Friday is the (Inspirational) Movie Night: Ken Park (2002)

#inspirationalmovies

Even more complex and disturbing than Kids (1995), Ken Park (2002) is Larry Clark's and Edward Lachman's return to the world of teenagers, and this time it's Californian skaters already in 2000's. As you can see from the trailer, it may seem quite explicit and scandalous. You get nudity, sex, incest, violence... and all of it seems rather pointless, almost boredom driven.

This is the answer to some of the questions asked in Kids. Ken Park makes it clear that adolescents are not the weird and creepy ones. They've learned it the same way they learned their table manners and kick-flips. By seeing it happen again and again around them. Again, a stark reminder about our collective responsibility towards the young... and a visualization how it may go - and at times is going - terribly wrong in seemingly idyllic setting.   

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.)

WSYA Power 2 Women: Moraba / Mxolisi

As you should know by now, I ♥ Being a Girl received one of the 2012 World Summit Youth Awards. The award showcases the best ICT solutions made by young people that moves us closer to achieving the MDGs. Ours is - obviously - in the category Power to Women.
As we are far from being the only ones doing things around gender via the internets and such, here you have some more:   
 

Name: Mxolisi Xaba, Moraba, @afroesgames

I enjoy football, contemplative and introspective conversations, and being in the field taking social messages to youth challenging them to interrogate the choices they make for themselves.

Moraba came around because there was a need to begin to address young boys who were inheriting and receiving false messages and definitions around how to relate to their female counterparts. We were conscious that, although we wanted to address young boys with our intervention, we also did not want to make it exclusive to them because the most important attribute of our application is the fact that girls have a space in what is incorrectly considered a a male domain (gaming) to challenge these misconceptions through game play around issues of equality, forms of abuse, expectations in relationships, consequences of abuse, rights and responsibilities of persons. What we subsequently found after users engaged Moraba was that Moraba provided a platform for youth to engage each other on issues and questions they had regarding their gender roles. 

Moraba Gender Game from Phil G on Vimeo.
You can download the game here!

The idea and the implementation has proved itself to be so compelling that Al Jazeera has given them coverage!

Listening to the music of Basement Jaxx vs Metropole Orkest, Buena Vista Social Club and Ladysmith Black Mamabazo would make the world a better place.
So would reading the Bible, selected speeches of Marcus Garvey and a Biography of Yourself.
And watching the movie I don't ... a movement (1, 2) by Thuli Thabethe and Nonkuleko Ndlovu.
Trying to say nothing (keeping quiet, you know) for a week would do, too.

Before I'm 80 I would like to forgive those who have hurt me and be forgiven by those I have hurt.

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?

girls + toys

toys are for girls or boys playing

• How did we get here? by Princess Free Zone (2011-06-21)
• Lego is for girls by Brad Wieners at Bloomsberg Businessweek (2011-12-14)
• Lego and Dinsey are lazy by Princess Free Zone (2011-12-15)

I ♥ Being a Girl, the movie

The short with fragments of interviews made at the International AIDS Conference in Vienna this summer.

Gender as a Tool (animated)

An animation on Gender from lina + ole on Vimeo, found via Genderfork.