Living Dolls: The Return of Sexism Read Online Free PDF Page B

been aware that more people are now communicating and acting upon their anger. Many of the women I interviewed for this book felt fatalistic about the possibility of challenging the culture around them, but other women are now beginning to question the resurgence of old-fashioned stereotypes. These individuals are looking at the current situation and, rather than feeling silenced, are trying to challenge it.
    Here are ten initiatives among so many that have started in the last ten years which have broken through the complacency around us. Some are small, some are large. Some focus on a single issue, such as the need for more support for womensurvivors of rape or girls dealing with sexual bullying, others seek to revive understanding of the impact of inequality throughout women’s lives. Some focus on affecting the decisions of politicians in order to create changes in legislation or funding, others look at shifting the attitudes of ordinary people. Of course there are many, many more than these ten that I could have chosen, but each of these has the potential to have significant impact even in areas where many people have lost hope of seeing change.
     
In 2003 a group of women who were concerned about the sexual objectification of women created the organisation OBJECT. Recently they joined up with a long-established feminist organisation, the Fawcett Society, to campaign for changes in the law regarding the licensing of lap-dancing clubs. Although they have not achieved all their goals, in 2009 this campaign succeeded in getting the government to propose changes to the licensing regulations that would make it harder for new lap-dancing clubs to open.
In 2007 some women began to take direct action against lads’ magazines and advertisements for plastic-surgery firms by defacing them with stickers. Their witty stickers were placed on many advertisements and magazines, with lines such as: ‘You are normal, this is not’, and ‘Beachball baps; so much more exciting than equal pay’. This stickering campaign then moved on into a Facebook group, ‘Somewhat strident but who cares’, where they could debate issues from these advertisements for plastic surgery to pornography. Mainstream media outlets from the Daily Mail to Woman’s Hour have covered the actions of the group.
In 2004 some women decided to revive the Reclaim the Night marches that had been a feature of the second-wave women’s movement. Since then they have gone from strength to strength, with annual marches in London and other cities including Edinburgh and Cardiff. Finn Mackay, one of the organisers, said to me, ‘I think that the women’s movement is definitely on the rise again. Young women are coming in from the anti-war and anti-globalisation movement, saying, well, where’s our movement? Where do we put our anger about the way that women are being treated?’ In 2005 one participant, Beatriz, was quoted saying, ‘As we were walking we passed Spearmint Rhino, a place where supposedly women feel empowered. I thought to myself, no, that is not empowerment, this is empowerment, and I could really feel it. When I stopped chanting and I could hear the women behind me shouting “Women Unite, Reclaim the Night”, I thought yeah, this is empowerment.’
In 2001 Catherine Redfern set up the F-Word website, which provides a forum for women to debate all aspects of feminism, from unequal pay to gender stereotyping of children. Jess McCabe, who now edits it, told me, ‘At the F-Word we get messages from women like, “I can’t believe I’ve found you, I felt totally isolated, but at last I’ve discovered I’m not alone.” It’s a fantastic thing to know that you can reach out to people who are not already active in the movement.’
In 2006 I set up an organisation called Women for Refugee Women, to campaign for the rights of women who flee persecution to seek refuge in the UK. Many women journalists, actors, lawyers, politicians and activists have been