Women With Low IQ and Rich Men...

This post is based on an article that I discovered in my morning crawl through cyber space. It was published in Cleo Australia in the June 2010 edition and can be found online.

The gist of the article is that researchers from Michigan University have found that women with a lower IQ are more likely to pursue rich men in comparison to women with a higher intellect. As I read through the Cleo article I found my self shaking my head and wondering whether the story was just a beat-up or was the study real.

So, I did a Google search and found an article in the Daily Mail from the UK that reported the same study. Then I just continued to shake my head chuckling at the thought that universities provided funding for research of this kind.

According to the lead researcher, Dr Christine Stanik, it makes sense that women with limited education and career opportunities to seek out rich men to provide them financial security that they would otherwise never achieve.

I always figured it to be a stereotype without substance, but research is research, right?

No offense intended to any of those individuals in the picture with Hugh Hefner. It was the picture that accompanied the story, although I found the picture here.

Miss Indonesia -- Learning to Speak Indonesian

I would have figured that to become Miss Indonesia that the ability to speak Indonesian, even Indonesian like Cinta Laura's hybrid version, would be a pre-requisite for entry into the competition. However, the crowning of the current Miss Indonesia proves otherwise.

The crowning of Karenina Sunny Halim (sometimes spelt Kerenina) is a interesting one. The young women are always stunningly beautiful, but pageants are supposed to have extended beyond the superficial looks to the judging of the women's skills and contributions to the greater community and not just whether she looks like a knock-out in an evening dress and a swimming costume. There is no doubt that Karenina is a beautiful young woman.

There is also little doubt that she is smart. She holds qualifications in public relations, teaching, performing arts, music, and marketing, among others. There is also little doubt that she does not speak much Indonesian. The question then is whether or not she is the best choice to represent Indonesia on the international stage?

Karenina needed a translator in order to be able to understand the questions from the Indonesian judges of the pageant. This is akin to, let's say, the winner of the Miss Australia pageant requiring a translator to answer the judges' questions in English. I don't know that it would ever happen.

It seems that Karenina is also a little short on the knowledge of Indonesian culture front as well. My guess is that she is in for a crash course in the Indonesian language and the culture of the vast archipelago that is Indonesia.

Nevertheless, I wish her nothing but the best as she represents Indonesia in the Miss World competition to be held in Johannesburg in South Africa.

Refuting Wilders

It seems that when the Suras that have been selected by Wilders to accompany the images of his film are put into context by considering the Suras before and after the selected Suras then a very different picture emerges.

Critical debate is always a better option than violence that only serves to perpetuate stereotypes!

Check out this video that refutes the Wilders film...

I encourage you to watch it, you might just learn something, I did!