tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post7228283317471839356..comments2023-06-28T22:58:28.247+10:00Comments on Sixth In Line: A woman prepares for lifeElisabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comBlogger38125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-87872951855272448562012-10-12T07:16:24.931+11:002012-10-12T07:16:24.931+11:00Make up is not always a lure. All of us see each o...Make up is not always a lure. All of us see each other in many different ways. Beauty is as unique as there atre people. It is a sick mind that forces some into such horrendous crimes. Sadly we have not yet understood what forces some minds to go so off the track of accepted behaviour. Even a person totally cover is not safe from a deranged individual.<br />Heidrun Khokhar, KleinsteMottehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16174142810114806410noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-38965472062486660372012-10-06T14:59:35.460+10:002012-10-06T14:59:35.460+10:00Apart from writing my blog posts and responding to...Apart from writing my blog posts and responding to the folks who comment, Zuzana, I too have been absent from the blogosphere. <br /><br />I am desperately trying to get some writing tasks done and completed for once, rather than simply dabbling. To do so has meant less visiting and it saddens me, but I will get out and about again, soon. <br /><br />Thanks, Zuzana. It's good to hear from you again. Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-82672558310541968692012-10-05T22:29:23.474+10:002012-10-05T22:29:23.474+10:00Dear Elisabeth, I have been absent from blogging o...Dear Elisabeth, I have been absent from blogging over a month and it is great to return and catch up with my favourite writers.;)<br />A great post indeed, I too leave my eyebrows alone, have never plucked them. I accompanied a friend of mine to a beauty saloon once this summer and the lady working there immediately pointed out that my eyes would look so much better with my eyebrows shaped.;) But i will never do it.;)<br />Is it your eye in the picture, very beautiful.;)<br />It is truly sad that women have to be afraid of being alone at places. I felt this very strongly when I lived in the US. I recall having to move my car at 5PM in the winter, to a closer parking lot, which was gated and opened in the evening, so I would not have to walk alone after dark to get my car after work.<br />It is much safer here in Europe, but still there are places where I would not be at the onset of darkness either. Luckily, not where I work, so need to move my car any longer.;)<br />Hope you have been well.;)<br />xoxoZuzanahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02137958790178864561noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-15815083296249351562012-10-04T13:59:37.897+10:002012-10-04T13:59:37.897+10:00Sad, but true, Robert: 'the slings and arrows ...Sad, but true, Robert: 'the slings and arrows of misfortune' can addle a person's mind. Thanks again. Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-90962389567622892942012-10-04T13:03:45.247+10:002012-10-04T13:03:45.247+10:00Alan Jones has a man's balls and a woman's...Alan Jones has a man's balls and a woman's bitchiness. He's a particular kind of homosexual, beyond pain, threat, embarrassment. Beyond humiliation; It's been tried. You have to think about it, try to imagine, what the "slings and arrows of misfortune" do to some psyches in their upbringing. R.H.https://www.blogger.com/profile/04639593801088008224noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-75100362247661779132012-10-03T17:49:07.956+10:002012-10-03T17:49:07.956+10:00I agree, Robert, part of the response to Jill Meag...I agree, Robert, part of the response to Jill Meagher's death has been fueled by an identification from people of similar persuasion, but there are others who might identify for other reasons. <br /><br />As for Alan Jones, I fear you may be right there too, that the people who take away his advertising might soon return once the noise dies down. Still I prefer to think some large dint has been made in his morale that might increase his humility or at least give him a modicum of shame, if such were possible.<br /><br />Thanks, Robert.Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-29835300036208031402012-10-03T17:43:39.566+10:002012-10-03T17:43:39.566+10:00Such a poignant memory, Glenn. You describe the d...Such a poignant memory, Glenn. You describe the disappointment of your little self beautifully. I agree memories are fueled by emotions. Apparently it's the emotionally evocative events that we tend to remember most of all. However much we might distort the facts of the event, it's the feeling we get right every time.<br /><br />Thanks, Glenn. Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-90575886794101248622012-10-03T17:40:35.150+10:002012-10-03T17:40:35.150+10:00Your 'hippie feral chick' style sounds won...Your 'hippie feral chick' style sounds wonderful to me <br />Wadjella Yorga, despite your children's protests. Even if you were to dress as a glamour queen I suspect your children might protest. In fact they might prefer the hippie you.<br /><br />We can be lighthearted about these things but not about the of the tragic brutalisation of the feminine in its extreme, as you say. <br /><br />Thanks, Wadjella Yorga. Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-48309630924106975892012-10-03T17:35:17.263+10:002012-10-03T17:35:17.263+10:00I agree, Kirk, neither gender has it easy but esse...I agree, Kirk, neither gender has it easy but essentially I think for all the burden of manhood, womanhood is perhaps heavier, though of course there are exceptions, elements that go beyond gender, which is not entirely black and white anyhow.<br /><br />Thanks, Kirk. Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-71010226458262584732012-10-03T17:33:25.220+10:002012-10-03T17:33:25.220+10:00Our societies are indeed sad, Rubye Jack, the disr...Our societies are indeed sad, Rubye Jack, the disregard we hold for each others' precious lives. <br />We tend to hide behind false hoods and masks to get attention when the real attention we need both to receive and give comes from much deeper stuff than appearance and beauty. It comes from compassion, empathy and understanding. All of which we also tend to lack. So it's a good thing - I reckon - when we can muster more than usual. When we can sit up and pay attention to such tragedies because, as you say, they're happening all the time, and everywhere.<br /><br />Thanks, Rubye Jack. Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-21129183947908577812012-10-03T17:28:56.638+10:002012-10-03T17:28:56.638+10:00I'm amazed to think there was a time when wome...I'm amazed to think there was a time when women only wore eye make up by night, Rhymeswithplague, but it makes sense. Times change. <br /><br />The pressure to be beautiful or to fit some ideal fantasy of how we should be as women probably fuels the desire to wear makeup etc, and all the reasons you suggest here are relevant. It will be good if there ever comes a time when such pressures disappear but I can't see it happening in my life time.<br /><br />Thanks, Rhymeswithplague. <br /><br />Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-68245647413617807532012-10-03T17:24:28.235+10:002012-10-03T17:24:28.235+10:00I hope you don't fade away, Ms Sparrow. The i...I hope you don't fade away, Ms Sparrow. The idea of losing all colour though probably is much as much of a fantasy as needing to wear lipstick to make our lips more attractive. We are all drawn to the beauty of babies and youthfulness. There's a certain beauty on old age too but it seems its much harder for folks to recognise. Perhaps because old age is so much closer to the point of death, notwithstanding the fact that even babies and young people can die. It's a human hazard and one that's unavoidable. Maybe all this emphasis on beautiful bodies is an attempt - inevitably unsuccessful - to evade it. <br /><br />Thanks, Ms Sparrow. Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-39055616294739935402012-10-03T17:14:50.386+10:002012-10-03T17:14:50.386+10:00You were/are the rebel, Ellen. And good on you. ...You were/are the rebel, Ellen. And good on you. If more women tried it we might find ourselves under less pressure to conform to these fantastic expectations of beauty however much they are constructed. <br /><br />I think of the horrors of the cosmetics industry and of the surgeons who go further and operate on women to make them look different - face lifts and the like; and all those sad souls who suffer body dysmorphia in a delusional bid to somehow find love.<br /><br />It may be that these practices are also part of the complex social factors that breed other cruelties such as rape. <br /><br />It's all very sad.<br /><br />Thanks, Ellen. Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-81159159419718343352012-10-03T17:09:07.453+10:002012-10-03T17:09:07.453+10:00I agree, Jim, about the fact that we do not acknow...I agree, Jim, about the fact that we do not acknowledge all such deaths, the deaths that I might refer to as senseless. I suppose I do not say it by way of comparison merely as a statement of how random and unprovoked Jill's death seemed. <br /><br />That five year old's death - the one you mention- would have been likewise. You can't blame a five year old, though some might try. <br /><br />I want to avoid all blaming of victims. I suspect the reason that Jill Meagher's death has attracted such notice had something to do with who she was - middle class, attractive, she worked for the ABC with friends in the media etc. But also her death here came at a time when we are becoming increasingly aware of violence towards women not just literally but metaphorically.<br /><br />My mother also had a compact, Jim. I see them these days from time to time but to me compacts are such things of the past. I can almost smell my mother's now and feel the clammy slide of her powder over my face whenever as a child I dared to try some powder on my face. I don't like that sort of stuff myself any more than I like lipstick. <br /><br />Thanks, Jim. Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-25586268933069102872012-10-03T14:00:55.088+10:002012-10-03T14:00:55.088+10:00Life's a lot easier without the encumbrance of...Life's a lot easier without the encumbrance of make-up, Joanne, so I can well appreciate your decision not to wear it. As for the sexualisation of children's clothing, there's quite a furore around this issue at the moment here in Melbourne. I think the issue is complex. <br /><br />Thanks, Joanne.Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-52366537527087231002012-10-03T11:48:34.499+10:002012-10-03T11:48:34.499+10:00Well darlings let's see how it goes but I beli...Well darlings let's see how it goes but I believe Alan Jones is safe. He's got 30% of the Sydney audience. That's a lot of people. Many of them hate his views and listen just to feel outraged. The rest support his views and feel outraged. There has to be controversy, a new one every week, or you might see the stupidity of paying bank interest all your lives then getting cremated. Controversies get stale quick, new ones replace them. Alan is the king of controversy and will go on doing it. Advertisers love him. Some have withdrawn their money. Oh sure. They'll be back. R.H.https://www.blogger.com/profile/04639593801088008224noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-7835297437303619122012-10-01T23:37:47.854+10:002012-10-01T23:37:47.854+10:00No one can hurt Jones he's too entertaining.
...No one can hurt Jones he's too entertaining. <br /><br />Look at this, a nine year-old girl from a poor family goes missing presumed murdered after playing on the St Kilda Esplanade and it barely raises a murmur. A twenty-nine year-old well-off woman is found murdered after staggering from a bar into the street at 1:30 am and there's talk of erecting a memorial to her.<br />The mainly local crowd who marched for this woman on Sunday marched for one of their own. It's a groomed, middle-class, innersuburban cafe lifestyle. Don't ever threaten it. R.H.https://www.blogger.com/profile/04639593801088008224noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-48182917645087415562012-10-01T20:29:03.530+10:002012-10-01T20:29:03.530+10:00Your words, erin: 'in society in general we da...Your words, erin: 'in society in general we damn well need to begin celebrating the quieter aspects like empathy and compassion instead of the louder ones like power and aggression' - I couldn't agree with them more.<br /><br />It's been my plea all along. <br /><br />Recently a group of women in Australia started up a Face Book identity called 'Destroy the joint' in response to the accusation of one of our most notorious radio shock Jocks, Alan Jones: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/alan-jones-women-are-destroying-the-joint/story-e6frf7jo-1226462326339<br /><br />Jones cannot tolerate the fact that we have a female PM and he spends a good deal of time vilifying her and other women in positions of authority in the coarsest gender based terms. <br /><br />He's not alone in this but women are fighting back. One, a journalist and writer, Anne summers, has finally pointed out the terrible state of play in our country: http://annesummers.com.au/speeches/her-rights-at-work-r-rated/<br /><br />Cast your eye over her essay if you get the chance and scroll down to where she shows some of the pornographic images that a certain cartoonist here, Larry Pickering, has created of our prime minister. It's appalling and at least people here are beginning to say enough now.<br /><br />The worst happened on the weekend when Alan Jones said at a gathering of young Liberals- our liberals are our conservative party - that our PM's father who died three weeks ago, died of shame because of the lies his daughter, our PM repeatedly tells our parliament. Finally people are appalled and Alan Jones is under fire.<br /><br />To me it offers a strange sort of balm to this most sorrowful of times following Jill Meagher's death. <br /><br /> These shock jock's contribute to the objectification of women and it's time they were called to account.<br /><br />Thanks for your thoughtful and profound comment, erin. These matters apply everywhere. Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-13161223068862955042012-10-01T18:41:10.467+10:002012-10-01T18:41:10.467+10:00I suspect one of the reasons the streets at night ...I suspect one of the reasons the streets at night seem so much less safe these days has to do with the increased volumes of people and all sorts of subtle pressures that arise in contemporary western societies, Pat. Mind you throughout history there have been disturbed individuals who preyed on the vulnerable, children and women in particular. <br /><br />As well, it seems to me there are so many more pressures on people to conform these days especially the young. Social media not least of all.<br /><br />Thanks, Pat. Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-44538002113741298072012-10-01T18:35:48.506+10:002012-10-01T18:35:48.506+10:00Thanks for that wonderful advice, River. I had no...Thanks for that wonderful advice, River. I had not realised that such magnifying mirrors exist but now I think of it I've seen one at a friend's place. <br /><br />Mascara does not trouble me except when it clumps or runs and streaks your face when you can't see it. Lipstick I cannot tolerate. The feeling of it. Whereas chapsticks and lip-ease are fine by me.<br /><br />Thanks, River. Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-29402435194497188112012-10-01T18:16:08.219+10:002012-10-01T18:16:08.219+10:00I'm wary of getting into any blame here, Rober...I'm wary of getting into any blame here, Robert. I know these things happen as a function of society and there are many causes. Many of us find it devastating because in some ways she is like us, though we should all grieve similarly when anyone is tossed aside like this, only often times we don't hear of it. <br /><br />Thanks, Robert. Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-48291993188522240752012-10-01T18:13:04.917+10:002012-10-01T18:13:04.917+10:00I think the spirit of dressing up to celebrate and...I think the spirit of dressing up to celebrate and enjoy is the way to go, Juliet. None of this having to hide behind a wall of makeup to mask our identities and win favour. It's best to be ourselves.<br /><br />Thanks, Juliet. Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-11844973750573713912012-10-01T14:32:22.192+10:002012-10-01T14:32:22.192+10:00Memory and emotion. There are memories that we can...Memory and emotion. There are memories that we can pull out just as though they were photographs. Then there are memories that come up strongly tied to emotion. <br /><br />Last night I was thinking about one of the customers on my paper route. He was very friendly, would invite me in sometimes or give me treats. He and his family acted like they were always happy to see me. When I was given tickets to sell for the school play I remember I asked this paper route customer if he would come. I was nervous and I was hoping he was really a friend, not just a friendly face. He was happy to buy tickets, a fundraiser? he asked. No, not a fundraiser, I said. Only buy a ticket if you are going to come.<br /><br />When he said he wouldn't be coming to the play in which I had a major role, I was disappointed. I don't remember his name. But I remember the disappointment. Glenn Ingersollhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10674475308395975995noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-18687744689813030642012-10-01T11:32:51.223+10:002012-10-01T11:32:51.223+10:00Forced myself to try makeup and dresses as a teen,...Forced myself to try makeup and dresses as a teen, knowing it was insane to follow the predilection of the feminine stereotype...it always felt uncomfortably inauthentic and thusly have veered into the 'hippie, feral chic' genre...much to the disgust of my children - who, despite their hairy, au naturale example of a mother, have fallen prey to the brainwashing in today's society.<br /><br />It deeply saddens me that the feminine continues to be brutalised, internally and externally, by us all...in one way shape or another...Wadjella Yorgahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04570436836998970749noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-25135181185943446332012-10-01T06:26:51.387+10:002012-10-01T06:26:51.387+10:00I sometimes feel being a male is a bit of a burden...I sometimes feel being a male is a bit of a burden, but your post reminds me that neither gender has it easy.Kirkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02155991693956178030noreply@blogger.com