Indonesia Anonymus

We are a group of Indonesians, ranting about our beloved country. This blog is a result of many people grumbling about many things in many ways.
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Anonymus is the Latin word for anonymous, the correct English spelling. The Latin spelling, however, is traditionally used by scholars in the humanities to refer to an ancient writer whose name is not known, or to a manuscript of their work. Read more at Wikipedia.

Our blog in Bahasa Indonesia (but rarely updated) can be found here.

Monday, March 13, 2006

Ladies be Warned

We here at IA of course are in favor of equality for women. But the following is not good news:
There is one area where women have almost reached equality with men: Smoking.

"Women in former generations smoked at a rate lower than men. Men smoked much more than women in the decades of the 40s and 50s... Now women smoke almost as much as men.[1]"

This of course concerns us, because while the IA male smokers are trying hard to quit, some of the IA ladies have gone the other way and started lighting up.

Read this: … Women smokers are likely to increase as a percentage of the total. ... And as a recent official report showed, they seem to be less influenced by the anti-smoking campaigns than their male counterparts [2].

We wonder why.

Is it because the warning label on cigarette-pack scares men more than women?
In Indonesia, the warning says (roughly translated): Smoking can cause cancer, heart attack, impotency and may complicate pregnancy.

Well, cancer should scare everybody. So should heart attack. Or not?

"Every year, [in the US] smoking kills more than 276,000 men and 142,000 women through smoking-related diseases, including lung and other cancers, heart disease, stroke, ...[3]".
Well, well. No wonder it scares men more than women.

Smoking can cause impotency? Men's problem.

Complicated pregnancy?
If you are just like IA ladies who are married with kids (and not planning to have more), complicated pregnancy is no longer a concern.

Folks, looks like the cigarette warning label is not a warning enough for women. Maybe we need to make some changes here.
If we could suggest some changes to the warning label, what would we say?

Below are some suggestions :
(drafted by IA men, for IA ladies, because we care..)

  • Smoking makes you fat.
    This is the first that comes to mind, considering women are more concerned about losing weight than men [4].
    Unfortunately it's quite the opposite. Actually quit smoking makes you fat. "Nicotine is an appetite suppressant. It speeds up your metabolism and affects your taste. When you quit smoking food tastes better and you feel hungrier [5]."

    Darn... Can't use this one.

  • Smoking makes you look less educated.
    Ladies, read the statistics: Women who receive less formal education are more likely to become smokers, and smoking rates decrease with higher levels of formal education. [6]. No point dressing for success if you keep puffing away...

  • Smoking will make you go bald.
    Forget those shampoo commercials, ladies. This one is true [7].
    We know how "Women more than men have a significant psychological investment in their appearance, and are likely to react more negatively to events such as hair loss...[8]" , so stop smoking right now.

  • Smoking will make you look even more like your mother-in-law.
    That's right ladies. Smoking causes wrinkles [9]. We know how much you 'love' your mother-in-law [10], so stop smoking before it's too late!

  • Smoking : eye bag. Stop smoking and save up : Gucci bag.
    Read this ladies: "cigarette smoke can, at best make your eyes bloodshot and watery and at worst cause an allergic reaction of puffy, swollen eyes [11]."
    Stop smoking, on the other hand, can save you enough to buy the Gucci bag you have been dreaming of...[12]


Got some suggestions? Send them to us!

=====
Source:
[1] HealthScoutNews - One Gender Gap Goes Up in Smoke
[2] ASH - Big Tobacco and Women
[3] healthywomen.org - Smoking
[4] Physorg.com -
Women More Concerned About Losing Weight Than Men
[5] cpublichealth.co.nz - Quitting Smoking
[6] womens health channel - Women & Smoking
[7] frontlinemed - Can smoking affect hair loss?
[8] ISHRS - Psychological Effects of Hair Loss in Women
[9] mayoclinic.com - Smoking: How does it affect your skin?
[10] Brain Dynamics - Why Women Hate Mothers-In-Law
[11] getbeautytips.com - Natural Cures for Puffy Eyes and Dark Circles
[12] MSN Money - 7 radical ways to save money

8 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sorry for being bitchy this time, here's my suggestion :

Smoking makes your husband / bf run
I won't kiss a woman with tobacco breath. Not in a million years..

Smoking ruins your makeup
Have you ever closely watch a smoker's nails ? Slowly its turn 'yellow' and it's not kutex. It's niccotine.

Ally McBeal doesn't smoke
Okay, smoking keeps you skinny but not sexy skinny as Ally McBeal. I mean what if someone think that you're an anorexia actually ?
I don't know but you, but some fats are good, you know what I mean.. hehe

And I agree with you that 2 common enemies for women are age and weight. So, we need to polish some :

Instead of saying :
Smoking will make you look even more like your mother-in-law.

Why not just shout it loud ?
You will look 15 years older
And put some sample picture there, preferably the "young Ally McBeal" who doesn't smoke and the "old Ally McBeal" who does smoke.

Two pictures with label "Before" and "After" are definetly worth two thousand words.

6:40 AM  
Blogger Nad said...

the way i see it, it is health, our own or other people's, that should be the very reason for anyone not to touch this nail's coffin.

5:14 PM  
Blogger Jakartass said...

It doesn't matter what 'cures' or psychological warfare are suggested, a smoker has to make his/her own decision to quit.

Believe me, I quit 5 weeks ago on my 60th birthday. It seemed like a good excuse, for me anyway, but it wasn't enough for 'Er Indoors who's going to have to find her own reason.

What really bugs me though, is that I've felt like shit ever since ~ virtually non-stop flu and trips to the loo. I keep telling myself that it's all the toxins leaving, but if it goes on much longer I may just start again.

After all, if smoking hasn't killed me in 45 years, then I may well survive a bit longer.

9:49 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Jakartass,

Hang in there.
You know it's good for you, so don't fall off the wagon.

2:39 PM  
Blogger oigal said...

Thats why I always buy the packets that say "smoking can cause "pregnancy complications" Sheesh.. I would not want to some the ones that mae me impotent!

Seriously, its tough in Indonesia (or I am so weak) but smokes are so cheap and I do love a smoke.

6:48 PM  
Blogger Bijuk said...

Indonesia is still tobacco-friendly country despite the fact Jakarta has imposed smoking ban at public places. ciggy is still so bloody cheap.

i used to be a social smoker when i was in indonesia, but after moved to spore, i had to quit. its not worthed paying $10 for a pack of ciggy!

3:38 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi, my Indonesian girlfriend of 3 years is not willing to give up smoking as she sees nothing wrong with it. "Everyone does it" she says. Which is true enough in Indonesia from what I have seen.
As I do not speak fluent Bahasa Indonesia, I would like to know of any page or pages on the internet that I can print in Bahasa Indonesia, discussing the smoking topics in this article, OR a translation of this one. I need a direct link as once I get onto pages writen in Bahasa Indonesia I am lost and cannot navigate to any pages on my own.
I am from New Zealand, and it saddens me every time I arrive in Medan to see SO many people smoking, men women and teenagers.
I would appreciate any help on this. All I need is smoking information writen in Bahasa Indonesia.

5:02 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up!

11:48 AM  

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