Mina Roces and Louise Edwards, Women’s Movements in Asia: Feminisms and Transnational Activism
The great feminist divide over the issue of whether prostitution is ‘sex work’ or ‘violence against women’ (VAW) has its Asian variant with activists lined up on both sides of these two camps. But here was another example of where the Asian context introduced new perspectives to the debate. Activists argued that poverty, sex tourism, the presence of American military bases and American servicemen on R&R leave as well as the trafficking of Asian women across national borders (all the way to Australia, the USA, Lebanon and Europe) needed to be considered in any discussion about prostitution as a feminist issue. As cities such as Manila and Bangkok earned reputations as ‘sex capitals’ of Asian for tourists looking for a ‘good time’, women’s organizations were committed to dismantling the Orientalist narrative that represented Asian women as ‘exotic’, ‘erotic’, and submissive women since this powerful myth perpetuated the view that Asian women were ‘available’ for sex. Activists from Asia not only has to debunk their local culture’s grand narratives of the feminine, they also had to destroy images perpetuated by foreigners (including colonial and imperial powers both Asian and Euro-American) who could not get beyond the sexualized image of the ‘Asian woman’.
Western white feminists have to stop acting as if something that worked for them will work for us. There are so many other factors that play into our lives. Nor is there such a thing as “quintessential ‘Asian woman’” when different religions, cultures and histories (including older and more recent political regimes and contexts) have shaped womanhood and femininity for different Asian women in different ways.
(via themindislimitless)
Asian women 7
Transgender candlelight walk, Delhi, 2012.
Asian women 7
Transgender candlelight walk, Delhi, 2012.
Not Your Ex/Rotic: Creatrix Tiara gets busy in May - come check me out :)
I’ve got a string of gigs happening in the Bay Area in early May, all exploring different types of art, so come say hi:
Women’s Rock Camp Showcase + Queen Crescent
The New Parish
579 18th Street (at San Pablo), Oakland, CA 94612
Sunday 5 May 2013 : 2pm to 5pm
$5 - $15, under 18 FREE; no one turned away for lack of fundsWomen’s Rock Camp is a program of Bay Area Girls Rock Camp (BAGRC). BAGRC is a nonprofit dedicated to empowering girls through music, promoting an environment that fosters self-confidence, creativity and collaboration. Participants learn instruments, form bands, write an original song, attend workshops, and perform in a live concert…all in three days. Women’s Rock Camp tuition and all showcase proceeds benefit the Bay Area Girls Rock Camp Youth Programs.
I am one of the participants in this year’s WRC and am pretty excited to relive my rockstar dreams ;)
LGBT Center
1800 Market St, San Francisco CA 94102
Thursday 9 May 2013 : 6pm Visual Arts, 7:30pm Videos and Performances
FREE!Giving a definition to gender variance is tricky. As is defining chronic illness. People tell themselves “I am not sick enough or queer enough or whatever enough” to identify these ways and this hesitance stops us from forming communities and connections. We isolate because our experiences are not talked about or validated and our unique and varied lives don’t lend themselves easily to group formation. Definitions are inherently constraining which is why many gender variant and chronically ill folks resist identity categories that often hew to normative binaries. With this in mind, SICK will bring folks together to make beautiful complicated art about our intersecting experiences as gender variant and sick people.
I don’t usually class myself as a visual artist, so my piece in SICK is going to be an interesting visual/performance/interactivity hybrid experiment. I’m the pre-show before the performances and videos, so come early enough to check me out and say hi (in a manner of speaking).
Mother Funder! A Mother’s Day Cabaret Benefiting White Lies
Club 21
2111 Franklin St (at 21st), Oakland CA 94612
Sunday 12 May 2013 : 7:30pm
$10; no one turned away for lack of funds - 21+White Lies is a new production to debut at the 2013 National Queer Arts Festival on June 23rd. A multiracial cast of queer musicians, filmmakers, poets, writers, and actors will explore whiteness to dismantle racism in our queer communities. Our production aims to bring humor and hope to conversations about race and racism by blending together many mediums in a night of performance and conversation. Our cast is composed of many movers and shakers in the San Francisco Bay Area LGBTQ arts scene including nomy lamm, StormMiguel Florez, Jezebel Delilah X, Eli Conley, Susie Smith, Jolie Harris, Mel Chen, Meredith Fenton, Kentucky Fried Woman and Open Mike. This benefit cabaret is to help us fund our world premiere performance and cover the costs of ASL interpretation, venue rentals, and paying our cast and crew.
The Polyester Girl Army is likely to make a comeback amongst some awesome Bay Area QTPOC names!
Arab Women Find Clever Ways to Cope with Sex Rules | Care2 Causes
This week, Saudi Arabia’s CPVPV (Commission on the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice) overturned a ban on cycling for women, with some significant qualifications: 1) bicycles cannot be used for transport, 2) the female biker must be accompanied by a male guardian, and 3) she must be wearing a hijab. In other words, as one headline claimed: “Saudi women are now allowed to cycle—but only around in circles.”
Some Saudi Arabian women are running circles around their society’s rules. All across the Arab world, women, frustrated by centuries of patriarchal oppression, are quietly and subtly subverting restrictions in their everyday lives.
Some women are undermining the patriarchy with lace and lingerie. In her new book, Sex in the Citadel, Shereen el Feki chronicles sexuality in Arab society, including the experience of married Arab women who cannot “express their sexual desire and their sexual needs” to their husbands. “It would be a shame for me to show my husband that I want to have sex,” says one woman. According to Feki, lingerie creates a way around the stigma. She writes, “sales are thriving across the Middle East…for many women, lingerie is a tool of empowerment” because it allows women to signal their sexual desires without insulting their culture.
Some teenage girls, desperate for the thrill of co-ed contact, try to game the system. Teenage dating is one of Arab society’s greatest taboos, but a game called “numbering” allows teen boys and girls a taste of possibility, as they exchange cell phone numbers by holding notes up to the windows of their moving cars. For many girls, that glimpse of a guy through the car window may be their only male interaction before marriage.
Arab Women Find Clever Ways to Cope with Sex Rules | Care2 Causes
This week, Saudi Arabia’s CPVPV (Commission on the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice) overturned a ban on cycling for women, with some significant qualifications: 1) bicycles cannot be used for transport, 2) the female biker must be accompanied by a male guardian, and 3) she must be wearing a hijab. In other words, as one headline claimed: “Saudi women are now allowed to cycle—but only around in circles.”
Some Saudi Arabian women are running circles around their society’s rules. All across the Arab world, women, frustrated by centuries of patriarchal oppression, are quietly and subtly subverting restrictions in their everyday lives.
Some women are undermining the patriarchy with lace and lingerie. In her new book, Sex in the Citadel, Shereen el Feki chronicles sexuality in Arab society, including the experience of married Arab women who cannot “express their sexual desire and their sexual needs” to their husbands. “It would be a shame for me to show my husband that I want to have sex,” says one woman. According to Feki, lingerie creates a way around the stigma. She writes, “sales are thriving across the Middle East…for many women, lingerie is a tool of empowerment” because it allows women to signal their sexual desires without insulting their culture.
Some teenage girls, desperate for the thrill of co-ed contact, try to game the system. Teenage dating is one of Arab society’s greatest taboos, but a game called “numbering” allows teen boys and girls a taste of possibility, as they exchange cell phone numbers by holding notes up to the windows of their moving cars. For many girls, that glimpse of a guy through the car window may be their only male interaction before marriage.
IDRC | CRDI: Arab women continue rights struggle | Les femmes arabes toujours en lutte pour leurs droits
A campaign that won legal recognition for Arab women’s citizenship rights in nine jurisdictions is providing inspiration and tactical lessons for women facing growing discrimination across the Middle East.
Full story by Stephen Dale
Une campagne ayant mené à la reconnaissance juridique des droits en matière de nationalité des femmes arabes dans neuf pays et territoires constitue une source d’inspiration et de solutions stratégiques pour les femmes qui, un peu partout au Moyen-Orient, se heurtent à une discrimination croissante.
Reportage de Stephen Dale(Photo: CRTD.A | Hanna Nehme)
REVEALED: 100 most powerful Arab women 2013
I don’t know about anyone else but it’s about time we see some more articles like this, instead of the stereotypical ones about women from the Arab world. The list is a really interesting read. It’s made up of architects and construction bosses, the UAE’s first female minister.
Considering the framework and ideologies they are doing business in, these women earn my utmost respect.
Venezuelan women dedicate this March 8 to President Chavez
In Venezuela this March 8, International Women’s Day will be dedicated to President Hugo Chavez, who in his 14 years in office fought for justice for women and created laws and missions for their benefit.
The Minister for Women and Gender Equality, Nancy Perez, said that “We here in Venezuela tell the world that we dedicate this day to our commander Hugo Chavez, because he gave us many days.”
The official recalled that the leader of the Bolivarian Revolution gave hope to the people. Therefore, “We will never forget and most importantly, we will not let you down.”
The laws promulgated for the benefit of women during his tenure include the Organic Law on the Right of Women to a Life Free of Violence, Equal Opportunities, Responsible Parenthood, Promotion and Protection of Breastfeeding and the Labor Law for workers.
On March 8, 2009, President Chavez created the Ministry for Women and Gender Equality, as an institution to protect and defend the rights of the women, according to international treaties and agreements.
(Source: pornblography)
Three Kurdish women activists slain in Paris
PARIS — Three female Kurdish activists were found dead Thursday at an information center for Kurds in Paris, all of them shot in the head in what a French official described as execution-style killings.
The victims included Sakine Cansiz, a co-founder of the militant nationalist Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK. Interior Minister Manuel Valls said the deaths were “no doubt executions” and called them “intolerable.”
The three women were last seen inside the information center of the Kurdish Institute in north Paris about noon Wednesday.
The alarm was raised by a member of the Kurdish community who became worried after failing to reach one of the women on her cellphone. Friends visited the center and, after seeing traces of blood on the locked door of the unmarked office on the first floor, broke in and found the three bodies in the early hours of Thursday.
Valls, visiting the center later Thursday morning, said France’s anti-terrorist brigade had been called to investigate and pledged that authorities would do all they could to “shed light on this act.”
The PKK, which demands greater autonomy for Turkish Kurds, is regarded by the U.S. and theEuropean Union as a terrorist organization.
In addition to Cansiz, the victims were identified as Fidan Dogan, 32, who worked in the information center and was Paris representative of the Brussels-based Kurdistan National Congress, and Leyla Soylemez, described by the Kurdish center as “a young activist.”
Women. Le jour où les filles se mirent à faire caca.
Le débat est continuel, dans les bars, entre amies.
Est-ce que tous les choix que nous faisons en tant que femme (avoir des enfants, faire telle carrière, s’habiller ainsi) sont tous conditionnés par la Société? Question à laquelle on ne peut que répondre oui, évidemment.
Cependant: il y a une posture constante que les femmes semblent adopter, les jeunes femmes en tout cas, qui est de se résigner. Un pessimisme uniquement féminin. “Oui, nous sommes conditionnées. Non, nous ne pourrons jamais changer les mentalités.”
Alors bon, réfléchissons quelques minutes…
Nous sommes actuellement dans une Société de consommation, dans laquelle même l’homme est réduit à son corps (acteurs, publicités,…). Il est vrai que la femme, belle, aux dents blanches, présentent toujours des produits ménagers, des produits de beauté. Mais l’homme aussi au fond. On peut se demander si le monde n’est pas en train de se féminiser d’une certaine manière?… Bon, c’est très bancal tout ça!
En vérité, je pense qu’on n’a pas avancé du tout dans la libération des femmes. On passe d’une contrainte à une autre, toujours réduites à notre insignifiance et à notre apparente fragilité. Pour donner un exemple très concret: l’autre jour un technicien de France Telecom vient faire des réparations dans notre appartement. J’étais la seule levée, mon copain dormait encore. Donc j’accueille le type, normal tout se passe bien, il me pose des questions , je lui donne quelques détails. Puis un peu plus tard mon copain se lève. A partir de ce moment-là, je n’existais plus. Il ne s’adressait plus à moi, mais à “l’homme” de la maison. Quand il est parti il a serré la main de mon copain, et a commencé à partir. J’ai dû lui tendre ma main, il ne m’aurait jamais donné la sienne sinon. J’étais vraiment remontée. Quelques autres détails m’ont aussi saoulée, mais bon vous devez connaître ça aussi, je ne vais épiloguer là-dessus.
Tout simplement pour vous dire: même si ce n’est pas grand chose, assumez-vous, quitte à ce qu’on vous traite de bonhomme, parce-que cela vaut mieux que d’être considérée comme une merde insignifiante, vraiment.
Woodtiger Funds Reporting on Women, Health and Environment
Women’s eNews begins a new investigative series on women and the environment today supported by a grant of $15,000 from The Woodtiger Fund.
The first article, published today, looks at the wide ranging risks for women and their children in America:
“Mothers and children share this “body burden” of pollutants in much the same way they share physical traits. Tests by the Washington-based Environmental Working Group found children have more synthetic chemicals in common with their mothers than with unrelated women and children.
Combined, these environmental contaminants may be responsible for the recent doubling in the incidence of asthma, autism, diabetes, male infertility, obesity and prostate cancer.”
Read the full report at: http://womensenews.org/story/environment/121117/strong-medicine-needed-combat-toxic-policies
Women’s eNews will research, report, and edit a series of stories about women and the environment, including coverage of women-led grassroots movements and the effects of environmental hazards on women’s health.
Molly Ginty, a Women’s eNews contributor, is leading the eight-part reporting series. Ginty and the Women’s eNews editorial team were recognized on June 26, 2012 with a Casey Medal for Meritorious Reporting for an Investigative Fund at the Nation Institute supported report “Infant Formula Companies Milk US Food Program”.
“Molly Ginty is an outstanding journalist who is deeply committed to producing the kind of high-impact journalism that reflects her commitment to women’s health” said Rita Henley Jensen, editor in chief of Women’s eNews. “I am delighted the Woodtiger Fund supports an opportunity for Ginty to continue in her dedication to documenting the unnecessary environmental hazards to all women’s well-being.”
This foundation sponsored series will be published over the next year and work to better inform Women’s eNews’ audience of activists, academics, students, philanthropists and government officials.
