Zine Masterclass
Sunday 11 May, 1.00 – 5.00pm
Cost: $30 / $25 Members & concessions
Bookings: 02 9245 2484 or www.mca.com.au/events

MCA Zine Fair - FREE event
Sunday 25 May, 11.00am – 6.00pm
Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
140 George Street, The Rocks
Stall bookings: 02 9245 2484
Stall fees: $10 per table or half a table for $5
More info: www.mca.com.au/events

Submissions for Pretty Ugly #6 are now closed. Thanks to everyone who contributed to this issue and a special thanks to Emily Lebetzis for organising and editing the whole thing from abroad! The zine is currently being prepared for printing and we expect it to be available within the next month or so. As always you’ll be able to buy it directly from us or from our distributors. Keep an eye on the blog to see when submissions for issue #7 are open.

Would you like to contribute to Pretty Ugly #6?

It’s a zine written by people who have feminist ideas, but the content is not explicitly feminist. The contributors are mostly, but not exclusively women who consider themselves feminist and/or queer-positive. Environmentalists, punks and activists are also urged to take up their pens, cameras and brushes. You’re welcome to contribute your writing, artwork and photography, or design the cover of this unthemed edition.

We have previously published feature articles, reviews, interviews, recipes, columns and short fiction. We will accept anything for consideration, including personal writing. But in the case of poetry, it will only be published it if it’s funny/entertaining/political and I, the guest editor, personally like it (a long-debated Pretty-Ugly collective policy).

There are also no set word limits, but bear in mind that it’s usually an A4-sized publication of up to about 48 pages, so anything over 2500 words would probably be printed in digest form and placed on the website in its entirety. And please don’t send really long pieces without first sending a short synopsis of up to 300 words maximum!

Contact me - Emily - lebetz[at]gmail[dot]com with your contributions/contribution ideas.

Submission deadline: Monday October 29th

Launch will probably be at the Melbourne zine fair in January 2008

Thanks heaps,
Emily Lebetzis
for the Pretty Ugly Collective

***please pass this onto your wonderful, amazingly creative friends!

Top Five Fridays: Most Tasteless Games at Palgn.com.au

1. That ALL forms of violence against women end.

This includes rape as a weapon of war, female genital mutilation, domestic violence, psychological abuse, child brides, female trafficking, sexual assault, verbal abuse (including “hey-baby’ from the unknown jerk on the side of the road), date rape, drug rape, gang rape, marital rape, incest, etc.

2. That people stop forwarding me “funny” emails based on gender stereotypes. They don’t help the cause of women and they don’t help the cause of men.

3. That feminists, politicians, and popular media stop debating maternity leave and start seriously discussing paternity leave. Giving mom some time off from her job to take care of the kiddies, without dad’s help, is just a set up for a life time of unequal parenting.

4. That Britney Spears quickly recovers from whatever currently ails her, realises that skimpy clothes can’t bring you happiness, uses her voice to do a modern rendition of “I am woman” and becomes the poster child for young feminists everywhere - all with a shaved head.

5. Hillary wins.

6. Johnny looses.

7. Abortion is finally decriminalised throughout Australia and put under the relevant health act, where it belongs.

8. That “right to lifers” concern themselves with life. For instance the lives of women who they condemn as murders, the lives of people who could be helped by stem-cell research, the lives of the terminally ill who wish to end their pain.

9. That someone makes an action adventure movie where the central character features a woman rather than sensationalising a woman’s features. No latex should be involved in the making of this movie.

10. That marriage is allowed for all individuals, regardless of sexuality, because every person should have the right to reject this institution if they so choose.

I am woman, hear me roar!

Not a post about Kelly’s fav band, but recent news suggesting that Russel Crowe is not the hostile prat he appears to be. But what does this have to do with cheerleaders?

Co-owner of the rugby team South Sydney Rabbitohs, Crowe has revealed that the mid-game entertainment will no longer include cheerleaders.

Research, Crowe said, showed fans were uncomfortable going to games with girls on the sidelines dressed in skimpy green, red, white dance costumes. “It makes women uncomfortable and it makes blokes who take their son to the football also uncomfortable,” Crowe told Australian media. “We’ve talked to a lot of people and everyone sees it as being progressive.”

Progressive indeed, although the impetus seems to have come from his wife rather than Crowe himself - you can read the full story on CNN.

It would have been nice if in his statement he could have added, “I’ve decided that it was time to stop treating women merely as sexual objects on the sidelines. Women deserve a leading role, not merely in sporting culture, but all aspects of life. Misogyny must end!”

Baby steps.

Kick it to me, kick it to me!

…because she wasn’t the date of a male cricket star. Australian vice-captain Lisa Sthalekar, winner of the Women’s International Cricketer of the Year on Monday night. Read more at the Cricket Australia website.

The lead story in both Melbourne papers today was the conviction of Geoff Clark, former head of the ATSIC, of leading two pack rapes against Carol Stingel over thirty years ago.

But is conviction the right word? Rather than a criminal trial, Clark faced a jury in an action in torts, where the standard of proof is less and the role of justice is to compensate, rather than penalise.

The effect of this for women is being overshadowed by the role of the media, particularly The Age, in bringing Clark to justice as the newspaper unusually published stories about women who claimed they had been raped by the aboriginal leader. Certainly it is not unheard of for public, particularly political figures to have parts of their private life investigated. However mainstream media has traditionally been hesitant to accuse anyone of criminal charges before formal investigation by the police.

The four women who had accused Clark were never able to charge him criminally. After The Age report, the allegations were formally investigated, but never amounted to trials due to lack of evidence. Not surprising considering the length of time the women had claimed they were assaulted and the statute of limitations.

Clark today claimed that he was personally being prosecuted by the media. While not excusing Clark’s actions, there’s something to be said about only Clark being held accountable; Stingel claimed Clark had been the leader of the two pack rapes. Where were the other men? Furthermore, Stingel had been raped afterwards by other men, one resulting in a pregnancy. Were these allegations investigated, or only the ones committed by Clark? No one is discussing how yesterday’s ruling is linked to the bigger issues of sexual violence in the Aboriginal community.

And while The Age basked in the delight of yesterdays ruling, other, more important issues than the role of the media have being overlooked. Most importantly for women seems to be the use of civil court in making men accountable for rape. Certainly Stingel’s claims would have been difficult to prove considering they took place in the 1970s. In this way, civil proceedings seem, at least, some way of gaining retribution.

To me, it seems like another way that violence against women is pushed out of criminal courts. Like years of domestic violence prosecution, violence against women appears like a “soft crime”, certainly nothing worthy of punishment. Stingel was awarded $20 000, which represent the post-traumatic trauma she suffered from the rape, rather than the price of the actual violence she endured. Odd? More painful is the fact that the jury decided against awarding punitive damages, damages that are awarded in civil cases rarely but for detestable and intended actions which warrant punishment.

Doesn’t sound like justice to me.

It’s been a long time coming but Issue #5 has finally arrived! Complete with Wonder Woman on the cover, number five is packed full of great interviews, articles and rants on Rosa Luxemberg, The Time of the Assassins, Ladyfest Brisbane (including chats with Erase Errata, Macromantics & Partyline), Dove’s ‘Real Beauty’ Campaign, identity politics, and many more gems including a retrospective on The Slits and our regular column ‘Songs of empowerment’. PU#5 is only $3.00 AUD and is available now in our shop. It’s great to be back!

The deadline for the next issue is September 1st, 2006. That may seem like a while away, but if you’re interested in being featured in issue #5, please express your interest now so we can make sure your piece is included. Issue #5 will debut at the National Young Writers Festival in Newcastle this October (2006). Submit or express your interest via the contact page - thanks!!