Please contact me if you are interested to help and able to translate some of this work into a language not present here.
2022-2023
SELFITIS
The term 'selfitis' was coined by the media in 2014 as a hoax, but the joke is now becoming real.
Selfitis is an obsessive-compulsive desire to take photos by oneself and post them on social media.
Research increasingly draws connections between heavily filtered selfies and increased body dissatisfaction. A new term has emerged to describe this phenomenon: Snapchat dysmorphia.
According to
'Selfie Statistics, Demographics, & Fun Facts (2022)'
_92 million selfies are taken every day.
_On average Millenials will spend over 10 years of their lives taking selfies.
_There has been a 13% increase in requests at plastic surgeries by people wanting to look like their filtered selfies.
_Drowning is the primary cause of death while taking selfies:
more people die from taking selfies than from shark attacks.
It is important to ensure that digital technologies don't impact negatively on our mental, physical and emotional health. To do so we need to find a correct balance between our 'real' and 'online' lives.
For more information on digital wellbeing visit
https://digitalwellbeing.org/what-is-digital-wellbeing-a-list-of-definitions/
Bag Lady
This work explores the loss of identity that our global society is experiencing caused by the use and abuse of social media and the subsequent mental issues that arise from it.
Inspired by the Walt Disney princesses, this work comments on the harmful ideas and values that popular culture and the mass media have forced on us harming generations of human beings.
2022
Our Heart
21x30cm
Acrylic, coffee and ink, on 3 years of bad news and cardboard
A series of 35 hand coloured lino prints on mixed media collage placed in various locations around London. They are stuck with white tack so that they can be easily removed, taken and kept as a memory of this difficult period.
2021
IT'S NOT EASY BEING A PRINCESS
Gender stereotypes damage the whole community regardless of gender.
The concept of this performance stemmed from a collaboration that I am working on with the Ken Griffiths Bureau, a London-based creative hub for which I have done a reinterpretation of an iconic photograph of Princess Margaret holding a pillow with 'It's not Easy Being a Princess' embroidered on. The project will be launched in February, but this performance will be on the streets of London, as part of the
16 Days of Activism against gender-based violence global movement.
The Beauty and the Beast
- Stories of Isolated Incidents -
This performance was in memory of all the women who died as victims of femicide. The names and dates of death of those that died between March 2020 and March 2021
were written in red chalk in a public square in Brighton, UK.
'When I started #CountingDeadWomen in Jan 2012 and 8 women were killed by men in the first 3 days of the year, I was not impressed to hear the phrase 'isolated incident'. At least 1,118 dead women and almost 8 years later and it is still used. No! This is connected and systemic.'
- Karen Ingala Smith @K_IngalaSmith 15 November 2019 - [1]
Karen Ingala Smith's project 'Counting Dead Women' keeps count and records of UK women killed by men or where a man is the principal suspect. [2]
According to this sad census, between March 2020 and March 2021, 127 women were killed by men. Of those 64 were killed by a partner, former partner, lover or a family member. [3][4]
Often media and police use the expression 'isolated incident' connected to these murders, to reassure that that specific killer won't endanger the life of anyone else.
But these aren't isolated cases: in the UK at least 2 women per week die at the hand of a man. At least half of them are stabbed, strangled, shot, burnt or beaten to dead by a person who was supposed to love and protect them. [5]
Police and government fail to treat the issue seriously, calling and treating these homicides as 'isolated incidents'. They are the result of a society and a culture that still supports discrimination against women and girls and their subservience through many social and political institutions. Studies show the majority of these murders follow specific patterns. [6][7]
Worldwide misogynistic cultural stereotypes trap many women and girls in positions of submission to the males of their family and community. This frequently feeds into casual and persistent violence which in its most extreme form leads to murder. A recent United Nations study stated that in 2017, worldwide 50,000 women and girls were killed by intimate partners or family members, meaning that 137 women were killed by a member of their own family every day. [8]
The killing of women and girls because they are female is called femicide. 'Femicide differs from other forms of murder because it is the gender-related killing of a woman only because she is a woman. This indicates that the root causes of femicide differ from other types of murder and are related to the general position of women in the society, discrimination against women, gender roles, unequal distribution of power between men and women, habitual gender stereotypes, prejudices and violence against women.' - Ivana Milovanović –
[9]
Femicide should be recognised and treated as a specific criminal offence.
UK Freephone 24-Hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline: 0808 2000 247
Between February and March 2020, as well as the media incessantly reminding us of the necessity to isolate and lockdown to fight Covid-19, new hashtags were invented to build awareness and to push the collective to unite and fight the invisible, deadly enemy.
With an unprecedented speed hashtags such as #stayhome and #staysafe took over Instagram.
Within just this 1 year, there have been tens of millions of posts using these hashtags.
These numbers contrast with those for hashtags such as #stopviolenceagainstwomenandgirls, #stopvawg,
#stopdomesticviolence and #stopdomesticabuse which have now been circulating for almost as long as Instagram; posts using these hashtags to date generally number in the few thousands.
But violence against women and girls was a pandemic long before the outbreak of Covid-19:
1 in 3 women worldwide has experienced physical or sexual violence inflicted by an intimate partner at some point in their lifetime. [1]
In the 12 months prior to the Covid-19 emergency, it was estimated that globally 243 million women and girls aged 15-49 years, have been subjected to sexual or physical violence by a current or former intimate partner: this is 462,320 women per minute. [2]
Since the outbreak of Covid-19, data and reports show that all types of violence against women and girls, particularly domestic violence, have increased: worldwide, there has been an increase (from 40% all the way up to a staggering 400%) in calls to helplines and hotlines supporting victims of violence against women and girls. [3]
In May 2020, the UN called for urgent action to fight this 'shadow pandemic' [4]
which has existed for so much longer than Covid-19. And how much quicker could this problem be tackled if all countries agreed to work together to address the issue of violence against women and girls?
In a few months the world has managed to work together to fight Covid-19 the 'invisible' common enemy.
Similarly in 2002 the western world recognised another common invisible enemy. In just 9 months subsequent to the the United States terrorist attacks of September 11th 2001, a new landmark framework decision obliged all the European States to align their national legislations to fight and prevent the problem of terrorism. [5]
In both situations the position of the media has been fundamental in shaping the collective mind, thus paving the way to new drastic laws that totally changed our approach to life. The newspapers, TV, radio and internet pushed the emergency in unison for months on a daily, and some time hourly, basis.
How many months might it take to change the approach to this problem and to finally 'force' the sort of collective laws that have not been introduced for 'cultural' conflicts?
The coverage that the mainstream media gives to specific topics are an indicator by which progress towards a shifting of social and cultural norms can be measured.
To date the media still rarely present violence against women as a systemic societal issue, but more as an individual situation covered just at the moment of the sensationalised event. Except for 1 day of the year, the 25th of November, International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, when they do all report on the problem.
In the UK, during the first 2 months of the lockdown, domestic abuse killing has more than doubled, but the media hardly covered the news. Calls, emails and website visits to Respect, the national domestic violence charity, have increased 97 per cent, 185 per cent and 581 per cent respectively. [6]
In the United States new research has found evidence that during the pandemic physical abuse has not only increased but the severity of the injuries reported has escalated. [7]
For many women and children these lockdowns mean to be trapped with their own executioner without having the chance to run away or to ask for help. Some of them will die because of the so called 'shadow pandemic'.
In 2018 the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) published a 'Global Study on Homicide' which includes a publication dedicated to the 'gender-related killing of women and girls'. They state that 50,000 - were killed by intimate partners or family members in 2017, meaning that 137 women across the world are killed by a member of their own family every day. [8]
It is our duty and an urgency to change the perception of society on this matter: only in this way will it be possible to push to change the legal framework.
Art and culture are very important tools to build awareness and drive social changes.
'#StopTheVirus' has been created as a response to the open call launched by the
Socially Engaged Art Salon of Brighton for 'GASLIGHTING ' a project curated by the artist and activist Miranda Gavin.
LADY T AGONY AUNT - ADVICES FOR HAVING A BEAUTIFUL, SUCCESSFUL AND HAPPY LIFE
Are we the way we are because of nature or nurture?
Is the life we live what we want or what the social system and social media forces on us?
Are we becoming just a grotesque lifestyle version of ourselves?
Lady T, the best and coolest mum ever, shares her infinite wisdom with immense generosity, giving advice for having a beautiful, happy and successful life.
The society in which one grows up influences everything about the future adult human beings. The learning of the social norms and values that shape a human being's personality, starts in early childhood, generally within the family.
Back To Normal
- Performance lasting between 1 minute and 4 hours -
Worldwide, during the Covid-19 lockdown period, we
have seen nature flourishing and recovering at an
unexpected speed.
Nevertheless the worldwide economy is asking just one
thing... to go back to business as usual.
Is it worth it? Is that what we want?
The Waiting Room
I spent the first 5 weeks of the COVID-19 lockdown reading news obsessively. I passed from indignation, to anger, to frustration and deep confusion.
The narrative that has been sold to us is that no one could forecast this pandemic arriving. But it doesn't take a lot of commitment to discover that there have been warnings from the scientific community since 2008 about how emerging infectious illnesses were increasing every year [1}.
‘We have never seen anything so devastating in terms of its profound effects on the global system – psychologically, emotionally, economically, socially, politically and geopolitically. ' - Andrew Sheng - [1]
In a few months COVID-19 has bared a bulky skeleton in the closet: our system based on production, consumption and unregulated markets is so fragile that it can not warranty a dignified life for the human species in a moment of crisis:
_Worldwide governments failed to act quickly enough to protect their citizens for the fear of harming their economies.
_The worldwide health system doesn't have enough resources to cope with the emergency because of years of budget pressures in favour of privatisation (trying to push towards privatization).
_The pettiness of the effect of the free market laws is surging the prices of vital health equipment, such as face masks and ventilators, at the expense of the poorest.
When all this will be finished MAYBE our planetary society should try to explore a new system based on equality, humanity and respect for all living creatures, and not just for the economy and the globalised free market..
In 2018 the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) published a 'Global Study on Homicide' which includes a publication dedicated to the 'gender-related killing of women and girls':
'The data presented in this study are based on homicide statistics produced by national statistical systems in which the relationship between the victim and perpetrator or the motive is reported. Gender-related killings of women and girls are committed in a variety of contexts and through different mechanisms. In broader terms, such killings can be divided into those perpetrated within the family and those perpetrated outside the family sphere. Data availability at regional and global level show that the vast majority of cases of this type of crime fall into the first category'
'While the vast majority of homicide victims are men, killed by strangers, women are far more likely to die at the hands of someone they know. Women killed by intimate partners or family members account for 58 per cent of all female homicide victims reported globally last year, and little progress has been made in preventing such murders.'
'Even though men are the principal victims of homicide globally, women continue to bear the heaviest burden of lethal victimization as a result of gender stereotypes and inequality. Many of the victims of “femicide” are killed by their current and former partners, but they are also killed by fathers, brothers, mothers, sisters and other family members because of their role and status as women. The death of those killed by intimate partners does not usually result from random or spontaneous acts, but rather from the culmination of prior gender-related violence.'
Worldwide 'a total of 87,000 women were intentionally killed in 2017. More than half of them (58 per cent) - 50,000 - were killed by intimate partners or family members, meaning that 137 women across the world are killed by a member of their own family every day. More than a third (30,000) of the women intentionally killed in 2017 were killed by their current or former intimate partner - someone they would normally expect to trust.
Based on revised data, the estimated number of women killed by intimate partners or family members in 2012 was 48,000 (47 per cent of all female homicide victims). The annual number of female deaths worldwide resulting from intimate partner/family-related homicide therefore seems be on the increase. The largest number (20,000) of all women killed worldwide by intimate partners or family members in 2017 was in Asia, followed by Africa (19,000), the Americas (8,000), Europe (3,000) and Oceania (300) [4].'
'In light of the seriousness of this sociocultural phenomenon, 18 Latin American countries have modified their laws to sanction this crime [5] .'
Nearly all European countries today acknowledge that femicide is an important issue, but to date, no EU Member State has incorporated a definition of femicide into their criminal law [6].
According to the Global Terrorism Database (GTD) in 2017 in Europe 184 people died from terrorist attacks, so there were 16 times less victims of terrorism as there were victims of femicide [7].
A common European definition of terrorism has been established since 2002 in the landmark Framework Decision 2002/475/JHA [8]. This document obliged the Member States to align their national legislations, including the implementation of preventative measures. The EU, taking into account the evolution of terrorism threats, in 2017 decided to strengthen its legal framework prescribing new terrorist offences [9].
. The directive 2017/541 introduces offences related to terrorist activities, which have the potential to lead to the commission of terrorist offences to prevent new/further attacks.
'When referring to ‘prevention of femicide’, we refer to actions at the individual, family, and social and community levels that can reduce the likelihood of women being killed because of their gender. Strategies for prevention of femicide differ depending on the definition of femicide and the cases to which we refer.'
'While viewing femicide from a cultural perspective increases its complexity, it is nevertheless essential to consider not only how Western and non-Western cultures influence myriad individual, organizational, communal and societal attitudes regarding male violence against women, but also how these attitudes can in turn determine public policies and the state’s actions in relation to such violence'.
'The researchers suggest different strategies for prevention, including demanding national obligations to ensure the human rights of women; the enactment of appropriate legal measures to combat the murder of women regardless of their social, economic, ethnic, marriage or sexual status; the development of more efficient and effective fatality reviews and risk assessments; and the creation of holistic educational programmes challenging patriarchal culture.'
'To develop a better understanding of the prominent role that culture plays in gender violence, it is essential to address the complexity of a contemporary global Europe – a conglomeration of native and foreign cultures formed by various migratory movements throughout history – '
'Some femicide cases can be prevented because some of these murders are preceded by an escalation of violence, threats and other lethal risk factors.'
‘Each case of femicide is an individual woman’s tragic story and there is the urgent need to focus on the prevention of these avoidable killings by undertaking in-depth analysis aimed at identifying shortcomings in the criminal justice system.’
'Within femicides, it is possible to identify recurrent patterns: namely, homicide occurring as an ultimate means to degrade, silence and subjugate women [10].'
“Rather than a new form of violence, gender-related killings are the extreme manifestation of existing forms of violence against women. Such killings are not isolated incidents that arise suddenly and unexpectedly, but represent the ultimate act of violence which is experienced in a continuum of violence. Women subjected to continuous violence and living under conditions of gender-based discrimination and threat are always on death row, always in fear of execution.”
- Report of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, Rashida Manjoo - [11]
Gender stereotypes are socially constructed roles, behaviours, characteristics and activities, that a specific society considers appropriate for women and men.
Gender stereotyping shapes the social structure and the relationship between human beings: they are harmful for both women and men. The attributes of masculinity and femininity are not innate, but learned from early childhood and they have a lifelong impact on every choice of a human being.
Worldwide the majority of societies have defined active and dominant behaviour for men and passive and submissive ones for women. For this reason violence against women is often institutionalised in many countries and communities where the social norms and the legal systems are discriminatory against women and girls and encourage violence.
Research shows that about one in three women worldwide have experienced physical or sexual violence, mostly by an intimate partner. [1][2]
In 2018 the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) published a 'Global Study on Homicide' which includes a publication dedicated to the 'gender-related killing of women and girls' (femicide): stating that in 2017, worldwide 50,000 women and girls were killed by intimate partners or family members, that is 137 every day, 5 per hour. [3]
In 2018, just in the UK, 147 women were killed by a man or a man was the principal suspect.
[4]
Studies shows that the majority of the cases have similarities and follow a pattern. [5][6]
“Gender-related killings are the extreme manifestation of existing forms of violence against women. Such killings are not isolated incidents that arise suddenly and unexpectedly, but represent the ultimate act of violence which is experienced in a continuum of violence. Women subjected to continuous violence and living under conditions of gender-based discrimination and threat are always on death row, always in fear of execution.”
Statement by Ms. Rashida Manjoo United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, its Causes and Consequences. [7]
Violence against women and girls is one of the most systematic and widespread human rights violations.
It is rooted in gendered social structures rather than individual and random acts; it cuts across age, socio-economic, educational and geographic boundaries;
affects all societies; and is a major obstacle to ending gender inequality and discrimination globally. (UN General Assembly, 2006). [8][9]
The United Nations defines violence against women as
'any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life'
(General Assembly Resolution 48/104 Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, 1993). [10]
[8] UN General Assembly 2006. In-depth study on all forms of violence against women. Report of the Secretary-General, A/61/122/Add.1.
http://www.refworld.org/docid/484e58702.html
In 1985, following an international meeting of scientists on climate change, Dr. Moustafa Tolba, the executive director of the United Nations Environment Program, called for an international action to address climate change for the first time. [1][2]
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (The IPCC) was established in 1988 supported mainly by the United States: the Reagan Administration wanted an international panel of scientists researching the topic to assess the true extent of the climate change.
At the end of 1990, the First IPCC Assessment Report was issued stating clearly that human activity was likely to produce an unprecedented warming, calling for international action/policymaking to address climate change. [3]
For almost 25 years these warnings have been almost ignored by the worldwide policymakers in favour of economic growth, which continues at a more and more pressing pace from the first industrial revolution.
“This planet has - or rather had - a problem, which was this: most of the people living on it were unhappy for pretty much of the time. Many solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of these were largely concerned with the movement of small green pieces of paper, which was odd because on the whole it wasn't the small green pieces of paper that were unhappy.”
- Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy -
From Saturday 1st June to Wednesday 5th June 2019 Baby T and Lady T visited London.During their trip they had the pleasure to talk with many tourists and Londoners, to visit art galleries. To be interviewed by various TV channels including the BBC, to be part of the national protest and to be invited on the stage during the 'peoplesbanquet' organised by the 'Women's Peace Council'.
@TheMostBestOne
'Because babies have barely been exposed to the world, with its convoluted cultures and social norms, they represent the raw materials of humanity: who we are when we’re born, rather than who we become.'
[1]
Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is one of the most systematic and widespread human rights' violations.
It is rooted in gendered social structures rather than individual and random acts; it cuts across age, socio-economic, educational and geographic boundaries;
affects all societies; and is a major obstacle to ending gender inequality and discrimination globally. (UN General Assembly, 2006)
The United Nations defines violence against women as
'any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women,
including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life'
(General Assembly Resolution 48/104 Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, 1993). [1]
No country in the world is free of misogyny and violence against women and girls. [2]
In some countries this reality is far more evident. [3]
Worldwide there are still stereotypes of misogynistic, patriarchal tendencies,
which exile girls and women to an existence of misery from the moment they are born until their death,
conditioning their chances of education and fulfillment, obliging them to a life subordinated to male society, slaves and victims of every male in their family and community.
Barbie has been a role model for generations of girls in western society, enacting their future lives and dreams with her...
Psychological and emotional abuse is any act including confinement, isolation, verbal assault, humiliation, intimidation, infantilization, or any other treatment which may diminish the sense of identity, dignity and self-worth. Common signs of psychological abuse are depression, low self esteem, suicidal thoughts and anxiety. [1].
It causes serious behavioural, cognitive, emotional or mental disorder. It can cause Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Often it occurs in the family and the vast majority of victims of this kind of violence are women and children.
Sex trafficking exists globally within national or across international borders and is defined as a form of human trafficking for the purpose of forced sex work. It includes prostitution, child sex tourism (CST), domestic minor sex trafficking (DMST), child sexual exploitation (CSE), sexual slavery, sex work, and pornography. It is a business that consists of the persons trafficked (the victims), the consumers (the buyers), and the persons who procure the victims and supply them to the consumers (the traffickers). Sex traffickers use force, violence, threats, lies, debt bondage, abuse of power and other forms of coercion to compel adults and children to engage in commercial sex acts against their will.
Sex trafficking is illegal in almost every country in the world.
Though national and international institutions try to regulate and enforce anti-trafficking legislation, corrupted local governments and police forces may be involved in sex trafficking rings facilitating the process of trafficking.
According to the International Labour Organization there are about 4.8 million victims of forced sexual exploitation worldwide. Although a small percentage of men and boys are trafficked into the sex industry, 99% of victims are women and girls [1]. Of those, about 2 million are children [2].
Women and girls are trafficked from any country to another country: victims exist everywhere. Extreme poverty is a common bond among trafficking victims; where economic alternatives do not exist, women and girls are more vulnerable to being coerced into sexual exploitation.
Although in most of the world the prostitution of minors is illegal, it is allowed in some of the poorest countries, which also increases the sex trafficking of children.
In the US, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (“NCMEC”) receives approximately 10,000 child sex trafficking reports annually. The majority of those children are trafficked online [3][4].
Even the most conservative of societies have been able to sort out various ways of sex trafficking children - even making the practice socially acceptable.
In certain Islamic communities impoverished families sell under-age girls into 'temporary marriages' called Nikah Al-Mutah (literally 'pleasure marriage') [5]. Through this practice young girls are forced to marry a man and perform the sexual duties of a 'wife'. These marriages are verbal or written contracts, which have no proscribed minimum or maximum duration and can last from a few minutes to 99 years. At the end of the contract, the marriage ends and the wife must undergo a period of abstinence from marriage and thus, sexual intercourse: this is intended to give paternal certainty to any children in case the wife becomes pregnant during this temporary 'pleasure marriage'. After this period the young girl is ready to be sold again under this legalised form of prostitution.
Each year in India, thousands of girls as young as four or five years old, are forced into a lifetime of 'religious prostitution' by becoming Devadasis. A Devadasi, which translates as 'Servant of God', is a girl 'dedicated' by her own parents through a ceremony to the goddess Yellamma. After the ceremony the girl goes back to a normal life until she reaches puberty (between 10 and 13 yeas old). At that point the girl's virginity will be sold (generally by her mother or grandmother) to someone who will abuse the girl for the first time.
This is a system that transforms children into prostitutes and parents into pimps condemning the girls into a lifetime of prostitution.
Generally daughters born to a Devadasi are destined to become prostitutes themselves.
When a Devadasi is about 35 years of age, she becomes 'old' and there is no longer any demand for her services: generally the only thing she can do to survive is to beg [6].
In countries such as Cambodia and the Philippines it is common practice among poor families to sell the virginity of girls from as young as 6 years old – complete with a certificate of virginity from a doctor [7][8].
[3] Missing Children, State Care, and Child Sex Trafficking.National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges and National Center for Missing & Exploited Children 2015.
https://www.ncjfcj.org/DCST-TAB
[4]I am Jane Doe (2017). Documentary about the battle that several American mothers are waging on behalf of their middle-school daughters, victims of online sex trafficking.
https://www.iamjanedoefilm.com/
This work is inspired by the documentary 'It's a girl : the three deadliest words in the world ' [1].
The term 'missing women' was first coined by the Nobel Prize winner Amartya Sen in the late 1980s:
it refers to the observation that in parts of the world (predominantly Asia) the ratio of women to men is low.
It is estimated that 117 million women are demographically 'missing' [2], victims of selective abortion, infanticide and inadequate healthcare and nutrition: in some countries if the family is poor and there is a lack of food, they feed the boys and leave the girls to starve.
The systematic killing of members of a specific sex is called gendercide. When it is because they are female, it is called femicide or feminicide.
'... This history matters little to the young girls brutalized and butchered
as their own mothers watch, and sometimes even help to hold them down. Can there be a greater betrayal? And in the name of love! Yes, love. These mothers do not hate their daughters. They have not forgotten the brutalization they themselves endured as their own mother held them down. How could they? Surely they have not forgotten the pain. Yes they understand – as they hear their daughters' screams, echoes of their own screams of decades earlier - that without such butchery, their girls will be considered sexually out of control and unmarriageable. So they cut away to make them complete – the irony of cutting, of mutilating, to make whole!'
...
'... Now do you understand why mothers will hold down their daughters and block out their screams? They know what must be done, what must be suffered, what must be silenced, and what must be said for their daughters to earn a husband.'
From 'Headscarves and Hymens: Why the Middle East Needs a Sexual Revolution' by Mona Eltahawy. [1]
Female genital mutilation (FGM) comprises all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons [2].
It is estimated that more than 200 million girls and women alive today have undergone female genital mutilation in the countries where the practice is concentrated .
More than 3 million girls are estimated to be at risk of female genital mutilation annually.
In the UK the 'cutting season' is when girls are flown abroad (to their family's country) to have FGM performed on them. This happens during the school summer holidays.
Girls' World - Scream Quietly Or The Neighbours Will Hear -
In 1971 Erin Pizzey (who started the first domestic violence shelter in the modern world) wrote 'Scream Quietly Or The Neighbours Will Hear', a book documenting the experiences of battered women. [1]
Domestic violence is nowadays defined as any incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive, threatening behaviour, violence or abuse between those aged 16 or over who are, or have been, intimate partners or family members regardless of gender or sexuality. The abuse can encompass, but is not limited to:
psychological
physical
sexual
financial
emotional
[2]
Research shows that domestic violence can be reciprocal, and that women are as equally capable of violence as men, but that it is a deeply cultural gender issue which disproportionately affects women and children [3][4][5][6].
According to the World Health Organisation,
female genital mutilation (FGM), also known as female genital cutting and female circumcision, comprises all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.
Female genital mutilation is classified into 4 major types.
Type 1:
Often referred to as clitoridectomy, this is the partial or total removal of the clitoris (a small, sensitive and erectile part of the female genitals), and in very rare cases, only the prepuce (the fold of skin surrounding the clitoris).
Type 2:
Often referred to as excision, this is the partial or total removal of the clitoris and the labia minora (the inner folds of the vulva), with or without excision of the labia majora (the outer folds of skin of the vulva ).
Type 3:
Often referred to as infibulation, this is the narrowing of the vaginal opening through the creation of a covering seal. The seal is formed by cutting and repositioning the labia minora, or labia majora, sometimes through stitching, with or without removal of the clitoris (clitoridectomy).
Type 4:
This includes all other harmful procedures to the female genitalia for non-medical purposes, e.g. pricking, piercing, incising, scraping and cauterizing the genital area.
FGM does not have race, religion or nationality. The practice is found in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, and travels within communities from countries in which FGM is common making it a migratory torture.
Worldwide, about 3,000,000 (3 million) girls from infancy to 15 years of age, are thought to be at risk of FGM every year. [1]
Each day, about 8,000 girls have their genitals mutilated to control their sexuality, rip them of their dignity and identities as women and teach them to submit to a misogynistic society.
Unicef wrote in an article dated 5 February 2016 "If current trends continue the number of girls and women subjected to FMG will increase significantly over the next 15 years. [2]
Every country in the Western world forbids FGM, considering it a criminal offence punishable with jail. Unfortunately this doesn't stop families to cut their girls: some are taken abroad whereas others are cut in the West, often at what is known as a 'cutting party' where an FGM practitioner (known generally as a ‘cutter’) is brought in to cut several girls at a time.
Girls' World - The Little Princesses' Special Game -
Child sexual abuse is defined as the involvement of a child in sexual activity that he or
she does not fully comprehend, is unable to give informed consent to, or for
which the child is not developmentally prepared and cannot give consent, or
that violates the laws or social taboos of society. [1]
Research predominantly shows child sexual abuse is perpetrated against female children [2]. However, Sexual abuse of boys is far more common than generally believed .
Worldwide it is difficult to have numbers for child sexual abuse because generally they are not reported until the victims become teenagers or adults. Often these crimes are not disclosed, detected or reported because they are generally crimes only witnessed by the abuser and the victim.
Although the abusers can be women, most child sexual abuse is committed by men. Sexual abuse can be physical, verbal or emotional and the perpetrator is usually very closed to the victim. [3]
Rape is the most under reported crime worldwide.
Even though a significant proportion of boys and men suffer sexual violence, the majority of rape victims are girls and women. [1]
Throughout the world there is a sexist blame culture that frequently considers the victims responsible for being raped because they were in the wrong place, at the wrong time, wearing the wrong clothes and with the wrong people or attitude.
It is estimated about 1 woman in 20 has been raped. [2] Considering the current female population, that is 238 every minute, 4 every second.
These numbers are an educated guess. Worldwide there are no trustworthy statistics about rape:
not only is the accuracy of country by country statistics seemingly random because rape is so severely under reported due to the extreme social stigma attached, but police recorded crime statistics are also not necessarily trustworthy. There is strong evidence that the police under record crime to meet numerical targets and connected incentives. This is a reality not only in less developed, more corrupt countries where respect for human rights is only a distant dream, but also in countries such as the UK where respect for the rights of every human being is supposedly at the very heart of the social structure [3].
In many countries data is not collected at all and where they are it is very fragmented and generally made on population based samples.
In some regions rape is not even considered a criminal offence.
In countries such as; China, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and India marital rape is legal.
In some countries rape is even institutionalised. In India and Pakistan, for instance, girls and women can be sentenced from orders of a tribal council to be gang raped as a punishment.
In United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia rape is not reported because rape victims are guilty of ‘illicit sex’, imprisoned for extramarital sex and subjected to corporal punishment.
In many countries rape is rarely reported, due to the social stigma cast on those who have been raped and for the fear of being subjected to violence from their own family (honour killing).
In war zones (during armed conflicts) rape can be used as military strategy, as a weapon, on girls, boys, women and men and it is impossible to quantify a number. [4]
Worldwide it is difficult to have numbers for child rape because generally these abuses aren’t reported until the victims become teenagers or adults who finally find the courage to speak out many years later.
Worldwide it is impossible to quantify a number for rape on people with intellectual disabilities.
Worldwide it is impossible to define a number for rape on vulnerable adults.
Worldwide it is impossible to define a number for rape in the military.
Worldwide it is impossible to define a number for rape in jail.
Worldwide it is impossible to define a number for human beings that have been exploited against their will in sex trafficking [5].
Worldwide the rape of men is still such a taboo subject that no country has realistic numbers.
Worldwide it is impossible to have statistics about transgender rape because in many countries they are obliged to live secret lives, thus accepting every abuse in silence to avoid further consequences / violence.
Worldwide statistical data available on child marriage is not representative of the scale of the problem because most child marriages are unregistered and take place as unofficial religious marriages. Child marriage is still widespread as part of the cultural tradition in developing countries such as Africa, India and Latin America. In communities based on Sharia law it is a common practice to marry a girl less than 13 years old, so the issue is also spreading globally in developed countries.
For all these reasons, it is impossible to have an accurate number for the amount of rape committed against girls and women worldwide.
In some countries there are laws to force underage girls that are the victims of rape to marry their rapists, therefore legitimising the criminal abuse of young girls. These girls are destined to a life of horror so that their rapists can escape punishment to salvage their own honour.
Child marriage, defined as a formal marriage or informal union before age 18, is a reality for both boys and girls, although girls are disproportionately the most affected. Child marriage is widespread and can lead to a lifetime of disadvantage and deprivation.
Evidence shows that girls who marry early often abandon formal education and become pregnant. Maternal deaths related to pregnancy and childbirth are an important component of mortality for girls aged 15–19 worldwide, accounting for 70,000 deaths each year. If a mother is under the age of 18, her infant’s risk of dying in its first year of life is 60 per cent greater than that of an infant born to a mother older than 19. Even if the child survives, he or she is more likely to suffer from low birth weight, under nutrition and late physical and cognitive development.
Child brides are at risk of violence, abuse and exploitation. Finally, child marriage often results in separation from family and friends and lack of freedom to participate in community activities, which can all have major consequences on girls’ mental and physical well-being.
Where prevalent, child marriage functions as a social norm. Marrying girls under 18 years old is rooted in gender discrimination, encouraging premature and continuous child bearing and giving preference to boys’ education. Child marriage is also a strategy for economic survival as families marry off their daughters at an early age to reduce their economic burden [1][2].
Each year, 15 million girls are married before the age of 18.
That is 28 girls every minute.
1 every 2 seconds. [3]
To be born male or female is not a choice, it is like breathing air, it just happens.
If you are born female it is not a choice to have menstruation. Menstruation, also known as 'monthly period', is part of the female reproductive cycle that starts when girls become sexually mature, generally at the time of puberty (12-15); it may occasionally start as early as eight. The menstrual cycle is the regular natural change that occurs in the female reproductive system (specifically the uterus and ovaries) that makes pregnancy possible. The cycle is required for the production of ovocytes, and for the preparation of the uterus for pregnancy. [1]
Despite the menstrual cycle being part of the natural cycle of human existence, taboos about menstruation are nearly universal: menstruation is perceived as unclean or embarrassing, a topic that cannot be mentioned in public. [2]
Similar taboos exist across religions. [3] The extent to which religious rules about menstruation are still followed is not clear, but in some parts of the world girls are still even 'punished' for their bleeding shame.
In parts of rural Western Nepal thousands of Hindu girls and women practice chhaupadi. During their monthly period they are believed to be 'impure' and therefore kept out of their homes and confined to live in a cattle shed or a makeshift hut. They are even banned from eating nutritious food, going to temple, school and touching animals or men. [4]
* This work has been realised in February 2017. On Wednesday 9th August 2017, the Nepalese parliament successfully passed a law that criminalises chhaupadi. Nevertheless in January 2019 a woman and her two children, aged 12 and 9, died in a windowless hut where she was banished during her period. All three are suspected to have died of suffocation in their sleep due to the fire they lit to keep warm. [5]
[4] Documentary produced for Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare, Mainstreaming Gender Equality Program (MGEP) and United Nations Development program (UNDP) by Creative Arts & Media Association (CAMA) 2004.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mZlXIfUrgA
In 2018 the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) published a 'Global Study on Homicide' which includes a publication dedicated to the 'gender-related killing of women and girls':
'The data presented in this study are based on homicide statistics produced by national statistical systems in which the relationship between the victim and perpetrator or the motive is reported. Gender-related killings of women and girls are committed in a variety of contexts and through different mechanisms. In broader terms, such killings can be divided into those perpetrated within the family and those perpetrated outside the family sphere. Data availability at regional and global level show that the vast majority of cases of this type of crime fall into the first category'
'While the vast majority of homicide victims are men, killed by strangers, women are far more likely to die at the hands of someone they know. Women killed by intimate partners or family members account for 58 per cent of all female homicide victims reported globally last year, and little progress has been made in preventing such murders.'
'Even though men are the principal victims of homicide globally, women continue to bear the heaviest burden of lethal victimization as a result of gender stereotypes and inequality. Many of the victims of “femicide” are killed by their current and former partners, but they are also killed by fathers, brothers, mothers, sisters and other family members because of their role and status as women. The death of those killed by intimate partners does not usually result from random or spontaneous acts, but rather from the culmination of prior gender-related violence.'
Worldwide 'a total of 87,000 women were intentionally killed in 2017. More than half of them (58 per cent) - 50,000 - were killed by intimate partners or family members, meaning that 137 women across the world are killed by a member of their own family every day. More than a third (30,000) of the women intentionally killed in 2017 were killed by their current or former intimate partner - someone they would normally expect to trust.
Based on revised data, the estimated number of women killed by intimate partners or family members in 2012 was 48,000 (47 per cent of all female homicide victims). The annual number of female deaths worldwide resulting from intimate partner/family-related homicide therefore seems be on the increase. The largest number (20,000) of all women killed worldwide by intimate partners or family members in 2017 was in Asia, followed by Africa (19,000), the Americas (8,000), Europe (3,000) and Oceania (300).' [4]
'In light of the seriousness of this sociocultural phenomenon, 18 Latin American countries have modified their laws to sanction this crime.'
[5]
Nearly all European countries today acknowledge that femicide is an important issue, but to date, no EU Member State has incorporated a definition of femicide into their criminal law. [6]
According to the Global Terrorism Database (GTD) in 2017 in Europe 184 people died from terrorist attacks, so there were 16 times less victims of terrorism as there were victims of femicide [7].
A common European definition of terrorism has been established since 2002 in the landmark Framework Decision 2002/475/JHA [8]. This document obliged the Member States to align their national legislations, including the implementation of preventative measures. The EU, taking into account the evolution of terrorism threats, in 2017 decided to strengthen its legal framework prescribing new terrorist offences [9] . The directive 2017/541 introduces offences related to terrorist activities, which have the potential to lead to the commission of terrorist offences to prevent new/further attacks.
'When referring to ‘prevention of femicide’, we refer to actions at the individual, family, and social and community levels that can reduce the likelihood of women being killed because of their gender. Strategies for prevention of femicide differ depending on the definition of femicide and the cases to which we refer.'
'While viewing femicide from a cultural perspective increases its complexity, it is nevertheless essential to consider not only how Western and non-Western cultures influence myriad individual, organizational, communal and societal attitudes regarding male violence against women, but also how these attitudes can in turn determine public policies and the state’s actions in relation to such violence'.
'The researchers suggest different strategies for prevention, including demanding national obligations to ensure the human rights of women; the enactment of appropriate legal measures to combat the murder of women regardless of their social, economic, ethnic, marriage or sexual status; the development of more efficient and effective fatality reviews and risk assessments; and the creation of holistic educational programmes challenging patriarchal culture.'
'To develop a better understanding of the prominent role that culture plays in gender violence, it is essential to address the complexity of a contemporary global Europe – a conglomeration of native and foreign cultures formed by various migratory movements throughout history – '
'Some femicide cases can be prevented because some of these murders are preceded by an escalation of violence, threats and other lethal risk factors.'
‘Each case of femicide is an individual woman’s tragic story and there is the urgent need to focus on the prevention of these avoidable killings by undertaking in-depth analysis aimed at identifying shortcomings in the criminal justice system.’
'Within femicides, it is possible to identify recurrent patterns: namely, homicide occurring as an ultimate means to degrade, silence and subjugate women.' [10]
“Rather than a new form of violence, gender-related killings are the extreme manifestation of existing forms of violence against women. Such killings are not isolated incidents that arise suddenly and unexpectedly, but represent the ultimate act of violence which is experienced in a continuum of violence. Women subjected to continuous violence and living under conditions of gender-based discrimination and threat are always on death row, always in fear of execution.”
- Report of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, Rashida Manjoo - [11]
Not the European Year to End Violence Against Women and Girls - Newsletter
Congratulations!
Economic growth is the main purpose of capitalism which drives the global society and shapes the world.
To produce and to consume are imperative to capitalism.
Within this framework the trade of arms is flourishing as a worldwide industry and is a major contributor to some countries' economies, despite the fact that this industry is in clear conflict with human rights.
Arms fairs are held all over the world and over the years, have grown in number and size. [1]
These fairs are market places for selling lethal weapons and illegal torture equipment to human-rights abusing regimes. [2]
This work has been inspired by a collaboration with Sado Opera for the video of their song 'Patriarchs'.
'Objectification':
the tendency to treat an individual not as a person with emotions, thoughts and abilities, but as an 'object'.
Generally it refers to thinking, treating and using a person as a sexual object there to provide pleasure to others.
In our society objectification is far more pronounced with regard to women, who are viewed and evaluated based upon their appearance and sexuality.
Sources/Inspiration/More information: Caroline Heldman on The Sexy Lie at TEDxYouth@SanDiego. [1]
To be a sex object is (not) empowering.
What is sex objectification:
The process of representing or treating a person as a sex object, one that serves another's sexual pleasure.
SEX OBJECT TEST
If the answer is yes to any of these 7 questions then you are looking at a sexually objectified image:
1) Does the image show only part(s) of a sexualized person's body?
2) Does the image present a sexualized person as a stand-in for an object?
3) Does the image show a sexualized person as interchangeable?
4) Does the image affirm the idea of violating the bodily integrity of a sexualized person that can't consent?
5) Does the image suggest that sexual availability is the defining characteristic of the person?
6) Does the image show a sexualized person as commodity (something that can be bought and sold)?
7) Does the image treat a sexualized person's body as a canvas?
NEW OBJECTIFICATION CULTURE
1) Significant increase in sexual objectification in:
Television
Movies
Video Games
Music Videos
Magazines
2) The images become more present, more extreme and more hyper-sexualised through media mainstreaming
A key process whereby girls [and women] learn to think and treat their bodies as objects of others' desires' (Zubriggen et al, 2007:2).
Effects of self-objectification:
Depression
Habitual body monitoring
Eating disorders
Body shame
epressed cognitive functioning
Sexual dysfunction
Lower self-esteem
Lower GPA
Lower political efficacy
Female competition [2]
Sexual objectification creates gender inequality and reinforces gender stereotypes which are harmful for both boys (men) and girls (women).
Sexual objectification pushes society to internalise misogyny culture.
This was supposed to be the European Year to End Violence against Women and Girls...
The United Nations defines violence against women as
'any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women,
including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life'
(General Assembly Resolution 48/104 Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, 1993). [1]
Violence against women and girls is one of the most systematic and widespread human rights violations.
It is rooted in gendered social structures rather than individual and random acts; it cuts across age, socio-economic, educational and geographic boundaries;
affects all societies; and is a major obstacle to ending gender inequality and discrimination globally.
(UN General Assembly, 2006). [2][3]
It is an expression of historically and culturally specific values and standards
which are today still executed through many social and political institutions that foster women’s subservience and discrimination against women and girls.
[4]
According to a research titled 'Global Study on Homicide 2013' by The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime,
five women are killed every hour by a partner or family member globally. [5]
According to the Daphne III programme, in Europe seven women die every day from male domestic violence. [6][7]
Violence against women also has important economic costs for the European Union estimated at €226 billion (£203bn) by the European Institute for Gender Equality. [8]
A written declaration signed by over half the Members of the European Parliament (369 MEPs or more)
has the same standing as an adopted resolution, in that it represents an official position of Parliament. [9]
This was the number of MEPs who backed a written declaration on establishing a European Year of Combating Violence against Women on the 9 September 2010.
This declaration asked the Commission to establish, within the next five years, a European Year of Combating Violence against Women. [10]
European Years aim to raise awareness of certain topics, encourage debate and change attitudes.
During many European Years, extra funding is provided for local, national and cross-border projects that address the Year's special topic.
The European Year can also send a strong commitment and political signal from the EU institutions and member governments that the subject will be taken into consideration in future policy-making.
In some cases, the European Commission may propose new legislation on the theme. [11]
This European Year of Combating Violence against Women didn't happen.
Věra Jourová, European Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality,
took the initiative to dedicate 2017 to ending violence against women
through a year of focused actions that aims to connect all efforts across the European Union to stop violence against women. [12]
The Commission had proposed the 'year' as part of a push for the European Union to ratify the Istanbul Convention. [13]
During 2017 the European Commission has launched a series of actions to combat violence against women and girls in all its forms. [14][15][16][17]
They have also allocated €10 million to support grassroot efforts to prevent gender-based violence and support its victims in the European Union. [18]
So, with all these efforts, it seems even more extraordinary that 2017 is not allowed to be recognised and listed as an
official European Year,
but can only be an unofficial, informal, off-the-record one.
-Since April 2017 I have written different emails to the European Commission asking for an answer. In September 2017 they got back to me but without answering the actual question. In November 2017 they sent me a second answer with a very detailed list of the initiatives they planned for the future but again without answering my actual question. So I have written them new email asking to read the formal minutes of the last meeting when this matter was in the agenda. They answered to me that 'they don't have the minutes of such meeting'-
Female genital mutilation (FGM), rape and circumcision are not bound by race or religion.
These practices are widespread throughout the world: practices which are rooted in centuries of social and cultural traditions and in centuries of unequal power relations between human beings.
I referred to sources from the World Health Organization for both FGM [1][2] and circumcision data. [3][4]
Both men and women perpetrate sexual violence, however the vast majority of sexual offences are committed by men.
In this work my numbers only refer to men committing rape, which is defined as a type of sexual assault involving penetration of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without that person's consent.
I have tried to make an educated estimate of the amount of men committing this crime, not only considering male-female rape, but trying to consider all assaults perpetrated against women, children, transgender and other men.
I have based my numbers on long research through published papers and reports and online literature. [5][6][7][8].
After 2 years of work I have arrived at the conclusion that it is almost impossible to have a realistic estimate of the number of men worldwide who commit rape per year.
Not only is the accuracy of country by country statistics seemingly random because rape is so severely under reported due to the extreme social stigma attached, but police recorded crime statistics are also not necessarily trustworthy. There is strong evidence that the police under record crime to meet numerical targets and connected incentives. This is a reality not only in less developed, more corrupt countries where respect for human rights is only a distant dream, but also in countries such as the UK where respect for the rights of every human being is supposedly at the very heart of the social structure. [9]
In many countries data is not collected at all and where they are it is very fragmented and generally made on population based samples.
In some regions rape is not even considered a criminal offence.
In countries such as; China, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and India marital rape is legal.
In some countries rape is even institutionalised. In India and Pakistan, for instance, girls and women can be sentenced from orders of a tribal council to be gang raped as a punishment.
In United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia rape is not reported because rape victims are guilty of ‘illicit sex’, imprisoned for extramarital sex and subjected to corporal punishment.
In many countries rape is rarely reported, due to the social stigma cast on those who have been raped and for the fear of being subjected to violence from their own family (honour killing).
In war zones (during armed conflicts) rape can be used as military strategy, as a weapon, on girls, boys, women and men and it is impossible to quantify a number. [10]
Worldwide it is difficult to have numbers for child rape because generally these abuses aren’t reported until the victims become teenagers or adults who finally find the courage to speak out many years later.
Worldwide it is impossible to quantify a number for rape on people with intellectual disabilities.
Worldwide it is impossible to define a number for rape on vulnerable adults.
Worldwide it is impossible to define a number for rape in the military.
Worldwide it is impossible to define a number for rape in jail.
Worldwide it is impossible to define a number for human beings that have been exploited against their will in sex trafficking. [11]
Worldwide the rape of men is still such a taboo subject that no country has realistic numbers.
Worldwide it is impossible to have statistics about transgender rape because in many countries they are obliged to live secret lives, thus accepting every abuse in silence to avoid further consequences / violence.
Worldwide statistical data available on child marriage is not representative of the scale of the problem because most child marriages are unregistered and take place as unofficial religious marriages. Child marriage is still widespread as part of the cultural tradition in developing countries such as Africa, India and Latin America. In communities based on Sharia law it is a common practice to marry a girl less than 13 years old, so the issue is also spreading globally in developed countries.
For all these reasons, it is impossible to have an accurate number for the amount of men committing rape and I have had to accept to use an educated estimate to achieve the impact of this work. I hope that one day this horrible endemic plague will be less widespread and deeply rooted and meanwhile increased research will be able to achieve a more accurate number.
It has been at the heart of this work from the beginning to try and provide very direct facts and numbers to create awareness and discomfort to give the viewer a reason to feel a real involvement in problems that we think are much further away from reality than they actually are.
A reflection on the long term consequences of family violence.
Triptych for Little Girls
This work investigates the consequences that centuries of education, tailored by a patriarchal society,
have given to generations of women making them loose their identity and sense of reality.
2006
Sono Cittadina d... (I am Citizen of...)
Urban political performance about human beings' state in this world of globalization.
2004
Rosso (Red)
Thoughts on the first cut of a self harming person.
Selfitis is an obsessive-compulsive desire to take photos by oneself and post them on social media.
Research increasingly draws connections between heavily filtered selfies and increased body dissatisfaction. A new term has emerged to describe this phenomenon: Snapchat dysmorphia.
According to 'Selfie Statistics, Demographics, & Fun Facts (2022)'
_92 million selfies are taken every day.
_On average Millenials will spend over 10 years of their lives taking selfies.
_There has been a 13% increase in requests at plastic surgeries by people wanting to look like their filtered selfies.
_Drowning is the primary cause of death while taking selfies:
more people die from taking selfies than from shark attacks.
It is important to ensure that digital technologies don't impact negatively on our mental, physical and emotional health. To do so we need to find a correct balance between our 'real' and 'online' lives.
For more information on digital wellbeing visit https://digitalwellbeing.org/what-is-digital-wellbeing-a-list-of-definitions/