tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40268229894138833842024-02-07T16:57:14.830-08:00Thoughts of a Lost GirlI moved!
You can find me at http://feminismandtea.wordpress.com/Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03466514028749434845noreply@blogger.comBlogger21125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4026822989413883384.post-56258713182849450702013-11-19T06:36:00.000-08:002013-11-19T06:36:33.549-08:00On How We Prevent Sexual Assault Simply Isn't WorkingToday I wrote a blog for <a href="https://www.facebook.com/the.yfactor.ireland" target="_blank">The Y Factor</a>, you can read it <b><a href="http://www.yfactor.ie/index.php/blog/article/how-we-prevent-sexual-assault-simply-isnt-working" target="_blank">here</a>.</b><br /><br />Trigger warnings for rape and sexual assault in the article.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03466514028749434845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4026822989413883384.post-70355349096358635362013-10-26T10:39:00.001-07:002013-10-26T10:55:47.483-07:00Dear 15 Year Old Me<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLgEx3KixSudSga70BedC5VEjyP4ujzTGEf5ndO9Dru-p-YctirGvEGG0MZTWk6oLVQv5Ewcp37RZ-xAeAIrTbQ7WZlA6pK4qBUCFRVzz6jZLIPHEubnNFEYtNovGkvn2quWOnN59frSs/s1600/screen_shot_2012-07-19_at_23.21.29.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="66" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLgEx3KixSudSga70BedC5VEjyP4ujzTGEf5ndO9Dru-p-YctirGvEGG0MZTWk6oLVQv5Ewcp37RZ-xAeAIrTbQ7WZlA6pK4qBUCFRVzz6jZLIPHEubnNFEYtNovGkvn2quWOnN59frSs/s320/screen_shot_2012-07-19_at_23.21.29.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’ve never met someone who looks back at their teenage years with fondness, nor have I ever met anyone who spent their teenage years thinking they were gorgeous and hilarious and utterly brilliant. I’m pretty sure being 15 is shit for everyone, at least to some extent. But there are a few things that I wish I had known when I was 15, things I wish someone had told me, or things I had been told but that I didn’t listen to. I’ll start with the obvious ones – don’t cut your fringe yourself, it will never work out well for you no matter how many times you try and you’ll look like an idiot. You’ll be 21 before you figure out how to do make up properly, and even then sometimes you’ll end up taking it all off and starting over. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Time spent doing something you love, something that makes you happy, is not wasted time. Sometimes, you just need to take a day or five where you do nothing but watch an entire TV series, or re-read books, or draw. And that’s ok. Self-care is hugely important, and it’s what gets you through a lot of crap. You need to put yourself first sometimes. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Food isn't the enemy, and losing weight won't make anything any better. Not eating won't make you happier or more attractive or better at making friends or more confident. It will make you painfully aware of your body and everything you eat; it will make you constantly uncomfortable and sad; it will give you anxiety and will make you into a shell of a person. It will change the way you think about food to the extent that 6 years from now, you still feel held back by your fear of food and your body. Any feelings of accomplishment are overshadowed completely by the hell it will put you through. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Don't love yourself because a boy tells you that you should. Because that boy will leave and you won't know how or why to love yourself anymore. You will spend an entire summer in your room trying to figure out who you are as an individual, not as part of a couple. And even though you’ll come so far, you’ll still have no clue what you’re doing with your life. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Don't put up with shitty things people do to you because they say they love you. Don't stay with someone who treats your mental health as something that you should work on for their sake rather than your own. Don't have sex when you don't want to, even if he makes you feel like you cannot say no. Don't settle for someone who makes you feel like half a person because you're afraid nobody else would love you. They will. Even if, as I write this, that hasn't exactly happened yet. And if they don't, you always have cats and your friends. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do more art. Even if you don't think it's very good or if it genuinely isn't very good, keep doing it. Draw everything and don't let an art teacher tell you that you're doing it wrong. Art can't be done wrong. She's just an idiot. Fill notebooks with sketches and doodles and mini masterpieces, even if the person beside you can draw better than you. Remember that art is never finished, you can always go back and change something later, even if it's been years. Paint your emotions without feeling like you should only paint when you're happy. Art is incredibly cathartic when you're sad. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Say no. Say no to friends, family, boyfriends, teachers, everyone when you genuinely can't or don't want to do what they're asking. You can't do everything, and you can't run on the three hours of sleep it would take to be able to do everything. Saying no doesn't make you a bitch and anyone who says so isn't worth your time. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nothing is sexier than confidence. You're a bamf and a babe, or at least you will be after your ugly duckling phase is over. You may not look the same as the generic media version of what beautiful or sexy is, but that doesn't matter. Don't buy into the 'everyone is beautiful' crap either - what you look like doesn't matter, at least not as much as you'll be told. Don’t be sexy for anyone else but you – you’re entitled to look like you have no more fucks to give when you want to, and then next day be all dressed up with nowhere to go.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Don’t apologise for being outspoken and passionate, particularly about issues surrounding equality. You'll be called every name under the sun, you'll be made feel unsafe at times, and people will treat you differently - some will treat you with more respect, others will say and do things that will cut you to your very core. The former are the people who will be your friends for years, the latter are the ones who you should cut out of your life that very second. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I don’t know for sure that if I had all this advice at 15 I would have listened to it, or how different the last 6 years of my life would have been if I had taken it all in. A lot of these lessons are still being learned – I’m still going to make mistakes, but I’m slightly more comfortable with that than I was a few months ago. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">- B xx</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03466514028749434845noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4026822989413883384.post-5986447997425618342013-10-16T03:46:00.001-07:002013-10-16T03:48:24.552-07:00On the Rising Trend of Elective Cosmetic Labiaplasties<i><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First post in a loooong time - who knew a MA would keep me so busy! This piece is for one of my MA classes and on the rising trend of labiaplasties as a gender equality issue.</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Vulvae and labia are possibly one of the only parts of a cis-gendered woman’s body that we see more frequently in media than in real life. Yet they are body parts which receive an incredible amount of scrutiny and are the cause of a great deal of distress for many young people who worry that their labia aren’t ‘normal’. This paper will examine the rising trend of labiaplasties and look at why this is a gender equality issue. It will also explore what, if anything, is being done to promote labia of all shapes and sizes as being ‘normal’.</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglaK3LHnK8pUpGHlrxy7vSs_fz2TpQ1qEqNu7i7dZqQkoovsmiJLNLjzoqRD6ihFO6GeJGH1Wt6S2ZkOBArlLzd9884O9n_ImUTPMCnGCqJz4V9KcTkYhPqCR8M38i0Jx710tGRYel0mE/s1600/Designer-vagain-surgery-i-008.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglaK3LHnK8pUpGHlrxy7vSs_fz2TpQ1qEqNu7i7dZqQkoovsmiJLNLjzoqRD6ihFO6GeJGH1Wt6S2ZkOBArlLzd9884O9n_ImUTPMCnGCqJz4V9KcTkYhPqCR8M38i0Jx710tGRYel0mE/s320/Designer-vagain-surgery-i-008.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Why are people going under the knife to alter their labia?</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is important to differentiate between elective cosmetic labiaplasties (and other cosmetic gynaecological surgery) and reconstructive gynaecological surgery which takes place to reduce pain and discomfort after female genital mutilation (FGM). <a href="http://www.guernicamag.com/daily/kirsten-oregan-labiaplasty-part-i" target="_blank">O’Regan states</a> that “labiaplasty is a procedure which trims the labia minora (the inner lips of the vulva) to fit neatly within the outer lips”, which is predominantly done for aesthetic reasons. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The rising trend in elective, cosmetic labiapasties can be attributed to a number of factors, most notably the presentation of labia in the media. Labia and vulvae are considered ‘crude’ in a way that penises and testes aren’t, and so are rarely portrayed in mainstream media or ‘shown off’ among friends. As such, many young people will have a very limited pool of vulvae to compare their own vulvae to. Therefore, if the source is misleading or not representative of all types of vulvae, insecurity may arise among young people in particular as to whether or not their labia are ‘normal’, or they may be led to believe that there is only one type of ‘normal’ vulva. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of the most common sources of depictions of labia is soft porn magazines, or ‘lad mags’. According to Drysdale , Australian soft porn magazines digitally alter the vulvae and labia of models in order to make their genitals look ‘<a href="http://www.abc.net.au/tv/hungrybeast/blog/kdrysdale/healing-it-single-crease/index.html" target="_blank">healed to a single crease</a>’ – that is, so that the labia minora are almost completely, if not fully, covered or enclosed by the labia majora. These digital labiaplasties are routinely carried out because Australia’s classifications guidelines state that “<a href="http://www.comlaw.gov.au/Details/F2008C00129" target="_blank">realistic depictions [of genitalia] may contain discreet genital detail but there should be no genital emphasis</a>”. While this seems vague, Drysdale notes that as far as the classification board is concerned, inner labia are “<a href="http://www.abc.net.au/tv/hungrybeast/blog/kdrysdale/healing-it-single-crease/index.html" target="_blank">too rude for soft porn</a>”. This practice of digital labiaplasty isn’t unique to Australia – Calabrese et al’s study found that in US Playboy magazines, <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19916105" target="_blank">over 80% of vulvae pictured had no visible labia minora</a>, with a further 15% showing very small and ‘neat’ labia minora, largely hidden by labia majora. Only 7% of photos actually showed visible inner labia. Calabrese notes that the models’ genital areas “emulate those of a Barbie Doll”. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHzKFiA66qe-ZTcbg8aa_5UduGYmrVrZwxbOylME6T28SOSfJkUcxwkkRBXsEGxkOcrCj2h8u_vU4xcadl8Ie1rLM3mrEDeSMvgOPGRdgDy2Wc75gKgkkYTEz71U7P5M3KUbGiXDPbt9A/s1600/barbie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHzKFiA66qe-ZTcbg8aa_5UduGYmrVrZwxbOylME6T28SOSfJkUcxwkkRBXsEGxkOcrCj2h8u_vU4xcadl8Ie1rLM3mrEDeSMvgOPGRdgDy2Wc75gKgkkYTEz71U7P5M3KUbGiXDPbt9A/s1600/barbie.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">If soft porn magazines are to be believed, this is what most vulvae look like</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The rising rate at which people are seeking labiaplasties “<a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1877941/" target="_blank">may reflect a narrow social definition of normal, or a confusion of what is normal and what is idealised</a>”. As such, we can see that this is an issue of gender inequality due to lack of representation of the diverse range of ‘normal’ vulvae and labia. This happens not only in the soft porn industry, which is targeted for the most part at men, but also in more mainstream media and society. There is a fear that a lot of people are being “<a href="http://www.guernicamag.com/daily/kirsten-oregan-labiaplasty-part-ii/" target="_blank">duped by the media and by unethical doctors who are preying on their insecurities</a>”, that the sexual objectification of their bodies is leading them to have concerns over the way their genitalia look. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Vulvae and labia are simply not something that are seen as appropriate topics of conversation – the stigma and shame associated with having a vagina remains a barrier to communicating worries or uncertainties people have with the way their labia look. As such, finding out what is ‘normal’ is considerably difficult, particularly in comparison to the range of dialogue which surrounds what is ‘normal’ in terms of penises and testes. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, there is a growing awareness surrounding the different types and sizes of vulvae and labia, and projects like the <a href="http://www.greatwallofvagina.co.uk/home" target="_blank">Great Wall of Vagina</a> are creating an environment in which discourse surrounding labia and vulvae is becoming more socially acceptable. Projects like this, as well as simply having open conversations about the way our bodies look, challenge our perceptions of normality.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqMHR6_rGmxgv1f_VX9RQ1-jTprBH1gsPg6yZd5TrblfmBe2GKC8IPkh6pWPIJuspagT1nmpGeBSCE6pGLFodumsW08e-pLYMAYbwbCcZlr9U7gIFDotZ01fOOuRf5hDHWHxdZffvJoy4/s1600/5b4fbbe7890944b0a94025c9f5ab1923.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqMHR6_rGmxgv1f_VX9RQ1-jTprBH1gsPg6yZd5TrblfmBe2GKC8IPkh6pWPIJuspagT1nmpGeBSCE6pGLFodumsW08e-pLYMAYbwbCcZlr9U7gIFDotZ01fOOuRf5hDHWHxdZffvJoy4/s320/5b4fbbe7890944b0a94025c9f5ab1923.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A panel from the Great Wall of Vagina, showing the variation in labia shapes and sizes</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, as the documentary <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMJcGcBc2t8" target="_blank">The Perfect Vagina (2008)</a> shows, there are still, and will possibly always be, people who are still deciding that that a labiaplasty is a procedure they want or need. It is important to note that controlling other people’s bodies would be problematic in itself. We cannot deny people the ability to alter their bodies, particularly if their mental health is being affected by the way they look, even though these feelings may stem from false representation of how their bodies ‘should’ look in the media. Goodman <i>et al</i> come to the conclusion that while a person definitely has the right to choose a labiaplasty,<a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17367421" target="_blank"> it should be an informed and counselled choice</a>, and the NHS advises that young people in particular should be advised on <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1877941/" target="_blank">solutions other than surgery</a> in response to concerns about their genitalia.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While the reasons people choose to undergo elective cosmetic labiaplasties may vary, one of the core factors is a feeling of non-conformance, of being somehow different. This is often brought on by the narrow, if even present at all, representation of vulvae and labia in the media, and the lack of discourse surrounding the wide range of ‘normal’ labia due to stigma and shame. However, although labiaplasties themselves are a gender equality issue, to deny someone their right to bodily autonomy should they make an informed choice to have the surgery would also be a gender equality issue. As such, we need to promote a greater range of ideas surrounding ‘normalcy’ when it comes to vulvae and encourage positive discourse about labia and vulvae in order to both reduce the rate at which people are having labiaplasties, and ensure that those who continue to have them are making an informed, and therefore empowered, choice. </span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03466514028749434845noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4026822989413883384.post-4221350409296064552013-07-14T04:10:00.000-07:002013-07-14T04:50:13.068-07:00Women of Ireland - Your Saviour is Here!<div style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 22px;"><i>I've been a fan of Geoff's blog for about a year now, ever since he started looking into the links between Youth Defence and American support (using some sort of technological magic to suss out <a href="http://geoffsshorts.blogspot.ie/2012/09/youth-defence-who-follows-followers.html" target="_blank">their twitter followers</a> and the like).</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 22px;"><i>He offered to write a guest post for my blog, and here it is - an insightful exposé into the American man who will save us Irish from our biggest enemy - ourselves (with free-thought coming in at a close second).</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>So, enjoy and don't forget to <a href="http://geoffsshorts.blogspot.ie/" target="_blank">check out his blog</a> and follow him<a href="https://twitter.com/geoffsshorts" target="_blank"> on twitter</a>.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Few can have escaped the focus gained by the abortion debate in Ireland over the past year. Caught at the intersection of old colonial laws, the softening of the Roman Catholic hierarchy's grip on Irish society and worries that we might be losing our cultural identity, efforts to provide the legal clarity required to allow doctors to save women's lives has caused widespread debate.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Newspaper columns, radio waves, TV shows and coffee break discussions have been overwhelmed by those wishing to tease out how greatly we should value the lives of women and what caveats we should place on any desire they might have to avoid death while reproducing. But fear not. A Man has come to save us from ourselves. His name is Victor Bermudez:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We are supremely blessed to have him. Not only is he a man, he is a Californian man, and having reached the age of 21 he has decided to fly all the way to Ireland (sponsored by a group that expresses their commitment to defending life by </span><a href="http://geoffsshorts.blogspot.ie/2013/03/anti-vaccination-group-flies-irish.html" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">opposing vaccination in Ireland</a><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">) to save Irish women from that sinister opposing group hellbent on their destruction - Irish women.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu9XqI73M495uTYzX0U1TMJY7O5aLoLRtENqw73nk0oV3hO5QIE81D6O7Dh1G-lP-_SlXzL2Lq-aAacN9eVfkTBKKGRilv-UAh5ZVwbLtv9Ax6R7bwSht3UaiIEaoEXJJeEKegaY5T5ig/s1600/ImageProxy1.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu9XqI73M495uTYzX0U1TMJY7O5aLoLRtENqw73nk0oV3hO5QIE81D6O7Dh1G-lP-_SlXzL2Lq-aAacN9eVfkTBKKGRilv-UAh5ZVwbLtv9Ax6R7bwSht3UaiIEaoEXJJeEKegaY5T5ig/s320/ImageProxy1.png" title="" width="258" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Victor Bermudez, Man, Californian, Thinker, Hero,<br />Saving Irish Women From Themselves</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm sure, like me, you are amazed that this man of admittedly tender years has found the time to fully brief himself on the Irish legal system, the decades long struggle for access to contraception, the niceties of the Irish constitution and existing legislation before coming to a firm conclusion that the Irish people are wrong and must be saved from themselves. Yet we find that Ireland is not the only country that has benefited from his generosity - he also knows what's best for Spanish and Australian women too, and has tried to help them see the error of their ways by marching across their countries and blockading family planning services.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You can find his biography amidst those of his fellow Americans on Crossroads Walk Ireland's page </span><a href="http://crossroadswalk.ie/2013-walkers/" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">here</a><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, with a more extensive biography </span><a href="http://www.standtrue.com/summer-outreach-director-victor-bermudez/" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">here</a><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. Elsewhere he shares his thoughts on saving same sex couples from </span><a href="http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/increasingly-young-americans-are-pro-life-marriage-is-a-another-story" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">their desire to wed</a><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How do they help us poor Irish see the error of their ways? Unfortunately we lack the intellectual capacity to fully understand the issue on the same level they do. Thankfully they have a simple solution. In much the same way one might place a fence in front of a stairs to prevent an errant child from entering, they simply stand in front of any premises with which they disagree and </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aw-dcU35b7Q" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">block entry</a><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">:</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtyOTnIUgUslr_Z9SFI3oA2ieuv2_Z8NwMwRWD1SU5YHHhV2bxJu8mEZ3C5VXtDrnO_RMl1U_BF_P6oYFED2u2H4SqaSe3dLRsTfU4eqZyrbgeCT7Rnj6pUny5sHYZgHe0odScQoLoQoI/s1600/ImageProxy2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtyOTnIUgUslr_Z9SFI3oA2ieuv2_Z8NwMwRWD1SU5YHHhV2bxJu8mEZ3C5VXtDrnO_RMl1U_BF_P6oYFED2u2H4SqaSe3dLRsTfU4eqZyrbgeCT7Rnj6pUny5sHYZgHe0odScQoLoQoI/s320/ImageProxy2.png" title="" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Champions of the Irish people, these fine folk save us from ourselves by blocking entrances to buildings we shouldn't be in.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do read more from Rachel Mary about their success in </span><a href="http://crossroadswalk.ie/blog/2011/08/17/there-and-back-again-a-walkers-tale-by-rachel-mary/" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">blocking access to the IFPA</a><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> on August 13th.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some cynics might say that it's inappropriate for those from another country to take such sterling efforts to correct our foolish ambitions at self determination. That folk who have not spent any appreciable time in Ireland are not best equipped to decide for its citizens. Without fully understanding the depth of research performed by Victor and his friends some Irish might say that they do not have the right to fix the boundary to the march of this nation. To those I say: </span><a href="http://crossroadswalk.ie/" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">read their blog</a><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. You will see nuanced distinction and profound understanding of every aspect of Irish culture. Take </span><a href="http://crossroadswalk.ie/blog/2012/06/30/48-years/" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">this post</a><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, where a contributor too modest to be named discovers that 'chips' are the Irish way of saying fries. Or </span><a href="http://crossroadswalk.ie/blog/2013/06/16/do-you-hear-the-people-sing/" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">read how Angie</a><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> correctly identifies that we Irish refer to jelly as 'jam'. And I challenge you to </span><a href="http://crossroadswalk.ie/blog/2012/07/08/independence-day/" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">read Caitlin's realisation</a><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> that Independence day is 'just another day' in Ireland without both misty eyes and a profound respect at their unparalleled cultural research.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMKOsCm02bb9bSfrOPHEqRfVythwtp6Dn8eCNtZEscXMrxcDrkQN5lmQ2Z7hBme16jjDGbofDaEC0jlVL2czXPLciAMr-p7BQgUbPiwPUAA7Oo8PwI_f3QsWr9dcna-odONUrdkcv6Tv4/s1600/ImageProxy3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMKOsCm02bb9bSfrOPHEqRfVythwtp6Dn8eCNtZEscXMrxcDrkQN5lmQ2Z7hBme16jjDGbofDaEC0jlVL2czXPLciAMr-p7BQgUbPiwPUAA7Oo8PwI_f3QsWr9dcna-odONUrdkcv6Tv4/s320/ImageProxy3.jpg" title="" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pro life, pro lats - this strapping chap on Grafton Street displays Crossroads All Ireland Pro Life Walk and Family and Life on his fine, strapping back.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ladies, gentlemen - for too long we have been fooling ourselves with these notions of self determination. These fine folk have come all the way from America to tell us that they know better. Who are we to tell them they're wrong?</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03466514028749434845noreply@blogger.com29tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4026822989413883384.post-91073075484195935802013-07-12T14:19:00.000-07:002013-07-12T14:28:08.792-07:00On Irish Abortion Legislation and ‘Lapgate'<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>(kinda shitty post, but the heat melts my brain and I wanted to write something)</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last night, after a 21 year long wait, X-case legislation
was passed in the Dáil at 127 to 31. However, it’s not law yet – it still has
to go through the Seanad and the President’s office. While this is a momentous
occasion in Irish history, and a step in the right direction for women*’s
reproductive freedom, it is not without its issues.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The legislation brings clarity to doctors – a pregnant
person can now undergo any treatment to save their life, even if that treatment
will result in a miscarriage or involves ending the pregnancy. It takes one
doctor to decide if the woman* is literally at death’s door, and two if she’s
only a little bit dying. However, to force a woman* who is suicidal as a result
of her pregnancy to plead for her life in front of a panel of doctors (one of
which has to be an OB despite the fact that it’s a mental health issue, not a
pre-natal issue) is cruel. If they do not unanimously agree, she must go to
another panel, and they could take 5 to 7 days to come to a decision. They
could take a week to decide whether or not to help, when a person contemplates
suicide waiting for their verdict. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mental health is real health, and this is something the
legislators seem to not fully understand. If someone has gotten to the point
where they would subject themselves to this kind of backwards and patronising
system because their pregnancy is not something they can handle, they need
help. They don’t need to be submitted to this trial where they are not even
certain that the outcome will be to save their life and end the pregnancy. This
legislation will do nothing for people who are suicidal as a result of their
pregnancies. However, some women* may go through this panel. These are the
women* who are too poor to travel for a termination and migrant women* who are
unsure of their immigration status. These are some of our most vulnerable
women, yet we will subject them to this cruel, humiliating process to beg for
their lives. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The legislation also contains a jail sentence for those who
terminate in Ireland, or those who help them terminate in Ireland. Under the
1861 Offences Against the Persons Act, which made abortion completely illegal
in Ireland, this crime warrants life of penal servitude. In the new legislation
this has become an undisclosed fine and up to 14 years imprisonment. No one has
ever been prosecuted for self-inducing in Ireland under the old legislation,
and we have been assured that this will continue with the new legislation. Why
then, was it included at all? Why even make the threat to criminalise women who
self-induce with pills in their own country? Why add to the stigma surrounding
abortion? While this threat may only apply to doctors who perform abortions
‘illegally’ (i.e. when the pregnant person is not actually dying), there is a
worry that it could also be used to prosecute those who provide abortifants, or
collect them from the North, as they are supplying the means to carry out an
abortion. Whether anyone is ever prosecuted for self-inducing, only time will
tell.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is the bare minimum. This basically tells Irish women* - 'if you're pregnant, and will die if you remain pregnant, we'll end your pregnancy'. It isn't bringing in abortion on request, and it also isn't abortion up to 9 months. After the point of viability, if the pregnancy needs to be ended to save the life of the pregnant person, a c-section or early induced delivery will be performed, not an abortion. While that seems painfully obvious, the anti-choice crowd have been using that as a means by which to 'kill the bill'. They would rather women* die than have a termination. That's not 'pro-life'.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Various amendments to the bill were proposed while it was
being debated in the Dáil over the last few days. All amendments to broaden the
bill were defeated. Terminations in cases of rape or incest were defeated
because they don’t fit into the tiny box that is the Supreme Court
interpretation of the law – that terminations are only allowed when there is a
real and substantial risk to the woman*’s life, including through suicide.
Interestingly enough, though not surprising, amendments trying to remove the
suicide claus from the bill were also tabled. One has to wonder how the government
could legislate for X (as we are required to do by the European Court of Human
Rights), if we leave out suicide. The X-case is the reason the interpretation
included suicide as a real and substantial risk to the woman*’s life. We have
two referenda (1992 and 2002) where the people could have opted to remove ‘in
case of suicide’ from the law; we chose not to. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Terminations for medical reasons, when the fetus has a fatal
abnormality and will not survive outside the womb, were also left out, despite
the argument that the fetus will never live outside the womb, and so their
right to life cannot be seen as the same as the right to life of the pregnant
person. These are generally much wanted pregnancies, and yet we export these
grieving families to the UK and elsewhere if they chose to end the pregnancy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The defeated amendment which baffled me the most was to
allow for terminations during an inevitable miscarriage. Currently in Ireland,
if you miscarry, you’re told we can’t help you, just go home and wait.
Depending how far along the pregnancy is, this waiting could take three or four
days. This was the only amendment which could have saved Savita Halapanavar had
this legislation been in place a year ago. In countries where abortion
legislation is broader, you can chose to end the miscarriage via a D&C.
This results in the cervix being open for a considerably shorter amount of
time, thus reducing the risk of infection, and can also reduce the mental
anguish of the person miscarrying. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One distinction that anti-choicers repeatedly used was the
misinformed idea that abortions are different from necessary medical
interventions which end a pregnancy. Soz, nope. In cases of ectopic
pregnancies, the zygote is pretty much directly targeted and removed.
Obviously, if an ectopic pregnancy is left untreated for long enough, the
damage to the fallopian tube can be so great that it must be removed. This is
often done in very Catholic hospitals – patients must wait until their tube is
so damaged before they can receive treatment, because then you can say that it’s
not <i>really </i>abortion. This misguided argument
has also been used when discussing this bill, despite the fact that the word ‘abortion’
isn’t used once, it’s always called a medical procedure or medical
intervention. Sarah Malone deals amazingly with both these points <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/insidestory/2013/07/20137128554415383.html?utm_content=rssautomatic&utm_campaign=twitter&utm_source=SocialFlow&utm_term=june&utm_medium=tweet" target="_blank">in a recentinterview</a> (also note how it’s two middle aged, British men arguing against a
young, Irish woman about abortion in Ireland…)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was not only the legislation which caused controversy
over the lst few days at the Dáil. During the first sitting, which went on til
5am, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqT3TzsH11o" target="_blank">Tom Barry TD pulled Áine Collins onto his lap</a> and held her there while
she was clearly uncomfortable, only releasing her after a pat on her very lower
back. A number of male TDs around them are seemingly unbothered by this
behaviour. During a debate about women’s reproductive rights, a female TD is
sexually harassed. Because what happened was sexual harassment. Collins later
accepted Barry’s apology, but that doesn’t mean it was OK. It shows the way in
which the Dáil is still very much set in a Mad Men era. Excuses have been made,
ranging from the fact that the heating wasn’t on (it was a 27 degree day), the
few drinks he’d had (why our politicians are allowed drink while debating life
and death legislation is for another day) or simply that it was ‘silly’ and a
bit of ‘horseplay’. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We haven’t exactly come a long way in the last 21 years regarding
abortion legislation in Ireland. This legislation is not yet law, and odds are
it will face many more hurdles set up by the anti-choicers and misogynist
politicians, but I’m confident that it will pass, and Ireland will be a
slightly safer country for pregnant women*. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But it’s important not to get complacent. We shouldn’t wait
another 21 years, or for another tragic death, before we get the 8<sup>th</sup>
Amendment repealed. We need a referendum to remove this out-dated,
religious-based, misogynist article from our constitution. Then, we can make
real progress with reproductive rights in Ireland. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03466514028749434845noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4026822989413883384.post-12229794902969361492013-07-10T15:12:00.000-07:002013-07-10T15:12:37.593-07:00On Human Rights - EWTS Session Four<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Notes and thoughts on session 3 of the EWTS conference, which was about Human Rights. Speakers were Dan Barker, Maryam Namazie and Jane Donnelly. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Dan Barker is a prominent atheist activist in the US, and used to be a preacher. </i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the Bible hierarchy, women* are not as special or as important as men. Women* are seen as property, and this links in to how it is considerably more common for a woman* to take her husband's surname when they get married, rather than keeping her own, or the man changing his. When women* marry, they have a civil death - they lose their personal identity and instead are latched on to that of her husband. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Human rights are not granted or bestowed - this implies that they may then be taken away. Human rights must be acknowledged. They must be recognised. They are inalienable. They aren't something we have to ask for, we get them for being human. But it is getting our human rights acknowledged by others which is the big difficulty. While we all have them, not all people recognise that we do, and as such, entire groups and communities of people are oppressed and denied their human rights. The UN Declaration of Human Rights doesn't mention any holy or religious text. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that all human beings should be treated with equality, dignity and respect, regardless of who they are or where they come from. Therefore, we need to find human rights within ourselves, not in a holy book. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Women*'s rights are human rights - there is no distinction. When you deny a woman* human rights based on her gender, you are denying her her rights, her basic rights, as a human. We are all human, and we all have human rights.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><a href="https://twitter.com/MaryamNamazie" target="_blank">Maryam Namazie</a> is an Iranian-born activist and a spokesperson for the Council of Ex Muslims of Britain. </i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Secularism is a basic human right. It is also an historical task and necessity. We want a secular world, not just a secular West. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sharia law prevents the advancement of secularism and women*'s rights in Islamist states. Veiling is enforced, and this enforced veiling is similar to FGM and foot binding practices in ancient China. Those who are in power decide and enforce their culture on the entire country. There are as many different types of Muslims as there are individual minds. The conflation of Islamists and their apologists with Muslims is a massive problem. There is a huge difference between being Muslim, which is personal, private faith, and Islamism, which is the politicised and extremist version of Islamic faith. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Women are freer the less religion comes into play in the public sphere. Personal and private faith is completely fine in a secular society, but faith should not dictate the government, nor any laws or services. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Human rights are not Eastern nor Western, they are universal, and secularism is a right and a cultural identity.</span><br />
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<i><br /></i>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><a href="https://twitter.com/JaneBDonnelly" target="_blank">Jane Donnelly</a> is the Atheist Ireland Education Officer. </i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ireland is a republic, and as such, is meant to have no discrimination. The state is meant to value human rights. Ireland is meant to have a fairly good human rights record, except when it comes to women*. </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The ECHR says that </span><a href="http://www.bailii.org/eu/cases/ECHR/2010/2032.html" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Ireland violated Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights</a><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> due to lack of legislation for the constitutional right to abortion in certain circumstances. </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Earlier in June, the Irish Commissioner for Human Rights said that</span><a href="http://www.ihrc.ie/newsevents/press/2013/06/" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank"> the state failed to vindicate the human rights of the women* and girls</a><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> who were institutionalised in the Magdalene</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Laundries. These women* were denied their right to equality, liberty, respect to private life, education and freedom from servitude, among others. The Laundries were run by the Catholic Church, but the state played a role in their development. Stronger regulations are needed between the state and non-state actors carrying out state actions. The state has a history of delegating human rights care to other bodies which interpret human rights in accordance with their religious views. Catholic human rights are not the same rights as those outlines in the UDHR. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While accessing their human right to education, the state is not responsible to protect children from abuse in public schools. 92% of Irish schools are run by religious bodies separate from the state. Secular parents and children do not have equality regarding freedom of consciousness when it comes to choosing a school which will not shove religion down the throats of young children too young to have independently made up their mind about what they believe. Yet Catholic schools claim they are being discriminated against. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When you look deeper, Ireland doesn't have a great human rights record, particularly when it comes to women*. It is important not to ask for your human rights, but to demand them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-there is a complacency in Ireland regarding human rights - we have this idea that different cultures have different sets of human rights. Education about human rights is vital - a lot of people don't understand what discrimination means, that you need the power to oppress in order to discriminate. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-in response to a man commenting on how shocked he was at the idea that white American women would allow themselves to be oppressed, but that he isn't shocked that it happens in Middle Eastern countries (i.e. he's a racist fuck), Maryam Namazie pointed out that women in Iran do fight back, they do resist. In one month, in one town, 1 million women were arrested for improper veiling. Do not assume that women in Iran or other Islamist countries are doing nothing, or unable to do anything. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-Namazie also points out that you can be anti-Islamism without being racist. There is a difference between Islamism and being Muslim. It is important not to be paternalistic and assume you know what's best for Muslim women in Islamist states. Islamism is used by many Western states as a scapegoat against immigrants. Educating people on the difference between being Muslim and Islamism as a movement is vital.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03466514028749434845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4026822989413883384.post-1470206391201376952013-07-08T12:56:00.000-07:002013-07-08T12:57:21.681-07:00On the Separation of Church and State - EWTS Session Three<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Notes and thoughts on session 3 of the EWTS conference, which was about Separation of Church and State. Speakers were Ann Brusseel, Annie Laurie Gaylor, Elida Radig and </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Michael Nugent.</span><br />
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<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><a href="https://twitter.com/AnnBrusseel" target="_blank">Ann Brusseel</a> is a Flemish parliamentarian for the Open VLD (Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats) party. </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There is no, one European model for a secular state, though many European states are somewhat secular. France has a total ban on all religious expressions (clothes, jewelry etc.) for civil servants, even those who have no contact with the public. Belgium, on the other hand, has no guidelines. Some Catholic schools aren't even particularly Catholic, but the tax payer still pays for them. In Germany, there is a system in place by which you can choose which religious organisation (or a non-religious organisation or charity) you want the allocated portion of your taxes to go to. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, even with reduced religious influences, secular services are still needed. Despite being largely secular, many hospitals in Belgium are Catholic and won't perform terminations. As such, many women* seeking terminations have to travel to another town or city. Brusseel notes that many women* may not have the courage, knowledge or money to travel for an abortion. What Belgium needs is a Minister for Health who is not afraid to insist that all hospitals implement the law (which allows for terminations up to 12 weeks on request, and in certain circumstances after this point). However, Brusseel notes that she is often called a fanatic for trying to get the law upheld. Because abortion is legal (although not always accessible), many people have become complacent, and renewed activism is needed to prevent people from "falling asleep". </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The anti-choice is active in Belgium. They offer free sex education lessons (sex ed is mandatory in Belgium) to schools, but they don't always provide students with factual information. One point which is reiterated is that homosexuality is wrong because only men and women 'fit together'. This is meant regarding the act of sex (which is an erroneous statement at best) as well as in relation to body shapes of men and women. The idea is that they 'fit' because men* tend to have broad shoulders and smaller hips, while women* tend to have broad hips and smaller shoulders. Clearly the anti-choice groups in Belgium believe that there is only one body type for men* and women*... </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Optimism is a moral duty for humanists - we must always hope that there are better things and better times to come. Although the move towards secular states is slow, it is happening, and the separation of church and state is becoming something that more and more people are calling for around the world.</span><br />
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<i style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/algaylor" target="_blank">Annie Laurie Gaylor</a> is the co-founder of the Freedom from Religion Foundation and editor of Freethought Today.</i><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The United States' constitution contains no mention of a god or deity, yet 'In God We Trust' is printed on all paper money and the pledge of allegiance contains the phrase 'one nation under god'. The Founding Fathers were, in fact, secular and meant for their new republic to have a separation of church and state. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One way in which the link between church and state exerts itself over day to day life in the US is through the Obamacare mandate that contraception be covered by the employee's work health insurance, unless the employee works for a church or religious organisation. Based on a person's employer's religious beliefs, they can be denied coverage to pay for contraception. While this currently only extends to churches, the religious right are campaigning for <i>any</i> employer to refuse contraception coverage due to religious beliefs. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In 1973, Roe vs Wade legalised abortion nationwide, and anti-choicers and religious groups have been on the defensive ever since. There have been few improvements in the arena of reproductive rights, with the vast majority of legislation seeking and succeeding in reducing access to services. There is a proposed bill in Arkansas which would only allow abortions up to 6 weeks gestation. Considering that many people don't find out they're pregnant, especially if it is a crisis or unplanned pregnancy, until after this point, this is a massive step back and a huge restriction on women* and their right to choose. The aim seems to be to overturn Roe vs Wade, or at least to take back the decision to state level, meaning that each state would decide whether or not abortion would legal and under what circumstances. Judging by the all proposed legislation seeking to severely limit access to abortion at the moment, this would likely mean that many states would have similar abortion laws as Ireland. However, if something is a constitutional right, it shouldn't matter where you live - you should be able to access and avail of that right. This is also relevant to states where legislation has impacted so severely on clinics that there are only a few left, meaning that people have to travel great distances to access abortion services. If you are poor, young or cannot travel due to family or work commitments, you are out of luck. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><a href="https://twitter.com/ElidaRadig" target="_blank">Elida Radig</a> is an Australian feminist and former councilor for the Shire of Flinders. She is also one of the most amazing people I've ever met. </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After the horrors of the child abuse carried out by Roman Catholic priests around the world, many people looked to sue the church for compensation. However, because one of the ways in which abuse was covered up or 'dealt' with was to move the offending priest to another parish (where he often re-abused and so was moved again, and so on), there is a huge amount of difficulty in tracking abusers down and getting compensation. Money trails are almost non-existent because many countries allow churches and religious organisations to purchase land, etc, tax-free. This is because they have charity status, as a charity they 'advance religion'. The issue over where the compensation money is going to come from is a big issue in Australia at the moment. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Many of the children abused in Australia were from the UK. They were sent there for 'safe keeping' during the war and many ended up in Roman Catholic orphanages, where they were told their parents and families at home in the UK were dead or didn't want them back. Many people who underwent abuse in these circumstances are only coming forward now with their stories. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are many campaigns run which say that feminists hate men, and this notion is a common misconception. Many atheist men talk about science and equality, yet they remain completely ignorant of women*'s issues. Many men are aware they have male privilege and they love it - they're not about to give it up so easily. There are very few women who are active in the atheist community because of this - they are not encouraged, yet the men seem confused when women leave. (See my posts (<a href="http://thoughts-ofalostgirl.blogspot.ie/2013/07/on-menz-ewts-conference-part-1.html" target="_blank">x</a>, <a href="http://thoughts-ofalostgirl.blogspot.ie/2013/07/on-menz-ewts-conference-part-2.html" target="_blank">x</a>) on what happened at this conference which shows that this can even happen in a secular space which is promoting women).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And so the message is this: women, get in there, don't leave secularism to the men. The feminist agenda is intrinsically linked to the secular agenda. Sisters, don't leave it to the men.</span><br />
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<i style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/micknugent" target="_blank">Michael Nugent</a> is the chair of Atheist Ireland.</i><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Roman Catholic Church have <a href="http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2004702,00.html" target="_blank">recently stated</a> that ordaining women to the priesthood is just as bad, if not worse, than </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">pedophilia. That alone should show how little the Catholic Church thinks of women. The Vatican affects policies in Ireland, and this is clearly seen through our laws, but also in the way that TDs who were going to vote in favour of x-case legislation (you know, to ensure pregnant women* don't die as a result of their pregnancies) were threatened with excommunication. Nugent describes the Vatican as a themepark, and basically the opposite of Amazonia. They are not technically a state - they weaseled their way into the UN through issuing their own stamps, having their own radio stations (take note, People's Republic of Cork), and were given special observer status. This means that while they cannot actually vote on issues in the UN, they have all the other privileges an actual state does. The Vatican also has alliences with Islamist states, as they share similar beliefs regarding opposing human rights for women and LGBTQAI* /QUILTBAG people. The Vatican even has embassies, although Ireland just closed theirs down.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is important to break church relations at state level. The UN Convention on elimination of discrimination against women was signed by many states who had the option to not comply with a number of clauses due to conflicts with the state's constitution. Most reservations were about <a href="http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/text/econvention.htm#article2" target="_blank">Article Two</a>, which begins "States Parties condemn discrimination against women in all its forms...", under the argument that it didn't comply with Sharia Law. This reservation, which allowed Islamist states to sign the convention, taking Article Two into consideration with due regard to Sharia Law, makes it effectively redundant. It completely negates the convention, and nothing changes for women in these countries. But, these countries can say that they have signed and implemented the convention. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We need to ensure that all people, citizens and non-citizens alike, are recognised and treated with dignity and respect, and have human rights. Human rights are for everyone, they should not be dependent on where you live or the majority religion of your state. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03466514028749434845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4026822989413883384.post-87834067098799441702013-07-06T12:08:00.002-07:002013-07-07T08:46:35.211-07:00On the 'Rally for Life'<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today, I went to the counter protest for this year’s Rally
for Life, despite really not being in the mood for it and the heat being
something terrible for a stereotypical pale Irish women like myself (my
foundation shade is ‘Siberia’. Wish I was kidding). Unlike the anti-Youth
Defence protest which I went to last week, which turned out to be a great
experience, today was nothing but horrible. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We hung out near the Garden of Remembrance beforehand, and there
were far more older people there than I was anticipating. Like, way more. This
was even more noticeable as we stood lining either side of O’Connell street as
they marched. I’d say maybe 15-20% of attendees were women of childbearing age,
i.e. people who would actually find themselves in a crisis pregnancy situation.
The rest were men, old people and children. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, I understand that it is sometimes necessary for
children to attend rallies -child-minding is not something that everyone has
access to. But it is *incredibly* disturbing and unsettling to see young
children chanting anti-choice slogans and holding signs. As for the older
people, especially the older men, while they had every right to protest, the
thought of them deciding to what I, a woman of childbearing age (albeit one with
fertility problems) do with my <a href="http://25.media.tumblr.com/74b667b5c382320599c5db1a7def3b47/tumblr_mkh325UP3R1qexd7wo1_1280.jpg" target="_blank">(c)uterus</a> is ridiculous. And I told them as much
as they passed me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While for the most part it was a peaceful protest, there
were some issues which I feel are worth noting. My sister was with me, and in
the 30˚C heat, she was wearing a romper suit and no tights. An old man came up
to her and decided that it was perfectly ok to sexually harass her, to
sexualise an unwilling participant, one who has only just gone 18 but who looks
young enough to still pay child fare on the bus. My sister is a fairly
headstrong person when it comes to these things. While I avoid nightclubs like
the plague due to this kind of offhand, socially accepted sexual harassment (and
worse), she still goes out, and I believe that she probably has somewhat
thicker skin than I do when it comes to this kind of thing. But today, we had
to leave the line of protesters and go somewhere more private so that she could
have a bit of a cry and gather herself. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This was not an isolated incident. Another young woman said
she was leered at and looked up and down multiple times. The despicable behaviour
of the anti-choicers isn’t limited to sexual harassment. Many people who weren’t
white were told to “go back to Africa”, and one woman was told that “she was
too fat to have kids anyway”. Many were carrying pictures of a C-section calling
it an abortion. The Gardaí said that there was nothing they could do about
these images, despite the number of children in attendance. One man picked up
his young child and shook him at us, ignoring the fact that his child was
crying and visibly upset at being shaken at a group of strangers. Many anti-choicers used the Nazi salute and one said 'Heil Hitler' to a protester, although we don't know whether it was in jest or because he's a racist (Fintan O'Toolbox recently did a <a href="http://geoffsshorts.blogspot.ie/2013/07/the-river-of-bile-on-steroids.html" target="_blank">post on Youth Defence's links to neo-nazis</a>). There were numerous placards which seemed to have escaped the screening process at the Garden of Remembrance which likened abortion to the holocaust. While I
cannot say for sure that nobody at the counter-protest were being dicks,
nothing has come to my attention as of yet, and we do tend to not be racist
pervs. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The amount of money these people have to spend is
ridiculous. It’s depressing and nauseating. Attendees were herded through one
gate at the Garden of Remembrance in order to take away their homemade posters
(usually because of their overly religious slogans – Youth Defence like to
pretend they are secular, despite their massive links with the church and the
fact that I’ve never seen more monks, nuns and priests in the space of one hour
in my life). They are supplied, instead, with hundreds of shiny, printed posters
in bright colours, which aren’t exactly cheap to print. There were three city
tour buses rented and decked out for the occasion. There seems to have been a
stage and a sound system erected at the finishing point of their march, which
was something that I definitely wanted to give a miss. It is clear that US Anti-choicers are pouring thousands of dollars into Irish campaigns in order to keep Ireland ‘abortion-free’, while conveniently forgetting about the 4,000+ women* who travel for terminations and the 1,000+ women* who self-administer at home with pills.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This year’s march has been heralded as the biggest one ever,
and the reason is because of the proposed X-case legislation. Slogans like ‘Kill
the bill, not the child’ and ‘there’s always a better option’ were commonplace
on the standard issue placards, showing pure ignorance of this legislation. The
proposed legislation is the bare minimum; and even saying that’s a stretch.
What this bill is doing is ensuring that women* don’t die as a result of their
pregnancies. But it belittles women* and mental health when they force a
suicidal woman* to plea for her life in front of three doctors, one of which
has to be an OB, despite it being a mental health issue, not a pre-natal health
one. The people who are opposing this bill do not care about women. They do not
care about mental health issues. They care about shaming women* for choosing
what’s best for them in a difficult situation, and continuing Ireland’s legacy
of reproductive slavery and forced pregnancy , something which is deemed a war
crime everywhere except Ireland. The European Commission of Human Rights has
told us that we *have* to legislate for X. The people who oppose this
legislation are effectively saying that they’re totes OK with breaches of human
rights and denying basic human rights to pregnant women*. They are either incredibly
bigoted misogynists or deeply, woefully ignorant. But they are losing this
battle. Legislation will be passed, and we’ll be one (small) step closer to
living in a country which gives a shit about its women*. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Despite this step in the right direction, we're still a long way off having any real, accessible legislation, let alone free, safe and legal abortion on request. As it stands, I would not be comfortable getting pregnant in this country under current, and proposed, legislation (though when and if I become a parent is still a *long* way off). If I was to be overly optimistic, I would say that when my potential future children are my age, they'll live in an Ireland with accessible abortion services. In reality though, it may well be my potential future grandchildren who have the right to choose.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’ll leave you with one of the chants used today, and at
many other protests, which highlights the true feelings of those protesting
against legislation. “Pro-life, that’s a lie – you don’t care if women* die”.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03466514028749434845noreply@blogger.com29tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4026822989413883384.post-21365336056705293992013-07-05T15:14:00.001-07:002013-07-14T04:54:12.419-07:00On Sisters<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: none 0px;">
<em style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none 0px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(Yeah, way behind on EWTS blogs, but feck it sure)</span></em></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So yesterday my little sister had a bit of a sappy moment on the bus and said I was an inspiration to her. Yeah, even though I have about 2% of my life sorted out and I’m an unemployed Arts graduate living at home. And a vegetarian. Like, why I would be an inspiration is beyond me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When we got on the bus, we saw a girl that I was friends with in secondary school. I did my Leaving three years ago, and I know full well that I’m an entirely different person. And for the better. I still have massive self-confidence issues, but I am more confident now than I ever was at school. I have friends now who are actually my friends and not just people I sat beside in English class. I’ve grown up, in other words. But this girl, and actually quite a few people who I’ve run into seem the exact same. They look like they did when they were 18, which is also how they looked when they were 15. Now, they have undoubtedly changed in terms of who they are as people (I don’t think you can go three years in your early 20s without changing), but they seem the exact same. They like the same things, dress the same way, are dating the same person. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But I’m glad my sister doesn’t want to do that (and I know you’re reading this Cianna, you’d better be absolutely lovely to me now). She doesn’t want to be the same person as she has been for the past few years in school. She’s been through the works as well, and is out the other side a much different, and better person. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And she’s doing the same thing I did. We live near NUIM (by near, I mean it’s a 20 min walk and one bus to the college as opposed to two different busses, we live in a commuter town, what do you expect), and most people in our secondary school go there for college. When I was filling out the CAO, I didn’t even look at courses in NUIM, I was determined not to go there. I did not want to go somewhere where people would already know me, where I would have to be the same person I was during secondary school. So I went to UCD and didn’t know a single person. I made my first friend by sneezing in a queue during orientation week and she said ‘bless you’. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And my sister’s the same. Her top two choices are in UCC, and she’ll be either going there or repeating her Leaving because she failed. She has accommodation sorted, and she’s ready to pack up and leave for 4 years come September. And I have never been happier that we’re both iPhone wankers. I can guarantee that I’ll never even get the chance to miss her face because she’ll be sending me pictures of herself on the bus, or eating (a habit of hers, one of her nicknames at home is the very hungry caterpillar) or making some sort of weird face. I’ve practically been ordered to download snapchat so I can be bombarded even more. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A year or two ago, I would have worried about her moving away. I’m still going to worry - she’s my baby sister, how could I not? - but it won’t be as intense. I don’t know that I’d win any medals for worrying about her anymore. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With inspiration like me, and absolutely no intentions of becoming a dickhead vegetarian, she’ll be just fine.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03466514028749434845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4026822989413883384.post-30359188218754558172013-07-05T14:34:00.000-07:002013-07-07T11:04:52.291-07:00On Secular Values in Society - EWTS Session Two<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Notes and thoughts on session 2 of the EWTS conference, which was about Secular Values in Society. Speakers were Leonie Hilliard, Nina Sankari, Farhana Shakir and P. Z. Myers. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Trigger warning - contains discussions about rape and rape culture.</span><br />
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<i style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/LeonieHilliard" target="_blank">Leonie Hilliard</a> is a member of Atheist Ireland. </i><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As women born in a republic, we have a voice. But as atheists in a Catholic country, our voices are not as loud and are not yet equal to others’. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The combination of ‘secular’ (defined as relating to the present world, not spiritual) and ‘values’ (defined as moral principles) give us secular values – moral principles that are related to the here and now which are free from religious ideology or influence. Even the best intentions in the absence of reality can result in harm. Religion is a insult to human dignity. We will always have good people doing good things, and bad people doing bad things, but for good people to do bad things, we need religion. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some of the secular values we should uphold are equality, reason and empathy. These things should be a given, part of human nature, but the society we live in means that this isn’t the case. Hillard describes a night out at a pub a few years ago. When she went to the toilets, she found a poster on the back of the cubical door which was endorsed by the area’s police force. It was a poster detailing how to not get raped. It contained the usual victim-blaming bullshit of ‘don’t walk home alone at night’ and ‘don’t drink too much’. When she asked a male friend on his return from the gents, he told her there wasn’t a similar poster in the men’s toilets advising men on how to avoid raping someone. What was there was a WKD ad, which I won’t post, but which said ‘if at first you don’t succeed, try it on her friend’ and a picture of the alcopop. So while women are being told they can avoid rape, men are being told to get women drunk. While women are being taught it’s their fault if they get sexually assaulted or raped, men are taught that girls are expendable objects – if one doesn’t like you, move on to the next one. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A horrifically common excuse for rape is that rapists are sociopaths or psychopaths, and that’s why they commit these atrocious crimes. However, the majority of rapists and abusers have the capacity for empathy. In 1 in 1,000 people in Ireland have an inability to be empathetic, yet 1 in 4 women will be sexually assaulted or raped, with 70% of them knowing their victim. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As a secular society, we need to uphold reason, empathy and equality, all of which are clearly absent when we examine Ireland’s rape culture.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Nina Sankari is a Polish feminist and free-thinker.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Secularism is the beautiful child of the Enlightenment of the 17th Century. It needs women’s liberation, and women* need secularism. Until recently, most secularist groups were not heavily involved in women’s rights – many societies and conferences were dominated by men, with men holding all the higher positions within secular organisations. But the links between feminism and secularism have become more apparent in recent years. Both will benefit greatly from a secular, more equal society. A secular society does not mean the complete absence of religion – people cannot be forced to think a certain way (the world isn’t quite the same as Orwell’s 1984). A secular society is one in which religion and religious doctrine have no place in the public sphere. Religion will become what it should be in the first place – a private, personal matter, a private relationship between an individual and their god(s). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Women need to rise up against the laws and discriminatory practices of religion. Yet once separation of church and state has been achieved, it can also be taken away again. Sankari uses Poland as an example of this. Under communism, things were far from ideal in Poland, but there was a separation of church and state, and women had full control over their own bodies. However, with the fall of communism, Poland also saw the de-secularisation of its society. Institutions which were once secular, such as schools and hospitals, now had to respect Catholic feelings and ideologies. If you managed in some way to hurt their religious feelings, you faced imprisonment. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Catholic Church was placed above the law of the land, and was seen as one of the most important public institutions. Abortion, contraception and divorce were promoted as wrong and immoral by the media, which has strong religious leanings. Abortions were only allowed in cases of rape, fatal fetal abnormalities or when there was a risk to the life of the pregnant person. But many doctors refused to perform even these limited abortions under conscientious objection grounds. Many even refused tests which had a small potential risk to the fetus, such as amniocenteses. There was also the fear that the pregnant person would request an abortion in the amnio showed there was a fatal fetal abnormality. Illegal abortions were commonplace. While 50 legal abortions were carried out per year, over 80,000 illegal abortions were happening in various places. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Doctors also didn’t have to prescribe contraception if they objected on religious grounds, including the morning after pill. Comprehensive sex education was non-existent, as it was predominantly taught by chaplains. As such, many young people believed urban legends surrounding sex and pregnancy such as alcohol can be used as contraception and that swallowing semen can make you pregnant. One of the recent Nobel prize winners was a Polish doctor for his work on IVF treatment, however just days earlier, doctors in Warsaw were threatened with excommunication if they voted in favour of IVF in Poland. It is common practice to deny women anaesthesia and other pain relief when they are giving birth in Catholic hospitals, following the idea that it must be ‘natural’, i.e., you must be in pain when giving birth. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are parallels with Ireland too. There is a fear that if we do get broader and more accessible abortion legislation, access to services will slowly be chipped away as has happened in the US. Just because we’ll legally have abortion, doesn’t mean that it would be in any was accessible in reality. Secular gains are always in danger of being lost. This is why we need mass education and leaders who aren’t afraid of excommunication. People would be allowed to worship in private, or be atheists in private, but the state and laws should be based on human rights and human dignity, not religious ideologies or persecution.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Farhana Shakir is a legal consultant from Pakistan. </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The focus of all this needs to be on education – it is the basis of every development and all progress. There is a similar situation in Pakistan as in Ireland, they are both theocracies. Pakistan was once secular, it has a long history of human development as it was the site of one of the earliest human settlements - the Indus Valley. Many religions have pilgrimage or holy sites in Pakistan, where they seemingly co-exist.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When Pakistan was established in 1947, 40% of the country was non-Muslim. Today, this number has reduced to 4%. Islamic education up to the 10th grade (aged 15/16) is compulsory. This is biased, based heavily on religious ideology, and any contradictions are rejected. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If the constitution of a country gives an endorsement to any one religious belief, it has an influence on how the entire society thinks. It easily leads to people of other religions, and of none, becoming outcasts. It says that they are not as welcome in that country, that they are not as important as those of the endorsed religion. Theocratic states infringe on people’s human rights in this way, and in the way that religious laws often supersede actual laws, for example the marrying off of 9 year old girls – it is technically illegal, but not under religious laws in Iran. The laws which prevent these kind of human rights violations go unimplemented. They are not reported, and if they are reported, they are rarely followed up on. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Shakir notes that this is something that happens in Ireland too, regarding many issues including rape and abortion. Most rapes and sexual assaults go unreported in Ireland (in 2011, the <a href="http://www.drcc.ie/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/DRCC-Annual-Report-20111.pdf" target="_blank">DRCC notes that 30% of assaults were reported</a>), and today, yet another case shows that even if a rape is reported and the rapist pleads guilty, they will be <a href="http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/dublin-man-avoids-jail-for-sexual-assault-while-victims-son-was-in-same-bed-599467.html" target="_blank">given a suspended sentence</a>. With regards to abortion, women* have had a constitutional right to have a termination in Ireland if their life is at risk, including through suicide, for 21 years, and yet this was never implemented, it was never made accessible. It took three brave women to go to the European Commission of Human Rights to get this government to finally act. One of the reasons it’s never been legislated for is the (perceived) majority’s religious opinions on abortion. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is the cycle of theocracy at work. The constitution upholds one religious belief, this religion then influences society, which in turn influences the constitution and legislation. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><a href="https://twitter.com/pzmyers" target="_blank">P. Z. Myers</a> is a biologist and writer/<a href="http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/" target="_blank">blogger </a>from the US.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is naïve idea that we just have to remove religion and all the world’s troubles will be gone. There are asshole atheists in the same way that there are genuinely lovely religious people. We need something more than disbelief in a god/gods to make a better world – we need more than secularism. Secularism is the floor, the foundation, the minimal standard. Religion is a tool for authoritarianism, it is hierarchical, ordered, demanding obedience. The concept of faith is anti-theoretical; there is no path for verification. You must trust but not verify, believe without reason. It is continuous assessment not based on reality, with the focus being more on how many angels fit on a pinhead than real issues. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There is no one central source of morality. This is a big misconception surrounding people who don’t look to a higher power to know right from wrong. Yet, as an atheist, I don’t go around murdering people, not to get into heaven or to avoid hell, but because it’s a bit of a dick thing to do. All values are personal and subjective. Adding ‘in the name of god’ doesn’t add importance, but neither does adding ‘in the name of Dawkins’. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We can have a secular tyranny or a secular utopia. Having a secular government means that values have imperial, real-life consequences. With a religious government, there are often no real consequences, merely the treat of hell or denied access to an afterlife. Any set of values which limits people based on their gender/race/sexual orientation/class are detrimental on the whole. Being born a woman, or black, or poor, doesn’t make you any less of a human being. Those in power have an obligation to make choices which benefit all of humanity, not just a privileged few. Secularism encourages change and improvement, not maintaining the status quo and remaining static. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you are born a white, middle class, straight man, you’ve won the cosmic lottery. It does not make you an inherently better person; it’s not a matter of ‘deserving’ to be privileged. It is a matter of choice – the decisions we make are not dictated to us from a power above, we decide for ourselves using values like equality, empathy and justice. </span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03466514028749434845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4026822989413883384.post-84560450915145899122013-07-03T10:03:00.000-07:002013-07-07T11:04:28.790-07:00On Reproductive Rights and Irish Abortion Law - EWTS Session One<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Notes and thoughts on session 1 of the EWTS conference, which was about Reproductive Rights and Abortion Law in Ireland. Speakers were Ailbhe Smyth, Anthea McTiernan, Ophelia Benson, Ross Kelly and Clare Daly.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Trigger warning - contains discussions about abortion.</span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ailbhe Smyth is involved with many pro-choice and LGBT* groups and is a spokesperson for Action on X. </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Until 1992, contraception was unavailable in Ireland, at least officially. There were black markets selling condoms, and people used to bring suitcases home with them when they went on holidays to the UK. We need to remember that the struggle for abortion lies on a foundation of battling for basic human rights. Divorce was only legalised in 1996, and male homosexuality wasn’t decriminalised until 1992.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We need to ask why abortion seems to be the big resistance issue. Very few polls on the topic ask the right question, with many choosing to use highfalutin language in an effort to confuse the public. <a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/news/poll-suggests-strong-support-for-proposed-legislation-1.1426365" target="_blank">One poll</a> which dared to use simple, direct language showed that over 80% of the population believe that abortion should be permitted in Ireland when there is a risk to the woman*’s life or health, in cases of rape or incest, and in cases of fatal fetal abnormalities. 40% believe abortion should be permitted where a woman* deems it to be in her best interest. While this highlights the fact that we are, for the most part, a pro-choice country, a shocking 11% said they do not agree with abortion to save a woman*’s life.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The 8<sup>th</sup> Amendment, which prevents legislation for abortion unless there is a real and substantial risk to the life of the woman*, uses frustratingly incorrect terminology, indicating the impact religious dogma had on the amendment. Instead of ‘woman’ and ‘fetus’, ‘mother’ and ‘unborn’ are used. This seems to be the only instance in which a woman* is legally a mother before giving birth or adopting a child. Yet, to the best of my knowledge, someone who is 12 weeks pregnant cannot claim children’s allowance for her ‘unborn’ child.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the inclusion of the right to information and the right to travel, Smyth points out that we live in a democracy – why did we have to fight for these basic rights? Even the right to information is complicated – when discussing abortion services, one must only discuss leaving the country for a termination (as self-inducing in Ireland remains illegal) and discuss the options of parenting and adoption with equal regard.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The abortion debate is only progressing due to avoidable deaths as a result of our draconian laws. The deaths of Shelia Rogers, Michelle Harte and Savita Halapanavar raised the public consciousness of the anti-women abortion laws in place. But there are doubtless many others who were in similar situations, as well as the 4,000+ women* who travel and the 1,000+ who self-administer the abortion pill in Ireland every year. We need to trust women*, repeal the 8<sup>th</sup> and legislate for what women* in Ireland need.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><a href="https://twitter.com/amcteirnan" target="_blank">Anthea McTiernan</a> is a board member of the Irish Family Planning Association. Her speech was printed by the Irish Times <a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/the-view-of-one-denomination-on-abortion-should-not-be-imposed-on-everyone-else-1.1446723?page=1" target="_blank">here</a> if you want to read it in full (you should - it's fab).</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Women (in fact, we all) have spectacular bodies, and not just the ones whose
body type is commodified in mainstream media, with reproductive abilities which,
in an ideal world, would only be employed when/if we wanted children. Yet we
live in a country living which belongs in the past, with laws and regulations,
the sole purpose of which is to control, restrict and kill women*. Savita’s
father made the seemingly obvious point that religion has nothing to do with
medicine. Yet in Ireland, it has everything to do with medicine. Savita’s
request for a termination was denied, it was ‘a Catholic thing’. Indeed, while
other religious denominations expressed their concerns about the 8<sup>th</sup>
Amendment in 1983, it was the Catholic Church which pushed for it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There is no, one, religious view on abortion or when life
begins. There’s no definitive answer because different cultures and people have
different views. The Church of Ireland, along with Presbyterian and Methodist
churches, welcome the X-case legislation, as to the Jewish community which view
all abortion cases individually. In Islam, the soul is believed to develop
between 40 and 100 days after conception, so abortion is allowed before this
point, as well as in cases of fatal fetal abnormalities. Due to the lack of
consensus, and the lack of ultimate truth, why is the Catholic Church allowed
to dominate the debate with their doctrine? We should not allow a single doctrine
to determine our laws. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Currently, the right to life pregnant women* have in this
country is only worth as much as a fertilised ovum. The legislation, and the
rhetoric souronding it coming from the anti-abortion side, paints women* as sly
and sneaky, people who cannot be trusted to make important medical decisions
for themselves. Suicidal women* who are unable to deal with a pregnancy are
forced to go through a panel of three doctors (two psychiatrists and one OB) to
‘prove’ that she is suicidal. The OB is not trained in mental illness, and so I
cannot for the life of me understand why one would be needed to judge whether
or not a woman* might kill herself because her pregnancy is too much. If their
vote is not unanimous, the woman* will be forced through the process again with
a different set of doctors. It is said that women* will abuse this process, ‘claiming’
to be suicidal in order to have a termination in Ireland. I would be surprised
if someone who <i>was</i> suicidal would
subject themselves to this ordeal rather than travel or self-administer. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As I write this, x-case legislation is being debated in the
Dáil, 7,789 days after the Supreme Court ruling. I am 21 years old, and this
ruling was issued just less than 2 weeks before I was born. One has to wonder
what kind of country waits 21 years to legislate to save women*’s lives. If the
Irish government respected women*, this legislation would have celebrated its
21<sup>st</sup> birthday with me in March. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><a href="https://twitter.com/OpheliaBenson" target="_blank">Ophelia Benson</a> is a feminist author and blogger on <a href="http://freethoughtblogs.com/butterfliesandwheels" target="_blank">freethoughtblogs.com</a>.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The US is in a similar situation to us in Ireland. The same thing that happened to Savita could very easily happen to a woman* in the US, and go unprosecuted due to religious influences and political cowardice. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Benson tells us about a woman in Phoenix, Arizona who was a mother in her 20s. She had severe pulmonary hypertension, which was made worse by her pregnancy. She needed a termination because her life was increasingly at risk as a result of her pregnancy. Because she presented in a Catholic hospital, her case went before an ethics committee. Thankfully, they agreed that she should have a termination, and she survived. One of the members of the ethics panel was a nun, and she was in agreement with the committee's decision to allow a termination. This greatly pissed off the bishop for the area (how dare she have put the life of the woman and her three, already born children ahead of the potential life of her fetus, amirite?), and he made every effort to get the hospital to agree, in writing, that they wouldn't do the same thing again. That they wouldn't save another woman*'s life, that they would sit back and let the next woman* in this kind of situation die unnecessarily. The hospital, thankfully, wasn't too keen on this deal, and said no. This, I can only presume, pissed the bishop off even more seeing as he believed he called the shots regarding the hospital and they way they treat patients. Instead of being a grown-up about it and realising that the hospital was making the best decision for their patients, he stripped the hospital of it's Catholic standing. All this means, however, is that mass cannot be said in patient's rooms anymore, and apart from the bishop, nobody really cared. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In many other, usually Catholic, hospitals, direct abortions are not allowed. Doctors must look for a loophole in order to carry out terminations, such as finding a uterine tumor and performing a hysterectomy. This is something that's also done over here - loopholes are used to 'distinguish' between abortions (which are bad) and 'necessary medical interventions which sadly, but unintentionally, result in the loss of a pregnancy' (which are graaaand). The treatment of ectopic pregnancies is one example of a loophole abortion according to many anti-abortion groups. What they fail to realise is that when treating an ectopic pregnancy, a surgeon will purposefully try to remove the zygote and cause as little damage as possible to the fallopian tube. There have been stories of anti-choice doctors waiting until the tube is incredibly damaged, so that they have to remove the entire tube rather than targeting the zygote directly. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is absolutely terrifying when women* can only get (potentially life-saving) healthcare through loopholes in laws or religious doctrine.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Ross Kelly is a member of <a href="https://twitter.com/Doctors4Choice" target="_blank">Doctor's for Choice</a>, and the potential poster boy for the pro-choice campaign (think <a href="http://feministryangosling.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">feminist Ryan Gosling</a> - we're working on our meme-making skills)</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Legislation for X is effectively a box-ticking exercise - it's the bare minimum of legislation which will probably not do anything to save women*'s lives or reduce the number travelling/self-administering. There's no responsibility, but it means they can go back to the European Commission of Human Rights and say 'aren't we great, we did it'. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As a doctor, you want to do everything you can for your patient, and you want to know with certainty that you can intervene in complex situations without facing massive legal repercussions (doctors who carry out an abortion illegally can be striped of their licence and face up to life imprisonment). The death of Savita spurred many questions about when, and whether, you can intervene in that kind of situation. Doctors do their best to give the best care they can to patients with respect to their wishes. Just as a Jehovah's Witness could deny blood products, someone personally opposed to abortion could deny a termination. However, Savita requested a termination, but due to the presence of a fetal heartbeat during her miscarriage, the doctors had to sit back and do nothing, regardless of whether or not they wanted to help (which remains unclear). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The proposed legislation brings clarity to these emergency situations. When it's obvious there is a threat to the pregnant person's life, only one doctor's opinion is needed to terminate the pregnancy, when it is less clear, or the threat is less immediate, two doctors are required. But when the risk to life is through suicide, legislators clearly fall short. The requirement of a panel of doctors in the first place shows a lack of trust of the woman* in question, and the inclusion of an OB shows a lack of understanding of mental health issues. We also need to examine what is deemed an acceptable risk to life. For some, even a 10% risk is too much, for others, the risk could be higher before it's an issue. It all comes down to personal circumstances. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Abortion is not a treatment for suicide. I'm not sure anyone has actually claimed it is. There is no 'treatment' for suicide - all that can be done is to try to manage and alleviate the feelings and pressures which are causing someone to feel like there is no way out. For some people, a pregnancy, particularly an unplanned/crisis pregnancy, could be the straw that broke the camels back regarding their mental health. It is a huge thing, and can severely affect your hormone levels, potentially worsening feelings of despair. In these particular and unique situations, an abortion may help the situation, and make things just a bit easier and reduce or remove suicidal feelings. Like all mental health issues and treatments, it's complex and needs to be dealt with on an individual basis. Quitting your job doesn't cure suicide, but if your job is what's making you feel suicidal, in that particular case quitting your job may 'cure' your suicide, or at least make feelings more manageable. It's the same for abortion. There's no way to properly research whether or not abortion reduces suicidal ideation - that would require a focus group of suicidal women who would be left without the treatment they need which would be a massive abuse of human rights. What we need to do is trust women. It's really that simple. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Kelly goes on to say that the right to travel isn't massively helpful either. with all medical procedures, follow up care is vital. Many women* can't access the few clinics (like the Well Woman clinics) which offer post-abortion care and check ups, either due to fear of the stigma attached with having travelled for a termination, or being unable to access these clinics. Anti-abortion groups claim that they 'love them both' (meaning women and babies), yet the restrictions on abortion and related services due to their campaigning and scaremongering put women* in dangerous situations. Women who self-administer at home in Ireland are often afraid to go to the ER if they feel like something might be wrong, for fear of being prosecuted. The safest way to ensure women* have safe experiences is to let them go through their own doctors and have the correct pre- and post- abortion (both medical and surgical abortion) counselling and check-ups here, along with being able to access abortion services here. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Kelly finishes by saying that many anti-choice religious organisations talk about faith - if they really had faith that their followers wouldn't have abortions, what's the worry? But it's not about faith, it's about controlling other women*. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We need free, safe and legal abortion in Ireland, regardless of situation. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is part of the struggle for reproductive rights which includes the right to have children and bring them up away from poverty and discrimination. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Before the right to information and travel was clarified in 1992, magazines from the UK in Easons used to have pages ripped out if there were adverts for abortion clinics, and international phonebooks had the numbers of family planning clinics blacked out with marker. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Despite the Supreme Court decision in 1992 that the treat to life didn't have to be immediate, our government, who are only legislating due to ECHR pressure, are ignoring this. The <a href="http://www.kildarestreet.com/debates/?id=2012-11-27a.583&s=abortion+speaker%3A321#g586" target="_blank">emergency legislation Daly proposed</a> at the end of November last year, which would allow abortion in cases where the woman*'s life is at risk, and in cases of risk by suicide, would require the opinion of a consultant psychiatrist or a clinical psychologist. There was also a conscientious objection clause. This proposed bill was voted against, with many who voted against it saying that it didn't go far enough. These same TDs have voted for the current legislation, which is considerably more restrictive. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Savita's death was a wake up call for the people of Ireland - it took many people off the fence as they realised the reality of the Irish abortion situation. Abortion happens in Ireland and to Irish people, and it is beyond naive to suggest that Ireland is 'abortion free'. We have similar abortion rates as other countries, we just sweep it under the rug and ignore it, just as we did with the Magdalene Laundries and the countless women who were subjected to symphysiotomies so that they could continue having children. This legislation is symbolically huge, but also has huge shortcomings. TFMR (terminations for medical reasons, usually fatal fetal abnormalities) are excluded from the bill, despite the potential that they are covered under the 8th Amendment, and women who self-administer, and anyone who assists them, can face an undisclosed fine and/or up to 14 years imprisonment.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Forced pregnancy is a war crime, and yet in Ireland, it is commonplace. For those who cannot travel for a termination, either because the cost involved, family situations or uncertainty regarding migrant status, these women legally are forced to continue their pregnancy, or chose to break the law. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-The ECHR couldn't find a plausible reason as to why there had been a failure to legislate for X for 21 years. The only reason is the lack of separation of church and state. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-We need to defend and support the right to life of the <i>bigger</i> life. Whether or not a fetus has an inherent right to life, or a soul, or whatever, it is *certain* that the pregnant person does, and their life is, or at least should be, more valued. But we also need to understand the concept of personhood. A fetus does not have personhood rights, the pregnant person does. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-The McKenna judgement which calls for media to be unbiased on political issues, and as such giving both sides equal coverage/time, may not be valid for the abortion debate, but it's used anyway. As such, we have to be tolerant of intolerance and intolerant people who spew lies rater than logic and facts when discussing abortion. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-Education is the most important factor to consider when making reproductive healthcare accessible. It's important to change people's minds and present them with comprehensive, fact-based information on pregnancy and abortion. </span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03466514028749434845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4026822989413883384.post-48175141529224297392013-07-03T02:04:00.000-07:002013-07-05T02:24:42.692-07:00On Elevatorgate<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">slight detour from the EWTS conference notes, there's one coming later!</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A friend asked me on <a href="https://twitter.com/BeccaNiRiain" target="_blank">twitter</a> why women often feel
uncomfortable at purely atheist/secular conferences, and then remembered the
Richard Dawkins – Rebecca Watson ‘elevatorgate’ from 2011.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At an atheist conference, Watson had been talking about how
shitty it is that women get sexualised at conferences like this. She was then
hit on by a guy in the lift, in a situation that could very easily gone from
bad to worse. After speaking up about this, she received a lot of criticism
from Dawkins in particular, who wrote a satirical letter to a Muslim woman undergoing
FGM (female genital mutilation), comparing her plight to Watson’s experience. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The problem with this is similar to the problem with the
phrase ‘you shouldn’t be sad, because someone, somewhere has it worse than you’.
Under this logic, nobody should ever be happy, because someone will always have
it better than you. It’s comlpletely ridiculous. Obviously, on the grand scale
of things, being sexualised and hit on in an enclosed space by a stranger is
nowhere near as horrible an experience as FGM. But it doesn’t invalidate the
experience, as Dawkins claimed it did. It’s worth noting that in this case, a
man was telling a woman that she was overreacting when she was faced with an
uncomfortable and overly-sexualised situation. This situation could have very
easily not ended as it did, things could have gotten a lot worse, and Watson
very easily could have been sexually assaulted. Dawkins trivialised a situation
which he will probably never experience, but one which Watson will most likely experience
a hundred more times. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is just one example of why women are often apprehensive
about atheist/secular conferences, even those aimed specifically at women. My experience
was not on the scale of Watson’s, but again, it’s still valid. And while I
received little negative backlash for feeling this way at the conference
itself, the world of twitter took care of that afterwards. People who weren’t
even at the conference. And whose only knowledge of the conference was through
the MRA blogger (I refuse to plug him, also he’s a male supremacist dick), were
telling me that I was overreacting, that I was being ridiculous, who couldn’t
understand why I was upset. And because they couldn’t understand it, it was
invalidated. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If women are going to continue to be involved in the secular
movements, which is necessary for our empowerment, these spaces need to be
safe, both from physical threats and belittlement of valid experiences. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03466514028749434845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4026822989413883384.post-27506300844824090782013-07-02T06:55:00.000-07:002013-07-02T07:08:35.720-07:00On an Introduction to Empowering Women through Secularism<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><a href="https://twitter.com/algaylor" target="_blank">Annie Laurie Gaylor</a> is the co-founder of the Freedom from
Religion Foundation and editor of Freethought Today. </i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Freedom from religion foundations wouldn’t exist without the
Catholic Church’s war on reproductive rights. Women have to save ourselves from
theology-festered misogyny – the rising of women means the rising of us all. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the wake of the child abuse scandals, Catholic Ireland
must choose between women, children and their rights, or bishops and their
wrong; between reproductive freedom or returning to the dark ages. Humanity should
come before dogma, however as the tragic and unavoidable death of Savita Halappanavar
last year proved, Catholic Ireland hasn’t reached this point of consciousness.
A doomed fetus was placed above the life of a woman due to adherence to religious
dogma. ‘But the Bible says abortion is murder’ many have cried, yet Gaylor
notes that it doesn’t actually say this at all. What it does is provides ammunition
for anti-women ideas, dooming them to be subservient, responsible for all of
mankind’s sins though maternal servitude. Yupp, we get periods and the pain of
childbirth in order to atone for sins on a global and timeless scale. Bit of a
shit deal, in my opinion. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Gaylor goes on to tell us about her life growing up in
Wisconsin before Roe vs Wade. Her mother was the one to go to if you had an
unplanned pregnancy, and she would help you get to Mexico City for a
termination. It was also illegal there, but considerably safer than back alley
abortions in the US at the time. In 1971, Wisconsin’s first abortion clinic
opened, and three weeks later a Roman Catholic attorney raided the clinic,
stole records and appointment details, and removed a 17 year old girl from the
clinic, despite being literally in the stirrups at the time of the raid. In
response, Gaylor’s mother raised money to send the women who had appointments
to New York for a termination. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Women were attempting to give themselves abortions using
coat hangers and dying. Abortion was, and still is, a matter of life and death.
No woman can call herself free until she has complete control over her body,
until she can make the decision whether or not to become a mother. Yet legal
abortion doesn’t mean much if it remains, or becomes, inaccessible; if it
remains expensive, if clinics are shut down to the extent that entire areas are
without a single clinic, if remaining clinics have strict regulations imposed
on them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The root of this bodily control is religious influence in
governments and laws. Secularism (that is the removal of religious influence
and dogma from all legislation, laws and governmental decisions, so that
religious belief is a personal and private thing alone) is vital for women’s
advancement, safety and control over their own bodies and reproductive
healthcare choices. To empower women, we must disempower the Catholic Church,
and all other religious institutions. Free thought is the best weapon women
have in a world where religious dogma expects our silence and subservience. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We may not have a god on our side, but we have humanity and
the enlightenment. Morality does not stem from theology, but from nature. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03466514028749434845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4026822989413883384.post-70057165804814955092013-07-02T06:19:00.000-07:002013-07-02T07:08:23.671-07:00On the Following Week's Worth of EWTS Notes<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Empowering Women through Secularism conference wasn’t, despite what the two posts below may lead you believe, a complete bust. Yeah, there were issues which really shouldn’t have been a thing, and it was incredibly disappointing, but I did learn a ridiculous amount about secularism, women and the links between the two.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There was an introduction, 6 sessions and a keynote speaker, all of which were fascinating and educational, and really made me think about my opinions and preconceived perceptions. I took nearly 30 pages of notes in my tiny, scrawly, note-taking writing and over the next week(ish), I’ll be writing up these and adding my opinions and afterthoughts. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm also hoping that nothing else really horrifically disastrous happens during this time, because this is going to be like a calm writing period for me, as opposed to the weekend spent angrily hitting the keyboard as my blood pressure steadily rises.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03466514028749434845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4026822989413883384.post-50119396158374141282013-07-01T13:03:00.001-07:002013-07-02T15:40:36.494-07:00On the Menz - EWTS Conference Part 2<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">TW: Transmisogyny, MRAs</span></em></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I want you to imagine something for me. Imagine you are attending a conference entitled ‘empowering people of colour’. For the entire weekend, the discussion is about people of colour and how they’re discriminated against, and how they might overcome this. At the feedback session at the end, people, both white people and POC wonder why white people weren’t thought about, that white people need empowerment, even that to empower POC, white people need to be empowered also. There would be outrage.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, back to reality, and you’re attending an empowering women conference and a similar thing happens. You hear ‘what about the men?’ and ‘to empower women, we also need to empower men’. There is no outrage, only agreement. The few people who are a bit pissed off (and rightly so) are effectively told they’re not ‘real’ feminists, and there’s a ‘omg you obviously hate men!!’ attitude.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Had the Empowering Women through Secularism conference ended 30 minutes earlier, I would have left the hotel delighted. I would be able to say no, despite popular belief, atheist/secular spaces are safe and comfortable places for women, it was great. Alas, the feedback session did happen, and it began with the older woman who berated me and the other girl (her name is Anna, she’s a ledge) on Saturday (see On the Menz Part 1), saying we need to consider the men. That the suicide rate for Irish men is 4 times higher than for Irish women (a hugely important and legit issue) and that 90% of US inmates are male (quite irrelevant and also, not sexism because men commit more crimes, and more violent crimes, than women, so obviously will be more represented than women in prison).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Men are most definitely harmed by the patriarchy. I’m well aware of this. I took a ‘Men in Contemporary Society’ sociology module last semester and got an A. One of the reasons more men commit suicide than women is because they’re not encouraged to have support systems or talk about their feelings, because that’s a ‘feminine’ trait, and ‘feminine’ is synonymous with ‘bad’ and ‘weak’. Men are, for the most part, not given paternity leave. Again, this is due to what the patriarchy views as ‘feminine’. Women take care of children; it’s what they do, so why would men even want to do it? These, and many other legitimate men’s issues, are serious things which feminism also seeks to make right. But they do not belong in an empowering women conference. In order to make things better for men, we need to empower women in order to make ‘feminine’ traits (like feelings *gasp*) not a ‘bad’ thing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Things went from bad to worse as the second person to give feedback took the floor. I’m not sure if she was one of the organisers, but I am fairly certain she was a volunteer, as she was in charge of handing out microphones during the weekend’s questions from the floor bits. She said that she was angry at the “misandrist language” used on Saturday (by myself and Anna, presumably), and then said (quoting a flag seen at Pride the day before) that if trans* rights are human rights, we should all “become transgender”.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Let that sink in a moment.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At an <em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">EMPOWERING WOMEN</em> conference, someone used ‘misandrist language’ as though misandry was a legitimate thing. I, for one, would love to be told about the power structures and institutions women have which allow us the ability to oppress men. I would hand my CV in tomorrow.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the weekend of Pride, at a conference about empowering women which seemed to forget that trans* women are <em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">also</em> women and completely ignored the trans* community, members of the trans* community were fetishised. Members of the trans* community, who arguably have fewer human rights than any other group, were part of a joke, made to be something that’s totes cool and fun to be! This is not ok, in any sense of the word.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This idea, that ‘we’re all human, let’s ignore differences’ was reiterated by many members of the audience who lamented that men were not discussed enough during the weekend. Yeah, we are all human, but not all of us are treated human or allowed to fully participate in society. To use the ‘we’re all human’ phrase ignores these disproportional disadvantages. An excellent metaphor is a running track. Those on the outside lanes have starting points farther away than those on the inside lanes, to ensure that everyone runs the same length. By saying ‘we’re all human, let’s give everyone attention’, it effectively makes all the starting points at the same point. For the sake of ‘equality’. Some people and groups need extra attention and support in order for society to be even a tiny bit equal. This is portrayed very well in the picture below. While the short person gets more boxes than the tall person in the right frame, it creates a more equal situation than when all three get the same number of boxes in the left frame.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Overall, the conference was amazing. I met some utterly fantastic people and I learned so, so much. But I would not go to a similar conference again, unless it was organised by a feminist organisation. A friend turned down a ticket because she feels that secular/atheist conferences tend to not be overly friendly and comfortable spaces for women. This was my first and only conference of this sort, and from this alone, I feel that she is right.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My experience was not one shared by everyone in the room. Many people, both in the conference and on twitter using the conference tag afterwards, believe that it was acceptable to bring up men’s issues in this space, and that I was overreacting when I got upset. Beinga relatively new user of twitter I was shocked at the way in which I was attacked by people who weren’t even at the conference who sought to invalidate my experience. Having had to talk myself into coming at all on Sunday morning, I was already not in the best place mental health-wise. Perhaps my reaction, which was to nearly cry down the back of the hall in sheer disbelief, was not the most dignified reaction I could have mustered. But it’s what happened. It’s how my body tried to deal with everything. But my experience is still valid. My concerns are valid. I can only hope that the conference organisers agree.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03466514028749434845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4026822989413883384.post-83534883027426168242013-07-01T13:01:00.004-07:002013-07-02T07:06:04.989-07:00On the Menz - EWTS Conference Part 1<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Note - ‘the menz’ is basically the men who like/benefit/don’t see much wrong with the patriarchy. It’s intentionally incredibly patronising, and I use it to differentiate between men as a gender identity and those who are misogynist patriarchy loving dicks. Not all men are ‘the menz’, because I would have very little hope in humanity if this were the case.</span></em></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So today I was able to attend the Empowering Women Through Secularism conference in Dublin due to being offered a free student ticket by a femmo friend/blogger (<a href="http://geoffsshorts.blogspot.ie/" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #555555; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">check him out</a>, he’s fab). Lots of notes were taken and I’ll do proper posts on them during the week, but there was one massively depressing point during the day. The amazing Elida Radig was speaking and saying how we need to come together as sisters and not back down when we’re told we’re too loud etc. During the questions for that session, a young woman fangirled on behalf of all of us and made the point that we, as secular feminists, shouldn’t have to *ask* feminist men to help us - if they are going to call themselves feminists, they need to be proactive about it, they need to work hard to, we shouldn’t have to *ask* to be treated with equality and respect. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And then a man got up and said ‘not all men are like that, most of the misogyny *I* see is women being misogynistic against other women’. Classic ‘what about the menz??’ and I feel this picture is very appropriate (see also <a href="http://videosift.com/video/But-Im-A-Nice-Guy" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #555555; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">feminazi stole my ice cream</a>).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When someone says but ‘not all [men/white people/straight people/dominant group known for oppression others] are like that’, they effectively prove that they <em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">do not get the point being made</em>. All they heard was their group being attacked, and instead of admitting that there’s a problem, they turn on defensive mode and shift the blame. In this situation, a man attending an empowering women conference shifted the blame from men to women. Like really, why are you even here?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After the questions were over and we had a little break, I went up to the woman who had made the comment to tell her that she’s a ledge and to give her a cuterus I had drawn for her. We were mid conversation when an older woman who had been sitting in front of me came up and berated us for believing that we shouldn’t have to *ask* men who call themselves feminists to actually act like feminists. Apparently, we need to make feminism accessible for the menz so they’ll come to our side - we need to show them how the patriarchy is bad for men. I made the point that the ways the patriarchy harms men is often attributed to feminisim, a point she immediately dismissed. Basically, not only should men who call themselves feminists *not* call out their guy friends when they contribute to rape culture/lad culture/general sexism, they shouldn’t be expected to be involved in feminism unless it directly impacts them as men. They shouldn’t want to be a feminist because the patriarchy adversely affects other human beings, if they don’t know that it’s bad for them, they’ll never be involved. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Not only was this incredibly offensive, but it was shocking too. To hear this from a woman who, I presume, identifies as a feminist, at what is a feminist and secular conference, was the last thing I had anticipated. Again, I was wondering why she was there, not because she shouldn’t be there, but because she holds views which are at such odds with feminism. She essentially told me and another young woman that our belief that male feminists should be feminists for the good of all people, not just their own gender, was wrong. That our belief that young men who are feminist and feminist allies should be active, regardless of whether that activism is directly impacting their lives as men, is wrong. That we, as secular feminists, need to make room in feminism for men. And despite the truly wonderful day and all the amazing, inspirational speakers, I left the conference slightly more disillusioned than when I walked in that morning.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03466514028749434845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4026822989413883384.post-36305112377220244852013-07-01T12:59:00.001-07:002013-07-02T07:05:50.445-07:00On the Bechdel Test<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">This is a (slightly edited for blog purposes because Harvard referencing doesn’t really work for blogs) paper I wrote for my Men in Contemporary Society class last semester on ‘Growing up Masculine’. It got an A and I actually really like it, so I feel that it’s fitting for here too. Also all this weekend I’m attending the Empowering Women through Secularism conference so wont have time to write new material. </em></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">While there are many factors which influence how boys ‘grow up masculine’, or are socialised into hegemonic masculinity, this paper will focus primarily on how movies and other similar media teach masculinity, concentrating on the Bechdel Test (or Bechdel-Wallace Test). </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Movies and TV shows are often a dominating aspect of a child’s life. There are few children growing up in Ireland without a TV, and many will go to the cinema or watch movies at home. With a decline in reading among young people, movies and shows are often the way in which children learn about the world outside the family and school, and their allure can cause their messages and views to override those taught at school or at home. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Bechdel Test was first developed in a 1985 comic strip called <a href="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lk6hilF8zy1qznli7o1_r1_500.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #555555; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">‘The Rule’</a> and its premise is simple: in order to pass, a movie/show/novel must have two (named) female characters who interact with each other at some point, and their conversation must be about something other than a man. The idea behind this is to ensure that there are at least two female characters in the story who are relatively developed and complex. For the purpose of this test, gender identity, rather than biological sex, is the defining factor, as such, members of the trans* community who identify as female are included in the list of female characters (despite the lack of trans* characters in pop culture media). While it seems like an easy test to pass, very few of IMDB’s top 250 movies pass (including many with female protagonists), along with only a small number of movies released in the last few years, with very few box office hits passing the test. While this obviously impacts the way young girls are socialised into adulthood, it also affects young boys. The message which far too many movies and shows portray is one which reinforces the idea that women’s lives not only revolve around men, but that they remain the stereotypical ‘damsel in distress’ we remember from fairy tales, or the object of affection which the hero of the story ‘wins’ after overcoming some internal or external struggle. This in itself reinforces the idea of ‘ownership’ of women by men among young children, as well as their supposed simplicity and frivolity. In her book ‘<em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">One Dimensional Woman’, </em>Nina Power notes that “if the contemporary portrayal of womanhood were to be believed, contemporary female achievement would culminate in ownership of expensive handbags, a vibrator, a job, a flat and a man”, and this trait isn’t isolated to Bechdel Test failures.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Since, according to R.W. Connell “masculinities are constructed, over time, in young people’s encounters with a system of gender relations” and “the configurations of practice associated with the social position of men”, this leads on to the way in which young boys are directly taught masculinity and manhood through movies and shows, just as young girls are arguably taught femininity through the Disney princess concept. Hegemonic masculinities are reinforced through the portrayal of boys and men – as the tough man, the brave fighter, the hero who overcomes the struggle on his own. As such, How Movies Teach Manhood (a TED talk by Colin Stokes which can be found <a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/colin_stokes_how_movies_teach_manhood.html" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #555555; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">here</a> and well worth a watch) notes that there’s little room left for “other relationships and other journeys”. Although this hero character is often ‘rewarded’ with getting the girl in the end, it is not always the focus of his journey. These heroes/protagonists are often seen to be good role models for young men, which further reinforces the hero complex aspect of hegemonic masculinities. While the move away from the focus on violence and fighting among male characters is a welcome relief, even the shy, outcast boy who we see more and more of in pop culture reinforces hegemonic masculinities. They struggle on alone, choosing the ‘brave’ route of individual accomplishment over their setbacks, rather than asking for help or co-operating with others in order to ease their load. However, co-operation and asking for help is a trait associated with female characters in supporting roles and protagonist roles. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Scheiner-Fisher & Russell, in their paper about using historical films to promote gender equity, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">admit that “often when women are included in a film for the sake of simply having a female in the film, she is relegated to a stock character role” (also known as the ‘Smurfette Principal’), most often cast as the love interest, ‘dumb blond’, nurse, tomboy, or ‘bad girl’. There is a problem in this way of teaching masculinity through film when we do not present young boys, and men in general, with female characters who are strong, relatable and complex. Through movies and shows which fail the Bechdel test, and which promote the ‘lone, brave hero’ male character trope, we are teaching a certain type of masculinity, one which reinforces patriarchal and ‘macho’ behaviour. Debbie Ging states that many young men “understand images of hypermasculinity and misogyny not as parody but rather as masculinities with subversive or subcultural appeal”. As such, these ideas often win out those which acknowledge different ‘types’ of masculinity and being masculine, and those which provide both genders with strong female role models. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Teaching masculinity, through any channel, needs to focus on how men interact with other men, as well as with women. Hegemonic masculinity, typically, ignores the ability of women to create meaningful ideas and contribute to conversations, merely reducing them to objects of desire or focusing on their reproductive role as mothers. While this view is obviously harmful to women, it also affects the development of masculinity in a harmful way, most notably through reinforcing discriminatory behaviours and placing less emphasis on co-operation and the importance of seeking help. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Despite the increasing equality between the sexes in real life as opposed to the fantasy of film and TV, Ging is concerned that “regressive images of masculinity might be doing more than merely lagging behind a more progressive reality”. How Movies Teach Manhood (2012) shows us that movies and other media are doing a relatively good job at teaching girls how to “defend against the patriarchy”, but they’re not doing the same for boys. The patriarchy affects both sexes in negative ways, and since there is no model for boys to rebel against this discrimination, the way they learn masculinity and grow up masculine is continually impacted upon in a negative way by movies and similar forms of media.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03466514028749434845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4026822989413883384.post-48593366703324766222013-07-01T12:57:00.001-07:002013-07-02T07:05:04.310-07:00On Schrodinger’s Douchebag<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Schrodinger’s Douchebag: make offensive statement, then decide whether or not you were joking based on the reactions of people around you.</span></em></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The vast majority of vocal or active feminists will, at some point in their lives, have encountered a Schrodinger’s Douchebag. These <em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">lovely</em> people, usually DMAB guys, tend to hijack posts that you might write about issues you’re passionate about and have strong feelings about.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Basically, they act like assholes. They argue against your points, usually using incredibly racist/sexist/ableist/generally offensive ideas in an attempt to undermine your position. When called out on their shit, they either stand by it or say ‘I was only kidding’/’learn to take a joke’/’I was just doing this to wind you up’. However, in the same way it seems impossible to know whether Schrodinger’s cat is alive or dead, it also seems largely impossible to know whether the people acting like douchebags are *actually* bigoted douchebags, or doing it because they find it hilarious to get someone (justifiably) angry. But just as Schrodinger’s cat is actually both alive <em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">and </em>dead, these people are both finding joy in your frustration for the lolz <em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">and</em> douchebags. There’s no real distinction between the two. Even if their excuse is that they were doing it just to get a reaction and they don’t <em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">actually</em>believe what they’re saying; what purpose does that serve? Why do they find it entertaining to enrage you by acting like a douchebag? Because they <em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">are</em>douchebags.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If we don’t get pissed off, if we don’t rise to their offensiveness, they get away with it. They get away with making offensive statements and they will more than likely continue to make them. Yet when we do get offended, as is inevitable, we’re told to ‘just calm down’, sure ‘it’s only a joke’. But it’s not. People who find it entertaining to be offensive to get a reaction aren’t ‘just joking’. They’re doing something intentionally which they *know* is wrong and offensive, and they’re just annoyed that they’re getting called out on it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I most recently experienced a Schrodinger’s Douchebag alongside some mansplaining. Mansplaining, for those of you who don’t know is, according to the delightful Urban Dictionary definition, “condescending, inaccurate explanations delivered with rock solid confidence of rightness and that slimy certainty that of course, he is right, because he is the man in this conversation”. Basically, the menz *always* know more, even if the woman* they’re mansplaining is an expert in that field, and he isn’t.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway, I had a really shitty lecture (Men in Contemporary Society) in which the lecturer said that relationships are always unequal and the poor menz are under pressure from us mean horrible women to bring more equality and trust to the relationship, which leads to crisis and the high rates of suicide among young men. This pissed me off, and I took to Facebook to complain. A guy, who I hadn’t seen or spoken to in like 5 or 6 years (we had gone to primary school together) decided to explain what the lecturer <em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">actually</em> meant, despite not being in attendance in that class, the course, and who has no background in sociology or women/gender studies. After going on about how us wimminz just play games and he knows this because 90% of his friends are women, he’s clearly not enjoying being given out to by me and some femmo-friends, and admits he was just “trying to wind Becca up” and he isn’t <em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">really</em> a misogynist, he just says misogynist things to get a reaction.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In these situations, it is probably easier and better for your blood pressure to just let it go and be like ‘oh, ok’, but this tends to do more harm than good. These guys aren’t necessarily horrible people, they’ve just grown up in a society which holds that this kind of behaviour is acceptable and when women react to Schrodinger’s Douchebag’s, we’re labelled as ‘crazy’ and ‘over-reacting’. Calling these people out on their shit is what, hopefully, begets change. They might realise that what they’re doing isn’t actually alright, or think twice about being an asshole for the lolz next time. Or they might actually be misogynistic assholes, in which case I recommended a large glass of wine and pictures of cute baby ducks to remind you that the world isn’t as shit as it sometimes seems. </span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03466514028749434845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4026822989413883384.post-26099839772504068442013-07-01T12:56:00.001-07:002013-07-02T07:04:06.532-07:00On Shaving<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Shaving has become a bit of a contentious issue regarding feminism, or maybe it was always one, but as someone relatively new to being an active feminist and having active femmo friends, it’s something I’ve only been aware of in the last few years.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are a number of sides to the argument. The most vocal side, at least in the media, is the patriarchal side, which dictates that women* who don’t shave/wax their pits/legs/vahjayjay are gross, disgusting and *horror of horrors* not ‘feminine’ enough. This idea has been ingrained into our society largely through the media. We’re told that shaving is more hygienic, and yet this seems to only hold for women*. Apparently men*’s pits/legs/pubic area are just dandy when they’re hairy, but if those bits belong to a woman* - woah, totes unhygienic. In ads, shaving our legs is shown to be a terribly sensual, sexy, not-at-all awkward experience, which involves tanned, skinny ladies showing off the amazing blades of the razor by <em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">shaving their hairless legs</em>. I’d be way more impressed by Venus’ razors if they showed off their shaving skills on a massively hairy leg.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img alt="image" src="http://media.tumblr.com/6c6409cd5a253d5affe56fa9383a0006/tumblr_inline_mp3sm9Z0pu1qz4rgp.png" style="background-color: #eeeeee; border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 10px; vertical-align: baseline;" /></span></div>
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<em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">J-Lo, you are dry shaving a hairless leg, that is just gonna irritate your skin</span></em></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The (somewhat) polar opposite of this is the stereotypical bra-burning feminist notion of not shaving at all, of being a ‘wild woman’. Or the slightly less straw feminist notion of choosing not to shave and as such, flying in the face of the patriarchy and saying a massive ‘fuck you’ to ridiculous western beauty standards. Until maybe a year ago, I didn’t know anyone like this. Now I know loads, and it’s no longer a big deal to me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I, however, fall somewhere in between these two ways of thinking. I haven’t shaved my legs in like a week and ‘No Shave November’ effectively lasts all winter for me because tights and jeans and jumpers are all that’s worn, so feck it. But I get bikini waxes when I can afford them (because what’s more fun than lying feet together, knees apart, naked from the waist down as a stranger puts hot wax on your vulva??) and I do shave my pits if I’m wearing a short sleeve top/dress.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I know that I’m a feminist, and yet I feel like because I shave/wax, I’m a fauxminist sometimes. I buy into the idea that I *should* shave, because ‘that’s what women* do’. But I also feel like I’m doing it for me. Shaving my legs (like properly shaving them, not that quick kind you do for 30 seconds in the shower when you end up nicking yourself) is like pampering for me. I’ll have a stupidly-bubbly bubble bath and do a face mask and all that jazz and make my legs feel fab (which then prompts me to run into my sister’s room in my towel yelling ‘FEEL MY LEGS, THEY’RE SO SMOOOOOOTTHHH, FEEL THEM!!!’). I don’t have or wax for anyone but myself, for the most part. While I know full well I probably feel better about myself because that’s what society deems ‘beautiful’, at the same time, I’m not perfectly groomed 24/7 and anyone, particularly guys, who has a problem with that can go fuck themselves. It would be an instant turn off for a guy to say to me that I was only sexy if my legs were shaved and my vahjayjay waxed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What it comes down to is choice. I choose to shave sometimes, and others choose to shave every day or not at all. We shouldn’t judge people for what they do with their bodies, even if it is as a result of patriarchal expectations of women*. I wish I could go out in shorts not giving a fuck about whether or not my legs were shaved. But I feel 100 times more confident when they are. That doesn’t make me a bad feminist, it makes me human. </span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03466514028749434845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4026822989413883384.post-63217254514418881252013-07-01T12:55:00.001-07:002013-07-07T11:06:05.744-07:00On Periods<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Periods are one of those things which everyone knows about, but nobody ever mentions. We need to examine the way we talk and think about periods, but also the way the media deals with them. These are often at odds with each other, as it’s fairly safe to say that when people who menstruate think of their period it rarely involves images of pretty panties, wearing only white clothes and doing excessive amounts of dancing and rollerblading. And for those of you whose lives <em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">are </em>straight out of a tampax ad, I envy you.</span><br />
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<em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Because bending like that is great craic until the cramps set in…</span></em></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The media seems so opposed to dealing with periods, that if you knew nothing about menstruation, you would assume it has something to do with peeing blue liquid onto a pad. The word ‘blood’ is never mentioned, despite that being pretty much what a period is. We seem to be obsessed with maintaining this idea that women* are lovely little clean, delicate creatures and our uterus’ don’t completely shed every few weeks. Sorry to burst your bubble, but despite the fact that I’m assured we only lose a few teaspoons of blood each menses, it sure doesn’t seem that way.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the topic of pads and tampons, why are they heralded as our only two options? Bleached chemical-y pieces of cotton that you put up your vagina or that make you feel like you’re wearing a nappy. How can every period be a happy period when you risk death through toxic shock syndrome just so you can wear your lacy panties and white shorts?? And why are they so expensive? The average person will have around 400 periods in their lifetime (taking into account 3 pregnancies and about 9 months of breastfed induced amenorah – so really, there could be a lot more than 400…), and yet we have to pay stupid amounts of money just to be able to not bleed on everything. This cost isn’t taking into account the copious amounts of chocolate and wine necessary to deal with PMS and your period. It’s a tough aul life…</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We’re conditioned to think periods are dirty or wrong. We’re told it isn’t polite to talk about them, yet they’re constantly used against us in arguments. I don’t think I know a single woman* who hasn’t heard a variation of the phrase ‘you seem angry/upset, you must be on your period’. Because sure, we couldn’t possibly have opinions and feelings about things unless we’re shedding our uterine lining, how could I have forgotten… But while it’s totally acceptable for others (usually guys) to berate us about being on our period and therefore complete harpies, it’s not OK for us to talk about them. Even the word itself is practically considered a swear word and can get you into all sorts of trouble. Recently, duting a radio discussion about abortion in Ireland, a friend of mine made the comparison between a medical abortion and a heavy period. This was a perfectly accurate comparison, and yet all hell seemed to break loose. The man she was arguing with at the time nearly had a stroke and was giving out to her for using such filthy language. Because sure there’s no link at all between periods and reproductive health, she was just being ‘proof of eve’ as Mister Man put it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Periods suck. I’m not a fan. Zero stars, would not recommend. I got my first period a few weeks before my 12th birthday and a few hours before I was meant to be on stage for a play I was in. My mum was delighted and gave me a big hug. I was already pissed off by it, having had all of 10 minutes experience of it. Ten years later and I’ve learned my periods were more than just annoying, their irregularity was a sign of Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome, which basically means my hormones are all over the shop and my ovaries get confused when they try to ovulate. I have special snowflake ovaries. The pill saved me from massively painful and horrible periods, and now I only have to deal with them 4 or 5 times a year. If it wasn’t for my special snowflake ovaries needing the hormone regulation of the combination pill, I’d have the implant or an IUD and no periods at all (that’s the dream).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So yeah, periods are awful. They rarely, if ever, make you want to wear white trousers and smile like an idiot. But the way we discuss them needs a serious upheaval. My period may not be something I look forward to, but it is not dirty or wrong.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03466514028749434845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4026822989413883384.post-78940763675438298242013-07-01T12:53:00.003-07:002013-07-02T07:04:28.862-07:00On Asterisks and Acronyms<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bit of an informational post for those who don’t know - Due to basically living on tumblr, I tend to type asterisks after gender identities, such as women*, men*, etc.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This basically means people who identify as a woman, or as a man. The way we use language is rarely trans* friendly, and so it can be alienating to not be included.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For me, the asterisk is basically a footnote, so when I write ‘women*’ I’m adding ‘not all women have vaginas and not all people with vaginas are women’, and vice versa for men. I feel that this is important to note, particularly as my first blog will be about periods. Not all people who menstruate are women and not all women menstruate.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While we’re on the topic of trans* inclusivity, the following, in alphabetical order, are phrases that I’ll probably use a good bit:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">- Cis(gendered) – 100% alignment between your gender (the way you see yourself) and your biological sex (nearly always based on genitalia at birth). I’m shying away from this a good bit now as many in the trans* community have issues with ‘cis’ being associated with ‘normal’. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-DMAB – designated male at birth</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-DFAB – designated female at birth</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-LGBTQAI* stands for Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, the Trans* community, Queers, Asexuals, Intersexuals and then the * is basically or any mix thereof. The reason it’s become a longer acronym is due being more inclusive and representational.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-MRA – Men’s Rights Activist, those who cry ‘what about the menz??’ and use phrases like ‘feminazi’. See also: scum of the earth.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-POC/WOC – people of colour/women of colour</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-QUILTBAG - stands for Queer/Questioning, Undecided, Intersex, Lesbian, Trans*, Bisexual, Asexual, Gay. A more pronounceable version LGBTQAI*</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A final note, I’m not perfect. I’m a white DFAB for-the-most-part-heterosexual woman. As such, I am aware that I’m coming to a lot of issues from a privileged point of view. I will try my very best to be inclusive and not an asshole, but please, if I fuck up, call me out on my shit. Unless, you’re a butthurt MRA or an anti-choicer, then you can fuck right off <3</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03466514028749434845noreply@blogger.com0