Pinkstinks is a campaign and social enterprise based in London, that challenges the culture of pink which invades every aspect of girls' lives. Their site is for parents and non parents alike, and aims to gather support, promote discussion and ultimately to mobilize that support to influence marketeers and the media about the importance of promoting positive gender roles to girls. Pinkstinks also received a grant from Rosa.
Pinkstinks were launched into the public arena in December 2009 with their first campaign 'Early Learning Emergency' - directed at the 'pinkification' rampant in the Early Learning Centre – which received wide media coverage across 43 countries.
In their most recent campaign, Pinkistinks challenged the Princes’ Trust and its partnering with St Tropez tanning products on a so-called 'self-esteem campaign'. In April 2010 The Prince's Trust withdrew its name from the campaign, which Pinkstinks saw as a positive outcome for The Trust, its supporters and beneficiaries as well as a great achievement for Pinkstinks.
On the Name and Shame section of their website, Pinkstinks flag up ‘some of the worst marketing aimed at girls’, including a scrabble game for girls that spells ‘Fashion’ on the box, and suggestive T-shirts for girls bearing the slogans 'Do you want candy?' / 'Sweeter than ice-cream' in Zara. (www.pinkstinks.co.uk/campaign_name_shame.php)
Wears the Trousers is an independent, non-profit magazine that celebrates women in music with the belief that female musicians are artists, not objects. The magazine provides an alternative voice to mainstream music press by challenging the sexism and bias that has operated in the industry for many years.
At Endangered Species, Charlotte will be talking about the challenges Wears the Trousers faces in its mission to put great female musicians on the cover of a magazine, without them having to take their clothes off.
Charlotte Andrews – Wears the Trousers Magazine www.wearsthetrousers.com
Feminist Webs is an online ‘women and girls work space’ that acts as both an archive and a resource for practitioners, volunteers and young women involved in youth and community work with young women. Their bias is toward work which encourages participation and is from a perspective that focuses on women’s rights and experiences.
In 2009 Feminist Webs won a grant from Rosa, the UK Fund for Women and Girls, to support their project ‘Bin the Beauty Box’. This project involved a group of female volunteers (aged 13-70) and youth workers running local events to explore what Body Image means to young women and generate knowledge of feminist youth work and to learn to articulate and develop their feelings and opinions about Body Image through participatory methods including discussions and arts activities.
One young woman who volunteered on all the projects said, “If you would have asked me a year ago if I had a family I would probably have said no, but meeting everyone from feminist webs and such an amazing group of people shows me that I do have a family, you are my family.”
Partners and supporters include: ICA:UK, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester University, The Young Women’s Health Project, The Women’s Resource Centre, Stockport Young Women’s Forum, Lancashire Youth Service, The Young Advocate for the North West and the North West Regional Youth Work Unit. www.feministwebs.com
Y Touring is Central YMCA’s award winning theatre company based in Kings Cross London. At Endangered Species they will be showing an extract from their play ‘Beautiful’, as well as talking about their recent Beautiful Photography project which was exhibited at the Wellcome Collection in London.
‘Why does everyone want to look the same? Cos it’s better. It’s sexy’
Beautiful, Rachel Wagstaff
In 2009 Y Touring Theatre Company commissioned Rachel Wagstaff to write a play inspired by Susie Orbach’s Bodies, to look at the effect that the culture and the technology of today can have on what we do to our bodies, and our perception of what is ‘normal’.
For Seth, it’s his torso, for Jay, his acne and for Kerry it’s a choice between eating and staying thin. But Claire, their teacher and guide, has her own problems, and for Ama, Jay’s little sister, the world is a confusing enough place without internet games inviting you to have virtual liposuction. Beautiful provides a terrifying exploration of the relationship which people have with their bodies and asks how far we would go to make our ideal body a reality.
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Philippa Found is a curator and gallery director of a commercial gallery ROLLO Contemporary Art, London. Her area of specialism is feminism and the body in contemporary art. She is the curator of The Body in Women’s Art Now (2009 – 2011), the travelling exhibition series surveying themes in the representation of the body in women’s art since the year 2000.The series, which has included Tracey Emin, Cecily Brown, Nathalie Djurberg, Regina José Galindo, Jessica Lagunas, aims to present today’s generation of women artists developing the dialogue surrounding the body in art and redress the under representation of women artists in international collections and public exhibitions. In 2010 Philippa was invited to be a founding member of the Art and Gender research board at Centre Pompidou, Paris.
Beat is the working name of the Eating Disorders Association, which continues to build on the strong foundations of the past 20 years of work. It is the UK’s national charity supporting people affected by eating disorders and campaigning on their behalf. Their work is to raise awareness, campaign and change attitudes. Beat want to challenge media stereotypes and the fashion industry, and are working in schools to build resilience in young people.
Beat will be represented at Endangered Species by two of their Young Ambassadors – girls who will speak about how their views of their own bodies have been influenced and formed, and how they have been affected by eating disorders.
Beat are being supported through the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty and the Dove Self-Esteem Fund, and are a partner of the New Look Foundation.
Girlguiding UK is the United Kingdom's largest voluntary organisation for girls and young women, with around half a million members including about 100,000 trained volunteer adult Leaders and supporters. 'Girlguiding UK' is an operating name of The Guide Association.
In their 2010 survey on girl’s attitudes Girlguiding found that ‘More than four fifths of girls aged 16 to 21 said that they think that girls who go on a strict diet do so because of the way that the media portrays women. A high proportion thought they did so to be more attractive to other people (78%) and to be more attractive for themselves (58%). Only a small number (16%) said they thought they dieted for health reasons. No girls in this age group thought that girls went on a diet because of boys.’
At Endangered Species, Girlguiding will speak about their anti-airbrushing petition, backing the Liberal Democrat’s campaign against airbrushing in advertising. (www.libdems.org.uk/our_campaigns_detail.aspx?title=Liberal_Democrats_launch_a_campaign_against_airbrushing_in_advertising&pPK=53afeca1-b612-48ab-ba4f-f6c35667d381)