She's so pretty. What do you think of the hair style?"Finally, the Vatican’s top bioethics official, Archbishop Rino Fisichella, also criticized the initial stance, saying the 'credibility of our teaching took a blow as it appeared, in the eyes of many, to be insensitive, incomprehensible and lacking mercy.'"Go to NY Times article (registration required)
My lovelies, what are you up to this weekend? My bridal shower is tomorrow and I'm unbelievably excited. Have a wonderful weekend, and here are some great posts from around the web this week...
My dears, here's a weekly round-up of Smitten, my Glamour Magazine relationships blog...
Right now, I'm loving the book French Milk by Lucy Knisley. The funny graphic memoir chronicles the author's six week stay in Paris with her mom, along with drawings of croissants, striped shirts and the Eiffel Tower. (It makes me nostalgic for my own trip to Paris with my mom.)
Wedding planning with Alex is really fun. For example, when we talk about negotiating, he says things like, "I wouldn't mind running it up the old flag pole to see if they salute."
Today's giveaway is from Susannah Conway, a wonderful photographer from Bath, England. She's offering an 8" x 8" print of the winner's choice.
British dress designer Samuelle recently moved to Brooklyn. She works with each bride to design a custom wedding dress. I adore this chic short number, don't you? It works beautifully with the bride's hair, shoes and a tiny bunch of flowers.
My twin sister Lucy is arriving any minute! She's staying with us this week, and I'm so excited to hang out with her. I'll be taking a little blogging break tomorrow. Have a wonderful evening, and see you Wednesday. xoxo P.S. I'm still posting today on Smitten...
I love this "kissing checklist" print by Rachel Foster, which shows all the places in the world she'd like to kiss a guy. I'd add "in the pouring rain" and "on a springtime picnic."
I had a conversation several weeks ago with a former Army officer, a woman, who had been attacked in her bed a few years ago by a superior officer, a man, who was intent on raping her.
The woman fought the man off with a fury. When she tried to press charges against him, she was told that she should let the matter drop because she hadn’t been hurt. When she persisted, battalion officials threatened to bring charges against her.
“They were talking about charging me with assault,” she said, her voice still tinged with anger and a sense of disbelief. “I’m no longer in the Army,” she added dryly.
Tia Christopher, a 27-year-old woman who lives in California and works with victims of sexual assault in the military, told me about the time that she was raped when she was in the Navy. She was attacked by another sailor who had come into her room in the barracks.
“He was very rough,” she said. “The girls next door heard my head hitting the wall, and he made quite a mess. When he left, he told me that he’d pray for me and that he still thought I was pretty.”
Ms. Christopher left the Navy. As she put it: “My military career ended. My assailant’s didn’t.”
Rape and other forms of sexual assault against women is the great shame of the U.S. armed forces, and there is no evidence that this ghastly problem, kept out of sight as much as possible, is diminishing.
New data released by the Pentagon showed an almost 9 percent increase in the number of sexual assaults reported in the last fiscal year — 2,923 — and a 25 percent increase in such assaults reported by women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Try to imagine how bizarre it is that women in American uniforms who are enduring all the stresses related to serving in a combat zone have to also worry about defending themselves against rapists wearing the same uniform and lining up in formation right beside them.
The truly chilling fact is that, as the Pentagon readily admits, the overwhelming majority of rapes that occur in the military go unreported, perhaps as many as 80 percent. And most of the men accused of attacking women receive little or no punishment. The military’s record of prosecuting rapists is not just lousy, it’s atrocious.
Louise Slaughter, a Democratic congresswoman from upstate New York, said: “I know of women victims, women in the military, who said to me that the first response they would get if they tried to report a rape was, ‘Oh, you don’t want to ruin that young man’s career, do you?’ ”
Ms. Slaughter has been trying for many years to get the military to really crack down on these crimes. “Very, very few cases result in court-martials,” she said, “and there are not that many that are even adjudicated.”
The Department of Defense has taken a peculiarly optimistic view of the increase in the number of reported sexual attacks. The most recent data is contained in the annual report that the department is required to submit to Congress. The report says that “the overall increase in reports of sexual assault in the military is encouraging,” and goes on to explain:
“It should be noted that increased reports of sexual assault do not reflect a rise in annual incidents of sexual assault. Sexual assault is one of the most under-reported crimes in the United States. Estimates suggest that only a small percentage of sexual assaults are ever reported to the police. The department suspects that the same is true for military society as well. An increase in the number of reported cases means that the department is capturing a greater proportion of the cases occurring each year.”
How’s that for viewing hideous statistics through rose-colored glasses? If the number of reported cases of rape goes sky-high over the next fiscal year, that will mean that the military is doing an even better job!
The military is one of the most highly controlled environments imaginable. When there are rules that the Pentagon absolutely wants followed, they are rigidly enforced by the chain of command. Violations are not tolerated. The military could bring about a radical reduction in the number of rapes and other forms of sexual assault if it wanted to, and it could radically improve the overall treatment of women in the armed forces.
There is no real desire in the military to modify this aspect of its culture. It is an ultra-macho environment in which the overwhelming tendency has been to see all women — civilian and military, young and old, American and foreign — solely as sexual objects.
Real change, drastic change, will have to be imposed from outside the military. It will not come from within.
What are you up to this weekend? Alex and I are daydreaming about our wedding, and tomorrow night, we're going to our friend's vodka and caviar party. (Fancy!) Have a lovely weekend, and here are some great posts from around the web this week...
My dad and brother are obsessed with cars and I grew up near Detroit, so now I have a soft spot for automobiles in design. Don't you love this trench coat lined with a Liberty car print?!
My dears, here's a weekly round-up of Smitten, my Glamour Magazine relationships blog...
I'm daydreaming about the ocean as I work today. Have a good morning, my lovelies. xoxo
Photographer Ryan Marshall takes weekly photos of his pregnant wife's growing belly. Next to each photo, he writes sweet notes to their unborn child. Oh so sweet. See more on Smitten.
Today's amazing giveaway is from Sveta from Pip-Squeak Chapeau. She's offering a 100% wool/alpaca neckwarmer and the Oslo hat. Both are hand-knitted in Brooklyn and will keep you warm during these early spring days and for every winter of your life!
This week has been delicious! We got a bunch of Whimsy & Spice goodies in the mail, and we've been tearing through them. Last night, I devoured the most delicious espresso dulce de leche brownie, and Alex had a hazelnut chocolate whisky sandwich. Yum. (I'm going to send these instead of flowers for my friends' upcoming birthdays.)
My friend Susan went to Paris for fashion week and looks beautiful in faded jeans and a bright orange scarf. Sweet and simple.
This wedding invitation, featuring the couple "growing old together," is a stroke of genius. Their guests must have died laughing.
Scanwiches, a website devoted to scans of sandwiches, is making me hungry for lunch. Wouldn't this be a great design for a restaurant's online delivery menu and you could just order whatever looked good?
What are you guys up to this weekend? Alex and I are going to this pizza place for the third time this week (no joke) and then out to karaoke tonight (woo!). Have a relaxing, sunny weekend, my dolls, and enjoy these great posts from around the web...
My dears, here's a weekly round-up from Smitten, my Glamour Magazine relationships blog...
The Brooklyn apartment of floral designer Nicolette Owen has such wonderful, sprawling, surprising, quirky greenery. Plants are peeking out everywhere! And don't you love her cloud wall? "It's still growing," she says, "Perhaps one day I'll have an entire room full of clouds."
