Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts
3.4.16
30.3.16
Even in 2016, listening to our bodies is a radical idea
Frist published in the Bristol Cable.
Bex Baxter, a director of Coexist and facilitator and life coach, is not entirely sure why this story has been so big, but wonders if it could be the phrase ‘period policy’ itself.
“The word ‘period’ represents the core of life – what it is to be a woman, and ‘policy’ represents the patriarchal mechanism to control people to make sure they don’t abuse the system,” Baxter says. The combination of these two words presents us with an unexpected combination of ideas that seem to be in tension with each other.
Coexist, who manage Hamilton House in Stokes Croft, announced their plan to create a period policy for their staff in February, aiming to recognise and plan work around employee’s natural cycles.
The Coexist policy is currently in process and will address all natural cycles, including the menstrual cycle. Baxter says that even in it’s most basic form, any period policy at all – even voluntary – is radical, “We offer choice. Some women might not want to take it, but we will support women if they think it’s beneficial to them.”
Baxter thinks we are misinformed about our menstrual cycles:
As Baxter argues, resistance is an opportunity for change and Coexist are happy to be the first to the party, even if they are not exactly sure why this story has been so explosive. “If we at Coexist can begin to pull it apart, then it might give other people confidence to explore it for themselves.”
Baxter confirms that this could be the beginning of something bigger, “Women in pain is almost missing the point, but it is a starting point. I don’t mind wherever anyone is in the conversation as long as the conversation is happening.”
Bristol company Coexist have caused a media sensation by discussing a ‘period policy’ for its majority female workforce – the shocking idea that women who need to take time off to deal with menstrual pain should be able to.
While most coverage was supportive or ambivalent, some commentators such as the callers on LBC radio slammed it as ‘a very convenient girly card’, and unfair to men. It seems acknowledging that severe period pain, is, well, painful is still a radical idea in 2016. And that’s not even taking the feminist politics into account.Bex Baxter, a director of Coexist and facilitator and life coach, is not entirely sure why this story has been so big, but wonders if it could be the phrase ‘period policy’ itself.
“The word ‘period’ represents the core of life – what it is to be a woman, and ‘policy’ represents the patriarchal mechanism to control people to make sure they don’t abuse the system,” Baxter says. The combination of these two words presents us with an unexpected combination of ideas that seem to be in tension with each other.
Coexist, who manage Hamilton House in Stokes Croft, announced their plan to create a period policy for their staff in February, aiming to recognise and plan work around employee’s natural cycles.
The Coexist policy is currently in process and will address all natural cycles, including the menstrual cycle. Baxter says that even in it’s most basic form, any period policy at all – even voluntary – is radical, “We offer choice. Some women might not want to take it, but we will support women if they think it’s beneficial to them.”
“It is revolutionary… It’s about truth.”
Headlines latching on to the idea that women could be given time off work due to bad period pains have almost universally missed the wider point. They’ve instead highlighted that capital is the priority as opposed to health, menstruation has been medicalised, and talking about periods in general is still taboo. For Baxter it’s much bigger than one day off work a month.“It is revolutionary. It is groundbreaking work. It’s about truth. The reality is that women have periods and they shouldn’t be a problem – they’re not a sickness.” Baxter said, “Sickness can occur when natural cycles have been repressed, because women are not being given permission to recognise and work with these cycles.”Behind this policy is a way of valuing our natural cycles in all aspects of our lives – not just the workplace, suggesting that humans are cyclical beings trying to fit into a linear society.
Baxter thinks we are misinformed about our menstrual cycles:
“Even for women it’s taboo, they are embarrassed and ashamed of their periods, feeling that these natural cycles repress them, making them the weaker sex. This is old debris but still in our consciousness.”The power of our menstrual cycle can be used intelligently for emotional help. “When this happens,” Baxter said, “women become powerhouses.” Could this be the beginning of a self-care revolution?
As Baxter argues, resistance is an opportunity for change and Coexist are happy to be the first to the party, even if they are not exactly sure why this story has been so explosive. “If we at Coexist can begin to pull it apart, then it might give other people confidence to explore it for themselves.”
Baxter confirms that this could be the beginning of something bigger, “Women in pain is almost missing the point, but it is a starting point. I don’t mind wherever anyone is in the conversation as long as the conversation is happening.”
7.12.15
9.11.15
4.10.14
9.9.14
23.6.14
#FreeAJstaff
Today is indeed a dark day for journalism. Three members of Al Jazeera english have been trialled and sentenced to more than 7 years each in Egypt, for "endangering Egypt's national security."
Read more in the Guardian and follow the discussion on twitter.
This news reminded me mainly of two things. The documentary 'War Photographer' on the inspirational photographer James Nachtwey, and this TED lecture from journalist Janine di Giovanni 'What I saw in the war'.
Read more in the Guardian and follow the discussion on twitter.
This news reminded me mainly of two things. The documentary 'War Photographer' on the inspirational photographer James Nachtwey, and this TED lecture from journalist Janine di Giovanni 'What I saw in the war'.
19.6.14
5.4.14
5.3.14
9.2.14
frack off
I'm not going to go into a huge rant about fracking, complaining about the environmental and human impacts of drilling down and squirting a load of undisclosed chemicals into the ground to try and shake up some underground gas to attempt to harness, in the process polluting water sources and creating small earthquakes.
Just watch this film if you haven't already, and then keep your eyes and ears open because it's already happening in the UK. If you're in Bristol (like me) hit up Frack free Bristol, or send some support to the Barton Moss protesters up in Manchester, or visit the Frack-Off map to find out if your area is at risk.
(probably is)
Just watch this film if you haven't already, and then keep your eyes and ears open because it's already happening in the UK. If you're in Bristol (like me) hit up Frack free Bristol, or send some support to the Barton Moss protesters up in Manchester, or visit the Frack-Off map to find out if your area is at risk.
(probably is)
East of Eden
"Sometimes a kind of glory lights up the mind of a man. It happens to nearly everyone. You can feel it growing or preparing like a fuse burning toward dynamite. It is a feeling in the stomach, a delight of the nerves, of the forearms. The skin tastes the air, and every deep drawn breath is sweet. Its beginning has the pleasure of a deep stretching yawn. It flashes in the brain and the whole world glows outside your eyes. A man may have lived all of his life in the gray, and the land and trees of him dark and somber. The events, even the important ones, may have trooped by faceless and pale. And then - the glory - so that a cricket song sweetens his ears, the smell of the earth rises chanting to his nose, and dappling light under a tree blesses his eyes. Then a man pours outward, a torrent of him, and yet he is not diminished by the quality and number of his glories. It is a lonely thing but it relates us to the world. It is the mother of all creativeness and it sets each man separate from all other men.
I don't know how it will be in the years to come. There are monstrous changes taking place in the world, forces shaping a future whose face we do not know. Some of these forces seem evil to us, perhaps not in themselves but because their tendency is to eliminate other things we hold good. It is true that two men can lift a bigger stone than one man. A group can build automobiles quicker and better than one man, and bread from a huge factory is cheaper and more uniform. When our food and clothing and housing all are born in the complication of mass production, mass method is bound to get into our thinking and eliminate all other thinking. In our time mass or collective production has entered our economics, our politics, and even our religion, so that some nations have substituted the idea collective for the idea of God. This in my time is the danger. There is great tension in the world, tension toward a breaking point, and men are unhappy and confused.
At such a time it seems natural and good to me to ask myself these questions. What do I believe in? What must I fight for and what must I fight against?"
John Steinbeck, East of Eden, pub. 1952
I don't know how it will be in the years to come. There are monstrous changes taking place in the world, forces shaping a future whose face we do not know. Some of these forces seem evil to us, perhaps not in themselves but because their tendency is to eliminate other things we hold good. It is true that two men can lift a bigger stone than one man. A group can build automobiles quicker and better than one man, and bread from a huge factory is cheaper and more uniform. When our food and clothing and housing all are born in the complication of mass production, mass method is bound to get into our thinking and eliminate all other thinking. In our time mass or collective production has entered our economics, our politics, and even our religion, so that some nations have substituted the idea collective for the idea of God. This in my time is the danger. There is great tension in the world, tension toward a breaking point, and men are unhappy and confused.
At such a time it seems natural and good to me to ask myself these questions. What do I believe in? What must I fight for and what must I fight against?"
John Steinbeck, East of Eden, pub. 1952
14.10.13
Visualizing occupation
Freedom of movement.
Or rather, denial of freedom of movement.
Other corkers include: Prisoners, water access, and protest.
Or rather, denial of freedom of movement.
Other corkers include: Prisoners, water access, and protest.
20.3.13
no dash for gas
This lot did some direct action in the name of climate crime.
EDF tried to sue them £5million.
Over 65,000 people singed a petition in opposition...
And No Dash for Gas won.
This video explains why they climbed up a power station and occupied it for a week.
If you want to know more, go here, here or here.
EDF tried to sue them £5million.
Over 65,000 people singed a petition in opposition...
And No Dash for Gas won.
This video explains why they climbed up a power station and occupied it for a week.
If you want to know more, go here, here or here.
the spirit level
I'm reading The spirit level: why equality is better for everyone, at the moment.
I'm halfway through and it seems to be taking me forever. This is probably due to my reading a handful of other books at the same time (mainly novels) that always seem to win. And this trailer, to be honest, is a bit shit. But the ideas are really good, and I consistently find myself using examples from the book in everyday chat... especially around SUV's in urban areas (hate that shit).
I'm halfway through and it seems to be taking me forever. This is probably due to my reading a handful of other books at the same time (mainly novels) that always seem to win. And this trailer, to be honest, is a bit shit. But the ideas are really good, and I consistently find myself using examples from the book in everyday chat... especially around SUV's in urban areas (hate that shit).
10.2.13
22.12.12
gardens
"The problem is, without community, no one feels responsible to anyone else."
this. this film. this film is important. it is also flawed - the people in it are flawed and the story starts off with a beautiful thing destroyed by a horrendous capitalist greed and selfishness that makes my blood boil. but it is an important story that needs to be told, and needs to be a lesson to us all in helping, respecting and encouraging each other to do good things and to work together to reap the rewards.
this. this film. this film is important. it is also flawed - the people in it are flawed and the story starts off with a beautiful thing destroyed by a horrendous capitalist greed and selfishness that makes my blood boil. but it is an important story that needs to be told, and needs to be a lesson to us all in helping, respecting and encouraging each other to do good things and to work together to reap the rewards.
12.12.12
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