Blog posts from March 2011
Breaking the cis filter
by JKBC // 31 March 2011, 19:00
When I was younger, I thought I was the ‘opposite’ binary gender to my assigned one and expressed myself accordingly. I was asked if I wanted to transition (in their words ‘have a sex change’) when I was older. I replied no. Scornfully. Why would I do that? How would that even work? Such was the cis filter on my life that to me, at the age of thirteen with a lot of gender-related Feelings, trans people were the crossdresser in the charity shop in town and the ‘tranny’ comments people made when they saw me. I had no idea that these genitals did not make me my assigned gender, that there was a possibility of not being my assigned gender, that there was a whole world outside the binary.
Unfortunately not an April Fools' joke: cuts hit shelters for domestic violence victims
by Jess McCabe // 31 March 2011, 16:30
60% of refuge services will receive no council funding from tomorrow, according to Women's Aid. As reported by The Guardian yesterday, 72% of floating support services will also be defunded from 1 April. 70,000 women and children will be...
Iman al-Obeidi
by Amelia // 30 March 2011, 12:51
This story of a woman raped has been getting a lot of attention around the world. Why? Because the woman in question burst into a Tripoli hotel at breakfast time to cry out her story to foreign journalists - before being covered up and dragged away.
Free Iman al-Obeidi
by Jolene Tan // 30 March 2011, 12:28
Only a few weeks ago my co-blogger Philippa wrote a post quoting Freda Adler: “Rape is the only crime in which the victim becomes the accused.” In the case of Iman al-Obeidi this line has become distressingly apt:The Libyan woman...
Weekly round-up and open thread
by Jess McCabe // 29 March 2011, 23:20
Hello and welcome to this week's round-up post. It's one day late, but just as full of links we saw, found of interest, but didn't get around to blogging about. Please do also leave links to other stuff we've missed...
England player takes a break from international football because of family pressures
by Carrie Dunn // 29 March 2011, 10:57
Bad news for England’s women’s football team, three months prior to the World Cup, as key midfielder Katie Chapman opts to take a break from international football because of the pressures of juggling her role as footballer and role...
Miss Representation
by Jess McCabe // 29 March 2011, 00:02
Miss Representation is a documentary about the way the US media portrays women. It just premiered at Sundance, no word on when it might be released here. Looks interesting from the trailer - I couldn't track down a transcript, but...
Female boxers wanted for documentary
by Jess McCabe // 28 March 2011, 19:19
A documentary film-maker is looking for female boxers. She asks: Are you a professional or amateur female boxer? Do you coach female boxers? Do you want to have your say on the decision to include women’s boxing in the 2012...
The tyranny of silencing
by JKBC // 28 March 2011, 18:00
If I asked everyone here who had been called ‘humourless’ or ‘too angry’ when they stood up for their beliefs in equality to raise their hands, I imagine we would see a forest of hands. It’s such a familiar situation - stressful, distressing, frustrating, alienating, but so common. Call out a sexist joke? Humourless. Call out racist taunts? Oversensitive. Call out cissexism? Angry over nothing.
New review - Wigs, lipstick and alcohol: review of the BBC's Silk
by Jess McCabe // 27 March 2011, 21:25
Although it may be a gripping courtroom drama, Abby O’Reilly argues that Silk fails to reflect the true status of women in the legal profession Be it a voyeuristic insight into the machinations of the criminal justice system or the...
Domestic worker abuse in Cambodia
by Jolene Tan // 25 March 2011, 16:08
Via United for Foreign Domestic Workers' Rights, there are reports of the abuse of Cambodian domestic workers training for work in Malaysia. This includes allegations that women have been forcibly detained in privately run training centres:Local media in this Southeast...
If clean technology is to power the economy, what does it mean that the industry is so male-dominated?
by Jess McCabe // 24 March 2011, 20:00
By night, I am the editor of The F-Word. By day, I am a journalist covering finance, tech and policy stories about environment issues - not least, the efforts to transform the economy towards a low-carbon future. Wherever you...
It's never too soon to start!
by Jolene Tan // 24 March 2011, 12:42
[Edited to add: Trigger warning: this post involves abusive behaviour towards a child and possible body dysphoria issues]On the Botox injections and pubic waxing, that is.Here is a story about a little girl who has been regularly subjected to such...
Mike Tyson, forgive and forget?
by Jess McCabe // 24 March 2011, 10:51
In 1992, US boxer Mike Tyson was convicted of rape and sentenced to 10 years in prison. He served three. It has been nearly two decades. But is that long enough to justify lionising the boxer in a media profile...
"Asylum Dialogues: On a Clear Day you can see Dover"
by Helen G // 23 March 2011, 14:57
Iceandfire Theatre in collaboration with UCL’s Migration Research Unit are performing extracts from two of their plays examining asylum and migration in Europe today. The performance is followed by a panel discussion with Sonja Linden, founder of iceandfire and writer;...
Trans Murder Monitoring project update reveals more than 500 reported murders of trans people in the last 3 years
by Helen G // 23 March 2011, 10:52
The Trans Murder Monitoring (TMM) project has published its latest update regarding the numbers of recorded murders of trans people worldwide - and it makes depressing reading. From the Trans Murder Monitoring project website: In total, the preliminary results show...
On Role Models and Modelling
by Amelia // 22 March 2011, 16:58
On one hand, success as a model is a hugely problematic aspiration. On the other hand, I appreciate the value and politics of diversity - both in the various strands of the feminist movement and in the mainstream world around me.
26 March 2011: March for the Alternative - Women's bloc
by Helen G // 22 March 2011, 15:57
Women Against the Cuts - "A group of women from diverse backgrounds who have come together to fight the government cuts from a feminist perspective" - are organising a women's bloc for this Saturday's March for the Alternative. From the...
Girls Gone Wild comes to the UK
by Jess McCabe // 22 March 2011, 15:26
Porn franchise Girls Gone Wild is bringing its baseball caps and tourbus to the UK, we learn via our friends at Lesbilicious. The UK tour will see the Girls Gone Wild tourbus travelling the country looking for British women to...
UK welcomes UN statement on human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity
by Helen G // 22 March 2011, 14:48
Via the Foreign and Commonwealth Office website: Foreign Office and Equalities Ministers have welcomed the statement on "Ending acts of violence and related human rights violations based on sexual orientation & gender identity" at the UN Human Rights Council. The...
Weekly Round-Up and Open Thread 15 - 21 March 2011
by Holly Combe // 21 March 2011, 22:14
Here are some articles and blog pieces we didn’t get around to covering in detail on the blog this week but would like to let you know about. Disclaimer: The weekly round-up post is a place for us to...
New feature: A day-by-day struggle
by Jess McCabe // 21 March 2011, 21:17
From the struggle to keep domestic violence shelters open to the machinations of which mullah to align with, a discussion with four Afghan politicians reveals the challenges women face. Helen G reports Four Afghan women met in London this International...
Dalia Ziada on Women in the New Egypt
by Helen G // 21 March 2011, 21:08
By way of a postscript to my recent post about the exclusion of women in Egypt from the democratisation process, I've just come across this interview with blogger and activist Dalia Ziada in which she talks about the problems she's...
No mind untouched
by JKBC // 21 March 2011, 17:30
The kyriarchy leaves no mind untainted. If we examine our minds, our attitudes, we will all find biases, prejudices, stereotypes, stigmas, even self-hatred that is all coming from the oppression that we have been surrounded by from the moment our lives dawned on this world. So what does that mean for us? On the one hand, it means that everyone interested in the cause of abolishing oppression can do a massive thing; challenge their own bias and oppressive ideas. That’s hard, but it’s also wonderful. It doesn’t require grand gestures, or publicity - just introspection, humility and a willingness to apologise for and learn from our mistakes. On the other hand, it complicates everything massively. Most people we interact with day-to-day don’t try to challenge their oppressive attitudes, and the old proverb about leading a horse to water holds firm.
On Control
by Amelia // 21 March 2011, 13:13
When life gets particularly overwhelming my first instinct is to focus on one thing I feel I have some control over: my weight.
27 March: Seizing the Screen - all female hip-hop film screening
by Helen G // 20 March 2011, 18:31
Seizing the Screen is an all female hip-hop film screening to take place in London especially for Women’s History Month in March. We welcome an audience of all ages, genders, shapes and sizes and everything in between to experience the...
26 March 2011: March for an Alternative to cuts - Access and disability
by Helen G // 20 March 2011, 12:49
This Saturday, 26 March 2011, sees the March for the Alternative taking place in central London. The march will form up from 11am on the Victoria Embankment between Waterloo and Blackfriars bridges and proceed through central London until reaching Hyde...
Authors For Japan
by Carrie Dunn // 17 March 2011, 22:24
Just wanted to draw attention to Authors For Japan - the idea is that you bid for books and book-related goodness and if your bid is the highest at the close of the auction on the 20th March (Sunday) then...
Japan
by Amelia // 17 March 2011, 13:58
This country has endured a tragedy of momentous proportions. Let's not be distracted because nuclear meltdown has more Hollywood glamour than people losing their families, homes and way of life.
What is a 'feminist character'?
by Jess McCabe // 16 March 2011, 23:35
True Grit has been much praised in the feminist media for its lead character, Mattie Ross. (Including at The F-Word: Taraneh Ghajar Jerven's review makes the case in a lively manner.) Feminist Frequency released a counterpoint to the love-in, criticising...
Q&A with Ken Wardrop
by Guest Blogger // 16 March 2011, 09:02
Katherine Wootton speaks with Ken Wardrop, the director of the creative documentary His & Hers. Read her review of the film here. What is the film about for you? Essentially I like to think of it as a love story...
25th BFI London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival
by Helen G // 15 March 2011, 12:59
The 25th BFI London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival is being held from 31 March to 6 April 2011. As ever there's a huge range of films and events on offer, with the following specifically to mark the 25th anniversary...
Weekly Roundup Thread
by Josephine Tsui // 14 March 2011, 20:46
Hello and welcome to this week’s open round-up and open thread. The following are a selection of links that you may find interesting. If you come across anything we have missed, please share it with the rest of us. And...
Upcoming radio phone-in for women who don't want children
by Holly Combe // 13 March 2011, 23:32
Are you a woman who has decided she doesn't want to have children and, if so, have you ever encountered negative attitudes towards your decision? My own perspective as a woman currently in this position is that, despite not...
New feature - Men and women: are we really worlds apart?
by Jess McCabe // 13 March 2011, 19:55
Do women and men talk differently? And, if they do, why? Kitty Sadler explores the theories Everybody knows men are from Mars and women are from Venus. Everybody knows that we women whine and hint, that we always want to...
Tories attack parental leave
by Jess McCabe // 13 March 2011, 13:41
The Tory government is planning to strip parental leave rights from parents who work in small businesses, reports The Telegraph. Under the proposal from Chancellor George Osbourne, businesses employing 10 or less people will no longer have to give the...
My body, my choice; dissonance and positivity
by JKBC // 13 March 2011, 12:00
Body positivity is, to my mind, a key tenet of feminism and indeed any kind of anti-kyriarchism. The body does not dictate the worth of the person. Any person in any body, whatever its size, shape, needs or configuration, is worthy and no person deserves shame for their body. Our beauty standards are sizeist, ableist, misogynist, cissexist, binarist, ageist, racist, probably other -ists as well and thoroughly broken and everyone’s body deserves celebrating for being the shell that holds a person/s, a person/s who is/are always of worth.
On Tera Myers and the Anti-Porn Folk
by Philippa Willitts // 12 March 2011, 21:41
Guest blogger, Jennifer Krase, discusses the recent case of Tera Myers who has left her teaching job after it was discovered that she had previously been in adult films.
New review: Orgasm Inc
by Jess McCabe // 12 March 2011, 10:16
Mathilda Gregory reviews a documentary which examines efforts to solve women’s sexual disfunction with a pill Orgasm Inc. Official Trailer from Astrea Media on Vimeo. When the manufacturers of a drug to treat male impotence were eclipsed by the success...
I Am Not Black
by Amelia // 11 March 2011, 15:59
I am brown. This is not an identity and it is not a political statement; it is the colour of my skin, and absolutely the only thing that differentiates me from my white peers.
New review: More to Mills and Boon than this
by Jess McCabe // 11 March 2011, 11:29
Guilty Pleasures chronicles three women's relationships with the saucy book production line that is Mills and Boon. But, asks Mathilda Gregory, why did the documentary makers misrepresent the publishing empire by means of one, unrepresentative, male writer? Guilty Pleasures, screening...
New feature: 'I'm 37 with enough stories for an 80 year old'
by Jess McCabe // 10 March 2011, 21:48
Ece Temelkuran’s passion for storytelling is clear in the first few minutes of meeting her. But, as a Turkish woman, some stories are dangerous for her to tell. Mary Pole reports At the turn of the 20th century, more than...
Zimbabwe: IWD marchers harassed by police
by Helen G // 10 March 2011, 21:41
As if it wasn't infuriating enough to have written one IWD post about the British government apparently deciding that violence against women is no more than a serious obstacle for women’s enjoyment of human rights (and not, as I'd naively...
International Anti-Street Harassment Day - March 20, 2011
by Philippa Willitts // 10 March 2011, 20:52
Philippa writes about the upcoming international anti-street harassment day.
The 2011 census and non-binary identity
by JKBC // 10 March 2011, 18:00
[Image shows the word Census in a black box in the top right hand corner, with the words 'enclosed' and 'is required by law' on a cream background in purple letters] Yesterday, my household's copy of the census plopped into...
PhD studentship opportunity: A History of Feminism on Television
by Laura // 9 March 2011, 21:59
We received details of this feminist PhD opportunity at De Montfort University, Leicester, if anyone's interested: STARTING OCTOBER 2011 A PhD research studentship in the Cinema and Television History Research Centre and in conjunction with the Media Discourse Group, which...
Cardiff feminist festival now on!
by Catherine Redfern // 9 March 2011, 19:05
Cardiff's Feminist Festival, Breaking the Waves is now on! The festival is wide ranging, covering craftivism, recycling, feminist art, music, performances and a day-long conference on Saturday (with me!)... there's certainly plenty to get your teeth into. Follow the...
“Rape is the only crime in which the victim becomes the accused.” - Freda Adler
by Philippa Willitts // 9 March 2011, 16:23
Philippa discusses the blame-the-victim style reporting in a case of the alleged rape of an 11 year old girl.
New feature: Equal pay and the fight for equality in the workplace
by Jess McCabe // 9 March 2011, 14:33
Why don’t more women pursue their legal right to equal pay? Michelle Gordon explains The Equal Pay Act came into force in this country in 1975. This followed years of campaigning to end pay discrimination between men and women. The...
"Where are you from?"
by Amelia // 9 March 2011, 12:40
"Where are you from? No, where are you REALLY from?" While not quite as dehumanising as its American counterpart, "What are you?" the implication is the same: I must not, cannot be English.
IWD Million Woman March in Cairo disrupted
by Helen G // 8 March 2011, 20:24
According to ColorLines, a Million Woman March in Cairo today was "met by some men shouting anti-feminist slogans". Via CNN International: Egyptian activists had called for a Million Woman March on Tuesday, demanding "fair and equal opportunity for all Egyptian...
Britain reported to be attempting to weaken European pact on violence against women
by Helen G // 8 March 2011, 15:47
You might think - and I would agree with you - that the phrase "violence against women is understood as a violation of human rights" is not only glaringly obvious but also something that any government would accept as a...
EU: Urgent action needed on pact for gender equality and fighting violence
by Helen G // 8 March 2011, 15:37
Via Human Rights Watch: Governments should act immediately to fulfill commitments under a new gender equality pact adopted on March 7, 2011, by the Council of Ministers of the European Union, Human Rights Watch said today. The pact, adopted the...
European Parliament's Intergroup on LGBT Rights: International Women's Day
by Helen G // 8 March 2011, 14:05
Via The European Parliament's Intergroup on LGBT Rights: Today is the 100th anniversary of a global day to recall women's struggle to secure fundamental rights in all areas of life; to celebrate the many achievements of women activists; and to...
Cambodia: Rally Barred on Women's Day
by Helen G // 8 March 2011, 13:41
Via Human Rights Watch: The Cambodian government should reverse its decision to refuse a permit to the Cambodian Women's Movement Organization (CWMO) for a rally in central Phnom Penh, Human Rights Watch said today. The rally was intended to mark...
EQUALS? - Join the big equality debate
by Helen G // 8 March 2011, 06:49
Via EQUALS, a partnership of leading charities that have come together to step-up the call to demand a more equal world: Six in ten young women (aged 15-30) have personally experienced sexist remarks or sexist behaviour, while nearly half of...
Happy 100th International Women's Day
by Jess McCabe // 8 March 2011, 00:00
Today is the 100th International Women's Day - so much has been achieved since it was launched by German women's rights campaigner and socialist Clara Zetkin on 19 March 1911 (it's since moved to 8 March, obviously). But there...
Weekly Round-Up and Open Thread
by Shiha Kaur // 7 March 2011, 18:24
Hello and welcome to this week's open round-up and open thread. The following are a selection of links that you may find interesting. If you come across anything we have missed, please share it with the rest of us. U.K....
Endometriosis Awareness Week 2011
by Philippa Willitts // 7 March 2011, 18:22
Philippa starts Endometriosis Awareness Week with a blog post about having the condition.
Here comes the new boss, same as the old boss
by Helen G // 7 March 2011, 14:41
In November last year, the People’s Assembly (Maglis El-Shaab) - the lower house in the Egyptian Parliament and the principal legislative body - passed a law mandating the creation of 64 new seats in the house that must go to...
British Asian Women Twice as Likely to Commit Suicide
by Shiha Kaur // 7 March 2011, 14:01
The Southall Black Sisters released a report today stating that suicide rates among British women of Asian origin is twice the national average. Those under 35 are three times more likely to kill themsleves than other ethnic groups. The report...
Hecate Theatre put a new twist on old tales in Metamorphoses
by Helen G // 7 March 2011, 11:34
All-female, Bristol-based theatrical company, Hecate Theatre, will perform their twisted retelling of Roman classic "Metamorphoses" on 23rd - 26th March at Clifton pub, The Lansdown. The cast and production team, composed of students, graduates and local actors, have also announced...
Women's Views on News and the vibe join forces for IWD
by Helen G // 7 March 2011, 08:10
In a unique collaboration, writers from the daily women's news service, Women's Views on News (WVoN), and the current affairs site for young writers and journalists, the vibe, have come together to celebrate the centenary of International Women's Day (IWD)....
Stepping Out from Under the Glass Ceiling
by Amelia // 6 March 2011, 11:54
Entrepreneurship is not for everyone, but it is one way of levelling the playing field. Or, more accurately, stomping off the playing field where cheating is rife and the ref is blind and making our own.
Those things that we are
by JKBC // 5 March 2011, 14:00
There is sometimes an awful temptation, in this struggle against the kyriarchy, to attempt to police yourself or other members of your group to make them more palatable to the wider society. It can seem as though this is the best way to achieve rights, to achieve a semblance of equality, to reach the light at the end of the tunnel.
Non-Feminist Avenues for Feminist Messages
by Amelia // 4 March 2011, 16:00
I've only called myself a feminist since age 24 but I was outspoken, ambitious and instinctively independent long before. I absorbed all sorts of feminist messages from all sorts of avenues - among them the least feminist institutions around.
Interview on Arab feminism
by Jolene Tan // 4 March 2011, 14:38
Via Al Jazeera, here is an interesting interview with Rabab al-Mahdi, a professor of political science at the American University in Cairo, Frances Hasso, a professor of Women's Studies at Duke University, and Nadje al-Ali, a social anthropologist at the...
Men still dominate at national newspapers, a view from the trade press
by Jess McCabe // 4 March 2011, 11:02
Stark figures about the dominance of men in the newsrooms of our national newspapers were released yesterday, in a report commissioned by Women in Journalism. Women still make up only a third of reporters and editors in the national newspapers...
New review: His & Hers
by Jess McCabe // 3 March 2011, 20:31
Interviews with 70 women tell the life story of white, Irish, heterosexual women, through their relationships with men. Katherine Wootton has more His & Hers is a 'creative documentary' that uses interviews with 70 women to create a kind of...
End to gendered insurance
by Laura // 2 March 2011, 21:46
In case you missed it, the European Court of Justice yesterday ruled that insurers will no longer be able to take sex into account when assessing an individual's risk levels, deeming the practice discriminatory. This means young women will now...
Journey
by JKBC // 2 March 2011, 18:00
A relatively short time ago, I decided to stop bothering ‘presenting’ as any gender because it was too much hard work. It was soon after that that I learned about feminism and anti-kyriarchism and became socially aware, noticing the biases rampant in the world around me. Feminism felt like a sphere that felt right, especially since dialogues about intersectionality are taking place. After that, it wasn’t long before I found out that being outside of the gender binary of man/woman was possible.
Feminist Webcomics: Gunnerkrigg Court
by Amelia // 2 March 2011, 12:23
I cut my teeth on manga, Japanese comics that have a huge, diverse group of female authors and readers. It took me a while to get used to English language webcomics but I've fallen in love with a few...
Eight days left to apply to be a reviews editor at The F-Word
by Jess McCabe // 2 March 2011, 11:22
Do you dream of being a reviews editor for The F-Word? If so, you have eight days left to apply. The deadline for applications is 10 March, and full details are available on my original post about this. So far...
Life as Ethnicity: Other
by Amelia // 1 March 2011, 09:09
I had always joked that I was 'Ethnicity: Other' due to the box I ticked on forms until 'Mixed: White and Asian' became a common option. Now I think 'Ethnicity: Other' actually put it best all along.
Founder of The F-Word, Catherine Redfern, has co-authored a new book with Kristin Aune. Find out more at the 
