It’s a girl!
November 15, 2012
On Monday night I joined some of the amazing ladies from Collective Shout (amongst other awesome people) to watch a documentary called, it’s a girl.
As the documentary stated, in our society those three words generally bring joy and elation – a healthy baby of either gender is a miracle and a gift. But this is most certainly not the case with unimaginable numbers of baby girls born in countries such as India and China.
These two countries were the focus of this completely disheartening look at the doomed and cursed life of being born female.
The movie kept using the term ‘Gendercide’ – but Melinda Tankard Reist, who said a few words before the screening, felt that the term ‘Femicide’ is more accurate. After all, the male gender is not at risk. At all.
The documentary first looked at India where we learn of one mother who, in her effort to bear a son, murdered eight of the baby girls she bore. Eight.
Why? Because when a girl is born, she only signifies a loss of money. Although dowries are not permitted it is still a very common practice. It is an entrenched custom, from the lowest classes to the elite.
A son = money that will come in from their daughter-in-law’s dowry.
A daughter = money lost to pay the dowry.
Greed. That is simply what it’s all about.
That realisation had a profound impact on me because in the back of my mind, I always saw greed as predominantly haunting the halls of the Capitalist realm.
But no. It’s everywhere. This chilling realisation also brought me to understand one simple truth – the main commodity used in making more money – are girls and women. Regardless of age. Regardless of location.
So if a baby girl is ‘lucky’ enough not be snuffed out at birth, she has a life of continual fear and struggle to contend with. Many face a life of neglect – no food or medical attention is afforded to them, as it’s always given to the boy. And of course, the ever-present fear of violence – such as being doused in petrol and set alight because the dowry wasn’t sufficient, for example.
After all, it’s HER fault.
‘Dowry deaths’ are illegal but justice is rarely served. Big surprise.
Then there’s China.
Their One Child Policy has created a situation that’s devastated its people. If you’re from the city, it’s only one child for you and if you’re from the country, a second child is permitted…if you’re first one was a girl.
Forced abortions are common place by the Family Planning Department. Back in June I posted Chinese abortion – which recounts the harrowing forced abortion, performed on a woman who was seven months’ pregnant.
Statistic – there are an estimated 35,000 abortions a day / 1,500 an hour. There are also approx. 500 suicide attempts by women in China a day.
That’s a lot of misery for the female gender.
Because so many girls have been ‘disposed of’ there are now 37 million MORE men than women in China. The similar, deeply rooted belief that the Chinese share with India, is that everybody wants a daughter-in-law…just no daughters.
These men, who are aimlessly dragging their feet through life without a wife, are called ‘bare branches’ – but hey, that’s just not on! Measures need to be taken to find him a wife.
How? Why not kidnap someone else’s young daughter and raise her yourself? Then she’ll be nice and ready to wed your son when they’re both a little older.
Sounds like a great plan!
Ooh, ooh! What about the men who just want to have fun? Well, how about kidnapping more young girls – really little ones too – and sell them as sex slaves? A fortune could be made! Excellent notion. Top notch.
Statistic – 70,000 girls a year are trafficked.
On my drive home I was inundated with so many conflicting emotions. Predominantly it was helplessness. I met a wonderful couple at the screening, Liz and Michael Newton-Brown, a married couple who started their own group called, The Freedom Project – Ending human trafficking and slavery – and I asked them, “What can be done? It seems hopeless.”
It’s absurd. It’s madness. What has the human race succumbed to?
What the hell is going on???
If it’s not a hatred towards women and girls, what is it?
When I got home I asked my husband rhetorically, why does ‘man’ look down on ‘woman’ so much?
I mean:
Question #111: Why aren’t we a team?
How wonderful it would be if we were. Truly were.
We wouldn’t recognise this place.
Thank goodness for all the driven, dedicated and inspiring people, like the ones mentioned above, who are tirelessly trying to raise awareness. There’s hope.
Deeep Breath
x
Go and put the kettle on…
November 10, 2012
Are you comfortable?
Because it’s time to have a chat – especially with the Aussie parents out there – about a magazine that’s tapping into the seedy and degrading underbelly of our boys and men’s minds and it’s using a firm and taloned grip.
I should warn you that there are images, with text, in this post that may offend some readers (I was offended…putting it mildly) and if they don’t – I encourage you to step away from your personal perspective and think of the fact that the rest of us (including {and especially} kids, whose minds are absorbing like sponges) can’t avoid them.
They’re everywhere. Shaping.
This Australian magazine’s simple existence, (along with its horrible brethren versions around the planet) – and the manner in which it has evolved and spread over the years – leaves me gobsmacked.
Well, no, I suppose it doesn’t. Once you dangle the proverbial carrot in front of a weak society, anything goes nowadays. Point in case? This magazine.
What does perplex me, however, is the desensitised indifference that society as a whole seems to have towards magazines like this.
Or is it that most people – especially parents – simply don’t know the dangerous and misogynistic reach these types of magazines have?
This magazine is cheap – only a few dollars – with no age restrictions for purchase at your local newsagency and it predominantly exploits women.
Finally, it calls itself Zoo. Are we animals?
In a recent post, Melinda Tankard Reist discusses Zoo Magazine and says:
28000 – That’s the number of boys aged 14-17 estimated to read Zoo magazine each week. Despite its pornographic nature Zoo magazine is classified as ‘men’s lifestyle’ and therefore unrestricted – anyone can buy it. Zoo is conveniently positioned and priced for young readers to purchase in convenience stores, service stations and Coles and Woolworths.
It also states that:
“More Australian men buy and read ZOO than any other magazine in the country – that’s a fact.” – ACP Magazines, Zoo Magazine distributor
28000 a week – of teen boys.
Any alarm bells set off yet?
Many years ago, I had my first experience with Zoo – around the time of its inception in 2007. A copy was confiscated from a 12 year old boy at school. I looked through it and was a little stunned – for so many reasons. Amongst its variety of ‘sections’ (including a baby-seal clubbing article with pictures), the standouts in this particular issue were:
1. A multi-paged ‘article’ with photography of raunchy video-clip stills – predominantly breasts and women bending over, mouths open in erotic ecstasy etc.
2. A section where regular, everyday girls (mostly teens) have sent a ‘selfie’ of themselves in underwear or bikini in ‘sexy’ poses, to be ranked by the readers.
3. An advice section, where it’s two women answering the queries in each issue and are photographed with only underpants on, topless but turned to the side.
A 12 year old had it.
So now I’m going to ask you to have a look at Zoo Magazine’s Home Page.
How are those alarm bells going now?
Now envisage the amount of young boys going to this site.
This is the downside of the Internet, I suppose – furthered by the unyielding force that is Facebook.
Zoo Magazine has a Facebook page.
{Of course it does; it’s good business, right? And that’s what’s ultimately respected, after all – making money}
This is the place where parents can see the ease of infiltration, as well as the predatory domination that is occurring. Remember that legally, a person needs to be 13 years old to open an account on Facebook – but we all know parents who open up accounts for their children, as young as their first years of Primary School.
Recently, Zoo put up the following post (question) for its readers on its Facebook page:
“Left or right? But you’ve got to tell us how you came to that decision.”
For those who can’t read the print, the first comment that appears in this image says: “Left…You have the mouth and the tits to fuck.”
Here are some more responses:
Women being discussed as ‘holes’, ‘it’ or the lovely, ‘either end there’s shit coming out’.
Misogyny. Pure misogyny.
And this platform sees them all clapping each other on the back and giving each other high-fives. Aaahh, the Brotherhood is certainly strong in these circles.
It’s grooming our boys and they’re multiplying. How can they not be?
If the way boys and men think about women is ever-changing for the worse (as evidenced by magazines like Zoo, the post above, Facebook pages on 12 year old sluts etc) then:
Question #110: Are we happy to stand back and let these businesses sabotage our youth by only perpetuating sex as disconnected, dirty and now violently dominating?
Some boys will never know the joy of what a loving relationship entails – where a woman’s wants are equal to his. How sad, but it won’t be entirely their fault because Internet porn and businesses like Zoo Magazine, taught them differently.
And learn they do; they’re KIDS.
I can see older men shaking their head as they’re reading this, thinking how you grew up with ‘Playboys stashed underneath your bed’ and that you turned out ‘alright’. Well, your experience and attitude is a cog (and continues to be) in the terrible state of affairs today.
The comments above are hateful. Nothing good comes from hate.
One may have entertained thoughts or ‘jokes’ similar to the ones posted on the Facebook page above but I probably would have never known; now it’s posted online and it’s permanent. Then it feeds, thanks to the unprecedented way sites like Facebook spread information.
Spreading hate.
How can that NOT be damaging our kids?
A task: Want to take some action? You can join us and let the battle begin against the visible stocking of lads’ mags like ZOO.
Next time you fill up at the petrol station or shop at Woolies or Coles, have a look and see where these sorts of magazines are positioned.
Knowing the damage it can do, just from its sexist cover – should it be there?
A friend confronted a petrol station owner who had all these types of magazines above the lollies that kids make a beeline for.
After that, it’s simple. If they listen and change, continue giving them your business. If not, take your business elsewhere and tell them why you’re doing so.
Remember that money talks. It’s the only way.
Deep Breath and go get ‘em!
Buy a gift and support Collective Shout: 24 hours only!
November 7, 2012
Please support Collective Shout; this wonderful group who are doing SO much in the fight against the sexploitation of girls and women.
They need our support.
This is a great way to get some Chrissy gifts and in turn help this important non-profit movement. Starts midnight for only 24 hours.
Click on the link below and put your money to good use.
x
via Buy a gift and support Collective Shout: 24 hours only!.
On a positive note…
November 7, 2012
Recently, I posted this image of Malala Yousafzai on my Questions for Women Facebook page, celebrating her magnificence. Indulge me, if you will, to revisit this extraordinary girl – and pose a quick question.
This magazine cover shows a radiant, awe-inspiring and heroic girl. A girl who has already made a tremendous global impact – evidenced by the vigils that were held worldwide, praying for her recovery. A girl who made the cover of Newsweek…
…and it has NOTHING to do with the way she looks. Nothing.
Fantastic.
Her qualities as a person – that’s what has been recognised and revered.
Not the size of her breasts, what outfit she was wearing or whether she’s ‘hot’ – unlike most of the magazine covers, sporting images of women, that we see today.
Question #109: Don’t we want our daughters’ developing brains to subliminally see more covers like this?
Instead of this?
In my next post, we’re going to have to get comfy, with a cup of tea and a Tim Tam – and have a serious ‘chat’ about Zoo Magazine.
As parents, there’s little we can do about the reach and saturation of porn on the Internet (except put blocks on the computer to protect our children).
But why bother? – when young boys can just walk into a Newsagency and purchase Zoo Magazine without their parents’ knowledge.
We can do something about a magazine like this – a magazine that is being alarmingly consumed by young boys and men, like addicts on crack.
It’s cheap, easily available and misogynistic.
Deep Breath
x
Question for men – #4
November 4, 2012
More men like this, please.
This is a post by Melbourne writer, Guy Sigley – reposted by Melinda Tankard Reist – reposted by me.
One man’s plea to other men: take a stand against sexism.
Question #108: Is Guy right about men?
He doesn’t seem to be taking it personally – like a lot of men do – when issues of sexism come up.
More men like this…please.
Deep Breath
x
Guy Sigley
Phrases put in my search engine.
November 3, 2012
And this was just yesterday…in one, 24 hr period:
What’s with all the 12 year old sluts
12 yr old sluts
12 year old sluts
12 yr old slut
12 year olds memes
I kid you not.
No…the saturation of porn – and the fact that the palate of the customer is yearning for younger and younger delights – is having NO effect whatsoever, on our world.
It’s not producing any weird, itchy, ill-feeling – like we’re crossing a terrifying line into uncharted and dangerous waters.
On the contrary! Boys and men are engaging in healthy, respectful and consenting sexual relationships; whilst girls and women are being left alone – by not being trafficked, raped, degraded and violently abused – on one hand, and are not participating in their own exploitation, on the other.
This is good. The search engine phrases above are a sign of a healthy paradigm.
How fabulous that we live in a world which permits such appetites for young girls to be made available – at whatever cost.
However, there’s one infinitesimal positive point in all this (there always is) – and that is the warm, fuzzy feeling I feel inside, when I relish the look I imagine those guys have on their faces, when their search for 12 year old sluts leads them…
…to my blog.
One teeny, tiny blip in their way.
That makes me feel good.
Imagine if I stopped one guy from continuing his search…
Question #107: Do you think I did?
If you think that this is an impossibility, then you – and in turn we – are living a hopeless existence, admitting everything is beyond our control…and we are in some deep shit.
Deep Breath.
x
PS There’s a Facebook page that has the word ‘slut’ in its title (I won’t honour it with its full name), that was started 4 days ago on the 29th October. It only posted for 2 days – the 29th and the 30th – at it already has 307 ‘likes‘.
Yes…everything’s juuust fine.
I’m feeling despondent.
October 28, 2012
Again, it seems I’ve hit another moment where it all feels a smidge overwhelming.
I’m a bit low about it all.
I keep seeing – hearing – absorbing – feeling – more and more examples of horrible behaviour, greedy behaviour, hateful behaviour…
…and I just don’t understand.
I don’t understand why intelligent men and women sit back with a desensitised indifference or, worse still, defend certain elements of our society – making us tip out of balance. I feel like we’re sitting on the side of the balance that’s just started its descent…and it’s going to reach the bottom at an accelerated and unstoppable pace…
Or have we reached that ‘point of no return’ already?
I’d like to think not. I’d LOVE to think not. But am I being naive to think we can put on the brakes?
Because I’m starting to doubt that it’s possible because there seems to be a lot who defend the need for cesspools in different pockets of our existence.
It’s depressing to entertain this thought. It is.
For me, this is the crux of it:
The world is going down a slippery chute – because of money and power.
And it doesn’t matter how you look at it – proven statistically – whatever the culture around the globe, whatever the economic status…
…the true victims of any society, are women.
And the ones who wield the power and dominate, are men.
Not ALL men – but most of those who are in positions of power, are – however they came to be there. They’re the ones ruling this planet. Fact.
But I’m wondering, if there are so many of you out there – and I know in my heart you are out there (regardless of gender) – who feel like a lot of the things being brought to light are wrong:
Question #105: Where are you?
I see women like Melinda Tankard Reist and the phenomenal team at Collective Shout, who are doing wonderful, extraordinary work. They have won so many battles against things that seem inconceivable, to have been allowed to be put in our society in the first place. Inconceivable. They have little money and are flying by the skin of their teeth. But they keep going because it simply has to be done.
Where’s the equivalent loud male voice – a face – who also thinks things are very, very wrong?
Where are the voices of ALL of us, regardless of gender?
In a previous post Feeling a bit ineffectual I listed how women are the victims of this world.
Women are raped by the thousands in places like Africa – used as a weapon of war – DAILY. Women infected with diseases from it.
Women / baby girls around the planet – who are raped, molested, sexually assaulted, trafficked – DAILY
Countless countries forbidding girls from being educated. Shooting a targeted girl, point blank, in the head for wanting one. These are the countries that like war. They have their women – who could stop them if they were in decision-making positions along side them – submissively kept at home.
The poverty, the pain…
And here? In the capitalist world? Here we only reward one thing;
Making money – at whatever cost.
Most of us do it the right and honourable way – with our ethics and morals intact – but the thing I don’t understand is why we actually stand back and let the soulless monster loose in big business – to OUR detriment. OURS.
We are creating a MINDLESS culture by allowing men – yes men – the ones in power who hold 97% of clout positions in Advertising, Publishing, Tele-communications and Entertainment – to feed on all our weakest and most vulnerable points..to make money. To make a LIVING.
With their fellow men it’s done through sex and with women it’s done through vanity.
Except for the men it’s a dominant weakness and for women it’s a submissive one.
Men are happy with their vice – by indulging in the world of hyper-sexuality and porn…but women never are! Which woman actually believes they’re beautiful enough? Good enough?
What the hell’s THAT about ladies? Seriously!
We’re allowing companies to target and condition our youth to become MINDLESS.
Our silence and indifference gives them permission.
WHY are we doing this? Because it’s good business? The more we say that, the more we pave the way for another to push the ethical frontiers. I’m beginning to wonder if there are any left.
Seems like a free-for-all.
The infuriating part is that we could ALL sell-out and make a quid the fast way.
We ALL have the capacity to steal. We ALL have the capacity to cheat. We can be unkind, selfish, greedy, hateful – but for the majority of people – we’re decent.
Question #106: So, why are we letting the men in power dictate how they will feed off ALL of us – men, women and children – in this detrimental way?
All’s fair in love, war…and capitalism, it seems.
I wonder, with a heavy heart, if the line above does encompass the general attitude amongst the masses…
Again, I hope not.
This is a worthy cause, isn’t it?
Deep Breath.
Pass it on. Speak up. Anything to help create change.
Ad I’ve noticed – #1
October 21, 2012
Before I start waging my war on the ads we’re seeing, I’d like to do a bit of research – with you. I’m going to quickly discuss ads I’m seeing now – airing across the country, into family homes – and then (hopefully) gain some insight from you – see if there’s a reoccurring pattern in what our media outlets are unveiling to us and what messages they’re circulating.
I’d like to use you as a gauge. I – like everyone else – am not immune to seeing things a little less-of-centre at times and willingly admit this. It is all about perspective, after all, and I am deeply curious to learn whether we’re on the same page about this issue, that is deeply concerning to me.
Before I start, I want to explain that I don’t have cable TV, just free-to-air. I don’t turn on the telly until the evening, but really (especially in this ‘down season’) – I don’t watch much. This isn’t to say that the TV is switched off. It’s generally left on, in case we stumble upon something engaging to watch.
This means that as I’m cooking or writing, I do, on occasion, notice the ads. Obviously, when we think about ads, we automatically think of product selling, but there are also the ads for the TV shows themselves…and it’s the content in these ads that are also of great concern.
I’ve written previously about how TV is dumbing us down and how – as a capitalist, obsessed society – we’re possibly heading down a path towards The Seven Deadly Sins.
Well…isn’t it possible? If the answer is, “Yes” then what do we need to do?
I think the ads we’re being exposed to (children and teens especially) – together with a WHOLE smorgasbord of other factors and contributors – are changing the neural pathways of our brains. Conditioning us. More urgently, conditioning the way our youth perceive reality.
Ad #1. TV show – Glee.
Now, I’m not a fan of this show – ever since it started to drip in the hyper-sexualised behaviour of the girls; on top of knowing that their main fan base are young girls. I wrote a post about another ad for Glee a while back (with the clip attached). They are not promoting healthy messages, which is a shame considering the reach they have.
The new season is apparently about to start and we are, of course, getting bombarded by the promotional tsunami that seems to come with the start of new television show seasons.
I wasn’t able to find the clip of the ad that’s being aired in Australia, so I’ll just describe the simple, yet dangerous, messages I think the ad is delivering to young girls and women.
Two things.
One: Kate Hudson plays a new character in the series as a dance instructor at what appears to be a high end place in New York (NY Ballet?), that the main girl Rachel now attends. Kate’s character appears fearless, bellowing how the majority of them are going to fail etc. etc.
She walks up to one of the new students and says:
“Hi. What’s your name? Muffin Top?” (when some fat sits over the top of your pants)
“No, my name is-”
“No. You’re name is Muffin Top. From now on it’s rice crackers and ipecac (a drink that makes you vomit). Cut off a butt-cheek. You have to lose a few pounds.”
And the girl is slim. Plus it really bothers me that it’s a fellow woman being so callous.
Message: If you look at that girl and they’re saying she’s fat (which she’s not) – what am I?
Subliminal message received. Neural pathways are now shifting, due to negative self thoughts about weight and self esteem. Check.
Many will argue that that’s the way it is in these sorts of high pressure dancing institutions and the show is representing realism. Oh, now they’re calling the realism card? That’s a tiny morsel of ‘realism’ compared the heightened misrepresentation that oozes from other issues within shows such as this.
Two: In the grand old tradition of building a female star (whether it be an actress or a singer) as an innocent, wide-eyed virginal type of girl – there comes the time when she must toss all that aside, along with its innocent followers and admirers, and become ‘nasty’.
Rachel now has to be taken ‘seriously’ and must shed her chaste appearance and prove she’s someone to be reckoned with. So we hear Rachel singing, not once but twice during the ad, the following line of the song she will perform on the show (once with a visual showing a tough and sexy Rachel):
“I’m not that innocent”
A line from a Britney Spears song. How apt – a fellow innocent-turned-nasty girl…along with Christina Aquilera, Miley Cyrus…and the list goes on.
Message: Noone will take me seriously unless I sexualise myself to gain attention.
Subliminal message received. Neural pathways are now shifting, due to negative thoughts about not looking sexy and hot enough to gain attention and recognition – the only way to get it. Check.
Why do they do this to one famous, female young star after another? To add to the fan base.
In the documentary, Missrepresentation, we were informed that the main people who watch TV are women…so it doesn’t matter what you show them, as it seems they lap up everything that’s presented to them – especially the younger ones.
However, the ones who watch the least TV, are males between the ages of 18-mid/late twenties? Something like that. So shows are predominantly motivated to getting their full attention – and how else can you get a young, hormone ridden boy/teen/male to watch your show?
Sexualise the girls.
So the bottom line is that they don’t care who watches, just as long as they are.
Anything for a buck, right?
Question #104: Do these examples set off alarm bells, no matter how small, as to what’s being subliminally taught?
Here is a lovely image of the actress who plays Rachel (Michele Lea), contributing her efforts to collecting that new fan base for the network and share holders, by posing for GQ magazine.
We have a long way to go, ladies. Can’t have a picture like this without the woman’s consent.
And consent they do.
Deep Breath.
x
That’s not misogyny. THIS is misogyny.
October 18, 2012
The following is one of many issues that has me livid – more at the apathetic attitudes of society, than anything else.
There is true misogyny in our culture – and it is malevolent. It has always existed towards women of all ages, but as it steadily moves down the ranks, it just makes me wonder at what point we’re all going to kick-start our protesting voices and do something about it. Misogyny is now targeting our Tweens or, as my high school students inform me, ‘Twelvies’.
Last week the disgusting Facebook Page, 12 yr old Slut Memes – a site that used photos of ‘Twelvies’ already on the net (or sent in by others), to then make degrading and sexist comments – was finally closed by the two 19 year old Queenslander men/boys/creators, studying at QUT.
But not by Facebook – they defended it to stay live and still do. The end truly came for these guys, when reports the Federal Police would investigate were heard. So they pulled the plug (although they vow to be back) – but Facebook still thinks sites like these are just fine and dandy.
This is evidenced by the fact that many copycat pages have sprung up in its place and are not only staying, but spreading – like venom – by supporters and perpetuators of this way of thinking.
It pains me and fills me with despair to see this type of behaviour unfold – with permission. Doesn’t it stir the same indignation in you?
Melinda Tankard Reist wrote this great post covering this atrocious state of affairs. Its title is a quote from the men “As long as there are sluts we will put them in their place“.
Sluts. That’s misogyny.
Now, last week I heard outrage and FURIOUS anger over the Speaker of the House, Peter Slipper having sent lewd text messages to another bloke. The pitchforks have well and truly been pulled out by our purer-than-driven-snow, holier-than-thou, fellow Australians and they are being kept handy by the front door – but only when it’s connected with politics, it seems.
Question #103: Are you willing to put those pitchforks to good use and stop pages like 12 Yr old Slut Memes, that do SO much more damage than text messages that were sent by one man to one other?
There is a virtual library of photos out there (taken by an obsessed younger generation) – pictures of young girls looking hyper-sexualised – that these men are exploiting because it’s just. so. funny.
But all those girls are someone’s daughter…and more often than not, come from good parents; parents who are fighting a battle against a media campaign that is breeding boys who become men like these 19 year olds…
…and girls, of course, who participate in their own exploitation. This look is the fashion, after all.
How do we do what’s right?
1. We channel our outrage where it’s needed, by stopping misogynistic sites – whatever and wherever they are – that have Internet reach and;
2. Teach our girls that their worth has NOTHING to do with their fervour to look a certain way to gratify boys’ sexual preferences (based more and more on porn), possibly gain their approval and therefore attain some sort of validation.
In terms of the text messages sent by Slipper (which were filth, by the way), I’m pretty sure that if you checked the mobile phones – hell, even just the Facebook Pages and statuses – of maaaany men, you would find much, much worse.
How about fighting them? This Facebook page had over 200,000 ‘likes’ (followers). Surely that’s more damaging and alarming than the texts between two men.
Ironically, last week’s incensed reaction from the public, turned a searing spotlight on those text messages – that were also leaked and given a massive amount of importance, fuelled by the media – messages with content that, should it be heard coming from a band of guys at the pub, would not have made anyone bat an eyelid.
The definition of misogyny is: a hatred of women.
But yesterday, the Macquarie Dictionary added a definition to the word:
– a deep prejudice against women.
This article from the Financial Review, Macquarie misogyny definition change reignites gender debate discusses the change.
I believe most men fall somewhere on the sexism spectrum and only men know where they themselves sit on that particular fence.
Wherever it is you sit – guys – will determine whether you think sites like the 12 Yr old Slut Memes deserves your action or whether you think it’s funny.
Do you think it’s funny?
How about channelling some indignation towards helping liberate our world of the endless and ATTAINABLE hatred of females infecting our world – especially on women and young girls like these. It is the sphere in which our kids and teens are developing and it’s an emergency.
Do you think you could rise up against that?
Start writing emails – start taking your business elsewhere – anything.
It worked against Alan Jones…keep going.
Deep Breath.
x
On the first International Day of the Girl (yesterday 11th Oct) – we’re reading about a 14 yr old girl who has been shot in the head by the Taliban for speaking up; wanting education for girls. She was labelled an infidel.
An INFIDEL.
Educating girls is the answer. Studies have shown that the more war-mongering nations, are the ones that restrict girls attending school.
This post from Crates and Ribbons is great.
Deep Breath.
x
The 11th of October is International Day of the Girl. Today, we raise our voices in support of girls worldwide, and pledge to double our efforts to invest in their future. Not only will today go down in history as being the first ever Day of the Girl, it is also made especially poignant by the case of Malala Yousafzai, who lies unconscious in hospital, having been shot in the head by the Taliban for speaking out about the importance of girls’ education.
Reading about the tragedy two days ago, I kept thinking of a picture I had seen a while ago, and I decided to look for it again:
And that’s what the Taliban’s actions have revealed in the end – fear. Because Malala is not just any 14-year-old girl. By publicly condemning the actions of the Taliban and advocating for the education of girls, she represents an…
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