I always secretly wanted a girl

From pageant queens to pageant kings, I guess...

Many may not know, but there are many boys who also participate in beauty pageants. The fact that they are boys doesn't shock me, but not only are many of the mothers living vicariously through their child, but wishes that their child was born as a girl. Some of these moms are really crazy.

For Toddlers and Tiaras go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7PrOUjRE5Y&feature=related

Human dolls

Are child beauty pageants a way to train children to be competitive from a young age, or are they teaching young girls that beauty, above all, is what gives you value? Many of these little girls of course love these pageants and take the competition very seriously. Whereas some of the mothers seem to play with these girls as if they are human dolls. Isn't it then just like any other 'sport', say swimming or running track? I think what makes this so destructive is the fact that these girls are taught that one form of beauty is valued higher than another and that if you 'loose' in a pageant, you will loose in life. How will these girls treat girls in the real world, who they consider to be ugly?

Bolivia's Mennonites

The Bolivian Mennonites live in the same way as more familiar groups, such as the Amish in Pennsylvania, U.S and the Afrikaners in Orania, South Africa. Communities like these usually live apart from the rest of society, since they share different beliefs and core values that prevent them from conforming and settling within society. The Mennonites, much like the Amish and Oranians do all their own labour, plant their own crops and live fairly isolated from the rest of the world's technology.

Violence is an infrequent and often unfamiliar occurrence in communities like these. In June of 2009, a community of Bolivian Mennonites were shaken to the core, when a 100 girls and women (as young as 11 years old) were raped by members of their community. The women and girls were drugged in the middle of the night in their homes and then sexually assaulted. Many of the teenage girls now fear that they'll never get married, since this very conservative community believes that you should get married as a virgin.

Similarly, in 2006 the Amish community of Nickel Mines, Penn. experienced a horrific school hostage situation and shooting, where 10 girls (aged 6-13) were shot, killing 5. Acts of violence are of course much more difficult  for people, who have been so isolated from the rest of the world, to deal with. Are these communities 'wrong' to isolate themselves in this way, setting themselves up only to deal with the everyday and the simplistic? Or are they better off not knowing, what we know?

Photos by Lisa Wiltse

A man's world

Every day 7,000 female fetuses are aborted in India.

— U.N.

Male babies are often more desired than female babies. Why this is, I personally don't understand. But of course it all boils down to how sex and gender are valued by each society, culture and individual living in a specific space. Women are most often perceived as the 'weaker sex', this might be true in some cases, where physical strength is measured. But what about emotional toughness and other forms of strength? How far can physical strength really get you? It is also about gendering someone in a specific way. We are all gendered everyday by others and ourselves to act female or male. Prefering a boy over a girl ingrains binary stereotypes of what is to be considered male and what is female and widens the gap between the sexes and genders. This allows no space for gender fluidity, which leads to more discrimination and intolerance. Walter Astrada beautifully captures gender issues in India, in his reportage Undesired, where it is truly a man's world...

"Until the 1980s, when ultrasound machines became more widespread, girls were commonly killed at birth or were neglected of health and nutrition to ensure their death. Baby girls were often left to die in dumpsters, buried in clay pots or poisoned. This horrific measures are still happening daily. Across the country there is a 47 percent excess female child mortality, girls aged 1-to-4 who are dying before their life expectancy because of discrimination."

"The arrival of ultrasound machines, and its subsequent exploitation, ushered in a silent era of organized crime. Now able to identify the sex of a fetus early in pregnancy, parents who learn their child is a girl often abort her. The government has banned abortions based on gender for the last 16 years. Every ultrasound clinic is required to have a poster explaining the law, yet this $250 million business a year flourishes because of deeply entrenched traditions, official apathy and the lucrative business of illegal ultrasounds."(http://mediastorm.com/pub/projects/undesired)

SALEM, INDIA - Priya, 4 years old, lives in the Life Line Trust Home. She was taken by the police after neighbors denounced her parents for beating her and burning her face. The Indian government has set up a network of "cradle houses" for unwanted baby girls.

 

For more visit:

http://www.reportage-bygettyimages.com/#p=features/Gender_Issues_in_India

Ethiopian Arranged Marriages

People usually refer only to India's practice of arranged marriages, while Ethiopians have  encouraged this practice for years, especially amongst children. Ethiopia's age of consent for females are 15 and males 18, yet so many girls are already married via arranged marriage at the age of 9. 

Child marriage is still a big issue that affects children around the world. In Ethiopia, this practice is causing major health complications for young girls, who's bodies are not yet ready for childbirth. The young girls usually have to marry older men that their parents arrange for them. This usually leads them to develop Fistulas (severe tears in the reproductive region), which is a result of being sexual active 'before their time' or before their bodies can handle it.

What I want to know is why the age of consent is different for girls and boys? Are their minds and bodies valued in different ways? Of course. The girls are the one's that are arranged to be married to an older man, who's body is envaded by an older man during sex and impregnated before she has ever really consented to it. The access that the girls in this society has to agency is very limited, resulting in major health problems and risks.

The movement to stop child marriage is an ongoing campaign by human rights defenders and NGO organizations in Ethiopia, including the IAC - Inter-African Committee on Traditional Practices.- Watch more Videos at Vodpod.