Walking Home, a short film about street harassment by Nuala Cabral

faanmail:

crunkfeministcollective:

Would love folks thoughts about this. How do we hold anti-Black women misogyny in hip hop (and media generally), Black women’s agency, and the awesome that is black women’s dance?  How do we talk about the sometimes direct correlation between street harassment and video representations of Black women?

Thx for sharing this, CFC! Women are degraded in the media and this transfers to our every day life, i.e. street harassment. We can challenge misogyny through dialogue and direct action. But we also must exercise agency by creating and support the alternatives we want to see. How can we collectively do some stuff that really shakes things up? How do we affect the bottom line of corporations who sell misogyny & racism? These are some of the things FAAN is thinking about…

nicole-clark:

Women Making Moves! is a monthly series that highlights women and girls of color making a name for themselves (and impacting others) in the areas of sexual/reproductive health, overall health and wellness, feminism, activism, entrepreneurship, the arts and sciences, and all-around pro-woman goodness.

Meet Nuala Cabral, educator, activist and award-winning filmmaker. A native of Rhode Island, Nuala teaches media production and media literacy in high schools, colleges and community centers. While earning a Master’s degree in Broadcast, Telecommunications, and Mass Media from Temple University, Nuala founded FAAN Mail (Fostering Activism and Alternatives Now!), a media literacy/activist project in Philadelphia. Obtaining an Art and Change Grant from the Leeway Foundation in 2011 enabled her to launch Sisters Action Media, FAAN Mail’s first youth media initiative. In addition to her media interests, Nuala is an advocate for social justice and women’s rights. She is a founding member of the Black Feminist Working Group, and an organizer in the movement to end street harassment.

I’ve been following Nuala on Twitter for some time (and you can follow her too!), and her passion, drive, and enthusiasm for using media as a form of advocacy for women and girls of color is awe inspiring. Check out her blog, read more about FAAN Mail, and check out her interview after the jump.

Read More

Nuala is totally amazing and you should definitely read this!

(Source: nicole-clark)

When Seventeen Magazine’s editor in chief Ann Shoket told Julia Bluhm that Seventeen “celebrates girls for being their authentic selves,” and that “there is no other magazine that highlights such a diversity of size, shape, skin tone and ethnicity,” a few eyebrows went up. Here, teen girls from Sisters Action Media respond to that statement while going through the latest issue of Seventeen.

“They do have a few girls of other races and a few girls of other  body types, but when I think about “diversity” I think about an even amount, and they definitely don’t have an even amount at all. There’s definitely more white skinny girls in this magazine than anything else.” [Turns out there are only 14 girls of color in the whole mag—and only one of them had a darker skintone.]

What do you think? Join the conversation on #TalkBack17.

#streetharassment #endSH

In solidarity with Ethnic Studies students and educators in Arizona, we’re joining FAAN Mail’s #WishiLearnedinHS campaign: 

As Arizona’s government moves forward to boldly protect a euro-centric education, we Americans across the country reflect on our own education. We recognize that Arizona’s law is part of a broader tradition that overlooks the accomplishments, perspectives and history of people of color, women and other marginalized groups.

Many of us have received an education that privileges the stories, ideas, history and perspectives of wealthy, western, white men. It is this tradition that creates a need for courses like Ethnic Studies, Mexican American Studies, Asian American Studies, African American Studies, Women’s Studies, Queer Studies, and many “others.” While we hope that Arizona and other states push to make classrooms and curricula truly inclusive, there is still a need to teach ALL students Ethnic Studiescourses that take a more in-depth look at marginalized histories, literature, and perspectives.

What happens when people know and understand their own and other’s history and oppression? The State of Arizona may be afraid of the answer to that question. But we must consider this as we reflect on the gaps in our education. The expression“I wish I learned that in high school” has political implications.

TAKE ACTION:

We are launching this effort on February 1, 2012 the day Arizona’s law becomes reality for the Tucson Unified School District, in support of their Mexican American Studies program. Join this effort by taking any number of the following actions in response to the question: What do you wish you learned in high school as it relates to various cultural identities, histories, and perspectives?

TAKE ACTION

• Tweet with the hashtag: #WishediLearnedinHS about ___________________.
• Respond to the question in your Facebook status
• Write a blog post, Op Ed or Facebook note on this topic; ex. Five Things I wish I learned in HS
• Add links to information about the gaps you identify.
• Send your list to your high school officials/administrators. Inform them of the gaps.
• Tweet: In Solidarity with #EthnicStudies Educators and students in #AZ, I join the #WishiLearnedinHS campaign http://bit.ly/Ax9qhS