Sunday 5 July 2009

Interesting articles in the Observer today

There are some interesting articles in the Observer Woman Magazine today.  

An interview with Tori Amos deals with power - 'What I know about men' talks about power 'real power is about exchange, not subordination.  For some people a powerful man is a bully.  He's powerful because he scares people.  And I would say that is not a powerful man - that's an intimidating man, a man who uses intimidation tactics.  A powerful man is a man that knows e is and doesn't want to intimidate people to get what he wants.   

There is also an interesting interview with Monica Seles, the tennis player, who was violently attacked on a tennis court in the early nineties.  The article talks about her eating disorder, the process of taking back control and coming to terms with the death of her father.   Her new book Getting to Grips, sounds like a potentially interesting read.

Beth Ditto, the lead singer of Gossip is interviewed.  She is a lesbian from Arkansas, described by many as weird.  Her grounded sense of self really shines through.  On being described as normal she says 'when I go home I am normal.  This is what all my friends are doing.   There are tons of fat people who are gay and make music and love clothes.....everything that you think is weird is normal to me.'

Finally there is an article about the potential of male circumcision to impact positively on rates of HIV and sexually transmitted infections.  It is an important article that highlights the challenge of getting public health messages right - making sure they are understood by the public.  It also poses the challenge of trusting people to use information well and take responsibility for their sexual health - something we can find incredibly difficult and leads to a paternalistic approach to health promotion.  

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