it is another welcome step forward to equality.

Women on the front line

Women complement Men, and vica versa, period.

[edit] I do mean mentally. Physically, men are way stronger.

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rOZZ
Music
Pictures

Physically, men are way stronger.

As a father and as an astute observer of women,
I would tend to disagree with that statement.
Women put up with the physical side of life very
well indeed in my estimation. There is a value in
not just picking up, but also in putting up. I think
women can show men a thing or two strength wise. How
can a man live in a world where women are valued less
than men.

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Col Mike Dewar, a military historian who served in Cyprus, Borneo and Northern Ireland, told the BBC the "battle fitness test" also required the infantry to "pick up another man, with his rifle and equipment, and carry him in a fireman's lift 200 metres." He said upper body strength in "99.9% of women" would make it "virtually impossible" to pass the tests.

I have trouble believing that. Yes, technically men can peak higher than women when it comes to brute physical strength. But then we are talking pro athlete levels where this becomes a real distinction. The military physical requirements are tough, but you don't need to be a pro athlete or body builder to pass those tests. Technically, with enough training most normal healthy guys should be able to pass that test. It stands to reason that with enough training, women should be able to pass that test as well. It just might take more training for them, but we should be able to accommodate that right?

Col Mike Dewar, a military historian who served in Cyprus, Borneo and Northern Ireland, told the BBC the "battle fitness test" also required the infantry to "pick up another man, with his rifle and equipment, and carry him in a fireman's lift 200 metres." He said upper body strength in "99.9% of women" would make it "virtually impossible" to pass the tests.

I have trouble believing that. Yes, technically men can peak higher than women when it comes to brute physical strength. But then we are talking pro athlete levels where this becomes a real distinction. The military physical requirements are tough, but you don't need to be a pro athlete or body builder to pass those tests. Technically, with enough training most normal healthy guys should be able to pass that test. It stands to reason that with enough training, women should be able to pass that test as well. It just might take more training for them, but we should be able to accommodate that right?

Now you are quite clearly talking through your butt!

what's that odor here?

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I think that if you want equality of rights,
then there must be an equality of effort.
When I went in to the forces, I was directed to
the skills I had that would help out the most
with the mission of our Air Force. Our female
citizens who joined up were directed as well to
the things they wanted to try to do to help out.
We have had far more successes than failures
in this effort.

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Exactly! I was a normal healthy young man & quite fit (more of a long distance runner than a sprinter) & even though I was a serviceman, there was no way in hell I could pass the Infantry fitness test even though I passed the Army's BFT.

My forte was Transport & Logistics, the things that Infantry cannot do without. What most do not realise is that there are more personnel in the armed forces serving in "support arms" than what there is serving as line soldiers.

The Infantry is not everyone's cup of tea, & those that want serve, do so in the best capacity that their build/skills/mindset allow them.

If the majority of fit & healthy males find it difficult to pass, women will find it much harder...

...& that my friends is in no way - Sexist!

I was good at having a grand old time, getting to
all kinds of scrapes, and being well greased up after
work with out actually having to pay any pipers.
I also had an strong affinity for the natural sciences
so they found a place for me. Also It seems I am fun
to have around, useful just before battle.

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On a completely different level to such as the extremes of the religious fruitcakes that abhor the sight of ANY female flesh, we have in Japan a strange custom that "anything goes" for showing female flesh except for just one area that is zealously 'frowned' upon:


Japan charges Tokyo 'vagina artist' with obscenity

A Japanese woman who makes art based on her vagina has been charged with obscenity, in a case that has sparked discussion on censorship...


Hence, for Japan, that is quite a piece of art and a stir and good art for causing a stir. I dread to think what our Tracy Emin would dream up!

And yet even more strangely, I believe there is no similar misogynistic focus for anything Japanese male...

There just has to be some odd culture and history behind that one...


All in our only one world,
Martin

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See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

There just has to be some odd culture and history behind that one...

I see you don't get at all, in Japan it is a democracy.
Every man gets one vote, every woman gets to vote what
some man in her life has told her to vote.
It works very well for them, just ask any guy there.

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Yeah, who are we to tell another culture that their ways are wrong?

I must have missed that, I was just explaining what I thought things were like there.
It certainly is not like me at all to ever suggest there is something wrong with the way
any one does any thing in their own countries. Oh no, not me.
Why next, people would ask me to point out the sort of troubles we could be having here
in the land of the free and the home of the cold. I bet finding something like that would
take a person a long time to find stuff to complain about indeed!

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... It works very well for them, just ask any guy there.

Yeah, who are we to tell another culture that their ways are wrong?

That is where we dive into the games of morals and ideals and when/how to intervene...

Our western culture appears to have good and highly beneficial ideals of equality of the sexes. Something that has only recently gained ground after past great struggles.


Regardless of that, do you feel that anyone should be arbitrarily enslaved due merely to whatever natural quirk of their birth gave rise to what was their sex, colour, facial features, or whatever?

Note that a part of WWII was to fight against such perversity.


And for the misogynistic examples, since then we still have ongoing examples of perversity around the world and even at home still...

Do we all do nothing but shamefully ignore everything?!...


All in our only one world,
Martin

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See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

I see someone finally mentioned WWII, which is deeply entwined with this law.

The short version is censorship was abolished during the occupation however some junior officer asked about pornography. Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, General Douglas MacArthur was consulted. He knew little about art and Japanese culture and knew the men under his command knew even less. He needed a quick bright line test. He is reputed to have answered that if it shows pubic hair it is obscene. Under that edict Francisco Goya's La maja desnuda would be obscene. It wasn't intended to be forever, but as with most prude laws, a version of it is still on the books only preventing the publication of the vagina and erect penis.

NSFW http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pornography_in_Japan

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I see someone finally mentioned WWII, which is deeply entwined with this law.

The short version is censorship was abolished during the occupation however some junior officer asked about pornography. Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, General Douglas MacArthur was consulted. He knew little about art and Japanese culture and knew the men under his command knew even less. He needed a quick bright line test. He is reputed to have answered that if it shows pubic hair it is obscene. Under that edict Francisco Goya's La maja desnuda would be obscene. It wasn't intended to be forever, but as with most prude laws, a version of it is still on the books only preventing the publication of the vagina and erect penis.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pornography_in_Japan

Incredible. Thanks for that!

Errrr... So that's all as "cultural" as is the industrial scale Japanese whaling! (Also from the same source as a quick-feed temporary post-war measure...)

And all very American if anything!!


... Do the Japanese need a new mode of culture to overthrow the corruption of their elders and move onwards to a better younger future?...


All in our only one world,
Martin

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See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Incredible. Thanks for that!

Errrr... So that's all as "cultural" as is the industrial scale Japanese whaling! (Also from the same source as a quick-feed temporary post-war measure...)

And all very American if anything!!

Yes the imposition of an American standard on the Japanese culture has resulted in the unique sick twisted perverted pornography market in Japan. It serves as a lesson to mankind about prohibitions (pornography, sex, booze, drugs, guns, CO2) and what will be done to get around them.

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I did want to post this in "It is time" but it is more suited to this thread especially as I find it appalling that those we elect into power are expected to be publically spirited...

...unfortunately, I continue to forget to wake up!

Another Lib-Dem who should STFU & keep his zip closed

If this wasn't so insulting, it would be hilarious! Men envious of a woman so labelled her to prevent future participation...

forced to strip naked to prove she was a woman

Biological racism

...Bad science? Really? more like many not wanting to upset the $$$$$$ gravy train that modern sport has become!

Oooops just seen that my last post has a duff link, sorry.

Sun

I always thought that page 3 distracted from that paper's otherwise excellent standard of high quality journalism!

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Life on earth is the global equivalent of not storing things in the fridge.