The Kissing Sailor Photograph: An Iconic Image of War, Not Romance The photograph of a sailor kissing a woman on V-J Day in Times Square is an iconic one. Taken by photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt in Times Square on August 14, 1945, it is probably one of the most memorable images of WWII. As the Japanese surrender, the image seems to capture the jubilation at the end of a long war: The image has become ubiquitous; you can buy it on posters and Valentine’s Day cards. After the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell in 2012, the photograph was compared with one of a gay Marine kissing his boyfriend after returning from a tour (via ABC News): Recently the people in the original photograph were identified. “The excitement of the war being over, plus I had a few drinks,” he told CBS. The article continues with an explanation of Friedman’s description of the experience: “I did not see him approaching, and before I know it, I was in this vi[s]e grip.” Later in the article, Friedman states, That man was very strong. The context of war also matters here.
I Ain’t Your Girl: Controlling Identities and Acts of Isolation in the Academy By Shannon Gibney & Anonymous Throughout this essay, the pronoun “we” is used, in order to mark experiences shared by both authors. When the narrative shifts to the “I” perspective, it conveys the sole experience of the primary author, Shannon Gibney. Can we ever be healthy in a system in which we are not seen? Obscured. Ignored. Misshapen. Maligned, even? We offer up this question not because it needs to be answered, but because it needs to be asked. I can burrow my lips into my son’s shock of black curly hair every evening after I return from school, laughing at his squealing delight. After all, the only places where we feel seen at academic institution are in the classroom with our students and in the offices and company of the handful of other women of color faculty and white allies. We are two tenured women of color colleagues, soul-friends, fellow artists and organizers, who were surprised to find ourselves at an urban college in the Midwest. In the end, we can only bear witness.
10 affiches pour l’égalité hommes/femmes L’égalité hommes/femmes reste encore un objectif et non une réalité. C’est le thème qu’a retenu poster for tomorrow pour l’édition 2012 de son concours international annuel d’affiches créatives, qui fera l’objet d’une exposition aux Arts Décoratifs du 6 au 9 décembre prochain. Le 5 octobre, un jury s’est réuni pour sélectionner 100 affiches parmi les 3020 proposées en provenance de pas moins de 105 pays. Il faut dire que la lutte pour les droits de la femme concerne toute la planète, y compris les pays développés où elles ont encore quelques combats à mener, notamment en termes de représentation politique ou d’égalité salariale. Réalisée en partenariat avec l’Unesco, une exposition permettra au public parisien découvrir les 100 vainqueurs (dont 10 graphistes français). Une trentaine d’autres villes ont d’ores et déjà prévu d’accueillir ces 100 affiches mêlant militantisme, humour et détournement artistique.
Une guide féministe « Les Langues Sales J’ai fait partie du mouvement scout pendant neuf ans. J’ai été louvette, guide et membre de maîtrise (communément appelée animatrice). Tu te dis : « Wow, ça en fait des nœuds pis des feux de camp, ça! » Ouais. Lord Robert Stephenson Smith Baden-Powell of Gilwell (BP de son petit nom), a fondé en 1907 un mouvement qui allait peu à peu s’étendre à la planète entière, s’adaptant aux réalités des cultures dans lesquelles il s’implantait. J’ai fait mon scoutisme dans l’A.E.B.P., qui privilégie un scoutisme traditionnel, et donc non mixte. Là, tu te dis : « Ouain tout ça c’est bien beau, mais ça ne me dit pas comment ça t’a construit comme femme, comme féministe! C’est peut-être le plus grand apport du guidisme à la femme que je suis aujourd’hui : ne jamais douter de ma force. Je me suis posé la question inverse, à savoir si le scoutisme pouvait apporter la même chose aux garçons. Like this: J'aime chargement… Tags:Féminisme, Femmes, Guide, impressions
Gender and Bathroom Graffiti Cross-posted at Montclair SocioBlog. In the third stall at a women’s room at the University of Western Ontario, someone had written, “What was the worst day of your life?” A few responses were humorous, but most were serious. Every day, struggling with an eating disorder.The day I found out my father was an alcoholic.The day I was raped. One student who saw these took a piece of notebook paper, wrote a sympathetic response to each, and taped it on the wall of the stall (transcript follows): Transcript (borrowed from The Huffington Post): To the girl who was raped: You are so strong. It went viral. …inscriptions in the women’s toilets were talking about love and romance, soliciting personal advice on health issues and relationships, and discussing what exact act constitutes rape. The men wrote about politics and money (especially taxes and tuition). Drier’s note, then, is a nice example of a documented trend: anonymous women being nice to each other in their bathrooms.
Cosplay, consentement et sexisme en milieu geek Loin de s’essouffler, ces réflexions féministes se poursuivent durant la période estivale. D'ailleurs, ce moment de l'année est marqué par plusieurs conventions où s’exerce un incontournable hobby dans le milieu geek, le cosplay. On retrouve de ces événements au Québec, notamment Le Comiccon de Montréal consacré à la culture populaire (science-fiction, l’horreur, l’anime, les jeux vidéo, les jeux sur table, les comic books) et l’Otakuthon, un festival d'anime. Pour les néophytes, qu’est-ce que le cosplay? Le cosplay est une activité qui consiste à se déguiser en personnages de bande dessinée, d’anime, de jeu vidéo, de manga, de film, de télévision ou de livre. Bien que les personnages soient fictifs, le monde du cosplay n’existe pas en vase clos. Personnages féminins Les cosplayers interprètent les personnages de leur choix. D’ailleurs, The Hawkeve Initiative le souligne bien au sujet des bandes dessinées. «Cosplay is not consent» Normes raciales et critères de beauté Pour en savoir plus :
The Ultimate Pop-Culture Feminist Syllabus: 50 Books, Movies, TV Shows, Artists, and Albums Everyone Should Know You can’t go five feet on the Internet without tripping over feminist commentary on pop culture. We’re at high tide for that sort of thing. But there’s only so many posts on the feminism of Mad Men or The Hunger Games or Very Special Personal Essays about Girls I can read before I start longing for a little more… variety in the repertoire. So I rounded up 50 items I think ought to be on every feminist’s read/watch/listen list. It can’t hope to be comprehensive, of course, but this is my suggested start. My parameters were these: I left out most of the obvious classics — Fear of Flying, Buffy, Sylvia Plath — unless there was some angle I felt doesn’t get discussed enough and necessitates a second and closer look. And as a first example, the suggested soundtrack for this list would definitely include Ani DiFranco’s “32 Flavors.”
SlaneGirl : Slut-shamming et humiliation sur Internet d'une jeune fille de 17 ans Une jeune fille de 17 ans a été hospitalisée suite à la publication massive sur Internet de photos la représentant donnant une fellation à un concert en plein air du rappeur Eminem. Sur l'une de ses photos, elle est à genoux, donnant une fellation à un homme les bras levés en l'air, en signe de "victoire". Sur l'autre, elle embrasse le même homme alors qu'il a sa main sous sa jupe. Dans une troisième photo, elle semble donner une fellation à un autre homme, non identifié. Les photos ont très vite fait le tour d'Internet, mettant la jeune fille en cible de mire pour tout types d'harcèlement et de cyber-violences. La jeune fille est dévastée et tellement bouleversée qu'elle a dû être mise sous sédatifs à l'hôpital lundi après-midi. Il est navrant de se rendre compte à quel point le Slut-shaming est ancré dans notre société. Bien qu'une grande partie de l'attention portée à la jeune fille sur Internet ait été négative, certains utilisateurs de réseaux sociaux sont venus à sa défense.
Chelsea Manning, media bias and cissexism Chelsea Manning has been on my mind a lot lately, but not for reasons most cisgender folks are learning about today. Some of us in the trans community have known that Manning is trans for quite some time. To us, she was known as Breanna. Today, we welcome and celebrate her as Chelsea. Chelsea Manning coming out as a trans woman today was a bittersweet moment for many trans folks. Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for trans women to be incarcerated in men’s prisons in the United States and Canada. Chelsea Manning, however, will be serving her 35-year sentence at the military prison in Ft. “The Army does not provide hormone therapy (HRT) or sex-reassignment surgery (SRS) for gender identity disorder,” said Ft. The cruelty of this makes my heart sink. As a trans woman, I can attest to the benefits of HRT. The army, in denying Chelsea Manning HRT, is clearly disregarding her mental health. I wonder how exactly Chelsea Manning will be able to do so in a military prison housing men.
Engagement rings are barbaric This piece originally appeared on The Tyee. After Vancouver’s most famous jilted paramour got his 15 minutes of international attention recently, I was left wondering how we came to be living in a culture manufactured almost entirely by marketers. Pasquale Angelino (“Charlie”) Zampieri hit the headlines when he sued his former fiancée for the return of the $16,500 sapphire and diamond ring he gave her, after three weeks acquaintance, in anticipation of their soon-to-be wedded bliss. They’d met on one of those online dating sites, the news stories recounted with glee, and by his account it was kismet. Alas, it was not meant to be for reasons not quite clear in the reports, although poor Zampieri says he felt Jessica Bennett, his ex, took advantage of him. What’s left of the once intrepid news reporting staffs of this town sprang into action to get man-on-the-street views. The public view falls into two camps, as summed up by a middle-aged couple: “It’s a gift, she’s entitled to keep it!”
Guerrilla Girls: Naked Through the Ages Do Women STILL Have to be Naked to Get Into the Met. Museum? Every so often, we count the number of women artists vs. the number of female nudes on exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum in NY. Below are our posters from 1989, 2005 and 2012. Asked to design a billboard for the Public Art Fund in New York, we welcomed the chance to do something that would appeal to a general audience. Exhibition Photos Copyright © Guerrilla Girls NAKED AROUND THE WORLD -- ON THE STREET AND IN MUSEUMS Top row: New York City bus; NYC wall; Venice Biennale 2005; NYC wall Second row: Istanbul; National Gallery of Art, DC; Montauban, France; Tate Modern London Third row: Boston mobile billboard; Belfast, Ireland; Seoul, Korea, Centre Pompidou, Paris Fourth row: Athens, Greece; Naked Tee; Shanghai, China
Meet the Woman Giving Cards Against Humanity a Makeover Screenwriter and political consultant Kate Stayman-London started the Tumblr Ladies Against Humanity as a feminist answer to the party game Cards Against Humanity (which positions itself as a "despicable and awkward" version of Apples to Apples). The site offers woman-oriented additions to the game's deck of question-and-answer cards; recent ideas include "dumpsters overflowing with whimsical save-the-date magnets" and "a new cookbook by Sylvia Plath." Stayman-London says she's bringing a missing voice to Cards Against Humanity, which was created by a group of men. And since launching six days ago, the site has had over 700,000 viewers and around 1,500 reader submissions. We spoke with her about Ladies Against Humanity’s rapid popularity, Diva Cup humor, and realistic goals. You really started the site last Wednesday. I was not working on this for a long time. Your day job deals with gender politics too, right? Some of the work I do in the political-consulting world is very serious work.