Women's Views on News |
- A closer look at Thatcher’s legacy
- Female friendship, stereotypes and rape culture in ‘West Side Story’
- Let’s redefine beauty
| A closer look at Thatcher’s legacy Posted: 28 Feb 2014 06:48 AM PST
Public health experts from Durham University have denounced the impact of Margaret Thatcher's policies on the wellbeing of the British public in new research which examines social inequality in the 1980s. The study, which looked at over 70 existing research papers, concludes that as a result of unnecessary unemployment, welfare cuts and damaging housing policies, the former prime minister's legacy includes the unnecessary and unjust premature death of many British citizens, together with a substantial and continuing burden of suffering and loss of well-being. The research shows that there was a massive increase in income inequality under Mrs Thatcher – the richest 0.01 per cent of society had 28 times the mean national average income in 1978 but 70 times the average in 1990, and UK poverty rates went up from 6.7 per cent in 1975 to 12 per cent in 1985. Mrs Thatcher's governments wilfully engineered an economic catastrophe across large parts of Britain by dismantling traditional industries such as coal and steel in order to undermine the power of working class organisations, say the researchers. They suggest this ultimately fed through into growing regional disparities in health standards and life expectancy, as well as greatly increased inequalities between the richest and poorest in society. Co-author Professor Clare Bambra from the Wolfson Research Institute for Health and Wellbeing at Durham University, commented: “Our paper shows the importance of politics and of the decisions of governments and politicians in driving health inequalities and population health. “Advancements in public health will be limited if governments continue to pursue neoliberal economic policies – such as the current welfare state cuts being carried out under the guise of austerity." Housing and welfare changes are also highlighted in the paper, with policies to sell off council housing such as Right to Buy and to reduce welfare payments resulting in further inequalities and causing "a mushrooming of homelessness due to a chronic shortage of affordable social housing." Homeless households in England tripled during the 1980s from around 55,000 in 1980 to 165,000 in 1990. And while the NHS was relatively untouched, the authors point to policy changes in healthcare such as outsourcing hospital cleaners, which removed “a friendly, reassuring presence” from hospital wards, led to increases in hospital acquired infections, and laid the ground for further privatisation under the future Labour and Coalition governments. The figures analysed as part of the research also show high levels of alcohol and drug-related mortality and a rise in deaths from violence and suicide as evidence of health problems caused by rising inequality during the Thatcher years. Co-author Professor David Hunter, from Durham University's Centre for Public Policy and Health, said: ”Taking its inspiration from Thatcher’s legacy, the coalition government has managed to achieve what Thatcher felt unable to, which is to open up the NHS to markets and competition. “Its task was made considerably easier by the preceding Labour government which laid the foundations for the changes introduced in April 2013." The study, carried out by the Universities of Liverpool, Durham, West of Scotland, Glasgow and Edinburgh, is published in the International Journal of Health Services.  |
| Female friendship, stereotypes and rape culture in ‘West Side Story’ Posted: 28 Feb 2014 04:10 AM PST
[Trigger warning for rape] | Spoilers ahead. West Side Story is one of my absolute favorite musicals. I adore the catchy lyrics, the breathtakingly exquisite choreography and cinematography, the heartbreaking love story. A modern Romeo and Juliet taking place in New York City amongst two rival gangs — one white, one Puerto Rican — it tackles racism, bigotry, murder and teen angst. But many audiences overlook the film's portrayal of gender, female friendship and rape culture. Anita and Maria are dear friends who confide in each other. Two strong women who know what they want and aren't afraid to speak their minds. Rather than the film pitting the two women against each other, they support one another. But as awesome as this is, I can't shake the feeling that we're witnessing a Madonna/whore dichotomy in female archetypes. Maria is sweet and naive. When Tony first meets Maria, he asks her if she's joking. She responds, "I have not yet learned how to joke that way." Her brother Bernardo and Anita try to shield her from trouble as people view her as pure and virginal. Reinforcing this imagery, we see Maria pray in front of the Virgin Mary and in "Maria," Tony sings "say it [her name] soft and it's almost like praying." But Maria tries to resist the label of purity as she tells her brother a white dress is for babies. In stark contrast to Maria, Anita is opinionated, savvy, charismatic and flamboyant (and clearly my favorite character!). Outgoing and gregarious, she wears colorful frocks, as opposed to Maria's white gowns. As much as I love her, Anita reinforces the feisty Latina harlot stereotype. Of course the depiction of race is problematic as the film employed brownface make-up for its Latino/a characters. Anita proudly asserts her sexuality, eagerly singing about how she's "gonna get her kicks" and "have a private little mix" with her boyfriend Bernardo in "Tonight". The chemistry and banter between Anita and Bernardo reveal their tender feelings for one another. But their relationship is framed in sexuality. Even though Maria and Tony sleep together, their relationship is constantly surrounded by dreamy words of love, commitment and wedding imagery. While Anita sings about sex in "Tonight," Maria croons about seeing her love and how the "stars will stop where they are". It's as if there's a right and a wrong way to portray female sexuality. Throughout the film, pragmatic cynic Anita tries to protect idealistic dreamer Maria. She expresses her worries about her dating Tony at the bridal shop. Later, in "A Boy Like That," Anita warns Maria to stay away from him as he "wants one thing only" and "he'll kill her love", like he murdered hers. But Maria's buoyant hope stave off Anita's concerns. It's interesting how other characters treat women in the film. In "America", the Sharks sing about the xenophobia and racism they experience while the women sing about their aspirations and the promise of a better life in NYC. One of the Jets exasperatedly wonders why they're fooling around with "dumb broads". To which Graziella retorts, "Velma and I ain't dumb". Anybodys is the tomboy who desperately longs to be in the Jets. She hangs around the guys, spits on the ground and insults women, and sees the male gender as far more desirable. But rather than depicting gender variance or even a trans character, the Jets view Anybodys as a defective female. Some of the Jets taunt her that no one would want to sleep with her. Because apparently to them (and patriarchal society at large), a woman's status resides only in her beauty, sexuality and desirability. While gender relations are far from perfect, the Sharks and their girlfriends debate equally. But the Jets seem to view women as nothing more than objects. This objectification continues in the assault and attempted rape of Anita. Maria begs Anita to give a message to Tony at Doc's drug store. Anita reluctantly does so. When she arrives, she encounters violence at the hands of the Jets. In Aphra Behn (of Guerilla Girls)'s Gender Across Borders article, she disparages the '09 Broadway revival as it turns the assault and "mock rape" of Anita into a real rape with the unzipping of A-rab's pants: "Why does everyone from Broadway to High School stage this scene as a fully realized rape scene? Because rape culture does not allow us to see it as anything but such a scene." Behn may be right that this scene reinforces rape culture. But she's completely wrong attempting to differentiate between a mock rape and a real rape. Rape is rape. Period. I always interpreted the film version of West Side Story displaying assault and attempted rape. If Doc hadn't stepped through the door and intervened, Anita would have been raped. Does it really make it better that the Jets were pretending to rape? Or that they were preventing from committing rape? No, no it doesn't. Behn states the original stage direction was to assault Anita and treat her like an object, not a sex object. But rape is not a sexual act. It's an act of power. The Jets feel powerless over the death of Riff, their friend and leader. Being young, they're tired of everyone telling them what to do, how to feel and behave. When Anita enters Doc's drug store, she materializes into an outlet for their frustration and pain. As the Jets hold racist views, they see Anita, as a Latina, an other — an object to overpower. The Jets verbal and physical harassment and attempted rape disgust and disturb the audience. When Rita Moreno filmed that scene, she broke down and sobbed for 45 minutes for it reminded her of past pain, anger and trauma, including an attempted rape. This scene portrays the ramifications of patriarchy, racism and rape culture. It shows how society normalizes violence against women. Anita's anger, hatred and shame at the boys for what they've done to her ultimately causes the tragic ending. Her lie — that Chino murdered Maria — causes Tony to run around screaming for Chino to kill him too, which he does. Tony's death causes hatred to fester inside Maria, corrupting the ingenue. Rather than evoking sympathy for an assault survivor, it seems we the audience are supposed to be angry at Anita for her treachery. Anita is considered most people's favorite character. And in my opinion, rightfully so. She's a badass. While audiences continually embrace the role of Anita — awarding an Oscar to Rita Moreno, a Tony to Karen Olivo in the '09 revival — it appears the film tries to vilify her, a cautionary warning to women. Women can be good and nice, like Maria, or sexually assertive and ultimately manipulative liars destroying lives, like Anita. Women are supposed to choose the "right" kind of woman to emulate or suffer dire consequences. Megan is a feminist vegan blogger and freelance writer living in Boston. In addition to writing for Bitch Flicks, she spearheads its social media strategy. Megan blogs about feminism and veganism at the site she founded, The Opinioness of the World.  |
| Posted: 28 Feb 2014 01:25 AM PST
Photographers, cancer survivors and mothers are producing a growing library of images cataloguing the visual effects of life on women's bodies. The images are often confrontational, with subjects looking directly at the camera and viewer. The challenge to viewers and societies is explicit because the images purposely do not fit within the 'sexy' genre that has become the predominant way of visually portraying women in public. Beth Whaanga, a nurse in Australia, decided to post photographs of her post-breast cancer body on Facebook in November 2013. Diagnosed with breast cancer on her 32nd birthday, and as a carrier of the BRCA2 gene, the genetic mutation that carries increased risk for breast and ovarian cancer, Whaanga decided to undergo a double mastectomy, a hysterectomy, lymphadenectomy and melanoma lumpectomies. As part of her recovery, Whaagna teamed up with her friend, photographer Nadia Masot, to create the Under the Red Dress project. 'Your scars aren't ugly. They mean you're alive,' she says on the project's website. When she posted the photographs of her post-surgery body, she said of the project, 'The aim is to raise awareness for breast cancer. Each day we walk past people. These individuals appear normal but under their clothing sometimes their bodies tell a different story.' The reaction to her posts was immediate: more than 100 people 'de-friended' her on the site, and several also reported the images as a violation of the site's photo policy. Facebook assured Whaanga that the company would not remove the images, and she received far more positive messages than negative. Talking about the project, she said that those of us who find ourselves physically scarred by life's events could easily slip into this idea that we were not beautiful at all. 'What is beauty anyway?’ she then asked: ‘Let's redefine’. 'In this way we hope to enable people to appreciate just what negative messages they are unwittingly accepting without filter or accountability and at the same time bring awareness to the issue.' Similarly, photographer David Jay's The SCAR Project's 'mission is three-fold: to raise public consciousness of early-onset breast cancer, to raise funds for breast cancer research/outreach programmes and to help young survivors see their scars, faces, figures and experiences through a new, honest and ultimately empowering lens. SCAR stands for Surviving Cancer. Absolute Reality and the sub-heading to the project is 'Breast Cancer Is Not a Pink Ribbon.' Both Jay and Masot did or do work in the fashion industry, and both projects could be seen as an antidote to the pink-focused aspect of many breast cancer campaigns. Also challenging the hyper-sexualised public imagery of women are several mother and breastfeeding websites and projects, including the Shape of a Mother blog and Jade Beall's Beautiful Body project. The Shape of a Mother blog says that 'a post-pregnancy body is one of this society's greatest secrets; all we see of the female body is that which is airbrushed and perfect, and if we look any different, we hide it from the light of day in fear of being seen… [which mocks] the beauty that created and nourished our children.' Photographer Jade Beall started the Beautiful Body Project in 2012 after becoming a mother and photographing her post-birth body. She says on the project's website, that the ' Beautiful Body project is a movement of women coming together to tell their stories and celebrate their ever-changing bodies so that future generations of women can live free from self-suffering.' The project has grown from a celebration of motherhood and breastfeeding to encompass 'beautiful women facing ageing, beautiful women dealing with cancer, beautiful young women facing eating disorders' and more. Beall gathers her photographs into books, and with volume one now in print, has a number of future volumes already planned. Also contributing to a more realistic portrayal of women are a number of actresses who have chosen to be photographed without make-up or without digital re-touching for various magazines. Recent examples are Kate Winslet and Scarlett Johansson in the 2014 Vanity Fair Hollywood edition, both of whom chose to appear make-up free. Actresses are often known for their beauty as well as skill, so while not as challenging or forceful as some of the scar or post-pregnancy photographs, the images of the real person are still an important part of normalising imagery of women that is not super sexual or unrealistic. Most projects of this type refer to the need to change the parameters of beauty for the benefit of younger women and girls, with the ideal situation being one in which women and girls are able to stop trying to force themselves into a narrow, manufactured ideal of unrealistic beauty.  |
| You are subscribed to email updates from Women's Views on News To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |