Saturday, 27 July 2013
The F Word
There are many taboo words in society that for some reason or another we're afraid to say,the above is one of them,well what is the f word it I hear you cry?Feminism, the new F word is feminism.Last night I went to a talk about feminism and 'lad' culture and its place in our society,it was extremely interesting with 3 seasoned academics in gender studies speaking on the matter.These were Dr Madeleine Davies,Professor Grace Ioppolo and Professor Karin Lesnik-Oberstein. They all made very interesting points and spoke much better than I could ever dream of doing,first they acknowledged that it wasn't a new phenomenon, no 'lads' have been around since the dawn of time,but with advances in technology there are many more platforms the favourites being facebook and twitter.After they spoke it was opened up into a discussion where anyone could make a comment or ask a question.
At this point it is important to note several things,the room was full (although when you think of the thousands of students at Reading University it was barely a sprinkle).It was mainly girls with around seven or eight particularly brave boys who came along to fight their corner oh and there was free cake.The victoria sponge topped with strawberries was the nicest victoria sponge I have EVER tasted,but that's not really relevant.Girls are scared to come along to such events,even worse they are scared to label themselves feminists because of the connotations attached to it;lesbian,man hater,ugly,woman hater,bra burner the list goes on and on.There are many women who are feminists but just don't know it yet and others who truly believe that enough progress has been made so we can all stop talking about it.Later on that night I had an early hours of the morning,post night out conversation with one of my flatmates who had attended the talk with me and she said that the people holding women back are women.I can't help but in many cases agree,women are the harshest critics of women,when I go out I am much more worried about what girls will say about how I look than what boys will say,boys don't notice if a girl's mascara is lumpy or if her foundation isn't blended properly but it's girls that do and then we complain about low self esteem.Tina Fey's character in Mean Girls sums it up perfectly in the scene after the burn book gets released and all of the girls have been fighting.She says 'you've got to stop calling each other sluts and whores because it only makes it ok for guys to call you sluts and whores'.
There is an assumption in the Western World that women who sleep around are somehow trying to validate their existence,or that they can't get the guy or girl they really want but it's not always true some women just like to have a lot of sex with a lot of different people.Who says that's not ok?Women.It's ok for men to sleep around,they're labelled as a legend,a lad or a lothario. Therein lies the problem.One girl spoke about choice and how feminism is all about choice and I completely agree,don't all women or men that would call themselves a feminist believe in choice?The aforementioned flatmate later pointed out that the choice argument was age old and perpetually regurgitated in all feminist debates even though we all agree.The point she made is the acceptance of choice-I'd never really thought of it that way.One of the main things that holds women back is not the lack of choice but the lack of acceptance of that choice,whether that be to stay at home,or not to have children or sleep around.It is time to start accepting the choices that are made by others and respecting them because they are theirs,time to stop asserting that some choices are better than others and that some are right and others wrong.In my last example I refer to the first girl that put her hand up when the discussion was opened up,her initial points were well executed and informative but then she moved somewhere that I really didn't like.She criticised Beyonce Knowles Carter-better known as just Beyonce (at this point I must point out that although I am an avid fan my judgement is not clouded).She bemoaned Beyonce's labelling of herself as a feminist singing about independent women,I assume referring to the song 'Run the World' in which she sings 'Boy you know you love it how we smart enough to make these millions,strong enough to bear the children and then get back to business'.This woman, a 26 year old mature student stated that the message Beyonce was delivering was and I quote 'invalidated' by the lack of clothes that she wears whilst performing.I put my hand up a while later and strongly disagreed,this I felt summarised the issue of choice-Beyonce is immensely powerful as a performer and contributor to popular culture,she can do what she likes,she could go out dressed in a nun's habit and still look beautiful.So why does it matter?if the message is being delivered it is being delivered and it shouldn't ever matter in what package that message comes in.
I'll leave you with this,every woman should be proud to have feminist tatooed across her forehead for the world to see because as Kate Nash so eloquently stated "feminism is not a dirty word. It does not mean you hate men, it does not mean you hate girls that have nice legs and a tan, and it does not mean you are a ‘bitch’ or a ‘dyke’, it means you believe in equality".Can any woman really sit back and say that she disagrees?I don't think so.
Yasmin
P.S.If you didn't like it and think I'm a crazy radical that's fine,I'm too busy burning my bra to care ;)
Yasmin Levy-Miller
Friday, 21 June 2013
Cake and Fighting Spirit- Talk on Lad Culture
“We're moving into a bigger room” was the necessary announcement from the surprised and elated members of the Reading University Women's Campaign and the speakers: Dr Madeleine Davies, Professor Grace Ioppolo, and Professor Karin Lesnik-Oberstein. This event on the topic of “Laddism” was inspired by the concerns felt to be present in many of the audience's comments and questions at the previous talk that was organised for International Women's Day in March. (http://blogs.reading.ac.uk/english-at-reading/2013/03/26/the-last-of-our-international-womens-day-reports/ )
The unanticipated level of attendance of the first event was exceeded last night, despite the expected difficulty of it being held at the end of Summer term. Encouragingly there were some faces we recognised and even more wonderfully, a great number of male audience members! With everyone squeezed in, sat on the floor in some cases, and a cake of some kind in hand, the talk began.
Reading University's Women's Campaign live tweeted the event for those self-defining Feminists or curious parties who were unable to attend. https://twitter.com/RUWomCam The tweets included the main points of the talks and the following discussion. Thanks to the 140 character limit they often beg to be re-tweeted as succinct Feminist mantras, for example: “We are not in a post feminist society. No way. Definitely not“ and “We need to make #shoutingback a habit”.
Through references to key Feminist texts such as Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own and Susie Orbach's Fat Is A Feminist Issue, insightful observations about the recent NUS report on sexism at Universities and a powerpoint presentation which connected Early Modern portraiture of women and current examples of sexualised advertising, the talks demonstrated that the issues facing women have not changed. The three speakers agreed that “Lad Culture” is a new name for the same process of insisting female inferiority in order to maintain male superiority; as one audience member acutely stated: “'Laddism' shows that it is still a man's world.”
Shocking personal examples from the speakers and the audience, and the commentary on the role which social media has begun to play in sexist “humour” showed that Laddism can be found in all spheres. Professor Grace Ioppolo recalled her experience of hearing a well regarded academic ask during a lecture given by his female colleague, “why is it all Feminists are so ugly you want to put a bag over their head?” Dr Madeleine Davies cited examples from Facebook, such as: underneath a picture of an injured women a caption stated “one out of three women are victims of domestic abuse”. A comment in response to the image was: “two out of three men aren't doing their job properly”.
A key concern raised by Dr Davies's examples and revelations from the student audience members about websites such as “Spotted: University of Reading Library”, (on this website female appearance is scrutinised to a high level, and humiliation seems to be the main aim,) was the power the internet and its anonymity seems to galvanize in its users. Professor Karin Lesnik-Oberstein also suggested that this kind of effect is produced through the consumption of alcohol, which she argued was repeatedly mentioned in the NUS report but was not drawn as part of the conclusion due to the communal difficulties in our attitudes regarding alcohol.
It appears that being a “lad” is an exaggerated manifestation of being male. Through excessive consumption of alcohol which is encouraged within the culture and the use of anonymous social media, “lads” are able to overcome the male fear of losing their superiority which Dr Davies quoted from Virginia Woolf and which describes Professor Ioppolo's anecdote about the male academic perfectly: “Possibly when the professor insisted a little too emphatically upon the inferiority of women, he was concerned not with their inferiority, but with his own superiority.
Although much of the discussion was about issues which are difficult to overcome, a lot was learnt and the following seem to be at the forefront of people's worried, but hopeful minds: the connection between alcohol and sexism, are women under a new kind of surveillance due to social media, are educational spaces such as the library at risk of becoming threatening and what are the best ways to respond to sexism which is disguised as “humour”? Despite the somewhat overwhelming recognition of the challenges facing us and their frustratingly enduring quality, the event was inspiring and filled a sense of respect and pride for Feminism. Dr Davies's closing words at the event showed the communal willingness to protest and the optimistic spirit within the room: “Let's fortify ourselves for the fight with cake!”
By Ellie Cox
The unanticipated level of attendance of the first event was exceeded last night, despite the expected difficulty of it being held at the end of Summer term. Encouragingly there were some faces we recognised and even more wonderfully, a great number of male audience members! With everyone squeezed in, sat on the floor in some cases, and a cake of some kind in hand, the talk began.
Reading University's Women's Campaign live tweeted the event for those self-defining Feminists or curious parties who were unable to attend. https://twitter.com/RUWomCam The tweets included the main points of the talks and the following discussion. Thanks to the 140 character limit they often beg to be re-tweeted as succinct Feminist mantras, for example: “We are not in a post feminist society. No way. Definitely not“ and “We need to make #shoutingback a habit”.
Through references to key Feminist texts such as Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own and Susie Orbach's Fat Is A Feminist Issue, insightful observations about the recent NUS report on sexism at Universities and a powerpoint presentation which connected Early Modern portraiture of women and current examples of sexualised advertising, the talks demonstrated that the issues facing women have not changed. The three speakers agreed that “Lad Culture” is a new name for the same process of insisting female inferiority in order to maintain male superiority; as one audience member acutely stated: “'Laddism' shows that it is still a man's world.”
Shocking personal examples from the speakers and the audience, and the commentary on the role which social media has begun to play in sexist “humour” showed that Laddism can be found in all spheres. Professor Grace Ioppolo recalled her experience of hearing a well regarded academic ask during a lecture given by his female colleague, “why is it all Feminists are so ugly you want to put a bag over their head?” Dr Madeleine Davies cited examples from Facebook, such as: underneath a picture of an injured women a caption stated “one out of three women are victims of domestic abuse”. A comment in response to the image was: “two out of three men aren't doing their job properly”.
A key concern raised by Dr Davies's examples and revelations from the student audience members about websites such as “Spotted: University of Reading Library”, (on this website female appearance is scrutinised to a high level, and humiliation seems to be the main aim,) was the power the internet and its anonymity seems to galvanize in its users. Professor Karin Lesnik-Oberstein also suggested that this kind of effect is produced through the consumption of alcohol, which she argued was repeatedly mentioned in the NUS report but was not drawn as part of the conclusion due to the communal difficulties in our attitudes regarding alcohol.
It appears that being a “lad” is an exaggerated manifestation of being male. Through excessive consumption of alcohol which is encouraged within the culture and the use of anonymous social media, “lads” are able to overcome the male fear of losing their superiority which Dr Davies quoted from Virginia Woolf and which describes Professor Ioppolo's anecdote about the male academic perfectly: “Possibly when the professor insisted a little too emphatically upon the inferiority of women, he was concerned not with their inferiority, but with his own superiority.
Although much of the discussion was about issues which are difficult to overcome, a lot was learnt and the following seem to be at the forefront of people's worried, but hopeful minds: the connection between alcohol and sexism, are women under a new kind of surveillance due to social media, are educational spaces such as the library at risk of becoming threatening and what are the best ways to respond to sexism which is disguised as “humour”? Despite the somewhat overwhelming recognition of the challenges facing us and their frustratingly enduring quality, the event was inspiring and filled a sense of respect and pride for Feminism. Dr Davies's closing words at the event showed the communal willingness to protest and the optimistic spirit within the room: “Let's fortify ourselves for the fight with cake!”
By Ellie Cox
Wednesday, 12 June 2013
Next Meeting
A little short notice I do apologise,
Meeting in Cafe Mondial tomorrow (Thursday 13/06) at 1pm.
Hope you can all be there!
We'll be discussing plans, events, and a general chit-chat.
Meeting in Cafe Mondial tomorrow (Thursday 13/06) at 1pm.
Hope you can all be there!
We'll be discussing plans, events, and a general chit-chat.
Sunday, 12 May 2013
Question Time, Jerry Hayes, rape apology, and a lack of an apology.
I was, as many others were utterly shocked by Jerry Hayes comments on Question Time. When I first heard it, I almost simultaneously broke my laptop, TV and my foot as I jumped up in a fit of anger. Then I took to twitter to express my outrage, posted in my Uni's Women's campaign group Facebook page, and complained to the BBC.
I'm not going to lie, I didn't get a lot of sleep that night (getting angry before going to bed is never a good idea), I woke up and with the Women's campaign group, we set up the petition to try and get him to apologise. Something Mr Hayes is yet to do, (and yet to reply to my tweets informing him so).
Why did the Women's campaign group and I want to set up this petition? Simple.
We do not feel that his comments were acceptable. To say that rape cases that did not end in conviction are "clearly not rape" is down-right wrong. Does every crime that doesn't end in a conviction stop being a crime? No. His comments are severely damaging to those who have experienced, know those who have experienced rape or sexual assault or those who fight for justice. His comments implied that these people are liars, if there is no conviction then there is no rape, therefore the defendant is lying.
In a culture that makes it difficult for survivors to come forward and report this heinous crime, for them to naturally not to be believed, despite the fact the CPS have published a report showing how rare false rape allegations actually are. Mr Hayes comments do nothing to dispel these myths, that are perpetuated by the culture we live in, the media and by MRAs. Furthermore the fact that Mr Hayes is a barrister, works within the judicial system, makes it even more concerning, as it has been well documented how stressful and humiliating the court process can be for the survivor, as shown in many cases, some where the victim has ended up committing suicide because of the ordeal of the courtroom.
The least this event will cause, is an awareness of the attitudes that some people hold about rape cases, maybe the outrage we show will make people think - That's what I'm hoping anyway. We may not get an apology out of Mr Hayes, as shown by his comments on his blog. I doubt he will really, but hopefully with this petition, we can show our outrage. The fact he mentioned the petition, and the abuse he has been getting on twitter, resulting in him writing that post, must have had an impact - maybe he realises what he said was wrong? - But then again, why won't he just hold his hands up and say sorry I didn't word it better, that's not what I meant. - Maybe he's too stubborn to admit, the wording, the comment, was wrong.
Sadly (for him) I am also stubborn, so we won't stop until we get a proper apology.
He also says in his blog, that this is an issue of free speech. Why? We have every right to petition what he said - that's us using our free speech. We just want him to realise what he said was wrong, and offensive. Personally I can't see why we are hurting his free speech. With free speech he has the right to say ignorant things, but we will call him out, educate, and show him why he is wrong. That's the glory of free speech, debate.
So read, sign & share the petition. The one which apparently Mugabe would be proud of. https://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/jerry-hayes-the-bbc-publicly-apologise-for-comments-on-bbcqt-acknowledge-them-as-wrong-2
- Lauren Read (Ramblingaofastudentfeminist.blogspot.co.uk)
I'm not going to lie, I didn't get a lot of sleep that night (getting angry before going to bed is never a good idea), I woke up and with the Women's campaign group, we set up the petition to try and get him to apologise. Something Mr Hayes is yet to do, (and yet to reply to my tweets informing him so).
Why did the Women's campaign group and I want to set up this petition? Simple.
We do not feel that his comments were acceptable. To say that rape cases that did not end in conviction are "clearly not rape" is down-right wrong. Does every crime that doesn't end in a conviction stop being a crime? No. His comments are severely damaging to those who have experienced, know those who have experienced rape or sexual assault or those who fight for justice. His comments implied that these people are liars, if there is no conviction then there is no rape, therefore the defendant is lying.
In a culture that makes it difficult for survivors to come forward and report this heinous crime, for them to naturally not to be believed, despite the fact the CPS have published a report showing how rare false rape allegations actually are. Mr Hayes comments do nothing to dispel these myths, that are perpetuated by the culture we live in, the media and by MRAs. Furthermore the fact that Mr Hayes is a barrister, works within the judicial system, makes it even more concerning, as it has been well documented how stressful and humiliating the court process can be for the survivor, as shown in many cases, some where the victim has ended up committing suicide because of the ordeal of the courtroom.
The least this event will cause, is an awareness of the attitudes that some people hold about rape cases, maybe the outrage we show will make people think - That's what I'm hoping anyway. We may not get an apology out of Mr Hayes, as shown by his comments on his blog. I doubt he will really, but hopefully with this petition, we can show our outrage. The fact he mentioned the petition, and the abuse he has been getting on twitter, resulting in him writing that post, must have had an impact - maybe he realises what he said was wrong? - But then again, why won't he just hold his hands up and say sorry I didn't word it better, that's not what I meant. - Maybe he's too stubborn to admit, the wording, the comment, was wrong.
Sadly (for him) I am also stubborn, so we won't stop until we get a proper apology.
He also says in his blog, that this is an issue of free speech. Why? We have every right to petition what he said - that's us using our free speech. We just want him to realise what he said was wrong, and offensive. Personally I can't see why we are hurting his free speech. With free speech he has the right to say ignorant things, but we will call him out, educate, and show him why he is wrong. That's the glory of free speech, debate.
So read, sign & share the petition. The one which apparently Mugabe would be proud of. https://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/jerry-hayes-the-bbc-publicly-apologise-for-comments-on-bbcqt-acknowledge-them-as-wrong-2
- Lauren Read (Ramblingaofastudentfeminist.blogspot.co.uk)
Friday, 10 May 2013
Jerry Hayes' disgusting rape apology comments on BBC Question Time
Please read, sign and share: https://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/jerry-hayes-the-bbc-publicly-apologise-for-comments-on-bbcqt-acknowledge-them-as-wrong-2 …Petition against Jerry Hayes' disgusting rape apology comments.
Thursday, 4 April 2013
LAD culture and Jack Rivlin's article
LAD culture, something we see everyday at University, from posts/pictures on Facebook to being shouted at, groped or objectified on campus or in a club. It should be obvious to anyone on campus that this LAD culture is inherently sexist, and these jokes are generally just passed off as 'banter'. If you protest or call them out on their sexism, the general response will be to 'get a sense of humour' or that you 'don't get the banter', or 'it's not sexist, it's just a joke', or even 'shut up and get back in the kitchen'. - I suppose at least that one shows that they realise they're being misogynistic (hopefully anyway), but it's still horrific language. This was common and general knowledge - LAD culture was about drinking until you're paralytic, doing idiotic things, and saying idiotic things that are generally sexist or homophobic - and in my experience from the LADs in halls last year, racist as well.
Then came along Jack Rivlin's article which can be read here in the Telegraph yesterday, protecting and frankly misunderstanding LAD culture and attempting to rip to shreds the NUS's report on the subject 'That's what she said'. Rivlin, who is the editor of the student newspaper the Tab, which is in my opinion the tabloid of student journalism.
He seems to be mansplaining a bit here, telling women what they shouldn't find sexist. And he clearly hasn't properly read the NUS report, maybe he read a summary on it, once, maybe. Maybe he just read the title and left it at that. But that may be giving him too much credit. His conclusion from whatever research he did (which is none I'm assuming), is that the NUS and us man-hating feminists (bringing up that old chestnut, eh Rivlin?) believes that LAD = Rapist.
It doesn't. Nowhere in report, pretty much no feminist, post-2nd wave feminism from the 1970s thinks that. Now I'm going to make this big, to emphasise it.
What LAD culture does do is support rape culture, by normalising rape and VAWG, making it something to laugh at, making jokes about women that make them seem like second-class citizens. The fact that Rivlin doesn't see this is really worrying. By perpetuating and supporting rape culture, it doesn't automatically make you a rapist. We know that, I'm sure you know that - then why doesn't Rivlin know that? & FYI just because you don't know anyone that has been 'slutdropped' doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. Slut-shaming is a massive problem and especially within LAD culture. They appear to love sex and yet any girl who feels the same (which they have every right to do) is a slut in their eyes.
My experiences and those of my female friends, as women, can tell Rivlin quite definitely that LAD culture is sexist - it's not the only place where sexism occurs, but with us and the NUS being concerned about Uni (because that is where we are); that is where we are going to write about! We're not jealous of these LADs because they are the 'cool kids in the playground' - that was something we all left behind in highschool, but it seems that Rivlin didn't. - We are trying to combat LAD culture in every way we can because it tries to humiliate, patronise, and knock the confidence of female students. If you're called a slut, or you are called a whale/pig/dog - that is going to hurt your confidence. Being called names, groped, harassed, assaulted just because of your gender is wrong, and this is something that LAD culture does. We are against LAD culture because it is misogynistic.
But then again with me being a feminist, that *obviously* means I hate men, so Rivlin and I; we're not going to see eye-to-eye right? Wrong. I, as Rivlin has also commented, know people who do call themselves as LADs and they don't make sexist jokes (well not when I'm around anyway) - but the few LADs that he knows (because he was once on his Uni's Rugby team and they didn't say anything he considers sexist), and the LADs that I know, cannot speak for the entire of the LAD subculture. The majority of the LADs at our Uni, and at other Uni's, do make sexist jokes, say sexist and misogynistic things, and do misogynistic things. I don't need a man to tell me to 'calm down' and that it's not sexist. IT IS SEXIST.
Or maybe I just don't 'get' the banter.
- Lauren Read (Ramblingaofastudentfeminist.blogspot.co.uk)
Then came along Jack Rivlin's article which can be read here in the Telegraph yesterday, protecting and frankly misunderstanding LAD culture and attempting to rip to shreds the NUS's report on the subject 'That's what she said'. Rivlin, who is the editor of the student newspaper the Tab, which is in my opinion the tabloid of student journalism.
He seems to be mansplaining a bit here, telling women what they shouldn't find sexist. And he clearly hasn't properly read the NUS report, maybe he read a summary on it, once, maybe. Maybe he just read the title and left it at that. But that may be giving him too much credit. His conclusion from whatever research he did (which is none I'm assuming), is that the NUS and us man-hating feminists (bringing up that old chestnut, eh Rivlin?) believes that LAD = Rapist.
It doesn't. Nowhere in report, pretty much no feminist, post-2nd wave feminism from the 1970s thinks that. Now I'm going to make this big, to emphasise it.
LAD =/= Rapist.
What LAD culture does do is support rape culture, by normalising rape and VAWG, making it something to laugh at, making jokes about women that make them seem like second-class citizens. The fact that Rivlin doesn't see this is really worrying. By perpetuating and supporting rape culture, it doesn't automatically make you a rapist. We know that, I'm sure you know that - then why doesn't Rivlin know that? & FYI just because you don't know anyone that has been 'slutdropped' doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. Slut-shaming is a massive problem and especially within LAD culture. They appear to love sex and yet any girl who feels the same (which they have every right to do) is a slut in their eyes.
My experiences and those of my female friends, as women, can tell Rivlin quite definitely that LAD culture is sexist - it's not the only place where sexism occurs, but with us and the NUS being concerned about Uni (because that is where we are); that is where we are going to write about! We're not jealous of these LADs because they are the 'cool kids in the playground' - that was something we all left behind in highschool, but it seems that Rivlin didn't. - We are trying to combat LAD culture in every way we can because it tries to humiliate, patronise, and knock the confidence of female students. If you're called a slut, or you are called a whale/pig/dog - that is going to hurt your confidence. Being called names, groped, harassed, assaulted just because of your gender is wrong, and this is something that LAD culture does. We are against LAD culture because it is misogynistic.
But then again with me being a feminist, that *obviously* means I hate men, so Rivlin and I; we're not going to see eye-to-eye right? Wrong. I, as Rivlin has also commented, know people who do call themselves as LADs and they don't make sexist jokes (well not when I'm around anyway) - but the few LADs that he knows (because he was once on his Uni's Rugby team and they didn't say anything he considers sexist), and the LADs that I know, cannot speak for the entire of the LAD subculture. The majority of the LADs at our Uni, and at other Uni's, do make sexist jokes, say sexist and misogynistic things, and do misogynistic things. I don't need a man to tell me to 'calm down' and that it's not sexist. IT IS SEXIST.
Or maybe I just don't 'get' the banter.
- Lauren Read (Ramblingaofastudentfeminist.blogspot.co.uk)
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