The International Women’s Rights Collective (IWRC) went to the third annual Women in the World Summit last weekend. The Summit, as I expected, was built on post-imperialistic rhetoric where women from the third world countries were victims and it was our job as privileged women from the West to rescue them via the power of capitalism. That said, the amazing women leaders, survivors, and activists accounted for the sponsors’ ignorant rhetoric. Topics of the panel included forced marriage, sex trafficking, glass ceiling, and media among others.
My favorite moments from the panel somehow came together when Shelby Knox (who, despite being one of the younger panelists, was a TOTAL BOSS) responded to the question of why this generation of young women is not as active in the movement as its …
In its formative days (in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and then in the 1960s and ‘70s), feminism was, above all, about promoting equal social and political citizenship for women. Contemporary feminism – the “third wave” – is, like today’s world, far more complex than its predecessors. It’s not just about equality anymore (though this is and always will be an issue). To me, today’s feminism is less about getting equal pay and spouting catchy phrases (“down with the patriarchy!”) and more about fostering a world in which women, men, and transgendered people all have the opportunity to live healthy, happy lives as whole and fully valued human beings. To me, feminism is about turning current concepts of gender, sexuality, rape, and more completely on their heads. I …
“Using video and still imagery, the I’m Feminist Enough… project seeks to visualize the fresh face of feminism and demonstrate to our young sisters (and brothers) the value of feminist thought in our daily lives in a manner that is simple, sexy, modern and easy. Featuring: Lyani Powers, Hillary Crosley, Leilani Montes, Venus Okeke, Clover Hope and Shantrelle Lewis. Shot in New York City, 2011.”
A few months ago, I had the privilege of interviewing Jessica Valenti – founder of Feministing, author of Full Frontal Feminism and awesome person all around.
Today’s youth culture encourages females and males alike to embrace their sexuality and allows a freedom of expression. But it seems this freedom of sexual expression has ended up glamorising the idea that females are nothing more than sexual objects. Or at least, it seems that’s what girls our age think.
I have to wonder – how have girls our age not heard of the efforts made by Emmeline Pankhurst and the Suffragettes at the beginning of the 20th century? Or the women’s liberation protest demonstration at the 1969 Miss World beauty contest? I have discovered that there are very few teenage girls out there who fully comprehend the feminist movement and its effects on society, and, more importantly, its hopes and aspirations for the future generations of women.
I live in a catholic country (Italy), in a small town and I go to a catholic and very conservative school.
I am not very religious and, most importantly, I am a feminist. This means I don’t agree with my religion teacher (who is a priest) most of the time, but at least he’s prepared to listen. Religion doesn’t interfere with our academic education, but we do get educated in a Catholic environment: Latin choir, masses, prayers in the morning, that sort of thing. I usually look forward to compulsory religion lessons on Tuesdays, not because I’m particularly passionate about the subject, but for the chance of interesting discussions, where I can express my own feminist views on certain subjects we talk about: abortion, birth control, homosexuality, divorce etc.
The past few days I’ve noticed some hating going on towards modern feminism on tumblr, and hey, everyone’s entitled to their own opinions, but it still frustrates me. I don’t think people really understand what modern feminism is and that there’s still reasons to fight, even if it’s not necessarily the reasons of the 60′s. I mean, I didn’t even really understand what modern feminism was until about a year ago.
People hear the word feminism and associate it with the fight to stay out of the kitchen. It’s just not. I mean, if you want to talk feminism and the kitchen, feminism believes it’s a woman’s choice to stay in or out of the kitchen. I for one, try to avoid the kitchen at all costs because I can hardly …
I love Kathleen Hanna and Bikini Kill. A lot. So when I saw this very recent interview with her, considering she doesn’t do that many, I knew I had to share! She talks about zines v. blogging, the Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls, feminist leadership and…*sigh* she’s just awesome.
GRITtv writes:
Kathleen Hanna came into a music scene in the 90s that was angry, violent, and full of men. She and her bandmates in Bikini Kill, along with the rest of the riot grrrl movement, pushed back against that culture and helped usher in a new “wave” of feminism. After Bikini Kill, Hanna went on to make feminist dance music with Le Tigre and has kept pushing boundaries ever since. Recently, she donated her zine archive to …
