Sorry!

Hey people/ person/ no one (I have no idea how many people/any people are reading this or even care :))

I’m sorry I haven’t blogged in ageeeeeeeess. Y’see I’ve got AS exams (1st year A-level) coming up and I’ve been revising my ass off. I know thats a totally lame excuse but I should start again in about a week with even more gusto than before!!!

I must say at the moment I am totally hooked on an American mental health blog called The Trouble With Spikol. The blogger, Liz Spikol, writes so informatively about mental health – a topic which I know nothing about – but does it with a sense of humour. Check out her videos on You Tube as well.

Another thing which should keep you entertained is a set of videos about feminism on True Tube. It’s got some cool people in it; Kat Banyard (Fawcett Society), Jenni Murray (Woman’s Hour)…

Also, for fun inbetween revision (as if it weren’t fun enough!) I’ve been making an elastic band ball – how Cool am I? Yes, that is cool with a capital ‘c’. Here’s how its been progressing:

 

Lap Dancing Clubs

 Object‘s new campaign, “Stripping the Illusion” – go sign the petition! Under current licensing laws, it is easy for lap dance clubs to open. When many of these clubs open, they create “no-go” areas for women. Research undertaken by the Lilith Project in 2003 in Camden found that in the years following the opening of a lap dance club on Tottenham Court Road, reports of female rape increased by 50% and reports of sexual assaults against women increased by 50%. We must protect our right to feel safe on the streets.

“Under current legislation lap dancing clubs are licensed in the same way as cafes or karaoke and require only a Premises Licence. The Licensing Act 2003 restricted the power of both local authorities and residents to have a say in the licensing of lap dancing clubs. This is wholly inadequate.

Research confirms that lap dancing clubs are part of the commercial sex industry. The buying and selling of sexual services occurs in some clubs and women performers face poor working conditions and high levels of harassment. Lap dancing clubs have a negative impact on the safety and well being of women living and working near them. They normalise the sexual objectification of women. It is clear that lap dancing clubs have a deeper social impact than cafes or karaoke. Licensing must recognise this.

We call on the Government to rethink licensing and re-categorise lap dancing clubs as Sex Encounter Establishments. This would give local authorities the same licensing powers as apply to sex shops, ensure better regulation and give local people a far greater say in licensing.”

“We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to to re-categorise lap dancing clubs as Sex Encounter Establishments.” Sign the petition.

Start Your Blog Engines…

In the past couple of days that I’ve been blogging I’ve found a couple of articles that have given me some pointers on how to do this stuff properly! I thought I might post them on here, so that us novice bloggers can get some tips:

• Feministe – How to start a successful feminist blog.
• eHow – How to promote your blog.
• Post comments on other websites and link to your website.
• Add videos to your blog.
• Have goals/aims.
• Set time aside to blog – have a routine.

Happy blogging 😀

Stripping the Illusion: The Re-License Lap Dancing Campaign

Check out this new campaign from OBJECT – pure genius!

STRIPPING THE ILLUSION: THE RE-LICENCE LAP DANCING CAMPAIGN

OBJECT’s new campaign launches on Tuesday April 22nd.

Our campaign calls for lap dancing clubs to be recognised as part of the commercial
sex industry and licensed as Sex Encounter Establishments, rather than in the
same way as pubs, cafes or karaoke nights as they currently are.

Current licensing is INADEQUATE and makes it easy for lap dancing clubs to obtain licences and
difficult for local authorities or residents to oppose them.

OBJECT is working with MPs, Peers and colleagues for a re-categorisation of lap dancing
clubs.

This will take the power out of the hands of club operators and put it back in to the hands
of local authorities.

Re-catergorisation would give local authorities the same licensing powers as apply to sex shops and sex cinemas.
Importantly, it will also give people a greater say in the licensing of lap dancing.

Changing licensing is a crucial step in challenging the increased sexual objectification of women.

Help us send out the message that the sex industry is not normal, not benign and
should not be licensed in the same way as cafes and karaoke nights.

Speakers at the launch will include:

• Baroness Gould, Dr Roberta Blackman-Woods MP, Gill Mitchell; Brighton and Hove City Councillor, Julie Bindel; researcher and journalist, Kat Banyard; Fawcett Society, Professor Marion Roberts; night time economy specialist, Westminster University.

Venue: 12 – 1pm Campaign Launch, House of Commons. 1.30 – 3pm Photo-stunt and protest, Parliament Square.

How to book: To register for either or both events please RSVP to sandrine@object.org.uk.

“Hey Nice Jugs”

Hooters could be opening near you, according to the f-word. Laura Woodhouse (F-Word) was arguing (quite rightly – well done!) on Tony Livesey’s BBC Radio 5 Live show on Friday that Hooters is sexist and it isn’t a good idea for more branches (there’s one in Nottingham already) to open in the UK on Tony Livesey’s BBC Radio 5 Live show on Friday. American Vice President of Marketing, Mike McNeil was also on the show putting the case forward for Hooters saying that it was just a bit of fun.

Feminist Music Time!

A slightly lighter topic that the one I discussed earlier. I’ve come up with a few (drop in the ocean type thing here) cool feminist musicians which I’m suggesting as an alternative to some of the mainstream music (and music videos) which most of us are exposed to on a daily basis. I saw Nicole Scherzinger’s video over at The Egalitarian Bookworm and I have to agree with poster, fellow-ette, that this video kinda glorifies rape. Also, I think I might have to scream for eternity if I hear Flo-Rida’s Low song AGAIN: “Work the pole, I got the bank roll/Imma say that I prefer them no clothes/I’m into that, I love women exposed”. So here are my alternatives (please comment with any others): 

• My personal favourite feminist musician is Ani DiFranco. Sorry to be boring, but the woman kicks ass. I reckon, from a feminist POV ‘Not A Pretty Girl’ has gotta be her best song.
• A cool song which I’m sure loads of you have heard is ‘Mother of Pearl’ by Nellie MacKay. It’s got some great lines, including the sarcastic- type refrain “Feminists don’t have a sense of humour.” 
• Indigo Girls, especially ‘Closer To Fine’….
• and Melissa Etheridge are pretty cool artists.
• Dar Williams deserves a mention.
• As does Joan Jett.
• Yo Majesty! are a duo based in Florida who are showing the chauvinists how its done in hip-hop.
• Obviously there’s a ton of riot grrrls: 7 Year Bitch, Sleater-kinney, Veruca Salt, Team Dresch, ***Bikini Kill*** etc., etc. and Kim Gordon should totally get a mention.
• Finally, you have to love Eurythmics and Aretha Franklin for giving us ‘sisters are doin’ it for themselves’!

White Privilege

Okay, so recently I’ve have been investigating the idea of white privilege. It was only when I read the chapter ‘A Quick Academic Aside’ in ‘Full Frontal Feminism’ by Jessica Valenti of Feministing (love Feministing too much for words :D) and reading this piece by Jessica Hoffmann (which I found linked on Feministe) that I started to question white privilege. Hoffmann criticises white feminism and says that it doesn’t take into account the issues of women of colour. I think it is really important for us to ensure that all women are equal, not just women of a particular race, so I’ve started educating myself on these issues.

Sorry if I am trying to educate people on things they already know but the fact that I did not know about these issues makes me wonder how many other people don’t know about them. I’ve picked up a few links in the past few days which I’ll share in case you want to find out more:

• Jessica Hoffmann – On Prisons, Borders, Safety, and Privilege: An Open Letter to White Feminists
• If you haven’t read Peggy McIntosh’s (often used in women’s studies) ‘White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack’, then you definitely should. Her argument starts basically, men in society are mostly willing to accept that women are underprivileged but not ususally that they are overprivilieged. Men do not recognize male privilege just as whites do not recognize white privilege. Therefore, whites should realise their privilege.
• Colours of resistance (Many articles).
• Angela Davis – Women, Race and Class, Are Prisons Obsolete?
• Check out Woc PhD – loads of links.
• The prison abolition movement is quite linked in with these issues as the criminal justice system is seen to be racist (and classist). Perosnally, I’m not entirely sure that I’ve seen any alternatives to the current system that I think would work better.

If anyone has any other links at would be great to add them in the comments.