With Halloween around the corner, it's not just your child's costume you need to think about. Fancy dress parties abound, and October 31st is always a big deal here in Canada.
What will you be this year? How about Anna Rexia? The tasteless costume, which plays on the eating disorder anorexia nervosa, is a slinky black mini-dress with a skeleton and tape measure superimposed on it. It even comes in plus sizes!
Although the costume has been on the market for a couple of years, it's only gaining notoriety now. Retailer Ricky’s removed the costume from its website following complaints.
“We seriously apologize if this costume has offended anyone," said a representative for Ricky’s. "The costume has been taken down from our store due to complaints and we didn’t realize the kind of harm this would cause.”
Lots of Halloween costumes are outlandish, for sure. Part of the fun in dressing up is pretending to be someone -- or something -- you're not for one night. But this costume is akin to donning a latex hairpiece and calling yourself a chemo candidate.
What do you think? Sick or silly?
"
So much for a little tummy bug. That's what backpacker Lena suspected was ailing her as she keeled over in a hostel bathroom. Much to her surprise, she was in the thralls of active labour. Soon after, out came baby Bethany.
"I honestly had no idea I was pregnant, none at all. I thought I had a gastro bug," said the 37-year-old new mom. "I just remember sitting on the toilet thinking I was going to die from gastro, it was terrible. Then all of a sudden, I pushed and she just came out."
A few years prior, doctors had told Lena she was suffering from early menopause and that her chances of having children were slim. So she stuffed her backpack and went travelling around Australia.
"I just assumed I couldn't have a baby ...so that was the end of that," she said, putting her small pot belly down to "eating a lot of noodles lately".
Oblivious to her dramatic entrance, baby Bethany later moved to Manly Hospital in Sydney, and is thriving.
While Lena might have had the shock of her life, she wasn't the only one. The two Frenchmen sharing her hostel room, having no idea that their roomie was expecting, were taken aback by the cries of a newborn. Then Mathieu Caron and Antoine Flinois called for help.
"Wow, it was pretty full on. I was shaking afterwards," said Caron.
"I have had absolutely no preparation, none at all ... but it's OK, we'll make it work," Lena said.
Boggles the mind how a woman goes into labour not knowing she's pregnant. Lena, your real adventure is just beginning. Best of luck!
Wear the pants in your household? Then you could be getting less in bed, according to a new study in the Journal of Sex.
Women who had the final say on decisions ranging from healthcare to household purchases didn't get it on as much as those who were less decisive at home.
"The more decisions a woman reported making on her own, as compared to through joint decision-making, the less likely she was to have sex and the longer it was since she last had sexual intercourse," said lead researcher Michelle Hindin.
And not just a little less sex, but dominant and assertive women had approximately 100 times less sex than their more passive counterparts!
But the researchers, who grilled women from six African countries, noted the anomaly. Assertive women could paradoxically be having less sex because that suits their preference.
Of course, cultural differences could play a role in the findings. A similar study by Florida State University's Roy Baumeister argued that more equal footing between a couple would lead to more sex, not less.
For countries with higher gender equality, women reported having more casual sex and more sexual partners. In less gender equal nations, the opposite held true.
Printer-friendly version