Oh well, 2009 is nigh upon us. The concept of the New Year used to scare me witless, well, more a feeling of dread really but I blame this upon my fatalistic mother who for some reason placed great stock on the symbolism of the… ‘New Year.’ Anyway, many years down the line I managed to process my irrational fear of a date on a calendar together with the absurd notion that if said year started off badly then batten down the hatches folks because you were in for a bumpy one. I have no idea where my mother’s delusional beliefs originated from but the childhood superstitions indoctrination included — no open umbrellas or May flowers in the house, knives that must not be crossed, money to be heads up (tricky in a purse) cats are inherently ‘sneaky’, absolutely no bird ornaments, pictures or even a Robin on a Christmas card and not forgetting the dropped glove which must be picked up by someone else. Oh yeah and New Year is spooky and loaded with esoteric symbolism.

Anyhow I digress and what I meant to say is that I don’t do resolutions or taking stock of the past year whilst planning for the next. It all got too stressful and loaded and…well, unpredictable. However, if unlike me your senses of celebration are not blotted by a childhood melancholy of obsessive superstitions then please enjoy and have a good one.

Even though you are no longer with us (?) Happy New Year mam and I promise you – it’s all going to be fine. And watch the video, we are all still just blowing each other up.

Nothing changes, really…

…enjoy.

It is an unfortunate fact that rape and other forms of sexual violence are being used as a weapon of war in order to humiliate, punish, control, inflict terror and displace women and their communities. These rapes and other sexual violence amount to serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, including war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Women and children are 80% of refugees and displaced people worldwide. International courts have recognized that rape is routinely used as a weapon of war (*1) and an estimated 50% of women seeking asylum in the UK are rape survivors (*2). Yet the UN Convention on Refugees which defines who is entitled to protection does not recognise the specific persecution of women. Each woman must battle against institutional sexism, and institutional racism if she is a woman of colour, forced to show how her case relates to the Convention.

Gender Guidelines, provided to the Home Office (*3) and immigration judges in the UK (*4) acknowledge how hard it may be for women to speak about rape, and give practical guidance about how to ensure women have a fair hearing. But officials have no statutory obligation to implement the Guidelines, and rape survivors seeking asylum are treated with disbelief and even hostility. Case law and international precedents are rarely referred to and frequently flouted. And while victims of torture are considered “vulnerable” people who should not be detained, many are detained, including rape survivors.

Even when women are believed, rape can be dismissed as “simple lust” or “random acts” by “unruly officers”, or women are told it is safe to live somewhere else in the country they fled – with no means of survival, except begging or prostitution.

Women are denied any support or even legal representation. As a result, many cases are closed and women fight for years to get justice. Trafficked women who escaped forced prostitution or other bonded labour, mothers of children conceived as a result of rape, under-age girls and other rape survivors, are left destitute and detained. Most are ultimately removed.

WE DEMAND THE OFFICIAL RECOGNITION OF RAPE AS TORTURE AND PERSECUTION.

Please sign the petition here.

kudos simply wondered.

...and we'll all have tea...

We here at the Institute for Cheesy Wotsits Research find ourselves concerned in regards to the latest turn of events at The F. Word. Polly Styrene and a few other potential commentators found that by merely attempting to air their valid and on topic responses resulted with vaporisation into the ethers – while still allowing bullying comments against Polly and mAndrea to be published. Clue: calling someone a ‘Cretin’ is both an insult and abelist as it refers to a severe congenital physical and neurological condition caused by a thyroid hormone deficiency in-utero. On a feminist blog no less, that states in their comment policy.

No sexist, racist, homophobic, transphobic, classist, ablist comments, comments which make personal attacks on any blogger or commenter, or comments that are otherwise deemed offensive by us will be posted.

Polly addresses this in her post “I’ve changed my plea to guilty”

Irrational belief is all very well in its place of course. Which is usually after a shedload of drugs and/or drink, or if you prefer, in church. But while still stone cold sober, I’d like to examine the things I was accused of – apropos of nothing – on the F word and not allowed to reply to. And maybe at some point they will explain to me exactly WHY with all their high flown principles they allowed this to happen, this online bullying on a much bigger blog than mine. And why I haven’t been given any right of reply – and please don’t say I’m replying here, I want to reply in the oh so highly principled place where all this abuse was flung at me.

...Sukey take it off again...they've all gone away...

Apologies and or explanations offered as soon as good sense dictates not only helps save friendships and alliances – it can also dissolve a problem and keep it from developing into a full blown issue where the wound becomes a scar and the damage becomes irreparable… It’s also about respect.

I’ve been following this since the early 90’s when pre-internet, we nurses on night shift would swap the newspapers trying to wrap our heads around the concentrated campaign of genocidal rapes of Bosnian and Croatian women in the former Yugoslavia.

Radovan Karadzic the master mind behind the atrocities is arrested ~ the end of a man-hunt.

From Woman’s Space

After 14 years on the run, mostly hiding out in Eastern Orthodox monasteries, Radovan Karadzic, who masterminded the campaign of rapes for genocide of Bosnian and Croatian women in the former Yugoslavia in the early ’90s — in which millions of Bosnian, Croatian and Albanian women were raped, tortured, murdered, raped until they conceived children and forced to bear those children — has been arrested.

Natalie Nenadic, who worked with some of the rape survivors, wrote of the rapes as they were happening.(warning, potential trigger material)

Serbian (military) are committing genocide through mass rape and serial rape ending in death and mass rape and serial rape in order to produce what they consider Serbian babies to populate and maintain the Greater Serbian state. Corpses are also raped. Women’s breasts are sliced off and their wombs ripped out. …These rapes are committed on the Serb occupied territories of Croatia and Bosnia-Hercegovina, in different types of concentration camps and in rape/death camps, in which the victims who survive the initial massacres and deportations are interned. If women are already pregnant…their bellies are ripped open since those babies are not Serb. Birthing women are left to die in ditches. ..the majority of women and girls who survive the various types of Serbian concentration camps …have been interned in them for at least 21-28 days to ensure pregnancy.

…[Serbians] also use rape as a public spectacle to induce women to leave their homes and never return. These sexual atrocities are done “for Serbia”. Sometimes they are filmed as they are taking place. The film footage…the pornography of genocide…is used as propaganda in which the identities of the victims and the aggressor are switched…

ETA: See post seven for new link (for some reason it won’t let me embed it here.)

Re: Olga.

In all my years of studying douchebaggery, never have i encountered anything like this. It’s such pure and unadulterated douche that I wish I could bottle it and use just a drop of it at a time.

The back story on this is that a girl named Olga was out with her friends in the Marina district of San Francisco (known for being a popular hang out for douches), and she talked to this guy named Dmitri for all of two minutes. Then she gave him her card and said “give me a call.” The above is the messages he left. Listen to the whole thing, it just keeps getting better and better. I won’t even tell you my favorite parts because i don’t want to ruin anything. Just listen.

UPDATE: Prossy gets to stay in the UK.

News from Manchester that Ugandan lesbian Prossy Kakooza has won her battle for asylum in the UK as the judge ruled in her favour and the Home Office are not going to appeal against the judge’s decision.

“Prossy Kakooza is a 26-year-old woman seeking asylum in the UK. She fled Uganda after suffering vicious sexual, physical and verbal attacks due to her sexual orientation.

Prossy had been forced into an engagement when her family discovered her relationship with the girlfriend she met at university, Leah. Both women were marched two miles naked to the police station, where they were locked up.

Prossy’s inmates subjected her to gross acts of humiliation. She was violently raped by police officers who taunted her with derogatory comments like ‘’we’ll show you what you’re missing’’ and ‘’you’re only this way because you haven’t met a real man’’. She was also scalded on her thighs with hot meat skewers.

Prossy was eventually taken out of prison after her father bribed the guards. Her family had decided they would sacrifice her instead, believing this would ‘’take the curse away from the family’’.

Whilst her family were making arrangements to slaughter her, Prossy managed to flee to the United Kingdom to seek asylum.

When Prossy went for treatment to her local GP’s surgery in the UK they were so shocked by the extent of her injuries they called the police.
She was taken to the St. Mary’s Centre in Manchester, and she is still receiving counselling there for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Prossy’s asylum application has been refused by the Home Office, who acknowledge she was brutally raped and burnt because of the medical evidence, but have dismissed these appalling attacks as ‘’the random actions of individuals’’, and state she can be returned to a different town in Uganda.

This judgement ignores the clear danger to gay people throughout the country where the penalty for homosexuality is life imprisonment.

Also, in Uganda, you cannot settle in a new town without a reference from your previous village, and on the basis she is a lesbian, Prossy would be subjected to similar persecution wherever she went.

We consider that if Prossy is sent back, she faces the continuing threat of incarceration, and further sickening attacks – which next time may be fatal.

Prossy is a highly educated woman who can be a productive member of society.

She has a right to be free with her sexuality, which is causing no harm to anyone, and she has a right not to be raped, attacked, or murdered.”

YOU CAN HELP by signing this petition

I have received this request from Dianne.

“Do you know a woman or group who deserves to be recognised for their work around violence against women?

The Emma Humphreys Memorial Prize is a commemorative award made annually to women and groups who have done exceptional work to combat violence against women and children, and have raised awareness of this issue, whether through writing, campaigning or activism. The aim of the individual prize and the group award is to recognise and reward outstanding and often unsung contributions to the fight against violence against women and children.

Emma Humphreys was a writer, campaigner and survivor of male violence who fought an historic struggle to overturn a murder conviction in 1995, supported by Justice for Women and other feminist campaigners.

The annual prize of £1,000 is awarded to an individual woman who has, through writing or campaigning, raised awareness of violence against women and children.

Alongside the individual prize, the Emma Humphreys Memorial Prize judges choose the recipient of a group award, established to recognise the unsung work done by many women’s groups and organisations. This award, while it does not at this time carry any financial reward, marks the outstanding contribution of women’s organisations who work in this embattled area and whose creativity and resourcefulness have resulted in developments that combat the prevalence of male violence.

The awards aim to provide recognition for work against violence and to bring it to the attention of a wider public.

Last year’s winner of the individual prize was Suswati Basu, a survivor of gang rape who was subsequently charged and cautioned by the police for perverting the course of justice because of alleged inconsistencies in her account. She fought and succeeded in overturning the caution and has subsequently spoken publicly about her experience at the hands of the police.

The winner in 2007 of the group prize was Mothers of Sexually Abused Children, a support organisation for non-abusing parents.

For more information and a nomination form, please go to Here

The deadline is June 30th, so start writing!”

see more crazy cat pics

To continue with feminist-lite* and other stuff that is not likely to make the patriarchy go ~bang~ anytime soon.

We here at sparksville proudly present you with the Institute for Wotsits Research – delving deep into the feminist phenomena of – “aremenbetterthanwotsits?” Regular readers will recognise that this is a frequent and persistent query presented here on sparksblog and we are committed to examine this on-going question in an ethical and scientificy manner.

Stay tuned for findings and peer reviewed articles folks.

* Third person sparks is doing madz things with graphs at the mo – which is not a good idea.

Giant cheesy tubes basking on the sunny windowsill…

I am a bit lost for words at this latest story of perverted father – daughter relationship. However, several words do spring to mind – sexually and emotionally abusive, boundary-less, controlling, coercive, devoid of any empathy and downright creepy. And here’s the link. (Warning, disturbing and maybe triggering)

A US chat show (Tyra) had a segment really on an 18 year old adult film actress called Summer. Nothing new in that. Except her manager is her father. And her manager is “responsible” for her grooming including her brazilian wax.

You getting the muse here? You think it is starting to sound like a porn narrative, yeah, funny so do I except this “father” gets to act out his porn fantasies – in public. With his eighteen year old daughter.

It starts off with him patronising her about ensuring she’s packed “sexy clothes” and then rounds off by telling her she shouldn’t be in a relationship as “boyfriends are not really conducive to this business”. What business? He’s taking her for her first day at one of Nevada’s brothels. His managerial advice – “Always make sure your make up is right as you have to be every man’s fantasy”. On delivering her to the brothel Summer is in tears and obviously having second thoughts – he response “the decision is made, this is what you want to do, I don’t want to sound unsympathetic but go in there and think happy thoughts”. But, thing is, she obviously doesn’t want to do this. I mean how is this not abusive and coercive? I mean what (sane, rational, empathetic, caring) father would behave in that way? (Debates about the rights and wrongs of prostition aside, that really isn’t the point I’m making here).

Is the word “groomed” grating on you, perchance? In addition, who sanctioned this young womans public humiliation?

Oops sorry, that’s the porn factor.

Just beam me up Bat Woman.