Subtle Stereotypes

Standing behind the till at work on a sunny Sunday afternoon, a middle aged man with a friendly looking face walked into the shop with his two children. "Hello" he greeted me, and then, before I could reply, he cleared his throat and said "sorry, that sounded very girly." He then said "hello" again, this time in a deeper voice.

What struck me about this comment was his need to apologise for sounding slightly feminine, and this 'masculine image' he felt he needed to live up to. In our current society it is easy to claim that we have been freed from historic social constraints, and the idea that in this day and age the British public are oppressed would, I'm sure, be met with scathing remarks from many people. 

However, I believe that due to the pressure to conform which society exerts upon us, we are not completely liberated. On the contrary our culture is based upon gender stereotypes, so much so that this man I encountered did not want to appear even the slightest bit female. Perhaps this is due to the fact that women are perceived as weaker than men due to generally not being as physically strong. 

It saddens me that whilst on a train today I overheard a female university student saying to her friend "but it's harder for girls isn't it, because we're shy." This, I would argue, demonstrates how many girls feel. There exists a subtle feeling of inferiority that creeps into the minds of many girls, and weighs them down from an early age. The harsh gender stereotypes present in our society oppresses us all. 

This is not solely an issue which affects women (and members of the LGBT community), it affects men too. The pressure to behave in a 'manly' way leads to many males suppressing their emotions, perhaps a factor in the high incidences of suicide among men, "Suicide remains the most common cause of death in men under the age of 35." (Five Years On, Department Of Health, 2005)

There remains much more to be said on this issue, but for now I shall leave it at this. The pressures we face daily in our lives are so inherent that we barely notice inequality and oppression, to the extent where these views are commonplace and remain unquestioned. 

Written by Lili

Picture credit: Ellen

Five Years On, Department Of Health, 2005, http://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/help-information/mental-health-statistics/suicide/

International Women's Day

So to celebrate this day, I thought I would write a short post outlining the origins and achievements of International Women's Day.

It all started in Chicago, 1908, where they celebrated the first Women's Day. A year later, in New York City, the first International Women's Day was held. It was the Socialist Party of America which organised this day, and they were primarily concerned with the rights of working women. Demands for equality were made, and oppression of women was battled. Most of all though, women campaigned for the right to vote, something which was achieved "nationally in 1920." (Wikipedia.com)

Since then women worldwide have gone on strikes and participated in demonstrations on the 8th March each year. Notably in 1914 (the year of the first official International Women's Day) British women staged a march from Bow to Trafalgar Square in support of women's suffrage; Sylvia Pankhurst, however, was arrested on her way to speak in Trafalgar Square.

In 1977 the United Nations recognised the 8th March as a global holiday, and people were encouraged to dedicate this day to promoting women's rights.

Each year since 1996 there has been a theme assigned to each day. This year it is 'Empowering Women, Empowering Humanity: Picture it!.' I personally really like the message this portrays, it highlights the fact that women's rights are relevant for all of humanity. By empowering and liberating women we will inevitably have a better society, and we should strive to achieve equality. Since this  benefits at least 49.6% of the population (although arguably men would, of course, also be better off), I cannot see this would not be a good idea.

In summary, this is a day we should all be proud of, and thankful for. Although there is still much progress to be made, as stated by Helen Pankhurst, Great-Granddaughter of Emmeline Pankhurst,  "The suffragettes of old would say that the vote was only ever the beginning," (BBC News) today gives us the opportunity to celebrate the progress we have made and to remind everyone that the fight is far from over. 

For more information check out the website: http://www.internationalwomensday.com 

Also see our page: http://www1.internationalwomensday.com/adamandeven#.VPx0VzSsVpO 

Written by Lili 


Picture Credit: Ellen

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_suffrage_in_the_United_Stateshttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-31786675 https://www.ined.fr/en/everything_about_population/demographic-facts-sheets/faq/more-men-or-more-women-in-the-world/http://heavy.com/social/2015/03/international-womens-day-google-doodle-march-8-2015/ 

Yoghurt Pots, Why Not?

My Mum is suddenly keen on an idea. Buy larger yoghurt pots. If you don't have small children and you don't need to transport it anywhere, why not buy bigger ones? It means less plastic is wasted even if you diligently recycle/reuse your pots.

No effort and yet helping the environment.

Just a thought,

Ellen

P.s. or become vegan

P.p.s. Lili also points out that it's cheaper to buy in bulk 

Picture credit: Ellen

Time for Fair Play

It is true that in the last 100 years many of the issues prominent in the female society have begun to be targeted and overall conditions for many women have improved with more freedom of speech and a higher political status. However, even today there exist some sectors of society where women are not treated equally to men. Sport is one of these sectors.

A BBC Sport study from 2014 revealed ‘30% of sports - including golf, cricket and squash - pay prize money that rewards men more highly than women.’ The biggest disparities concerning this is in football, for instance ‘Arsenal won both the men's and women's FA Cup this year, but while the men were given £1.8 million, Arsenal Ladies received £5,000 for their win.' (BBC Sport) This means that the men were given a shocking 360 times more than the female team. 

We live in a society where inequalities are supposedly being phased out. However, with such a massive difference in pay between male and female sport it is evident that this is not always the case. Many argue that the reason for this shocking statistic is that there is less public attention for female sport and therefore it is not viable for them to be paid equally. However, the reason there is not as much interest in women’s sport is because female sport is repeatedly denied the opportunity of being represented in the media. Surely, the increasing interest in female tennis proves that there is a viable interest in female sport. As a result of this tennis is one of the few sports that has equal pay for women.

It is not just the matter of pay inequalities in sport that is concerning, but the seemingly conspicuous attitude that female sport is less important. At a rugby dinner last year I was appalled to see that the whole list of the female rugby players had been ‘missed’ from the guest list. How can female athletes expect to earn enough money from their careers when there is such an obvious lack of respect for what they are doing?

Pressure is now being put on schools as ‘2 million fewer women than men [play] regular sport’ (The Guardian) but what is there to motivate women to participate in sport? The prospect of a sporting career for a woman currently is practically impossible in comparison to the male ‘elite,’ so why would anyone attempt to follow such an uncertain career path? Moreover, schools themselves pay little attention to female sport in comparison to their male counterparts. I myself have seen male prospects in school P.E. having considerably more help with training than women with an equivalent ability.

If people wish for female sport to attract more of a public platform to enable equality, then the media should allow it one. Athletes around the world are being cheated out of a career on the simple premises that they are female. Despite this we are being told that for the first time in history women are on an equal status to men; I ask you to look again.

Written by Grace

Picture credit: Willow

 http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/jul/25/school-pe-lessons-putting-girls-off-sport  
 http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/29786682  

The Elephant in the Room

It was found in a study carried out by King's College London that "80% of obese people had never talked about their weight with their doctor." This strikes me as incredible. In the UK we have the third highest level of obesity in Europe, that is to say that "67% of men and 57% of women are either overweight or obese." (Global Burden of Disease study)  

We clearly need to tackle this problem, but with it being increasingly frowned upon to label people as fat - for fear of leading them to anorexia or similar - it is difficult to know what action it is acceptable to take. We seem to be tip-toeing around the problem in a truly English manner. For whilst there are many causes of obesity, for example the fact that "healthy food now costs three times as much as junk, study shows,” (The Independent), our unwillingness to tackle it only exacerbates the issue.

We live in a society where it has become taboo to accuse someone of being fat, and it seems to me that we are simply ignoring the problem and brushing it under the carpet. "Demand for larger women’s clothes has rocketed by 47% in five years" (The Mirror online) and I would argue that obesity is becoming more and more normalized in our current society. Whilst on the one hand it is obviously a positive thing to have people feeling comfortable with their body image, and there is evidence to support the fact that "for some people, eating in moderation is more of a challenge"(The Week). This is only beneficial up to a certain extent, and should not be an excuse for our increasingly overweight nation.

The fact that it is now acceptable and even normal to be overweight is, in my opinion, only making the problem worse. In order to tackle this concern it is necessary that we acknowledge the issue. 

If we look at the modelling industry, models suffering from eating disorders such as anorexia have been heavily criticized, to the extent that in 2006 models deemed to be too skinny were banned from participating in the Madrid Fashion Week (CNN.com). This is for obvious reasons, and of course we should not be promoting eating disorders, but those in the public eye have a responsibility to set a good example. However surely this reasoning applies to both extremes? Why is there no such action being taken against obese models? It could just as easily be argued that these women (and men?) are glorifying obesity, and what is worrying is the amount of support they have. Take plus size model Tess Munster for example, who currently has over 70,000 followers on Instagram. The difficulty is, that there is a fine line between making people feel more secure about their appearance, and promoting an unhealthy, and potentially dangerous, way of life.

Furthermore, people are so reluctant to be seen as targeting people who are overweight, that we are allowing future generations to grow up in a country where being overweight is the norm, and where people do not take good care of their bodies. I am all for promoting healthy body images, and I find it troubling how many young people are worried about their weight and appearance, however I do not think that it is justifiable or responsible for people to be promoting obesity. Instead we should be teaching and encouraging people to look after and value their bodies. It is there where we will reach an equilibrium without causing low self-esteem. 

Written by Lili

Picture Credit: Ellen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCmulICkfGQ
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/adele-style-sees-increase-in-plus-size-691834 
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/09/13/spain.models/
Global Burden of Disease study, published in the Lancet medical journal.  
http://www.nhs.uk/news/2014/10October/Pages/Healthy-food-costs-you-more-claim.aspx
'Exercise is a 'miracle cure'', The Week Magazine, 28th February 2015, Issue 1011

LGBTQIASPK: Demistifying the Acronym

Most people by now are aware of the acronym LGBT and what it stands for. However, the acronym is constantly expanding in the gay community as people try and get to grips with the colourful array of sexualities that make up the human race. The most extensive version of the acronym I have come across is: LGBTQIASPK, and the first time I came across it I had no idea what half the letters stood for. Searching the web did not help much as there seems to be no comprehensive guide that I could find explaining what each letter stood for and represented. This was frustrating as I was attempting to find out as much as possible about a community I knew very little about and yet the information was not readily available. This explains, to a small extent, the ignorance surrounding the LGBT community.

I went on to research the letters individually and decided I would do my bit to dispel the ignorance surrounding the acronym. I intend this to be the first of a series of posts where I will tackle each letter individually in depth.

For now, here is an overview of what each letter stands for:

L: Lesbian - a woman who loves/is attracted to other women

G: Gay - a man who loves/is attracted to other men

B: Bisexual - a person who loves/is attracted to both genders

T: Transgender - a person whose gender identity does not match the one they were assigned at birth

Q: Queer/Questioning -these labels allows for people who are unsure of their sexuality or simply do not want to define themselves in terms of the other letters

I: Intersex - A person whose gender is ambiguous at birth

A: Asexual- Someone who is not sexually attracted to anyone

S: Self Sexual - A cheeky addition by Betty Dodson and Carlin Ross: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Conys9LiGHg

P: Pansexual - a person who loves/is attracted to all genders

K: Kink - a controversial addition referring to people who engage in sexual activities that are not considered 'conventional'


Written by Ellen

Picture Credit: Ellen

50 Shades of Ignorance

Since the international bestseller Fifty Shades of Grey was released in 2011 it has broken world records selling 5.3 million copies, become more popular than the highway code and has been adapted into a film which grossed at $81.7 million in the US on the opening weekend. However despite the book’s undeniable success it has also attracted massive controversy.

It is clear that Fifty Shades of Grey has taken the public by storm for one main reason: sex. It is very much the Lady Chatterly’s Lover of today. It is indeed a refreshing sight to see so many people opening up to sexuality and taking a less judgemental stance on “taboo” subjects such as BDSM. However, it is also true that Fifty Shades has a much darker side to it. The protagonist, Ana, is subjected to emotional and sexual abuse throughout by the “love- interest” Christian Grey. In response to Ana expressing doubts, such as "I can't do this", Grey merely responds by saying things like "Oh Ana, don't overthink this". Also, phrases such as “I would find you. I can track your cell phone, remember?” are commonplace throughout the trilogy. This is clearly the coercive behaviour of an abuser and by no means a true depiction of a BDSM relationships where the use of safe words and consent are essential.

In light of this threatening element of the book, should it be surprising that so many people have blindly jumped on the Fifty Shades bandwagon? Astonishingly sex-education is still not mandatory in UK schools and the schools that do teach it rarely cover vital topics such as gender, sexuality and, most importantly, consent. Putting a condom on a banana is really about as in depth as it gets. Due to inadequate sex education, teenagers and young adults have no choice but to turn to other places to learn about sex. This means that when a book like Fifty Shades of Grey comes along it’s going to attract some hype. The fact that the series has captivated so many fans surely shows that people are curious and want to know more about sex. This illustrates the danger of pushing sex education under the carpet. People need to be educated properly by professionals about sex, not by sketchy internet porn and authors who know no more about BDSM than the reader.

But has the success of the Fifty Shades of Grey really been a catastrophe for feminism, and sex in general? Although it is true that the books undoubtedly send out harmful messages to the youth of today, it has brought attention to the void of information that has been left by substandard sex education and has highlighted issues surrounding consent and sex to the general public. The success of Fifty Shades of Grey is something we can all learn from and use to further the discussion about the need for better communication about sex.

Written by Tash

Edited by Ellen

Picture Credit: Ellen

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/9459779/50-Shades-of-Grey-is-best-selling-book-of-all-time.html

http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2015/feb/16/record-breaking-opening-weekend-for-50-shades-of-grey