By Lauren Barbato, Ms Magazine Blog
“I find this onslaught of anti-women legislation repulsive,” says 23-year-old Amanda Velez. “These proposed laws condescend to a level where women are treated as something much less than human.” A resident of Elizabethtown, Kentucky, Velez told me her feminist views are often met with hostility in her “typical Bible Belt” state.
But today, she’ll know she’s not alone.
"The thing about this is that sculptures like these in art history were for the male gaze. Photoshop a phone to it and suddenly she’s seen as vain and conceited. That’s why I’m 100% for selfie culture because apparently men can gawk at women but when we realize how beautiful we are we’re suddenly full of ourselves…" —Kiyun Kim
A young and beautiful girl posted a piece of paper selfie every day on Instagram, the most popular social network at the moment. In just over 4 months, with 184 selfies, her fans quickly rose to 90,000. In the photo, she is sometimes sweet and lovely, sometimes sexy and attractive, and sometimes turned into a healthy and positive "organic girl"... Now there are nearly 150,000 people around the world who follow her every day.
Leilei Zhang was harassed on a public bus when a man gripped her hand, glared at her and refused to let go. With the determination to raise public awareness, Leilei began a crowd-funding campaign to raise money for what could have been China's first public anti-sexual harassment advertisement. She approached the authorities of her home city, Guangzhou, but it did not want to take on the advertising for fear it would panic the public.
At TED2009, audience member Cindy Gallop gave a 4-minute presentation that became one of the event’s most talked about. Speaking from her personal experience, she argued that hardcore pornography had distorted the way a generation of young men think about sex, and talked about how she was fighting back with the launch of a website to correct the myths being propagated.
From Women's News NetworkYEMEN: Even though the connection to the
internet has been intermittent at best and often too slow, women
advocates in Yemen are now working to push digital tech as a means to
improve society and gain human rights. As women continue to
battle extreme sexual harassment on the streets of Cairo, Egypt, women
The #LikeAGirl campaign was aired as a commercial during the 2015 SuperBowl. In the commercial, young girls were asked to act out certain phrases. They were told to "fight like girl", "throw a ball like a girl", "run like and girl", and so on. As an adolescent or an adult, these phrases carry a negative connotation. Girls are seen as weak, frilly, and inferior.
The story behind Thea, the 12-year-old child bride from Norway
By Andrew Russell - Global News
WATCH ABOVE: Hear the whole story of Thea, a 12-year-old child bride from Norway.
Her name is Thea.
She is a 12-year-old girl living in Norway and on Saturday she is set to marry a 37-year-old man named Geir, becoming the country’s first official child bride.
If you've been to a Bay Area protest or community event, you've probably seen -- or even met those nuns in whiteface -- The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.
Devoted to human rights globally and locally, AIDS education, and respect for diversity, this controversial Order of Queer Nuns has long been a staple of San Francisco's cultural fabric. They join host Joseph Pace for the hour.
Guests:
For third world artists who are forced into exile, the creativity process could be greatly challenged due to displacement in language, community and history. Many filmmakers in exile tend to look at their connection to the homeland in strictly political terms, or give up making films overall.
Empathy may be the cornerstone of any Global Justice movement, but how do we cultivate the conditions for empathy to thrive?
The wheelbarrow symbolises something universally useful, practical and pleasingly straightforward. A space to deliver things in an efficient and direct manner - no packaging and completely people powered.
Auli'i Cravalho Makes Powerful Statement in Support of Missing Indigenous Women with Lipstick Handprint
"I felt like I had to put my money where my mouth was," the actress said on the red carpet at the Power premiere
By Michelle Lee
Published on March 24, 2023 12:03 PM
For Auli'i Cravalho, actions speak louder than words.
Catcalls of NYC is an organization that uses Instagram and everyday intervention as a platform of raising awareness about street sexual harassment. The group receives direct messages from people who have been catcalled on the street. The group goes to the location of the harassment and writes the catcall on the sidewalk in chalk. The Instagram account CatcallsofNYC then posts on their account a picture of the chalk writing.
In May 1992, a series of 24 billboards displaying an identical image began appearing throughout New York City. They featured a giant close-up black-and-white photograph, without text, of a rumpled bed, pillows still indented from the heads that had rested there.
Meet Shamsia Hassani. At age 24, she is one of Afghanistan's first female graffiti artists.
An associate professor of sculpture at Kabul University, she was first introduced to graffiti in 2010 by British artist, Chu, during a week-long course in street art.
Meet also Malina Suliman, 23, who has been receiving threats from extremists due to her work in graffiti.
Sitting at a folding table in the basement of Trinity Episcopal Church in downtown Columbus, Monica Jacobo used a felt tip marker to write the words “No means no!” on a white bandana.
As part of an international workshop (10-11 October 2015) with the Center for Artistic Activism, 17 trans activists and artists from 13 European countries developed a creative campaign to mark some of the spaces in Berlin which have symbolic significance for trans people.
The Monument Quilt is a large quilt that serves as a memorial for survivors of rape and abuse. It contains over 3,000 stories from individuals who have experienced gender-based violence, and allows visitors to add their own stories by writing, painting, or stitching onto red fabric. The project took place over a span of six years, during which the organizers traveled to 49 states and 33 cities in the U.S.
Lady Gaga showed up to the 2010 MTV Music Video Awards wearing a dress made out of raw meat. She claimed that the dress showed her disgust towards the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy, but missed the media opportunity to clearly string her thoughts together.
Bob and Roberta Smith has been at the forefront of activist art for 2 decades; so who better to ask about how art is responding to these politically bleak times?
A big yellow banner hangs off the Central Methodist Church in Cape Town, South Africa proclaiming that *"Jesus was the first to decriminalise sex work - John 8:7"*
When Disney and Barneys partnered together to create a runway-ready Minnie Mouse, outrage ensued from size and body acceptance activists claiming that the new Minnie Mouse was too skinny. Ragen Chastain, a leader in the Health at Every Size movement, and founder of popular blog "Dances With Fat," jumped on the controversy, and started a change.org petition that garnered over 145,000 signatures.
Grammys 2015: Abuse survivor Brooke Axtell talks Katy Perry, advocacy
by Nardine Saad
Domestic abuse survivor and advocate Brooke Axtell captivated audiences watching the Grammy Awards on Sunday with a stirring spoken-word piece before Katy Perry's performance of her ballad "By the Grace of God" at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
For some, International Women’s Day is a day for the celebration of the social, cultural, and professional achievements of women. Many others, on the other hand, believe that we are not yet at the point of celebration, arguing that with gender inequality and gender-based violence rampant worldwide, celebrations are not what International Women’s Day should be about.