Thursday, June 7, 2012

Women's Views on News

Women's Views on News

Photos of breastfeeding US servicewomen spark military row

Posted: 06 Jun 2012 09:00 AM PDT

Sarah Graham
WVoN co-editor

Photographs of two US servicewomen breastfeeding their babies while dressed in military uniform have sparked a row after the images went viral.

The women, Terran Echegoyen-McCabe and Christina Luna, were criticised by the Washington National Guard for photographs they posted on Facebook to promote World Breastfeeding Week in August.

The pictures,which show the two women breastfeeding in camouflage uniforms, were taken by a military spouse at Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington State. They were posted on the Facebook group of Mom2Mom as part of their breastfeeding support campaign.

The images quickly went viral, sparking much debate about Americans' attitudes towards breastfeeding in public.

Comments on the Facebook page ranged from "breastfeeding is not a public spectator sport" to "What a beautiful image! … I think it's utterly inspiring to see women dedicated to their careers and their babies!”

Facebook itself has previously been criticised for removing photos of breastfeeding women, describing them as "obscene content.”

Military officials said the servicewomen had breached the rules by using the uniform to promote a non-military cause, insisting that breastfeeding was not the issue.

The women are unlikely to face disciplinary action, and Washington National Guard spokesman Keith Kosik said there is no regulation against breastfeeding in uniform.

The founders of the Mom2Mom Facebook page, Trysta Chavez and Crystal Scott, said: "The military photographs were NEVER meant to exploit, promote or to use the uniform to help our group. These were for our local community to raise awareness for World Breastfeeding Week."

"It's sad that this is such an issue. It's a taboo really," Ms Chavez added.

Vatican condemns nun’s book on sexuality

Posted: 06 Jun 2012 07:00 AM PDT

Sarah Graham
WVoN co-editor

The Vatican has spoken out against a book on sexuality, written by a popular American nun, which discusses homosexuality, masturbation and same-sex marriage.

Just Love: A Framework for Christian Sexual Ethics, an award-winning 2006 book by Sister Margaret Farley, was sternly criticised by the Vatican this week for contradicting church teaching on sexuality and posing "grave harm to the faithful."

The Vatican accused Sister Farley, a member of the Sisters of Mercy religious order and emeritus professor of Christian ethics at Yale Divinity School, of having a "defective understanding" of Catholic theology and "the objective nature of natural moral law."

The "notification" issued against Sister Farley by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith takes particular issue with her writing on masturbation, homosexual acts, homosexual unions and remarriage after divorce.

Farley writes that many women "have found great good in self-pleasuring" and it "usually does not raise any moral questions at all,” concluding that masturbation "actually serves relationships rather than hindering them."

On the issue of homosexuality, she writes: "same-sex oriented persons as well as their activities can and should be respected" and that same-sex marriage can help reduce stigmatisation of gay people.

According to the Vatican's response, the Church teaches that masturbation is "an intrinsically and gravely disordered action” and homosexual acts are "intrinsically disordered [and] contrary to the natural law."

The Vatican equally condemned Farley's openness to divorce and remarriage.

The statement, approved by Pope Benedict, described her views as "in direct contradiction with Catholic teaching in the field of sexual morality" and warned that the book must not be used by Catholic educators.

When it was first published in 2006, American Catholic educators adopted Just Love, and many senior US Catholics have defended Sister Farley since the criticisms were made on Monday.

The attack on Sister Farley's book follows the Vatican's criticism, in April, of a group of US nuns for apparently promoting radical feminist themes, "incompatible with the Catholic faith."

This latest crackdown is expected to further fuel resentment towards the Vatican amongst liberal-minded nuns in the US.

Farley responded to the Vatican's criticisms, saying "the fact that Christians (and others) have achieved new knowledge and deeper understanding of human embodiment and sexuality seems to require that we at least examine the possibility of development in sexual ethics."

Meanwhile, within 24 hours of the Vatican condemning the book, Just Love shot up the bestseller list, from being ranked at 142,982 on Amazon, to number 16!

A scandalous portrayal? Black women in the media

Posted: 06 Jun 2012 04:00 AM PDT

'Scandal' actress Kerry Washington

Abi Johnson
WVoN co-editor

ABC recently celebrated the finale of its prime-time television series, ‘Scandal.’

In this political thriller, Kerry Washington plays a character based on Judy Smith, a former White House aide and consultant.

What’s different about this show is that it features a black woman in a lead role. For me, the scandal is that still too few black women play dramatic leads on television.

The issue of the representation of black women in the media is one that I've followed closely for the last 20 years.

This is partly because I am a media professional myself, and partly because I am interested in seeing how I am represented on screen (or not) and whether my views are expressed in print (and how).

I’m hoping the two extremes of us either being invisible or stereotypically portrayed is a thing of the past.  Sadly, it seems it’s not.

Today, the same questions are still as pertinent as 20 years ago. Where am I on the television? Am I only ever a singer, an actress, a sidekick, a comedian or a sportswoman? Why, in print, am I confined to covering issues of race? 

Brittany McBryde from Pittsburg was so frustrated with the portrayal of black women in media that she made a film about it – The Image of Black Women.

"It started as an idea of bringing a new voice to the topic of diversity – my voice, specifically," McBryde said.

And so her documentary film was made, not just to challenge stereotypes, but also to explore how black women themselves have become de-sensitised to seeing themselves portrayed in certain ways.

And if portrayal is a problem, so too is invisibility.

Victoria Coren, writing in The Guardian, says she feels a bit sad when flicking through magazines  "that all the faces are white."

"I think we've reached general agreement,” she continued, “that this is weird and wrong, that black women should be more visible in all media, especially the women’s market."

‘Don’t Tweet me this way – still sexist and not just on paper,’ a National Union of Journalists conference on women in the media taking place in London later this month, will focus on the issue on women in the media.  Participants have been asked ahead of time certain questions about their experiences.

It has also asked delegates to suggest if it has left any questions out. Yes. The issue of black women in the media has not been included on the agenda.

So, I'm putting it on the agenda here. Without diluting the focus on women, it is also important that the particular experiences of black women should form part of the debate too.

Many of the questions covered by the NUJ “pre-conference” relate just as easily to issues of race.

For example, whether your career as a journalist has been affected by being a woman, the pay gap, discrimination in old age, sexual harrasement, discrimination in redundancy, freelance female bloggers, being side-lined to features rather than financial pages, glass ceilings …the list is endless.

So, let's take a look at television.  I'm pleased to see that there has been a proliferation of black women's faces on UK TV recently.

But you know why? London 2012.

With so many of Team GB coming from diverse backgrounds, black women are being promoted as the face of this product and the face to promote the games.

Take for example the advertisement of the mother who proudly watches her son develop and grow from a toddler to a top athlete – all in the name of promoting a certain brand of wash powder.

And while it is good to see these images, a legacy of the Olympics should be that these adverts continue to be seen and be made long after the athletes have returned home, long after the medals have been proudly placed in display cabinets and long after the Olympics are over.

Moreover, despite the increase in the number of black women's images in the media in the run up to the games, this continual link of black people and sport and music is outdated.

Of course, there are many strong, powerful black athletes, and in the music world it goes without saying the black presence is omnipresent. But there should be other things in the mix too, besides music and sport.

When it comes to the print world, while there are a growing number of female journalists from diverse backgrounds, too often we only see them when a comment is needed about a certain race or cultural issue.

These women have a breath of knowledge and experience in a diversity of areas, but often it's cultural/race/ethnic issues that they are asked to give an opinion on, usually with the title 'Cultural Critic' or 'Commentator.'

I know such women can certainly provide a comprehensive critique on the cultural issues of the day. But, I am confident too that they can also comment on matters of finance and economy, war and defense, education and enterprise.

And if they can't, there are many black women behind them who can. But we are rarely asked to.

As a young journalist back in the day, I was often pigeon-holed into working in areas covering race. While those are the areas I like exploring, this did not mean I wanted to be restricted to just these domains, and so I worked on several BBC programmes covering a breadth of topics without being labeled.

That said, I will always see the world from the perspective of being a young black woman (OK not so young!). I will always see the world from the perspective of being a black woman.

Because that's what I am.

So, 20 years on, some progress has been made, there is less of the 'mammy figure' or of the angry black woman on our television screens. In America, Gloria Browne-Marshall has become the first black woman to receive media credentials to cover the US Supreme Court.

We have Kerry Washington as the lead black woman in a primetime ABC television show.

For me, the fact that we can name them on one hand means it’s still too few.

We are still largely invisible.

There's still work to be done.

I hope some of it can be continued at the forthcoming NUJ conference on women in the media.

New president presses on with change in Malawi

Posted: 06 Jun 2012 01:00 AM PDT

Natalie Calkin
WVoN co-editor

Malawi president Joyce Banda continues with a programme of change designed to shake off the vestiges of corruption in the country.

Banda came to power in April when the former president, Bingu wa Mutharika, died suddenly of a heart attack.

She has already dumped the presidential jet and fleet of Mercedes cars held dear by her predecessor.

Despite only being in office a month, Banda has also taken swift and decisive action to improve accountability and transparency.

She sacked the police chief, Peter Mukhito, who had been accused of mishandling anti-government riots that resulted in 19 people being shot dead.

She also  replaced the head of Malawi's state broadcaster.

Mutharika bought the presidential jet in 2009 as he felt it was a "must-have" for a national leader.  The presidential jet cost £220,000 a year to run and is worth £8.4 million, a potentially vital income source for impoverished Malawi.

Banda clearly felt these were luxuries she could do without, saying:

"I can as well use private airlines.  I am already used to hitchhiking.”

She proved her point when she travelled to the UK for Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee celebrations last weekend.  She left the presidential jet in Africa and instead travelled by British Airways.

Many welcome the decision and see it as a distinct move away from the opulent style of living displayed by Mutharika.  In 2010, he was accused of using £2 million of public funding to build new roads so that he could travel comfortably to his second wedding.

In the same year, he commissioned the building of a multi-million pound statue as a tribute to his former wife.

At a time when many Malawians were and are still living on less than a dollar a day, the donor community were increasingly frustrated by his spending habits and autocratic leadership style.

In 2011, Britain (traditionally one of Malawi's biggest donors, along with the EU, Norway, Germany and the World Bank) ceased giving aid to the country.

Following the appointment of Banda, the UK has been supportive of her leadership and change in direction.

Andrew Mitchell, the UK's Minister for International Development, said: "The importance of an African leader giving up the jets and Mercedes is iconic.”

Olympic swimmer triumphs over Twitter troll

Posted: 05 Jun 2012 11:00 PM PDT

Natalie Calkin
WVoN co-editor

Olympic gold-medal winner, Rebecca Adlington, has silenced an Internet "troll" who sent her an abusive message on Sunday.

Adlington, an acclaimed UK swimmer, won another gold medal in Barcelona on Saturday.

A few hours after her victory,  she was forced to act when she received this message from Callum Aspley on Twitter:

"You shark fin nosed ********, you belong in that pool you ****ing whale.”

She responded by re-tweeting the message to her 51,000 followers as an example of the kind of abuse she receives about her appearance.

Many messages were sent in support – some re-tweeted the message and some reminded her of her achievements, according to the Telegraph.

"If only they could win for their country," one message read. Another encouraged her to wave her gold medals "at twits.”

The "twit" in question is 19-year-old Callum Aspley who studies at Leeds Metropolitan University, according to the Telegraph, and is also a keen sportperson, playing rugby for the university and previously playing rugby and cricket for King Edward VI School in Lichfield.

Aspley claimed he ''was out with his mates and one of them got hold of his phone,” and that he did not send the tweet.

He added: "I don't use twitter a lot and I don't know how to delete a tweet.”

Aspley, or perhaps one of his friends, clearly knows how to delete a Twitter account because he is no longer present on the site.

Unfortunately, Adlington too has decided to refrain from using Twitter and other social media during the Olympics to avoid reading and getting "angry" about negative comments she receives.

"Most things that I read about myself are not swimming related,” the Telegraph quoted her as saying. ” They are to do with how I look, which has nothing to do with my performance in the pool.”

Undoubtedly, Adlington's decision to avoid social media trolls is a reflection of her commitment to her sport and desire to triumph again in London 2012.

However, it is also a sad indictment of the way women, both those in the public eye and in private spaces, feel they have to avoid abuse whilst perpetrators are rarely brought to justice, as evidenced by the recent case of Nicola Brookes.

Adlington is a talented athlete and people in the UK and others around the world will be rooting for her to scoop yet more medals in this year's Olympic games.

In the words of one of her Twitter followers: "you are an impressive, talented and very beautiful young lady. We will be cheering you every step of the way.”