HERS | Gardasil | Global Governance | Return of Ka-Ching | 12/2012
current affairs and lifestyle for the discerning woman
GARDASIL SHOCK
New study says cervical cancer vaccine doesn’t work
ONE RING TO RULE THEM
Helen Clark channels Sauron in a UN global governance speech
GET READY FOR ARMAGEDDON HIS Armageddon | Climate Change | Unholy War | 12/2012
Mark Steyn’s chilling new book
SCARE CON
Why Climate Change is not as frightening as they’d like you to think Dec 2012/Jan 2013
PLUS
Return Of Ka-Ching
Hollywood and NZ hang their hopes on a Hobbit
BEAUTY, CUISINE, TRAVEL, FAMILY, MOVIES, HEALTH & MORE
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CONTENTS Issue 135 | Dec 2012/Jan 2013 | www.investigatedaily.com HIS Armageddon Mark Steyn’s devastating new book suggests if America falls, New Zealand won’t be far behind
Scare Con They keep telling us climate change is getting‘worse than ever’, but the evidence keeps on saying otherwise…
features Gardasil Shock
New studies suggest the cervical cancer vaccine might not even work, and the company behind it has faced criminal fines in the US page 10
One Ring
If you think the world is going to hell in a handcart, fear not – HELEN CLARK at the helm of the UNDP has big plans page 16
Return Of Ka-Ching
Hollywood is depending on the Hobbit to be a success. So is New Zealand page 24
CONTENTS Formalities
06 Miranda Devine 08 Chloe Milne
Beauty & Health
28 Out & about workout 30 Sugary drink danger 32 Genetically modified foods 34 Anti aging creams – do they work?
28
Cuisine & Travel
46
38 Feeding the multitudes 40 Historical Malta
Books & Movies
42 Summer Books 44 Anna Karenina & Silver Lining Playbook
Extras
36 Christmas gift ideas 46 Virtual plastic surgery
34 40 44
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HERS / DEVINE
Playing the gender card backfires Miranda Devine
T
here are two types of females in this world: t he “woman’s woman” and the “man’s woman”. The latter adores men and is an incorrigible flirt. At a party she will be the one talking with the men, preferring their company to that of any woman. She will never observe the quaint “BBQ rules” that frequently divide Australian social gatherings down gender lines. She regards attention from men as more important than the regard of women. A woman’s woman loves men just as much but, for the most part, she abides by a loyalty code to her own sex, which holds that the best way to ruin a good friendship is to compete for the attention of men. Most women are somewhere along the continuum between the two extremes, and women can move in and out of each camp as they grow older, and depending on circumstances. But in the current high-octane climate of political misogyny and sexism it is worth noting that the woman who occupies the highest political office in the land, our first female prime minister, lauded as a latter day Boudicea, the patron saint of feminists, appears very much like a man’s woman. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. But a man’s woman doesn’t resort to false claims of sexism and gender victimhood. She appears to know that her sex has been an asset in the climb to the top, and that it is her refusal to be treated as a lesser creature that has earned the respect of men and smoothed her way. This is especially so in a very blokey environment, such as the union-dominated Labor Party. The tension between the ALP’s macho culture and Emily’s List feminism, which has infiltrated the party with demands for affirmative action quotas and ideological purity on abortion, makes a man’s woman even more sought-after by male colleagues as a talisman of gender equality. It is not hard to wrap such men around the proverbial little finger with feminine adulation, flattery and harmless flirtation. This is a legitimate, though unspoken, path to power. No path is pretty and men and women make use of whatever they have. But women’s women are sometimes the targets of unsisterly enmity. In her lively new book, Tales from the Political Trenches, 6 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM Dec 2012/Jan 2013
Despite her raised voice and flapping hands, despite the direct language, whinging about sexism is not her way, and she must be fairminded enough to know it was a fraud ABC journalist turned one-term Labor MP Maxine McKew recounts bitterly how Gillard patronised and ignored her when she served as her parliamentary secretary. It is venom of a kind that would have a male branded a misogynist, as is the fashion of the moment. McKew describes Gillard as “punitive and scolding”. She, “never included me in wider discussions or sought out my views on any of the substantive areas. I never shook the feeling that Gillard saw me as an irritant.” She writes of Gillard’s “girlish giggles”, her “lack of generosity towards me, her pattern of condescension and the way her office had locked me out of some important policy development”. And later: “The photos of the country’s first female prime minister standing beside Governor General Quentin Bryce suggested a new era of girl power ... But it was a deceptive image.” McKew was a Kevin Rudd loyalist, so she may not be an altogether reliable witness to Gillard’s sisterliness. But the point is that when any woman whips out the misogyny card, she’s lost the argument, and a man’s woman knows that better than anyone, because she hunts with the beast. That is why Gillard’s misogyny speech the other week seemed inauthentic, even apart from its context. Despite her raised voice and flapping hands, despite the direct language, whinging about sexism is not her way, and she must be fair-
minded enough to know it was a fraud. She’s a doer, not a complainer. She’s a pragmatist who will take any weapon that comes along. But sexism will end up shooting blanks, despite any short-term damage it does to Abbott. That is what a forensic examination of Newspoll tells us, and I am indebted to Dennis Shanahan of The Australian for his analysis. When asked if they thought Abbott has behaved in a sexist way towards Gillard recently, 45 per cent of people said no and 16 per cent had no answer. Fewer – 39 per cent – said he had been sexist. Females were more likely to see sexism. But even then, they were split evenly, 43 to 41 per cent, the difference within the 3 per cent margin of error. More men (48 per cent) thought Abbott had not been sexist than thought he had (35 per cent). The youngest people, aged 18-34, were least convinced, with just 33 per cent agreeing Abbott was sexist and 45 per cent saying he wasn’t. As the inheritors of a politically correct world, they are more alert to fakery. The truth is that while Abbott comes across as a blokey
bloke who would fit right in to the ALP, he also comes across as a woman’s man, one who adores women. His six-month paid parental leave scheme is one example of how women would fare under his policies, particularly those least respected by Emily’s Listers, women who want to put family before career, at least in the early stages of childrearing. “Maternity leave schemes are better thought of as a means of encouraging more women to keep the most traditional role of all, that of a mother” wrote Abbott in his 2009 book Battlelines. “It’s the fact that so many mothers and mothers-to-be can’t afford to give up work that makes a national paid maternity leave scheme necessary.” He also sees the baby bonus, not as middle class welfare but as a tax refund, “a benefit based not on need but on the contribution (parents) are making to Australia’s future”. This is a message that will be very attractive to Australia’s women. And that is why Labor is working so hard to cast Abbott as a woman-hater. devinemiranda@hotmail.com
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HERS / GEN-Y
The next chapter Chloe Milne
W
ithin the next few days I will be making the leap from university student to unemployed. I’ll be giving up my five-year-long security blanket in favour of the unknown that doesn’t guarantee $172.51 per week for watching Youtube clips, playing Sudoku and going to the odd lecture. It’s a scary prospect, certainly not made easier by society’s view on what I should be doing. A typical conversation with someone above the age of 40 generally involves them asking me what I am studying, to which I respond “law,” followed by the dreaded question: “what area do you want to practice in?” My usual response of “Oh, I’m not going to be a lawyer,” is nearly always met with a raise of the eyebrows and a look of concern, with some even acting as if they haven’t heard me properly. This from the people of the 60’s and 70’s who, by their accounts, spent most of their early 20s in communes feeling the love … and not a lot else. Now, I know I’m not entirely conventional; my own parents (as supportive as they are) must be thinking, “Oh God, why does she want to brainstorm ways to travel the world, why can’t she just be like her brother? Went to engineering school – became an engineer”. However, it continues to surprise me the number of my peers who admit to me that they’re doing what they think they should be doing, not necessarily what they want to be doing. I mean, as thrilling as the thought of keeping rapists and murderers out of prison whilst wearing a Harry Potter costume is, I just don’t think it’s me. It might seem risky to go against the grain, but isn’t life all about facing our fears? I don’t want to get too cheesy or inspirational, but we really don’t know when our lives are going to be over. We should all be living our dreams, no matter what age we are. It just doesn’t make sense that the older people get, the less they seem to want to take risks. I mean, why aren’t there more 80 year olds base jumping, sailing around the world, becoming stand-up comedians or just living the lives they have always wanted? I mean, you don’t have to go as far Hugh Heffner, there should be limits on some things and even 91-year-old Olivia from New Zealand’s Got Talent (false advertising) is probably pushing the boundaries. But surely the closer to death you are, the less you have to lose. Some crazy people seem to think that the world’s going
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For example, my biggest goal is marrying Richie McCaw, and I just don’t want to be judged for it to end this December. I’m not saying they’re wrong (… no, wait, I am saying that they’re wrong), but perhaps we should all live like we’re dying regardless. Obviously not to the extent of euthanizing our pets or cancelling our Investigate magazine subscriptions, but figuring out what we want to do with our lives and doing it. For example, my biggest goal is marrying Richie McCaw, and I just don’t want to be judged for it. www.chloemilne.com