A group of women wearing white dresses splashed in fake blood, proclaiming themselves Miss Juarez, Miss Atenco and Miss Michoacan in reference to places in Mexico where women have been raped or killed protest beside the stage where the Miss Universe’s native dress fashion show was held in Mexico City, Sunday, May 20, 2007.
Justice for the Women of Juárez and Chihuahua, more background
“Basescu n-a catadicsit sa-si ceara scuze personal ziaristei talharite si insultate”
de fapt, n-a catadicsit sa-si ceara scuze deloc:
„Nu-mi place cand sunt jignit gratuit si uneori izbucnesc. Si nu imi place cand se intra in intimitatea vietii mele. Ca, de exemplu, sa profiti de o discutie pe care o ai cu sotia, in masina, dupa care, ca pe vremea Securitatii, sa fii judecat pentru ce ai gandit nepublic sau pentru o apreciere nepublica”.
minunat. victima si cel jignit in toata povestea e basescu. apelativele de genul “mai, pasarica” pentru o femeie sint doar “izbucniri” firesti in fata unor “jigniri gratuite” ale jurnalistelor care, ca niste “tiganci imputite si agresive”, il filmeaza cind n-are chef. cit despre folosirea “aprecierilor” de genul “tiganca imputita si agresiva”, asta este prerogativul oricarui cetatean in conversatii private cu sotia. iar, pentru basescu, critica publica a atitudinilor sexiste si rasiste, cind ele au fost “nepublice”, e “ca pe vremea securitatii” – o incalcare de drepturi.
eu banuiesc ca basescu confunda “oficial” cu “public” dinadins, ca sa para cit de cit logic cind spune “ca pe vremea securitatii”.
toata reactia/anti-cererea-de-iertare imi suna ca o versiune neironica a parodiei sexiste/rasiste cu “ziua barbatului alb” pe care o asteptam.
23 mai – Decizia CNCD: sexismul e ok (7 voturi pro si 2 contra), iar rasismul nu e complet ok (pedepesindu-se, din cite inteleg, cu un fel de incruntare din partea membrilor cncd). bine ca exista cncd sa lamureasca treburile astea si sa faca dreptate! nu stiu de ce nu ma surprinde decizia.
biblio for workshop:
din articolul “Elita gay din Romania, in puscariile comuniste”:
Aproximativ 20 de persoane au fost inculpate pentru orientare homosexuala in 1959 si condamnate la ani grei de inchisoare. Cotidianul, cu ajutorul unuia dintre supravietuitori, reconstituie procesul si destinele citorva dintre homosexualii implicati.
informatiile sint foarte interesante si bine de stiut, iar articolul este excelent realizat, in afara de un punct important exprimat in comentariul de “hiddencop” pe site-ul cotidianul.ro:
Sincere aprecieri pentru articol, pentru decenta si “raceala” cu care a fost scris: o fasie de istorie dureroasa, pe care nu o poate intelege decat un gay care s-a ascuns si a fost terorizat de gandul ca va fi pedepsit pentru ca viata lui privata, intima nu este identica cu a majoritatii. Sau, desigur, un heterosexual apropiat de ceea ce inseamna a fi gay. Mai bine zis “a fi fost gay in vremuri de teroare”. Pentru ca astazi lucururile stau cu totul altfel.
Ce mi-ar placea sa stie si sa afle cititorii Cotidianului este ca inchisoare pentru orientarea homosexuala au facut multi altii, nu neaparat oameni ilustri precum cei amintiti in articol. Ca membru al comunitatii LGBT, am cunoscut un respectabil domn care prin anii 80 a ajuns in puscarie pentru simplul fapt ca numele lui era inscris in agenda unui alt gay: maniera aceasta in sine este inspaimantatoare, dealtfel, daca ne gandim cum se facea “vanatoarea de homosexuali”.
Asadar, sper sa citesc in curand un articol SI despre suferinta gay-ilor care nu au fost persoane publice (desi inteleg foarte bine ca, pe cat de picant este subiectul pentru pesoanele straight, pe atat de putin probabil este ca el sa fie reluat atata vreme cat nu povesteste despre “VIP”-urile de altadata sau din ziua de azi…)
si ar mai trebui adaugat, la “gay care nu au fost persoane publice”, gay care nu au fost barbati. se zice “lgbt”, nu doar g(bt), pentru un motiv. sint multe de aflat inca si despre femei care au fost inchise sau persecutate pentru orientarea sexuala…
pe wikipedia, la “Drepturi LGBT in Romania” sau “LGBT rights in Romania” nu exista nici o informatie despre persecutia persoanelor lgbt in perioada comunista. “Legislatia romaneasca privind relatiile homosexuale” ofera citeva detalii si repere istorice.
postul “Avril Lavigne is a whiny brat” (@ feministe) si comentariile de-acolo mi-au amintit de o formulare excelenta pentru felul in care de multe ori fetele se simt nevoite sa reactioneze la misoginia de peste tot din jurul nostru. ca sa te impui, ai doua optiuni: daca nu alegi feminismul (o alegere pe care mainstream-ul patriarhal iti spune s-o ocolesti cu orice pret), poti alege in schimb sa denunti celelalte femei si feminitatea in general amagindu-te ca ar exista de fapt “trei sexe: barbati, femei si tu” (cu alte cuvinte, imbratisind misoginia si declarindu-te pe tine ca exceptie de la regula). am scris mai mult despre expresia respectiva aici. dupa parerea mea, formularea asta pune in evidenta foarte bine problema cu alegerea din urma, care in mod firesc merge mina in mina cu o pozitie “post-feminista” sau pur “anti-feminista”; problema e ca aceasta alegere e o amagire si nu “functioneaza” deloc: regulile sistemului patriarhal, care prin definitie te dezavantajeaza pentru ca esti de sex feminin, nu se schimba pentru ca tu alegi sa le sustii si sa denunti si desconsideri genul de care societatea a decis ca apartii. dimpotriva! asa cum zice si andreea in textul ei din primul numar al zinei lf-ro, problema cu denuntul e foarte greu de constientizat si adresat tocmai pentru ca pina la un anumit punct misoginia si tot ce inseamna sustinerea ierarhiei de valori patriarhale iti ofera un refugiu, speranta de acces la un statut privilegiat (adica masculin), chiar daca esti fata. insa asta doar pina la un anumit punct, si mai ales doar cu victime colaterale, printre care te numeri si tu. in ultima instanta, ca fata, cu denuntul anti-feminin nu ajungi decit exact de unde pleaca feminismul (desigur, mai depinde si de ce fel de feminism e vorba, ca si ca “feminista” poti merge pe aceleasi principii individualiste si incerca sa determini “how can i use feminism to my advantage?” – heheh).
The European Law Students’ Association ELSA Iasi is proud to invite you to the international summer school “Human trafficking”
The event has its location in the city of Iasi, Romania (an old and beautiful city situated in the north-east of the country) and is scheduled between 19 to 26 August, 2007.
By organizing an International Summer School on this topic, ELSA Iasi is intending to treat in an academical manner the international impact problem that is human trafficking, in order to increase the degree of knowledge that students in general possess now. This happens in the context of Romania as a country with difficult issues to face in this domain, and we are willing to create a basis for future project of international cooperation. The project has as target group students both from faculties in Romania and the whole world and it contains 5 days of classes, presentations, workshops, trainings (about 6 hours per day).
The workshops will deal with:
– Definition (sociological, legal) and history of human trafficking
– Ways of trafficking
– Children trafficking
– The international adoptions’ phenomenon in Romania
– Human trafficking relating to the phenomenon of poverty in undeveloped and developing countries
– Prostitution: in countries where it is legalized (study case: Holland ) and in countries where it is illegal (study case: Romania )
– Institutions and other activities of fighting against human trafficking, both national and international
– Ways of financing youth programs (with emphasis on “Youth in Action”)
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Collected Volume on Women’s Lives, Gender Relations and State Policy in Central and Eastern Europe under State Socialism
Deadline: June 15, 2007
Scholars working on gender and socialism in Central and Eastern Europe are invited to submit a 500-word abstract of an essay for a collected volume examining post-89 approaches to the study, research and analysis of women’s lives and issues of gender under state socialism.
The wealth of human and archival sources that have become available since the collapse of communism, combined with the increased use of cultural, social, gender, and oral history in studies of socialism, have provided crucial insight into gender in socialist societies — both as it was discursively represented and lived on an everyday level. This in turn has facilitated a more nuanced and complex understanding of women under socialism that challenges the bleak and homogenized portraits of women that were produced — in both feminist and non-feminist scholarship–prior to and immediately after 1989.
You can check the S&F issue here!!!
About the issue
As blogging has more widespread interest, especially vis-á-vis electoral politics, feminist activity on the internet has remained marginal to the mainstream. Thus, we were thrilled when Gwendolyn Beetham and Jessica Valenti proposed “Blogging Feminism: (Web)sites of Resistance” as a Scholar and Feminist Online journal topic, as well as a theme for a Barnard Center for Research on Women panel discussion. As Beetham and Valenti point out in their introduction, all too much feminist activity exists in the blogosphere invisibly. This theme runs through many of this journal’s contributions, and is taken up directly by Clancy Ratliff and Tedra Osell in the section entitled “Women and Politics in the Blogosphere.”
Amazon.com and other stores are currently selling a “toy” called “The Rapist No. 1 Doll,” modeled after a character in the new Tarantino/Rodriguez film Grindhouse, which is a torture porn film that shows graphic male sexual violence and sexualised torture against women. [more on the rising popularity of “gornos” here]
For details on how to send protests to the companies, see this post; as mentioned there:
The availability of the so-called toy Rapist Number One … demonstrates so clearly the links between the prevalence of rape and sexually violent films and pornography. The purchaser of the toy will not necessarily commit rape, but his acquisition legitimates rape. His action, and the availability of this toy, sustains a culture in which rape and sexual violence are not taken seriously; in which sexual violence is normalised and legitimated. We may not have the empirical evidence which clearly shows that watching violent porn makes someone commit rape, but the fact that this film has spawned this sort of merchandise, sold as a “toy”, should tell us all we need to know about the harmful nature of this sort of material.
Rape Crisis England and Wales
Rape Crisis Network Europe
RAINN
update: Amazon.com and youbuynow.com are no longer selling the doll.
When told that I will cancel my account because after their initial response to my complaint (response which was all along the lines of “our goal is to provide customers with the broadest selection possible so they can find, discover, and buy any item they might be seeking”), I
*don’t* feel like my concern has been addressed and I don’t agree that Amazon needs to ‘represent a wide spectrum of opinions on a variety of topics’ when that ‘topic’ is normalizing rape. It’s not a freedom of expression matter, rape is a crime and material that promotes it discriminates against people, like material that promoted pedophilia would, for instance – and you wouldn’t invoke the same excuse for selling pedophilia promoting items, would you?
Amazon.com says they’re “very sorry if offering the Grind House Rapist doll offended you in any way, shape, or form. Let me assure you that Amazon.com does not support or promote hatred or criminal acts and customer feedback provides us an opportunity for improvement. … we are no longer offering this product for sale in our catalog”; however, Amazon.co.uk still lists the doll – they have renamed it but you can still search for it under “rapist.”
And You buy now expresses the “hope that our apology for any rudeness [from customer service representatives who reacted inappropriately to complaints, suggesting rape isn’t a “real problem with actual, quantifiable effects on society”] and the removal of the action figure will satisfy those that we offended” but makes sure to stress the fact that the intent of the doll was misinterpreted by those who felt it was promoting rape.
As we know, “Whatever you do, don’t figure out that it’s systematic.”
SIGN the International Campaign against killings and stoning of women in Kurdistan petition:
To: Kurdistan Regional Government
Condemn the brutal stoning to death of Doa – a young girl whose only crime was to fall in love
Doa was stoned to death in the centre of the town of Bashiqa in front of hundreds of people and the authorities did not prevent this crime from happening. On the contrary, they were present and paving the way for this horrific crime to be carried out. [moreover, onlookers captured it on video; and the Iranian and Kurdish Women’s Rights Organization site has more on how Islamist groups are trying to capitalize on the murder]
Doa was a 17 year old girl from a family of Yazidi faith; she was snatched from her house by some Yazidi men who discovered that she was in love with a Muslim Arab man and had visited him. They stoned her to death in public on 7th April 2007 in the town of Bashiqa.
It is known that women in Kurdistan and Iraq are oppressed. The few rights they do have are very limited and in most cases they are treated as sub-humans.
Killings, suicide, and violence against women are an every day occurrence in this region. Although a crime of this nature is very new to Kurdistan, this is an indication that such crimes against women are now tolerated. Doa’s killers are still free.
The government’s failure to protect women, and enforce laws against criminals, has created a situation where thousands of women become victims of so called “honour killings”. Violence has risen as result of patriarchal and religious traditions.
We strongly condemn this barbaric act, and call upon all human rights and women’s rights organisations, political parties, and activists in Kurdistan and globally to condemn this crime.
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