What About the Men? - Why the Gender Revolution Has Been One-Sided

There is a common misconception that men are exempt from the burdening stereotypes and societal pressures and that women are the only victims of this. Our society has accepted hyper masculine stereotypes where men are valued by physical strength, dominance, economic success and the look that further supports this image. While girls are harmed by the unrealistic cultural demands to be pretty and submissive, boys are also being harmed by the expectations to be tough and live up to a role of manhood our society has adopted. Throughout history and to this day many men have been judged ‘too sensitive’, ‘too queer’ or ‘too intelligent’ to suit this traditional masculine ideal. This skewed view on masculinity leaves men in isolation, pushing them into depression and causes them to dominate the suicide statistics.

End Fear with Tolerance

Today, for the first time in my life I saw armed police men in the London tube. It gave me chills that we have reached such a point of fear and lack of trust in each other, and that there has been such a significant amount of previous terror to breed this fear. There are people living in constant horror and loosing their lives every day due to religious divisiveness all over the world, with so many incidences un proportionally unnoticed in the public eye. It is now more important than ever to turn to trust and acceptance as a backlash to the fear that is breeding. It is paramount that the disenfranchised members of our societies are met with support and companionship. Some wonderful efforts have been made in this direction already. We must unite as a world and change our narrative to an inter-religious one that breeds tolerance. The extremist mob-mentlity coming from terror groups (who are by no means religious) and the all too encompassing and over-generalised fear and suspicion from the rest of us can be transformed into a unanimous desire for the wellbeing of all people, just because they are human. Peace and a shared common humanity is too beautiful not to be created. Every moment of every single person's life provides a new opportunity to chose this outcome. This arms us all with wonderful tools that give us more power than we realise to collectively create a more harmonious world.

Song For Syria

I wrote this song in commemoration of the refugees and migrants who have lost their lives or are struggling to retain theirs.

Essay 1: Feminism is Sisterhood

There is no one feminism; there is no one feminist. Feminism will mean different things for each individual. There is a great danger with accumulating all the different individuals on the large feminist spectrum into one singular ideology. The loudest voices of the movement will be the most heard and this will be how it is presented to the world regardless of how extreme or representative of the female community these voices are. This will inevitably cause waves of resentment by those who don’t agree with these extreme or unrepresentative views and will reject ‘feminism’ because of it. Within it’s definition₁ it says that feminism is a range of ideologies and movements. There is no objective feminism. It does’t exist outside the human mind. The common core of the meaning of feminism would be something along the lines of the shared goal of these separate movements and ideologies. These tend to be defining, advocating and achieving equal political, economic, cultural, personal and social rights for women. What constitutes as equality for both genders within these rights and how they should be established will vary immensely. Similarly people have disagreed over the meaning of liberalism, the value of nationalism, what it means to be a christian, or how to enforce communism; just like any ideology. Therefore, to most effectively achieve these varied common goals of the feminist agendas we must approach it with compassion and understanding. We must all constructively try to strip our cultural biases and establish what is best for individual woman worldwide and in turn the whole world. There is no one feminism, there is no one feminist, yet we must unite into one sisterhood. The wide and varied feminist movement cannot possibly unite into one set of beliefs with one approach. Therefore the one all encompassing belief should be respect for each others approach to feminism and fight towards what equality means for different women worldwide. Feminism should be based on compassion; compassion between women and compassion between women and men. We must respect each others individuality whilst support everyones equality. 

We should use our compassion to form a sisterhood; to look out for each other as women. That is what feminism means to me. Women of the world are and will inevitably be born with different constitutional and conventional rights as long as we are divided into disparate countries and cultures. We may not agree on what equality for the female gender means but we will nevertheless fight for each others subjective and personal aims and our right to express that. Women must take some responsibility here as it is paramount that women must unite together to progress in the battle for equality.

The Art of Being First to Arrive Too Late: An Interview with Thomas Nordanstad

An Excerpt 

Director Thomas Nordanstad's newest documentary follows award winning Swedish photojournalist Paul Hansen in his travels. Thomas brilliantly captures Paul’s unique attributes along with the emotional commitment his job requires. One is left to appreciate the import role that photojournalism plays in bridging the gap between people living very different lives by skilfully capturing the collective and individual struggles that exist around the world. His exceptional ambitious and compassionate approach has successfully contributed to bringing our world closer together. 

The Libertarian Distorted Freedom

image from ballotpedia.org

Many staunchly conservative Republicans, especially those associated with the Tea Party and Libertarian movement, strongly advocate the appealing concept of 'freedom' and promise to uphold it in Government. Steve Eicher, C.E.O of the movement claims that the Tea Party is 'keeping alive the voice of freedom'. The slogan of the American Libertarian Party is 'Maximum Freedom, Limited Government'. Sounds appealing does't it? Well, when analysing what freedoms are supported and what principles are supported to fulfil those freedoms one might realise that this approach to freedom is only guaranteed to certain people and for certain monetary interest. Freedom is not upheld for all and there is a grave clashing of freedoms, where the freedoms of the more vulnerable in society would be diminished to uphold and increase the freedoms of the powerful.

Positive Vs. Negative Growth

Growth can be divided into that which is positive, and which we should strive for, and then that which is negative, which is seen far too common and even aimed for in our world. Positive growth is that which is natural and seen as healthy. To a child or a seed growth is the most wonderful thing, and is admired and celebrated by others. It is seen as a miracle. Our knowledge and experiences are also natural developments of our existence whose progression we seek out and are hungry for. 

The 'Right' to an Abortion

from The Huffington Post

1973 was landmark year for the protection of women’s rights in America. Roe v. Wade confirmed the nationwide constitutionality of the right to an abortion. However, the right to an abortion does not necessarily guarantee the freedom to have one, and this is the reality for many vulnerable women in America. Numerous restrictions and conditions are placed to limit the accessibility to this crucial practice. 

Whose headdress?

found on celebscoop.com

The legitimacy of the use of Native American headdresses as a mere ‘accessory’ in popular culture has caused much outrage and harm. This cultural appropriation can be deemed inappropriate in many different aspects. These sacred headdresses are not a fashion statement. Native American ‘dress up’ may be portrayed as fun and harmless but must be interpreted in light of social and historical context. 

Why We Are Marching Against Austerity

An estimated 250,000 people took to the streets of London today in opposition to the new Tory Government's plan of social benefit cuts and privatisation. A sort of festival atmosphere was created with the banging of drums and the voices of the spirited people. A great sense of unity, passion and desire for action was felt among the protestors.

These are some individual voices of the cause: