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Nicole Kidman has once again spoken out about her viral Vanity Fair cover that sparked controversy in February 2022. The 56-year-old actor wore a micro-mini skirt and matching bra top by Miu Miu in the magazine cover shoot. She completed her look with calf-high socks and pointed leather loafers. At the time, Kidman’s magazine cover became the center of debates around ageism and beauty standards. Some fans of the actor criticised Vanity Fair for allegedly using too much photoshop on her photo. In a new interview with Australia’s Stellar magazine, Kidman opened up about the viral cover and why she chose to wear the controversial outfit. “I make the most random, crazy choices,” the Northman star said. “I call them ‘teenage choices’ because I just don’t ever think of consequences. “Part of my brain just doesn’t think like that. I just go, ‘Oh, I’m going to wear that; it reminds me of my school uniform.’ Or, ‘Oh my God, yeah, I’d love to do that,’ She added: “I try to [stay] in that place because I think otherwise you get scared or worried.” Reflecting on the online criticism, Kidman said she avoids looking at it. “Don’t tell me, I don’t really want to know – it will stop me doing what I want to do,” she said. “There are times when you hear things and you go, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s really hurtful’. “Because you can’t be under a rock,” she said. “But at the same time, I really try to stay free in the choices because otherwise, before you know it, you’re just closed off and you can’t step anywhere.” “I want for myself just to keep going, ‘Oh, well, I’m trying something or I wanted to do it. It was fun. That was my choice. And yeah, I own it. I’m accountable. Whatever. I take responsibility. Nobody else chose it,’” the Boy Erased actor acknowledged. This isn’t the first time Kidman has spoken about the magazine cover. In a 2022 interview with Australian director Baz Luhrmann, who worked with Kidman on the 2001 film Moulin Rouge, the Kidman revealed that her stylist on the shoot, Katie Grand, had prepared a different outfit for the cover. “I showed up and they had another outfit for me and I was like, ‘No, no, I like this one! Am I allowed to wear that?’,” she said. “And Katie Grand, who’s just fantastic, was on Zoom, and Katie was like, ‘You’re willing to wear that?!’ And I said, ‘Wear it?! I’m begging you to wear it!’” Luhrmann, who sat down with Kidman over the phone for Australian Vogue, said that wearing the outfit on the magazine cover was a “personal achievement” of Kidman’s. Read More Kylie Jenner and Jordyn Woods reunite four years after Tristan Thompson cheating scandal Fans swoon over Stanley Tucci cooking dinner for Robert Downey Jr at ‘Casa Tucci’ Alan Titchmarsh warns against ‘ill-considered’ rewilding trend in domestic gardens Pharrell Williams makes his Louis Vuitton debut in star-studded Paris show Oscars 2023: Why was Morgan Freeman wearing a single glove? Kim Kardashian reveals why she didn’t speak out on Balenciaga backlash

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By Hannah Confino REHOVOT, Israel - Every year, egg farmers kill 7 billion day-old male chicks because they cannot grow

Grasping a bouquet of roses, black headscarf tied tight and wearing a polka-dot dress, a middle-aged woman arrives in a nondescript, pink-walled hall in the Russian region of Chuvashia.

With the Tour de France Femmes kicking off on July 23 for a week of thrills, cycling and entertainment, it will also be highlighting the women making this sport what it is. In its second official year as the Tour de France Femmes, races of this calibre have happened in the past, but never on such a global stage. So, what is happening in the women’s cycling scene, how did we get here, and why does it matter?The women changing the game Women are working hard to bring the sport to people of all backgrounds. “The Amy D Foundation, Black Girls Do Bike, Get Women Cycling and Little Bella’s are all fantastic organisations, helping and encouraging women – and young girls – to get into cycling in spite of age, race and background,” explains triathlon cyclist Kate Dunbar. This year’s Tour de France Femmes will have a determined line-up of women championing the sport. Who should we look out for? “Annemiek van Vleuten was a fantastic contender in 2022, and I expect her to do well again this year. It’s her final year ahead of retirement, so she will want to do well,” says Dunbar. “The course this year is suited to van Vleuten’s skill set and she will have a stronger Movistar team to support this target, including Sarah Gigante and Liane Lippert.”A growing sport There has, in recent years, been a marked increase in the interest of this sport. “There is, without a doubt, a rising interest in women’s cycling,” says Amanda Braverman, global director of brand marketing at cycling tech brand, Hammerhead. “With more events geared towards women’s cycling and growing viewership in the Tour de France Femmes year on year, we’re seeing measurable gains in both interest and access to the sport.” “But we can’t ignore the fact that The Women’s Tour in the UK was cancelled, even though sponsors saw a huge return on investment in 2022, and the Women’s World Tour race Vårgårda, West Sweden was cancelled permanently after 25 years,” says Dunbar. “Even though we are seeing bigger efforts from organisations and the industry as a whole, as with most women’s sports, the Tour De France women’s tournament is still vastly overshadowed by the men’s – we still need more support and encouragement to boost women’s cycling,” she stresses. Cycling as a tool for liberation There is an important link between cycling and women’s liberation, that goes back a long way, beyond racing, to basic transportation. “It gave women social mobility and allowed them to travel faster and further than ever before. They could cycle further for work opportunities, and it also advanced fashion, as women needed cycling-suitable clothing. It allowed women to take control of their fitness and health in an easy way,” says Dunbar. Women’s cycling also subverted norms. “Cycling challenged femininity in the late 19th century, and bicycles were used heavily to support the English suffragettes movement. The bicycle became – and to this day remains – a symbol and a tool of female empowerment, independence, freedom and opportunity,” says Braverman. Trailblazers Some hugely inspiring women came before today’s Tour de France Femmes stars. “Some of the first women to get involved in cycling were true trailblazers, cycling as early as the late 1800s,” says Braverman. “Montreal-based Louise Armaindo raced on the high wheel, also known as the penny-farthing, which was much more dangerous than the modern bicycle. Armaindo set the North American long-distance record in 1872, and was praised as “the champion female bicycle rider of the world”. She also credits ‘The Big Five’ – Lizzie Glaw, Helen Baldwin, May Allen, Tillie Anderson, and Dottie Farnsworth – an influential group of female cyclists who raced in the 1890s, fitting their racing careers into busy lives that often included their families and other jobs. Today, there’s no denying defending champion van Vleuten leads the modern ‘big five’, but who else will be in the mix? Lorena Wiebes is likely to have another great first stage, Elisa Longo Borghini will give it her best shot, alongside the phenomenal Demi Vollering, and maybe Juliette Labous will make even more progress this year. Whatever happens, we are surely in for an exciting week of women’s sport.

We talk about climate change and the devastating effects of greenhouse gases on a daily basis, yet many of us have never heard of Eunice Newton Foote. The American scientist was the first person to realise the alarming impact of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, all the way back in 1856. So, to mark what would have been her 204th birthday, Google has dedicated today’s Doodle to the environmental pioneer. Head to the search engine and you’ll find an 11-part slideshow explaining Foote’s most significant work. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter It goes on to point out that her research was largely ignored for almost 100 years, and credits her with being the first person to “plant a seed of interest in the issue of climate change”. And for anyone wondering, her surname is no coincidence: her father was allegedly a distant relative of Sir Isaac Newton. In a blurb to its Doodle, Google points out that whilst science was Foote’s lifelong passion, she also dedicated time to campaigning for women’s rights. In 1848, she attended the first Woman’s Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, New York State and became the fifth signatory of the Declaration of Sentiments — which demanded equality for women in social and legal status. Back then, women were largely shunned from the scientific community, but this didn’t stop Foote from conducting experiments on her own. After placing mercury thermometers in glass cylinders, she noticed that the cylinder containing carbon dioxide heated up the most and took the longest to cool down. As a result, she became the first scientist to draw a connection between rising CO2 levels and the warming of the atmosphere. After publishing her findings, Foote wrote a second paper on atmospheric static electricity for the journal ‘Proceedings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science’. These were the first two physics studies to be published by a woman in the US, as Google notes. In 1856, a male scientist presented her work at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. This then lead to further experiments which uncovered what is now known as the Greenhouse effect. And whilst none of us relish the fact this phenomenon exists, we should be eternally grateful to Foote for flagging it to us, all those years ago. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

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