If the city authorities have their way, the widely sold tourist T-shirt proclaiming that "Good boys go to heaven and bad boys go to Amsterdam" will become a relic. Indeed, those bad boys may soon struggle to find their way to the city's fabled red-light district of "storefront" prostitution. Last week one of the main entrepreneurs in the city's perfectly legal sex industry cashed in, selling his properties in the district. The buyer, for $35 million, was a not-for-profit organization backed by the city of Amsterdam. The plan is to convert the buildings in which prostitutes pose in the windows into apartments and more conventional commercial space.
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1664939,00.html
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Just a rant.....
Life is, metaphorically speaking, lacking all nutrients. It is a journey from the unknown to the unknown. Leaving the traveler completely lost the whole way there. Lately I have realized that everything I think and feel has been constructed by something out of my hands. I have been flirting with success my entire life. One minute longing for it, the next believing there is no such thing. As I continue my path to nowhere, I realize the trail is bare. It essentially has no substance to keep you on it (Disclaimer: this is not a suicide rant). Therefore it is lacking all nutritional value.
Here is another thought provoking piece of work.
Alright, so I have a brilliant professor and he has been giving me some great course readings. Here is a book you can read online it you would like.
Man-Made Medicine: Women's Health, Public Policy, and Reform
Again this article leaves me feeling like sexual assault survivors are always viewed as a burden in society. It seems historically that every group of individuals that has suffered physical and mental pain is considered a bit of a burden. We are treated like we have "issues" or are too much to handle. Employers feel awkward around you when they are not able to treat you sexually. When they realize that you have self worth and don't want to have someone's eyes graze over your body...then THEY become uncomfortable. They stop wanting to talk to you on an intellectual level once they realize they made you felt dirty with a joke or their stare. You begin to feel isolated and that you have no one to talk to because if you complain you are causing drama or are overly sensitive....It is wrong for us to want to go about our days without hearing a sexual comment made at our expense. We are uncomfortable to be around when we want to keep all of our sexual energy dedicated to one person.
straight from the annals of Most Amazing Moments in Legal Obfuscation (direct from the ever-growing file entitled, "are you fucking kidding me??") a trial judge in nebraska ruled the terms "rape," "victim," "sexual assault kit," and "sexual assault nurse" not to be spoken during a sexual assault trial.
you can't make this shit up, but unfortunately, you don't have to.
walking into a school (junior high, high school or even elementary) after reading this book is a strange experience. where before, I merely saw kids insulting other kids, chasing each other and running around, I began to see instinctually driven gambits for status and power. rather than trying to tease apart healthy and unhealthy behaviors using logic and reason (and inevitably coming to the conclusion that nothing makes sense and kids are stupid for doing the things they do), one begins to see patterns of behavior arise out of coping mechanisms; methods of protecting the self in very self-threatening environments.