Melody's blog about stereotypes and assumptions and discrimination and things like that got me thinking about the way that things are still assumed about women (as well as men, but as I'm not a man I'm not going to go into that side of things!).

I mean...

One-third of Britons blame rape on women (the good old assumption of "she was asking for it." Does that mean that women can molest men who wear no shirts and later claim "But your honour, he was begging for it by not having his shirt on! Plus he's had a number of sexual partners and was wearing satin boxers and swigging on a can of VB, which clearly indicates that he was ready for some action, and we all know that when a guy says no that he doesn't mean it"??? o.0). That attitude is something that doesn't just live in England. It's all over the world.

"Pretty" blonde "all-Aussie" girl wins Australian Idol, even though most people say that she wasn't the best singer of the two in the final. The other girl in the final was a single parent and of Maori or Pacific Island heritage and originally from New Zealand.

The average female wage is 85% of that of the average male salary in Australia.

Muslim women have been particularly discriminated against here since 9/11. And let's not forget that Muslims are being discriminated against by the immigration department (Muslims refused entry often, inquiry told).

Domestic abuse against Aboriginal women in Australia has a rate 45 times greater than that of the "white" Australian population. Other than that, views of domestic abuse are often really screwed up. One of my ex's friends told him that I "deserved" to be smacked around. Hmm.

An unwell woman of non-white heritage who was an Australian citizen was deported by the immigration department who suspected her of being an illegal immigrant, and has only been returned home after four years.

A "pretty" model gets out of prison time, even though she's been found guilty of possession by a Balinese court. Oh, and suddenly she doesn't seem to be doing the whole "I'm-so-frightfully-religious-and-conservative" thing any more, which seems to be puzzling just as many Muslim people in Australia as it is for those who aren't Muslim.

Women's sports in Australia are never covered properly. We've got an international women's cricket team that does better than their male counterparts, but you'd barely know, even when we have the women's World Cup cricket. Oh, things might get some air time if the women wear skimpy clothing, though. And if they do some spreads for Maxim or Ralph or whatever the hell.

I could go on, but it's starting to depress me!

Instead, I shall read Where does raunch culture leave the sisterhood by Jessica Disteldorf and have a laugh as well as a ponder.