Women's Views on News |
| EU calls to stop USA spying on us Posted: 17 Feb 2014 09:25 AM PST
Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have backed Green demands for the immediate suspension of talks leading to a proposed new trade deal between the European Union (EU) and the USA after an investigation found ‘overwhelming evidence’ of a programme of mass surveillance of EU citizens by US security forces. Members of the Parliament’s Civil Liberties Committee said the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Programme (TTIP) should not be pursued – at least until the USA agrees to change its law and halt all ‘data mining’ from ‘phone and internet use in the EU. The investigation, set up by the committee after whistleblower Edward Snowden lifted the lid on the US PRISM project which monitors and records EU citizens’ telephone and internet usage, condemned PRISM, which, it said ‘may entail a breach of EU citizens’ fundamental rights’. In October 2013, US whistleblower Edward Snowden leaked two top secret US government spying programs under which the NSA and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) are eavesdropping on millions of American and European phone records and the Internet data from major internet companies such as Facebook, Yahoo, Google, Apple and Microsoft. The NSA scandal took even broader dimensions when Snowden revealed information about its espionage activities targeting friendly countries and phone calls from 35 international leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Documents leaked by Snowden showed that Britain has also been operating a covert listening post within a stone's throw of Germany's parliament and Merkel's offices in the Chancellery, using hi-tech equipment housed on the embassy roof. The Committee has called for an end to all mass surveillance, observing that privacy is not a luxury, but a fundamental right in a free and democratic society. The Greens then called for European Union's action to go further, establishing a ‘Digital Declaration of Independence’, ensuring that no data is collected – without express permission – on any EU citizens’ internet or ‘phone use, and that the EU ends all co-operation with the US unless and until it changes its law to prohibit all mass surveillance. They also called for the EU states to offer asylum to Edward Snowden and any other US ‘whistleblowers’ shedding light on US spying activities in the EU. Jean Lambert, London’s Green MEP and a member of the Civil Liberties Committee which conducted the investigation, said: “The US has behaved abominably here – and the EU must defend the rights of its citizens from this unwarranted attack on their basic human rights. “More and more of us are using the internet, and smartphones, to access basic goods and services, and we really must be able to do so without our privacy being breached. “We must [also] offer protection to everyone who sheds light on these activities, and end negotiations on TTIP, at least until the US has guaranteed such a blanket approach to hoovering up data will never be used again.” Germany and France have planned to discuss building up a European communication network to avoid data passing through the United States. Merkel has been pushing for greater email and data protection following the reports about Washington's mass surveillance program. Ahead of her visit to France for negotiations with French President Francois Hollande this week, Merkel said: "We’ll talk about European providers that offer security for our citizens, so that one shouldn’t have to send emails and other information across the Atlantic. Rather, one could build up a communication network inside Europe.” “We’ve got to do more for data protection in Europe, there’s no doubt about it,” she said. The European Parliament as a whole will vote on the Green proposals when it considers the investigation report next month.  |
| Posted: 17 Feb 2014 03:54 AM PST
London: 17 February: She Grrrowls: Anti/Valentines at The Gallery Café, 21 Old Ford Road, London E2, from 7.30pm. She Grrrowls showcases a range of talented women and includes poetry, comedy and a musical finale. Come along and take part in the all-inclusive open mic section; this month’s theme is: Anti/Valentines. Bring your poems of both love and hate for the open mic, but don’t forget the passion! Hosted by comedian Rosie Wilby; poetry by Lisa Robinson-Grindey and Selina Nwulu; comedy by Figs in Wigs, music by Cat Bear Tree. Just £5 on the door, or £4 in advance when booked online. 18 February: Is there a Sexual History? A conversation with Jeffrey Weeks and Clare Hemmings at New Theatre, East Building, London School of Economics, Houghton Street, London WC2A, from 6pm-7.30pm. With the arrival of The Women's Library at LSE, the Gender Institute will be running a series of ‘Conversations’ for which audience participation is invited. We know that public attitudes and expectations about sexuality change, but here two eminent writers on sexuality discuss the ways in which the history of sexuality is written and consider its implications. Clare Hemmings is professor of feminist theory at LSE; Jeffrey Weeks is research professor at the Weeks Centre for Social and Policy Research at London South Bank University. 18 February: Women in the 21st Century conference at Queen Mary University, Mile End Road, London E1. With debate raging about the meaning of Feminism to Generation Y, we are bringing together some of Britain's most influential women for a day of talks, workshops and breakout sessions. Women In The 21st Century will offer a myriad of perspectives on women's rights and we hope everyone will have the opportunity to see issues from a new angle, whether learning about the challenges women face in certain professions or considering areas which sometimes escape mainstream feminist dialogue such as race, class and transgenderism. Speakers include: Amma Asante, writer and film director; Professor Liz Kelly CBE, Commissioner, Women’s National Commission; Glosswitch, journalist, New Statesman; Kat Banyard, Director, UK Feminista; Sarah Brown, councillor and transgender activist. Tickets Students/U-25 £10/ Adults £15 22 February: Women's Assembly Against Austerity at Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, London WC1R, from 10am. The People's Assembly is pleased to announce the Women's Assembly conference date as announced in the Guardian. Here's the letter: Dear Editor, It is a travesty that 45 years after the Dagenham women workers fought for equal pay, we see increasing parts of our economy fuelled on cheap labour, with more than one in five earning less than a living wage and two-thirds of these women. In the workplace and in the day-to-day battles against poverty, discrimination, racism, attacks on disabled people, the blight of war and the destruction of the environment, women are fighting back. Women are playing a leading role in the movement against austerity, evidenced by the huge number of women on the 50,000-strong NHS demonstration outside the Tory party conference Manchester in October. Political leaders should be using the nation's resources in the interests of the majority of the people and prioritise the abolition of poverty, insecurity and the threat of war. Our society is moving in a dangerous direction and now is the time for us to decide how our wealth is used and what values underpin our society. In recognition of the leading role of women in the campaign against austerity and in articulating a new vision for our society, the signatories of this letter support the call for a Women's Assembly Against Austerity to take place on Saturday 22nd February 2014 at Conway Hall, London. This event will build on the success of the People's Assembly launched in June. Until 22 February: Blurred Lines by Nick Payne and Carrie Cracknell at The Shed, National Theatre, South Bank, London SE1. Blurred Lines is a blistering journey through contemporary gender politics. An all-female cast dissect what it means to be a woman today: in the workplace, in cyberspace, on screen, on stage and in relationships. This new piece explores the reality of equality in Britain today, where feminism is a dirty word and pornography is inescapable. Blurred Lines is a fast-paced, razor sharp glimpse of a culture which promised liberation and delivered Robin Thicke. Nick Payne’s plays include Constellations, Wanderlust (Royal Court) and The Same Deep Water As Me (Donmar Warehouse). Carrie Cracknell is Associate Director at the Royal Court Theatre. She was previously Artistic Director of the Gate. Recent work includes A Doll’s House (Young Vic and West End) and Wozzeck (ENO). Suitable for 15 years and over. Please note: The production contains references to sexual assault. Until 27 February: UCL Equalities Throughout February, an exciting programme of events has been organised by UCL Equalities to celebrate diversity and examine the ongoing and evolving challenges some groups face in education, work and the wider society. This year's theme is time, history and generation. The events will look at the historical context of equalities and diversity and the way different experiences of diversity are found within and between generations. A full programme, which includes events that do not require registration, can be found here. Events going on this week, include: Defining Desire: labels and sex in ancient and modern worlds – The Petrie pops up in the UCL Institute of Archaeology. John J. Johnston chairs an event exploring how sexuality has been classified or not, including a presentation on 'Sex and History: Talking sex with objects from the past' project by Jennifer Grove, from the University of Exeter, and 'Queer Time Capsules' by Tim Redfern/Timberlina. Until 22 March: The Mistress Contract by Abi Morgan at Jerwood Theatre downstairs, Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Square, London SW1W. She and He are the pseudonyms of a real-life couple who live in separate houses in the same city on the west coast of America. She is 88. He is 93. For 30 years he has provided her with a home and an income, while she provides 'mistress services' – 'All sexual acts as requested, with suspension of historical, emotional, psychological disclaimers.' They first met at university and then lost touch. When they met again twenty years later, they began an affair when She – a highly educated, intelligent woman with a history of involvement in the feminist movement – asked her wealthy lover to sign the remarkable document that outlines their unconventional lifestyle: The Mistress Contract. Was her suggestion a betrayal of all that she and the women of her generation had fought for? Or was it brave, honest, and radical? Then — on a small recorder that fit in her purse — this extraordinary couple began to tape their conversations about their relationship, conversations that took place while travelling, over dinner at home and in restaurants, on the phone, even in bed. Based on reams of tape recordings made over their 30 year relationship, The Mistress Contract is a remarkable document of this unconventional couple, and the contract that kept them bound together to this day. The Mistress Contract is Abi Morgan's Royal Court Theatre debut. Her theatre credits include most recently 27 for National Theatre of Scotland and Frantic Assembly'sLovesong. Her previous plays for the stage include Skinned, Splendour and Tiny Dynamite. A BAFTA award-winning writer; on film, she wrote the screenplay for The Iron Lady starring Meryl Streep and Shame, and on television, her credits include The Hour, Birdsong, White Girl and Sex Traffic. Tickets £32, £22, £16, £12. Until 23 March: Hannah Höch exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery, 77-82 Whitechapel High Street, London E1. Hannah Höch was an artistic and cultural pioneer. A member of Berlin's Dada movement in the 1920s, she was a driving force in the development of 20th century collage. Splicing together images taken from fashion magazines and illustrated journals, she created a humorous and moving commentary on society during a time of tremendous social change. Höch was admired by contemporaries such as George Grosz, Theo van Doesburg and Kurt Schwitters, yet was often overlooked by traditional art history. As the first major exhibition of her work in Britain, the show puts this inspiring figure in the spotlight. A determined believer in artistic freedom, Höch questioned conventional concepts of relationships, beauty and the making of art. Höch's collages explore the concept of the 'New Woman' in Germany following World War I and capture the style of the 1920s avant-garde theatre. The important series 'From an Ethnographic Museum' combines images of female bodies with traditional masks and objects, questioning traditional gender and racial stereotypes. Astute and funny, this exhibition reveals how Höch established collage as a key medium for satire whilst being a master of its poetic beauty. Tickets £9.95/ £7.95 Oxford: 17 February: 3Cosas Comes to Oxford at Holywell Manor, Manor Road, Oxford, from 12.30. An open meeting co-hosted by the Oxford Activist Network and Balliol Left Caucus. Low-paid, overworked and shut out, cleaners and agency workers at the University of London are getting unionised and fighting back. They’ll be in Oxford talking about how they went on strike and won, and why the fight continues. Come along to hear the inspirational story. Sheffield: 20 February: LaDIYfest Film Night: BUT I'M A CHEERLEADER at Harrisons 1854, 15-29 Regent Terrace, Sheffield from 8.30pm. Feminist film nights are back: every other Thursday we’ll be screening a film at Harrisons 1854, so grab a drink from the bar, bring some popcorn or snacks to share and come hang out. For LGBT History month we asked you to tell us your favourite LGBT-themed films. At your request, we’re getting the series started with this 90s classic about a high school cheerleader who gets sent to a conversion therapy camp to cure her suspected lesbianism. And it’s funny! 8.30pm. Free entry. All welcome.  |
| Posted: 17 Feb 2014 01:09 AM PST I’m worried. I watch TV less and less, but I see more and more sexism, towards women of course, but also increasingly towards men. I see more and more semi-naked males, bronzed, buff, tanned, oily. They are running on my screen in their red small shorts. Their mouths are slightly open, their eyes are wide. Narrating suggestively in the background, an intelligent, dominant, dismissive-sounding female. I can't remember what this particular one advertises (ironically) but as he walks towards the camera almost naked, he trips over and falls. The female narrator refers to him as ‘thick’. Whether she’s talking about his brain, his thighs or his covered penis, who knows. There was the photograph recently of David Beckham that circulated every social networking site. He was pictured alongside his children with the caption 'I would like to applaud David Beckham's sperm'. Imagine seeing that caption next to Victoria with the same heading but replacing the words ‘Beckham's sperm’ with ‘Victoria's vagina’. It wouldn't happen. There would be female uproar. But it's different for men. All of a sudden men can be mocked and degraded too. Equality! It has arrived!? There's the advertisements about men who can't cope even with changing their babies’ nappies, the sparkly sugary drink where the women drench the man until he has to take his top off, and the oven cleaner that even a man can use. So what's going on? Sexism, switched. Why? I believe if we women see a little bit of sexism against men then perhaps we won’t make such a fuss about the sexism against women. If we see a man running in his shorts now and again perhaps we'll ignore all those adverts of mostly semi-naked women. You know the ones, where a woman suggestively sticks a burger in her mouth, or the one where a woman is on all fours on a snooker table. Perhaps next time we'll laugh when Seth sings 'we saw your boobs' at the Oscars, and we might ignore comments of a Wimbledon champion being told she is not 'a looker'. Worse still, I think this reverse sexism is working. I think many young women in particular think we now live in an equal society but what they mean is they think men are being sexualised and marginalised as much as we are, so that's ok. They are wrong, of course, that the sexism is anywhere close. If the media continues to encourage the sexualisation of men they then can further dilute the effect of the extreme sexualisation of women. I read the other day that apparently advertisements which are sexist towards women don't really exist anymore. This is my point: the sexism is diluted and most people don't even notice it any more. But just because we've moved away from the 50s advertisements that consisted of such slogans as 'the chef does everything but cook – that's what wives are for', it doesn't mean that advertisements aren't sexist; they are just more subtle. Every diet company going features a size 12 woman wanting to lose weight. Mums sell chicken, men sell global economic research. Women sell Disney, men sell children's building blocks. I believe that many people out there might think these are steps to equality. For me, if equality means more men in their trunks, projecting their pecks while eyeing me up, open mouthed, on my TV screen, the only thing I'll be stepping towards is the TV remote control, to switch it off.  |
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