A few nice celebrity news images I found:
Redhead ... FSU News - LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Fliers disrespectful to women -- Thank you for your attention. (Jun. 20, 2013 ) ...
Image by marsmet472
We urge you to retract these flyers immediately and cease their distribution on the Florida State Campus. Additionally, The Women Student Union requests an apology article on behalf of the FSView & Florida Flambeau for the negative connotation and offensiveness to women that your flyers suggest to students, faculty, staff, and parents.
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........*****All images are copyrighted by their respective authors ........
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... message header for item 1... The Curse of the Catcall
As if that weren’t maddening enough, it’s rather common to hear some other men accept this behavior, even if they don’t catcall themselves. “So what? Someone gave you attention? It’s a self-esteem boost, take it as a compliment,” is often said in regards to catcalling.
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.....item 1).... The Curse of the Catcall ...
... FSU News ... www.fsunews.com/ ...
Women face harassment walking down Tennessee Street
Written by
Setareh Baig
Arts & Life Editor @heysetareh_
FILED UNDER
FSU News
FSU News Views
Jun. 20, 2013 |
www.fsunews.com/article/20130620/FSVIEW03/130620004/The-C...
An ode for my street harasser on Tennessee Street:
Thanks so much for your kind and sincere compliments, sir, in the ostentatious white pick-up truck. You made me feel particularly safe and secure when you slowed your car down to where I was standing at the crosswalk on my way home after having a relaxing dinner with a friend last Thursday evening. You felt it pressing to poke your greasy head out of your car window to make eye contact with me. My jeans and Harry Potter t-shirt must have been so inviting. I felt especially validated when you decided to thrust yourself into my personal conversation with a friend to menacingly yell, “I’M GOING TO F***ING SMASH YOU.” Threats of rape from aggressive strangers are a surefire way to win my affection. Where did you learn to be so charming, Dateline NBC?
Now, in all seriousness, my initial reaction to this incident was, appropriately, intense and obvious terror. No, I wasn’t flattered. My chest dropped to my stomach. “Is this person going to follow me? I better get my keys out. I should’ve worn better shoes in case I need to make a run for it—these flimsy Steve Madden flip flops probably weren’t designed for a full-on sprint down the Tomahawk parking lot. Are there people around who will hear me scream?” The thoughts intruded as he did. I didn’t say a word but just disregarded his friends’ and his obscene comments until they drove away. My fists clenched as I tried to mask the fact that my hands were incessantly trembling. I made my way home and spent the rest of that evening utterly shaken.
Unfortunately, this is not at all an isolated incident. Most likely every girl walking down the Tennessee strip has experienced some form of street harassment, whether it’s someone whistling, making inane sexual gestures or yelling out “Where the party at?” as she’s going about her day. It doesn’t matter if it’s noon or midnight or eight in the morning or if she’s wearing short shorts or an oversized hoodie; street harassment is not only present but it is frighteningly commonplace to the point where the mere sound of a car decelerating elicits an indicator in a girl’s mind that she is about to be verbally ambushed.
The feeling of getting catcalled is hard to understand if you have never experienced it before. There’s a reason it’s called a catcall and not a humancall; your autonomy and achievements as a human being mean absolutely nothing anymore. You’re reduced to an object that someone is asserting his power over by making sure he has your complete attention in that fleeting moment, as if his opinion of your body is an absolute prerequisite of your worth as a person. Firing back would be egging him on and ignoring him would be letting him get away with it. It’s a catch-22; there is literally nothing you can do in the situation, and he wins.
As if that weren’t maddening enough, it’s rather common to hear some other men accept this behavior, even if they don’t catcall themselves. “So what? Someone gave you attention? It’s a self-esteem boost, take it as a compliment,” is often said in regards to catcalling.
However, there is a stark difference between a compliment and a catcall. A compliment does not provoke fear and eliminate all semblance of safety from one’s environment. Yelling things about a person’s body with the promise of anonymity from inside of your car, so that she feels completely vulnerable to a stranger’s advances that are completely out of her control, will not make her feel flattered. It makes her afraid of what you’re going to do, and rightfully so. According to the Center for Disease Control, about 19 percent of college women experience sexual assault as undergrads.
There are ways to give real compliments to people that don’t include yelling vacuous sexual puns out of your car window. It’s curious that when you ignore a catcaller, their typical response is “Whatever, you’re a bitch.” Ah, but of course it was a compliment.
Our culture has enabled this objectification to the point where entire websites are dedicated to “creepshots,” degrading photos taken of unsuspecting women in public without their permission to be shared on the Internet.
This rampant acceptance of female objectification is also why paparazzi feel it’s acceptable to take “crotch shots” of female celebrities in order to exploit them.
“I’m sorry that we live in a culture that commodifies sexuality of unwilling participants,” Anne Hathaway said in response to a question about her “wardrobe malfunction,” when a paparazzi took a picture of her in public up her dress against her will and sold it to magazines.
All of this gives rise to the prevailing feeling women have that once they go out in public, their body is no longer their own. It’s not until this outward aggression towards women (and tolerance of such) stops that we will be able to regain a sense of safety from our environment. Until then, I’ll keep my keys clenched in my fist, just in case.
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.....item 2).... LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Fliers disrespectful to women ...
... FSU News ... www.fsunews.com/
Jun. 20, 2013 |
FILED UNDER
FSU News
FSU News Letters To The Editor
www.fsunews.com/article/20130620/FSVIEW0302/130620003/LET...
The Women Student Union of Florida State University is writing to you to express our opposition to the above distributed flyers which call for a suggestive and offensive disregard for women and their bodies. The Women Student Union serves to develop a greater awareness in the Florida State University community of women’s rights and issues and their relationship to the economic, social, and political nature of society.
As written these flyers are blatantly disrespectful and insensitive to a woman.
Although we are sure that this was done unintentionally, we thought it was necessary to bring this to your attention as 56% of the FSU student body is comprised of women, and the message the flyers sends is degrading to more than half of the student body. Additionally, the insensitivity of these flyers was magnified by inconsiderate placement, such as the Victims Advocates Program where students who may have been victims of sexual violence seek refuge.
We urge you to retract these flyers immediately and cease their distribution on the Florida State Campus. Additionally, The Women Student Union requests an apology article on behalf of the FSView & Florida Flambeau for the negative connotation and offensiveness to women that your flyers suggest to students, faculty, staff, and parents.
The Women Student Union has had a positive and respectful relationship with the FSView until this point, and desires for it to remain the same.
Thank you for your attention.
In Seminole Women Pride,
Amber Washington
Ashleigh Gregoria
Director, Women Student Union Assistant Director, Women Student Union
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