In the Dutch-Canadian world, as opposed to the Dutch-Dutch world. Not the Canadian world in general.

I hate that this also perpetuates the myth that men can't control themselves, and that sexual harassment is basically inevitable if they're attracted to a woman. I'm not sure who I despise more, the man for believing this and thinking the only possible solution was to fire her (instead of, you know, controlling…

Sometimes it makes me so incredibly angry to think about the state of affairs for the majority of the world today. There are so many places I feel pulled to donate and/or help, and it feels like there's no way to make any difference whatsoever. It's so easy to get depressed if you let yourself dwell on it, but I…

That was the last time I dated someone from my home community (a fairly conservative group, for the most part) for sure.

I already knew he was a write-off. He didn't want to watch the movie "Hero" because he didn't like subtitles, and at one point in the evening (it may have been when we were talking about the movie) he asked "China is a communist country? Since when?"

I once had a guy call me a slut because I wouldn't kiss him on our first (and only date). You really can't win.

Maybe I should clarify. I'm Dutch-Canadian, but I grew up in a large dutch farming community. My mom was one of 11 siblings, and my father was one of 5. I think actual dutch families (in Holland) are smaller now, but in Canada having 4+ kids in these families is still considered normal. I'm a total freak for not…

I'm Dutch (-Canadian), and our weddings are almost always 200+. I have over 25 aunts and uncles and 60 first cousins who are all married, so you can see how it balloons. I recently got married, and it was the fight of my life to keep the crowd to under 80 people (my husband is Greek, so he had quite the extended…

It makes me sad that when I brought her up to a number of my nieces (aged 10-19), none of them had heard of her. Come on, teachers and parents (my siblings included)- why are you not introducing her as the most perfect role model possible?????

OK, so here's a question that reveals how ignorant I am of some things. Where do you go to look for female-friendly porn? I've never really ever watched anything, and don't want to see how quickly my computer would blow up if I just googled it and clicked on random links. I hear a lot of buzz about James Dean, but…

Who in their right mind wouldn't be disturbed at the way pigs are kept when raised in factory farms?

I know it's not a conscious choice, but you would think if a person lives in an area with little food security and generation after generation of people have preferred boys and allocated the most resources to them, you might start to see a skewed gender ratio since it's the males that have a better chance of survival.

I think if humans could do this, the cultures that lean towards favouring male children would have always had skewed gender ratios the way they do now.

" the American musicians with bin Laden-style beards who insist this helps them blend in, even though they are blonde and six-feet, five-inches tall. (They brought malaria drugs, even if there’s no malaria here, and want to deliver them while playing violin.)"

I read about that once in a novel written by a Saudi princess. It dates back to the founding days of Saudi Arabia. One man wanted to unite all the various tribes, so one of the ways he did that was to marry a woman from each family and have children with her, so that all the tribes were united by blood. That led to…

That's insane! Poor white stuffed kitties. Mine never had a name- it was a cat, and in my mind (then and now), cats didn't need human names (my current cats have legal name, but are always referred to as good kitty and evil kitty). It could also be because I was unimaginative when it came to names. My cabbage…

Reminds me of something I saw at the Caen WW2 museum. American propaganda and news at the time showed women digging in gardens to help with the war effort, and at most, helping in factories. Soviet propaganda and news showed women actually at war, holding guns and other weapons.

What's the worst thing your favourite toys went through? I got a small stuffed white cat from my dad once when I was around 4, and still have it, although it's barely recognizable. I always carried it around by the head, so that's barely holding on by the threads. Once, when I thought it was cold for some reason, I…

Just posted about something else, and then saw Sofia Vergara's line. All I can say to that is: Don't tell me I need to change what I naturally look like to fit your ideal.

I was watching Conan last night and saw a clip of Bieber peeing in the bucket. You can hear someone in the background saying "Yeah, peeing in a bucket is awesome- you'll always remember this!" I got the feeling that the voice wasn't egging him on, but was instead agreeing with something he'd said. That, in a…