Lego Friends 2012 gender stereotyping spoof

If you think the new Lego Friends collection looks cute and innocent, think again. This line of girl-targeted Legos has a started a full-blown gender war, lead by 22-year-olds Stephanie Cole and Bailey Shoemaker-Richards of feminist group SPARK. The two women claim these new pink and frilly Legos are sexist and disturbing. In countless interviews, SPARK members are quick to point out that these LadyFigs — the little female Lego figurines — are sexualizing girls with curvier body parts and an affinity for pretty things. In a change.org petition the women of SPARK describe the Lego Friends line as “a pink Barbielicious product line for girls, so 5-year-olds can imagine themselves at the cafe, lounging…

Immigrants pwn natives on American civics

Immigration reform? How about education reform first? The Center for the Study of the American Dream at Xavier University reports that just 64 percent of native-born Americans could pass the naturalization test immigrants must take to become a US citizen. Immigrants applying for citizenship pass the simple civic literacy test at a rate of 97.5 percent according the the survey, released last week. We stopped people in Times Square last week and asked them some of the the questions. For the answers, watch the video: 1. Who is Susan B. Anthony? 2. Name a U.S. territory. 3. How many justices are on the Supreme Court? 4. How many US senators are there? 5. Who is…

Tuition hikes spark ‘Maple Spring’ student strikes

Tuition hikes are the culprit behind an increase in student strikes across Canada. The Canadian government’s proposal to raise tuition fees by 75% ($1,625) over the next five years has created social unrest among students. Approximately 170,000 students are on strike and rallies have even reached up to 200,000 protesters at a time. Although tuition in Québec is the lowest in North America, students still refuse to pay an extra $325 a year. The average tuition rate in Canada is $2,519 while the U.S. average is nearly 12 times this amount at $31,000. Strikers aren’t as concerned about the finances as they are the symbolism behind the increases, and the way the government is treating…

Plus-sized Jordan Ramos dissed by Iowa bar

A plus-sized college student is rallying against what she describes as size discrimination. Jordan Ramos, a 21-year-old University of Iowa student, is crying foul after Union Bar in Iowa City, Iowa refused to let her dance up on a platform with the rest of her friends. The problems first started on March 3, when the college girl went out with a group of friends and tried to go up on a platform to dance but was told it was too crammed. When she tried to go up again later, the bouncer said she’d never be able to go up on the platform and to go back to the dance floor where she belonged. After attempting…

Bib:Love: German students offer gals better grades for sex

Three German students have come up with an ingenious way to get laid. They’re offering no-strings-attached sweet lovin’ to female classmates, which they say will help them get better grades. The students, who go by the pseudonyms Oskar, Christopher and Julius and study business at Mannheim University, have started Bib:Love, a service that promises “Good grades through Good Sex.” Bib:Love, a play on the German word for library, Bibliothek, offers stressed-out girls one-night stands, claiming regular “exercise” helps with studying. “The young men claim that their project is about emancipation in a broader sense and that their initiative should be recognized as more than a mere coital campaign,” writes Der Speigel. Oskar, Christopher and Julius…

The Hunger Games trilogy on parents’ banned list (parody)

The Hunger Games topped the box office for a third week straight, pulling in US$300 million in revenue and sinking the 3D re-release of James Cameron’s Titanic. But as The Hunger Games racks up ticket sales, parents and educators are beginning to question whether the trilogy featuring 16-year-old heroine Katniss Everdeen belongs on school library shelves. According to the American Library Association, the series by author Suzanne Collins is the third most “challenged” by parents in the United States. That means parents have formally complained about the content of the series and requested that a library or school remove or restrict access. The Hunger Games has stirred controversy because of its premise: a dystopian future…

Yale: Singapore campus to change education in Asia

Yale University’s plans to open a joint campus with the National University of Singapore next year are being criticized by faculty, students and alumni who are concerned about dealing with Singapore’s autocratic government and its long history of trampling on civil and political rights. Yale’s administrators believe they can succeed where other prestigious institutions — including Britain’s Warwick and America’s Johns Hopkins universities — have failed. The campus, called Yale-NUS, “will pioneer a ‘global curriculum’ that ‘will draw on the best elements of the American liberal arts tradition, but re-shape and re-imagine the curriculum and collegiate experience for Asia,’” says a statement on the Yale-NUS website. On Thursday Yale faculty approved a resolution by a…

Was gun-toting dad’s Facebook rant justified?

When Tommy Jordan posted a YouTube video of him shooting up his daughter Hannah’s laptop with a .45 after she criticized her parents on Facebook, he had no idea it would go viral and spark a worldwide debate about tough-love and parenting. Tommy Jordan’s YouTube video Facebook Parenting: For the troubled teen had more than 22 million hits on Tuesday. It was posted last Wednesday and had already racked up 2 million views by Friday. In the video, Tommy Jordan sits in a chair holding a cigarette and a printout of his daughter’s Facebook message with a gun holstered by his hip. “Hannah, you were grounded for three months for doing something similar to this…