Statistics 101 or What I Wish People Understood About Gender

In December of last year, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science published a study by researchers at Tel Aviv University, catchily entitled “The human brain mosaic”.

The great thing about it is that in one single piece of research, it sums up everything that I have ever wanted to scream at people.

To quote the abstract, “Brains with features that are consistently at one end of the “maleness-femaleness” continuum are rare. Rather, most brains are comprised of unique “mosaics” of features, some more common in females compared with males, some more common in males compared with females, and some common in both females and males. (…) These findings are corroborated by a similar analysis of personality traits, attitudes, interests, and behaviors of more than 5,500 individuals, which reveals that internal consistency is extremely rare.“

In other words, we are all individuals with unique brains and personalities.

So why is this so difficult for us to wrap our heads around? Why do we believe books that tell us “Men are from Mars, women are from Venus” and raise our children differently because “boys will be boys”? 

I went without solid food for 72h and here’s what it was like

Hey lovelies,

After two 14-hour workdays and six days of being stuck in bed with a cold and a massive headache, I’m finally going to tell you about how I ACTUALLY COMPLETED the fasting challenge that I wrote about in my last post (and I really need to work on blogging more consistently).

Being that the original idea of World Vision Austria was to go without food and donate the saved money, I set myself two simple rules at the beginning:

1.  No solid food.

2. No spending money.

Why I am going without food for 72 hours

Do you know what real hunger feels like?

We’ve all said things like “I can’t wait for lunch, I’m starving!” before. But in the west where food is pretty much always available and many of us struggle with not overeating, very few people, if any, know what it means to be truly, gut-wrenchingly hungry. Even the hunger you feel when you skip lunch on a busy workday is really uncomfortable. What would it feel like not to eat for days?

Body Positivity is So Goddamn Important

When I started this blog, I thought I’d just write about whatever seemed interesting to me, and I didn’t really plan much further. Now, I am realizing that apparently, what interests me is mostly smashing the patriarchy. I really don’t want to come across as the stereotypical angry feminist who doesn’t shave her underarms (not that there’s anything wrong with that, either). But some things just piss me off, you know?

Like the other day when I was scrolling through my Facebook feed. A German magazine had posted an article about the #DropTheTowel campaign encouraging women of all body shapes to enjoy the summer, the sun and the beach without obsessing over who might judge them or hiding inside their towels. It was accompanied by a beautiful picture of women of all shapes and sizes showing off their bodies in bathing suits.

Awesome, I thought, maybe I can manage to do that this summer, too. And I would have kept scrolling, but then the comments caught my eye. Basically, it was a bunch of women, mostly, pointing out that obesity is unhealthy and shouldn’t be glorified, and the idea that overweight or obese bodies could be beautiful is just ludicrous.

And then I thought, that is SUCH bullshit.

My Six Steps To A Perfect Sunday

Hi lovelies ♥

Do you like Sundays??

When I was younger, I used to hate Sundays. It was the day that everyone had to spend with their families, so I couldn’t hang with my friends, and Sunday was also last-minute homework day. Ten years later and Sunday is absolutely, hands down my very favorite day of the week. I think every day should be Sunday. In fact, I love Sunday so much, I have my Sunday routine down to a T. There are a few things that I NEVER do on Sundays: wear jeans or otherwise constrictive clothing, spend more time outdoors than strictly necessary unless it is warmer than 20°C, or see people I don't really want to see (I make it a point to meet my mother on Saturdays). And then there are a few things that I wouldn’t miss for the world on Sundays. So, should you ever run out of ideas or get bored, here’s my recipe for the perfect Sunday.

A Letter Every Man Should Read

This is an open letter. I am writing it in light of the recent rise to notoriety of self-styled “pick up artist” Daryush Valizadeh and the ideas he propagates, and in response to the mindset of the “seduction community” as a whole.

Dear Reader,

My body is not your fortress to conquer.

My belt buckle is not your lock to pick.

I am not your game to bring down.

6 Things I Learned In Bucharest

Hi lovelies ♥

I want to write about the current political situation in Europe, I really do. But I’m so angry about so many things and I can’t quite find the words yet, so instead, I give you… my first travel journal!

I went to Bucharest for ten days over Christmas this year and here’s what I learned.