*Not For Sale* Women speak out about sexual exploitation in prostitution and trafficking
A video by Marie Vermeiren
The film (23 min) challenges the traditional views and myths on prostitution and sexual exploitation of women’s bodies. It includes interviews with women survivors of trafficking for sexual exploitation and prostitution, women sharing their life experiences and demanding governmental action and responsibility to combat violence against women, including trafficking and prostitution. The film is part of the joint project EWL-CATW on trafficking in women for sexual exploitation.
If you believe their PR, Nevada’s legal brothels are safe, healthy – even fun – places in which to work. So why do so many prostitutes tell such horrific tales of abuse?
— The Guardian, Friday September 7, 2007
There is only one place in the US where brothels are legal, and that’s Nevada – a state in which prostitution has been considered a necessary service industry since the days when the place was populated solely by prospecters. There are at least 20 legal brothels in business now. Not so many, you might think, but these state-sanctioned operations punch above their weight in PR terms.
here’s something else pretty horrifying: Bucharest mayor Neculai Ontanu was filmed scolding and attempting to “motivate” a city sanitation employee by putting out a cigarette in her palm, and the fact first gets “noticed” when blogger Andressa writes about it in her post “Incalificabil”. before she pointed out the mayor’s unspeakable action, it had gone completely uncommented, by the reporter within the news story on Prima TV which the footage was part of, or by anyone else… because to the population at large and to the mass media (as many of the ensuing commentary on Andressa’s blog shows), that kind of thing is just not surprising at all! (though even the most un-surprised can’t deny that sexism, racism, classism are at play there.)
Ioana Avadani from the Center for Independent Journalism then wrote about the story on her Hot News blog – (“Ontanu pe ‘plantatie'”/”Ontanu on the plantation”), and it finally became a news piece. Ontanu’s spokespeople are denying that he did what he is plainly doing in the footage – but also arguing, in his defense, that he was very very mad that the sanitation workers weren’t doing their job properly.
un afis din martie de la ziua politiei romane –> pentru perpetuarea sexismului, urmati exemplul politiei cu siguranta si incredere:
“cca 14,5% din electivul Politiei Capitalei este reprezentat de femei” – oare acest procent chiar alcatuieste departamentul… ornamental al politiei, asa cum sugereaza afisul?
asa… sa zicem ca eu sunt o invatatoare, si ca m-am hotarit ca elevii mei trebuie sa arate urmatoarele aptitudini ca sa ia nota 10 (sau ce nota maxima se ia in ziua de azi):
– sa fie atenti la si sa poata interpreta cu acuratete felul in care se exteriorizeaza oamenii din jurul lor
– sa se orienteze folosind mai multe indicii, nu doar recurgind la propriile reflexe
– sa dea dovada de flexibilitate, sa poata analiza din diverse puncte de vedere si indeplini simultan mai multe sarcini
– sa interactioneze eficient cu altii, fiind dispusi sa compromita si sa se consulte
– sa stie sa delege responsabilitati si la nevoie sa ofere incurajament si suport
– sa cintareasca situatiile si sa caute sa minimizeze riscurile la care se supun pe ei insisi si pe cei din jur
– sa nu se impacienteze usor, sa faca fata presiunilor si sa se descurce la activitati facute contra cronometru
– sa aiba un vocabular bogat si sa comunice cit mai bine Continue reading →
Am vazut War Zone pentru prima data la intalnirea LadyFest de vara trecuta. De atunci, l-am revazut de cel putin cinci ori si mi-a lasat aceeasi impresie de fiecare data. Perceptia comuna despre hartuirea sexuala e formata de cazurile putinelor persoane care au hotarat sa-si actioneze in justitie hartuitorii. Regizoarea filmului War Zone aduce discutia la un alt nivel, si anume felul in care hartuirea de pe strada amplifica sentimentul de nesiguranta experimentat de femei.
Maggie Hadleigh-West, care nu e doar regizoarea, ci si protagonista peliculei, se plimba pe strada cu o camera de filmat in mana, nu doar cu intentia de a afla ce gandesc barbatii pe langa care trece si care o abordeaza ci si de a folosi aceasta unealta ca o arma impotriva lor, in acelasi fel in care ei isi indreapta remarcile sau chiar gesturile impotriva femeilor, de indata ce acestea ies din casa neinsotite. Reactiile barbatilor pe langa care trece variaza, asa cum cititoarele vor intui, de la “buna ziua, papusa” pana la “ce buna esti!”. Eroina noastra se decide sa se puna chiar in situatii extreme, intervievandu-i pe barbatii cu care intra in contact in legatura cu motivele pentru care abordeaza femeile pe strada. Interlocutorii lui Maggie Hadleigh-West sunt rapid pusi intr-o dificultate din care rezulta dialoguri savuroase. Continue reading →
