PETITION: #losetheladsmags

It’s time for shops to Lose the Lads’ Mags

Today it’s no longer acceptable to have ‘girly calendars’ on office walls. Why? Because they create a sexist and degrading environment for female employees and customers. So why, then, do supermarkets and newsagents still think it’s OK to expose staff and customers to degrading, pornographic lads’ mags – the modern day equivalent of ‘girly calendars’ – in their stores?

A woman who works in Tesco told us, “I hate that Tesco sells these mags and papers like the Sun and the Star. In the store I work in there is a laddish culture and I don’t think having these magazines help that…”

Lads’ mags portray women as dehumanised sex objects. There is extensive evidence this fuels sexist attitudes and behaviours and creates a conducive context for violence against women.

We’ve also obtained brand new legal advice showing that shops selling lads mags’ – like WH Smith and Tesco – are potentially breaching equality legislation. Stocking and displaying lads’ mags and papers with Page 3-style front cover images can constitute sex discrimination or sexual harassment under the Equality Act. Employees could take legal action on this basis and, where the magazine is visibly on display, customers could also have a claim. Legally as well as ethically, lads’ mags are well past their sell-by date.

That’s why we’re joining with Object, Women’s Aid, End Violence Against Women and many others to tell shops to lose the lads’ mags.

Sign the petition and ask shops to lose the lads’ mags!

As is the case with ‘girly calendars’, people shouldn’t have to see sexist, degrading lads’ mags when they are going about their work or doing their shopping.

Sign the petition today.

NEWS: What Can Men Do to Stop Rape Culture?

Video on link.

At a panel presented by V-Day and The Nation, Eve Ensler challenged men to up their role in combating violence against women. As Nation sports editor Dave Zirin put it, rape culture is “what happens to our culture when we let it sit and don’t actively challenge violence against women.” It’s “not the two boys in Steubenville who committed the crime, it was the fifty people who saw it happen and did nothing.” To change that culture, the panel asks, what will it take to redefine masculinity? And what role do women have in that conversation?

—James Cersonsky

On thenation.

ACTION: 15-year-old rape survivor has been sentenced to be whipped 100 times in public

Another petition, another horrific case.

It’s hard to believe, but a 15-year-old rape survivor has been sentenced to be whipped 100 times in public! Let’s put an end to this lunacy by hitting the Maldives government where it hurts: the tourism industry.

The girl’s stepfather is accused of raping her for years and murdering the baby she bore. Now the court says she must be flogged for “sex outside marriage” with a man who has not even been named! President Waheed of the Maldives is already feeling global pressure on this, and we can force him to save this girl and change the law to spare other victims this cruel fate. This is how we can end the War on Women – by standing up every time an outrage like this happens.

Tourism is the big earner for the Maldives elite, including government ministers. Let’s build a million-strong petition to President Waheed this week, then threaten the islands’ reputation through hard-hitting ads in travel magazines and online until he steps in to save her and abolish this outrageous law. Sign now and share this with everyone!

Petition here: Avaaz.

Related:

EVENT: Reclaim the Night 2012, 24th November, London

Women’s march against rape and all forms of violence against women. Take back the capital and put your feet on the streets for women on Reclaim the Night 2012. Join with thousands of women to shout a loud NO to rape and male violence against women and demand justice for survivors. Be there – for your friends, your sisters, your daughters, your colleagues, yourself; be there for all the women that can’t. See you at RTN 12. www.reclaimthenight.org

[Read more: Reclaim the Night 2012]

EVENT: Leeds SlutWalk (Saturday 23rd July 2011)

Saturday July 23rd – 1200 – 1500

Meet at Victoria Gardens in front of the art gallery, Leeds. You may have heard of the success of the recent Slutwalk marches that are happening across the world! We are organising a march in Leeds for the 23rd July and we really hope you can join us! Please invite all your friends to march and rally and confront the rape culture that we live in.

With the rape conviction rate stuck at a shocking 6% (of reported rapes), 1 in 10 survivors never engaging with the criminal justice system and rape survivor survices being cut left right and centre now is the time to stand together and protest against the shameful victim blaming. It’s amazing that the comments of one ridiculous police officer in Toronto (who told students that if women wanted to avoid being raped they should “avoid dressing like sluts) can spark off a global movement. Lets celebrate the birth of a response to survivor/victim blaming, stand together and say that rape is NEVER the fault of the victim/survivor. For those on FaceBook here’s a link to the FB group https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=140250409386868

EVENT: Huddersfield Feminist Collective at Manchester Slutwalk

Slutwalk (1)Here’s a couple of shots from when some of us took part in the Manchester Slutwalk on Friday 10 June.

Another Slutwalk is currently being planned for Leeds – look out for them on Twitter if you want to get involved.

[Thanks to Pictures In The Cloud for letting us reuse the pics here!]

Slutwalk (2)

EVENT: Slutwalk Manchester – march with us! (Friday 10th June, 2011, 7pm – 9pm)

slutwalkFriday 10 June · 7pm – 9pm
——————————
Location – Meeting outside Manchester Town Hall
——————————
On 24th January 2011, a Toronto policeman told a group of law students that in order to avoid being raped ‘women should avoid dressing like sluts’.

This sparked protest and outrage around the world because this statement
represents an attitude in our society. That if we behave or dress in certain
ways, we deserve to be raped.

Rape is NEVER the fault of the survivor.
…..
SlutWalk Manchester says that nobody deserves rape. If we wear revealing
clothes. If we are drunk. If we walk home alone late at night. If we flirt
with you. If we are married to you. If we are sex workers. If we defy gender
norms. WE DO NOT INVITE SEXUAL ASSAULT.

SlutWalk Manchester does not just fight against rape, it fights against all
forms of sexual assault and harassment, right down to the last time you were
shouted at or ‘complimented’ by a stranger in the street. It fights against
sexism and promotes feminism.

We are tired of being oppressed by slut-shaming; of being judged by our
sexuality and feeling unsafe as a result. Being in charge of our sexual
lives should not mean that we are opening ourselves to an expectation of
violence, regardless if we participate in sex for pleasure or work, or if we
choose not to have sex at all..

Continue Reading…