gender equality

The sorrow from the loss of a woman like Jana and the prospect of losing other Janas is sobering to a strong woman. It is a stark reminder that there are some things that are simply out of any one woman’s control.

Modesty taught me that my first priority needed to be making sure I wasn’t a “stumbling block” to men. Not being sexually attractive was the most important thing I had to consider when buying clothes, putting them on, maintaining my weight (can’t have things getting tight!), and moving around (can’t wiggle those hips, or let a little knee show). Modesty taught me that what I looked like was what mattered most of all. Not what I thought. Not how I felt. Not what I was capable of doing. Worrying about modesty, and being vigilantnotto be sexy, made me even more obsessed with my looks than the women in short shorts and spray tans I was taught to hate

This article, "The Beautiful Girlhood Doll," by Libby Anne is shared by Vyckie Garrison from her site No Longer Quivering. Libby Anne also writes at her blog, Love, Joy, Feminism. This article first appeared at Butterflies and Wheels.

RH Reality Check is highlighting Akimbo's first ever film festival, focused on each of the eight Millennium Development Goals as a way to increase awareness of the issues about which the goals are related.

The European Institute for Gender Equality is a new European Union agency intended to support EU Institutions and Member States in promoting gender equality.

A conference of European Ministers focused on gender equality finds that making gender equality a reality - in practice as well as in law - remains a challenge.

This is boundary-breaking & inspiring.  Listen to Carl Dix of the Revolutionary Communist Party spit some cold truth in his remarks at the International Womens' Program program at LaPregunta Arts Cafe near Harlem on March 6, 2010.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dljezhq-PUg