How to survive sniggering teens
How to walk past a group of teenagers without attracting attention. "Just keep looking down at your practical shoes like the shame-filled, frightened adult you are," advises Sarah Hutto in the New Yorker. "Don't contemplate your weaknesses, thereby emitting adult-fear pheromones. Specific things not to think about include: polyps on any part of your body, your incipient jowls or cankles, marital issues, either one of your mortgages, your multiple food intolerances, HPV, or gingivitis. Possible things to think about instead: your stellar fibre intake, having met your health-insurance deductible for the year, the more-than-adequate frequency with which you change the litter box, your dental-care regimen, and your solid driving record." Read the full column online.
Man talk - the truth about locker rooms
Donald Trump reckons his vulgar bragging about groping women is simply what men do; locker room chat. So what is Locker Room Chat, really? "Some old guy I never met told me about his knee surgery. It was graphic," tweeted one gym user. "Debating whether it's cost efficient to keep a hot tub running through winter or stop-start it on demand," offered another. But some athletes feel they have been tarred with the same, unpleasant brush. Former NBA basketball player John Amaechi described Trump's comments as "some fantasy stereotype about what locker rooms are like. This somehow sterile environment where man-children blab about non-consensual sexual contact with women." He went on to say he's heard men use words to describe women that he would not approve of or use, but said talk of non-consensual sexual act is way worse. Matt Miller, a former college football player and bodybuilder says, "you talk candidly about issues and you're a man, so you brag about sexual exploits being bigger than they were". (Source: the Guardian)
