The city plans to paint close to 5,000 public parking spaces pink to reserve them for women. Other measures are being taken as well to improve the overall quality of life for women in the city. The program will pave streets to make them more high-heel friendly, improve lighting, build additional women’s public restrooms, create safe parks for women, add more public day-care centers, and expand an already-existing women’s taxi service. By 2010, the city’s transformation into a so-called women-friendly haven will be complete.

While these improvements may help reduce the frustration of everyday inconveniences for women in Seoul, they will probably not foster gender equality, which is a hot-button issue in South Korea that the government has had limited success in addressing. In fact, these efforts just might undermine women’s attempts to compete in a male-dominated society.

Improving lighting in public spaces, building more public restrooms, and creating more public day-care centers are undoubtedly necessary services in Seoul; they have to do with public safety and improving conditions so that women can work. However, the issue of the pink parking spaces doesn’t sit very well with me. As much as I’m sure we would all love to have parking preference close to the store, why should we lose our dignity to do it? Creating these parking spaces reinforces the notion that women are second-class citizens in need of a boost in society. And, really, do the city officials in Seoul think that parking spaces painted pink will elevate women in a male-dominated culture?

What women in South Korea need are opportunities. They need more choices for childcare and other aid that will allow women to enter and stay in the labor market. They need real help that doesn’t put women down in the process. But this issue doesn’t just end at Seoul’s city limits; if governments around the world are going to launch initiatives to help women, they need to be more substantial than a painting project.

Americans are well known for their affection for, and addiction to, theme parks.  We have Disney Land, Disney World, Lego Land, Sea World, and a plethora of other immensely entertaining places.  What we don’t have is a theme park about sex.  Guess who else doesn’t have one?  China.

While that may sound like a no-brainer, China was recently set to open a theme park called Love Land.  It was meant to promote open sexual discussion in a society where tradition and conservatism still reign with an iron fist.  The park was to feature huge reproductions of male and female genitalia, how-to workshops and other fun activities and displays.  However, all of that was razed today after a weekend inspection by government officials deemed the park vulgar and sensational.  Well, duh, but how awesome is that?

The question is: where’s ours?  Don’t we as Americans, especially young and virile Americans, deserve a theme park dedicated to our favorite pastime?  Don’t get me wrong, I love me some Mickey Mouse and friends, but I would much rather spend a hot summer day sweating it up on sex toys and whatnot than random cartoon characters (because that’s just creepy).

Just think of all the possibilities: roller coasters based on the Kama Sutra (“It’s a wild ride!”), water slides that really get you wet (tee hee), and a nightly fireworks display that heats things up.

Now that China has put its foot down and stomped out the sexy times, is an erotic theme park fated to be only a delicious pipe dream for those long summer days?  For those lucky enough to be in the general area of South Korea, the answer is no!  Love Land actually exists on Jeju Island and visitors can experience many of the same exhibitions and activities that were set to open in China: giant statues of genitalia, how-to masturbation and sex position exhibits, and lots of yummy works of erotic art.

Masturbation? Art? Penis? Sex? Hot Asian men? How much is a plane ticket to South Korea again? Oh yeah….  Well, until the day comes where I can get a flight to South Korea for less than the price of an entire semester, I’ll have to settle for the American Love Land.

As in, the Love Land that exists in all of our bedrooms and can’t be torn down. Take that, China!

Plastic surgery is all the rage these days making imperfections a thing of the past.

But what happens when things go too far?

We’ve seen many a-celebrity eff up their once beautiful images at the hands of plastic surgery. For example, as CC has previously discussed, Lisa Rinna has gone just a little too far. And let’s not forget, MJ. Michael Jackson was sooo cute as the youngest member of Jackson 5. Then his skin started changing color and his nose started getting smaller and pointier.

But when us lowly civilians catch wind of the plastic surgery bug, some people take way too far.

Enter, Hang Mioku. Who you ask? Allow me to explain.

Hang is a 48-year-old Korean woman who had her first plastic surgery procedure at the age of 28. She’s been addicted ever since. So much so, in fact, that doctors have refused to perform surgery on her anymore. Her parents tried to get her to seek out help, but that didn’t work. Then Hang found a doctor who would help her (dumb a$$.) Not only did this doctor agree to inject her face with silicone, he supplied her with her own syringes and a batch of silicone (even bigger dumb a$$.) When Hang’s sili supply ran out…what else could she do but inject her face with cooking oil?

This brilliant move left Hang so disfigured she is practically unrecognizable.

What’s worse, people have actually donated money to help her pay for MORE plastic surgery to restore her face.

I have my opinion, but do you think CCers?