Women's Views on News |
- Checking sexism in films
- Summit platform for rapists and war criminals
- Treat FGM as child abuse, says report
| Posted: 12 Nov 2013 08:22 AM PST
To pass the test, a film must feature at least two named female characters who talk to each other about something other than a man. The Lord of the Rings trilogy, all the Star Wars films and all the Harry Potter films except one have failed the test, which was created in 1985 by American cartoonist Alison Bechdel. Pulp Fiction and The Social Network have also failed and therefore not achieved an "A" rating. Ellen Tejle, director of art-house cinema Bio Rio in Stockholm, said using the rating has been an "eye-opener" and will hopefully lead to "more female stories and perspectives on cinema screens". Along with four other Swedish cinemas, Bio Rio started using the rating last month to show how few films pass the Bechdel test. Tejle believes that this failure is detrimental given how films influence perceptions of women. As she pointed out, film goers rarely see "a female superhero or a female professor or person who makes it through exciting challenges and masters them". Like Bio Rio, Scandinavian TV channel Viasat Film will introduce the rating in its film reviews and will even host a "Super Sunday" event on 17 November, only showing films that pass the test. The Hunger Games, The Iron Lady and Savages will be among the films shown. Not everyone, however, supports the Bechdel test and its introduction in Swedish cinemas. Swedish film critic Hynek Pallas considers the test to be useless. "There are far too many films that pass the Bechdel test that don't help at all in making society more equal or better, and lots of films that don't pass the test but are fantastic at those things," he said. Others have criticised the test because it doesn't account for the setting of a film, which may be in an all-male environment, or the fact that some films portray real life, which features sexism. Despite the controversy, it is clear that sexism in Hollywood has long been an issue and does not seem to be getting any better. A recent study by the USC Annenberg Center found that in 2012 less than a third of speaking characters in films were female and females accounted for less than 17 per cent of top directors, writers and producers. The Annenberg Center also discovered that there have been twice as many male characters as females in films for at least six decades and female characters are twice as likely to be in sexual scenes. Amy Bleakley, the lead author of the study, said: "Apparently Hollywood thinks that films with male characters will do better at the box office. "It is also the case that most of the aspects of movie-making – writing, production, direction, and so on – are dominated by men, and so it is not a surprise that the stories we see are those that tend to revolve around men."  |
| Summit platform for rapists and war criminals Posted: 12 Nov 2013 04:18 AM PST
This weekend Sri Lanka will host the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM). Leaders of one third of the world's population will attend. Among them, the UK’s Prime Minister David Cameron. The Commonwealth’s decision to hold its summit in Sri Lanka is highly controversial. According to the Telegraph, Sri Lanka has 5,676 "outstanding cases" of disappearances – more than any other country apart from Iraq – the Sri Lankan Prevention of Terrorism Act allows anyone to be jailed without charge for up to 18 months and there have been reports that security forces are still raping and torturing "suspects". In September, Navi Pillay, UN high commissioner for human rights, sharply criticised the Sri Lankan regime following a visit to the country, saying that it 'is showing signs of heading in an increasingly authoritarian direction'. On 15 November there will a protest outside Downing Street against the killing, rape and torture of thousands of their people by the current government lead by President Mahinda Rajapaksa, and at the Commonwealth’s decision to hold this summit there. Members of Sri Lanka's 300,000 strong Tamil minority who live in Britain will be among the protestors there. The conflict between the Tamils and Sri Lanka's majority Sinhala population has been going on for centuries, but intensified in the last 30 years. In 2008 the Sri Lankan government started bombing parts of north and eastern Sri Lanka which were controlled by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTT), and where the Tamil population is concentrated. The Sri Lankan government urged Tamil civilians to move from where the bombing was to a designated ‘no fire zone’ and assured them they would be safe there. But as last week's Channel 4 documentary No Fire Zone verified, once they got there government forces bombarded them from the air, killing and injuring thousands. Since then the Sri Lankan government has banned Tamils from meeting, pulled down their temples, assassinated their leaders and hundreds of Tamil women have been raped. Last year WVoN reported that British tour operators were advertising holidays in Sri Lanka that were commercially benefiting human rights abusers, and campaigners were urging holiday-makers to think again about where they were going. "How can you give a world platform to someone who has committed so many war crimes and crimes against humanity?" Isai Priya of Tamil Solidarity, one of the protest organisers, asked. Speaking to WVoN, she said, "No answers have been given and the situation has not been resolved. "Even now people are going through as much as they did [in 2008 and 2009] so is it right to give them the privilege of having the Commonwealth meeting?” Isai Priya continued. "When the LTT were there the women were treated with respect, because a lot of women were in the LTT themselves. The LTT enforced that women were treated OK, so if any women was ill treated they would be arrested straight away. "Since the LTT have gone domestic violence has increased, sexual violence against children has increased. "At first, if a woman was raped she was blamed for it. Because so many people have been affected, people now realise it is not their fault," she added. The controversy surrounding the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting has brought the plight of the Sri Lankan Tamils to the world’s attention. But Isai Priya said that Friday's protest must be the start, not the end of the campaign to protect the Tamils of Sri Lanka. She is concerned that the violence will start up again after the summit is over if we fail to keep up the pressure on the Sri Lankan government. "The government is keeping everything under control before the Commonwealth Heads of Government Summit. They don't want to damage their image. "But there were elections in the North recently and a Tamil political party was elected. Obviously the Sri Lankan government is angry about this. We haven't seen their true reaction yet, but once the summit is over this is going to come out. "The people have to hope that there is a way out. We must give them our support so they know there are people they can turn to,” she said. The demonstration takes place outside Downing Street from 4.00pm – 7.00pm on 15 November. Please sign this petition. It calls for an independent war crimes investigation; for the army to withdraw from all Tamil areas and stop the disappearances; for the immediate shutdown of militarised detention camps; for countries to stop arming the Sri Lankan regime; for democratic rights for all; for support independent trade unions; and for the right to self-determination.  |
| Treat FGM as child abuse, says report Posted: 12 Nov 2013 01:09 AM PST
Conservative estimates put the number of girls and women who have experienced female genital mutilation (FGM) in the UK at 66,000, with an additional 15,000 girls under the age of 15 considered to be at risk. But until now, the UK's attempts to eradicate female genital mutilation have floundered, partly hindered by the desire to be culturally and religiously sensitive. Although FGM has been Illegal in the UK since 1985, there has yet to be a single criminal case tried in the UK. That is despite an update to the law in 2003 that allows for prosecution of any acts of FGM committed by a Briton outside the country. With professionals saying that 'it is known that the number of communities [in the UK] affected by FGM is growing,' and with Britain increasingly seen as a cheaper destination for communities who otherwise would send their girls further abroad, campaigners are stepping up their efforts to eradicate the practice. A coalition of Royal Colleges and health representative organisations have collaborated on a new set of joint guidelines that recommend nine essential steps to take to stop practice in this country. Titled "Tackling FGM in the UK: Intercollegiate recommendations for identifying, recording and reporting," the report was written by the Royal College of Midwives, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, the Royal College of Nursing, the union Unite with the Community Practitioners' and Health Visitors' Association, and Equality Now, and acknowledges the difficulties faced by professionals in successfully providing multi-agency service and support. The number one recommendation in the report is to treat FGM as child abuse. For the first time, this makes it clear for all professionals that a child's safety is paramount and must always be considered a priority over any cultural or religious considerations. Leyla Hussein, who was ‘cut’ when she was seven years old, said, 'FGM is one of the worse physical and psychological scars a girl can be left with. 'It has nothing to do with religion and isn't mentioned in any of the holy books or condoned by any religion.' The report also makes it clear that FGM is a crime, and calls on health professionals to report all cases and suspected cases: 'All girls and women presenting with FGM within the NHS must be considered as potential victims of crime, and should be referred to the police and support services.' Hence the intercollegiate approach as the first step to systemic change. 'Historically, there has been such a lack of urgency in confronting and tackling it – we seem to be closing our ears and pretending it's not happening,' said Hussein. The lack of data on FGM is telling, and is reflected in the second of the report's nine recommendations: 'Document and collect information: The NHS should document and collect information on FGM and its associated complications in a consistent and rigorous way.' Linked to the collection of information is the need for information about girls at risk of, and girls who have already undergone, FGM, to be more systematically shared between health and social care professionals, educators and the police, . Sarian Karim, who suffered FGM as an 11 year-old in Sierra Leone, said, 'It is very important that everyone knows that FGM is illegal. '[It] damages girls and leaves them scarred for life – mentally and physically.' The report also calls for Education for professionals, so they have the confidence, knowledge and awareness to be able to sensitively address the issue with patients, whether in general practice, paediatric or maternity care; education for girls and young women, both those at risk and survivors, as part of their schooling and extracurricular activities; and education for the public via a national awareness campaign. A government-funded national public health campaign, along the lines of those undertaken for HIV and domestic violence would, the groups feels, accelerate the pace of change. FGM is recognised by the UN as torture, and this report says 'by acting together, we can work towards the elimination of this illegal and abhorrent practice.'  |
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