Category: Weighty Matters

Jessica Valenti: Fighting For YOUR Right To Party

Posted on by Kelly Welles

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“Real equality is when women have the right to be as drunk and stupid as men.”

Jessica Valenti, 24th October, guardianonline.

It’s no wonder young women don’t identify with feminism when it’s dressed in this kind of unattractive, clumsy costume.

Forcing equality, kicking and screaming, into the same ballpark as date rape, is the intellectual equivalent of making me wear one of those meringue wedding dresses for a joke.

Shocking at first. Screamingly funny for the next ten seconds, until everyone realises I’m not laughing. Then, downright uncomfortable for the remainder of the evening, until everyone with a modicum of empathy leaves, feeling truly ashamed of themselves.

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Stinson Hunter: The Exception That Proves The Rule

Posted on by Kelly Welles

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Stinson Hunter is an inevitability in a world completely blindsided by the power of technology.

Fulfilling the criteria of your average Daily Mail reader’s idea of a ‘chav’ – broken home, jail time, cap, sportswear, bad tattoos, lip piercing, a confidence that far exceeds his station in life – he spends his time sitting silently in the corner of 18+ websites in the guise of a young girl, waiting for someone to approach.

When they do, and be under no illusion, they do; a former Metropolitan Police office who worked in child protection doing more or less what Stinson is doing claimed he had over 2000 approaches from men, he advises them of his ‘age’, usually between 11 and 15. Some move on.

Many don’t.

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Facebook: Architect of The Too-Much-Information Age

Posted on by Kelly Welles

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Oh, it’s a problem unique to the Information Age, for sure.

You know someone casually, a friend of a friend, perhaps, or a passing acquaintance you quite like, but only on a very superficial level. You don’t know anything about them, you don’t particularly want to know anything about them. They’re the wallpaper of your existence – perfectly pleasant in passing, but any attempt to sit down and have a conversation with them would look and feel slightly awkward.

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‘The Wrong Turn’? That’s One Way of Looking At It

Posted on by Kelly Welles

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These photos, from a series called ‘The Wrong Turn’, depict a young Indian woman being manhandled on a bus.

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Kathleen Hanna & Miley Cyrus: Breaking The Chain

Posted on by Kelly Welles

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You’d imagine that Kathleen Hanna, founding member of the riot-grrl movement, ardent feminist and lead singer of ground breaking bands such as Bikini Kill, Le Tigre and The Julie Ruin would have little time for Miley Cyrus.

After all, isn’t Cyrus the antithesis of all that Hanna stands for? Living proof that the world at large has considered her message and summarily rejected it, preferring to keep its female pop stars constrained by the twin shackles of sexual availability and the male gaze?

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Operation Yewtree: Children Should Be Seen & Not Heard

Posted on by Kelly Welles

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In this extract from Roald Dahl’s excellent ‘Matilda’, the young protagonist patiently explains to a friend that a teacher’s genius lies in hiding her nefarious and abusive activities in plain sight.

And if you reckon “the headmistress grabbed me by the hair and slung me over the playground fence,” would be a tough sell, try “Rolf Harris groped me when I asked him for an autograph.”

That’s how they got away with it. Right there.

H/T 

Brazil 2014: Can’t You Just Buy A Scarf?!

Posted on by Kelly Welles

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With just a week to go before the World Cup finals kick off in Sao Paolo, the Brazilian government has warned visitors against the purchase of animals as ‘souvenirs’ of their trip.

While the majority of media attention is focussed on allegations of human rights abuses and unfinished stadia during the build-up, guidelines have been issued advising that anyone caught buying animals or specific products derived from animals will face a fine of up to $2300 and a one year prison sentence. Items on the list include iguanas, parrots, monkeys, spiders and scorpions as well as jewellery and crafts made with feathers, teeth or leather.

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Elliot Rodger: The Blame Game

Posted on by Kelly Welles

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Now that the smoke has cleared from yet another horrific shooting in the United States, we stand, united in our grief and nausea, peering at the twisted wreckage while trying desperately to make the shapes fit into whatever political ideology we feel most comfortable with.

The usual suspects have been led past for viewing by the great and the good of the media. World of Warcraft. Guns. Misogyny. Asperger’s. Even the notion of gay couples being able to marry has trudged by in leg irons, charged with being the single motivating factor behind 22-year-old Elliot Rodger’s decision to murder six of his peers, then shoot himself to death.

In a world as complex as this, you see, a world as beautiful and bewildering and harrowing as this, every single tiny thing is someone or something’s fault and if we can just find and kill the offender, everything will be fine.

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Everyday Sexism: With One Hand You Giveth, With The Other You Slappeth Away

Posted on by Kelly Welles

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So for want of something better to do, I click on this Buzzfeed article called ‘8 Stories Of Everyday Sexism, As Told By Female Journalists‘ and I get really, really pissed off and angry that people like those described still exist in the world and their pathetic, irrational fear of women achieving something is having an impact on lives and careers in 2014.

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Paddy Power: Taste Test

Posted on by Kelly Welles

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A massive congratulations to Paddy Power, who, with their latest betting offer, have managed to be even more brutally offensive and dehumanising to the memory of Reeva Steenkamp than the Sun newspaper managed in their coverage of her murder.

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