Mind Soup

The “Coalition for the Protection of Women,” is a group of Lebanese citizens who refuse the perpetuation of the violence against women under the protection of existing antiquated laws. They stand by the women of their country, who have been raped, beaten and those who have decided that oppression and discrimination under the guise of law is no longer acceptable. As such, they are calling on the parliamentary subcommittee chaired by MP Samir El-Gisr to halt its subversive activity related to amending a draft law to protect women from conjugal violence originally proposed by the Kafa Association in 2007. The committee has come under significant political pressure from special interest groups who seek to amend the law to ensure that it is ineffective and inapplicable. These amendments have rid the original text of its specificity by expanding it to the rights of children, elderly, men thus maintaining the imbalance of the Lebanese legal code vis-à-vis women. In light of this grave ...

MIND SOUP : I really do. I love my mane of long, thick curly hair. It wasn't easy having long, curly hair in Lebanon. People would always bug me about it. "Why don't you straighten it?" "It's boring that you always keep it curly, why don't you change the look?" "You would look so MUCH better with straight hair." I didn't want to waste my money at the hairdresser (and damage my hair) to straighten my hair, not to mention all the products I'd have to buy. But apart from that, my hair is who I am. I make the best of what I have and what I have is curly hair. If you have naturally straight hair, then flaunt it! I see nothing wrong in that. I just would get so annoyed when people would bug me about embracing what I have. Now that I'm an adult, I'm glad that I kept my hair curly. The girls in my high school and in undergrad ended up giving into pressure and now have straight hair. Every year, I'd see another girl give in and t...