There is a unique movement happening in Iran right now; some have preemptively labeled it a ‘revolution,’ while others have said it’s all U.S.A.-backed smoke and mirrors, but should anyone reject this as anything less than an uprising, they would have to be in denial. So often in traditional media outlets, we see women in Iran and throughout other Muslim-majority countries portrayed as oppressed homemakers, washing clothes by hand outdoors, pulling tightly at their hijabs (head coverings) or burkas. But now, with the help of modern-day technology and amateur video footage, you can catch them drop kicking the cops and the Revolutionary Guard, and in a center-stage tragedy, taking a bullet to the heart. The women of Iran are in the house, and they’re in the front row.
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So Amnesty International has this new interactive billboard . When you look right at it it shows a picture of a happy, smiling couple. As you look away the picture changes to one of domestic violence. The poster has an eye tracking camera in it to know when someone is looking directly at it.
The point is to raise awareness of how domestic violence is often behind closed doors, when no one is looking. A couple could seem happy and perfect to the outside world but have a dark and violent problem when they are alone.
This is obviously a very state of the art campaign. And by that I mean an expensive one. Now, this message is great - how many times do you hear people say they are surprised at DV because the couple seemed so happy? But the question is, could the money be better spent in other ways to stop abuse? Maybe, but think about this: the ad made us write about it and therefore, talk about it. Which we probably wouldn’t be doing if it were just a regular poster. Also, the advanced technology might get people in other circles - tech nerds, ad people, etc - talking about an issue that might not otherwise be on their radar. I think it’s a cool idea and I hope that AI can soon have the money to put this ad in more locations. -Liza
(photo via www.coloribus.com)
Remember the heated discussion we were having about the Calvin Klein billboard in SoHo?
Some felt that it was too racy to be up in public where kids could see it, others felt that it should be left alone as art. We’re even divided on the issue here at BUST (so what I’m saying here is my opinion but not necessarily everyone’s).
Well, now CK has put up a different ad, replacing the steamy scene with a chick in a bikini. The question remains whether the company would have changed the ad anyway or if they were buckling to public pressure. That doesn’t matter, really. What is bothersome is that somehow an almost-naked lady is less risque than the last billboard. Read the rest of this entry »
As the new owner of an iPod touch, I have been scouring the iTunes app store looking for whatever awesome (free) things I can add to my new toy. In the process, I’ve discovered something sort of troubling.
There’s a whole host of incredibly sexist apps. Tons of bikini babes and hottie slideshows, and that’s just the beginning. As annoying and moderately offensive as those objectifying ones are, others are much worse. Let’s start with fetishes. Of course, you can download babes in your choice of stereotype - Asian models appear to be a big one.
What’s really troubling are the ones where you can control or collect women. It’s more than a little disturbing that there are people out there willing to pay a buck-99 for a subservient digital lady. Or to play games where their bikinis get progressively tinier as your score rises. Or you can control the gal by shaking the phone or making her strip. And lets not ignore the catcalls app. As if it wasn’t bad enough for women, getting comments from real people as we walk past construction sites or mind our own business on the subway, now we may have to deal with some random dude who thinks his new iPhone app shouting lewd things is just hilarious?
Or the pimp hand. Just cuz nothing is funnier than slapping your woman around.
And if anyone is saying, sure, that sucks, but there must be something out there for ladies too, you’re only partially right. Yes there are apps out there for women to ogle some hot dudes, but after scrolling through 62 pages of entertainment apps on iTunes, I saw what had to be close to 100 sexy bikini girl type programs and exactly 2 where you could look at some man candy. And the people being digitally controlled were always women. Not equal.
The existence of a vibrator app doesn’t even come close to making up for it. -Liza
(photo via iTunes)
With all the attention that the Iranian election protests are getting, some focus is being drawn to an incredibly important issue: women’s rights .
Right now, women in Iran are legally second-class citizens. An NPR segment talking about recent women’s protests said that women are considered one-half of men. A woman’s life is valued at half of a man’s and her testimony in court is only worth half of what a man’s is. This also means that women have less say in cases of inheritance, divorce and custody.
But Iranian women are sick of the inequality and they have been demonstrating. A few days before the election hundreds of women marched through Tehran protesting gender discrimination. Ever since the contest, women have been marching alongside men in droves to protest the results.
The feminist movement is nothing new, says journalist Roya Hakakian in an interview with Forbes. She left the country at 18 and hasn’t been back, but remembers the revolution of the late 1970s, and watched the women’s movement grow from afar through the 1990s. Hakakian said that Zahra Rahnavard, wife of the (allegedly) defeated presidential challenger Mir Hossein Moussavi, has been instrumental in rallying the most recent activity of Iranian feminists. CNN identified Rahnavard as ‘much-admired academic’ who wants to reform civil and family laws.
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A young couple in Canada decided they don’t want to have more than two kids, but their doctor won’t perform a tubal ligation.
Tarrah Seymour is 21 and pregnant with her second child. She and her husband, Adam Sylvester, who is 23, know they don’t want to have any more children, so they asked the OB/GYN, Dr. Kayode Ayodele, to perform the sterilization during Seymour’s planned C-section. He refused because of their ages, claiming Seymour might ‘’get involved with someone else down the road and regret her decision.'’ He flat out won’t perform the procedure on anyone under 25.
This is another case of people being treated like they can’t make their own decisions about their own bodies because of age (not to mention the doctor’s blatant disregard for their commitment as a couple). It’s a case that could result in forcing this couple to have more children than they want. It also calls out the idea that all women are supposed to want lots o’ babies (I know this is the decision of both parents in this case, but I have yet to hear of any doctor refusing to perform a vasectomy), and that anyone who thinks she’s all set without kids or with the number that she has is just kidding herself. Or she just doesn’t know her own desires well enough to know what she really wants. Silly woman, you obviously didn’t think this through!
Why is that people can decide to have children at any time, but when you decide not to, your age is paraded out to question your decision? I’m 25 and I’ve always known I don’t want kids - and no, I am not likely to change my mind. People I went to high school and college with have them already. Some people decide yes, some decide no, what’s the difference?
I hope this couple can find a doctor that respects them enough to let them make their own family decisions. -Liza
(Picture from The Simpsons)
The Sewall-Belmont House and Museum, which is the headquarters of the National Women’s Party, honored Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with its Alice Award. The award is named for Alice Paul, who founded the National Women’s Party and authored the Equal Rights Amendment.
In her acceptance speech, Clinton said, ‘’there is so much work to be done to improve the status of women and girls in many parts of the world. Every single day, you can pick up the newspaper or turn on the TV or log on to a website and see the reports of terrible assaults on women’s progress. We have to fight these attacks on women’s rights, and we have to address the conditions that hold women back and continue to make them the majority of the world’s poor, hungry, and unhealthy.'’
The award was in honor of her putting ‘’eighteen million cracks in the glass ceiling'’ as well as her support for the establishment of Save America’s Treasures, a program that named the Sewall-Belmont House as one of four national preservation projects.
After the jump, check out one of my favorite moments of hers, where she basically issues a verbal reproductive rights smackdown. Eloquently. -Liza
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Don’t forget, New York BUSTies, tonight at Re/Dress NYC there will be a book signing and event with Marianne Kirby and Kate Harding , authors of Lessons from the Fat-O-Sphere. They will be accompanied by Fatshionista’s Lesley Kinzel (who also contributed to the book) for an evening of shopping, dancing, reading and being fat/awesome.
Directions:
Re/Dress NYC
109 Boerum Place
Brooklyn, NY
between Pacific + Dean
f/g train to Bergen Street stop
Shopping at 6:30, reading begins at 8.
See you there. -Liza
If anything good can come out of Dr. Tiller’s murder, it would be that it seems to have mobilized the pro-choice movement. New groups and websites have been popping up left and right over the past few days, dedicated to the cause in different ways.
I found this one, I Am Dr. Tiller , to have the potential to be very compelling. It is basically a collection of stories from people around the country who have in some way worked in the abortion field. It’s not just doctors, it includes volunteers, escorts and women who have had abortions.
It could be a great way to get different stories out there; to show that the stereotypes that anti-choicers like to perpetuate about abortion providers (and patients) are untrue and inaccurate. It shows real people with real experience in this field, and while the anonymity of the submissions can’t exactly put a face on the stories, it puts in a human aspect that the anti-choice side doesn’t want you to think about. -Liza
(photo via www.iamdrtiller.com)
Through an article from Jezebel, it was found out that Afghanistan is taking a few steps forward concerning gender equality. This was accomplished when the country opened Skateistan, a school for young children, both boys and girls. There they are taught on computers, the arts, and most interestingly of all, how to skateboard.
In a country where women are not given the same rights as men, this is progress. However, there are still problems. After puberty, young girls can be physically abused by family members for interacting with males who are not related to them, which includes the educational activities in Skateistan. Although Skateistan offers separate classes for girls, skateboarding could still be considered too ‘unfeminine’ a sport for them to partake in. Baby steps, I suppose. -Sylvie
Photo courtesy of http://jezebel.com
