Women's Views on News |
| Posted: 18 Mar 2013 07:23 AM PDT
Guest post by Lucy-Anne Holmes, writer and actress currently working on the No More Page 3 campaign ‘to take the bare boobs out of the Sun’ newspaper. This article appeared in The Huffington Post on 15 March 2013. I’ve got a confession to make. I may have been a bit silly starting the No More Page 3 campaign. You see, someone just tweeted us something. “If you don’t like it, don’t buy it”, the tweet read. There was I, ballistically campaigning about Page Three being damaging when, oh, I really am feeling very stupid now, because I could just not buy it and everything would be fine. So, I’ll be off then. Sorry about that. Or rather. No. Just no. There are so many reasons why “if you don’t like it, don’t buy it” doesn’t work as an argument for Page 3, that I will be breaking out the big gun bullet points. So, here goes. This is for you, Mr If You Don’t Like It Don’t Buy It and all the others before you, and that includes you, Nick Clegg. 1) I was most affected by these images at the age of 11 when my breasts were developing and my brother and his mates would be commenting on Page Three girls breasts everyday. I really looked up to my big brother and this situation taught me that my breasts were only there for men to look at. Mine fell short of the ones that were in the daily newspaper, therefore I was failing somehow and I was ashamed. I didn’t buy it. 2) Jo, a teammate on the campaign, used to work in a pub in North Yorkshire, where Page Three lay on the bar every evening. She was sexually harassed every day as comments where made about her breasts and the models, until she was eventually sexually assaulted. She didn’t buy it. 3) The school girl, who wrote to the Everyday Sexism project saying that the boys in her school hold up Page Three in the corridor and mark the girls out of 10 as they walk past, doesn’t buy it. 4) The woman who was made to look at Page Three while she was abused as a child, didn’t buy it. 5) When Clare Short stood up in the 80s and spoke out about these pictures being in the paper, she received thousands of letters of support. Twelve were from women who had Page Three mentioned to them while they were being raped. These women didn’t buy it. 6) The woman who sits in a staff room every day while a male colleague shows Page Three to all the men with the words ‘would you do that?’ doesn’t buy it. 7) The nurse who wrote and told us that she has to treat men as they comment on young women’s breasts, doesn’t buy it. 8) The mother who took her six-year-old daughter to a café for a treat and found Page Three lying open on a table and was asked “Mummy, why isn’t that lady wearing a top?” doesn’t buy it. 9) The father who felt outraged that a man was looking at Page Three while his three-and-a-half year-old daughter was having a hair cut, didn’t buy it. 10) The teacher who asks the class to bring in newspapers for painting and has to explain why there’s a naked woman in the ‘news’paper, doesn’t buy it. And, as writer Lauren Bravo said, “if you can’t communicate the logic of something in simple terms a kid can grasp, there’s a good chance it might be completely stupid”. We are all affected by Page Three whether we buy it or not, because we all live in a society where the most widely read paper in the country makes ‘normal’ the idea that women are there primarily for men’s sexual pleasure. As one woman noted on our Facebook page, “if I lived in times of slavery, I wouldn’t be content not to buy a slave, I’d protest against it because I believe it to be wrong”. ‘If you don’t like it, don’t buy it’ doesn’t work, believe me. I wish it did. To sign the petition asking Dominic Mohan to stop showing pictures of topless young women in Britain's most widely read newspaper and to stop conditioning the Sun’s readers to view women as sex objects, click here.  |
| Posted: 18 Mar 2013 05:16 AM PDT
Athletics: Jess Ennis was named Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year on 12 March. The prestigious award, which has previously been won by Serena Williams and Kelly Holmes, was presented at a glitzy ceremony in Rio de Janeiro, host city of the 2016 Olympic Games, where Ennis hopes to defend her heptathlon gold. Cycling: Emma Pooley, former world time trial champion and Olympic silver medallist, has called for a women’s Tour de France to be held when the men’s event comes to Yorkshire next year, saying that it would make “an unbelievable difference” to women’s sport. Speaking to Cycling Weekly recently, she said: “I think Cycling Weekly should start a petition or a campaign to have a women’s Tour de France in 2014. “It’s starting in the UK and I can’t believe that Yorkshire doesn’t want Lizzie Armitstead riding in the Tour de France.” Pooley has spoken out in the past about sexism in the cycling world. Before London 2012, she criticised the lack of sponsorship available for women’s road cycling teams. Her comments coincide with the cancellation of a major women’s race in the USA. The Exergy Women’s Tour was the only race taking place in the USA which counted towards World Championship qualification. Its cancellation, due to the loss of technical directors Medalist Sports, leaves American cyclists with no option but to leave the country if they wish to qualify. Football: A 3-1 victory over New Zealand on 11 March left England top of their group in the Cyprus Cup, guaranteeing them a spot in the final. An excellent performance over the three-times champions Canada in the final on 13 March gave them the title for the first time since 2009. Arsenal’s Rachel Yankey scored the only goal of the match, which Canada offering little in the way of a threat. “It was a really good performance,” captain Hope Powell told the BBC. “Against a strong, physical team, who were bronze medallists at the Olympics, we were the better side.” With Euro 2013 just months away, the result is a boost for England. Despite a 2-1 win over Italy on 12 March, Scotland could only finish third in group A. Rugby: This week saw the final rounds of the Six Nations, but with press coverage overwhelming skewed towards the men, you could be forgiven for forgetting that women play rugby too. Ireland earned themselves an historic first Grand Slam, beating Italy 6-3 in a tough match on March 17. Although the Irish had already tied up the Six Nations title after beating France last week, they were not about to rest on their laurels, and Italy made them work hard for the win. Italy were the first to score, taking a penalty after just three minutes. But Ireland fought back, with full-back Niamh Briggs earning a penalty to even the score at half time. Another penalty taken by Briggs early in the second half gave Ireland the lead, which they clung to until the end, despite last minute challenges from the Italians. England may have lost their Six Nations title, but a 20-16 victory over Wales on March 17 gave them the consolation of third place. As for Scotland, this year’s performance may be best forgotten. The Scots lost 76-0 to France in their final match on 15 March, capping of a dismal tournament, with only three points scored in five successive losses. Scotland are yet to qualify for next year’s world cup in France. Wales and Ireland qualify based on their Six Nations performances, while England qualify automatically as 2010 runners up. Taekwondo: Olympic Taekwondo champion Jade Jones has won her first gold medal since London 2012 at the German Open in Hamburg. The result follows a disappointing first round loss at the Trelleborg Open in Sweden last month. But if Jones felt the pressure of living up to her Olympic title, she did not let it show, dropping only four points on her way to the final. “In the past no one really knew who I was,” she said after her victory. “But I can sense all the girls now really want to beat me. “It is a different pressure I have got to deal [with]. But I will be ready for them.” Jones, the 2011 world silver medallist, now has her sights set on the world championships in Mexico in June.  |
| Leader of UN Women stands down Posted: 18 Mar 2013 02:03 AM PDT
Michelle Bachelet, the first head of UN Women, is stepping down from her role saying she is returning to her country. Her decision has led to speculation that she is considering standing for election again in her native Chile. Bachelet was Chile’s president from 2006 until 2010. She was appointed to her pioneering UN role three years ago, when four agencies working for women were brought together under the one umbrella of UN Women. Bachelet’s resignation came at the end of the two-week Commission on the Status of Women where 130 member states agreed on a pledge to eliminate and prevent violence against women. In her closing speech she said: "For personal reasons, I will go back to my country. Be sure that I will continue working for women's empowerment and gender equality." Ban Ki-moon, UN’s Secretary General, praised Bachelet’s work saying: "Michelle Bachelet was the right person in the right job at the right time. “Her visionary leadership gave UN Women the dynamic start it needed. “Her fearlessness in advocating for women’s rights raised the global profile of this key issue. “Her drive and compassion enabled her to mobilise and make a difference for millions of people across the world." He said that during her time at the UN she had driven forward new steps to protect women and girls from violence, new advances on health, and underlined that women’s empowerment must be at the heart of all that the UN does. US ambassador Susan Rice said: “Bachelet has been a tenacious and inspirational leader and a role model for women everywhere. She is awesome.” If Bachelet did decide to stand for the presidency again, it would be a popular decision on the left. When she left in 2010, it was with an 80 per cent approval rating and her party supporters say there is no ‘plan B’ for another candidate. Jaime Quintana, president of the Liberal Party for Democracy, one of the parties in Chile’s centre-left coalition, told USA Today: "We don’t have a plan B. I’m serious. In the opposition we’re just not prepared for a negative response from Bachelet.” As president, Bachelet was credited with kick-starting the Chilean economy and raising per capita income. People warmed to her informal and empathetic style, and polls suggest that if she did stand for the presidency again then she would easily win with 54 per cent of the votes. Bachelet’s father General Alberto Bachelet died in prison in 1974 after being tortured. Dictator Pinochet’s military had convicted him of being a traitor. Bachelet and her mother were imprisoned in 1975, and after she went into exile for four years, before returning to study medicine and qualifying as a paediatrician. At the same time she was rising through the Socialist ranks, and for 20 years was a key player in the country’s centre-left coalition before becoming president.  |
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