Saturday, June 23, 2012

Women's Views on News

Women's Views on News

Female Olympic athletes may soon be required to prove gender

Posted: 22 Jun 2012 09:00 AM PDT

Crystal Huskey
WVoN co-editor

Are you a woman competing in the Olympics?

If the answer is yes, simply declaring your gender is no longer enough.  You have to prove, scientifically, that you are physically, chemically and biologically a woman, with the correct ratio of estrogen/testosterone.  Too much testosterone?  Well, that would give you an unfair advantage.

At least, according to a new policy proposed by the International Olympic Committee.

Women with an unnaturally high level of testosterone, termed hyperandrogenism, could be banned from competing in the Olympics.  The Star asserts that this amounts to a ‘witch-hunt’ among female athletes.  A new study shows that testosterone is far from the strongest indicator of athletic ability.

"(The test) is based on a lot of speculation and folklore about hormones, instead of precise science," said co-author Rebecca Jordan-Young, a Barnard College gender studies professor, as reported by The Star.

"Women who are totally insensitive to testosterone are overrepresented in elite sports. That's a great clue they're barking up the wrong tree."

The proposed policy comes after South African runner Caster Semenya won a gold medal in the 2009 world championships.  There was widespread speculation that she was not female, due to her deep voice and masculine physique.  She was banned for 11 months as the investigation into her gender was conducted.

In the end, she was allowed to keep her medal and continue competing.

If the testosterone levels are too high, some women are being required to undergo surgery or hormonal therapy in order to compete.

Cancer survivor wins right to swim topless

Posted: 22 Jun 2012 07:00 AM PDT

Crystal Huskey
WVoN co-editor 

Jodi Jaecks, 47, had a double mastectomy in 2011.  The surgery left her with no breasts or nipples.

Following the advice of friends in a breast cancer support group, she decided to reclaim her fitness by swimming, after an arduous sickness and recovery period.

She toured the pool at Seattle’s Medgar Evers and informed the front desk staff that she would be swimming topless.  As it turned out, that was a problem.

As a family-friendly facility, the parks department did not feel that it would be appropriate for Jaecks to swim topless.

Spokeswoman Dewey Potter said they wanted to make sure that “people from different cultural backgrounds feel comfortable swimming.”  She also said that she believed Jaecks wanted to be shocking and subversive and “show her scars as a badge of courage and… use the pool to spread her message.”

Jaecks asserts that swimsuit tops are painful for her because of sensitive scars and nerve damage, a common complaint among breast cancer survivors.

“I certainly was not trying to be provocative — I just wanted to convince them that it wasn’t inappropriate,” Jaecks said in a Seattle Times article. “I could have gone back and just jumped into the pool topless, but that’s not my style. I was trying to be respectful.”

After her story was published in Seattle’s The Stranger, the parks department changed course on their policy.  She is now allowed to swim topless during adult lap sessions.  The decision only applies to her — women with similar experiences will have to be judged on a case -by-case basis.

For Jaecks, that’s not good enough.

“It’s going to be harder for a more reserved, self-conscious woman to have the guts to stand out and be different,” she said.

She plans to continue her fight until all women have the choice to swim topless, regardless of circumstance.

Relay to end violence against women launches in the UK

Posted: 22 Jun 2012 05:00 AM PDT

Harri Sutherland-Kay
WVoN co-editor 

The UK's National White Ribbon Relay is kicking off in Portsmouth tomorrow.

The relay, which will see a baton being passed throughout the country, runs from 23 June – 26 July and aims to raise awareness around the relationship between violence against women and girls and major sporting events, such as Euro 2012 and the Olympic Games.

White Ribbon is a global campaign to ensure that men take more responsibility for reducing the level of violence against women.

Chris Hancox, the National Campaign Manager for White Ribbon UK said that the Relay “is an excellent way of bringing people together to stand up against violence against women and girls.

“We expect it, and the many different local events associated with it, will help raise awareness of this widespread issue that blights many people's lives and is still largely a taboo subject. Any initiative like this is really welcome. Well done to our Portsmouth supporters for organising it!"

The relay has been organised by the Portsmouth White Ribbon Group in partnership with local frontline service providers, Aurora New Dawn, and national advocacy organisation Standing Together Against Domestic Violence.

"As a national organisation, we are always pleased to work with our partners to raise awareness about violence against women,” said Sally Jackson, partnership manager for Standing Together.

“This campaign takes the message to the heart of communities around Great Britain and encourages local people to pledge not to commit, condone or remain silent about violence against women – that would be a legacy to be proud of!"

During the month long event, a White Ribbon Relay baton will travel to more than 20 towns and cities across Great Britain. At each stopping point a special event will be held to raise awareness about violence against women and girls. These will include events with the North Wales Women's Centre Choir in Conwy and Denbighshire, with a group of fathers in Newcastle and conclude with Cultural Olympiad's micro nation, Nowhere Island, in Weymouth.

Following the Relay launch in Portsmouth, the baton will meander its way north to Newcastle before completing its last leg around London.  The baton will be passed back to organisers, Portsmouth White Ribbon Group, by the Office of the Mayor of London at a special event at City Hall on 23 July, 2012.

You can follow the exploits of the baton on Twitter and Facebook.

To take the White Ribbon pledge, please click here.

Chinese officials apologise for brutal treatment of pregnant woman

Posted: 22 Jun 2012 03:00 AM PDT

Laura Mowat
WVoN co-editor 

At seven months pregnant, Feng Jianmei, 23, was forced to have an abortion on June 2 in the Shaanxi province of China.

She did not have the money for the fine required should a woman have a second child.  This birth would have exceeded the nation’s strict one child policy.

A large group of people from the family planning authority came to her house to force her to have the chemically-induced abortion.

The inhumane command was carried out to meet the population quotas set in Beijing.

The case has provoked public outrage after graphic images of the Chinese woman were spread online. Even the state run media has expressed their disapproval of the abortion. 

The Economist reported that in 1983, 14 million women had abortions organised by the family planning committees.  As of 2009, that number shrank to six million.  Officials have more of an incentive now to require fines — known as a ‘social maintenance fee’ — rather than terminate the pregnancies.

The family planning committee “swooped in,” according to the Economist, while Jianmei’s husband was out working a second job in order to pay the fine.  They chased her, followed her to her aunt’s home, and pursued her to the mountains where a friend lived.  When they found her, they injected her belly, causing a chemical abortion.

She gave birth to her dead child 30 hours later.

Authorities from the Chinese city of Zhenping have since apologised, and three officials have been suspended as part of the investigation.

The deputy mayor, Du Shouping, visited Jianmei also apologising for the way she was treated.

The local government has admitted that this was illegal as the foetus was terminated after the six-month limit.

Victims of beauty

Posted: 22 Jun 2012 01:00 AM PDT

Kate Townshend
WVoN co-editor

As a society, it’s easy to become desensitized to the glossy magazines, large billboards and televised catwalks that serve to objectify women.  We’re used to models with gaunt, pale faces and sunken eyes, jutting collar bones and spindly limbs — a look that borders on anorexic chic.

But how far is too far when it comes to pushing the boundaries of fashion?

Whatever the limit, Bulgaria’s 12, a fashion magazine, could be accused of intentionally reaching for it with their recently published shoot ‘Victim of Beauty.’

Far from a ‘plastic surgery gone wrong’ expose, or even a masochist’s guide to high heels, the truth of the title is both more literal and more brutal.

‘Victim of Beauty’ does exactly what it says. It depicts immaculate, high fashion models sporting slit throats, black eyes and acid burns, all in the name of the artistry of the shoot.

Unsurprisingly, it’s currently riding a huge tide of discussion and controversy, with publications as eclectic as The Daily Mail and Grazia all clamouring to pass judgement.

There’s little doubt that the images are designed to shock.  Aside from their injuries, these are the glamorous, air-brushed elite of  modeling we’re used to, and the contrast between the two worlds is arresting.

But one of the accusations being leveled against the enterprise goes beyond cries of poor taste or tactless attention seeking.

Critics suggest that the spread glamorises domestic violence, fetishising injury and mutilation in a way that contains no more artistic merit than the ‘torture porn’ movement within the film industry.

It’s not hard to see where they’re coming from when examining the pictures themselves. In one, a startlingly beautiful young woman has had her mouth cut into a mutilated, bleeding smile. The rest of the shoot is surprisingly conformist; she still stares directly into the camera lens in helpess invitation.

It is the juxtaposition of the wound with traditional depictions of women as passive and sexually available that is perhaps most disturbing.

Despite the obvious discomfort factor, the magazine itself and shoot photographer Slav Anastasov have come out fighting. In a response to the furor, they explicitly deny glamorising violence, arguing instead that:

“Images such as ours can be seen from various angles, and we think that exactly that is what is beautiful about fashion and photography in general – that anybody can understand it their own way,and fill it with their own meaning. Where some see a brutal wound, others see a skilful (sic) work of an artist, or an exquisite face of a beautiful girl.”

In other words – it’s not just beauty that’s in the eye of the beholder, but apparently misogyny is too.

12 seems to be suggesting that squeamishness about images like these is more indicative of our attitudes than theirs. Perhaps we should be glad that women with injuries such as these are being portrayed as beautiful? Is 12 not in fact challenging the relentless homogeneity of fashion in general?

Well, no actually. I suspect it probably isn’t.

The editors go on to say:

“We do understand why some accuse us of promoting, in a way, violence, but we do not agree with that, and we think that it is (sic) very narrow-minded way of looking at the photographs… Fashion photography is an imitation of real life, sometimes realistic, sometimes delicate, other times grotesque, or shocking.”

The difference of course, is all about context, and the problem with 12′s images is that they float in a de-contextualised vacuum.  There is no campaign here and no grander point.  Bulgaria is a country where one in four women is a victim of domestic violence, so it isn’t as if there is no point to make.

Even 12′s own readers seem to be divided over the photographs. Whilst one commenter applauds them as ‘strange and beautiful,’ many others express shock and distress.

Of course, if all attention is good attention, the magazine is unlikely to care too much what people are saying about it, but only that they are talking in the first place. But perhaps there are better ways to judge artistic merit than its shock value.

These women aren’t victims of beauty. They, and we, are victims of a culture where women’s bodies have become a legitimate canvas for violence masquerading as ‘art.’