This is what a feminist looks like

Fiscal feminism took its own sweet time to arrive. (Representational image: Rupixen via Unsplash) As a nation our financial DNA consists of petty savings, pay slips, chit funds, land holdings, bank loans and… dowry. Cash had very ‘his and her’ beginnings; for the longest time, money was a misogynist. Men dreamt of becoming rich, women dreamt of marrying rich. While women went about flaunting wealth via jewellery given to them by dads, husbands, brothers or sons, men learnt to salt it away in offshore accounts without the little woman knowing. Property and paisa were both male. ‘May you be the mother of a hundred sons’ was less a gynaecological curse than prosperity blessings. Sons were money in the bank. Fiscal feminism took its own sweet time to arrive. When Vijay of Deewar bought the house his mother helped to build as a labourer, it was still a man taking care of his womenfolk. Poor heroes were marrying rich heroines in film after film. Then one day actor Sushmita Sen bought … [Read more...] about Rupee sheds its sexist look

U.S. actress Eva Noblezada, U.S. actress Adelynn Spoon, U.S. actor John Ratzenberger, and Irish actor Colin O’Donoghue attend the Apple TV+ Global premiere of “Luck” at the Regency Village Theatre in Los Angeles, California, on July 30, 2022. Image: AFP/Lisa O’Connor Like all good animated family movies, “Luck” has a thoroughly optimistic premise: that no matter how hopeless or dire your circumstances may seem, something good will eventually come of it. Apple TV+ will be hoping the same is true for John Lasseter, the former Pixar guru who resigned under a cloud of #MeToo harassment claims, and later became head of the new Skydance Animation. “Luck” is that studio’s first film, available to stream Friday, which follows 18-year-old girl Sam and a talking black cat called Bob on their adventures in the fantastical Land of Luck. In this land of perfect fortune, all the world’s good and bad luck is produced by magical creatures including leprechauns, dragons, unicorns and goblins, … [Read more...] about Apple TV+ counts its ‘Luck’ as fallen ‘Toy Story’ exec makes comeback

Darlings derives its force mostly from the performances of the three lead characters: the mother-daughter duo Shamshunissa (Shefali Shah) and Badrunissa (Alia Bhatt) and the daughter's abusive husband Hamza (Vijay Varma). Movies in which bonds between women are central to the story are still terribly uncommon in our content universe. So the premise of Jasmeet K. Reen’s Darlings —a mother-daughter duo taking drastic measures against the serial abuser husband of the daughter—already places it firmly in an unfamiliar or unconventional orbit of storytelling. That is just one of the film’s winning indexes. The fact that it has been directed and co-written by a woman makes its gaze on gender, power, class and community immersively and stoutly feminine. Darlings is about escaping, however fantastically, the agonizing constraints of gender. The lives of most women in Hindi movies end with a wedding. Even its proponents would hardly argue that the aim of marriage is to set women free. … [Read more...] about Darlings review: The electric duet of Alia Bhatt and Shefali Shah

By Alice McCool for CNN Updated 1858 GMT (0258 HKT) November 11, 2018 CNN is committed to covering gender inequality wherever it occurs in the world. This story is part of As Equals , a year-long series. Kampala, Uganda — When model and socialite Judith Heard was asked to pay $3,000 in blackmail money to stop her stolen nude selfies being published online, she said her heart skipped a beat. The 32-year-old from Uganda didn't pay up and some time after that 2013 exchange, her explicit photos were posted online without her consent. In May 2018, it happened again. Nude photos of Heard were leaked online, but this time they were followed by a warrant for her arrest. The mother-of-three was charged under Uganda's Anti-Pornography Act , which criminalizes the production and circulation of "pornographic material," including on messaging apps like WhatsApp. "I would never think of putting out my nude pictures," Heard said. Read More She … [Read more...] about When her naked selfies were posted online, she thought life couldn’t get worse. Then she was arrested

INFLATION CRUSH CONTINUES… CNBC: Wholesale inflation rose 11% in April as producer prices keep accelerating Prices at the wholesale level accelerated further in April, part of a broader inflation problem persisting through the U.S. economy, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Thursday. The producer price index, which tracks how much manufacturers get for products at their initial sale, rose 0.5% on the month and 11% from a year ago, a decrease from the record 11.5% in March. Excluding food, energy and trade services, core PPI rose 0.6% in April and 6.9% from a year ago, the latter a decline from 7.1% last month. AFTER SEVERAL FIRE BOMBINGS OF PRO-LIFE GROUPS & THE AT-HOME INTIMIDATION OF SUPREME COURT JUSTICES, AG GARLAND FINALLY ISSUES A STATEMENT… CNBC: AG Garland directs U.S. Marshals to help ‘ensure the Justices’ safety’ after leaked Supreme Court abortion draft The head of the Department of Justice on Wednesday directed the U.S. Marshals Service to … [Read more...] about Editor Daily Rundown: Inflation Crush Continues

A captured image from Jung Yoon-suk's documentary film titled "Tomorrow" (2020) on display at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Seoul as a part of the museum's "Korea Artist Prize 2020" exhibition. [JOONGANG ILBO] While cancel culture — when people are ostracized for perceived wrongdoings — is mainly seen in the world of celebrities and online personalities, a recent exhibition at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) has brought the phenomenon to the art world and raised questions about freedom of expression, in particular in an industry which thrives on the notion. “Tomorrow” (2020) is a documentary about sex dolls accompanied by photographs with related images created by Jung Yoon-suk, one of four finalists for the “Korea Artist Prize 2020” who have been chosen to exhibit their work at the MMCA. The documentary runs for two hours and 40 minutes with three separate stories that all revolve around the idea of “surrogate human forms.” The film begins in a … [Read more...] about A bid to silence the subject of sex dolls brings cancel culture to the art world