Some movies portrays a character’s bisexuality as a temporary identity, a stop on the journey towards “true” homosexuality, mirroring the biphobic idea that it is not a “real” sexuality in itself.
Tag: society
Euthanasia and assisted suicide laws are still largely taboo, as Italy has been reminded recently. Still, lawmakers from New Zealand to Peru to Switzerland and beyond are gradually giving more space for people to choose to get help to end their lives — sometimes with new and innovative technological methods.
Burkina Faso’s production of local chicken, nicknamed “bicycle chicken,” has been declining in recent years, with the traditional delicacy being slowly replaced by a cheaper imported version.
Stuffed toys, fetish objects, lucky charms, pets — we all have our comforting objects or companions, even if we sometimes find it hard to admit to ourselves. It’s an anthropological need that makes our lives more comfortable. But with smartphones, chatbots, and soon robots, taking up a new role as our future companions, we need to rethink whether our new, digital teddy bears create more harm than they provide comfort.
To avoid succumbing to machines, we must understand the difference between risk and danger, argues noted Italian technology ethicist Paolo Benanti.
For decades, countries like Germany have resisted implementing school uniforms. But dress codes in schools are not just for the elite. They can help reduce social stigma for students living in poverty, as well as helping fight the climate crisis.
Born in Madrid but working around the world, art collective Boa Mistura explores creativity as a powerful force to inspire dialogue and transform urban environments into canvases of hope.
The violence and anger depicted in films, such as RRR, Pushpa, Kabir Singh, or Animal, prompt contemplation on the underlying reasons for the increasing appeal of such violently toxic masculine representations in Indian cinema.
As a measure to limit immigration, the British government announced that the minimum income required to bring a foreign spouse into the country on a family visa will rise sharply.
Each year, millions of trees are sacrificed for the sake of Christmas — an ecological disaster and a denial of what trees represent for humanity. There are, however, some green alternatives to buying (and killing) your own private tree each year.
The practice of gift giving exists in every culture in the world, and has for as long as recorded history. What does it tell us about the nature of human society?
In fatherhood, like in life in general, reality often surpasses our expectations, writes Argentine journalist Ignacio Pereyra. Whenever we have a feeling that we know what is going to happen, life proves us wrong — often for better.
Phd candidate Tashi Dema, from the University of New England, discusses how social media apps, particularly WeChat, are helping to preserve local Bhutanese languages without a written alphabet. Dema argues that preservation of these languages has far-reaching benefits for the small Himalayan country’s rich culture and tradition.
The latest season of Germany’s largest festival celebrating the adventure writer Karl May ended with a record audience. Over 430,000 visitors watched the adventures of the Native American character Winnetou, despite criticism of the story’s problematic legacy from some sections.
The radical libertarian Javier Milei confounded the polls to decisively win the second round of Argentina’s presidential elections; now he must win over a nation that has voiced its disgust with the country’s brand of politics as usual.
While many young people have shaken off the social and emotional shackles of their parents’ years, they must now resist the pressures of their own peers to constantly experiment, and never settle for anything or anyone.
Italian philosopher Umberto Galimberti says it is a tragedy to photograph a life into existence rather than living it.
Finding a seat on the Karmabhoomi Express is close to impossible. A closer look at why so many migrant workers travel on it, and out of Bengal, offers a grim picture.
Children left to fend for themselves when their parents seek work abroad often suffer emotional struggles and educational setbacks. Now, psychologists are raising alarms about the quiet but building crisis.
Two different cases of hijab controversies in India show there is one thing that is consistent, which is to impose on people at the margins an idea of “uniformity.”
The number of migrants and refugees who have passed through the Darien Gap reaches historic figures. So far this year, it is estimated that 250,000 migrants and refugees have crossed through the dangerous Darién jungle, mainly from countries such as Venezuela, Ecuador and Haiti.
It has been almost 12 years since the author left his hometown, which was at the center of the Syrian uprising. He’s made an academic career studying the impact of war on architecture and cities and researching acts of deliberate destruction.
India’s “untouchables” still face violence and discrimination for drinking or using water they are not supposed to. For the author, a Dalit himself, it’s time for Indian environmentalists and researchers who are striving to provide equal water access to acknowledge the role caste is playing.
The fragrances we use are not just a matter of personal taste, but a choice connected to the time in which we live. Perfumes of the 20th century varied between bold and soft, depending on the role that women played in society at the time. What does today smell like?
The clear lack of words, in Hindi and other Indian vernaculars, to describe feminine reproductive organs, feminine hygiene or women’s reproductive rights, says a lot about a country plagued by violence against women and rampant rape culture.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump has just pleaded “not guilty” criminal charges linked to his push to overturn 2020 election results. Indicted for the third time in four months, he is still somehow able to use the situation to fuel his campaign for re-election in 2024. The future election, American-Canadian scholar and cultural critic Henry Giroux writes, is a choice between democracy and the further criminalization of U.S. politics.
Traders in Bangladesh use lead chromate to enhance the appearance of turmeric roots. But the use of the chemical compound has now been linked to potential kidney and brain damage, and could cause developmental delays in children.
In the long fight against HIV/AIDS, advancements in medicine mean that today, shame and stigma is often more deadly than the disease itself. One Zimbabwean pastor has been preaching a gospel of hope in one of the countries worst affected by the virus.
In 2020, Salt Lake City abruptly terminated its K9 unit for pursuing and apprehending suspects. Not much changed. In fact, a lot of the evidence around using police dogs is sketchy, and the practice has worrying connections with racial terror.
The Barbie doll is known today as one of the world’s most iconic toys, featured in Greta Gerwig’s newly-released film. The doll was not expected to be a commercial success at all, but that didn’t stop creator Ruth Handler’s determination. Here is her story.
Amid the summit hosted at the White House, and warning from AI experts, the world can’t simply leave the machines to their own devices.
People’s deplorable actions ultimately have more to do with socially induced fears and mistrust than some inherent evil. Fiction and tradition tells us humans are fundamentally wicked, but history says otherwise.
Turkey holds key elections next month. Many who were exiled over the years have returned with optimism, only to be jailed. Turkish journalist Ece Temelkuran says from now on, she will only go back on her own terms.
Convincing coca farmers to plant legal crops is better than spraying poisonous pesticides to wipe out the plants. And yet it turns out these crop substitution programs are problematic, disrupting livelihoods and unintentionally causing violence and deforestation.
The ongoing strike of garbage collectors in France shows us why we try so hard to hide how much garbage we throw out. As trash piles up in the streets, philosopher Gaspard Koenig reminds us that it wouldn’t be so hard to recycle and compost more of it.
One of the chief victims of radical clerical rule in Iran has been religion, historically a bulwark of Iranian society now seen as a tool of tyranny.
In India, questions related to menstrual health are largely taboo, and routinely ignored by authorities. Elsewhere in the world, there is some progress on the issue, though much more is needed.
“Elite controllers” are those who have HIV but show no symptoms. They’re proving a roadblock to the country’s otherwise promising anti-infection campaign.