Archives > May 2007
No Fear for Being Queer
CNN-IBN - New Delhi, India, May 30, 2007
Sexuality was once considered an unimportant, secondary issue in Indian social sphere. But now, it's vibrant and political. It fights for the legal, and social rights of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgenders, Joined in by health care NGOs, human rights activists and feminist groups.
Read more..
India Alarm Over HIV in New Areas
BBC News – UK, May 30, 2007
India health officials are alarmed by the growing numbers of pregnant women infected with HIV/Aids in the key states of Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Bihar.
Read more..
Cautiously, City CBSE Schools Initiate 'Adolescence Education'
Mumbai Newsline - Mumbai, India,May 29, 2007
The city’s CBSE-affiliated schools are initiating this academic session their much-debated Adolescence Education Programme (AEP). Emphasising that the AEP is a much more ‘comprehensive programme on lifeskills’ than what had run into trouble with the Maharashtra state government earlier, this time, the principals are steering clear of the term ‘sex education’.
Read more..
Eat to Live: Cabbages and Condoms Pair Up
United Press International – USA, May 29, 2007
All proceeds from Cabbages & Condoms go back into the PCDA, and go towards teaching HIV/AIDS education, prevention and treatment and family planning in villages and towns around the country.
Read more..
Not Alone in Being Alone
Kolkata Newsline - New Delhi, India, May 29, 2007
Anecdotes and experiences come gushing out at a seminar on alternate sexuality in Kolkata. The occasion was the premiere of a film that explores the spectrum of sexuality and relationships.
Read more..
Thai ‘Condom King’ Wins Gates Health Award
Reuters – USA, May 29, 2007
The Population and Community Development Association of Thailand (PDA) won the 2007 award in recognition of its work in family planning and AIDS prevention.
Read more..
Editorial: Raising Guardians for Teens
Sun.Star – Philippines, May 28, 2007
Ironically, while media trumpets Westernized liberal attitudes on sexuality, an open discussion of sexuality and its effects on adolescent health and choices has conspicuously lagged or been non-existent in what could have been more responsible and balanced sources: parents, teachers and communities.
Read more..
Health-Malaysia: Condom Taboo Hampers Fight against HIV
Inter Press Service (subscription) - Rome, Italy, May 28, 2007
Malaysian schools do not include sex education or condom use in curricula. Except for some urban, western educated families, the rest of the country goes by without any kind of sex education that might defeat sex-related diseases and prevent teenage pregnancies.
Read more..
The Underside of China's Population Control
Daily Times - Lahore, Pakistan, May 28, 2007
Riots over China’s controversial family planning policies have exposed an underside of criminal activities here linked to how the radical population control strategy is implemented.
Read more..
One Battle China's Online Censors Can't Win
BusinessWeek – USA, May 28, 2007
For a regime notorious for censoring the Internet, China’s government is having an awfully hard time fighting one of its main online enemies – porn.
Read more..
China's Family Planning Opens Doors to Crime
Taipei Times - Taipei, Taiwan, May 28, 2007
Riots over China's controversial family planning policies have exposed an underside of criminal activities linked to how the radical population control strategy is implemented. Baby trafficking in particular has emerged as a lucrative new business for those willing to exploit the profits that can be made in this southern region whose people are often desperately poor.
Read more..
Aussie Opens Indon Condom Shop
SBS - World News Australia – Australia, May 28, 2007
In a bid to promote safe sex and family planning in Indonesia, Sydney woman Sarah Bagus has opened the country's first condom shop in Bali.
Read more..
The Gender Benders
Financial Express - Bombay, India, May 27, 2007
Times have changed, and so has the fashion statement of an urbanite world. Though there is no doubt that most shopping till date is done within the confines of a ‘menswear’ and ‘womenswear’ mindset, the new generation of fashion aficionados, both consumers and fashion brands, are opting to give gender preferences a break, while they shop and sell.
Read more..
Protest Against Sex Education at School Level
Hindu - Chennai, India, May 26, 2007
Opposing the decision of the Centre and Delhi Government to introduce sex education at school level from the current academic session, women, students and youth from the city participated in a protest demonstration at Jantar Mantar here on Friday.
Read more..
Bold and Beautiful
Times of India - New Delhi, India, May 26, 2007
Opinion - Ratna Kapur: In staying the obscenity litigation pending against Shilpa Shetty and Richard Gere, the Supreme Court has halted, for the moment, efforts to draw the line of free speech and expression in the direction of increased orthodoxy and sexual puritanism.
Read more..
Don't Think Straight
Delhi Newsline - Delhi, India, May 25, 2007
Homosexuality may be the odd one out in straitlaced Bollywood but finds a screen space at Nigah festival.
Read more..
Sexual Abuse Case Accused Threatens Complainant; Human Rights
Pune Newsline - Pune, India, May 25, 2007
Pune-based Human Rights and Law Defenders has sent a notice to the Baramati City police station for “non-cognisance of a case registered under section 377 or ‘unnatural offence’ by a complainant.”
Read more..
Sex Educator Calls for More Control Over Porn Sites
China Daily – China, May 25, 2007
A Chinese sex educator is appealing for the introduction of a movie ratings system "to purify" the Internet for the countries' youth. China has recently launched a campaign to clean up the Internet. Law enforcement departments found and deleted over 60,000 posts and ordered the closure of more than 2,000 sites.
Read more..
Legal Action Mulled for Sexual Harassment Victims
Xinhua - Beijing, China, May 24, 2007
Lawmakers in east China's Zhejiang Province are deliberating a draft law that defines sexual harassment and would allow victims to sue. The bill would outlaw sexually suggestive language or pictures, even if used in jest, in e-mails or cellphone text messages, and inappropriate physical action towards women.
Read more..
Officials Divided on Sex Slave Issue
Taipei Times - Taipei, Taiwan, May 23, 2007
While most charity groups insist that foreign women are being forced into a life of prostitution, law enforcers say they come here deliberately `to sell sex'.
Read more..
Sex Slavery Film Dodges Censors to Land in Cannes
China Post - Taipei, Taiwan, May 23, 2007
After dodging censors at home, a harrowing film about a woman sold into marriage in 1990 China is playing to packed cinemas in Cannes. ‘Blind Mountain’ (Mang Shan) by director Li Yang depicts a callous society in which residents of a poor remote village where young student Bai is held as a slave are fully aware of her ordeal but refuse to help.
Read more..
Malaysia: NGOs Must Carry Condom Work
Shanghai Daily - Shanghai, China, May 22, 2007
The Malaysian government cannot openly advocate condom use to fight AIDS in this Muslim-majority country, and so must rely on voluntary groups to promote the method, an official said yesterday. The government "strongly believes" in the use of condoms to prevent the spread of the HIV virus, said Jalal Halil Khalil, the deputy director of the Health Ministry's AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases unit.
Read more..
Lady-Boy Industry Going Strong
Bangkok Post - Bangkok, Thailand
The Tiffany's transvestite contest, which has become a much-publicized annual event, has contributed to tourism development in Thailand and increased the popularity of the company's unique cabaret, she claimed.
Read more..
Why Hijab Controversy?
PakTribune.com – Pakistan, May 21, 2007
The hijab controversy that came out from the statement of former foreign minister of Britain, Jack Straw, hasn't yet lost the ground when the government of Netherlands decided to make a law that bans the hijab tradition there.
Read more..
Internet Censorship Grows Worldwide–Study
Manila Times - Manila, Philippines, May 21, 2007
Internet censorship is growing worldwide, with 26 out of 40 countries blocking or filtering political or social content, a study reported Friday. The survey carried out by experts at four leading universities found that people in Asia, the Middle East and North Africa were often denied access to information about politics, sexuality, culture or religion.
Read more..
Campaigners Urge Japan to Apologize for Wartime Sex Slavery
China Post - Taipei, Taiwan, May 21, 2007
Campaigners for Asian women forced into sexual slavery by Japan during World War II on Sunday urged Tokyo to apologize and provide compensation. Former sex slaves from South Korea, the Philippines and Taiwan presented themselves as "evidence" to a global forum here on the wartime plight of the women.
Read more..
Yeh Kaisa Insaaf Hai? Campaign Wins Prestigious RAPA Award 2007
Indiantelevision.com - Mumbai, India, May 21, 2007
Breakthrough’s multi-media campaign, Ye Kaisa Insaaf Hai? that brings to public attention the growing incidence of stigma and discrimination faced by Women Living with HIV/AIDS, has bagged the prestigious Radio & TV Advertising Practitioners' Association of India Ltd (RAPA) awards 2007 in the category “Best Public Service Film of the Year in all languages”.
Read more..
Let's Not Talk Sex
Times of India - New Delhi, India, May 20, 2007
Karnataka chief minister H D Kumaraswamy has received expert advice that sex education should be made culturally suitable. Dr Denis Broun, country coordinator, UNAIDS, while meeting the CM drove home the point that sex education should not be removed from the syllabus. He however added that “it needs to be modified to be made culturally suitable.”
Read more..
A Campaign with a Difference
Hindu - Chennai, India, May 20, 2007
A new media initiative by the Population Council uses colourful visual narratives with local flavour to create awareness about HIV prevention strategies.
Read more..
Kama Sutra? In India, Amorous Get Different Book Thrown at Them
Seattle Times - Seattle, USA, May 20, 2007
Few issues symbolize India's contrasts and divisions more than the debate over public displays of affection, which touches on issues related to family values, politics and just how much and how fast India should mirror the West.
Read more..
Students Expelled for Gay Film
NDTV.com - New Delhi, India, May 19, 2007
Five students of St Joseph's College of Communication at Chenganassery in Kerala were expelled last month for making a film on homosexuality. Secret Minds is a five minute film that explores the hypocrisy surrounding homosexuality in our society
Read more..
Anyone for Blasphemy?
Indian Express - New Delhi, India, May 19, 2007
Opinion: The Vadodara incident, in which an art exhibition at the MS University was disturbed by a group of protesters, escalated into a political controversy. The protesters strongly maintained that some of the art objects on display were intended to hurt the religious sentiments of a particular religious denomination.
Read more..
IDAHO Celebrated Worldwide
PinkNews.co.uk – UK, May 18, 2007
The International Day Against Homophobia was marked by events around the world yesterday. In the Philippines the organisation Pro-Gay Philippines hosted a film exhibition and a round of discussions about tackling homophobic discrimination.
Read more..
Internet Increasingly Censored
MIT Technology Review - Cambridge, USA, May 18, 2007
A report released today by the OpenNet Initiative (ONI) concludes that the scale, the scope, and the sophistication of state-based Internet filtering have all increased dramatically in recent years.
Read more..
International Day Against Homophobia
Bgay.com - Fort Lauderdale, USA, May 17, 2007
On May 17, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender groups in more than 50 countries will commemorate the International Day Against Homophobia, an initiative launched in 2005 that commemorates the day in 1990 when the World Health Organization removed homosexuality from its roster of disorders.
Read more..
Sumita Kale: Sex Education in Schools
Business Standard – India, May 16, 2007
According to the Report of the Working Group on Secondary and Vocational Education for the XI Plan, the scheme on adolescence education, promoted by NACO and the HRD ministry, should be operationalised across all schools in the country. Adolescence education is to be integrated into the school curriculum as well as in the teacher education system.
Read more..
Indian Artists Fear Intolerance
BBC News – UK, May 16, 2007
A sudden increase in the number of legal cases being filed against artists, actors and writers for "offending" people has caused great concern in India's art.
Read more..
Hong Kong Debates Whether the Bible is Bad
Daily News & Analysis - Mumbai, India, May 16, 2007
A flood of over 1,400 complaints against the Bible, alleging that it peddles pornography, and condones rape, incest and bestiality, among other unspeakable horrors, have been received by the Television and Entertainment Licensing Authority (TELA), which oversees the publishing industry in Hong Kong.
Read more..
A Ban Which Could Backfire
Hindustan Times - New Delhi, India, May 15, 2007
Faced with criticism for its inability to stem the tide of human trafficking, especially of women, to other countries, the Indian government has come up with a solution so simple that it boggles the mind: it has banned the emigration of women under 30 as domestic help to countries that require emigration clearance.
Read more..
Online Surrogacy Agency Gives Birth to Morality Debate
China Daily – China, May 15, 2007
Daiyun.com, a surrogate agency headquartered in Ningbo, east China's Zhejiang Province and with offices all over the country, claims it links up prospective parents with surrogate mothers in a legal and professional manner, with free information on egg and sperm donation.
Read more..
Pavena brings Sex Slaves Home
Nation Multimedia - Bangkok, Thailand, May 14, 2007
Four Thai women reportedly held against their will as sex workers have been rescued by Bahraini police following a tip-off from the Pavena Hongsakul Foundation for Children and Women.
Read more..
Age of Sensibility
Calcutta Telegraph - Calcutta, India, May 13, 2007
Opinion: India has entered the new age of sensibility. Now one must live in perpetual fear of giving offence - to fanatics and thugs of all colours, to the police and the law and the administration.
Read more..
Face of Abortion in China: Young and Unmarried
New York Times - New York, USA, May 13, 2007
Young and single is not the usual profile of a woman having an abortion in China. Far more often, abortion has been associated with married women complying, voluntarily or not, with the country’s one-child policy. But as society has rapidly changed, so has the face of abortion.
Read more..
Putting Men’s Sexual Health Issues at Ease
Sunday Times.lk - Columbo, Sri Lanka, May 13, 2007
The Ceylinco Group, amongst Sri Lanka's biggest conglomerates, has established a new medical clinic focusing on problems related to or affecting male sexual health with absolute confidentiality assured.
Read more..
Through a Lens, Controversially
Business Standard - India, May 12, 2007
There’s a deafening silence surrounding many issues of sexuality and gender in Indian society. Most people don’t even think about it, much less speak of it. The PSBT Gender Sexuality Festival will tackle issues that are usually off-limits for many filmmakers - such as homosexuality and menstruation.
Read more..
Moral Police Hit Vadodara, art Student Lands in Jail
Hindustan Times - New Delhi, India, May 11, 2007
A student from one of India’s best known universities for fine arts prepared to spend his second night in a police lock up after right-wing activists who vandalised his work on Wednesday mobbed the local court to which he had been brought, and stalled bail proceedings on Thursday.
Read more..
Islamic Law by the Back Door
BBC News - UK, May 11, 2007
The municipal government in Tangerang has banned both alcohol and ‘any behaviour that suggests prostitution’. It is one of a number of districts which, despite the fact Indonesia is a secular state, have recently brought in local Islamic-style laws.
Read more..
'New Proof' of Japan Sex Slaves
BBC News - UK, May 11, 2007
Reports from Japan say documents have been found that suggest the Japanese forced women to work as sex slaves during World War II.
Read more..
Gay Beauty Pageant Defies Maoists
Times of India - New Delhi, India, May 11, 2007
Less than a month after the controversial staging of the Miss Nepal pageant, the country’s gay community has held a Miss Transgender contest - in a double defiance of the Maoist opposition to beauty pageants as well as homosexuality.
Read more..
Caring Message
Hindu Business Line - India, May 11, 2007
A significant proportion of brothel-based and mobile sex workers experience violence in the course of their work if they insist on condom use against the wish of the customer.
Read more..
Students held for ‘Obscene’ Paintings
CNN-IBN - Vadodara, May 10, 2007
Two students of the Fine Arts Faculty Maharaja Sayajirao University in Vadodara were arrested by the police because their paintings, which were meant for a college project were found objectionable and allegedly hurt sentiments.
Read more..
Thai HIV/AIDS Advocate Mechai To Head Country's New HIV Prevention
Kaiser network.org - Washington, USA, May 9, 2007
One of Thailand's leading HIV/AIDS advocates and former public health minister, Mechai Viravaidya, in early April was appointed to design a new federal HIV prevention plan that will target the country's youth, AFP/France 24reports.
Read more..
Gay Diplomats Put MEA in Big Dilemma
CNN-IBN - New Delhi, India, May 9, 2007
The Ministry of External Affairs is caught in a same-sex diplomat dilemma after it was found that two officials at the Canadian High Commission in New Delhi, a man and a woman, are living with their same-sex married partners.
Read more..
Marital Rape Isn't a Right
Nation Multimedia - Bangkok, Thailand, May 9, 2007
Amendments to the rape law will mark another historic page in the struggle by Thai women for their right to refuse sex to be legally recognised. It's been a long struggle, one that has its roots in a fight for rights 142 years ago during the reign of King Mongkut.
Read more..
Former Sex Slave Breaks Silence
China Daily - China, May 9, 2007
After decades of silence, Zhou Fenying, a 90-year-old woman from Rugao, in East China's Jiangsu Province, decided it was finally time to reveal that she had been forced to work as a sex slave in a brothel run by the Japanese army during World War II.
Read more..
Such an Attitude Towards Homosexuality is a Lose-Lose Approach
TODAYonline - Singapore, May 8, 2007
What is clear from the rejuvenated debate on whether homosexual acts under Section 377A of the Penal Code should be decriminalised is that passions run high over this issue. And where passions run high, reason often runs dry.
Read more..
Extramarital Sex Cause of HIV
Times of India - New Delhi, India, May 8, 2007
A study, conducted by Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, demonstrated that marital disloyalty by men is so intensely deep-seated across many cultures, that existing HIV prevention programs are putting an increasing number of women at risk of developing the HIV virus.
Read more..
Sexual Harassment Law Refined in Shanghai
Xinhua News Agency - May 7, 2007
The Standing Committee of the Shanghai Municipal People's Congress yesterday passed new legislation that seeks to provide women with a clearer avenue within which to sue their harassers. This landmark occasion is the country's first legal ruling giving a clear definition of sexual harassment.
Read more..
VIEW: Lip-Service Regret Will Embolden Moral Police
Times of India - New Delhi, India, May 7, 2007
Opinion: That Richard Gere has offered to apologise for kissing Shilpa Shetty at a public function is not an indication that he is truly sorry for what happened. An expression of remorse is not the same as atoning for wrong done.
Read more..
Coldplay be Damned
Outlook (subscription) - New Delhi, India, May 07, 2007
Opinion - Shefalee Vasudev: Last month's SC ruling in the divorce case of senior IAS officers Samar and Jaya Ghosh has spawned a welcome debate on what constitutes cruelty in marriage.
Read more..
NACO to Review Sex Education Material
CNN-IBN - New Delhi, India, May 7, 2007
The apex body responsible for controlling AIDS in the country is ready to review the sex education material it provides to schools in the wake of several states raising objections but will advise them not to ban the subject.
Read more..
Delhi in Same-Sex Diplomat Dilemma
Calcutta Telegraph - Calcutta, India, May 6, 2007
Gay marriages, allowed in Canada, are not legally valid in India. A 145-year-old law that bans sex ‘against the order of nature’ has landed the foreign ministry in a quandary.
Read more..
Thailand's 'Condom King' Girds for New Battle Against AIDS
South Asian Women's Forum - New Delhi, India, May 6, 2007
A decade after life-prolonging drugs first appeared and transformed perceptions of AIDS, Mechai says Thailand's prevention efforts have been waning, leading to fears that infections could rise, especially among the young.
Read more..
Let's Talk About Sex
China Daily - China, May 5, 2007
Liu Dalin, China's Alfred Kinsey, a former professor of sociology at Shanghai University and now the country's pioneer in the field of sexology has steadily built up a collection of sex-themed antiques, which today numbers close to 4,000 artefacts and constitutes part of China's first Sex museum in Shanghai.
Read more..
If It isn't the Censors, It's the Special Interest Groups
Nation Multimedia - Bangkok, Thailand, May 5, 2007
They are faced with the insoluble problem of how they can survive the censorship law as well as criticism from various interest groups. Once your film passes the censorship board, there is no guarantee you won't get brickbats from certain groups.
Read more..
A Liberating Anonymity
Tehelka (subscription) - India, May 5, 2007
Whether it is blogging about pressures at work, loneliness, sex life, mothers-in-law, or husbands, the Internet has given many Indian women a voice. But there still are boundaries that they breach at their own peril, says Neha Viswanathan.
Read more..
Know Your Child’s Sex in Six Weeks
Daily News & Analysis - Mumbai, India, May 4, 2007
A revolutionary sex determination tests which can tell the gender of foetus at only six week after impregnation is available everywhere in the world except India and China.
Read more..
Gender Curfew
Times of India - New Delhi, India, May 4, 2007
In a move that is retrograde and bad in law, the Karnataka government has banned women working in business centres, the hotel industry, shops, spas and recreation centres from doing night shifts, or working beyond 8 p.m.
Read more..
Transgenders Show High Awareness about HIV/AIDS: Survey
India eNews.com - Gurgaon, India, May 2, 2007
A huge majority of the transgender community in India is highly aware of sexually transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS and their prevention, says a survey by a Chennai-based NGO.
Read more..
AIDS Patient Opens First Condom Bar
The Times of India - Chandigarh, May 2, 2007
A young woman in her late 20s who suffers from AIDS inaugurated a unique bar cum discotheque in Chandigarh that has condoms as its theme.
Read more..
Comelec Wants No ‘Bading’ in Congress
Philippine News Online - Philippines, May 2, 2007
Would-be party list candidate Danton Remoto is doing Filipino gays proud. The former newspaperman and current Ateneo professor is openly gay, and in fact heads an organization known as Ang Ladlad (loosely translated as The Outing, as in coming out of the closet outing and not as in a school field trip).
Read more..
Human Rights Probing Sexual Abuse in Hospital
Manila Standard Today - Manila, Philippines, May 2, 2007
The Commission on Human Rights has stepped into the alleged sexual abuse case filed by a medical intern against a former resident doctor of the University of Perpetual Help-Rizal Medical Center in Las Piñas City.
Read more..
Sex Workers Demand Labour Rights on May Day
DNA India - Kolkata, May 1, 2007
Thousands of sex workers from different parts of West Bengal on Tuesday took out a May Day torch rally from the Sonagachi red light area, demanding social rights and the status of a regular worker.
Read more..
Women and Girls with Disabilities
PeaceJournalism.com - Nepal, May 1, 2007
Human Rights Watch is committed to promoting the human rights of all persons, and is supportive of the movement toward codification of a specific international human rights treaty on disability rights.
Read more..
