• Last week, deplorable human being/politician Mike Huckabee told journalists that allowing gays equal rights is comparable to legalizing incest, polygamy, and drug use. He also said gay couples shouldn’t be allowed to adopt because “children are not puppies.” •
• According to a new study, college-aged women are more likely to get vaccinated against HPV if they have spoken with their mothers about sex. Girls who already know their mothers approve are far more likely to get the shots, while women who have discussed values in relation to sex with their parents are less interested in vaccination. • Congratulations, Italy, for having the lowest maternal mortality rate in the world. Only 4 women per 100,000 live births pass away in Italy, while the U.S. sees over four times that. The world’s highest maternal mortality rate is in Afghanistan, where 1,575 women died per 100,000 in 2008. • Are business schools doing enough to reach out to female students? Selena Rezvani and Sandie Taylor at Forbes argue that many schools are missing a valuable opportunity to appeal to women by not offering gender-specific leadership training, among other courses. • The mayor of a town in Italy has asked for the removal of a giant phallic sculpture that currently is on display near the airport. The Pope is coming to visit, and the mayor doesn’t want to be embarrassed by the giant green penis. The artist responded angrily to his demands, and made fun of the mayor for being a total prude. • A 25-year-old Washington man claims he shot his girlfriend by mistake with a gun that they had been previously using as a foreplay prop. He says he was drinking Mike’s Hard Lemonade with his girlfriend while he rubbed her body with the handgun. After having sex, he picked up the gun and accidentally shot her in the face. He is adamant that it was an accident. • Are you worried about your feet? You should be! Especially if you’re the wife of a politician. Sarah Brown is getting some flack across the pond for her slightly deformed toes, but fortunately, Sonia Poulton for the Daily Mail can share her pain. • A female soldier has been awarded damages from her lawsuit against the British army for discrimination. Tilem DeBique says she was forced to leave her job because she had to look after her child. She also won a race discrimination suit, through arguing that UK immigration laws made it impossible for her to bring a relative to the country to help with childcare. • Authorities have begun an inquest into the death of Seth Bishop, brother of the university professor who shot and killed three colleagues in February. Police suspect Amy Bishop may have had something to do with Seth’s death in 1986. A witness said Bishop had just had a fight with her husband – and had just murdered her brother – when she entered an auto body shop with a shotgun and demanded the worker’s keys. • Next month, Katie Washington, 21, will become the first black valedictorian in Notre Dame’s history. Washington is a biology major from Indiana with a 4.0 GPA. • LiveScience has set out to explain why we don’t all get along – and it’s pretty much what you would expect. Political conflict starts over opposing morals, twisting facts, polarization within the two-party system and the influence of new media. • A 31-year-old Australian woman gave birth last week, but she doesn’t even remember it. Rebecca Doig suffers from rapid-onset Alzheimer’s, but fortunately her newborn daughter does not carry the gene that would predispose her to developing her mother’s disease. • Holly Crawford, the woman on trial for selling pierced “goth kitties,” has been convicted on one count of cruelty to animals and sentenced to a year of house arrest. She has also been ordered to discontinue her grooming business until her probation is over. • According to a recent poll, 60% of college girls in China want to marry a rich dude. 20% of the respondents said they would tolerate infidelity, but only 10% said they will be loyal to one person in a lifetime. • Abortion has been legal in Ethiopia for four years now, but 75% of abortions still take place in illegal settings. Women in rural areas are at an especially high risk. A co-author of the study speculates on the various factors limiting women’s access to safe abortion providers: “many women and health care providers alike are unaware of the expanded criteria under which abortion is legal and that too few health care facilities outside of urban areas are equipped to offer the services,” he says. • A Colorado woman is on trial for taping her boyfriend’s dog to the refrigerator during an a fight. Luckily, the dog now has new owners. • Plastic surgery is becoming increasingly common in Baghdad, and some blame it on the influence of western media. “The internet, video clips, television – we see that those who get surgeries done, they look prettier,” said one nose-job fan. Dr. Zakaria Mahmood also blames television for the increase in cosmetic surgeries: “Now the international satellites have brought a culture, a new culture to our society.” •