Friday, September 15, 2017

What is Fe/male?

What is Fe/male?

"And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man" (Genesis 2:22). In the beginning, man wrote a bible in which women were created for and by men.  Throughout the epochs of human civilization, that hasn't changed. Women from birth are told what they are and, sometimes more significantly, what they are not. The world peers through lenses stained with difference and we are collectively and individually defined by what is male and what is female, what is right and what is wrong. Rarely are we defined by what is human. No culture or subsect of society is immune to the toxic categorization of women, of humans. This exhibit depicts women of today's world that exemplify, truly, what is fundamentally female.  

Loud

 (Photo found at https://2.bp.blogspot.com/Sfedj24K0yI/WBSAdxyDnMI/AAAAAAAAUxI/sJF_5yM8F6oUIdil5BgYIGPwMEN86EbIQCLcB/s640/8.jpg)

From the colors of their skin to the words on their chest, these women are loud. You can almost hear these women shouting in protest through the photographer’s lens. Women throughout history have fought against oppressive systems and in 2017, a time where there are more platforms than ever to let your voice be heard, we are louder than ever. Humans are born inherently equal, and when abuse shatters the sanctity of that equality, it is human, it is female, to be loud. 

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Strong

(https://www.usip.org/publications/2012/05/essential-role-women-peacekeepers)

Militaristic endeavors have never been traditionally “female” despite the contributions of millions of women in these operations from the beginning of time. From female hackers and decoders fighting Nazis in WWII to women fighting in the Colombian FARC, women have engaged in war efforts in violent and non-violent fashions. War issues are just as much women’s issues as they are men’s. In some cases, women are even greater stakeholders in peace or violence than their male counterparts. The image above features a woman soldier working in a United Nation’s Peacekeeping operation. The UN has found irreplaceable value in female Peacekeepers in part because to be female, to be human, is to be forceful and strong.
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Regressive 

(https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/843099403707695104/lS_qCzP9_400x400.jpg)

Despite a shared lack of privilege, the modern world is full of women who fight against the social, political, and economic gains females have experienced throughout the century. Pictured above is a Mormon woman who uses her massive social media following to promote bigoted and regressive content. Her blog and twitter page call for the “hopeful repeal of the 19th amendment”, the discontinuation of secular schooling for girls, and the end of the dilution of the white race. Because she is female and a mother, other extremist groups look to her as the legitimacy their misogynistic rhetoric needs. Unfortunately, many women oppose their own advancement and the advancement of the human race because not even females are immune to lies, hate, and deceit.

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Presidential 

(http://timedotcom.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/women-learn-from-female-president-ellen-johnson-sirleaf1.jpg?quality=85&crop=0px%2C135px%2C3000px%2C1687px&resize=940%2C528&strip)

Above is President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the current president of Liberia and the first elected female head of state in the continent of Africa. President Sirleaf is one of 15 female world leaders. An equally dismal and inspiring statistic. There are more women involved in government and politics than any other century of the world, yet a female desire for power and involvement isn’t an evolved trait. From Eve and the oldest matriarchal civilizations known to humanity, women have been Presidential. It is female and human to seek power and lead.

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Hopeful 

(http://prod-upp-image-read.ft.com/b8649f28-6139-11e3-916e-00144feabdc0)

Malala Yousafzai was targeted and shot by terrorists in her Pakistani hometown for advocating the education of girls. She was 15. Since her recovery, Malala has not been silent as the Taliban had wished. She has become a global advocate for the education of girls, an award-winning author, and the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner ever. Malala embodies hope. When her community turned against her for going to school as a young girl, she risked her life by going anyway and challenging her oppressors. She has a vision for the world and a powerful hope that one day, it will be a reality. Humans, females, will seek to better the world around them and cling to hope that it will become a better place.

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Antagonizing 

(http://cdn.images.dailystar.co.uk/dynamic/1/photos/905000/620x/583f34b136c7f_tomihalf.jpg)

As women have been devalued and measured against each other, they have become subject to antagonizing and demonizing one another. Instead of lifting one another up in accomplishments that benefit the whole female population, women will often berate and maliciously tear down their female sisters. It is a human trait to fight and hate, and thus, a female susceptibility.

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Bossy

(http://media.webdunia.com/_media/en/img/article/2017-08/16/full/1502894739-6073.jpg)

 PepsiCo is the largest food and drink corporation in the United States by net revenue, and the second largest in the world. Since 2006, PepsiCo has been ran by Indra Nooyi, pictured above. The company employs hundreds of thousands of people worldwide and in 2016 alone generated over $43 billion in revenue. Nooyi is not an anomaly. Many women are entrepreneurs or businesswomen of another sort. Generations of girl bosses prove that female means powerful, successful, and bossy.  

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Giving

(https://nyppagesix.files.wordpress.com/2017/08/vo0917_oprah-1.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&strip=all)

Oprah Winfrey is the epitome of a rags to riches story growing up with a single teen mother in rural Mississippi and becoming the first black female billionaire. Oprah hasn’t forgotten her humble beginnings and leads in charitable donations. Last year alone, Winfrey donated 20% of her income to various educational foundations specifically geared to help black youth. She truly cares deeply about those affected by poverty and injustice and imparts of her time and resources, embodying what it is to be female and to be giving.

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Courageous 

(https://img.huffingtonpost.com/asset/5943f9022100002a0033c8f2.jpeg?ops=scalefit_720_noupscale)


Savannah is a 12-year-old girl who loves her family and the kinds of things 12-year-old girls love. Savannah is also gay. One Sunday Savannah bore her testimony to her Mormon congregation. She said that God loves her and that she is not a mistake because she is gay. Her bishop cut the mic and disallowed her from finishing the words from her heart. The LDS church is notoriously anti-LGBTQ despite recent efforts to appear more accepting. They have continually made contributions to anti-LGBTQ organizations and lobbyists. Savannah hasn’t let the silencing of her microphone silence her voice and has continued to confidently break ground for LGBTQ youth in Utah. Savannah proves that to be female, no matter how young, is to be brave.

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Survivors 

(http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/01/15/article-2262653-16F3F444000005DC-368_634x411.jpg)

Rukhsana left her family home with her children and then returned. This seemingly simple act prompted her husband to throw acid in her face, her sister-in-law to pour petrol over her, and her mother-in-law to light her on fire. Women every day since the beginning of civilization have been subjected all forms of torture and abuse whether physical, sexual, verbal, emotional, etc. Every single woman has encountered some form of gender based prejudice and abuse. To be female means to survive.

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Resilient 

(http://upload.informativa.ba/images/2701a6d0-clinton-4x3.jpg )

Hillary Clinton has run for the office of President three times in 25 years and been the first female candidate for the position. Each time she has made it closer and closer to her goal and each time she has been brutally and personally attacked by her opponents. Hillary has been involved in politics since she was a student in college during the 1960s and hasn’t given up on public service despite the glass ceilings she’s encountered. Hillary is resilient. Hillary is Female with a capital F.

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Vital

(http://cdn.lifebuzz.com/images/53055/lifebuzz-ecd3a6c68662b7587de662ac589e315f-limit_2000.jpg)

Humanity would cease to exist without a womb. The female body harnesses the powers of creation itself. The same bodies that are beaten, raped, harassed, told no, shamefully covered, shamefully exposed, criticized, categorized, neglected, and forgotten are the bodies that determine the future of the human race. Women have babies or they don’t. Both beautiful celebrations of the greatest power given to nature. To be female is to be more than just human. Females are vital and can never be replaced.  

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Fin

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