Showing posts with label girls. Show all posts
Showing posts with label girls. Show all posts
Follow Friday - #IAmMalala
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I recently read the biography of a young woman called Malala Yousafzai. She is 16, and is the most inspirational human rights campaigner I have ever seen.
Growing up in Pakistan, she frequently campaigned for and encouraged girls to stay in education - she did not see why someone's gender should dictate whether they went to school or not. And as a result of her campaigning, she was shot in the face by the Taliban on her way to school.
She was transferred to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, and luckily survived the ordeal. Her campaign grew, and she went on to speak at the United Nations to call for worldwide access to education on her 16th birthday.
Follow Friday - #NoMorePage3
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#boobsarentnews,
#nomorepage3,
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boobs aren't news,
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girls,
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the sun,
women
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This is a campaign founded by Lucy-Anne Holmes in 2012. This campaign asks the editor of The Sun newspaper, David Dinsmore, to "take bare boobs out of The Sun," because, let's be honest - BOOBS AREN'T NEWS. The campaign argues that there is a time and a place for nudity, and in a family newspaper is not appropriate.I 100% support this campaign - however I do agree with criticism that objectifying women is never OK, and if it's not in a newspaper then it will be on the internet, and may be considerably worse. Having said that, I think the No More Page 3 campaign is a brilliant first step in reducing objectification of women, and have signed it and promoted it on my personal social media accounts.
So far, the petition has received nearly 189,000 signitures; you can add yours here.
You can also find out more about the campaign on their website, facebook and twitter.
Follow Friday - #EverydaySexism
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#followfriday,
blog,
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laura bates,
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women
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The Everyday Sexism Project is a blog started by a woman and feminist writer named Laura Bates in 2012. Growing tired of hearing how feminism is not needed in everyday life, she started the project to show just how much sexism still exists nowadays.
Women and men can anonymously submit their entries on the website, on twitter or via email, and tell their stories of sexism encountered in everyday life. Their stories are, unfortunately, easy to relate for a young woman in today's society, and show just how common and normalised sexism has become. Some of the stories are so heartbreaking, and really make me angry and passionate about changing the way we see women in society.
Check it out on their website and twitter. Laura has also just released a book about the project, which you can find on Amazon, and has also done a TED talk about her project, which you can watch below.
Follow Friday - #MyFriendsAreMarried
#FollowFriday
Time for me to recommend another website or blog with similar themes to mine that you might find interesting.
This week is pretty light hearted - I'm choosing a tumblr account called #MyFriendsAreMarried. It's written by a 25-year-old girl whose friends all seem to be getting pregnant and married, and quite frankly she is interested in doing neither of those things.
Even though I'm only 21, I can most definitely relate - maybe that's why I find it so hilarious. I cringe when I see half the stuff mums put on facebook, and then cringe again when I remember they're the same age or younger than me! I think the author of this blog has absolutely nailed how any girl feels when surrounded with expectations like that, and then only gone and illustrated these feelings with hilarious gifs.
Here's some examples:
When my friend says she's skipping dinner so she can fit into her wedding gown, and I'm just like...
When I go to lunch with my friends and they all bring their kids...
When someone tells me I should marry my boyfriend...
When I'm at my friends house and her baby starts crawling towards me...
When I ask my married friends for relationship advice...
Check it out:
why has feminism become a negative concept?
Labels:
empowerment,
equality,
female,
feminism,
feminist,
girls,
objectification,
psychology,
rape myth acceptance,
thoughts,
victim blaming,
women
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This article gives a good overview on how the word feminism originated and developed into what we think of it today (http://vomnck.wordpress.com/2013/03/04/the-negative-connotation-of-the-word-feminism-explained/).
People often misinterpret what feminism about, thinking (wrongly!) that feminists want power over men. I cannot emphasise enough that this. is. not. feminism. Feminism is about equality. Feminism means being able to look at someone and see them for the person they are rather than making assumptions about them based on their gender. I, along with many women, do not want to live my life as a self-fulfilling prophecy that I will not be as successful as my brothers and father and uncles and male cousins, that I will not earn as much as my husband, that I will want to have children, that I will stay home and look after said children because it is my "natural instinct."
It has taken me a long time and several years of studying the psychology of sexism and related concepts at university to come to realise that this is what feminism is truly about. It's taken nearly 4 years for me to disentangle the mess of assumptions about feminism that aren't true, in order for me to realise who I truly am and finally see that feminism is not a bad thing at all! Really, I ever want my daughters to grow up to be with the same opportunities as my sons, I need feminism.
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