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.

the disturbing trends of YA cover girls

By: Stephanie Campisi

Wandering the young adult literature shelves these days is a Warholian experience: selecting a handful of books within the same subgenre and placing them side by side can yield results not unlike Andy's multi-coloured Campbell's Soup print.

At first glance, the plethora of similar covers speaks merely of a combination of slashed design budgets and a “me-too” mindset. But further analysis shows that these covers are not simply perpetuating the overuse of iStock photo images, but also a number of highly problematic messages.

The first of these is the headless heroine, which though perfectly suitable for a retelling of Sleepy Hollow is less so for other types of fiction. This approach to cover design involves photographic covers depicting women whose heads have been either partially or wholly cropped. Ostensibly this is to allow the reader to “imagine” the character, but in reality the result is objectification and dehumanisation—and often with lashings of frothy bubblegum pink

Fortunately, these types of designs have been subject to a high degree of scrutiny and criticism, and is slowly waning as the stylistic choice du jour. But that's not to say that the subsequent trends are any more positive.

Currently rife throughout the paranormal subgenre is the “sicky lass in pretty gown” cover trend. These covers--and owing to the overall popularity of this genre there are a disturbing number of them--typically comprise a pale-skinned girl dressed in a formal gown and being positioned in such a way that she seems utterly without agency. It's not unusual for these covers to depict girls swooning, lying helplessly on the ground, or leaping—one presumes—to oblivion. Indeed, Rachel Stark (assistant marketing manager of Bloomsbury and Walker Books for young readers) describes these covers as as representative of our “obsession with an elegant death”.

Such covers go beyond the issues raised by the headless heroine trend in that not only do they objectify the subject, but they seem to be normalising violence, and particularly romantic violence—which in this genre is all too often depicted as an “all-consuming” relationship to the detriment of (most usually) the heroine.

However, while some elements are overrepresented in young adult cover design, others are underrepresented, one of which being the use of people of colour in cover design. Admittedly, there are proportionally too few POC in young adult fiction generally, but even taking this into account the representation of such characters on book covers has been one that has invited much discussion and debate. Anecdotally, it seems that covers featuring POC main characters are less likely to receive a photographic cover. In addition, cases of “white washing” aren't unheard of: Justine Larbalestier's Liar Liar, which was originally released (in the US) with a white cover model despite having a POC main character is one case that received a good deal of attention.

But not all publishers are getting it wrong. In the past year there have been a number of evocative covers that don't rely on any of the above in their appeal to their audience. Take, for example, the stunning The Sky is Everywhere, which is elegant and evocative, Cath Crowley's eye-catching Graffiti Moon (which won an APA book design award) or Lia Weston's The Fortunes of Ruby White, or the two examples below of Laurie Halse Anderson's Chains. These, of course, are just a few of the many excellent designs out there—and with luck publishers will consider the issues raised by their cover designs and ensure that covers like these prevail.

Stephanie is a reviewer for 'Read in a Single Sitting'

 

By Vandana Shiva

Today the brave and courageous survivor of the Delhi gang rape breathed her last. This blog is a tribute to her and other victims of violence against women. 

 Violence against women is as old as patriarchy. But it has intensified and become more pervasive in the recent past. It has taken on more brutal forms, like the murder of the Delhi gang rape victim and the suicide of the 17 year old rape victim in Chandigarh.

Rape cases and cases of violence against women have increased over the years. The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) reported 10,068 rape cases in 1990 which increased to 16496 in 2000. With 24,206 cases in 2011, rape cases jumped to incredible increase of 873%from 1971 when NCRB started to record cases of rape. And Delhi has emerged as the rape capital of India, accounting for 25% cases. 

The movement to stop this violence must be sustained till justice is done for every one of our daughters and sisters who has been violated. 

And while we intensify our struggle for justice for women ,we need to also ask why rape cases have increased 240% since 1990’s when the New Economic policies were introduced. We need to examine the roots of the growing violence against women.

Could there be a connection between the growth of violent, undemocratically imposed, unjust and unfair, economic policies and the growth of crimes against women?

I believe there is.

Firstly, the economic model focusing myopically on “growth”, begins with violence against women by discounting their contribution to the economy. 

The more the government  talks ad nauseum about  “inclusive growth" and “Financial inclusion,” the more it excludes the contributions of women to the economy and society. According to patriarchal economic models, production for sustenance is counted as ‘non-production’. The transformation of value into disvalue, labour into non-labour, knowledge into non-knowledge, is achieved by the most powerful number that rules our lives, the patriarchal construct of GDP, Gross Domestic Product, which commentators have started to call the Gross Domestic Problem.

National accounting systems which are used for calculating growth as GDP are based on the assumption that if producers consume what they produce, they do not in fact produce at all, because they fall outside the production boundary.

The production boundary is a political creation that, in its workings, excludes regenerative and renewable production cycles from the area of production. Hence, all women who produce for their families, children, community, society, are treated as ‘non-productive’ and ‘economically’ inactive. When economies are confined to the market place, economic self sufficiency is perceived as economic deficiency. The devaluation of women’s work, and of work done in subsistence economies of the South, is the natural outcome of a production boundary constructed by capitalist patriarchy.

By restricting itself to the values of the market economy, as defined by capitalist patriarchy, the production boundary ignores economic value in the two vital economies which are necessary to ecological and human survival. They are the areas of nature’s economy, and sustenance economy. In nature’s economy and sustenance economy, economic value is a measure of how the earth’s life and human life are protected.  Its currency is life giving processes, not cash or the market price.

Secondly, a model of capitalist patriarchy which excludes women’s work and wealth creation in the mind, deepens the violence by displacing women from their livelihoods and alienating them from the natural resources on which their livelihoods depend- their land, their forests, their water, their seeds and biodiversity. Economic reforms based on the idea of limitless growth in a limited world, can only be maintained by the powerful grabbing the resources of the vulnerable.  The resource grab that is essential for “growth” creates a culture of rape –the rape of the earth, of local self reliant economies, the rape of women. The only way in which this “growth” is “inclusive” is by its inclusion of ever larger numbers in its circle of  violence.

I have repeatedly stressed that the rape of the Earth and rape of women are intimately linked, both metaphorically in shaping worldviews, and materially in shaping women’s everyday lives. The deepening economic vulnerability of women makes them more vulnerable to all forms of violence, including sexual assault, as we found out during a series of public hearings on the impact of economic reforms on women organized by the National commission on Women and the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology .

Thirdly, economic reforms lead to the subversion of democracy and privatization of government. Economic systems influence political systems. The government talks of economic reforms as if they have nothing to do with politics and power. They talk of keeping politics out of economics, even while they impose an economic model shaped by the politics of a particular gender and class. Neoliberal reforms work against democracy. We have seen this recently in the government pushing through ‘reforms’ to bring in Walmart through FDI in retail. Corporate driven reforms create a convergence or economic and political power, deepening of inequalities, and a growing separation of the political class from the will of the people they are supposed to represent. This is at the root of the disconnect between politicians and the public which we experienced during the protests  that have grown since the Delhi gang rape.
 

Worse, an alienated political class is afraid of its own citizens. This is what explains the increasing use of police to crush non violent citizen protests as we have witnessed in Delhi. Or in the torture of Soni Sori in Bastar. Or in the arrest of Dayamani Barla in Jharkhand. Or the thousands of cases against the communities struggling against the nuclear power plant in Kudankulam. A privatized corporate state must  rapidly become a police state.

This is why the politicians must surround themselves with ever increasing VIP security, diverting the police from their important duties to protect women and ordinary citizens.

Fourthly, the economic model shaped by capitalist patriarchy is based on the commodification of everything ,including women. When we stopped the WTO Ministerial in Seattle, our slogan was “Our world is not for Sale”.

An economics of deregulation of commerce, of privatization and commodification of seeds and food, land and water, women and children unleashed by economic liberalisation, degrades social values, deepens patriarchy, and intensifies violence against women.

Economic systems influence culture and social values. An economics of commodification creates a culture of commodification, where everything has a price, and nothing has value.

The growing culture of rape is a social externality of  economic reforms. We need to institutionalize  social audits of the neo-liberal policies which are a central instrument of patriarchy in our times. If there was a social audit of corporatizing our seed sector, 270000 farmers would not have been pushed to suicide in India since the new economic policies were introduced. If their was a social audit of the corporatization of our food and agriculture, we would not have every fourth Indian hungry, every third woman malnourished, and every second child wasted and stunted due to severe malnutrition. India today would not be Republic of Hunger that Dr Utsa Patnaik has written about.

The victim of the Delhi gang rape has triggered a social revolution. We must sustain it, deepen it, expand it. We must demand and get speedy and effective justice for women. We must call for fast track courts to convict those responsible  for crimes against women. We must make sure laws are changed so justice is not elusive for victims of sexual violence. We must continue the demand for blacklisting of politicians with criminal records. 

 

And while do all this we need to change the ruling paradigm which is imposed on us in the name of “growth”, and which is fuelling increasing crimes against women. Ending violence against women includes moving beyond the violent economy shaped by capitalist patriarchy to nonviolent peaceful, economies which give respect to women and the Earth. 

 

    By: Helen Lobato 



Jen takes her dog walking at night.