Instant Opinion: ‘Women’s bodies don’t need fixing’

The Week’s daily round-up highlights the five best opinion pieces from across the British and international media, with excerpts from each.

1. Suzanne Moore in The Guardian

on new treatments to delay menopause

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It’s not women’s menopausal bodies that need ‘fixing’ but society’s attitude to them

“Women can now ‘nail a career and feel that burden taken off their shoulders … they can go back to their tissue, which they froze at 30’, says Prof Simon Fishel, ProFam’s founder. Or we could support women in the workplace, make childcare affordable and involve fathers? How about fixing all this cultural and social stuff, instead of fixing women’s bodies with expensive and invasive operations?”

2. Hugo Rifkind in The Times

on the fallout from this weekend’s shooting in El Paso, Texas

Websites don’t kill people, but they help

“This weekend it took the El Paso native and Democratic candidate Beto O’Rourke to draw an unabashed and explicit link between the rhetoric of Donald Trump and the white nationalism that leads to shootings like this one, and he was of course right. As Facebook, Twitter and others have recoiled from complicity with hate speech, it is notable that Trump himself has vigorously led the counter-attack, fighting back on behalf of what he calls “conservative voices”. Perhaps he senses the truth that is evident to everybody else, which is that if he wasn’t president he’d be out in the fringes with the rest of them, confined to a Telegram channel of his own. Some days, that prospect feels ridiculous. Today, not so much.”

3. Noam Cohen in Wired

on the impact of tech and the gig economy

Seeing through Silicon Valley's shameless “disruption”

“Let’s face it, Silicon Valley technology in nearly all cases isn’t so transformative that it would simply replace the existing systems on its merits. Uber isn’t better than a good mass-transit system; Facebook isn’t better than actual friendship; YouTube videos aren’t better than quality entertainment; a neighborhood littered with Airbnbs isn’t better than a community-oriented one; a computerized learning plan isn’t better than a great teacher. They may be more efficient or easier to use or less expensive, but better? Not even close.”

4. Carol Giacomo in the New York Times

on 2020 Democratic hopefuls’ foreign policy

Can the Democrats do better than Trump on North Korea?

“Despite Mr. Trump’s assertions to the contrary, the danger remains real, and many experts, and even some Trump administration officials, worry that the window for progress on a deal is fast closing. While Mr. Trump continues to act as if his friendship with Mr. Kim has moderated his behavior, two North Korean missile tests in recent weeks suggest that Mr. Kim may be running out of patience with diplomacy — or never intended to curb his weapons programs at all.”

5. Ather Zia in Al Jazeera

on India’s revocation of Article 370 of its constitution

There is reason to fear for the safety of every Kashmiri in India

“Kashmiris were not surprised by this latest aggression by a government that has been attacking them and other minorities of India to evoke the public's nationalist sentiments for years. Nevertheless, this legal and political attack on the very being of Kashmir, as well as the siege imposed on its people is unprecedented. The Kashmiris will sooner or later respond by taking to the streets. With thousands of troops already deployed across Kashmir to silence dissent, there is every reason to fear for the safety of every single Kashmiri living under Indian rule today. With that decree, India's president signed the death warrant of not only the future of Indian-administered Kashmir, but also India's democracy.”