Image: Allan Ferguson The month of May 2014 brought us much to despair about. It was the month that misogyny became visible. There's always a body count that shows misogyny is still here, but it seems there's no glory for politicians or celebrities in talking about domestic violence or what is perhaps best described in current online terms as 'Everyday VAWG'. Yawn. Sort it out ladies. I address the ladies because the impression is repeatedly given that the women affected put themselves in their terrible situation. But so what if they did? They are still not the perpetrator. So why was May different? Well several things happened that could not be so easily connected to a short skirt and an alcopop.
To catch you up if you napped over May, the abducted school girls in Nigeria are still missing, a woman,
Farzana Parveen was stoned to death in Lahore and another woman, Meriam Ibrahim, sentenced to death, gave birth in shackles (by the way, anyone in the UK appalled by that remember this?). Want some man news, sure, a man who spent a lot of time on PUA and MRA site murdered people before killing himself because women wouldn't go out with him.
In the same month a Montreal grade 11 student called Lindsay Stocker was told her shorts were too...short for school wear. Believing this to be a case of sexism with the school focusing on girls' bodies instead of boys' behaviour. Rather than change she plastered the school with posters that read: "Don't humiliate her because she's wearing shorts. It's hot outside. Instead of shaming girls for their bodies, teach boys that girls are not sexual objects."
Yeah, sure I know there is a case of what's appropriate in school or the office - but as a place of learning this is a good lesson to teach for our sons and daughters. Both that clothes don't matter but also they aren't some kind of message regarding consent.
Farzana Parveen was stoned to death in Lahore and another woman, Meriam Ibrahim, sentenced to death, gave birth in shackles (by the way, anyone in the UK appalled by that remember this?). Want some man news, sure, a man who spent a lot of time on PUA and MRA site murdered people before killing himself because women wouldn't go out with him.
In the same month a Montreal grade 11 student called Lindsay Stocker was told her shorts were too...short for school wear. Believing this to be a case of sexism with the school focusing on girls' bodies instead of boys' behaviour. Rather than change she plastered the school with posters that read: "Don't humiliate her because she's wearing shorts. It's hot outside. Instead of shaming girls for their bodies, teach boys that girls are not sexual objects."
Yeah, sure I know there is a case of what's appropriate in school or the office - but as a place of learning this is a good lesson to teach for our sons and daughters. Both that clothes don't matter but also they aren't some kind of message regarding consent.
| Scout Willis, daughter of Demi and Bruce (you know, from up the road) recently decided to go out and about topless in New York to protest against Instagram's no female nipples rule. | a woman is responsible for adjusting herself to manage male behaviour. |
Rather than allowing women the agency to signal if they wish to be openly objectified it seems like we've decided it's easier just to tell them to cover up or bare all. When actually sometimes shorts are just shorts. Sometimes a nipple is just a nipple. Yes we all have our private thoughts, be they lustful or snarky. No one is going to police those. Yet.
When it's been a quite shocking month for women with hate crimes, incarceration, rape and murder you might wonder why I'm focusing on a pair of shorts and celebrity offspring tits. It sounds silly and it is. But it's where it starts. The nipple issue, the shorts issue, this is rooted in the belief that a woman is responsible for adjusting herself to manage male behaviour. Instead of men being told to modify their behaviour themselves. Which causes resentment instead of behaviour modification on either side.
It is very easy to think this is frivolous to focus on. But it's an easy leap to start with policing bodies and clothes, in order to influence behaviour, to disowning blame, shirking responsibility and applying rules purely to restrict rather than to protect. Too often the reason has come down to 'She made me do it'.
Squeamish Kate
When it's been a quite shocking month for women with hate crimes, incarceration, rape and murder you might wonder why I'm focusing on a pair of shorts and celebrity offspring tits. It sounds silly and it is. But it's where it starts. The nipple issue, the shorts issue, this is rooted in the belief that a woman is responsible for adjusting herself to manage male behaviour. Instead of men being told to modify their behaviour themselves. Which causes resentment instead of behaviour modification on either side.
It is very easy to think this is frivolous to focus on. But it's an easy leap to start with policing bodies and clothes, in order to influence behaviour, to disowning blame, shirking responsibility and applying rules purely to restrict rather than to protect. Too often the reason has come down to 'She made me do it'.
Squeamish Kate
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