Topless photo of 14-year-old Grand Blanc girl sparks sexual discrimination debate

GRAND BLANC, Michigan -- That topless photo of a Grand Blanc teen sure did stir up a heck of a lot of debate.

On whether girls have the same right as guys to go topless.

If cellphones should be allowed in school.

And why people are so darn interested in this story.

A 14-year-old girl took a topless photo of herself on her cellphone. The picture spread around Grand Blanc High School, and seven students were suspended -- including the girl -- for having the photo on their phones at school.

An attorney for the parents argued in part that the discipline amounted to sex discrimination because photos of bare-chested males are fine, photos of bare-chested females should also be fine.

A firestorm ensued. More than 100 people posted comments on the Journal's Web site, mlive.com. Most think the parents don't have a case against the school.

Male prisoners gain right to cosmetics

The Federal Constitutional Court said the plaintiff was right in challenging a prison policy which allowed only female inmates to spend 25 euros (£21) of their own money on cosmetic and skin care products each month.

"Although the interest in cosmetics may be more widespread or frequently stronger among women than among men, it is not a biologically determined interest among women," the court ruled.

"Members of one sex cannot be denied their wellness choices simply because they are more typically found among the opposite sex."

It said the current practice of only allowing women to purchase beauty products amounted to a violation of the protection against sex discrimination under Germany's Basic Law.

New VIC laws allow gays to 'commission' surrogate children

Gay men will be able to commission a baby via a surrogate mother under new Victorian laws that have angered the Christian lobby.

The landmark laws, passed in State Parliament late on Thursday, legalise surrogacy and give lesbians and single women access to fertility treatment, including IVF.

The Australian Christian Lobby has denounced the legislation as “social engineering” and says it will enable gay men to “order” a surrogate baby on demand.

“It steps outside the natural family, two men can’t (physically) have a baby,” lobby spokesman Rob Ward said.

“The wishes of homosexuals to have children should not be placed above the inalienable rights of children to start out in life with a mother and a father.”

The new laws eradicate the need for surrogate couples to travel interstate for IVF.

Previously, women had to be infertile to qualify for fertility treatment, ruling out surrogate mothers and most single and lesbian women.

The legislation also gives gay partners and parents of surrogate children legal parenting rights and allows women to conceive using the sperm of their dead partners.

Paper Bag Princess Book

I know this is kind of late but...

I think that the Paper Bag Princess is a great book for all children to have. I wish that they had a book like that when I was growing up. It would have been nice to see the flip side of all the fairy tales we read.

When I become a parent one day I plan on purchasing this book for my children. Thanks for sharing it with us!

Men Working

So I don't know if anyone ever drives down comanche street in front of the alkek parking garage but for the past few weeks there have been people outside working on the garage. Everyone morning I drive by the garage to go to the LBJ parking garage and I notice a sign that says "men working". I found this to be crazy considering the society that we live in. This sign makes the inference that there are only men working on the parking garage and, of course, I found this extremely concerning to our society. Just wondering if anyone had noticed.

Dominance in Advertising 12/1

Today in class we looked over the magazine advertisements and one thing that I was noticing and we talked about a little was in some pictures the man is shown to be taller or above the woman to represent dominance or superiority. What I find interesting though is when I look at old family photographs of my great grandparents and other family from the early 1900's the husband is always depicted sitting in a chair with his wife standing next to him. I find it interesting that in some ways representation of how we percieve the male and female levels maybe has changed. In the old days the man was shown sitting down to possibly represent the man of the house, the head of the household. Respresentation has changed in the way that the man would need to be shown higher up physically to depict his dominance.

12/1

Today in class we discussed advertising. I am worried about young kids growing up and looking at advertisements that show women and men that have bodies that are not obtainable. I am worried because young kids grow up with this image of beauty in mind, and when that is not achieved is when low self esteem and eating disorders start happening. Average women do not look like the models in magazines, so why is there not more average looking people in them? If a clothing company is trying to sell clothes, why wouldnt they put them on a model that matches the people that are actually going to wear them. I know "sex sells" but when is society going to say enough is enough and not buy a product because there is a half naked woman selling it?