Thursday, 5. June 2008, 11:58:44
Women, News, Denmark
I just heard on the news that thousands of illegal pink pills aimed at increasing women's sexual desire have been confiscated by customs authorities in the past several months. The pills, called Womenra, are routinely sent from India and are ordered over the internet by Danish women. They allegedly increase blood flow to the sexual organs. The Danish Medicines Agency will begin a campaign this fall against Womenra and other illegal generic medicines.
I nearly choked when I heard it. Woman-Viagra... They sound of it just isn't right, is it? For me, Viagra is for men that can't get it up, but ok, on the other hand, if they work for her, she might end up getting it up after all...
Sorry for the bad pun. 
Sunday, 20. April 2008, 09:07:10
Denmark, News, Women
Today it is excactly 100 years ago that a law was passed, a law that gave Danish women the right to vote.
The demand about women having rights to vote rised during the 1880's. It mobilized thousands of activists and changed the women's movement from being something that only happened in Copenhagen, into a national movement. The law from 1908 gave Danish women the right to vote for the local elections, and in 1915 a new law was made that gave women rights to vote at national elections as well.
Even though these laws was an important step in our democracy, there is still a long way to go. We still don't have equal pay, and women are still poorly represented in committees and as leaders.
The 100 year anniversary will be celebrated today, and I will go to the Copenhagen town hall square to see what happens there. Of course I'll bring my camera. 
Saturday, 8. March 2008, 05:11:31
Trivia, News, Women
8th of March is the International Women's Day. It is a major day of global celebration for the economic, political and social achievements of women.
Started as a political event, the holiday blended in the culture of many countries, primarily Russia and the countries of former Soviet bloc.
In some celebrations, the day lost its political flavour, and became simply an occasion for men to express their love to the women around them in a way somewhat similar to Mother's Day and St Valentine's Day mixed together. In others, however, the political and human rights theme as designated by the United Nations runs strong, and political and social awareness of the struggles of women worldwide are brought out and examined in a hopeful manner.
The idea of making an International Women's Day is to focus on the lack of equality between the genders, so making it into a "give your woman flowers-day" is ridiculous in my eyes.
The Day was approved by the UN back in 1975. 1975 was International Woman's Year.
My hope is that I live long enough to see the day where men and women are treated equally!
Sunday, 10. February 2008, 06:04:54
Trivia, Storytelling, Copenhagen, Women
Today I am going to tell you a story about a young girl, Louise Rasmussen, who was born in 1815. When she was 11 years old she was admitted to the Royal Theaters School of Ballet, and in 1842 she had a son. Louise was not married to the child's father, so the little boy was placed with fosterparents, and Louise went to Copenhagen to establish a fashion shop.
The child's father introduced Louise to crown prince Frederik. Frederik became King Frederik the 7th in 1848, and in 1850 he married Louise "to his right hand". That means that if they had children, they wouldn't have right of inheritance to the Danish crown. He had to do it this way, since he had already been married twice. When the two were married, Louise got the title Countess Danner.
The Danes, especially the aristocracy and the upper class, were very shocked over this marriage between the king and the daughter of an unmarried maid, so she was harassed in different ways. After the kings death in 1863 she lead a retired life.
In 1873, shortly before her death, she established the "King Frederik the Seventh's establishment for poor women of the working classes". The House was finished in 1875, and is now known as the Danner House (Dannerhuset).
Here is the Danner House anno 2008: 
The Danner House contains a private, humanitarian organisation, which works for womens rights. The house is preserved, and does also contain a refuge for battered wives and their children.
More than 1,000 women enquire at the Danner House every year. The House is run by 23 employes and almost 200 volunteers.
Men are not allowed in the house due to security issues.
Tuesday, 23. October 2007, 04:09:49
Trivia, Women
There has been a lot of talking about thin / skinny girls in the media lately. A talk about how girls starve themselves in order to live up to the models in the magazines.
But this phenomenon is not new at all.
The first forerunner of the thin womens ideal is the 1920's "flapper girl".
She stood for women's liberation. She didn't wear corset under her dress, and she was the woman that started wearing men's clothes: Trousers. She drove her own car, she drank and smoked and she had sex in the same pace as men did.
On the other hand she was a paradox regarding equality of status. She looked more like a boy than a woman: She had narrow hips, flat chest and a slender figure. She was an ideal that opened the way for women to make their own decisions, but bodily she was unattainable for most women.
1960's gave us the most sexy women's ideal of all times. Marilyn Monroe was a woman with a fuller figure, she had both breasts and butt. This body is attainable for more women, especially if you have good breast genes.
When it comes to equality of status, this type of woman wasn't a true ideal. Even though Marilyn was not a dumb blonde, she was known and loved as one. She was seen as a helpless adorable sexbomb in the middle of a bunch of strong handsome men.
That points in the direction that feminine, fuller figured women have to be a bit dumb to be accepted and appreciated.
The 1960s did also give us Twiggy.
Twiggy did look a lot like the 1920s Flapper girl with her pre-puberty body, but she was a different type of woman. She didn't live the wild, limit-breaking life.
She was the skinniest woman the fashion industry had seen, and she became a fashion icon. She was 16 years old when she started her model career, and she weighed only 6½ stone (41 kg / 90 lbs).
Twiggy was a doll that the designers could dress up.
1970s was the hippie-era. This was the years were the liberation of women really speeded up.
These were the times where women burned their bras in the name of liberality and everything were facing a more "natural" way of living.
But it was also the times where tall, slim women like Jerry Hall and Cher posed on Studio 54. They were strong and had charisma, but not a body easily achieved.
Diane Keaton's Annie Hall-figure did also have a big influence on the fashion. She was tall and skinny and she wore oversized men's clothes. The woman who had the teenage boy's characteristic was back as an ideal.
The 1980s was fast and rough, and gave us a new version of the masculine woman. She was sporty, top trained, and she showed her body in lurex aerobics outfits, and stuffed her shoulders in order to make them look bigger.
Grace Jones was a typical icon of the 80s and there was nothing innocent about her. Man and woman melted into one, and the ideal for both genders was to achieve their goals, even with their elbows first.
The 1990s changed the ideal a little bit, with models like Cindy Crawford and Naomi Campbell: Women who were still tall and slim, but with both butts and breasts.
As for today, it is hard to analyze when you're in the middle of it.
A lot of women try to achieve the size zero look. It's kind of a traume, really. We are surrounded by opportunities and demands. When we find out that we cannot meet all the demands, we seem to seek control and acceptance. Control of our body, and acceptance from the surroundings. And as long as the media glorifies skinny women, that is the image many women seek to shape themselves into.
(40%)
WIDGETIZE