Feminism chat thread

[ElephantsAndMiasmas]

Hello

Been saying for ages that it'd be nice to have an area for just saying hi, letting off some steam and sharing the little things that don't warrant a whole thread.

So, I'll start...

My brother made me :o:o:o last night when we were talking about some crap sexist song. And he said (in all honesty) - well this is just one of the millions of ways the patriarchy keeps itself going.

Also got the updated email from the Feminism in London conference this morning - can't wait.

Anyone else?

Sorry - having a really weird issue with this thread only 'add a message' won't work?? Very odd. Is my name not on the list? :)

I'm cross about the Marie Stopes thingie for lots of reasons and am having difficulty disentangling them. I suppose mainly because for many women anal sex is uncomfortable and it's certainly risky so I think their line is the good old 'women don't enjoy sex, they're doing it mainly for the men, we should encourage them to submit to anal sex'. It's horrible. Is this what we want for our daughters?

Ross Kemp for a webchat. good idea

OH, there's so many things wrong with that videon. What about the "you hook her then reel her in" line.
Because, you know, women don't have a sexuality of their own, and they'd never decide off their own back to sleep with a man, they have to be coerced and convinced in some form or other. Women are the "gatekeepers" of sex, sex is something they "give up" to men in exchange for a meal, or money, or whatever. Never something done for it's own sake, because women have no sexual desires of their own...

And that's just from that one line

The director (who Matthew Wright kept calling 'Dr Paula') was on and she basically seemed to be saying that they asked this group to come up with ideas that would catch the attention of teenagers and they came up with this. I thought you came up with a message and then the marketing. Not vice versa?

And at the start thy said something about it being the 1980s so there was no internet yet so therefore people weren't masturbating. Wtf? People didn't masturbate before internet porn?!

I've only seen the clip (dd is asleep on me so being very quiet like a mouse :) ) so am even more :( now Sakura.

No Claig I can't think of much worse or more contemptuous of those they are supposed to help and represent. :(

Something that pissed me off this morning, they were previewing Any Questions on the radio this am. They usually have one of two or three of the main political parties and then one or two extras. I often mutter at the lack of women, but then think well there are less women MPs so maybe symptom rather than cause. So my ears pricked up when they said there would be no MPs this week. Aha, gender balance I thought. No, 3 men, token woman, as always.

What?! Re no masturbation before Internet? Who said that? That's bizarre!

Aliceworld I have R4 on while I cook but mostly on a Sunday I have to have Magic on instead because 'Any Answers' makes me throw things. :)

As Helena Kennedy so rightly said "Women? We've got one!"

Re masturbation, it's what the Marie Stopes viral video said.

"It's the 80s, we're ever so fresh, but we've yet to discover the internet, so masturbation is at an all time low..."

What's the doc Ross Kemp is doing? Does it say anywhere when it will be broadcast?

Just googled it - Sky1 . Why aren't they putting more of this stuff on the main channels to raise awareness?

Weird weird vid, seems to be inspired by the Inbetweeners. Thing is, it's trying to be all cool and urban, but, er, those boys are incredibly posh. The bit where he says something like "her belly started to greow" was particularly telling.

And yeah, the idea that you have to shove your knob somewhere in a woman so how about up her arse? she won't mind because she's made of plastic/has no feelings or wishes on the matter.

TBF they did mention fistulas. It was just really out of context because even I (knowing somewhat about the widespread rape in the congo) was confused as to what was happening to these women who were "hurt in the heat of the battle" to give them fistulas. It was just - if you're going to talk about consequences, name the cause for god's sake.

Speaking of which, there's an amazing report here (might be pdf, not sure) about women's lives being affected by the so-called public order laws in Sudan. Eye-watering stuff :(

Just wrote a big long post about prioritising your activism resources...and then decided it ought to have a thread of its own as lots of people don't read this chat thread!

Hey all

For reasons too boring to go into I have been looking at a load of "Women's weekly" the australian magazine today. It struck me that in this magazine all of the features and models for everything show women with broad smiles. They all look cheerful and are often busily engaging in healthy activities. In british magazines the models always look miserable - glaring at the camera - they are rarely smiling. This stuff is hugely cultural isn't it - and not having had much exposure to other countries stuff I didn't realise that there is such a different "look" even in countries which you might think were not a million miles apart in cultural terms.

Smiling women who are doing stuff is a much better look

But if they are all happy doesn't that still generate a stereotype that women have to live up to albeit a different and arguably better one to over here (or am I overthinking this?).

From a personal perspective however, I would much rather see a happy person involved in a healthy activity that a miserable one, highly stylised for example.

Oh really? I don't read women's magazines that often, I just see teh covers in the supermarket.

This was all stories about successful women doing all sorts of stuff, and the pictures all showed women and men and children looking happy, including the fashion shoots. I thought that it has a different vibe to the covers I see here.

A bit like how UK soaps are often gloomy and miserable while soaps from other places are very different in their feel (generalisations obv).

Dunno.

I do agree BTW that the idea that women should always be smiling and friendly isn't exactly a feminist ideal either! But I was just struck by how different the feel of the whole thing was to what I see at the doctors etc over here!