Archive for the 'media' Category

No license to abuse in anyone’s culture

Published by
Sarah
at June 7, 2007 in Politics, Uncategorized, law, media, race, racism, violence and violence against women. 0 Comments

The issue of violence against women, and particularly violence within certain cultural and religious communities have characterised some of the most heated debates on race, culture , immigration and women’s rights in recent times.

Wo! magazine interviews two academics- Dr. Christina Ho, a lecturer in Social Inquiry at the Faulty of Humanities and Social Science, and Penny Crofts a senior lecturer in law, at the University of Technology, Sydney- at the “No license to abuse” conference in Bankstown. The forum was a one-day event which aimed to address awareness about racialised violence against women survivors of domestic violence in particular the access women from diverse backgrounds have in accessing protection from the law.

We talk Dr. Chris Ho to on her address “Hijacking Feminism- The politics of Women’s Rights in contemporary Australia” in which Dr. Ho looks at the representation of violence against women in Australian politics. Dr. Ho argues that violence against women is a global issue but many Australian commentators portray it as a problem of cultural minorities; in particular within the Lebanese or Muslim communities. She addresses why conservative commentators are only concerned with violence against women when men of minority backgrounds are the perpetrators. Dr. Ho analyses the politics behind these current debates and offers some thoughts on how advocates of women’s rights can respond.

We also have a chat to Penny Crofts, a specialist in criminal law theory. In her address “Tolerating intolerance: Liberal Culturalism and Ethnicity in Provocation” Penny discusses the legal principles relating to the cultural defence in domestic violence cases. In her overview of the use of the Provocation defence in law she refers to theoretical framweorks which argue that liberal cultures are not ‘colour-blind’ and she poses such questions as: is the court truly neutral? If so, what capacity does the court have to recognise cultural differences; and how far should cultural differences be recognised if at all where there are values of bodily integrity to be resolved.

Bollywood Star Bullied on Big Brother

Published by
Sarah
at January 18, 2007 in Culture, Politics, media, pop-culture, race and racism. 2 Comments

A diplomatic incident has nearly broken out over allegations of racist abuse on British reality show ”Celebrity” Big Brother.

We all know the show is hardly a conduit for good taste- as can be attested by the “turkey slapping incident”  last year on Australian Big Brother which created a huge debate in Sydney newspapers about sexual harassment, even prompting calls from the Prime Minister to ban the show.

But what Big Brother does reveal with its massive ratings and its potential to create public controversy is a rare insight into the lives and minds of ordinary and ‘public’ figures at their most uninhibited.

The dynamics of the house are revealing about a whole spectrum of issues- including attitudes to gender relations, racism, culture and sexuality in modern life. 

In this way the show has an ability to uncover a little of the nation’s psyche- mirrored in all its ugliness. 

The victimised housemate- Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty, was apparently ganged up upon by four of the housemates, one whose claim to fame was being a member of the defunct band “Steps”, and singling her out to bullying.

Shetty was apparently referred to as “the Indian”,  a “cunt”, made fun of her for her accent, with suggestions made that Indians were so thin because they ate “undercooked” food.

The B-grade starlet has now become a heroine in India and Britain with thousands sending emails complaining to the show’s producers in support of the embattled actress.

The situation has created a firestorm in the UK highlighting simmering racial tensions. Shetty’s experience has obviously struck a huge chord with the British public.

The controversy has touched upon the raging debates that have characterished modern British society- on issues of race, culture, religion, multiculturalism and integration. To the extent that politicians have come to the fore to address the issues in the House of Commons. 

In these debates it has always been the minority groups which have been castigated for their inability to “integrate”. The deluge of complaints reveal the deep chord the Shetty debacle has struck with the immigrant experience.

If “integration” is called for- than this is also a two way street. “Integration” is only possible when people feel welcomed as equals in their society to be their very best. These efforts are severely undermined when you’re being called a dirty “Paki”.

The ”Empire” obviously needs to straighten things out. It’s “subjects” are in revolt.  

 

 

 

Mass sex assualt rampage in Egypt

Published by
Anna
at November 2, 2006 in law, media, rape, sexism, street harassment and violence against women. 26 Comments

Well the latest citizen journalism of the blogosphere has come out of Egypt where according to witnesses “hundreds of men” took to the streets of downtown Cairo harassing, groping, sexually assaulting young women in large numbers. The police force did nothing to quell the violent assaults and have now denied any of it happened, as has the Government which seems to think this sort of thing being broadcasted worldwide is bad for business. The blogosphere has taken it up however, and as of now the only mainstream news source to have reported on it is the BBC.

An eye witness account has been translated and posted here.

While yesterday the attacks were just random, young men now formed human trains that approached a girl quickly and surrounded her completely and began groping parts of her body.

[…]

We were surprised to find a girl in her early twenties who had fainted on the ground, surrounded by a large number of youth who were groping parts of her body and taking off her clothes.I could not understand, or rather could not absorb, what was happening…the girl got up quickly and tried to run in any direction until she saw a Syrian restaurant called “el Madyafa” or something, and ran into it. The young men surrounded the restaurant and did not leave till one of them shouted, “There’s another girl in front of Miami!

Everyone ran towards Talaat Harb Street again. I found there a girl encircled by hundreds of men who were trying to grope her and rip off her clothes.

Contrary to what al-Hilali’s little “uncovered meat” and “cat” scenario might suggest, there was no discrimination between women who donned Islamic dress and those that didn’t.

Continue reading ‘Mass sex assualt rampage in Egypt’

Absolutely Hilarious!

Published by
Sarah
at October 24, 2006 in Politics, law, media, rape, violence and violence against women. 1 Comment

A microphone has picked up off-the-cuff remarks by Russian President Vladimir Putin in which he comments on what a “mighty man” accused rapist Israeli President Moshe Katsav is.

 ”10 women! I would never have expected that from him. He surprised us all. We all envy him,” says a jocular Putin in talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Apparently it was all in good fun. Just a bit of a laugh between mates eh?

After all Putin is only a leader of a state in which an “anonymous” contract-style execution of a female journalist, was recently carried out.

And Olmert not only has a President that is an accused rapist but he also recently presided over a futile war that killed two thousand civilians (mainly women and children.)

Knee-trembling laughs for all here!

We talk about violence against women- but then remove our gentrified leaders from scrutiny- who politely mutter on how it’s only those ghetto black and barbarous underclass muslim thugs who commit such uncivilised behaviour.

It never really stops.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf also thinks rape is just a bit of a publicity stunt- a way to get a green card. It’s better to jail such PR seekers with a neat little jail term. Even if she’s blind.

And who could forget Supreme Court Justice Bollen’s side-splitting 1993 comment that husbands are within their full right to use “rougher than usual handling” in convincing their wife to have sex? 

When men are in power- whether in law, religion or politics-women’s suffering will always be a joke.

Rape- what a lark!

 

 

Israeli President accused of rape

Published by
Anna
at October 16, 2006 in Politics, World, media, rape, sexism and violence against women. 0 Comments

The Israeli President, Moshe Katsav, has been accused or rape, sexual harassment and other illegal conduct. Police have recommended he be charged, however, he has immunity from prosecution unless he is impeached by parliament. Ten women made complaints against Katsav, but five of those women no longer have legal recourse because the statute of limitations has run out.

This story broke (from what I can tell by a brief look at google news) around the 11th - 14th of September in Middle-Eastern news. That is one month ago. Western news sources are only now catching on. CNN has reported on it but other major news outlets in the US seem to be either ignoring it or haven’t caught on yet. There was nothing on the Fox News website when I checked just now (However I did find this delightful piece on how real men don’t wear ‘flip flops’ but that’s a whole other post).

What do you think? Wilfull ignorance or just lag time?

Bad news

Published by
Anna
at October 8, 2006 in Politics, World and media. 1 Comment

Anna Politkovskaya has been murdered by gunmen in Moscow. Politkovskaya was a fearless journalist who took on Russia’s most powerful and corrupt in order to out the truth about the dodgy dealings of Russia’s bureaucracies, governments, institutions and mafia. She was a woman with many enemies. One of whom was the Russian President, Vladimir Putin. She was the author of two books: Putin’s Russia and A Dirty War: A Russian Reporter in Chechnya.

The Independent reports that she was just about to publish an expose on Chechnya’s Prime Minister.

A body found slumped in a Moscow lift. A discarded pistol and four spent shells. A mysterious thin man in a black baseball cap. The murder yesterday of Anna Politkovskaya, the most famous reporter in Russia, is a story as sinister as anything she investigated in her fearless, award-winning career.

The 48-year-old, lauded by journalists and writers around the world for her exposés in Chechnya, appears to have been assassinated. Her most powerful enemy was President Vladimir Putin. The murder came two days before she was due to publish an exposé of the Chechnyan Prime Minister.

Politkovskaya came to the Sydney Writers’ Festival this year. I wanted to go and see her talk but unfortunately I didn’t- even though I was at the festival at the time of her panel. Damn.

Also, two German journalists have been killed in a shooting in Afghanistan.

The slain journalists - identified as Karen Fischer, 30, and Christian Struwe, 38 - worked as freelancers for Deutsche Welle, Germany’s state-owned broadcaster.

The two were travelling in a Toyota four-wheel drive through the northern province of Baghlan, about 150 km north-west of Kabul, and had stopped outside a small village, where they set up a tent to spend the night, said Mohammad Azim Hashami, the provincial police chief.

They were killed by AK-47 gunfire at around 1.30 am, he said.

Update- More information on the story Polikovskaya was about to publish:

She was a harsh critic of President Vladimir Putin’s rule and was working on a story about torture in Chechnya, where a Kremlin-backed strongman has all but routed a separatist movement that sparked two bloody wars, but at a cost to Russia that has yet to be measured. The article was to be published Monday, according to her newspaper, Novaya Gazeta, one of the few independent media outlets in Russia.

This is really outrageous

Published by
Anna
at October 5, 2006 in eating disorders, indoctrination, media and wtf?!. 1 Comment

The Herald yesterday reported that during Australian Idol, channel 10 has been screening advertisements for the diet drug Xenical.

Screened during the high-rating Australian Idol program, which counts 13- to 17-year-olds as one of its largest audiences, the ads have reportedly driven girls as young as 13 and of average weight to ask pharmacists for the drug.

Pharmacists have reported an increase in demand from young girls since the campaign began two weeks ago. They have also reported that many young girls that have requested the drug are not overweight (surprise, surprise). The drug has side effects such as incontinence and diarrhoea.

This is seriously irresponsible. Here’s Ten’s contact details if you want to write to them and tell them just how irresponsible they are:

1 Saunders Street,
Pyrmont NSW 2009

PH: (02) 9650 1010
FAX: (02) 9650 1111
POSTAL ADDRESS
GPO BOX 10
Sydney NSW 2000

This is Not Art

Published by
Anna
at September 28, 2006 in fanfare, media and pop-culture. 2 Comments

I’m going to be on a panel at this years, TINA National Student and Emerging Media Conference in Newcastle this weekend, discussing whether feminist media is still relevant. Details below:

Grrrl Media
Pan Upstairs Front - Friday 1:30pm to 3pm
Is feminist media still relevant? Does it have a place and does it have a future? How is it changing and evolving and how should it change and evolve?

I think I will talk about the importance of the electronic medium in forming virtual communities and the importance of self-publishing and feminist-focussed blogs in communicating ideas, news, dissent etc. I think there’s still a ways to go with that in Australia.

Anyhoo, maybe I’ll see you there ;p

Ralph TV

Published by
Anna
at September 7, 2006 in media and raunch. 2 Comments

It’s only going to get worse in Australia isn’t it. PBL (the Packer media company that owns Channel nine) has recently pitched a television spinoff of its soft porn magazine Ralph to advertisers and media buyers in an attempt to gain backing for the show.

“Ralph TV“ won’t be on at prime time, so I guess it will garner its place amongst the ads for phone sex that suddenly appear post 11pm. Does this herald a new content for Australian TV? Will Girls Gone Wild try an Australian venture? I hope not.

Gibson’s sexist slurs go unremarked

Published by
Anna
at August 2, 2006 in media, pop-culture and sexist. 2 Comments

Mother Jones points out that Mel Gibson, in the midst of his drunken anti-jew tirade, also made some rather offensive sexist remarks that seem to have gone completely unnoticed by the media.

Gibson is alleged to have said:

“Fucking Jews….The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world.” He then asked the deputy, “Are you a Jew?”

Obviously this kind of bigotry is unacceptable but why isn’t the following also being condemned?

Gibson is alleged to have cursed and carried on like this for some time. What isn’t being discussed is that he is also allleged to have called one of the female officers a “bitch,” and called another one “sugar tits.”

So why isn’t he apologising profusely over that behaviour? Obviously one reason is the media’s choice not to express outrage at his misogynistic tendencies. They obviously believe anti-semitism to be more newsworthy. I guess sexism happens so often it is quite unremarkable isn’t it? And for the same reason, sexism doesn’t have the ability to tarnish his standing in Hollywood the same way anti-semitism does.

I wonder too, if, the same lack of respect had been shown to the male officers present whether they would have flexed their authority by adding an additional charge for, perhaps, swearing say?

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