The International Feminine Dilemma | IMPACT. Sometime in my tweens, I declared over dinner at a family party that the two greatest technologies ever invented were 1) the Computer and 2) the Tampon. My dad was mortified. I was mortified years later, when I found out that the tampon was not a globally ubiquitous invention. I had no idea that the majority of women worldwide use sanitary pads (which I referred to as glorified diapers) or other extravaginal sanitary products, for reasons aside from comfort.
I didn’t amend my belief that “everyone uses tampons”, until I was working with an NGO in India and offered a seventh grade girl named Shilpa a tampon after she told me, “Mo, sister, I have my period”. I’m glad I didn’t go so far as to explain how it worked to her; she was wide-eyed with confusion and embarrassment the second I took it out of my bag. PSA: This post discusses a menstrual management technology. In urban areas of Kenya, most women use feminine hygiene products similar to those you find in a drug store in the US.
Als je even geen enkele reden voor dankbaarheid ziet… Ik loop soms het gevaar cynisch te worden. Zoals nu. Ben de kerkzaal uitgelopen. Ben er even klaar mee. Die eindeloze reeks aanbiddingsliederen. 10.000 redenen voor dankbaarheid…. Ik krijg het beeld van het meisje dat ik zag staan in de rosse buurt van Mumbai maar niet uit m’n hoofd. Hoe vaak zou zij vannacht zijn verkracht? Laat het feest zijn in de huizen, mensen dansen over straat… Niets feest of dansen voor die weduwe die haar huis is uitgejaagd met een hakbijl door een sterkere buurman. Heel de wereld ziet het: God maakt vrij… O ja, hoe zit het dan met die gezinnen die generatie op generatie vastzitten in slavernij en zich dag in dag uit kapot moeten werken?
Geen enkele reden voor dankbaarheid. In ieder geval niet zolang wij het houden bij het zingen van liedjes. Ze had gelijk. Voor mij betekent dit nu misschien dat ik inderdaad maar even niet moet meezingen, maar het van mij moet afschrijven. Hoe zei God het ook alweer tegen Jesaja? Roep het uit. Zing ik alsnog. Amnesty must stand firm on decriminalising sex work | Global development.
Amnesty International is “poised to make a serious mistake” that would “severely and irreparably tarnish” the organisation’s reputation. What is the mistake? Listening to sex workers globally and considering adopting a policy supporting the decriminalisation of sex work. The past week has seen a battle of petitions and open letters defending and attacking Amnesty’s move.
At the time of writing, a petition in favour of decriminalisation, initiated by the Global Network of Sex Work Projects, had 6,191 signatures, while another calling for Amnesty directors to vote against had 5,719. But, whoever “wins” the petition war, this should not be a popularity contest. What should matter even more is the voice of the sex workers themselves, who from every corner of the world are organising – often in the most difficult environments – to advocate for their rights and to change laws and policies that harm them. Waarom ik mijn geloof in een ander Europa aan het verliezen ben. Deze zomer is er iets geknakt in Europa. Er is iets fundamenteels kapotgegaan. Het was een oude droom, een visioen van mensen die geloofden dat een ander Europa mogelijk was. Het was een droom van mensen die niets konden met termen als ‘eurofiel’ of ‘euroscepticus’ – het ging hen niet om meer of minder Europa, maar om een ander Europa.
Zij geloofden in een unie met meer solidariteit en democratie. Deze droom is in rook opgegaan. En ik vrees dat het herstel decennia zal duren, als het er al ooit van komt. ‘De waarden waarop de Unie berust, zijn eerbied voor de menselijke waardigheid, vrijheid, democratie, gelijkheid, de rechtsstaat en eerbiediging van de mensenrechten,’ zo lezen we op de eerste pagina van het Verdrag van Lissabon, of zeg gerust: de Europese Grondwet. Al deze waarden zijn deze zomer geschonden, met de democratie voorop. De vernedering van Griekenland is ook een waarschuwing voor kiezers in Ierland, Spanje en Portugal, waar in de komende maanden verkiezingen zijn.
What are you a fight for? at adrienne maree brown. I wrote a story this weekend that brought me joy. actually it brought me creative ecstasy. it came at a time when i have been hurting, for lots of reasons, many of them connected to collective black and brown grief. in that pain, i have had the opportunity to create, and to lean on people, and be leaned on. all this vulnerability and vision has brought to light a practice i have been in – being a fight FOR, instead of (or in addition to) a fight against. i most recently heard this way of speaking about things in one of the somatics courses i was student-teaching, like ‘how can we be a fight for each other?’
I kind of got it – to be moving forward and advancing, instead of always on the defensive. but the longer i sit with it, in deep relationship with family, friends and lovers, the more i see that it is a series of small choices and actions that pile up into that forward motion. and, as always, it all unfolds in nonlinear concurrent layers and levels of transformation. so when i see you? “Positive Attitude” Bullshit: On the dangers of “radical self-love” | Posse. There is an endless supply of people who are ready and willing to inform us about what we are doing wrong, and how we can alter our behaviour so we can get ahead and inject magic and happiness into our lives. Between modern day guru Gala Darling who believes “positive thoughts generate positive realities,” and you can “manifest” your own destiny, to capitalist public thinkers such as Oprah Winfrey telling us positive thinking can help us obtain “the sweet life,” it is easy to get misled into a muddle of mistruths.
A recent blog by Gala is entitled “Happiness is simple: why too many choices make us miserable and 5 ways to improve your life!” Yeah? Nah. Too many choices are not the issue for a huge majority of the political underclass; a lack of choice is exactly the problem. Gala and magazines such as Oprah Winfrey’s O Magazine, tell us: If you just change your attitude and think more positively over time, your life will get easier. My spiritual guru advice to you is: Like this: The Power of Vision Boards. Every successful person seems to agree on this one important factor: you need to visualize your future achievements not just in your mind, but on paper. So, the night before the first day of my senior year of college I sat in the middle of my room, with a stack of old magazines, scissors, and tape beside me, and began cutting out images, words, and quotes that spoke to me.
From images of Queen Latifah and Jennifer Lawrence, to the headlines “Best Happy Hour” and “Life is Beautiful,” I began cutting bits and pieces of the images I saw that I felt I could use as personal affirmations for the new (academic) year ahead of me. After spending hours flipping and cutting through pages, I strategically placed the pieces of the puzzle together, tapping the images onto my wall. What I created was a giant vision board- which is essentially a collection of vivid imagery that serves as a visual representation of your subconscious goals. “You want to call it a blueprint, or a business plan? For people that have been raped. I was fourteen the first time that I was molested. It was an incident that (in hindsight) ushered me into the awareness that womanhood was in many ways going to be quite the challenge.
I was walking home after school, this was in Malmo, Sweden, where I lived at the time. As I approached the last turn before reaching my street, I had the sense that someone was following me. I turned back to see a man observing me, walking at a similar pace to mine. As I got to the front door and paused to pull out my keys, the man also stopped.
He smiled at me saying that he was newly moved into the apartment complex. For some reason, I felt a slight suspicion but I nevertheless proceeded to enter the compound, and into the lift, with the man following behind me. Many years after this incident, I was date – and gang – raped. When I compare the two events, it strikes me how differently I reacted in each instance. Which brings me to why I write this post. I will not have sex with you: Reflections on Coming of Age in a Culture of Rape | revtiffanythomas. I went to a college that had extremely close ties with Bill Cosby. I spent nearly all four years studying and learning in a building that was named for him because of his generous endowment to my institution.
My school has recently decided to cut all ties with him. Upon reading the report of their separation with Cosby, I have been reflection on how painful, and shocking, and deeply disturbing it is to hear the many testimonies against him, accusing him of sexual violence of all sorts. I have been equally pained, shocked, and deeply disturbed by hearing the rhetoric that has been pouring out in support of Cosby: What would Bill Cosby want with those hoes? He didn’t rape them, they wanted it. Why would they come to his house/hotel if they didn’t know what was about to go down? And on and on, I have heard men and women alike repeat the age-old tactic of apologizing for the perpetrator and faulting the victim. We live in a culture of rape- it just is what it is. I replied, “Yes, I have.” It is. Lesbos: symbool van ons falende humanitaire besef. Het is vrijdagavond. We zitten bij een tuinhuis ergens aan de rand van Amsterdam. De barbecue gloeit zachtjes: er liggen sardines op en feta-pakketjes.
Exact zeven dagen geleden zagen we elkaar voor het laatst op Schiphol. Daar namen we afscheid na een indrukwekkende wandeltocht op het Griekse eiland Lesbos met als doel: het ondekken wat het Europese vluchtelingenbeleid betekent voor mensen die daar aan wal komen. Dit is onze reünie, maar de vreugde ontbreekt. Ontmoeting op het strandEen week eerder schreef ik op mijn blog: ‘Even aarzel ik: is dit wel veilig, doen we hier wel goed aan?’
Het was het moment voordat we het zogenaamde vluchtelingenkamp Kara Tepe binnengingen. Alfard loopt 70 kilometer met vluchtelingen over het eiland. Wat we zien, lijkt in niets op een vluchtelingenkamp zoals we dat van tv kennen: geen grote VN-tenten, geen sanitaire voorzieningen, geen waterpunten, geen bewakers. Het laat ons niet losWe moesten ze achterlaten, onze vrienden. Kun je iets doen? Expanding Our Empathy for the Refugee Crisis. I hold two passports, for two nationalities. Two passports which both rank in the top five most powerful passports in the world. Between these two documents, few places are restricted to me. I can travel, and have travelled, all over the world, rarely questioned.
I have worked in foreign countries. All of Europe is open to me. Recently a friend was discussing the social justice issue that we are apathetic to, but that we will be accountable for. Like a truth-punch to the gut, she said, “The issue of today, the one that will mark us, is the refugee crisis and how we respond to it.” My two passports and I walked away convicted of our silence and our apathy in the face of suffering. Many children born to refugee families are not even granted the right of nationality. So much of the church is not ready to receive these people in flight. We pray for Syria, like a side note. Yet, as the church, we believe God’s love is big, his arms are wide, his table is laden with good things to be shared. Log In. Hoe de aanslag op MH17 de mensenrechten naar de achtergrond verdreef.
Een indrukwekkende rij aan media kwam vorig jaar langs bij homoclub Majak in de Zuid-Russische badplaats Sotsji. Eigenaar Andrej Tanitsev somt op: de Britse zender BBC, het Amerikaanse CNN, het Amerikaanse tijdschrift Time en de Russische televisie. Rond de Olympische Winterspelen die vorig jaar februari in Sotsji werden gehouden, gaven hij en zijn artiesten van het travestietencabaret meer dan tweehonderd interviews. Op deze januariavond zit de tent vol met Russen. Ze genieten volop van het travestietencabaret, maar buitenlanders laten zich niet zien: geen mensenrechtenorganisatie, geen politicus, geen diplomaat en geen journalist (op mij na). Majak stond vorig jaar in de schijnwerpers als dé locatie om de homosituatie te peilen in Rusland. Minder aandacht voor mensenrechten De mensenrechten in Rusland raken ondergesneeuwd, meent ook Emile Affolter, woordvoerder van mensenrechtenorganisatie Amnesty International. Maar klopt het wel? Hoe binnen een jaar alles veranderde. The Sculpted: what a young girl is thinking when she undergoes FGM – video | Society.
De wederopbouw van Gaza duurt nog minstens zestig jaar (zolang Israël de bouw tegenhoudt) Te midden van een aan stukken geschoten appartementenblok woont de 55-jarige Najwa Ibrahim Al-Baraj. Haar flatgebouw werd wekenlang doorzeefd door bommen en raketten. Maar Al-Baraj prijst zichzelf gelukkig als ze naar haar buren kijkt. Van hun appartement is niets meer over. Al-Baraj leeft al een jaar lang met haar kinderen en kleinkinderen in een pand dat met instorten bedreigd wordt. 'Voor de dood ben ik niet langer bang,' vertelt Al-Baraj, 'het zijn de onleefbare omstandigheden die ik vrees.' 'Ik stel me niet meer de vraag of er nog een volgende oorlog komt. Israël controleert de toevoer van water en elektriciteit naar Gaza, waardoor het de Palestijnse regio in feite in zijn macht heeft. Fatah is een Palestijnse politieke beweging. Het elektriciteitsnetwerk is een van de elementen waar dat duidelijk wordt.
Het is die dreiging die voor Al-Baraj en haar familie het zwaarste weegt. Leven in tenten en tinnen hutten van 50 graden Celsius 'We zijn moe. De gevolgen zijn ernaar. Hoe nu verder? How the justice system hurts survivors through the “sexual abuse to prison pipeline” Today in depressing facts we need to do something about: This new report on the “sexual abuse to prison pipeline,” which cites sexual abuse as one of the greatest predictors of girls’ entrance into the juvenile justice system.
Not only does the report alert us to a serious problem in sore need of research and reform — it challenges us to think more rigorously, more systemically, and more kindly about cycles of trauma and abuse. Put out by the Human Rights Project for Girls, the Ms. Foundation, and Georgetown’s Center on Poverty and Inequality, the report finds that girls are entering the juvenile justice system more than ever — and not because they are becoming more violent. Rather, increasing enforcement of laws against minor offenses — like misdemeanors and technical violations, as well as violations related to family crises — is landing more girls in jail.
And what are these minor infractions related to? A staggeringly high number of these girls have been sexually abused. The Sisters Are Alright: A Conversation With Tamara Winfrey Harris | Bitch Media. When I call up writer Tamara Winfrey Harris, I imagine us curling up on a sofa together, perhaps with some junk food and a bottle of wine, talking about our favorite TV shows and Spotify playlists. That’s how Tamara Winfrey Harris and I are—a couple of smart women who like to kick it with popular culture, but in a brainy and kinda nerdy way. One day we just might do the sofa and wine thing. But our lives have yet to make that possible. Instead, we became friends over the Internet, each following the other’s work, then editing each other. Now, despite not having the chance to meet in real life, we’re close friends. Social media may have its pitfalls, but our friendship is a true highlight and every single day, we check in on each other.
What brought us together, and what keeps us together, is a friendship rooted in feminism and social justice on the daily. Tami and I started off talking about the binary view of Black and white women. It’s so true. Yeah. Well-meaning white women… yes. For the sake of the gospel, drop the persecution complex. Please Stop Telling Me To Love My Curves, Because Body Acceptance Is A Journey, Not An On-Off Switch | Bustle. Geef vluchtelingen het gevoel dat ze thuis zijn. The Rebel God: Realistic Nonviolence in a Violent World. Turning Burden into Vision. I, Racist — THOSE PEOPLE — Medium. Episcopal Bishops Did Not Reject Divestment from Israel | Rev. Winnie Varghese.
5 Ways To Improve Your Abililty to Connect and Impress | HER AGENDA. All Straight Men Must Go See 'Magic Mike XXL' Right Now (Well, After Reading This) The Logic of Israeli Violence. Marcel de Vink in het land van de dappere vrouwen. Naar Lesbos, Lampedusa van Griekenland. Westboro Baptist Church: dat is niet mijn christendom. How To Rise Above Crippling Moments of Self-Doubt, Mental Blocks & Defeat | HER AGENDA. Romantic love is a patriarchal conspiracy, according to new Melissa McCarthy film.
Blendle. God is Transgender. Egypt: In Egypt, Brave Syrian Refugee Promotes Opportunities for Women. Mindstyle // Realistisch dromen -