Feminist Demands Research Articles

Manajemen Program Siaran Suara Persada, Radio Persada FM Dalam Mempertahankan Eksistensi di Era Digitalisasi

Radio is one of the communication media that used to be a primadonna in society. However as media technology grew rapidly, radio became less attractive. Radio had to fight to maintain its existence in the media community. Various efforts are made by radio to reclaim the hearts of its listeners through improving the quality of broadcasting until the renewal, improvement and development of the program. Radio Persada faces the same problem. Radio Persada is a Local Public Broadcasting Institution (LPPL) in Blitar Regency that is independent, neutral, and non-commercial. It produces broadcast programs not solely to meet the demands of capitalism, liberalism, market tastes, or government mouthpiece, but primarily to carry out its function as a mass media serving the interests of the public. Persada is the flagship program of Radio Persada that seeks to realize the function of the service. Programs whose content prioritizes local information or news and live reportage is broadcast since 2018 and still exists today. This research aims to understand the management of Suara Persada program in an effort to maintain its existence in the era of digitization. Research is conducted using qualitative methods with data collection techniques through interviews, observations and documentation studies. This research found several faktors that influence the existence of Suara Persada program, namely; 1) excellence in serious but relaxing packaged local content, 2) community engagement through citizen journalism in Suara Persada program, 3) implementation of program management that follows developments in all stages of planning, organizing, influencing and controling activities, 4) the use of streaming channels and the utilization of social media (Facebook and Instagram), 5) consistency in maintaining a two-way communication system using various communication media including social media.

#8M women’s strikes in Spain: following the unprecedented social mobilization through twitter

ABSTRACT The first general women’s strikes to demand gender equality in Spain took place on 8 March 2018 and 2019. Both calls were an amazing success, becoming world references for feminism. This research investigates how the strikes were dealt with through Twitter by a Collective Symbolic Coping (CSC) process. Discourses on Twitter were analysed on both years, 4,384 tweets were selected and their content was analysed by lexical analysis. The results from 2018 indicated the CSC phases of 1) awareness; 2) divergence, where feminist demands and the role of men in the strike were debated; and 3) convergence, where the success of the strike was highlighted. However, in 2019 the feminists on Twitter were forced to cope with a great deal of trolling against them. This trolling was maintained in the awareness and divergence phases, making it difficult to reach a convergent discourse regarding the success of the strike. Moreover, the results also demonstrated that there was no reference hashtag in the strikes. It is concluded that discourse on social networks has become a key factor in feminist social mobilizations and that this feminist digital activism will be critical in the continued dissemination of the claims for gender equality in Spain.

POST-KOLONYAL KADIN YURTTAŞLIĞININ LİBERAL FEMİNİZME ELEŞTİRİSİ

Kadınların hak arayışlarına ilişkin mücadele örnekleri daha önceki yüzyıllarda görülse de feminist mücadele, teorisini 18. yüzyılda oluşturmaya başlamıştır. Kadın hareketi Avrupa’da görünür oluşunu Fransız Devrimi’ni de ortaya çıkaran siyasal ve toplumsal değişmelere borçludur. Fransız Devrimi’yle birlikte öne çıkan yurttaşlık tartışmalarında hak ve özgürlükler önemli yer tutar. Bu dönemde hak ve özgürlüklerinin genişletilmesini talep eden kadınlar da tartışmanın taraflarından olmayı başarmışlardır. Fransız Devrimi’yle başlayan süreçten günümüze feminist yaklaşım, kadınların yaşadığı ataerkil baskıları anlatmaya çalışıp bunun için politikalar üretme uğraşısında olsa da ele alınan sorunlar ve çözümler aşamasında kendi içerisinde farklılaşmalar yaşar. Bu çalışma post-kolonyal kadın yurttaşlık tartışmalarının izini sürerek kadın yurttaşlık tartışmalarının başlangıcı olan liberal feminizmle ilişkisini ortaya koymayı hedeflemektedir. Bu bağlamda öncelikle hak ve özgürlük mücadelesinin ilk örneklerini sergileyen liberal feministlerin talepleri değerlendirilecektir. Kültürel feministlerin söz konusu taleplerin yurttaşlık tartışmalarında “kadınlığı” ikincilleştirdiği eleştirisiyle gelişen ve kadını doğurganlığına indirgeyen “anne-yurttaş” kavramı da ele alınacaktır. Son olarak kadınların otantikliği koruma görevleri çerçevesinde ilerleyen post-kolonyal mücadelelerde kadınların yurttaşlığına ilişkin görüşlere değinilecektir.

Reflexiones en torno a la propiedad del cuerpo en clave feminista

In this paper, I examine a number of feminist theoretical contributions on the notion of “property in the body”, analyzing both critical versions and alternative proposals highlighting the need to retrieve this concept from the liberal paradigm. Firstly, I focus on conceptions of property in the body that different authors elaborate from a feminist theoretical perspective. Secondly, I explore the meanings that this concept acquires at a political level, being present in many of the claims and debates of the feminist movement, such as the right to abortion or the freedom to exercise sexwork. The hypothesis that guides this article is that feminist theory resignifies this concept, identifying its limitations and formulating new approaches. Nevertheless, when emplaced in political arenas, this notion has direct implications on women’s bodies by being framed within hegemonic neoliberal paradigms, whose property lexicon is often coupled with commercial logics. Consequently, feminist vindications on the self-control of women’s bodies faces the burdens of conceiving the body as of a private property and absolute right to be unlimited used in any activity, even lucrative, neglecting the contextual subordinations these activities unfold. In this manner, feminist demands addressing the self-appropriation of women’s bodies are commonly aligned with theoretical and political understandings of the neo-liberal paradigm.

Mapping Persian Twitter: Networks and mechanism of political communication in Iranian 2017 presidential election

This paper investigates the structure of networked publics and their sharing practices in Persian Twitter during a period surrounding Iran’s 2017 presidential election. Building on networked gatekeeping and framing theories, we used a mixed methodological approach to analyze a dataset of 2,596,284 Persian tweets. Results revealed that Twitter provided a space for Iranians to discuss public topics. However, this space is not necessarily used by voiceless and marginalized groups; and the uses are not limited to discussing controversial issues. The growing body of conservative crowdsourced elites emerged to defend the regime’s ideology. Moreover, the dominant networked frames were shaped around normal and routine subjects in an election time. Thus, Twitter was not a platform for only seeking liberal demands. It was to some extent used to serve the regime’s political interests. Furthermore, while many ordinary users rose to prominence, mainstream media continued to act as powerful players. This study contributes to the existing literature into networked practices, digital democracy, and citizen journalism; particularly in restrictive contexts.

Responses to the COVID‐19 crisis in Ireland: From feminized to feminist

AbstractIn this study, we conceptualize feminist engagement with neo‐liberalism, austerity, and crisis management and analyze potential to advance a feminist “recovery” political agenda. Feminist discursive analysis of crisis and a focus on narrative enables analysis of continuity and change in feminist responses to the pandemic and exposes the nature of opportunities and constraints for mobilization on gender equality. A case study of responses to the pandemic in Ireland and empirical data in areas of care, income support and domestic violence is presented to reflect on gendered analysis of austerity and feminist responses to same, on gendered effects of COVID‐19 and feminist responses to pandemic crisis management. The case studies allow us to interrogate feminist's use of crisis to advance social transformation. We discuss whether and how feminist actors in Ireland built on learning from previous crises to generate opportunity to advance feminist demands, to break continuities by reframing old problems and to mobilize in relation to COVID‐19. We find some continuity over time, but also greater awareness of connective tissues of multiple crises, making overall strategies of feminist actors and organizations less reactive, more innovative, inclusive and independent than the previous crisis with greater potential for social transformation.

Petition for a Comprehensive Law against Gender-Based Violence in Cuba

Petition for a Comprehensive Law against Gender-Based Violence in Cuba

STATE-RECOGNIZED MARRIAGE AND LIBERAL NEUTRALITY

Abstract While Ralph Wedgwood has recently argued that state recognition of marriage can be justified in a way consistent with the demands of political liberalism, Clare Chambers argues that such a policy violates the politically liberal state’s requirement of neutrality with respect to diverse reasonable conceptions of the good—and she thinks Wedgwood’s case to the contrary relies on a “lax” reading of the neutrality requirement, not the “strict” reading that preserves political liberalism’s distinctiveness. I argue that there is a way of reading Wedgwood that sees his defense of state-recognized marriage as attempting to meet the requirements of strict neutrality—a reading that sees state recognition of marriage as a “neutral facilitating policy,” that is, a policy that helps marriage-affirming reasonable doctrines overcome a disadvantage they would face (relative to other reasonable doctrines) absent policy intervention by the state. I conclude, however, that a state policy that refuses to recognize polyamorous marriages may not qualify as a neutral facilitating policy, and hence that Wedgwood’s argument may fail to support the policy regime he favors but might support a more permissive marital policy.

Politics by Other Means? Rawls, Feminists, Religious Conservatives, and Public Education

In response to the feminist concern that various religions undermine the ability of young women to realize themselves as free and equal citizens, Rawls has suggested that mandatory civic education could balance out non-egalitarian faiths. However, mandated civic education, if substantive enough to meet the demands of feminists, would likely disrupt the ability of religious conservatives and their children to develop and freely exercise the two moral powers. The result of this dilemma is twofold: the first is that a Rawlsian society which includes both feminists and religious conservatives may never be able achieve a stable overlapping consensus in the right way unless substantial accommodations are made for religious conservative families with regard to education. The second result is a broader one, namely, that using the public education system to condition students’ thinking beyond what political liberalism requires may undermine legitimacy and produce instability and polarization. Therefore, the public education system ought to be depoliticized as much as possible.

Parenting during the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020: academia, labour and care work

ABSTRACT The Covid-19 pandemic instigated fundamental challenges and changes to parents’ working lives in Britain. This viewpoint article reflects upon the experience of balancing childrearing responsibilities with academic work across the Spring and Summer of 2020. It positions the removal of formal and informal childcare networks within the history of feminist demands around childcare and sets it against the background of the recent history of women and reproduction within Higher Education in Britain. Drawing upon feminist literature, personal experience, academic parents’ testimony and emerging studies of the gendered effects of the crisis, the article explores some of the critical challenges that balancing childcare and academic work presented and offers some preliminary reflections on the experience of the concurrent ‘double shift’ the lockdown engendered.

The “Modern Girl” Is a Communist

Woman was a category in flux during China’s revolutionary 1920s. Alongside commercial magazines that celebrated the arrival of the modern girl (xiandai nüzi) were political currents that prioritized class and nation as sites for women’s liberation. Scholarship has criticized Marxism and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for negating women’s gendered interests in favor of a class focus. Yet, it was the proletarian women’s movement of the United Front that attracted the largest amount of women activists during China’s National Revolution (1925–27). What was the allure of a Communist-influenced movement for modern girls whose subjectivities were awakened by Western humanist concerns? This article engages select articles from Chinü zazhi (Red Women Magazine) to argue that China’s proletarian women’s movement reconciled Marxist, nationalist, and feminist demands. It was able to do so largely because it took place at a time when there was no unified Chinese nation to speak of, and the CCP still framed its Marxist rhetoric in a May Fourth lens. An examination into the proletarian women’s movement therefore problematizes Cold War narratives about the antithetical relationship between Marxism and feminism and asks us to reconsider approaches toward fostering interclass and international solidarity.

Making Registered Charitable Status of Religious Organizations Subject to 'Charter Values'

The Supreme Court of Canada has held that government actors must ensure that their decision making process considers ‘Charter values.’ This has led to a growing opinion, within the legal community, that Canada Revenue Agency’s decisions on the registered charitable status of religious organizations ought to ensure such charities are compliant (in belief and action) with ‘Charter values’ such as equality and ‘reproductive rights’. In some circles, ‘Charter values’ are seen as a necessary part of the evolving definition of ‘public benefit.’ This chapter will explore that perspective in the context of current law and liberal democratic philosophy. It will argue that fundamental human life issues (FHLI) such as equality of all, definition of marriage and the value of human life, have been the subject of religious thought and teaching for millennia, and such beliefs have inspired the legal, political and philosophical traditions of liberal democracies. FHLI are part and parcel of the religious enterprise that seeks to understand what it means to be human. Denying public benefit recognition to charities that advance religion merely because they have unpopular beliefs or practices will not only have a negative effect on civic engagement, it will also have a negative philosophical impact on our traditional and scientific understanding of human nature. Liberal democracy demands that the state recognize it has no role in denying the complexity of religious identity’s framing of fundamental human life issues upon which reasonable people may disagree.

Movimientos reivindicativos de las mujeres en roma durante el S. II a.c.: el caso de la derogación de la Ley Opia

Esta investigación se propone aplicar los estudios de género a la historia antigua, con el objetivo de mostrar la existencia de movimientos sociales reivindicativos protagonizados por las mujeres en la antigua Roma. La hipótesis que sustenta este trabajo es que las mujeres comenzaron a ocupar el ámbito público y a protagonizar reivindicaciones muchos siglos antes de la aparición del feminismo a finales del s. XVIII. Debido a la amplitud del ámbito de estudio considerado este artículo se limita a la época republicana, específicamente en el siglo II a.C. Por ello, se ha decidido analizar un caso concreto: la manifestación de las matronas romanas para la derogación de la ley Opia (195 a.C.). La metodología de la investigación ha consistido en la lectura crítica y el análisis con perspectiva de género de las fuentes clásicas junto con una revisión de la bibliografía moderna. La ley Opia impuso severas restricciones en los bienes y libertades de las mujeres romanas de la élite, lo que provocó que veinte años después de su promulgación tuviera lugar un movimiento organizado liderado por ellas, que obtuvo el apoyo de buena parte de su grupo social. Mientras estas matronas salían a las calles de Roma de forma multitudinaria, en el foro tuvo lugar un debate entre Catón, representando a la facción conservadora de la sociedad en contra de la derogación de la ley Opia, y Valerio, tribuno de la plebe, que estaba a favor de dicha derogación.

A lesson from ‘Cologne’ on intersectionality: strengthening feminist arguments against right-wing co-option

Analysing feminist responses to the (mainstream) media coverage of the sexual assaults of New Year’s Eve 2015 in Cologne, this article shows how a theoretical concept that is used to frame feminist arguments can influence the strength of those arguments. German-speaking media extensively reported on the large number of sexual assaults against women that happened during that night in Cologne. The dominant narrative in those media reports dwells on the circumstance that the arrested suspects all had a refugee or migrant background, which assisted right-wing politics in re-creating a racist stereotype about male refugees and migrants being a threat to western women. Feminist responses to that media discourse insisted that rape culture was a cross-cultural phenomenon and that media as well as political analyses of the assaults need to take into account an understanding of intersectionality. Based on a content analysis of twenty-five feminist texts about the events of ‘Cologne’, I argue that the application of the concept of intersectionality created contradictions and argumentative voids within the – otherwise strong – feminist arguments because it conflated sexist and racist dynamics, which were both present in the context of ‘Cologne’ but not always intersecting. I further argue that these contradictions unintentionally aided the right-wing co-option of feminist demands concerning ‘Cologne’ and I suggest that the theoretical concept of femonationalism is better equipped to analyse events like ‘Cologne’.

Psychedelic Birth: Bodies, Boundaries and the Perception of Pain in the 1970s

Psychedelic Birth: Bodies, Boundaries and the Perception of Pain in the 1970s

Discussion and mediation of social outrage on Twitter: The reaction to the judicial sentence of "La Manada"

In recent years, digital feminism has been prominent in the international public sphere and the massive release of individual testimonies of violence against women has had an important presence on social media. In Spain, the reaction to the judicial sentence of the La Manada case, which only convicted the five men accused of abuse, rather than rape, provoked a public outrage that was negotiated on social networks and was later displayed in mass demonstrations across the country. The aim of this study is to analyze the reaction that took place on Twitter on the day of the ruling of the sentence (26 April 2018) and how the dominant frames were initiated and stabilized on Twitter. With a sample of almost 500.000 tweets, the posts achieving most retweets per hour and the most salient media objects (including hashtags, visual content and links) have been analyzed based on the framing theory. Media objects have been explored through flowcharts allowing the visualization of the evolution of the dominant messages. The results show a hegemonic conversation on Twitter against the ruling of the court with a high presence of feminist demands. Furthermore, the analysis of the evolution of the main frames shows that the different Twitter affordances allow rapidity in the negotiation of the dominant messages. This paper contributes to the understanding of the articulation of framing from a complex perspective including media objects such as images and URLs that broaden the layers of meaning of the Twitter discourse on collective actions.

Discussion and mediation of social outrage on Twitter: The reaction to the judicial sentence of "La Manada"

In recent years, digital feminism has been prominent in the international public sphere and the massive release of individual testimonies of violence against women has had an important presence on social media. In Spain, the reaction to the judicial sentence of the La Manada case, which only convicted the five men accused of abuse, rather than rape, provoked a public outrage that was negotiated on social networks and was later displayed in mass demonstrations across the country. The aim of this study is to analyze the reaction that took place on Twitter on the day of the ruling of the sentence (26 April 2018) and how the dominant frames were initiated and stabilized on Twitter. With a sample of almost 500.000 tweets, the posts achieving most retweets per hour and the most salient media objects (including hashtags, visual content and links) have been analyzed based on the framing theory. Media objects have been explored through flowcharts allowing the visualization of the evolution of the dominant messages. The results show a hegemonic conversation on Twitter against the ruling of the court with a high presence of feminist demands. Furthermore, the analysis of the evolution of the main frames shows that the different Twitter affordances allow rapidity in the negotiation of the dominant messages. This paper contributes to the understanding of the articulation of framing from a complex perspective including media objects such as images and URLs that broaden the layers of meaning of the Twitter discourse on collective actions.

Aspectos culturais que dificultam a participação das mulheres na política eleitoral e sua relação com as esferas público-privada

O objetivo deste artigo é lançar uma breve análise sobre o processo de exclusão das mulheres dos espaços públicos, associado a componentes culturais, conformando uma baixa participação de mulheres na política eleitoral. Para tanto se recorreu a um levantamento bibliográfico a partir da pesquisa realizada durante o desenvolvimento da tese de doutorado da autora. São feitas reflexões acerca da dicotomia das esferas pública e privada, sobre a importância da representação descritiva do ponto de vista da democracia de gênero, mas, fundamentalmente, como o processo de empoderamento e a identificação de mais mulheres parlamentares com os feminismos potencializaria a maior representação substantiva e portanto o compromisso com as reivindicações feministas e as políticas públicas que geram avanços nos direitos para as mulheres.

Penal populism: Negotiating the feminist agenda. Evidence from Spain and Poland

It is interesting to observe how penal populism intersects with feminism when it comes to gender-based violence, as regards both anti-rape and domestic abuse reforms. There is a vast scholarship (Bumiller, 2008; Gottschalk, 2006; Gruber, 2007) in the US explaining how feminist activism turned to state power to demand more protection and more criminalization, and little focus on the European context. This article aims to analyse the development of what might be called feminist penal populist discourse in Spain and Poland. Whereas penal populist discourse has been conspicuous in Spain, and the authorities there ally themselves with domestic feminist groups and scholars to combat gender-based violence, Poland has never embraced the feminist agenda, despite the widespread influence and effectiveness of penal populism in that country. The article attempts to answer the general question: Why are feminist demands likely to be addressed in some countries where penal populism discourse has emerged in the political and public sphere, but not in others? The analysis demonstrates that the proclivity for penal populism and selection of topics are strongly related not only to some structural factors or political culture, but also to the historical and social context of each country. In Spain, the feminist movement was incorporated and politicized by left-wing parties into mainstream politics, whereas in Poland there was no grass-roots movement for women’s liberation for a long time, and the emancipatory politics during the communist era was superficial.

Repensando la identidad de la mano de los feminismos a la búsqueda de nuevas alianzas

At times like today's institutional crisis, feminism might have the potential to become a core asset on the political horizon. I line with this, bridges between different feminisms should be built. Rethinking identity by taking on board the intertwined multiple loyalties might help establish new alliances among the different feminist approaches. Such alliances would strengthen feminist demands even more.