Karmen Špiljak

Google, seriously?

Fri, 10 May 2013 17:01:00 +0200

Google, seriously?

Kot svinja z mehom

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 15:56:00 +0100

Že nekaj časa sem ga hotela napisati. Tale post namreč oz. svoj pogled na samo-percepcijo slovenskega naroda, na odnos oz. kulturo, ki jo gojimo do lastne vrednosti in kako si interpretiramo narodno zavest. Nekaj časa je tlelo in se kuhalo, zdaj pa mi je (do)končno prekipelo, očitno so takšni časi.

Težko gledam kako slovenska država s svojimi dragocenostmi ravna kot svinja z mehom. Upam, da mi nedolžni pujsi oprostijo tole primerjavo. Kvalitetne in prepoznane blagovne znamke z dolgo tradicijo (e.g. Cockta, Barcafe, Fructal) se namreč prodajajo kot da so kič brez kakršne koli vrednosti. Kvalitetno izobražene ljudi (mlade in stare) pa se tretira kot praktikante, ki niso dobri za nič drugega kot kuhanje kave.

Po drugi strani pa se pri vsakem uspešnem tujcu brska po družinskem deblu v N-to koleno in se išče slovenske korenine. Ta in ta, danes uspešen bilijonar/poslovnež, je imel pra-pra babico, ki se je poročila s Slovencem.

Vse skupaj človeka hitro navede na misel, da v Sloveniji cenimo le tisto, kar nosi žig Zahoda, od strokovnjakov, do blagovnih znamk, vrednot ipd. Slovenija se na vsak način želi otresti svojega uvrščanja v vzhodno Evropo in kakršne koli navezave na Balkan.

Balkan je v naših očeh nekaj slabega, manj vrednega, ne-zahodnega, skoraj barbarskega in neciviliziranega. Pozabili smo, da smo še ne tako dolgo nazaj delili skupno državo in da še vedno delimo skupno kulturo in zgodovino.

Namesto, da bi hvaležno črpali iz bogate balkanske zgodovinsko-kulturne dediščine, se iz nje učili, z njo rasli ter se kulturno in politično povezovali, se vzvišeno oziramo proti Avstriji, Nemčiji in Skandinavskih državah. Kot Cankar, ki je pred šolo zatajil mamo, ker se je sramoval njenega kmečkega porekla in videza. Prepričani smo, da nam Balkan ne more ničesar dati, da bomo v očeh Zahoda kaj manj, če bomo videni kot balkanska država.

Nič ne de to, da se naša politika nikoli ni zares prestavila iz Balkana in da Slovenija še vedno leži na Balkanu. Lahko poskušamo odstraniti Slovenijo iz Balkana, vendar ne moremo odstraniti Balkana in Slovenije.

In zakaj si sploh drznem govoriti v prvi osebi množine? Sem Slovenka, potomka migrantov (kolikor so državljanke_i bivših republik Jugoslavije to bili, kadar so migrirali znotraj države), a ne čutim nobene nacionalne pripadnosti: ne hrvaške, ne slovenske, če že potem morda še najbolj evropsko. Ne samo, da ne čutim nobene pripadnosti. Ne čutim tudi nobene potrebe po njej.

Nikakor nisem ponosna, da sem Slovenka (karkoli naj bi to označevalo), sem pa vsekakor ponosna, da sem odrasla v deželi, bogati z naravnimi lepotami, čudovitim in bizarnim jezikom. Da sem odrasla v sistemu, kjer je bila moja identiteta zgrajena na temeljih bratstva/sestrstva do drugih slovanskih narodov in da so zaradi jugoslovanskega socialističnega sistema moji starši kljub svojim delavskim koreninam lahko oba z bratom kvalitetno izobrazili, nama omogočili številne hobije, imeli kljub polni zaposlitvi dovolj časa za naju in dovolj sredstev za počitnice na morju.

Za vse to sem globoko hvaležna in ponosna sem na svoje korenine in na privilegij odraščanja v tako pestrem kulturnem okolju. Vendar nisem ponosna, da sem Slovenka. Dokler bo slovenska kultura utemeljena na zanikanju lastne kulturne in politične povezanosti z južno slovanskimi narodi ter si pohlepno lastila pridevnik “slovensko” za označevanje pretežno konzervativno nacionalističnih interesov peščice, katerih družinsko deblo se vsaj zadnih 5 generacij ni premaknilo iz Slovenije (kdo je že širil ideje o ‘čistosti rase’?), nimam nobenega razloga, da bi bila ponosna.

Narodna zavest, ki je zgrajena na podlagi separatizma in etnične “čistosti”nosi vrednote fašistinega opresorja in ni zavest, s katero se želim kakor koli identificirati. Narodna zavest, ki temelji na nekritičnem sprejemanju državnih zakonov, ukrepov, idej, uradnikov in institucij pa je totalitarna in ne demokratična zavest, ki odkrito podcenjuje (če ne kar žali) posameznikove_čine sposobnosti in potenciale.

Dokler ne bomo sami pri sebi razčistili in sprejeli svojih lastnih multi-kulturnih korenin ter se naučili črpati iz njihovega neizmernega bogastva, bomo še naprej omejeni na prerekanje o naših, vaših in njihovih (znotraj enega naroda!) ter na odkrekanje osnovnih človekovih pravic manjšinam, na podlagi njihove ne-slovenskosti. Dokler znotraj slovenskega naroda obstaja (in se vzpodbuja) tako odkrito sovraštvo do lastnih pripadnikov_ic, bomo samo sebi (in svojim ljudem ter izdelkom) ostali največji sovražnik.

Upam in želim si, da bomo svojo identiteto kmalu spet začeli graditi na vrednotah in konceptih (solidarnost, sodelovanje, sprejemanje) in ne na poreklu družinskega debla. Vse do takrat pa se lahko identificiram samo z eno mislijo:

“As a woman I have no country. As a woman I want no country. As a woman, my country is the whole world.” (Virginia Woolf)

Rape culture

Sun, 10 Mar 2013 09:20:00 +0100

Admittedly, rape is not a popular topic to discuss. It often provokes strong reactions, as it is a terrible crime with a big social stigma attached and surrounded by silence. In fact, at the moment there is still no comprehensive data on rape and domestic violence at the European level.

However, this article isn’t about rape but about rape culture, a set of beliefs and behaviours that cause general disrespect and aggression towards women, including rape. Stigma and a lack of public discourse are just small parts of it.

When discussing rape culture, there is a lot to talk about: sexist jokes, advertisements portraying sexualised female bodies, notions that it’s fine to touch women and make sexual remarks about them, to take and publish photos of them without their consent, not to listen when they say no because they only say no but really mean yes. Unfortunately rape culture hasn’t been discussed enough, at least not in the mainstream media. Nevertheless, it affects us all and has effects on our daily lives, especially the lives of women.

Women live with the daily threat of rape. It influences what they do, where and how they walk, how they dress, whom they hang out with and how comfortable they are being alone. So jokes about rape are really not about having a different sense of humour, they are just another way to dominate and exercise power.

Rape culture enforces beliefs that it is women’s responsibility to prevent rape. Very often it is the victim who gets the blame for being violated. Her dress provoked him. She shouldn’t have been out that late. She agreed to go home with him. She knew him well. She just wants to destroy his career. It’s the same old “it’s her fault” story, and we’ve heard it all before: rape culture at its’ most obvious.

In fact, rape culture is so widely spread that it has almost become a norm. It covers everything from jokes to the increasingly sexualised images that we encounter on daily basis. They might be selling more products, but they also spread disrespect of women. It’s hard to talk about respect when pictures of half-naked women are staring at us from almost every advertisement from wristwatches to car insurance, films, magazines, TV shows, music. Pressure on women to look and behave like porn stars is visible also in social media, for example Facebook.

However turning women into objects isn’t done only by the media. Taking pornified photos of women without their consent and publishing them online has become some sort of sport, spreading general disrespect to women’s privacy and their bodies, treating them as if they were not real persons whose rights should be respected.

Popular culture, too, is affected by rape culture. Singers, especially in hip hop, describe women as bitches, make remarks about slapping them, portray them as wild beasts that need to be “put in order”, present sexual violence and aggression as a game.

One of the most recent examples of this was the cyber mob campaign against pop culture critic Anita Sarkeesian and her new project to analyse women’s roles in video games. A huge hate campaign was organized by male gamers as if it were an online game of mass bullying, including rape threats, pictures of her being raped by video game characters, pornified images of her on Wikipedia and a website where people could literally beat and mutilate her. Anita spoke openly about her fight with this cyber mob on TEDxWomen Talk, not an easy but definitely a rewarding video to watch.

Rape culture also affects the way we perceive crime and violence. Media articles and debates that accuse rape victims of lying are not rare at all. In so doing, they are not only trying to reverse the roles of the victim and her rapist, they also shame victims in public, making sure that other women will think twice before reporting rape.

Another sign of rape culture is use of the word rape to describe other things (e.g. Facebook rape), or as a metaphor for something annoying or something people were forced to do. It makes rape seem less heavy and violent, almost a subject of a joke.

In the meantime, rape culture is silently integrated in the norms of our society. Rape isn’t funny and shouldn’t be taken lightly, ridiculed or made fun of. This is why it’s important to bring awareness about the presence and effects of rape culture to the media and change it. Once and for all.

For everyone interested in more detailed descriptions with concrete examples, I recommend reading Melissa McEwan’s excellent blog post about rape culture.

This article was originally written for Belgian independent newspaper Dewereldmogen.be

Reading.

Sat, 09 Mar 2013 19:03:41 +0100

Reading.

Feminism is dead, long live feminism!

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 13:29:00 +0100

I’ve been told many times that there’s no need for feminism anymore because men and women are equal now. Some even argue that it is in fact men who are discriminated today. When I ask them to explain the pay gap or where do all those educated women get lost on their way to well paid jobs, they either shrug their shoulders or blame it on nature.

“Women are more caring, they like stay home and raise kids, it’s not in their nature to be dominant” has been argued so often that it’s widely accepted as a truth. Rarely anybody realizes the long process behind: toys for girls encourage nurture and care while those for boys inspire creativity and adventure, girls are being told how to look and behave, being complimented for their looks and not actions, being told every single day by the media and popular culture who they are and how they should look like. Even the most resistant can’t bare this pressure without suffering consequences. It’s not enough just to be born female, ones, one needs to become a Woman.

Sexualized female body in public spaces has become something so accepted, you find it almost everywhere, subtly forming expectations on women’s looks in order to please the male eyes. Women’s magazines all over Europe are teaching us how to be more sexy and pleasing to get the man of our dreams, be a perfect lover, mistress, mother. Films mostly show women’s roles in connection to men’s, giving a message this is the most important goal in a life of a woman. Is this some new form of equality?

Double standards reflect in double language: men are angry, women are hysterical, men are Casanova’s and women are sluts, men are bold and courageous, women are aggressive. Women are being punished for success: influential female politicians and managers are either called shemales or considered to get their positions through sexual favors. There’s no winning this game.

Women everywhere are experiencing sexism on daily basis: commercials of half-naked women, jokes about rape and women’s place in the kitchen made by bosses, co-workers, friends, partners, politicians, comedians, remarks about looks, sexual harassment in the workplace, on the street and on public transport, sexist images in the media, it’s impossible to avoid it.

I don’t think feminism is dead just because women got their rights to vote, get educated and work. Discriminatory double standards are rooted so deep in Western society, they’ve become invisible so actually today we need feminism more than ever. After all, if men and women were really equal, then “throwing like a girl” wouldn’t be consider an insult.

This is an English version of my article, originally published in Dutch in Belgian independent newspaper Dewereldmorgen.

Preparing the exhibition with VE-ZA. (at AKC Metelkova mesto)

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 20:37:30 +0100

Preparing the exhibition with VE-ZA. (at AKC Metelkova mesto)

On Rape Culture in Capitalism

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 18:28:20 +0100

On Rape Culture in Capitalism

Just another ordinary day in #Brussels. (at Brussel / Bruxelles...

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 07:46:35 +0100

Just another ordinary day in #Brussels. (at Brussel / Bruxelles / Brussels)

Unicorns, they exist :)

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 12:23:05 +0100

Unicorns, they exist :)

VE-ZA: Kaj je ženska in komu pripada?

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 00:19:24 +0100

VE-ZA: Kaj je ženska in komu pripada?:

ve-za:

Ženska identiteta je shizofrena. Razpeta med matero-gospodinjo in spolnim objektom. Kaj je ženska in komu pripada? Je ženska last družbe? Kdo žensko nadzoruje, upravlja, jo kaznuje? Kje je obljubljana enakost spolov? Smo jo res že dosegli? Je spol sploh pomemben? Ali je ženska v družbi…

Does comedy need to be sexist?

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 07:53:00 +0100

No, it doesn’t but this is unfortunately often the case. It is an easy way out for most (especially male) comedians. Rape jokes and sexist humor have a lot in common with racist and homophobic jokes: they strengten the position of the privileged and uses it to make fun of the oppressed. Another sign of rape culture.

In the past week I’ve seen two stand up gigs (all male comedians). One in English, one in my mother tongue. In both cases audience consisted of both women and men. Sadly only 1 out of those 9 comedians refrained from using sexism. Their range varied from making fun of female politicians who don’t look like Barbies all the way to rape jokes.When those were being told I looked around. It doesn’t take a genius to guess that women weren’t laughing, neither were all the men.

Rape isn’t funny. Not because women don’t have a sense of humor or don’t know how to make fun of themselves, but because it’s yet another pathetic example of exercising one’s power and position in the society as a (middle class heterosexual white) man, to entertain those alike.

According to one of the theories, championed by Freud, humor is the catalyser of socially repressed and has therefore a therapeutical role. I’m all for that but it’s also important to ask what exactly are we catalysing here. Rights of women to be raped? Or is it rights of men to being verbally/physically abusive and violent?

To throw again the threat of rape at women’s faces and expect they will laugh about it is just as delusional as expecting that people of color will laugh at white people’s racist jokes. Sure, humor has the potential of addressing the taboos in public space without serious sanctions, but there are many ways on how to subvert the norms. Increasing the oppression is not one of them.

Paradoxically many comedians I’m referring to in this post, consider themselves to be emancipated liberals, who support equality. However, when it comes to humor, they choose to stand on the side of the oppressor by using the oppressed as objects of their humor.

And this two gigs were not a lonely example but rather another pebble on the long path of sexism and misogyny in stand up comedy. There are bright exceptions of course: Eddie Izzard, Margaret Cho, Lucija Ćirović and Martina Ipša are only few of them.

I’m not claiming that comedian’s role is to emancipate the world, but if he doesn’t want to think about his audience he could at least give a warning sign: “This comedy is suited for white heterosexual middle class men”.

In #Brussels the sun is like medicine: you take it once a day,...

Wed, 30 Jan 2013 17:17:02 +0100

In #Brussels the sun is like medicine: you take it once a day, half an hour before dinner.

The Global Gender Gap Report 2012

Tue, 08 Jan 2013 15:26:30 +0100

Check it out: The Global Gender Gap Report 2012

Dnevnik skrajne levičarke: Priprave na demonstracije

Fri, 14 Dec 2012 12:58:24 +0100

Dnevnik skrajne levičarke: Priprave na demonstracije:

ve-za:

Dragi dnevnik,

Danes bom podrobno naštudirala tehnike podajanja rož in njihovega zatikanja za gumbnice. Navsezadnje si ne morem privoščiti, da bi na demonstracijah vseslovenske vstaje, 21.12.2012, koga nehote oplazila ali opraskala z rožo ali jo podala na žaljiv način.

Zato bom preučila nekaj…

Stop telling us!

Sat, 01 Dec 2012 13:50:00 +0100

Stop telling us not to be angry, because we are outraged. Stop telling us you’re acting for our own good, for a better future. We want a better today!

Stop telling us what we feel now is irresponsible, immature and anti-democratic. We have a right to criticise your decisions and be outraged about inequality and discrimination in our society. Stop telling us that the times are hard, that we just need to be patient and make sacrifices. We have nothing left to sacrifice!

Stop telling us what the poet really wanted to say. What we think is important too. Stop telling us we’re free to do what we want when you keep on telling us who we are, how we feel, how we should think, dress, work, speak, vote, laugh, love. It’s not your life to live and we want to make our own choices!

Stop telling us you know what you’re doing and we should just trust you, because it’s too obvious we can’t. Stop telling us that it’s our own fault and we just have to wait till next elections if we want a change. We are the change!

So stop telling us not to scream when our whole body is screaming. We are screaming now and you can’t cover your ears any longer.

Neznosna vzvišenost bivanja

Fri, 30 Nov 2012 14:22:00 +0100

Ko Grega Repovž ugotovi, da se politiki kot so Kangler ne zgodijo sami od sebe, mu lahko samo prikimam. Tudi, ko nadaljuje, da je takšnih kot on še kar nekaj in da niso niti vredni niti sposobni opravljati funkcij, ki jih zasedajo.

Težko pa pogoltnem njegovo udrihanju po narodu, češ, sam si je kriv, kaj je pa prelen, da bi razmišljal. Ista intelektualna lenoba, ki jo Repovž očita slovenski naciji (kot da ne bi bil del nje tudi sam), se kar cedi tudi iz njegovega članka. Površno mahati s posledicami in jih predstavljati kot vzrok, je nedvomno intelektualna lenoba, nevredna uglednega imena, podpisanega pod člankom. Najmanj, kar pričakujem od najbolj liberalnega in enega bolj naprednih slovenskih časopisov je, da ne opleta s površinskimi pojmi v populistični maniri, ampak se vsaj delno poglobi v iskanje in analizo vzrokov.

Na primer: zakaj in kako je prišlo do te lenobe. Ki pogleda koliko prostora namenimo družbeno politični vzgoji v našem izobraževalnem sistemu in na kak način ter kje prihajajo ljudje v stik s politiko. Največkrat žal na TVju, preko after in v gostilni, izobraževanje pa se politike branikot hudič križa. Na podlagi česa torej naj pričakujemo boljše rezultate in višjo politično kulturo?

Odvečno se mi zdi udrihanje po narodu, na ramena katerega politiki prenašajo pomembne odločitve (da ne bi izgubili glasov), ki jih nazadnje niti ne znajo predstaviti v razumljivem jeziku. Strinjam se, da je slovenska politična kultura na zelo nizkem nivoju. Vendar pa to ni vzrok ampak posledica, zakaj ljudje volijo oz. ne volijo tako, kot to počnejo. Res je, slovenska nacija bi morala storiti marsikaj za boljšo družbo. Ampak kdo je slovenska nacija, če ne mi?

Repovž nazadnje precej utemeljeno ugotovi tudi, da se zaradi trenutnega stanja intelektualci vse bolj umikajo iz slovenske politične scene. Vloga intelektualcev v politiki je zagotovo pomembna. Njihova odgovornost pa še toliko bolj. Res ne vidim razloga, zakaj bi politiki morali prositi intelektualce da vstopijo v politični prostor, saj je to vendar naša družbeno politična in moralna odgovornost. V nasprotnem primeru bomo ostali zgolj foteljski intelektualci, ki s težkimi besedami klofutajo že taki pohojen in potlačen narod. Takih je pa že zdaj preveč.

CSI: EU

Sun, 18 Nov 2012 16:55:08 +0100

CSI: EU

Becoming a politician in Slovenia…

Wed, 07 Nov 2012 14:51:00 +0100

Becoming a politician in Slovenia…

You deserve the first class, so we'll treat you like a prostitute

Wed, 24 Oct 2012 11:28:00 +0200

Let’s be honest. This isn’t really advertisement for women’s lingerie. It’s yet another sexist ad, designed to please male gaze. Women don’t need to see photos of half naked female bodies to be convinced into buying underwear. This ad (and lingerie) is designed purely for the purpose male pleasure.

If it was trying to adress women, it wouldn’t dare to depict them as body parts (not whole person), giving the message “here’s how you should look so he will want you” or even more bluntly:”Here’s what he wants.”

Why the hell should she care what he wants when he clearly doesn’t care what she wants? It’s her body, her choice, her underwear. If he’d want her only because of this lingerie, she’d be a fool not to tell him to fuck off. Yes, women too like to be appreciated for their brains and personality, not for what they wear. Assuming anything less is a vast underestimation and disrespect of this ad’s target consumers.

If the ad was really speaking to women (and not merely pretended to do so) it wouldn’t refer to them as to prostitutes. First class has a very specific connotation when put together with a photo of sexualized female body. And from the look of it, nylon plastic lingerie is very far from first class feel, unless first class means itching and kitsch.

So indeed, why settle for less than first class? This is why I’ll never buy Prima underwear and strongly advise the same to anyone I know. After all, I’d really hate to use my money to support sexism.

Innovation in diplomacy

Sun, 30 Sep 2012 10:41:00 +0200

Finally some good news from Slovenia - namely its Prime Minister Janez Janša received the award for innovation in diplomacy. No doubt this is well deserved reward. Everyone knows that diplomacy is a tricky job and takes extra effort to come up with something as creative and innovative as:

bullying neighbouring countries,
spreading hate speech by using fake Twitter profile,
being the first leader to use further downgrading as a out-of-crisis strategy,
owning the “victim” image,
strengthening fascist structures without being challenged by the media and
ruining Slovenian welfare state and geting away with calling it a reform.

Well done! But we shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves, after all this is only a start.