Susan Boyle, of Britain’s Got Talent fame, says her mother was advised to abort her.

From the awfully talented Jan Eliot:

Forgive me for ruining the week’s feel-good story. But this guy needs a serious kick in the pants.

I’m sorry. Why do people insist on believing unbelievable things?

And all smiles, too: (warning: contains graphic pictures without the prosthetic nose)

Here’s something that will surprise – nay, astound! – Véronique: Mothers who take time “off” to raise their kids tend to get lower wages when they do return to the workforce. We can discuss whether this is fair until we’re blue in the face, the fact remains that mothers who re-enter the workforce after a few years out of it aren’t in the same position, wage-wise, as women who never left.

But then, mothers have children. True, children tend not to help with one’s financial situation, at least not while they’re very young. But maybe there’s more to the work-life balance than a big paycheque?

Niqab and hot pants… oh my! (Gentle warning: the song’s lyrics, in French, are somewhat explicit, in a semi-poetic kind of way.)

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=st38g1N5uuo&feature=player_embedded]

For the record: I don’t like it. My problem with the niqab isn’t that it’s not sexy or explicit enough.

This is hilarious!

Female sexual dysfunction – which is claimed to affect up to two thirds of women – is a disorder invented by the pharmaceutical industry to build global markets for drugs to treat it, it is claimed today.

I’m going to sound awfully old-fashioned, but you know, if we could only stop treating sex like some kind of machine that needs technique and oil and tinkering and stuff, we might start enjoying ourselves a bit more.

Hey, look! Somebody I know published a fine piece on that famous “hooker ruling”. And it neatly addresses something that’s been bugging me for a while about the debate over whether prostitution should be legal – the way people confuse “legal” with “good”. As in: prostitution should be legal because let’s be honest, what’s the big deal? So what if some women (and men) want to sell their bodies? It’s theirs, right? Well, no. Not right.

Countries with legalized prostitution should consider the number of young girls transported in dirty containers from places like Ukraine, Russia, Nigeria and elsewhere, to service western buyers. Will Canada join their ranks?

Some in the Netherlands are now hoping to undo the damage of legalized prostitution. Amsterdam’s Mayor Job Cohen told the press in 2007 human trafficking was on the rise and crime was running rampant: “Since the legalization in 2000, things have changed. The law was created for voluntary prostitution but these days we see trafficking of women, exploitation and all kinds of criminal activity.”

Prostitution is dangerous whether legal or illegal. Furthermore, it’s not a choice. The vast majority of women come to it through drug and sexual abuse, mental health problems and extreme poverty.

Maintaining strict laws is about protecting women who are abused by the very way in which they survive. This is also about the kind of country we want to live in.

There’s money in this! Imagine how many more people would buy a minivan if they were sexier…