daily feminist news: 09.09.13

 

Senegal has a sassy feminist Prime Minister.

Aminata Toure, women’s rights activist, anti-corruption whistle-blower, justice minister, football player and all round feminist bad arse, has been appointed the new Prime Minister of Senegal. Toure has dedicated much of her life to advocacy and activism for causes such as reproductive rights, women’s health issues and gender equality. Toure has met some criticism of her speedily assembled cabinet that consists of 28 men and just four women.

Miss World competition driven out of Jakarta by protests.

Islamic protestors in Jakarta, many of them women, have objected to the nature of the Miss World competition, waving banners reading: ‘Go to Hell Miss World,’ ‘Reject Miss World’ and ‘Miss World is (a) Whore Contest.’ These protests against the Miss World pageant call into question the same old issues of beauty and body standards’ oppression of women, as well as issues about Miss World’s notoriously Western view of feminine beauty.

DC Comics want you to draw a naked woman committing suicide.

Here’s one of the most awkward and cringey things since Vice did THAT fashion spread of women poets and writers who had committed suicide. DC comics are running a competition for illustrators to win the chance to contribute to an upcoming comic about Harley Quin. To win you’ve just got to draw a picture of Harley Quinn committing suicide. Naked. Because women are sexy and suicide is glamorous and the combination is irresistible. Urgh.

‘Titstare’ app further perpetuates sexism in the tech industry.

The first presentation at the TechCrunch conference, where developers were presenting new apps for smart phones, was for an innovative app called ‘Titstare.’ The Australian developers, Jethro Batts and David Boulton, humorously demonstrated how the app was beneficial to men because science proves that being a misogynist, ogling, boy-man apparently promotes men’s health and life expectancy. They were just joking guys, come on! But seriously, an app where you can browse though images of cleavage, ‘like’ and ‘favourite’ certain ones and even upload your own (creepshots anyone?) sounds the worst.

You should buy this house because sexy.

Real estate agent Mark Mason thought inside the square and decided to use sex to sell houses. In this charming advertisement for 10 Redbill Close, Thornlands, he is swamped by women in bikinis having pillow fights and eating strawberries, because that’s what will happen on a daily basis in this gin palace/family home. Of course it’s more of an existential metaphor wherein the house symbolises your life/soul, but you get the idea. The folks at Mamamia weren’t sure if the tactic was clever or sexist, but what do you think?

[Image Credit]