Archive for November, 2006

Hey ladies!

Published by
outfox
at November 24, 2006 in Uncategorized. 3 Comments

Hello!

Kathy from Outfoxed blog here; happilly grabbing the invitation to join The Wo! Front and blog on my favourite topics of feminism and culture. 

First up, Ladyfest Brisbane is on!

the ladies, the ladies

I love that a non-profit, community based festival “that celebrates the skills and interests of women” is also one of the most stylistically diverse, just exciting musical line ups all year. 

 

Yes I’m biased, but 4 nights of acts like Dear Nora, Foreign Heights, Junglettes and Girl with Cake in one weekend is pretty good! 

Being a cultural archives geek I’m also excited that the riot grrl history documentary Don’t Need You has been added to tommorow’s programme; along with the panel on Ladyfest: Past, Present & Future with Allison Wolfe (Bratmobile, Partyline) and Sarah Dougher speaking.

 

I love stuff about the creation of women’s subcultures. Often you see imagery and ideas from less commerical cultures, including riot grrl, absorbed into mainstream media without necessarily having the backstory about where they emerged from.  So I love media that makes those connections back to communities.    

 

People outside Brisbane may be wishing they were here for once.  Those here, check the myspace for updates!

 

Boycott Home

Published by
Anna
at November 24, 2006 in rape culture and sexism. 2 Comments

Home Nightclub has been advertising it’s ‘Access All Areas’ gig launch with the following fucked up flyer:

To protest that bullshit a few who were supposed to play there, such as Batrider, are putting on an alternative show. So stick it to Home and support the following alternative gig this Saturday:

Most powerful woman in America but it’s all about the clothes

Published by
Anna
at November 22, 2006 in Politics, World and women in power. 9 Comments

What is it about a woman in power that turns men into childish cry-baby morons? ‘Wah! Wah! The skirt’s telling me what to do!’

Lame. pathetic. idiots.

Women’s lives don’t matter: Nicaragua

Published by
Anna
at November 21, 2006 in Politics, World, abortion, religion, struggle and violence against women. 2 Comments

Abortion has long been illegal in Nicaragua but had, up until now, been allowed where it would save the woman’s life if three doctors testified that the woman would die if she didn’t undergo the procedure. Now even that exception has been ripped away from Nicaraguan women.

Some figures from the Guttmacher Intstitute to keep in mind. In Nicaragua:

  • A quarter of all births (35,000) are among 15-19 year-olds but 86 per cent don’t want a child within the next two years and 36 per cent don’t have adequate access to contraception.
  • Half of 20-25 year old women had had a child before their 20th birthday
  • Nearly half of all births are unplanned
  • The rate of childbirth among adolescents is the highest out of any other Central American country.
  • Also higher than any other Central American country is the rate of maternal deaths which is 230 for every 100,000 births.

The WHO estimates that 78,000 women die from illegal and unsafe abortions each year (13 per cent of maternal deaths). Most of those of course occuring in developing countries such as Nicaragua. So even if access to a cheap illegal abortion is possible there’s no real out for these women. Imagine being powerless knowing that your death was imminent because your government couldn’t give a fuck. Pro-life indeed.

The leftist, Sandanista and former president Daniel Ortega sold women up shit creek in order to try to gain support from the Roman Catholic voting block and regain presidency. According to the linked NYTimes article his support for the ammendment was critical.

Another model falls victim to anorexia

Published by
Anna
at November 21, 2006 in eating disorders and fashion. 0 Comments

In August Uruguayan model Luisel Ramos died of heart failure due to anorexia at a fashion show. Another model has now been claimed victim by the disease. Brazilian model Ana Carolina Reston died from kidney failure last Tuesday.

So when is the fashion industry going to wake up? Why the hell isn’t there a models’ union campaigning for workplace safety?  Reston weighed 40kg. This starved coat-hanger state is rigorously enforced upon the bodies of women who want to model. It is violence and it is exploitation.

Nuclear power “green”

Published by
Anna
at November 21, 2006 in In other news. 0 Comments

Well the waste it produces glows that colour anyway. It’s no surprise that the Government’s handpicked taskforce came to the conclusion that Nuclear power is “green”. I wish I’d seen David Suzuki’s address to the National Press Club. Apparently he slammed this assertion and many others:

He went on to praise — sarcastically — Mr Howard for acknowledging global warming. “Mr Howard has now acknowledged that global warming is happening. Thank God, it’s about time,” Dr Suzuki said.

“So ‘boom’, right away the solution is nuclear power. This guy ought to be booted out of office for that kind of approach to the problem, I mean, it’s crazy.”

And from here:

He described the Prime Minister’s endorsement of nuclear fuel as “the biggest crock of baloney I’ve heard”.

“How can you talk about a serious alternative form if you can’t even answer questions about cost, reliability, protection from terrorism and nuclear waste? I mean it’s crazy. Especially when there are so many other opportunities.”

Dr Suzuki said Australia should be making use of its climate to become a leading exporter in solar technology.

“You’ve got something most countries would kill for called sunlight. Every bit of water in this country should be heated by the sun. The roof of every house in this country should be solar collectors and water collectors and right away you’re dealing in a serious way with two big issues, water shortages and energy.”

Also below is a media release I received last night from the Medical Association from the Prevention of War about the flaws with the taskforce:

MEDIA Release
21 November 2006

Concerned doctors anticipate disaster for nuclear inquiry

Doctors from the Medical Association for Prevention of War (MAPW) expressed

concern today as they anticipate a strongly pro-nuclear report from Dr Ziggy Switkowski.Dr Switkowski is expected to release the results of the Prime Minister’s taskforce inquiry into uranium mining, processing and the contribution of nuclear energy in Australia at the National Press Club in Canberra today.

“The great concern is that this taskforce report, by its very nature, will be doomed to a pro-nuclear finding,” stated Dr Bill Williams, Vice President of MAPW. “From the beginning, this inquiry lacked the scope needed to examine the nuclear question in its entirety and comprehensively failed to address the range of renewable energy options and energy efficient technologies that have a vital role to play in Australia’s energy future. It would seem the inquiry was biased towards a positive result for the nuclear industry.”

Within both the terms of reference and the issues paper outlined by the Taskforce there was little opportunity to address in detail of the broader issues of the nuclear industry, particularly the risks associated with nuclear weapons, nuclear waste and nuclear accidents or terrorism, all of which are inseparable from any real exploration of nuclear power.

Given the stated objective of the inquiry to explore Australia’s future energy needs, there is also a decided lack of review and examination of other possible energy sources to meet national and international demand.

“MAPW regards the nuclear weapons proliferation dangers associated with the nuclear industry, including nuclear power generation, as a decisive and fatal flaw,” stated Dr Jenny Grounds, MAPW Treasurer, who represented MAPW at public hearings to this inquiry in October. “Given the unique magnitude of the risks involved, short-term, monetary, political or vested interests have no place in decision-making.”

In a detailed submission to the inquiry, MAPW recommended that Taskforce Members make recommendations based on an objective assessment of the best available evidence, and that their analysis should include the uncertainties and long-term interests of the global human population and environment.

“Any expansion of uranium mining or the adoption of uranium enrichment in Australia would inevitably add to the global danger of nuclear weapons proliferation and use,” concluded Dr Williams.

Pakistani women protest rape law ammendments

Published by
Anna
at November 21, 2006 in Islam, World, liberalism, religion and violence against women. 2 Comments

What do you make of this?

Hundreds of female supporters of Pakistan’s largest Islamic group protested today against government amendments to controversial rape laws.

Some 800 women, many wearing veils, attended the rally in a downtown district of the capital, Islamabad.

They were supporters Jamaat-e-Islami, a militant-linked Islamic charity.

These are strong women, with a strong voice. Not just puppets of the radical Jamaat-e-Islami wing from what I can tell. And yet they are protesting ammendments that could prevent a lot of suffering on behalf of women who are locked up for things such as ‘adultery’ - even if the sex act was forced.Shakira Hussein explores their mission in an article for New Matilda :

The JI women have no time for the likes of Jehangir. They claim that they are the true defenders of Pakistani women and that secular advocates of women’s rights are puppets of the West. They say that without the protection of the Hudood Ordinances, Pakistani women would suffer the plight of Western women — forced to dress and behave according to the lewd desires of men. Just as many in the West refuse to believe that a woman might choose to wear the hijab, JI women find it hard to believe that a woman would choose to wear jeans that display her bum cleavage.

In viewing Western or Westernised women primarily as victims, the JI women differ from their male counterparts, who view ‘immodest’ women in terms of the threat they pose to social order. While Islamist men tend to believe that it is immoral women who lead men (and other women) from the path of virtue, many Islamist women believe that ‘fallen’ women have been coerced or manipulated into sin. By outlawing immorality, they believe that it is possible to free women from being sexually exploited, or having their families broken up by their husbands’ extra-marital affairs.

The JI women are well aware that the Hudood Ordinances have caused immeasurable pain to many women who are entirely innocent of adultery. Through their welfare work in providing legal aid and emergency shelter to women in crisis, they have witnessed the damage at first hand. Such programs provide useful propaganda for JI, but there is also no doubting the women’s passionate belief in their work. They speak of their satisfaction in helping women who have been falsely accused, and they angrily denounce the common practice of a husband divorcing his wife and allowing her to remarry, only to go to the authorities with the claim that the first marriage was never dissolved and that his former wife is therefore guilty of adultery with her new husband.

And yet, they continue to support the Ordinances under which such women are jailed. They insist that the main problems lie in the implementation of the law, rather than the law itself. For instance, if marriages and divorces were properly recorded (most are not), it would be much more difficult for disgruntled former husbands to lay false charges. If the legal system were not so grindingly inefficient, women would not languish in jail for years only to be found not guilty (as most often happens) when they finally come to trial.

Is there a comparison here between christian anti-feminists and the Islamic women of JI? Or is it more complicated than that? It seems Western feminists and the Islamic women of JI hold similar views about one another. I guess we have to ask whether their agenda is to uphold the power of their patriarchal religion, or if they indeed are acting on behalf of women. Christian anti-feminists seem beholden to maintaining the patriarchal notion of women’s place as ‘God’ stipulates. However the JI women seem to be about ‘liberating’ women- Just in a completely different way to the ideas and actions of western feminists. Does anyone know more?

“You hot slut!”

Published by
Sarah
at November 17, 2006 in femininity, pop-culture, raunch and sex. 1 Comment

I walk out the house one night looking fly, and 19-yr- old Model girl stares with interest, “You hot slut!” she shrieks grinning madly.

I freeze for a second. Then break out in an involuntary smile- there is so much love in these words i can’t describe it.

“Filthy slut,” “skanky ho”, even “hot bitch” have morphed into common terms of endearment between young women.

In the absence of external objectification are we just objectifying each other? Or has “slut” been redefined to denote female sexual empowerment?

Is this camraderie of boorishness especially among the “educated student set” - where getting “smashed” and “high”, having multiple boyfriends and being the most materialistic is the ultimate symbol of status- a regression or a progression?

Are we proving women can go just as hard and fast as the guys? Or is it just a shallow form of self-absorbed competition and conformity?

Ariel Levy, author of “Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the rise of raunch culture” writes that “Girls gone Wild” is a phenomenon that seems to suggest liberation but really just panders to a banal form of consumerism and titillation that masquerades as empowerment.

In a world where Jenna Jameson not Jane Eyre is the cultural icon, even Punk Rocker Pink wonders , “What happened to the dreams of a girl President? She’s dancing in the video next to 50 cent…”

Woo hoo!

Published by
Sarah
at November 16, 2006 in celebration, femininity and law. 8 Comments

There have been criticisms from some quarters (which i deftly dealt with in a swift guillotine like manner) that I make things too glum. I make Wo! too Woe instead of wow, whoa or woo hoo!

After all there’s no better time in the history of the world to be a woman than right now. Sure we have some crazy stuff going down. Awareness is important. But so is celebration. Great things are happening too- we have Hillary in the Senate, the vote, the Pill and of course Oprah (one always has to be grateful for the Opes.)

Some good news then folks- Pakistan has passed the Women’s Protection Bill. All we need now is a Good not Evil Benazir back in power and we’re done!

The Feminist pulse

Published by
Anna
at November 15, 2006 in feminist media. 0 Comments

Hey, check out the new blog from Girlistic Magazine. It has lots of feminist news from around the world. Girlistic is a feminist magazine and resource- issue one of the mag comes out in December so keep checking back there for it.