Category Archives: Feminism

Jerks Photo of the Day: Michigan GOP pretends to read fashion mags, claims they understand women

What do you do when you’re accused of fighting a “War on Women” because you, for instance, force them to purchase abortion insurance in case they get raped? If you’re the Michigan GOP, you turn it into a hilarious joke.

Republican Congressmen Peter Pettalia, Roger Victory, and Ben Glardon totally shattered the idea that they’re anti-woman by posing for a photo while reading Glamour and Harper’s Bazaar.  Michigan Public Radio Network reporter Jake Neher tweeted the photo along with this zinger which Pettalia uttered ”a couple of times” because it is that funny: “Don’t say we don’t understand women.”

In response, four women members of Michigan’s Democratic House delegation, tweeted their own photo of themselves reading proposed bills, with the caption “Real Women read bills not fashion mags.”

via Photo of the Day: Michigan GOP pretends to read fashion mags, claims they understand women.

Indian minister says rapes happen ‘accidentally’ | News , International | THE DAILY STAR

{Seems there are stupid and biased men in power all over the globe – who also don’t know enough to just shut it!}

Politicians also came under fire after the fatal gang-rape in Delhi in 2012, a crime that angered the nation and shone a global spotlight on India’s treatment of women.

Several politicians have sought to blame tight jeans, short skirts and other Western influences for the country’s rise in rapes, while the head of a village council pointed to chowmein which he claimed led to hormone imbalances among men.

via Indian minister says rapes happen ‘accidentally’ | News , International | THE DAILY STAR.

I still get abuse from Twitter trolls, says Olympic swimmer Rebecca Adlington | Media | The Guardian

Rebecca Adlington is far from the only high-profile female to receive abuse and criticism on Twitter. Other public figures have been attacked over their appearance – and much worse. The activist and writer Caroline Criado-Perez, the academic Mary Beard and the MP Stella Creasy were among the women targeted. Following public outcry Twitter has introduced an in-tweet “report abuse” button on all platforms.

Caroline Criado-Perez

The feminist activist and writer, who ran a successful campaign to keep a woman on a British banknotes, received persistent graphic rape and death threats on the site. She later said of the abuse: “Men get attacked because they’ve said or done something someone doesn’t like, whereas women get attacked because they’re visible”. Two people were later jailed.

Mary Beard

The historian Mary Beard fell victim to a torrent of abuse, which she called “truly vile”, following an appearance on BBC1’s Question Time. Beard, professor of classics at Cambridge University, said of the experience: “[T]he misogyny here is truly gobsmacking … It would be quite enough to put many women off appearing in public.”

Stella Creasy

The Labour politician received a barrage of rape and death threats via Twitter after she offered her support to Caroline Criado-Perez. The MP said later there should be no distinction between online and offline behaviour. “It’s absolutely harassment; it’s absolutely designed to intimidate, to scare, to frighten you; and it’s absolutely an issue we need to see both technology companies and police understand is part of the modern world,” she said.

via I still get abuse from Twitter trolls, says Olympic swimmer Rebecca Adlington | Media | The Guardian.

No candle-lit vigils for raped and murdered girls — New Internationalist

It’s been pointed out that these girls are not dalit, though most Indian newspapers reported otherwise. They were, nevertheless, extremely poor, powerless and from a lower caste. The perpetrators, apparently, routinely molested and raped lower caste women and this particularly brazen rape and murder, was to teach the poor and powerless a lesson, to show them their place in the feudal, caste hierarchy. Recently, dalit and lower caste people had protested against the behaviour of the dominant caste Yadav men who until now have ruled the roost in the surrounding villages. The local policeman who slapped the victim’s father belonged to the same caste as the perpetrators. And two policemen reportedly, not merely abetted in the crime, but participated in the assault too.

The girls’ bodies bore marks of excessive brutality. The usual scratches, bite marks, bruises, but also  a pattern of  blood clotting which indicated beating and torture. And the post mortem revealed they were hanged while still alive. Commentators have pointed out that the levels of violence and viciousness in the new rape culture is frightening, calling for immediate and effective action. Much of it comes from the porn which circulates freely on mobile phones. It’s not merely rape now. And  the fact that I write ‘merely rape’ illustrates how terrifying  the situation is.  Almost as though one has to be grateful one is ‘merely raped’.

It is with a heavy heart that I note, that the outpouring of grief and outrage which rocked India in December 2012 for the Nirbhaya Delhi rape victim, is noticeably absent in cities across India, for the Badaun cousins. They are not middle class, dominant caste, city women. These were two lower caste, village girls. Not ‘people like us’.

via No candle-lit vigils for raped and murdered girls — New Internationalist.

Egypt’s first veiled rapper is sick of sexual harassment | GlobalPost

She describes how Egyptian women often feel self-conscious for simply being out in public because sexual harassment can be found at every corner. Though women played a central role in both the uprising against strongman Hosni Mubarak in 2011, and the military-backed movement that removed Islamist leader Mohammed Morsi last year, hopes that the Arab Spring would empower women have been dispelled.

In fact, Egypt is considered the worst country in the Arab world to be a woman, according to a survey by the Thomson Reuters Foundation. The report cited political instability and the rise of Islamist groups among the reasons for the repression.

Levels of sexual abuse in the country have reached new highs, according to the United Nations, which reported in 2013 that 99.3 percent of women in Egypt have experienced sexual harassment at some point in their lives.

“Girls are constantly paranoid when walking to the store or school,” Mahmoud said with frustration. “Harassment has become so widespread, some women rarely leave their homes.”

Victim-blaming is pervasive. “I see male rappers in Egypt writing songs to blame women for the sexual harassment inflicted upon them,” she said. “They say we deserve to be harassed because of the clothes or makeup that we wear.”

Mahmoud said she’s had it with the “double standards.”

“Girls are told what to do from day one — ‘dress conservatively, don’t be loud’,” she said. “I used the teachings I heard while growing up to write lyrics that show the previous generations in Egypt how they contributed to confining their daughters in boxes.”

Mahmoud’s hard-hitting lyrics are vexing Egypt’s ultra-conservative Islamists, who believe a woman shouldn’t be in the spotlight, especially if she wears the Islamic veil.

Mahmoud, in fact, faces discrimination because she’s veiled. Some critics go as far as calling her an “infidel” who is giving Egypt and Islam a bad name for openly discussing sexual harassment.

“One extremist man on Facebook threatened that he would find and kill me after my audition for ‘Arabs Got Talent,’ because I was a disgrace,” she said.

via Egypt’s first veiled rapper is sick of sexual harassment | GlobalPost.

Growing Up To Be Like Yuri Kochiyama | Race Files

She may be best known in the public eye for the iconic picture that shows her cradling Malcolm X’s head in her lap after he was killed in a Manhattan auditorium, but Yuri Kochiyama’s life and legacy stood for much more, especially to Asian Americans. Many of us learned of Yuri Kochiyama’s recent death, not from mainstream news outlets, which have yet to do her legacy full justice, but from one another. And we have had very similar collective responses: tremendous gratitude for how she influenced us, coupled with a redoubling of our commitment to the principles she lived by.

via Growing Up To Be Like Yuri Kochiyama | Race Files.

A Men’s Rights Group Crowdfunded $25,000 for Extra Security Because of ‘Bullies’ – The Wire

A Voice For Men’s homepage currently links to a change.org petition demanding that society “class feminism as a terrorist group.”

A Voice for Men has said that it welcomes “peaceful” protests of their conference, which makes sense. As a philosophy, Men’s Rights depends on the conviction that men and men’s rights activists are the most persecuted people on the planet. Protesters — not to mention fundraising for a security detail — helps to sell that idea.

via A Men’s Rights Group Crowdfunded $25,000 for Extra Security Because of ‘Bullies’ – The Wire.

Woman journalist found with throat cut in southern Libya – Reporters Without Borders

Reporters Without Borders is shocked to learn that Naseeb Miloud Karfana, a TV journalist based in the southern city of Sabha, was murdered on Thursday 29 May. Her body was found together with her fiancé’s in the city’s northern Al-Hay Al-Jadida district. Her throat had been cut and she appeared to have been tortured.

Naseeb had worked for the state-owned TV station Libya Al-Wataniya as its programme coordinators in Sabha for the past eight months, the station’s director, Ali Shaniber, said.

Karfana left the TV station at about 7 p.m. with her fiancé, who came to collect her in his car, so that they could attend a friend’s wedding together. When she failed to arrive, her mother contacted the TV station, where an employee confirmed that Karfana had left.

The authorities have not as yet released any autopsy reports identifying the exact cause of death of the two victims.

Relatives said Karfana and her fiancé had recently received repeated threats from an unidentified person. Reporters Without Borders urges the competent authorities to carry out an impartial investigation without delay to identify the motive for this double murder, giving full consideration to the possibility of a link to Karfana’s work.

“It is imperative that those responsible for this shocking murder are quickly found and brought to account, in order to end impunity in Libya,” Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Christophe Deloire said.

via Woman journalist found with throat cut in southern Libya – Reporters Without Borders.