The third month of Breaking perceptions

Age of Blog: 3 months

Number of visitors: 1271! (calculated by adding the number of visitors before our malfunctions to the number now)

Some of the topics covered: music, discrimination, sexuality, freedom, celebrations

Some of the countries that have visited the blog: South Africa, Colombia, Kenya, Saudi Arabia, Thailand

Robyn's favourite post of the month: What would you do? Racism against Muslims - Islamophobia is one of the huge issues that we face today and I was as glad to see people standing up against it as I was worried when people supported it or did nothing.

Cortez's favourite post of the month: What would you do? Hate crime in progress -This is an issue around the world. People are hurting people because of slight differences. The fact that few people intervened shows me that the world has a long way to go. But not everyone is like this and as I am sure you know there are beings who make it their life's work to help others in need.

The best comment of the month: Hayley Solich commented on What would you do? Hate crime in progress, saying "When I was 18 years of age I witnessed 2 men attacking another with a crow bar in Bondi Beach, Australia. I stepped in and stopped them hitting him. Reflecting back, I probably had more guts than sense as it could easily have turned on me. However, I do believe that when you act out of a pure of heart motive to ensure justice, there is authority that is bigger than you are as a person. A great video to bring what is a very sad trend to light. Well done!"

Other notable events: We hit the 1000 visitors mark!

Challenging Homophobia in Schools

What Would You Do?: Gay Couple

Would You Help This Gay Couple?

Analyse similarities and differences between liberal feminism and radical feminism

Feminism is a cross-cutting ideology, encompassing three broad traditions: liberal feminism, socialist feminism and radical feminism. The first wave of feminism was deeply influenced by the ideas and values of liberalism while radical feminism is one of the distinctive features of second wave feminism during the 1960s and 1970s.

While liberal feminism is deeply influenced by liberalism, radical feminism view conventional ideologies as inadequate vehicles for advancing the social role of women and criticised for harbouring patriarchal attitudes and assumptions.

The first major feminist text by Mary Wollstonecraft argued that women should be entitled to the same rights and privileges as men on the ground that they are human beings. She claimed that the distinction of sex would become unimportant in political and social life if women gained access to education and were regarded as rational creatures in their own right. However some radical feminist emphasize the differences between women and men. If sex differences are natural then the roots of patriarchy lie within the male sex itself: men are the enemy. This has led for radical feminist to believe in separatism.

This has also led radical feminists to believe that sexual equality and harmony is impossible because all relationships between men and women must involve oppression. This has led to the development of political lesbianism. Other feminists however, including liberal feminists, believe that it is possible to establish harmony between men and women in a non-sexist society. Hence they believe sexual preferences are strictly a matter of personal choice and not a question of political commitment. This also reflects their opposing beliefs on the public and private divide. Radical feminists proclaim the personal is the political and analyse the politics of everyday life. Although liberal feminists object to women’s access to the public sphere, they also warn against the dangers of politicizing the private sphere, which in liberal theory is a realm of personal choice and individual freedom. While radical feminists wish to abolish the public/private divide, liberal feminists merely wish to reform it.

This is also reflected in their rivalling ideas of equality. Liberal feminists champion legal and political equality with men. Equality thus means equal access to the public realm. Radical feminists however are primarily concerned about equality in family and personal life. This shows that while liberal feminists focus on women in the public sphere, radical feminists focus on women in the private sphere.

Nevertheless both seek equality with men and to end patriarchy in society. On the other hand, they use the term patriarchy in different ways. Liberal feminists use the term to draw attention to the unequal distribution of rights and entitlements in society. They highlight the under-representation of women in senior positions. Radical feminists see patriarchy as a systematic, institutionalised and pervasive form of male power that is rooted in the family. The pattern of male dominance and female subordination that characterises society is a reflection of the power structures that operate within domestic life. Once again, the differences between liberal and radical feminists boil down to the priority of the public or private sphere.

Although radical feminism formed the distinctive feature of second wave feminism, liberal feminism also formed a significant components, particularly within the women’s movement in the USA. Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique highlighted the problem with no name, the deep unhappiness and despair many women experience because they are confined to a domestic existence and unable to gain fulfilment in a career or through political life. Liberal feminists have also assumed that men and women have different natures and inclinations and accepts that women’s leaning towards family and domestic life is influenced by natural impulses and so reflects a willing choice. Friedan discussed the problem of reconciling the achievement of personhood with the need for love. Friedan’s emphasis on the continuing and central importance of the family in women’s life has been criticised by radical feminists as contributing to a mystique of motherhood.

Radical feminists disagree that men and women are different, but see this not as a lean towards the family but as a lean away from men. Their acceptance of unalterable differences has led towards cultural feminism, a retreat from the corrupt, aggressive male world of political activism into an apolitical, women-centered culture and life-style.

As the first feminists text was by the liberal feminist. Many Wollstonecraft and the first wave of feminism was heavily influenced by liberal feminism, it can be argued that liberal feminism is the mother of feminism and its ideas. As radical feminism began in the 1960s, it can be seen as the child of liberal feminism began in the 1960s it can be seen as the child of liberal feminism, building it on its predecessor’s ideas. In this sense the similarities between the two come from the common goals at the heart of feminism and their differences are part of the growth of feminism as it built and strengthened its ideas beyond that of other ideologies. Radical feminism symbolises the development of feminism and its ability to stand on its own as an ideology rather than draw from other ideologies as it had done with liberal feminism.

Batty Man.

Homosexuality has been legal in the uk for 40 years but to be gay in the black community is still looked down on. Gay comedian, Stephen K Amos, looks at why.

He starts by doing a social experiment in Croydon, South London. He takes 8 men, 1 who is gay and 7 who are straight and asks passersby to "spot the gay". Of the 9 men, 5 were black and 3 were white but it was constantly the white men who were chosen, even though all of them were straight. Stephen wonders if this is because being gay is more associated with being white than black. Stephen then took out the 3 white men and left the 5 black. People found it much harder now to choose, with one woman saying "none of them look gay". Stephen then asked people to pinpoint the person they thought was definitely not gay and there was one man in particular that kept being picked as the definietly straight guy, with people saying he looked like a "player" and a "womaniser". He was the only gay guy. When this was revealed, people were always in shock. When Stephen asked whether it proves you can't look gay, one woman said "stereotypical ennit...that views gone out of the window".

One night Stephen is doing stand up in Brixton, South London, to a predominantly black audience that do not know he is gay. For years Stephen hid his sexuality for fear of not being accepted by the black community. Then one event had a profound effect on him. In 2006 one of his friends was killed just for being gay. This inspired him not to hide who he was any longer and he created a one man show where, at the end, he revealed to the audience that he was gay. This gig in Brixton will be the first time he comes out to a mainly black audience. As soon as Stephen says it, the atmosphere completely changed and all fell silent. Suddenly the room felt full of tension and aggression. He went around the room to talk to some of the people. One man said, "I dont do that gay shit", another said "within the black community youre less likely to be accepted by your family if youre coming out and syaing youre gay you might not have a mum or dad anymore", another man said "there are some reasons why gay people dont come out and one of those is the levels of homophobia in our community that dont allow them to be gay", a woman said "when you asked if there were any gay people in the room,there was a hushed silence because no one wantd to say they were gay in brixton because you mght get stabbed outside". Afterwards, Stephen said it was the toughest gig he had done in a long time.

He then went Tooting, where he grew up, to speak to some youths about being gay. One said "they shouldnt have gay people on tv, or out on the road" another "my familys christian so im against gay peope" two girls agreed "if my brother was gay i would disown him" and later said "black gay people are putting the shame on our race they're making us not look black" one girl said "just make a different country for them ennit" one man said "i dont understand how balck people are thinking that they can be gay, i dont think that could actually run" another boy said "give me 2 women and i would be perfectly fine with that" but he was cussed out by the girls around him. This same boy said "if it wasnt for the music and that, i dont think no one here would have a problem with gays because we've been brought up to believe that gays are not right" They started singing an Elephant Man song where the chorus is "step on the chi-chi (gay) man! step on the chi-chi (gay) man!" Another 2 boys had most of what they said bleeped out apart for the words "batty boy". One of these boys said "tellin the truth, in Jamaica thats what they say: batty man must dead".

Stephen decided to go to Kingston, Jamaica to talk to Elephant Man. The strange thing is, Elephant Man said "i got nothing against gay people, do what you want to do, live your life, i cant come and tell you whatever, so do what you wanna do". Stephen wanted to find out what had changed his mind. He finds out that his lyrics had got him in trouble in places like USA so if he wanted to be successful there, he had to change that. Stephen said it was quite an eye opener to see what people will do when there are western dollars involved.

Homosexual acts are illegal on the island of Jamaica and those caught can serve up to 10 years in prison or hard labour.

Stephen met the band the Heavy Steppaz. His producer thought it would be safer if he stayed in the car and the producer would interview them. One of the band said "for a black person to be gay is really wrong...if a friend switched and turned to be a fish (gay)...theres one thing i think for anyone who turns fish...six foot deep." Another said "must be a man and a women...i say its wrong in many ways...to be a batty man you'll end up dead. straight bullet or gunshot or one of those things...if they really turn into a batty boy they cant see me or hail me they cant be my friend they cant even walk near me, much less look at me. thats a straight bullet. we dont see those things in our class or in our league. im telling you straight because right now a man to woman thing we deal with round here...the whole of jamaica, i know that certain men deal with those things...but if he wants to deal with that he'll have to take the backdoor where no one can see him...a straight bullet."

Stephen finally got to meet one young man called Kevin who risked his life to talk in front of the camera. "Being black and gay in Jamaica is very hard...there are times you have to hide because you're afraid to be who you are in public because you might get killed or those that should help you won't love you anymore...it all comes from the Bible and how people were brought up and dancehall, reggae music...i would pray and pray and pray that i would be happy with who i am and that God would still love me for who i am...i havent come out yet officially...if more gay people come out, i will be a lot easier for the younger generation to be acepting of who they are".

Stephen went to one of the jamacian churches to talk to the young christians to see if they thought it was ok to damn gay people using scriptures. The pastor said "as a pastor people come to me and say they have homosexual tendencies and i say bredrin, i dont see it the way you see it, i dont accept it the way you accept it but remember that you have a brother in me and im not gna kill you, im gna defend you. im not gna defend what you stand for, but im gna defend you as my brother, a human being". The people there believe that people can be conditioned to be gay, it is not genetic and they will be there to help people change this condition. Archbishop of Kingtson said "to use christiantiy is a lie... it usually comes from those with a limited understanding of the bible. You can justify anything by taking out a particular part of the bible. It was used to support apartheid. I certainly wouldnt be bashing homosexuals because they homosexuals, that is completely contrary to our christian faith".

Back in England, Stephen decided to come out to a group of young people face to face. their reactions were partly very encouraging with one girl saying "love is love, happiness is happiness and if that means being with another man, then that means being with another man, simple as that". However, not entirely: "I just see it as wrong...thats just my personal belief...i just feel uncomfortable". One boy said "if i was gay i would pray to god to be put down to dead because i cant see myself being gay".

Stephen talks to gay couple Perry and Olisa who have hidden their sexuality since they were teens. Perry said "before i came out, i was a homophobic. when you first realise it, you dont want it. you dont want to be gay". Olisa said "you can look at me and say im masculine. I could take you down the rugby field and break your nose and say yeah im masculine". Perry agreed "just because you sleep with a man, doesn't mean you aren't masculine". Perry said "my black friends dont know im gay. they wont talk to me again". Olisa said "i havent told my mum yet...i would have been on the first plane to Nigeria if i told her when i was young". Later that night, Olisa told his mum. He was really scared but said she was absolutely a brilliant mum. He said now hes got his approval he doesnt care what anyone else thinks.

Watching the programme back, Stephen hears all the arguments for homophobia and says none of them stack up. The religious argument doesn't wash, neither does the one that you arent masculine nor that pushing them out forces them to change. All fear of homophobics does is give homophobia a platform. The only way to dispell the fear is to face up to it, and thats the hardest lesson of all. Stephen said "I thought I was a strong ballsy comic with attitude and a lot of thinsg to say but i never thought i would have to regress into myself like i had to when we were in Jamaica. There were certain situations where i couldnt express myself and i dont owe anybody anything, i was denying myself and meeting Kevin who was younger, lived there and expressed himself so eloquently taught me something. Hey, stand up and be counted".

If you live in the UK, you can click here to watch this documentary

British Political Parties: The BNP

In Britain there are three main political parties: Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrats. However there are also many small parties who try to gain support such as the Green Party, the UK Independence Party (UKIP) and the British National Party (BNP).

The BNP is a far-right political party. Until 2009, when it was challenged in the courts on grounds of racial discrimination, it restricted membership to people of "Caucasian origin". After a vote by members in a February 2010 extraordinary general meeting the party dropped this policy, with chairman Nick Griffin saying that the party will now "accept anyone as a member providing they agree with us that this country should remain fundamentally British".

The BNP seeks to restore the overwhelmingly white ethnicity of Britain that existed prior to 1948 through legal means, including "firm but voluntary incentives for immigrants and their descendants to return home", and the repeal of anti-discrimination legislation. It believes that there are significant differences between races.

The party has very little respect from other political parties and has never gained enough power to have an MP (member of Parliament). However in the 2006 English local elections the party doubled its number of seats in England. The BNP finished fifth in the 2008 London mayoral election with 5.2% of the popular vote and secured one of the London Assembly's 25 seats. They won their first county council seats in 2009 together with two seats in the European Parliament.

At its founding, the BNP was explicitly racist. In October 1990, the BNP was described by the European Parliament's committee on racism and xenophobia as an "openly Nazi party ... whose leadership have serious criminal convictions". When asked in 1993 if the BNP was racist, its deputy leader Richard Edmonds said, "We are 100 per cent racist, yes". Founder John Tyndall proclaimed that "Mein Kampf is my bible". When Nick Griffin became chairman in 1999, the party began to change its stance with regard to racial issues. Griffin claims to have repudiated racism, instead espousing what he calls "ethno-nationalism". He claims that his core ideology is "concern for the well-being of the English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish ethnic nations that compose the United Kingdom".

The BNP previously required that all members must be members of the "Indigenous Caucasian" racial group. The party does not regard non-white people as being British, even if they have been born in the UK and are naturalised British citizens. Instead, Griffin has stated that "non-Europeans who stay", while protected by British law, "will be regarded as permanent guests".

The BNP is opposed to mixed-race relationships on the stated ground that racial differences must be preserved; the party said that "when whites take partners from other ethnic groups, a white family line that stretches back into deep pre-history is destroyed." Nick Griffin stated: "...while the BNP is not racist, it must not become multi-racist either. Our fundamental determination to secure a future for white children is restated, and an area of uncertainty is addressed and a position which is both principled and politically realistic is firmly established. We don't hate anyone, especially the mixed race children who are the most tragic victims of enforced multi-racism, but that does not mean that we accept miscegenation as moral or normal. We do not and we never will".

In April 2006, Sky News confronted the party's national press officer, Phil Edwards (it has been claimed that this is a pseudonym for Stuart Russell) with a tape of a telephone conversation the previous year. On the tape, Russell could be heard to say that "the black kids are going to grow up dysfunctional, low IQ, low achievers that drain our welfare benefits and the prison system and probably go and mug you." He responded: "If I thought I was going to be recorded ... I would not have used such intemperate language, but let’s be honest about it, the facts are there".

The party states that "The BNP has moved on in recent years, casting off the leg-irons of conspiracy theories and the thinly veiled anti-semitism which has held this party back for two decades. The real enemies of the British people are home grown Anglo-Saxon Celtic liberal-leftists ... and the Crescent Horde—the endless wave of Islamics who are flocking to our shores to bring our island nations into the embrace of their barbaric desert religion".

Suggested policies to help police this "threat to all of us" include a Muslim no-fly policy, which would ban Muslims from flying in and out of the UK. The BNP erected a plaque in Oldham, Greater Manchester in memory of Gavin Hopley, a 19-year-old white man who was mugged and kicked to death by Asian Muslims in the street in Glodwick, in February 2002. The plaque was later removed by the local council.

The BNP states that homosexuality in private should be tolerated but believes that it "should not be promoted or encouraged". It opposed the introduction of civil partnerships and wishes to ban what it perceives as the promotion of homosexuality in schools and the media; and believes that homosexuality should be returned "to the closet".

BNP spokesman Phil Edwards stated that homosexuality "is unnatural" and "does not lead to procreation but does lead to moral turpitude and disease". Mark Collett, former chairman of the Young BNP and current Director of Publicity, described homosexuals as "AIDS Monkeys", "bum bandits" and "faggots" and said the idea of homosexuality was a "sickening thought".

The BNP was criticised over a list on their website titled "Liars, buggers and thieves" which grouped several gay politicians in with convicted murderers, rapists and paedophiles. The compiler of the list, BNP local councillor for Redbridge, Julian Leppert defended it and said that the reason why gay MPs were included was because "it fits in with the headline, the bugger part, I guess" and stated that the BNP are "a family party with family values".

Articles published in the Sunday Times and Daily Mail have alleged that Nick Griffin had a four year homosexual relationship with Martin Webster, although Griffin denies this. On his appearance on BBC One's Question Time on 22 October 2009, he stated in response to being asked about the death of Boyzone member Stephen Gateley, "I said that a lot of people find the sight of two grown men kissing in public really creepy. I understand that homosexuals don't understand that but that's how a lot of us feel, Christians feel that way, Muslims, all sorts of people."

According to their website, the BNP policy on immigration is to:

- Deport all the two million plus who are here illegally;

- Deport all those who commit crimes and whose original nationality was not British;

- Review all recent grants of residence or citizenship to ensure they are still appropriate;

- Offer generous grants to those of foreign descent resident here who wish to leave permanently;

- Stop all new immigration except for exceptional cases;

- Reject all asylum seekers who passed safe countries on their way to Britain.

They say that "India would not tolerate millions of non-Indians taking over that society. Pakistan would not tolerate millions of Hindus or Christians entering that country and changing it from a Muslim society into something else. Japan would not do it; China would not do it – so why should Britain?"

The BNP policy on education is:

- The restoration of discipline – including corporal punishment – uniforms, traditional teaching methods and stricter exams (e.g. ‘0′ levels);

- The reintroduction of grammar schools with entrance exams at 11 and 13;

- The reversal of the programme to close special needs schools which penalises the most vulnerable;

- The reintroduction of competitive sports and daily Christian assemblies;

- The teaching of old-fashioned literacy skills (as opposed to clearly failed “modern” teaching methods);

- The teaching of old-fashioned mathematics skills which have practical application to everyday life;

- The teaching of a full curriculum of British history. This will instil in our young people knowledge of and pride in the history, cultures and heritage of the native peoples of Britain, and not the cherry-picked politically correct drivel being fed to children today;

- The abolition of fees and the restoration of full grants to university students studying proper subjects (as opposed to fake “social sciences”);

- The improvement of school food as proper meals have been shown to be linked to behaviour and achievement;

- The ending of the scandalous and racist neglect that has left working class white boys at the bottom of the table for academic achievement;

- The introduction of tax breaks for home-schooling parents or direct subsidies as their fair share of the education budget;

- The introduction of a compulsory Community Award Scheme for all school-leavers to teach them work ethics and social and community values. This would consist of work caring for the elderly or handicapped people, or environmental or heritage restoration projects, or military training. These courses would be character-building and instil discipline, social and community values and work ethics in all young people. Service in this scheme would entitle each individual to get ’something back’ from the society to which they have learnt to contribute, such as free university education, a properly supported apprenticeship, or business training and start-up capital for would-be entrepreneurs.

The BNP foreign affairs policy is:

- Reach an accord with the Muslim world whereby they will agree to take back their excess population which is currently colonising this country, in exchange for an ironclad guarantee that Britain will never again interfere in the political affairs of the Middle East or try to dictate to any Arab or Muslim country as to what their internal government form should be; and

- Maintain an independent foreign policy of our own, and not a spineless subservience to the USA, the ‘international community’, or any other country.

- Resolutely oppose the single European currency;

- Support the overwhelming majority of the British people in their desire to keep the Pound and our traditional weights and measures.

The majority of the British public are highly against the BNP and the recent support they have received in British elections has been put down to the British populations frustration with the main political parties over immigration and the MP expenses scandal.

In 2002 the foundation Stop The BNP was created "to counter racism and fascism in elections and beyond". According to their website, "we want to make sure that people know the full story about who the BNP are and what they really stand for. The Stop the BNP website aims to do just that, serving the anti-fascist movement and providing up to date news, good practice and analysis."

(Information taken from : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_National_Party, http://www.stopthebnp.org.uk/, http://bnp.org.uk/)

Click here to watch the BNP Campaign video

Click here to watch a BNP propaganda video

Click here to watch a documentary about the BNP

What do you think about the BNP? Are there any political parties like this in your country? Comment and let us know!

The advert by Stonewall Charity that made my day!

I saw the most fantastic thing on the bus yesterday evening. It was an advert by gay, bisexual and lesbian charity Stonewall that said nothing but:

SOME PEOPLE ARE GAY. GET OVER IT!

I couldn't have said it better myself =]