The Truly Offensive 'F' Word

Over the past couple of months I've had numerous discussions about issues relating to my embryonic thesis - rape, sexual violence, inequality, patriarchy etc - with a number of very good friends, each of whom has seemed shocked at the fact I used the 'f' word to describe myself.

I am a feminist.

I understand that the term 'feminist' means very different things to many people. A postcard I picked up in Oxfam today read:

"Feminism encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practise witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians." Pat Robertson, US Politician, 1992.

Yeah, ninety-two.

For me, Feminism is the acceptance of an ideology which promotes the equal political, social, economic, religious, legal and sexual rights of women and men. It does not mean that I hate men; instead, I argue that men themselves suffer from the effects of patriarchy. Patriarchy entrenches a gender binary which is portrayed as 'natural' by it's derivation from the notion of sex. Because I fit the 'natural', 'medical' definition of a woman, I am expected to embrace that identity and work within it. For men, they must adhere to the societal norm of the 'macho' - they will wear 'men's' clothes, they will engage in 'men's' activities. A man in a boob tube and hotpants, cross-stitching is something to ridicule and thus bring into line. For those who do not fit into the narrow binary of male-female, there is the pressing concern of choice. Someone must make a choice as to which gender they will be, because society cannot deal with anyone who accepts their identity as intersex. Every citizen will adhere to the gender chosen for them, and although this has some flexibility in modern Britain - I was able to walk into a shop and buy men's shoes without too big an issue, for example - there is certainly a bias towards women in that respect. A man who walks into a woman's shoe department is judged, often severely, and labelled for that. As a feminist, I believe that working against the patriarchy which perpetuates this binary is beneficial for men and women alike.

Another issue that crops up is the fact that Feminists were A-OK during the Suffragette movement, and back in the '60s but in the year 2010 women enjoy equal rights with men. This myth is one of my biggest bug-bears because it lulls the modern woman into a false sense of security. The law may say that women and men will be paid equally for the same work, but the law does not take into account the disproportionate number of women engaged in part-time employment because they have caring responsibilities. The law also perpetuates the image of the woman as primary care-giver for children, with inequality in maternity/paternity leave. Heaven forbid a couple who wish to co-parent. I have read about female academics in the US taking off their wedding ring to attend a job interview because married women are less likely to be employed as they might want to start a family in the near future, causing the male powers that be to find maternity cover and then she'll probably want to go part-time and we'll just have to go through the hiring process all over again. Married male academics are encouraged to wear a ring because they might want to start a family soon and that means that he's settled and committed. 2 women a week are killed by their partner and there is a call made to the police regarding domestic abuse every minute. I've written extensively about the issue of rape and legal inequalities so have a look at Why Frape isn't Funny and Repressed Ranting for further details on that.

Aside from that is the issue of women in other countries who suffer the most horrific forms of injustice and abuse. I've written before about the statistic that a Pakistani woman is raped every hour, every second rape is an attack on a minor and every fourth a gang rape. The situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo has also been mentioned in some of my posts. This week, a series of articles in the Guardian made me weep. The first contained one of the most appalling statistics I've ever come across. A South African woman is more likely to be raped than to learn to read. I cannot even comprehend what that statement means, let alone get my head around the case it mentions of a 7 year old girl gang raped at school by a 9 year old and two 11 year old boys. The second cites that 37.4% of men surveyed admitted to rape. Over a third.

I am a feminist because I refuse to stand back and convince myself that the world has become enlightened about women's issues and become equal. I am a feminist because I believe in a fair and equal society where everyone can express themselves as they wish without fear of ridicule or reprisals. I am a feminist because I believe that no-one should be fearful of their safety in their homes and on the streets.

I am a feminist because if I am not, I am refusing my own voice and the voices of women across the world unable to speak.

I am a feminist, and I am proud.

I Heart Baher Ibrahim

Linked for being absolutely right: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/nov/23/muslim-girls-wearing-hijab (This trend of young Muslim girls wearing the hijab is disturbing).

I can say no more than well done Baher Ibrahim and again resign myself to the fact that those who comment on the Guardian may cultivate an intellectual liberal image but in reality tend to be bigoted muppets.

The Law is an Ass - Where is my Shotgun?

I was astounded and pretty upset to read this article yesterday: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/nov/08/rape-case-woman-appeal.

A woman in Wales has been sentenced to 8 months in prison for perverting the course of justice by retracting a rape allegation against her husband. Reporting her husband had raped her 6 times, the woman withdrew the allegations a few months later, before again contacting the police to assert that the attacks had actually taken place. She claimed that her husband had been emotionally blackmailing her during the breakdown of their marriage, causing her to retract her initial allegations.

The police did not respond with any attempt to ensure the woman's safety and stability in the aftermath of a pretty hellish period. No. They arrested her instead.

What. The. Hell?

I obviously know only the details of the case which have been made public, and one cannot discount the possibility that the woman was making the claims up all along. However, that is besides the point - by imprisoning this woman, the police force have further kicked a boot into any woman that has been raped. I've blogged about the appalling statistics regarding rape conviction before, but it is important to remind ourselves that there are wider issues. Definitions of rape as commonly held by society are shockingly narrow: rape is the pretty young girl walking home alone at night and attacked by a barbaric stranger. But we forget that rape is:

- the woman who has been drugged, or plied with alcohol until paralytic and taken advantage of

- the elderly woman in a care home who suffers at the hands of her carer

- the wife forced to comply with her husband's wishes

- the girlfriend coerced into sex with the threat of damaging rumours

- the woman who has been consistently demoralized by her partner until she "consents"

- the prostitute who hasn't been paid

- the porn star who has been belittled and objectified until she has no control over her own sexuality

(Rape is obviously not just a male on female phenomenon, male on male and female on male rape do occur, and I take my hat off to those who study them, but my work is primarily male on female so forgive the one-sided bias.)

Society often ignores these victims - in some cases she meets the legal definition of licit sexual intercourse - she has "consented". But how can a woman consent if she is not in a position where she can give it, where she has no ownership of her own sexuality, when she is threatened by unspoken violence, when she has consented to marry this person, when she cannot withdraw that consent? Juries come to their verdicts on the basis of their own poorly-understood definitions of rape, and the law gives weight to this. A woman in fear of her life may 'consent' to save her life, but that is still rape.

Rape law across the country (and as I will argue, the world) needs to be overhauled. Consent is a flawed notion which holds no water. Rape is sexual activity forced upon a woman, where force may include but is not limited to violence, coercion and threats.

If we are to give this ridiculous situation the backing of the law then of course women won't report that they have been raped to the police. Already minuscule conviction rates will fall and those who do report will be wary of the possible outcomes. In the emotionally fragile time after being attacked, a woman should not have to weigh up whether it is worthwhile to report it to the police.

We are only a step away from the appalling situation in countries like Pakistan, where the infamous Safia Bibi case gained worldwide attention from human rights advocates. A 13 year old blind servant, Safia Bibi was gang raped by her master and his son, an attack which resulted in pregnancy. Upon reporting the rape, her pregnancy was accepted as evidence of her partaking in illicit extra-marital sexual relations whilst her attackers were released on the basis of lack of evidence. How can we be outraged by cases like this when we are committing the same offence against women?! The Pakistan Human Rights Commission released figures displaying the appalling truth - a woman in Pakistan is raped every 3 hours, every second is a minor and every fourth is gang-raped. I repeat, rape law must be overhauled.

In better news, I was very pleased to read that the government have dropped plans to introduce anonymity for those accused of rape. Anonymity is fine if it is applied to all those accused in criminal proceedings, but to single out rape cases, where the majority of victims are female is to display institutional distrust in the word of women. Unacceptable.

Every one of these stories betrays the ugly truth - women are not protected by the law and are distrusted by wider society. The law is an ass which needs to be put out of it's misery for all of our sakes. Now find me my shotgun and I'll get us started.

Big Foot's Love Child

What would life be like if this guy was your father?:

You'd have all the opportunity required to take some grainy images of him, sell them on to crackpots and keep a steady flow of income coming for the rest of his life. Brilliant, huh?

Well, no. Likelihood is the inheritance of some of his features - a rather luxuriant all-over coat might work for a week or two as a copy of 'that darling designer coat on the cover of vogue' but after that it might prove an issue. Think of the shampoo costs. And the hair down the plug hole situation. Eww. Anyhoo, I digress.

The reason I come to spending my Friday evening googling Big Foot pictures? Because it would seem that I am the love child of our furry friend, at least according to EVERYONE in the shoe industry.

I don't have the hair issue. At least I don't think so. If I seem to have a rather worrying amount of hair going on, please tell me! No, I have the big feet problem.

They might not be on a level with these babies, but my - shock, horror, gasp! - size 9 feet seem to have provoked a reaction of revulsion and disbelief amongst the shoe-sellers of Edinburgh., Seriously, when I enquired as to what size one well-respected shoe chain go up to, my high-pitched reaction - "Eight in some styles?! Some styles?"- and the shop assistant's look of horror at my shoe size put paid to the overly cheery 'How can I help you' before I'd even had time to clap eyes on a shoe. Traipsing from shop to shop, it would seem that all they have on offer in the women's shoe section is some faux-crocodile skin three-inch heeled thigh high boots. Since I would rather chop my toes off than squeeze myself into those atrocities, I was left with damp feet. Buying a cheap and appalling quality pair of brogues - as they were literally the only thing I could get on my feet in the entirety of Edinburgh I began a search for what I could get on the internet. Result? Stripper shoes.

http://www.vivaladiva.com/shop/product/details/show.action?pdLpUid=RV595&pdBoUid=2719&lpgUid=11188744#colour:1904,size:42

Seeing my cause to be lost, even to the unimaginable powers of the internet, I raided the men's section of M & S. And there I was faced with the undeniable difference in the philosophy underpinning men and women's shoes: masculinity is assured by making one's feet look gigantic; femininity is assured by making one's feet look tiny and delicate.

So my final conclusion is that we should bring back the binding of little girl's feet.

Oh wait, no it's not. Because that would be unbelievably stupid.

My actual final conclusion is that the shoe industry needs to get over the ideology that women's feet should be delicate wee flowers and take note that my feet exist and deserve to be shod!

Zombie Sheep and Beelzebub's Dinner: Why Frape Isn't Funny

It was all going so well. I was idly scanning my facebook feed this afternoon when my head exploded. What could cause such a reaction? Surely nothing as innocuous as a word?

WRONG.

There are quite a few words that make me shudder, scream and turn a teeny-weeny bit violent. Use the word 'banter' and I'll squirm. Use the word 'bants', as one EUSA hopeful did a couple of elections back and I will hunt you down and punch you in the face. You have been warned.

But nothing, I repeat NOTHING, gets me more riled than the word 'frape'.

I blogged about how Jane Austen is languishing in a special level of hell, but I swear whoever came up with the 'f' word is being repeatedly dipped in molten lava and toasted at Gas Mark 8 billion and 64 as the devil's own plaything. If not I'll personally drag them there.

Whoever thought that having your status hacked to say something silly was in any way comparable to the ordeal of rape victims, even in jest, deserves to have their intestines pumped full of angry killer bees and their toes nibbled off by zombie sheep before being finished off with a sprig of rosemary by Beelzebub. A number of good friends have used it before, not out of malice but as it has become an acceptable and even funny term. For those who take up the 'f' term, it may be unthinking ignorance, but please, for the love of all things holy, think about it. You wouldn't think it funny to post a racist term and I don't see any difference here. Not to mention my 1 strike and you're defriended policy.

But it doesn't end with 'frape'. Sexual assault is now the subject of some 'hilarious' comic routines (as discussed in the Guardian article "The Rise of the Rape Joke" accessible at http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/sep/10/rape-jokes-in-comedy).

Society must fight against the incipient attitude that rape isn't serious, that rape is funny and we should laugh at it.

It is estimated that between 1 in 3 and 1 in 4 women will experience rape in her lifetime, a figure which is considered conservative, with an estimated 75-85% of rapes never reported. In Pakistan, the Human Rights Commission estimates that a woman is raped every every 3 hours, every second victim is a minor and every fourth the victim of gang rape. Many victims have been ostracized, punished by the legal system, and even felt that the only response was suicide. In Congo, only now are we beginning to hear the outrage of the international community at the mass rape of over 300 women, some over 80, as well as babies. "Most of the survivors say they were gang-raped, by two to six assailants." (From a Guardian article, accessible at http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/24/congo-rebels-rape-un-rwanda). Conviction rates worldwide are pathetic, and woman are repeatedly being failed by legal definitions, medical professionals and police. NUS statistics state that 1 in 7 female students has been sexually assaulted. Pretty much every woman has been made to feel uncomfortable and threatened by the sexual behaviour of (generally) a man. Who hasn't been groped in a club, or been frightened whilst walking on their own? As a woman big enough and ugly enough to defend myself, not to mention sober enough, I have been able to get out of these situations, but others aren't so lucky. How dare we make light of their plight?!

I urge you to boycott usage of the word 'frape'.

Wet shirts, Incest and Interminable Monologues: Why Jane Austen is Doomed to the 7th Pit of a Fiery Hell

A man in a sodden ruffled shirt doesn't do much for me. I don't think it ever did. However, for many, it has become the iconic scene of a BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. I believe that this is a bit of poetic license on the part of the producers, but I can't know because my mind has blocked all details of Pride and Prejudice from my mind in an attempt to sand-bag my brain from the rot of simpering, marriage obsessed heroines.

Three years ago, I ploughed my way through the inane ramblings of Ms Austen. After all, shouldn't every educated woman list an Austen novel as her favourite book? At first I thought my dislike of the book was a flaw of my own, I wasn't smart enough to appreciate the writing or not romantically-inclined enough to identify with the protagonists. I tried and I tried and I tried to get to grips with Austen. Perhaps it was just Pride and Prejudice that I didn't get on with. So I tried Emma. Just as bad. Sense and Sensibility? Senseless. Mansfield Park? Seriously, incest ain't sexy.

Ah, but it's just a quirk of the time, I hear you say.

Fair enough, but for books taken as the pinnacle of romance, that's a message that makes me vomit a wee bit in my mouth.

And then the writing style... Goodness me there have been telephone books which read better.

But all of this pales in comparison to the realisation I finally came to. There's nothing wrong with me because I don't like Austen, but the societal pressure for young women to like her novels. They aren't very well written and they do go on (and on and on and on and, well you get the picture). But that isn't reason enough to decry Austen - my bug bear is that Austen has become the pinnacle of 'female literature'and their underlying message a stick with which to beat women. Her books have soppy, simpering women devoting ALL of their time to finding a husband, and finding every other woman a husband too, and that is what educated women should aspire to. Women will idealize romance, whilst men can read whatever they want, the very basis of a huge amount of inequality worldwide.

Well screw you Austen, and societal pressure, because you will burn in my imaginary hell.

Repressed Ranting

***Warning - the following post deals with some pretty traumatic subject matter. Not all are recommended to read on.***

I like to see myself as a vaguely rational person who will accept different viewpoints and embraces academic debates. Without debate we will never learn anything, so I will listen to you, even if I then spend 20 minutes banging the desk and yelping 'ABSOLUTELY NOT' across the room.

That was before Palmer.

Over a fruitful cup of tea with Nikki today, we discussed my list of academics I have issues with. I didn't need to think very long to figure out who hits the number 1 spot : Craig Palmer.

Back in the days of yore, when younger, inexperienced me shivered in the cold December wind, working tirelessly on le dissertation by candlelight... Ok, back in December when I was researching chapter 1 of my dissertation - the legal status of women in Pakistan (specifically in terms of rape legislation) since Zia's Islamization programme was introduced - I was searching through books and journals to familiarize myself with the main debates in what I came to call 'rape theory'.

Susan Brownmillar's argument that rape is an exercise in power has been at the pinnacle of debates for over 30 years, revolutionising how we thought about rape as an act of not purely sexual significance.

Continuing the debate, Palmer contributed the most heinous aberration I have ever had the misfortune to come across. 'Twelve Reasons Why Rape is Not Sexually Motivated: A Skeptical Examination' set out to put the sex back in rape. (Accessible at http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.webfeat.lib.ed.ac.uk/stable/3812897) I am open to debates on the 'rape as power' issue, but I was not prepared for the onslaught that befell me. I will not give a full exposition of why I disliked the article, but I will highlight a few of the worst lines.

Top of the list has to be the brilliantly phrased "Only 15 to 20 per cent of rape victims required hospital treatment for physical injuries" and "only 22.7% ended up inflicting "very severe injury". That's right, only over one fifth of those psychologically traumatised, physically abused and socially stigmatised are left with very severe injury. Almost disappointing, right? If only there was a way to ensure that the attack stayed with them for life, affecting their relationships, causing lasting physical damage... Oh wait, that already does happen. Had this been a quote from a lecture I attended, I would not threaten to punch him in the face. No, I'd actually punch him in the face as hard as I could. But it's OK 'cos he isn't guaranteed to end up in the hospital so he won't be really hurt.

Other gems include: dismissing an argument because it "hinges on the assumption that a males' sexual desire is exhausted by a single "outlet"". But it's all OK because there are prostitutes and pornography for that sort of thing, which obviously isn't about the power inherent in objectification of women, oh no.

The military personnel who specifically planned attacks as a way of displaying power over the enemy weren't involved in power games. As Brownmiller argued:

Rape is considered by the people of a defeated nation to be part of the enemy’s conscious

effort to destroy them [...] men appropriate the rape of “their women” as part of their own male

anguish of defeat [...] rape by a conqueror is compelling evidence of the conquered’s status of

masculine impotence. Defense of women has long been a hallmark of masculine pride as possession

of women has been a hallmark of masculine success [...] The body of a raped woman becomes a

ceremonial battlefield, a parade ground for the victor’s trooping of the colors. (Brownmiller, 1986:38)

Rape as punishment can be sexual. Yay for rapists - exert power over women and get a kick out of it (!)

Sex doesn't need to include consideration for the other party's arousal. Good-o, because forcing a woman who clearly doesn't want it is all terribly sexual and not at all about power.

Date rape isn't really rape.

Men might experience sexual dysfunction because they are worried about punishment. What a shame. If only they weren't forcing themselves on someone else.

Rape is to be expected in the summer, y'know, with all those women out and about flaunting their bodies.

"only excessive force is a possible indication of violent motivation on the part of the rapist" - obviously rape isn't forceful at all. Oh wait, isn't that part of the blooming definition?!

Oh yeah, and only pretty people get raped. How comforting.

A well deserved number one spot on both my 'most hated academic' and 'most likely to get a punch in the face' lists - well done Craig Palmer.