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'It's almost like a weapon': How the blonde bombshell has symbolised desire and danger Western culture, she says, has built a whole mythology around female blondeness − from religious iconography and fairy tales, to art and advertising − that has told specific stories about what it means to be blonde. In cinema's early years, comedies such as Platinum Blonde (1931) and Bombshell (1933), starring Jean Harlow, embedded concepts of the dazzling, devastatingly beautiful blonde into the cultural vernacular. "The idea that you're a bombshell, it's almost like a weapon," says Nead. "On the one hand, it is this kind of ideal, but at the same time, it's also threatening."   Before Harlow, there was another − more natural-looking − blonde on the scene: Mary Pickford, whose amber curls helped earn her the moniker of "America's Sweetheart". But while Pickford played the guileless girl waiting to be rescued, Harlow's peroxide blonde ...
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Spain clamps down on Airbnb as tourism backlash returns for summer


The Spanish government has called for the removal of the listings of nearly 66,000 properties on rental platform Airbnb on the grounds that they breach regulations for tourist accommodation.

The clampdown comes as protests against over-tourism have begun ahead of the summer season. Demonstrations in the Canary Islands on Sunday attracted thousands of people.

The minister for social rights, consumer affairs and the 2030 Agenda, Pablo Bustinduy, said the rental properties in question had "violated various norms regarding housing for tourist use".

The announcement followed a Madrid court ruling that Airbnb must immediately withdraw from the market 4,984 of the properties cited by the ministry.

The properties are in six regions: Madrid, Andalusia, Catalonia, Valencia, the Basque Country and the Balearic Islands.

Bustinduy's ministry is now awaiting further judicial rulings on the other 60,000 or so properties whose listings it deems unlawful.

According to the ministry, the properties it has identified either did not provide a licence number, provided an erroneous number, or did not specify the legal status of the owner to show whether they were renting on a professional basis or as a private individual.

He described the court's decision as "a clear victory for those who fight to protect the right to housing".

Bustinduy added that "it can be possible to ensure that no economic interest has priority over housing and that no company, however big or powerful, is above the law".

Housing has emerged as Spaniards' biggest concern in recent months, due to spiralling rental costs, particularly in larger towns and cities.

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