Words & actions MAY/JUNE ’14, #3
STOCKINGS Stockings zine aims to be an inclusive platform on which to celebrate and share creative talent with an intersectional- feminist slant. The name is inspired by a family of stockings: Blue Stockings Society, Bluestockings, Blue-Stocking Oxford and Red Stockings.
Contributors: Florence Isaacs, Hana Aoake, Lucy Moss-Mason, Jo Allen, Nive Sharat Chandran and Blackstarbooks Dunedin.
If you are interested in submitting anything to Stockings, be it an article, observation, essay, poem, photo, painting or thought, please email samantha_allen@live.com.
Cover photo location is Auckland, NZ.
Best, S.
WORDS & ACTIONS 4. Lady Di, Hana Aoake 6. The Importance of young women’s participation at the United Nations, Nive Sharat Chandran 8. Blind sketches, Hana Aoake 10. Up to Scratch: words & definitions 14. Highlands, photographs by Florence Isaacs 21. Big Momma’s fudge delight, Jo Allen 23. Spatial harmony ii, Hana Aoake 26. Maps, poem by Lucy Moss-Mason 28. Self-defence diagrams
Lady Di, Collage by Hana Aoake hanaaoake.tumblr.com
The importance of young women’s participation at the United Nations Nive Sharat Chandran (Vice President of the Auckland YWCA) was part of the World YWCA delegation as their short-term communications/advocacy intern at 58th United Nations’ Commission on the Status of Women. I had the absolute honour and privilege of attending the United Nation’s 58th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), in New York. When I initially started talking about going to CSW, many of my friends, family and colleagues asked me one question: “What in the world is CSW?” I struggled to answer that question myself, as I had limited knowledge of what is it before arriving in New York. But having spent over 16 odd hours everyday at the UN building, running from side panels to parallel events to negotiations, I think can finally capture briefly what CSW is. To put it simply, CSW is an international forum attended by delegations from 45 UN member states at UN Headquarters in New York. The function of the Commission is that it is the fundamental policy-making body on gender equality and the advancement of women. The Commission meets annually to evaluate progress on gender equality, identify challenges, set global standards and formulate concrete policies to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment worldwide. The theme of the 58th Commission was: “Challenges and achievements in the implementation of the
Millennium Development Goals for women and girls.” The next question I usually get asked is, “So Nive, what exactly did you do while you were in New York?” My journey began at the World YWCA’s Advocacy Institute, where I received valuable training on advocacy efforts and lobbying techniques from the amazing YWCA leadership team. I was also given the unique opportunity to build solidarity with women (many of them young women) from the YWCAs of Palestine, Japan, Canada, USA, Australia, Malawi, Samoa, Great Britain, Mexico, and Taiwan. Although we came from different backgrounds, cultures and careers, all 70 delegates shared a common passion for gender equality. With the MDGs expiring in 2015, CSW offered the UN a chance to assess the MDGs’ progress and gave NGO delegates the opportunity to lobby for strategic framework in the Post-2015 agenda. I got to meet with government delegates from Malawi, El Salvador, Australia, UK, Brazil, Liberia, United States, and of course New Zealand to lobby for the dignity and rights of women and girls in relation to
education, ending violence against women, economic opportunities, fulfilment of sexual reproductive health and rights, and ending child and forced marriages. During CSW, I spoke on several parallel and side events, including on topics such as gender justice in the Post-2015 agenda, young women’s leadership and violence against women and girls in Aotearoa. My role also involved developing the communications strategy for the YWCA delegation and to lead the social media communications while at CSW. Additionally, I advocated for implementation of the World YWCA’s first priority: young women’s leadership. Young women are not only the leaders of tomorrow; we have an important role to play in shaping our world today. The Future Young Women Want call to action, created by the World YWCA, points out that “the experiences of young women are different from the experiences of young men, and women as a gender category; a ‘one size fits all approach’ undermines the efforts to effect change and recognition of diversity.” I had the amazing pleasure of meeting with and interacting with several powerful and inspirational women in the UN. One of them being UN Women Executive Director, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka. Phumzile was the former World YWCA Youth Director; she held this role in the mid 1980s. She continues to be a strong advocate for ensuring young women’s voices are heard loud and clear in the UN processes.
women in Aotearoa especially given our domestic violence rates. I also had the honour of talking to Helen about the importance of young women’s participation at CSW and personally handed her a copy of The Future Young Women Want call to action. One of my core priorities moving forward is to ensure that we get a young woman on the New Zealand government delegation. This young woman will bring a unique perspective to the delegation and therefore should not just be a tokenistic representation. I am starting the process to lobby the Minister of Women’s Affairs and the New Zealand’s Mission to the UN to ensure that we have a structure in place to get a young woman at every session of CSW. During the two and half weeks of CSW, I have advocated for the rights of women, young women and girls around the world. I achieved my original goals and joined an incredible network of amazing women who dedicated their time and resources to ensure that gender equality and the priority themes of the World YWCA are put at the front of the Post-2015 Development agenda. I am honoured to have been a part of this amazing group and look forward to bringing the valuable skills I learned at the UN to Aotearoa.
Another inspirational woman I had the pleasure of meeting along with other NGO delegates from Aotearoa was Helen Clark. Helen, one of the most powerful women in the UN continues to have a strong place in her heart for the YWCA movement and spoke to all of us about how to lobby our government to improve the status of
Nive with Helen Clark
Hana Aoake, blind drawings Just Whatever (2014), pencil You said just friends (2014), pen hanaaoake.tumblr.com
UP TO SCRATCH
The following are terms commonly found in feminist discourse. These definitions are not representative of all those who identify as feminist and some of the definitions can be quite controversial, such as the definition of sexism and then reverse sexism.
Is the privileging of masculine or male-associated traits over feminine of femaleassociated traits, whatever the gender of the person exhibiting those traits. It sees the male experience – their practices, values and thoughts – as “the norm” and classifies everyone else as “the other”.
Is the ability for a person or agent to act for themselves. For example, when men speak on behalf of women, or able-bodied people speak on behalf of disabled people, they are denying these people of agency.
Is a psychology term that describes the process of selectively processing information in order to confirm a belief that is already held.
Is the adoption of aspects of one culture by members of a different culture and is often used in relation to a dominate culture taking something from a minority culture, removing it of indigenous cultural context and can take meanings that are significantly divergent from those originally held. The term differs from Cultural Assimilation in that when these artefacts are regarded as objects that merely “look cool” without any regard or understanding to their history, or when they are mass-produced cheaply as consumer kitsch, those who venerate and wish to preserve their indigenous cultural traditions may be offended. A common example is the appropriation of Native American war bonnets. Is the act of degrading people by denying them of human qualities, and thus rendering them mechanical, artificial or routine.
Is the difference between the genders as reflected in social, political, intellectual, cultural or economic attainments or attitudes. A relevant example in NZ is the gender pay gap which, at June 2013, was 10.1% (mwa.govt.nz).
Is the artificial division of things into “masculine” or “for men” and “feminine” or “for women”. One of the starkest ways to think of this is to consider the phrase “opposite genders”, despite the fact that humans and gender diverse people are common and all share many similarities.
Sex is generally considered to be a person’s biological/medical characterisation and their gender is a social and identity role. Many things play into gender presentation including dress and appearance choices, hobbies and social behaviour. The social presentation is called “performance” and some parts of it vary considerably by culture.
occurs when established laws, customs, and practices systematically reflect and produce inequalities based on one’s membership in particular social identity groups.
is the involuntary internalization by women of the sexist messages that are present in their societies and culture. It also the way in which women reinforce sexism by utilizing and relaying sexist messages that they’ve internalized.
Is a concept used to describe the ways in which oppressive institutions (such as racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, xenophobia, classism, etc.) are interconnected and cannot be examined separately from one another. Third Wave Feminism, especially, thrived on the concept of intersectionality in order to redefine Feminism as inclusive. The concept first came from legal scholar KimberlĂŠ Crenshaw in 1989.
is a term used to describe the first-hand accounts and impressions of living as a member of a minority or oppressed group.
is a term from film theory used to describe when the audience is put into the perspective of a (heterosexual) man. Female characters are sexualized, and the camera may zero in on female body parts considered sexual. This concept has been expanded into other forms of media, particularly in advertising.
Is the dislike of, contempt for, or ingrained prejudice against women.
Is a slogan in anti-oppression activism, introduced by disability activists who borrowed it from foreign policy principles. It is the idea that members of an oppressed group decide what constitutes antioppression activism.
,specifically sexual objectification of women, occurs when a person is seen as a sexual object when their sexual attributes and physical attractiveness are separated from the rest of their personality and existence as an individual, and reduced to instruments of pleasure for another person.
is a process or a rhetorical device in which one group is seen as "us" and another group, generally a minority such as women, are seen as "them"; the “other�.
Is prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination, typically against women, on the basis of traditional assumptions of sex. Some consider sexism to be not just prejudice but that there is a power dimension: sexism = prejudice + power.
Is the system of gender-based hierarchy in society which assigns the majority of power to men and assigns high value to men, maleness and masculine traits. Feminists work to end the perpetuation of patriarchy, deeming it oppressive for women and people of non-binary genders.
in the context of anti-oppression movements and discourse is used to describe a set of advantages (or lack thereof) enjoyed by a majority group who are usually unaware of the privilege the possess, and this privilege is generally unearned. A privileged person in this sense of the word is not necessarily prejudiced (sexist, racist, classist etc) as an individual, but may perpetuate forms of discrimination by exercising their privileges, even if they are unaware of it.
Is a term used to describe cultures in which rape and other sexual violence (usually against women and gender diverse peoples) are common and in which prevalent attitudes, norms, practices, and media condone, normalize, excuse, or encourage sexualized violence.
Is a controversial term regarding whether or not it exists. Sexist views held towards majority groups are still generally considered racism (unless you agree that sexism = prejudice + power). Calling it "reverse sexism" implies that there is a "normal" type of sexism and thus it seems that "reverse sexism" implies a tacit acceptance of sexism against minority genders, almost an accidental admission that there are different (separate but equal) forms of sexism.
Is when the victim of a crime, an accident, or any type of abusive maltreatment is held entirely or partially responsible for the transgressions committed against them (regardless of whether the victim actually had any responsibility for the incident).
HIGHLANDS Florence Isaacs, NZ student studying the UK Photographs from Scotland, featuring her friend Ella
Hana Aoake, artist & writer hanaaoake.tumblr.com
Spatial harmony ii With Nick Graham, Blue Oyster Art Project Space, Dunedin Part of Work and Play, curated by Samin Son
Spatial pulls influence the trajectory of the body's movement through space. This causes sound to fluctuate and converge across the space. The intention of such actions is to obstruct the personal kinespheres of the audience. These kinespheres are continually invaded by a sea of images that utilise biophilic illusions to nature. Western civilisation fetishises the economy of such commodities. Just as we cast plastic into landfill our bodies become more and more disconnected from that which is natural. This performance is both a mediation on western capitalist structures and a consolidation of the relationships produced by the body, as it responds to the spatial pulls inherent in nature.
Photos of Hana’s performance and Motoko Kikkawa’s photo of the residue.
Lucy Moss-Mason, revolutionofsyllables.tumblr.com
MAPS (TRIGGER WARNING, domestic violence) i was four years old when you ripped out my wings a yelling spitting fire breathing dragon and a small girl trusting of the world low angle shots to show how big you were and how small i was. how small i am. nine years old when mama’s head met the wall deafening thud, covered in blood. everything. black eyes. even in my nine year old wisdom i knew that you don’t accidentally beat your wife slap her across the face crack her head open. stitches. you fucking asshole. thirteen when you dragged me through the house by my wrists left me bruised and battered weeping. fifteen the first time you told me that you wanted to kill yourself because you could not cope with a daughter as horrible as me. seventeen i learnt that no one will stop at 3am to check on the crying girl on the side of the road but they will beep their horns and leer at her for wearing mini shorts. seventeen i learnt that red and blue lights were not going to save me when i was hurting. seventeen when you tried to smash the door into my head and i ran out in the middle of the night while you stood beating your hand against your bicep like rosie did.
seventeen when it became not only you that hurt me i hurt myself too because i thought i deserved it. seventeen when i rescued myself rescued mama took you to court hero that saved the day. who saves the hero? you turned me into one of those girls. those hard girls mean muggin the world girls chip on her shoulder sleep with a clenched fist girls one of those “don’t you dare fucking touch me or imma fuck you up” girls. one of those soft girls wiping tears on pyjama sleeves when the past collides with the present through a sight a scent a memory. one of those soft girls chest heaving as she sobs next to a friend telling stories of what you did quietly because to tell them loudly with conviction might make them more real more true and make it more difficult to deal with the knowledge that to write down what you did is too painful today too obscene too tragic to be contained in the grains of sand the molecules of oxygen all of the stars in all of the galaxies. that if i wrote down those words it would be apocalyptic end of the world type stuff. i’m one of those hurt girls those bent but not broken girls those scared girls those barely surviving girls. if you look close enough you can see the daddy problems written on my skin between each freckle hair and mark. and if i know anything at all it is that my wings are gone and my feet are full of open wounds but i am still walking still standing.
Courtesy of Isy Morgenmuffel and Blackstarbooks Dunedin