RhulFemSoc's Women of the Year 2012

It has been a year and a day since Rhul Fem Soc first published our first ever blog post, and what a year it has been! Since then we've had just over 80 blog posts and over 25,000 hits which is amazing and we've decided to mark the end of this year by naming our favourite Women of 2012.

January - Emma Stone
As a result of being hilarious and awesome, Emma Stone received awards for being Favourite Movie Actress and Favourite Comedic Movie Actress during the People's Choice Awards earlier this year.  However, being a talented actress is not just what Stone is about.  She has highlighted a number of sexist issues in regards to how actors are treated differently by the media purely on the basis of their gender.  She pointed out that men get asked interesting questions whereas she and other females in the business are constantly questioned about style and what item they can't leave the house without. Yawn!

February - Sandra Fluke
Sandra Fluke is a law student from Georgetown who stood up in front of the Congressional Committee and requested that birth control, which is hugely expensive and can force women into financial crisis, be given out for free by her University even though it essentially went against the University's Catholic beliefs. With the financial burden it places on students, she highlighted that this could lead to its lack of use.  Her requests were met with a lot of opposition including a foul response from Rush Limbaugh who accused Fluke of being a slut and declared that her request for free contraception meant that tax payers would be paying her to have sex thus, making her a prostitute.  Fluke remained strong in this and refused to back down.  Limbaugh eventually apologised and Fluke was named Time's Person of the Year.

March - Hana Shalabi
Hana Shalabi was a Palestinian woman arrested and detained in Israel without charge. In protest she began a hunger strike, which ended in March after 43 days. She has now been released and ‘exiled’ to Gaza but is unable to return to her home in Jenin, North Palestine. Whilst enduring the extreme physical and psychological impact of the strike, she also brought the issue of Palestinian justice to the international platform. Her strike brought attention to the frequent use of detention without charge by Israel, and the injustices of the occupation more generally.

April - Michelle Bachelet
In a statement made to the 12th International Association of Women in Development Forum on Women's Rights and Developments, Michelle Bachelet highlighted the extent of economical development that women need in order to gain equality.  She spoke of the ongoing need to overcome gender-stereotypes, sexism and patriarchal power structures.  She is not just an amazing woman of 2012 however, she was the first female President of Chile and was in power from 2006 until 2010.  She focused on increasing social benefits in order to weaken the inequalities between the rich and the poor as well as focusing on women's rights.  In 2010, she became the head of United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women).

May - Jessica Ennis
In May 2012 this incredible heptathelete won gold this summer at the 2012 London Olympics; but in May, she was criticised for being fat by UK Athletics. FAT. Did you hear anyone criticise the male athletes? No, you didn't. She hit back with: “Everyone has their hang-ups, but I see my body as a training tool and I feel good about it.” ...then she won gold. While most of us might not have a body like hers, good on her for standing up for common sense and the importance of your own feelings on your body - nobody else's opinion matters.

June - Anita Sarkeesian
In June this year, feminist media critic and founder of the online feminist video Feminist Frequency, Anita Sarkeesian, launched and advertised her research project which looks at sexism in the gaming industry. Ironically she received lots of cyber abuse from misogynistic gamers which she dealt with and used as a platform to highlight the issue of sexism in game culture beyond a national level.

July - Julia Bluhm
When I was 14, I was too trapped in my own angst and love triangles to be particularly aware of the world around me. Whilst I was no doubt affected by unrealistic portrayals of women by the media, it would be years before the feminist in me was developed enough to be aware of the problem, or that something needed to be done about it. Julia Bluhm, however, had an awful lot more wherewithal, and used it to lead a successful campaign (including an 86,000 signature petition) resulting in Seventeen magazine promising to include photographs only of genuine women of a healthy weight. Not bad for 14!

August - Gabby Douglas
At the age of 16 this amazing young woman broke records becoming the first female gymnast of colour and to win gold in individual all-around champion in Olympic history, and the first American gymnast to win gold in both the individual all-around and team competitions at the same Olympics. Although the media wanted to highlight her hair rather than her talent at times she stood up and defend herself and her hard work. She should be very proud of herself. She turned 17 today so Happy Birthday Gabby!

September - Aung San Suu Kyi
For her remarkable work in fighting as a campaigner for Democracy in Burma, Aung San Suu Kyi was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honour.  After a 15 year struggle under house arrest, in which she was often subjected to solitary confinement and forbidden to see her two sons and her husband, she was finally released and awarded for her peaceful fight against the militaristic rule of Burma.  Aung San Suu Kyi is therefore an amazing woman of 2012, her struggle and bravery make her a prominent figure in the world today.

October - Malala Yousafzai
On October the 9th Taliban gunmen stormed onto a bus occupied by school children with the intention of killing eleven year old Malala Yousafzai.  She was shot in the head and neck but survived. The Taliban have made it clear that they are against the aspirations of the brave Yousafzai who, at the age of nine, spoke out declaring her love of education and her aspirations to become a Doctor.  Her struggle for the right of education has made her a prominent child activist and in 2011, she was nominated for the International Children's Peace Prize and was then awarded Pakistan's first National Youth Peace Prize.

November - Jennifer Lawrence
Actress Jennifer Lawrence recently spoke out about Hollywood body ideals and the fact that "In Hollywood (she's) a Fat Actress" and stated that she was asked to lose weight for the Hunger Games and refused saying that she "never wanted a little girl to say, 'I want to look like Katniss. I'm going to skip dinner.'" She's working to create a new industry standard despite criticism potentially damaging her career and we think that's awesome.

December - Sonali Mukherjee 
27-year-old Sonali Mukherjee, who was blinded and disfigured by an acid attack aged 18 after turning down a marriage proposal, won 2.5 million rupees on the Indian show "Kaun Banega Crorepati". She will use the money she won to pay for treatment. Her attackers were sentenced to 9 years but later released on bail. She said: "It's very easy for victims of acid attacks to swallow poison but I made the choice to stand up and scream and shout against the violence".

Happy New Year!!

Love Rhul FemSoc

#femlove

It's The Twitter Youth Feminist Army! Yes, you heard right.

You know we at Fem Soc love Twitter so we were super happy to discover this bunch! At the last Student Feminist Coordinating Meeting we were lucky enough to meet two of the youngest feminists to show up! Secondary school feminists ftw! Anyway, they told us about The Twitter Youth Feminist Army, a network of young people who met through Twitter who support each other in their journey to feminism. The TYFA has many members (and will hopefully have many more in the future) who have interests in all areas of feminism.  They have different political and religious views and currently range in age from 12-28 and have members all over Great Britain! It was lovely to meet the next generation of feminist activists. One of the founding members, 15-year-old Lili Evans, was nice enough to give us an interview and here it is! :) 

How did the Twitter Youth Feminist Army come about?

TYFA: Once upon a time, on October 18th, 2012, Emily, Isabel and I were having a conversation about how our fellow feminists on twitter and ourselves were like an army, taking down the patriarchy, one tweet at a time, when the name, Twitter Youth Feminist Army was mentioned by Emily. We all immediately got excited and I hashtag-ed it and that is how the Twitter Youth Feminist Army was born!

To me it is a life-line which connects me to like-minded people, who share my views and values. It is an intersectional feminist group who are inclusive to all, regardless of age, religion or ethnicity. It is a place to learn and to teach, to share and to experience. Most importantly, the TYFA shows people that feminism is far from dead and shows a different type of feminist that is so often stereotyped. I think I may currently be the second youngest member of the Twitter Youth Feminist Army and I have found each and every person I know I will be an active and supportive member for many years to come!

Although this is all true, we are still developing and finding our feet. This means for instance that we are hoping to create a committee to be in charge (at the moment I am doing most of the organisation and Cat is very good at doing the Facebook group stuff) and start doing projects to help our members discuss and find out more about different areas of feminism. We have Marxist feminists, body-positive feminists, radical feminists and many other types of feminists in our group and it would be amazing to learn from each other.

How many are there of you?

TYFA: We are obviously always recruiting but at the last count we had 25-30 registered members (which basically means I know who you are and have your email).

When we get asked to do a piece of writing by the Twitter Youth Feminist Army, we call it a project and there were 11 members on the last project. It's a great way to get to know everyone better!

When did you start calling your self a feminist and why?

TYFA: I think it all started when I decided that I wanted to become more involved or at least knowledgeable about politics. This was when I had just turned 14 and the Arab Spring was starting to get more coverage on the news. I saw the appalling way women were being treated by the men and their governments in other countries and it made me think about my own. This made me interested in women’s rights and the patriarchy.

Another thing that introduced me to feminism is an online magazine called Rookie, first shown to me by my best friend and fellow feminist Jess. Rookie is a magazine written for girls by girls, although it does not often expressly use the word “feminist” to describe itself; many of the readers – and subsequently writers - identify as feminists. There are articles on everything from ice cream reviews to dress up ideas and many articles have feminist undertones although not expressly “feminist issues”. This made me interested in body positivity and being myself.

Have you witnessed a lot of incidents of sexism at school?

TYFA: I go to a girl’s school so there is not much chance for sexist comparisons (not being as good as a boy at something because you are a girl etc) and we are treated equally because there are no boys to prefer. Of course there is still aggressive gender-stereotyping, both by the teachers and from our peers, and I think there might be slightly more than at some of my friend's mixed schools.

There have been numerous occasions when teachers have assumed that we all love shopping or are interested in fashion. This sounds so trivial but when it has been beaten into you that you HAVE to love clothes or babies or that you must want a family when you are older otherwise you are weird and unnatural it really makes you feel awful about yourself, like you are not good enough.

Do you talk to other pupils at school about feminism?

TYFA: Occasionally I talk to others but hardly ever using the name “feminism” as it tends just to make people dismiss what I say and go “feminists are just hairy old women who won’t let the past go”. Most people I talk to think that most battles feminists fight are supposedly over, most don’t necessarily make the link between feminism and sexism which I think is strange and needs to be changed (that rhymes!). Most of the times that I do discuss or debate feminism and its issues with peers it tends to be brought up in a lesson and I generally don’t feel comfortable as it usually ends up with me being very upset and frustrated over other people's dismissal of the subject.

Considering it is so difficult meeting people at school who call themselves feminists, what do you think would be the best way to make people aware of deep-rooted gender stereotypes that are so ingrained in our society?

TYFA: Just to talk about it. It doesn't have to be called feminism. Once you get people talking about it, thinking and noticing the issue becomes more and more.

How do you think older feminist can help TYFA?

TYFA: TEACHING TEACHING TEACHING! Although we do have more experienced feminists in our group, many of us have been feminists for a year or less. Even for those who have been feminists longer, it is always amazing to learn new things. The main way other feminists can help us is teaching us without being patronising and understanding it can sometimes be a bit scary!

What have you found inspiring about feminism and how do you think the feminist movement can inspire others?

TYFA: The strength of women to never give up even after years, DECADES of stereotyping, ignorance and belittling.

Have the TYFA got any upcoming plans?

TYFA: We are still new and developing but one of our immediate plans is to make a central committee to help organise new members and try to raise our profile and help to reach out to other women and girls who need support in their journey to feminism who are experiencing the sexism ingrained into our patriarchal society. 

We recently got a new logo which was designed by one of our members, Niz. We also set up a Facebook page, on which you can see our new logo!  One of the things we are trying to organise is a monthly newsletter, updating our members on some things that other members are doing, various campaigns or marches happening.

Want More?

Follow the feminism with #tyfa #TwitterYouthFeministArmy 

Become a member by emailing: twitteryouthfeministarmy@live.co.uk

Like the Twitter Youth Feminist Army on Facebook! 
For more articles from Lili Evans, find her awesomeness here

Disclaimer : TYFA are not associated to the company Twitter and are not competition for them.

The Nice Guy

By Yasin Mudey

Recently, in my random bored internet scrolling, I've noticed a strange phenomenon across the webosphere. Yes, I know I made up that word, but I like to do that. The strange occurrence that mention is the idea of the 'friendzone' and the offshoot of this idea that 'nice guys' finish last.

The thing that strikes me is that there is an immediate, obvious part of me that scoffs at the idea. This mythical 'friendzone' strikes me as a fantastical idea. Why? Simply because it doesn't exist. There is a growing and worrying trend across the internet that simply being a 'nice guy' warrants some kind of sexual gratification from the person of your choice, because you deem yourself as 'nice'. Huh. I didn't know that. So a person is supposed to show some sort of attraction to me because I've shown that, as a person I'm capable of being compassionate? Or that I managed to somewhat portray myself as being nice?

My mama always told me, down in ole south (which admittedly I did not grow up in) that seemingly a random act of kindness, or observing the niceties, is simply just that. Being nice. Wow. How radical. Being nice and not wanting something back? How ludicrous that such an idea is possible. My fellow human beings, you must realise that being 'nice' solely so someone will exhibit an attraction to you surely bastardises the word nice? It's almost as if this word has taken a whole new meaning because the 'nice' guys wanna hit back at society from their respective computers. Uh oh.

A couple of visits to the blog niceguysofokc.tumblr.com have reaffirmed the worldwide misinterpretation of the word. Guys, is it being 'nice' to demand sex in certain situations? Or that the 'man' has to be the head of the house? And that it is a females 'duty' to shave for you? If you really believe that, grab the closest dictionary. Look up this supposed idea of being 'nice'. Look up the word 'friendzone'. You won't find it, because, like my love for the fantastically magic world of the hobbit, it is not real. Simply put, it doesn't exist.

Perhaps if these 'nice' guys were more forthcoming with their feelings towards people, they would have better luck. Rather than labouring under the 'label' of being a 'nice' guy. So, my fellow men (oh wait, yes I am a man) I bid you, take off you fedoras and be nice for its sake. Maybe you will have a bit more luck.

All I want for Christmas is....

Let’s put down that Argos catalogue, shall we?  As the festive season heavily descends upon us, there’s only one zine we’re all truly thinking about and that is the second edition of the Wilding!

  

I know, I know, it’s been a tough month waiting for it but it is finally here in its shiny, perfect, dinky form.  And what a zine, we have for you too!  If you like feminist film, theatre and art, you will certainly be excited to turn the smooth, glossy pages of this second edition.  Not to mention the other inspiring, yet heart-wrenching, articles about the on-going struggle for women against oppression in Pakistan, sexism overseas in Australia as well as discovering our very own steps towards securing zero tolerance at Royal Holloway! 

…..But how do you get hold of a copy before it’s too late!?  Don’t worry Fem-chums, there are a number of ways you can receive The Wilding and I am going to explain exactly how!  As all donations go to funding the next issue, you can buy one for £2.00 (unless you are a member, in which case it is free) from the Student Activities Office at the Student Union. Or, if you’re like me, and barely leave the house at all, you can email Fem Soc directly and pay £2.50 and get one sent to your door. You will have to walk to the door though. See how easy it is?  Now you don’t have to spend this Christmas, zineless!

Of course, with the release of the December issue means one more thing, dear readers, and that is to do with our next February issue.  We are looking for submissions for Wilding No.3 so please, if you have anything feministy to say, then scribble it down and send it to us!  Whether it is to do with politics, art, economics, human rights, sex or music: whatever your beef is, we want to read it!

So, with Christmas almost at the door, you have undoubtedly been bombarded by the usual gender-stereotyped festive advertising and are probably feeling rather tired of being told that there are only binary options of presents “for him” or “for her”.  “What if I don’t like biographies, bath salts or 50 Shades of Grey?”, I hear you ask.  Then you have come to the right place, Fem-friends!  This festive season, snuggle up at home with our zine and join us in celebrating our very own FEMINISTMAS! Or if you have an aversion to paper copies find the online zine here.

By Victoria Butcher

Victim Blaming & MoranGate - What can we take from it?

[Trigger Warning: Rape, Victim Blaming]
                                                                                                       

Yesterday evening, I logged into Twitter for the first time in a few days. I'm usually a fairly active Twitterer with a modest little following of roughly 270 like minded feminists. When I logged on I became aware of a veritable shitstorm ensuing. Caitlin Moran, high profile feminist and public figure, was at the centre of it. After a few minutes finding out what had happened, I ascertained that Moran had been interviewed by a member of the Australian press. During this interview, she said the following:          

"It’s on that basis that I don’t wear high heels – other than I can’t walk in them – because when I’m lying in bed at night with my husband, I know there’s a woman coming who I could rape and murder, because I can hear her coming up the street in high heels, clack-clack -clack.  And I can hear she’s on her own, I can hear what speed she’s coming at, I could plan where to stand to grab her or an ambush. And every time I hear her I think, “Fuck, you’re just alerting every fucking nutter to where you are now". And [that it's a concern]that’s not right."

Moran stands accused of victim blaming – why should women change their behaviour, their route home or their shoes? Surely if a woman is raped on her way home the fault lies with the rapist, not with the woman. What she is wearing on her feet is immaterial. To me this is indicative of a wider rape culture in which women are held accountable for their own rapes. All too often you hear women being described as “asking for it” - no wonder conviction rates for reported rapes are so low. No wonder the vast majority of rapes and sexual assaults go unreported. I was recently alerted to the story that a judge in Wales convicted a 49 year old man of raping a teenager while she was drunk and high. During sentencing, the judge is reported to have said, "on 16 April last year she let herself down badly. She consumed far too much alcohol and took drugs but she also had the misfortune of meeting you". Why is the fact that she had been drinking and taking drugs relevant? Is this some sort of justification? Of course behaving in such a way is not advised but frankly the fact that she was raped by this man is by far the most abhorrent part of this story. Even during the sentencing of her rapist the victim is shamed for her behaviour. This is victim blaming. The fact she was drunk and high is immaterial. No means no.

Another example that has been flagged to me is that of the alleged rape of a drunk teenager by members of a high school football team in Steubenville, Ohio – I say alleged because another blogger has been sued for defamation by one of the families of the accused. The assault was photographed by onlookers and posted on Instagram. Steubenville is a town very intensely in to their football, with the football stars being held in very high esteem by the community. The (alleged) victim was shamed. Apparently she should have just kept quiet and not made a fuss - she’s shamed the football team and sent their reputation in to disrepute. No, I’m sorry. She hasn’t. The (alleged) rapists did that when they repeatedly sexually assaulted her, took her from party to party against her will while she was too drunk to protest and even urinated on her. Allegedly. 

It’s due to comments like Moran's, stories like those coming out of Steubenville and the behaviour like that of the judge in question that victim blaming has become such a normal part of society. I’ll be honest with you blogosphere: I used to quite like a bit of Moran. I read "How to Be a Woman" religiously. I would probably credit it with getting me engaged with feminism in the first place. However, this rape culture has got to stop. What a woman is wearing does not matter – a short skirt is not an open invitation. If she has passed out from excessive alcohol consumption and cannot protest it does not constitute consent. The emphasis on stopping rape should be on stopping rapists – not on encouraging women to adjust their behaviour or outfits. Blame the rapists not the victims. Change this hideous rape culture. Stop victim blaming.

By Laura Martin

P.S: To sign the petition calling for the judge in question to retract their statement regarding the victim, please follow this link.

For more information on the case, click here.

The full Moran interview can be found here.

For more from me, follow @nitramarual on Twitter! And follow @RHUL_Fem_Soc whilst you’re at it!

A Statement from Rhul FemSoc Committee regarding the 4/12/12 GM and the impending EGM this Friday.

The following statement concerns the events of and in-between the SURHUL General Meeting on Tuesday 4th December and the following Motion of No confidence of a student at Royal Holloway. We felt that there were many misleading ideas revolving around these two events which have launched false accusations and gossip, especially around our involvement, therefore we'd like to clarify things for the benefit of students at Royal Holloway.

At the SURHUL General Meeting on Tuesday 4th December, our society proposed a motion against anti-choice harassment outside abortion clinics and on campuses. This motion can be read here.The motion had been approved by religious groups on campus and passed with the result of 56 for, 2 against, 8 abstentions.

There was one opposition speech from a student who was both the Entertainments officer (at the time) and NUS Delegate. The majority of their speech failed to actually oppose what the motion outlined, which was that SURHUL would take a stand to protect students rights to sexual health services and was against Anti-Choice Harassment outside Abortion Clinics and on Campuses. Instead, the opposition spent their two minutes presenting their own stance on abortion, saying that they were against abortion in any situation and condemning women who have abortions. You can read the opposing speech here [Trigger Warning].

The speaker accused those who spoke out against him of bullying. One student wrote a note on facebook in response entitled 'Why people shouldn't be criticised for being angry and upset during last night's Anti-Harassment Motion.' The speaker decided to state that this was also abuse and later stood down from their role as Entertainments Officer on exec. It was decision they chose to take and they were in no way forced to so by the union.

Only about a third of the speech is actually relevant to the motion, so lets look at that:

"I want to begin by saying that I initially proposed 11 amendments to this motion, all of which were refused, which I believe adds evidence to the following argument of close-mindedness on the subject of abortion."

Yes, we did refuse them because we thought that they were all unnecessary and so we refused them and prepared arguments against to use at the General Meeting. Just before the General Meeting the speaker withdrew the amendments; had they not retracted them, these amendments would have been discussed.

"It states that the SU supports individuals who protest at Bloomsbury Square, but by doing so condones actions up to and including violence if it was to be perpetrated."

Counter protests against the anti choice group held by the Bloomsbury Square group has always been peaceful, within the law, and held outside clinic hours so to not distress people that need clinic services.

"It fails to mandate any officer to educate and learn about the overwhelming scientific evidence of what an abortion actually results in."

The motion mandates the VP Education and Welfare Sabbatical and Equality and Liberation Officer work together to improve accessibility of information and of the choices available for pregnant students, easier to find and locate on campus, within SHAG Week and throughout the year. Our Education and Welfare Sabbatical Officer receives training to help students and we also have welfare and medical staff who are hired by the college to take students' best interest into account.

"It states anti-abortion groups are attacking unions and harassing women but fails to mention any source of evidence for it."

Well the motion, as all motions are put up in advance, but if you, like the opposition, did not look, here are some sources [trigger warning for distressing images] :

- Here is Abort67 at Bristol University

- Here is Abort67 at Nottingham University

- Here is Abort67 at Sussex University

- Here is Abort67 at King's College, Cambridge

Following on from this, on Friday the 7th of December, a student submitted a motion of no Confidence in the speaker as SURHUL NUS Delegate. You can read the motion here. This motion was not proposed the Feminism Society and none of the 30 signatures which was required to submit this Motion of no Confidence were of the Feminism society's committee. As a society, when we propose a motion we send out a copy of the motion to paid members and put it to a two thirds majority vote first; neither of these things took place. The proposer and seconders constructed this motion of no confidence independently; the argument that this motion of confidence is an attack from either 'the left', 'the right' or FemSoc has no grounds. This motion of confidence was created by students that do not believe that the speaker is fit to represent the Students of Royal Holloway at NUS Conference. This is a fair point considering:

- The SURHUL Constitution says that NUS delegates must represent the Students’ Union at conferences by using their votes and rights of speech for the needs of SURHUL members.

- The speaker said in their elections that they would put aside their political beliefs to represent the voices of the students union.

- During their speech on Tuesday 4th December that "if this motion passes it becomes SU policy which means that NUS Delegates such as me are mandated to vote at NUS conference in accordance with such a policy. As a Student Union you have no jurisdiction over my morals, my morals are mine, and mine alone."

- Therefore, the speaker has clearly stated as NUS Delegate that they are prepared to go against SURHUL decisions, which an act that they know is is against their mandate in the SURHUL Constitution and contradictory to what they said during elections.

With that said, we conclude with this: freedom of speech doesn't mean the freedom from the consequences of your speech. When you are a student in an elected position, other students have every right to hold you accountable within your mandate. Students have the right to ask after an event such as this: Do we want and trust this student to represent SURHUL's views on a national platform. The speaker says on their event page opposing this motion of no confidence:" It not fair, and its not right." Is it fair that someone that is already difficult times and is trying to get to a clinic to be harassed and shamed? Is it right to call people that believe in reproductive choice, advocators of murder?

We hope that this information clears things up, and that in the future, people feel able talk to us directly to clarify information beforehand.

By The Royal Holloway Feminism Society Committee