Gonzalo R. Quintana Zunino, Concordia University Your first sexual partner may have more to tell you about your spouse or current lover than you may think. Although this may sound surprising to you, studies have shown early experiences play a role in who we choose as a sexual partner. Imagine you’re single. It is a warm summer Saturday night in the city. You’re in a club, drink in hand, freshly paid and feeling great. As the music plays in the background while your gaze meanders across the bar, you spot the most beautiful and sexy person you have ever seen.…
Author: Pride Team
My Darling Daughter, “But this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before…” Philippians 3:13 As we journey through life with all its complexities, we are bound to make many mistakes and missteps. We are likely to fail repeatedly and score successes as well. However, the challenges we encounter may leave us discouraged because we are perplexed and confused about which way to go. It is at moments like these that you should remind yourself that yesterday is gone and tomorrow is out of sight. What matters is the…
From a refugee camp to a senatorial seat: the underdog story of Minnesota’s first African-born senator, IIhan Omar, is one that when shared ignites a feeling of pride, possibilities and hope. Hence her rightful place as our Woman Crush Wednesday. Born the last child into her family, growing up without a mother and being made to flee their war-stricken country, Somalia, to the US didn’t deter the 37-year-old senator from achieving her dreams. As an African-born woman, with her race, sex and (perhaps) religion stacked up against her, she stands tall in a largely patriarchal political system, proving that dreams…
Noel Twagiramungu, University of Massachusetts Lowell and Joseph Sebarenzi, Ph.D., SIT Graduate Institute A quarter of a century ago Rwanda was a graveyard. Hundreds of thousands of lives had been lost and government institutions were in a shambles. This was the aftermath of a genocide that started in April 1994 and went on until July. An estimated three quarters of Rwanda’s Tutsi minority perished in the genocide that was presided over by the Hutu-dominated government. At the same time, tens of thousands of Hutu were massacred by the Tutsi-dominated Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF). When the fighting ended in July 1994,…
Dear Dorothy, I’ve been in a relationship with a 50-year-old man for the past four years and he’s 15 years older than me. But age is not the problem; I’m one of five women in his life that I know about. The right thing to do would be to end the relationship, but I’ve been unable to. My parents and siblings don’t approve of this relationship and are putting pressure on me to end it. At the beginning of our relationship, it was really great as he paid me great attention and lavished me with gifts. Things were going quite…
Marijke Verpoorten, University of Antwerp and Sahawal Alidou, University of Antwerp Several studies, covering about 58 countries across the world, found that as women get older they are more able to make decisions independently of men. But scholars have struggled to pin down explanations for this age dividend – why are women given more independence the older they get? We wanted to know what the reasons may be. In a recent study, we looked at women’s autonomy across age in Nigeria, Togo, Ghana and Benin. These four West African countries are home to ethnic groups that practice “voodoo”, a religion…
Terence Jackson, Middlesex University The informal economy in Africa is big business. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) estimates that its average size as a percentage of gross domestic product in sub-Saharan Africa is 41%. This ranges from under 30% in South Africa to 60% in Nigeria, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. It is also a huge employer. It represents about three-quarters of non-agricultural employment, and about 72% of total employment in sub-Saharan Africa. About 93% of new jobs created in Africa during that 1990s were in the informal economy. The International Labour Office defines the informal economy as: All economic activities by…
Launched in 2017, the hangout with Tee is a laid back and fun event that allows ladies to relax, have fun and pamper themselves in the midst of great company and sound advice. ”As a woman, the biggest issue for her was finding or attending a women’s event where she could learn and have so much fun,” she said. “I wanted to create a network that was about women learning and having so much fun.” Many women are bored with their lives and want to achieve more but they would rather take care of everyone else than themselves and also…
Richard Colledge, Australian Catholic University Incredible as it may seem, the end of March marks 20 years since the release of the first film in the Matrix franchise directed by The Wachowski siblings. This “cyberpunk” sci-fi movie was a box office hit with its dystopian futuristic vision, distinctive fashion sense, and slick, innovative action sequences. But it was also a catalyst for popular discussion around some very big philosophical themes. The film centres on a computer hacker, “Neo” (played by Keanu Reeves), who learns that his whole life has been lived within an elaborate, simulated reality. This computer-generated dream world…
Joseph Attard, King’s College London and Mark Griffiths, Nottingham Trent University In 1997, Douglas Rushkoff boldly predicted the emergence a new caste of tech-literate adolescents. He argued that the children of his day would soon blossom into “screenagers”, endowed with effortless advantages over their parents, having been raised from birth on a diet of computers and micro-chipped devices. Fast-forward to 2014: the screenagers have come of age in a world ruled by Twitter and Candy Crush Saga. A substantial body of evidence addresses the ways in which media saturation shapes the identities of children and adolescents. While there are clear…