Wednesday 16 July 2014

"Shit, I am a feminist!"

At the age of roughly 14 I became aware of Marxism. It was my Dad who taught me about it and it is a huge part of my personal beliefs about what the world should be like. I have spent my time since then within the left field of political thinking with my ideals of the world maturing and changing as I am exposed to more and more stories about the planet on which we live. Over the next three years, no doubt, those opinions and beliefs will be refined more and will continue to be so for the rest of my life. My Dad had always told me about equality within class and how the worker is oppressed by capitalism, I then took that viewpoint further when I started to form opinions based on issues regarding race and how white supremacy was still an active and dangerous part of our culture.

The biggest shift for me happened roughly a year ago when I came across two twitter accounts, the first being: @NoMorePage3 which as you'd expect, is a campaign to stop the objectification of women in tabloid newspapers and magazines such as the Sun. Although I knew about misrepresentation of women in the media and I was outraged by it, I didn't really think that it was something I could change. To find something that today is actually having a huge influence on the media industry and be part of a community of just under 200,000 people  who have signed the petition (as of 16/07/14) is an amazing thing. The second account was that of Laurie Penny who is a journalist, author and the contributing editor of the New Statesman. When I read Penny's work, I completely agreed with what she was saying about women and how they are treated by the world we live in. I watched her lectures and was amazed at how much she was speaking to me. Eventually, I finished a YouTube video of Laurie Penny talking at Oxford and thought "Shit, I am a feminist!".

As a girl who wants to enter the media industry, I feel it is important to understand it. I just went on a tour of MediaCityUK yesterday and also went to the tour around the BBC in London with school earlier this year. I travelled to Goldsmith College from Leicestershire after school one day last month to she both Laurie Penny and the No More Page Three Campaign talk about sexism in the media. I buy myself papers, watch the news, read books, anything I can to understand what the world I live in does and why it does it. At this point in my life, I want to consume as much knowledge about the world around me as I possibly can so that I can grow up to be a cultured individual that is breaking the mould of modern living. The reason I think Media Studies is such an important subject is because it lets me do that and as my Media teacher said to me recently, you can't do Media Studies and not be a feminist. 

When I first realised that I was a feminist I was confused because feminists were loud mouthed, militant women who didn't shave their armpits and hated men. Now I have friends who call me militant and at times I can shout about my point of view for hours but I didn't and still don't associate myself with that stereotype of "the feminist". I certainly don't hate men, a lot of my friends are men, I have a loving boyfriend, I am in a class where, apart from me, every member of it is a man. Currently I am reading Unspeakable Things by Laurie Penny and even one chapter in, the book is one of the most influential and important texts I have ever read. In the book she talks about how you don't need to be that stereotype, you don't need to not shave, not wear make up, not wear deodorant because with feminism comes individualism and we all have the right to be who want to be and believe what we want to believe.

I was inspired to write this after reading something a friend on Facebook said about the feminist movement. She was saying how we don't need feminism in this country and instead of British and American feminists focusing on equal pay and getting stuff handed to us on a plate, we should focus on "a country like India... when you get stoned to death because you didn't marry who your family wanted to.". Yes, the feminist movement does focus of Asian countries "like India" - only days ago the whole feminist movement celebrated  the first ever Malala Day (July 12th) which honours Malala Yousafzai who was shot in the head last year after she stood up against the Taliban for her right for an education in Pakistan. Having made a full recovery, Malala (now 17) is a key feminist figure with a worldwide best selling book about her experiences. Yes, women in middle-eastern culture do face worse problems than those in western culture but that's not to say that the issues aren't universal.

Forced marriage and female genital mutilation are huge issues abroad but they are hugely prominent in the U.K too. Equally, workers rights and gender stereotypes are huge issues abroad. The reason we don't see it abroad (ie: on the news and in newspapers) is because we don't see it here. Patriarchal media forbids coverage of such nature being the greedy, capitalist industry it is. Universally, all of these problems exist and the feminist movement is fighting all of them. If you come across a feminist who believes feminist issues are more important in the U.K than abroad, that is not a feminist, that is an elitist and a racist. The feminist movement is essentially a socialist one - as Laurie Penny says: "Socialism without feminism, after all, is no socialism worth having.".

The feminist movement is a collection of ALL WOMEN standing up to be counted. Just because you are a white girl of privilege doesn't mean you can't be outraged by the world we live in. Feminism isn't a hate movement that is necessarily militant. It isn't about men, it is about culture. Feminism is standing up for what is right.

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Monday 14 July 2014

Tories, they just can't get it right.

God it has been a week. First we found out that the is a possible cover up of child abuse claims by the Conservative party as over 100 files go missing from the home secretary. Then we find that Thatcher possibly knew of the cover up and actually helped to keep the claims out of the public eye. Last week was not a good week for the Tories. Less than a year before the next general election, the curtain is being pulled on the corrupt actions of the party during the 80s and 90s. This was starting to die down as we entered a new week of current affairs but has heated up again after Cameron has announced a huge cabinet shuffle this evening which has seen William Hague moved out of his job as foreign secretary. The government claim that the shuffle is to give the election campaign an extra boost in order to give the Tories the best shot at making us sit through another four year of facepalming. Many believe that Cameron knows the party will be faced with some tough questions in the next few months and wants to rid himself of any old Tories as possible to give once again the lean look which contributed to his win in 2010.

To do this, Cameron is rumoured to be adding a lot more women to the cabinet. Not because he wants to but because he "needs" to in order to attract voters. Young female Tories have always excited to British public. Although not necessarily young, Thatcher both thrilled and scared voters when she first rose to power and arguably did so throughout her reign. In Scotland, where to vote Conservative (to some) is like an act of treason, Ruth Davidson (leader of the Scottish Conservatives) is becoming more and more popular down to her "dynamic" political style in promoting the advantages of a union (so the New Statesman says). You could say, the public crave a strong female political figure. In Tory logic it also shuts the feminists up. This then, from a Conservative's point of view is a good thing - put women in power, stop the feminists from moaning and get votes from the public. NOPE.

I actually find it offensive that women are being shoved in the cabinet in favour of men just because they are women. We shouldn't live in a world where you get jobs on what sex you are, we should get jobs depending on whether we are the right candidate and that decision should be made in an unbiased and just way. Personally, if David Cameron was offering me a job in his cabinet at this time because I have boobs I would tell him to shove it. Female MPs shouldn't be used as pawns in order to win an election and then be discarded.

When I heard of the cabinet shift, I prayed that Gove had been sacked yet, alas, no joy. Despite making education a misery both for students and teacher and failing to improve grades significantly in the process, Mikey is still in a job and I must go on with my suffering as he sucks individuality and self-expression out of education (thank goodness I am coming out of the other end of it!). Everyday Gove stays in his job, the more the Tories prove they are out of tough with the public. It isn't teacher's fault strikes happen, it is his. My Mother cared deeply for her students and was sad to leave them but he drove her out of the profession and will do the same for thousands more.

On the bright side, women can now be bishops. Hooray for women!

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Wednesday 9 July 2014

Thank you NHS!

Just a quick note - I have just got off the phone to my Gran who had to go in for bloody tests today at Ayr Hospital. She's been under the weather and they have been taking precautions in case something is the matter. When I spoke to her today she was so happy, it was like a weight had been lifted off of her and that once again she was the happy and chatty Gran I know and love. She said this was down to the wonderful service she received at the hospital and how they went out of their way to make her comfortable and stop her from being so worried. She was told it was likely nothing serious and came away feeling a lot happier. Just talking to her raised my mood so much and now I can't wait to see her in a few weeks when we go up to Scotland on holiday. Afterwards I spoke to Grandpa who again was astounded by the service they had received. Eventually, I said to him: "God bless the NHS!" and he couldn't agree more.

In my own experiences, I am currently receiving counselling for anxiety which I have developed through various events in my life. I was referred to counselling by my GP and am receiving it through the NHS. After my first session, I went on Twitter and saw the NHA Party's tweets. This got me thinking - what if this wasn't here? Although I can (to an extent) control how anxious I feel, there are times it gets too much and I go into huge panics which have caused me to take days off school and become very very tired. I am going through a bad spell at the minute which is why I haven't been posting all that regularly. Without the help I am currently getting (for free), I would be a wreck and it makes me sad that in places around the world (like America) where people either have to go without or pay horrible prices to receive it.

What is awful is that the NHS is facing privatisation and the Tories are wanting to start charging us "small sums" to use the service in order to relieve waiting lists. To me, the NHS is the only thing the people have left in this country and we should do everything in our power to keep it that way. This is why I am participating in the People's March for the NHS as it comes through my town on September 1st. I urge all those who want the NHS to stay in our hands to do the same.

#march4nhs

Click here to go to 999 Call for the NHS's website and sign up for the march.

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Thursday 3 July 2014

Bannockburn is not relevant?

1314 is a date that has rung through the Scottish media with great volume over the past few years. Being the year of Bannockburn, the date has a huge amount of significance to Scotland as we beat the English against the odds sending them homeward to think again. 700 years on, Scotland faces a new battle with England, the battle for independence.

Many see what Salmond is doing. It is clear that he deliberately chose 2014 as the year of the referendum because of Bannockburn in order to obtain as many "yes" votes as possible. He hopes to rouse up the Scots with ancient jingoism and delusional patriotism. The idea of 'fighting for freedom' will appeal to many Scottish citizens who have a chip on their shoulder about how the "English" have oppressed and exploited them throughout history although the idea that the English hate the Scottish is yet another misconception. In fact, living in England and being being Scottish by birth and by ancestry, I see a lot more hatred being subjected from Scotland's court than England's.

"Nationalist" Scots confuse the English for the Tories, which is of course is a ridiculous and xenophobic statement to make. Yes, Thatcher fucked Scotland right over and the reason Scotland faces so many of the problems it does is down to her and her elitist government but she also fucked over Wales and everywhere north of Leicester. A lot of Scotland's hatred is based on the assumption that all English people voted for Thatcher and compliment her policies. This is not true in the slightest. It is probably an accurate statement that without Scotland in the Union, Labour will face real difficulty gaining power in U.K Government but that's not to say that austerity hating, worker loving people don't exist in England. It's very far from the truth. The SNP are not turning on their enemy, rather the opposite, they are turning on a true ally.

Back to Bannockburn. People were outraged that Armed Forces Day was on the same day as the Bannockburn celebrations and claimed the clash had an underlying agenda. Not the case. There has been no mention of Bannockburn in England (in fact if ashamed to say that it would have gone straight over my head if I hadn't been told by my Gran), as far as I know it isn't on David Cameron's radar at all. This is a sting but extinguished the idea of agenda on the Conservatives' part. This is because a battle 700 years ago is irrelevant to today's society.

Yes, it is Scotland's heritage but honestly, how many of us actually can safely say that 700 years ago their ancestor actually fought against Edward? I know that I can't. Just over 100 years ago, the majority of my family were living in Ireland. I also have descendants from Northern Europe. I know that really, my ancestors probably didn't fight at Bannockburn and would say that most Scots are the same. Also this is ancient Scotland we are talking about. The Scotland fought over in 1314 is in no way the Scotland we see now. We cannot take political and cultural inspiration from something that happened close to a millennium ago. Take the American constitution, although Republicans frequently tell us that 'the constitution states I have a right to _____ because of the _____ amendment' (written in 1787), it is a document that is becoming increasingly irrelevant to many of its citizens as the America of the founding fathers is no longer the America we have today. This is a document that until 1918 didn't allow women to vote in America - it is obviously obsolete and out of touch with the modern world.This is a way of thinking that is almost 500 years younger than Bannockburn yet we are told to believe that it is our destiny to take it further. 

The Scots that fought at Bannockburn are not the Scots that will vote this September in terms of politics and culture. This was in the days of feudal society and clans. Today, Scotland is a place of materialism and class. Your surname is of no more importance in terms of status than the kind of toilet roll you buy. We are not Ancient Scotland, we are Modern Scotland. The Scotland that Robert the Bruce fought for no longer exists so why take influence from it when September comes? 




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