Bits and Bobs and Campaigns and Carnivals and Poles and Photos.

hippie blog has been mentioned in the 12th Carnival Against Sexual Violence. There are some amazing and inspiring links from that post which you should read. Now!

Also, I want to draw your attentionto an anti-lads' mags action from Stormy. I'm definitely going to take part, not least for the sneaky photographing involved ;)

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From The Guardian's Northerner:

A Polish restaurant in Sheffield, meanwhile, has been basking in a
kind of fame it could never have expected. The Polonium restaurant
has been doing a roaring trade ever since it became apparent that
Alexander Litvinenko was poisoned with Polonium 210. The Sheffield
Star reported the restaurant's fame in its diary column and has since
watched the story go round the world.

"Polish TV and newspapers want to fly me and my wife Jolanta out there
for interviews," the owner Boguslaw Sidorowicz told the Star. "The
story has really caught people's imagination. It's unfortunate
because someone has died, but the story has made it a very
interesting week for us.

"For years people have been asking me what the name means and I keep
explaining. Now I don't have to. I was surprised by the response at
first - with so many radio and television stations and newspapers
getting in touch. We'd only ever been known locally before.

"I did wonder, when the Polonium poisoning story came out, if the
restaurant would attract any more attention, but I never expected
anything like this! Trade at the restaurant has gone up by 50 per
cent, but we're not having to turn anyone away yet."

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I finally gave in my assignment on Night Photography for college this week. If you want to see the six photos I submitted in the end, click here.

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Technorati tags: feminism; anti-lads mags; incurable_hippie; polish; photography; night photography; petition; campaign.

Chesterfields for Christmas!

See more disturbing vintage ads!

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Technorati tags: vintage; vintage advertising; incurable_hippie; smoking.

Recipe Exchange.

This is a recipe exchange. Here's the deal. You post a comment to this entry, with a recipe for me. Ideally something simple, cheap and very tasty. You also include your blog URL in the comment, then reproduce this text in your blog and I will reply to your post with a recipe also.

Have fun, hope you get some great recipes!

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Technorati tags: Recipe Exchange; recipes; incurable_hippie.

Misjudging Rape

Launch of: Misjudging rape

A Dossier of how adjudicators (now known as immigration judges)
flout international law and even their own guidelines when they consider the asylum claims of women and girls seeking safety and protection from rape.

Tuesday 5 Dec 2006 6.30pm

Hosted by Ian Macdonald QC

at Garden Court Chambers

57-60 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London WC2 Nearest tube: Holborn

Speakers include:

Cristel Amiss, Black Women’s Rape Action Project

Sian Evans, Women Against Rape

Anver Jeevanjee, Member Asylum & Immigration Appeals Tribunal 1983-2004

Jovanka Savic, Sutovic Hartigan Solicitors

Louise Hooper, barrister, Garden Court Chambers

Sarah Kajumba, All African Women’s Group



In the UK, where at least 50% of women seeking asylum are victims of sexual violence[1], rape survivors face many obstacles in demonstrating how their claims for asylum relate to the Refugee Convention and why they should therefore be granted protection. The Asylum Gender Guidelines, published in 2000 by Immigration Appellate Authority (now the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal) are one of few official tools laying out how women’s claims should be treated at appeals. The Guidelines aim to: ”ensure that the procedures used do not prejudice women asylum seekers or make it more difficult for them to present their asylum claims.”

Yet when Black Women’s Rape Action Project (BWRAP) and Women Against Rape (WAR) analysed over 60 adjudicators’ rulings they found that:

· Few Adjudicators even referred to the Guidelines.

· Women raped by soldiers were told the rape they suffered was “simple dreadful lust” and therefore not persecution.

· Rape survivors told that it would be safe for them to return to their country of origin and live thousands of miles away from their homes.

· Women who did not report rape immediately accused of reporting in order to “enhance a fabricated asylum claim.”

· The testimony of “a pretty young woman” dismissed as not credible because she did not report rape in her country of origin.

· A woman detained under the fast track system told that three days was “ample time” to find a lawyer and her case dismissed because it was “riddled with discrepancies.”

· In identikit rulings, two women were told by the same judge: “Rape is a horrific crime which should not be utilised lightly merely to bolster an asylum claim.”

· Where the Guidelines were adherred to women reported feeling that they had a fairer hearing.

Background

Hundreds of women come to BWRAP and WAR having been turned down, not because they don’t have compelling evidence of rape and other torture but because hostility, discrimination, disbelief, bullying and indifference meant they never had the chance to speak about what they suffered OR because legal aid cuts mean they were left with poor (or even no) legal representation and no expert or corroborative evidence was gathered to support their claim. This is especially true for cases assessed under the fast-track.[2]

Ensuring justice for women at Tribunal hearings is essential because, as appeal rights have been eroded, it is usually the last chance for a woman to describe why she was forced to flee. If adjudicators get their decisions wrong, vulnerable and traumatised women, children and men are sent back to face further rape and even death. Demanding adherence to the Guidelines and legal accountability from adjudicators, who frequently make arbitrary and unjust decisions, is therefore crucial to rape survivors getting protection and justice.

At a time when research into gender and asylum is proliferating but practical help and assistance continues to be scarce, this Dossier breaks new ground. By publicizing the Guidelines and therefore what women should be entitled to, it helps inform women about their rights and what can be done when preparing an appeal.

Other publications include:

Asylum from Rape petition published by BWRAP Rights & Information Sheet for survivors of rape seeking asylum in the UK, WAR

For more information:

Black Women's Rape Action Project bwrap@dircon.co.uk
Women Against Rape war@womenagainstrape.net
Tel: 0207 482 2496 or 07958 152171; Fax: 0207 209 4751
womenagainstrape.net

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[1] Legal Action for Women (Dec 2005) found that 70% of women detained in Yarl’s Wood Removal Centre had been victims of rape or other sexual violence.

[2] Where those who claim asylum are detained from when they enter the UK on the basis that their case is “straightforward” and capable of being decided quickly.

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Sheffield Asylum Seeker Action
Destitute Asylum Seekers: At 2pm on Wed 6 December, the Liberal Democrats will put a motion to full Council expressing concern at the growing number of destitute asylum seekers in our city and calling on the Government to introduce legislation to enable asylum seekers to work and support themselves and the economy. This follows a letter along these lines from Church Leaders to all party leaders on the Council. Please join the lobby in the Gallery of the Council Chamber. Join up with Shaun Smith and other colleagues inside Sheffield Town Hall entrance at 1.45pm.

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Technorati tags: anti-rape; women; incurable_hippie; asylum.

A Petition For You to Sign

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to stand on his head and juggle ice-cream.

Signatures: 403
If he's not going to resign, the least he can do is provide us with some entertainment.

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Technorati tags: petition; anti-Blair; incurable_hippie.

"I tend to think that if God wanted us to believe in him, he'd exist"

Linda Smith.

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Technorati tags: quotation; quotes; incurable_hippie; religion.

Photo Friday: Light

100b2840
Originally uploaded by incurable_hippie.

Photo Friday. Fireworks, taken at the weekend on Bonfire Night.

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Technorati tags: Photo Friday; fireworks; incurable_hippie; photography; Guy Fawkes; Bonfire Night.

Photo Friday: Accidental

Photo Friday

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Technorati tags: Photo Friday; photography; incurable_hippie.

I'm not ok.

The horrible realisation that in only 3 weeks time, it will be the first anniversary of my Dad's death.

It's a real, physical pain in my chest and it hurts like nothing else.

I read last night in a novel that the only things humans need to survive are water and hope. I think when the doctors told Dad that they couldn't make him better, his hope evaporated and that was that. I think that's why it was so much quicker than anyone had thought.

I miss him always. I'm doing a photography course, using his camera. It makes me feel closer to him, but it adds to the pain when each and every week there are more things that I need to tell him. Snippets of info and tips and facts. Same with my OU short course. There's so much in there that he'd love to know. And that I can't ever tell him.

I don't know how many times a day I scream inside my head, 'I want him back'. And I do. I cry so often, nearly always alone, and missing him seems to get bigger the longer it is since I saw him.

I still don't know how to cope with this. I can't believe it's so close to a year on. And that this is it, forever.

It really hurts.

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Technorati tags: grief; incurable_hippie.

Photo Friday: Destruction

Originally uploaded by incurable_hippie.

Photo Friday: Destruction

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Technorati tags: Photo Friday; destruction; incurable_hippie; photography; Claywood Flats Sheffield; Sheffield; demolition; nibbler; building demolition by nibbler.

To the Woman in the Opticians

who made me feel shit.

You might have been feeling all superior in your pretty, spot-free thinness, but that is no reason to make me feel utterly dreadful about how I was looking.

Your job is to sell glasses, and yet you decided instead to tell me how little each of the pairs I tried suited me, resulting in me not only not buying any, but also in me feeling unpresentable to the point of wanting to run and hide.

It wasn't your fault that the day I had a load of new spots coincided with my opticians appointment where I would have to look closely in a mirror a lot, to try on new frames. But it was your fault that your whole attitude and reaction to everything I tried on - even the ones I told you I liked! - made me feel horrible.

Please don't do that again. To anyone.

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Technorati tags: body image; incurable_hippie.

Alas, a Bastard.

So alas, a blog (I won't do him the dignity of providing a link), a supposedly pro-feminist male, has sold out to pornographers. Great.

See Fuckery and Betrayal, Alas, a sell-out, The Revolution will be Commodified, No, really, I'm a feminist, Alas, an eruption, alas, a blog, sold out to pimp my ride and many, many, many more.

You probably don't want to see what he has done, but if you do an example is here. Needless to say, he has been 'de-linked' from my right sidebar. I don't want to be partial to funding any of this shit by links from hippie blog.

What is it they call men who profit from women's sexual exploitation? Oh yeah, a pimp.

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Technorati tags: anti-porn; angry; incurable_hippie; sell-outs.

Photo Friday: Thin.

Thin rays of light beamed through the narrow slats of shutters.

Photo Friday: Thin

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Technorati tags: Photo Friday; photography; incurable_hippie; thin.

It's really bloody cold.

Gabcast! incurable hippie's musings and rants #2

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Technorati tags: audio; audio blog; incurable_hippie.

Quiet Just Now...

My Quiet Just Now list in my blog roll to the right was getting ridiculously long. It's where I list blogs I have once read and loved, but which closed or stopped or faded or disappeared or flitted.

The list will now live in this post. For the foreseeable future, links may be added again to the right side bar, to be merged into one post again later should that become necessary.

But the list, up to now, is:

QUIET JUST NOW


• le blog de Tryo


• A Frenchman in England


• Albion: mes tribulations outre-Manche


• Rob Manuel 1


• maZine


• Wherever You Are


• mercuryfern


• Little Brown Dress Journal


• Got Scurvy?


• The Black Dove


• amhainn


• The Blackboard Jungle


• Demob Happy Teacher


• Nahdendee


• The Girl Behind


• Election 2005 blog from the Guardian


• 2Queens


• Just Zip It


• The Lefty Directory


• M.J.'s Blagh Blagh Blagh


• My Karma Just Ran Over Your Dogma


• Don't Bomb Us - a blog by Al Jazeera staffers


• Dolly Dimple 3


• Dolly Dimple 2


• Bloggerheads


• Hippiegrrl Explains It All


• Practicalhippie.com: Weblog


• Ditch Monkey


• Insanely Inane Thoughts


• weather station


• Odd Socks


• Margarita's largo el pasillo


• Flowfield Unity


• Fractured Muse Chronicle


• Creativity takes Courage


• Eyes Wide Apart


• bubblegum


• Oh My, Two Lines (1)


• Creative Collage


• The Sparkly Pink Princess


• Femivist


• Ample Ramblings


• Sguelachdan


• Run Over By The Truth


• Vociferate


• Uniquely Alike


• greenfairydotcom


• samscam


• dazed-and-confused


• borderline teacher


• Girly Dyke


• Feminist Blogs UK


• Brutal Women


• A Bird's Eye View


• yehovahyireh - Taarna (1)


• 360 Degrees of Sky - Life in Rural Zambia


• I Blame the Patriarchy! (1)


• Chasing Daisy 1


• I Could Have Been a Contender


• Survivor Worker


• Altered Books: Karen's Whimsy


• Call Centre Confidential


• My Daily Om


• Some Way Out of Here


• The Infected Papercut


• Pas de Deux


• February 30th


• Menstruating She-Devils


• Life, Interrupted


• The Church of Critical Thinking - Your Suspicion is our Mission


• Lins Blog


• Democracy Is Choice


• Hunkabutta Tokyo photos, a stranger's life in pictures


• Steve, Don't Eat It!


• Do Buddhists Watch Telly?


• Eccentric Bohemian Hermits


• Mostly Decaf


• Letter from Gotham


• Adventures in Ethical Consumerism


• Thoughts of Kaili


• Thoughts of Kaili 2


• Dolly Dimple 1

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Technorati tags: blog roll; links; incurable_hippie.

Happy 60th Birthday

Woman's Hour. Here's to 60 more (and a bit more politics please)...

Woman's Hour is great. There are the odd, predictable, whining complaints along the line of 'Why can't we have a Man's Hour?'. Well, the other 23 hours of the day are Man's Hour, ok? Deal with it!

Anyway, a good proportion of Woman's Hour listeners are reportedly men, so maybe there is some hope.

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Technorati tags: woman's hour; radio 4; incurable_hippie; bbc; women.

Audio Audio. Test.

Gabcast! incurable hippie's musings and rants #1

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Technorati tags: audio; audio blog; incurable_hippie; test.

Photo Friday: Anger

Photo Friday: Anger

100_0407
Originally uploaded by incurable_hippie.

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Technorati tags: Photo Friday; photos; incurable_hippie; anger; Park Hill flats; Park Hill, Sheffield.

Lunatic Enters Number 10.

That was the headline I saw when I rushed by a newsagents today. It was something along those lines and was on, I think, The Sun (junk).

My genuine first thought was 'He's been there for years'.

My genuine second thought was 'Has there been an election?'

It was only after considering the above that I realised they were talking about a guy that nearly broke in with a knife, or something.

I think I was right with the first thought actually. (And that's not even going into the appalling language which only feeds fear and prejudice against people with mental illness...)

Good photography-type news is that Schmap have used four of my photos for their Sheffield guide. Quite odd selections, but I'm not complaining!

I got a £50 cheque from yougov today. Marvellous!! They do surveys - some market research, a lot political - and it's taken a while to get to the £50 (which is when they'll send the cheque), but blimey was it nice to receive! The main reason I do their surveys, though, is that periodically the results of a survey you take part in get onto the news or the topical comedy programmes, and you can only exclaim "I DID THAT ONE!" and be joyous! (Small things may amuse small minds, but that's fine by me). So yey, £50, that will help pay my rent. Fantastic!

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Technorati tags: UK Politics; photography; incurable_hippie; polls.

Pierrot Passed Away. Bless.

Pierrot hamster left us for hamster heaven on Saturday. He was quite an astonishing little blokey, not least for living until a couple of months before his 4th birthday (hamsters generally live until about 2 years old). He was a very gorgeous and cute thing, and sadly he had become quite ill and deformed in his last days. He had a great life and my house is trying to get used to just having the one hamster in it.

Here he was in his glory days:

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Technorati tags: hamster; pets; incurable_hippie; video.

Photo Friday: Girl

Otherwise known, by us on the beach, as The Seagull Worrier.
Photo Friday: Girl.

Originally uploaded by incurable_hippie.

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Technorati tags: Photo Friday; girl; incurable_hippie; photography; beach.

Breaking News...

http://fakegaynews.com/index.php/2006/08/toaster-ovens- replaced-by-newer-gadgets-in-effort-to-boost- lesbian-enrollment/

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Technorati tags: lesbian; incurable_hippie.

Amazingness on the InterWebNet.

http://www.futureme.org.

You can write yourself an email which it will send to you at a time in the future - I went for a year today.

I am in love with this idea and may do more of them. I have written about today, and wondered about this time next year. I quite hope that by next year I will have forgotten all about it, so when I get the email (from myself) I'll be surprised.

Special mention also to Eiffel Tower panoramic view like, truly panoramic.
and George Carlin on God.

(Quickie today. I'm around, just not so loquacious).

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Technorati tags: cool links; future; incurable_hippie.

Photo Friday: Bright.

100_1191
Originally uploaded by incurable_hippie.

Taken by me in the Winter Gardens in Sheffield earlier this year.

Photo Friday, topic BRIGHT.

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Technorati tags: Photo Friday; bright; incurable_hippie; photography; plant life; Sheffield; Winter Gardens.

5 Years Ago Today.

A lot of the online chatter today is 'what were you doing on 11th September 2001?' I can join in with that.

I had been at a day centre that morning, and a member of staff had organised a cinema trip for service users, and was quite upset that virtually nobody wanted to go. In the spirit of improving her mood, I agreed to go with her, and thus I sat through the incredibly dull and ridiculous Planet of the Apes. (Which one? The one that was out on 11/9/01!)

It was even more appalling than I had anticipated and I hated every minute. I have never been so glad to leave a cinema. We had a quick coffee in a nearby cafe, and then I returned home.

I sent a text to various friends, something about having just seen Planet of the Apes, and it was one of the worst films I had ever, ever seen. What a waste of a few hours, etc.

I received a bewildering reply from someone I didn't know so well, along the lines of 'How can you complain about that at a time like this??' but I had no idea what she meant. In the end, a friend phoned and told me to turn on the TV.

'Which channel?', I asked.

'Any', she replied.

At that stage I realised there was something very big happening. My friend on the phone was explaining what had been happening (two planes into big tall buildings, another crashed somewhere else, another into the Pentagon) and all I could think was that it was some kind of Armageddon (planes falling from the sky and all).

I didn't actually know what the World Trade Centre was, but as the news reports went on I got an idea of what they were, what they represented, and how many people this would have affected. This knowledge led me to believe that this was some kind of anti-capitalist attack. Wrong again (kind of).

I, like many others, watched hours of TV, mainly made up of the same few minutes of footage again and again and again and again. It looked horrific, the numbers injured and killed looked like they could have been going into the tens of thousands, and there was a huge underlying feeling of 'is it over? who's next?'.

There were reports that London was being evacuated (which turned out to be wrong), and everything came to a halt for all the attention on New York.

I hadn't heard the word 'unprecedented' on the news so much since the death of Diana ('unprecedented outpourings of grief'), and the shock from America at having been attacked for the first time was almost audible.

I remember thinking, 'Well now they know. Horrific as this is, they will see that sudden random killing attacks are devastating and they will surely never, ever do this to anyone ever again'. I really did think that. Me and my eternal bloody optimistic mind.

I thought, how could America attack anyone after this? How could they consider bombing a town anywhere in the world, when they know how it feels to be under attack.

I didn't think I was being naive and idealistic, but the follow-up proved that I was.

Hugely revengeful attacks on Afghanistan followed, then Iraq, and God only knows where else. Increase in hate, increase in terror, exploiting terror and fear to get away with whatever Bush bloody wants. Increase in racism, in US and UK abuse of human rights and allegations (ha!) of torture.

What the hell did we learn that day? Nothing, clearly.

Over the last few weeks there have been various documentaries about September 11th, of which I have seen / heard a couple.

One I was watching, contained the only footage of the attacks from inside a tower. A French guy who had been filming a documentary following New York firefighters, and found himself in the midst of all this.

Watching the footage - actual video of inside the buildings during the attacks - was terrifying (especially because, unlike we're supposed to with movies, I did know what was gonna happen next) and made me question how I would have coped, reacted, saved myself, or not. Would I have jumped from a window with no hope of surviving? Would I have been able to outrun the fog of dust?

That kind of footage - films of the apparently inconceivable events that happened - filled our TVs at the time of the attacks. People were witnessing these events as they happened. How many times did we see those planes go through those buildings? A hundred? A thousand?

And it struck me. Would the world be so complacent if we had seen footage, a hundred times in a day, of a bomb going through an apartment building in Lebanon, or if we had seen footage, five hundred times in a day, of a hospital being blasted in Iraq, would we be so complacent? Or would we be memorising the dates and reminiscing and weeping for those people so far away?

Because we bloody should be.

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Technorati tags: September 11th; 911; incurable_hippie; anti-war.

Music Meme.

Open iTunes/iPod or Windows Media Player to answer the following.
Go to your library.
Answer, no matter how embarrassing it is.

How many songs? 2273

Arrange by artist:
First artist: Abdou

Last artist: Zorba the Greek!

Arrange by song:
First Song: 4st7lb US Mix - Manic Street Preachers

Last Song: Zither - Doves

Arrange by time:
Shortest Song: Latin - Father Ted (6 seconds)

Longest Song: La Mer - Debussy (24:02)

Arrange by album:
First Album: 1967-1970 - The Beatles

Last Album: Women's World Voices 2

First song that comes up on shuffle: Pay Attention to Me - Orlando Brown (Thirteen)

How many songs come up when you search for "sex"? 2

How many songs come up when you search for "death"? 1

How many songs come up when you search for "love"? 103

Arrange by play count:
Which is your most frequently played song? Free like a flying demon - E-type


PS, you can see what I generally listen to here at last.fm.

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Technorati tags: music meme; music; incurable_hippie; memes.

Are you feeling naughty??

Edited to add: Apparently they have caught on, and now if you offer to pay less than their 'suggested amount' they won't let the transaction go through. Nice while it lasted though, eh?!

Well, get rid of that filthy mind, and read on...

Shopping Spree

How to Get Free Books, CDs, and Movies from Focus on the Family—Thereby Taking Money out of the Pockets of Anti-Gay Bigots—in 12 Easy Steps by Noel Black.

Gay marriage is on the ropes and you may be feeling despondent about the tedious process and dim prospects for any kind of meaningful change in the near future. And why wouldn't you? There are a total of eight states in the U.S. that don't have Defense of Marriage amendments either on the books or in the works, and Massachusetts is still the only state that permits same-sex marriage. The Washington State Supreme Court handed down its anti-gay-marriage decision several weeks ago and Washington's gay community is licking its wounds and contemplating an incremental push for civil unions.

When I'm feeling despondent over the state of gay rights in America—or the concurrent assaults on reproductive freedom, science, and rational thought—there's just one thing that helps me overcome my feelings of despair: getting free shit from Focus on the Family!

Few people know that Focus on the Family — the powerful evangelical Christian para-church based in Colorado Springs—will give you, absolutely free of charge, books, CDs, and DVDs. Usually people pay for these products, and the millions of dollars raised helps Focus on the Family produce yet more books and CDs featuring Dr. James Dobson and other Focus "experts." (Focus on the Family's experts, when they're not chatting on the phone with Karl Rove, run around the country teaching people how to stop being so gay and when it's appropriate to kick their kids' asses.)

Not only does ordering free stuff from Focus on the Family—sent to myself or people I don't like—satisfy a deeply juvenile impulse, it has the added benefit of taking money directly out of homo-hater Dobson's pocket. The one drawback is that getting free shit from Focus on the Family is a tad time consuming and a bit tricky, but it's well worth the effort.

Here's how to do it:

1. Go to www.family.org and you will see their home page.

2. Once you're at the home page, look for the "Resources" link in the blue bar on the left-hand side, right above the "Search" box, and click it.

3. Under the "Resource Category" menu on the left-hand side, you'll notice categories such as "Homosexuality." Go ahead and click that for shits and giggles.

4. It's time to start shopping! Scroll down a little bit and feel the homophobia flow. How about a nice copy of A Parent's Guide to Preventing Homosexuality? Go ahead and click the "Add to Cart" button.

5. Now comes a tough decision: Do you have the book sent to yourself so you can sell it on eBay for cash (my personal favorite) or do you keep it on your mantel as a high-larious conversation piece to point at and laugh when your friends and family come over? Or do you send it to a jerk? I always opt for sending it to myself. Yes, you may end up on the Focus on the Family mailing list (though I've been doing this for some time and have never received anything beyond what I ordered), but reading Focus on the Family's junk mail is a good way to keep tabs on their activities and it will cost them even more money in postage.

Please note: Focus on the Family won't send you more than $100 worth of materials for free in any given shopping trip, so be sure to keep it reasonable and return often.

6. Select "Add New Shipping Address" and click "Proceed to Checkout." Or, hell, continue to shop and pick up a box set of The Chronicles of Narnia on CD.

7. The next screen will ask you to sign up for an account and give your information. Don't worry, they don't ask for your credit-card number. Enter whatever name and address you like, because you won't be paying. You might want to make up a phone number, too.

8. Once you've filled out all the required fields (you can also create a fake e-mail account if you're super paranoid), click "Proceed to Checkout" one more time. You'll now find yourself at the "Here Is Your Cart" field. Annoying thing alert: You may have to reenter your info again after this field to actually set up your account. But just keep going until you get to the "How Much Would You Like to Donate?" page.

9. So, how much would you like to donate? Zero dollars, obviously. Don't be fooled by the field in the lower-right-hand corner that shows you the suggested donation amounts. Simply select "Enter other total amount" and enter 0.00 as the amount you would like to pay. (Don't put in a dollar sign or it will ask you for credit-card information!) Proceed to checkout.

10. You'll now be led to a screen that will try to make you feel guilty about the amount you haven't donated. But don't feel bad! Just proceed to checkout again.

11. Jesus! Here you are on the twelfth step and you still don't have your self-hatred materials! And you thought preventing homosexuality was supposed to be easy! Click "Checkout Now" and you're done.

Congratulations!

You have just removed a few dollars from the coffers of a major anti-gay organization. You can further capitalize on your brief investment of time by selling the item/s on eBay. You'd be surprised how much money you can get—a friend of mine makes a few hundred extra dollars every few months on this perfectly legal activity.

And if your conscience begins to bother you, think of it this way: Focus on the Family would probably like for you to have the materials anyway, because there's that minute chance that, once in your hands, the materials may inspire you to have a personal relationship with Jesus.

Finally, don't forget to pass this information on to all your friends. Proselytizing isn't just for Christians, you know. Go gay!

(NB, not that I'd know anything about it, international postage adds $10 to the cart, so account for that in the $100 limit...)

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Technorati tags: free stuff; anti-bigotry; incurable_hippie; narnia; creative protest.

Apparently...

Tony Blair's popularity is currently lower than Thatcher's was during the poll tax riots!

Ha!

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Technorati tags: UK politics; bliar; incurable_hippie.

Reading like it's going out of fashion.

I have been reading quite voraciously lately. Some cruel combination of depression and medication means that a lot of the time I cannot focus on reading much more than short magazine articles. So when I find I am capable of books, the temporality of that ability weighs heavy and while I love the reading which ensues, I never know when, all of a sudden, I'll be looking at the pages blankly and the ending of whatever I am reading will have to await my next phase.

I love reading, I love books, and I have been trying, and enjoying, genres of books which I have never totally embraced before. Let's say that trying to work out who the murderer really was does keep the pages turning!

Here's some of what I have consumed...

Refugee Boy, by Benjamin Zephaniah - A beautifully written and thought-provoking book which I bought for pennies in a charity shop. I knew I liked Zephaniah's poetry, and actually did not know he had written novels.

The book centres around a boy whose parents are Ethiopian and Eritrean, and suffer persecution where they live. The father takes his son on a 'holiday' to Britain, then seemingly abandons him in the hotel they are staying in, with a letter explaining it is for his good and safety, and he can seek asylum and be well-treated there.

Already the reader is experiencing the dilemma of whether that is the kindest thing a parent could do, or whether in fact he has actually been abandoned. His exploits and tales are beautifully and convincingly told, and I adored this book.

Book reviews to hopefully follow...
The Devil's Feather, by Minette Walters

We Need to Talk About Kevin, by Lionel Shriver

The Sculptress, by Minette Walters

The Abortionist's Daughter, by Elisabeth Hyde

Fear and Trembling, by Amelie Nothomb

Want to Play?, by P J Tracy

and I am currently reading Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life, by Thich Nhat Hanh.

See also pippa reviews blog

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Technorati tags: books; book reviews; incurable_hippie.

Hello For Now.

I've been on my first holiday in 6 years! A few days in Scarborough, by the seaside, has been a lovely, and exhausting, break away from day to day life.

More to come, but just hello for now.

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Technorati tags: photos; boats; incurable_hippie; holiday.

Book Meme: Tagged.

1. One book that changed your life?
All the Rage: Reasserting Radical Lesbian Feminism - my first real introduction to radical feminism, totally inspired me and fired me up!

2. One book you have read more than once?
The Best Little Girl in the World by Steven Levenkron. A story about an anorexic teenage girl that, as a teenager, I read and re-read obsessively. I was very disappointed, on re-reading it a couple of years ago, how twee and simplified and unrealistic it actually was.

3. One book you would want on a desert island?
Outdoor Survival Handbook: The Classic Indispensable Guide to Surviving the Outdoors by Ray Mears. Seems the obvious choice.

4. One book that made you laugh?
Join Me: The True Story of a Man Who Started a Cult by Accident by Danny Wallace - strangely compulsive book which I found difficult to put down, even though in many ways it was driving me mad. Many laugh-out-loud moments though, making it great.

5. One book that made you cry?
Life and Death by Andrea Dworkin. Devastating, but essential reading.

6. One book you wish had been written?
How to Change the World by incurable hippie.

7. One book you wish had never been written?
Any of these.

8. One book you are currently reading?
Want to Play? by P. J. Tracy. I have phases of reading thrillers, and I'm in one at the moment. This one is fitting the bill nicely!

9. One book you have been meaning to read?
The Idea of Prostitution by Sheila Jeffreys.

10. Now tag five people.
Zinkibaru
Anais Nin
slow downloads
travelling punk
Gwyn.

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Technorati tags: meme; books; incurable_hippie.

Critical Cynicism.

So, Britain is on 'critical alert' for terror attacks. Plans to explode 9 aeroplanes over the Atlantic, travelling from the UK to the US. Air chaos today.

I don't really get what's happening.

So, this potential plot was unveiled and lots of arrests and raids this morning. That's fair enough, but then all the airport security systems went into overdrive, doing mega-security checks, and banning hand luggage, drinks etc. from the planes. Alert status was raised.

And I thought, Well, if they've just done these arrests and raids, surely we're actually more safe rather than in more danger.

But what do I know? This huge big discovery happened, they're doing their best to keep us safe. That's good surely.

Then I thought, Well, why today? Were the attacks supposed to happen today? If so, it's pushing it a bit fine really, to arrest this morning. But better late than never I suppose. But if they weren't supposed to happen today, why the sudden surge in alert status? Hmmm....

I have to admit that I started thinking of Dubya, and how he is so good at terrifying Americans at the thought of further terrorism, as a means to make them so scared that they will agree with whatever nonsense he proposes (bombing anyone else, Bush?), as long as he assures them it will keep them safe, and stop terrorism.

Is that what's happening here? I think it is in general, but is today's drama to do with that in a bigger way?

And then we find out that George W. Bush was informed about this situation last Sunday, and that relevant airlines were informed yesterday.

So... it's a huge sudden terrorist threat that they knew enough about, days ago to tell idiot-blokey across the ocean, but didn't start actually doing anything practical here until today. If it's such a massive risk this morning, why not yesterday morning? Or the day before? How urgent just is it?.

And then I thought about how sometimes things like this are absolutely perfect for diverting the media from something else. Making all the media and public focus on baby bottles on planes, so that noone thinks about a (the utter disaster of Lebanon), b (Iraq's utter disaster) or c (anything else we're not hearing about. And there's plenty).

I genuinely don't understand what is happening. How far can I trust 'intelligence' after the execution of a Brazilian electrician on the tube, and the shooting of an innocent guy in the raids a few weeks ago? They claimed to be acting on vital information then. Are they now?

I don't know if we're being duped, manipulated, bullied, informed, fooled, laughed at, or protected. But it's just not sitting right, somehow.

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Technorati tags: terrorism; UK Politics; incurable_hippie; cynicism..

Volunteering Lunch Expenses Campaign.

We need your support for the Volunteering England lunch expenses campaign.

As part of Volunteering England’s ‘Right to Reasonable Expenses’ lunch campaign, we are urging volunteers and volunteer involving organisations to join us in Volunteering England’s Lunch Expenses Protest Week. We want you to post your lunch receipt to the Secretary of State The Rt. Hon. John Hutton MP at the Department for Work and Pensions to illustrate the true cost of buying lunch outside the home.

Volunteering England Protest Week will run from Monday 14th August to Monday 21st August 2006.

We must convince the DWP to withdraw their guidance ‘A guide to volunteering while on Benefits’.

We need your support to maximise the protest week.

Please forward this email to all volunteers and volunteering involving organisations you know. We are also calling on umbrella bodies that have a wider membership to circulate this message as widely as possible.

We have until Monday 21st August to make a real difference to 2 millions volunteers who could be affected by the guidance.

Below is the wording of the letter template for you to use.

To the Rt. Hon. John Hutton MP on the issue of volunteer lunch expenses.

Please find attached receipts for the cost of lunch whilst volunteering. The new interpretation in the Department for Work and Pensions ‘A Guide to Volunteering While on Benefits’ prevents volunteers on benefit from claiming reasonable expenses. We believe that:


• the guidance issued by the Department for Work and Pensions is unfair and contradictory and should be withdrawn


• lunch expenses are a legitimate expense, the cost of which should be reimbursed to benefit claimants whilst volunteering


• nearly two million people may now face an unnecessary barrier to volunteering which directly contradicts government’s expressed aim of opening up access to volunteering to disadvantaged groups.

The message and receipts should be sent to:

The Rt. Hon. John Hutton MP
Secretary of State
Department for Work and Pensions,
Richmond House,
79 Whitehall
London
SW1A 2NS

Further Information
For more information about the work and services of Volunteering England, please visit our web site.

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Technorati tags: volunteering; benefits; incurable_hippie; campaign.

Wardrobe Refashionistas.

The Wardrobe Refashion Pledge

I, Pippa hippie,

Pledge that I shall abstain from the purchase of "new" manufactured items of clothing, for the period of 2 months.

I Pledge that I shall refashion, renovate, recylcle pre-loved items for myself for the term of my contract.

I Pledge that I shall create and craft items of clothing for myself with my own hands in fabric, yarn or other medium for the term of my contract.

I Pledge that I will share the love and post a photo of my refashioned, renovoated, recylcled, crafted or created item of clothing on the Wardrobe Refashion blog, so that others may share the joy that thy thriftyness brings!

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I was inspired to do this by a post of Caroline's, and I loved the idea. I have been altering fabrics and clothes lately (with varying techniques, results, and randomness) with mainly bleach, dye, tie-dye, embroidery (loosely!), beading, adding embellishments. I love it, and the feeling of walking down the street knowing that noone else in the world is wearing what I'm wearing. And getting compliments! Wow!

I intend to add regular posts about my refashioning of pre-loved items, both here on hippie blog, and also on the Wardrobe Refashion blog itself.

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Technorati tags: wardrobe refashion; altered clothes; incurable_hippie; creative.

Amitryptyline.

This site shows ads since the 50s in Japan, of various psychiatric drugs. Unfortunately the American site, which this one was apparently based on, is down.

Amongst (many) other things, I take this:



As advertisements go, it doesn't really fill me with confidence about this drug making me feel any better. It looks thoroughly menacing. I hope it was at least a 'before' picture!

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Technorati tags: psychiatry; drugs; incurable_hippie; mental health.

Watch Out.

Oh yes watch out, we're everywhere. You may never know if the woman giving you filthy looks as you peruse the top shelves in the newsagent is one. Or the woman who slaps you when you grope her in a club. Or the woman you live with. Or the woman opposite you in the office. Or the women you pass in the street, the library, the pub, the park or the gym.

Feminists are everywhere, so beware, misogynists. Watch out!

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Technorati tags: feminism; feminist; incurable_hippie.

Fabuloso Sunday Links.

(from H.E.R.B. (Had Enough Religious Bullshit)

Strange statues around the world

Beautiful Smoke Art

Google's accessible search engine for the visually impaired

Google Accessible Search FAQ

Population: One Person is One Pixel

Flickr Related Tag Browser

Annoy him with the cursor (flash)

Cows With Guns

One Word. So Little Time

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Technorati tags: links; comedy; incurable_hippie; beauty.

Good Advice.

“She generally gave herself very good advice (though she very seldom followed it)”.
-Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

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Imagine a Woman, by Patricia Lynn Reilly

Imagine a woman
who believes it is right and good she is woman.
A woman who honors her experience and tells her stories.
Who refuses to carry the sins of others within her body and life.

Imagine a woman
who believes she is good.
A woman who trusts and respects herself.
Who listens to her needs and desires and meets them with tenderness and grace.

Imagine a woman
who has acknowledged the past's influence on the present.
A woman who has walked through her past.
Who has healed into the present.

Imagine a woman
who authors her own life.
A woman who exerts, initiates, and moves on her own behalf.
Who refuses to surrender except to her truest self and to her wisest voice.

Imagine a woman
who names her own gods.
A woman who imagines the divine in her image and likeness.
Who designs her own spirituality and allows it to inform her daily life.

Imagine a woman
in love with her own body.
A woman who believes her body is enough, just as it is.
Who celebrates her body and its rhythms and cycles as an exquisite resource.

Imagine a woman
who honors the face of the Goddess in her changing face.
A woman who celebrates the accumulation of her years and her wisdom.
Who refuses to use her precious life energy disguising the changes in her body and life.

Imagine a woman
who values the women in her life.
A woman who sits in circles of women.
Who is reminded of the truth about herself when she forgets.

Imagine yourself as this woman.

((Imagine a Woman in Love with Herself: Embracing Your Wisdom and Wholeness))

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Technorati tags: lewis carroll; alice in wonderland; incurable_hippie; imagine a woman; poetry; women.

Best, Worst, Funniest...

Did I ever mention having a ridiculous number of letter-related disagreements with my MP? It is for that reason that the front page of today's local paper is featuring in this entry. Ha!

In less gloating news, I am currently reading:
We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
Fabric Art Journals: Making, Sewing, and Embellishing Journals from Cloth and Fibers.

Currently listening to:
We Are Shampoo
Hits: the Very Best of Erasure
Hole: Celebrity Skin

Amazing blog of the week: Women's Space / The Margins.

Bizarrest search result leading to hippie blog: result number 3 for 'Lambrini and Weight Loss'.

Currently feeling: exhausted, inspired, irritated.

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Technorati tags: books; music; incurable_hippie.

Keep your Jesus off my Penis, and keep your Penis off anyone who doesn't want it.

ReSISTERance blog shares details of research which shows the extent of unwanted teenage sexual experiences.

Her information, taken from the NSPCC site, details that, amongst other things:

• "Nearly half (45%) of teenage girls in an NSPCC/Sugar magazine survey have had their bottom or breasts groped against their wishes.
  
• Fifty-six per cent* of unwanted early sexual experiences occurred for the first time when girls were aged under 14.
  
• 51% of unwanted sexual experiences happened more than once and left the girls feeling dirty (47%), ashamed/guilty (39%), worried/insecure (36%), angry (34%) powerless (30%) and frightened (27%).

Chris Cloke, NSPCC head of child protection awareness said: "Sugar readers are revealing early sexual experiences that disregard the need for consent, with young girls threatened or bribed into submitting before they are emotionally or physically ready."

Of those girls who had been pushed into doing something they didn't want:

• nearly half (44%) had been made to feel guilty for initially saying 'no'
  
• over a quarter (29%) cited simply being told by the person pushing them that it was the right thing to do
  
• 1 in eight were given drink or drugs
  
• 1 in nine were concerned that rumours would be spread about them
  
• 1 in ten were threatened physically
  
• 1 in ten were actually hurt physically
  
• 1 in ten were bribed with presents or money

In all, 43% of girls questioned said the person responsible for the unwanted experience was a boy they knew or were friends with; one in three cited a boyfriend around their age. Fourteen per cent held a family member or family friend responsible, 13% 'a group of lads', 10% a boyfriend more than five years older than them, and 4% a teacher

A large majority (91%) of the NSPCC/Sugar survey respondents judged it 'never acceptable' for someone to push a girl into a sexual experience against her wishes. Over half (55%+) still believed that their own unwanted early sexual experiences had been at least partly their fault.

Girls' perception of what is sexual abuse varied depending on the age of the perpetrator. Nine out of ten (88%) girls labelled being pushed into a sexual experience against their wishes by an adult over 18 as 'sexual abuse'. Fifty-three per cent described the same experience at the hands of someone their own age as 'pressure sex'.

The NSPCC and Sugar have joined forces to encourage young people to speak out about any concerns they have about sex. Readers can get help and support from the July issue of the magazine and by visiting a new NSPCC website www.donthideit.com which provides a confidential and anonymous space to learn what sex abuse is and how to stop it. They can also call the NSPCC's freephone 24/7 ChildLine service on 0800 1111.

One of the hardest things for me, about studying this information, was that I was not in the least surprised. The statistics, the ages, the percentages, the details were all frighteningly predictable and very reminiscent of my own teenage years. And those of so, so many girls I knew.

The NSPCC website which is referred to, Don't Hide It Any More, is, unfortunately, predictably skewed in the wrong direction.

While they do provide information to children about what sexual abuse is, and how it can manifest itself, this is limited and does not appear to mention what is abundantly clear from the statistics above: i.e. that the boys in their school can abuse them sexually and force them into sexual activity they do not want. The NSPCC site focuses almost exclusively on adults as perpetrators.

Of course, adults make up a huge percentage of sexual abusers, but denying that teenage boys and young adults are committing these crimes, and maybe believing it is ok to do so, is not okay.

In addition, on the site, all of the impetus for stopping the abuse is on the child, usually the girl, being abused. She must tell someone, and they do suggest possible outlets.

What is not approached at all is that the person who can and should actually stop the abuse is the abuser. We cannot put the responsibility for stopping sexual abuse on the girls being abused. This is impossible, dangerous and puts a false sense of control in the hands of the girl who invariably has virtually no control over this situation. This leads to much more guilt on her part, regarding how she 'should have' been able to stop it happening.

The fact is she couldn't. Had she been able to, she would have. There are a multitude of reasons why she can't make him stop. It is him who has control over abusing her and, who has control of stopping the abuse. We must stop convincing girls that it would never have happened if only she hadn't (worn that skirt, smiled at him, taken the food, been lonely, this list can go on and on).

How can we stop childhood sexual abuse? Well, the abusers need to stop abusing children. Ok?

On a lighter note, thank the Goddess, this Not At All Safe For Work link brought a shocked smirk to my face! Keep your Jesus off my Penis

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Technorati tags: sexual abuse; teenage girls; incurable_hippie; Keep your Jesus off my penis; NSPCC; Sugar Magazine.

Cleaning vegetable detritus from sheep fleeces

I love obscure words with very specific meanings. From this week's World Wide Words, I learned:

Weird Words: Sabrage
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The act of opening a bottle with a sabre.

Imagine opening a bottle with great ceremony by striking off its
neck with one sweep of a blade. Traditionally the bottle contains
champagne and the implement is always a sabre.

You might think the result will be lots of broken glass and mess,
but the skill of sabrage lies in hitting the bottle hard just at
the bottom edge of the annulus, the glass ring at the top of the
neck. The blow breaks the neck off cleanly, complete with cork.
Experts advise you chill the bottle very well and avoid shaking it,
remove the foil and wire cage, hold it away from you at an angle of
about 40 degrees and strike with the bottle seam uppermost. Do not
try this at home, kiddies. In truth, a sabre is optional: almost
any hard object with an edge will do it.

At least one organisation, the Confrérie du Sabre d'Or, maintains
this tradition at its champagne parties. But otherwise, both it and
the term are rarely encountered. Stories hold that it dates from
Napoleonic times and was invented by cavalry who found it difficult
to open champagne bottles while on horseback, but did have usefully
heavy sabres handy. You may celebrate the ingenuity of this story
with a small glass of something bubbly if you wish.

Its language origin is definitely the French "sabrer", to hit with
a sabre. It's a close relative of "sabreur", one who fights with a
sabre, best known in "beau sabreur", a fine soldier or dashing
adventurer. But the modern French "sabrage" mundanely refers to
cleaning vegetable detritus from sheep fleeces.

Who knew?!

PS To the bastard who found hippie blog by googling where to buy a trafficed woman cost yesterday, fuck off. I hope your penis falls off.

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Technorati tags: language; sabrage; incurable_hippie; quirky.

Women Fight Back.

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Yesterday, on the Jerk List blog, I posted about Steven Green, and four other US soldiers who raped a young woman then killed her whole family. It is horrifying. At Women's Space / The Margins, there are three articulate and terrifying posts looking at the issues of rape as a weapon of war, and how this is not a 'one-off' event, but inherent to how the US & Allies are fighting the war.

Trigger warnings are most certainly relevant, especially for post two which has graphic and disturbing photographs. With that warning, the three posts from Women's Space / The Margins, are here:
Post 1 - The Rape of Iraq: Deep Sexing the News
Post 2 - The Rape of Iraq, part 2
Post 3 - The Rape of the Hadji Girl Part 3.

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Women are fighting back in Birmingham, against the growing commodification of women's bodies in the form of ever increasing numbers of lap dancing clubs in the area.

They say,

For those old enough to remember the women's protest group of the 70's and 80's, 'Women Fight Back' are back!

The increasing emergence of lap dancing clubs in the city was enough to make a group of local women and girls take up the challenge of fighting back against the exploitation of women's bodies for men's profit and enjoyment. The exploitation of women's bodies seems to be becoming a more and more acceptable medium for advertising and entertainment. What was once deemed politically incorrect 20 years ago is now deemed as being okay, It would seem that with all the Equal Opportunities policies we now have in society, women's equality is now considered guaranteed and safe from threat. Policies have actually resulted in women' issues being put on the back burner, the fight is over, so anyone discriminating against us in the workplace etc will be taken to court. However what we are actually left with is a green light to sexism, there is no resistance to exploitation of our bodies anymore, there doesn't need to be because there is a policy that does that for us!

Lap Dancing clubs are emerging everywhere, Birmingham has been described as the 'lap dancing capital of the country'. Adverts for Spearmint Rhino appear on billboards along the city’s major roads. Wherever you drive around the city, the image of a sexily clothed woman lying back under text that says, 'The Negotiator', is inviting men along to clubs to negotiate their price for her.

Women Fight Back are serious in their intention to rid the city of these centres of sexual exploitation and of the harm that they cause to women, children and society as a whole. Campaigning will take on many forms, there will be something for all women to get involved with, age is no problem, as long as you are female you can get involved. Email the link below for more info or get involved.
womenfightback@hotmail.co.uk

I am so, so pleased that these women in Birmingham are doing this. Working together as women and girls, with a clear and vivid political and feminist understanding of the meaning of women's bodies being bought and sold, the messages this gives out to men and women, girls and boys, and the inherent exploitation and danger in these types of men's clubs.

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On the front page of today's Sheffield Star newspaper is a story about a 16 year old Kenyan-born girl, who was pregnant after being forced into prostitution by men who bought and sold her.

She was held captive in a flat, possibly in London, after being shipped to the UK by men who told her she would be working as a house lady.

Her captors regularly beat and raped her and forced her to sleep with 10 men a day for nine months.

She eventually became pregnant by one of her captors but was forced to continue sleeping with clients.

She was driven to Sheffield and dumped when she became too pregnant to work.

That women and girls are being literally bought and sold, kept captive, used as prostitutes, raped and tortured, is not a surprise to me, but is always a shock. It is positive that the local paper was duly outraged and publicised the issue, but unfortunately this girl's situation is not that unusual. This particular girl is now apparently being 'looked after', and I really hope she is. The police are looking for the pimps / traffickers / kidnappers / rapists and I bloody hope they catch them. But we, and they, need to do more.

We need a world where no women are commodities to be exploited and sexualised and objectified and beatn and raped. Where this modern-day slavery is unheard of.

These three stories, blogged today, are immensely depressing yet there is also some encouragement, that being that we can see clearly that there are women who speak out, women who ask for help, women who join together to campaign, women who will not hide the truth and who will not tell lies about what happens to women.

Women Fight Back That's a statement of fact, and a plea.

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Technorati tags: Iraq; feminism; incurable_hippie; rape; anti-prostitution; trafficking women; Women Fight Back; anti-war; campaigns.

Illustration Friday: Skyline.

100_0437
Originally uploaded by incurable_hippie.

Illustration Friday

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Technorati tags: Illustration Friday; skyline; incurable_hippie; photography; Sheffield..

The Eyes as the Window to the Soul.

I have got conjunctivitis and blephitis. It's not nice, and it's certainly not pretty, and I'm surprised by just how ill I feel.

It's Dubya's 60th birthday. I do hope he announces his retirement shortly.

Things to read:

Zoe Williams: I Have, I'm Not Ashamed

One In Seven

Call for Investigation into Murder of Guatemalan Women

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Technorati tags: eyes; women; incurable_hippie; disability.

Essential Reading for the Day.

McDonaldisation of Sex.
Domestic violence accounts for a quarter of all violent crime, with one woman in four being a victim.

The contribution made by unpaid workers is forgotten in the drive for full employment...

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Technorati tags: domestic violence; anti-pornography; incurable_hippie; volunteering.