Olympic Rings, Image via Wikipedia
Every other year, the Olympics bring inspirational stories and a good deal of spectacle to the living rooms of just about everyone who has a TV or Internet access. Even though the coverage often reinforces gender roles, it at least gives women athletes an opportunity to have the cameras focus on their abilities and thus provides role models for girls and young women. Behind the pageantry, however, lies quite another kind of story.
The latest example of this is that the UN Environment Program is criticising construction in Sochi for its impact on local wildlife and other aspects of the ecosystem. Remember, it isn’t just wild animals who will face the consequences of heavy metal pollution; the local people will have to deal with it too.
Of course, the Olympics are rarely good for the places they are held; they bring a certain amount of pride for the privileged, and income for certain kinds of businesses but too often they end up perpetuating oppression. read more…
This post is by Anita Sarkeesian and is cross-posted at the blog Feminist Frequency which is an ongoing web series of video commentaries from a feminist perspective.You can also find Feminist Frequency on Twitter and Facebook.
To read more about Alison Bechdel (of the “Bechdel Test”), check out GAB Editor Roxanne Samer’s interview with Bechdel last month.
** You can watch, comment, share and subscribe to Feminist Frequency on YouTube
The Bechdel Test is a simple way to gauge the active presence of female characters in Hollywood films and just how well rounded and complete those roles are. It was created by Allison Bechdel in her comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For in 1985. It is astonishing the number of popular movies that can’t pass this simple test. It demonstrates how little women’s complex and interesting lives are underrepresented or non existent in the film industry. We have jobs, creative projects, friendships and struggles among many other things that are actually interesting in our lives… so Hollywood, start writing about it! read more…
False alarm for celebration? photo:AP
Last week the Upper House of India’s Parliament passed a bill that, if enacted, would reserve 33% of State Assembly and Parliamentary seats for women. The bill has been in the pipeline for more than a decade, but was finally passed in its first phase – amidst rowdiness and uproar – just in time for International Women’s Day last month. While this is being heralded as earth shattering for women, who lag way behind men in almost all things in India, there are very good questions about whether a quota will be effective in the way it is meant to.
One of the deepest arguments against the bill is that such a quota, if not further defined to ensure diversity, would favor high-caste, religious majority, and wealthy women in India; in short, a “win” for women writ large would come at the expense of including other disadvantaged groups such as low-caste, poor, and religious minorities (both men and women) .
It’s a valid point. If you’ve opened the door for the inclusion of more women, but those women still represent the same level of exclusion and homogeneity at the expense of other groups, what have we really achieved? Several Indian lawmakers bemoan the cronyism that already characterizes Indian politics – and the inclusion of wives, mothers, daughters and sisters as male politicians’ “proxies,” after term limits are over, is no exception. read more…
Gender Across Borders is planning a series to run mid-April on “Visualizing our World’s Future: How Techniques and Tools of Visuality are Being Used to Raise Awareness, Communicate and Make Change.” The site is currently soliciting writers to contribute articles relating to this topic. If you enjoy writing and have a passion for the visual or performing arts, film, critical theory, gender studies, environmental studies, international politics or human rights, this is a great opportunity to put those interests to use.
Articles should be on contemporary subjects and would preferably address the critical concerns of global or transnational groups. Ideally, recent art objects/exhibitions and films will be discussed as well as archival activist footage, political campaign memorabilia, international internet sensations and the like. Articles should be between 300 and 1500 words in length and would preferably include accompanying images, videos and hyperlink citations. Gender Across Borders is open to creative topics and approaches, so please feel free to send an email if you are uncertain as to whether or not your piece fits these parameters.
To apply, please submit your article along with a resume OR short description of background and interests to Roxanne at visualarts@genderacrossborders.com by 10pm (CST) April 3rd, 2010. Decisions will be made by April 8th, 2010 and all contributors must be available via email between April 8th and 15th to participate in the editing and uploading process.
No previous professional writing or blogging experience necessary. College students and recent grads are encouraged to apply.
Please address any questions or concerns to the visual arts editor listed above.
Norrie May-Welby (who primarily goes only by Norrie) has just become the first person in New South Wales to be legally recognized as sexless.
From The Sydney Morning Herald:
This Mardi Gras, Norrie received a gift that no other androgynous person in NSW has had before.
The night before the parade, the postman brought a certificate from the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages that contained neither the dreaded ”M” nor its equally despised cousin, ”F”.
Instead, it said ‘’sex not specified”, making the 48-year-old Sydneysider, who identifies as neuter and uses only a first name, the first in the state to be neither man nor woman in the eyes of the NSW government.
Global Feminist Profiles highlights feminist leaders all over the world who are creating change and empowering their countrywomen to demand equality.
“One Million Signatures seized every opportunity to show the world that they do not agree with the discriminatory laws in Iran.”-Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Peace Prize winner and 2008 Glamour Woman of the Year
In 2009, Glamour magazine prepared the honorees for the Women of the Year Campaign. They select women who inspire, lead, and innovate in diverse fields. This year one of the honorees not only inspired me, but reassured my passion for women’s rights and the fight for basic rights. The Campaign “One Million Signatures” demands changes to discriminatory laws against women. The group of women risk their lives and those of their families to make sure basic human needs are met in Iran.
This quest for equality was born on June 12, 2006, when hundreds of protesters gathered in Tehran’s Haft-e-Tir Square to peacefully demonstrate against the legal restrictions they face. The police attacked them with pepper spray and billy clubs; by the end of the day, 70 people had been arrested. “We never imagined we’d be met with so much resistance,” recalls Sussaan Tahmasebi, a Tehran-based campaign member. “Our demands were so basic.”
Iran officials have arrested 50 campaign members and punished them with lashings and solitary confinement. The group website has been shut down 21 times, according to Glamour.
Happy Monday, global feminists!
Hope everyone had an awesome International Women’s Day, we know we did! A huge thank you again to all of the amazing participants in Blog for IWD. I think we can all agree it was a huge success. Meanwhile, lots else has happened so read on. And as always please leave us your link love in the comment! (aka tell us what you’ve written or read!)
From the blogs
IWD video: What are you carrying? from Nicholas Kristof’s blog
Oscar makes history: woman wins best director from Alternet
Women of Color and Wealth: The Scope of the Problem Part One and Part Two from Racialicious
Women’s Rights as a Security Issue from Nicholas Kristof’s blog
Reproductive Writes: Giving Blood: An Interview with Chris Bobel from Bitch Blogs
Maternal Mortality in Afghanistan: A Way Forward from the Huffington Post
Is the Fight Against Sex-Selective Abortion Hurting Women? from Akimbo
Sex and Power, From North Carolina to Congo from Huffington Post
Sex not specified: Australia leads the way with legal document from The Scavenger
Rape victims worldwide denied justice and dignity from Amnesty International
The Second Sex: lost in translation? from The F-Word
Cambodian Police Often Require Bribes Before Investigating Rape Cases from The Curvature
Christie Elan-Cane: Fighting for legal and social recognition outside the societal gender system from Questioning Transphobia
From the news
Women’s Reservation Bill passes in India from Times of India
Why women are the biggest emerging market from Bloomberg
Mullahs promote birth control in Afghanistan from MSNBC
Wominnovation from the Economist
Lonely death of Juanita Goggins, trailblazer of US civil rights from The Guardian
Push on to get prosthetics, rehab for thousands of Haitian amputees from The Canadian Press
Push to Close Gender Gaps ‘Slow’ from BBC News
The next time you hear someone say “I’m not a feminist, but…” put this book in their hands, sit them down, and don’t let them get up until they’ve read it. (Bathroom breaks are allowed. It’s 300+ pages long.)
Sadly, I was already well aware of many of the disturbing phenomena Douglas describes in the book- namely the rise of eating disorders, the dissociation with the word “feminism” among younger women, and an increased focus on a hyper feminine, white, rich, hetero appearance for all women at the expense of personal happiness. Through examining different radio and TV shows, commercials, print ads and other social media, however, Douglas argues quite persuasively that these trends are all connected to the grotesquely warped portrayal of women in the media. Reading this book is an even more concentrated version of the usual onslaught of images. So much so that I, emerging after hours without putting it down, went to catch up on the news and had to forcibly redirect my outraged energy from depictions of women in reality TV shows to, for example, the systematic rape of women in the DRC.
The crux of her argument is that enlightened sexism is a newer, smarter, more discreet but equally destructive form of sexism that acknowledges the gains of feminism over the years and folds them into its rhetoric to truly strip women of any outlet, solidarity, or empowerment. Take, for example, the TV show “The Swan”, which Douglas dissects (pun intended) in great detail. On the show, “ugly” women beg altruistic plastic surgeons to fix them. Emerging after several painful surgeries, including, for almost all of them, breast augmentation, the women commonly react by saying “That doesn’t even look like me” to their reflection. Success!
DC School Appoints Woman Football Coach, Concerned Citizens Point Out That Her Gonads Automatically Disqualify Her
Natalie Randolph coaching at H.D. Woodson/Preston Keres-The Washington Post
The capital of the United States has seen a lot of changes lately, and I can’t describe them better than the Washington Post’s Petula Dvorak has:
We saw our first African American president move into the White House last year; same-sex couples were finally able to legally marry in D.C. last week; and today we might see the biggest shocker of them all: A woman will become the head coach of a high school football program.
Yes, folks, you read that right: a woman coaching football. On Friday, the District’s Calvin Coolidge Senior High School formally announced that it is appointing Natalie Randolph, a science teacher at the school, as its new head varsity football coach. Randolph has previous football playing and coaching experience: she had a five-year career as wide receiver for the D.C. Diva’s women’s professional football team and served as an assistant coach at H.D. Woodson High School for two years.
Though I’m not a huge football fan, this news is exciting to me for several reasons. read more…
Photo via Toronto Children's Chorus
O Canada! You won both Olympic hockey events and walked away with the most gold medals, all amidst a sea of misbelievers. The time for moving forward is now, you say? With a triumphant spotlight on our wintry homeland, our nation has once more been inspired to step up to the plate and lead, rather than lingering in the back corner. Surely, there hasn’t been a better time to make some long overdue changes.
Well…
