(Late) weekly round-up

By Lynne Miles | 3 November 2010, 10:37

Sorry for the lateness of our weekly round-up, but here it is. Feel free to use the comments space below as an open thread if you want to comment on any of the stories raised or just have a general chat.

In the meantime, stories we missed last week are:

• Feminist Memory’s timeline of Riot Grrl in the media
• Pictures of Muslims Wearing Things: “Former NPR analyst Juan Williams, among other ignorant people, has an irrational fear of Muslims, and thinks you can identify them based on what they look like. Here I will post pictures of Muslims wearing all sorts of things in an attempt to refute that there is such a thing as “Muslim garb” or a Muslim look”.
• Kira Cochrane in The Guardian on men who believe porn is wrong
• Anti-Rape Condom with “Teeth”- Why are Women Responsible for Stopping Rape? (sexgenderbody)
• The BBC has announced first time plans to screen women’s matches at next month’s British boxing championships (via the Herald Scotland)
• The Guardian reports that lessons on gay history reduce homophobic bullying in a Stoke Newington school (although from reports it’s questionable whether they really cover ‘LGBT’ history or just cis gay men)
• Iran says some academic courses too “Western” (Reuters Africa) ….the list includes women’s studies, among other things
• A Texan anti-abortion group has been running a protest outside the Marie Stopes sexual health clinic in central London (via The Independent
• The Guardian reports on the development of a new contraceptive gel that is applied directly to the skin and could offer women an alternative form of hormonal contraception without the typical side effects associated with the pill
• Restructure! blames the patriarchy for her technical incompetence at Geek Feminism
• Crimes of violence against disabled women are endemic in her East African homeland, says activist Laura Kanashu. But now, demands are being made on the Ugandan government to take action
• BBC7 Banned Season: Clive Anderson introduces a selection of dramatisations and readings of books or works which were embroiled in censorship issues.
• Spanish prostitutes ordered to wear reflective vests for their own safety (Telegraph)
• “They know how to break all the girls like you”: Footsteps in the Dark on being a ‘spinster’
• Who wants to see happy fat people in love? Not Marie Claire! (fatshionista)
• Hannah Nicklin’s new site about the public spending cuts
• “I’ve Had One, Have You?”: a blog post about abortion
• Goodbye, miniskirt? (Stop Street Harassment)
• The new f-word (Tufts Daily)
• The Refugee Council assesses what will the spending review mean for asylum seekers and refugees?
• Love Anonymously: Call for submissions: Racialicious’ first ever blog carnival, “a rough guide of sorts to all the “other” first times […] perspectives on how race intersects with [people’s] sex lives, various GLBTQ experiences with approaching and navigating sex and the concept of virginity, how visible and invisible disabilities impact how we are perceived as sexual beings, sex after major life transitions, that sort of thing”
• A Guardian report on Cambodians being beaten, raped and killed at an illegal detention camp funded by the UN
• ‘Rape filmed as insurance against prosecution’ (Express Tribune)
• The Femail Eunuch (Shouting At Cows)
• Retailers we’re refusing to shop with in November (Boycott the 35), and Hangbitch on the point of boycotting the pro-cuts retailers
• The Telegraph reports that 8 in 10 teachers lack the confidence to teach kids about sex
• The 100 best signs at the anti-Tea Party rally in America, to restore sanity and / or fear - the funniest thing I’ve seen all day [note this has been corrected in light of the comment below]
• Sonia Burgess death: Accused remanded in custody until 3rd February 2011 (Bird of Paradox): an antidote to the sensationalist and transphobic journalism surrounding the case

That’s it, folks: a lot of interesting lunchtime reading. Enjoy!

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Blades within blades within blades

By Jess McCabe | 2 November 2010, 15:56

To make up for me and Lynne’s cross-posting mishap about Equal Pay Day (it’s so important we said it twice), here is a little animation inspired by Hyperbole and a Half’s post from earlier in the year, satirising the stereotyped promotion of shower products to men.

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Women - time to down tools!

By Lynne Miles | 2 November 2010, 14:01

Today is Equal Pay Day 2010. Despite the Equal Pay Act of 1970, full time working women on average are still paid less than full time working men by around 16%. This means, figuratively, that if the average man and woman both work a full year, the man gets paid for the full year whilst the woman’s last paycheck comes today.

Reasons for the paygap are complex and may differ from case to case, but include the following factors:

• “women’s work” is undervalued compared with “men’s work” - so jobs of similar skills levels which are traditionally female (cleaning, caring) are paid less than similarly skilled jobs which are traditionally male (transportation, construction)


• individual level direct and indirect discrimination still exists


• women still pay a “motherhood penalty” in terms of career progression and salary


• women are more likely to work part time, which is relatively undervalued by employers; and


• the recession is making things worse - a higher proportion of the female workforce has been made redundant than the male workforce

The Fawcett Society is spearheading Equal Pay Day 2010, and is calling on the government to do three things to help:

• Implement the Equalities Act 2010 in full, including forcing employers to reveal their gender pay gap if they haven’t done so by 2013


• Extend the right to request flexible working to all employees (not just mothers) and work to change employer attitudes to part time and flexible working


• Encourage shared parenting by promoting flexible parental leave

You can find out more about Equal Pay and how you can get involved at Fawcett’s website.

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‘Yes, women can’ - Brazil elects first female president

By Jess McCabe | 2 November 2010, 11:52

Dilma Rousseff, speaking after she had just been elected as Brazil’s first female president this weekend:

Equal opportunities for men and women are an essential principle of democracy.

I would like for fathers and mothers to look into their daughters’ eyes today and tell them: ‘Yes, women can.’ I would like to register my first post-election commitment: to honour Brazilian women so that this unprecedented fact becomes a natural event.

Photo shared on Flickr under a Creative Commons license by redebrasilatual

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Quick hit: Stephen Fry misquoted?

By Jess McCabe | 31 October 2010, 23:39

Stephen Fry says he was misquoted over comments suggesting that women just don’t like sex.

Misquoted or quoted, taken out of context or not, Fry’s reported remarks include gems like:

I feel sorry for straight men. The only reason women will have sex with them is that sex is the price they are willing to pay for a relationship with a man, which is what they want. They want a boyfriend and then they want commitment.

The whole issue has been all over Twitter since the story broke. I think we’ll run something more thoughtful on this whole debacle later on, but for the moment here’s a couple of the more amusing tweets about Fry’s (reported) comments:

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