Three different spreads from “SUSPENDED” that has very little to do with “sexy” and “the right light” because - every day you don’t wake up and put on make up or an outfit that’s “hot”. Some days you do. If you’re going out, you don’t walk straight from the bed to the meeting. You can look different easily by make-up, clothes and different light. I’m a photographer and I’ve experimented and tried different stuff, with myself when I haven’t had anyone else to photograph. It’s fun and not as serious and boring as life can be many times. However, there are also other sides of myself that I’ve taken self portraits of… but that’s not as interesting to talk about in interviews I guess as that you in one image can see my nipple. GASP! Every human being (almost) has nipples, so why it’s still such a big deal. I know, they are interesting. They talk.

I was just reading a part of an interview done with me (it’s not printed yet) and it’s funny how people just want to focus on the ’sexy’ part and that if you’re in any way ’sexy’ whatever that is… then you’re a goose. What annoys me is that I for many years didn’t feel I could show my different sides because it would make me “stupid” or “weak” and that so many men AND women seem to help making it stay that way - because they get so angry with girls who “show themselves” - in whatever way that is, it does not have to be naked in a men’s magazine. To accept yourself even if you’re not tall and skinny and have perfect skin every damn day - nooo it’s better to keep feeling bad about yourself. I don’t think so! It’s like being imprisoned. You better keep your turtleneck on day and night or you’re a “goose”. Is that the alternatives we’re left with? Shame, shame on you. No fun, no playing, no skin, no different sides or outfits or ideas.. So here’s a text I posted a while ago but it’s worth reading again.

Edit: I got the journalist to take away the “goose” thing in the interview because she agreed with me (after I explained further) that it wasn’t fitting for what my images are about. Thanks!

STOP AND THINK! Me in a shirt from H&M’s Designers Against Aids campaign.

Rachel Kramer Bussel is a New York author, editor and blogger.

Her she’s writing about the book “Prude: How the Sex-Obsessed Culture Damages Girls (and America, Too!)

“The greatest hypocrisy of the book is one that Wendy Shalit takes up with far more passion: the mistreated, outcast virgins, such as three girls in Rockdale County, Ga., who “reported being isolated from their peers and even harassed for their decisions.” I don’t know a single person who would support this kind of sexual hierarchy, especially for teenagers; sex should not be glorified as right for all teens (or adults), but the blanket condemnation for it found in Prude is also uncalled for. Furthermore, Liebau turns around and does the exact same thing she protests against — casting derision on others for their sexual activity. Liebau opens her final chapter with a quote from Sarah E. Hinlicky’s “Subversive Virginity,” which states, “So-called sexual freedom is really just proclaiming oneself to be available for free, and therefore without value. To ‘choose’ such freedom is tantamount to saying that one is worth nothing.” This statement, which Liebau endorses and goes running with, is exactly where most such books and pundits fail. Instead of simply advocating for chastity and/or abstinence, they must cross the line to insist that their way is the Only Way. The rest of us are just coarse and vulgar sluts who are ruining it for those who want to wait (not an exact quote, but, I believe, an accurate paraphrasing).”

“What’s especially sad about this polarization is that plenty of feminists, even of the “do-me” variety, also care passionately about young women’s futures. We want women to succeed and gain access to all the educational, political, and workplace opportunities they can. However, I don’t think any of us should have to sacrifice our sexuality in order to do so.”

“Liebau pits those of us who are sex-positive against those who favor abstinence until marriage, and I’m still not sure why we should have to pick a side. I’m not anti-abstinence or anti-abstinence education. I’m against abstinence-only education, which leaves those who are already exploring sex, or are simply curious about it, at a complete loss. But reading Prude, you’d think we have armies of sex-positive feminists like me recruiting teenage gurks to forget their homework, whip off their clothes, and get busy with their boyfriends. If anything, I’d rather give them vibrators so they can learn about pleasuring themselves first. One of her weakest chapters is on “Do-Me Feminists and Doom-Me Feminism.” First, “do-me feminism” was a term coined by Esquire writer Tad Friend way back in 1994, not by the actual feminists themselves. Every wave of feminism has always included discussion, argument, and difference over the role of sexuality within feminism, so there is no party line when it comes to sex (though I proudly count myself amongst the branch of sex-positive feminism).”

“When she harkens back to Seneca Fakks, she pulls a bit of trickery to state that Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton were “hardly champions of sexual promiscuity.” Why would they be, at such a time, when they were fighting for the most basic of rights like the right to vote and own property in their names? Meanwhile, she dismisses the highly visionary “free love” advocates Emma Goldman and Victoria Woodhull as simply feminist outcasts, rather than women far, far ahead of their time. Where what she terms “radical feminism” comes in is when we don’t just blindly accept studies that show that women who “dress provocatively were perceived as being less intelligent and capable than those who dressed more modestly,” but battle those insipid stereotypes. We have to face the fact that there wasn’t a universal “good old days.” (Liebau decries the existence of teen sex information online, claiming that this “intimate advice … in an earlier day might have been solicited only in the darkest hallways of the roughest schools — if there.”)

“Sex, in and of itself, is not evil. Teenagers have been kissing, petting, making out and “going all the way” for decades, and while they may now be living in a “sex-obsessed culture,” it’s one we can teach them to navigate by separating fantasy from reality and relegating sex to a role worthy of its stature. It should not be the be-all and end-all of their lives, but it does not have to be treated as something that will immediately taint them. By the end of Prude, one might almost forget that sex is not just something foisted upon us by consumer culture. It’s actually something teenagers and adults are naturally curious about. Yes, they look to pop culture, adults and peers for answers, and certainly there are plenty of ill-suited role models for them. But part of growing up is learning how to synthesize the information presented to you, and every time Liebau criticizes the likes of Britney, Paris, Rhianna and Lil’ Kim, she forgets that Elvis was seen as just such a threat in the 1950s. As someone who is arguably part of Liebau’s “sex-obsessed culture,” I resent the mischaracterization of that movement. Yet I can see why someone like Liebau, who argues against moral relativism, for religion in public life, and thinks Gossip Girl and Madonna are slutting up our teenagers, the inroads made toward sexual agency for all generations are threatening. As one friend said to me while discussing this book, “Having sex as a teenager saved my life.” She was confronted by bullies at school, and took refuge in an affair with an older man. A perfect solution? No. But one that worked for her. The best I can say about Prude is that it’s a pale imitation of several other books that even liberals may find something to appreciate in. Liebau’s only preaching to those who are already converted to a narrow-minded, simplistic notion of sexuality, teenagers, and public health. If her goal is to help girls, she’d be better off laying off the shaming and blaming, and instead recognizing that girls today don’t have to choose between sex and power — they know they can have both, and not just in a circumscribed, predetermined Samantha Jones kind of way. Thankfully, despite the likes of Liebau, I don’t think moral relativism and sexual self-expression are going anywhere, and I hope teenagers take full advantage of them both.“

Whats happening right now… :

Me with a shirt from my pals at Project Tibet in the UK.

Here’s another snapshot for another one of their designs…

Something I wrote about in January 2007 in my old blog:

“I fear it might be another event come and gone.
Public memory is very short.”

If you missed this story or if you heard about it - either way maybe you didn’t see this video:

Oh and some people like to say this is a “fake video” - Yeah. Those
Romanians who recorded this movie had no interest to make a fake
movie… They went there for a climbing expedition and by accident
they catched those scenes. And you can also see a Danish group
who confirm the scenes but just the Romanians had the guts to
record those horrible scenes.

The massacre was perpetrated when a group of about 70 refugees
stumbled upon Chinese soldiers near Nangpa La pass, close to Mount
Everest. As soon as the guards saw them, they opened fire and only
40 refugees managed to escape. Alas, the survivors had to leave the
bodies of those slain behind as they fled towards Nepal.

The group was walking single file and had just reached the
18,753-foot Nangpa La Pass when they heard the distinct “zing” of
bullets passing on either side. “They were shooting all around,” says
Tenzin Wangmo, one of three nuns walking directly behind Kelsang.
They never saw the Chinese policemen. “When the shooting was
going on I just prayed to His Holiness the Dali Lama to kindly save
us,” she recounted softly. When a bullet hit young Kelsang, she
collapsed into the snow, crying that she had been hit and asked for help.

But the nuns themselves were weak with cold, fatigue, and hunger.
Still Ms. Wangmo says she made an attempt to grab the fallen
woman’s arm and pull her along. She was unsuccessful, she says:
“There was a monk from the group who said, ‘She is dead - if we
don’t run away we will all be finished.’ ”

When the shooting started they dropped everything - a sleeping mat
and what little extra clothing they had carried on their backs - and
ran until evening. That night, lacking food and blankets, they
huddled together for warmth. The next day they walked until finding
a small group of nomads with three tents who agreed to sell them
provisions. From there they met up with other members of the group
with whom they walked for five more days before arriving at the
Tibetan refugee center in Katmandu, Nepal.

“We were best friends,” says Dolma Palkyi, who was separated from
her teenage friend at the time of the shooting and only heard of her
death days later. “Still, I cannot believe it,” she says, wiping away
the tears. About half the group was captured by Chinese police. The
Chinese Foreign Ministry announced the death of a second victim, a
23-year-old male, days later in a hospital, stating he died from
“oxygen shortage.”

China’s official news agency, Xinhua, reported on Oct. 12 that
Chinese police opened fire in self-defense after the Tibetans
attacked them. Human rights groups say the Tibetans were
unarmed, and that the male victim died from gunshot wounds. “This
has been going on for a long time, says Tenzin Norgay of the Tibetan
Center for Human Rights and Democracy in India. “But today China
cannot escape it. The bubble that they created has burst.”

Never before has such an event been documented so well. A
Romanian cameraman and other Western tourists who were in the
region to climb Cho Oyu, about 12 miles west of Mount Everest, say
they saw the Chinese patrolmen shoot the Tibetan refugees.

The plight of these rural Tibetan refugees brings to light the
hardships suffered by the estimated 2,500 to 4,000 Tibetans who try
to reach India every year via Nepal, paying smugglers to bring them
to India because obtaining the official travel permits and a passport
can be too difficult. Most come seeking an audience with the
spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, who resides in
Dharamsala, in northern India.

The nun killed was typical of the many Tibetan refugees who make
the journey: she was poor, young, and religiously motivated. At least
half of those making the journey from Tibet are children, sent by
parents who want their children to grow up with a strong Tibetan
identity and who often cannot afford school fees at home.

Among the group of Tibetans that just arrived in India, the youngest
was a 7-year-old girl, Deki Pantso, who came without her parents.
Most Tibetan refugees prefer to make the journey in the winter,
when there is deep snow in the passes between Nepal and Tibet and
the chances of being caught by Chinese patrolmen are diminished.

The International Campaign for Tibet, a Washington advocacy group
estimates that 80 percent of refugees attempt to cross between
October and April, when the mountain glaciers are frozen over.

The United States and the European Union have condemned the
shooting and urged China to investigate the incident thoroughly. But
so far Canada has delivered the harshest rebuke. On Oct. 18
Canada’s foreign minister, Peter MacKay, expressed his “abhorrence
and dismay for this terrible incident that happened at the border.
Canada strongly condemns this act of violence against unarmed
civilians as an egregious violation of human rights.”

Watch this my creative friends…

Here’s some more personal snapshots I took in Italy a few days ago…

Now some snapshots I got from my travelling pals, Sandra and Petter.

Me in the Italian mountains, at work… taken by the stylist.

I found an Ugly Betty look-a-like in a small Italian village but I didn’t have my camera with me, for once so I made Sandra take a snap instead! Fun!

Tired and warm and … comfortable in the van. Ha ha!

Severus goes Non capisco! This snap is taken by Petter.

I’m trying to understand what Angela says in Italian, very fast Italian… she helped us rent the apartment. I’m going to try and learn some Italian before my next visit. Hopefully soon.

Yo! la tengo, I’m just popping Swedish artist Håkan Hellström’s new single all the time. I love it! And I usually don’t like his stuff that much, I get why people adore him but I haven’t played his records at home. However, this song I will! If you don’t get Swedish… too bad:

Other than that it’s been work, work, work. “X” and Sony-Petter came by and looked at some of my images, they loved it and we got many good alternatives for record covers and other stuff.  You’ll get to see pretty soon!

Good evening. This is a snapshot of me tonight, back in Stockholmia.

I’m still tired after the adventures. I need to finish some more pictures before a meeting tomorrow. Today I hung out with my friend Mattias and had my grandmother calling me while we ate, she screamed that if I didn’t go to the Schlagerfestival after party, she would be pissed at me forever. Long story… I got some groceries, I did some pictures… I walked in the rain. I missed the Italian air and light and I got off while watching something dirty. That was my tired Saturday. And Roma won over Milan. Back to editing images.

Cheeky!

Bored on the floor, tonight.