Stories about Women & Gender from February, 2023
Shakira: An unexpected feminist icon?
Shakira represents a model of hegemonic femininity and contradictions that are conceived and represented in her body.
Togolese citizens take their activism online to inspire action and responses
Youths in Togo are using online activism to ensure their voices are heard not only by the people, but also the government.
How one Hindu devotee is using Trinidad & Tobago Carnival's ‘Jab Jab’ character to invoke sacred, feminine power
[S]he is bringing a diasporic consciousness of Jab Jab mas as descended from India [...] defying indenture-descended, male religious prerogative over when and how she can be Indian, woman and Hindu.
Rihanna brings pride to Barbados in spellbinding Super Bowl performance
"Y'all [don't] understand the pride. #Barbados is 166 square miles. A ridiculous number of people live no more than a mile from where their ancestors were enslaved. And from all that...#Rihanna"
India’s burning challenge of youth unemployment
There needs to be a concerted effort to shift the paradigm towards the industrial and service sectors and encourage more workers to move sectors — all with extensive government support.
Trinidad & Tobago's 2023 Carnival regulations read more like respectability politics
"Who determines what or whose representation venerates the spiritual in the mas? The mas by definition IS the spiritual and the profane. And this is an act of war."
Queering the internet: anonymous online spaces for LGBTQ+ people
The threat of persecution, violence, and judgement is why many queer people turn to anonymous online spaces to build community and relationships, seek support, and share their experiences.
Soca star Patrice Roberts’ tribute to calypsonian ‘Penguin’ is woman power’s new take on Trinidad and Tobago’s ‘Soft Man’
Roberts’ decolonial declaration of being human on African, female terms is defined through her contemporary engagement with sexuality, gender, intimacy, pleasure, and violence.
Slovenia law enables full equality for same-sex marriages, including allowing LGBTQ+ people to adopt children
“From today, all same-sex marriages enjoy the same rights as everyone else. There are no losers, rather a minority that was oppressed throughout history is now a winner.”
Turkish mayor is likened to Game of Throne's Khaleesi, shaking social media
Rather than the mayor's visit, it was the town's acting Mayor Melek Mızrak Subaşı whose name has been trending on Twitter.
Ukrainian linguistic battlefields
A recent Facebook dispute about gendered names of professions in the Ukrainian language is about far more than gender.