Category Archives: Feminism

Contemporary Painting – “Emancipation” (Original Art from Louise Aug)

Contemporary Painting – “Emancipation” (Original Art from Louise Aug). Emancipation

Emancipation

Beautiful Henna Crowns Bring Confidence And Joy To Women Experiencing Hair Loss

One organization is using all-natural ingredients and artistry to help women coping with hair loss.

Henna Heals was started by Canadian photographer Frances Darwin in 2011 as a small group of volunteers in Toronto, and has since grown to a community of 150 artists worldwide. Those artists use safe, temporary dyes to paint intricate designs on their clients’ heads — after about two weeks, the henna designs fade away.

The organization offers professional henna “crowns” and photography services as a way to empower and heal people experiencing hair loss, and to help them feel beautiful and confident.

via Beautiful Henna Crowns Bring Confidence And Joy To Women Experiencing Hair Loss.

More Lebanese women are choosing to emigrate – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East

The excuse about “maintaining the reputation” has fallen. A newly graduated Lebanese woman faces great difficulties finding a job in Lebanon that provides her with a minimum salary. The excuse about the risks in a foreign country has also fallen, at a time when females face difficult challenges in a country where employment discrimination still exists between males and females.

If what people say annoys some parents who are trying to prevent their daughters from traveling, the difficult reality has made what people say not matter much. A Lebanese woman finds herself facing two choices: either to stay in Lebanon surrounded by her parents but often without work, or to take the harder choice and emigrate to a place that may appreciate her talents and capabilities and where she could gain the social and economic status she aspires to.

Unlike the traditional reasons for emigrating, such as following her husband, Lebanese women are emigrating to start their careers. Thus they leave Lebanon alone, in search of an alternative homeland that allows them to achieve their ambitions without worrying about social or employment discrimination.

via More Lebanese women are choosing to emigrate – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East.

High school student’s “rape culture” artwork banned from showcase for being “inappropriate”

“I started at an early age at a Christian school, locally, and we were always taught that it was our responsibility as women to cover up and be modest, and if a man was to ever get aroused or turned on or be interested in us, it was our fault,” said Holtzclaw. “Eventually, I had gotten sexually assaulted. It was true when it happened. Everyone blamed me for it and told me it was my fault and that just led the way into this art piece.”

“I know I’m not the only girl in high school that’s been sexually assaulted and felt like it was my fault, so I wanted to get the word out there and tell people, ‘It’s not your fault. It’s not your fault,’” said Holtzclaw. “Things that need to be talked about shouldn’t be taboo, because people struggle and we need to talk about those kind of things that people struggle with.”

So, basically, the whole point of Holtzclaw’s piece was to break the taboo around discussing sexual assault and victim-blaming — a taboo which was then perfectly illustrated by the school district’s response to it. Come on, people. At least we can help ensure that Holtzclaw’s piece — and important message — gets an even wider audience on the interwebs.

via High school student’s “rape culture” artwork banned from showcase for being “inappropriate”.

Afghan Women’s Writing Project | Don’t Hit Me Anymore

Don’t hit me anymore—I am your mother.

Untie the knot of violence;

leave the ancient custom behind.

Don’t hit me anymore—I am your sister.

My heart is soft, kind, like a kingdom.

Don’t hit me anymore—I am your wife.

Do not drag me in the soil.

Why do you blind me, spite me?

Can’t you see my wisdom?

Thirty years of war have hurt us.

You blame me.

Don’t hit me anymore—I am your daughter.

Can’t you, with your red eyes and angry face,

see my pain?

Don’t hit me anymore—I am your life partner.

Blind man, you can’t see anything.

Don’t hit me anymore—I am your mirror,

your success, your movement forward.

All your achievements are related to me.

When you cry, I wipe your tears.

When you fall, I lift you up.

Simple Man, you are a bird.

Your small eyes cannot see my strengths.

You would fly far away, not knowing

I am your wings.

Fighter man, don’t hit me anymore,

I am your crown,

the secret to your success.

This is your violence, Talib,

but you cannot take the right to my rights

because I am a woman—

the Mother of a Nation.

By Nelab

Photo: Nick Rain

via Afghan Women’s Writing Project | Untitled.

Are You There, God? | Rebelle Society

Allow me to see Your hand in the face of all I meet today. As I lose faith in myself and this path, You as well as others — as we know damn well, God, I’m bound to do at least a few times today — please wrap me in Your compassion and remind me that all I must do is let myself be breathed.

via Are You There, God? | Rebelle Society.

Pardon her Now Gov. C – Pussy Riot Pays Jail Visit To OWS Protestor Convicted Of Assaulting NYPD Officer : Gothamist

Members of Russian protest group/band Pussy Riot offered their support to Cecily McMillan, the protester who was convicted this week of a felony assault on an NYPD officer during the Occupy Wall Street protests in 2012. McMillan now faces up to seven years in prison, and the Pussy Riot members visited her at Rikers Island as a sign of solidarity.

McMillan was convicted by a panel of jurors who agreed the 25-year-old graduate student intentionally assaulted Officer Grantley Bovell during a scuffle in Zucotti Park in March 2012, despite McMillan’s claim that she was reacting to an assault on the part of the officer. Pussy Riot members Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova say that imprisoning McMillan is a mistake. “Society must organize to save Cecily because she’s really a hero,” Alyokhina told the Times. “She is very similar to us. We also did time and went to prison for our beliefs. We see a lot of parallels.”

Alyokhina and Tolokonnikova, who served prison time in Russia for their protest efforts, say they spoke with McMillan about her social revolutionary efforts. “She told us about the revolution maybe 20 times,” Alyokhina said. “It’s really very important to her.” Tolokonnikova’s husband Peter Verzilov also visited McMillan, and said she seemed to be staying positive. “She might be the happiest prisoner I’ve seen,” he told Mashable.

via Pussy Riot Pays Jail Visit To OWS Protestor Convicted Of Assaulting NYPD Officer : Gothamist.

Nepalese women torn between slavery in Lebanon and poverty at home | Global development | theguardian.com

When the 39 Nepalese migrant domestic workers spilled out of the arrivals gate at Kathmandu airport last month, many vowed to return to the country in which they had experienced terrible hardship. Some had been beaten and forced to endure slave-like conditions; the majority had been trafficked.

For years, the women lived illegally in Lebanon, with no means to return home after fleeing abusive employers. The country’s stringent kafala system, which binds migrant staff to their boss, meant that when the women escaped, they lost everything: their legal status, passports and wages.

It was only with the help of a local association, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), as well as the Nepali embassy in Egypt (Nepal does not have an embassy in Lebanon), that the women were eventually able to return to home.

via Nepalese women torn between slavery in Lebanon and poverty at home | Global development | theguardian.com.

Benghazi | Elizabeth Warren for Senate

All three of my brothers served in the military, and I know firsthand how much Americans serving abroad — and their families — sacrifice. What happened in Benghazi on Sept. 11, 2012 was a tragedy. Four Americans died putting themselves in harm’s way in service to peace, diplomacy, and their country. I look at what happened in Benghazi with sadness, with seriousness, and as yet another call to honor the men and women who keep us safe.

So let me be blunt: that kind of seriousness is sorely missing from the no holds-barred political theater of the House Republicans.

I know a little bit about the way Trey Gowdy pursues oversight. I was on the other end of it when I was setting up the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and I was called to testify before the House. As the Huffington Post reported at the time, Gowdy’s interrogation of me “seemed to lack the basic facts” about the agency he was attempting to oversee. I’d like you to read their reporting on one of these exchanges just so you know what this Benghazi “investigation” is likely to look like:

via Benghazi | Elizabeth Warren for Senate.

Immigration Talk with a Mexican American: So Tired of Republicans, Especially the Evil Ted Cruz!

Latinos.

We need to Pay Attention to this Evil Incarnate Cruz.

He hates his own ethnicity.

Evil, Evil Cruz!

Register to Vote in the 2014 Elections.

We have to STOP Republicans.

They threaten to take away our Liberties.

They want to take away Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act.

They support the 1 percent and HATE us, WE THE PEOPLE!

Latinos… I call on you… REGISTER TO VOTE!

VOTE AGAINST THE EVIL AGENDA OF REPUBLICANS!

San Antonio! I call on South Texas, South New Mexico, South Arizona and Southern California.

REGISTER TO VOTE AND VOTE!

PLEASE VOTE!!! in 2014. VOTE STRAIGHT Democrat.

Do this for ALL OF US!

Do it for the LIBERTIES of AMERICA!

Do if for the AMERICAN DREAM!!!

God Bless America!

God Bless Our President Barack Obama!

God Bless Our Next President, Hillary Clinton!!

via Immigration Talk with a Mexican American: So Tired of Republicans, Especially the Evil Ted Cruz!.