3+ week, 4+ day ago (786+ words) Widespread adoption of artificial intelligence has been accompanied by new ways to harass women online Gaatha Sarvaiya would like to post on social media and share her work online. An Indian law graduate in her early 20s, she is in the earliest stages of her career and trying to build a public profile. The problem is, with AI-powered deepfakes on the rise, there is no longer any guarantee that the images she posts will not be distorted into something violating or grotesque. "The thought immediately pops in that, "OK, maybe it's not safe. Maybe people can take our pictures and just do stuff with them," says Sarvaiya, who lives in Mumbai. In recent years, India has become one of the most important testing grounds for AI tools. It is the world's second-largest market for OpenAI, with the technology widely adopted across…...

1+ week, 1+ day ago (253+ words) Christine and Francis Saunders, who lost their beloved daughter Juliet, respond to the news that advice on maternal deaths in England and Wales has been routinely ignored Thank you for your article on how coroners" prevention of future deaths (PFD) reports are being routinely ignored (Coroners" advice on maternal deaths in England and Wales routinely ignored, study finds, 19 November). Experience has shown us that a coroner"s PFD report is issued in response to serious systemic failings and a trust"s inaction to prevent future tragedies. Tolerating poor care and refusing to learn seem to be shared features of health scandals, including the treatment of people with learning disabilities, such as our own beloved daughter, Juliet Saunders, who died aged 25. The trust resisted, claiming that, being non-verbal, Juliet was hard to treat. Would there have been any improvements without the…...

2+ week, 1+ day ago (1355+ words) Fifty years after writing a book which would change how Australians view their history and culture, the author and journalist isn't slowing down Anne Summers is scrutinising street numbers as we walk. Pausing in front of a 19th-century mansion, the author and journalist looks up to its second storey. "This is where I was arrested." "Oh wow," she says, taking in its immaculate sandstone facade. "It didn't look like this then." We're in an area real estate agents now call Potts Point, but in 1974, it was the Cross. When Summers moved to Sydney in her 20s, from her home town of Adelaide " "an incredibly boring place" " every aspect of the notorious neighbourhood excited her. The luminous purple jacarandas and exotic frangipanis, the steep geography and sparkling harbour, but most of all "the incredible mix of people". While Victoria Street's buildings were…...

2+ week, 1+ day ago (207+ words) Readers aren't convinced by the wholesome family message peddled by John Lewis in its latest Christmas ad The issues you highlighted in your editorial are real, but please don't think that advertisers care about them (The Guardian view on the John Lewis Christmas ad: a modern story of fathers and sons, 7 November). This ad is a shameless attempt to make consumers think they are doing something worthwhile in buying overpriced gifts in a failing store that used to share its profits with staff but hasn't paid them any bonus in the past few years. If anything, the relentless pressure of advertising (where the Christmas season starts earlier each year) only serves to pile more pressure on people who are struggling. The cynicism of these ads " pretending to care while desperately trying to trigger the Pavlovian Christmas shopping response " is truly…...

3+ week, 4+ day ago (673+ words) Analysis of England and Wales units also finds 63% higher risk to babies whose mothers live in most deprived areas Babies born to black mothers in England and Wales and those from the most deprived areas are significantly more likely to die while in neonatal units, according to analysis revealing the "deeply concerning" figures. The study, led by academics at the University of Liverpool, examined data on more than 700,000 babies admitted to an NHS neonatal unit across England and Wales between 2012 and 2022. Babies born to black mothers had the highest mortality rates for the majority of years in the study, with an 81% higher risk of dying before discharge compared with babies born to white mothers. The highest mortality rate for black babies stood at 29.7 deaths per 1,000 babies, with the highest rate for white babies at 16.9 deaths per 1,000 babies. For babies born…...

1+ week, 5+ day ago (725+ words) Mortified documentarian James Blake meets young men who have drifted towards misogynist influencers " and finds them lonely, heartbreaking and on "semen retention journeys" to control their sex drives Men of the Manosphere review " a truly terrifying hour Mortified documentarian James Blake meets young men who have drifted towards misogynist influencers " and finds them lonely, heartbreaking and on "semen retention journeys" to control their sex drives Just as you can accurately measure the quality of a documentary about pornography by the number of examples of its subject that it does not show, so too you can judge a programme about "incel" culture/the manosphere/toxic masculinity by the amount of time it does not devote to the noxious leaders of the subculture. Porn documentary makers often seem to use their commission to indulge their own murky fascinations, or at the very…...

5+ day, 20+ hour ago (152+ words) Stereotypes that centre mens" worth in their work are strangling sensible debate, and letting down women too Finn Mackay is an academic and the author of Female Masculinities and the Gender Wars First it was mechanisation threatening our jobs, then AI and now this: the Great Feminisation is taking over the workplace. Well, that"s according to American journalist Helen Andrews, who popularised this thesis in a speech to the National Conservatism conference in Washington DC. The thesis makes two fundamental errors. First, stereotypes attached to femininity don"t represent all women, any more than stereotypes about masculinity define all men. Second, nobody needs a feminised world, whatever that nonsense even means, but we all need a feminist world. There"s a big difference. Finn Mackay is the author of Female Masculinities and the Gender Wars, and a senior lecturer in…...

3+ week, 4+ day ago (873+ words) Modelling has changed hugely over the decades. Two models from different generations discuss the highs and lows of the industry, from the joy of travel and dressing up to predatory behaviour and physical pressures It's easy to think of models as people whose lives are full of glitz and glamour, who "don't wake up for less than $10,000 a day. But according to New York-based Danielle Mareka, 27, and 62-year-old Dee O, who lives in London, the reality for most models is a constant hustle to get noticed. That's not to mention keeping up with the fashion world's changing landscape: since O began modelling in 1983, the internet and social media have transformed the way the industry operates. And models are now navigating innovations such as AI models appearing in Vogue and the impact of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs on the sector. O and…...

1+ week, 3+ day ago (940+ words) If you're an urban creature like me, you can go country-coded while staying aware you're essentially playacting. The trick is not going OTTOnce a decade or so, the urban-centric fashion world discovers this delightful concept called The Countryside. With the vanishingly scant levels of self-awareness that are fashion's default setting, it then proceeds to immediately and loudly tell the world about it. There are so many trees! Don't you just love trees? Especially at this time of year when the leaves are lovely tasteful colours, great for selfies, very flattering to the complexion. The pubs are absolutely charming. Sometimes they even have'sourdough.Here we go again. It began with hiking boots, a couple of years ago. Last winter, the barn jacket was suddenly, inexplicably everywhere, and this season is wall-to-wall Fair Isle jumpers. Dressing like you are on a cosy…...

2+ week, 2+ day ago (847+ words) Far from hospitals, nomadic Gujjar women routinely go into labour " and die " on their herder communities" long seasonal treks A week from her due date, she had been travelling on horseback and assumed the discomfort she felt was fatigue " until pain tore through her body. "There was no clinic, no nurse, no doctor," Deader, 23, says. Only her mother and a midwife, Saira Begum, were with her in a damp canvas tent, whispering prayers. Hours after her son was born, and still weak and bleeding, Fatima had to ride again, her baby carefully tied to the horse with her, as the group"s journey continued through dense forest, home to tigers and bears. The 3,500-metre-high Pir Panjal pass, also called Peer Ki Gali, connects the Jammu region to the Kashmir valley via the centuries-old Mughal Road, and each year when the…...