Top Stories – Thursday 18th June
Kitty Ussher leaves the Government, as TheTelegraph’s Augean project continues…
NATIONAL
Governor seeks more powers for Bank of England
Belfast Romanians rehoused after race attacks
Terror law used to stop thousands ‘just to balance racial statistics’
INTERNATIONAL
Mousavi urges more demonstrations for Thursday
New financial rules in the USA too…
Cricket attacker arrested in Pakistan
British ambassador attacked for supporting gay march in Bulgaria
Silence is the enemy
A friend told me recently about an evening she’d just spent visiting an elderly uncle who was staying with her parents. Now this uncle, let’s call him Bob, is in his seventies, and is fond of telling stories about his past. This particular evening was no exception, and as my friend, her partner, and various other relatives (including his wife) settled down to chill out after a big family meal, Bob started off on one of his tales.
But this story turned out to be a bit different from the normal, everyday reminiscences the family was used to hearing: this one was about the time Bob was out in Libya doing his National Service, more specifically about the time he witnessed 6 or more of his colleagues line up and rape a young woman.
Apparently the soldiers had been given a night off and so had gone out to a small town close to where they were billeted. There, they’d come upon a local couple, and after a brief discussion among themselves about how they hadn’t seen a woman in ages, one of the group went over to the man and asked him how much he’d be prepared to take to let them have sex with his wife The two men negotiated, and eventually the husband settled on a price.
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Review: Jessica Valenti of Feministing’s new books
Jessica Valenti, editor of the popular blog Feministing, in an effort to make us all feel like we should get up earlier, has not one but two new books out. Both were released in the UK this week on May 7th.
‘He’s a Stud, She’s a Slut (And 49 Other Double Standards Every Woman Should Know)’ looks like one of those rather meaningless “gift books” that you buy for friends when you can’t think of anything else they’d like or you’ve only just remembered that it’s birthday drinks you’re heading to when you get to the train station with two minutes to spare.
But we know Valenti better than to expect anything so simple. Inside, chopped into sassy bite-sized chunks Valenti presents an overwhelmingly compelling case for the existence of a double standard for women in every branch of society.
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Men, feminism and the patriarchal con
In recent weeks, I’ve faced a lot of accusations of misandry for daring to point out that some bad things that happen are perpetrated almost exclusively by men, and for having the temerity to suggest that in some situations women get a raw deal simply because of their biological sex. I thought I’d respond to the critics with a few reasons why feminism and misandry are not synonymous, and why male and female feminists need to work together to break tired economic models of gender.
As feminists, the liberation of the y-chromosomed half of the human race has never been high on our list of priorities – historically speaking, we’ve had enough to worry about. However, it’s high time that we started a serious recruitment drive. Although the feminist movement has faced many obstacles and lost many battles, women have now won themselves enough social and economic capital that we can finally start to address the other half of the equation: the emancipation of men from capitalist patriarchy.
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Hitchens: drunk raped women ‘deserve less sympathy’
From his Daily Mail column today, erm, last year:
Women who get drunk are more likely to be raped than women who do not get drunk. No, this does not excuse rape. Men who take advantage of women by raping them, drunk or sober, should be severely punished for this wicked, treacherous action, however stupid the victim may have been.
But it does mean that a rape victim who was drunk deserves less sympathy. Simple, isn’t it? You can hate rape and want it punished, while still recognising that a woman who, say, goes back to a man’s home after several Bacardi Breezers was being a bit dim.
via Chickyog on Twitter
Shocking attitudes towards rape & Million Women Rise march
The Home Office yesterday published results of a poll on violence against women.
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Identity politics and the internet
I’ve been thinking a lot, over the past few days, with all the shilly-shallying around International Women’s Day and this whole issue of violence against women and whether or not it’s important. I’ve been thinking about what it means to be a feminist writing online, and whether I can hack the amount of abuse I’ve been getting recently. Whether it just depresses me too much to carry on. People have been telling me to shut up and get a real job for a while now. Perhaps I should listen to them.
On the internet, identity is fluid – and so choosing to adopt and pursue a female identity, or indeed any identity which deviates from white heteronormativity, is a statement with which makes a lot of people uncomfortable on a very basic level. Choosing to be proud of an identity that consciously others itself from the white, male consensus with which the internet, like so many other fiefdoms, emerged, is problematic. It can and does draw an horrific quantity of abuse, including on the pages of mainstream debate sites such as Comment Is Free, Lablist and even – sometimes – this site.
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Amnesty’s statistics on violence against women
Some commenters recently raised concerns about Amnesty UK’s statistic: ‘Each year, around 1 in ten women in Britain will experience rape and or other violence‘. So, Rachel North emailed them and got this response:
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The Daily Mail: Still Homophobic and stunningly dishonest
A few hours ago now Paul Dacre, editor of the Daily Mail poured a Molotov Cocktail and sat back, ready to watch the PC brigade scream. Monday’s Daily Mail frontpage has one of those frontpage stories that’ll make you tut and say “typical Mail“. But it’s so typical in fact, that I think it’s worth digging a little deeper into it.
It screams “ANOTHER BLOW TO FATHERHOOD” in that way only the Mail can do. No – it’s not a sympathetic piece supporting say, Fathers 4 Justice and their campaign for father’s rights – the Mail branded those “morons” long ago. It’s in fact some thinly-veiled homophobia, of course. “Now IVF mothers can name ANYONE as ‘father’ on birth certificate – and it doesn’t even have to be a man”, the paper tells us.
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Support Pamela and her two daughters against deportation
Pamela Izevbekhai and her two daughters are under threat of deportation by the Irish government. They fled Nigeria after another daughter died following female genital mutilation and Pamela’s husband’s family planned to forcibly mutilate her remaining two girls. The husband remains in Nigeria but supports his wife and does not want his daughters cut.
Check out ‘Let them stay‘ for how you can support this family .
Below is a you tube telling the families story. Pamela explains the process of FGM and how she tried to get help for her daughter who bled to death after being butchered, all in the name of controlling women’s sexuality.
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The politics of beauty are constrained.
In a friendly meeting with fellow conspirators this evening, we discussed over coffee and snow-spattered mutterings the viability and ethics of our favourite Lib Dem and Labour MPs and PPCs. This is one of the many topics upon which I am both knowledgeable and possess an opinion, and although I was the youngest, least famous and most currently chest-infected person there, I felt that I had a right to be present, to listen and to be heard. I was amongst allies, or potential allies.
And then it all turned sour.
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Domestic violence: whose problem is it?
In a previous post, which suggested a few measures government could take to reduce domestic violence (or at the very least improve care for its victims), I mentioned the necessity for greater provision of refuges where women could seek shelter from their tormentors.
Conveniently, this survey by the Equality and Human Rights Commission details the extent of the current provision – or lack thereof – and produces some quite troubling figures.
The commission found that one in four local authorities in Britain has no specialised support services whatsoever, that a quarter of the rape crisis centres which do exist fear closure or cuts in funding, and that ethnic minority women – whose circumstances can be slightly different due to the intersection of culture, relgion and misogyny – are particularly poorly-served by current provision. In short, we’re just not doing enough to care for victims.
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Whatabout Prostitution
There’s never a dull moment at Lib Con.
One minute we’re issuing statements condemning the trenchant ‘whataboutery’ that habitually poisons the public discourse on the politics of the Middle East, and within a matter of days a debate opens up, on an entirely different subject which, itself, neatly demonstrates the absurdities of credo of whataboutery.
I’m talking, as the title of this piece indicates, about prostitution.
On a working definition of ‘whataboutery’, you can see this explanation from Slugger O’Toole as a general definition.
Whataboutery is a general phenomenon in political discourse, one you’ll find in any debate between two diametrically opposing viewpoints where there are the participants in the debate who are so concerned with the presumed moral, intellectual or ideological ‘purity’ of their own position that they flat out refuse to concede that their opponents might have valid arguments of their own or that there may be evidence which fails to fully support their chosen position.
Debating the moral, legal and ethical status of prostitution is an argument that lends itself very well to whataboutery, albeit one that can be a little more interesting than most because participants on both sides of the debate make their most fundamental mistakes in exactly the same place and for the pretty much the same reason -they habitually treat prostitution as a singular phenomenon, a single uniform market to which one can apply a generic set of ‘rules’ that are applicable to all forms of prostitution, rather than see it for what it actually is, a complex social and economic phenomenon in which one size definitely doesn’t fit all.
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Betraying sex workers
In any discussion that takes place these days about prostitution and other forms of sex work it’s virtually guaranteed that at some point in the debate either the English Collective of Prostitutes (ECP) or the International Union of Sex Workers (IUSW), or indeed both, will be cited by someone as being the authentic voice of those working in the industry.
Whenever those of us who are opposed to legalisation or across the board decriminalisation air our views, we’re invariably shouted down and accused of not listening to what prostitutes themselves want: “Go and talk to the IUSW” we’re told: “they represent prostitutes: they know what they’re talking about.”
The IUSW in particular seems to be working hard just lately to raise its profile, and has managed to garner support from Feminist Fightback among others. But then, as the IUSW is a recognised branch of the GMB, one of Britain’s biggest trade unions, it’s not hard to see why a left-wing, rights-orientated group like Feminist Fightback would be drawn to them.
After all, there’s no doubt that women working in prostitution suffer some of the worst abuses and are some of the most vulnerable women in society, so if there’s a trade union group out there that can offer them support and representation, then what could be wrong with that?
But as this discussion over at the F Word showed recently, the reality is more complicated. continue reading… »
Nadine Dorries’ sex education ‘policy’ in tatters
Conservative MP Nadine Dorries doesn’t like politically correct health advice such as teaching children about contraception. In a blog-post on her website in April, titled ‘Beyond the School Gates’, she said:
Throughout the session it struck me that the discussion focused on dealing with the consequences of teenage sex, in the form of STIs and pregnancy; whereas the fundamental problem, the fact that sex is now regarded as a recreational pastime, no relationship required, is largely ignored. Much easier to focus on how quickly we can get treatment to an infected sixteen year old, than how we get the same sixteen year old to think twice before having sex again, until at least within the confines of a stable relationship.
…
The money that the Department of Health spent on their campaign could have been used on developing a national standard for sex education within schools, which taught the principles of self respect and at least began to address the issue of values, morals and ethics within education and wider society.
Ahh yes, I smell thinking along the ‘silver ring thing‘ phenomena. Except, new research from the US now shows these gimmicks don’t work.
Teenagers who pledge to remain virgins until marriage are just as likely to have premarital sex as those who do not promise abstinence and are significantly less likely to use condoms and other forms of birth control when they do, according to a study released today.
The new analysis of data from a large federal survey found that more than half of youths became sexually active before marriage regardless of whether they had taken a “virginity pledge,” but that the percentage who took precautions against pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases was 10 points lower for pledgers than for non-pledgers.
(via NHS BlogDoctor). In other words, not only does trying to teach abstinence of responsibility not work, but it leads to even more unprotected sex. Despite the evidence however, I doubt a minister who regularly hangs around with Christian fundamentalists is likely to take any heed.
Suggestions to reduce domestic violence
All we know are the facts. We know that domestic violence accounts for 16% of all violent crime and that a quarter of women & 15% of men will suffer abuse in their lifetimes. We know that women are overwhelmingly more likely to suffer repeated abuse, that two women a week are killed by a current or former partner and that one incident of abuse is reported to the police every minute of the day. Sadly, we also know that these reports only account for a fraction of the true number of attacks, many of which go unreported.
We know, too, that no government, no matter how active or intrusive, could stop partners from being violent to each other, and as the goal of eradicating domestic violence will always be unreachable, the question we must ask is whether we – as a state, as a society, and as individuals – are doing the most we can to condemn, prosecute and punish its perpatrators, and protect, counsel and care for its victims.
That question has been raised again this week as Labour and the Conservatives lock horns over who has the better policies to reduce domestic violence and improve care for those who’ve suffered from it.
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Brian Coleman should resign
The Fire Brigades Union have issued this press release:
Fire Brigades Union (FBU) leaders in London have called on the chairman of the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA) to consider his position, after he labelled as “dizzy” and an “airhead” a woman MP who dialled 999 when sparks began to fly from her boiler.
Conservative councillor Brian Coleman’s remarks were branded “sexist” by Lynne Featherstone, Liberal Democrat member of parliament for Hornsey and Wood Green, who said she intends to protest to the London Fire Brigade commissioner, Ron Dobson.
As the Daily Telegraph reported earlier:
Brian Coleman, the Conservative chairman of the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority, laughed off accusations that his attack on Lynne Featherstone was sexist – by remarking that a man was unlikely to have acted in the same way.
A website asks: Is Brian Coleman a Tedious Cock?. There is also a campaign now on Facebook and myspace calling for his resignation. Aren’t the Conservatives disgusted for having such a sexist representative?
Lads’ mags and Labour: Claire Curtis-Thomas campaign
Lord Mandelson – back when he was just plain Peter, and resolutely still in the closet – used to write a column for FHM. Given that this publication is known chiefly for its annual rundown of ‘the world’s 100 sexiest women’, I always found that idea amusingly incongruous.
But not all Labour MPs view lads’ mags as a straightforward media opportunity; Claire Curtis-Thomas is campaigning to get them reclassified as pornography. I fear that she is entering a world of pain, and all for no good purpose.
We have been here before, more or less. Back in 1987, Clare Short – then a backbencher on the Labour left – introduced her Indecent Displays (Newspapers) Bill into the Commons. The target of her ire was the topless pin ups that used to feature prominently in The Sun and – if I remember correctly – the Daily Mirror, too.
Abortion Rights: A delay not a setback
So, efforts to update the UK’s existing abortion law through amendments to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill appear to have ended in a politically expedient cop-out and some of the worst excuses in living memory, despite bill having originally been drafted in such a way as to allow, if not invite, the submission of abortion-related amendments.
Oh well, at least it saves me the bother of pointing out the belated Field-Dorries amendment, which proposed that a joint ‘grand committee’ of 17 MPs and Peers would ruminate on the subject of abortion for 9 months before bring forward recommendations that parliament would be required to enact within two years is a complete and utter constitutional nonsense – parliament cannot be bound, in advance, to a future course of action even by a unanimous vote of both houses let alone by the deliberation of ad hoc committee.
Meanwhile… continue reading… »
I blame the lazy liberal media
Both Polly Toynbee and Cath Elliott have written good pieces for the Guardian on this government’s failure to stand firm on HFE Bill amendments and follow through with a progressive pro-choice stance that should be the cornerstone of any vaguely left-wing government.
Instead, as Ms Toynbee rightly points out, New Labour has become scared of Nadine Dorries MP and the tons of supportive, misleading propaganda that has poured from the Daily Mail and Telegraph. Which begs me to wonder why the hell there wasn’t an equally vicious counter-attack in the left-liberal press. Why haven’t the Guardian or the Independent asked the sort of questions about Nadine Dorries MP and her campaign that we have on this blog?
Partly, I’m beginning to agree with the feminist complaint that the male-dominated left actually ends up saying very little on issues like abortion. They’re out there campaigning against the war in Iraq but when a bit of solidarity is needed with women from Northern Ireland, the comrades are busily inspecting their shoes. Liberals especially, too afraid to touch an issue like abortion for fear of offending anyone, have barely attempted to go on the counter-attack in the media.
The Channel 4 documentary that exposed Nadine Dorries’s close links to the bigoted, fundamentalist Christian organisation: Christian Concern For Our Nation, offered a veritable feast for an angle that could be used to ask questions about how was funding Ms Dorries’s campaign and why she was hiding her true agenda on abortion and smearing journalists like Ben Goldacre. What did we get? Uncomfortable silence, and some bleating now the vote has came up again. I admire the right on this regard: they have ideological positions and they’ll run happily run a quasi-propaganda campaign to support it. The left-liberal press is on the side of public opinion and has a ton of bullshit to shoot down, and they still can’t do a good enough job to push their case. No wonder New Labour is in retreat.
You can read articles through the front page, via Twitter or rss feeds.
» Johnson doesn’t need economic expertise, just the right tone
» Why Phil Woolas is unfit to be in the Labour front-bench
» After a decade of War on Terror, America gives up trying to win
» Why Alan Johnson was the right choice for shadow Chancellor
» The Libdems are in danger of letting down students badly
» Join us and get organised: your planet needs you
» Hague’s farcical attempt to establish ‘supremacy’ over EU law
» Shadow cabinet: why strategy triumphed over necessity
» The Tories and the curse of proletarian fecundity
» Four reasons why we should be defending the middle-classes too
» Why Labour desperately needs Yvette Cooper or Ed Balls as shadow chancellor
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