We don't want to take it any more!

Youtube entertainment group BuzzFeed have created various videos on topic of women empowerment which perfectly displays the situations with what women have to deal on daily basis but shouldn't be like that.

We are living in a society where female bodies and choices are criticized constantly. It comes from media and sometimes even very close people. We are tired of all that - listening that our bodies are not OK the way they are, catcalling, online harassment and being called in the worst names when we decide to take a stand for our decisions.

Nowadays we are having many stereotypes on what is feminism. It has become a negative concept despite the actual fact that feminism is a movement towards equality between genders. My guess is that it came out as a negative concept because women are getting angry and becoming more aggressive because of the way we are treated.

Unfortunately, almost all women can relate abusive, harassing and/or uncomfortable situations from men and we are the ones who are blamed for that.  The problem is that if we say "no" or express our aversion in a calm, polite way it's almost never taken seriously. And this is what makes us angry and more aggressive. We don't want to be puppets of the patriarchy, we want to be in charge of ourselves and that our choices are respected no matter which way of living we choose.

We want to be heard and we want to protect our sisters all over the world. We simply won't take it any more, it's time for development and changes.

Momal ♥ Being a Girl

Through contacts made in WSYA and Women Deliver, we are happy to present:

Name: Momal Mushtaq, creator of thevoiceofyouth.com and thefreedomtraveller.com

I enjoy doing anything that would fall under the category of social media, social entrepreneurship and/or social work.

I founded The Voice of Youth (tVoY) in June 2010. It is an award-winning youth network spread across 151 countries of the world. Social media as an alternate form of media has brought the conflict zones of the world into limelight. With the vision of a peaceful society, one of the goals of tVoY is to speak to millions about resolution of conflicts, their nature and root causes. Our focus is on the young people. By sharing their story, we feel they can be a great source of inspiration and encouragement to those who are going through similar situations.

Other than that, I recently launched The Freedom Traveller. I call it "a young Pakistani woman's uprising, her desire to be free and her dream to travel the world." I come from a male-dominated society where girls can't go out alone anywhere – be it the store or the university – everything is dependent on males. Considering this, just being abroad has been 'precious' for me, because that's when I got to experience the true essence of freedom, and you can talk about it, think about it, see it in on television screen but you can't feel it. I have launched The Freedom Traveller to continue my journey as a traveler, redefine the word 'freedom' for women and highlight the work of other inspiring women from around the world. 

The world would be a better place if everybody would:

See The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)

Listen to TED Talks (I ♥ Being a Girl seconds that, see here)

Read The Five People You Meet in Heaven (2003) by Mitch Albom

Try following their heart.

Before I'm 80, I'd like to travel the world.

I ♥ Being a Girl at WD'13: Fungai Machirori

During our time at Women Deliver, we were happy to meet many active and aspirational young women.One of them, and one of Women Deliver 100 Young Leaders, is Fungai Machirori.

Fungai is the Founder and Managing Editor of Her Zimbabwe, a project she started in order to reach grassroots and marginal communities and women through social media. Fungai named the project HerZimbabwe, "Because it is her vision of Zimbabwe, her experience of this nation in the historical, pphysical, spiritual and futuristic."

She started the platform with zero funding, using her skills as a trainer and editor to other young activists who in tern helped her develop the website and its image.

The website provides a rich palette of personal stories, experiences and views on gender roles, inspirational leaders and development, sexuality, relationships, health and growing up and living as young woman in Zimbabwe. The website takes a honest approach to both the challenges that women face (either in Zimbabwe or globally) and the struggle to transform social-media input into real-life results and actions.

"I can’t put a price on a personal story. In my view, it’s the most precious thing that every one of us has; a narrative that defines us. I would like, through Her Zimbabwe, that these narratives be given freely and by women who have the right support systems to help them face whatever societal or cultural backlash they may experience."

You can also read more about Fungai's views and experiences at her personal blog here!

Friday is the (Inspirational) Movie Night: Hard Candy (2005)

#InspirationalMovie 

The party time is over. Here we are with some serious stuff.

Hard Candy (2005, David Slade) will make you debate and doubt. And it will shock you. For real. And surprise you with the outstanding work of then very young Ellen Page. It's a mind twister. It will make you question things. Which is good for you. Always.

Feature's tagline being "Strangers shouldn't talk to little girls", it is faithful to it. Doubting our notions of vulnerability, guilt, perversity, innocence, cyber safety and so on... it is triggering and you may never trust a 14-year old again in your life.
Well, you shouldn't have treated them as children beforehand...

(Disclaimer: We by no means suggest you take criminal justice in your own hands (after watching this one), it may end up being risk seeking behavior.)

SRHR work via Social Media (AIDS 2012 Youth-Pre)

So, here - yes, finally - is the presentation Annaïs and Maya gave during their Session on SRHR work via Social Media:

Srhr via Social media from jauatkales

And some Tumblr goodness shared during the session:

• Because I am a Woman
• Body Positive Zone
• Feminist Frequency
• Fuck Yeah Sex Education
• Fuck Yeah, Sex Positivity
• Fuck Yeah, Sex Positivity! Yes, there's 2 of those!
• Fuck Yeah, Sexual Health
• (hell, yeah) Scarleteen Recommended by Annaïs as the best, btw.
• Jessica Valenti
• Ms. Jamie Keiles
• QPOC In Like
• Sex as Subject Matter

Also, Laci Green is still on Youtube!

And Life in My Shoes - a very innovative approach to address the mix of personal and anonymous frequently needed when working with SRHR and people affected by HIV directly particular - was presented.

AIDS 2012 Youth-Pre, Day 2

Starting the Session on the labyrinths of Social Media and SRHR messaging using them!

The presentation they used in this Session is coming soon!

And, talking about the local I [heart] Being a Girl Tea Parties, ...

Trying to breathe (which does not always come easy).

Maya working on her 1st Day report to be found here!

And you just do not mess with people then!

TEDxTeen: Tavi Gevinson on Still Figuring it Out

The most awesome rule-breaker Tavi Gevinson talking about being a teenage girl,

You can find her fashion blog The Style Rookie here, the Rookie Magazine she's talking about here, and the pop culture role models she's mentioning are Lindsay Weir, Angela Chase and Stevie Nicks.

Who runs the social media? Girls, really?

Mari-Claire Price, the Executive Coordinator of the European Youth SRHR Network, YouAct, recently has raised a handful of really valid questions at Conversations for a Better World about the presence of girls in social media and the effectiveness of the social media campaigns among girls:

"I recently read an interesting article discussing the demographics of Facebook users across the world. To my surprise (and delight) the article stated that ‘women rule social networks’ with 64% of Twitter users, 58% of facebook users and 57% of Myspace users being female. A women ruled Facebook! DJ please, a request! Beyonce- Girls Run the World!

But looking closer at this study, we can see that the claim that ‘women rule social networks’ is nearly as questionable as the lyrics of that song…. do girls really run the world and do they really run social networks?"

You can read the whole thing here!