Gender Across Borders

Before our big move to WordPress.org about a month ago, we had an automatic weekly newsletter. Somehow with the transition the newsletter function got lost but we finally set one up (shout out to MailChimp!). This newsletter delivers an email to your inbox every Monday morning (or afternoon, depending on where you are in the world) with last week’s articles on GAB. You can unsubscribe to the newsletter at any point, and we promise to never spam you. Never.

So what are you waiting for? Click here to sign up for our weekly newsletter. For those who previously subscribed to GAB back when we were at WordPress.com, we thank you and want to remind you that your email is already on our list.

And if you don’t already, you can follow us on Twitter (@GABblog), friend us on Facebook, and subscribe to our RSS feed and podcast.

Calling all global feminist artists! GAB is looking for a few good artists whose work reflects or is inspired by global feminism.

Are you an artist working in any medium? Have you been aching to discuss and publicize your work more often? Well, here’s your chance! Gender Across Borders is looking for artists (and yes, we leave that word up to your interpretation) from all around the world–especially those from outside North America and diverse backgrounds.

We’re encouraging you, as our readers and as global feminists, to contact us to discuss the possibilities of showing your work on GAB. We have some ideas, including an exciting new project that will be revealed in September, but we are open to your pitches as well. For more information on what we’re looking for in a pitch/submission, go to the Call for Submissions webpage and read the guidelines for Art Submissions. (This will give you an idea of the basic information we need from you.) A GAB editor will contact you to discuss the next steps.

And please feel free to spread this announcement around the web–that means we are giving you permission to post our call for artists directly on your blog, forum, or any web platform.

So, what are you waiting for? Write away and spread the word! If you have any questions about the submission/pitch process, feel free to email colleen@genderacrossborders.com.

Hey Global Feminists!

Here are a list of links about what other global feminists were up to this past week. We also want to know: What have you been reading/writing this week? Don’t forget to spread your own link love in the comments!

Mary is tired (December 1977) “The image of Mary carrying baby Jesus aims to encourage passengers to give up their seats to mothers with small children.” - Vintage Tokyo subway manner posters (Pink Tentacle)

Africa

• Decolonising African Feminism (AWID)
• Sudan: Thousands Struggle to Survive As Kalma Aid Cut Off (allAfrica News)
• African Thinkers on the Origin and Relevance of Ethnic Identity (Global Voices Online) Read the rest of this entry →

Hi,

Currently we’re switching hosts and because we’re a little technologically-inept, it’s taken us longer than we thought. We should be up and running by tomorrow. Thanks for your patience!

Sincerely,

the editors of GAB: Emily, Carrie, Jessica, Roxanne, Colleen, Amy, Kyle, and Maria

Amid all of Lady Gaga’s gender-bending and hot topic love affairs (most recently, her Phoenix concert appearance in which she bore writing on her body in protest of AZ SB 1070), a work of art was made found. I mean, made. Found…well, here it is:

Lady Gaga. Armitage Shanks. 2010. Image courtesy of SHOWstudio.com.

In an act of art historical savviness, Lady Gaga has again aligned herself with a historical figure-Marcel Duchamp. For anyone that is not familiar with the Dadaist object, known as The Fountain (1917)-let me recap:

1. Duchamp denounces the regime of “high art” objects and proposes his own work of art-a urinal inscribed with a name, “R. Mutt,”

2. The gesture goes down in art history, and introduces the public (and many, many art students) to “readymades,” and

3. Art’s repertoire is substantially broadened thanks to the clever artist.

What has Gaga added to the almost century-old dialogue about art? How does it relate to our culture in 2010? In her latest work, now on display at the London art space SHOWstudio, she inscribed this note to the public:

“I’m not f***ing Duchamp, but I love pissing with you.”

Based on her inscription, she is not trying to outdo Duchamp but she gets the joke. Yet, the comparison remains. Perhaps a better question would be, “How has her appropriation disrupted our notion of her, Duchamp, or art?” To begin with, consider this quote on the SHOWstudio.com site, which explains her version of Duchamp’s statement:

Read the rest of this entry →

The Sexual and Reproductive Rights Situation Report is a monthly column devoted to international policy issues and current events around these critical rights.

At last week’s Women Deliver conference (covered by Gender Across Borders), Melinda Gates announced that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation would devote $1.5 billion to maternal and child health over the next five years.  They will not, however, fund abortion services.  Gates said in her remarks that she couldn’t imagine being denied the “basic right to decide how many children to have.” she also said that the Gates Foundation would focus it’s efforts “upstream,” explaining that with proper family planning abortion will not be necessary.  I don’t even think I have to address that little doozy, but if you’re interested, Columbia’s Gender and Sexuality Law Blog does a good job of taking on the problematic nature of that reasoning.

The Women Deliver Conference is part of  a swelling tide of awareness about maternal health.  Access to safe abortion is one of Women Deliver’s “Three Core Strategies to Save Lives.”  In the broader conversation, however, there is rarely an explicit recognition of the role of unsafe abortion in maternal mortality.  Because of the politicization of a public health issue, a major factor contributing to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of women every year is swept under the rug.  As The Lancet’s editor, Dr. Richard Horton, pointed out in response to the Gates Foundation’s pledge, “unsafe abortion contributes to one in seven maternal deaths across the world.”  Sadly, international donors are being allowed to turn  their faces from the issue because it is politically difficult. Read the rest of this entry →

Hey Global Feminists!

Here are a list of links about what other global feminists were up to this past week. We also want to know: What have you been reading/writing this week? Don’t forget to spread your own link love in the comments!

A young woman from the Uganda Skateboard Union pictured with the first, and only, half-pipe in East Africa, built entirely by the youth from the Kampala suburb of Kitintale.

Africa

• Don’t Ban Condoms From the World Cup (Change.org Women’s Right’s blog) “FIFA, which oversees the World Cup, won’t be allowing any of those free-for-the-taking condoms inside their stadium. It seems the organization is more concerned with its bottom line than people’s lives.”

Less Funds Will Cause Unnecessary AIDS Deaths (AllAfrica)

Asia

• Welcome To Internalised Misogyny : Part One In An Infinite Series Of DoucheBaggerey (Oi With the Poodles Already!) “Why is it so easy to take away the agency of women’s bodies? Is it because our culture believes the woman’s worth is less than her Y-chromosomed counterparts? Why is the sale of a girl’s body considered a tradition? What gives anyone this right to just take these girls childhood?”
• How NOT to Date an Indian (Sepia Mutiny)
• India’s Rent-a-Womb Industry Faces New Restrictions (Time)

Europe

• Africa: thoughts in progress (unreal) “Having spent time living and working In ahhh Africa oohhh (actually a handful of countries but allow irony, friends) I have – for the last 15 years or so – become increasingly aware of the way in which European, mainly British, people (friends, usually) refer to that (my) experience.”
• More Victim Blaming (Women Undefined) “In response to an apparent need to address the increase in “frivolous” lawsuits against celebrities for sexual assault that never went to trial, Britain’s new government is cracking down on rape victims and acting quickly to protect rapists.”

Latin America

• Guatemala: Ways to help (The Feminist Texican)
• Bagua: One Year After Massacre Indigenous Peoples in Peru Are Still Fighting for Justice (Peruanista)

Middle East

• Israel Flotilla Raid 2010 (Global Voices Online) “Reactions continue to pour in from around the world. To stay updated on the various reactions in the blogospheres and social media platforms, you can follow Global Voices Online‘s special coverage page.”
• Al-Jazeera presenters quit over ‘modesty’ dress comments (Telegraph)
• The First Saudi Domestic Violence Awareness Forum in London (ArabNews.com

Northern America

• Ask Racialicious: How to Read and Respond to Literature of Colour (Racialicious)
• Arizona Law an Attack on All Women (MomsRising.org)
• No, really, the word “no” isn’t that confusing (Pandagon)
• Racism in Prescott, AZ Targets Schoolchildren (Reappropriate)

Oceania

• Newsflash: hate is not helpful (Spilt Milk) “Stigmatising fat people – especially when doctors or health spokespeople do it, damages the health of individuals and therefore the health of the population.”
• Discrimination is only discrimination if you end up being sacked (Wallaby) “It may be that not many people are getting sacked because of their MS, but it does tend to support the idea that it is a realistic possibility that you will be sacked if you tell your boss you have MS. In other words: the fear of discrimination (eventuating in unemployment) is hardly unfounded!”
• The best of the rest of the internet: Down Under Feminists Carnival edition (Musings of an Inappropriate Woman)

Global

• What To Do When Someone Approaches To Tell You About Sexual Assault or Abuse (this ain’t livin’)

See more global feminist news on our facebook page, twitter and tumblr. If you ever have suggestions for GFLL (whether they are your posts or someone else’s), feel free to email becky@genderacrossborders.com.

As I mentioned earlier, I was attacked on another blog for expressing my opinion about what feminism is. I created this response to allow readers to discuss amongst yourselves as to what feminism is and who it should include. I thought the discussion went pretty well (compared to the discussion over at FAB blog).

The author of FAB blog, Miska, has demanded a response from me. I’m choosing not respond because I don’t feel like I need to defend my opinions with someone who is personally attacking me.

GAB reader Tiffany Cook wrote a response to the whole debacle on her blog. I’ll include the first few paragraphs, but you should visit her blog to see the whole post…

In Response To The Not So FABulous Miska

I follow a wonderful blog, Gender Across Borders. One of the writers, Emily, was recently attacked on Fabulous Fab Stuff, when she responded to a very elitist post made by Miska. Emily’s responses were very thoughtful and respectful; however, she was not given the same respect back. After she stopped commenting, Miska had the nerve to post a request for explanation regarding her views.

My Response

First, and foremost, I want to say that Emily should not have to defend herself. She voiced her opinion and she was brutally attacked. If you had respected her opinions in the first place, then there wouldn’t have been any issues. Instead of a productive, critical discussion, you and your readers verbally attacked her and her views on feminism. I agree that feminism means different things to different people, but when a feminist harms a person, or a group of people, that’s when I feel you are no longer positively promoting the movement. Your blog is transphobic, exclusionary, and elitist. These views are not in line with the ideals of feminism.

Why should feminism be a generalized equality movement rather than a movement for women’s equality, specifically?

As you stated, “Feminism began because women recognized that they were oppressed in specific ways that men do not experience, and thus feminism was born to address this specific oppression.”

You’re right, white, heterosexual women started the feminist movement. It was started by educated, white women who recognized oppression; and wanted to have EQUAL rights to men. Freud focused on sex, which is what you…

Click here to read the full article at Tiffany’s blog

See link URL for image credit.

So I’ve been called a “troll” on one blog–named called “fabulous fab stuff” where the author Miska declares that feminism is only for women, not for “gay men, or black men, poor men, or disabled men.”

I disagree. I made a comment stating that:

I am totally for feminism having different definitions for each person, so I will disagree with you because our definitions are very different. I believe that feminism is not just about women, but equal rights for all. By excluding men and the like, you are making feminism exclusionary. Just my two cents.

And after that comment was made, shit hit the fan. I made another comment, addressing the author’s response to my comment, but won’t comment again because in addition to a personal attack, no matter what I say it doesn’t seem to add to the conversation or change anything.

I’m only linking to the article so you can get the full gist of the conversation and comments I made. As a warning: this blog is grotesque and trans-misogynistic.

I think that feminism has different meanings for everyone. But to say that feminism is not out for men is exclusionary, but that’s what I think. What are your thoughts about this? What does feminism mean for you? Should it include men, why? If not, why?

UPDATE: I’m so famous, FAB has written a post about ME! http://fabmatters.wordpress.com/2010/04/22/emily-gender-across-borders/

I don’t need to justify myself to Miska at FAB. My opinions are my opinions, and having a decent discussion with someone doesn’t “demand” answers. Heh, sigh. At least I gave her blog traffic…

Tomorrow, Gender Across Borders will be hosting the 11th Carnival of Feminists! We have already received a lot of excellent submissions, but we are still looking for more. And this is where you come in.

If you haven’t done so already, submit to the Carnival! You can also send your posts directly to me at carrie@genderacrossborders.com.

Since we here at GAB are proud to serve the international feminist community, we are specifically looking for blog posts about countries other than the United States. So, if you do not live in the U.S., or if you do live in the U.S. but often write about other countries, we are particularly interested in your posts.

Submit today! And don’t forget to check out the Carnival tomorrow!