Women's Views on News |
- Problems with the Isla Vista media coverage
- Knitting project for global summit
- Who is calling the shots in TV?
- Maya Angelou on feminism
| Problems with the Isla Vista media coverage Posted: 03 Jun 2014 08:47 AM PDT
A 22 year-old man went on a shooting and stabbing rampage on 23 May near the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) campus in Isla Vista, USA, killing six students and injuring 13 more. The confirmed suspect, Elliot Rodgers, claimed it was his “day of retribution” for a lifetime of rejection by women. Elliot Rodgers's crimes testify to the dangers of misogyny and racism, but the media coverage of the killings are similarly worrying. Media Spotlight looks at 3 problems with the Isla Vista media coverage. 1) Mental health over misogyny ‘Tomorrow is the day of retribution, the day in which I will have my revenge . . . you girls aren’t attracted to me, but I will punish you all for it. I'll take great pleasure in slaughtering all of you. You will finally see that I am in truth the superior one, the true alpha male.’ Despite the fact that in his 140-page manifesto Elliot Rodgers outlined his intention to seek 'retribution' against women who he says sexually rejected him, and recorded YouTube videos in which he calmly outlined how he would 'slaughter every single spoiled, stuck-up, blond slut I see', some media outlets have been reluctant to use the word 'misogyny' when reporting on the killings. The Isla Vista killings were not necessarily an either/or situation. To say that Rodgers had mental difficulties is not to diminish the role misogynistic culture played in the tragedy, or to imply that his actions were the direct cause of his mental health. However, to stress Rodgers' mental health over his misogyny – to dismiss his actions as simply those of a mad man – is to ignore his toxic ideology, which Laurie Penny summarised clearly: 'Women owe men. Women, as a class, as a sex, owe men sex, love, attention, "adoration", in Rodger's words. We owe them respect and obedience, and our refusal to give it to them is to blame for their anger, their violence – stupid sluts get what they deserve.' 2) Objectification of the women Rodgers hated As well as downplaying the part played by misogyny in Eliot Rodgers' actions, in the week and a half since the killings much of the media has fetishised the women believed to have been those whom Rodger blamed for rejecting him. There have been dozens of articles published - alongside bikini shots of the women Rodgers saw as objects to be viewed and used by him. Not only does this smack of victim-blaming, but it panders to the same cultural trends that themselves contributed to Rodgers' actions. 3) Racism ‘I came across this Asian guy who was talking to a white girl. The sight of that filled me with rage. I always felt as if white girls thought less of me because I was half-Asian, but then I see this white girl at the party talking to a full-blooded Asian. I never had that kind of attention from a white girl!’ A third area where the media should be held to account over Isla Vista coverage is their frequent suppression of the racial component to Rodgers' crime. Well-intended articles like White Guy Killer Syndrome: Elliot Rodger's Deadly Privileged Rage, and Elliot Rodger is ‘White’: What the Santa Barbara Shooter Can Teach Us About Race and Masculinity themselves ignore the fact that Rodgers was mixed-race. Misogyny was not the only ideological component behind the killings. Throughout his manifesto Rodgers repeatedly expresses disgust at 'hot white girls' being in relationships with black or Asian men, and his first three victims – Cheng Yuan “James” Hong, 20; George Chen, 19; and Weihan “David” Wang, 20 – were all Asian.  |
| Knitting project for global summit Posted: 03 Jun 2014 07:06 AM PDT
The Special Envoy for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Angelina Jolie, and the UK's Foreign Secretary, William Hague, will be co-chairing a global summit to end sexual violence in conflict, taking place in London from 10 – 13 June. It will be the largest gathering ever brought together on this subject. The aim is to create an irreversible momentum against sexual violence in conflict and practical action that impacts those on the ground. All the 148 governments that have endorsed the UN Declaration of Commitment to End Sexual Violence in Conflict have been invited, as have legal, military and judicial practitioners and representatives from multilateral organisations, NGOs and civil society. As well as ministerial level meetings, free public events will be taking place in the Summit Fringe, which is running from 10 – 12 June at the ExCel building, One Western Gateway, Royal Victoria Dock, E16 1XL, and visitors are welcome. To view the Summit's Fringe Programme click here. Women 4 Women International will also be there. Women 4 Women International (W4W) wants the summit to create a sense of irreversible movement towards ending the use of rape and sexual violence in conflict. Wants it to deliver a set of practical agreements that bring together and focus the efforts of conflict and post conflict-affected countries, donors, the UN and other multilateral organisations, NGOs and civil society in an ambitious and cohesive programme for change. And wants the summit to identify specific actions by the international community in the four areas where they believe greater progress is necessary. These four areas are: To improve investigations/documentation of sexual violence in conflict; To provide greater support and assistance and reparation for survivors, including child survivors, of sexual violence; To ensure sexual and gender based violence responses and the promotion of gender equality are fully integrated in all peace and security efforts, including security and justice sector reform; and To improve international strategic co-ordination. The summit will also clearly situate this issue within the broader Women, Peace and Security agenda and be an opportunity to make further progress in the international community's commitment to guaranteeing women's full economic, social and political rights. Women 4 Women International will use the summit to launch the new International Protocol on the Investigation and Documentation of Sexual Violence in Conflict as a practical tool to help improve accountability and encourage its widespread use. In addition, W4W hopes to secure agreement to revising military doctrine and training; improving peacekeeping training and operations; providing new support to local and grassroots organisations and human rights defenders; developing the deployment of international expertise to build national capacity; improved support for survivors, including in humanitarian contexts; and forming new partnerships to support conflict-affected countries. Women 4 Women International is also taking the experiences and the activism of refugee women to the fringe summit, on the grounds that refugee women deserve protection too. And will be displaying their fantastic solidarity quilt – and knitting a new quilt as a gift for Angelina Jolie. Come along, chat, knit with refugee women and the Shoreditch Sisters branch of the Women’s Institute, and help make sure that refugee women are not forgotten at this summit. You can contribute to this event right now: W4W needs more 10cm by 10cm knitted squares for the new quilt. Can you get knitting and send some to us? When you have done so, please send them to Women for Refugee Women, Tindlemanor, 52 Featherstone Street, London EC1Y 8RT.  |
| Who is calling the shots in TV? Posted: 03 Jun 2014 04:55 AM PDT
Television production is the largest area of employment for directors, and 27 per cent of Directors UK members are women. Yet the percentage of women directing British television shows is far less than it should be and is getting worse over time. Having analysed the credits of its database of 5,000 directors and a sample of programmes broadcast up to 2012, Directors UK found an alarming level of gender stereotyping occurring within the television industry. The research examined repeating series, returning dramas and returning factual strands and looked at all programme genres from the production companies that produce the majority of the shows currently on screen in order to ascertain whether the figures were showing a trend or were a single occurrence. Many of the most popular drama, comedy and entertainment shows have never been directed by a woman. Yet 63 per cent of all programmes included in the research about body and health were directed by women, and of all factual programmes included in the research about lifestyle and home, 61 per cent were directed by women. As for business, technology and science, women directed only 20 per cent of all episodes as compared to 83 per cent directed by men. To counter the suggestion that these disparities may be a choice as women opt out of further career progression in order to have a family, Directors UK pointed out that the majority of their women members were in the main child-bearing and rearing age bracket of 34 to 44. Researchers then asked, 'Are women getting the same breaks to showcase their talents?' The answer was a resounding no. Several programmes currently running on British television are seen as fast-track opportunities to the next level of a directing career, and in 2011 and 2012 – the period of time covered by the research - were solely directed by men. And because of this lack of linear career development, many women directors have moved sideways and taken on a broader, more diverse library of work. 'Rather than this being celebrated as evidence of flexibility and diverse ability, [within the industry] it is often viewed as 'not focused.’ Responses to the findings have largely been varying degrees of shock, possibly because senior executives simply have not been in the position to monitor this type of data. And researchers point to the significant numbers of senior women in the industry as potentially masking 'the truth of how different the situation is in the production environment.' With the support of major broadcasters, Directors UK has made eight recommendations for reaching the 2017 goal of having women direct at least 30 per cent of all original programmes broadcast. The recommendations focus on monitoring, awareness-raising and behaviour change. Directors UK is asking broadcasters to begin monitoring freelance workers to capture data on ethnicity, disability and gender and to make a commitment to reach the 2017 goal of 30 per cent of all original programming to be directed by women. It is committing itself to running regular networking and CV advice sessions to bring both sides of the industry together on a regular basis, so directors meet executives and those hiring gain a better understanding of the 'non-linear' CV. And mentoring and providing more long-term contracts are also recommendations that could help to boost the numbers of women directing in television. 'Television,’ the report points out, ‘reflects society and society's attitudes and should do so both behind and in front of camera.'  |
| Posted: 03 Jun 2014 01:09 AM PDT Her indomitable stance against racism, injustice and rape resonated with people from all walks of life. Since the death of Maya Angelou last week, the scale of tributes pouring in shows just how much of a cultural idol she had become, but she did not stand for idolisation. Her whole purpose was to express her own vulnerable humanity through a series of painfully honest autobiographies so that others would feel empowered to express their own. Poet, activist and writer, Maya Angelou was probably best known for her first memoir, Why the Caged Bird Sings, published in 1969, for delivering the inaugural poem at Bill Clinton’s swearing-in ceremony in 1993 and for receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America’s highest civilian honour, from President Obama in 2011. She did not shy away from politics throughout her life, seeking out friendships with prominent activists such as Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. Indeed she did not shy away from anything. Her death last week has led to an outpouring of collective grief and tributes from many prominent names – among them Barack Obama, Alice Walker and Toni Morrison – but equally from thousands of less well-known names who have taken to social media to mourn her passing. The scale and depth of the tributes from the great many whom Angelou's words touched is testament to how well her own indomitable stance against racism, injustice and rape resonated with people from all walks of life. Angelou wrote about her experience of rape as a child and the years of horrified muteness she adopted when naming her killer led to his death. She wrote about that experience over 40 years ago – despite an even deeper culture of silence and shame around rape than we have today – when she came to realise that she could not let herself, or others, be reduced by the experience. Angelou was quoted both on her support for a woman's right to choose on matters of abortion and on the strength she found in choosing to keep her own teenage pregnancy and raise her son, Guy, against all the odds. In Gather Together in My Name, published in 1974, she wrote about living as a single mother in California and spending two years working alternately as a pimp and as a prostitute. She managed to capture both the dissatisfaction she herself gained from the work and the fact that sex workers are not necessarily powerless victims, but can and sometimes do make choices to enter that line of work of their own accord. In short, she had that most human of gifts: the ability to see all sides of an issue. She spoke out about how her own challenges helped her grow stronger because she believed she owed that honesty to the world. “Too many people tell young folks, "I never did anything wrong … I have no skeletons in my closet,” she explained, a falsehood which she felt disallowed young people to forgive themselves and go on with their lives. Angelou did not even shy away from critiquing Anglo-American feminism. “The sadness of the women’s movement is that they don’t allow the necessity of love," she said, "I don’t personally trust any revolution where love is not allowed." Instead, she spoke about a kind of “womanism” – a set of qualities including strength, commitment, sexual fulfilment and a profound understanding of gender equality – which she saw especially among black women. However, fixating on one aspect of identity was not her game. “I speak to the black experience,” she said, “but I am always talking about the human condition — about what we can endure, dream, fail at and survive.” In a 2008 interview for Feminist.com, Angelou was asked what her wish would be for the children of the future, and she said, “I wish that we could look into each other's faces, in each other's eyes, and see our own selves. “I hope that the children have not been so scarred by their upbringing that they only think fear when they see someone else who looks separate from them.” In that lies her true legacy, and the lesson feminism should learn from Maya Angelou. As Lauren Davidson so rightly points out, too many people who call themselves feminists argue over what other women should and should not be doing with their clothes, their bodies, their careers, their families and their lifestyles, and in those divisions we lose the core sense of what feminism is fighting for: to let the world see and accept women from all walks of life and all manner of backgrounds as equally human.  |
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