Friday 25 March 2011

Hollaback - Name And Shame!

Rae from GFN just posted a link to a BBC article, which I shamelessly stuck up on my own Facebook profile, too. It was about men abusing women in the street, and the Hollaback initiative that was set up for women who'd experienced this, to post on the website what happened and where, and also, if they like, to put a photo up of whoever did it.
This started in NYC but there's now a UK forum, too, you can find it here on blogspot, and similar ones are being set up in countries across the world. I think it's a really great idea, and even if you don't take a picture to upload, it's still nice to know that there are plenty of others out there experiencing the same thing as you, and it might help give you the courage to shout something back. The sisterhood of feminism, feel the love!
Some of the stories you read on the blog are quite scary - tales of women being followed by packs of men in cars; men following women in the street after their 'funny, sexy' comments were met with a grim BLANK; men sticking their hands up a woman's skirt in the street; people being groped on the train...
Some of the stories have a good ending, with the woman confronting the man and asking what the hell he thought he was doing, calling him a perv, or managing to take a photo of him, and these, at least, are quite uplifting and the theme there seems to be: as soon as you stand up for yourself and make a bit of noise the man becomes mortified, apolosgies and slinks off.
But the over-riding theme of these posts is fear. A woman being scared to continue the two blocks to her own flat after dropping off her friends; a woman being scared on the Tube after previously being assaulted; women feeling so embarrassed and angry that they just doesn't say anything.
The fear is, of course, totally justified. Whilst a lot of men, if confronted, look shame-faced and sidle off with their tail between their legs (no pun intended!), there are men who would become aggressive or even violent if a woman he'd just abused in the street dared shout something back.
While it's a good idea taking photos of men who shout at you or feel you up, imagine sticking your camera-phone in the face of an unknown man when you were on your own in the middle of Glasgow. Scary thought, isn't it? I wouldn't say that you shouldn't shout back, take a pic or even deliver a swift kick to the shins of anyone who degrades you like this in the street, but I would say 'know your enemy,' and watch out for your own safety above all else.
Recently when I was in the Tesco Express at Charing Cross, I bent over to get something off the bottom shelf, and stuck my be-jeaned bum in the air as I did so. Whilst I was bent over the security guard said to me, 'Alright hen, gonna give us a wee dance there?' And then walked on without a backwards glance. I was so shocked and taken aback that - yup, you guessed it - I didn't say anything back, much less take a photo.
But I'll tell you one thing, after reading these stories on HollabackUK...
I bloody well will next time!
Clara xx

Wednesday 9 March 2011

needle and the damage done

It is safe to say that of all the women in our society those who are drug addicts and the severely mentally ill are perceived to be the lowest common denominators. When one considers how these two groups are represented in the tabloid media then there are some parallels that can be drawn between them:
  • reliance upon the public purse and cost to the tax payer
  • threat to the lives of the typical British citizen be it drug addicts stealing purses or the mentally ill causing violence
  • that they are unfit to raise a family and intervention from social work is required
I personally think that those with addictions fair the worst in the media, partly because there are precious few organisations campaigning on their behalf. (at least for us nutters there are a plethora of anti stigma campaigns) According to Action On Addiction, one of the few registered charities dealing with substance abusers, addiction affects 1 in 3 people at any given time. I found this surprising as unlike mental health, where the 1 in 4 statistic has been well publicised, addiction is both more common place (even with many drug users having mental health issues as a co morbidity) and much less discussed.
Unlike mental health (where I am well versed as a service user) I know very little about drug addiction beyond the negative slant that is reported in the newspapers. Addiction is a powerful force that breaks up families, damages communities and ruins lives. How can I know so little about it? Firstly there is not much in the way of balanced reporting – I am well aware that addicts steal, contract diseases and cost the taxpayer millions each year. However as a liberal feminist I want to go beyond the headlines, I want to know what factors led to these women making this horrible choice. I want to know the true statistics of cost and crime. I also want to know what the hell the government is doing to help them and their families.
First of all we need to address what inspires people to abuse? In amongst the tabloid bile, it must be remembered that no drug user sets out to become an addict. People start using drugs for reasons such as to escape problems they are having in their lives, to fit in amongst their peers and simple curiosity regarding their effects. Women today face major issues such as sexual exportation, reduced earnings and the bulk of parental responsibility. All of which are majorly stressful and can be implicated in the use of drugs.
Women, in the past, faced special stigmatization in regards to receiving treatment for their addictions. According to research from America until the 1970s drug therapy was designed with mainly men in mind and little in the way of studies concerned women's issues. Whilst drug treatment has now mainly caught up between the genders: women are still unique in that their relationship with drugs is linked to experiences such as domestic violence and the raising of children. Drug using women who fall pregnant are demonised to an extent never felt by a man. Such is the rights of the unborn child placed over the mother, an angle the media are often only too happy to take.
This follows onto the reproductive rights row. In October last year the BBC reported that Project Prevention (an American charity) was offering £200 to addicts in exchange for their sterilisation. Personally I find this move horrifying and that discouraging the less desirable members of our society from bearing children amounts to little more than eugenics. I find that the offering of a cash reward is exploitative and with many drug addicts desperate for cash many may be led down this route without having the freedom to consider the implications of their actions. Whilst I believe that no-one wants a child to be brought up by drug addicted parents I am also of the firm opinion that humans should not be selectively bred like cattle.
In regards to what might make life a little easier for drug affected families scrapping the illegality of drugs is an option. Prohibition does not work, prohibition has never worked. We only have to look to America at the start of the last century and the Volstead act to see this. Many parallels can be drawn between society's attitude to alcohol back then and to illegal drugs just now. The anti saloon league who heralded in the changes saw alcohol has a destructive force for families and marriages. When the ban first came in it appeared to work at first arrests for drunken disorder fell but it was not to last. The illegal production and distribution of alcohol rose and was in the hands of often violent criminals from organised crime. Sound familiar?
Releasing drugs from the hands of organised gangs would prevent exposure to the vast criminal underworld by drug users – saving them from harm. Prescribing drugs to addicts would decrease demand from the streets, effectively putting drug pushers out of business. It would also decrease prostitution as women would no longer have to sell their bodies to finance their addiction. It would encourage them to be better parents as they would no longer be prowling the streets after their next fix. Prescribing drugs with clean needles could also lower rates of blood transmitted infections and thus save the NHS thousands each year. A pilot study by King's college found that :
Of 127 users involved in the pilots, three-quarters "substantially reduced" their use of street drugs, while their spending on drugs fell from £300 to £50 a week. The number of crimes they committed fell from 1,731 in three months to 547 in six months.
It also revealed a financial saving, where the project cost £15,000 per addict per year compared to prison costs of £44,000. This does not go anywhere near solving all the issues connected to drugs but as stated by Julian Critchley (former director of the UK Anti-Drug Co-Ordination Unit) :
Ultimately, people will make choices which harm themselves, whether they involve diet, smoking, drinking, lack of exercise, sexual activity or pursuit of extreme sports. In all these instances, the Government rightly takes the line that if these activities are to be pursued, society will ensure that those who pursue them have access to accurate information about the risks; can access assistance to change their harmful habits should they so wish; are protected by a legal standards regime; are taxed accordingly; and – crucially – do not harm other people. Only in the field of drugs does the Government take a different line”
To further prove the point the government like to run their drug policy to appease the average tabloid reader, though as can be seen even the tabloids are now moving with the times, the government are now looking to cut benefits from addicts who refuse treatment. The Daily Mail, whilst they are at pains to point out that “£1.2billion of taxpayers’ money is spent on addicts annually they also report in the article that cutting benefits from addicts will drive the market further underground, result in an increase in crime and prostitution as individuals finance their supply. Making the situation worse for drug abuser and non drug abuser alike. I find this a very positive line of reporting from a tabloid newspaper. The article goes on to quote Professor Sir Ian Gilmore, former president of the Royal College of Physicians who believes that there is a strong case for putting a regulatory framework around illicit drugs, rather than the current blanket ban. Only when the government admits that the “war on drugs” is making things worse and listen to the gathering voices of experts in the field will much needed reform take place. Until then our most vulnerable women will roam the streets risking murder and rape to fuel their addictions. Steff xxx

EU Directive on sex trafficking

The following is a copy of an email I received asking for signatures on a petition, and letters to appropriate MPs regarding the EU directive on human trafficking. The link to send an 'easy letter' to your MP is attached, and it only takes a couple of minutes. I'm sure everyone is aware that human trafficking affects a dispropotionate number of women and children, and this is a quick and easy way to make your voice heard on this issue.
--Clara x
Will out government join European efforts to tackle human trafficking? It's on a knife edge. And there's no time to lose: the government is likely to make a decision, good or bad, in the next couple of weeks.
MPs could plat a key role in pushing the goverment to do the right thing. They need to tell David Cameron and Teresa May that their voters want actrion to tackle trafficking. Let's email out MPs today and demand they speak out.
Every year, criminal gangs traffic thousands of people into the UK> Once the victims arrive here, many of them, including children, end up in the sex trade. The new Europe-wide plan would make life harder for the criminal gangs, and mean better protection for the victims.
If our government refues to join in, that would be a disaster: great news for the trafficking gangs, but terrible news for their victims. If enough of us contact our MPs this week, we can help make sure this doesn't happen.
We will be delivering our petition - over 26, 000 strong - very soon. Contacting Mps now will mean the government feels the pressure from all angles. We know that the combination of a public petition and personal messages to MPs can make a difference. That's exactly what we did to change the government's mind about selling off our forests.
Send your MP a message asking them to stand up for action to protect the victims of human trafficking:
http://www.38degrees.org.uk/trafficking-speak-out

Tuesday 8 March 2011

International Women's Day

Happy International Women's Day, one and all!
I hope you all managed to get some kind of celebrating done today, there seemed to be lots going on, so no excuses for not getting involved! I've had a great day, personally! Syma from the Glasgow Women's Library runs some of the projects that I volunteer with and she asked if I could help her with a card-making stall that she'd been asked to run as part of the IWD festivities at the City Chambers.
So, I went along and I got to sit in and listen to some of the talks and speeches from various people there. One woman did a funny poem about the menopause; another did a monologue about the life of St Enoch who was the mother of St Kentigern. (who is also St Mungo, in case you didn't know!)
There was a short fashion show, demonstrating various traditional or native dress from all over the world: India, Kosovo, Sri Lanka, Iran... plus a nice dance segment with the same women performing typical dances in a group. They started with a lovely solo Iranian dance, which merged into a highland fling, followed by some Charleston action and what looked like a bit of Bollywood thrown in too!
Then during the break we went back to our stall and the crowds arrived to start making some cards! The idea was to make a card to give to a special woman in your life. So some people were making good luck, congratulations or thank you cards for friends, one woman made a card for her wee daughter and covered it in purple sparklies, purple pen, purple butterflies... because her daughter was 'purple mad!' And then two women came along and started making Mothers Day cards, and they ended up looking fantastic, really arty and pretty - at least as nice as anything you'd buy for a fiver out of Clinton's!
I made Mother's Day cards for my mum and my granny, too, as well as one to send to my friend who just got an awesome new job. It was good because I could stick my cards up so people could get an idea of what they could do, and I also got to go wild with glue dots, stampers, sticky gems and coloured pens!
There were various other stands there, though unfortunately I didn't get a chance to see much of them. There was one offering advice on breast-feeding, another selling hand-knitted (I think) baby clothes and *drum roll* a cupcake stand with some amazing looking cakes!
Syma bought me a Raspberry Ripple cupcake for my crafting efforts, and it was so tasty I took a picture of it. Should really have thought of taking the pic before I'd eaten half of it, but never mind. Edible glitter, lush icing and big juicy raspberry. It's everything I ever wanted in a cupcake.
All in all, it was a really good event, quite heartening to see so many people there, all different ages, backgrounds and ethnic groups seemed to be represented, and some of the speakers were really impassioned and uplifting, especially one woman who spoke about the need for more women board members in FTSE 100 companies, more women editors in newspapers and on the news, more recognition for women scientists, in Scotland and across the world... If ever a good dose of feminism was called for, it was definitely available in the City Chambers today.

Although I guess you all know that the GFN vigil is on Friday evening, a quick reminder doesn't hurt: 5pm in George Square, I hope many of you can make it, and bring lots of support!

This is the video I shot if the dancers at the City Chambers today, sorry the sound quality isn't great but I was just recording on my phone. You can get an idea of it though, and the women are still wearing some of the lovely outfits that they showed us during the fashion show earlier.

Once again, I hope you all had a lovely International Woman's Day 2011 - which, I found out today, is the 100th Anniversary if IWD. If that's not cause for celebration, then I don't know what is!

--Clara x