Looking the part

What does a lesbian look like? If you go scrounging through the visual imagery that defines gay women in popular imagination you’ll find only stereotypes. There are the Martina Navratilova and Billy-Jean King-type no-nonsense sportswomen whose sinewy torsos can give any man a run for his muscles. And then there are the big, beefy and moustached monsters like the serial-killer portrayed by Charlize Theron in the recent Hollywood thriller, Monster. All that is changing now, with the media registering the existence of what is being called the ‘lipstick lesbians’. Even phrases like ‘lesbian fashion’ have stopped being outright oxymorons. Many popular TV shows are recognising this in the West. The latest echo comes from the new series, The Word, which disabuses viewers of the notion that lesbians are actually ‘men trapped inside women’s bodies’.

Better to marry…

A 13-year-old Turkish girl was married off by her family to her rapist who paid them “the price of a truck” to escape a long jail sentence, according to media reports. The girl was 10 years old when a family friend started sexually abusing her. The rapes continued for a year after which she got pregnant and gave birth to a girl. Her rapist was sentenced to 18-and-a-half years in jail. His family then promised the girl’s family $ 6,700 for an arranged marriage which would allow the young man to walk free — Turkish law is lenient to rapists who agree to marry their victims. The girl was married off by her farm-working parents last month in a ceremony at the local prison after they testified before a court that she was three years older than officially believed. Their ruse discovered, the parents now face a prison sentence for lying to public officials. But what becomes of the girl?

And now, from the capital

An extensive analysis of 2,359 cases registered by Delhi Police has revealed that a woman is raped in Delhi every 24 hours. The study by the National Commission for Women, conducted between early 1999 and June this year, found that the rapists were known to the victims in most cases. And that most of them were illiterate and some were college dropouts. More significantly, 16 minors were arrested on charges of rape this year. In 2003, six minors had been arrested.

The show goes on

Scantily-clad would-be showgirls will face the wrath of mothers and monks in the Italian hill town of Gubbio this weekend when they compete for prized slots in a popular TV variety show. Some 400 residents, led by a group of irate mothers, have sent the mayor a petition slamming the planned TV talent competition as a“humiliation” for the walled medieval town. “Why sell Gubbio out for a stage full of intellectual pygmies and dancers?” they asked in a one-page manifesto. Monks from the neighbouring town of Assisi, birthplace of St Francis, have rallied to their cause. But the controversy is unlikely to stop dozens of young women from flocking to Gubbio in search of stardom on Striscia La Notizia, or ‘strip the news’, a hugely popular show on one of the channels owned by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

Of mice and women

Scientists this week pointed out that the high-protein Atkins diet may be damaging the chances of weight-conscious women of getting pregnant and having a healthy baby. Researchers in Colorado revealed that embryos from mice that had been fed a high protein diet showed a failure to implant in the womb. They believe that the results should be a warning to women who want children. “Although our investigations were conducted on mice, our data may have implications for diet and reproduction in humans,” said David Gardner, scientist doctor of the Colorado Centre for Reproductive Medicine in Englewood, USA. The researchers advised those hoping to conceive to switch to more normal eating patterns.

Overheard... that an ad for a brand of women’s watches is resorting to an interesting strategy: playing up women’s lib. From 9 to 5, the catchline goes, she is “neither a wife, nor a daughter-in-law”.