Wednesday, August 29, 2007

  • Today's Articles - Asian Women are Nymphos; Asians & People with Down Syndrome

    The theme today seems to be issues facing Asian Americans.

    "At Nail Salons, Beauty Treatments Can Have a Distinctly Unglamorous Side" - New York Times
    "As the number of nail salons has surged, Chinese immigrants have poured into the industry in New York and New Jersey, which has long been dominated by Korean immigrants, like Ms. Lee. These Chinese manicurists often work for low wages, helping salon owners hold down their expenses and prices....But the demand has taken a toll on many salon workers, advocates for the workers said. Owners often force employees to work 60 hours a week while failing to pay overtime or allow lunch breaks. And lower manicure prices mean lower tips for workers who spend their days cutting cuticles and painting on polish."

    "No-Tell Motels" - Time Magazine
    Asian Americans own approximately 37% of the US hotel industry.  However, due to xenophobia, so many of them display "American Owned" signs on and in their facilities, which "intended as code for 'not owned by immigrants,' an attempt to divert business from upstanding first- or second-generation citizens whose ethnicity distinguishes them from most of their small-town neighbors."

    "Evolutionary Regression Back to 1866" - The Guardian
    "I am a connoisseur of freaky ideas, but nothing prepared me for this gem from the academic journal Medical Hypotheses: an article called 'Down subjects and Oriental population share several specific attitudes and characteristics'.  You'd be right to experience a shudder of nervousness at the title alone, since this is an academic journal, from 2007, and not 1866 when John Langdon Down wrote his classic 'Observations on the Ethnic Classification of Idiots'.  Flash forward to 2007 - I think that's where we are - to two Italian doctors. They offer their theory that the parallels between Down syndrome and 'oriental' people go beyond this fleeting facial similarity.  'There is...pose taken by Down subjects while they are sitting on a chair: they sit with their legs crossed while they are eating, writing, watching TV, as the Oriental peoples do.'"
    It just...I...really???  *shakes head*

    "Asian Women are Nympho Freaks?" - Race in the Workplace Blog
    "Then he said, “='What do you think she is? She doesn’t look full Asian. Some kind of half-breed?' and, flabbergasted, I managed 'I don’t know.'"
    I don't know how Asian and Asian American women can deal the load of stereotypes, particularly sexual, that heterosexual men of other races have placed upon them. 

    Social History of the Bra - AlterNet
    "The bra was invented by an engineer of German extraction called Onto Titzling in 1912. He was living in a New York boarding house, and one of his neighbours, a voluptuous opera singer called Swanhilda Olafson, complained that she needed a garment to hoist her vast bosom aloft every evening -- so Titzling obliged, using some cotton, elastic and metal struts. Unfortunately, he failed to patent the device and, in the early 1930s, a Frenchman named Philippe de Brassière began making a suspiciously similar object. Titzling took him to court, but the unscrupulous Frenchman won the day. And that's why the garment all the ladies are wearing is called a brassiere, not a titzling."

    "Harvard Leader Named Dean of Duke medical school" - Boston Globe
    "In other news,     the Boston Globe reports that Duke just named a woman, Dr. Nancy C. Andrews, as head of its medical school. Andrews is not only the first female dean of Duke's medical school, but the only female dean among the top 10 United States medical schools, as ranked by the U.S. News & World Report. (Salon's Broadsheet)"

    "Nelson Mandela Statue is Unveiled [in London]" - BBC News
    I know most people probably don't care about this, but I'm half-South African.  I can't help but to care.

    By the way...
    "'But You Look so Good!' and 7 Other Things NOT to Say to a Person With a Non-Visible Disability" - DiversityInc Magazine

    "US Astronauts 'Did Not Fly Drunk'" - BBC News
    This is a follow-up to an article I posted previously about accusations that astronauts had been allowed to fly drunk on two occasions.

    Currently Watching
    The Bourne Ultimatum
    By Matt Damon, Julia Stiles, David Strathairn, Scott Glenn, Paddy Considine
    see related

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