Woman and Child First

Shocking Article: Gang Rapes of Young Girls - "Normalized"

This article breaks my heart. Girls as young as 12 being gang raped and it's kinda well, you know, "normal."

Get angry, folks, get real angry. The ripping of heart muscle is mended to some extent by the knowledge (reported in this article) that there are solid, proactive programmes being run for young girls. The pivotal issue seems to be the desperately low self worth held by young girls. Our western culture  does little to give them a sense of self that is strong, wise and fearless.

Let's try and lift young people  - and I mean the boys involved as well - out of the gutter. Let's try to be aware and do something too. Please don't think that because it's happening in London, a long way away, that it can't happen here. 

Read the article in the Guardian(UK) here:

http://apps.facebook.com/theguardian/society/2012/feb/18/being-raped-by-gang-normal?fb_source=other_multiline&fb_action_types=news.reads

Pictured is Isha Nembhard,  "a female former gang member [who]has exposed the growing levels of sexual violence against young women who join them, saying that many are willing to risk being raped in return for the status of membership." - The Guardian (UK) on Facebook.

 

Le testament du Docteur Cordelier/Experiment in Evil (1959).

Spine-chillingly wonderful, delightful and 'Oh! Oh! Je t'aime Jean-Louis!" trailer for 1959 French movie in which Jean-Louis Barrault plays the part of Dr. Cordelier and his alter ego Monsieur Opale.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12ohRov_HTg&feature=player_embedded

When the World is Sick

 

The Japanese soul appears to me essentially feminine. What I am here venturing to say is far from being pejorative. On the contrary. When the world is sick, it is from woman that all is reborn.

-Jean-Louis Barrault

 From Memories for Tomorrow: The Memoirs of Jean-Louis Barrault

(New York 1974 E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc.)

Stupid Is As Stupid Does (And I Never See Them Where I Work)

Many of the people (not all) who come for counselling are people who've been abused. In some way, shape or form they are the victims of people who treat others badly.  The abusers often come from previous pain and consequent denial but all the same, they behave as though their spouse, children or work colleague is "less than" them.

I don't get abusers in my rooms. They're usually too busy being right. The great loss for them is that they miss out on having two healthy relationships: The one they might have with themselves and the one they would have with the person who has trusted them in the first place. 

As soon as my clients remember their strength, who they are and that some things are simply unacceptable, and start behaving from this base in their lives, the said abusive types run for the hills. (The hills have other gentle souls to be targetted.)

That's why the people I work with and for, have my constant admiration. The brave and the strong, the 'I've had enough, thanks' enter my rooms. 

Here's to them.

That's not one of them in the picture. That's Andy, a character from the comedy series, Little Britain.  You can have a snicker here . Lou and Andy play out a somewhat manipulative relationship...