BY: Danielle Binks, Spinifex intern

What started as ‘Occupy Wall Street’ has grown to global youth in revolt against big business, conglomerates and the elitist 1%. But a disturbing trend of sexism, misogyny, abuse and determined apathy has become apparent within the ‘Occupy’ movement.

On October 10 a man was arrested at Occupy Wall Street for groping a woman. At the Occupy Denver protest, a man was arrested for groping a reporter. October has seen the Occupy movement embroiled in rape and sexual assault claims, as women at the Cleveland, Dallas, Portland and Glasgow protests have all come forward with allegations of tent city rapes.  

But what really makes a mockery of the Occupy movement is the response to these claims of sexual abuse amongst the protestors. When news broke of the Cleveland rape claim, one protestor even queried whether the abused woman was a ‘plant’, attempting to discredit the rally.

Occupy Baltimore released a ‘security statement’ pamphlet to their protestors which discouraged police involvement if any such crimes were committed. The Baltimore occupiers were heavily criticized for this ‘speak no evil’ stance, and have since revised their policies.

Julian Assange spoke at the Occupy London rally. The man behind Wikileaks has become the poster-boy for public dissent, but what many forget is the fact that Julian Assange is still under investigation for sexual molestation in Sweden.

The disparity of the Occupy protests is best represented in the YouTube video ‘Hot Chicks of Occupy Wall Street’ which has claimed millions of hits since it was first uploaded by amateur documentary filmmaker, Steven Greenstreet.

Set to a sedate instrumental tune, the video interviews fervent female protestors. One woman’s insights are particularly interesting for their Arab Spring reach, as she explains; “I’m originally Egyptian, so this is not new to me and I’m loving it. My faith in humanity has been restored.” Another woman is holding a sign that says: ‘I’m not homeless but my children will be.’ She is protesting for future prosperity; “I don’t want the burden to be on my children’s backs.”

These women are impassioned and proud. But you might miss their message as the camera greedily and distractedly pans their bodies. As the Egyptian protestor speaks, the camera zooms in on her long battling lashes and pretty pout. Greenstreet’s creepy camera sneakily zooms in on other female protestors colourful sleeve tattoos, gaping singlets and tracks their fingers as they ruffle long locks.

Greenstreet has said that his original intention for the video was purely ‘sophomoric’: “Pics of hot chicks being all protesty, videos of hot chicks beating drums in slow-mo, etc. But when we arrived at Zuccotti Park in New York City, it evolved into something more.”

Despite his original sleazy intentions, Greenstreet has recently come out swinging and defending his ‘Hot Chicks’ video, claiming a more political purpose for the ‘protesty’ hot chicks;

No, of course not. Because people would much rather listen to ‘Hot Chicks’ than ‘Women Citizens’ or, heck, ‘Women’ in general. Just ask the Occupy Baltimore organizers who would prefer rape victims kept their mouths shut while keeping those ‘We are the 99%’ signs held high. Maybe we should just be grateful that Greenstreet didn’t choose to title his video something truly degrading like ‘Wall Street Girls Gone Wild’. . .  although, I now see that YouTube is suggesting I watch a video called ‘Occupy Wall Street Sexy Bitch Fight.’

Is this what a revolution feels like? Gandhi said “Be the change you want to see in the world.” – but someone obviously hasn’t passed that little idiom onto the Occupy movement: ‘equality for all (especially the Hot Chicks)’.

 

By: Danielle Binks

Fifteen-year-old Merida (voiced by Kelly Macdonald) is a fiery-haired Scottish princess of Clan DunBroch. Although she unsuccessfully tries to mimic her Queen Mother’s lessons in ladylike behaviour, Merida takes after her brutish father, King Fergus (Billy Connolly) – she enjoys archery, horse riding and rock-climbing. Her mother, Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson), despairs that Merida will ever be a proper princess, and one day fit to rule her clan … so Elinor devises to bring the other three Scottish Clans of Dingwall, MacGuffin and Macintosh to DunBroch, where the three first-born Clan sons will battle it out for Merida’s hand in marriage.

Distraught by the prospect of being prize in a betrothal competition, Merida thinks she can battle for her own hand in marriage, but Elinor is not impressed. While Elinor tries to explain the importance of duty to her wilful young daughter, Merida likewise pleas with her mother to understand the importance of freedom and choosing her own fate – both their arguments fall on deaf ears.

It’s only with the curiously magical help of a looming stone structure, and follow-the-leader will-o’-the-wisps that Merida devises a new plan on how she can take control of her own life.

Brave is the new Disney/Pixar box-office smash-hit. But Brave is not your typical school holiday requisite movie-filler, it’s actually quite the feminist fairy-tale and a welcome breath of fresh-air…

The movie has been subject to some rather disturbing scrutiny in the US these past few weeks. It all started when Adam Markovitz, writing for Entertainment Weekly, asked: ‘Could the heroine of Pixar's Brave be gay?’. Much discussion and web-debate followed, the best of which probably came from the satirical Stephen Colbert, who rightfully stated: "Because any 15-year-old girl who resists an arranged marriage must be gay?" It’s a shame (and slightly creepy) that adult reviewers and commentators feel the need to box and label a Disney character and dissect her sexuality – and that’s really all it is, no matter how much they protest a ‘deeper reading of the text’, it comes down to unnecessary labelling, and because of that many reviewers seem to be missing the forest for the trees.

Yes. Merida is a welcome reprieve from the typical sing-songy, prince-obsessed Disney princesses of the past – instead of wearing tulle-filled pink dresses, she rides around in a gown chosen for her by Queen Elinor, which has perpetually ripped sleeves and skewed bodice, from where Merida has contorted to shoot her bow & arrow. Her hair is a wild mass, which seems to have a mind of its own, rather than the strange helmet-headed, block-colouring of those who came before her;
 


Merida is not a ‘perfect’ princess – she gets dirty and stuffs her face with cakes, she talks back to her mother and snorts when she laughs. She’s real and she’s messy and she’s just the sort of cartoon heroine young girls should be watching! Merida also enjoys a special connection with the DunBroch land, and she’s never happier than when she’s riding on her beloved horse Angus, rock-climbing or drinking from a hidden waterfall.



The big draw-card of Brave was, for me at least, the focus of a mother/daughter bond. The real heart of the story comes from Merida and Elinor’s push-and-pull relationship – and the second-half of the novel turns into a beautiful mother/daughter quest.

Now, Disney has gotten a lot better with regards to representations of mothers in their films. Gone are the days of wicked stepmothers, traumatic deaths of the mother (Bambi, gets me every time!) or just plain never-mentioned mothers (Aladdin, Beauty & The Beast, Pocahontas…). Admittedly, Brave isn’t 100% perfect (there’s a typical crone-like witch character – why is there never a wizard in this fateful role?!) But Brave really marks one of the first Disney movies where there’s a focus on the mother/daughter bond, not by default because of another absent or dead parent, but because the mother/daughter relationship is amongst the most complex and vital.



Arranged marriage and queenly duties aside, Merida and Elinor’s point of contention really isn’t so outlandish that women in the audience can’t relate – it boils down to Merida not living up to Elinor’s ideals. And isn’t that just a Pandora’s box of problems? And we are treated to both Merida and Elinor’s sides of the story – Elinor who just wants what’s best for her, and Merida who feels like she’ll never be good enough. If that sounds, surprisingly, like it will hit close to home for many viewers, then you’d be right. And if it sounds dauntingly complex for a Disney movie, you’d be right again – and that’s why Brave is so darn good.

Forget the ‘is she or isn’t she?’ discussions swirling around Brave and its tom-boy Princess, Merida. Go see this movie because it’s a darn good yarn about mothers and daughters, being yourself and, as a young woman, choosing your own path in life.

An extract from Invisible Women of Prehistory : Three million years of peace, six thousand years of war

by Judy Foster with Marlene Derlet

The Indian Neolithic Period (9,000–5,000 BP)

The earliest evidence of the Neolithic in the Indus River Valley lasted for 2,000 to 3,000 years, and may have spread from Anatolia through Iran. By 6,000 BP agriculture had spread throughout India. The Indus River area was the area most suited to agriculture, the growing of wheat and barley, and the domestication of cattle, sheep and goats. Women produced painted pottery. 

The Mehrgarh civilization

The most important Neolithic site in India is the recently rediscovered city of Mehrgarh situated near the Bolan Pass in Baluchistan, which is in north-west subcontinental India near the Iranian border. The city evidently covered an area of 250 hectares along the banks of the Bolon River. Mudbrick houses occupied the site, with each layer of houses built over a previous level as at Çatal Hüyük. Recent excavation levels reveal that this city was occupied well into the historic Indus civilisation.


  

                               

1. Group of clay bird goddesses from Mehrgarh

(8,000 BP)

2. Two clay bird goddesses, 8,000 BP

(Source 1–2: Mahmood, Mahmood, 2009)

3. A female figurine from Mehrgarh,              

5,000 years old, National Museum of Pakistan, Karachi

4. A figurine from Mehrgarh, c. 3,000 BP

(Source 3–4: Wikimedia Commons, 2013)

5. Romanian figurine (note the similarity to an

Old European snake goddess), front and side

views, Romania, 7,800 BP

(Source: Gimbutas, Marija, 1991)

All line drawings © Judy Foster, 2013

Archaeologist J.F. Jarrige began to excavate Mehrgarh in 1974 and archaeological work lasted until the end of the 1980s. There are a number of reports providing details of the prehistory of Mehrgarh, including those of Gregory Possehl (1982) and Dilip Chakrabarti’s Oxford Companion to Indian Archaeology (2006). These reports record the five earliest levels of Mehrgarh occupation which fall within the Neolithic period.

Level one (11,000−9,000 BP)

This date equates Mehrgarh with Çatal Hüyük in Anatolia. There is evidence here of the earliest domestication of barley, cattle, sheep and goats. Around 9,000 BP rice cultivation is apparent, watered by an early form of irrigation. Houses with a number of rooms, including storerooms, were made of mudbricks with floors covered in reeds. They were interspersed with open spaces, possibly courtyards used for domestic functions, rituals and burials. Some houses featured interconnecting rooms and doors with lintels. One large broken pot, decorated with external ridged lines and an interior design of a snake, was found along with several complete goblets and other beautiful painted vessels. The reports make no mention of the city layout at this point.

Tools included microliths, harvesting tools, a few stone vessels, and some unbaked clay figurines but no pottery. Burials contained grave goods including goats, baskets of food, and lumps of red ochre. Shell, dentate shells, calcite beaded necklaces, mother-of-pearl and shell pendants, steatite beaded belts, anklets of calcite beads, bone rings and, sometimes, turquoise and lapis lazuli beads which could have been traded from Afghanistan, were also found in graves. Some burials were contained within specially constructed low brick walls, and occasionally bodies were compacted to make room for later burials. Nothing is known as yet about the sex or status of the dead. Terracotta human figurines (probably representing the female principle) are significant at this time, with one well-executed example with a tubular body, pinched nose, and legs joined, suggesting a new form of imagery emerging.

These figurines depicted women with long hair and garments decorated with raised designs of flowers reaching to the ground, their arms positioned to draw attention to exposed breasts.

Level two (9,000−7,500 BP)

A small copper ingot and two beads were found, as well as a terracotta bead incised with a design which could have been used to make patterns on wet clay. Wheel-made pottery made its appearance alongside earlier handmade pottery. Cotton was apparently grown under irrigation, and trade was very important to the economy. Red ware pottery featuring pipal leaves was common, while the first use of fired grey pottery items was evident. Distinctive female figurines from this period displayed carefully modelled complex hairstyles, round heavy breasts and joined legs.

Gregory Possehl’s 1982 account reports that there was also evidence of an early form of dentistry with artificial drilling on the teeth of some individuals. It is thought that the method of drilling using flint drill bits was similar to the technique used for making holes in beads. There is no further evidence of dentistry after 6,500 BP. According to the original report in Nature, A. Coppa et al “describe eleven drilled molar crowns from nine adults discovered in a Neolithic graveyard in Pakistan that dates from 7,500 to 9000 years ago... [providing] evidence for a long tradition of a type of proto-dentistry in an early farming culture.” 
(This period equates to level one at Harappa)

Level three (7,500–5,500 BP)

There was an indication of possible changes to social organisation, for example, a large complex of storerooms suggested a surplus of crops. There was more craft specialization including bow drills, suggesting shell engraving; and terracotta crucibles with traces of copper indicated copper smelting which was most likely used in jewellery, as no war weapons were reported. Wheel-made pottery featured a variety of regional designs. A few terracotta humped cattle were found, and were perhaps of religious significance as they had been at Çatal Hüyük. Terracotta female figurines retained the tubular body but one type of image now featured broad hips, and cloth draped around the waist, while a second style had a similar-shaped head with pinched nose, pendulous breasts, broad hips and legs joined together. 

Level four (5,500 BP)

Although houses were similar to those in the past, rooms were now interconnected through doorways with wooden lintels which could be quite low in height as they were earlier in Çatal Hüyük. There was one room which may have had a special purpose, according to Dilip Chakrabarti. It contained grinding stones, pestles, a storage jar, a large broken basin with ridges and snake decorations inside, fine undamaged goblets, beautifully painted vessels, blades, bones, and various kinds of pottery. He also noted a new form of tubular-shaped terracotta female figurine, still with joined legs, featuring large coils of hair on each side of the head, incised eyes, and strands of necklaces around neck, large breasts and hips.

Level five (5,300–4,500 BP)

Brick walls were no longer associated with burials. Dilip Chakrabarti describes how the heads of bodies were carefully placed on brick ‘pillows’, laid east-west, and sometimes turned to face the south. There was only one collective burial. The first sign of the importance of women was demonstrated by the inclusion of two painted wheel-made pots as grave goods. Another grave contained a circular, compartmented stamp-seal of copper/bronze placed near the woman’s head. Jewellery was often included in grave: necklaces and head ornaments, and sometimes pendants of semi-precious stones worn with or without the necklaces, were placed on what were presumably female graves. People’s teeth were in good order because of a naturally high incidence of fluoride in the local water. Mahmood Mahmood refers to the importance of the female figurines over this period as representing the earliest form of the ‘matriarchal’ goddess Indria (Early Harappa period).

Mehrgarh level five evidence gradually disappears at about the same time as the beginning of the mature stage (classic period) of the Harappan civilisation (4,800–3,900 BP) and it is also around this time that Indo-European influences began to appear in the Indus Valley. Although the pre-Indus civilisation is dated to between 5,500 and 5,000 BP, the brief glimpse of Mehrgarh that is available at this time is not extensive enough to discern the signs of change into a hierarchic society. In fact at level five (4,000 BP) there is not much change, but at level six (3,500 BP) the first signs of Indo-European influences are immediately apparent. For example, a large pottery kiln suggests pottery production for a market economy. Pottery had always been a specialized craft/skill practiced exclusively by women in the past but now it appears that they may have had to work for others.


                              

 

1. Two terracotta female figurines from Early

Harappa/Late Mehrgarh

2. Female figurine with painted features

(Source 1–2: Clark, Sharri R., 2001)

3. Female figurine, Late Harappa/Early

Mohenjo-daro period

4. Female figurine with infant from Early

Mohenjo-daro period

5. The famous Dancing Girl, Late Mohenjodaro/

Early Historic period

6. Early example of the Indus script

Source 3–6: Kenoyer, J.M., 2008–2010)

All line drawings © Judy Foster, 2013

Extract taken from Invisible Women of Prehistory
PP 185-189 

Don't buy into commercialisation this Mother's Day . . .

by: Veronica Sullivan & Danielle Binks 

Look around at the advertising for Mother’s day. This celebration honouring mothers has, for some big businesses, become just another money-making scheme: a distortion and commercialization of motherhood.

Some of the advertising is frustratingly clichéd; working on a 1950s assumption that mother’s are content to be given pyjamas, cookbooks and chocolates (all presents that conveniently keep them in the home):

Sometimes the advertising is utterly superficial and empty-hearted, suggesting that a mother’s worth is in the ring on her finger or diamonds in her ears:

And then there’s the down-right sleazy;

Spinifex urges you to avoid the widespread materialistelements of Mother’s Day, and opt for a shared experience with mum, and maybe the rest of the family too.

Here are some sustainable, ethical options which are inexpensive and focus on sharing time together, rather than money. Go out for a meal and a chat together, or try some outdoor activities and excursions.

Getting out and about

Go for a bushwalk: There are some stunning bushwalking options located close to the city. Try the George Bass Coast, the Dandenongs or Mt Evelyn.

Compete in the Mother’s Day Classic together: Events are being held in all capital cities and many regional locations across Australia this mother’s day. The event raises money and awareness for Breast Cancer Research. The Melbourne event involves a 4km or 8km walk or run so you can pick and choose according to your ability level.

Or a less strenuous walk: Along Merri Creek, around Port Philip Bay, or the Tan track at the Botanical Gardens. Being together and away from artificial distractions is a calming and rewarding treat for anyone and allows for catch up time.

Or how about a boat trip:  A trip along the Yarra gives you a whole new perspective on the city. See it differently and remember it forever.

Visit your local produce market – South Melbourne, Queen Vic, or Prahran: Visit your local market first thing Sunday morning and pick up some fresh fruit. Take it home and juice up a fresh breakfast drink for mum.

Camberwell Market – Camberwell: Visit the Camberwell market from 6am-12pm with your mum. Give her a “voucher” for a suitable amount and tell her she can take her pick from the endless stalls of recycled and preloved clothes, books, arts, ANYTHING.

Rose Street Artists Markets – Fitzroy: A range of lovingly handmade crafts, clothes, jewellery, collectable and vintage items. Open Sat and Sun 11am-5pm, so you can buy a gift beforehand or visit together.

Abbotsford Convent – Abbotsford: Entry to the historic buildings and grounds of the Abbotsford Convent is free. Visit the artist studios, enjoy the gardens and have lunch at one of several cafes within the convent walls. Sunday tours of the convent are available from 2pm. And you can gift 'The Abbotsford Mysteries' as a companion poetry book.

Garden together – Get your hands dirty in your own backyard (weather permitting). May is the month to plant beans, mushrooms, onions, spinach and various herbs.

Japanese Bath House – Collingwood: Single sex communal baths at 41 degrees, followed by shiatsu massage. This traditional onsen is the perfect way to relax together.

Eating and drinking

The Pantry – South Melbourne Commons: Wholesale, locally farmed and grown produce.

Ripe Restaurant – Sassafras: Enjoy the gorgeous drive up to the Dandenong mountains and then an honest, hearty lunch at one of the most underrated restaurants in Melbourne.

Sunny Ridge Strawberry Farm – Main Ridge, Mornington Peninsula: Unfortunately the self-pick season, always popular with kids, is closed for winter. But SunnyRidge still have a wide variety of homemade strawberry products for sale, including jams, syrups, ice creams and sorbets, and strawberry wines and champagnes.

Heide Museum of Modern Art – Bulleen: Galleries, the kitchen garden, the outdoor sculpture garden and Café Vue (which cooks with fresh produce from the gardens). A classic special occasion destination.

Lentil As Anything – Abbotsford, Footscray, St Kilda: Still the original and best option for vegetarian food, with vegan and gluten free options available. Payment for meals is done by donation, so you decide the price you feel is fair for your meal. Money raised is put straight back into the local community.

Soul Mama – St Kilda: Slightly fancier and pricier vego fare in generous portions, with anextensive wine list.

Ripe Organic Grocer – Albert Park: Organic and wholefoods fresh. Eat them in the café or take home for later. Including juices squeezed fresh while you wait.

Alternative Gifts

Contrary to popular advertising, mothers do not need chocolates, or another flannel pyjama set. Here are some suggestions for special or slightly unusual gifts which think outside the box a little bit:

1000 Pound Bend – CBD: Support local artists at this small exhibition space in the heart of the city, where you can buy an eclectic range of artworks.

Organic coffee: A range of blends, all organic and fair-trade, available to purchase online.

Oxfam Unwrappedoptions: OxFam have a huge range of donation options, which specify where your money is going so you can feel connected to the charity process. Giftsinclude Support and Essential for Midwives in Laos ($35), Pre-Natal Classes for Cambodian Mothers ($55), and Security and Education for South African Children Orphaned by HIV ($97).

The Guide to Ethical Supermarket Shopping 2012 ($7.00)

Notebook ($9.00) – made locally in Melbourne out of salvaged folders and letterhead

Books

Books are the best presents, but don’t insult your mum’s intelligence with chicklit or a cooking book. Here are some intelligent, literary, questing book suggestions:

Spinifex titles

• Bite Your Tongue by Francesca Rendle-Short




• The Unfinished Revolution: Voices from the Global Fight for Women’s Rights ed. by Minky Worden




• My Sister Chaos by Lara Fergus




• Fish-Hair Woman by Merlinda Bobis




• Remember the Tarantella by Finola Moorhead

* Letter to the Editor

Anne Summers posed the question of whether you can be a political conservative and a feminist. Her answer was yes. I disagree. At its heart, feminism is about acknowledging the systemic oppression of women coupled with a desire to do something about it. It is about recognition of the need for a collective social movement to bring about societal change.

This definition of feminism also influences how one views the contentious issue of abortion. For Summers, abortion is just about individual choice. An alternative feminist approach is to question the role of abortion in alleviating the inconvenient consequences for men of sex. At a time when we are so prepared to acknowledge the massive emotional and spiritual ramifications of children given up for adoption, children born through donated sperm or egg (with many of those children desperate to find out about their biological origins), the forced surrender of babies born to young unwed mothers, and the loss of a baby through miscarriage and stillbirth, why is it that abortion must be reduced to the realm of a simple medical procedure without consequences?

To deny the impact that abortion has on many women is to give men a free pass in terms of their sexual responsibility. After all, if men can undo pregnancy by putting the onus on a woman to have a medical procedure to solve the inconvenience of a baby, where is the justice in that?

Anne Summers equates women’s ability to be independent with the right to control fertility. She says that “women might choose periods of dependence on a husband or someone else while they raise children...but the key is that this is a voluntary state.” How appalling that motherhood can be diminished in this way as a regressive time from which one quickly recovers and bounces back to independence (which sounds suspiciously akin to being more like a man). What feminism must and should advocate for is that women in all our states of being— old or young; married or not; with children or not; gay or straight; sick or well—are equally worthy to any man. Feminism must speak to those in poverty as well as to those who “can choose periods of dependence”, and this means challenging the operative social norms that privilege the individual, and personal financial success, at the expense of community well-being.

Women, especially those who may be reliant on social welfare such as single mothers, should not be demeaned for relying on others for financial support. Indeed, in a just society, that is what we do, just as we should do for the unemployed, for refugees, for those with disabilities, and for those who are aged or infirm. To deny the role of a society in looking after its own citizens and to put financial independence as the pinnacle of achievement is to deny the collective nature of feminism and the characteristics of the social structures that hinder or support women’s choices.

Women’s empowerment must happen but that cannot take place in an environment where our bodies are demeaned and become our enemies. Medical procedures have consequences, including emotional ones and this truth cannot be denied. Let women choose abortion, but to present it to them as a bland option about “freedom of choice” is to reinforce a lie. Put abortion where it belongs—in a social context, and as a consequence of sexuality that involves both women and men. It is frankly not good enough to absolve society of its obligations or to deflect attention from the social structures that impel many women to seek an abortion. If workplaces-and attitudes to women, motherhood and community were different-so might be the choices that women make.

Pauline Hopkins

* This piece was originally a letter to the editor, in response to the Anne Summers article 'There is no such thing as a pro-life feminist', which appeared in The Age on January 22, 2012.