The only way the horrific so-called “slut-shaming” that the young woman at the centre of the #Slanegirl incident can be understood, is as a product of the proliferation of sexist objectification of women and the commodification of women’s bodies pushed by corporations and the mass media in the recent period. In the light of the warped and sometimes hateful portrayal of women and women’s sexuality that capitalism has promoted in various guises throughout its history.
At a ROSA meeting in October, Igor Iasine as guest speaker spoke about his first hand experience of LGBT repression in Russia, and the CWI’s campaign against this. Igor is active in Moscow, both in the LGBT movement, and in the Socialist Party’s sister organisation, the Russian section of the CWI. In this year, he has been physically attacked twice because of his activities.
A year has passed since the tragic death of Savita Halappanavar. Last November saw over two thousand people take to the streets of Dublin to express their sorrow as well as their outrage that in 2012 a young woman could effectively be left to suffer and die in pain rather than be granted a termination of pregnancy that could have potentially saved her life.