The Wellington Young Feminists' Collective

Mar 18

grrrlshapedthing:

It’s about respect
By Steve Attwood - 16th March 2012

“If I believed the media, I would believe I was a whore, a murderer, a paedophile, a victim, a junky, a freak, a ghastly parody.
“Thankfully I don’t believe the media. I know they are wrong. But too many people do believe it, and that’s when trans-people die.”
This was the emphatic message delivered to a conference specifically for media in Wellington on Thursday by a group of trans and gender variant people intent on tackling head-on the transphobia they witness in New Zealand media on a regular basis.
The above quote was part of a passionate speech by Brooklynne Kennedy, who transitioned when she was 19.
“When a trans person dies, whether it’s because someone kills them, or it’s suicide, in my view it’s still murder,” she told the assemblage of journalists. “This is what happens when media focuses on when we do things wrong, on the bad things, when media deny who we are, who we present as, and focus instead on what we were. The tragedy is, people believe them, including trans people themselves. The impression the general public has of trans people is hugely influenced by what they see in the media.”
The meeting was organised by Wellington group The Queer Avengers to give trans and gender variant people the chance to share their experiences of the media and its effects on their transitions and subsequent lives. The press conference was an opportunity for the media to learn about the personal burdens and the joys of being trans, in addition to wider legal and medical obstacles that impede trans people’s abilities to simply be recognised in the appropriate gender.
With the on-going debate in Parliament about the Department of Corrections’ handling of trans people in New Zealand prisons, and the recent article by Rosemary McLeod titled “Why he/she ego-trippers shouldn’t have kids”, the press conference was timely.
Shelley Howard, who described herself as ‘span-gendered’ talked of her struggle with the black and white dichotomy of male and female, and where she fitted into that.
“I discovered I’m neither black nor white,” she said. “I’m grey.”
Howard shared how she struggled for years with the feminine side of her identity in a career that included a long and successful stint in the military.
“The higher I got in the military, the more successful I was, the greater the fear,” she said. “I was so afraid of ediscovery and the shame that would bring, not just on me, but on the military itself, which I loved.”
When Howard finally had the courage, after living some 50 years as a man, to “be me” she was amazed at the acceptance she received in her community and among her friends.
“I have found real prejudice from people to be very rare,” she said, “and, of course, with my background, on the odd occasion I have met with aggression I have been able to deal with it. But what really gives me angst is when I see articles in the media like that by Rosemary McLeod, and the comments by Germaine Greer. These take me back to the era of homophobia when I felt marginalised and excluded. They make me feel that all my achievements, my marriage, my children, my military career, have been of no significance. I am left feeling degraded not for who I am, but who they perceive me to be.”
Ashley Stewart also transition in her her later years, but will never look back.
“Before I transitioned, I was a man in a man’s world. I deliberately chose really blokey professions. It was bloke overkill really. Now that I have come out as the person I really am, it’s a lot easier.”
Stewart spoke of the difficulties trans-people face when official processes and systems do not recognise them and try to put them into boxes based on their birth gender. She said comments by the likes of McLeod and Greer reinforce those stereotypes and make it just that much harder.
All three spoke of how the biggest difficulty they faced was ignorance, but that, in their experience, that was the easiest to deal with.
“Ignorant people can be educated,” Kennedy said. “It’s genuine bigotry that’s almost impossible to overcome.”
Stewart and Kennedy both spoke about how media had a strong role to overcome its own, and the public’s ignorance.
“I ask journalists,” Kennedy said. “Put yourself in my position. Ask yourself how would you feel if you were the trans person reading this story.”
One of the biggest issues the group had with the way media reported trans issues was its insistence on referring to trans people’s former identities.
“The media focuses on our past,” Kennedy said. “There is no respect for what we call ourselves, who we say we are, how we present and identify. They drag up the past and our birth genders even when it has no relevance to the story.
“You know, people say we want special rights. Well, I demand that people use the name I give them. I demand that they respect the gender I identify as and present as. That’s not special rights, that the rights everyone has. What it boils down to is respect.”

It’s about respect

By Steve Attwood - 16th March 2012

“If I believed the media, I would believe I was a whore, a murderer, a paedophile, a victim, a junky, a freak, a ghastly parody.
“Thankfully I don’t believe the media. I know they are wrong. But too many people do believe it, and that’s when trans-people die.”

This was the emphatic message delivered to a conference specifically for media in Wellington on Thursday by a group of trans and gender variant people intent on tackling head-on the transphobia they witness in New Zealand media on a regular basis.

The above quote was part of a passionate speech by Brooklynne Kennedy, who transitioned when she was 19.

“When a trans person dies, whether it’s because someone kills them, or it’s suicide, in my view it’s still murder,” she told the assemblage of journalists. “This is what happens when media focuses on when we do things wrong, on the bad things, when media deny who we are, who we present as, and focus instead on what we were. The tragedy is, people believe them, including trans people themselves. The impression the general public has of trans people is hugely influenced by what they see in the media.”

The meeting was organised by Wellington group The Queer Avengers to give trans and gender variant people the chance to share their experiences of the media and its effects on their transitions and subsequent lives. The press conference was an opportunity for the media to learn about the personal burdens and the joys of being trans, in addition to wider legal and medical obstacles that impede trans people’s abilities to simply be recognised in the appropriate gender.

With the on-going debate in Parliament about the Department of Corrections’ handling of trans people in New Zealand prisons, and the recent article by Rosemary McLeod titled “Why he/she ego-trippers shouldn’t have kids”, the press conference was timely.

Shelley Howard, who described herself as ‘span-gendered’ talked of her struggle with the black and white dichotomy of male and female, and where she fitted into that.

“I discovered I’m neither black nor white,” she said. “I’m grey.”

Howard shared how she struggled for years with the feminine side of her identity in a career that included a long and successful stint in the military.

“The higher I got in the military, the more successful I was, the greater the fear,” she said. “I was so afraid of ediscovery and the shame that would bring, not just on me, but on the military itself, which I loved.”

When Howard finally had the courage, after living some 50 years as a man, to “be me” she was amazed at the acceptance she received in her community and among her friends.

“I have found real prejudice from people to be very rare,” she said, “and, of course, with my background, on the odd occasion I have met with aggression I have been able to deal with it. But what really gives me angst is when I see articles in the media like that by Rosemary McLeod, and the comments by Germaine Greer. These take me back to the era of homophobia when I felt marginalised and excluded. They make me feel that all my achievements, my marriage, my children, my military career, have been of no significance. I am left feeling degraded not for who I am, but who they perceive me to be.”

Ashley Stewart also transition in her her later years, but will never look back.

“Before I transitioned, I was a man in a man’s world. I deliberately chose really blokey professions. It was bloke overkill really. Now that I have come out as the person I really am, it’s a lot easier.”

Stewart spoke of the difficulties trans-people face when official processes and systems do not recognise them and try to put them into boxes based on their birth gender. She said comments by the likes of McLeod and Greer reinforce those stereotypes and make it just that much harder.

All three spoke of how the biggest difficulty they faced was ignorance, but that, in their experience, that was the easiest to deal with.

“Ignorant people can be educated,” Kennedy said. “It’s genuine bigotry that’s almost impossible to overcome.”

Stewart and Kennedy both spoke about how media had a strong role to overcome its own, and the public’s ignorance.

“I ask journalists,” Kennedy said. “Put yourself in my position. Ask yourself how would you feel if you were the trans person reading this story.”

One of the biggest issues the group had with the way media reported trans issues was its insistence on referring to trans people’s former identities.

“The media focuses on our past,” Kennedy said. “There is no respect for what we call ourselves, who we say we are, how we present and identify. They drag up the past and our birth genders even when it has no relevance to the story.

“You know, people say we want special rights. Well, I demand that people use the name I give them. I demand that they respect the gender I identify as and present as. That’s not special rights, that the rights everyone has. What it boils down to is respect.”

Mar 17

(via youtastelike-sunlight)

Mar 16

Hey do you like parties? Do you like not oppressing people based on their gender? Then you should come along to this!

Uta Pippig winning the 1996 Boston Marathon during which she got (and ran through) her period.

(via republicoflabia-deactivated2012)

Mar 15

“

Intersectionality is not optional. It is not something you can take off and put back on again at will, when you feel like it. An intersectional lens should inform any critical evaluation of a subject, because these connections are key to understanding the web of oppression that weighs down on us all. These interconnections, too, are very weblike in their nature, because when you tweak one string, all the rest vibrate with it. There is no way to separate these things out from each other.

People complain that people keep dragging ‘side issues’ into ‘their movement’ and they don’t understand that these issues are the movement. Because a movement that commits oppression in the name of liberation is not a good movement, to put it bluntly. We are more vocal about these issues because we have learned the cost of shutting up, because we constantly have to remind people, because the minute we stop, everything returns to the way it was, the status quo is reestablished, and the real structural and institutional problems that create inequality go, once again, uninterrogated.

This is all connected. To misquote Patrick Henry for a moment, give me intersectionality, or give me death. This is not hyperbole: The current system, as it stands, is killing me. It is killing my people. It is killing the people I work in solidarity with. It is killing you. If you do not give me intersectionality, if you will not commit to being intersectional in your deeds, your thinking, your doing, all the time, no matter how you identify your politics, you are killing me.

” Intersectionality Is Not Optional (via lavender-labia)

(via lavenderlabia)

Mar 14

“

The following day, I attended a workshop about preventing gender violence, facilitated by Katz. There, he posed a question to all of the men in the room: “Men, what things do you do to protect yourself from being raped or sexually assaulted?”

Not one man, including myself, could quickly answer the question. Finally, one man raised his hand and said, “Nothing.” Then Katz asked the women, “What things do you do to protect yourself from being raped or sexually assaulted?” Nearly all of the women in the room raised their hand. One by one, each woman testified:

“I don’t make eye contact with men when I walk down the street,” said one.
“I don’t put my drink down at parties,” said another.
“I use the buddy system when I go to parties.”
“I cross the street when I see a group of guys walking in my direction.”
“I use my keys as a potential weapon.”

The women went on for several minutes, until their side of the blackboard was completely filled with responses. The men’s side of the blackboard was blank. I was stunned. I had never heard a group of women say these things before. I thought about all of the women in my life — including my mother, sister and girlfriend — and realized that I had a lot to learn about gender.

” Why I Am A Male Feminist (via e-pic)

(via annemjw)

Mar 13

Why we should be worried about Wellington’s proposed bus route changes

Cross-posted from Superfox Flat (a blog by 3 of our amazing members).

This post was written in a hurry to try and get my friends to submit on something where the consultation closes in three days. Sorry if it’s a little jumbled, but I am really worried that the people who put this review together haven’t paid enough consideration to how the system they want to set up will impact groups of people who are already marginalised in our city.

This afternoon Greater Wellington Regional Council gave a presentation to students at uni about their upcoming review and overhaul of the city’s bus system. Their approach to the task of rethinking our city’s main public transport network surprised me to say the least. I don’t make public submissions on that many things, but my concerns about what this means for women, students, and people who experience disability in Wellington are enough that I’m going to take part in the consultation process. If you’re concerned you should too – but you need to submit by Friday 16^th March (3 days from now!). Fortunately submissions can be made online.

Given that this is the largest review of the Capital City’s public transport in 20 years, you’d think that it would aim to take an inquiring eye to the multitude of different ways the structure of a public transport system can change a city and its culture in a holistic way. However, from what I’ve gathered of the review’s focus, this wasn’t done at all.

The main problem the review seems to focus on is that most of Wellington’s bus routes run down the Golden Mile. The Regional Council says this causes delays and congestion resulting in inefficiency, and have set out a number of proposed changes to get around this, saving money and increasing economic productivity. The main things they’re doing to achieve this are making major changes to bus routes and fares, including a new concept of “transfer stations” where many passengers will have to switch busses along their journey.

Congestion in the CBD is a legitimate thing to address, but my problem with the review is that it seems to focus entirely on that sort of economic cost. It’s really disappointing that the focus of such a major review is so narrow when so many social problems can be addressed (at least in part) with a well-designed public transport system.

Even more worryingly, the review’s failure to take broader questions of equity in to account seems to have resulted in proposals (like the new routes, and concept of transfer stations) which are going to make Wellington a lot less safe and accessible for a huge number of people. It’s frustrating that in an area of policy where so much positive change could be made, tunnel vision seems to be actually taking our city backwards in terms of how inclusive a place it is to live.

I’m going to have to think about this more before I write my proper submission, but for now I’ll list three main areas of concern I took from today’s presentation.

Why the proposed changes are concerning for women

It doesn’t sound to me like the proposal, if implemented, would make Wellington a safer place for women. The idea of “transfer stations” where people traveling between the city and suburbs have to swap busses at least once during their journey becomes problematic once services reduce in frequency after peak hours (as I’m assuming they would do). People are more likely be waiting for longer, with fewer people around, when it’s a lot darker. I would personally feel unsafe in these situations. I don’t think it’s acceptable to be constructing new public infrastructure which creates what is pretty much the opposite of safe spaces for women trying to go about normal routines of everyday life like commuting.

I raised these concerns with one of the Regional Councillors at the meeting and the response wasn’t particularly heartening. He agreed with my concerns and didn’t seem convinced that the sort of money people had talked about spending on these transfer stations was anywhere near what would be needed for the sort of security and upkeep that would be needed to make them safe spaces. An example he gave to highlight his concern was that people could end up having to wait alone for quite a long period of time at night, in places like up by the Karori Tunnel which is really quite isolated.

There is something I can add to this which is hopefully positive! I recently travelled to Montreal in Quebec. It was the middle of Winter so it was usually dark before 5pm, and there weren’t usually that many people out and about because it was like -20 degrees celsius. Like most cities in North America it was waaay bigger than Wellington in terms of population, and I was traveling alone, so I was apprehensive about getting around at night. To my surprise I only once found myself feeling slightly unsafe at night, even though I was out and about until at least midnight most nights I was there. The Metro stations and the areas around them (and leading to them from major public venues) were really well-lit, and I never felt alone or as though I didn’t know what was going on around me, even in the underground bits. After reading about the city’s history a bit I found that local authorities have put considerable time, effort, and resources in to ensuring their city is a safe space.

The approach seems from what I’ve read to have involved talking to women about how they feel in public spaces and how rape culture affects their day to day lives, and using the information gathered to guide decisions about how to design places like the Metro stations, and what sort of information and responsibilities to give businesses in the city. There’s some basic background on this page and the ones it links to: http://womensenews.org/story/international-policyunited-nations/020531/urban-design-and-womens-safety-wed-montreal.

I understand that Canada is generally thought of as being leaps and bounds ahead of Aotearoa New Zealand in terms of social progressiveness. But I’d like to hope that if there’s anywhere in this country where attempts at such projects by local government wouldn’t be written off as “PC bullshit” it’d be here in Wellington.

Why the proposed changes are concerning for students

There’s currently an excellent bus service in Wellington called the ‘Campus Connection’. It’s the #18 and runs between Karori and Miramar, servicing along the way all the major university (both Victoria and Massey) campuses in the city, as well as many of the suburbs students flat in. The changes put forward in the review propose to cut this service. The only logical explanation for this suggestion that I can think of, is that the architects of the proposal forgot that tertiary students exist.

According to the Regional Council students will still receive a decent bus service because busses will run along The Terrace from the Railway Station, stopping at the bottom of Salamanca Road. The decision to cut the service, and its proposed replacement seem silly and inadequate to me for several reasons:

Firstly the service doesn’t run along the Golden Mile, and it’s not under-utilised (in fact it’s almost always been running full when I’ve caught it). So it doesn’t even play a role in causing the problems the Regional Council wants to get rid of.
I don’t know numbers, but I’m guessing an equal number if not more of students live in inner-city or southern suburbs rather than ones where they commute to Wellington by train. The proposed new service would only be useful to those students who begin their bus trip at the Railway Station.
It wouldn’t even be useful to all students in that group who need a bus from the Railway Station, because as a bus which runs along The Terrace it’d only service the Kelburn Campus of Victoria University. Even if students are in a position to get on the new “student” bus in the first place, it’s not going to take them to places like the Karori Campus, or Massey and the New Zealand School of Music.
Even though there’s a stop on The Terrace for the Kelburn Campus (as opposed to the current Campus Connection stop for that place, which is actually outside the building on Kelburn Parade – quite a long way from The Terrace), there are serious accessibility issues with it which I’ll cover in the next section.

Why the proposed changes are concerning for people who experience disability

Last year I broke my foot and had a cast up to my knee for six weeks. I was non-weight-bearing for this whole period of time, meaning that I could barely get around on crutches. I also work a lot with people who use wheelchairs in my part-time job. Both of these experiences have made me a lot more aware of the many barriers to accessibility that exist around Wellington.

The proposed bus stop for Victoria University’s Kelburn Campus is completely inadequate. It is at a busy intersection of a main road, which once students cross turns in to a very steep hill (Mount St.) which is badly sealed, slippery when wet, and badly lit when it’s dark. Even with just a temporary cast on my foot I know I would have found it near impossible to get to my classes from here. For the many people who are more affected by disability I can’t even imagine.

Again, when I raised this concern the response I received revealed the approach taken in putting the proposal together was extremely questionable. Turns out they’d set a standard that a bus stop is “accessible” if it is 5 or fewer minutes’ walk from a main road. Let’s think about the proposed new stop for the Kelburn Campus. Firstly, I don’t know if anyone could walk from there to their classes in five minutes, so even by their own standards the people who wrote the review are wrong. But far more problematic than the fact that it may not have been strictly adhered to, is the standard itself and the way it completely privileges an able-bodied experience of the city. It ignores that what is a 5 minute walk for an able-bodied person will often take much longer for someone who experiences disability (in any situation, let alone in Wellington where the landscape is seldom what anyone would describe as flat or gentle).

It seems that the process of planning new routes has been gone about in a way that meant even if stops do meet the test of “accessibility” for able-bodied people, they’re more than likely to fall far short of it for those to whom accessibility matters the most because instead of it being a matter of simply getting to class on time, it’s a matter of having access to an education and everyday society at all.

So that’s what I have to say on that. Not an issue I’m an expert on or even that familiar with but what I heard today made me feel like people should being something about this, and we only have three days left. Let’s get to it!

ohlookhistory:

thoros-of-mordor:

Indian suffragettes

from the source: “Indian suffragettes on the Women’s Coronation Procession of 17 June 1911. The small Indian contingent was organised by Mrs Jane Fisher Unwin (the daughter of Richard Cobden). She and other representatives of the WSPU contacted Indian women living in the UK in the weeks leading up to the procession, whilst organising the decorations and the collection of subscriptions for the elephant banner that cost between £4 & £5. The India procession was part of the ‘Imperial Contingent’ and was intended to show the strength of support for women’s suffrage throughout the Empire. All corners of the empire were represented and divided into 6 sections – New Zealand, Australia, Canada, South Africa, India and Crown Colonies & Protectorates. Annie Besant also took part in the India procession.”

(via thenewwomensmovement)

Mar 12

“Sometimes, loving your body is not an option. Sometimes, the best we can do is accept our bodies as the changeable, beautiful, frustrating vessels they are. That’s OK. Expecting yourself to have a full-on love affair with your body at all times is asking too much. Bodies are occasionally annoying. What we can do is know them, and decide for ourselves when they feel good, and when they feel less good, and what we might do to make them feel better again. Even if we can’t love our bodies, we can make sure we don’t hate them.”

Lesley Kinzel (via lavender-labia)

Some days I have a feeling of love for my body, and other days I don’t want to “know” or “see”.

(via cpmatters)

(via farmerinthedelll)

Dom Post poll places the prevention of assault on women

EDIT: A new Dominion Post poll* about women’s safety in the CBD has a “Unsafe, women shouldn’t walk alone” option.

Gee thanks stuff. Not navigating out city alone is an impractical, victim-blaming option which makes women feel trapped. A better poll would be “What should the council and the police do to better ensure Wellington is safe for women.”

Walking through our city is our right, at any time of the day, and it is not the responsibility of Wellington women to ensure we aren’t assaulted. How about “don’t assault people” as a safety tip?

*This is a clarification as we had earlier assumed the poll was written by Stuff, which they have advised was not the case.