Sexism and Tender// This is Life; Maud

Hey guys!
I was encouraged to write this post because today, around 30 students in my year (including me) had a workshop run by the company TENDER. Tender is a charity that do lots of things to raise awareness of subjects like domestic violence, rape and abuse etc to try to spot when it's happening to someone (whether it's yourself or someone you see/know) and help lower the rates of this around the UK and the world.
This is the link to their website is down below:
TENDER LINK

Anyway, at one point we were talking about how woman shouldn't have to dress so they don't distract men. I have strong views about this and I just wanted to rant.

So in lots of uniform codes, girls can't wear their skirts too short or have their legs, arms or bra straps showing and I'm not saying that is wrong in any way as it can be seen as unprofessional but what I don't agree with is that girls should be told to wear clothes that completely cover up as 'men and boys find it distracting'. This is just going along with the fact that women are seen as sex figures. Girls shouldn't have to be worried to go out in slightly revealing clothes and be scared that they are going to be raped or manipulated. You can't say that the girl was 'asking for it' by wearing those clothes as that's taking the blame off the rapist and putting it on the victim which is really unfair and wrong. I am not saying that we should go out in practically underwear but what I'm saying is that we shouldn't be scared to wear items of clothing because of the fear of being seen as a sex item.

And even if it may be 'distracting' to some, by saying that they are not only putting down men as a collective group of people who can't control themselves but they are also not putting into account the girls who are attracted to the same sex (lesbian, bi, pan etc peeps). They have to get dressed surrounded with girls in underwear for P.E. and they can control themselves and keep their eyes off so why should men be distracted by fully clothed women.

There is a really good campaign going on called #iammorethanadistration. I will tag the BuzzFeed post about it below as it will explain better than I could.
BUZZFEED ARTICLE

I think that girls should be able to be proud of their bodies and we shouldn't be seen as sex items or 'too distracting'.
Thankyou to Tender for today's workshop as I really appreciate it and found it really interesting. I also have another tomorrow so I am really looking forward to it!
It also felt like an open environment where things could be said that we wouldn't normally get to talk about in schools.

Happy Reading,

This is Life; Society's Rules// Maud

Sorry that you're getting two This is Life posts in one day but i wrote this last week but forgot to upload it.

In this post I'll be discussing the issue of 'society's rules'.

This is a topic I feel very strongly about.
Society's rules are what society sees as 'what is right' or 'perfection'. This can include things like gender stereotyping etc.

For example, in 'society' the perfect woman is seen to have long, silky hair with big eyes with absolutely NO extra hair on their body and to be very slim and tall.
Men are seen to have to be very strong and tough and unemotional.
These are NOT REALISTIC at all!
I mean here I am, I have very short, frizzy brown hair. I am short and have a 'muscular' body type. I don't shave without a reason to and do not have a particularly nice face to look at, if I say so myself. I look nothing like what is seen as perfection. And what this post is getting across to you guys is that that's ok. We don't need to be all barbie type figures.
If we were then this world would be extremely boring with no characteristic at all.

I used to want to be the 'the same' as all the girls in my year who would hide themselves in layers of makeup to impress. I tried my very hardest but it didn't work. And to be honest I'm happy that it did not work out. I realised that there was no point trying to be who I'm not so I would be socially accepted.
I have now found myself and I know I'm different...because we all are. Don't try and be someone your not to be 'accepted' as if you find you are unique then you will find true friends who will love and accept you for who you are.

Society's rules also extends to things like job roles. I know many girls who are interested in being engineers, builders etc and males who would love to be fashion designers, nurses etc.
In history, women are seen to be the ones looking after the children and doing the 'easy work' while the men are out working and doing the dirty work that women are seen to not do.

As Elsa has kindly said, the past is in the past! This has changed a lot for the better but there are still some stereotypes that need to be banished.

The moral of the story is THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS PERFECTION AND RULES ARE MADE TO BE BROKEN!

I hope you enjoyed this post and sorry for the clash, it won't happen again :)
I've got to go and revise for maths so...

Happy Reading!
Maud xxx

Blog Post Schedule Update // November 2015

Bonjour everybody!

Maud and I have decided that it is time for a change in schedule, and I thought that it is only fair that you guys know as well. Here you are:

Monday: This is Life (alternating Maud and Emile)
Tuesday: -
Wednesday: Emile's currently reading
Thursday: Maud's main post
Friday: -
Saturday: Emile's main post
Sunday: Maud's currently reading

As you can see there will be no shortage of posts!

This is Life is a series we are introducing about life issues, a place for discussion and for people to find support in other's situations and just to talk about things that happen in real life. We hope that it helps you out, even if you just like to read it for entertainment. The idea is that most (if not all) the books we read are fiction, and these are things that happen in real life.

Au revoir,
Emile x