#I saw a discussion over on the forum about sexuality and gender identity when it comes to GID so that sparked this in my head

[guys-in-distress-database]

Something that kinda fascinates me is that where most of the GID community seems to be gay men, most of the whump community seems to be ace and/or bi women. Considering the overlap between the two communities, I just find it really interesting how you get such different demographics for each. The minute distinctions between them really make that much of a difference in the audience, it seems.

[plannedparenthood]

Justice, Knowledge, and Power: Meet the People of Raíz

In their own words, four organizers discuss why they push for public policies that truly represent the Latinx community — and work to protect access to health care.

Planned Parenthood health centers provide care to communities across the country — people of all colors, all gender expressions, regardless of income, education, or immigration status. But that care affects each of our communities in different ways.

The Latinx people who power Planned Parenthood can attest to that truth, and can speak from knowledge about how their life experience informs the ways Planned Parenthood speaks about — and works to protect and expand — access to health care

We want you to meet a few of the Latinx members of the Planned Parenthood family — and to learn from them, in their own words, about the importance of the work they do every day.

Angelica Romero Raíz Organizer, Planned Parenthood Arizona

1. How long have you worked at Planned Parenthood?

I am a new Raíz organizer and have been on staff for five months — but I was a Raíz volunteer for two years.

2. Why did you come to work at PP?

I got involved with PP because I knew this administration would attack women — but specifically women of color like myself. Planned Parenthood not only focuses on health care for all, but also advocates for immigrant rights so I thought it would be the perfect route to fight for the injustices that matter to me.

3. What does the Raíz organizing work mean to you?

Organizing with Raíz is like organizing for our roots and where we come from. Educating our communities of color on reproductive care issues is something powerful because at times, our people are the ones who are being left out of the reproductive care conversations. Seeing my mom be educated about the services we provide and being able to break the abortion stigma she held is something powerful, and even more empowering when it can be done to many other women like my mother through the Raíz program.

Norma Jimenez Specialist, Latino Leadership and Engagement, Planned Parenthood Federation of America

1. How long have you worked at Planned Parenthood?

I started my involvement with Planned Parenthood in Phoenix in 2014 when President Obama rolled out the Affordable Care Act (ACA). At the time I was working with a Planned Parenthood group called Community Connect —  which I had heard about when a friend who knew I was looking for an internship related to health care emailed to say, “you should apply to this.” That job focused on helping Latinx people and people of color get health insurance. Over the course of six months, I walked neighborhoods, knocked on over 100 doors, mainly Spanish-speaking  households, and assisted them in enrolling and choosing a healthcare plan that would work for them and their families through the ACA.

After the enrollment period ended, I continued to engage with Planned Parenthood locally and kept working with Latinx folks through a program called Raíz. As an organizer with Raíz, I helped get sex-ed policies  adopted by local school districts and provided an educational forums and pláticas to Spanish-speaking communties and partners. I decided that I wanted to continue being connected with Planned Parenthood, and now, I am working with the strategic partnerships team at the national office in DC.  

2. Why did you come to work at PP?

I grew up in a Catholic household in a Mexican family. At a young age, I was made aware to never let anyone touch my body without my permission; or if I was ever made uncomfortable by a male or anyone, to let my mom or grandma know. That was it. All other topics related to reproductive care, education or health care were not talked about. When I was in middle school, my body started to develop faster than many other of my girl friends. I hid my body under loose clothing when I went to school and hated my body because I was starting to look like a woman. During this time, I also got my period (in middle school) during class and I was so scared. That moment changed me. I was scared, confused and I felt alone and questioned, "why me?" — as if I was broken and I had done something wrong. I had to learn how to navigate that time and moment on my own. My family didn’t talk to me about it. They didn’t know how.

I understood soon enough that many of our moms, and loved ones don’t know how to bring up the subject of reproductive care to their children. Many of our parents think our teachers should be educating us on “sex topics” when in reality, comprehensive sex education is not taught in school at all.

This is why I have decided to work with Planned Parenthood.  Planned Parenthood is the country's largest sex education provider as well as the go-to provider for reproductive health care for  people. Planned Parenthood was there for me when I needed my first annual exam. They were there when I needed to learn about my birth control options and most importantly, Planned Parenthood helped me find my voice, and my identity. I learned to love my body unconditionally. I want all young people to know they are not alone, and it’s okay to feel confused and scared. Planned Parenthood is here for you.

3. What does the Raíz organizing work mean to you?

My first time learning to unpack all the bottled-up feelings and trauma I had since I was little, was through Raíz. Raíz provided me with resources and skills to help me develop my professional career. To be empowered, to make my own choices while at the same time being true to the values my family had instilled in me. I identify as an immigrant, as a woman, as a Latina, as a feminist, as the first to go to college, as a survivor.

Raíz is not just another Planned Parenthood program. Raíz uplifts our people, our communities, it empowers people to be true advocates for what they believe. Raíz advocates for justice and helps change policies for the betterment of our families and selves. Raíz works with our moms, abuelitas, with teens, students, with community partners to work on issues that are important to us.

Raíz organizers know we are not single-issue people who live single-issue lives. Raíz upholds our culture, our races, our people and more than anything, trust and family.

Victoria Ruiz-Marin Raíz Organizing Specialist, Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains

1. How long have you worked at Planned Parenthood?

I have worked for Planned Parenthood since January of 2017. I was hired by PPFA as a Raíz Organizer to engage the Latinx community in Las Vegas. At the start of 2018 I transitioned into my local affiliate, Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains.

2. Why did you come to work at PP?

I decided to work for Planned Parenthood because I recognized the lifesaving medical services  they provide each and every day to women and people who need it most. As an undocumented individual who did not have a maternal figure during my adolescence due to unjust immigration policies, I found myself with a pregnancy scare and no knowledge of how to proceed during my high school years. During that stressful time in my life, Planned Parenthood was there for me. The nurse who saw me was kind. She addressed my concerns, and talked to me about the birth control options that were available.

As I grew older I realized that several women in my community had not accessed reproductive health care, because of barriers rooted in discrimination. When I was approached about the position with Raíz, I was excited for the opportunity to engage other Latinx community members around access to reproductive health care and the protection of our reproductive rights. The Latinx community is one of the most marginalized and underserved; I knew that through Raíz I would be able to unite my community in order to drive the change needed to protect our reproductive rights.

3. What does the Raíz organizing work mean to you? The work being done through Raíz means I’m able to give back to my community by empowering them to become leaders who advocate for their reproductive freedom. Through Raíz, we can collectively break down the existing barriers that keep us from accessing health care. Organizing my community allows me to uplift their voices and experiences to affect policy and ensure our access to reproductive health care, and hold our elected officials accountable. Raíz is truly about justice and building the most authentic and sustainable partnerships among Latinx folks.

Joshua Alba Raíz Fellow, Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts

1. How long have you worked at Planned Parenthood?

I’ve worked at Planned Parenthood since late August 2018 — so, nine months.

2. Why did you come to work at PP?

Coming to work at Planned Parenthood was not initially part of my plan, so it was a surprise. As a cis-male Latino, I had always seen Planned Parenthood as a womxn’s organization, even though I’ve sought its services. I decided to take the opportunity, because I realized that all the reading and healing that I’ve been doing for myself, with my partners, family and friends, around  trauma and toxicity stemmed from my relationships with my body, and everyone around me. I still get shook when I register just how fundamental sexual and reproductive health is to identity, empowerment, connection — and how basic health is to all of us.

3. What does the Raíz organizing work mean to you?

This work I’m doing through Raíz is a cornerstone to liberation for me and my people. When I look at the still-lingering effects of Puritan decimation in the Northeast and Catholic colonialism in the Caribbean — I’m Dominican American — I see bodies policed, slaves, minds shackled, forced breeding, rape, mutilation and murder. My family is a direct product of that, and that trauma lives in me. I struggle to heal, and in order to heal, we have to change the core ways in which we see ourselves that we’re established so very long ago. That means owning our own bodies, that means respecting other’s bodies and choices, and doing no harm from this ground level, all the way up. That means fighting for the right for everybody to be able to have, at least, enough protections in this area of our lives, so that we can heal our generational wounds. That’s what Raíz means to me. It’s up to us.

[mikeo56]

Sue Tumblr

Earlier this week, the blogging platform Tumblr announced that it would be scrubbing itself of “adult content.” The move doesn’t just affect how people look at and exchange nude photos on a downtrodden platform—it portends a broad shift in how we experience intimacy and connection online, in how user-generated content is managed, and in how tech maintains its stranglehold on the digital commons.

The “adult content” Tumblr will be banning, the company wrote, “primarily includes photos, videos, or GIFs that show real-life human genitals or female-presenting nipples, and any content—including photos, videos, GIFs and illustrations—that depicts sex acts.” But what the company is really going after is a four-letter word strangely missing from its 538-word announcement: porn. Tumblr may be home to personal blogs, community forums, and foodie photo collections, but pornography makes up a huge part of its reputation. A friend of mine texted me that Tumblr ending porn is like “McDonald's ending hamburgers.”

Tumblr’s decision was partly motivated by a large child-porn problem. You can see why rather than pay for the expensive work of patrolling the age of people in porn, the company would simply want to overcorrect. But its adult content wasn’t strictly limited to porn. The site is—was—a haven for people who might not be able to connect sexually in other ways. As a reader who might be described as a member of the “cub” gay subculture wrote to me, “Porn and related content on Tumblr was the primary place I first saw more natural body types for guys.” Besides Tumblr, he said, there hasn’t always been “any place guys who are average to larger without growing six packs could admire themselves and other guys.”

Just as black Twitter gave voice and audience to black writers, Tumblr created the space for sexually nonnormative people to see and be seen in ways they weren’t elsewhere. There were Tumblrs for those who identify as bears, furries, HIV-positive, bisexual, disabled, and fat; for people into S&M, pegging, and group masturbation. Whatever your body type or fetish, there was probably a Tumblr community for you.

And this brings us to two problems that go well beyond Tumblr and the legal but still widely condemned sexual activities featured on it. The first is that Tumblr’s adult communities—like the platform writ large—are driven not just by amateur, user-generated uploads, but by the curation efforts of committed volunteers. Come December 17, when adult content is made private and un-shareable, these communities will effectively be shut down, their collectiveness made digitally homeless.

This is the end point of user-generated content on any social media platform: When people create content that has social benefit for them, it makes massive capital benefit for Silicon Valley and Wall Street. Yet the people who generate that wealth have no influence over the digital commons where it resides and no recourse if they’re evicted from it. The commons are, after all, privately owned—never really commons to begin with.

And here comes a second fact that the Tumblr fiasco exposes: how interwoven our intimate encounters, desires, and relationships (including, but not limited to, sexual matters) are with digital platforms. Consider how much of your personal and professional life experiences may be integrated with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Tinder. Now consider that these companies could swiftly and legitimately shut their platform down, and sell all of your images and words for a trillion dollars. And you’d get no money and have no legal recourse.

Why is this so broadly dangerous? Because it’s not easy to opt out of using digital platforms, which are becoming as important as physical roads for human interaction. Professional, commercial, and even the sexual interactions that literally determine life itself are mediated through these privately controlled communications networks. And as the power of these networks is consolidated, the people who’ve built them up but who are deemed a threat to maximum profit—even as collateral damage in a purge of illegal material—will be jettisoned.

For there is a “larger, disturbing trend,” as the New York Times Magazine writer Jenna Wortham put it, “indicative of troubling, invisible heteronormative morality clauses on the web that we are all likely [to] enable and/or are complicit in enabling.” In March, Craigslist closed its “adult personals” section in response to a pair of bills, the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act and the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act, that would hold platforms criminally responsible for any sex work facilitated through them. Facebook has also rolled out restrictive new community standards, which aim to “draw the line—when content facilitates, encourages or coordinates sexual encounters between adults,” dissuade people from discussing certain sexual preferences or positions and forbid “sexualized slang” or “sexualized language.”

Using social media intimately in our life hasn’t been all bad. Indeed, as a recent scientific article by Oliver Haimson on some 240 Tumblr gender “transition blogs” showed, social media can play “an important role in adding complexity to people’s experiences managing changing identities during life transitions.” In fact, “female-presenting nipples” will be allowed under Tumblr’s new adult-content ban if they are shown “in connection with breastfeeding, birth or after-birth moments, and health-related situations, such as post-mastectomy or gender confirmation surgery.” Tumblr will also allow “nudity related to political or newsworthy speech, and nudity found in art, such as sculptures and illustrations.”

But what counts as “female-presenting” or male-presenting, or as “political” or “art”? Just what counts as “health-related”? What expressions of gender are acceptable or unacceptable? These are profound and debatable questions. The Tumblr of the AIDS activist group ACT UP New York wrote that a post of clothed people wearing Silence equals death shirts had been flagged a while ago. Some LGBTQ Tumblr users have reported that content as queerly innocent in nature as a line drawing of two boys hugging is already being flagged. They’re afraid such content may be removed, which happens on other platforms often. In a blog post, Tumblr CEO Jeff D’Onofrio acknowledged that “filtering this type of content … is not simple at scale,” before concluding, “We won’t always get this right, especially in the beginning, but we are determined to make your experience a positive one.”

But the Tumblr adult-content purge reveals the enormous cultural authority, financial extraction, and what the philosopher Michel Foucault called “biopower” that tech companies wield over our lives. As intimate interactions are ever more mediated by tech giants, that power will only increase, and more and more of our humanity is bound to be mediated through content moderation. That moderation is subjective, culturally specific, and utterly political. And Silicon Valley doesn’t have a sterling track record of getting it right.

We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com.

[kontextmaschine]

So, thoughts about this Caitlin Flanagan article:

First, it’s kind of scattershot:

Hollywood is self-serving but at least Oprah lent this movement authentic legitimacy, but… post-Jezebel new media feminism has discredited it all by… posing women as vacuous drama-queen redpill stereotype flibbertigibbets… for example using the same breezy tone to discuss how terrible it is when men disregard your desires to use you as a sexual object and how sexy it is when men hold you down and use you as a sexual object… in the name of attention- and profit-seeking.

As such it REALLY resembles the common criticism that Caitlin Flanagan is more committed to the project of putting down #MeToo in the name of feminist principles than in any particular feminist principles themselves.

I was around and aware in the ‘90s for the last culture war, or at least the mopping-up operations, how part of that was coopt the appeal of “feminist” as an identity by propping up a (good, libertarian individualist) “equity feminism” against a (bad, left-identitarian) “gender feminism”. Like, we’re talking the exact same players from the old “Independent Women’s Forum” set, Caitlin Flanagan and Kaitie Roiphe and Christina Hoff Summers, don’t think I don’t notice that.

Second, if your goal WAS to squash the momentum of this “moment”, and I and everyone else saw a counterattack coming from the get go, this is probably the right time and point to strike. A few days prior the bluecheck goodthinkers were openly trying to threaten Harper’s over running a potentially critical piece on the media men list, clearly thought they still had command, but now moving on to the Ansari stuff, they’re just huffing and puffing to explain how actually, it’s not an issue, there’s no problem here.

Now I’m not going to say that “if you’re explaining, you’re losing” – as a descriptive statement I’m not sure that’s true, and as a normative one it’s anti-intellectual and obnoxious – but it is a sign that you’ve lost tempo, you’re not setting the terms of battle anymore, you’ll need a good push to get it back, and if they get one first you might have to retreat.

Third, you know what this reminds me of? The 1975 novel Looking for Mr. Goodbar.

A New York Times #1 bestseller made into a 1977 film with Diane Keaton and Richard Gere, it was quite the conversation-starter but largely forgotten now because its concerns were so of-the-moment. That moment being the immediate aftermath of the sexual and feminist revolutions, figuring out how to incorporate the new “liberated woman” into society. New “fern”, or “singles” bars flourished as new places for people to meet for sex or companionship.

(Or rather, new places where respectable women could seek them on their own terms as patrons, rather than provisional guests or employees somewhere on the sex work spectrum.)

The plot of the book is basically this: a kindergarten teacher in New York City falls into the habit of trolling singles bars for men to have one-off masochistic sex with. That’s more or less it. I know I’ve said that before pornography was an established genre of its own, mass-market novels came a lot closer to erotica, maybe thinly masked as some sort of moral lesson, but it’s not stroke stuff. The sex isn’t that sexy or all that frequent, most of the time in between she just worries about her life - are her confidence and assertiveness too much? Too little? Is this an okay way to live? Are what she wants in bed and what she wants in life compatible?

If it’s any kind of exploitative pulp it’s true crime, starting off as an article about a 1973 killing in the Upper West Side, because the moral lesson is she gets straight-up murdered at the end.

She brings some new random home, he isn’t satisfying her so in the middle of things she just tells him to stop and leave. This is kind of presented as her finally, comfortably claiming agency. When he rolls off her and moves to finishing himself off she starts berating him, angry that he expects her to physically deal with his semen (and thematically, HIS sexual desire). Enraged, he chokes her to death with an electrical cord.

So yeah, that’s what I’m reminded of, the hit parable from the LAST time we went through this part of the cultural cycle:

“All this chase-your-desire sexual liberation is a way for women to degrade themselves as sex objects. And even if they do interpret it as empowering, they’ll mistake themselves as toe-to-toe equals with the bestial aggression of male sexuality and just get themselves hurt.”

[pebl-design]

STORIES STAY, LESSONS GO: DESIGN FUTURES 2019.

Earlier this month, a colleague and I had the privilege of attending the Design Futures Student Leadership Forum in Salt Lake City. Design Futures, a five-day interdisciplinary forum centered on Public Interest Design, brings student leaders together with some of the most important practitioners in community-driven and engaged design from across the country. Building leadership skills in the future leaders of the design world, the Design Futures forum is a tool for understanding and beginning the conversation about social equity and positive change in underserved communities. Discussing issues ranging from racism, privilege, intersectionality, and equity, I collaborated with fellow students from universities across the U.S. as we learned from experts in the field of Public Interest Design. Coming from a place of privilege in which topics centered on race, equity and diversity are often misunderstood, I began to appreciate the following concepts as crucial tools for engaging in meaningful discussions about equity in design.

Language Setting1

Equity– Equity revolves around systemic outcomes and exists when outcomes are no longer predicted by any aspect of an individual’s identity.2

Equality– Equality is the basic trait of being equal, especially in status, rights, and opportunities.3

I was introduced to the distinction between equity and equality during an introductory workshop on power and oppression. Put simply, equality can be described as “sameness” or equal access to resources, while equity strives to produce equal outcomes. Understanding this difference is important to more successfully equitable design approaches.

Intersectionality– “The interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender as they apply to a given individual or group, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage.”4 The term “intersectionality” was coined by Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw in 1989 and is closely related to the concept of “simultaneity” — the simultaneous influences of race, class, gender, and sexuality on individual identity.

Each of us was asked to “map” our intersectional identities in a small group setting. For me this exercise was a helpful tool for reflecting on and understanding my own privilege.  

Diversity– A variety of identifiers and characteristics that reflects our individuality.5

Diversity is widely recognized as a desirable outcome in design. Working with professionals from the Creative Reaction Lab we discussed how “definitions of diversity are often limited and largely confined to visible aspects such as race, age, or gender rather than less visible aspects such as ability status, nationality, or mental well-being."6 Equity-centered community design, a more inclusive way to discuss diversity in design, aims to accommodate and include diverse backgrounds, perspectives and lived experiences in the conversation.  

Privilege– Special unearned rights and advantages given to a person or group.7

Workshop leaders and faculty asked us to think of privilege as a tool for advancing equity in design, rather than an instrument of shame or guilt. In the past, my privilege has felt like a barrier that prevented me from engaging in these important conversations. Learning to accept my privilege as a tool for promoting positive change helped me feel more comfortable approaching and participating in honest discussion.

Positionality– “The social and political context that creates your identity in terms of race, class, gender, sexuality, and ability status.”8 Positionality is closely tied to the issue of privilege in that it describes how your personal background or identity influences your understanding of the world. Learning how to leverage your privilege and positionality is a key skill to develop in order to advance equity in community design.

Learning to design for equity and the public interest is a life-long process where success is defined by and founded on meaningful relationships formed over time within diverse communities. For me, the Design Futures forum was the first step in this learning process. Opening my eyes to my own privilege and positionality, the forum helped me understand how I can move forward in my career to help advance equity in design with humility, empathy and understanding.

We gathered on the first morning of the forum for introductions and a program overview. Little did we know that by the end of the week we would have forged lifelong connections with this amazing group!

The students and faculty leaders of Design Futures 2019 commemorated the occasion with a group photo.

An example of a workshop brainstorming activity, these notes represent the various factors we saw influencing mattering and marginality. 

After sharing some of our most memorable and emotional moments of the week, we joined in a group hug!

1 Equity-Centered Community Design Field Guide, Creative Reaction Lab. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/55737465e4b048703924b9b5/t/5a9eaec053450a4352677984/1520348865673/ECCD+FIELD+GUIDE+FINAL+-+2018+DOWNLOAD.pdf

2 Equity-Centered Community Design Field Guide

3 Equity-Centered Community Design Field Guide

4 Standard and widely-adopted definition from the Oxford English Dictionary.

5 Equity-Centered Community Design Field Guide

6 Equity-Centered Community Design Field Guide

7 Kiara Nagel, Oppression 101 Workshop, Design Futures 2019.

8 Online definition cited by workshop leaders.

[lsesu]

Not getting on with your housemates? Everything you need to know from dirty dishes to rent disputes

We understand that living with other people can be difficult. Real life isn’t like ‘Friends’ and flatmates don’t always exist together in perfect harmony. There are many reasons why things may not be going smoothly with your new housemates and this blog post will help you navigate various flatmate disputes. The list is not exhaustive, so please visit the SU Advice Team to seek a second opinion on your own housing problems.

What if my flatmate has stopped paying their rent?

Most houses with more than one person will have what is called a ‘jointly and severally liable’ tenancy. This means that you signed the contract together and all your names are listed on the agreement. Therefore, everyone in the house has a joint responsibility to pay rent and look after the property. This sounds harmonious in principle, but it also means that if one person stops paying their share of rent, the others will need to cover this so that the landlord receives the full amount. You may be able to take legal action against the flatmate to get back the money they owe you via the courts. We advise you keep anything discussed between you regarding rent in writing (including WhatsApp messages and emails) in case it does get to that stage.

If you have your own individual tenancies for each of your rooms, then the landlord can chase that person for their rent and it will not affect your tenancy.

My flatmate’s really noisy and doesn’t do their washing up. Help!

If you have a joint tenancy with a landlord, each tenant is responsible for sorting out problems amongst themselves and the landlord would only get involved in exceptional circumstances. In that case, you might want to look at informal forms of resolution, such as getting a neutral party (maybe a mutual friend) to mediate between you, or by organising a flatmate meeting to each discuss your issues in an open forum.

If the landlord wants to evict just one tenant for breaching the tenancy agreement, they’d have to serve notice on all of you as breaches are considered jointly. However, if the landlord empathises that the issues were caused by one person, they may decide to offer the rest of you a new tenancy once the original tenancy has ended. We advise you speak to your landlord directly about this if you want to stay on without the problem flatmate.

If you have separate tenancy agreements (one for each of your rooms) and one of the other tenants is causing problems, then your landlord may be able to help you resolve this. You can raise the issues with them, and they may choose to evict that housemate without it impacting upon your own tenancy agreement.

What if my flatmate won’t pay their share of the bills?

Usually in a flat share, you all agree between you to pay an equal share of the utility bills such as gas, water and electricity (full-time students are exempt from council tax.) Usually, one person will volunteer to open accounts with the utilities suppliers and this will be in their name. If this is you, you will be responsible for the whole of the bill until the end of the contract. If the others won’t pay their share, you will usually have to pay the whole of the bill and try to take legal action against the others for the money. You would have to be able to prove that you made the contract on behalf of others, so we advise you get the provider to agree to this in writing from the beginning.

On the other hand, if the bills are jointly opened from the outset, then anyone listed on that contract can be asked to pay the full share if the others don’t. If you end up being the person lumped with the bill, you may be able to take legal action against them to return the money they owe you via the courts.

I can’t stand it anymore! How can I leave early?

It’s very important that you get your contract checked before you move in to a property, and seek expert advice if you want to leave early. Most contracts are what’s called an Assured Shorthold Tenancy (AST) and will be for a set fixed term e.g. 12 months. Once the agreement has been signed, you will be liable to pay the rent until that fixed term is over unless there are any explicit clauses that state otherwise.

There are some types of legal early exits. A break clause can allow tenants to leave a contract early and this will usually specify when it can be used e.g. only at 6 months and afterwards. Alternatively, landlords might agree to an early surrender, which may be negotiated and explicitly agreed between both parties in writing. The landlord is under no legal obligation to agree to this in the absence of a break clause, so keep in mind that you may be relying on their kindness.

If everyone signed an individual tenancy agreement just for their rooms, then you are only responsible for your part of the rent until the end of the agreement (or before a legal early exit). Everyone else’s tenancies won’t be affected.

If you signed a joint tenancy agreement, you are all legally responsible for the whole of the rent until the end. One person cannot use a break clause just for themselves. You could try finding someone else to take over your tenancy and pay your share of the rent but this will depend on whether your landlord and the other people you live with agree. This route can also have an impact on the deposit and whether you or the new tenant is responsible. A way to avoid this would be for the whole tenancy to be surrendered and then re-drawn with the remaining tenants and your replacement. This completely surrenders the tenancy you were involved in and starts one afresh.

If you find yourself in this situation, do seek expert housing advice. Speaking with your landlord about what options are available may also be helpful.

My flatmate is being threatening /harassing me. What should I do?

If you ever feel immediately threatened in your home, we advise you use your judgement to call emergency services on 999.

If you think you’re being harassed because of your gender, disability, race, religion, transgender identity or sexual orientation, you can report the harassment to the police as a hate incident or a crime. You can find details of your local police station on the Police.UK website.

If your flatmate is another LSE student, you can raise their behaviour with the school. The School and the SU have members of staff who can help you decide what to do, advise you on what may happen next and explain how you can be supported. You can let the school know about this here. The report will be confidential and followed up by an independent support team.

- Blog written by Helen Clarke. Helen Clarke is a Student Adviser in the LSE Students’ Union and a member of the Advice Team.

The LSESU Advice Team is based on the 3rd floor of the Saw Swee Hock Building and we provide free, independent and confidential advice to all LSE students on academic and housing matters. We also administer a hardship and childcare fund.

[huiswerkpeo-blog]

4th Wave Feminism

IN A GENERATION WHERE THE WORDS “FEMINISM” and “feminist” are the most polarizing “f-words,” gender issues and the fight for equality continue to be at the forefront of cultural dialogue. Today some women unblinkingly refer to themselves as feminists, while others prefer to not label themselves for a myriad of reasons. Yet when it’s broken down, they are “of course” all for equal pay, equal rights in the workplace, and equal numbers of women in power positions. While “feminism,” or how it is colored for today’s generation, conjures up images of smoking bras and half-shattered glass ceilings, the push for gender equality is still alive outside the word itself, with actress Emma Watson leading the charge for what is being called “Millenial Feminism.” This new wave of feminism is led by a host of energetic, boundary-challenging young women who are anything but “your mother’s feminists” and who are tackling, using practical and tangible solutions, the issues today’s crop of women face as they continue to fight for parity.

Emma Watson who was recently appointed the U.N. Women Goodwill Ambassador, became the face of the new feminist movement with her #HeforShe initiative to get boys and men involved in the push for gender equality. She has already received an overwhelming amount of support; everyone from Desmond Tutu to Hillary Clinton to Yoko Ono to Prince Harry have come out for the #HeforShe coalition, and its petition – through its online initiative – has received 404,111 signatures from men and boys around the world. The hashtag itself has been used over 1.2 billion times on Twitter. At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on January 23, 2015 in front of world leaders and press, Watson announced IMPACT 10x10x10 as the next phase in the #HeforShe campaign. She said, “One of the biggest pieces of feedback I’ve had since my speech is that men and women want to help but they aren’t sure how best to do it. Men say they’ve signed the petition. ‘What now?’ What can we practically do to end gender inequality? As feminists, what do we actually do?”

We are currently in the throes of the feminism’s fourth wave. The first wave occurred around the turn of the 19th century and focused on women’s suffrage and disenfranchisement. The second took root in the 1960s, addressing social issues ranging from reproductive rights to workplace equality. The third wave fomented in the 1990s and broadened the boundaries of feminism’s theoretical underpinnings in an effort to abolish existing notions of gender expectations. It reclaimed lipstick and high-heeled feminine sexuality, focused more attention on rights of the LGBT community and “non-white” women, and saw the beginnings of the sex-positive movement. This brings us to today’s fourth wave, which has been ushered in by the boundless possibilities presented by digital media platforms and is promoted by a crop of young millennials who can reach millions of people through online mobilization and hashtag activism.

So what is fourth wave feminism? The answer is two-fold. First it is a human rights movement that advocates for women’s equality. Sound familiar? Perhaps. The fourth wave addresses fundamental older issues in a modern context, namely equal pay, reproductive rights, and equality of all marginalized groups. It also addresses a host of issues that prior to now remain uncharted: street harassment, slut shaming, online misogyny, emphasis on women’s rights in developing countries, campus rape, discrimination and sexual harassment of women in freelance industries, regulations in the fashion industry with regards to underage and/or underweight models, a stronger emphasis on the body positive movement including more inclusion for plus-sized women in the media. The list goes on, but the point is clear. The second aspect of fourth wave feminism has to do with how it is promoted in the millennial era. Digital media and the endless number of outlets for it define the parameters of fourth wave feminism. Now, thanks to Instagram, Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter, blogging, and hashtags, it’s as if the feminist movement has been injected with steroids. There is a new platform for amplifying the issues and through collective support, enacting social change.

In Western cultures it’s universally accepted that equal rights is a good thing, but enacting actual change, so that equal rights can become a reality, is obviously a different question. Women are still marginalized in many creative industries, such as filmmaking, photography, art and journalism.  In the corporate world, women are paid less than men (about 82 cents to the dollar), but when examining the “why,” the “where” and the “who” of gender in the workforce it gets difficult to pinpoint. Are women not vocal enough about asking for a raise? Are bosses innately biased against paying women more? Are women in creative industries just not as competent? These are problems whose solutions require a serious shift in attitude towards gender, and to boot, it is clearly proving difficult to craft fair policies that would enforce a comprehensive equalization in pay for women in the workplace. The answer however, may be to simply keep drilling the issues. In Hillary Clinton’s speech on March 10, 2015 at the Women’s Empowerment Initiative, she declared, “gender Equality is not just morally right, but is the smart thing to do…. We have to keep making the same case over and over again. What we are doing here today is smart for companies and smart for countries.” She subsequently launched the hashtag #WereNotThereYet.  Women are still placed within social norms that categorize them as virgins or whores, and are often thought less of if they chose not to get married or have children, as if their lives should be in service to humanity, while a man’s life is his own. Double standards still abound. Women’s bodies are still presented in the media as sex objects, prompting campaigns such as #freethenipple which addresses Instagram’s sexist censorship policies. While it is important to keep the conversation surrounding these issues afloat, it is also important for millennials to have strong examples of feminists in the media and pop culture whom they can rally behind. And despite any differences one might have with Watson’s brand of feminism or the rhetoric she uses to spread it, her basic premise of gender equality should elicit a unified response among the millennial generation.

We are increasingly seeing a palpable departure from feminism’s previous tenents, as women are now embracing femininity as a tool for independence and empowerment. No longer is there a dichotomous tension between sexy and smart, for example. Young women view their sexuality as an indispensable facet of their identities, to be used to elevate their stake at home, at work and in the world. The latter sees us returning to issues like rape and the imperative to expand its legal definition, to reproductive rights vis-a-vis access to affordable healthcare options and to equality in the work force, shifting the conversation to include the need for more women in science and technology. Clearly the tides are changing as this new frontier of feminism unfolds. And many are harnessing it, though there are some that still avoid joining the dialogue. One reason many young women and men shy away from it is due to the scrutiny they potentially face for speaking up. When, during her Oscar acceptance speech, Patricia Arquette confronted pay inequality in the workplace, specifically in the entertainment industry, she was criticized from both sides for a “limited view” of feminism. Similarly, Watson has been called-out on having a skewed perception of real world problems. Actress Maisie Williams is one who has come out against Watson’s feminism. The 18-year-old star of Game of Thrones plays a character who challenges gender norms and pushes the boundaries of what it means to be a girl. She said that Watson endorses “first world” feminism, ignoring more serious global problems at hand. Perhaps, but Watson has contended that these issues would be invariably easier to solve with a united front. “All I know is that I care about this problem and I want to make it better. And having seen what I’ve seen and given the chance, I feel it’s my responsibility to say something.”

Actress Shailene Woodley pissed off the Internet recently when, in an interview with Time, she declared she was not a feminist “because I like men.” The implication, of course, is clear. In declaring oneself a feminist she is also declaring herself a dour, man-hating radical, with a wild armpit bush and leg hair. Katy Perry was quoted in 2012 as saying, “I am not a feminist, but I do believe in the power of women.” What exactly the distinction is that she’s attempting to make is unclear. It is hard to discuss gender equality without the word, “feminism,” so what most millennial feminists, including Watson, are trying to do is to reclaim the word’s potency in the context of the modern era. Perhaps their work is paying off – in 2014 when asked about the subject, Perry had taken a new position. “A feminist? Um, yeah, actually,” she responded. “I used to not really understand what that word meant, and now that I do, it just means that I love myself as a female and I also love men.” Taylor Swift was also originally among young celebrities who eschewed the label, but recently said in an interview “Misogyny is ingrained in people from the time they are born. So to me, feminism is probably the most important movement that you could embrace, because it’s just basically another word for equality.” According to some, such as Sarah Sobieraj, a professor of sociology at Tufts University, those against the feminist movement have labeled the word as an undesirable stereotype, essentially turning the movement against itself, dismissing the very issues it aims to solve. One can’t help but marvel at how a word alone can possess so much power.

We live in an unprecedented era in which people can now join forces through means of digital communication. Issues which at one time seemed so difficult to resolve now for the first time in history are within our reach, as the collective voices of change become a global currency. It was over 100 years ago that women gained the right to vote, yet equal rights for women is still an issue. The future remains to be seen, but one thing is for sure, Millennials more than any other generation have the tools for change, and as the tidal wave of chatter becomes a global chant, we may actual see gender discrimination end in our lifetime.

– The Untitled Magazine