EVER SINCE WE started Ultra Violet, we’ve had like-minded folks visiting us, identifying themselves as feminists, supporting the cause, sharing, questioning, and playing devil’s advocate. Which is when it occurred to me that there are so many of you out there who have a point of view but not necessarily the space to air it, who may, like the 11 of us contributing to this blog, say you’re a feminist but who in the world will hear it? Rant and they label you crazy, explain and you’re blue in the face, speak and you can see the shutters slam. But us, we’ll listen. Stand up and say it. UV wants to know your story. [Read More]
UPDATED! The Many Faces of an Indian Feminist
Feminism Remixed: An Article by Ammu Joseph
Ammu Joseph writes about contemporary feminism in India. Originally published in VERVE (http://www.verveonline.com/), Volume 16, Issue 6, June, 2008
“You wonder why I say I’m feminist
Don’t I know that’s out of style?
Don’t I see when people don’t challenge me
Just shake their heads and smile?
…
You wonder why I say I am feminist
And what it really means.
Don’t I get fed up all the time
Of having to defend my dreams?”
Gabrielle Jamela Hosein<!–[if !supportFootnotes]–>[1]<!–[endif]–>
‘Feminism Remixed’
AN UV UPDATE: Ammu Joseph challenges the notion that feminism is passé on Verve and talks about UV in her story…
The ongoing change is evident in India, too. Take, for example, Ultra Violet, a blog initiated last year by young feminists across the country wishing to express themselves on a wide range of ‘issues, challenges, and triumphs’ relating to women today. According to them, ‘Ultra Violet provides a place to explore and understand the ways in which young women in India are challenging, negotiating and transforming unequal power struc–tures. It is also a space to celebrate women’s histories, wisdom, creativity, laughter and love for life.’ (http://youngfeminists.word press.com for interested readers).
The feisty young women make it very clear that theirs is a feminist blog and not ‘just another space for women.’ ‘Feminism is a much misunderstood and maligned word,’ they explain. ‘Over the years, its true meaning — the advocacy of women’s rights on the grounds of sexual equality — has been distorted and defiled by many. This blog is both a reclaiming of the term and a clarification of what it means to us, today.’ The fact that women coming of age in the new millennium wish to reclaim feminism and make it their own is, I think, a fairly clear sign that it is alive, kicking and, more importantly, evolving. It certainly contradicts the common assumption that young women have no time or use for feminism.
This is What a Feminist Looks Like
JUST POPPED IN to post this video from the Feminist Majority Foundation. The word ‘feminist’ comes with so much baggage and this is such a cool, smart way to dispel some ridiculous notions. It’s a simple concept but by visually representing the diverse kinds of people who are feminists, it busts some of the myths that swarm around us. I wonder what an Indian version of this would look like.
Childbirth and Choices
WHILE THE FEMINIST movement may have focused more on the right to abortion than other reproductive rights, there is a growing acknowledgment in the US and elsewhere that women’s right to safe, natural childbirth is being severely threatened by the imposition of the medical model. In the medical system, pregnant women are treated as ‘sick’ and childbirth as a dangerous event deserving of any and all intervention designed to make the process as ‘safe’ as possible. A spate of blogs and books written by moms, midwives and other reproductive health advocates indicates that women aren’t taking this lying down. [Read More]
Feminism is Not My Fight
TAKING OFF FROM Indhu’s post about young people declaring feminism dead, I want to explore why young women, specifically, feel this way. I’ve met a lot of women who are apolitical and even have friends who don’t exactly embrace the ‘feminist’ label whole-heartedly. Don’t they know about acid attacks, about dowry deaths, rape, domestic violence? Sure, they do, but a lot of the time, it is (to borrow from Douglas Adams) “Somebody Else’s Problem”. To put it even more plainly, the question that’s really at the bottom of this, the question that they’re probably asking in their heads is: “But what’s in it for me?” [Read More]
Is It Post Feminism Yet?
A LOT OF MEN and women in Bangalore proclaim that it is the age of post feminism. One gets more of the same from the woman’s supplements and the women’s magazines which showcase women who are the movers and shakers of the corporate world, who balance home and careers so well, courting success like never before. You can see them everywhere, holding important positions and visible in hitherto male-dominated jobs. They all refer to themselves as individuals who have had the grit and determination to make it and have made it. [Read More]
The Naming of the Shrew
AT THE WEDDING of a friend recently, I stood among close friends, showering the newly-married couple with marigolds and rose petals, a lump forming in my throat as I prayed for the couple’s happiness. In the midst of this sentimental moment, I heard a familiar voice declare with great satisfaction, “At last, she is Mrs. (husband’s last name).” The happy haze dissipated rather suddenly as I whirled around to catch the look of smug contentment on my friend’s husband’s face. All was well with the world, the woman had been palmed off from father to husband, and this was precisely how it should be, his smile suggested.
Why ‘Young Feminists’?
IN CONVERSATIONS among feminists, the unspoken question is usually palpable. The conversation seeks a defining moment like the Mathura rape or similar such rallying points of the 70s and the early 80s. It assumes understanding. It demands history. It seeks common experiences and some long-ago but much cherished bonhomie and much remembered arguments. And then, amidst crushing hugs, there appears ‘solidarity’, solid and secure before the chai break. These are the second wave feminists. There is so much solidarity that it seems like something you can touch. Though one can dismiss it as a generational peeve, it does sneak its way into the mind long after that particular conversation has ceased. My feminist friends and I were always on the fringe of that conversation. [Read More]
The Other ‘F’ Word
FEMINISM n. Belief in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes.
Oh wait. That was the dictionary definition.
Let’s get real for a minute here.
Feminism n. Strong, (therefore threatening), militant, bordering-on-violent, man-hating, bra-burning females.
Which one do you think runs through the average person’s head when they hear that word? And you think this concept is irrelevant in these times? Think again. [Read More]
