(목요모임) [April 3, 2014]_Thursday Meeting Topic

[susanna]

People With An Offbeat Sense Of Fashion Get More Respect

Lady gaga

A series of studies by the Harvard Business School has confirmed what Lady Gaga has known ever since she debuted her lightening bolt-covered eye and meat dress: people tend to like outlandish dressers.

The research, by doctoral student Silvia Bellezza and two Harvard professors, examines how individuals perceive status and competence from those “not conforming” –

particularly in their style.

And what they found was somewhat surprising: that people grant higher status and competence to the more unique individuals, viewing them as more autonomous.

In order to reach their conclusions, the researchers conducted their research in the lab on students and eval‎‍uations in the community, reports Shirley S. Wang of The Wall Street Journal.

One experiment included sending two types of people into luxury boutiques in Milan: one wearing gym clothes and the other in fancy clothes. The salespeople in the shops actually assumed the schlumpy-looking clients were going to be the big spenders. They perceived them as confident enough to be dressed down, and therefore “more apt to be a celebrity making a purchase than someone wrapped in fur,” Wang wrote.

The abstract from the study goes further by stating that odd behaviour “can act as a particular form of conspicuous consumption and lead to positive inferences of status and competence in the eyes of others.”

Another experiment included students judging a bearded professor wearing a T-shirt over a clean shaven one wearing a tie. It was scruff for the win.

However, there are no rules without exceptions. And one of the big exceptions in this case is if the behaviour or style is perceived as completely unintentional. “In order to think that the person’s a big shot, you have to understand that the person is willingly engaging in this nonconforming conduct,” Bellezza said.

-con·form·ity : (규칙・관습 등에) 따름, 순응 If something happens in conformity with something such as a law or someone's wishes, it happens as the law says it should, or as the person wants it to.

-au·tono·mous : 국가・지역・기관이 자주적인, 자치의/사람이 자율[자주]적인 An autonomous country, organization, or group governs or controls itself rather than being controlledby anyone else.

 -dress down : (보통 때보다) 간편한 옷을 입다

Question!

1. Do you judge people by what they wear?

2. What do you think of people who dress really weirdly?

3. Would you really like to go crazy with your fashion?

4. Do you believe the research that says people who dress down have more confidence?

5. What are the upsides to dressing down?

6. Is non-conformity good or bad?

7. Why does society generally look at non-conformists as bad?

8. Is fashion a waste of money?

9. Do you prefer suits or sports gear?

10. What image does an unshaven man give?

11. What image does a woman in a suit give?

12. Is it good that CEOs wear hoodies and sneakers?

Kenyan polygamy law : Female MPs storm out of parliament

 

A Kenyan couple kissing at their wedding in Tayana gardens in Nairobi, 3 September 2013

Female MPs in Kenya have stormed out of a late-night parliamentary session in a row over the legalisation of polygamy.

The law is intended to bring civil law, where a man is only allowed one wife, into line with customary law, where some cultures allow multiple partners.

But male MPs voted to amend the new marriage bill to allow men to take as many wives as they like without consulting existing spouses.

Traditionally, first wives are supposed to give prior approval.

The women walked out in disgust over the matter.

The marriage bill now passes to the president to sign before it becomes law.

'This is Africa'

MP Samuel Chepkong'a, who proposed the amendment, said that when a woman got married under customary law, she understood that the marriage was open to polygamy, so no consultation was necessary, Kenya's Daily Nation newspaper reports.

Mohammed Junet, an MP representing a constituency from the western Nyanza province, agreed.

"When you marry an African woman, she must know the second one is on the way and a third wife… this is Africa," Kenya's Capital News website quotes him as saying.

Yung women from Kenya's Samburu ethnic group which has the tradition of bride prices to seal marriages

If the bill becomes law, a Kenyan will have to be 18 to marry and this will apply to all cultures

But female MPs argued that such a decision would affect the whole family, including the financial position of other spouses.

"It behoves you to be man enough to agree that your wife and family should know," Capital News quotes Soipan Tuya, the women's representative from Narok County, as saying.

The BBC's Angela Ngendo in the capital, Nairobi, says the new marriage legislation has been under discussion for several years and some initial proposals were scrapped at committee stages.

Plans to ban the payment of bride prices were dropped - although a person must be 18 to marry and this will apply to all cultures.

Proposals to ensure equal property and inheritance rights were also watered down - a woman will be entitled to 30% of matrimonial property after death or divorce.

Under current Kenyan law, a woman must prove her contribution to the couple's wealth.

There was also a proposal to recognise co-habiting couples, known in Kenya as "come-we-stay" relationships, after six months, but this too was dropped.

It would have allowed a woman to seek maintenance for herself and any children of the union had the man left.

-par·lia·ment: 의회, 국회

The parliament of some countries, for example Britain, is the group of people who make or change its laws,and decide what policies the country should follow.\ 

-storm out of : …에서 뛰어 나가다.

-amend : (법 등을) 개정[수정]하다 If you amend something that has been written such as a law, or something that is said, you change it in order toimprove it or make it more accurate.

Question!

1. Why would a man want more than one wife?

2. If some cultures allow more than one married partner, should we respect their tradition?

3. Why do most people believe just one married partner is best?

4. Should Kenya let women have more than one husband?

5. What is the Dark Ages?

6. What are the biggest problems married couples have?

7. Who is the new law unfair to most?

8. Are men afraid of women's tongues?

[리사홍]

와우 interesting topic!

[Scarlet]

@ Polygamy - N) having more than one spouse at a time
ex) Homosexuality, same-sex marriage, and polygamy are universally legal and widely accepted.

@ Polyandry - N) having more than one husband at a time
ex) But polygynandry and polygamy can only be considered group marriage under certain circumstances.