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Yours Truly,

Suzanne MacNevin

Suffragette School of Birmingham

FEMINIST - A new wave of feminists is off to ‘Suffragette School’ at the University of Birmingham!

What is it?

A Summer School to train a new wave of feminists on how make the world a fairer place for women.

When is it?

Saturday 13th August – Sunday 14th August 2011.

Where is it?

University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham. B15 2TT

Over 400 budding feminist activists will converge at the Summer School to learn how to tackle the ongoing inequalities between women and men. Featuring a range of workshops, talks and film screenings, attendees will be trained in everything from Suffragette-style direct action to mobilising the masses through Facebook, Twitter and blogging. The Summer School is organised by UK Feminista.

The Summer School will feature talks and workshops by:

Mozn Hassan (Nasra for Feminist Studies, Egypt), Nesrine Malik (the Guardian), Hannah Pool (UK Feminista), Anna van Heeswijk (OBJECT), Emma & Abi Moore (Pink Stinks), Rosalind Miles, Shahida Choudry (Women's Networking Hub), Cath Elliot (Too Much to Say For Myself), Estelle Hart (NUS Women's Campaign), Louise Jenkins (Eaves), Tamsin Omond (Climate Rush), Kat Banyard (UK Feminista), Anna Bird (Fawcett Society), Chitra Nagarajan (GAPS & Black Feminists) Matt McCormack Evans (Anti Porn Men Project), Kate Nustedt (Women for Women International), Adam Ramsay (People and Planet) and Darinka Aleksic (Abortion Rights).

For further information contact Kat Banyard: kat@ukfeminista.org.uk, 07775 855037

The Truth about Online Privacy

TECHNOLOGY - A fellow feminist by the name of Julian (I shan't say her last name) recommended to me recently that I be careful about posting things online with respect to men out there who might try to harrass me, stalk me or whatever.

Specifically she was worried about "... Men's Rights guys and other
anti-feminist fools who occasionally like to terrorize feminists."

She recommended something called "HideMyAss", which I presume is software, to prevent people from easily tracking me down.

Well lets just discuss this for a moment...

I don't have a Facebook account (I used to, but I deleted it... thats another story). I think I might have a twitter account, but its been ages and I have probably forgotten the password.

Often I don't use my real name online, instead going by "Glowing Maid" or even "Radioactive Girl". So I don't think its a huge necessity to be hiding every little detail.

And I mean whats the point of being a feminist if I can't express my freedom? True, having my privacy is nice too, but I doubt anybody would be able to track me down. (Camden is a big area and its not like I am there constantly.)

And then there's the Sarah Connor effect... Watch the first Terminator movie and count the number of Sarah Connors who were killed before Arnold finally found the right one. I am certain there are other Suzanne or Suzy MacNevin's in the London area, possibly even a few in Camden... and besides... the address isn't under my name. Its under my lover's name.

So chances are highly unlikely that anyone would ever be able to track me down. I don't get sick very often and I haven't been to any hospitals in the area. I don't have a criminal record. I have been unemployed ever since I arrived from Canada so I am not paying taxes while here either.

Instead I just sit at home and write my book. Sometimes I go for walks and explore London. Sometimes I go to the pet store and look at the kittens. Sometimes I find a nice place to sit and read the newspaper. You get the picture.

I truly doubt I am dropping enough hints that someone could track me down. ie. How many pet stores are in Camden and how many can I look at the kittens?

The real danger I think is morons who send me hatemail. That is just asking for a retort and to be exposed online for being an idiot.

People sending me hatemails = Blog fodder. Go ahead. I welcome the chance to talk about whatever you're complaining about in front of the whole world. (Well not literally the whole world, not that many people read my blog, but you get the idea.)

My advice for women is to come up with a fun and catchy pseudonym / nickname. Don't take Glowmaid, that name is MINE!

The real reason why you should do this is because employers now frequently Google your name online to check what you've been up to. Hopefully nobody disreputable is using the same name as you...

And while you're at it remember to clear your search history. :)

The World's 100 Most Powerful Women?

POLITICS - According to Forbes the list down below shows the world's most powerful women in 2010.

However this list is extremely Americentric. 70% of the women are Americans, quite a few of them are entertainers (ie. Does Lady Gaga really deserve the #7 spot? Or Katie Couric #22?)... And to be honest, most of them you probably have never even heard of because they're not that famous.

A lot of the non-American women are presidents, CEOs or First Ladies of their countries, with very few exceptions. One of them is just a presidential candidate in Brazil... so apparently just running for president in a country makes you one of the top 100 according to Forbes.

A few are supermodels or athletes. Seriously, how does that make them powerful? By selling lingerie or tennis raquets?

Its all utter nonsense.

So BOOOOOO to Forbes and their phoney baloney list. They are just like making lists apparently to fill space, satisfy their idiot readers and get attention. Boooo!

1
Michelle Obama
First Lady 46 United States

2
Irene Rosenfeld
Chief Executive, Kraft Foods 57 United States

3
Oprah Winfrey
Talk show host and media mogul 56 United States

4
Angela Merkel
Chancellor 56 Germany

5
Hillary Clinton
Secretary of State 62 United States

6
Indra Nooyi
Chief Executive, PepsiCo 54 United States

7
Lady Gaga
Singer and performance artist 24 United States

8
Gail Kelly
Chief Executive, Westpac 54 Australia

9
Beyonce Knowles
Singer, fashion designer 29 United States

10
Ellen DeGeneres
Talk show host 52 United States

11
Nancy Pelosi
Speaker of the House 70 United States

12
Angela Braly
Chief Executive, Wellpoint 49 United States

13
Janet Napolitano
Secretary, Homeland Security 52 United States

14
Cynthia Carroll
Chief Executive, Anglo American 53 United States

15
Sheila Bair
Chair, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation 56 United States

16
Sarah Palin
Political maverick and commentator 46 United States

17
Mary Schapiro
Chair, Securities and Exchange Commission 55 United States

18
Ellen Kullman
Chief Executive, DuPont 54 United States

19
Sonia Sotomayor
Supreme Court Justice 56 United States

20
Ursula Burns
Chief Executive, Xerox 51 United States

21
Angelina Jolie
Actor and UN Goodwill Ambassador 35 United States

22
Katie Couric
News anchor 53 United States

23
Kathleen Sebelius
Secretary, Health & Human Services 62 United States

24
Anne Lauvergeon
Chief Executive, Areva 51 France

25
Elena Kagan
Supreme Court Justice 50 United States

26
Patricia Woertz
Chief Executive, Archer Daniels Midland Co. 57 United States

27
Melinda Gates
Co-chair, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation 46 United States

28
Arianna Huffington
Founder and editor-in-chief, Huffington Post 60 United States

29
Madonna
Singer, fashion designer 52 United States

30
Ho Ching
Chief Executive, Temasek Holdings 57 Singapore

31
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Supreme Court Justice 77 United States

32
Maria Ramos
Chief Executive, Absa Group Banks 51 South Africa

33
Chelsea Handler
Talk show host and author 35 United States

34
Tina Brown
Cofounder and editor-in-chief, The Daily Beast 56 United States

35
Carla Bruni-Sarkozy
First Lady 42 France

36
Lynn Laverty Elsenhans
Chief Executive, Sunoco 54 United States

37
Elizabeth Warren
Assistant to the President and Special Adviser to the Secretary of Treasury 61 United States

38
Ana Patricia Botin
Chair, Banesto bank 49 Spain

39
Heidi Klum
Model and producer 37 United States

40
Meredith Vieira
Co-anchor 56 United States

41
Queen Elizabeth II
Monarch 84 United Kingdom

42
Carol Bartz
Chief Executive, Yahoo! 62 United States

43
Christine Lagarde
Finance Minister 54 France

44
Sallie Krawcheck
President, Global Wealth & Investment Management, Bank of America 45 United States

45
Sarah Jessica Parker
Actor and fashion designer 45 United States

46
Diane Sawyer
News anchor 64 United States

47
Meg Whitman
Gubernatorial candidate, California 54 United States

48
Marina Berlusconi
Chair, Mondadori and Fininvest Group 44 Italy

49
Stephenie Meyer
Author 36 United States

50
Rachel Maddow
Talk show host 37 United States

51
Carly Fiorina
Senatorial candidate, California 56 United States

52
Guler Sabanci
Chair, Sabanci Holding 54 Turkey

53
Maria Shriver
First Lady, California 54 United States

54
Carol Meyrowitz
Chief Executive, TJX companies 56 United States

55
Serena Williams
Athlete 28 United States

56
Anna Wintour
Editor-in-Chief, Vogue 60 United States

57
Andrea Jung
Chief Executive, Avon Products 52 United States

58
Julia Gillard
Prime Minister 48 Australia

59
Abigail Johnson
President, Fidelity Personal, Workplace and Institutional Services 48 United States

60
Venus Williams
Athlete 30 United States

61
Suze Orman
Author and personal finance guru 59 United States

62
Tarja Halonen
President 66 Finland

63
Marjorie Scardino
Chief Executive, Pearson PLC 63 United States

64
Mary McAleese
President 59 Ireland

65
Annika Falkengren
Chief Executive, SEB 48 Sweden

66
Sheryl Sandberg
Chief Operating Officer, Facebook 41 United States

67
Cathleen Black
Chair, Hearst Magazines 66 United States

68
Cristina Fernandez
President 57 Argentina

69
Anne Sweeney
Co-chair, Disney Media Networks 52 United States

70
Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi
Minister of Economy 51 United Arab Emirates

71
Chua Sock Koong
Group Chief Executive, Singapore Telecommunications 51 Singapore

72
Gisele Bundchen
Model and fashion designer 30 Brazil

73
Christiane Amanpour
Anchor 52 United States

74
Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al-Missned
First Lady 50 Qatar

75
Susan Ivey
Chief Executive, Reynolds American 51 United States

76
Queen Rania Al Abdullah
Monarch 40 Jordan

77
Nancy McKinstry
Chief Executive, Wolters Kluwer 51 United States

78
Rachael Ray
Talks show host and author 42 United States

79
Nikki Finke
Founder and blogger, Deadline Hollywood Daily 56 United States

80
Johanna Sigurdardottir
President 67 Iceland

81
Jing Ulrich
Managing director and chair, China Equities and Commodities, J.P. Morgan Chase 43 United States

82
Laura Sen
Chief Executive, BJ's Wholesale Club 54 United States

83
Laura Chinchilla
President 51 Costa Rica

84
Mary Callahan Erdoes
Chief Executive, Asset Management, JP Morgan Chase 43 United States

85
Janet L. Robinson
Chief Executive and President 60 United States

86
Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf
President 71 Liberia

87
Amy Pascal
Co-Chair, Sony Pictures Entertainment 52 United States

88
Tory Burch
Fashion designer 44 United States

89
Shikha Sharma
Chief Executive, Axis Bank 49 India

90
Sun Yafang
Chair, Huawei Technologies 54 China

91
Vera Wang
Fashion designer 61 United States

92
Chanda Kocchar
Chief Executive, ICICI Bank 48 India

93
Danica Patrick
Race car driver 28 United States

94
Maha Al-Ghunaim
Cofounder and chair, Global Investment House 50 Kuwait

95
Dilma Rousseff
Presidential candidate 62 Brazil

96
Donna Karan
Fashion designer 61 United States

97
Angela Ahrendts
Chief Executive, Burberry Group 50 United States

98
Ellen Alemany
Chief Executive, Citizens Financial Group 54 United States

99
Martha Stewart
Lifestyle Guru 69 United States

100
Dominique Senequier
Chief Executive, AXA Private Equity 57 France

The Truth about Human Trafficker Peter Nygard

Have you heard the recent news about Peter Nygard, a fashion guru from Canada?

Let me give you the summary... Peter Nygard is a 67-year-old millionaire fashion designer. He has a net worth of $800 million USD. He owns his own island in the Bahamas, a tropical Fort Knox with swimming pools and shark tanks that would make a James Bond villain jealous.

On Peter Nygard's island his employees aren't allowed to leave and they are docked so much pay they're basically his slaves. If they don't do what he tells them to he physically, emotionally and even SEXUALLY abuses them.

One of his sex abuse victims was a 16-year-old girl from the Dominican Republic and she has since gone missing. Peter Nygard's lawyers claim she is perfectly fine and have even shown members of the media letters claiming she thinks Peter Nygard is nothing but a "perfect gentlemen"...

In reality the poor girl was probably fed to one of Peter Nygard's sharks. Its just a theory, but its entirely possible when you realize how many bodyguards and lawyers work for Peter Nygard and get an insight on his intimidation tactics. Watch the CBC documentary about Peter Nygard.

The only reason Peter Nygard hasn't been caught is because he has an army of bodyguards, lawyers and all his workers have to sign confidentiality agreements. Those ex-employees who go against him (like those in the CBC documentary) are sued for breach of contract and intimidated until they agree to a settlement.

But wait there's more... Since the airing of that documentary 5 days ago its since come out that one Peter Nygard's pants factories in Jordan is using 1,200 slaves workers from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and India.

Here's what happens... the company imports the women, 75% of them just teenagers desperate for work, from their home country. They are stripped of their passports and all of their belongings, then forced to work 110 work weeks where they are constantly docked pay for "sloppy work" and help captive to pay off their indentured servitude.

But they never do. Many of the women in these sweatshops simply go missing when they've outlived their usefulness.

Peter Nygard's clothes is sold to a variety of stores including his own Nygard outlets. Other stores that sell his clothes include: Dillard's, J.C. Penney and Wal-Mart

The women are forced to work 16-hour shifts, from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., seven days a week.

"There are also mandatory, all-night 23-hour shifts, from 7 a.m. to 6 a.m. at least once a week," says Charles Kernaghan, director of the U.S.-based National Labor Committee (NLC). "The exhausted workers are at the factory over 110 hours a week, while being cheated of over half the legal wages due them. Instead of earning the 74.5-cent-an-hour minimum wage in Jordan, they are paid just 35 cents an hour."

Because the workers aren't allowed to leave the factory they must buy their food from the people running the factory. The end up in an endless cycle of wage slavery.

"When workers ask for the return of their passports and to be paid correctly, they are slapped and threatened with forcible deportation," said Kernaghan "There are also serious allegations of sexual harassment, even rape, and of workers being overworked to death."

The 1,200 slave workers are housed in filthy primitive dormitories without heat and with only sporadic access to water for two hours, three or four days a week. The dorms are infested with bed bugs and, shown photographs of the insects, entomologist Dr. Susan C. Jones of Ohio State University confirmed the bed bugs were engorged with blood.

"All labour laws in Jordan, not to mention the International Labour Organization's (ILO) internationally-recognized workers' rights standards, are being blatantly violated at the IBG factory," said Kernaghan. "In fact, the Jordanian Ministry of Labour has placed the abusive IBG plant on their "Golden List" of best factories."

In a single week, from January 28 to February 17, 2010, Peter Nygard imported more than 280,000 women's pants made at the IBG factory, worth $2.5 million. Many of the pants retail for $38 USD. The workers were paid approx. 9 cents for each pair of pants they sewed and make only 3.9 pairs of pants per hour.

Peter Nygard is famous for his alcoholism, his temper, his lechery and now he will be known as several more things: A rapist, a murderer and a human trafficker who deals in slavery.

See Also:
Peter Nygard's empire reeling from CBC expose
Fashion Salon: Boycotting Peter Nygard
In My Hair: Peter Nygard: 21st Century Slaveowner
Facebook: Boycotting Peter Nygard

UPDATE! THE OLD BOYCOTT PAGE WAS DELETED NO THANKS TO NYGARD'S LAWYERS: Please join the new group at Boycott Nygard's Brands

We Boobed, admits Marks & Spencer

FASHION - Marks & Spencer (M&S) has admitted it was wrong to charge a £2 ($3) surcharge on larger bra sizes, after months of campaigning on Facebook and Twitter by large-breasted activists who felt they were being discriminated against. M&S is Britain's largest retailer of bras and lingerie.

Marks & Spencer has placed full-page ads in newspapers today stating "We boobed". The ad reads: "It’s true our fantastic quality larger bras cost more money to make, and we felt it was right to reflect this in the prices we charged. Well, we were wrong, so as of Saturday 9 May, the storm in a D cup is over!"

M&S said it will reduce the price of its bras over a size DD by up to £2 and for two weeks from Saturday (today), it will also reduce all prices for bras (regardless of size) by 25 per cent. The retailer said: "Every woman can now experience the difference a well-made quality bra will make."

M&S came under fire from The Busts 4 Justice campaign group for applying the £2 surcharge. One campaigner bought one share in the company so she could confront boss Sir Stuart Rose at the company’s Annual General Meeting.

M&S had said that bigger bras needed more work to develop a greater level of support and therefore the cost was justified, but ignored the fact that under that logic smaller bras are more profitable because they take less material/work, and therefore it all evens out in the end.

Busts 4 Justice has more than 8,000 members and the group's co-founder, Beckie Williams – a 34E – argues that just as fat or tall people don't have to spend extra on larger clothes, so women with bigger breasts should not have to pay more for larger bras.

"We've won, and we never thought it would happen so quickly," said Becky Mount, also a co-founder. "They didn't want a lot of big-breasted women storming their meeting."

British celebrity Ulrika Jonsson has been scathing of the £2 surcharge. She said: "This is nothing short of a tax on bigger breasts." Ulrika Jonsson had breast reduction surgery when after 4 kids her breasts ballooned to size 34I. The surgery decreased her breast size to 34C.

Having naturally large breasts is more of a curse for many women. They're uncomfortable, they become deformed and lumpy (and unsexy) and they make it difficult to purchase clothing that fits properly. There's also numerous health hazards, the least of which is chronic back pain.

Some women may revel in having large breasts, but its a double-edged sword.

"It's really awful, actually. I get terrible back pain," says one woman. "And I can never find a bra that fits, or doesn't look like a piece of building equipment or surgical dressing. Also, people just stare at them all the time. It's as if I'm not a person – I'm just a giant pair of boobs."

"People may joke about it, but bras are a sensitive subject," says Williams. "It just shows how much of an emotional issue having big boobs is for a lot of women."

See Also:
The History of the Bra
The History of the Corset & Brassiere
Open-Cup Bras
Sports Bras

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