Watercooler Stories

Jordan men encouraged to take second wife

AMMAN, Jordan, March 10 (UPI) -- A Jordanian Islamic center is encouraging men to take a second wife by promising financial assistance and reward, reports said Thursday.

The daily al-Rai said the center promised men who marry a second wife it would pay for the wedding expenses and provide financial aid if the marriage is approved in advance by the first wife.

"The Islamic center's call has been largely circulated in the cities of Zarqa and Irbid through faxes and e-mail," the paper said.

The center said its call for second marriages was stimulated by a study indicating 67 percent of Jordanian women are unwed, "which necessitates action to protect the honor of these Muslim women."

Polygamy is allowed under Islam with men able have as many as four wives, but many Arab Muslim countries, including Jordan and Egypt, placed certain restrictions on the practice, such as the approval of the first wife. Other countries such as Tunisia, banned polygamy altogether.

Town debates plans to remove women for TV

HARBY, England, March 10 (UPI) -- A BBC reality TV show that will remove most of a small town's women for a week has created a firestorm of controversy, The Times of London reports.

"The Week The Women Went" is scheduled to begin filming April 10 when the network puts up 80 of Harby's 119 women in a hotel to see how the men cope without them. The town's entire population is 240.

While many of the women are looking forward to their week of freedom, some of the men are less than impressed -- not of being left alone, but the image of themselves and the village.

"This is going to be a tacky, tawdry program that will do a lot of harm," said resident Paul Marshall. "I have seen this kind of TV and nobody comes out of it looking good."

An emergency parish council meeting has been called for next week to address the concerns.

Meanwhile, the BBC defended the concept, describing it as "an intriguing social experiment designed to see how a community of men rises to the challenge of filling all the roles in village life."

Study says love is understanding feelings

LONDON, March 10 (UPI) -- Love is like "cleaning the toilet without being asked," says a British researcher of human relations.

Dr. Simon Watts, author of a new study into love and how men and women define it, is convinced the secret of nourishing a partnership between two people is understanding the power of the other person's feelings, the Western Mail said Thursday.

"My definition of love is cleaning the toilet without being asked," he said. "It's doing something you find utterly abhorrent for somebody. You go and do these things because you know it brings them pleasure if you have done it."

His research has revealed the crucial importance of feelings and emotions in a modern relationship.

The results of the research project by Watts of Nottingham Trent University, and Dr Paul Stenner of University College London, are published in the British Journal of Social Psychology.

Norway PM: IKEA assembly leaftlets sexist

OSLO, Norway, March 10 (UPI) -- Norway's prime minister wants the Swedish home furnishings chain IKEA to show women assembling furniture.

Kjell Magne Bondevik says none of the company's instructions for the 2,000 beds, chairs and other items that require assembly show women doing the job, the newspaper Aftenposten reports. The company responded, first, that it has to consider the sensibilities of customers in Muslim countries and, second, that it does show women in two of its assembly instructions.

VG, another Norwegian newspaper, queried Middle Eastern immigrants in Oslo and found none who would be upset by pictures of women assembling furniture.

"It is not the case that there is Taliban rule in all Muslim countries," Fahrid Ismail, a native of Jordan, said. "Islam is not the way it was in Afghanistan. Women can study, they can do anything."

IKEA told the prime minister the company will try to have more gender-neutral assembly instructions.