PINK SHEETS

more alternative milk, less alternative facts

[pinkxsheets-blog]

My hair is short, too short Boots too boyish, shirt too baggy and oh I would be pretty VERY pretty had I taken the time to wear some pink I'm wearing pink and i'm pretty now of course you're pretty and did you curl your hair? oh but isn't it embarrassing and so awfully telling that you put the effort in? have you stooped so low as to pick the curls and pearls of all those other girls over your books? and now i wear no creed no symbol and no colour and now i'm trying too hard to not try at all why are you so obsessed with being different? why can't you just dress like a normal woman? did your mom never teach you how to dress? do you not cloak your body based on your sexual organs? is that glittery eyeshadow? can you still read and write if you wear glittery eyeshadow? why are your boots so manly do you think you'll get into a government building if you wear those boots? do you not take care of your appearance? wait why are you taking so much care of your appearance? you're a girl you're a boy you're not looking like one. you're not acting like one.

author prefers to remain anonymous 

[pinkxsheets-blog]

RECLAIM THE NIGHT

What do we want? Safe streets! When do we want them? Now!

On Saturday, November 25th, women all over the UK took to the streets to march in the dark. The protest, originating in 1977, in response to the Yorkshire Ripper murders and the police’s response to it, is a chance for women and all those who identify and align themselves with the ever attacked concept of femininity in our society to reclaim the space that our mothers had warned us about from as early as we could walk it. From when I wore my little velcro strapped sneakers to when I wear my fancy clubbing heels, I still hear the same worries and woes from loved ones: don’t walk home alone at night. it’s dangerous out there to walk home alone at night.

Say hey! Say ho! Sexual violence has to go!

Now, to be clear, this is obviously sane logical advice when gender is removed from the conversation. Of course you shouldn’t probably be alone in the dark and in a vulnerable place by yourself, to be honest. You might get robbed, you might get mugged, etc etc etc. But the point of this march, contrarily to the many that tried to denounce it, is that the issue has so obviously and blatantly (especially in this political climate) been misogynistic and targeted towards women that the whole “girl walking home alone at night” thing has developed its own warped victim narrative.

Whatever we wear! Wherever we go! Yes means yes and no means no!

This statement is not to be confused with the sentiments expressed by the transphobic group shown at the protest, that had attempted to denounce any involvement of LGBT issues into this conversation with hateful signs like “END QUEER POLITICS NOW” and “A PENIS CAN NEVER BE LESBIAN”. It is not only ignorant, but lazy and overtly privileged to not look at this campaign with nothing but vigilant compassion. Sexual violence must be targeted by denouncing the justification of the tie between masculinity and sexual violence in our societal structures, not accusing those who have been brave enough to have either stood up and spoken about their experiences or shown their solidarity than their experience simply isn’t vaginal enough. The statistics, as reported by the HRC, speak for themselves:

“Within the LGBTQ community, transgender people and bisexual women face the most alarming rates of sexual violence. Among both of these populations, sexual violence begins early, often during childhood.”

“Among transgender racial minorities, 24 percent of transgender American Indians, 18 percent of transgender people who identified as multiracial, 17 percent of transgender Asians, and 15 percent of Black transgender respondents experienced sexual assault in K-12 education settings – much higher rates than students of other races. Transgender women respondents experienced sexual assault more often than their transgender male peers.”

(Human Rights Campaign, 2015)

“21% of TGQN (transgender, genderqueer, nonconforming) college students have been sexually assaulted, compared to 18% of non-TGQN females, and 4% of non-TGQN males.”

(Rainn,org, 2015)

“Sexual minority respondents reported levels of intimate partner violence at rates equal to or higher than those of heterosexuals.

• Forty-four percent of lesbian women, 61% of bisexual women, and 35% of heterosexual women experienced rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime.

• Twenty-six percent of gay men, 37% of bisexual men, and 29% of heterosexual men experienced rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner at some point in their lifetime.

• Approximately 1 in 5 bisexual women (22%) and nearly 1 in 10 heterosexual women (9%) have been raped by an intimate partner in their lifetime.

(National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, 2010)

Say it once! Say it again! No excuse for violent men!

To blame the march, as many have done, for encouraging this kind of behaviour is another example of laziness. Men (or male identifying) supporters were encouraged to join the Men’s Vigil and joining at the Mixed Rally as the march ended, attempting to promote an intersectional but togethered take on the issue: rather than blaming the women that marched in attempt to reclaim their space, as many have done, it is more important than ever to identify the blame in homophobic and transphobic behaviours within the feminist movement as well as within wider society.

Two, four, six, eight! No more violence, no more rape!

-E

[books-n-quotes]

Funny how silence can be the loudest sound of all.

Lauren Oliver, Vanishing Girls (via books-n-quotes)

[pinkxsheets-blog]

venus as a boy (pt.2)

(an interview with Olivier Delouche, who is my long-time friend, a male Frenchman, and a not so big fan of the patriarchy)

1. In terms of referring to the harmful behaviours often associated with the masculine, people often talk about ‘toxic masculinity.’ Would you agree with the idea that the patriarchy builds towards a toxic masculine culture?

Yes, I agree that the patriarchy builds towards a toxic masculine culture. I think it tries to masculinize traits and behaviours that should neither be imposed on men nor looked down on in women. Moreover, it either ignores or actively discourages men from another set of behaviours and traits that would indeed be beneficial to society if men embodied them. To name an example, there are clearly double standards when it comes to authority depending on gender (‘men are supposed to be authoritative’ and women who are authoritative tend to be called bossy, a word that has a negative connotation), whereas I believe that particular trait has a lot more to do with the individual personality of people rather than their gender. In short, I can’t think of a specific social behaviour that one shouldn’t exhibit (be it based on morality, social norms…) based solely on whether they are male or female.

2. Describe a time in your life you felt you struggled most with what was expected of you as a boy.

I don’t think I have ever had one scarring experience where the main cause of my frustration was the set of expectations assigned to my gender. In general, however, I would say that I feel trapped by what is considered acceptable behaviour by society in every day life. I feel it in particular when it comes to the way society looks at, deals with and judges typical relationships between males and females, in other words, how people should act in amorous/sexual relationships. In a lot of ways, I believe the type of relationships advocated for and sanctioned by society often times lack a lot respect and consideration. I wish society were more open to people not conforming with how most people deal with relationships, as well as fail to condemn sexism and misogyny within them.

3. How do you think your experiences/struggles with the patriarchy as a white or western man, give you privilege over other men, who are POC.

I don’t know if the fact that I struggle with the patriarchy in and of itself gives me privilege over men who are POC, although it could be said that my grievances with the system are mostly about what behaviours/discourses should or shouldn’t be allowed or encouraged, where as men who are POC have to add to that a struggle to be treated fairly based solely on who they are physically. It is no doubt immensely harder to be challenged or judged on something that you have absolutely no control over rather than something that you could theoretically change, regardless of whether you should/want to. It may also true that the patriarchy treats gender roles differently based on race, however I don’t feel like I know enough about this topic to comment appropriately.

4. What are some of the biggest issues that men face as a result of the patriarchy that you think we should be tackling. How do you think we should go about tackling this/these issue/issues?

A while ago I read about this advertising campaign that was launched in Australia to encourage men to cry. It tried to tackle a crippling problem in that country, which doubt exists in many others: a high rate of suicide in men. A lot of those suicides are motivated by a failure of society to accept men’s expression of feelings, which results in a sense of guilt; because after all, they’re not supposed to ‘be weak’, and crying is for the weak. Although there are many more insidious issues which can directly be traced back to patriarchal norms, it is worth focussing on a type of societal bullying which results in death. I believe the advertisement campaign used in Australia (which, if I remember correctly, used ‘shocking’ phrases and pictures) is a really good way to raise awareness for the issue, and make a large population of men more in touch with their feelings and their freedom to express them whenever they feel. What is also important is for people to lead by example; the more people are seen challenging patriarchal norms, the less normative they seem, and the less hesitant people will be to follow. However, it’s important to distinguish that they will not be following just for the sake of breaking norms or copying others, but rather, follow if that is how they would naturally behave. I believe this movement should be about emancipation of self, personality and expression. In other words, a purely personal experience which encourages to dare to be yourself even though you may be different than your neighbour.  

5. In your own terms, describe what it means to you to be a feminist.

I readily accept a widely accepted definition of feminism: the idea that there shouldn’t be any unfair discrimination based on genders. To say that there are no differences between men and women is to be intellectually dishonest, whether referring to physiological or psychological differences. This, in my mind, clearly allows for men and women to be treated differently in different situations. However, the double standards and discrimination that I see afflicting women (and to a lower extent, men) are in no way justified by the differences that can be established between the sexes (and which, by the way, in many cases we do not understand perfectly yet). To me, then, feminism equates to acknowledging that there are injustices that are based solely on gender, and challenging them whenever possible. Some people might see this as a kind of personal feminism, as opposed to activists who actively try to spread awareness to the issue. I see some problems with this wider type of feminism, but I agree that spreading awareness to issues is the first step to them being solved.  

6.  What do you think people should be doing more to tackle gender inequality?

I believe that something that would help this entire problem, for both genders, is scepticism. A big part of the problem is the way men and women are ‘fed’ patriarchal norms, from ads to TV shows to politics. For example, moral absolutism applied to characters from TV. Just because one likes a specific character, or can identify to some level with them, does not mean that character does or says everything right, and does not mean that it is good to try to be like them. In every day life, it is important to keep a dose of doubt, and to think twice before accepting something as ‘normal’ or ‘acceptable’ just because it is portrayed in public life. This would of course help tear down unhealthy and unjustified norms that contribute to gender inequality, but I believe it would also help solve other problems in our society.

[pinkxsheets-blog]

Venus as a boy

Some of the greatest crimes against humanity, authoritarian regimes, and fascist uprisings have come from societies preaching that there are inherent divisions that regulate our world order. That some old scripture from some old tale made one more powerful than the other and the more powerful one can reap the economic and civil advantages it was always destined for. One of the oldest tricks of this trade is the difference that has been preached to us about men and women. Romantic comedies have been made around the premise. Ancient laws protected over the age-old observation that because two members of the same species, and the same potential to utilise their brain, differ in a sexual binary, that a power balance must be put in place. And this has seeped into activism too. Being a woman in the feminist movement means that being called a “man hater” is fairly standard practice, but luckily for me, I have always been surrounded by men that have not feared the movement. I am surrounded by plenty of men, of all ages and backgrounds who identify as feminists and are active campaigners (just as I am surrounded by plenty that are not, but hey you win some you lose some.) In that, there is a unity and solidarity between the groups that have been told: “hey, you belong in either group 1 or group 2, and if you identify as either you have to do exactly what the responding groups say, and if you don’t, you’re a freak. and well if you don’t identify with neither you’re just not human.” Imagine if every person that has ever felt alone and pressed by what’s expected of them because of sex and gender stood up and said no more. If more people were aware that they aren’t alone. My god we may have smashed the patriarchy by next morning. In light of this, and attempting to understand more about the groups in the feminist movement that show me solidarity, I decided to read the latest and hyped ‘How Not to Be a Boy’ by comedian Robert Webb, an autobiographical memoir of how much of his life and his behaviour had been shaped by what he heard about needed to act like a “boy”, like a “man.” He also touched on the distinction between what it means to be a feminist and what it means to just think you’re a better man that most blatant misogynists; just because you’re a liberal left-wing type, that doesn’t mean you’re standing up for women’s rights, he points out, and it definitely doesn't mean you haven’t got work to do on yourself. It’s easy to believe you’re doing enough just because you’re not the worst purporter of stereotypes and prejudice, but dismantling the patriarchy takes a lot more than just thinking the bare minimum of “oh I guess women should have equal pay.”

Following on from Webb’s heartfelt reflections (which I readily recommend to all), I decided to reach out to my male friends and see what their thoughts were on the matter.

(an interview with Christopher DeJong, who is my long-time friend, a male American, and certified hater of sexism)

1. In terms of referring to the harmful behaviours often associated with the masculine, people often talk about ‘toxic masculinity.’ Would you agree with the idea that the patriarchy builds towards a toxic masculine culture?

I think that's true, despite the progress we've made towards a more equal society. There's still a wage gap, women's rights are still being dictated by men and rape culture and sexism still run rampant. There's still a lot of work to be done.

2. Describe a time in your life you felt you struggled most with wha as expected of you as a boy.

When I was younger it was probably the most difficult because masculinity is often associated with being emotionless, strong and obsessed with sports so I would often compare myself to this archetype of the ideal man and that's pretty detrimental when you don't think you match what is expected of you.

3. What are some of the biggest issues that men face as a result of the patriarchy that you think we should be tackling. How do you think we should go about tackling this/these issue/issues?

I think the patriarchy is made to make things easier for men, so to say what I find the most difficult about it would be like asking what's the hardest part of never wondering where your next meal comes from. I can't complain when others have it far worse. I think as a result of the patriarchy, men don't feel the need to fight for the rights of others because they don't have to experience what it's like for those that don't benefit from a patriarchal society. Somehow they need to be shown what it's like from the perspective of those people so that they might be able to see what's wrong with the way things are.

4. In your own terms, describe what it means to you to be a feminist.

I think a feminist is a person who fights for equality of the sexes in all aspects of society, social, political and economical equality.

5. What do you think men/those who identify as men should be doing more to tackle gender inequality?

I think men should be joining the fight for women's rights despite the fact that it might not directly affect them, too many people sit back and watch bad things happen because they believe someone else will fix the problem.

6. What do you think women/ those who identify as women should be doing more to tackle gender

inequality?

I think women should work to spread awareness that there is something wrong with our society and that action needs to be taken because if it isn't actively talked about it'll never resolved.

7. Finally, is there a message you want to send out to any men/those who identify as men reading this and are struggling with what is expected of them?

My advice to men struggling with what's expected of them is to ask themselves if they think they'd be happier if they met those expectations or if they'd be happier ignoring the expectations of men that perpetuated prejudice and negativity.

Our heart goes out to all men (or those that identify as men) who feel encased in the expectation of masculinity. A lack of paternity leave rights, an obsessive verily alpha culture that encourages you to pick fights when there is clearly no reason for anyone to get hurt, and really strange colognes that smell like an iceberg having a machine gun battle with a testosterone filled sabertooth. The patriarchy has created a system that politically and economically privileges you whilst simultaneously chipping away at your emotional experiences and denying you conversations about mental health and sexual assault. Fight it.

-E

[pinkxsheets-blog]

Making The Future - An Extract of Rebecca Solnit’s ‘Hope In The Dark’ (On the importance of climate activism)

The climate movement has grown remarkably - but it must grow far more to be adequate to the crisis. Which is where you come in, if you haven’t yet. The quiet chorus of the everyday can drown out the voice of history, calling us to action in the moment of the big future. I can barely remember what seemed so pressing when I didn’t participate in great historical moments, but I know that the same kind of things seem pressing now, and that I have to push some of them aside.

Just before the climate march I began to contemplate how human beings half a century or a century from now will view us, who lived in the era when climate change was recognised and there was so much that could be done about it, so much more than we have done. They may hate us, despise us, see us as the people who squandered their patrimony, like drunkards gambling away the family fortune that, in this case, is everyone’s everywhere and everything, the natural world itself when it was in good working order. They will regard us as people who rearranged the china when the house was on fire. 

They will think we were insane to worry about celebrities and fleeting political scandals and whether we had nice bodies; they will think the newspapers should have had a gigantic black box above the fold of the front page every day saying “Here are some stories about other things BUT CLIMATE IS BIGGER THAN THIS” and every day news broadcast should have opened with the equivalent. Every day. They will think that we should have thrown our bodies in the way of the engines of destruction, raised our voices to the heavens, stopped everything until the destruction stopped. They will bless and praise the few and curse the many.

There have been heroic people in every country and some remarkable achievements. The movement has grown in size, power, and sophistication, but it needs to grow a lot more to be commensurate to what is required. I realised that this included me and realised that it was time to shift my priorities, to make my mild engagement with climate something larger and fiercer.

This is the time to find your place in it, if you haven’t yet. And for the climate organisers to do better at reaching out and offering everyone a part in the transformation, whether it’s the housebound person who writes letters or the twenty-year-old who’s ready for direct action in remote places. There’s a role for everyone, and it’s everyone’s most important work right now. So many other important matters press upon us - human rights and justice work, the care for the most vulnerable - but it has to be part of what you do. It is the big perspective from which everything else must be seen (and the Philippines’ charismatic former climate change negotiator Yet Sano notes, “Climate change impinges on almost all human rights. Human rights are at the core of this issue”)

Many people believe that personal virtue is what matters in this crisis. It’s a good thing, but it’s not the key thing. It’s great to bicycle rather than drive, eat plants instead of animals, put solar panels on your roof, but it can give you a false sense that you’re not part of the problem. You are not just what you personally do or do not consume but a part of a greater problem if you are a citizen of a country that is a major carbon emitter, as is nearly everyone in the English-speaking nations and the global north. You are part of the systems, and you need, we all need, to change that system. Nothing less than systemic change will save us. 

The race is on. From an ecological standpoint, the scientists advise us that we still have a little bit of time, a closing window, in which it might still be possible, by a swift, decisive move away from fossil fuel in particular, to limit climate change to two degrees Celsius of warming. Which will be considerably less devastating than some of the higher numbers we will slide toward if we don’t reverse course.

The pressure of nations come from within, not from each other. [...] How will we get to where we need to be? No one knows, but we know that we must keep moving in the direction of reduced carbon emissions, a transformed energy economy, an escape from the tyranny of the oil companies, and a vision of a world in which everything is connected. The story of this coming year is ours to write, and it could be a story of the Year One in the climate revolution, of the watershed when popular resistance changed the fundamentals as much as the people of France changed their world more than two hundred years ago.

May, two hundred years hence, someone hold a document from 2019 in their hand, in wonder, because it was written when the revolution had taken hold and all the old inevitabilities had been swept aside, when we seized hold of possibility and made it ours,”Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings”, said LeGuin. It’s the hardest and the best work we could ever do. Now, everything depends on it.

[pinkxsheets-blog]

[pinkxsheets-blog]

[pinkxsheets-blog]

Islamophobia: The Hate That Faces Too Many Amongst Us

While many of us would love to go around pretending everything in the UK is just fine and celebrate it for it’s diversity and welcoming acceptance of others (which is not a completely wrong thing to do), late occurrences do force us to also face a different reality. While some group of “others” are more welcome than others (mainly those that pay more taxes), lately, a group which is today so embedded in British culture that a “British culture” without them is unimaginable, and their diverse and essential contribution to this country needs to be acknowledged and celebrated (however should not be seen as the only reason to perceive them as valid, but rather the simple fact of their humanity) is facing serious threats to their human rights. 

Over the past year, Islamophobia in the UK has been on the rise, with many Anti-Muslim Incidents occurring; an Anti-Muslim Incident being, in the definition of the organisation TellMAMA (Measuring Anti Muslim Attacks) “[…]any malicious act aimed at Muslims, their material property or Islamic organisations and where there is evidence that the act has anti-Muslim motivation or content, or that the victim was targeted because of their Muslim identity. This also includes incidents where the victim was perceived to be a Muslim.”

Some places are more affected than others, with a huge notable rise of Islamophobic attacks in the region of Greater Manchester; after the suicide bombing which occurred at an Ariana Grande concert earlier this year, the Greater Manchester Police has registered a rise of 502%. These incidents include a Mosque in Oldham that was hit by a firebomb only a few hours after the tragic incident at the Ariana Grande concert, and a school for Muslim girls being attacked by people passing by screaming “when are you going to stop bombing us”.

What has really caught our attention is the hate mail being spread to UK and US Mosques.  A number of letters and packages signing with the same initials and sometimes using one pseudonym have been sent to UK and US Mosques from a location near Sheffield over the past year. Most of the Mosques targeted by the handwritten threats are in the areas of London, South Yorkshire and the US. In July, the office of Nazir Ahmed, a Pakistani born member of the British House of Lords for the Labour Party, received a package with white powder, as well as an independent peer, three Mosques in Leyton, Finsbury Park and Tottenham, and the Bank of England. A letter coming from the same region has also been sent to a New Jersey mosque, which threatened to kill Muslims and featured offensive cartoons. Similar cases targeted mosques in New York, Georgia and Kentucky this spring. Letters using the same pseudonym that has been used to target Mosques in the UK have also been sent to Mosques in Washington D.C, New Jersey and Alabama in February of this year. 

In response to this, we are launching our Anti-Hate Campaign, in which we are countering hate with love. We, together, along with you, are sending messages of comfort and love to Mosques around the UK. The aim is to reassure those amongst us, to let them know that the group that welcomes them is much bigger than the one which attempts to threaten them. We must let them know that we stand with them, and that we will fight with them, and always, always protect their human rights. We realise that genuine vigilant political action is a lot more than covering up the bruises, it’s about tackling abusive systems, which we will elaborate on later.

Please do get in touch, whether through sending us a direct message on our Instagram (@pinkxsheets), emailing us under [email protected]  or commenting on this post. We will be monitoring your messages and anonymously (or with your signature if you wish) forwarding them to mosques around the country. 

Last but not least we would also like to leave you the link for the TellMAMA website: https://tellmamauk.org. Tell MAMA is a public service which gives assistance of victims of Anti-Muslim Hate Crimes, and also measures these attacks. If you do find yourself in a situation like that, please do get in contact with them (after reporting the crime to the police) and seek assistance.

Love, V and E.

[ithelpstodream]

“Happy Birthday, Frida Kahlo! 🎂🎉

Today marks the birth of one of Mexico’s most famous artists – Frida Kahlo. Frida would often lie about her birthday to coincide with the start of the Mexican Revolution on July 7, 1910. Born to a German father and a Mesitza mother, Frida grew up defying gender norms and enjoyed dressing in men’s clothing from a young age and was encourage by her father to do so.

In her youth, Frida was a prominent student on her way to becoming a doctor before polio and a devastating bus accident left her permanently disabled. A communist, feminist, and artist, Frida’s work centered around gender, race, love, and pain in what many have deemed surrealist art although she was not fond of the categorization.

Throughout her life Frida would stand with workers and oppressed peoples in Mexico in beyond. In fact, she rallied the courage to protests despite severe illness after the U.S. ousted President Jacob Arbenz in Guatemala. Today we honor her unforgettable legacy and spirit.”

– telesur

[pinkxsheets-blog]

The human level:on refugee camps and moral activism

Special thanks to the incredible Hannah Lawson, who was interviewed by Vanessa on her experiences with volunteering at a refugee camp in Jordan and delving into the need to find humanity amongst the horrors we hear in the news. 

1. I think we are all aware of the refugee crisis at the moment. However, I fear that since it’s been covered by the media so much, people are starting to normalise this situation. Why would you say it’s important to keep a focus on it and help refugees? And what moved you to decide to get on this amazing journey?

You’re quite right in saying that it is all too easy to ‘normalise’ or become desensitised to the ongoing refugee crisis. Not only do we easily tire of news stories, we also have an unhealthy tendency to retreat in the face of seemingly unsurmountable problems – and if anything can be classed as such, it would be the 5 million Syrians refugees who have fled their country since the start of the war in 2011, or the 6.3 million internally displaced Syrians. (Refugees, 2017)  Even more daunting is the figure released by the UN this week of the number of the world’s displaced people: 65.6 million men, women, and – around half of them – children. That’s more than the population of the UK, or equivalent to 20 people being newly displaced every minute of the day. (UNHCR Global Trends - Forced displacement in 2016, 2016)

It is absolutely vital that we as individuals, as civil society, and as nations resist the temptation to step into the comfort of denial. Not only are we morally compelled to look beyond ourselves and to do to others as we would have done to us, we now live in a world where the displacement of a Syrian family or a Sudanese child directly impacts our own society. We should all be trying to help, however we can, to find short-term solutions responding to immediate need, as well as the crucial long-term solutions that will restore the rights and hopes of people forcefully displaced worldwide, as we seek to build a more peaceful and just world.

I have personally been struck by the refugee crisis (especially having grown up in Tunisia, the situation in Syria feels close to home), as well as by both the disappointing response by the British government in sharp contrast to the thousands of citizen-led initiatives that remind us of the brighter side of human life. I felt compelled to use part of my year out before university to offer up my skills and my time in a context where they could be of use and where I could grow as a person too – so here I am in Jordan!

2. So you are in Jordan right now; could you tell us a bit more about what you are doing?

I came to Jordan through connections with a pastor and his wife living in the capital city Amman, who are responding to the problems of neighbouring Syria by supporting Syrian refugees in Jordan. They have opened two schools for Syrian children, one in the North of the country about 30km from the border, and one in the East of the country in the town of Azraq (for children who are not actually in the refugee camp of Azraq). So far, despite a lot of their work being put on hold by Ramadan, I have been involved in running some weekend activities for Syrian kids, as well as doing some support work such as food distribution. As a result of an open pop-up health clinic set up by the church prior to my arrival, I’ve also been able to visit Syrian families as we deliver medication or prescription glasses. Being welcomed into the homes or tents of refugee families and chatting with them over tea or coffee has been such a privilege. Now that Ramadan is over, I look forward to getting more involved in the schools which will reopen.

3. Why is the work of refugee camps so important? And what can we do from home to support this type of work?

Refugee camps are important in that they serve as emergency accommodation for thousands of displaced people, and can be useful hubs for providing support, which is of course far easier with people all in one place. However, camps often have a host of negative consequences too, not least fostering dependency, overcrowding, and limiting freedom of movement. The arguments for and against refugee camps merit their own article, so I will limit myself to explaining that the work I am involved in here in Jordan is solely with those outside of camps. Indeed, more than 80% of the Syrian refugees in Jordan live outside camps, often in poverty with limited access to healthcare, education and opportunities. Thus the work of organisations that work outside camps is incredibly vital, especially as the State alone is unable to bear the burden of such an influx of people and the subsequent strain on resources.

Giving is an obvious way to support the great work of organisations operating both in and out of camps, be it giving money, clothes, or time (eg. it is possible to find organisations that you can support by volunteering hours of your time from home). It is also crucial to pressure our governments where necessary in order to encourage them to support nations bearing the brunt of the crisis.

4. What you are doing is so great, but I’m sure it gets hard from time to time. What challenges have you faced and how do you keep yourself going?

Before coming to Jordan, I said that it was going to be both scary and exciting, as often the best things in life are. It was certainly a challenge to come to a conservative country as a single female, but I have been very well looked after and have connected well with others here so that I am rarely alone.

It can also be very hard to hear some of the stories of people who have suffered in ways I cannot begin to understand, and perhaps even harder to know how to respond. Each person will deal with this in their own way, but for me it is important to process things by talking with others, and to rely on and delve deeper into my personal faith.

Another challenge worth mentioning is the frustration that can arise when we come with our own expectations; however hard I try to avoid this, it can sometimes be most difficult when it feels as though I am not doing enough. Logistically, most of the work with refugees is a long drive out from the capital so it is unfeasible to be there as often as I would like. However, that means I have more time to get to know those from the church who are the driving force behind the incredible support being provided to refugees; in many ways, encouraging and helping them (as their work is so draining) is more sustainable than me directly aiding refugees anyway.

5. Looking at the experience you’ve had until now, would you say your perception on refugees and their situation has changed and differs from what is portrayed by the media at home? And how?

As ever, when you encounter something for yourself rather than through the eyes of another, your perception changes. I have been amazed by the resilience and dare I say it normality of the refugees I have met here. It seems that the term ‘refugee’ can take on a life of its own, blocking out the fact that these are merely normal people with normal hopes and dreams and everyday problems (and admittedly some less ‘everyday’ problems) who are no longer in their own country. Jordan and Syria are culturally close so often it can be hard to distinguish between poor Jordanians and poor refugee families. Meeting refugees has also brought home to me just how much I have to learn from them (not only because some of course are qualified doctors and lawyers and professors), and how often they can give me far more than I can give them. We need to let go of our Western Saviour stereotype.

I would encourage people at home to try and look past news headlines and find stories to read on a human level to help them to balance their perspectives of refugees, as well as to actively search for reliable facts and educated opinions to consider with a critical, open mind.

6. How would you perceive the issue of gender equality in the refugee situation?

Women or girls make up nearly half of all refugees globally, (UNHCR Global Trends - Forced displacement in 2016, 2016) and it is a well-established fact that women suffer disproportionately and gender-based violence rises in crisis situations. Many women have to support families, often by entering the informal sector where they are very vulnerable; girls are at risk of marginalisation if parents have to choose between which of their children to educate due to limited resources. (Turriago, 2016) There is also commonly a lack of adequate health services and psychological support, which is vital for women who have experienced trauma either in their countries of origin (there have been reports of rape being used as a weapon of war) (Harvey, 2016), in transit, or in their new camps or communities.

It is so important to support women because, despite the high levels of poverty, risk, trauma, and violence that disproportionately fall on them, it is women who are at the forefront of long-term efforts to build community, create sustainable change, and protect and extend human rights. (Global Fund for Women, 2015) Providing education and healthcare whilst ensuring their basic needs are addressed will prevent women from resorting to work that leaves them vulnerable, allowing them to become empowered agents of social stability that will be more needed than ever when, insha’llah, they return home.

7. What message would you pass on to everyone who wants to get involved with the issue? What is a good way to get started?

I think the first step for all of us must be to recognise the inherent worth of every human being, and from that to learn to love others not based on whether we know them or like them, but merely on the fact that they are people who have a worth. When are in accord with these principles, our moral duty towards refugees is clear. If you want to get involved, then you’re already heading in the right direction!

As I mentioned earlier, it is important to have some understanding of the key information about the refugee crisis and the responses to it, if not only to see how your skills can fit into the picture or to educate others and influence public opinion – so step two is research.

After that, you can get involved by giving in any of the ways I described earlier. If you feel compelled to give financially, try to invest time into ensuring that the organisation you’re donating to will use the money wisely, in ways that will not foster dependency but will rather empower refugees. If you think that the idea of giving clothes sounds very do-able, it’s quite likely that others will feel the same – so don’t go it alone, get others involved too! Make sure to find out what items are most needed, and be aware that appearance is very important in the Middle East. If you want to give of your time (without leaving the country), make use of the internet or local groups helping refugees to find out how your skills could be used, be it from doing admin for an NGO from home to working in local community centres.

A step further would be to host a refugee in your home (look online for some of the great groups coordinating this), particularly if you’re living somewhere where your guest will find a community to integrate into and people with similar experiences or backgrounds to build relationships with (if you live in the bleak Scottish Highlands, maybe not).

Finally, consider stepping out and finding a charity or organisation working overseas that is in need of your skills, find a way to finance it, and launch yourself into the wonderful unknown. It will be worth it.

References: 

Global Fund for Women. (2015). Women and the Refugee Crisis: A News Update from Lebanon. [online] Available at: https://www.globalfundforwomen.org/news-update-refugee-crisis/ [Accessed 20 Jun. 2017].

Harvey, A. (2016). UN Inaction and Rape as a Weapon of War in Syria. [online] Harvard Health Policy Review. Available at: http://www.hhpronline.org/articles/2016/11/12/un-inaction-and-rape-as-a-weapon-of-war-in-syria [Accessed 20 Jun. 2017].

Refugees, U. (2017). Syria Emergency. [online] UNHCR. Available at: http://www.unhcr.org/syria-emergency.html [Accessed 25 Jun. 2017].

Turriago, N. (2016). Smith College: Religious & Spiritual Life. [online] Smith.edu. Available at: https://www.smith.edu/religiouslife/articles/2016/spring/gender-equality-and-refugee-crisis.php [Accessed 21 Jun. 2017].

UNHCR Global Trends - Forced displacement in 2016. (2016). UNHCR Global Trends - Forced displacement in 2016. [online] Available at: http://www.unhcr.org/globaltrends2016/ [Accessed 24 Jun. 2017].

Interview of Hannah Lawson by Vanessa Terschluse

[ithelpstodream]

[pinkxsheets-blog]

she gives me money (when I’m in need)

Theresa May and Diane Abbott are women of very different beliefs. They are members of each other’s’ opposition parties, and our platform has pretty vocally supported Abbott’s (Labour); having said that, the two women, along with  every other female politician, will share something in common. The incredibly misogynistic coverage of their careers and work in the media.

Now, of course it’s not as if male politicians get incredibly favourable coverage and female politicians don’t; no, the world has a fairly united hatred for all politicians in the world ever, and the media aids this. The difference comes when politicians mess up, act horrendously, and participate in unspeakable corrupt scandals. Then, there comes a feeling when you read about it in the paper. If it’s a man, there is outrage, sparked by the disgruntled anger that he’ll make an un-welcomed return in the future, after disappearing for a while.

“He’ll be back in a few months, the prick” someone said of Michael Gove to me as the Brexit referendum result came in and we were watching him, David Cameron, Boris Johnson, and Nigel Farage slowly flee the mess they’d created. And hey, now that guy’s in charge of the environment so like. That’s a thing that happened.

When a female politician participates in her share of world dominant Bond villain esque plans? Well. She’s blood in the water. And not only that, she won’t simply be attacked by virtue of her god awful policies- she’ll also simply be attacked for being a woman. Every single thing she could possibly have said that would have been a marker for feminism or the cause of gender equality will suddenly be discredited; a famous woman who fails even slightly is shamed, shunned, and called a heinous bitch for years to come. Just look at Thatcher (not to call her a feminist, but as the longest serving British PM to have not only been kicked out by a cabinet of men, but referred to as a witch by the rest of the country, even after her death, one has to wonder why no one has been able to kick out Donald Trump in the same way they simply got rid of the so called Iron Lady.)

Looking at the other end of the political spectrum, let one consider Dianne Abbott. While Abbott has actually been re-elected in her constituency of Hackney North and Stoke Newington, she has had a fair share of criticisms in the campaign. Which, in my opinion is of course, correct: a number of PR blunders such as hers shouldn’t have been made given that she was a Shadow Home Secretary prospect, so yes by all means chastise her for not being as prepared as she should have been. But the amount of coverage she received was so hellbent on racist and misogynistic slurs, as well as the shock and horror that Jeremy Corbyn wanted to sleep with her (because of course, there’s a woman, so there has to be a romantic past dragged up,) was appalling. And although we’re supporters of the Labour party, we find it pretty shady that the campaign was willing to support Corbyn through all the abuse he’d faced in being called a “terrorist sympathiser” but was hesitant to offer protection to Abbott’s mishaps. Abbott wrote, in an article for the Guardian at the beginning of this year that previously she had kept quiet about the misogyny and sexism she felt daily, being an MP (and the truth is, it’s unacceptable that she was made to feel that way but there we go,) but decided to be vocal about the abuse she receives because she fears that our trajectory towards equality, whether it was on the incline or not, is seriously slipping: “But if online commentary and the rise in racist incidents are anything to go by, there is a danger that Brexit could give some people permission to express sentiments that are anything but progressive and internationalist.” Abbott opens up that she  receives “racist and sexist abuse online on a daily basis. I have had rape threats, death threats, and am referred to routinely as a bitch and/or n*****, and am sent horrible images on Twitter.”

And when people were quick to point out that she has had to deal with misogyny and racism? There comes another problem. People see behaviour like this and huff and grumble “oh well they wanted equality didn’t they? and now they have it, they’re being criticised in the same way a man would.” No.

There’s an address JFK made in 1963 about civil law, and the need to end racism in the United States. (It was actually quite a good speech; but what fundamentally pisses me off is that it’s still relevant.) He mentioned in his speech the need for not only a change in legislation, but a change in universal institutional morality. And that’s a large chunk of what is needed here. It’s all very well to put women in positions of power, but this is often a scenario in which women are expected to see this as a treat. As a special occasion, and if she makes one misstep? She loses the privilege of her special position. She’s expected to be twice as good as a man, to be EXCEPTIONAL, just so she can maintain what most mediocre male politicians have for granted. A safety net. A vague, if not guaranteed reassurance that when shit hits the fan, they’ll be supported. There’s a difference between treating someone equally and working under the guise of actually supporting someone. A moral reframing in which we truly see everyone as equal and not a special guest starring role to promote diversity, only to be kicked out once they get low ratings.

The truth is, a woman’s gender is a chip to be played by politicians in parties comprised mostly by men, until it isn’t any more, and due to systemic misogyny in place, women end up kicked to the ground. A cabinet full of men will pimp and preen their female leader, exhibit her as the living proof of feminism, and push her off a cliff the moment she’s despised.

It’s not uncommon for politicians to behave abhorrently, but it’s even less often that we see non-femme abominations plunder the person’s career. Boris Johnson, Nigel Farage, Steve Bannon, Bill Clinton: all of these men have suffered incredible “PR blunders” yet all I see is a re-reckoning and resurfacing of their roles in politics. Not. one. woman. Tony Blair, who famously sent the whole country into a war with Iraq, came back into the political scene with the UK’s general election this year and even that guy was lent an ear, but god forbid Theresa May say anything stupid. (This isn’t in any way a defence of May’s policies, or a sympathy based on her party: I think she should definitely be criticised- but criticised on the basis of her political actions and her political actions only.)

One must then consider who's to blame, and who's to address the issue and through what means, and in that, to achieve what ends? Is it up to the media? Is it up to the male politicians to give up some of the space they dominate? Is it up to women to take that space away from them? And ofcourse just as with anything, the answer isn't so simple. And at the end of the day it's about everyone in society taking collective action against a system that we all (whether willingly or not) contribute to. It's about every single person dismantling a mindset in which this is how the world IS and realising they can be a momentum of change for it by challenging governments, participating in grassroots movements and becoming activists in their own right. We must all be there in solidarity of groups marginalised and pushed aside by society, and it's up to every single one of us to stand up, admit a corrupt system that is inherently built on misogynistic standards, and demand its dismantling. Women, in most career paths, but especially politics, have to navigate the waters carefully. And the thing is, this is true for all politicians. But how many women do you think don’t fuck up in politics because they don’t take the risks they simply can’t afford in such a masculine political climate? This was broadly spoken about during Clinton’s campaign against Trump of course, so it isn’t necessarily a brand new perspective or a fantastical new way of looking at things, but what it is is a stinging reminder that modern women are held to ancient standards. If you do something incredibly stupid, expect to serve a night in jail if you’re  a man, but a life sentence if you’re a woman.

-Elmira Tanatarova

Sources: 

Abbott, D. (2017). I fought racism and misogyny to become an MP. The fight is getting harder | Diane Abbott. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/feb/14/racism-misogyny-politics-online-abuse-minorities [Accessed 8 Jun. 2017].

[pinkxsheets-blog]

Feminism: A Thai Point of View

What is feminism? To me, this question has a very simple answer: Feminism is gender equality. It´s about us, as a human race, seeking to establish equal rights between women and men – nothing more, nothing less.

Growing up and having spent most of my childhood in Thailand has played a significant role in shaping my views about the idea of equal rights between women and men. When I was younger, I lived in a little village, far away from the city. I spent a good seven to eight years there in my grandparent`s house. Often, I would find myself getting bored of playing with Barbie dolls, so I ended up befriending a group of boys in the village – and I got bullied almost every day just because I was the only girl around.

However, since I was young and naive, I didn’t care to get to the bottom of why they felt they had to/had the right to treat me like that; I just tried very hard to fit in, to become one of the boys – and I succeeded. Not only did they stop bullying me and accepted me in their group – I also became their group leader. I stopped wearing skirts and cute dresses, instead I wore shorts and T-shirts; I stopped playing with Barbie dolls, instead I played football, I ran kites in rice fields and went target shooting. Without realising, I stopped conforming to outdated gender stereotypes attributed to men and women which contribute to the created ideology of gender roles.

For years I assumed this as normal; that man or woman, boy or girl, straight or not: it doesn’t matter – we are all equal. So, when people asked me: “What do you want to be when you grow up?”, my answer was always the same: “I want to be an astronaut.” However, my beliefs about the self-evidence of gender equality and my dreams about becoming an astronaut were shattered when I moved to live with my mum in the city. Don’t get me wrong, my dreams were not shattered by my mum. It was my primary school teachers and friends that shattered them. How? I was told not to do many things because they were solely for boys; I was told that I can’t be many things – including an astronaut – because they are “a man’s job”. I was even once told by a shopkeeper that I should buy a girl’s toy instead of the children’s air pistol that I had asked for (I mean, what even is a girl’s toy? A pink plastic afternoon tea set? I don’t even know.)

As a child, this confrontation with the shopkeeper was very confusing. Looking back, I think that experiences like this, that sadly become uncountable in every girl’s life, would have ended up with me conforming to the gender based expectations put upon me, if it wasn’t for my mum and step-dad, who let me explore gender roles at my own paste and in my own way. They taught me that girls can lift, girls can fix, and girls can do everything that boys can too. I was very fortunate to have grown up around of a lot of open-minded people, around men who dance and perform on stages, around women who manage and lead. Because of this, I realised from a very young age that what really matters to the human that you are is not your gender, not what you are on the outside, but it’s what’s in your heart and mind that is the most important, and that you shouldn’t let what you are on the outside stop you from becoming the person you want to be.

Here is to you all, boys and girls: gender equality is our problem. You may think we have come a long way in creating equality between both genders, but if you take a step back and just look around you, you will see we are still far from being equal, there are hurdles -big and small- that have to be taken down so boys and girls can grow up to become who they truly are. Like Emma Watson said in her UN HeForShe speech “If not me, who? If not now, when?”

-Saminee Foster

[lubadalu-blog]

[pinkxsheets-blog]

'F is for Family', 'F is for Feminism'; A Review

*spoilers*

Amongst all the hatred, anger, and divisions going on, nothing is more soothing for the average millennial than a calming Netflix binge; and next thing you know, you're taken down an existential mind-warp as a cartoon horse makes you re-think everything you've ever thought about mental health and morality (BoJack I'm looking at you.) Upon such a binge opportunity myself, I decided to go into another animated series: 'F is for Family.' For a quick recap, 'F is for Family' is like the perfect hybrid of 'That 70s Show' and 'The Simpsons' you never knew you wanted; set in the late 70s, it tells the tale of an aggressive father, veteran of the Korean war, who lives with the pain of his failed ambitions of being a pilot (due to the birth of his first son- who hates the family and just wants to get laid and make music) and deals with the fact that his wife is growingly becoming more successful than him after a lifetime of being a housewife. Amongst this whole richness of the classic "we are from different generations and are therefore different" play, my favourite story lines come from the two youngest kids: Bill and Maureen. Bill is a fifth grader; he works hard, but is sensitive, often bullied, and is best friends with a guy who often gets mistaken for a girl- Bill is the brunt of the "you're a pussy joke". He gets called a pussy so often, even by his own father, (even by his younger sister), that he becomes straight up aggressive. I'm talking THEFT, I'm talking VANDALISM, and in the end, becoming a bully himself. I'm not sure if this is the creators' intent or not- but it so perfectly entails the concept of toxic masculinity that it's difficult to think it wasn't. Maureen is, on the other hand, much like all the other women in the show, represented to be so much smarter than her society allows her to be, but constantly weighed down by an authority of a generation that assumes some things to be set in stone; most specifically, her father. She constantly mentions her dreams of becoming a scientist, of working with computers, only to be hit with "Well marry an astronaut" or something of the like by her parents. Being the only person to perform a perfect score on a standardised mathematics exams, her teacher then accuses her of cheating from another boy in the class (who in the end admits it was actually him who was guilty.) Towards the end of the latest season, Maureen is finally allowed to join computer club by her parents. The show plays incredibly well in terms of what is expected from the girls and women and how they're subsequently treated versus the boys and men. In one episode, after a sledding trip goes awry for the family, both the eldest son, Kevin, and Maureen suffer some injuries; Maureen gets an eye injury, and Kevin gets hypothermia. However, while Maureen's father gets up in arms about Maureen (his "princess") instead of demanding that Kevin get hospital treatment, he throws the (at this point blue with cold) teenager a blanket, telling him to get over it. The show's, and father's reactions are incredibly intuitive and familiar, because it's what we're used to seeing in the media, and even in our own homes.

In terms of the grown-ups in the movies, there are some excellent story lines about how women must navigate the professional environment (or lack thereof established for them.) Sue, the mother of the family, got a good education, but had to put off going to college (much like her husband put off going to pilot school) due to her pregnancy with her first son. Already in the flashback scene we see of this, Frank (the father) assumes that Sue would be the one to take care of the baby, while he would have to find a job to provide support and take care of them- a natural progression back in that day. However, feeling un-inspired, Sue joins 'Plast-a-ware', a company that commissions people to travel locally and sell plastic containers. As Frank's job prospects seem bleak throughout the show's progression, and he gets fired, Sue gets a part-time job, which then leads to a full-time position at the corporate sector of the firm. Starting out as simply a secretary that is ridiculed and harassed by her misogynist male colleagues, her and her female boss Dana embark on an independent project to go straight to the female founder of 'Plast-a-ware'- Sue's invention of the lettuce dryer. Sue and Dana must go behind the men's backs to get the idea pushed through- even though Dana is their technical senior, proving the natural imbalance of power granted to women in corporate environments. In addition, the family's neighbour, Vic, a notorious playboy and successful DJ at the local radio-station, has his girl-friend Brandy (called "Cutie pie") move in; and while she enjoys Vic and his company and their relationship, the show sees her slow and dwindling distress at sitting home and being bored all day as Vic claims he's "taking care" of her, while in reality simply not giving her the scope to develop a career and be much more than a body for him to come home to.

The show is starkly so about other issues around family life too; and yet gender roles are highlighted and are obviously a big part of it. What is the most incredible thing is that the show is still relatable to audiences, despite being set in the 1970s- it touches on socio-political climates and racial tensions as well (although not as much, yet there is an excellent storyline in which Frank, after being fired, becomes employed by a black man). The show doesn't touch as much on sexuality, but does see homosexuality as being used to insult people- another gross hangover from the past that is still around today.  yet, a show in the 70s, a known time for racial and class tensions in Western society, shouldn't have to be so relevant today. We shouldn't feel so at home with the images we do, and yet 'F is for Family' unsettlingly portrays our truth for us. It's an excellent show, and by all means you should all watch it, but get ready to get real uncomfortable as class, race, and gender divisions are so clearly pointed out.

[pinkxsheets-blog]

Respect and conquer

I used to be very hesitant to talk about feminism, or question the implications of it, within my family, because I know the kinds of negative stereotypes that have come across it. Being from an immigrant family, it's always daunting to talk about an ideology that's considered a Western phenomena at the risk that you will be seen to be abandoning your culture, distancing your self from your heritage all because you've been fooled and charmed  by faux liberal western antics. However, as I explored this discussion more, I wondered if less and less of it was about culture, and rather relied  on age.

We all know that gender identity and the notion that all genders are equal and of course the idea that no one gender is smarter or more truly capable than the other are truths: and yet, we see feminism as a very ***new*** phenomena. We millennials have taken the ideology head on and embraced it so wholly, it's easy to think we invented the notion. But amongst all this, it's easy to see that within our movement, segregation and different strands of feminist thinking do of course emerge- this doesn't have to be a bad phenomena, because after all an open and free democratic system must always be at the core of a liberating movement, but there comes a problem with when we see our very own allies pulled to the side because they may not posses the qualities of the liberated individual as seen in the mainstream: beautiful boys and girls embracing within them a gender queerness, being unapologetic, and recreating Bowie album covers is always a visually pleasing display. But what about the feminists that may not be confident, may not be so unapologetic in their expressions? What about gender-neutral and gender queer persons who may not have a white or cis privilege to rely on that could help them smoothly and without criticism  And most especially, what about the non-millennial feminists, which may not be as involved in social media, that may not have a free and open network to reach out to, that may still feel woven into the decades that shaped them to not speak out about it all?

The truth is that while the internet has been in more than one way a connector and blessing to our generation, it has always driven a big wedge between “us” and “them.” “Us”, trendy kids who can utilise the internet to show our views, send some dank memes to express our political cynicism, and share our thoughts without having the same restrictions and hesitations an open conversation or live debate may. However, these very real restrictions are still a reality for the older generation, a lot of whom do of course do use the internet, but many of which won’t have a hyper active presence on it like the “us” do. And that’s important to note when we discuss feminism and its implication with “them.” These people have grown up in a reality where there wasn’t as easy an escape forum, and have lived their life in battles and been overshadowed time and time again, so simply segregating feminist implications into current and “outdated” views isn’t good enough. Of course different gender identities existed before us, of course men and women believed in the concepts and benefits of gender identity before that one Beyonce music video. It wasn’t like the whole world suddenly woke up, saw a TED talk and decided that we collectively shouldn’t act like dicks. But these people operated within some very real barriers, and we have to humble, respectful and more than understanding of that; it’s our duty to our allies, when we debate them.

We have to send our respect to all those who believed ideas that were radical that felt they could never be herd.

To all those who spoke  these ideas and were shut down, overshadowed and marginalised.

To all those who may not be the image of the ultimate and liberated and conventionally attractive warrior with an unapologetic caption.

We have to stay by everyone we aim to protect and help.