Cars and chicks in bikinis go together like PB and J. It may not be a pairing we agree with, but it's generally one that fails to raise an eyebrow—except, maybe, when the 'chicks' in question are 5-year-old girls.
According to an article in the Huffington Post, pictures of bikini-clad girls posing "next to shiny, new cars" were leaked from the recent Chinese Chutian Auto Culture Festival.
Not surprisingly, child welfare experts were up in arms, but instead of showing remorse or feigning ignorance, the event's GM defended its position:
"If you type the key words 'children' and 'bikini' into an Internet search engine, you'll find tens of thousands of results for child bikini contests," said event organizer, Zhang Ping, in China Daily. "It's natural for kids to wear bikinis and other things they like."
He stressed that only a couple of children posed in bikinis and did so with their parents' blessing as a means to boost their confidence.
I don't even know where to begin. This strikes me as so wrong on oh-so-many levels. There is a plethora of means to boost a child's confidence that don't involve them taking off their clothes.
To my mind, bikinis belong on beaches, on school tips to the local swimming pool. That's about it.
Females belong at roadshows only insofar as they are researching/admiring/test driving the latest models—automotive models, that is.
No wonder many girls start regarding themselves as sex objects by age six. They've been primed to. By us.
Is it art or is it morbidity? And is there a photo Kim Kardashian won't pose for? It may be a mark of our camera-hungry age, but these celebrities all have one thing in common: they climbed into a casket to have their picture taken as part of the Digital Dead series by photographers, Markus + Indrani.
According to an article in the Huffington Post, the duo Markus Klinko and Indrani Pal-Chaudhuri captured the unconventional arty shots of celebrities 'at rest.'
Strange though it may be, the celebs played dead for a good cause—to raise awareness for "Keep A Child Alive," an HIV/AIDS charity championed by singer Alicia Keys to provide care and support to affected families in Africa and India.
Featured in "Icons: The Celebrity Exposures of Markus and Indrani," the avant guard coffee table book can be yours this holiday season.
The shoot features not only Kardashian and Keys, but the likes of Elijah Wood, Serena Williams, David LaChapelle and Ryan Seacrest.
"In a world where authenticity is an autograph and reality a genre of TV, our images provide society a mirror to reflect upon its ideals and devotions," said Indrani on her website.
A refreshing change from the usual pap shots... Macabre or glamorous? You tell me.
As you may have suspected, there is a proven link between environmental factors and many types of cancer. A new study has confirmed that some workplaces make you more susceptible to breast cancer.
According to an article in Science Daily, the findings in the Environmental Health journal claim that some occupations do come with a higher cancer risk than others—namely environments that expose workers "to potential carcinogens and endocrine disrupters."
With breast cancer being the most frequently diagnosed of all cancers among North American women, it's crucial to identify possible contributing factors. The endocrine-disrupting chemicals and carcinogens in farming and manufacturing working environments were linked to breast cancer.
More than 1,000 women with breast cancer were coded according to professional exposures, with their "tumour pathology regarding endocrine receptor status" assessed.
Those particularly affected included women working in the following sectors: agriculture, bar/gambling, automotive plastics manufacturing, food canning and metal-working. In cases of premenopausal breast cancer, the highest risk came from those employed in the automotive plastics and food canning industries.
Those of a lower socioeconomic status were also at a higher risk, possibly because they were more likely to be employed in manufacturing and agricultural sectors.
"Our results highlight the importance of occupational studies in identifying and quantifying environmental risk factors and illustrates the value of taking detailed occupational histories of cancer patients. Mounting evidence suggests that we need to re-evaluate occupational exposure limits in regulatory protection," said the study's lead author, James T Brophy.
What do you make of these findings?
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