Lean In Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" degrades women July 26, 2013|By Timothy Villareal Robin Thicke, right, takes offense to the charge that “Blurred Lines” is “rapey,” but the rationale for that accusation is difficult to miss. (HANDOUT) If you have not heard it by now, a catchy tune with grotesque, misogynist lyrics has conquered the nation this summer. The female director of the video, Diane Martel, rationalizes the visual degradation by arguing that the women, as they are being actively degraded on film, look into the camera, instead of away from the camera. Who knew there was a glass ceiling in sophistry to break in the first place? Yet according to Katie Russell of the British organization Rape Crisis, the song has lyrics that are "explicitly sexually violent and appear to reinforce victim-blaming rape myths, for example about women giving 'mixed signals' through their dress or behavior, saying 'no' when they really mean 'yes' and so on." Case in point: I know you want it You're a good girl Can't let it get past me You're far from plastic
The Feminist Wire | Lessons on feminism – news and teaching resources round up | Teacher Network | Guardian Professional A move to replace social reformer Elizabeth Fry with Sir Winston Churchill on the £5 banknote, leaving the Queen as the only female face on our currency, was met with widespread protest. An online petition was signed by 35,000 people and pressure was increased with the threat of legal action when the campaign raised more than £13,000 in donations. At the end of July the Bank of England announced that Jane Austen would appear on the new £10 note. To help you explore feminist debate and gender issues, we have collated stories from the Guardian, infographics on inequality and lesson ideas from the web. From the Guardian The global gender gapEducation and healthcare are improving for women across the world, but men continue to do better when it comes to jobs and wages, according to data from the World Economic Forum. What happened when I started a feminist society at schoolWhen Jinan Younis set up a feminist society at school she was met with a tirade of abuse. Best of the web
Women in development Women in development (WID) is an approach to development projects that emerged in the 1970s, calling for treatment of women's issues in development projects. Later, the Gender and development (GAD) approach proposed more emphasis on gender relations rather than seeing women's issues in isolation. Concepts[edit] In Africa, one of the first to recognise the importance of women in farming was Baumann in 1928, with his classic article The Division of Work According to Sex in African Hoe Culture. Kaberry published a much-quoted study of women in the Cameroon in 1952, and empirical data on male and female activities was documented in Nigerian Cocoa Farmers published in 1956 by Galletti, Baldwin and Dina. In other countries, women were severely underemployed. Activities[edit] The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) established a special Division for Women in Development, promoting concrete action to ensure that women participate in UNDP projects. Criticism[edit] References[edit] Sources
European Women's Lobby Européen des femmes : Home Time to gear up ahead of the European elections! You can vote for gender equality and make sure that women’s rights are a priority on the European agenda! [Brussels, 23 April 2014] In four weeks European voters will elect a new European Parliament (EP) and will give a sign what kind of Europe they wish. If you want that women’s rights high on the agenda in the coming five years, take part and join the 5050 campaign. The European Women’s Lobby with its 5050 campaign “No Modern European Democracy without Gender Equality” ahead of the elections is drawing attention to the under representation of women in policy decision-making positions across Europe. We are asking women and men to take the opportunity of the European elections to vote for candidates who are eager to ensure gender equality at all levels in the EU. Women are still seriously underrepresented in political (...) Are you ready to commit to gender equality? Week-5: Parity democracy Week -6: A Europe free from violence against women
Feminist Movement in Art Women’s Artistic Liberation The Feminist Art Movement began with the idea that women’s experiences must be expressed through art, where they had previously been ignored or trivialized. Early proponents of Feminist Art in the United States envisioned a revolution. They called for a new framework in which the universal would include women’s experiences, in addition to men’s. Like others in the Women’s Liberation Movement, feminist artists discovered the impossibility of completely changing their society. Historical Context Linda Nochlin’s essay “Why Are There No Great Female Artists?” Becoming a Movement in the 1970s It is difficult to pinpoint when awareness and questions coalesced into the Feminist Art Movement. Also in 1971, Judy Chicago, one of the most prominent early activists in the Movement, established the Feminist Art program at Cal State Fresno. Womanhouse was a collaborative art installation and exploration. Feminism and Postmodernism But what is Feminist Art? Backlash
Women's Network | UCLU What is the Women’s Network? How is it run? How can I get involved? What’s On Contact Information Join the Mailing List What is the Women’s Network? The Women’s Network (WN) is a safe space for self-defining women students to discuss issues around gender, and how it intersects with sexuality, race and disability. The WN, along with the full-time Women’s Officer, Annie Tidbury, is also here to support any woman student who may be experiencing sexism. The Women’s Network is open to all who self-define as women, including (if they wish) those with complex gender identities which include ‘woman’, and those who experience oppression as women. How is it run? The Women’s Network holds regular forums which are chaired by the full-time Women’s Officer and it’s at these meetings that women students are able to pass policy and decide on the campaigns and events that the Network runs. At the forum, the members of the Network may decide to take policy to the decision-making body of the Union, UCLU Council.
Social Dominance Orientation and the Legitimization of Inequality Across Cultures Peter Hegarty The authors tested three hypotheses from social dominance theory in four cultures: (a) that individual differences in social dominance orientation (SDO), or the preference for group-based inequality, can be reliably measured in societies that are group-based hegemonies; (b) that SDO correlates positively with attitudes supporting hegemonic groups and correlates negatively with attitudes supporting oppressed groups; and (c) that men are higher on SDO than women. For the most part, the results confirmed the hypotheses. SDO scales were internally reliable and were administered in English, Chinese, and Hebrew. SDO scores correlated with sexism, measured in culturally appropriate ways, in every culture, and with ethnic prejudice and other attitudes concerning the local hegemony except in China.
Why real men do hit women Recently, a video was released by TMZ (who else?), apparently showing an American sports star knocking his female partner unconscious. I’m not going to be specific here – the woman involved doesn’t need any more Google hits to her name and, besides, even if you don’t know who I’m talking about, the situation could easily be a carbon copy of thousands of others, as far as domestic violence is concerned. As the news broke, social media duly erupted and everyone seemed to be having their say. This particularly felt the case as I read the White House’s statement on the matter, saying that ‘hitting a woman is not something a real man does’. Because, first and foremost, men do hit women. But, of course, that wasn’t really the White House’s point, was it? That is why suggesting that ‘real men’ don’t hit women is so damaging: it is fighting a problem with the very problem itself.