1.First it was the thigh gap, then the bikini bridge – now the “collarbone challenge” is gaining traction on social media as young women compete to show how thin they are.
The trend – which began in China – sees women and girls balancing stacks of coins on their collarbones. The skinnier they are, the more pronounced their clavicles, and the more coins they can fit.
One of the most popular images is of Chinese actress Lv Jiarong, who uploaded a picture of herself balancing more than 80 coins on her collarbones to her Weibo account.
Since then, Weibo has been flooded with similar images as girls desperately try to “prove” they have the perfect figure.
Chinese actress Lv Jiarong
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Like the other body-shaming trends that came before it, the collarbone challenge is extremely dangerous. While it might seem silly to many adults, images like these can have a real impact on young and vulnerable girls and women, promoting eating disorders and other dangerous behaviour.
“Viral social media trends such as this further promote body shaming and send out negative messages about body image,” The Butterfly Foundation CEO Christine Morgan told news.com.au.
“Those who have not achieved the ‘challenge’ may feel like they don’t measure up to the cultural ideals of beauty and body shape and can experience intense body dissatisfaction which is damaging to their psychological and physical wellbeing.”
If you or anyone you know is dealing with an eating disorder, contact The Butterfly Foundation.
2.Have we, the people, turned the internet into yet another weapon to attack women?
The US talk show host, John Oliver, says yes – and he is urging lawmakers around the world to get in front of the problem, instead of racing to catch up all the time.
Women are routinely subjected to acts of “revenge porn” online, where men take or steal photographs of their former wives and girlfriends – usually naked – and post them online, in an effort to shame and embarrass them.
Women also deal daily with offensive comments, and threats of violence.
Oliver, whose show uses comedy to make important points, said women had also been attacked online for “making the mistake of having a thought in her mind and then vocalizing it online.”
He noted that “revenge porn” isn’t even illegal in most places, “leaving victims grasping for substitute charges like stalking or harassment, and in some cases requiring them to trademark their naked photos to get them off the internet.”
He urged politicians to get in front of the problem, before women are scared away from the internet, closing yet more doors to them.
Khaled Sharrouf.
3.Two of Australia’s most dangerous and notorious terrorists have reportedly been killed in Syria.
The ABC, The Australian and the Fairfax newspapers are all quoting security sources saying that Mohamed Elomar and Khaled Sharrouf – whose son was shown holding a severed head in photographs published on his father’s social media accounts last year – have been killed while fighting for ISIS.
The Australian says both men have been linked to acts of extreme violence, including the rape of enslaved girls.
Sharrouf’s wife, Tara Nettleton, who converted to Islam at the age of 17, and some of their five children, are reportedly trying to return to Australia.
Zaky Mallah.
4.The host of the ABC’s popular QandA program, Tony Jones, has apologized for giving a platform to a man who wants more Australians to join the butchers of ISIS.
Zaky Mallah – who last year pleaded guilty to making threats to kill Australia’s elected officials – stuck his hand up during last night’s broadcast to say that “many Australian Muslims” wanted to join terrorist groups and kill people, because of ministers in the Abbott government.
Tony Jones immediately apologised, saying: “I think that’s a comment we are going to rule totally out of order. I’m sorry about that.”
Foreign Affairs and Trade parliamentary secretary Steve Ciobo, who was on the panel, was unafraid, saying: “I’m happy to look you straight in the eye and say I’d be pleased to be part of a government that would say you’re out of the country as far as I’m concerned. I would sleep very soundly at night.
“The threats you have made that you have pleaded guilty to, to me more than justify the concerns that the government has. I think that it is very wrong, frankly, for you to portray the Muslim population as all being incentivised to do those things. I know a lot of Muslims who are very good people and they can be recoiling at what you just said.”
5.Children as young as two were forced to hide among the climbing equipment as parents went to war at the Lollipop’s Playland in Sydney’s west.
A Sydney Morning Herald report says the brawl started when a seven-year-old girl came running out of the jungle gym, saying a grown man had pulled her ponytail.
The girl’s father and uncle confronted the man, who apparently confessed, saying the girl had bumped into his daughter.
A brawl broke out, with parents being dragged, punched and kicked. Three dads ended up in hospital.
Footage captured on a mobile phone shows adults and children screaming as one man is attack with a chair.
6.If you’re still stealing episodes of Game of Thrones, Orange is the New Black or House of Cards, you really want to have a good hard look at yourself.
It’s immoral. All those writers, actors, producers, directors, costume designers, lighting technicians depend on you paying for what they’ve produced.
It’s illegal.
From next year, it will also be more difficult: the Abbott Government’s new anti-piracy legislation, which cleared Parliament on Monday. The law will make it easier for producers to block torrenting sites, such as The Pirate Bay, and streaming services, such as Project Free TV, and it’s also going to be easier to catch you out.
You have been warned.
7.President Barack Obama has praised Australia for swiftly introducing strict new gun laws in the wake of the Port Arthur massacre, saying it’s an example for America.
“When Australia had a mass killing, I think it was in Tasmania about 25 years ago, it was just so shocking to the system, the entire country said, ‘We’re going to completely change our gun laws’,” Obama said. “They did and it hasn’t happened since.”
In 1996, 28-year-old Martin Bryant killed 35 people in Tasmania.
Obama said he was disgusted by Congress’s refusal to deal with guns.
“I will tell you, right after Sandy Hook, Newtown (in 2012), when 20 six-year-olds are gunned down, and Congress literally does nothing — yes, that’s the closest I came to feeling disgusted,” Mr Obama said. “I was pretty disgusted.”
His words come just days after Dylann Roof reportedly slaughtered nine people in a historic South Carolina church.
In his first Presidential podcast with Marc Maron, Obama also used the N-word, saying:
“Racism, we are not cured of it. And it’s not just a matter of it not being polite to say nigger in public. That’s not the measure of whether racism still exists or not. It’s not just a matter of overt discrimination. Societies don’t, overnight, completely erase everything that happened 200 to 300 years prior.”
Listen to the entire podcast here
8. MADONNA! Has it really been two decades – more – since she last graced our shores?
Yes it has, but now she’s coming back, with her RebelHeart tour.
No question, Madonna is counting on all those girls who wore lace gloves and torn fishnets in their teens being a little better off these days. Some of the tickets are eye-wateringly expensive – up to $2000 a pop- although there will be some seats for less than $100.
Tickets go on sale on July 6. The shows will be in March. You won’t miss it, will you? Of course you won’t. Papa Don’t Preach, I’m in trouble-deep.
Like a Vir-ir-ir-GEN. Touched for the very first time. Madonna. Finally.
9. It’s a boy! Kim Kardashian’s new baby is a boy.
She said so on Instagram.
In case you don’t have Instagram (what are you? Still on Twitter?) the post said:
“Precious moments like this (picture of husband Kanye with baby North on his lap) when we were travelling on tour with you are what I live for,” Kim wrote in the caption. “You’re such a good daddy to North & you will be the best daddy to our new son too!”
Then came some emoji of a man, woman, a girl child and a boy child. So it’s just like those ‘My Family’ stickers, except instead of a hockey stick, Kim can be holding a copy of her Vogue cover, and maybe the sex tape?
Okay, maybe not the sex tape.
