Update on Free Amina

Article here.  (NSFW warning)

When asked about the Topless Jihad protest, Amina Tyler said,

” I am against. Everyone will think that I encouraged their actions. They have insulted all Muslims everywhere and it’s not acceptable.”

When asked what she thought of the reaction to her topless photograph, Amina replied: “At the moment I don’t regret what I did. But I do not know what the future holds.”

As to whether she supports Femen “whatever happens”, she says: “Until I’m 80-years-old. Because they are true feminists.”

Femen contacted Huffingtion Post UK and responded to Amina’s comments,

“It’s clear to us that she was not speaking freely. We know that she’s been constantly under the supervision of her family, and, as far as we know, they’ve been making her take some sort of anti-depressants, which could account for her halting speech. That Tyler incorrectly described Femen’s mosque protest proves to us that she has no independent access to the media. Her family is telling her things to make her stop her ‘playing around at being free.’ That she’s at home with her family in no way means she’s free or safe.”

 

Granted, Femen could be partially right about Amina being under supervision. But if Amina is not speaking freely, why would she have been allowed to say that she’ll support Femen until she’s 80 and that she didn’t regret what she did?  I don’t want to unreservedly assume that Femen is so narrow-minded and arrogant that they are reflexively taking a fellow feminist’s criticism of their protest as evidence of her not being in her right mind, but holy hell, it sure does look that way.  Unless there are big chunks of information missing from this report, this amplifies the criticisms of how Femen is engaging with the women they are trying to be in solidarity with.

“a wonderful woman”

About a year ago some people I know were talking about Margaret Thatcher. One was maintaining that the group should find a way to honor her. The first scientist to be PM and the first woman to be PM. Others were silent and stared at the ceiling or found the cutlery suddenly extremely interesting. One finally spoke, “The problem is really doing that without having everyone else furious about it.”

I’ve been hearing about how wonderful she is from people who are not aware that many people think otherwise. Brian Leiter has a link to Glenda Jackson’s assessment of Thatcher, and it might be worth looking at that:

Sweden adopts gender neutral pronoun

“Swedes are shaking up their language with a new gender-neutral pronoun. The pronoun, “hen,” allows speakers and writers to refer to a person without including reference to a person’s gender. This month, the pronoun made a big leap toward mainstream usage when it was added to the country’s National Encyclopedia.”

Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/sweden-adopts-a-gender-neutral-pronoun.html#ixzz2QD3INCU4

SheZow?

Have any FP readers seen SheZow? I came across a description of this animated kids show today and it looked fascinating for raising questions of gender and identity in the context of super heroes fighting crime. I mean, if we can turn into crime fighting spiders why must gender be fixed?

Here’s the IMDB description:

“Twelve year old, Guy Hamdon accidentally becomes a superhero, but the ring that gives him his powers was only meant to be worn by a woman. So whenever there’s danger, Guy transforms into SheZow, a kick-ass female superhero with big hair, high heels and a beautility belt that houses various super weapons concealed inside feminine products like laser lipstick and vanishing cream. Guy’s aunt Agnes was secretly SheZow for years, until she died. Then Guy’s family inherited her home. In the basement, Guy found her secret lair and her power ring. Well, actually his twin sister Kelly found the ring and was about to put it on, when Guy snatched it from her and and put it on, as a joke. But once on Guy’s finger, the ring was stuck and he will forever be SheZow, a powerful superhero with super strength, super speed and a 6th sense called She-S-P. Guy would rather not wear pink spandex and a tight skirt, but it seems a small price to pay for such she-mendous super powers.”

Wikipedia tells me this: “Shezow is an Australian-Canadian animated television series created by Obie Scott Wade, which began airing on Network Ten on 15 December 2012, and will run for 26 episodes. Aimed at kids 6-11 years-old, the series is produced by Moody Street Kids and Kickstart Productions.”

Anyway, I’m curious. If you’ve seen it, let us know what it’s like. If not, and you’ve got kids, or a research interest in kids, popular culture and gender, it looks worth tracking down. Wikipedia and the ad below seem to disagree about the intended audience age. I wonder if that’s country specific.

“Accidental racist”

I first heard the song on Tues, when I was foolish enough to act on my mild curiosity about what Limbaugh is saying. The person talking – perhaps Medved – was criticizing the song for implying that it’s the white guys who own all the blame & guilt. His critique was line by line. I just looked at a tape of The View’s discussion. It was pretty positive but not very specific.

SO YOU CAN DECIDE FOR YOURSELF!!

Below is a audio tape with a picture of the singers, and then the tape of the view.

L.L. cool J and Brad Paisley: