Body image, again... (the topic that never gets old in Patriarchy)

Since very young age...

Surrounding us everywhere...

Affecting all of us, all the time... unless we rebel against it!

Although these are Dove ads and a submission for the Dove Fund, the conversation on bodies and how we inhabit them is relevant. Refuse to chip into the "I hate myself so much" bla-bla!

Think about the relationship you have with your body.
Read about it*! Get inspired!  

Organize a Tea Party and talk about it. 

Eat cake and love every bite of it! 

* Some reading matter on bodies (there's a gazillion out there, happy reading!):

• “Mom, I’m Fat:” One Mother’s Inspired Response to Her 7 Year Old
• Fat Grrrl Activism
• EMILY ASKS LESLEY: How Do I Stop Hating My Body? Backsliding Edition
• It Gets Fatter 
• “Dating While Fat And Feminist,” And The Nasty Things You Learn About People After You Lose Weight
• Me, My Boobs, and I
• Lazy Femme
• Beauty Privilege: Can We Talk?

World Summit Youth Award for I ♥ Being a Girl, take 1

The surprise-surprise (unless you follow YSAFE Twitter, which you should) is that I ♥ Being a Girl visits Montréal these days to RECEIVE A WORLD SUMMIT YOUTH AWARD for advancing MDGs via IT thingies aka this blog in the category Power 2 Women!

So, we are thrilled and amazed, and amused, and slightly terrified (the invitation says "bussiness formal" and we have just stupid flowers and rubber shoes).
Nevertheless, we'll overcome that anxiety by overdressing while staying excited and treat it like a big I ♥ Being a Girl Tea Party of Digital Solutions and inspirations.

We'll keep you posted!

IAC'12 I [Heart] Being a Girl session (THGS12) presentations

Finally, here are the presentations from the session we had at the International AIDS Conference.

As Jessie says in her report:

"Tea Parties are casual safe spaces for girls where anyone who is a feminist can come met up and speak up about their frustrations but also share their hopes for the future. The social pressures put on girls are often hypocritical, including how media portrays women as sexy and sex figures, but young women are condemned for expressing themselves sexually or wearing revealing clothes, or they’re expected to be working professionals taking care of themselves (even with a considerable stagnant pay gap), but once you have a family, you are “supposed” to become domestic and support your husband. Gender is a social construct that does not have to follow your biology. Your gender and how you express yourself should not be dictated by societal norms that are often oppressive. In the words of Leynah Gbowee, “It is time for women to stop being politely angry.” There are various forms of resistance to the prejudice of “being a girl” and support for young women looking to make a difference all over the world. In some rural parts, girls learn how to make reusable menstrual pads so that they can continually go to school, and have their privacy. We should have open discussions about questioning gender stereotyping and combat prejudice social norms, like the pay gap. Places like the Philippines are extremely strict when it comes to reproductive health especially for  women, and the results are harrowing; there are half a million unsafe abortions a year and cervical cancer is one of the top killers in the country. When women and more girls have a stronger and unified voice in civil society, they can start to change those societal norms."

IAC'12 IHBG from jauatkales

(Yes, the videos are not really there. The first one is the movie from the 2012 AIDS Conference that you can find here. And the second one is a surprise coming... for now we can say that it was made with a lot of help from all our beloved people in HERA, and that it's amazing!)

IHBG at IAC'12 Best Practice Nepal from jauatkales

(And, yes, obviously, this is the example of the simple fact that talking about and exploring sexualities, pleasure, taboos, barriers... well, you know, the empowerment stuff can be positive and can be - at the same time - very local and very universal indeed. Thank you so much, Shubha, for sharing this experience with us!)

AIDS 2012 THGS12 I [heart] Being a Girl Tea Party

Here you see few pictures taken after today's session (the second one, yes) where we were joined by Anzaira from IPPF MA in Philippines and Shubha from Y-PEER on talking about gender, the importance of positive focuses and such.
Presentations and more stories from the session coming soon, we promise!

Yes, we can!

Oh, IAC...

Hey, we are drooling over our IAC'2010 photos and preparing our Global Village activities for IAC'2012! 

We'll have the pleasure to have two Global Village sessions on July 26, one on Society, Sexuality and Pleasure and an I ♥ Being a Girl Tea Party.

We are saving the date already!

Much love,

your YSAFE  

a BIG thank you to all that made this project great..

The I❤BG project has officially ended, for now at least (but the blog will go on). With this occasion we would like to extend a BIG thank you to all who have been involved and contributed to the project. We couldn't have done it without you!

Here are a few of the many ways you helped our small project be a BIG success:

Since the launch of the I♥BG blog, we've had more than 7100 unique visitors from 109 different countries around the world.

You helped organize 11 I♥BG Tea-parties in 10 countries, where more than 120 young people participated in discussions on gender. 

You helped us create an amazing E-book filled with empowering stories which will help inspire others to overcome the challenges they face.

You helped us spread the word and empower girls and young women all over the world:

“It’s not about gender, it’s about you! You decide! Stigmatization, discrimination, they’re all there, they’ll always be, but it’s up to you to prove the world wrong, and more importantly, to prove yourself right.”

Participant in Romania

“There are numerous things which girls can feel proud of. But, important thing to understand and to realize is your inner strength. Rejoice every moment of life, developing such a spirit that would always make you think optimistic.”

Participant in Nepal

“There are many things that can be told about what it is like to be a girl. We are complicated, persistent and we always get what we want. But the secret is – sometimes finding out what we want is the hardest thing of all. But when a girl says "I love being a girl" - she means it, which is one of the few things she is sure of.”

Participant in Macedonia

You made us proud to present our project at more than 10 international events and meetings and helped us gain the support from many other youth networks and organisations.

So thank you for all your support and be sure to check the blog again soon. We promise we have a lot more in store for you.

Tea Party Stories

In September the Bulgarian MA had their first tea party. Here are our impressions:

Tea Party Bulgaria on Prezi

I ♥ Being a Girl Tea party !!!

Dear friends,

Because we had such a blast at our own I♥BG tea party at the Regional Council, we would like to invite you to organize your own. So here it is, our official invitation:

We, YSAFE, would like to invite you to participate in the “I ♥ being a girl” and to encourage you to organize your own IHBG Tea parties where you could spark positive discussion around a gender transformative approach, girl empowerment, as well as a broad range of SRHR related discussion topics to help lead the discussions, including discussion on sex and pregnancy.

Before the Tea party, please see the „I ♥ Being a Girl movie", our Youtube fanpage, and explore the blog. We are sure it will give you some good ideas or raise a good discussion.

If you want to organise your own event, please contact me, Renata, at this email address renata.daunoraviciute@gmail.com . I will send you everything you need to know about organising your own tea-party and I can answer any questions you may have.

We would be grateful if you could let us know who will be contact person for your I ♥ Being a Girl Tea party, and when are you planning to make it. Special surprises are waiting for those who decides to support the project and get involved.

Hope to hear from you very soon!

Renata