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Asian women subjected to ´virginity tests´ at Heathrow
(17 Messages in 2 pages - View all)
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1.       si++
3785 posts
 10 May 2011 Tue 01:23 pm

Asian women subjected to ´virginity tests´ at Heathrow

The government is facing calls for an official apology after documents showed that Asian women were subjected to humiliating “virginity tests” when they tried to move to Britain in the late 1970s.

At least 80 women from India and Pakistan hoping to emigrate to Britain to marry were intimately examined by immigration staff to “check their marital status”, according to confidential Home Office files.

The files show the practice was more common than previously thought.

The technique was banned in February 1979 after a national newspaper revealed that a 35-year-old Indian woman was examined by a male doctor at Heathrow to check whether she was in fact a virgin.

The Home Office initially denied that any internal examination had taken place.

The woman was offered £500 “in recognition” of distress caused but there was no apology.

 

Source: here

2.       libralady
5152 posts
 10 May 2011 Tue 02:48 pm

Well I had to check your source, but I must say it is a reputable one!  I am shocked that this happened.  I am speechless (and does not happen often {#emotions_dlg.whistle})!

3.       vineyards
1954 posts
 10 May 2011 Tue 11:05 pm

We don´t expect customs officers to be polite and considerate do we? They are just too preoccupied with mind reading, judgeing by the looks and stuff like that. Smallest possible suspicion is enough to send a person thousands of miles back home.

4.       Daydreamer
3743 posts
 10 May 2011 Tue 11:33 pm

That´s disgraceful {#emotions_dlg.puking}

 

5.       gokuyum
5050 posts
 13 May 2011 Fri 03:52 am

It seems dark ages are still attractive for some westerners too. It is also a relief they didn´t burn the women accusing them of being a witch.



Edited (5/13/2011) by gokuyum

6.       alameda
3499 posts
 13 May 2011 Fri 05:55 am

 

Quoting si++


............ February 1979 after a national newspaper revealed that a 35-year-old Indian woman was examined by a male doctor at Heathrow to check whether she was in fact a virgin.

The Home Office initially denied that any internal examination had taken place.

The woman was offered £500 “in recognition” of distress caused but there was no apology.

Source: here

 

No apology and only £500??? What a disgrace. 

7.       barba_mama
1629 posts
 20 May 2011 Fri 02:27 pm

I wonder why the newspaper in 1979 didn´t dig deeper, so that they would have discovered back than that it was more than just two women that it happened too. By the way, keep in mind that this was 1979, so that luckily this doesn´t happen anymore. To judge people today on this behaviour is wrong. I do think the government today should go back to the women that were found in those files that they discovered, and compensate them today, and say sorry.

8.       vineyards
1954 posts
 20 May 2011 Fri 07:12 pm

Let´s make a comparison between 1979 and the present time. I think from an intellectual point of view, the 70´s generation was a lot more restless, prolific and diversified. These points were reflected in the books they read, the wealth of social activities they got involved in and the social reaction they displayed. With all these in mind, we can say they were more complicated beings who were looking to achieve things beyond normal. Equality, freaternity and respect were among the those targets. They were in friction with the authority who saw nothing wrong with checking those ladies´ virginity.

Time has passed, technology has advanced, new generations revolutionized the technological aspects of our civilization. However, since the spirit of the 70´s was tactfully eradicated, all those advancements have served the powers that be making them stronger and omnipresent. Like silkworms, they weaved their coccoons practically imprisoning  themselves devoid of a chance to revolutionize the regimes and mentalities that enslave people.

9.       barba_mama
1629 posts
 20 May 2011 Fri 09:55 pm

 

Quoting vineyards

Let´s make a comparison between 1979 and the present time. I think from an intellectual point of view, the 70´s generation was a lot more restless, prolific and diversified. These points were reflected in the books they read, the wealth of social activities they got involved in and the social reaction they displayed. With all these in mind, we can say they were more complicated beings who were looking to achieve things beyond normal. Equality, freaternity and respect were among the those targets. They were in friction with the authority who saw nothing wrong with checking those ladies´ virginity.

Time has passed, technology has advanced, new generations revolutionized the technological aspects of our civilization. However, since the spirit of the 70´s was tactfully eradicated, all those advancements have served the powers that be making them stronger and omnipresent. Like silkworms, they weaved their coccoons practically imprisoning  themselves devoid of a chance to revolutionize the regimes and mentalities that enslave people.

 

I disagree. People like to paint the current society as consumerism at the top, no real heart or soul. I don´t think this is true, and I disagree that people in 1979 were more diversified. I think today´s world is more diversified than back than, especially with migration. I don´t think people back than wanted to achieve more than people now. The spirit of the 70s is overrated. 1979 didn´t have any of that spirit anyway, I don´t know why you would bring that spirit into this, since we´re talking about something horrible back than. But the spirit of the 1970s was using drugs and having sex with everybody for a great bunch of people. Nowadays we don´t call somebody like Amy Winehouse a "free spirit" but a junky, because that´s just the truth. I have talked to some hippies from those times who admitted that they just wore flowers in their hair because they knew it would help them score chicks. Just like there are people now who will buy biological food because they think they can score a chick in the food-section

10.       vineyards
1954 posts
 20 May 2011 Fri 11:11 pm

Barba, I am curious what your age is. Did you reach this conclusion after speaking to a few hippies? Meanwhile, how come you drew the conclusion that I was talking about flower boys?

It is evident that we are talking about a subject about which you know just about nothing.

Though I am not a 70´s guy myself, I have lived through the transition from one generation into another. Amy Whinehouse is a product of this society. She is not even a proper hippy. You probably associate her with the 70´s because she sounds a bit more intellectual than Britney Spears. Why don´t you realize that in addition to the junkies, there is a whole generation of 70´s musicians who set the standards for others. Ever heard Miles Davis or Leonard Cohen? Pink Floyd had their most productive period in the 70´s. 

Ultimately, we could talk about the presence of  Eurepean and American literatures, artists etc. Almost all the great names were already great back in the 70´s.

11.       bydand
755 posts
 21 May 2011 Sat 01:26 am

 

Quoting vineyards

Barba, I am curious what your age is. Did you reach this conclusion after speaking to a few hippies? Meanwhile, how come you drew the conclusion that I was talking about flower boys?

It is evident that we are talking about a subject about which you know just about nothing.

Though I am not a 70´s guy myself, I have lived through the transition from one generation into another. Amy Whinehouse is a product of this society. She is not even a proper hippy. You probably associate her with the 70´s because she sounds a bit more intellectual than Britney Spears. Why don´t you realize that in addition to the junkies, there is a whole generation of 70´s musicians who set the standards for others. Ever heard Miles Davis or Leonard Cohen? Pink Floyd had their most productive period in the 70´s. 

Ultimately, we could talk about the presence of  Eurepean and American literatures, artists etc. Almost all the great names were already great back in the 70´s.

 

I have always found that to enquire of a woman´s age can lead to difficulties vineyards but I always associated the Hippies and the Flower People with the 60´s. As to the intellectual superiority of Amy Winehouse or Britney Spears that is open to debate.

alameda liked this message
12.       vineyards
1954 posts
 21 May 2011 Sat 02:47 am

Well, you are the boss when it comes to the 60´s. My biggest contribution to the sixties was being born in that decade. The emphasis here is not on Barba´s age. I was just trying to draw people´s attention to the caricaturized image of the 70´s.

In a nutshell, although certain aspects of society was considerably less developed compared to the present time, the 70´s people were a lot more interested in philosophy, poetry, literature and they used to get involved in a lot of different social organizations. Despite the obvious lack of infrastructure and means, they travelled more and with a purpose other than business or relaxation. These people were in pursuit of knowledge and they are in contrast with today´s new generation in these regards. Try asking a 24 year, what he thinks about the social problems of our day. You would hear a lengthy lecture did you ask that question in the 70´s.

As for Amy Whinehouse and Britney Spears comparison. I still think Amy is a bit more informed, at least her genre is more difficult to master and there is less room for hi-tech gimmickry. Also while seemingly childish and selfish, she expresses herself not like a baby doll but as who actually she is; someone whose life doesn´t go the way it should. I hope she will overcome these problems.

 

13.       Daydreamer
3743 posts
 21 May 2011 Sat 12:58 pm

Ah the great ´70s. The only good thing there was my birth in 1978 What Vineyards says might be true for America and western Europe, but in Poland these were hard times when people had to queue for 2 days to get food, buying toilet paper was a blessing and a rare occassion. That´s what communism does to you. Also, when people are too busy wondering how to provide for their basic needs, the supreme thought, the Arts are in neglect. Art functioned only in the dimension approved of by the Party (Polish United Workers´ Party). And hippies were the people who made their own drugs from poppy flowers. There was hardly any diversity in the nation.

I´m glad I spent just 2 years in the ´70s and that I was still in primary school when communism was taken down. Had I lived in the US at that time, I might be of a totally different opinion, though

14.       barba_mama
1629 posts
 21 May 2011 Sat 04:30 pm

The point I was trying to make is NOT that Amy Whinehouse is a hippy, but that she would have been called a hippy if she was alive and kicking in the 1970s. Most of the artists from that decade would have been called giant junkies by now, and kicked into rehab. Even the golden oldies who were alive those days admit that they can hardly remember those decades, what they did and what they said because they were stoned out of their minds back than. We like to view the past in rose coloured glasses. If people complain about something today they are spoiled little brats, who don´t appreciate what they have. If people don´t complain they are uninterested consumerists from generation "me".

I don´t understand how you can take a news article about horrible things that happened in the 1970s, and twist it into a complaint about society today!

 

By the way, don´t try to patronize me by saying "ever heard of Miles Davis?" ... If you want to try and impress me by naming artists from the 1970s, you shouldn´t name Miles Davis. He did his most influential work before the 1970s, (yes, I´m a jazz enthouasiast, so I know this stuff) so naming him as an artist of the 70s is very strange. Pink Floyd was productive in the 1970s, not because it was the 1970s but because of their age at that point. Just like Prince didn´t have his most productive period in the 1970s, because he was a kid! He is an amazing artist, and he was most productive in the 80s/90s. There have been amazing artists after the 1960s and 1970s period, and naming musical bands as evidence for superiority of society during those decades is short sighted.



Edited (5/21/2011) by barba_mama
Edited (5/21/2011) by barba_mama

15.       vineyards
1954 posts
 21 May 2011 Sat 11:14 pm

I am not patronizing you. There is something wrong with your choice of vocabulary here. You are also not completely correct about Miles Davis, the correct wording must be: a timeless musician. He continued being productive for nearly five decades. All his periods were worth listening to.

I am also a keen Jazz enthusiast. My favourite musicians are Theolonious Monk, Miles Davis, C. Parker, Duke Ellington among others. I have about 200 LP´s in my collection. They call me Mr. Jazz man.

16.       si++
3785 posts
 22 May 2011 Sun 10:40 am

 

Quoting vineyards

I am not patronizing you. There is something wrong with your choice of vocabulary here. You are also not completely correct about Miles Davis, the correct wording must be: a timeless musician. He continued being productive for nearly five decades. All his periods were worth listening to.

I am also a keen Jazz enthusiast. My favourite musicians are Theolonious Monk, Miles Davis, C. Parker, Duke Ellington among others. I have about 200 LP´s in my collection. They call me Mr. Jazz man.

 

I listen to all kind of music if I find it good. But my jazz taste is limited. I remember listening to Miles Davis few times on the radio when they played it, yes I think his music is good. I have over 200 CDs in my music colection and the only one I would call Jazz is Nina Simone which I had listened to and liked in a CD store before buying.

17.       alameda
3499 posts
 23 May 2011 Mon 12:33 am

People like to simplify things by calling names. What is/was a Hippie? I actually found Wikipedia has the best definition I´ve seen thus far. The term Hippie came from hip...that is being aware of things....it evolved from the Beats.

It has been wrongly associated with drugs and wanton sex, however great social movements came out of it. Civil Rights, Anti-War, the Femminist movement really took on steam as a result of the freedom to choose to have children via the birth control pill, Ecology movements sprung forth during this time as a response to the book Silent Spring in 1962, Adele Davis was an early pioneer in the natural unprocessed food movement whose book " Eat Right to Keep Fit" was a major key in making people aware of what was going on with their food and the consequent movement we see today. 

This was the time when the children from WWII who were the first to grow up with the threat of world destruction came of age.  This is the generation that grew up after the Nurenberg Trials where I was just following orders would no longer be used as a defense. This is when the term "Make Love Not War" was coined. It did not mean go XXXX your head off....it meant love one another....don´t hate and kill each other....

This led to a rejection of sensless wars and the large anti-war protests. ..........I could go on.......but my point is........To reduce this time to being identified with drugs and sex shows ignorance of historic events that actually happened.

...............BTW Pink Floyd was a 60s band...Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, the Beattles were known for good music, not drugs. There have always been drug users......

 

Quoting barba_mama

The point I was trying to make is NOT that Amy Whinehouse is a hippy, but that she would have been called a hippy if she was alive and kicking in the 1970s. Most of the artists from that decade would have been called giant junkies by now, and kicked into rehab. Even the golden oldies who were alive those days admit that they can hardly remember those decades, what they did and what they said because they were stoned out of their minds back than. We like to view the past in rose coloured glasses. 

 

 



Edited (5/23/2011) by alameda [add]

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