Category Archives: Feminism

Trump′s abortion ban puts African women at risk | Africa | DW.COM | 25.01.2017

International NGOs offering abortion services will no longer receive US funding, sparking fears for women in developing countries. Now the Dutch government has called for a global fund to try to cover the shortfall.

Source: Trump′s abortion ban puts African women at risk | Africa | DW.COM | 25.01.2017

Why women need to keep marching in Italy – The Local

“During the Women’s March I not only saw a strong, courageous, and emotional demonstration, but I felt a new energy which I’ve rarely felt during other public demonstrations: togetherness between protesters of different ages, genders, sexual orientations and religions.”

Source: Why women need to keep marching in Italy – The Local

Government pushes back against US halt to abortion aid – Radio Sweden | Sveriges Radio

Sweden’s government has called for action to defend work on abortion and contraceptive rights, as the new US President orders a halt to international aid and development in those areas.” The world is looking to Sweden as a leader in these issues,” says Development Minister Isabella Lövin. She wants to meet the Swedish opposition parties and establish a broad political consensus for action to limit the effect of the new US government’s withdrawal from reproductive rights work internationally.

Source: Government pushes back against US halt to abortion aid – Radio Sweden | Sveriges Radio

100+ Asian American & Pacific Islander Organizations Pledge to Resist Repression Under Trump Administration | Race Files

Mr. Trump’s campaign used explicit racial appeals to win the support of disaffected white voters, promising to restore their economic and social standing by deporting millions of immigrants, building a wall, creating a Muslim registry, banning Muslim immigration, and punishing Black dissent. He also engaged in deeply misogynistic language and behavior throughout his campaign. He insulted all people of color; people with disabilities; and women – all of whom amount to the majority of America. In the global arena, he has signaled at a new nuclear arms race, promised to expand the use of torture, and disparaged the United Nations.Since his election, Mr. Trump has chosen known white nationalists, corporate moguls, religious zealots, climate deniers, hawkish ex-generals, anti-Islam spokespersons, and anti-government crusaders to serve in his Administration. Right-wing extremists now dominate his party, which will control all three branches of the federal government and the majority of state legislatures, and are positioned to jeopardize the future of the Supreme Court for the next generation and beyond. Together this new realignment of forces seeks to turn back the clock on civil rights and environmental protections, to maximize corporate profits by privatizing the public sector, and to create a racially and culturally exclusive America.This is not business as usual, and we will not engage in business-as-usual tactics and strategies.

Source: 100+ Asian American & Pacific Islander Organizations Pledge to Resist Repression Under Trump Administration | Race Files

I Kept Feeling the Women’s March on Washington Lacked Passion, But Then I Figured the Real Problem – The Ladies Finger The Ladies Finger

As I chanted “No Trump. No KKK. No Fascist USA,” I looked into the faces of the marchers around me, and I got my answer: Americans are not accustomed to this. Most of these hundreds of thousands of people had probably never been to a protest before, and never marched with their children and their parents and screamed at the top of their lungs in the middle of a metropolitan road. This was their first time, their introduction to taking the streets. What I assumed was a lack of passion turned out to be something equally important: a first step. The million people: women, men, children, and allies who marched on Washington, did not have the experience of fighting against overt oppression, but they knew they needed to show up; they knew they must be united in the face of a new era that will have them fight for the rights they have long taken for granted. On this day, the American Woman showed up, she rose to the occasion, and though she was hesitant, she was determined.We arrived at the White House, filling the National Mall with pink pussy hats and chants of “my body, my rights”, and made our presence known. Soon after people started to scatter, but for the rest of the day, one could not go anywhere without running into someone with a sign or a pussy hat. This may not be the desperate protest that started a revolution against a Middle Eastern dictatorship, but it is the American woman beginning her fight. The movement has begun.

Source: I Kept Feeling the Women’s March on Washington Lacked Passion, But Then I Figured the Real Problem – The Ladies FingerThe Ladies Finger

The Day I Turned from a Victim into a Survivor. | Rebelle Society

I’ve been married since, and have been grateful enough to find husbands who understand that my legs can’t be pinned down. That there are times when my PTSD flares up and I. Just. Can’t.The emotional part is the hardest. Like I said, I use sex as a tool to protect myself from rejection. I use sex as a tool to protect myself from the rejection of this man I love.He is the first and only one who has ever called me out on my daddy issues, and he’s also the first to honestly make me think that I really do have them. But, at the very least, I am a survivor. I prevented another child from being molested. I prevented another child from losing her childhood to my piece-of-shit stepdad. While he rots in prison, I survived. Daddy issues and all.

Source: The Day I Turned from a Victim into a Survivor. | Rebelle Society

Growing up in fear of men – sister-hood magazine. A Fuuse production by Deeyah Khan.

I was 14 the first time a boy kissed me. It was during a Math class. I needed to use the washroom, and he came out a minute after I did. I didn’t want it. He wasn’t gentle about it. I still remember his nails digging into my arms. I remember how long it took. I remember his hand grabbing my waist, his grip in my hair, his tongue in my mouth, and his teeth scraping my lips. I remember how hard his grip was when he was grabbing my breasts.This was the same boy who became the face of my nightmares for two years. Sebastian made jokes about it in class: about my body, about what he wanted to do to me. The boys laughed; the girls rolled their eyes. The Math teacher ignored it all. I smiled along with the girls who insisted that he liked me. I cried when I was alone. I cried a lot over those two years. Fourteen-year-old me didn’t even know that I had the ability to cry so much.The first boy I was ever infatuated with was in the same Math class. I liked him. He was nice to me. He made me laugh. I was happy when he was around. Sebastian didn’t like that. He made it his mission to become friends with the boy I liked. I never knew in detail what it was that Sebastian said to him; what it was that made him ashamed to be around me. I didn’t know if Sebastian even told him about the kiss, or if he made it sound consensual. My crush started avoiding me, making me feel like I wasn’t good enough. After a while, I didn’t think I was good enough for anyone either.Looking back, I’m not disappointed in myself anymore. After a while I told people. I told teachers, and I told other girls who had been through similar experiences. The teachers were the biggest disappointments. It isn’t reasonable to expect children to protect other children.  Teachers are supposed to have a duty towards the children they teach. The adult figures in my life failed me. It shouldn’t have taken me screaming and crying in class one day for a teacher to actually remove him from the class. That same male teacher shouldn’t have told me, when I raised my voice because Sebastian wouldn’t stop, that ‘it took two to tango.’

Source: Growing up in fear of men – sister-hood magazine. A Fuuse production by Deeyah Khan.

CNN Doesn’t Know How to Talk about the Women’s March on Washington Without a Manel – The Ladies FingerThe Ladies Finger

I spent my Saturday night and Sunday morning watching videos of the Women’s March on Washington. Every conversation with friends was about how exciting it was that many of the women speaking at the march were non-white women, each of them talking from where they came — just before this, we’d each shared the ‘Guiding Vision and Definition of Principles’ document released by the organisers of the march.But of course, while all this was happening, it turns out the CNN couldn’t refrain from covering the Women’s March on Washington — with eight men and one woman.

Source: CNN Doesn’t Know How to Talk about the Women’s March on Washington Without a Manel – The Ladies FingerThe Ladies Finger

Lebanon’s Parliament Ridicules And Votes Down Anti-Sexual & Racial Harassment Law | A Separate State of Mind | A Blog by Elie Fares

If you needed anymore proof that the current batch of patriarchal parliament members are no good, look no further than their constant ridicule and systematic decimation of women rights. Even the law they passed to “protect” women from domestic abuse a few years ago was passed in a near stillborn form after decades of labor.A few days ago, that parliament struck again when MP Ghassan Moukhaiber’s proposed law from 2014, aimed at criminalizing sexual and racial harassment, came up for a discussion and a vote. Instead of behaving in a civil manner and actually discussing the many merits of the law, which is of vital importance for the betterment of any society, our parliament members met the proposal with uproars and ridicule.

Source: Lebanon’s Parliament Ridicules And Votes Down Anti-Sexual & Racial Harassment Law | A Separate State of Mind | A Blog by Elie Fares