Homeopathic A&E - thanks to That Mitchell and Webb Look
Ever wondered what a homeopathic A&E (Accident and Emergency) ward might look like?
Ugandan civil war and child soldiers
I just read on Boingboing about the film Invisible Children about the children abducted in Northern Uganda and forced into the Lord’s Resistance Army. The film sounds a bit annoying (some kids from America decide to go on an adventure to Africa and make a film, but lo and behold, they discover really awful things happening there) but if it brings international attention to the plight of the people of Northern Uganda then it’s probably a good thing. I haven’t seen the film so can’t actually judge it. I have watched another film called Uganda Rising on Youtube about the civil war and the abduction of children for the army. Very upsetting.
Down Under Carnival of Feminists
This month’s edition of the Down Under Carnival of Feminists is being hosted at Sahm Feminist.
Head over there to check out links to articles on feminism and women’s issues from Australia and New Zealand. There is a lot on the current hot topic of group-sex/rape in rugby league and a whole host of other issues too.
Iranian election 2009
Just came across this post on the Feministing Community blogs about the upcoming Iranian election (June 12). It has links to stories about women’s rights activists in Iran and their thoughts on the elections and the candidates. Should make for interesting and informative reading.
Sex Workers Consultation Day, Brisbane, June 30, 2009
The Crimson Coalition Queensland is having a Sex Workers Consultation Day in Brisbane, Queensland, on June 30, 2009.
The consultation day is to let sex workers know what is going on and get some feedback on what we have planned so far in our work with Queensland Health to develop a new state-wide organisation to replace SQWISI [Self-help for Queensland Workers In the Sex Industry].
The new organisation – United Sex Workers – will be managed and staffed by past and present sex workers to deliver education and support on sexual health and other issues relevant to sex workers.
We need a lot of past or present sex workers keen to get involved on a voluntary basis and/or provide feedback.
So a consultation day is being held in Brisbane on 30th June 2009 and we’d like you to come.
We especially encourage male, transgender, Chinese and Thai sex workers to attend, as well as all you other working ladies, old and young, wherever you work!
Contact us for an information kit by June 14, 2009.
Morning, afternoon tea and lunch provided / some transport costs can be reimbursed.
This is a sex workers only event.
Phone Candi on 0421569232 or email crimsoncoalitionqld@gmail.com
The Crimson Coalition Queensland provides peer to peer support, networking, political lobbying and sex work related information.
Free range kids, and man with a white van an ‘urban myth’
I’ve been reading the blog of Lenore Skenazy and I’m really interested in reading her book Free-Range Kids: Giving Our Children the Freedom We Had Without Going Nuts with Worry. It’s a book about parenting without the fear that something really horrible is going to happen to your children (i.e. they’ll be kidnapped by paedophiles) so you have to watch them every minute of the day - and in the process take away their independence and opportunities to learn to do things themselves. Below is a short film about the ideas in the book.
So in the context of thinking about this kind of parenting (letting kids walk to and from school, letting them ride their bikes around the neighbourhood, letting them go to the shops alone) I was annoyed/worried/relieved when I saw this ABC story from Australia about how the threat of the ‘Man with a White Van’ out to get your children is actually an urban myth. They showed how sensational media coverage of lots of stories about men in white vans who are out to abduct children were often not followed up by corrections that they may not have been true. Parents are terrified but most of the stories are bogus. Of course the media either don’t follow up the stories when it emerges that it probably didn’t happen and if they do, the stories are buried. This is exactly the kind of thing Lenore Skenazy is talking about - parents are terrified and they believe that things like child abduction are a much much bigger risk than what they actually are. I grew up on a farm and we did lots of stuff without our parents close by (walking to dams/the creek to go swimming and have picnics). Our parents made sure that everyone had swimming lessons and knew how to swim because that skill stopped the biggest risk in these situations (drowning). I think if you equip kids with skills to negotiate life, they grow up to be more independent and they can have more fun.
Talk on atheism and feminism in London, Saturday 16 May
There will be a talk on atheism and feminism on Saturday 16 May, 2009 at 5pm at Housmans Bookstore.
The untold story of the feminist movement is that it was sparked and nurtured by women without superstition, by the religious nonconformists and liberals, the unorthodox, the heretics, by the freethinking sceptics, rationalists, agnostic and atheists.
Women of today owe an enormous debt to the freethinking founders and foremothers of the women’s movement who dared question and confront the religious status quo which demand women’s silence, subjection, servitude and unquestioning obedience.
Sue Mayer will be debating the relationship between atheism and feminism, and remembering the freethinking women who challenged religious sway over civil laws and practices so that women may have the rights they possess today.
Sue Mayer is the convenor for London Feminist Freethinkers, a secular feminist group the meets to discuss such issues as where attitudes to women come from, equal representation, pay, pensions and work, women’s role in the family and society, how politics and religion affect women and the family, women’s reproductive rights, autonomy, freedom and equality.
I’m quite excited about it! I’d like to meet some secular-minded feminists.
Australia proposes paid parental leave - doesn’t start till 2011
Australia has finally proposed a state-funded maternity leave system but it will not come into effect until 2011.
Currently Australia and the United States are the only Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries not to offer paid parental leave.
The OECD says the system is less generous than what is offered by other countries. From the ABC:
Economist Willem Adema of the OECD’s Social Policy Division welcomes the announcement of an Australian scheme to begin in 2011 but says the amount allocated to it is low when judged against similar schemes around the world.
While Australia’s proposal is means tested, the paid leave offered in the other 38 OECD countries is open to all parents, regardless of income.
The OECD reports that in many European countries parents are given between 75 and 100 per cent of their wages for up to 18 months.
The Australian system will pay minimum wage and be for eighteen weeks.
Bust of Sojourner Truth unveiled in Washington
A bust of the amazing Sojourner Truth was unveiled on April 28, 2009 in Washington’s Capital Visitor Centre - the first black woman to be honoured in such a way. Truth was an amazing woman - she was born into slavery in 1797 and after becoming free she became an anti-slavery campaigner and a women’s rights campaigner. She travelled a lot, gave a lot of speeches and she spoke at the 1851 Ohio Women’s Rights Convention where she gave her famous Ain’t I a Woman? speech.
