Monday, September 28, 2015

Lack of Women in Alternative and Punk Rock Music

http://www.altpress.com/news/entry/shocking_gifs_show_serious_lack_of_female_musicians_at_festivals
 Everyone has heard about gender inequality in white collar businesses, but what about in the music industry and more specifically in the alternative and punk rock branches? Unfortunately, it occurs in this industry too. There are women in this industry however the men far outnumber the women. One of the most obvious ways to see this is at festivals and tours around the world. Warped Tour is a tour that has been around for more than twenty years. When the lineup for the 2014 tour came out, less than twenty percent of the 120+ acts included at least one woman. Other tours of this type have had approximately fifteen percent women of the acts that perform. These statistics include solo artists, female-fronted bands, and all female bands. When people think of women in the industry, they think of Haley Williams from Paramore. Paramore is not even an entirely female band in fact, Haley is the only female member in the band. When women are in these bands, they are typically female-fronted bands.   The standards for women in this industry are set way too high. Laura Watson, the writer of Mooky Chick says, "The bottom line is that the alternative music scene is still widely regarded as a male-dominated playground where women are showcased only if they meet the attractive/outlandish quota." This needs to change because women musicians should not have to be attractive or outlandish in order to chase their dreams. If they have a good sound, they should be able to make it big. Personally, I feel as if males do not have to live up the the same standards in this industry and females do.
http://www.altpress.com/news/entry/shocking_gifs_show_serious_lack_of_female_musicians_at_festivals
Not only are the statistics showing this, but the women performers are feeling isolated too. Courtney Love who is Kurt Cobain's widow feels like she is, "the last chick in alternative radio." Although she is not actually the last one, it shows the perspective of a women who is actually in the industry. When I attended the Alternative Press Music Awards in July I saw first hand the lack of females that make it big in the industry. Out of seventeen categories, only two of the winners had women in them. Haley Williams from Paramore won best vocalist and female-fronted band PVRIS won break through band. With only two of the winners having a female in them, that is approximately 11% of the winners being female-fronted bands. If you add up each individual member in every band that won against the two women, the percentage of women is shockingly small.
http://www.altpress.com/news/entry/shocking_gifs_show_serious_lack_of_female_musicians_at_festivals
Unfortunately some of the most influential people in the touring and festival business do not see the problem. Kevin Lyman who is the founder and producer of Warped Tour does not see a problem. He thinks, "There's really not a lack of women. If you've got 20 bands that have women in them out of 120 bands, that's one out of six bands." He doesn't see that there is a real problem here. If he doesn't see it, then things do not have a very good chance of changing. Also, "Alternative Press, a monthly magazine that sponsors Warped Tour, has only put a women on its cover five times in the last three years - and twice it was Haley Williams from Paramore," I do not know why the people who control the lineup of these events don't see the problem here, but it is evident that there is one. 

The creators of the gifs pictured above say, "Lady acts exist. Of course they do. However, the number of female performers and female-fronted groups, when compared the numbers of their male counterparts at music festivals, is paltry and sad." It is sad and due to the fact that the creators of these big tours and festivals don't see the problem, it is up to the public to somehow get their attention and get more women on these stages.

Discussion Questions:
1. What do you think the public can do, if anything, to get more females playing in festivals and tours? Can the public do anything to make the amount of women who make it big time, bigger? 
2. Why do you think that there are more solo female and female-fronted acts then entirely female bands? What has caused this to happen?
3. Laura Watson from Mooky Chick asks, "why is it that women are comfortable declaring their love for male bands but it's rare to see a man wearing a band t-shirt acknowledging a female artist?" So I ask you the same question why does it come so much more natural for girls to obsess over guys rather than the other way around?
4. Why are festival and tour producers acting like there are enough women performers already? What will it take for them to see that this is a real problem?  

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Monday, September 21, 2015



Marissa Mayer's Pregnancy Debate


http://www.nwlc.org/sites/default/files/pregnant-workers.jpg 

      It was a monumental moment concerning women in the work place when Marissa Mayer's was appointed to be Yahoo's chief executive officer while pregnant three years ago. She is the 16th most powerful business women in the world. She has broken down many barriers of roles usually only given to men. Running a technology company raised many eyebrows and her pregnancy raised even more publicity. Marissa has now just recently announced that she is pregnant with twins. Instead of praising this incredible women for being able to maintain such a high profile job, maintain one kid and be pregnant all at the same time, the media is criticizing her decisions of maternity leave. Not only that, but they are raising questions of whether a female should be able to have such a high job and raise children at the same time. Blogs such as the Washington Post, lash out at Mayer's publicly released decision of a two week maternity leave saying, "The only way a CEO could take less maternity leave would be to deliver triplets while on mute on a conference call." Questions rose afterwards questioning if it was right for a women with such a high position to have children if they were going to be put into care for the majority of the day. Yet, a male CEO that is a father would never be linked to such a harsh question. "I think we are long overdue when it comes to redefining gender stereotypes around parental roles. Those Biases are holding women back from leadership roles," the CEO of Women Capital Markets Jennifer Reynolds said. Now although she is being looked up to as a role model, some dismiss Mayer as being an exception. But, although YAHOO does offer many more weeks than she is allowing herself, many women really do only get two weeks for a maternity leave.  (Then again Marissa did have a nursery built into her office for her first child.)  It is said that 25% of women in the American workforce are only allowed half a month with another fourth only allowed three weeks. Payment is also an issue with maternity leave. One in every two women doesn’t receive any pay during their leave. 


            Although it is understandable that Women are not working during their maternity leave, it is not a women's fault they reproduce and their bodies don’t allow themselves to return as quickly as they would like.  Many women are now being compared to Mayer and being seen as not as determined and dedicated to work since the CEO of YAHOO only needs two weeks. Maternity discrimination is also common among the work force where women are not being seen as committed as their male workers because of their fatigue and commitments with their bodies during pregnancy and child after. The Maternity discrimination campaign: Pregnant Then Screwed has been founded to help women who experienced discrimination and are afraid to return to work after their pregnancy.  Many in fact even end up quitting their jobs to afraid to go back and face the criticisms at the office.
http://www.nwlc.org/sites/default/files/imagecache/rotating_tabs_590x316/images/tabs/pwfa-iptab.jpg

         The topic of whether a women should be able to handle such high status jobs and maintain a child at the same time can be traced all the way back to gender roles: Mother staying home looking after children while the father works. This set up is nothing new for it is demonstrated in the books we have read so far in class such as Middlesex and Mrs. Dalloway. When Cal’s grandparents immigrated to the United States in the book Middlesex, his grandmother Desdemona spent almost all of her life at home while Lefty found work where he could. But, Lefty does show discrimination when he makes Desdemona get a job after implying she did nothing around the house. He did not realize that just because she stayed at home it doesn’t mean she did nothing. In Mrs. Dalloway, Clarissa is also a stay at home mom whose mind is occupied about parties and who is inviting who to brunches. Since she does not have a respectable job many perceive her to be shallow. But like Alex mentioned yesterday, even if a women does work and commit to a job, they are not even getting paid the same amount as the men (who harass these women about their private decisions). In society, like in the case of Marissa Mayer, and in our books such as the two mentioned above, one can see that it is difficult for a women to balance work and children all while trying to avoid discrimination about their private parental decisions.

  1. Why do you think a man feels it is right to discriminate pregnant women in the workforce? Do you think it could physiologically be traced back to jealousy where women obtain the power to produce a living creature while a man cannot?
  2. Do you think Marissa Mayer’s public decision of a two week maternity leave will positively portray a women’s commitment to work or do you think it will react negatively towards women who will be looked down upon if they would like a longer leave?
  3. Do you think more men hold higher positions in the work force because bosses don’t want to take the risk of a women/mother balancing work and children?
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Sunday, September 20, 2015

79 Cents Does Not Equal 1 Dollar

(http://forcechangecom.c.presscdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/url.jpeg)

Equal pay is a hotly debated topic that stands at the center of women’s continuing struggle for gender equality.  Can you guess how much a woman in the work force earns for every dollar a male worker makes in the exact same position?  The answer to that question is 79 cents.  To put that figure in terms of hours worked in an average workweek, which as of September 2014 was 46.7 hours a week, a woman would have to work approximately 2.5 more hours each day to earn the same salary as a male counterpart.  When a woman belongs to a racial minority, the difference in pay is even more profound.

(http://www.cdalf.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/equal-payback-3.jpg)

Opponents of equal pay initiatives argue that disparate compensation between men and women is justified because women generally have caretaking obligations that require them to work fewer hours and therefor they should get paid less.  Yet, the validity of this claim is undermined by its own reliance on the reasonableness of the traditional stereotypes of women being the primary caretakers while men are the workers and primary source of income.  In today’s society, however, women are the primary source of income in over 40% of American households.

The discrepancy in pay between genders is not only seen in the civilian workforce, but in the sports and entertainment industries, as well.  A recent report by the American Civil Liberties Union provides evidence of sexism throughout Hollywood.  According to the report, while “the number of women studying at the leading film schools in the US [is] roughly on par with men... In 2014, only 7% of the directors of the 250 top-grossing Hollywood-produced films were women."  Discriminatory practices can also be seen in the compensation of actors and actresses.  After a recent hack at Sony Corporation resulted in the release of tons of emails to the public, it became clear just how unequal the pay could be between costars in the same movie, depending upon their sex.  After hearing how substantially less Jennifer Lawrence’s pay was than her male costars in “American Hustle,” Charlize Theron decided to ensure that the same did not happen for her in her next movie.  Before agreeing to perform the role, she negotiated a deal that will pay her the same amount as her costar, Chris Hemsworth.

In professional athletics, the pay gap between male and female athletes is even more pronounced.  In the summer of 2015, the U.S. Women’s National Team won the Women’s World Cup.  For doing so, the team won $2,000,000.  While to the average person, this may seem like a lot of money, it is nothing compared to the money earned by teams who participate in the Men’s World Cup.  For winning the 2014 Men’s World Cup, the German national team took home a cool $35,000,000.  The U.S. National Team, who finished in 11th place, won $9,000,000.  In fact, every team that failed to move past the group stage won $8,000,000.  In the sports world, this disparity may be attributed to the larger amount of airtime men’s sports receives and, subsequently, the more advertising revenues generated.  However, it stands as a further reflection of the cultural bias surrounding men’s sports and male workers in general.


(http://pbs.twimg.com/media/CJSHsIGWwAAZZBe.png)

Recently, the issue of equal pay between genders has been a topic of great discussion amongst the presidential candidates, with almost every candidate arguing in favor of equal pay.  Not only do they support equalizing compensation because it is the correct thing to do, but also because polling results show that voters from both parties are in overwhelmingly favor of equal pay.  In fact, 94% of the Democrats polled, 65% of the Republicans polled, and 80% of the Independents polled were all in favor of equal pay.  Although equal pay has been an issue in American for decades, the increased airtime it is receiving in the Presidential debates is providing the initiative with renewed momentum.  Given how liberal our country is relative to other countries, it is time for our policymakers to implement real changes and truly enforce the equal pay laws.

Discussion Questions:
  1. Are there other groups that deserve the same rights as women do when it comes to equal pay?
  2. What are your thoughts on the payout differences between the two World Cups?  Is advertising a sufficient reason to explain the huge imbalance?
  3. Why do you think there are such few top tier female directors in Hollywood?
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Wednesday, September 16, 2015

ISIS' Attacks on the Yazidi People




The majority of people have heard of the extremist group, ISIS, and its radical ideals, but few have heard of ISIS’ mistreatment of men and women.  While ISIS’ beheadings and surprise attacks inundate world news stations, women are pried away from their families and homes and, eventually, used as sex slaves.  Most of the victims are Yazidi, or a monotheistic, Kurdish group of people residing predominantly in Iraq.  ISIS militants have brutally tortured and raped women and girls of the Yazidi faith since the group’s inception. The extremists believe it is permissible to torture and rape the Yazidis because they are the minority in Iraq.  Furthermore, the Islamist militants deem the Yazidis’ religious tenets to be impure, and they believe God is permitting them to carry out these horrible acts.  
Thousands of women have heart wrenching stories regarding their captivity, but Hanan’s, a 19 year-old Yazidi, story stands out.  The extremists consider women who are pregnant or breastfeeding to be impure, but Hanan meets neither of those requirements, so ISIS militants haul her away from her home and family.  The Islamic militants take her, along with 50 other girls, to a three story slave warehouse where she remains for several weeks.  According to Hanan’s interview with CNN, ISIS militants, “Would line about 50 of us up at a time, in rows of 10. They would say don't move, don't cry or we will beat you. The men would come in and describe the kind of girl they wanted and then they would pick and choose as they pleased.”  ISIS extremists treat these women like cattle, and even have slave contracts for them. Hanan’s harrowing account strikingly resembles thousands of other accounts and demonstrates ISIS’ drive to destroy the lives of those who express different beliefs.



Although ISIS targets mainly women, Yazidi men also endure torment at the hands of ISIS militants. After ISIS militants raid Yazidi homes, they transport men and women to separate camps and murder the men using automatic fire.  They are not even given the choice to convert to Islam or plead their case—the extremists instinctively turn to violence. 
These tragic cases in Iraq connect with many ideas the class has discussed, including how an individual’s identity can lead to misinterpretation and, also, women’s rights in society today.  In Middlesex, Cal’s complex identity causes others, including Dr. Luce and his parents, to think of him differently. Similarly, but on a much greater scale, ISIS misinterprets people of the Yazidi faith and deems them impure merely because their religious precepts differ.  Furthermore, this story reveals how prevalent exploitation of women is currently.  Women endure similar means of torture in other parts of the world, like Alex and Karen discussed in their presentations.  Although all of these stories are associated with exploitation of women, this story also mentions ISIS killing Yazidi men.  Since ISIS spares the women’s lives, they believe the Yazidi women have a purpose, as minute and unpalatable as it may be, in their community, and Yazidi men do not.  

Discussion Questions:
- As mentioned above, ISIS militants torture and kill Yazidi men, but utilize women as sex slaves.  What do you think the variance of treatment between genders says about ISIS’ motives?
- Brutal, discriminatory attacks on specific populations of people have occurred for thousands of years. What do you think we are doing wrong as a whole, and what sort of methods do you think we need to employ to end these mass attacks? 
- The ISIS militants who torture and exploit the Yazidi people are all men.  How do you think the attacks and slave system would differ if women took part in the attacks?
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Monday, September 14, 2015

Acid Attacks

Hi everyone!!

Last week, I opened the New York Times' website, and in the corner of the page, I saw the word 'lipstick.' Like Alex and her focus on the horrible War on Women in South Sudan, I am really interested in issues of women's rights, but when I opened this web page to see where the video for 'how to get the perfect red lips' would lead, I was in for a shock.

The video was made by the group Make Love Not Scars that speaks out against acid attacks, which mainly occur in south Asian countries like India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. The video, which has gotten more than 1 million views, features 18-year-old Reshma Bano Qureshi from Northern India whose brother-in-law and other men attacked her last year. They held her down and poured sulfuric acid on her face; as a result, Reshma's skin is badly scarred, and she has lost an eye. In her courageous video, Reshma teaches viewers how to put on makeup, but she ends with powerful thoughts on the injustice of these attacks, especially because perpetrators are almost always men who are able to buy concentrated acid at a market for as much as, or sometimes less than, lipstick.

In 2011, researchers at Cornell University found that attackers are usually men who have been rejected and are therefore, upset and jealous, or husbands who are unsatisfied with their wife's dowry. One girl, Bushra, was attacked by her in-laws as punishment for not paying enough dowry money. She says "my husband, brother-in-law, and father-in-law poured acid on me- my mother-in-law tied me down from the neck. They didn't take me to the hospital for 10 days and my face swelled so much it was just a big slab of meat." When Bushra finally got help, her eyes were burned shut, her nose was gone, and parts of her ears had melted, leaving her to years of operations.

However, attacks are becoming more and more common, even though many incidents go unreported, especially in rural areas. India's Ministry of Home Affairs reported 309 attacks in 2013, which is higher than before, but Bharat Nayak, representative for Make Love Not Scars, says the real number is probably higher, around 1,000 attacks per year. Women and girls are afraid to speak out against the attacks and gender-related injustice as this leads them to being targeted for attacks. These horrific stories happen every day, including women from poorer areas as well as well-educated, wealthy areas.

While in 2013, the Supreme Court of India ordered that over-the-counter acid sales are only allowed to people over 18 years old who provide a reason, there has been little enforcement and virtually no impact as other dangerous materials, like toilet-cleaning acid are readily available as well. Victims are entitled to 100,000 rupees within 15 days of an assault and a total of 300,000 rupees, but many, including Reshma, receive no aid.

As I was reading about this, I could not believe that this terrible violence was met with such calm measures and vapid enforcement. Why is there not more outrage? What are the deeper cultural and social problems, especially involving gender, that lead to these attacks and the allowance of these attacks against women? One such tragic story illustrates the true misogyny in these societies: Gita and her two infant daughters were sleeping as her husband, who wanted a son, threw acid on the three. The youngest daughter was killed, and the second daughter Neetu, only two years old at the time, lost her sight. Her husband was jailed for only two months, and after he was released, Gita continued living with him because she didn't know what else to do. How can a father attack his own daughters like this? I could not believe a culture could be so against women.

However, there has been some pushback by non-governmental organizations. Video campaigns, like Reshma's, try to limit the sale of acid and other dangerous materials and help improve medical treatment and legal assistance for victims. There have been photo calendars and beauty photo-shoots to celebrate and in the words of New Delhi photographer, Rahul Saharan, "empower survivors who often feel isolated and stigmatized." Saharan says survivors are often judged against Indian standards of beauty including fair skin, a defined nose, and large eyes; after attacks, women feel embarrassed and scared to leave their homes. Saharan hopes these photo shoots makes survivors feel less afraid to appear in public and share their stories as they do in the calendar, where survivors pose and talk about their dreams before their attack. One woman, for example, holds a sign that says "I wanted to be a doctor." Also, the Sheroes Hangout, a café in Agra (south of New Delhi), has played a huge role in encouraging survivors. This café employs only acid attack survivors, and like Ms. Griffin's community for women, is a safe place for survivors to come and discuss equal rights. Dolly, who was raped and attacked with acid by a 25-year-old man when she was only 12, refused to leave her house for more than a year as the acid burned her nostrils, causing a permanent breathing problem. However, she now works with other survivors at the Sheroes Hangout, and says this has given her courage. Similarly, survivor Gita, mentioned above, says "life" for her and her remaining daughter after the attack "became very difficult. We were ostracized by society. No one would talk to us and there was a lot of harassment." Now, Gita works at the Sheroes café and wants to pursue her dreams of becoming a chef.



The issue of acid attacks connects to Alex’s War on Women, as women are victims of unimaginable violence, as well as Ms. Griffin’s “Feminist Utopia,” as the Sheroes Hangout offers survivors a refuge and safe place. However, they also tie into questions raised by Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway, as in many cases, Clarissa is defined by her husband and men in the patriarchal society. I’m hugely saddened and terrified by what people are willing to do to other people; though I’m sure reasons are complicated. Whether for revenge or because men want to remain powerful but feel threatened and are worried of losing control, I’m filled with respect by survivors who continue to thrive and hope for a world where such violence will end.

Discussion questions:
1.      How do you think it is possible for a culture to abuse women so much? To the extent where husbands, cousins, or other relatives will throw acid on women or their own children? And as violence towards women is so mainstream, do you think there is hope to change a culture that seems buried in its misogyny? How would you try to change the fabric of society?
2.      Do you think the efforts so far, such as Reshma’s video, the photo shoots, and the Sheroes Hangout, are making a difference both in the society itself as well as globally? Why and how?
3.      Reshma’s family believes she was targeted because of her beauty and popularity, as men may have felt jealous or threatened. What do you think, other than hatred of women, might prompt men to react in such a way? Do you think it may be perhaps because they feel pressured to act a certain way?


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Thursday, September 10, 2015

War on Women in South Sudan

Many people do not know about the current crisis in South Sudan, and even fewer know how severely it is affecting women. Sudan has had a long history of conflict, and following its horrific twenty five year civil war, the newly independent South Sudanese hoped for aid, freedom, and security. However, in December of 2013, just over two years after its independence, South Sudan devolved into conflict. President Salva Kiir accused his vice president Reik Machar of orchestrating a coup, and when Machar denied the coup the fragile new country became the battleground for widespreadarmed conflict.  In the early summer of 2015, government forces launched another attack to recapture rebel lands, prolonging and intensifying this civil war. Since this new offensive, the treatment of women has become more abominable than ever; the stories of rape, murder, and torture are heart wrenching.

Women are mainly brutalized in two places, their villages and the displacement camps. The violence that government soldiers and rebel militia alike inflict on women in their villages is unparalleled. Human Rights Watch documents South Sudanese women saying that rape is “just a normal thing.” Anna is a victim of rape at the hands of a government soldier, however the sheer suffering that she experienced goes far beyond that. Anna was forced at gunpoint to watch soldiers gang rape and torture her two daughters. They killed her husband while he was trying to protect her cattle, because cattle are a symbol of pride and wealth, and shot her six year old step son in his bed. The soldiers then gang raped her and her other daughter. She did not plead for help or cry out because she said that “if you opened your mouth they would kill you.”

In an attempt to escape the horrors they will face at home, many women and children flee to UN displacement camps. But these displacement camps don’t offer the security one would hope they would. Mercy Corps writes that the camps “were not designed to host this many people for so long,” so food and shelter are unstable. In order to keep themselves and their families alive, many women venture into the bushes, a grassy desert landscape, to collect firewood to sell at the camps. The bushes are outside of the camp's jurisdiction, and as a result many women fall prey to crimes of sexual assault there.

The list of horror stories is endless, and everyday another atrocity occurs. Women and girls of all ages continue to be dehumanized and tortured at almost every encounter with a combatant. The use of rape and brutality of women as a tool, and in some demented cases a prize, of war is ingrained into this culture. This connects to Ms. Griffin’s “Feminist Utopia” that we recently discussed, where in order to escape abuse and violence women retreat into an almost, save male children, all-female society. Sadly, the women in South Sudan do not have that option, and have no choice but to carry on despite what they've been subjected to. In terms of our initial discussion on gender terminology and Middlesex where we saw examples of our society poorly treating people who are not definitively male or female, this story relates in that the South Sudanese government and social norms are treating women just as poorly and doing nothing to alleviate their suffering.

Discussion questions:

- Do you think that there is any hope for the brutality of women to be left out of future armed conflicts, specifically conflicts in that region? What would have to change in order for that to happen?
- Do you think it is the international community’s place to respond to such widespread violation of human rights?
- One victim of rape stated that if she was able to reunite with her husband, she would tell him that she was raped but “will understand if he leaves her.” How do you think this perspective plays into the sexual violence occurring, if at all? 
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