The women who pour drinks in Japan’s sleek gentlemen’s clubs were once shunned because their duties were considered immodest: lavishing adoring (albeit nonsexual) attention on men for a hefty fee. But with that line of work, called hostessing, among the most lucrative jobs available to women and with the country neck-deep in a recession, hostess positions are increasingly coveted, and hostesses themselves are gaining respectability and even acclaim. Japan’s worst recession since World War II is changing mores…. Hiroko Tabuchi The New York Times, July 27, 2009
Femen is a group of dedicated female activists who use their bodies to tackle global issues: from sexism to authoritarianism. I spent time with some of the activists in 2012 in Kyiv and they became my friends. They reminded me that women should never let patriarchy — if it’s politicians or prophets — define them. Femen are tireless, and their energy is contagious. Keep up the fight!
OKSANA SHACHKO
ALEXANDRA SHEVCHENKO
IANA ZHDANOVA
Shuakhevi is a small town in Georgia‘s autonomous region of Ajara, 67 km east to the regional capital Batumi.
The former Soviet republic of Georgia is a boisterous place. Georgians are known for their hospitality, their taste for good wine and their penchant for elaborate toasts and sprawling meals. In the south-western corner of the country is the province of Ajara. It‘s a favorite vacation spot for Georgians. It spreads from the edge of the Black Sea into the high mountains. In between are lush forests where grapes and tobacco grow. These are some of the faces of Ajara: a place developing rapidly with tourist dollars, but still — in some places — seemingly untouched by modernization.
In a small village in the Northern Caucuses, a Russian orthodox drug rehabilitation center is trying to replace the ecstasy of smack with the divine. Life here is spartan and a stark change from the past, when many of these former addicts stole to get their hands on their next fix. Many served time in Russian prisons. Here, they wake each morning to pray, then work, then pray some more. They say they are happy to be rid of their addiction, but they are all worried that one day when they leave this place, they will be drawn back into their old, destructive habits.
Approximately 100 women defiantly cling to their ancestral homeland in Chernobyl’s radioactive “Exclusion Zone.” While most of their neighbors have long since fled and their husbands have gradually died off, this stubborn sisterhood is hanging on — even, oddly, thriving — while trying to cultivate an existence on toxic earth - thebabushkasofchernobyl.com
