• Showing posts tagged "submission"

    May 1, 2013

  1. Permalink Follow Link

    Petition the Bank of England: Keep a woman on English banknotes

    http://www.change.org/petitions/bank-of-england-keep-a-woman-on-english-banknotes

    This week Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank of England, announced Winston Churchill will replace social reformer Elizabeth Fry as the face of £5 notes. This means that, other than the Queen, there will be no women featuring on our English bank notes. 

    An all-male line-up on our banknotes sends out the damaging message that no woman has done anything important enough to appear. This is patently untrue. Not only have numerous women emerged as leading figures in their fields, they have done so against the historic odds stacked against them which denied women a public voice and relegated them to the private sphere - making their emergence into public life all the more impressive and worthy of celebration.

    People will perhaps say that the Queen appears on all the notes. But the Queen would be there whatever she achieved - she was born into her position. The men on the banknotes - Charles Darwin, Adam Smith, Matthew Boulton, James Watt, and soon, Winston Churchill - are all there because of what they have done, not because of who their parents were.

    This decision by the Bank of England is yet another example of women’s considerable achievements being overlooked in favour of the usual (male) suspects - and yet another example of how the establishment undervalues the contributions of women to history - and indeed to the present. The significance of this decision is further underlined by the fact that Darwin is actually our oldest note - by two years. Why isn’t he being replaced?

    This matters.

    It matters because young women growing up see a parliament that is 57th equal in the world when it comes to female representation; a media where only 1 in 5 experts is a woman; and a business world where female directors represent only 16.7% of the total.

    Currency, as its name suggests, is fundamental to our daily lives. These notes will change hands every hour, every minute, every second. And every time they do, the message will drive a little deeper home: women do not belong in public life - they never have, and they never will.

    We call on the Bank of England to reverse this decision, and not add another straw to the establishment weight on the shoulders of young women telling them that they will amount to nothing - after all, their mothers, grandmothers and great-grandmothers didn’t. Why should they be any different?

    2. December 3, 2012

  2. Permalink

    All’s not fair in comments and misogyny

    http://kaebot.tumblr.com/post/36694505494

    3. November 30, 2012

  3. Permalink

    Support Women in Film and Films About Women

    Women Make Movies is an award-winning non-profit that supports and distributes film by and about women. This year we’ve been nominated to win the prestigious Chase American Giving Award and its One Million dollar prize. In order to win it, we need your votes!

    Please VOTE HERE and reblog this post to help Women Make Movies win 1 million dollars in the Chase American Giving Awards!

    Thank you!

    4. November 27, 2012

  4. Permalink Follow Link

    Vote for Malala Yousafzai as TIME Magazine's Person of the Year

    http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2128881_2128882_2129199,00.html

    “At first, the Pakistani girl blogged anonymously about her desire to go to school without fear in a part of the country where the Taliban had once imposed strict Shari’a law. Then, with the surprising encouragement of her devout Muslim father, Malala Yousafzai wrote in her own name and revealed her face to the world, a symbol of young women around the world seeking empowerment… On Oct. 9, 2012, Taliban gunmen boarded her school bus, sought her out and shot her in the head. Eventually airlifted to a hospital in Britain, she survived her severe wounds. In the meantime, Malala, now 15, has become an inspiration not only in her native Pakistan — where the culture wars over women’s rights and religious diversity have taken many violent turns — but all around the globe.”

    5. August 24, 2012

  5. Permalink

    YEFON - An African woman defies the traditions of her village, only to face a death sentence as a result.

    A young African woman with dreams of becoming a teacher takes reading and writing lessons from a visiting American. But when the male village elders find out, she is sentenced to death for breaking from tradition.

    “Yefon” is a film that continues in the proud tradition of socially conscious, Africa-based cinema like “Hotel Rwanda,” “Beat the Drum” and “Sarafina”—but unlike those movies, its producers will come from the ranks of generous Kickstarter supporters: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/405663859/yefon-the-movie

    It has already attracted the attention of Hollywood stars like Jimmy Jean-Louise (“Tears of the Sun” “Heroes”), Adriana Barraza (Best Supporting Actress Oscar nominee, “Babel”) and Hakeem Kae-Kazim (“Hotel Rwanda”). The film is being co-produced by Justin Massion, the director of the Kickstarter campaign for “Space Command,” which brought in $75,000 in just three days, and ended with over $200,000.

    “Yefon” is the brainchild of 22-year-old actress and filmmaker Sahndra Fon Dufe, who got her inspiration from too many similar, true stories from Africa. Broken-hearted by this sad reality, she and the production team have pledged to use a portion of the proceeds from the sale of the film, a companion documentary, books and related merchandise to build an all-girls school in Nso, the Cameroon village where “Yefon” is set.

    There are less than 4 weeks left to reach the goal of $50,000 so please help spread the word about this project - we need all the support we can get from Tumblr!

    6. March 12, 2012

  6. Permalink Follow Link

    Women legislators turn the tables and introduce bills regulating men's reproductive health

    http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/03/12/1073566/-Women-legislators-turn-the-tables-and-introduce-bills-regulating-men-s-reproductive-health

    Ohio state Sen. Nina Turner (D) isn’t happy with bills that seek to control women’s access to contraception and abortion. She has joined a trend across the nation by introducing a bill thatwould require men seeking a prescription for erectile dysfunction drugs to see a sex therapist, receive a cardiac stress test and “get a notarized affidavit signed by a sexual partner affirming impotency.” Sex therapists would be required to present the option of “celibacy as a viable lifestyle choice.”

    7. February 2, 2012

  7. Permalink

    Rant; and reply (Sexual freedom vs. feminist ideals)

    udmila-andrea
    Many women today are under the impression that flashing their breasts in public à la ‘Girls Gone Wild’ or frequenting strip clubs is tantamount to sexual freedom and female empowerment. The belief that the rejection of feminism resulting from these actions is legitimate and perhaps necessary acts as a significant driving force that further perpetuates this kind of behaviour. However, it is imperative that women come to terms with the fact that utilizing rejection and hostility in order to deal with feminist positions from the past does not necessarily expedite the emergence of a new sexual paradigm. The belief that feminism is no longer needed is not only false but naïve. There still exist substantial disparities between gender roles throughout the world, and many individuals’ bigotry remains unscathed regardless of feminist initiatives of the past. However, so many women allow themselves to believe that an increased degree of sexual exhibitionism has the power to somehow render these truths irrelevant. Why, then, does a notion of ‘coolness’ in relation to sexual freedom take precedence over feminist positions that still remain relevant?


    I received this in my ask box today and it really rubbed me the wrong way. Maybe I’m just a grumpy-pants today, but I decided to not submit it without adding my reply:

    Your presumption that “an increased degree of sexual exhibitionism has the power to somehow render these truths irrelevant” in the minds of sexually liberated women, or those posing as such is an insulting blanket statement and is in my oppinion quite naïve.

    I do not beleive that ‘slutty’ women, ‘girls gone wild’, sex workers, adult entertainers and those who enjoy them while being female have anything to do with a rejection of feminism. Your post sounds very slut-shamey to me, and really strips away any personal autonomy from women and girls who aren’t ashamed to enjoy themselves.

    While I understand we live in a sex saturated culture and women are influenced and pressured in many ways because of this, I do not think this means no one ever does it by choice, of their own accord, uncoerced as I feel you are suggesting.

    Why? Because most of us are sexual creatures. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

    Sexual liberation is not an evil which must be destroyed.
    Sexual freedom is not anti-feminist or heralding its death.
    Sexual expression is not always for men, or some sort of nonsense cool factor.

    SEXUALITY IS BEAUTIFUL AND USING, DISPLAYING OR ENJOYING IT FOR YOURSELF WHILE BEING A WOMAN IS NOT SOME KIND OF IMPOSSIBILITY.

    My sexual exibitionism, expression and experience as a pornography performer, sex worker, and sex worker and sexual rights advocate has NOTHING to do with what will make me ‘cooler’, nor does it make me think I have magical powers and that being a slut will protect me from sexism or some such nonsense. I don’t to it for the men, or the women, for self esteem, because I am uneducated or in some way influenced by the patriarchy and can’t escape all this sexualization. I do it because I love sex, sexual expression and I am an exhibitionist by nature. I am a highly sexual person. I am also not an uncommon type of person. 

    I see nothing wrong with ‘perpetuating’ this type of behaviour because there is nothing wrong with women being sexually active in any way or form, as long as it is the choice of that girl or woman, and as long as they are educated, and mentally mature enough to understand what they are doing and the consequences.  

    What is empowering and liberating for you may not be for others. That doesn’t mean one is wrong and the other is right, it means they are different. 

    8. October 31, 2011

  8. Permalink

    AUSTRALIAN FEMINISTS: Protest against Aus’s biggest anti-choice rally!

    I stumbled on this facebook event “Largest Pro-Life Rally - End to Abortion in Australia“ (I dont know how big or legit it will be) and thought it would be cool to organise a retaliation protest. 

    I think we most certainly should! I’m in Melbourne but would gladly have a road trip to protest against this protest! I’m not sure how we would go about making this happen. I’d love to see more pro choice advocates than the horrible catholic anti-choicers. (Not anti-Catholic overall but this protest is run by Catholics)

    Australian feminists and pro-choice advocates; Will you join us spread the Peaceful, Powerful Pro-choice message?

    If so, how should we co-ordinate this? Facebook group?