Tuesday 13 May 2014

What should we tell our daughters?



 I had the great honor of attending a debate with Melissa Benn (author of what should we tell our daughters), Kat Banyard author of “The equality and Illusion and founder  of UK feminist, Nimco Ali from daughters of Eve (dofeve.org) working to protect and empower girls and young women chaired by Zoe Williams author, journalist and columnist for the Guardian.

As a mother of two girls, all so many times I question myself ,in what world they have to function ,in what they have to find acceptable and how they are treated as women.
The evening made me feel part of a bigger movement happening out there right now  the audience a wonderful mix of older women, young women and even some male presence in the room.
This movement called feminism thanks to pioneer women laying the foundations in the past (gaining my fullest respect and admiration)to fight our rights and we are still fighting , campaigning standing up for the unacceptable.
Never before have I had these strong feelings of the objectification of women in our society and feel I should have, for my own good in the past, and not just now where my girls are growing into women here I am.
So this morning over breakfast I was telling my 11 year old that 87 years ago we were not allowed to vote that we had no voice etc…and she could not believe this. I said it was down to amazing women creating a movement and standing up for our rights and there is still plenty to stand up for at which point my husband hands me a magazine (he forgot to give it to me for my birthday last week) entitled “The Gentle Woman”.

First ,30 pages of  high gloss ads then one page of info another 13 pages of ads some interviews thank god for Vivienne Westwood’s article and then this….
A photo shoot about the liberating sensation of naked yoga .


The first image, I am perplexed, thinking : “Oh good they used a disabled girl without legs “,but sadly realized that was not the case ,she was in the Simhasana pose and her legs were folded in just a very weird angled photo.

I turn the page there she is with legs and her bottom up in the air obviously no hair showing as hair on our vagina’s is now totally unacceptable after men indulging into too much porn where no hair is the norm. I am sure there is a reason why we have hair ,it protects our delicate parts, no???
Here some images altered by my daughter …..enjoy