53rd edition – Women – Pike & Hurricane

Politically conscious art as backlash: Amanda Palmer’s “There Will Be No Intermission”

Filip Zahariev — Tue, 24 Mar 2020 16:08:04 +0000

Amanda Fucking Palmer is loud, so loud it might seem like she’s screaming for attention – and some people on the Internet hate her for it. But guess what? She has a lot of things to say.

This has never been more evident than on Palmer’s third solo album, aptly named There Will Be No Intermission. Apt because, at twenty songs and seventy-eight minutes long, this album is resolute in delivering a powerful, politically-conscious message of resistance and survival. It is not only sorrowful, pained, even tragic; but also angry, breathless with fury. The cover, which features a naked Palmer brandishing a sword high above her head, anticipates the tone of the album in both its extremes.

Where Art Comes From

Time and time again, the singer-songwriter taps deep into her emotional experiences. Whether as a sister – “And I tried to call my brother || but he no longer exists” (Palmer lost her brother in 1996) in “Bigger on the Inside”; a mother – “I know it’s hard to be a parent || But this mess is so gigantic || I wonder if I should have had a child” in “A Mother’s Confession”; a friend – “I have never liked the box of knives || I took it to the oceanside the day you died || I stood out on the dock || No matter how hard I tried || I couldn’t drop them in || And I collapsed and cried: || What do I do with this stuff? || It seems like yesterday you were alive || And it’s as if you never really died” – in “Machete”; and a daughter – “Remember the daughter || And all that you taught her || She’s grown up at last || With a child of her own || She struggles alone || As the years all rush pass” – in “Look Mummy, No Hands”. But perhaps most striking are the songs which have a direct link to women’s reproductive rights, namely “Drowning in the Sound” and “Voicemail for Jill”.

The music video for “Drowning in the Sound” sees Palmer perform her sexuality, her role and experience as a mother and artist, even her role as a performer itself, to staggering effect, eerily resembling David Bowie’s performance of his own death in “Blackstar” and “Lazarus”, released a few days before Bowie’s passing from cancer.

“Voicemail for Jill” is a deeply emotional piece about abortion and the psychological effects of it – the video is difficult to watch because of its raw emotions at display, and the honest, powerful way the lyrics delve into the heart of the struggle to survive and continue living. Pregnancy becomes something a woman is expected to suffer through and be grateful, or end and be shunned, even persecuted for. Even so, the hopeful note the song ends on, the notion of support and some small measure of happiness reclaimed, these capture the heart of a vulnerable moment in the lives of many women, the struggle society often expects them to grit their teeth through in silence.

The message in “Voicemail for Jill” and the album as a whole comes at a time of organised assault against women’s reproductive rights in the United States of America, both on a federal and state level. A secular government uses religious justification to rob women of their hard-earned rights, fought for over the last century. What is a politically-charged artist to do about it? According to Palmer, the way forward is “to share the naked truth of [our] experiences”.

A Slide Back into the Middle-Ages

When these experiences include barbaric laws like the one passed last year by the governor of Alabama, which would see abortions permitted “only if the mother’s life is at risk or if the fetus cannot survive, but not in cases of rape or incest.” The bill was passed by legislators later in the month of May 2019 and was supposed to enter into effect on November 15. While it was temporarily blocked by a federal judge at the end of October, the authors of the bill seek to table discussion of the contested law to the Supreme Court. With Trump’s Conservative Supreme Court appointees tipping the balance in favour of so-called Pro-Life ideas, the likelihood of such a case being struck down in favour of the status quo is doubtful.

Though Alabama is singular in its draconian law, other states have introduced bills which seek to cut down the period in which women could get an abortion: “Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi and Ohio stopped short of outright bans, instead passing so-called heartbeat bills that effectively prohibit abortions after six to eight weeks of pregnancy, when doctors can usually start detecting a fetal heartbeat. Utah and Arkansas voted to limit the procedure to the middle of the second trimester.”

The most outrageous bill proposed yet, however, is one in Ohio. If passed, this bill would demand doctors do a “procedure that does not exist in medical science,” namely the re-implanting of an ectopic pregnancy in a woman’s uterus. Not only is this an impossible procedure to do, the refusal to do it would result in obstetricians and gynecologists being charged for “criminal charges, including murder”. This will be punishable by life in prison. Another new crime, “aggravated abortion murder”, is punishable by death, according to the bill. Such abortion laws would make women criminals for exercising their personal autonomy. The narrative told in “Voicemail for Jill” would look and sound much different if it were set in any one of these states.

Here again, Amanda Palmer’s words resonate: “frightening political climates make for really good, real, authentic art.” There Will be no Intermission is but the latest example of great art as backlash to a dark political reality. In her own words: “If the political climate keeps getting uglier, the art will have to answer. We will have to fight…We are sharpening our knives for a large buffet.” With the political landscape of both the United States and the world at large turning darker, the fight has only just begun.

by Filip R. Zahariev

Photo Credits

AFP, OpenEye, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Amanda Palmer Posters, Vladimir Zimakov, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

‘Abortion Never’ Galway City, NationalPartyIE, CC BY 2.0

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German hip-hop: misogyny in rap music

Elena Wasserzier — Tue, 24 Mar 2020 16:06:49 +0000

Rap has always been a form of radical expression. Artists would describe their living situations, childhood, relationships and politics in a form of recitative criticism, rap. While it has been and still is a channel for criticism and change, some directions of rap or particular rappers take a very derogatory approach to their relationships and women in general. Misogynistic and violent lyrics are on the daily.

#unhatewomen

Especially lately, there has been an uproar in Germany following the campaign #unhatewomen against misogyny in German rap. In a video by #terredesfemmes, several women read out critical verses and lyrics by controversial rappers and songs, which are intrinsically misogynistic and brutal owing to their glorification of violence against women; often labelling them as objects and “sluts”. The campaign was followed by drastic measures by the rapper Fler, who in order to “defend himself” and his image, threatened to hunt down a particular feminist who posted the campaign on Instagram, tagging several German rappers, including Fler to position themselves and react. No one would probably have expected him to start a bounty hunt, including offering money to whoever finds her and delivers her to his address. While this might just have been another provocative move, he definitely crossed a line by posting her on his Instagram and shaming and threatening her.

The whole situation is as unimaginable as it seems. It is just a representation of how seriously dangerous the issue is, and how they take what they sing as the truth. The issue is that many people read the lyrics as art and artistic expression that might be true and not every rapper means what he raps just in order to be provocative and sensational, it creates a certain image for many teenagers and young people, who are heavily influenced by contemporary rap. Although many have the ability to differentiate between lyrical fantasy and reality, there is going to be a flock of people that support the misogynistic point of view that these specific rappers represent and discuss in their so-called art. And it’s not only portrayed in German hip-hop. Misogyny and certain power structures, vocalized in rap all over the world, show the inherent patriarchy at a global level.

The rapper Snoop Dogg raps in his song “Bitches ain’t sh*t”: “Bitches ain’t sh*t but hoes and tricks / Lick on these nuts and suck the d*ck”, referring to what women’s dignity means to him. He is not the only one. Another example is probably one of the most polarizing rappers of the world. Eminem raps aggressively in his song “Kill you”: “Slut, you think I won’t choke no whore / Til the vocal cords don’t work in her throat no more?!“

The roots of misogyny in rap

In many cultures and nations rap is an expression of the authentic experience of the artist. Often it is considered normal that rappers objectify women in their songs and create stereotypical narratives. The subordination of women and the threat of violence secures the masculine ego and are supposed to reflect their environment. Derogatory names like “b*tch and wh*re” are commonplace and emphasize the devaluation of women. Furthermore, polarising lyrics and provocations sell better on the market anyway, and commercial success might follow.

Kanye West, an American rapper, even confirmed in an interview that misogynistic lyrics are an outcome of men “who’ve found themselves belittled, turning towards the women in their lives and lashing out at them in order to feel validated. In their jobs, the social life and everyday situations.”

Of course, not every artist produces misogynistic songs or is a potential violent person or rapist, rather the contrary since many verses can be seen as sarcastic, excessive and overdrawn.

Real-life consequences

Nevertheless, the influence on youth remains overpowering. A study by the Elon Journal of Undergraduate Research in Communications focused on how misogynistic song texts can influence listeners to be more willing to commit violence towards an intimate partner. Especially women in the age group 20-24 are most at risk to experience non-fatal violence by their partners. Half of their survey participants claimed that popular rap tends to shape the attitude of the listeners regarding domestic violence. This supports the thesis that “misogynistic music also serves as a means to desensitize individuals to sexual harassment, exploitation, abuse, and violence toward women” and “legitimizes the mistreatment and degradation of women”. Derogatory language and exposure of youth “increase hostile and aggressive thoughts,” which may correlate to “more permanent hostility toward women”. Equally over 50% of the survey participants believed that the language used in many rap songs also promotes aggression, violence, and disrespect towards women. The acceptance of the objectification of women by listening to misogynistic content might lead to an adaptance of similar behaviour.

But there’s also the manifestation of the “freedom of expression” that allows artists to express their sentiments in the way they intend or want to do that. Even Grammy executive Producer Ken Ehrlich approved that the industry is more concerned with allowing artists to express their artistic freedom and what is on their mind. Sayings like “don’t worry, it’s just a song”, are used frequently to defend derogatory songs when individuals complain or voice disapproval. Fact is that misogyny in music is still an issue to be battled, even in 2020.

Campaigns like #unhatewomen will help raise more awareness towards the issue, but might be forgotten if not constantly brought up. We have to talk about the process of desensitization and hate speech towards women that listeners are constantly exposed to in many songs. And whilst we as listeners of contemporary music and rap have a responsibility to continue listening and spreading the message against misogyny and subordination of women, the responsibility falls upon the artists, who should start changing their patterns, which should already have been shed decades ago.

by Elena Wasserzier

Photo credits

fight fist mic, OpenClipart Vectors

EMINEM rapping, Scott Kinmartin, CC BY 2.0.

See related articles

Rap music as a political message

Re-Metamorphoses: The Misogynistic Legacy of Western Mythology

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Portrait of a female warlord

Oliver Ösmark — Tue, 24 Mar 2020 16:00:11 +0000

The Taliban are well-versed in crime. En masse, they’ve effectively run the gamut of all crimes founded on a total contempt for humanity, in all its forms, except for those that abide by the constrictive and unaccommodating codification of ethics only they have authorship of. As is common among terror organizations and their death-worship, they set those enthralled under their tyranny up to fail, and relish in imparting the brutal—many times fatal—penalties for noncompliance. Amorality and psychopathy are rewarded with the spoils of their “holy” war, and in a society which offers no commensurate glory for the person with little aspiration for the homicidal narcissism of the Taliban Jihadist, fear prevails.

With good reason. More than 10,000 civilians in Afghanistan were killed or injured last year, of which 47% is attributed to Taliban actions. These numbers have been stable since 2014, from which they escalated at a worrying rate in 2009. The UN estimates that civilian casualties have exceeded 100,000 since the organization began documenting the impact of the Afghan war more than a decade ago. Much like ISIL’s genocidal murder and abductions of thousands of Yazidi men, women and children shortly after declaring themselves a state in June 2014, the Taliban have their own sins yet to be answered for.

In the mid-1990’s, the Taliban committed to a strategy of fear and bloodshed targeting civilians. UN officials stated that between 1996–2006 there had been as many as 15 massacres. One such was the attack on Mazar-e Sharif in August 1998, representing one of the single worst examples of killings of civilians in the wars that have raged in the Afghan region since the Soviet invasion of 1979. In what is considered an act of ethnic cleansing, the Taliban launched an attack on the city and began killing an estimated 5,000-6,000 ethnic Hazaras, Tajiks, and Uzbeks indiscriminately. This society of dread and servility under threat of death will have shaped generations that have known little else but war.

Kaftar, the dove of war

In the mountains outside of the Baghlan Province in northern Afghanistan, an ex-commander with the mujahideen that fought the Soviet forces operates out of a compound with an alleged 150 fighters. Her name is Bibi Aisha Habibi and she is Afghanistan’s only known female warlord. She is referred to as Kaftar, or “dove” in Dari; a diminutive sobriquet—by one account—given to her by her father because she would quickly move from place to place as if she were a bird. She was born in 1953, in the village of Gawi in Baghlan province’s Nahrin District, the daughter of an important community leader, or arbob. She was one of the middle children of 10, and, being as she remembers it, her father’s favorite. She’d follow him around as he worked to settle disputes and give advice to villagers on matters of farming and family affairs.

She was engaged at the age of 12 to a man 10 year her senior. This was normal practice for most girls living in rural Afghanistan; where around 80% of the Afghan population live. Unlike other girls she wasn’t removed from public life and it was agreed—and consented to by her husband—that she’d continue to be allowed to act on her father’s behalf as an arbob. She took pleasure in working as an intermediary in marriage disputes; sometimes forcing families to allow women to choose whom they wanted to marry. Also, she implemented rules to reduce dowries, which was an obstacle for many couples not able to marry under previous conditions. In the wars to come, her husband would stay at home with their 7 children while she rode into battle.

In 1979, the Soviets invaded. A group of Soviet commandos swarmed her mountain and killed many villagers, including her son. She took to Jihad and against the Soviet forces for the next ten years. She lost family both to the Soviets as well as the Taliban which was in conflict with the mujahideen. After the Soviets, the Taliban would eventually take Kabul and control up to three-fourths of the country. In the years to follow, Kaftar would lose brothers, sons, nieces, and nephews to the Taliban.

She considers herself a collector of lost and exiled men. Her fighters consist of ex-Taliban, ex-mujahedeen, fighters of dejected ethnic minorities compelled to take up arms against the threat of bandits, brigands, and Taliban. Yet, she has herself lost family that swore allegiance to the Taliban and has, on numerous occasions, been a target of assassination attempts orchestrated by relatives. Regarding this she says, “It’s really painful when your own family members come to kill you, and then later it’s painful when you kill them.”

War all the time

With the U.S. invasion in 2001, she thought that peace would be imminent. The Taliban were routed to the south and east part of the country by coalition forces and trained Afghan security forces. Armed unaffiliated militia groups like Kaftar’s were seen as a destabilizing factor, and in 2006—convinced by the prospect of peace—she agreed to surrender most of her and her fighters’ weapons as a part of the UN’s Disbandment of Illegal Armed Groups programme.

But disarmament hasn’t proved an effective strategy for peace in a culture already plagued by unresolved endemic conflicts. The Taliban were revived with a fresh dynamism. Troubled by family feuds of tit-for-tat violence and regular death threats made by the Taliban, Kaftar has experienced none of the peace promised to her by the UN and the “democratic transition of power” heralded by the war against the Taliban.

As the U.S. prepares to withdraw their forces from Afghanistan, many fear the return of Taliban rule. This time, however, her fighters aren’t prepared for active revolt. The legitimacy granted to the Taliban by the current peace talks give them a political advantage over the poorly armed rural resistance fighters. In a 2014 interview, she says that she would like to seek asylum outside of Afghanistan, but has to ensure the passage of 30-40 of her family members first. Without help or enough weapons, she fears that the extremist militants will target her and her family. “I was proud of my career,” she says. “But since I have been getting threats and I’m struggling and suffering, now I think I should not have become a commander. I wish I would have been just a normal housewife. That no one would know me, no one would come to talk to me, and I would have been just a normal housewife. Now I am sitting awake at night, always on guard, with a gun, ready to protect myself.”

Blood can’t wash blood

While she has, in her own way, worked to moderate the divides between men and women, and has taken an unlikely role in her society as the leader of a community and armed fighters, she is not a respected woman among warring factions and squabbling relatives. The old Afghan proverb “Zar, zan, zamin”—gold, women, land—still motivates violence in a culture of guns and rivalries. Until the paradigm of fundamentalism and lawlessness is dismantled by means of education and stable government institutions, the rule of the sword will persist and those able to fight will give their lives to protect those they hold dearest.

Kaftar knows this life all too well, but doesn’t wish it on the generations to come. The life of a warrior is a precarious one, but if it comes to the choice between fighting and submission, the prospect of subservience under Taliban rule will always inspire bloody insurgency. Despite her hardships, she knows this: “It makes no difference if you are a man or a woman when you have the heart of a fighter.”

Photo credits:

Afghanistan Observes 2007 International Peace Day, United Nations Photo, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

High Moon over Nili, Afghanistan, United Nations Photo, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Afghanistan-1, Ekaterina Didkovskaya, CC BY-NC 2.0

100331-F-2616H-011, Kenny Holston, CC BY-ND 2.0

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International Women’s Day 2020: Malmö

Merle Emrich — Tue, 24 Mar 2020 15:56:57 +0000

Ta Natten Tillbaka

[7 March 2020] Protest against violence against women and/or trans people.

Women’s March

[8 March 2020]

by Merle Emrich

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Pink, blue and gender stereotyping

Nina Kolarzik — Tue, 24 Mar 2020 15:35:37 +0000

Their favourite colour is pink. They love to wear dresses, they like dancing ballet and cooking. They like flowers more than cars and they enjoy taking care of younger children. Typical girls. We heard these clichés before.

What it means to be a woman and what gender roles are associated with is changing over time. Every generation defines femininity and masculinity. This shows for example in the dressing of children. How did these gender stereotypes become dominant and why is this a problem?

Different times, different colours

Already centuries ago in Europe, colour preferences did exist- but differently than we know it today. Red was seen as a signal colour for masculinity and power and since pink was the “small red”, it was used for young boys. Girls on the other hand were dressed in blue, the perceived colour of the Virgin Mary.

For a long time then there was a gender-neutral way to dress young children: white dresses and long hair for everyone until the age of six or seven. White could be bleached easily when it became dirty and it was a neutral colour: you could not dress the child wrong. Why did this tradition disappear?

Pastel colours started to be used for baby clothing, but not in a gender specific way until the beginning of the 20th century. Shortly before WWI, colours started to become signifiers for gender, but just as suggestions. Others advised to dress children according to their hair and eye colours. The shift to colours was slow, and pink and blue not the primary choices.

The colours we know today were established in the United States in the 1940s. Clothing industries interpreted the preferences of the population to sell as much as possible. Marketing teams created separate, gender-specific clothes and toys that were advertised as “must-have”. The women’s liberation movement of the mid-60s and 70s slowed it down for a bit. Girls were dressed in un-feminine, sporty or even masculine styles. Clothing was seen as a mirror of and responsible for gender role models. The female dress code then supported women’s subservient role. Equal clothing, the movement thought, would bring about gender equality. “If we dress our girls more like boys and less like frilly little girls, they are going to have more options and feel freer to be active.” It was argued that we learn gender through external influences.

Until the 1980s, gender-neutral clothing remained popular. But the market returned to the gender-specific colours and made them more popular. Prenatal testing was a strong accelerator of this development. Future parents could know the sex of their child early and prepare. Through the production of individual and gender-specific clothing and now also toys, more could be sold.

Consumerism and pop culture are main drivers for gender stereotyping until today. Through the success of capitalism, this phenomenon has spread over the globe to various cultural and ethnic backgrounds. The reviewed articles all talk about the Western (US/European) context. In other cultural regions, the associations might still be different. But as long as any gender stereotyping exists, then the problem is still the same, no matter the colours.

Being raised in colours- what’s the matter?

“Gender stereotypes are ideas about how girls and boys, women and men are ‘supposed’ to act, talk, think, and behave”. The colours pink and blue are a manifestation of these stereotypes.

Children are given from very early on gender specific toys, when they are not even self-aware of their gender. Around the age of three or four, children start to become more aware. At that age they are impressionable and easy to influence. Market industry is using this in campaigns and advertisements that reinforce the stereotypical social conventions. It becomes visible that children accept the colour preferences they are socialised into. They avoid the colours they are supposed to dislike, they search for things that define them as girl or boy, whilst before they did not show a tendency to gender-specific colours and toys. Subconsciously, girls choose Barbie dolls and wear the pink in order to look feminine.

The way adults treat children affects them. When a kid wears blue and it is assumed to be a boy, people play more physical games with it than a baby dressed in pink, which receives dolls or cooking equipment to play with. Chances and behaviour of children are altered that way. This “blue versus pink” drives gender inequality. They limit the choices of children and hold them back from reaching their full potential.

Same as with colours, there are the clichés of what men and women are suited for, for example in politics: men for leadership and women for social tasks. This is due to the association of men with rationality and women with emotions. There is a pressure to feminine activities or to “be a man”, instead of behaving the way it feels right. This can lead to children being directed to particular interests or careers, just because it is the socially accepted choice.

Women with the leadership style of men are criticised for it, even though they use the same methods. The idea of men not showing emotions or weaknesses leads to some checking less often on their health and suppressing mental issues. Stereotypes affect the mental health, the self-esteem and body image of people. Bullying, discrimination, and other violence, especially towards non-binary people lead to that some do not express themselves fully. Gender stereotyping interferes with the gender children truly feel like. Transgender or gender nonconforming children, that are still raised according to a specific stereotype will be more confused and stressed than children who grew up without constant manifestation of binary genders.

A growing movement today promotes going back towards gender neutrality. Some stores introduce a gender-neutral policy. A whole community does not want to conform, tries to eliminate the stereotypes, demands neutral clothing, to not introduce this binary to kids so early. Boys are dancing ballet too and why wouldn’t girls be able to play basketball?

Bend it like Beckham, girls!

What does it tell us about pink and blue? This dominance could have been exactly the other way around. Or any other colours. The youngest children are attracted by primary colours like red and blue, but studies could not find any preferences. Such preferences are not natural, but a result of capitalism and popular culture, they are constructed and taught to us through socialisation. Gendered colours changed over the course of history. They mirror what femininity and masculinity mean in a society and how gender is understood. Therefore, it is important to call the colours, the stereotypes, the genders into question.

Everyone should have free choices and opportunities, no matter if they are different from the majority. And much that is taken for granted is socially constructed and not natural. Why should there be one colour for one gender? Societies can stop seeing gender as binaries, but look at individuals and support them in a way that everyone can make choices without feeling pressured to fit into a category.

by Nina Kolarzik

Photo credits

Pink Harley Davidson, Daniel Kirsch

Gender Symbol Male Female, Clker-Free-Vector-Images

Intersexuality Symbol,John Hain

Pregnant Lady, Worlds Direction, CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0)

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White feminists: the dark side of Western feminism

Kristina Bartl — Tue, 24 Mar 2020 15:31:32 +0000

The thing with feminists, who are white, and white feminists is kind of like fingers and thumbs. Not all fingers are thumbs, but all thumbs are fingers. This means, that being a feminist who is white, does not necessarily mean that you are a white feminist. Unfortunately, it is very likely though. But before you start questioning yourself, it is time to look at the term and what it actually means.

Swallow the bitter pill

White feminists are, simply put, hypocrites. One second they are celebrating their equally white friends for wearing boxer braids and the next second they file a complaint about their black co-worker, for wearing cornrows at work. They want to have a male gay best friend, but sharing the locker room in the gym with a lesbian makes them awfully uncomfortable. They hype up their shy, but skinny, friend for posting a bikini picture, but tell fat women to cover up as soon she’s wearing something “too revealing”. They tell their friends to wear whatever they feel comfortable in (as long as it fits their body type of course), but try to tell Muslim women that they should get rid off their hijab. They do all of that whilst wearing shirts saying “The Future Is Female”, which were produced by women of colour in a developing country under terrible work conditions.

Further, slogans like the one mentioned before often ignore that non-binary people exist and transsexual people are affected by feminist issues as well. Yet, these women call themselves feminists. If you read this and think that any of these things above reflect your behavior, then I’m sorry to break it to you: If your so-called feminism is racist, homophobic, fatphobic, xenophobic, or transphobic, it is useless.

Break internalized patterns

Not all white feminists exclude minority groups on purpose. Sometimes they are simply so caught up with their privilege that they simply don’t see problems related to race, sexual identity, sexual orientation or social status. Yet, this is clearly not an apology, but it is an explanation. Emma Watson, for example, is a popular example for white feminism, before she started to reflect on her own words and actions. After being called out as white feminist for promoting feminism as something simple and asking men to come to save the female gaze from patriarchy, she started to educate herself on feminism. One can do that by simply asking themselves how they profited from their skin colour, straightness or social status. And most importantly one should not only be able to see how they profit from the inequality in society, but in what way they take part in maintaining it.

Calling yourself and your loved ones out on being inconsiderate is uncomfortable, but in the end it’s better to realize that you’ve been acting ignorantly, than to keep on excluding other people’s issues under the name of feminism. One mistake that feminists who grew up with certain privileges make, is asking to be educated by members of oppressed groups, rather than educating themselves. It is not the responsibility of people of colour to teach you about racism. Just read books and articles written by non-white authors and gain an insight into the struggles people of colour have to face on a daily basis. Don’t ask trans people what problems they are facing and how you can help. Just get familiar with concepts and works created by trans people and find ways to support the community.

No wildcards

Intersectional feminism means that problems and issues of all people—regardless of their sex, social status, ethnic background, religion or ability—are taken into consideration. And if I say all people, I mean all people. There are no wildcards. This means, for example, that being gay does not make one immune against being called out for racist comments or “jokes”. But beware, it does not mean that you are in any position to discuss issues of race with people of colour, if you are white. Neither, does it mean that you are asked to fight other people’s fights instead of them. This is not what being an ally is about. It is fine to use the benefit you gained from living a privileged life to give other people a platform. But, you should keep in mind that those fights are not about you. It is your time to listen, support and stand up, instead of acting like a hero, when no one asked for it, simply to be celebrated for your courage.

White feminists, who call themselves allies, tend to take up space, because they think their voices are louder and more likely to be heard. And yes, sometimes it is helpful and clever to do so, but it does not mean that white feminists should be fighting for other people – they should be fighting with them. As Roxane Gay put it: “We need people to stand up and take on the problems borne of oppression as their own, without remove or distance.” If privileged feminists want to rightfully call themselves intersectional or an ally, it necessitates first of all, that they acknowledge problems, regardless if they are directly affected by them or not.

Know your place

I am a white woman, who grew up in central Europe. I am very much aware that I am writing this article from a very privileged perspective. This article is not about me, nor am I glorifying myself as a woke feminist. There is always something new to learn, but personally I think the most important thing is to listen and realize when your perspective is lacking intersectionality. Internalized patterns are hard to overcome, but actively stepping away from them is one first step to distance yourself from white feminist beliefs. Actively following the work of members of the LGBTQ+ community, people of colour and other groups, who question and tackle the inequality of the social construct we are living in, can certainly help in this process. But it is not only important to actively work on your own behavior, but also to call out your white friends, when they are ignoring issues, simply because they can’t relate to them. I mean, you would probably tell your friends if they had some spinach stuck in their teeth, so I guess it’s only right to tell them that they have some racism in their feminism.

In case you want to broaden your horizon in regards to this topic, make sure you check out:

@elleschar

@munroebergdorf

@webcomicname

@nonwhitesaviors

@mattxiv

@goddessplatform

@bodyposipanda

@rachelcargle

@jvn

@alokvmenon

@iamrachelricketts

by Kristina Bartl

Photo Credits

White Egg, Olga1205

White Egg Shells, Corophoto

Egg Box, moiranazzari

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Transgender women are women

Aimée Niau Lacordaire — Tue, 24 Mar 2020 15:15:04 +0000

Small dictionary
A transgender person “adopts the appearance and lifestyle of a gender different from that of their birth. Whether born male or female, the transgender person changes or even rejects their biological sexual identity.” Cis-gender, is a type of gender identity where the felt gender of a person corresponds to his biological sex, assigned at birth.

Transgender women in history
You perhaps know Marsha P. Johnson. She was a black, transgender woman activist in New York City during the 1960-90’s and is the emblematic figure of the LGBTQ+ movement in NYC, she participated in the “Stonewall riot”, which was a series of spontaneous and violent demonstrations against a police raid that took place on the night of June 28, 1969. These riots are represented as the symbolic moment marking the real emergence of LGBT activism in the United States and around the world, taking place in a very homophobic context. After this a legal battle to obtain the right to demonstrate took place, as a consequence of that the first demonstration of a few hundred gays and lesbians takes place, and the pride march was born.

Today’s reality

Today, the rights and the distinction that a transgender woman, notably, is a woman, are being called into question. In fact, in France, even if Simone de Beauvoir, a feminist French icone said “one is not born, but rather becomes, a woman”, this fact is questioned by several “feminist figures”, who consider themselves as feminist but transphobic, nommed TERF:“trans-exclusionnary radical feminist”.

Recently, collage groups against femicides have been created on the initiative of Marguerite Stern, former Femen activist (feminist movement created in 2008 in Ukraine). Marguerite Stern, expressed herself in a thread on twitter, on her opinion that collages should not include messages including trans women, because for her, they are not real women, and do not face the same sexism as cis-women. Several feminist personalities such as Christine Delphy, a French sociologist and a feminist activist, joined her, signing a transphobic stand. Other famous “feminists” in all the world have the same stance as Germaine Greer a writer, journalist, art historian, Australian academic and known to be a major figure in a current of feminism known as the second feminist wave.

In the thread of Marguerite Stern we can read sentences like: “No, I am not a “vulva person”, I am a woman. I was born a woman, and even before I was born, in my mother’s womb, I suffered discrimination because of this. I have suffered things that a man who would like to become a woman can never apprehend.” Or “I am in favor of deconstructing gender stereotypes, and I consider that transactivism only reinforces them. I observe that men who want to be women, suddenly start to wear make-up, wear dresses and heels. And I consider it an insult to women to consider that it is the tools invented by patriarchy that make us women. We are women because we have vulva. It is a biological fact.” Up to saying: “I interpret this as a new male attempt to prevent women from expressing themselves.“

Why they are wrong

At first, we are not born as a woman but we become one, by building with oppression, and gender stereotypes imposed by society. Imagine being born in a society without what it would really be “to be a woman“? So, to reference Sartre we are not essentially a woman, so a trans woman is a woman. Trans women are also more discriminated than cis women. They suffer daily stigma, sexism, transphobia, sexualization, exposed to physical or sexual assault, domestic violence, rape, unequal opportunities on the job market, to the health system… and many other forms of discrimination due to sexism and transphobia. So how is it possible to speak of less discrimination? In addition, transgender people have never been the starting point for gender stereotypes. Cis women themselves convey these stereotypes, and people don’t blame them to shave, to wear heels, to make up…

@Aggresively_trans, the pseudonyme of Lexie a French transgender woman on instagram, return to this controversy by explaining that, “gender codes are sometimes not a choice but a need for visual inclusiveness, so yes it is partly to join stereotypes but that cruelty to refuse to a person what is necessary for him when himself is estimated to have the right to perpetrate the same stereotypes just because we are cisgender“. Society and the system have interwoven these stereotypes and it is against them that we must fight.

The feminist should not include only white heterosexual cis women, but be inclusive for all women, whether Black, Asian, veiled, disabled, bi, lesbian, intersex, trans, fat, slim, sex worker… we are fighting for the same thing: equal rights and the death of patriarchy!

To end this article, I would like to say that I wrote this article as a white, cis, privileged woman, but as an ally in the fight for recognition and right of LGBTQ + people.

by Aimée Niau Lacordaire

Photo Credits

Marsha P. Johnson, Steven Oldak, CC BY 2.0

“Trans Women are Real Women”, Alec Perkins, CC BY 2.0

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Women’s march: feminism from below smashing the patriarchy

Silas de Saram — Tue, 24 Mar 2020 15:09:55 +0000

On March 8 (International Women’s Day), I had the pleasure to attend the women’s march in Malmö, which was organized and attended by multiple feminist and leftist organizations. Especially prevalent were the groups ‘Feminism Underifrån’, a feminist group from Malmö, ‘Activista Feminista’, a Malmö based anticapitalist collective fighting for Women’s rights and LGBTQ+ emancipation, and ‘Mangla’, a group fighting for women’s rights and trans rights in Sweden.

The demonstration began at Möllevängstorget, where speeches by various organizations, as well as by the swedish Left Party (Vänsterpartiet), who’s protest occurred earlier on the same day. One speaker stressed the importance of fighting fatphobia as a part of the fight against sexism and racism. Another speech was held on the topic of LGBTQ+ rights in Poland under the Polish far-right administration. The third speech was held on the topic of Rojava, the Kurdish autonomous region in northeastern Syria.

After the speeches, the procession began moving through the streets of Malmö’s Möllevången and Rådmansvången.

Especially visible was the banner of ‘Revolutionär Kommunistisk Ungdom’ (RUK), the youth wing of the Swedish Communist Party (Kommunistiska Partiet), a revolutionary Marxist-Leninist party.

Multiple anarchist groups were in attendance, such as Sveriges Arbetares Centralorganisation (SAC), Syndikalistiska Ungdomsförbundet (SUF) and Red and Black Collective.

Many different feminist issues were represented at the Women’s March. One specific issue that was represented is the horrible abuse of women in Mexico, and the staggering numbers of femicide in the country.

Overall there appeared to be a large anticapitalist presence, this women’s march was attended by a more revolutionary audience than the protest of the Left Party, earlier on the same day.

by Silas de Saram

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Feminism and Islam: Does feminism cater to Muslim women?

Ola Kaddoura — Tue, 24 Mar 2020 14:48:42 +0000

Feminism needs to include women of colour, Muslim women, women from all religions and no religions, disabled women, sex workers, trans women, gay women, queer women, fat women, skinny women. It needs to cater to all women. The fact that the term ‘intersectional feminism’ (acknowledging the fact that all women have different experiences and identities) exists proves that the general movement is often exclusive and largely white.

Mainstream, western feminism isn’t always intersectional. There are feminists who often don’t realise or can’t relate to the fact that for women of colour, of different faiths, abilities, it’s not just gender that they’re discriminated on.

Such women are affected by these circumstances professionally, socially and mentally, and yet don’t always receive the help and support that’s needed. Issues are all too often seen through white lenses and how they affect white women, such as the pay gap that’s based on gender, sexual harassment and everyday sexism. We don’t see many platforms which seek out Muslim women’s experiences of these topics. Think of the countless articles, research pieces, features that looked at sexual assault, how many of those included Muslim women’s stories? Given the wide scope of women affected by sexual misconduct, there were definitely Muslim women who were affected, so why have we not heard any of their voices?

There have been many discussions about the age we should enforce sex education, for example, but do we ever see Muslim women being given a platform to discuss when they think it’s a good idea? The problem is that a large slice of western, 21st century feminism seems to be white feminism (meaning feminists who prioritise main issues that influence white women and preclude the ones that affect women of colour). And that’s because white voices are amplified the most when it comes to women’s issues or even represented by a white face. There are of course the intersectional ones, the comrades, the ones who get it, but they’re rare and few.

Feminism often feels like it only accepts those who look like they subscribe to its ideals. Someone in a burka or a niqab isn’t seen as having influence therefore is pitied or only accepted if their fight is against the religious imposition. A Muslim woman who not only wears a headscarf, but a burka, a niqab, and/or who has conservative views about sex and sexuality, is not usually accepted into feminist groups as easily because the idea is that Islam is inherently oppressive and the only way to be liberated is to become more liberal.

But Muslim women shouldn’t need to conform to western ideals and show that they’re Muslim but they’re not that religious, that they date against their parents’ will, that they’re sexually liberated, to be accepted.

Differences but…?

Muslim women shouldn’t need to water down religion and culture to be accepted. Why should we as feminists only unite because of common denominators? Yes, Muslims don’t believe in sex before marriage, they believe in modesty (for both men and women), they live in patriarchal communities, which is considered a very normal thing because who practically doesn’t. These things might not scream freedom to a lot of people, but it works for Muslims, while some of it doesn’t.

Muslims are not a monolith and you’ll come across every type under the sun. The point is, people should be equally receptive of a person, no matter what their beliefs. The western feminist movement should be able to deal with the idea that some women believe in things that might otherwise contradict their idea of feminist thought, like the headscarf, niqab and so on.

If we’re supposed to be all about choice and letting women do what they want with their bodies, why do we have a problem when they want to cover it up? Sure, not all women are afforded the luxury of choice, and we should support them too. But some choose to cover up, to obey God. Many women are empowered by hijab, by religion, and these women need to have their narrative accepted.

In conclusion

Submission is a big part of Islam. Muslims do things, sometimes without question to please Allah (God). And somehow the perspective of submission isn’t seen as a free concept and may even seem like an antithesis to freedom itself. But we’ve got to respect that people are exercising their free will when they choose who to submit to. Some of us are perfectly happy to subscribe to such ideals, and that deserves some respect.

One woman might want to become a homemaker, another might want to be a sex worker. One girl might grow up, waiting her whole life wanting to get married. And maybe one of them wants to serve God and be a nun. Let’s accept them all. The point is, let’s support and stand for all kinds of women, even the ones who choose to do things you don’t agree with, as long as they’re not hurting themselves or anyone .

by Ola Kaddoura

Photo Credits

Noor Fadel, Sally T. Buck , CC BY 2.0
Women’s march in Seattle, Suz , CC BY-NC-ND 2.

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Period: a taboo without borders

Pauline Zaragoza — Tue, 24 Mar 2020 14:39:09 +0000

Unclean, impure, dirty, gross, taboo, embarrassing.Those “positive” words are usually used as describers when it comes to period concerns. Nowadays, periods still have negative meanings in societies all around the world whatever the social classes, origins or geographical localization. Most women on earth are concerned by this taboo surrounding this normal body function. Issues come when sometimes this stigma and the lack of access to menstrual products have terrible consequences.

What is that? Yes, it is red blood

Period as a monthly event appears when blood and tissues from the uterus are coming out of the vagina. It usually appears during the puberty period between 12-14 years old, or even earlier/later. As an average, a woman has between 4 and 5 days of bleeding which represents 2250 days of her life, in other words seven years of period. This mean a lot of time spending to wonder about having a pad or a tampon, where to find one, how to hide it, how to handle the pain or even how to make sure that you don’t have a stain on your pants (we all have this story asking to our bestie.s to check our back).

This discomfort regarding periods is mainly represented through how the media are representing this monthly surprise in most women’s lives. The market of “feminine hygiene products” represents a huge source of money, between 20,6 billion $ and 37,5 billion $ and it is estimated to 52 billion $ in 2023. In most of the ad for menstrual products, the periodic blood is blue instead of red. As an important source of information, media with their audience are powerful as they influence the representation of period. This blue blood, as misrepresenting the reality, sends a confusing message and reinforces this vision of disgust towards period; whereas blood is regularly shown when it is not coming from a vagina such as in horror films, medical series, war movies…. However, some companies are taking action such as the ad campaign Blood Normal which aims to show the real red blood and to deconstruct all the stigmas surrounding menstruation to make it normal. But despite this rise of awareness, shame and stereotypes are still deeply settled.

Globalized stereotypes and a dramatic lack of menstrual hygiene

Those stigmas and beliefs about periods can have bad consequences in terms of education, job access, health and more. In addition, some countries or even religions have specific beliefs that are fueling the global shame about menstruation for girls. In Iran, as a sign of misinformation, 48% of girls believe that period is a disease. In Japan, women are not allowed to become sushi masters because it is said that menstruation causes an “imbalance in taste”. Moreover, in India, during their period women are not allowed to be in the kitchen and cannot water plants because the myth says they can poison food. Also in the country, buying pads is expensive and also taboo, 90% of women in rural areas don’t have access to it. As a result, 28% of girls are not going to school and instead they are using dangerous objects to catch the blood such as newspaper, ash, wood shavings, and more. In Nepal, there is a practice named Chhaupadi that aims to banish menstruate women and send them in dangerous outdoors called ‘menstruation huts” owing to the impurity of the period. Even if this practice has been banned recently, it’s still continued in fact, mostly in rural areas. This tradition implies risks of rape, disease or even death as shown by recent cases of girls bitten by snakes. In Nepal as well as India, during this time of the month, women are not allowed to enter in “clean” and holy places like temples.

Also, women in western countries are concerned by this taboo. In England, almost 138 000 girls are missing school because they cannot afford menstrual products. In many states in the United States, pads and tampons are considered “luxury good”. In Western countries, homeless women are mostly confronted with the dilemma between buying food or buying menstrual products. In addition, another effect of this spread of negative vision of menstruations is the “period shaming”. This period shaming can lead to suicide, some people might think it’s hard to believe it but it’s a reality. In 2017 a 12 years old Indian girl killed herself after her teacher humiliated her because of a stain due to menstruation. Same story in 2019 with a 14 year old Kenyan school girl who had her first period during school lesson was reportedly branded ‘dirty’ and expelled from the classroom. Period is normal, natural, and healthy and some initiatives try to defy this global taboo.

Period as a political issue: a rise of actions

Facing those issues, some people have decided to take actions. In India, a man named Arunachalam Muruganantham, has invented a machine that dispenses menstrual products at a low cost in order to increase access for women in his country despite the people’s opposition in his village. Moreover, numerous humanitarian collections have been settled around the world to respond to this need like in France (Règles Élémentaires) or the association Period which aims to fight against “period poverty”. Also, on a larger scale, some politicians have tackled this health issue. Recently, Scotland has been the first country in the world to provide free pads and tampons. Indeed, almost 10% of girls in UK are not able to afford menstrual products and some are using unhygienic products such as rags, toilet paper or newspapers because of the expansive price of pads and tampons. Before this, the state of New York was one of the first to announce that all public schools in the state will dispense free tampons and pads in order to fight menstruation taboos and make school safe and comfortable for girls.

Access to menstrual hygiene should represent a main issue in the global agenda as it is hard for women to confront this event with safety and dignity. Also, menstruation includes numerous other problems such endometriosis or toxic shock syndrome scandal. One of the solutions might be a cultural change in order to normalize menstruation and destroy taboos around this natural process. Of course, it is taking time because those stereotypes are deeply rooted in our societies. Menstrual hygiene must be a right and girls should not be blamed or shamed about it, on the contrary it should be a normal to easily access menstrual products, sanitation and hygiene. Period is a cultural power, changing perceptions about it will help to change the rules of the game and to empower women as it normally should be.

by Pauline Zaragoza

Photo Credits

peeled pomelo, Charles Deluvio

melting popsicle, Erol Ahmed

Nepal, World Bank Photo Collection, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

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