Feimineach - On Irish Feminism

Im really tired of hearing this arguement, and feel like carrying this everywhere I go to hand out to people who say this to me!!

Id like to direct you to the wonderful site of One Angry Girl - she has a list of Girlcotts - companies that abuse the rights of women and that we should avoid. Ive got a few to add to her list:

7up

All lynx products

Carlsberg

Cilit Bang

Wait - this list is gonna go on forever.

Keep your eyes open for products to Girlcott due to sexist advertising and unethical treatment of female workers!

Hi everyone.

Got back from Leitrim safe and sound where I attended the Sunday of RAG’s feminist gathering 2008. It was an amazing day and I was so happy to be surrounded by so many incredible women. KUDOS to the girls for organising such an amazing location and incredibly varied workshops. I held a theatre of the oppressed workshop as part of the Choice Ireland series of workshops.

We played some really great warm up games, like grannies footsteps, which got everyone in the mood for being physical and for making asses of ourselves. Then we did image theatre for the last part of the workshop which was really powerful. I just hope that everyone got something from it… I got a great kick out of watching everyone enjoying themselves and playing - finding their inner 4 year old!

On another note - 2 happy making things from the weekend was the gender balance was excellent and the age profiles were hugely varied! Also the food was super, thanks to Lentil Disorder.

Overall a deadly weekend… so thanks so much to everyone involved.

I came across this site through work and thought it was a powerful message. This site was set up as a campaigning website set up by the London based freelance journalist Ellie Levenson to campaign for better access to emergency contraception (also known as the morning after pill).
The site campaigns for emergency contraception to be available from pharmacists and other providers in advance, and to everyone, to ensure that women are able have immediate access to it when needed. This is particularly important because emergency contraception is 95% effective if taken within 24 hours of unprotected sex but just 58% effective if taken 72 hours later.

Ireland does not allow over-the-counter access to the morning after pill either. Its pretty awful considering how women who may not have the 50 euro fee to see the doctor and then the 17 euro cost of the pill itself will more than likely not avail of it - thereby obviously increasing the chances of unwanted pregnancy….

I’d love to do something like this at some stage.

http://womenarenotstupid.co.uk/

This is taken from the guardian, and I also saw it on feministing.

This is so disgusting I can barely think about it. This man, LIVE in front of a whole audience molested and sexually attacked a very young girl… and the audience did nothing to stop it - nor did many of them find it offensive. This girl’s sexuality was made a mockery - and to top it all of, this oaf insisted the curtain be brought down to leave them to it.

It has left me shocked - and actually brought a tear to my eye as I read it. It has also left me asking the question - if Johnny Vegas was a gay comedian and picked out a straight 18 year old boy from the crowd - would the reaction have been different?

The full article is below.

Along with hundreds of others I watched a set during which Johnny Vegas, without any discernible artistic or comedic merit, gratuitously groped a young woman on stage. Judging from some of the furious postings on the internet that followed the gig, I was not the only person asking if he had crossed a line.

Vegas stepped on stage to cheers and immediately announced that he had no material, and that he was there mostly to get laid. There followed a short meandering ramble (mainly about lap dancers) before he turned his attention to the audience - and to one young woman in particular in the front row who, he announced, he wanted to be “inside”. Anyone who has seen Vegas live knows to expect the unexpected, and you take a front row seat at your peril. He can appear deliriously and uncontrollably drunk and casually offensive, and he isn’t afraid of injecting a dose of tension by involving members of the audience in his erratic act. But something backfired this time.

The woman he focused on was about 18 or 19 and was very obviously unnerved by his attention. I saw her expression clearly - I was in the front row too, just three seats along. Vegas insisted that she allow herself to be carried on to the stage by six members of the audience - he called them “pall bearers”. She must pretend to be dead, he said, and he would bring her back to life with an onstage kiss. He warned her that there probably would be tongues. As James Williams, writing on the NOTBBC forum after the gig, put it, “Honestly, you couldn’t have found a nervier or more passive girl if you’d scoured all of London - she was like a rabbit in the headlights, but she was giggling and clearly somewhat enjoying the attention, so it just sort of went ahead without so much as a yes or no from her.” As she was carried on stage, Vegas repeatedly goaded one of the pallbearers to “finger” the girl.

Once she was on stage, Vegas told her to lie very still. She couldn’t stop her nervous giggling; he threatened to kick her in the ribs. It didn’t come across to me as a joke - and near to where I was sitting, no one was laughing. Eventually Vegas crouched down beside the nervous girl and started stroking her breasts while repeatedly saying, “don’t fucking move”. Then he ran his hand up her leg and began pulling her skirt up. Every time he looked up to address the audience, she would reach down and pull her skirt back down, but he kept pulling it back up. According to Williams, who had a different view of the stage from me, Vegas ended up “fingering her through her clothes for a second or two”. What I heard was an audible sharp intake of breath from the audience as they realised that the woman was getting much more than the kiss Vegas had told her to expect.

There was an air of menace from the outset, made worse by the fact that Vegas clearly had no idea where he was going with his act. The more the young woman was groped, the more anxious one of the “pallbearers” looked. Then Vegas straddled the young woman, pinning her to the floor, and kissing her for quite a while. Most disturbing, perhaps was that around half the audience seemed to find this really funny. Vegas asked if the curtain could be brought down; when it wasn’t, Simon Munnery, the comedian who had been on stage before him, came on stage and used his coat to screen the pair from the audience.

IN Medicine Weekly, Dr Bressan counteracts a disgracefully patronising and inherently sexist article which appeared in Medicine Weekly, claiming that ‘lady’ doctors only seem to want to buy expensive shoes and dont want to work hard. This kind of disgusting attitude makes for uncomfortable reading - that this kind of attack on women who have worked so hard to achieve financial independence and to reduce this to mere flight of fancy driven by one Jimmy Choo… churns the stomach. However, Dr Bressan’s response reduces the arguement to exactly what it should have been read as: the musings of a sexist, bigoted asshole.

Text below:

Medicine Weekly’s Dr Juliet Bressan agrees with Dr Ruairi Hanley — life is certainly a cakewalk when you’re a female GP

Dr Ruairi Hanley is upset about the fact that there are now far too many female graduates who don’t want to have to work too hard and like to buy nice shoes: ‘Doctors who choose lifestyle ahead of vocation’ (Medicine Weekly, 16 April 2008).

Which is perfectly understandable. Why wouldn’t you be in an absolute tizz if you’d spent your whole life thinking that you are nothing short of a complete saint by taking up a job like this, only to find that all the others have gone home early to put a nice roast on for their husbands and have their Jimmy Choo boots licked? I agree completely with Ruairi: life is very unfair if you have been left short of one X chromosome. Lady doctors do have all the fun.

But it’s the points system that is to blame. It foolishly selects the most intelligent and gifted school-leavers to study medicine, rather than the ones with the largest number of penises. The CAO, by insisting on cherry-picking all the clever people to become doctors, are only asking for a medical profession full of women.

There I was the other day, driving through the leafy suburbs of D4 thinking ‘will I bother going into work today, or will I just go shoe-shopping instead?’ And then I remembered that the patients might be sick. So, I popped into the surgery and listened to one or two chests, which was such a bore, really, but you’ve got to do it sometimes, only I make sure they don’t lift their jumpers up or anything disgusting like that.

And then I had to tell the rest of them to just go to casualty because I’d snagged a nail taking my stethoscope out of my Birken Bag (PS. Ruairi, Louis Vuitton is sooooo footballers’ wives. Do keep up!)

So, I made an emergency call to my manicurist — thank goodness he’s a man with a work ethic — and then I noticed that I’d got a text message on my iPhone from my yoga instructor to remind me to do my Asanas, so I took the rest of the afternoon off.

Oh, and I won’t be at the CME next week because that’s the day I’m having a Brazilian. See, it is much harder for boy doctors to think of nice ways to spend the day. Boy doctors don’t know why they went into medical school in the first place. They sit all day grumbling in a nasty suit at a filthy desk wondering where it all went wrong, and then they take it out on the patients.

Meanwhile, lady doctors are sitting in the Shelbourne having a nice glass of white wine at 4.30pm, wondering whether the new shade of Juicy Tube is going to look better with their theatre scrubs than last year’s one did. But it’s not too late to figure out how to enjoy a career in medicine; lots of boy doctors do it. They just keep a little bit quieter about it, perhaps.

You could, for example, develop an addiction. This is very time consuming, and keeps you out of the surgery for months on end in rehab, having a lovely time at the expense of the HSE. Alcohol is a very easily available and acceptable substance among boy doctors looking for a way to pass the time, and all your colleagues will be terribly nice to you when you’ve had far too much of it and you drive your car into something.

Or, you could have an affair with someone else’s wife. This takes up a huge amount of time (especially if the other wife is married to another boy doctor, because you can spend hours agonising in guilt, which is the best part of adultery) and you’ll be able to buy your wife guilt presents of nice shoes too, which is almost as much fun as being a lady doctor and buying lots of nice shoes for yourself.

Or, you could spend all day flirting with the pharmaceutical rep and getting her to buy you huge lunches that you can ill afford to eat with your expanding waistline, but at least you’ll feel you’re getting some attention. Or, you could buy a ridiculously expensive car and drive it very very fast to the AGM.

Or, you could become obsessed with the GAA/rugby matches. Lots of boy doctors find that thinking about other men getting all muddy and stuff is the subject of a truly massive amount of scintillating conversation.

And why not? Men in shorts rolling around in the mud — what’s not to like?

The IMO will even put little notes in their annual diary when all the matches are on, so you’ve got something to do for a weekend in Dublin when your lady doctor wife is busy dashing around from one cocktail party to the next.

Or, you could develop an interest in antiques. Second- hand furniture full of wood worm is a charming way to pass the time when you’ve already done the crossword and fiddled about on the golf course in the rain for half the day.

Look, it doesn’t have to be all misery just because you aren’t a woman. I was thinking of doing a PhD myself the other day — but then I realised that I was just thirsty.

The Fire Festival of Bealtaine (hereafter Beltane - anglo-saxon spelling)

This festival is also known as Beltane, the Celtic May Day. It officially begins at moonrise on May Day Eve, and marks the beginning of the third quarter or second half of the ancient Celtic year. It is celebrated as an early pastoral festival accompanying the first turning of the herds out to wild pasture. The rituals were held to promote fertility. The cattle were driven between the Belfires to protect them from ills. Contact with the fire was interpreted as symbolic contact with the sun. In early Celtic times, the druids kindled the Beltane fires with specific incantations. Later the Christian church took over the Beltane observances, a service was held in the church, followed by a procession to the fields or hills, where the priest kindled the fire. The rowan branch is hung over the house fire on May Day to preserve the fire itself from bewitchment (the house fire being symbolic of the luck of the house).

This is a holiday of Union-both between the Goddess and the God and between man and woman. Handfastings (Pagan marriages) are traditional at this time. It is a time of fertility and harvest, the time for reaping the wealth from the seeds that we have sown. Celebrations include braiding of one’s hair (to honour the union of man and woman and Goddess and God), circling the Maypole for fertility and jumping the Beltane fire for luck. Beltane is one of the Major Sabbats of the Wiccan religion. We celebrate sexuality (something we see as holy and intrinsic to us as holy beings), we celebrate life and the unity which fosters it. The myths of Beltane state that the young God has blossomed into manhood, and the Goddess takes him on as her lover. Together, they learn the secrets of the sexual and the sensual, and through their union, all life begins.

Beltane is the season of maturing life and deep found love. This is the time of vows, handfastings and commitment. The Lord and his Lady, having reached maturity, come together in Perfect Love and Perfect Trust to celebrate the joy of their union. This is a time to celebrate the coming together of the masculine and feminine creative energies. Beltane marks the emergence of the young God into manhood. Stirred by the energies at work in nature, he desired the Goddess. They fall in love, lie among the grasses and blossoms and unite.

The flowers and greenery symbolise the Goddess and the Maypole represents the God. Beltane marks the return of vitality and passion of summer. Another common focal point of the Beltane rituals is the cauldron, which represents the Goddess. The Welsh goddess Creiddylad is connected with Beltane, often called the May Queen, she was a Goddess of summer flowers and love.

May Day

May Day has long been marked with feasts and rituals. May poles, supremely phallic symbols, were the focal point of old English village rituals. Many people arose at dawn to gather flowers and green branches from the fields and gardens, using them to decorate the village Maypoles.

The May Queen (and often King) is chosen from among the young people, and they go singing from door to door throughout the town carrying flowers or the May tree, soliciting donations for merrymaking in return for the “blessing of May”. This is symbolic of bestowing and sharing of the new creative power that is stirring in the world. As the kids go from door to door, the May Bride often sings to the effect that those who give will get of nature’s bounty through the year.

In parts of France, some jilted youth will lie in a field on May Day and pretend to sleep. If any village girl is willing to marry him, she goes and wakes him with a kiss; the pair then goes to the village inn together and lead the dance which announces their engagement. The boy is called “the betrothed of May.”

Its a time when, for wiccans and some pagans, they see a union of opposites, the horned God impregnates the Goddess. It is associated with fertility and strength, with celebration and sexuality, with freedom and creativity. For those who are more drawn to Goddess energy, see below for associated Goddesses.

Aine is the Goddess most associated with Bealtaine.

Goddess of love and fertility; also known as the Fairy Queen of Munster.

With the Goddess Aine we wander into the realms of the unfettered powers
of Femininity. The Goddess Aine was one of the female deities that
suffered from repression at the hands of the Christian monks. In Ireland
around 500 BC it is fairly well attested that several sites in Munster
and Connaught were dedicated to the worship of Aine.

We can see Aine in triple aspect in the powers attributed to her.
Firstly as the Maiden in her ability to reward her devotees with the
gift of poetry or with unfortunate madness. There is a stone that
belonged to Aine high on her mountain, Cnoc Aine, which could bestow
either poetry to the worthy or madness to those she rejected. Also, it
was said that all the mad dogs in Ireland would congregate around this
stone. It is not hard with her connection with poetry and hounds to see
her Maiden aspects to be those of the Goddess Bride, who in the form of
a Maiden was the muse of poetry and had the name Cu Gorm (grey hound).

Next, as a Mother deity Aine is associated with lakes and wells with
great powers of healing. Tobar-Na-hAine (Well of Aine) was credited with
life-restoring powers.

She is in several tales strongly associated with the Yew tree which
shows her as a Goddess of Life and Death. In all her aspects it is
clearly shown that Aine was no deity to offend, for in spite of all her
beneficent attributes, if crossed she could have coined the phrase “Hell
hath no fury like a woman scorned”. There are many tales of her revenge
and her infinite patience in its pursuit. In one story she was offended
by an Irish High King whereupon she caused a great battle to ensue in
which he was killed. It was said that at his death her mocking laughter
could be heard over the din of battle. The attribute of Aine which made
her a great enemy of the early Church was undoubtedly her sexuality. If
ever a Goddess was depicted as the Arch Rival of the institute of
matrimony then it was surely Aine, whose promiscuity and freedom of
spirit could not be encompassed by man, thus a threat to the self denial
of chastity of these womanless monks.

Finally, in her third aspect of the dark Goddess, she has the ability to
appear to mortal men as a woman of great beauty known as the leannan
sidhe, which means “Fairy Lover”. In this form her chosen subject would
be totally spellbound into what could only be described as a fatal
attraction, as the outcome was almost certain to result in the death of
the chosen one.
Damara is a fertility Goddess also associated with Bealtaine. She is mysterious and not much is know about her, but where her name is spoken, instruction is given to take her seriously. Damara’s name means “gentle.” She is a sweet and docile goddess of home and hearth who helps with family and family harmony.

Berkano the birch is the rune for Bealtaine. It is the rune associated with the fertility rites of spring. It is the rune for release of energies that bring new growth. It is beauty and physical attraction. It is associated with motherhood.

A new pro-choice campaign has begun on YouTube which is intended to discuss abortion in a frank and open way, and hopefully reach out to young people in particular. The campaign is entitled: Stop the Silence, End the Stigma, and is available on the links below. Speakers range from politicians, feminists, members of Choice Ireland and RAG.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOF938ZWTFU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYsko4fGS48

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDrBqdxFS58

For more on this YouTube campaign, see http://www.youtube.com/user/SafeAndLegalIreland

Or check out http://www.safeandlegalinireland.com/

Make it safe, Make it Legal

From the Irish Times today:

“The first comprehensive report on Ireland’s human rights record carried out by the Council of Europe warns that many foreign national children are in “danger of being trafficked for exploitation” because they get insufficient care at State-provided accommodation. It expresses “deep concern” about the large numbers of children who have already gone missing from these centres, which mainly house asylum seekers.

The 58-page report was compiled following a visit to Ireland last November by Thomas Hammarberg, human rights commissioner at the Council of Europe. He met senior politicians, including Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, and non-governmental agencies (NGOs). He also visited State institutions and care centres.

The report also criticises the refusal of politicians to legislate to clarify the conditions under which abortion is legal following the 1992 Supreme Court “X” case judgment.

In a response to the report the Government said it would consider carefully the commissioner’s recommendations. It also detailed a range of recent initiatives to improve human rights, including the appointment of a children’s ombudsman. The commissioner’s report is not legally binding but carries moral authority.

From IFPA Press Release:

In his report published today the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights has recommended that the Irish Government clarify the circumstances in which abortions can legally be carried out in Ireland. He recommends that this done through statutory law in line with domestic jurisprudence.

Reacting to this an IFPA Spokesperson said, “The Commissioner is the latest in a long line of human rights experts to call for a clarification of the legal status of abortion in Ireland. Irish abortion laws needlessly puts the health and well being of thousands of Irish women at risk. A change in our abortion laws are well over due”.

The IFPA believes that safe and legal abortion services should be available in Ireland.

*********

This report has been a long time coming a represents a sea change in how Irish people view reproductive freedoms as well as how internationally, Ireland is regarded as an anomaly in its abortion laws. It is more and more recognised that abortion is a right and not a choice. The fact that thousands of women make the ‘trip of shame’ to the UK and other European countries makes no difference to the law makers. So a report like this, at this level, may actually have an impact in making our “leaders” sit up and take notice - and once and for all - end the infringement upon women’s right to choose.

FEMINIST GATHERING, LEITRIM, 2ND-5TH MAY 2008.
RAG, the Dublin-based anarcha-feminist collective, are organising a
gathering in Leitrim on the bank holiday weekend, 2nd–5th May 2008. This
will be a chance for feminists of all genders to come together to discuss,
learn and share in a radical but supportive environment. As final plans
for the weekend are being drawn-up, we’d like you to register now if you
wish to attend. The weekend begins on Friday evening with an introductory
session, followed by two days of workshops and talks on a variety of
topics relevant to feminism in Ireland today. The gathering will combine
rigorous political discussions and creative workshops to inspire and
motivate. Topics explored will include capitalism and oppression; gender
and activism; family structures; pro-choice reproductive rights; consent
and personal boundaries; female solidarity; queer feminism; men and
patriarchy. Workshops on dance, bookbinding, crochet and cross-stitch will
also take place over the weekend, as will child-friendly activities. There
will be live traditional music on Saturday evening and a mystery tour on
Sunday night. This wonderful event will take place in a rural setting in
Leitrim, just over two hours from Dublin. Costs will be kept to a minimum.
Feminists of all persuasions (and all genders!) are welcome. We also hope
to make the gathering an inclusive place for children. All food (vegan and
vegetarian) will be provided for a small charge or donation. Accommodation
is camping, though we will help those with any special needs and there are
also B&Bs nearby. Unfortunately, although the site is relatively flat, all
areas are not wheelchair friendly. However, we will do our best to make
the gathering accessible to those with disabilities. Please note that no
pets are allowed on the site. More details on the gathering, what to
bring, what not to bring, information on public transport and the
registration form is available on: www.ragdublin. blogspot.com. If you are
interested in attending this gathering, or have any questions or
suggestions please email: ragdublin at riseup dot net or call (086)
3097622. Places will be limited so get in touch now! Solidarity and
strength, RAG Dublin xxx

So I just reported the information RAG has been sending out. Ill be running a Theatre of the Oppressed workshop as part of Choice Ireland. Its going to be a good weekend Id imagine, however I feel too old and jaded from years of camping to actually stay over… so Ill probably just be going on the Sunday. Its a pity its not on in a more accessible environment from Dublin so as people could choose whether or not to stay overnight.

Anyway I wish the RAG team the best of luck with the event and Im sure itll be a success. Its great to see a proper Irish feminist gathering!

Hi cyberspace laydees & gentlemen,

welcome to my blog - Feimineach* - where Ill be chronicling  all and any interesting, thought provoking and crazy aspects of Irish life through a feminist lens. It’ll also have details of any events and reviews of movies, music and anything that any self-respecting Irish feminist needs to hear about/know about/attend.

Greetings, welcome, and comment at the beep.

*the Gaelic word for Feminist