Tag: women of nzpol

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Women of #nzpol Twitter roundup: THAT Tony Veitch post

The “Women of #nzpol Twitter roundup” is brought to you in the interests of amplifying women’s voices in the political debate and also because:

first wives you don't own me

I already posted yesterday on why Tony Veitch remains a danger to all women – because he directly, deliberately encourages a culture which doesn’t take violence seriously and erases his own horrific actions.

So here’s a perspective that – outside feministy Twitterati circles – we don’t get to hear a lot. There’s plenty of mainstream space for people like Tony Veitch to make excuses. There’s almost none for recognising exactly what personal impact this has on women.

https://twitter.com/Dovil/status/656224811543191552

And this post from the amazing Emily is recommended reading.

Women (and all oppressed people) have to live their lives with the constant background knowledge that they can be targets of violence. Not just from strangers in dark alleyways. From our family and partners and friends. And not only can we be targets of violence: the violence against us will be downplayed or completely erased. We will be gaslighted. Our abusers won’t just get let off the hook: they will be praised and promoted and guaranteed their old job back just as soon as the “fuss” dies down.

When we see “12 people you know follow Veitchy On Sport” it’s more than a simple fact. It’s an unconscious threat: these are people you know and love and trust, who you cannot rely on if someone hurts you.

It sounds ridiculous, if you’re not living with it. It sounds hysterical. It sounds paranoid. And we get to the heart of the issue: women are not trusted to tell the truth. Women are not trusted to report their own experience. So of course it doesn’t matter when women are hurt. How would you even know it really happened?

If Tony Veitch says he “had to rebuild his life after a horrible relationship”, who’s going to let facts get in the way? Not us.

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Women of #nzpol Twitter: on weight, food and pregnancy

The “Women of #nzpol Twitter roundup” is brought to you in the interests of amplifying women’s voices in the political debate and also because:

sansa misandry

I got the inside running on this one by catching five minutes of Breakfast on One’s interview with John Key:

The rest of the media weren’t far behind.

I just want to note the first sentence of the article Andrea Vance linked to:

More than 60 per cent of pregnant women gain more weight than is recommended, which has implications for a child’s weight later in life.

Not implications for health; implications for weight. We’re so wedded to the notion that being fat automatically means you’re unhealthy that we don’t even need to establish whether or not weight gain in pregnancy leads to health issues. It just must because ew, fatties.

Take it away, Twitter:

https://twitter.com/Dovil/status/655982421607755776

And back to me:

https://twitter.com/MorganHopes/status/655970896092377088

For many, many informed perspectives on what happens when you force fat people to go to the doctor, check out First Do No Harm.

This is a common tune for me, but I’m just going to repeat it: fatness does not equal poor health. Thinness does not equal good health. Correlating certain diseases with fatness does not mean fatness causes those diseases. Considering the incredibly fatphobic society we live in, it’s ludicrous not to consider the effects of stress, deprivation, and societally-applauded yo-yo dieting on the overall health of fat people, even IF fat people were inherently less healthy than thin people, which they’re not.

And when it comes to policing the every waking thought and action of pregnant people – including how much weight they gain during pregnancy – there really aren’t good grounds to be talking about “evidence-based approaches”.

Stop talking about weight. Stop judging people based on their weight. Stop buying into the weightloss industry’s propaganda. Because if you want to know the #1 reason why we’re not having national conversations about food access, living wages, family time, and health awareness? Maybe it’s something to do with the fact we keep saying it’s all fat people’s fault for not being able to put down the doughnuts.

And for god’s sake stop making pregnant people responsible for the welfare of our entire society.

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Women of #nzpol Twitter: on the TPP being signed

The “Women of #nzpol Twitter roundup” is brought to you in the interests of amplifying women’s voices in the political debate and also because:

wonder woman misandry

Yesterday in the wee hours of the morning, the TPP was finally declared signed. Women had thoughts about this thing which isn’t ~a women’s issue~!

https://twitter.com/Dovil/status/651093236711231488

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Women of #nzpol Twitter: on the incarceration of trans women in male prisons

The “Women of #nzpol Twitter roundup” is brought to you in the interests of amplifying women’s voices in the political debate and also because:

beauty and the beast misandry

[Content note: transphobia, sexual assault, corrections]

It was reported on the weekend that a prisoner at the Serco-run prison in Wiri had been physically and sexually assaulted. But that wasn’t the whole story.

Unfortunately, the fact that the prisoner is a trans woman was initially missed from media reports – and the story then became about Serco, not all the other concerns about where trans women are incarcerated.

@cannibality posted a great set of tweets about the wider issues of incarceration – and why we shouldn’t just blame Serco – starting here (click the timestamp to see the whole thread):

I feel a bit sorry for Jacinda Ardern, who copped a lot of the frustration from people – because no other political party said boo about the story. But there are some good grounds for criticism in Labour’s past treatment of issues affecting trans people, and erasing the fact that this case involved a trans woman in a men’s prison – an issue which covers all correctional facilities in NZ – felt like opportunism to some tweeters.

Another great thread from @cannibality begins here:

It’s easy enough to say “oh well, realpolitik, the story is easier to sell when it’s about Serco being vile” or “let’s focus on one issue at a time” – if you’re not trans and this is thus a problem you get to treat as abstract.

We can think of more than one thing at a time. We can condemn Serco for their horrific mismanagement and criticise the government for pursuing a privatisation agenda and agree that it’s simply inhumane and demeaning to incarcerate trans women with cis men.

The thing we (cis people) shouldn’t do is think our options are to either remain silent or ignore the serious issues at hand in order to push a different agenda.

No Pride in Prisons are holding a rally against Serco’s actions and Corrections’ lack of transparency about its treatment of trans prisoners, this Saturday at noon in Auckland. Please go and support them.

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Women of #nzpol Twitter roundup: Chris Brown’s tour

The “Women of #nzpol Twitter roundup” is brought to you in the interests of amplifying women’s voices in the political debate and also because:

hermione misandry

Yesterday’s roundup went well, so here’s another. The plan is to not always cover “women’s issues” with these – women are experts on far more than “just” that – but I play the hand I’m dealt …

There was the news:

https://twitter.com/newsworthynz/status/648735415415934976

And the response was complex. Some talked about the violence:

Some talked about race:

https://twitter.com/leahSQN/status/648747675022524416

Some talked about forgiveness and redemption:

And some pointed out our own track record as a country:

https://twitter.com/moscaddie/status/648767681043279872

And let’s not forget, in amongst the “but that was ages ago” rhetoric of Brown’s supporters: