Thursday, April 5, 2012

Afghanistan sees rise in ‘dancing boys’ exploitation



The 9-year-old boy with pale skin and big, piercing eyes captivated Mirzahan at first sight.
“He is more handsome than anyone in the village,” the 22-year-old farmer said, explaining why he is grooming the boy as a sexual partner and companion. There was another important factor that made Waheed easy to take on as a bacha bazi, or a boy for pleasure: “He doesn’t have a father, so there is no one to stop this.”

A Fashion Low in High Finance


April 5, 2012, 12:00 PM

A Fashion Low in High Finance

Townies
Townies is a series about life in New York, and occasionally other cities.
The problem with using staples instead of cuff links to fasten French cuffs is not so much that it doesn’t work — it doesn’t — but that people tend to associate the look with an unattractive mental instability.
It seems pretty obvious to me now. A French-cuffed shirt requires cuff links. Full stop. However, 10 years ago, when I first removed the pins and packaging from a dress shirt and threaded my arms through the sleeves, I was that most hapless class of human being — a college intern. It was my first morning in New York; I had just woken up on my friend Dan’s couch in Murray Hill; and I had one hour to go before the scheduled start of my professional life. I was to be an investment banker, if I could just get dressed.
I was to be an investment banker, if I could just get dressed.
The bank’s welcome packet had advised that the dress code was Business Casual. I figured that meant something sharp, like a pair of Dockers. Or, since I didn’t own any khakis, how about these tan, five-pocket corduroys? One of the belt loops had come loose and, yes, the cuffs had begun to fray where the gaping boot-cut swallowed my shoes and lapped at the pavement. But these were not jeans and thus, by my calculations, were Dress Pants, perfectly acceptable for Sunday church back in Iowa and therefore equally appropriate for one of Manhattan’s revered financial institutions. Dan had already left for work, or else, presumably, he would have questioned some aspects of this logic.

Date Lab: What happens when your dating patterns change



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More from Date Lab
Martina: Is she straight? Is she gay? Who can keep up with the revolving door of men/women? On this week’s episode, she decides to take the 44-year-old Portuguese man as her date to a family dinner, with her 55-year-old father. Good times.
Jenn: It’s like “How I Met Your Mother” except with a hot gay chick.
Interests to share ...
Martina: Love of literature and appreciation of the natural world. BEER KNOWLEDGE IS UBER SEXY, major points.
Jenn: Hanging out, going to sporting events, etc.
Your idea of funny ...
Martina: Witty banter.

Call for increased protection of homosexuals and prostitutes to stem spread of HIV/Aids


05 April 2012

HIV/Aids  patients sit at a counseling facility in Gulu, Uganda
HIV/Aids patients sit at a counseling facility in Gulu, Uganda
Reuters

By Gloria Nakiyimba in Kampala
World politicians meeting in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, have agreed on the need to repeal laws discriminating against HIV/Aids which they say have contributed to an increase in the rate of new infections.

MP's at the Inter Parliamentary Union assembly said laws that criminalize transmission of HIV, laws against sexual workers and those discriminating against sexual minorities need to be repealed.
Speaking during a panel discussion, Professor Sheila Tlou, UNAIDS Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa, said “there is a fear that a still highly stigmatized condition such as Aids can, and will, fall out of the agenda of national and global leaders”.