# 69
FLANDERS TODAY
marCH 04 2009
Free ly! k e e w
Erkenningsnummer P708816
I N D E P E N D E N T N E W S W E E K LY NEWS
BUSINESS
ARTS
ACTIVE
W W W. F L A N D E R S T O D AY. E U
LIVING
Metro Museum of Art ........................ 9
Weird museums .............. 10
Letter from America ................. 11
Brussels’ metro stations are a hotbed of contemporary art – mostly by local artists and all completely free for the viewing. Political battles may be brewing over new additions, but there is already plenty. We give you our top picks.
Welcome to the first in our month-long “weird museums” series, where we plunder the strangest of the region’s rich collections of heritage and obscuria.
This once-a-month feature looks at the links between the United States and Flanders. This week, we meet a family of 17th-century weavers, who eventually begat beloved American inventor and statesman Benjamin Franklin.
© Le Charivari
Roleplaying
Not a new concept: Upper-class women of the 19th century also had to do it all
I
am standing in front of a case of dolls while Els Flour explains something to me that is so obvious, I am ashamed that it never crossed my mind before: in the 19th century, girls’ dolls looked like women. It was only around the turn of the 20th century that the “baby doll” was introduced, to reinforce the idea – from an age when girls were practically infants themselves – that a girl’s job is to take care of babies. Although we still see baby dolls today, this issue is part of what made the introduction of Barbie so significant. If you had looked above my head at that precise moment, I swear you would have seen a light bulb floating above. Flour is an archivist at the Archive Centre on Women’s History in Brussels and one of four brains behind a new exhibit in the capital’s BELvue museum: Boy or Girl… Destiny for a Lifetime? Belgium 1830-2000. Through the lenses of family, education, and work, Boy or Girl shows changes and advances in perceptions of masculinity and femininity in Belgium over the past two centuries. The exhibit begins with classic conceptions of gender – the stairs are lined with phrases such as “Boys don’t cry” and “Girls play
Leuven police called in to stop email virus
Kris Peeters narrowly escapes diplomatic incident
University employee sets off chain reaction
Opel could be turned into a selfsufficient European company – but only with €6.3 billion in state aid, the company announced last weekend. Moreover, it warned that even that option would still involve cutting costs by nearly €1 billion. The prospect of a European rescue for General Motors (GM), including the Opel Antwerp plant, started to look distant last week when the Detroit-based parent company announced losses in Europe of €2.2 billion. Governments in Germany and in Flanders had been led to believe that GM would announce a business
plan on 31 March which would allow them to evaluate the chances of a state-supported rescue. Flemish minister-president Kris Peeters led a high-level delegation to Detroit for talks with GM and Ford (which has a manufacturing plant in Genk). Following the meeting with GM, Peeters could say no more than that “no decision has yet been taken to close Opel Antwerp”. A more positive sign that the plant might be saved did not emerge from the meeting. Labour minister Frank Vandenbroucke, meanwhile, pointed out ➟ Continued on page 7
INTERVIEW
An intriguing show in Brussels looks at the changing perceptions of s l gender in Belgium
Opel reveals plan for e3.3 billion bailout AlAn hOPe
AGENDA
Leuven University has filed a complaint with the police in an effort to stem the flow of emails from across the world reacting to a fake news story which appeared to carry the University’s imprimatur.
Mertens forwarded the mail to “no more than six or seven” friends. Before he knew it, the email had been forwarded to others – now carrying the electronic email signature of Leuven University as well as Mertens’ name.
The email arrived two years ago on the desk of university employee Chris Mertens, who works in the finance office of the electrotechnical department. In the mail, which claimed to come from a hospital in the Netherlands, a link was suggested between breast cancer and the use of deodorant.
“For about a year and a half, I’ve been getting about 20 emails a day from people who want to have their say on the subject,” Mertens complained. “Some want to know which deodorant they can buy, and some are outright aggressive. I’m not a scientist. I can’t speak on the subject of a possible link. I
hArOn
iGht
with dolls”. Then we are introduced to the role of women and men in family life, starting in the early 19th century, with images of women as subordinate to men and showing women working at home, dependent on the independent man. But the exhibit is also quick to show how these ideas were undermined by reality – drunken men, divorcees, strong women or upper class women who hired nannies to tend to their children. As we reach more modern times, we see a growing acceptance of gay and lesbian relationships. And there is a quick but fascinating foray into women’s fight for trousers: “It used to be that very little boys would be dressed in girls’ clothing. That’s changing now – from the moment a child is born, they are put into different types of clothes depending on their sex,” Flour explains. “By the 1920s, it was common for women to wear men’s clothes, but you still don’t often see men wearing skirts. Women had to fight for it, but it was easier for them to move into wearing men’s clothing, whereas for men to wear women’s clothing is seen as a step down on the social scale.” ➟ Continued on page 4
sent that email out because it was an interesting subject, and it gave food for thought.” Mertens and the university have now filed a complaint to try to stop the flood of emails. But the chances of success are slim since the subject has now attained international proportions. “Today I got a reaction in from Canada,” Mertens said last week. “That says something about the reach of a chain letter, doesn’t it?”
➟ http://tinyurl.com/deokul