come together

I went to a feminist summer school this weekend.  You may laugh, if you like.  There were things that made me laugh, like the badges for sale saying ‘Menstruate with Pride’.  I didn’t part with the pound it would have cost me, I figured if I really wanted one, perhaps @simontkey could make it for me next time he is feeling generous with his creativity.  To be honest I prefer to menstruate with subtlety.  I’d rather have one saying ‘it’s not PMT, I just really hate you’.

I digress, because I am tired.  Empowerment is exhausting.

I won't attempt a review but these are my thoughts and responses after two days of #femschool.

I signed up for the event some time ago because I have been interested for a long time in women’s issues but had no idea how to get involved, or what sort of involvement I wanted.  I knew I didn’t want to shout slogans and wave placards; I also knew I didn’t want to have endless negative discussions about things that were unlikely to change.  I’m not a ranty person but I still wanted my voice to be heard against the injustices I saw in the world.

So this seemed to be an opportunity to find out what was out there and if there were any people thinking similarly to me.  Also, it was free.

I nearly didn’t go: after a low week the thought of spending two days in the company of strangers was terrifying.  What should I wear?  What should I say to people?  Will I be judged or branded unfeminist for some of my views (or indeed for worrying about what to wear)?

The event was being held at the Amnesty offices in Shoreditch.  One of the sessions was led by a woman from Amnesty who had led a campaign for a change in law to assist women who need to leave a violent partner but are ineligible for public funds.  During this talk it occurred to me that saying one is a feminist often results in an eye-roll or derogatory comment whereas saying one is a supporter of human rights issues does not.  Sitting in the auditorium, the stage flanked by banners featuring the barbed wire-wrapped candle, it suddenly seemed blindingly obvious to me that feminist issues are human rights issues.

This thought stayed with me all weekend and coloured my views of everything else I saw.  This morning I found myself watching a film on female genital mutilation, which was less funny than the menstruation badges.  A recent Guardian article about this happening to British girls highlighted the subject which is often my counter to the assertion that feminism’s job ended with the vote and the pill.

I will admit that I had bought a packet of ten Marlboros on the way there as a prop: smokers’ corners are good (if unhealthy) places for the networking-shy to hang out in the hope of either joining a conversation by osmosis or else looking nonchalant about not joining one.  In the event I overheard someone mention Snog Marry Avoid and accidentally blurted out the opinion that it is quite a feminist programme, thus finding myself mid-debate.  This led to a discussion about inclusivity in feminism: should it welcome people who are anti-abortion, glamour models, men?  This was a conversation that seemed to be popping up all over the place and one that particularly interests me.  Unless you are interested in feminism, or you know me, you are perhaps unlikely to have read this far (if you have, thank you).  But that is what I would really like to change.  Being at the summer school clarified those thoughts for me and made me feel that it is possible to take some action that I can identify with.

I'm glad I braved it.  I met interesting, thoughtful and welcoming people.  Recently I reviewed a play from which my favourite quote was ‘we shouted, not shrieked’.  There was a lot of laughing, debating, clapping and cheering this weekend.  But no shrieking.

Women, Power and Politics

a review I wrote: http://www.thefword.org.uk/reviews/2010/07/women_power_pol

reasons to be feminist: 1,2,3

Ok. So it’s International Women’s Day. What do we do to celebrate? Knit a cake perhaps? I’m looking forward to the Women show on BBC4 tonight, not least because it assuages my guilt about how rarely I use that channel, a bit like 6Music, but also because the programme looks interesting, relevant and hopefully will increase my understanding of female history. On Twitter I follow Subtext magazine, who have linked to a review of said programme, which complains in-depth about the lack of black and minority ethnic women featured. Without having seen it, I’m sure it’s an issue worth taking up, however my first response to seeing the topic was exasperation. One of the reasons girls – and women – now don’t want to be classed as feminist is because it conjures up images of nit-picking, humourless, angry battleaxes who find reason to take issue with everything. Sounds rather like a description of Daily Mail readers and surely no good feminist worth his or her salt would want to sit in a boat with them? I have always been glad that there are people prepared to be angrier and more extreme than me (on any subject), as it opens debates and asks questions of us woollier liberals; but let’s see the positives as well as raising those important points. Essentially there is no point in preaching to the converted: appealing to a wider audience does not mean compromise or loss of integrity, just wisdom to separate the issues according to what is appropriate.

Back to the Day in question, what exactly is it for? Something we hear a great deal is that feminism has done its work, basic equality exists; again it is hard to disagree without negativity. In this country, a great deal more equality exists than did when I was born, and a vast amount more than thirty or fifty years before that. There are no dealbreaker issues for people to get excited about: the vote, the workplace, the pill; we have the right to all these. Yet conversely we can see that in some ways this is the least women-friendly time to live in: intellect and strength valued far less than physical attributes; men encouraged to be boorish or risk the inevitable epithet. No-one, or perhaps everyone, is to blame for this. We have all allowed it to happen because, to a certain extent, raunch culture suits both sexes and can be a positive part of sexual liberation. But most men I know, while appreciating the amount of flesh on offer, are not really delighted with a future of vapid, opinionless women with whom to share their beds. And women do not really want to continue with the size-zero permatanned big hair model, paranoid about losing their looks because that is all they have of value.

That’s another blog really. But if we break that problem down, it is made up of small issues, some of them deeply personal. We cannot get angry at the men and women who are happy with the status quo, just keep carving out our paths and finding positives elsewhere in order to be an inspiration rather than a nagging voice in the ear (go Kathryn Bigelow!). Similarly, a recent article on the feministing website covered the issue that if people are not interested in watching women’s sport, tv companies are not going to cover it and pay will remain low. An American website has started a campaign to encourage people to attend live events which seems a more healthy attitude than whinging about it.

Sport is of course not the only area where the pay gap is an issue; in this country women work for, on average, 17% less pay, which the Fawcett Society have a campaign to reduce. Equality legislation has meant that this is less than in the past but further legislation would run the risk of making women worth far less in the workplace than a man. Anecdotal evidence tells us that there are already plenty of employers who will avoid employing women because they will cost the company money in the long run. So to my mind, as above, we need to break it down into reasons why this gap still exists and find many small solutions that build to a whole. The blog I was writing when this one interrupted is entitled ‘Equality for Men’, which may seem a strange subject for Women’s Day but I feel it is essential in the move towards a future where men and women are equally recompensed for their labour.

Aha. But now we come on to what was meant to be the main point of this piece. Brevity has never been my strong point. It’s not Women’s Day, is it? It’s International Women’s Day. And if you want to find something to get angry about, worth fighting for on a big, worldwide scale, try clitoridectomies, try forced marriage, try honour killings. These things happen here and abroad, on all continents, often in the name of religion. As a liberal I am meant to be terribly tolerant of other cultures and religions but the people carrying out these atrocities have chosen to do so out of their extremist interpretation of scripture or history and I feel no need to respect them. I feel, in fact, very angry. To read about the women who commit suicide rather than endure a life of subjugation, the women who run and are caught and tortured, the women who set up help for others and risk becoming a target themselves, is an education. The women who are fighting to eradicate these, who stand up for themselves in the face of rape, violence and mortal danger are the true suffragettes of our day and they are the ones I will be celebrating this International Women’s Day.