“Good” corporate beauty messages, and their limitations

Dove kicked up a flurry of controversy in the feminist blogosphere recently with their advertising campaign, which showed that women tend to judge themselves less attractive, than a stranger would judge them. Some women appreciated this message, while others (myself included) reacted more cynically.

The hidden damage caused by the dominant beauty standard is huge. Many women suffer from eating disorders, and some even die. Even those of us who appear to get off scott-free still have to put energy into overcoming toxic beauty ideals, and this is energy that we don’t get to put into other things.

But as Imran Siddiquee showed in her excellent article Women are not their own worst beauty critics, the toxic and hateful beauty standard was not created by you or me, and it does not arise from ordinary women’s lived day-to-day experiences. The beauty ideals that harm so many of us are manufactured by (male-dominated) corporations and delivered in a non-stop onslaught by the (male-dominated) media – an onslaught that Dove is of course part of.

Read the rest of this entry »

Talking to teenagers about sex and feminism

Last week I spoke to students at Hills Road Sixth form college about feminism, taking ‘the equal right to sexual pleasure’ as my topic.  Here’s the blog post I’ve written for Gender and Education about it:

http://www.genderandeducation.com/issues/doesnt-being-a-sexual-subject-risk-you-being-slut-shamed-talking-to-teenagers-about-sex-and-feminism/

Reclaim the Night

Great to see so many people at an energetic Reclaim the Night last night.  There were three fabulous speakers and a performance poet, with several hundred of us hanging on every word in a candlelit Kings College chapel.

I wrote a statement for The Cambridge Student in advance of the demo (to be quoted as ‘a member of FAC’ not on behalf of the group, as discussed in the meeting last week), so I thought I’d share it with you, as it sums up quite nicely what Reclaim the Night is about for me:

I’m thrilled that the CUSU Women’s Campaign are continuing the hugely important tradition of Reclaim the Night marches.  This march is a rare space for the voices of women who have been silenced by sexual violence to be heard.  Marching together in a group of women also means that, for once, we can respond to the street harassment that most women experience frequently.  For once, we can actually respond to harassers without fear of escalation of violence, as we’re surrounded by other women who are in solidarity with us.  And we can shout about our truth – that rape is common, and victims are silenced. Read the rest of this entry »

FAC Review – Thankyou All

A big thanks to all who came to tonights review meeting, which was very successful. Minutes from the meeting, the outcome of votes and decisions passed are forthcoming. A second Review-Continued meeting will be organised shortly to cover the rest of the points [3-5] from the circulating agenda.

Watch this space…

Write to local MPs and cabinet minister for health about anti-abortion ‘advice’ centres

The following letters can be downloaded and sent to MPs and the local cabinet minister for health and wellbeing  about the activities of Care Confidential’s bogus pregnancy ‘advice’ centres. Please feel free to adapt the letters, and to use them for other areas where Care Confidential centres have been set up. Read the rest of this entry »

Fact Sheet: Feminist Action Cambridge exposes Care Confidential’s Crisis Pregnancy Centres in Cambridgeshire

See also today’s Press Release

Last year, pro-choice group Education for Choice found that pregnancy counselling centres run by Care Confidential were giving false information to women seeking advice on abortion. (The Guardian, 2 August 2011). Care Confidential, who were one of the groups trying to get government contracts last year to run counselling for women seeking abortion, have around 150 of these pregnancy counselling centres around the country, including three in Cambridgeshire. While Care Confidential have said that they have revised their practises following last year’s revelations, Feminist Action Cambridge were concerned about the presence of ‘crisis pregnancy centres’ in Cambridge, Ely and Newmarket. We wanted to find out for ourselves whether they really were offering unbiased, impartial counselling.

‘Post-abortion syndrome’

Feminist Action Cambridge sent ‘mystery shoppers’ pretending to be in the early stages of an unplanned pregnancy into each of the three crisis pregnancy centres and audio recorded the counselling sessions. All three centres alerted the women to a made-up medical condition called ‘post abortion syndrome’. At Newmarket Pregnancy Support Centre the mystery shopper was told:

‘post-abortion syndrome [...] you’ve got feelings of loss and anger [...] A lot of people do get pregnant again very quickly, want to replace it. [...] a feeling of distance from existing children, inability to maintain a normal routine, [...] In severe cases it can lead to self-harm’.

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Press release: Cambridgeshire pregnancy advice centres misleading women

Here’s the press release which went out today.  Please share and quote:

Women seeking abortions in Cambridge are being given false information about risks and pressured to continue pregnancies, Feminist Action Cambridge has revealed.

Audio-recordings from Feminist Action Cambridge members presenting with unplanned pregnancies reveal the staff of clinics in Newmarket, Ely and Cambridge referring to a made-up medical condition and using emotional manipulation to discourage abortions.

Staff at all three centres referred to a condition which they called ‘post-abortion syndrome’, which the Royal College of Gynaecologists and Obstetricians have confirmed is not a medically recognised condition*.

The centres were also found to be emphasising the risks of abortion while minimising the health risks of pregnancy, childbirth and post-natal depression.

Staff used emotionally manipulative techniques, including showing images of the stages of development of the foetus (in order to increase the guilt women might feel at having an abortion), telling one client that her mother may be upset ‘at losing a grandchild’ and another that ‘the clock is ticking’ because of her age.

They also used delaying tactics to get women to spend a few weeks considering their decision.

Despite anti-abortion lobby group Care Confidential being exposed last year as misinforming and misleading women who approached them for advice about pregnancy and abortion, they continue to claim on their website that they provide ‘unbiased pregnancy and abortion counselling’, all the while giving women false medical advice and using emotional manipulation tactics to scare them into not having abortions.  They gave the women pamphlets from US Christian group Focus on the Family who are opposed to abortion under any circumstances*.

“Women who seek help in this matter have a very serious decision to make and they cannot make that decision without medically accurate information,” Cambridgeshire MP Julian Huppert said.

“And organisations providing that information have a duty to make it crystal clear if they have a particular religious or anti-abortion stance.”

A spokesperson from Feminist Action Cambridge said “The anti-abortion lobby in the UK has become more vocal and more militant recently. But we now know that they are using much subtler techniques too. They are targeting women when they are most vulnerable and lying to them about a medical condition that does not exist. These centres should give proper impartial advice or be closed down.”

Local feminists are holding a rally on Saturday 15^th December at 12 noon at the corner of New Square and Jesus Terrace (right next to the Grafton Centre) to inform local women and protest against local anti-abortion centres.

For more information, email feministactioncambridge@gmail.com

*See link for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists’ statement that there is no link between abortion and mental health risks: http://www.rcog.org.uk/what-we-do/campaigning-and-opinions/briefings-and-qas-/human-fertilisation-and-embryology-bill/abor-0

*Focus on the Family are a US Christian group who are opposed to abortion under any circumstances.  We believe that the links with this group show that US anti-abortion tactics are travelling to the UK: http://www.focusonthefamily.com/socialissues/social-issues/abortion/our-position.aspx

For further information please see Channel Five’s expose of crisis pregnancy centres last year:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ecV_qVr4FU&feature=plcp

The centres referred to are

• The Haven Cambridge, Citylife House, Sturton Street, Cambridge, CB1 2QF
• Ely Pregnancy Crisis Centre, Lighthouse Centre, 13 Lynn Road, Ely, CB7 4EG
• Newmarket Pregnancy Support Centre, Unit 11, Studlands Park Avenue, Newmarket, CB8 7AU