#DropThePlus Campaign…

Today someone complimented my cardigan and was asked where I had purchased it. I explained I got it online from Forever 21 and it was from their Plus Size range that I had recently discovered. I usually call these separate sections like the Forever 21 Plus Size and the New Look Inspire range – “The Fat Bit” which offends a lot of people.  I call it the Fat Bit because that is what is purpose is for, retail companies have to clothe everyone which is why we have different brands and shops that target different people depending on Gender, Sexuality, Age, Class and for some time now Size. These clothes shop offer the larger lady a limited range of clothes that are deemed socially acceptable to wear so that we are always one step behind the latest fashion trend – particularly for an affordable brand of clothing. We are then directed towards the second floor with the Mens, accessories of Child sections of the shop or towards the back of the shop in a dimly lit corner of the room so that  ‘Fat’ people do not ruin the general splendor of the rest of the room.

I do not understand how the way someone looks can affect anyone else. How can it make you so irate that you need to subject a group of people in society to mockery and abuse, in order to other yourself from a group that you deem unworthy, because they do not fit a constructed norm.*cough cough* *Katie Hopkins* The positives of campaigns like this and the positive promotion of plus size models fills me absolute joy, I can not believe that there are separate sections. I love the fact that there are particular brands of larger sizes that have been thought about, to cater for a larger body and a different shaped body – however most of the time im not so thrilled by the price tag. I do not appreciate however being restricted and limited by the same thing. Why can I not buy the same dress that my friend wears in a size 14 (the average uk size)  In a larger size? How is someone deemed to fat to wear an item of clothing? Is there a scale that I am not aware of….

Take out the argument of economic arguments about healthcare, NO – not every person who may carry a bit of weight is going to be rushed into hospital becasue they’re fat and have diabities of heart problems, no one is pointing fingers at smokers or alcholics about their stain on the  NHS. It is a fallback argument for people who spit venom and hatred on a group of women that have been outcast. It is not just having effects of the generation of women who are buying plus size clothing it affects the younger generations that are growing up in a society that are filled with messages of hate. Girls are constantly thrown constructed images of women with sexual, health and psychological normalities applied to them. How about the message of “As long as your happy, It doesn’t matter what you look like?” without being cliché – the beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Even when society promotes plus sizes as positive we are slammed with puns and slurs – Fatkini’s or larger than life?

Never be ashamed for who you are, what you look like, there is always going to someone or something telling you that you shouldnt be happy with the way that you look, feel, or say. Never say sorry for that.

Check out #DropThePlus campaign by clicking the link 🙂  It sounds awesome.

Fat and proud….

X

Anna Richardson and Revenge Porn

Tonight I watched Channel 4’s documentary, Revenge Porn in which Anna Richardson speaks to the victims and the perpetrators of revenge porn, and investigates the platforms that allows for people to upload explicit photos of others. Such websites are for the purpose of “seeking revenge”, being abusive and humiliating those who are depicted in the photos.

Revenge Porn in the context of this documentary was the act of someone using photos that they had been sent, in one case filmed without consent, and posting them online, on websites without the persons consent that are involved. An example used in the programme was Ex’s using old nudes that their previous partner had sent them giving it the term “revenge porn”.

Anna Richardson, who is well-known for her “entertaining” programme on the taboo subject of sex on Channel 4, like her previous series The Sex Education Show, where she offers candid information and advice on the subject. I thought it was somehow ironic that she has been the center of a subject that she has little experience of the topic, until she proceeds to in the documentary , take nude photos of herself enhance them so that her face is not recognisable, creating a fake profile with a different name and story to her own uploads them to a revenge porn website to ” understand what she is investigate”. I fully appreciate that it took, to a degree, guts, courage, bravery (and so on) to upload your naked body for a community of online people who you do not know, and comment on these picture in order to humiliate and abuse you, I acknowledge that. I would have found more condescending if she hadn’t of carried this out then I already found her, I still do not think this was necessary to create a succesful documentary about the experiences of Revenge Porn.

Firstly, she did not have to post those pictures so that she could experience what the people she interviewed was feeling to create a succesful documentary on the subject. Secondly she can not have experience the same emotions that those people were feeling in the same way, Anna Richardson had the power of choice and authority over the images that she chose to put up, she could not experience the loss of that authority or choice.

Authority is such a big theme in this programme, for me it has so many issues – authority in this programme to tell and document this topic has been given to a privileged white woman (although I would have been more angered if this documentary was voiced by a man) who can have no full understanding of what it is like to be in that position. Instead of having an in-depth documentation and researched programme about individuals sharing their own experience and investigation the industry that is created, we receive experiences that are mediated through the authoritative voice of a privileged woman who has no full understanding of what she is mediating, instead we have this mediation and her own manipulated story of what she is “investigating” and the focus is shifted from experiences of others and centered around Anna Richardson. I feel that in a way her creating the profile with the pictures manipulates the audience to empathise with her which I find sick (which is a production issue not necessarily down to Anna Richardson) when the audience should be empathizing with those who have not been paid to create the documentary and post picture of their own free will on a revenge porn website. I suppose it derives from part of this celebrity culture where the authority voice of the white privileged women means that it is acceptable to talk about and gives the topic authority where is the documentary had been produced with a faceless narrator or a faceless journalist it may not have had the same authority or publication.

For me, I feel I would have gained a lot more from having experiences told to me from people who had experienced the loss of their choice in comparison to a privileged woman who has been given a platform, been paid and chosen to take pictures and put them online, plus towards the end of the programme we understand that the pictures were then taken down mysteriously by the website for reasons unknown.

Again, I am not fully bashing Anna Richardson, as I do think that to some degree she has risen awareness of what can happen to people and some people may benefit from information from the programme.

As i was watching the programme, I was on social media looking at the hashtag RevengePorn and some of the reactions were absolutely disgusting and vile they do not even worth mentioning. I found others quite infuriating, a lot of the tweets I saw involved things like “It’s a female problem” or “educate the younger female generation”. This frankly, pissed me off. It is not or ever will be a female problem. END OF. I have tried to be gender neutral throughout this post because it involves everyone on every side. Females and Males can be the victim just as much as the perpetrator, in the case that they showed where a girl posted a video of her best friend who also was a girl, there a lots of different situations that means you can not make a generalised statement as a fact, according to the programme it did seem however, that a large majority of the shaming was carried out by men on images of women, doesn’t mean to say it doesn’t happen the other way round. Also, age, when did this become a factor in deciding an issue that is rooted in society carried down through generations? You could argue that an older generation may know less about technology, so are less likely to know where pictures may end up? It is not a younger generations problem – yes by all means educate them – but educate everyone so everyone is aware male and female, young and old.

Another reaction went along the lines of “if someone sends nudes to someone else, you should expect them to end up on the internet, therefore its their own fault” HELL NO! If you DID NOT get permission or consent to do anything other than look at them on your phone or app or whatever you are receiving them on, then you are a criminal and can be persecuted by law. Just because someone sends a nude does not mean it is acceptable for it to be posted for an entire community online to see. In my eyes it’s like saying that if a woman is wearing a revealing top or skirt or looks at you, she wanted it. NO its called RAPE. Same thing, it is ABUSE to use someone else image especially for the sole person of humiliations.

What frustrates me more is the fact that the platforms that the images are being posted on and allows for people to make comments that are sexual, threatening and violent are not illegal and therefore are allowed to exist. it is not “just how things are” or “how the internet works” it is wrong plain and simple and if you feel like you would like to learn more about how to stop revenge porn then there is a campaign and a website that you can find out more from. >>> End Revenge Porn

B x

The Disengaged Youngest Voters.

I’m quite political and I really enjoy talking about politics with other people, whether we have the same views and opinions or we differ. However I don’t often get the opportunity to do this as my circle of friends at university have not formed their own opinion on politics or they don’t really care about politics.

I find it really difficult to understand why people do not have an interest in who is in power of the country they live in, and why you would not want to affect, in a small way, the outcome of the elections. Firstly for people who think that their vote does not make a difference or what effect will it make if you do or don’t vote …..

If all the people who didn’t vote because they thought it wouldn’t make a difference, voted, then that collective force would make a substantial difference.

While I think that everyone should vote, I also belive in your democratic right not to vote if that is your choice but not for reasons such as “I don’t know enough about politics.” or “It doesn’t affect me.” We live in a society where we believe that everything should be fed to us on a spoon, either through the media or through education, sometimes you actually have to go and educate yourself to be able to further yourself. One of the biggest problems I find which I have seen in the attitudes of many of my friends is the opinion that it doesn’t affect individuals.

This view is so untrue, if the youth of 2010 had cared about politics when the last election took place then maybe I would not have been paying 9 grand for a university education, or my course at university would not be getting scraped because it is not viewed as a credible academic subject.

I do think that part of the problem with, particularly with the youngest voters, is that there is not enough engagement with them. I never really remember getting taught in-depth about political parties and their different values, I taught myself and I was lucky enough to have my Mum who also told me about them and how you vote, if my Mum had not told me how a voting card worked then I would never had known. This is where I think part of the problem lies, for young people, not every household has an adult who is political engaged or is even engaged with their child, who then looses the opportunity to be engaged with politics.

I also don’t think that enough is being done by the political system to engage with the youngest of the voters, maybe this is because the youngest voters are wild cards and the majority of which have not developed a political opinion and their vote has not been secured so by trying to engage them it is not the safest bet as their undecided. I acknowledge that there has been some progress in trying to engage the young, labour have said they would lower the voting age to 16 – why when you can not even get the 18 year olds to engage with politics and vote? While the Lib-Dems secured 10 million pounds to encourage students to vote. While this is progress, do these incentives promise the youngest voters more political engagement and address the problems that young people face or are they empty promises like in 2010 when the Lib-Dems promised student that the party would not raise student tuition fees, they forgot to add “unless we get into bed with the Conservatives.”

I will be voting on the 7th of May to help affect the collective force of the public in deciding who runs Great Britain. As a woman I think that it is so important to exercise the right to vote and express your political opinions. I would encourage anyone else to do the same.

x

Women in the Workplace.

I study sociology at university and one of my assignments is to make a research plan, which we get to choose, we can look at anything we want as long as it is relevant. Which is hard because sociology is such a big field. Anyway, I have chosen to look at “Do women hold fewer positions of power in the workplace than men?”. Firstly because I found this article that annoyed me, secondly I was kinda interested if women do actually hold fewer positions of power than men and if it was so then why? And thirdly because how uneducated my generation are on the understanding of Feminism.

Lets look at the third reason first – Backwards thinking here bear with me! Sooooooo, there was this status on Facebook, which as we know produces some total crap sometimes, but it was about feminism. The post went along the lines of “I don’t want to step on anyone’s toes but where has this riding tide of feminism come from?” Stop! Lets just pause – NO just NO! Well lets see it isn’t all of a sudden! The first wave of feminism was a hell of a long time ago and there has been two more since then and women still struggle for the equal rights of women – so no its not all of a sudden! There is just more awareness of it, which may I add is a bloody good thing considering how uneduatced people seem to be! It then goes on to say “Just because Emma Watson has suddenly decided she hates men or whatever we don’t all have to agree, I think equality should be advertised, but maybe I’m in the small minority.” This is when I was on the floor half way between crying and laughing! So yes people are entitled to their opinions but at the same time if you are publicly airing your views at least do a little research! Not claiming to be an expert in this area at all but I’m pretty sure that Emma Watson was not on about man hating? I am pretty sure her point was that there should be equality between men and women? So in between quiet sobs and reading through the 130 post debate, it started me thinking about how women themselves do not understand the point in modern feminism, so how we will ever bring about a more equal society, in the case of gender or otherwise, if the group of people who are being repressed don’t understand their situation? I think by the end of the debate the whole point was lost and the debate had moved on to god knows what but whatever they were arguing about it definitely was not to do with Feminism!

The article was from the BBC in 2011 – and while it did trigger my thought process and my Research Proposal, it also made me question the society that we live in, in a kind of *face palm* sort of way! Here’s the link if you want to look at it – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/12560121 but basically its about women do not hold a representative quantity of power seats in companies so they’ve made a report to say that by 2015 25% of board members of companies have to women. So my first though was oh cool…but when you think about it so wrong on like so many levels but fundamentally for me there are two things wrong – firstly that WE HAVE TO MAKE A REPORT TO ALLOW WOMEN TO HAVE THE SAME JOBS AS MEN! And secondly what if men are actually doing a better job than women! What if an individual who happens to be male is better doing it than a women? Which is a possibility – probably not in every case seeing as “Currently 18 FTSE 100 companies have no female directors at all and nearly half of all FTSE 250 companies do not have a woman in the boardroom” which is so so so wrong because I doubt that in all of these companies all the men are better at their jobs than women! It confuses the hell out me that we can live in a society that values one group of people than another….whether that gender or age or race! The facts annoyed me rather than the article itself probably. And then it led me to think well now the women put in to the power positions will know that they have only been given the right to these jobs because a report was created to say that a woman had to fill the boardroom or director position – even though most of them will have probably earned it – the only reason why they are getting it is a report! So I’m divided I want to feel empowered that there is something being down to ensure the progression of women in positions of power in the workplace but also I feel patronized because the only reason why I’m going to be able to achieve that position in the future is because a report said that the company I work for has to fill a quote. I suppose change has to start somewhere right?

As a consequence to the article, it made me think why there are so few women in these positions. I suppose some are mothers which rock on because that’s equally as hard as becoming a women in power! Some probably leave their career half way to do this and than some don’t come back into the job market which again rock on! But that is the only legitimate reason I could think of why there are fewer women then men that are represented in these positions of power. The only thing I could think of was that its harder for women to climb the corporate ladder, which seems so unbelievable because statistically women do better in education so it isn’t that women are qualified to be in the positions, so why then is it harder in the workplace, is it because there is a stigma attached to women in powerful positions? Is it because of the patriarchal  organization of companies that means for women these positions are impregnable? It really frustrates me because I’m going to university to get a degree to try and better myself and I suppose one day fill roles where i am a women in power but will i ever be able to achieve this because of the society i live in? so whats the point of my 25 years spent in education and my 50 grand debt at the end of my degree?

So the research proposal should be great…when I actually tackle it! It’s easy to write 1000 words on a blog when your rambling and the unlikelihood of it being read in comparison the terrifying marker at uni!

x

The one and only Katie Hopkins

This woman angers me so much, talk about ridiculous. I found an article that listed some of her stupid, mindless comments over the years.

She did an interview on This Morning, where she said that you can tell so much from a child’s name. “it’s a short cut, its an efficient way of working out what class that child comes from, and if i want my children to play with them”, Firstly, oh dear, you small minded, pathetic, woman! It’s a child! children are given names, they don’t choose them. She basically doesn’t want her children mixing with working class children! I just hope your children grow up to be better people then you! So she doesnt like footballers names, geographical names, seasonal names or celebirty names – may i point out that her 2 daughters are called India and Poppy. OFCOURSE INDIA ISN’T A GEOGRAPHICAL NAME – OR IS IT DIFFERENT BECAUSE YOUR A MIDDLE CLASS SNOB! She says “Hi, this is my daughter Charmaine’. I hear: ‘Hi, I am thick and ignorant’.” It is just a name, get to know them? Just because you have preconceived idea about the mother or father by the choice of name for their child does not mean that child is bad, pr is just because you allergic to the working class! How can you judge a child in anyway? They are children? especially something that isn’t even in their control like their name????? Surely children should be allowed to play together whatever their differences are, that’s how we learn that everyone is different, it doesn’t matter that we look different or sound different or whatever the difference is, but that we can all get along. Isn’t that part of childhood, making friends with other children does it matter what their name is? She also then proceeds to talk about names that may mean beautiful and says “well you end up with an ugly kid called Bella” how can a baby be ugly? its ridiculous? She makes me speechless (which is a rarity).

Another thing on the list was that she said that “Ginger babies. Like a baby. Just so much harder to love” – As a “ginger” SCREW YOU! How ridiculous! So shes saying that if her child was ginger that she would love her child less because of the color of its hair! stupid woman!

Another ridiculous statement was on Justin Bieber’s fanbase: “I think Beliebers are sad lonely girls called Rebecca, that haven’t got many friends, that probably have issues with their weight, height and skin.” – THEY ARE CHILDREN! Yes their choice in music is disgusting –  BUT THEY ARE CHILDREN! And i might add what the hell is wrong with the name Rebecca!

She also said she doesn’t like fat people and wouldn’t like to meet a ginger in the dark. Well as a working class, ginger called Rebecca who detests your very exsistence – NO YOU WOULD NOT LIKE TO MEET THIS GINGER IN THE DARK!

Lastly lets not forget how you became to be in the public eye shall we, The Apprentice and Oh that small video of you shagging a married man in a field? Keeping it ever so middle class, suppose in an alley way or behind some bins would have been disgusting and very working class, but seeing as it’s in a field its oh, so much more acceptable! Before you judge people take a look at your past behavior and stop being such a massive bitch!

 

Old people!

I have nothing against old people let me just state this! They’re old and cute and mostly harmless!
On my train an old couple got on and sat at the table in front of me talking about the weather, smelling like mothballs and dog. The ticket attendant is doing his round and the old man gets the tickets out and explains that they’re tickets are for the wrong day, because the weather on Tuesday was bad they didn’t go and they’re going today instead. ( I’m a good listener) The ticket attendant looks at the tickets and is deciding what to do.
So the ticket attendant decides to let them off an replace the tickets. Which is my first problem! And then as they are being given their new tickets they decide to change their destination and they want to go to another station after they’ve been to the one they’re going to already! So the ticket attendant gives them brand new tickets at the price of 20p. He explains that he would have to charge them full price but that he can over ride it assuming because he feels sorry for them – being old and all – he then says that if he could charge them nothing he would but it would mean a ton of paper work! Yes because all old people are senile and should be given special treatment! He’s just admitted that that chose not to travel on the day of their tickets – but we will give them as good as free tickets shall we!
Because I’m a bit slow sometimes I have also tried to get on the train with a ticket for the wrong day – not on purpose – I had to buy new tickets and I was completely unaware of the out-dates ticket! This couple knew that they’re tickets were out of date – if I had tried to do what they have succeeded in doing, I would of had to pay for new tickets but because they’re old they’re giving lenience!
20p! I paid 33 pounds for my journey! And they’re going a lot further along then I am!
As I am writing this I’m thinking that this is a bit similar to me getting a free coffee? But I didn’t not ask for a free coffee! And it was the shops fault for not having a working machine card reader thingy bob! (Am I being a bit hypocritical?) 30 pounds is bit different in comparison to 2.10! Maybe I’m just holding a grudge because I had to buy new tickets that time and it cost me nearly 100 more pounds on top of the originally priced tickets that were 60 pounds! However I’m sure that this wasn’t a pure act of kindness by the ticket attendant and it was a judgement based on stereotypes, would the ticket attendant giving the same treatment to the boy sitting in the next row in his tracksuit and baseball cap? I think not! It’s not like this old couple were particular friendly to the ticket attendant if anything they were a tad defensive!
They’re now talking about they can afford to have fish and chips do supper now that they didn’t have to pay for new tickets! *round of applause for the old couple con artists!* it’s all an act! Don’t be fooled people! They all know what they’re doing!
Reminds me a bit of the ITV Show “Off Their Rockers”. Check it out. It’s a laugh!

All it takes is a smile :)

I’m visiting family in kent today and had to travel into London bridge to catch my train, I had 20 minutes to spare so thought I would grab a coffee from the cafe on the platform. I didn’t notice the massive sign right in front of me that said that they’re card machine was working and I only had pennies in my purse so when they said that you had to pay with cash I couldn’t. The very nice lady that was serving me said seeing as I was so friendly and bubbly when I came in and ordered she would give me my coffee for free.
It’s not often that total strangers show kindness and it’s even rarer in London. Made me think that a smile can change someone’s day, and a hello can cheer somebody up. So thought for the day guys try and be a bit more friendly to the people you meet because you don’t know if you may need them to she a kindness to you!

This is not news……

So scrolling through some News and I see that one of the news articles is about One Direction. For those of you who may be lucky enough to know who they are, they are a young boy band who were finalists in the X-factor. The media have come across some footage of the a couple of its members speaking about how they are smoking a joint , they are in the back seat of a car smoking a roll up cigarette, whether this contains weed or not has not been confirmed. Firstly I don’t think that this is worthy of my main stream news feed and secondly is the media going to be making a massive issue and drama over every celebrity or person of interest that is caught using drugs? Or has allegedly used or using drugs? Would it then be more acceptable and less shocking if it was a member of a rock band?  I understand that they are role models for a younger age group and it is should be reported on but i do feel that it isn’t really something that I need to be told about in 4 or 5 different articles in the same news source.

Not really News Worthy is it? Compared to other more pressing issues I really don’t need to be told what a group of over paid boys who can’t really sing are doing in their spare time! Something that I think should be found in a gossip magazine or in the Daily Mail – this way I wouldn’t have to hear about it!

Maya Angelou

Originally I was going to just quote this amazing woman and her powerful poems, apart from the fact that “And Still I Rise” was the only poem that ever really stuck with me during the painful English analysis lessons during my last years at secondary school, the way that she recites her poem is effortless. Such an amazing woman, I’m sure she will be remembered for a very long time.

Demetri Marchessini on Channel Four News

An example of the people who fund the UKIP party and their sexist and homophobic opinions!