Monday, August 26, 2013
Thursday, August 8, 2013
Male Feminism or Pro-Feminsm Troubled?
"The ultimate goal of all feminists, male or female, is and rightly should be the welfare and social and political emancipation of women"- Ally Fogg, Trouble with Male Feminism, the guardian.com
"Whilst I will identify myself as a male feminist, my "ultimate goal" is not the emancipation of women per se, but the realization of an all round better society when we are all treated equally. Women's emancipation is an obvious part of this".-Tim Kay, Comment to the Blog
Reading "Trouble with Male Feminism" was actually troubling. But upon reading the aforementioned reply to the blog, I feel much better, not just because he is a male feminist, but because it is extremely crucial for everyone to understand where this movement is heading or what it stands for, be it man, woman or dog.
Feminists essentially believe in equality. As Gloria Steinem once said, " Different, but equal". We understand that women are different from men, but that does not in any way mean we do not deserve to live a respectable life, where we are not objectified, victimized or subsidized in any way. We are human after all. The recent trial in UK where a 41-yr old man walks free despite having sexually abused a 13-yr old girl, is the kind of vilification of women that feminism is trying to remove. (In this case, the victim is a child !) This movement will not succeed if all men view feminism as anti-male or anti-masculine. I have personally met male feminists and they are a very cheerful lot indeed. Posting a public opinion piece claiming ( in its title) that there is a problem with male feminism is a move that was posed to dissuade and discourage all men from viewing feminism in a positive light. A very cheeky move, I say! But I for one do not feel that it would succeed in dissuading men or women who have already made up their minds about sexism, misogyny or feminism, because those people who do speak against societal norms would have to be the kind of people who hold steadfast to their beliefs and it would take more than an opinion piece to change their minds.
The post should have been aptly titled, "Why I think men cannot be feminists" instead of "The trouble with male feminism". That the guardian.com allowed this piece to be posted shows us where they stand.
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
The victim blaming continues... This time in the UK !!
"This week in the U.K., Judge Nigel Peters gave a suspended sentence to 41-year-old Neil Wilson after he pleaded guilty to “making extreme pornographic images and one count of sexual activity” with a 13-year-old girl. The judge explained his leniency as stemming from the fact that“the girl was predatory and was egging you on.” During the trial, the prosecution had declared the girl was “sexually experienced” and that “She appeared to look around 14 or 15 and had the mental age of a 14 or 15 year old despite being younger than that. There was sexual activity but it was not of Mr. Wilson’s doing, you might say it was forced upon him despite being older and stronger than her.” Law enforcement also found “a stash of images and videos depicting child abuse and bestiality” in Wilson’s home, but sure, the 13-year-old girl is the predator here."
-taken from salon.com(source cited below)
The rapist walks away with a suspended sentence because the 13-yr old girl looks predatory.??? Are you fucking kidding me? She is 13 years old. That says everything. Whether she looks predatory or innocent or elusive or confrontational should make absolutely no difference in a court of law. Isn't the law supposed to consider hard-core facts and not delusional subjective feelings? The only question this sort of judgment warrants is on whether the judge himself is of sound judgment, whether his mental faculties have taken to a tossing or whether he holds sympathy for the rapist because he himself holds "predatory" urges allowing him to make clouded unfair judgments. Additionally, I quite don't understand why it is relevant to the case that the girl looks 14 or 15 years old. Does that really matter? Even if she is 14 (or 15, let's humor this atrocious age issue), isn't rape still rape? Are the court of laws in the UK incapable of distinguishing between consenting adults and sexual abuse of power over children by grown 41-year old men ? How is this in anyway a difficult judgement to make? That the Law Enforcement found a stash of images and videos depicting child abuse and bestiality in Wilson's home only makes this case clearer to judge.
This man has violated a child, in a way she probably will never recover from. How is this man allowed to have a free pass? The man who obviously has violent sexual tendencies, has literally been given permission to continue this sort of behavior. This is a humanitarian issue and much less a feminist issue. It is a matter of justice being denied, when it should have been handed justly and swiftly to the criminal. Instead the victim has been reprimanded and even accused for being raped. How is this justified?
Sources:
http://www.salon.com/2013/08/06/the_girl_was_predatory/
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Monday, August 5, 2013
More Moms In Businesses
"Today in the United States and the developed world, women are better off than ever before. But the blunt truth is that men still run the world. While women continue to outpace men in educational achievement, we have ceased making real progress at the top of any industry. Women hold around 14% of Fortune 500 executive-officer positions and about 17% of board seats, numbers that have barely budged over the last decade. This means that when it comes to making the decisions that most affect our world, our voices are not heard equally."- Sheryl Sandberg, Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead
Crowdfunding !! Solution to all world problems!!
Who hasnt heard about Kickstarter by now? For those who haven't, Kickstarter is the first-of-a-kind crowdfunding revolution. For complete newbies, Wikipedia defines Crowdfunding as:
"Crowdfunding (alternately crowd financing, equity crowdfunding, crowd-sourced fundraising) is the collective effort of individuals who network and pool their money, usually via the Internet, to support efforts initiated by other people or organizations."
I am a huge believer in the power of crowd-funding and the open source movement. It has the power to decentralize power originally resting in the hands of huge multinational corporations to the hands of mere mortals, mortals who are capable of bringing social change into the world. Kickstarter was the beginning. Kickstarter changed the way in which creative projects got funded.
Now is the time to change the way in which social projects get funded, not just in developed countries but around the world. You may find it a little hard to believe, but the movement has already started. Below is the Introductory video to Chime for Change.
Reluctant to give away money? Then lend as little as 25$ to change lives at Milaap.org.
If you know about other cool crowd-funding platforms, do not to hesitate to add them in the comments sections and I will soon add it to the list. Let this become a crowd-sourced page on crowdsourcing.
Thursday, August 1, 2013
The everyday sexism project completes one year!
"A girl in Pakistan described hiding sexual abuse for the sake of "family honour". A woman in Brazil was harassed by three men who tried to drag her into their car when she ignored them. In Germany, a woman had her crotch and bottom groped so frequently she described it as "the norm". In Mexico, a university student was told by her professor: "Calladita te ves mas bonita" (you look prettier when you shut up). In Israel, a teacher with a master's degree who speaks six languages was told she "wasn't a good enough homemaker for my future husband". In France, a man exposed himself to 12- and 16-year-old sisters as they tried to picnic in a public park. On a bus in India, a woman was too afraid to report the man pressing his erect penis into her back."
-taken from the everyday sexism project
Although this post comes pretty late, I would love to congratulate the everyday sexism project for completing a year. Despite tons of hate mail (we all know how harsh they can get), and lack of initial funding, the everday sexism project is extremely successful in collating women's routine experiences of prejudice and harassment. Some of the posts are extremely horrifying and appalling and some of the posts are extremely commonplace. And people continue to ask why we need feminism.
Resources
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/the-womens-blog-with-jane-martinson/2013/apr/16/everyday-sexism-project-shouting-back
http://www.everydaysexism.com/
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