Putting Manners on a Feminist
'Write about what disturbs you'
Helen Oyememi wrote her first book while studying for her “A” levels in Britain. She is of Nigerian descent, and has earned critical raves for her work which includes four novels and two plays. She writes mostly speculative fiction.
Descriptions from Amazon.com
“Miranda is at home—homesick, home sick …”
As a child, Miranda Silver developed pica, a rare eating disorder that causes its victims to consume nonedible substances. The death of her mother when Miranda is sixteen exacerbates her condition; nothing, however, satisfies a strange hunger passed down through the women in her family. And then there’s the family house in Dover, England, converted to a bed-and-breakfast by Miranda’s father. Dover has long been known for its hostility toward outsiders. But the Silver House manifests a more conscious malice toward strangers, dispatching those visitors it despises. Enraged by the constant stream of foreign staff and guests, the house finally unleashes its most destructive power.
With distinct originality and grace, and an extraordinary gift for making the fantastic believable, Helen Oyeyemi spins the politics of family and nation into a riveting and unforgettable mystery.Lyrical and intensely moving, The Opposite House explores the thin wall between myth and reality through the alternating tales of two young women. Growing up in London, Maja, a singer, always struggled to negotiate her Afro-Cuban background with her physical home. Yemaya is a Santeria emissary who lives in a mysterious somewherehouse with two doors: one opening to London, the other to Lagos. She is troubled by the ease with which her fellow emissaries have disguised themselves behind the personas of saints and by her inability to recognize them. Interweaving these two tales. Helen Oyeyemi, acclaimed author of The Icarus Girl, spins a dazzling tale about faith, identity, and self-discovery.
Fairytale romances end with a wedding. The fairytales that don’t get more complicated. In this book, celebrated writer Mr. Fox can’t stop himself from killing off the heroines of his novels, and neither can his wife, Daphne. It’s not until Mary, his muse, comes to life and transforms him from author into subject that his story begins to unfold differently. Meanwhile, Daphne becomes convinced that her husband is having an affair, and finds her way into Mary and Mr. Fox’s game. And so Mr. Fox is offered a choice: Will it be a life with the girl of his dreams, or a life with an all-too-real woman who delights him more than he cares to admit?
Junipers Whitening and Victimese
Juniper’s Whitening
“Tell me this - is it true that if you make someone die, and they come out the other side, it doesn’t matter? I’m sure something clung to Lazarus. Something must’ve shone through him.”
In Aleph, Beth and Juniper’s nightmare house, kindness is entrapment, and resurrection is a weapon. Aleph love/hates Beth, Beth love/hates Aleph, and all Juniper knows is that Beth can’t seem to stop being murdered.
One thing above all: none of them must look out of the window.Victimese
“I was thinking, Eve, that you need to touch bottom - just so you know you can do it. So you know it’s not that difficult; so you know that you don’t have to tunnel far; so you know that you’re not that actually as deep as you think you are.”
Eve is unable to leave her student room but unable to bear staying in it. In harming herself she hopes to demonstrate her courage and independence to both herself and her friends. But her sister’s arrival and need for her friendship forces her to face painful truths and to examine whether it is possible to temper emotional courage with the humanity to give and ask for aid.
(via aliveforalittlewhile)
I’m Not a Joke is a campaign spreading awareness for the LGBTI community through art and design, created by Daniel Arzola (@Arzola_d) for the school of Visual Arts Rafael Monasterios in light of the recent violent acts against the sexually diverse community in Venezuela. It initially seeks to expand in the online community. If you’d like to share your opinion please do so via twitter using the hashtag #ImNotaJoke. Like our page on Facebook and share our designs to support our cause!
I’ve posted this before in Spanish, but here it is in English.
This is great. Love this campaign!
V
Controversial, Harmful and Hateful Speech on Facebook | Facebook
Facebook Safety wrote a note titled Controversial, Harmful and Hateful Speech on Facebook. Read the full text here.
http://www.womenactionmedia.org/fbagreement/
Last Tuesday, Women, Action & the Media, the Everyday Sexism Project and author/activist Soraya Chemaly launched a campaign to call on Facebook to take concrete, effective action to end gender-based hate speech on its site. Since then, participants sent over 60,000 tweets and 5000 emails, and our coalition has grown to over 100 women’s movement and social justice organizations.
Today, we are pleased to announce that Facebook has responded with a important commitment to refine its approach to hate speech. Facebook has admirably done more than most other companies to address this topic in regards to content policy. In a statement released today, Facebook addressed our concerns and committed to evaluating and updating its policies, guidelines and practices relating to hate speech, improving training for its content moderators and increasing accountability for creators of misogynist content.
Examples of Gender-Based Hate Speech on Facebook | WAM!
TRIGGER WARNING: All of these are examples, from Facebook, of speech and images encouraging and/or making light of violence against women. Both the images and the language are extremely graphic and disturbing.
Campaign Wins & Updates | WAM!
Use these links to thank the companies which have taken action against facebook misogyny.
More importantly, get in contact with those who have declined to pull their advertisings yet and keep the pressure on, Facebook needs to change their damn policies and they need to do it now!!
An Open Letter to Facebook
We call on Facebook to make the only responsible decision and take swift, clear action on this issue, to bring your policy on rape and domestic violence into line with your own moderation goals and guidelines.
Take Action To End Gender-Based Hate Speech on Facebook | WAM!
Facebook has long allowed content endorsing violence against women. They claim that these pages fall under the “humor” part of their guidelines, or are expressions of “free speech.”
Sky’s Advertisement:
American Gold Card Award’s Advertisements:
Dove’s Advertisement:
And how these companies should have responded to these blatant endorsements of violence and misogyny:
Use the link above at “Women, Actions and the Media” to join in the protests by emailing/messaging the companies which have declined to/are flip-flopping on pulling their advertisements from these pages.
#FBRape has got to stop.
