Feminism

Great Expectations/Μεγάλες Προσδοκίες

‘*Great Expectations’ illustration by Angela Zafiris*

Happy International Women’s day!

The drawing is a comparison of two generations of women. So much has changed in a hundred years.

When I compare my generation with my mother’s and my grandmother’s I can’t believe how different each generation is.

For example, the women from my grandmother’s generation were only required to get married and have lots of children, do some farm work, and that’s about it.

With my mothers’ generation, women were expected to get married, have a few children, get a job, be great cooks, cleaners and hosts.

Then with my generation of women, we are still expected to get married, have children (maybe one or two), get a higher education, be great chefs, mothers (helicopter mother), wives (no nagging), cleaners, and hosts. But, then there is more added to the plate. She must have impeccable hygiene, dress stylish, be classy, get plastic surgery, be extremely knowledgable- a walking encyclopedia, learn many languages, have many skills and hobbies, have many friends, experiences, travel the world, do men’s work etc.

We have more options, opportunities and equality than ever before, but too much has been put on our plates. A modern woman has to be an extraordinary human being. The bar has been set very high. No excuses anymore. Not with all the options that women before us didn’t have. And although some women can achieve many things in their life, not all women can or even want to…

This type of life is exhausting, and only for people who are made of steel, with never-ending energy deposits, and who possess iron-clad stomachs.

There have been many surveys published in the recent years that have revealed that women are more stressed than men https://www.apa.org/topics/stress/women-stress

According to the survey more and more women feel burned out due to having to balance their home life with a career. Also, they don’t feel that men contribute enough. The truth is that young women today have been exploited and burnt out by modern society. The majority of modern women are over-worked, stressed, angry, anxiety-ridden, and financially insecure. This is a topic that is not discussed enough in any country, as it should be.

Antiquated Dialogue/Απαρχαιωμένος διάλογος

This is the first installment of my series of illustrations that are centered on the topic of ‘internalized misogyny’.

Αυτή είναι η πρώτη δόση της σειράς εικονογραφήσεων μου που επικεντρώνεται στο θέμα του «εσωτερικευμένου μισογυνισμού».

Internalized misogyny is defined as when ‘women subconsciously project sexist ideas onto other women and even onto themselves’. But, for me it is a lot more than this. This is a very controversial and taboo topic that many women do not like to discuss, but we can no longer ignore. Without more honest dialogue around this issure there will never be true progress.

Ο εσωτερικευμένος μισογυνισμός ορίζεται ως όταν «οι γυναίκες υποσυνείδητα προβάλλουν σεξιστικές ιδέες σε άλλες γυναίκες και ακόμη και στον εαυτό τους». Αλλά, για μένα είναι πολλά περισσότερα από αυτό. Αυτό είναι ένα πολύ αμφιλεγόμενο και ταμπού θέμα που σε πολλές γυναίκες δεν αρέσει να συζητούν, αλλά δεν μπορούμε πλέον να αγνοήσουμε. Χωρίς πιο ειλικρινή διάλογο γύρω από αυτό το ζήτημα δεν θα υπάρξει ποτέ αληθινή πρόοδος.

As women we don’t feel safe in the world. It can be a dangerous place for us as we can sometimes fall prey to predators. A women experiences a lot of abuse from her partner of father. So being around other women should feel like a safe haven, but sometimes it is not. Many times women face abuse and insults and hostility from other women. Many women behave with an immature cattiness towards other women. They project their insecurities and anger to women who are not in any way to blame or at fault. And lastly, they are prone to being highly judgmental and very intolerant of other women who are different than they are.

Ως γυναίκες δεν νιώθουμε ασφαλείς στον κόσμο. Μπορεί να είναι ένα επικίνδυνο μέρος για εμάς καθώς μερικές φορές μπορεί να πέσουμε θύματα αρπακτικών. Μια γυναίκα βιώνει πολλή κακοποίηση από τον σύντροφο του πατέρα της. Έτσι, το να είσαι κοντά σε άλλες γυναίκες θα πρέπει να νιώθεις σαν ένα ασφαλές καταφύγιο, αλλά μερικές φορές δεν είναι. Πολλές φορές οι γυναίκες αντιμετωπίζουν κακοποίηση και προσβολές και εχθρότητα από άλλες γυναίκες, το λεγόμενο ‘ξεκατινιασμα’. Προβάλλουν τις ανασφάλειες και τον θυμό τους σε γυναίκες που σε καμία περίπτωση δεν φταίνε. Και τέλος είναι επιρρεπείς στο να είναι ιδιαίτερα επικριτικοί και πολύ δυσανεκτικοί με άλλες γυναίκες που είναι διαφορετικές από αυτές.

I could go on forever about this subject, but I think that it is best to let the art do the ‘talking’.

Θα μπορούσα να συνεχίσω για πάντα για αυτό το θέμα, αλλά πιστεύω ότι είναι καλύτερο να αφήσουμε την τέχνη να «μιλήσει».

Happy International Women’s Day!

‘The Little Misogynist’-Illustration by Angela Zafiris

The illustration depicts the verbal abuse from males than many women experience on the street.

“A new UN report has found at least 90% of men and women hold some sort of bias against females.”

“According to the index, about half of the world’s men and women feel that men make better political leaders, and over 40 percent feel that men make better business executives and that men have more right to a job when jobs are scarce. 28 percent think it is justified for a man to beat his wife.”

Uhhh yes men are better leaders that is why the whole world is in turmoil!! And if your wife burns your omelette it’s okay to beat her, your not a psychopath!!

What a crazy world we live in!

https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/news-centre/news/2020/Gender_Social_Norms_Index_2020.html

End Violence against Women

‘Battered Bride’ (Κακοποιημένη νύφη) handmade collage by Angela Zafiris

November 25th is the international day for the elimination of violence against women and girls.

According to a report by the U.N secretary general “..on the basis of data from 2005 to 2016 for 87 countries, 19 per cent of women between 15 and 49 years of age said they had experienced physical and/or sexual violence by an intimate partner in the 12 months prior to the survey. In the most extreme cases, such violence can lead to death. In 2012, almost half of all women who were victims of intentional homicide worldwide were killed by an intimate partner or family member, compared to 6 per cent of male victims.”

These statistics are horrifying and it needs to end. There is not a woman who has not been a victim of violence. This cannot continue to be our reality.

For more information visit: http://www.un.org/en/events/endviolenceday/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Day_for_the_Elimination_of_Violence_against_Women

Pandora Close Your Box!

‘Pandora Close Your Box’ handmade word collage by Angela Zafiris

‘Pandora Close Your Box’ digital collage by Angela Zafiris

In the creation myths, Zeus was so enraged with Prometheus for stealing fire, that he plotted his revenge against him. He ordered Hephaestus to create a beautiful woman with clay and water. The goddess Athena gave his creation charm and grace and Hermes gave her cleverness and the art of lying (!) She was given the name ‘Pandora’ meaning all-giving. Hephaestus gave her to the Titan Epimetheus who ignored his brothers’ advice to not to accept any gifts from Zeus, but he ignored his brother and married Pandora. Pandora brought with her a box that the gods told her to never open. Pandoras’ curiostiy got the best of her and she opend it and in doing so released all of the troubles into the world. Only hope remained in the box which whispered big dreams and false hopes into peoples weary ears and thus keeping them alive.

Similarly to the Eves’ biting of the forbidden fruit as the reason for the ills of the world so to is Pandora to blame, a woman! But, if we look closer it’s not a woman who is the source of all that has plague humans since antiquity. If Zeus had not sought revenge against Prometheus, and if he had not created that darn box than all calamities would have been avoided. But, of course the female has to be the scape goat. In the famous story of the Trojan war, Helen and her irresistible beauty, was said to be the reason for the war, but these two enemies (Achaean Greeks and the Trojan Anatolians) only found a beautiful excuse to go to war. The blame was put on a womans’ beauty and not on the war mongering nature of most men. Men abuse nature, men abuse animals, men abuse children and men abuse women and each other. Yet it’s the ‘cunning, lying, curious, manipulative, and idle woman who is said to have started it all.

Nonetheless, the story is inspiring and the references to Pandora can be spotting everywhere from pop culutre to the media. With all the catastrophes that seem to be multiplying like a hydra recently, we all know who is to be blamed..a woman! A very ancient woman and her box!

Woman On Top!/Η Γυναικα Στην Κορυφη!

‘Woman On Top’ collage on canvas by Angela Zafiris

This is my humorous feminist collage that I know men (and some non-feminist women) will love so much 😉

Feminism is a subject that has been discussed a lot recently and it has unfortunately become controversial and even taboo for some people. I have heard so many varying definitions of feminism by feminists and anti-feminists and the majority of the definitions are really off and I find that they are made by very ignorant people like celebrities. My definition of feminism is that women shouldn’t be mistreated and discriminated against due to their gender. Throughout human history women have been treated appallingly, they were raped, tortured and suffered verbal and physical abuse at home. Women had no choice for their future, and no voice. This is why very few women made their mark in history. Today women are still suffering all over the world. It seems that only a little progress has been made.

Yesterday, I was looking at my bookshelf and I noticed that I had a book called, ‘Feminism For Beginners’ from my University years. I decided to read it again with different, older and wiser eyes. The definition of feminism (according to the authors of the book), for anyone who is confused about what it means is: “Women demanding their full rights as human beings.” Also, ‘feminism is about challenging the division of labour in the world that puts men in charge of the public sphere-work, sports, wars, government-while women slave away unpaid in the home, carrying the whole burden of family life”.

I believe that everyone should want equality of the genders, and I would hope that one day people will finally love and respect each and that feminism will not be controversial as it is today.

*If my collage was a little too ‘white’ for some people that is because I only have European magazines to work with.