Happy International Women's Day!

[Second Summer]

To all the lovely ladies on the board, thank you for doing all the womanly stuff you do, you know we appreciate it!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Women's_Day

 

[Pickle Juice]

You're welcome.

 

[Scorpius]

How gender biased! When is International Men's Day!?

 

[Spang]

How gender biased! When is International Men's Day!?

In a patriarchy, every day is "Men's Day".

 

[Envy]

How gender biased! When is International Men's Day!?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Men's_Day

 

[Scorpius]

In a patriarchy, every day is "Men's Day".

**** the patriarchy.

 

[ledboots]

Nvm

 

[Pickle Juice]

Here's a good place to post about Madame Yevonde, a pioneering photographer I only just learned about this week.

While still in her 'teens, she discovered the Suffragette Movement and devoted much of her spare time to promoting its aims. She was to remain a staunch supporter of women's rights throughout her life, and they became a strong motivating force in her career, driving her later on to explore many aspects of women's sexuality and their role in society in her work.

http://www.madameyevonde.com/

I especially like her portrait of Vivien Leigh. I'm surprised to see the use of such rich color in the 1930s. I'm so accustomed to seeing softly hand tinted black and whites:

 

[mlp]

I appreciate the political/human rights aspect of International Women's Day; the candy and flowers aspect that has developed in some areas, not so much.

Nice to learn about Madame Yevonde, PJ. I very much like the portrait you posted - I'll have to check out her other photographs.

I'd like to give a nod to my great-great-grandmother Margarite. She inherited a small farm from her parents. She eventually had one child, my mother's maternal grandfather, who was fathered by her farm laborer. She never married, kept the farm laborer on as a hired hand, and lived life on her terms in an era when that was not easy for women.

 

[ledboots]

Wow, such great photos! This one is from 1939

 

[Pickle Juice]

Yeah she did some quirky surrealist still lifes!

 

[ledboots]

2Cellos tribute to International Women's Day.
http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=LqmQJHKh2TU&desktop_uri=/watch?v=LqmQJHKh2TU

 

[Dedalus]

Following mlp's lead - I'd like to give a shout out to my wonderful Mother who passed away last year:

After enduring a very strict Catholic upbringing, Mary jo W. came into her own in the late 60's. She began to question her religion and was asked to leave the church. She marched for civil rights with MLK on Washington. She burned her bra in women's liberation events. Without a college education, she made her way into politics and rose from an entry-level clerk for Senator Dick Clark of Iowa to Director of Constituent Services for New Jersey Senator Bill Bradley. She was a pioneer to me - who sought out meaning to life through developing relationships with people that were not like her. She needed to hear their stories. And her desire to help other people never waivered.

I'm admittedly biased, but she was pretty special.

...and we shared our birthdays, and birthday cakes - and they were always Halloween cakes. Miss you Mom.

 

[Spang]

SHORT: Margaret Kilgallen: Heroines

About
Filmed in San Francisco in 2000, Margaret Kilgallen (1967-2001) discusses the female figures she incorporated into many of her paintings and graffiti tags. Loosely based on women she discovered while listening to folk records, watching buck dance videos, or reading about the history of swimming, Kilgallen painted her heroines to inspire others and to change how society looks at women. Three of Kilgallen's heroines—Matokie Slaughter, Algia Mae Hinton, and Fanny Durack—are shown and heard through archival video, images, and audio recordings. Kilgallen is shown tagging train cars with her husband, artist Barry McGee, in a Bay Area rail yard and painting in her studio at UC Berkeley.

 

[mlp]

Dedalus, your mother does indeed sound very special. You are fortunate, to have had an influence like that in your life.

 

[das_nut]

I appreciate the political/human rights aspect of International Women's Day; the candy and flowers aspect that has developed in some areas, not so much.

Agreed. Candy and flowers seems like a bit of an insult. "Lets celebrate women, here, have some candy and flowers, that's what you want, right?" Seems kind of limiting.

Maybe instead, the focus should be on amazing women - say, Merkel, or Aung Kyi, or Sigurðardóttir, or Hirsi Ali. Or the rights and challenges that come from traditional gender restrictions.

 

[mlp]

Agreed, with the proviso that amazing women (and men) aren't necessarily famous. I think we've been celebrating a number of different kinds of amazing women in this thread already.

 

[das_nut]

Agreed, with the proviso that amazing women (and men) aren't necessarily famous. I think we've been celebrating a number of different kinds of amazing women in this thread already.

Aye.

 

[Dedalus]

Dedalus, your mother does indeed sound very special. You are fortunate, to have had an influence like that in your life.

Thank you, mlp. She had that amazing talent of being able to look at you and truly listen. And you felt like there was nothing else in the world that mattered to her more than what you were saying. I owe her so much - she took me from the corn fields of the midwest to Times Square, New York City, for starters. That alone changed my life forever. The list is long.

...for that matter - the list of women who have inspired me is also long. 4 sisters.