To quote Andrea Dworkin in Woman Hating:

Every transsexual, white, black, man, woman, rich, poor, is in a state of primary emergency as a transsexual.

For many of us, our focus is finding ways to overcome that state of emergency: we transition to survive. We are not here to provide entertainment for cis people, nor to be the subject of cis centred academic theories. We cannot be socialised into being cis; neither can being trans be beaten out of us. We may not choose to be trans, but we are here, and we are trying to make our way in a world where we face prejudice and discrimination, bigotry, hatred and violence from cis people on a daily basis.

Yes, our journey is hard, but there are good things, too. We find others like ourselves and learn that we are not alone. We make new friends, trans and cis. We learn to face and overcome challenges and obstacles we never knew we'd face, and find strengths we never knew we had. We change, we develop and we become the people we always knew we were.

Or at least, some of us do.

Some - like the more than 160 trans people mentioned in the recent report of the TGEU’s Trans Murder Monitoring Project - don’t make it through. They are the ones we remember today: those members of my community who weren’t allowed to grow and blossom or find their true selves and who were murdered at the rate of three a week, every week.

Today, 20th November 2009, is the 11th International Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR). It is a day when we remember that every day, all over the world, thousands of trans people are excluded, persecuted, hated, mistreated, subject to aggression and routinely murdered or driven to suicide because of our so-called differences from other members of mainstream cis society. A system which tolerates and accommodates such hatred, prejudice and bigotry is unacceptable, and must be fought without concession, in the name of its past and present victims, and also in the name of its victims to come.

There are numerous events and vigils being held worldwide to mark this year's Transgender Day of Remembrance - many are listed on the TDOR website (link here) and I would urge anyone - trans or cis - who is able to attend any of these events to do so. Perhaps I may see some of you at the London event tomorrow (Saturday 21st November).

But regardless of anything else, today of all days, please spare a thought for those of my community whose lives have been sacrificed to transphobic bigotry and violence - and maybe ask yourself how anyone who believes in the basic principles of feminism can help us work towards ending transphobic hate crimes like this and this.

------------

(Cross-posted at Bird of Paradox)

There will also be a book of condolence for Andrea Waddell, who was recently murderd in Brighton.

Additionally, I have added to the Events page (link here) the details of some other events scheduled in the UK to mark the Transgender Day of Remembrance. I hope to see some of you at the London event on Saturday.

Detectives from the Homicide and Serious Crime Command (HSCC) arrested and bailed (pending further enquiries) a cis man in connection with Ms Lauren's murder. (Via the Hampstead and Highgate Express [also the Press Association and Pink News])

Today I note the following update on the BBC News website (link here):

Police investigating the murder of a 29-year-old woman in north-west London have made an arrest.

A man in his 20s is being held in connection with Destiny Lauren's murder on 5 November.

[...]

Police previously arrested a 35-year-old man connection with the investigation, who has been bailed to return in December pending further inquiries.

------------

Sunday, 15 November: Reports from the Press Association (link here) and BBC News (link here) confirm that Leon Fyle, a 21-year old unemployed man, has been charged with the murder of Destiny Lauren, and will appear at the City of Westminster Magistrates' Court tomorrow (Monday, 16 November)

------------

Monday, 16 November: From the Press Association (link here):

Unemployed Leon Fyle, 21, of Laleham Road, Catford, south-east London, was charged at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court with murdering Destiny Lauren.

A court official said he was remanded in custody to reappear at the Old Bailey on February 22 next year.

And from Pink News (link here):

A 35-year-old man who was arrested in connection with her murder has been bailed until next month.

------------

Compiled from posts at Bird of Paradox (links here and here)

Image via BBC News

For women in science, engineering and technology (SET) - which includes IT workers like me - the pay gaps both between men and women, and between different kinds of SET occupations, show no evidence of closing:

(Image via BCS)

SET occupations don't show the same extremes in pay differentials between the highest and lowest paid compared with other occupations. And if you're a woman working in a SET occupation, you are more likely to be receiving similar remuneration to that of you male colleagues than women working elsewhere. But at the lower levels of SET occupations especially in skilled trades, part-time women’s hourly earnings are much less than the full-time earnings of women or men in the same occupations.

But there's no cause for complacency: there is a gender pay gap in SET occupations - as there is in virtually all occupations - and it shows no sign of disappearing anytime soon.

To find out more, you can visit the Equal Pay Day blog (link here), or go to the Fawcett Society website's page (link here) to sign the online petition and download further resources and information.

---------------

Cross-posted at Bird of Paradox

Saturday November 7th 2009

You are invited to the launch of TREC - an innovative new Trans Resource & Empowerment Centre for all trans and gender variant people in the North West (& beyond).

• Featuring guest speakers
• Your chance to find out more & get involved
• Trans groups & supporters information displays
• Free refreshments

When?
11am - 4pm Saturday, November 7th 2009

Where?
LGF, 3rd Floor, Princess House, 105-107 Princess Street, Manchester, M1 6DD - see http://www.lgf.org.uk/contact-us for a map.

Who?

• TREC invites All Trans* people to be involved in all its activities
  *By "Trans / Transgender" we are referring to all people who consider themselves to fall under the trans / transgender and gender variant umbrella. This includes, but is not limited to: Cross-dressing & transvestite people, trans women, trans men, transsexual men & transsexual women, people identifying as androgyne, polygender, genderqueer, gender non-conforming, dual gendered, & non-gender identifying, gender questioning people, gender variant & gender diverse people, transgender people & intersex people and anyone who feels that the gender assigned to them at birth incompletely describes or does not at all describe their own personal gender or non-gender identity.


• TREC holds central to all its activities that everyone should be safe and valued whatever their gender identity / gender diversity and have full freedom in their gender expression.

TREC has been set up by volunteers from the NW trans community to provide a centralised service for all trans and gender-variant people in a safe and accessible space reflecting the diverse needs of our community. It will provide a wide range of FREE activities centred on Health, Policy/Law, Safety, Creativity, and Community/Culture. There will also be space for networking and group meetings and changing facilities. Activities will take place one weekend per month in a dedicated space at the Lesbian and Gay Foundation (LGF) building, Central Manchester.

We are also conducting a survey to assess the needs of the trans community in the North West region of England (Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, and Merseyside).

Our goal is to get every trans person in the North West to give their views:

The survey is online at: http://tinyurl.com/north-west-survey

Please complete the survey by 1 November so we can present the data at the TREC launch event. The information that you provide will be used to create a programme of services and events provided on a monthly basis in Manchester, beginning 7 November. We would love you to join us in developing this organisation - please give your details in Section F of the survey if you would like to be involved.

Please forward to anyone you know who may be interested, many thanks!

THE TRANS RESOURCE AND EMPOWERMENT CENTRE BOARD
Louis, Ryan, Dave, Sarah, Jenny-Anne, Catherine

Postal address: TREC, c/o LGBT Centre, 49/51 Sidney Street, Manchester, M1 7HB

TREC is a new, independent, voluntary organisation not affiliated to any other organisation or group

Best wishes,

Louis
Chair - TREC
---------------

Via email from Stephen Whittle and Press For Change
Curtsey to Stephanie for the heads-up

---------------

Cross-posted at Bird of Paradox

From the introduction to the Review (link here):

Transphobic harassment

Existing evidence suggests that trans people experience, and are badly affected by, transphobia, in a wide range of forms. This includes bullying and discriminatory treatment in schools, harassment and physical/sexual assault and rejection from families, work colleagues and friends. For example, Morton (2008), found that 62 per cent of respondents had experienced transphobic harassment from strangers in public places who perceived them to be trans. Whittle et al (2007) also found that a majority of respondents had faced harassment in public spaces. They noted that ‘73 per cent of respondents experienced comments, threatening behaviour, physical abuse, verbal abuse or sexual abuse while in public spaces.’ Tackling transphobia must be a priority.

Data on trans population

No major Government or administrative surveys have collected data by including a question where trans people can choose to identify themselves. Publicly collected data on trans people is virtually non-existent, though there is some evidence on attitudes towards trans people, for example in the 2006 Scottish Social Attitudes Survey 50 per cent of people said they would be unhappy if a close relative formed a relationship with a transsexual person (Bromley et al, 2007) and in the Commission's Who Do You See? attitudinal survey in Wales, the figure was 47 per cent (EHRC, 2008).

At present, there is no official estimate of the trans population. The England/Wales Census and Scottish Census have not asked if people identify as trans and do not plan to include such a question in 2010. GIRES, in their Home Office funded study estimate the number of trans people in the UK to be between 300,000 - 500,000, defined as ‘..a large reservoir of transgender people who experience some degree of gender variance’ (Reed et al 2009) (2)

The absence of public data raises significant concerns for populating the Equalities Measurement Framework, in order to map the changing face of inequality for trans people.

The download page for the report can be found by clicking here; despite my reservations about the EHRC (particularly with regard to their seemingly uncritical support for the distinctly trans unfriendly Equalities Bill) this is nevertheless a significant document which anyone with an interest in the inequalities faced by trans people would do well to study.

---------------

Cross-posted at Bird of Paradox

A news story began circulating late last week about the death of a woman in a flat fire in Brighton which was being treated as "unexplained" by Sussex Police. The woman, later named as Andrea Waddell, was pronounced dead at the scene. A subsequent post-mortem examination revealed that she had been strangled, and a forensic inspection found that the fire had started in Ms Waddell's bedroom. Additionally, to quote the Daily Mail:

Police informed her parents, Sonia and Robin, of her death and also of the fact that Miss Waddell had been working as a prostitute.

By Saturday 17 October, Sussex Police had arrested a man on suspicion of her murder, and the investigation continues.

As tragic as this story is - and make no mistake, it is tragic - one cannot help but wonder why the mass media decided to give the case so much attention.

However, what apparently tips this story over into true newsworthiness in the minds of the journalists, is not that Ms Waddell was so young, or that she suffered from scoliosis and fibromyalgia, or even that she worked as a prostitute.

No, what really gives journalists license to publish reams of offensive irrelevancies is... yes, you guessed: Ms Waddell was a transsexual woman. Although this doesn't seem to have come to light until yesterday, neither the Daily Mail or BBC News wasted a minute in drawing this important piece of news to the nation's attention. Never mind that it has absolutely no bearing on the report, the fearless hacks pounced on it with all the self-righteous fervour they could muster and between them, have managed to introduce an entirely unnecessary element of cissexism into their coverage.

For example, from the Daily Mail:

[...] it is hard to believe that Andrea Waddell was born a man.

One of the commonest attacks made on transsexual women is the essentialist trope that, if you are male-assigned at birth, you will never be anything else. Our pasts are endlessly and forever held against us. This invisibilises our morphic dissonance and denies the potential for change.

And from BBC News:

[...] she underwent gender reassignment surgery after moving to Brighton in 2004.

I'd question why information about a surgical procedure carried out five years ago has even the slightest relevance to this report. Unless, of course, her accused murderer should decide to use the trans panic defence if/when his case comes before the court. But that, as they say, would be an entirely different story.

To be honest, you could leave out the fact that Ms Waddell was transsexual and the story - as tragic as it is - would scarcely merit a mention outside the Brighton Evening Argus: A woman, working as a prostitute, was strangled and her flat set on fire. Police have arrested a suspect and the investigation continues.

But the moment it becomes known that a transsexual woman is involved it's worthy of national media coverage, apparently. My already limited faith in the ability of the mass news media to run a story about transsexual women without further objectifying, marginalising or just plain othering us, continues to decline.

---------------

Quoted links:

Daily Mail: It's interesting to note that, although the headline was changed sometime over the weekend (not that one is particularly less offensive than the other), the link goes to the same page. In other words, it doesn't matter which of the following two links you click on, you'll end up at the same place.

• Agony of sex-change prostitute's middle-class family after she is found murdered in her flat
• Sex-change graduate working as a prostitute strangled before killer set fire to her flat

BBC News: Although the BBC did at least appear to keep up with developments, it too continued the time-honoured news media tradition of including numerous offensive irrelevancies:

• Man held in fire murder inquiry
• Strangled woman found after fire
• Woman's fire death 'unexplained'

---------------

Cross-posted at Bird of Paradox

---------------

Curtsey to Steph for the inspiration/motivation

Chally's helpfully marked up various topics for easy navigation, and subjects include Objectification, Reproductive justice, Parenting, Disability and Popular culture, to name but a few.

Well worth diving in and having a good click around - and do explore her blog while you're there. Good work, Chally!

The Fifth Carnival of Feminists

Note: The next carnival will be held at Deeply Problematic; if you want to submit something, then click here to do so at the Feminist Carnival site.

From Caroline's introductory post on the site (link here):

In the very beginning, Harlot's Parlour was going to be a UK blog. [...] But then, I know a lot of Americans. [...] So, I decided to include them to have a wider range of experience on the blog, which in turn would appeal to a wider audience.

[...]

But then, why stop at the UK and the US?

So then Harlot's Parlour was truly born: a blog which will discuss sex, sexuality and sex work issues across the UK, Europe, America, Australia, New Zealand; in as many countries as we can in fact. We'll talk about everything - theory, the media, personal experience, the law and whatever else we come up with on the way.

[...]

We can't claim to represent everyone's experience and nor do we claim to represent all sex workers, but nevertheless I hope people can learn from this blog and develop their thoughts and opinions. I hope that this blog will spark a great deal of discussion.

(T-Vox carries this definition of hijra: "In the culture of the Indian subcontinent a hijra is a physically male or intersex person who is considered a member of 'the third sex.'")

Through the last month, Pakistani media celebrated the recognition of the citizenship rights of the hijra community by a Supreme Court ruling which declared them entitled to 'protection guaranteed under Article four (rights of individuals to be dealt with in accordance of law) and Article nine (security of person) of the Constitution'. The ruling has been hailed as an important step toward the integration of 'the Third sex' into the Pakistani society, who are now going to be registered and surveyed (with 'Third Sex' designating their gender on the ID cards and forms) so as to enable them to access the services of state social welfare departments and financial support programs.

[...] Whilst the English speaking elites have hailed the decision about the Hijras as some great civil right victory, freethinker elaborates what does it means for the LGBT community of Pakistan, for it means nothing. It has only increased dangers for us. A genuine civil rights decision is what Indian High Court has taken. Whats happening in Pakistan is "rotten radicalism" which exists only in minds and it changes nothing and only helps establish reaction.

One of the problems with the ruling, it seems, is that it positions hijras as the problem - and not the entrenched 'norms' of society, which seem likely to be further reinforced.

When [the hijra] are seen as another sex category, the gendered body politic of the society comes to regulate and control them as well, their bodies becoming 'sexed' and providing the basis of a sex role, a body ideal, and a clothing distinction that applies to their sex. Much more likely is a medicalized view that 'pathologizes' their condition as defective maleness or femaleness ('intersex' as the medical classification goes), like it did in late 19th century Europe and became a part of the notorious eugenics movement. The concept of 'intersex' is heavily criticized by transgender activists in the US. In Iran, an adherence to this concept has led to a State-funded program of SRS operations which has both religious and scientific backing. The rationale behind these potentially life-threatening operations is the 'integration' of their 'hijra' into the society, but that does not necessarily mean a better life [...]

(In her recent blog post Transsexual-Intersex, Sophia Siedlberg defines intersex as "a medical label that has traditionally been applied to people with a number of conditions that are diagnosable at birth. While diagnostic tests are not always carried out at birth and some escape the horrors of these terms during childhood. The traditional view has been simply that it is visible at birth.")

As Sherryx points out, the ruling raises more questions than it answers:

What is going to constitute 'the Third sex'? And what happens to those who do not qualify for this category? What about those 'gender-confused' people who do not want to be identified as 'Third sex', preferring instead to be identified as 'male' or 'female'?

But perhaps the most crucial question here is not directly concerned with either identity politics or gender theory; it is simply this:

Does discrimination go away after formal barriers to progress have been removed, or does it merely become invisible and more difficult to fight?

--------------

Acknowledgements:

Curtsey to Justus of the TGEU listserv for the heads up

Image by Kabir Orlowski from Wikimedia Commons, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 License

--------------

Cross-posted at Bird of Paradox

Sex work and sexuality group blog

I am in the midst of setting up a group blog for sex workers and allies about, as the title of this post suggests, sex work and sexuality.

I’d like for it to be concerned mainly with the UK and Europe, though I do want to include US bloggers and issues.

I think this has a hell of a lot of potential. Blogging is a fantastic way of getting the message out to people and so often the US dominates discourse, so having a blog to really push the UK and Europe forward will be a very big thing. And I want this to work.

What I need – some folks from the UK and Europe. So, if you are a sex worker or ally from the UK / Europe and you’d like to participate in this, whether you’d like to be a regular contributer, post sporadically or just want to be in on the ride, give me a shout: shepherd[dot]cc[at]gmail[dot]com. I’ve already got one or two very groovy people, so you’ll be in awesome company :)

--------------

Cross-posted at Bird of Paradox

In the tradition of the original (now dormant) Carnival of Feminists there's a wide range of subjects covered in the posts linked and it's well worth spending some time discovering new blogs, in addition to a good sprinkling of contributions from old friends.

The organisers have a call for submissions out for the next Feminist Carnival which is due on 2 September and you can find full details on how to submit posts here.

Submit posts here at Blog Carnival - we use the term "feminist" loosely and in an inclusive sense as possible. If you feel a post touches on anything remotely close to issues discussed in a progressive, womanist, feminist, pro-GLBTQ, fat acceptance, disability sphere, pro-sex - feel free to submit it.

Click here to visit the second Feminist Carnival.

The Festival itself will be held in Cardiff from 7 - 10 October 2009 and there will be three awards, as follows:

Iris Prize - Cardiff's International gay and lesbian short film prize:

The Iris Prize, valued at £25,000 will allow the winner to make their next short film in the UK. The prize is the world’s largest gay and lesbian short film prize and is open to any short film which is by, for, about or of interest to gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or intersex audiences.

Skillset Best UK Short:

The winner of the best UK short will receive £1,000 to be used for training. The Award is sponsored by Skillset.

Iris Prize Best Feature Award:

The winner of the best feature film award will receive £1,000. The award is sponsored by Martin Briggs, Independent Financial Adviser.

[...]

Award winners at the 2008 Iris Prize Festival were:

Iris Prize: Cowboy, Directed by Till Kleinert

Skillset Best UK Short: James, Directed by Connor Clements

Iris Prize Best Feature Award: Dream Boy, Directed by James Bolton

(Cross-posted at Bird of Paradox)

Analysing the various difficulties transgender people face, the Commissioner underlines that "they are discriminated against in all member states, in areas such as employment, health care and housing".

He concludes calling on member states to "take all necessary concrete action to ensure that transphobia is stopped and that transgender persons are no longer discriminated against in any field."

The Commissioner's full statement is available on the Council of Europe’s website (link here)

(Cross-posted at Bird of Paradox)

Do we really want a world where everyone is from Venus and no one is from Mars? Where Frenchmen no longer have any différence to vivre? A land where the man of the house is more Mrs Doubtfire than Mr Atlas? Where pubs no longer echo to loud-mouthed arguing over the merits of back fours and deep-lying strikers, but where, instead, hair-netted old men clack their knitting needles over glasses of lukewarm sherry? Boating accidents where the cry goes up: “Hermaphrodites and children first!” Editions of Top Gear fronted by Jemima Clarkson

...So much FAIL in one short paragraph...

And from the other article, It’s official: Men really are the weaker sex, there are gems like The male gender is in danger… and - complete with scare quotes - …”gender-bending”…

It would be so easy to rip to shreds what seems like nothing more than junk journalism, but really, what would be the point? Well, apart from a certain sense of grim satisfaction in demolishing - yet again - a string of wrong-headed gender stereotypes. Although, given my particular interest in the ways that gender is used to oppress those who don’t conform, I really can’t let the use of the term ‘hermaphrodites’ go unchallenged. As a friend of mine says: “Flowers are hermaphrodite, humans are intersex”.

Despite my concerns about the gender bias, both articles are, in fact, pointing out a comprehensive report, Effects of Pollutants on the Reproductive Health of Male Vertebrate Wildlife - Males Under Threat, published by CHEM Trust, which suggests that the huge number of commonly-used chemicals in the environment is feminising males of every class of vertebrates, from fish to mammals, including people.

In this light, both newspaper articles do actually contain some useful facts - which makes their dressing up in heavy-handed and offensive gender stereotypes even more mystifying, as well as plain unnecessary.

The 3-page press release (direct link to PDF file) announcing the report includes the following thought-provoking findings:

In mammals, genital disruption in males has been widely reported, including: intersex features (such as egg tissue in the testes of the male); small phallus; small testes; undescended testes; abnormal testes; or ambiguous genitals.

[...]

The males of egg-laying species including fish, amphibians, birds, and reptiles have also been feminised by exposure to sex hormone disrupting chemicals and have been found to be abnormally making egg yolk protein, normally made by females.

[...]

There are various ways that man-made hormone disrupting chemicals can undermine the sexual health of male wildlife. For example, chemicals which block the male hormone androgen, the so-called anti-androgenic chemicals, can cause un-descended testes and can feminise males. Similarly, some sex hormone disrupting chemicals can mimic oestrogen, the female hormone, and also feminise males.

Many man-made chemicals can block androgen action, and these include several pesticides and some phthalates, used in consumer products to make plastics flexible. Worryingly, a study of effluents from UK sewage works has found that around three quarters of these discharges have considerable anti-androgenic activity, and investigations are underway to identify the chemicals to blame.

Given that humans are just one part of a huge and complex eco-system, it makes me wonder whether similar adverse effects are to be seen in the human population. I don’t think one needs to be a scientist or an academic to figure out the answer to that one; but I do think there’s another equally important question which hasn’t been asked here, and I can only hope that a sister report will soon be forthcoming, titled Effects of Pollutants on the Reproductive Health of Female Vertebrate Wildlife - Females Under Threat.

The report Effects of Pollutants on the Reproductive Health of Male Vertebrate Wildlife - Males Under Threat is available for download from CHEM Trust (link here) or here:

• Overview (direct link to PDF file)


• Full report (direct link to PDF file)

ETA: Talk about the fundamental interconnectedness of all things - if nothing else, this piece in the Sunday Times should give an insight into the likely extent of the problem. Nothing's been proven either way, but I do wonder where these PCBs have come from - are they, too, environmental pollutants? If they've come from the food chain, how did they get there?

Deadly contaminant found in Irish pork

CONSUMERS were warned last night to check the origin of all pork products after high levels of toxins were found in pigs slaughtered in Ireland.

[...]

The Irish authorities found that pork products on several farms had levels of dioxin poly-chlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) between 80 and 200 times more than the recognised safe limit.

(Cross-posted from bird of paradox)

Comments are enabled and will be moderated by the a member of The F-Word bloggers group before publication. Please remember there will be a delay between comments being submitted and their appearance on the blog.

Please spare a few moments quiet contemplation for all those of my trans sisters and brothers who can't be here today.

• Teisha Cannon
• Dilek Ince
• Duanna Johnson
• Aimee Wilcoxson
• Ruby Molina
• Nakhia (Nikki) Williams
• Samantha Rangel Brandau
• Jaylynn L. Namauu
• Angie Zapata
• Juan Carlos Aucalle Coronel
• Rosa Pazos
• Ebony (Rodney) Whitaker
• Silvana Berisha
• Felicia Melton-Smyth
• Lloyd Nixon
• Luna (no last name reported)
• Simmie Williams Jr.
• Lawrence King
• Sanesha (Talib) Stewart
• Ashley Sweeney
• Fedra (no last name reported)
• Adolphus Simmons
• Stacy Brown
• Patrick Murphy
• Gabriela Alejandra Albornoz
• Brian McGlothin
• Kellie Telesford
• Ali (no last name reported) and two other Iraqi trans women

ETA:

Other bloggers who have posted about the TDoR include:

• A.E. Brain


• A Truly Elegant Mess


• Alas! A blog


• Alterdestiny


• AngryBrownButch


• Being Amber Rhea


• Better burn that dress, sister


• Bird of Paradox


• Black Looks


• Butterfly Cauldron


• cheshire_bitten


• cripchick’s weblog


• dented blue mercedes


• Don’t stray from the path...


• en|Gender


• Fannie's Room


• Feministe


• Fetch me my axe


• High On Rebellion


• Just Don't Mention Indy


• ksej


• Lesbilicious


• Morrígan Reborn


• Monster's Creed


• Mrs Madrigal


• My Private Casbah


• Natalia Antonova


• Nexy's Cocoon


• nixwilliams


• Pam's House Blend


• Problem Chylde


• Questioning Transphobia


• Sexual Ambiguities


• SFist


• Shut Up, Sit Down


• Silence, Exile and Crumpets


• Taking Steps


• Taking Up Too Much Space


• The Bilerico Project


• The Curvature


• The F-Word


• The Partial Muse


• The Raging Prosecutrix


• the strangest alchemy


• thisonewoman


• TRANScend GENDER


• TransGriot

Antony & The Johnsons - Bird Gehrl

I am a bird girl now
I've got my heart
Here in my hands now
I've been searching
For my wings some time
I'm gonna be born
Into soon the sky
'Cause I'm a bird girl
And the bird girls go to heaven
I'm a bird girl
And the bird girls can fly
Bird girls can fly

(Cross-posted from bird of paradox)

Comments are enabled and will be moderated by the a member of The F-Word bloggers group before publication. Please remember there will be a delay between comments being submitted and their appearance on the blog.

Fleur Bothwick, head of diversity at the firm, said that while men could simply opt for a uniform of dark suit and tie, officewear was more fraught for women.

"You don't want to be remembered as the woman with red lips, or leave people wondering, 'How does she walk on those heels?'," she told the magazine Personnel Today.

The voluntary sessions also advised women to "think of your colour palette - wear colours that bring out the best in your skin tone and hair colour" because, apparently, 70 per cent of first impressions are based on dress and presentation.

But possibly the scariest part of this article - if I have to choose just one - is this quote from Anne Freden, chair of the company's women's network

"The firm doesn't view this as something that is nice to have, but as an integral part of the business strategy," she said.

Because as everyone knows, the needs of business must take priority over absolutely everything else and appearance wins over ability every time.

So if anyone asks you why feminism is still necessary in the 21st century, here, at least, is one good reason: because women still suffer discrimination on the basis of our appearance and the clothes we wear. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to teeter off in my 4" stilettos to top up the preservative in the jar where I leave my brain on my way to my desk in the morning.

Human Rights Watch is pointing out the Iranian government's escalating number of attacks against women activists, subjecting them to arbitrary detention, travel bans, and harassment. The organisation said the Judiciary has prosecuted more than 100 women's rights activists over the past three years and continues to detain, intimidate, and prohibit from traveling a number of other women's rights activists, particularly those involved in the One Million Signatures Campaign for Equality which aims to raise awareness of Iranian laws that sanction discrimination against women, by collecting 1 million signatures in an effort to repeal the laws.

And, according to this report by Change For Equality:

Early this morning on October 26, 2008, security officials at Imam Khomeini Airport confiscated the passport of Sussan Tahmasebi, women’s rights defender and member of the One Million Signatures Campaign, preventing her from travel. Following Tahmasebi’s return to her house at 10:00am, she was faced with 5 security agents at her door, who presented her with a court order to search her home. The security officials, while filming the home, seized a number of CDs, books, writings, texts addressing peacebuilding, cassette tapes and a Laptop. The security officials also presented a summons to Tahmasebi, which requires that she present herself to Security Branch of the Revolutionary Courts within three days. The summons was issued over a month ago.

Click here to sign the online One Million Signatures petition.

------------

Related links:

• One Million Signatures Campaign (Change for Equality)
• Amnesty International UK: Support Iranian women's rights defenders
• Protect The Human: Iranian Women
• And the 1 Million Signatures Campaign for Equality in Iran Facebook group is here

The Transgender Carnival aims to recognize and celebrate the full spectrum of gender identities by providing a platform for all gender diverse voices.

The Carnival is open to all transsexual, transgendered, genderqueer, nongendered, gender non-conforming people, and anyone working in solidarity with us.

The format is similar to that of other carnivals and each month a different blogger will host it. Anyone can submit a link to a piece for consideration for inclusion.

Posts should not seek to disseminate hate speech or oppression, and nominations should be sent either directly to the host of the next carnival, or to transgender.carnival@gmail.com

The Transgender Carnival is currently accepting nominations for
(a) links to posts for inclusion in the first Transgender Carnival, and
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The consultants use research drawn from brain science, anthropology and marketing to help their clients to improve their understanding of women consumers. Their big idea is that while men regard the world as a stadium in which they compete, women are more “altruistic” and “utopian”.

The consultants, who are close to Steve Hilton, [David] Cameron’s director of stategy, have been holding regular meetings with the Tory leadership for the past 18 months. Their influence can be seen in the Tories’ changes in marketing, political style and policies. The replacement of the “phallic” Tory torch logo with the “organic” oak tree brand was a clear attempt to create a more female-friendly image.

[..]

Partly at the suggestion of his new advisers, the Tory leader has played down traditional Conservative “masculine” subjects such as tax cuts and Europe in favour of more “feminine” issues such as maternity nurses, schools and care for the elderly.

[..]

The consultants point to scientific research which shows that while men use only part of their brains, women are more “whole-brained”.

Men are described as active, analytical, competitive and interested in things, while women are more concerned with feelings, relationships, people and empathy.

“Women have a stronger sense of moral order and justice and are, as a result, driven to improve the world at large,” the consultants write.

“Whereas men are most likely to think the nation’s most pressing issues are budget and cutting spending, women [...] are more inclined to favour social programmes and services such as education, healthcare and childcare, poverty, joblessness, environment, world hunger and the United Nations.”

The report specifically mentions the party's intention "to woo the middle-class mothers whose votes are likely to determine the outcome of the next general election". Given the condescending attitude which seems to pervade the strategy, it's amazing they think that the targetted voters are even going to be able to find their way to the polling station without the help of a man, let alone manage to put one's 'X' in the right box as well.

I really can't help but wonder why politicians think that a campaign apparently based on hopelessly outmoded and inaccurate stereotypes is likely to be more successful in attracting a specific group of voters than a campaign which considers the real needs of real women in real life.