There's a new anarcha feminist group being set up in Edinburgh! The group want to collaborate with other groups and feminists from around the UK.

One of the first actions is a planned 'femmestruation' week for 13th-20th February 2010:

Organised by the anarcha feminist kollective in Edinburgh, we present to you a week long period in Edinburgh! And the week is like a period- it begins heavy, and ends light!...We are at the early stages of planning this event but so far the week will begin heavy with lectures on menstrual politics such as the environmental impact of sanitary products and such discourse and workshops will run such as a craft making workshop of DIY make your own sanitary products. Band and comedy nights will run taking on a positive approach to the period with such amazing radical performers as Chella Quint (www.chartyourcycle.co.uk) At present we are organising the committees in fundraising, publicity, food/drink, and lectures/workshops, so please join us!

The next meeting of the group is this monday 19th October at 5pm in Edinburgh, at the Forest cafe on Forest road.

For more info, contact Anna Lucine Altounyan at: feministanarchistedinburgh@googlemail.com (or look her up on Facebook).

First photo by the_justified_sinner used under a Creative Commons Licence.

Second photo by designwallah used under a Creative Commons Licence.

Don't women deserve to feel fantastic when they look in a mirror? Wouldn't it be lovely to remember that "Confidence is beauty" when you see your reflection? Wouldn't it be heartening to know that "You do look PHAT in that" when you're shopping for clothes?

About-Face's Summer 2009 Take Action group certainly thought so. This group, made up of San Francisco Bay Area teenage girls and their group leaders, decided to create removable decals with their own positive messages on them...

Then, on August 15, 2009, the About-Face Take Action group members, About-Face volunteers, and their friends posted these decals on various stores' fitting room mirrors in the heavily populated Union Square area and downtown shopping area in San Francisco. They also handed out decals to others who wished to do the same or to keep one for their mirrors at home.

On the same day, our Take Action Group also set up its own "dressing room" at Powell St. and Market St. in downtown San Francisco and invited people to write inspirational messages about body image on the walls.

Just a quick post to say congratulations to the organisers of Ladyfest Edinburgh which took place over the weekend.

I didn't attend everything, but have a few pics from the things I did attend to share.

On Thursday there was a comedy night hosted by Sian Bevan which by all accounts went down well.

On Friday night, I attended the Sister Spit* spoken word performance, which was the last night of their European tour. Whilst the set was much shorter than I had expected (maybe due to the group's need to rush back to Heathrow immediately after they'd come off stage) the readings were interesting. [*Website seems to be down at time of writing, but link worked yesterday]

They included Cristy C Road's account of growing up as a Cuban-American in Miami, with her art as a backdrop (above left).

Kat Marie Yoas gave a hilarious account of attending a training school for aspiring dominatrixes (sorry, I don't know what the plural of dominatrix is. Dominatrii?). She was very entertaining (middle).

Amos Mac introduced us to a slideshow of images from his new magazine for/about trans men, called Original Plumbing (you can read more about this here) (above right).

And from the UK, Em Ledger from Sheffield based DIY/feminist/queer collective Lola and the Cartwheels read out a piece from a zine in which someone wrote about how much feminism and riot grrrl meant to them:

After the performance, someone from the audience read out a couple of really fantastic poems from a book called Word Warriors: 35 Women Leaders in the Spoken word Revolution.

Saturday was a day of workshops. Most Ladyfests I have been to have had an explicitly poltical element to them, in the form of panel discussions, debates or showing of feminist documentaries, but this Ladyfest seemed more about art, music and culture (which in a way of course you could argue, is poltical in itself). So, workshops involved DIY herbal potions, knitting, good cause banner making, comedy, poetry, and life-drawing (which I was excited to try, and in the spirit of Ladyfest, had a male model instead of the standard female model, yay). Unfortunately, it seemed that a couple of planned discussions (e.g. masculinity) didn't take place in the end.

(above: men knitting, feminist cakes, poetry workshop)

There was also a zine / book library and reading area, and I picked up several really interesting ones including Raise Some Hell! A feminist child-rearing zine by the CRAP collective (Child Rearing Against Patriarchy). Excellent!

I wasn't able to attend the bands on Saturday or the Sunday events, so if you have any comments on those, please share!

Finally I'd like to point out some cool places to visit if you're in Edinburgh any time.

First of all is the political, independent bookshop Word Power where I picked up a lot of feminist publications and learned that there is going to a be a Trouble & Strife Reader published soon (Trouble & Strife was a British radical feminist magazine that was published between 1983 - 2002). That should be a really interesting one to look out for. (above left)

Next I would recommend a visit to the Autonomous Centre of Edinburgh who sell food, maga/zines, have an extensive political library and who run various community activities. And they are very friendly as well. (above right)

So that's the end of my mini review (which turned out to be not so mini). Did you go to Ladyfest? Send us any links to any reviews or info, or comment below.

Finally, good news for Edinburghians - a chat with one of the organisers revealed that they are thinking of having a Ladyfest on a regular(ish) basis, so there is (hopefully) more to come!

(p.s.Thanks to all the people who kindly said hello to me - you know who you are!)

Just a reminder that Ladyfest Edinburgh is happening over this weekend; you can check out the full programme here. I'm hoping to go to see Sister Spit on friday and spend the Saturday having arty fun.

If you're in the area, why not get yourself down to the 'burgh for some feminist fun?

Harriet Harman, Minister for Women and Equality, Home Secretary Alan Johnson and Solicitor General Vera Baird today announced a review into how rape complaints are handled from when a rape is first disclosed until the court reaches a verdict.

The review, led by Baroness Stern, will look in particular at how public authorities (including the police, local authorities, health providers, the Crown Prosecution Service, etc) not only respond individually to rape complaints, but how they interact with each other, as well as professionals’ attitudes to rape and evidence from the victims.

The Stern Review will make recommendations on, among other things, how to encourage more victims to report rape; ensure that more cases progress further through the criminal justice system; fairly increase conviction rates; and build satisfaction and confidence in how rape complaints are handled

...

The Stern Review will start immediately, and will report back early in the new year to the Minister for Women and Equality, the Home Secretary, the Solicitor General, and the Minister with responsibility for victims at the Ministry of Justice.

The Fawcett Society responded:

"The Fawcett Society welcomes the Government announcement of a review of the handling of rape complaints. A comprehensive review into the failings of the current system is urgently needed. It is a national scandal that thousands of rape victims have no access to justice, and frequently face a culture of disbelief, delayed responses which may lead to the loss of vital evidence and a lack of support services.

"However, words will need to be followed up with action. The telling fact will be whether the recommendations of the review are followed up with committed and consistent action which results in real cultural change within the criminal justice system."

XY is a pro-feminist website. It is guided above all by a commitment to feminism. XY is intended to advance feminist goals of gender equality and gender justice. XY is intended therefore to encourage men to involve themselves in personal and social change towards gender equality. It inspires men to develop respectful, trusting, and egalitarian relations with women, to promote equitable and liberatory ways of living and being, and to join with women in projects of gender equality and social justice.

I've been aware of this site for a long time and it has some great stuff on there. For example, with five minutes of browsing I found this great zine by pro-feminist Paul Brown called Don't Be a Dick! on issues such as rape culture, consent, and pornography.

Off you go, feminist/pro-feminist guys!

As you may know, The National Gallery is currently showing an exhibition called Gay Icons.

Tonight, if you're looking for something fabulous to do why not go to Iconography Late at the National Portrait Gallery? There's a lot disrupting the the gallery tonight to celebrate the Gay Icons exhibition and Selina and I have decided to screen THIS WEEK: LESBIANS at 7:40 in the cinema.

THIS WEEK: LESBIANS - January 1965
ITV's seminal current affairs series This Week led by Bryan MacGee discusses
lesbianism as a companion piece to their programme on male homosexuality.
It's hard to imagine today what sort of impact this programme must have had
at the time, when (unlike homosexuality) lesbianism was invisible, not even
thought relevant enough to be considered a crime.

Nevertheless, for all its archaic language, bizarre questioning and
pathologising - it is possible to get a sense of the huge courage it must
have taken the women to be seen on camera. It was a first for British
broadcast television. These lesbians are our icons - ordinary women who
dared - we salute them!

For more information about the whole event:
http://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/event-root/iconography-late.php

* Please do send us details of events anywhere in the UK - you can check our events page where we try to list some of the major ones.

In our last update, we reported that Lubna Hussein was found guilty of indecency and refused to pay the fine, prefering to go to jail for a month to highlight and protest Article 152 in Sudanese law, which unfairly penalises women by restricting how they must dress in public.

Lubna is now freed as her bail was paid - against her will. We received the following message via the London campaign who organised the protest at the Sudanese Embassy last week, shown above.

The news is right and Lubna is not too happy about it. I got the message below after her appearance at a press conference yesterday: "Lubna in her press conference in (Ajrass Alhurria) newspaper said she is upset from the way her trial went on and the way that Sudanese Journalist Union free her from prison (against her will). After discussing this with her lawyers she is going to appeal the judge's decision on her case to higher courts, even the constitutional court, to change the law"

Lubna has said:

I would like to thanks you for your support for me, solidarity with me. I am really very happy to get this support, my case is not finished, we will continue against the unjust laws and special courts and police public order.

To continue to support Lubna check out Lubna's Facebook page, website, or write to the Sudanese Ambassador in London asking them to repeal Article 152 of the Sudanese Criminal Code, at the following address:

3 Cleveland Row
St. James’s London
SW1A 1DD

Some of the provisions that have proved controversial give more rights to women.

For example, under the new law women are no longer required to obey their husbands, instead husbands and wives owe each other loyalty and protection.

Women get greater inheritance rights, and the minimum age for girls to marry in most circumstances is raised to 18.

According to the BBC,

Women's groups are heartbroken - they have been trying for more than 10 years to get the law changed.

The reasons for the protests are no doubt more complex than they are being presented here, but this is so sad, my heart goes out to those groups.

What strikes me is how this is being presented as a Muslim issue.

Firstly, in a country where 90% of the population are Muslims, I would imagine that surely the 'women's groups' mentioned include lots of Muslim women too? Talking about 'women's group' verses 'Muslims' makes Muslim women fighting for their rights invisible, which contributes to the problem.

Secondly, let's face it, you won't struggle to find people in non-Muslim countries who argue that women should basically 'obey' their husbands (The Surrendered Wife? Fay Weldon? Every Men's Rights / Anti-Feminist website there is?). Ok, they're not (usually) saying it should be the law, but let's not be high and mighty about this.

No, but I don't want to discuss this as a Muslim issue (and Islamophobic comments won't be published). And I definitely don't want to turn this into a "Can western feminism save Muslim women" discussion (as the Guardian posed recently); a question that's well-meaning but offensive on many levels.*

What I want to put out for discussion is what we, over here in the UK, can help and support women's groups in other countries, Mali or anywhere else. How can we support feminists in other countries besides publicising their issues and signing petitions? I mean, signing petitions is great, but what other suggestions are there for practical help? Donating money? Writing letters? What? Let's have a recap!

We feel so powerless to help so often, is that feeling justified?

Firstly I would imagine we should find out what are these women saying we should do. For example, does anyone have a link to these Mali women's groups, and what are they saying? I did a search for Mali feminists and all I got was Google saying "did you mean male feminists?" Sigh!

[* Off the top of my head:
1. Implying that Muslims aren't westerners.
2. Assuming that Muslim women have to 'saved'
3. Assuming that there are no Muslim feminists.
4. Suggesting that only Muslim women are oppressed.
5. Implying western feminists have to 'save' non-western women rather than supporting and working with them, and maybe even learning something from them.
5. And so on. ]

ADD YOUR VOICE - Help us collect 2,000 (or more!) messages of support to be delivered to African leaders at the SADC summit in Kinshasa from September 2-8.

In 2008, political violence erupted throughout Zimbabwe as a result of highly contested national elections. Between May and July alone, local organizations estimate that state-sanctioned groups abducted, raped, tortured, and beat over 2,000 women and girls due to their political affiliations. Local police have ignored these women's pleas for protection, justice, and accountability, and national leaders have been equally unresponsive. Hear Us - a video co-produced by Zimbabwean Research and Advocacy Unit (RAU) and WITNESS - features four of these women who have come forward to demand justice from the Zimbabwean government and the Southern African Development Community (SADC). Next month, the SADC summit is being held in Kinshasa from September 2-8 2009. Help us collect 2,000 (or more!) messages of support to be delivered to SADC leaders at the summit. Add your voice to the call for justice for the Zimbabwean women - sign our petition, record a video message, tweet the campaign, or leave a comment below.

See Hear Us - Stand With Us for more details.

While luxury hotels and others get a TV licence discount for multiple sets on their premises, refuges providing shelter and support for victims of domestic abuse are charged the full price for each of their licences.

Individual refuges are spending hundreds or even thousands of pounds on TV licences that should be spent on essential services for abused women.

Sign the petition to support changes to the TV licence concession scheme and call for a review of licence fee enforcement practices.

Wow, I never knew that... What a great campaign from the Liberal Democrats.

Via Womensgrid

Following on from the evolutionary psychology debate, I wanted to mention this blog post I enjoyed from Vagina Dentata, a really great feminist / science blog in which she discusses the frankly stupid claim that girls liking pink is somehow 'natural' or 'genetic', or down to 'evolution', or whathaveyou:

“But,” I can hear you cry, “my daughter/niece/friend’s kid loves pink and her parents have not forced it on her at all.” My first reaction would be really? Really have they not bought her pink things, not accepted gifts from friends and family that were universally pink? Did they not when she was under 1 year old and therefore indistinguishable from any other baby male or female, dress her in pink clothes and put a bow in her hair so that strangers wouldn’t say “Oh, what a lovely little boy”. Did they really? Really? Really, did they?

If that gets you nodding with agreement, you might want to check out Pink Stinks,

a campaign and social enterprise that challenges the culture of pink which invades every aspect of girls' lives.

This site is for parents, and aims to gather support, promote discussion and ultimately to mobilize that support to influence marketeers and the media about the importance of promoting positive gender roles to girls.

Look, if you are female and you do like pink, that's fine! But please don't pretend that it's in your genes or something, or somehow makes her more womanly because she likes it or him less of a man if he likes it. What's wrong with just liking it, huh, huh?

The Pink Stinks name, I believe, is tongue in cheek. It isn't anti-pink, the colour. It's what it represents. It's anti-pink-as-the-only-choice for girls. It's anti pink=girls=soft=weak=fluffy. It's anti pink=girls=sugar&spice&allthingsnice. It's anti-suffocating in pinkpinkpinkPINKPINKPINK EVERYTHING that girls have to grow up in.

If anything, it's pro: pro-diversity, pro-colour, pro-actual freedom and choice for kids. And I say yay to that.

Photo by me, used with my permission!

[Post edited to remove problematic quote from source blog. Apologies for any offence. See comments - CR]

Boris on youtube:

BKYP's Response:

Check out their website for more details.

Please do let us know of any rape crisis news from across the UK, and how readers can help.

* Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, for non-UK readers!

A group of boys from Leeds have wowed judges at an international cheerleading competition in Coventry.

The Peewee Boyz, who are thought to be the only cheerleading boys in Europe, won third prize at the International Cheer Championships in July.

There's a video on the BBC link, but I found this on youtube as well.

How wonderful. I just love good news about brave, trailblazing kids!

Via MsKitton on Twitter

I’m now a regular volunteer at the New North London Synagogue monthly drop-in for destitute asylum seekers. The women who attend have fled traumas such as torture, rape, separation from their children or murder of family members. Month on month, I've seen dozens of these women plead for sanitary towels from a supply that is way insufficient. It is humbling and heartbreaking knowing these basic necessities are unaffordable. It is shocking they have to resort to newspaper and rags which cause nasty infections. For me, the PMT, pain and discomfort is bad enough! Add on having no sanitary towels and it becomes quite horrifying.

I recently joined JCORE in a role to offer practical help to asylum seekers and refugees. As one of my first tasks, I really want to secure a years supply of sanitary towels for the drop-in. It is so achievable with the 14p supermarket value packs from Tesco, Sainsbury's and Asda.

Would you be willing to add a pack or two to your next supermarket shop? Or could you donate just £1 to buy 7 packs?

Click here to help / donate.

Via womensgrid

Fawcett Society supporter Jules raised awareness of the rape conviction rate on the Fourth Plinth this morning. See photos here.

Photo used with permission.

The creators of the Mothers for Women's Lib blog have set up a new forum for feminist parents. It's at http://feministmums.forumotion.com

It was created by the same people who bring you the Mothers For Women's Lib blog ... to fill a very specific need - a parenting forum free from the tiring misogyny present on so many parenting forums that we'd used.

If you have any ideas for the forum, ideas for subforums you think should be here, or anything else to do with the forum that you really need to get off your chest, please PM me and we can get talking.

This includes short DVD which will be played in town centres on large screens as well as posters and bluetooth messages, and a radio campaign.

It appears from the website that they are targeting men and women equally. There is a short video aimed at men which you can see on the website (warning: may be triggering).

It shows a young man reflecting sadly on the evening. In flashbacks it shows him drinking in a night club, dancing with a girl, they then go out into the alleyway and kiss. The man starts to take it further and she screams "No, no, stop it, get off me." But he doesn't stop. The video ends with the words "No consent, no sex". It then shows the man in prison.

There is a video aimed at women, featuring the same woman. It shows exactly the same sequence of events.

I watched this, totally expecting it to end with one of those usual victim-blaming messages about women not drinking too much and not making yourself vulnerable that are usually put about, like this one which slemslempike describes as "victim-blaming shit".

But I was shocked. It just ends with the words: "Support is available" and a telephone number.

FINALLY!

I like the fact that there is a video aimed at men in this campaign. After all, only rapists can prevent rape. I also like the fact that these videos don't seem to be blaming women for having a drink.

But I wonder, will this message get lost?

For example, check out this local paper's approach to the story:

DVDs warning young women about their alcohol intake will be shown in Preston nightclubs in a bid to reduce the risk of being raped.

It's only right at the bottom of the article where we find out that men are also being targeted, and it's almost mentioned in passing.

Even the Police Oracle website prioritises the anti-drink messages for women as they discuss the campaign:

Late night bars and clubs across Lancaster, Morecambe and Wyre will also be helping to deliver the message of Lancashire Police's county-wide Operation Focus campaign. Staff at the venues are being briefed about the initiative, which is aimed at highlighting the potential dangers of excessive alcohol in a bid to reduce the chances of people becoming victims of sexual assaults.

Later in the article there's a reference to "the effect that alcohol can have on their decision making ability - an effect that can have life changing consequences."

It's not clear enough if this is referring to men or women's decision making ability. Is this a veiled reference to young men who rape after drinking? If it is, it's not clear enough.

It's hard to tell for sure without seeing the posters or hearing the radio ads.

But this does seem like a good campaign, actually targeting the potential perpetrators, and supporting the victims.

Is this the kind of campaign we'd like to see more of?

For details, check out the following websites:

http://www.myspace.com/ladyfestedinburgh
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=7816432651
http://www.ladyfestedinburgh.com/ [not updated with new dates as yet]

From the myspace page:

25th - 27th September 2009 Ladyfest Edinburgh is back with new events, new artists, and new venues, but the same great-tasting feminist ideals.

ART MUSIC LITERATURE DANCE COMEDY DISCUSSIONS WORKSHOPS.

....

Our aims:
- to celebrate female creativity across all artforms
- to create a space to rejuvenate discussions about feminism and its relevance in society today
- to create an alternative space with events organised primarily by women
- to give the opportunity for women to come forward and put on events/workshops and redress the balance of male dominated arts/music festivals
- to work in partnership with already established groups in Edinburgh and to make Ladyfest accessible to all
- to raise money for local charities including Zero Tolerance.

This project started out to get women together in a public space to talk about feminism, art, music, politics and culture in general. From here the idea is to nurture a network of people and groups who will continue to work together on different projects, and offer support to one another and to new people who want to get involved.

Through workshops and events we aim to challenge all forms of stereotyping. We want to stimulate discussions and learn new skills. We want to motivate women to stand up and use their voices politically, creatively and in their everyday home and work situations.

Ladyfest Edinburgh is an open forum where people are invited to come along to our weekly meetings to talk, get to know one another and feel free in the space to discuss and work on ideas and projects of both mutual and personal interest. By simply providing the space many women, some already active in the arts and some within small local groups, have been given the impetus to share their passions and opinions, to raise awareness as well as being active.

We have an open and experimental ethic and we are keen to explore different ways of working collaboratively and democratically but still outwith the normal structural hierarchies. The future of the group will be built on our need to grasp this free space and continue making a visible women's culture. We want to work as a community to challenge all forms of oppression and add to the wealth of female voices and creativity past and present

Girls around the world are getting a raw deal. In some countries, a girl is seen as a burden and female babies are killed as soon as they are born. If a girl is lucky enough to survive, she is likely to be given less to eat than her brothers. She is more likely to be kept out of school.

Plan launched the Because I am a Girl campaign to make sure girls around the world have the same opportunities as boys. We believe that by making sure girls go to school and receive a good quality education, we can break the cycle of poverty and discrimination affecting many communities.

An extra year of primary school boosts girls’ wages by 10 to 20 percent, benefitting their communities, their families and eventually their children.

Help us strengthen our call by signing our pledge today

Plan UK will be launching a series of reports on the state of the world's girls in September 2009.

[Edited to add: Oops, I just realised this campaign has been running since 2007! But it's still a good one...]

(I found this via Feminist Webs.)