'Australia to ban ultra-skinny models'

via:

• New code of conduct for fashion industry
• Mags to phase out cosmetic surgery ads
• Designers told not to hire skinny models

SKINNY models could be banished from catwalks and magazines under a major overhaul of the fashion industry.

Diets for rapid weight loss and cosmetic surgery advertisements will also be phased out of magazines, while clothing labels will be asked to stock a wide range of sizes under a new industry code of conduct.

Designers will be asked not to hire either models with a dangerously low body mass index (BMI) or excessively muscular men.

Youth Minister Kate Ellis will today unveil a new body-image tick of approval, similar to the Heart Foundation's healthy foods tick, to be awarded to magazines, modelling agencies and fashion labels that meet the following criteria:

- Disclose when images have been retouched and refrain from enhancing photographs in a way that changes a person's body shape, for example, lengthening their legs or trimming their waist, or removing freckles, lines and other distinguishing marks.

- Only use models aged 16 or older to model adult clothes - both on catwalks and in print.

- Refrain from using models who are very thin - or male models who are excessively muscular.

- Stocking clothing in a wide variety of sizes in shops to reflect the demand from customers.

- Using a broad range of body shapes, sizes and ethnicities in editorial and advertising.

- Not promoting rapid weight loss, cosmetic surgery, excessive exercising or any advertisements or editorial content that may promote a negative body image.

In a world first, the Federal Government is trying to tackle the issue of body image so ordinary Australians do not feel pressured to attain unrealistic cultural ideals of beauty. Ms Ellis said she was determined to stop the glamourisation of unhealthily thin women, which has been blamed for children suffering eating disorders.

"Body image is an issue that we must take seriously because it is affecting the health and happiness of substantial sections of our community," Ms Ellis said.

"The symbol is a win for consumers. It will empower consumers to tell the fashion, beauty, media and modelling industries what they want and provide greater choice."

A panel of health and academic experts will spend the next six months defining the criteria that organisations have to meet in order to be awarded the body image-friendly symbol.

The Government has also committed another $500,000 to develop new education programs with the help of eating-disorder group The Butterfly Foundation.

The school program will see 2500 educators trained to teach 100,000 students aged between eight and 18 about positive body image, covering topics such as media literacy and self-esteem.

The code has already received the endorsement of teenage magazine Girlfriend, and Ms Ellis' office is currently discussing the code with leading modelling agencies.

The Australian Women's Weekly editor in chief Helen McCabe said her magazine would begin identifying digitally altered photographs of celebrities. Ms McCabe said readers wanted published images of women to be more realistic.

"As Australia's biggest-selling magazine, I am proud to be taking a leading role in what is going to be a gradual process for the industry," Ms McCabe said.

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/body-soul/australia-to-ban-ultra-skinny-models/story-e6frfot9-1225884746665#ixzz0sGL7Skwg

News Coverage of South Side Murder

via Genderqueer Chicago:

A transfeminine person was found murdered in a South Side neighborhood on Monday. The Chicago Sun-Times coverage of this death can be found here. (Warning: Please do not read this article if the subject matter might be triggering)

The article makes some disturbing assumptions about folks along the transfeminine spectrum, most apparent in the following sentence:

"Investigators do not believe his body was dumped there or that he was a missing person, according to police who said that corner is frequented by prostitutes."

This point insinuates that the victim's death could not possibly be the result of a planned murder because given victim's "female-clothes," Woulard must have been a sex worker, exempt from harassment unrelated to sex work. The sentence also suggests that the murder of sex workers, regardless of their identity, should be expected in their line of work.

I am outraged by the insensitivity with which the Sun-Times has dealt with Woulard's death, the assumption that all transfeminine people as sex workers, and the depiction of sex workers as acceptable targets of crime. I encourage everyone to write the Sun-Times addressing these issues. You can contact the Sun-Times online here.

Anniversary of Title IX

June 23, 1972-- Title IX became a law. Read more over here at feministing.com.

Can You Spot What's Missing?

via Feminism/Popular Culture:

I was just looking for some statistics on the RAINN website and I noticed that something was missing. They provide a lot of useful information including a breakdown of victims of sexual assault by gender and age, a list of effects of sexual assault on victims and society, the frequency with which assaults happen and with which they are reported and then the provide information about rapists.

Here is what they provide:

Approximately 2/3 of rapes were committed by someone known to the victim.
73% of sexual assaults were perpetrated by a non-stranger.
38% of rapists are a friend or acquaintance.
28% are an intimate.
7% are a relative.

He's not Hiding in the Bushes

More than 50% of all rape/sexual assault incidents were reported by victims to have occured within 1 mile of their home or at their home.

• 4 in 10 take place at the victim's home.
• 2 in 10 take place at the home of a friend, neighbor, or relative.
• 1 in 12 take place in a parking garage.

43% of rapes occur between 6:00pm and midnight.

• 24% occur between midnight and 6:00am.
• The other 33% take place between 6:00am and 6:00pm.

The Criminal

• The average age of a rapist is 31 years old.
• 52% are white.
• 22% of imprisoned rapists report that they are married.
• Juveniles accounted for 16% of forcible rape arrestees in 1995 and 17% of those arrested for other sex offenses.
• In 1 in 3 sexual assaults, the perpetrator was intoxicated — 30% with alcohol, 4% with drugs.
• In 2001, 11% of rapes involved the use of a weapon — 3% used a gun, 6% used a knife, and 2 % used another form of weapon.
• 84% of victims reported the use of physical force only.

Rapists are more likely to be a serial criminal than a serial rapist.

46% of rapists who were released from prison were re-arrested within 3 years of their release for another crime.

• 18.6% for a violent offense.
• 14.8% for a property offense.
• 11.2% for a drug offense.
• 20.5% for a public-order offense.

They do say "he is not hiding in the bushes" but that is the ONLY reference they make to gender. They were very interested in gender when it came to victims but that information is strikingly absent when it came time to discuss perpetrators. They mention the age of perpetrators, the race and even the marital status but not the gender!

I came to the site looking for information on how how often women commit rape to compare to how often men commit rape. That information cannot be found. If someone else has that information (or can find it elsewhere on this site) please do let me know.

I do not wish to castigate RAINN, I think they do amazing, necessary work. I just wonder why they left that rather important, even crucial, detail out? I believe that they assume that we will assume that the perpetrator is a man. It is such a commonly understood fact that men rape and women are raped that it goes without saying on one of the best resources for victims and researchers alike. So entrenched are we in rape culture that we do not even need to be told that men are the most likely offenders even on a website dedicated to providing statistics about those very crimes. But beyond that, it misses an important opportunity to highlight assaults committed by non-typical offenders like women against women and women against men and in so doing, erases the experiences of those victims.

Gender reassignment surgery tax-deductible, US court finds

via Google News:

Feb 3, 2010

WASHINGTON — An American transsexual who was audited after deducting the cost of gender reassignment surgery when filing her taxes has won an appeal asserting the operation was a legitimate medical expense.

Rhiannon O'Donnabhain, 65, took her case before a US tax court after the Internal Revenue Service challenged her right to deduct 5,000 dollars of the 25,000 she spent on the operation in 2001.

Lawyers from advocacy group Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD) agreed to take on her case and argued that she was entitled to take advantage of IRS rules allowing the deduction of some medical costs, like chemotherapy, if the individual's health insurance does not fully cover the procedure.

Tax officials said O'Donnabhain's operation was not eligible for the deduction because it was a purely "cosmetic" procedure.

On Tuesday, the tax court rejected that claim.

"The evidence amply supports the conclusions that petitioner suffered from severe gender-identity disorder (GID), that GID is a well-recognized and serious mental disorder, and that hormone therapy and sex reassignment surgery are considered appropriate and effective treatments for GID," the court ruling said.

GLAD hailed the ruling as a "victory" in a teleconference on Wednesday.

"It's incredibly significant," said Karen Loewy, a senior staff attorney at GLAD.

"This is the first time that a court that has jurisdiction nationally reaches such a conclusion," she added.

Transphobic attack on student at California State University: request for further information

via bird of paradox:

April 23, 2010

On Facebook yesterday, Gender Justice LA made this post which shared an email received from Katherine Ojeda Stewart of UCLA School of Law, Class of 2010.

The email stated that:

[...] a trans student left class thu night to go to the bathroom and on the way there was assaulted by someone who knew him by name but whom he didnt know. he beat him and threw him against a wall then carved “It” on his chest with a knife.

I can well believe that this attack on an unnamed trans man at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) took place, but so far I’ve been unable to find any other details of this account outside of Facebook and I find that surprising. I’d have thought that a story of this nature would be in the public domain by now.

So if anyone has any further information/resources such as local and/or national news reports that provide independent verification of the post on Facebook, please would you leave the links in comments?

—————

ETA, Saturday 24 April: The Daily 49er carries this report:

A 27-year-old transgender student at Cal State Long Beach reported that he was attacked in a university restroom on the west side of the KKJZ building at about 9:30 p.m. on April 15.

According to a press release from CSULB Director of Media Relations Rick Gloady, “The suspect called the student by his first name, and the student responded. The student reported the suspect then pulled the student’s T-shirt up and over the student’s head and pushed him back into the stall. The suspect then used a sharp object to slash the student’s chest. The suspect then fled the area in an unknown direction of travel.”

Gloady said that no one has been arrested, and that he cannot say when further information will be released.

The University Police, according to the release, believe that this was an isolated incident and there is no additional threat to the campus community.

“All manners are being handled through our public affairs office,” said University Police Captain Fernando Solorzano, referring to how they are communicating to the press about the case.

Public Affairs Assistant Vice President Toni Beron was unable to be reached for comment.

Officers are continuing to investigate the case and ask that anyone having information regarding the matter contact Det. Johnny Leyva at Skype" href="callto:+1%205629854101">562-985-4101.

Let’s hope the University Police are correct in their belief that this was an isolated incident and there is no additional threat to other trans people in the area. Cases like this highlight how vulnerable trans people are to transphobic attacks and I hope that the attacker is apprehended at an early date; there are too many violent bigots ‘out there’ as it is.

—————

Other reports may be found here, all seem to be quoting the same CSULB press release, although Press-Telegram adds that:

The 27-year-old victim was taken to a local hospital by a university instructor, but his injuries were not life threatening, and he was released that evening, said CSULB Spokesman Rick Gloady.

Kick-Ass 4

via cinematical.com:

The Geek Beat: Hit-Girl Hysteria

by Elisabeth Rappe Apr 13th 2010 // 10:10PM

It's a controversy you could have predicted the minute Chloe Moretz was cast as "a vicious, foul-mouthed 11-year-old who chops down criminals with a katana." Parental groups and critics are upset about Hit-Girl the world over. "It's a disturbing step into the perverse, reveling in the corruption of an 11-year-old girl," Focus on the Family's Deb Sorensen said to Australia's Herald Sun. "It's different to any other superhero film which focuses on good triumphing over evil."

Well, having read Kick-Ass (I haven't seen the film yet), I know that's not the case. For all its "edginess", Mark Millar's violent little opus breaks no new ground in the hero's journey, and it punishes evil in no uncertain terms. In fact, it's Hit Girl who leads the final charge. She's the true hero of the story -- and it's no wonder since Kick-Ass originally started out as a book about her and Big Daddy. Millar decided your average reader could relate better to a teenage boy protagonist than an "extreme" 11 year old and her Spartan papa, so they were relegated to the supporting cast. Since they're the characters everyone is talking about, I'd venture to say that Millar made a bit of a mistake there. Plenty of superhero books focus on teenage males; not nearly enough star young girls.

But, I'm getting ahead of myself. For one, the controversy seems half-hearted from where I'm standing, though that may just be because the film hasn't hit wide release in America. It feels like one of those dust-ups the press picks up on, and churns around without a lot of actual heat behind it. Going through Google's news archive, there are only a few quotes (such as the one from the Herald Sun) that are being repeated over and over. But some these are far more offensive than anything in the movie. Take The Guardian's David Cox, who called everyone associated with the film and Moretz's mother that dreaded c-word because they seemingly endorse its use. Very classy.

But really, quotes about a controversy come largely from Matthew Vaughn, Millar, Chloe Moretz, and screenwriter Jane Goldman and they seem to be more in anticipation of controversy than in response to any real one. Again, since the film hasn't yet opened in America, this could explode tomorrow. And they're right to go on the offensive.

What I find fascinating is what other writers have already theorized -- that there wouldn't be much hand-wringing if the character was called Hit Boy. Every bit of hand-wringing emphasizes Hit Girl's gender rather than her age, stresses her corruption, and worries about her language. A girl should never, ever be thinking such ugly things, let alone doing them. She should be listening to Hannah Montana and buying Justin Bieber magazines, or whatever 11-year-old girls are supposed to do these days. Certainly, her mother should know better, and steer her in those feminine directions. (Right, Mr. Cox? After all, you didn't call Mr. Moretz out for letting his daughter play Hit Girl and use bad words. Mothers are the final defense against all that is crude, ugly, and violent in this world, yes?)

While the pre-release controversy ostensibly centers on youth violence, I think the underlying complaint centers on female violence. Hit Girl's fellow superheroes, Kick-Ass and Red Mist, are not making headlines though they aren't much older than she is. If we were truly worried about corrupting the young, surely you'd lump them all in together? No, Hit Girl is the issue. She is the corrupted one. She's the one who ought to know better, and be guided into a safer life. She's the bad example. You might as well hand her an apple, and be done with the ultimate analogy.

No matter how old or young we are, women are not supposed to be action heroes. Last month, Comics Alliance sat down with Kelly Sue Donnick on her Thor spinoff, Sif. The one-off takes Thor's girlfriend and re-imagines her into what she is supposed to have been -- a warrior of Asgard, who is more than capable of taking care of her own problems with Loki. Comics Alliance readers had a bit of a problem with this. Violent women are not strong women. If a heroine really wants to be strong, she ought to be like Gandhi, and set an example of nonviolent resistance to the menfolk. I had very similar comments last year when I sarcastically noted that women didn't care about superheroes. (I also had very enlightened and intelligent ones as well.)

If Hit Girl was the nerdy sidekick -- the one who stayed behind, made gadgets, and sharpened swords, no one would care. They might worry, they might even fret about her language, but she'd be out of harm's way. Then the discussion would be focused on Kick-Ass and his boyish ilk. I can almost guarantee it.

Look, I don't endorse violence. I was a few blocks away from Columbine High School, and would have been in its graduating class on that awful year had circumstances and a GED not intervened. I grew up around guns, and I take life (in all human and animal forms) very, very seriously. But I love violent movies, and I love violent video games because I was taught the difference between fiction and reality, and I also believe we should have discussions about how dangerous these things can be. Hell, I just debated sidekicks last week with Mr. Justin Gray, and pondered the disturbing implications of encouraging a kiddie sidekick to fight to the death.

But I also think Hit Girl is as cool as hell. I like what she represents. I prefer her, her bad language, and her bloody weaponry to trends of toddler high heels, spa visits, and preteen sexualization. I find it more alarming that I hear a 7 year old asking the Starbucks clerk about the calorie content of a Cafe Mocha because what the hell are you doing drinking coffee, little girl? And why do you know what calories are? Why aren't you playing outside, anyway? It's a silly thing to use as a symbol, of course, but I think there are dangerous, upsetting things happening in youth culture that we could address instead of worrying about one fictional upstart.

Yes, there are debates to be had about Hit Girl and Kick-Ass. There are always debates to be had about violence and vigilantes, and what they say about us. But I'd prefer the conversation also turn to why preteen girls don't have a movie like Kick-Ass that they could see. Let's ask why Kick-Ass was the only script option Ms. Moretz had if she wanted to play, in her own words, "an Angelina Jolie-type character. You know, like an action hero, woman empowerment, awesome, take-charge leading role." By now, she should have had a lot more superhero and fantasy options to pick from. There are young adult genre books that center on something other than vampires. There are comic characters who are teenage girls. It's ridiculous that they languish on the shelf while Spider-Man goes back to high school. Again. You might even ask why Millar thought no one could relate to a teenage girl, and insisted on centering the story around Dave and his girlfriend problems.

These are all more interesting topics than the use of the c-word, but it's easier to fling that out (once again, I'm looking at you Mr. Cox) than engage in anything substantial about violence, gender roles, and what pop culture is left for girls to ingest. No one wants to look in that mirror. Not when we can give them Justin Bieber, and call them and their mothers out for one line of raunchy dialogue.

But I have hope. If Ms. Moretz longed to be in Wanted, than other girls do, too. She's shown a lot more awareness on such things than actresses three times her age. She's making her own opportunities. And even if she's still not allowed to see Leon, she seems eager to be something other than a Hannah Montana. When asked by the New York Times what else she wanted to do onscreen, her answer wasn't Twilight: "I want to wear heels, if that counts. Just give me some Christian Louboutins and a gun."

My kind of Hit Girl.