A Bumper Blog Entry

Some people think...

On the 26th April, the legend Poly Styrene died
at the age of 53.
She was true punk rock and an inspiration
to many women and girls.

Sexism is brought to light again, but this time by our not-so-modern, Etonian Leader of the Coalition. Calm down, dear? CALM DOWN, DEAR?! The more these 'episodes', these 'light-hearted banters', come out to play the more debate is roused and the more transparent sexism becomes. Let's not calm down, let's rally against it.
Here's a good article.

WOMAN OF THE DAY: Tehmina Kazi.
Director of British Muslims for Secular Democracy, an organisation that aims to raise awareness of the benefits of democracy, Kazi challenges and combats Islamic extremism and Islamophobia. Here's an interesting article about Muslim women making change.
She writes for The Guardian too: http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/tehmina-kazi

Karla Black has been nominated for the 2011 Turner Prize.

What to Ask for Others, 2009

The UK Film Council published a report stating that almost two-thirds of the older women interviewed felt under-represented in films. A report also found that half the population feel that black characters are too often portrayed as drug dealers, two in five say that there are no 'good guy' roles for black characters and two in three say that black characters are overly sexualised. Eastern Europeans are shown as ill-educated and poor; Asian characters experience family conflict; homosexual characters are continually shown as camp, with sexual orientation as their main trait. Films about the working class are seen as too depressing, the middle class too sweet.
Stories exist that show more complex characters and narratives, but the films aren't being made. It's time to start demanding more from our screens. Highlighting these stereotypes and disconnection from society (consumers of cinema) can hopefully start the change. It's a shame that the UK Film Council will cease to exist.

Who's afraid of Elizabeth Taylor?

1932-2011

More than the movies, more than the marriages.

"Elizabeth Taylor was the first great actress to fight on behalf of the AIDS movement and brought the illness from a taboo to a reality. She was the cause's leading advocate and became one of the world's most celebrated activists. She is leaving a great legacy for us all and a new challenge to fight AIDS for this new generation." -Richard Zaldivar, president of The Wall-Las Memorias Project in Los Angeles

100 Days

Today marks the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day.
This isn't to just celebrate women who have cracked glass or who are visible or who have made a difference to our lives individually, but to bring awareness to the situation of women across the world.
To those women you don't see or hear...

Miriam O'Reilly Wins!

Miriam O'Reilly, the 53-year-old ex-BBC presenter, today won an employment tribunal against the BBC on the grounds of ageism and sexism. O'Reilly was dropped for younger presenters on the show 'Country File' when it moved to the prime-time. As she rightly says, the outcome has, 'implications for all broadcasters, not just the BBC'.

Let's hope this means that older women will stop disappearing from our TV screens.

Disrespect to women has got to be through

Thank heavens for Kathleen Hanna's blog for resurrecting the Beastie Boys' MTV award acceptance speech. Ad-Rock's words are especially pertinent today after this year's Latitude and T-in-the-Park festivals.

As he says in the song Sure Shot:

'I want to say a little something that's long overdue

The disrespect to women has got to be through

To all the Mothers and Sisters and the Wives and Friends

I want to offer my love and respect to the end'

Made in Dagenham

Elles at the Pompidou

They say it's worse in Europe.

I have just returned from Paris.

They have women artists on show there!

The Pompidou Centre has dedicated an entire floor (and it is a large floor) to the women in its collection. See the website here for more.

By no means does it mean that this should be your only dose of female artists in the canon, but it's a start.

Be Prepared... The Girl Guides are on the march!

The Girl Guides are launching a petition to have airbrushed photos labelled as such. These girls and young women no longer want to only see and aspire to unnaturally 'perfect' images of women. Body confidence and self esteem is at a low (with 50% of a survey of over 1000 girls aged between 16 to 21 stating they would consider surgery to change their looks) and they want to change that. Their petition will be online tomorrow, so sign up on their website here.

If the Girl Guides was this proactive when I was in them I wouldn't have led a strike and been asked to leave!

Nina Simone Treat

It's been a while since I last posted.

Let me make it up to you with this...

The Rule

In her comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For, Allison Bechdel laid out a criteria that determined whether women mattered in a film.

'The Rule', Dykes to Watch Out For, 1985, Allison Bechdel

To pass the test a movie has to:

1. Have (at least) two women in it

2. The women talk to each other

3. The women talk about something other than men

Think about the last time a movie satisfied the Bechdel Test.

Perhaps it's time we start demanding more from our scriptwriters and filmmakers.

Thanks to Women & Hollywood for this one!

TOMS One for One

If women love shoes as much as they say, then this is the way forward for footwear:

Imagine if Imelda Marcos only bought Toms...

Shout out against Cannes

Not a single female-directed film is in the competition. Here's your chance to protest...

Sign the petition here!

Liberazione per le donne!

I remember watching Italian television with my grandparents and so I was pleased to read about one woman's quest to change the way women are represented in Italian media (which somewhat applies to most national media, dare I say) and to highlight the effect that it's having on Italian feminine culture.

Lorella Zanardo's documentary, Il Corpo delle Donne (The Body of Women) is a protest. Watch the English-subtitled version of the documentary here. Read the BBC article here.

Odetta

'One of the privates in a very big army'