RAPE CULTURE IS WHEN...

Art by Georgia Gibson

Rape. She says no, he ignores her and the rest is history - it's pretty simple isn't it?

Starting out as a cyber wave of awareness, last week's twitter trending tag '#rapeculutreiswhen' quickly evolved into a sea littered with snide comments full of ignorance and misconception. Reading through these I came to two conclusions; either our society is infested with ignorant and insensitive imbeciles who need to be removed promptly or there are many people are completely unaware of the issues that people are forced to endure today. Putting my faith in the latter, I figured that it would probably be a good idea to introduce you all to the concept that is rape culture:

HOW TO BE YOU 101

Alina M Reyes

An application form sits in front of you. Name? Easy. Age? Not high enough. Gender? Frick. I guess we answer that one easily enough. You've known it existed since before you even knew what it was for, it's hardly a brain-twister. I mean sex, gender, same thing, right?

"FEMINISM IS JUST AN EXTREME WAY OF SAYING WOMEN ARE BETTER THAN MEN"

Illustrated by Melissa

On Monday, Melissa and I presented an assembly to our year group (year 11) on feminism. It was an opportunity for us, as feminists, to  introduce our year group to the movement. Delivering this assembly was very important to us as we had taken it upon ourselves to teach others about a very large part of our lives that is also relevant to theirs, teachers included.

HELLO WORLD !!!

Illustrated by Phoebe Wahl

Feminism is important for all of us and although this blog is specifically for teenage girls, it doesn't mean that the issues we face aren't affecting others. Regardless of your age or sex we are all victims of a sexist society.

'Sexism is happening all around us, all the time. From women who have lost their jobs for becoming pregnant, transsexuals who are regularly assaulted, men who have been derided for seeking paternity leave, employees who are being constantly harassed at work, to women of all ages who have simply become accustomed to the never-ending recital of sexist comments, jokes, touching, groping, stroking, slapping and wolf-whistling that is the wallpaper to their daily existence.'