Category Archives: smoking

New York Bans Smoking in Beaches and Parks

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From my experience, many smokers will argue that a government’s attempt to make smoking a difficult pastime (by increasing taxes to make cigarettes unaffordable, and restricting the places where on can smoke) is an infringement on their rights to make decisions as individuals. And I would be inclined to agree, if smoking didn’t infringe upon the rights of others.

If one was strolling along, chewing on some sort of hazardous cancer-causing substance, I’d say hey- you’re dumb, that’s gross, but carry on. It is your right to do whatever you please with your body, and it is none of my business if you’re dumb enough to poison yourself. This is how many smokers actually view smoking- their decision, affecting only them. Except that’s just silly. Smoking in its very nature releases smoke into the air, which others inhale without really having a choice in the …

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Hamas Bans Women From Smoking Hookahs, Continues Attempts to Impose Strict Islamic Values

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Hamas, the fundamentalist group that controls Gaza, has decided to ban women from smoking hookahs (traditional Middle Eastern water pipes) in cafes, partially out of fear that this leads to dissolution of marriages (the government claims that some men have divorced their wives after seeing them smoking and sitting cross-legged). This has angered many male and female residents who have few available leisure activities due to the blockade of Gaza by both Egypt and Israel. Hamas has also been cracking down on all sorts of pastimes, forbidding women from riding motorcycles and often routinely stopping couples and beating them if they fail to produce marriage licenses. While many in this relatively conservative Muslim area have supported the new morality initiatives, those in the secular minority have felt that they are extremely unfair.

The more conservative countries in the Middle East also frown upon hookah smoking, with Saudi Arabia imposing a total ban for both men and women. However, Israel’s more immediate neighbors …

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Lisbeth Salander: The Girl Who Was a Feminist

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It’s not every day that a stone cold feminist shows up in literature.  With Lisbeth Salander (aka The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest), Swedish author Stieg Larsson somehow managed to do just that with the book originally titled Men Who Hate Women.  The best part?  He admittedly based this character on his visualization of a grown up Pippi Longstocking.

I have this aversion to jumping on the literary bandwagon.  From John Grisham’s The Firm to J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books to (gulp) the Twilight series (yes, I read the damn things long before the great dildo debacle), I mutter a lot about fads and refuse to read popular books on some general principle I don’t fully understand myself.

Anyway, I did it yet again with Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy … and I was completely wrong.  Except for the ending, I found these books to be outstanding works of literature.  If you haven’t read them, you really should.  And just so you know, I’m not going to give away any sort of big surprise in this post — if anything, think of it as an effort to further pique your interest as we examine Salander’s feminism.

Considering my great affinity for lists (and I hope you’re catching the sarcasm here), it seemed like a great opportunity to pay it forward a bit.  Therefore, I am happy to present you with my first list.

10 Reasons Why Lisbeth Salander is a Feminist

1. She does not buy into the stereotype.
Although Salander is described throughout the series as tiny (her height is given numerous times as under five feet), “anorexic-looking,” and even “doll-like,” she possesses great physical strength that, combined with an incredibly quick mind, make her a worthy adversary for anyone.  Even if she didn’t take pains to make her appearance as gender-neutral as possible, her affinity for Billy’s Pan Pizza and Marlboro Lights do balance out her feminine side a bit.

2. She is friends with a variety of people instead of pigeonholing a group that fits with her exterior appearance.
Mikhail Blomkvist, an honest journalist (referred to by Salander herself as a “practical pig”).  Mimmi Wu, a very open lesbian college student.  Dragan Armansky, the director of a prestigious security company.  “Plague,” a 350 pound recluse …

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French Women Keep Smoking to Stay Thin

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black and white photo of woman smoking a cigarette

French women don’t get fat – but they might get lung cancer.

The image of the effortlessly cool, effortlessly sexy and – above all – effortlessly slender French woman is incredibly pervasive in media culture. Sharp cheekbones, Breton stripes, cigarettes and long, lanky hair seem as stereotypical and iconic as the baguette or the Eiffle tower. And yet this idea that there is some exotic breed of woman immune to body image issues is, of course, a myth.

Although French men have begun kicking the habit in droves, The Daily Beast reports that French women are far more reluctant to loosen the grip on their Virginia Slims. Why? The might get fat.

In fact, The Daily Beast argues that more women are dying from lung cancer now in France than ever before.

As a result, many anti-smoking ads have popped up, some of which attempt to address this concern:

“If I stop smoking, will I gain weight?” asks another advert, which has been given great play in various French media since Anti-Tobacco Day on May 31. The online advert leads to a website that doesn’t try to refute that many smokers add a few pounds, at least initially, when they stop smoking. But the site offers tips to help smokers gain less weight.”

Zelda Lily has posted before on the dangers of smoking to newborn babies, for instance, but it’s not as though the many, many diseases or complications that come from cigarettes are unknown to most people at this point.
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