Media
For all media enquires please contact Nicole at wellingtonyoungfeminists@gmail.com
PAST RELEASES
08/08/11
Young Wellington Feminists call for Nancy Wake Memorial
One of the most decorated servicewoman of WWII and Wellingtonian, Nancy Wake, died yesterday in London and local group the Wellington Young Feminists’ Collective want to see a permanent Nancy Wake Memorial.
Code-named The White Mouse by German intelligence, Wake was an active member of the French Resistance and once rode a bicycle over 800kms to pass on life-saving information through Nazi checkpoints. She also lead a guerrilla group of 7,000 French revolution fighters to victory over 22,000 SS soldiers and killed an SS sentry with her bare hands in self defence. Wake died of a chest infection in a London hospital aged 98.
Wake is part of a shared “heritage pylon” in Oriental Bay, however young local women want to see something specific to Nancy honouring her efforts.
“Nancy Wake was honoured by four countries and the Commonwealth before New Zealand acknowledged her with a Royal New Zealand Returned and Services’ Association Badge in 2006. By then she was already one of the most decorated servicewomen from WWII,” says Nicole Skews of the Wellington Young Feminists’ Collective “surely she has shown enough bravery and saved enough lives to warrant her own memorial.”
The Wellington Young Feminists’ Collective, a social group of over 800 men and women are calling for a Nancy Wake Memorial through a campaign on social media platform Twitter, and through encouraging people to write to the Ministry of Culture and Heritage, Veteran’s Affairs and the Wellington City Council.
ENDS
For further comment, contact:
Nicole Skews
Coordinator
Wellington Young Feminists’ Collective
nicoleskews@gmail.com
027 323 8914
30/6/2011
Wellington Young Feminists’ Appalled at Act on Campus Comments
The Wellington Feminists’ Collective is calling for a full written apology from Cameron Browne, Vice President of ACT on Campus Auckland, after he told Tania Lim, Auckland University Students’ Association treasurer and Green Party member, to “get raped” in a political debate on Facebook.
ACT on Campus President Peter McCaffrey has been quick to produce a statement defending Browne’s decision to reply “get raped”, offering excuses for his retort. McCaffrey also says that Browne has apologised, which has been refuted by Lim.
Lim has come forward about the offensiveness of the comment, and discussed her own experiences with sexual assault which she felt only made Browne’s comment worse. She has also said she has yet to receive a personal apology.
“Browne’s comments are a symptom of bloke culture and rape-apologetic behaviour,” says Nicole Skews, Coordinator of the Wellington Young Feminists Collective, “and the fact that members such as McCaffrey have been quick to defend his comments as being ‘in the heat of the moment’ and ‘not really serious’ just go to show what little sensitivity they have around the realities of rape and sexual abuse in this country.Tania Lim should be offered a full personal apology from Cameron Browne.”
“Telling someone to ‘get raped’ is not the same as telling them to ‘f__ off’ and I am appalled ACT on Campus is continuing to defend his actions. However, given that they were unapologetic after coming under fire for using a disgusting gang rape analogy in January, this is unsurprising.” Says Skews.
The Wellington Young Feminists’ Collective have also received information showing that some members of the ACT Party have been calling Lim’s sexual assault disclosure false, and implying that she ‘harden up.’
“If this is the behaviour from young members of the ACT Party, I shudder to think what the future leaders of the Party will be like.” says Skews.
1 in 4 New Zealand woman and 1 in 8 men will experience sexual assault in their lifetimes, according to a 2006 Ministry of Justice study.
ENDS
For further comment, contact:
Nicole Skews
Coordinator
Wellington Young Feminists’ Collective
nicoleskews@gmail.com
027 323 8914
Screenshots of original comments and other information:
http://wellingtonyoungfeminists.tumblr.com/post/7033724730/the-cameron-browne-incident-gets-even-worse (links to the original “get raped” screenshots in the text of this post).
ACT in the media for rape comments in the past: http://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standard/news/4516083/ACT-group-blasted-over-rape-link
11/04/2011
New Feminists On the Block
Feminism is alive and kicking with the launch of the Wellington Young Feminists’ Collective. The Collective is a social group open to anyone interested in feminism, and the launch will be celebrated with an open event at Good Luck bar on Friday 15 April (poster attached). The event will feature live music, DJs and cupcakes.
The Collective started to form in late 2010 when founder Nicole Skews noticed more people in Wellington becoming interested in feminism.
“Despite the fact that some people feel feminist battles have been won, many are starting to notice that gender inequities are still present, they’re just so socially ingrained that many people don’t notice how often they negatively impact women,” Skews says.
Primarily a social group, the Collective has a busy Facebook page and website, where members discuss and share links on feminist initiatives and current events. The group also recently raised money for the victims of the hate crime against Blooming Bulbs in Mangawhai and the Christchurch Women’s Refuge. The Collective will also be starting a Wellington chapter of Hollaback, an international website aimed at combating street harassment.
“First and foremost we are a social group of diverse fun people with similar interests, but we are also interested in facilitating learning and relevant activism,” Skews says. “Our launch is the first of many events aimed at having fun, turning negative stereotypes about feminism around, and creating positive social change.”
Skews says some of the issues which have seen a resurgence in feminism include the fact that one in four women will experience sexual assault (and will likely be exposed to victim-blaming), over-representation of women in low paid jobs, sub-standard maternity leave, reproductive health rights, and gendered double-standards of appearance and behaviour.
The Collective organises and publicises events via Facebook, and encourages anyone interested in learning about feminism to join.
ENDS
For more information contact:
Nicole Skews (Ms)
Founder, Wellington Young Feminists’ Collective
027 323 8914
nicoleskews@gmail.com
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/The-Wellington-Young-Feminists-Collective/148346721885408
http://wellingtonyoungfeminists.tumblr.com
Launch details:
8pm until late
Friday 15 April
Good Luck Bar
126 Cuba Street
Further info:
Although the Wellington Young Feminists’ Collective is a space to hear young people’s voices, there is no age-limit and supporters of all ages gender-identities are welcome to join the group.
More info on Hollaback is at http://www.ihollaback.org/
Victim-blaming is a reference to common questioning around clothing choices, sexual history, and social behaviour of rape and sexual assault survivors, implying that they were at fault by ‘putting themselves at risk’.
The statistics of 1 in 4 women experiencing sexual assault are from the 2006 New Zealand Crime and Safety Survey, which surveyed more than 5,500 New Zealand dwellings. Twenty nine percent of women say they have experienced unwanted and distressing sexual contact over their lifetime. The report is available on the on the Ministry of Justice website.
The 2009 report Responding to Sexual Violence: Attrition in the New Zealand Criminal Justice System states that 99% of adult sexual violence reported to the Police is perpetrated by men, 95% of it perpetrated upon women. The report is available online on Ministry of Women’s Affairs website.
The Collective’s Facebook page averages over 3,500 views daily.
