Corpalism - by Arun D Ellis - a compendium edition incorporating 'Uprising', 'From Democracy to Dictatorship' & 'Aftermath' - books 1, 2 & 3 in the series

“Hello, fellow delegates, my name is Stephanie White and I’m standing for Parliament in the London Borough of Wandsworth. At 24 I’m one of the youngest delegates and I hope you won’t hold that against me.”

She smiled at the laughter.

“I’m also one of the least experienced so you’ll be pleased to hear I’m sticking to what I know! I was born and raised in Clapham Junction and where I live now 6 out of 10 young people are unemployed, and 4 out of the 6 are women. I work in a shoe shop and as a single Mum I consider myself extremely fortunate to have a job.”

Steph looked around the hall, “I won’t take up much of your time; I’m just here to highlight the issue of women’s rights.”

The women present cheered and clapped. The men looked immediately beleaguered.

“I know a lot of people think there’s no issue for women and I also know, from personal experience, that not all of these people are men” there was more laughter, this time from the men, “I know a lot of women who would rather not discuss women’s rights, who are quite alright thank you very much so it’s not them I am speaking for here, but for the majority of women who are NOT alright.”

She took a sip of water, her mouth uncomfortably dry, she’d been advised against the coffee earlier and now wished she’d taken the advice. “I know that a lot of people think that things are equal in the work environment but they’re not, because it is a fact that in many instances a woman doing the same job as a man will be paid considerably less even though it’s been illegal since 1970 to treat women less favourably than men in the pay stakes.”

She sipped again, “Women at work have to work harder than a man just to get noticed. A woman has to butch up and out macho the men to get noticed, in essence she will have to become a man. Believe me I know, the shoe business is a cut throat world!” There was a burst of laughter; what she lacked in age, she made up for in cheek.

“Admit it ….we’ve all seen it… women these days, they’ve become men. They out drink men, they out shout men, they out party men, they do all of these things because being a woman is seen as being weak, they have to be tough and macho to be thought of as any good… but why? Why does a woman have to be more like a man to have her opinions, her views, her thoughts valued? What’s the deal here?”

She paused to let the question sink in, and in truth to steady her breathing; the size of this crowd was awesome. Marissa murmured, “Go for it, girl” and Stephanie grinned.

“The answer’s quite simple; women have not been accepted for who they are. They have had to change, to adapt, and to become manlier to compete with men. Is this really a free system where all people are treated as equal and rewarded for their efforts and ideas or is it a system where the biggest, loudest, most hectoring voice is heard and that voice is always the voice of a man or a macho woman? Are we allowing ourselves as women to be denied true equality in our own right as women?”

Her words gained her general nods of approval round the room, even some men, presumably distracted by reminiscences of acquiescent, womanly women, were nodding happily.

“Why can’t we behave like women and have the same chances and rights as men? We form half of the world’s population, do you realize that? We are half of the world’s population and we are treated as second class citizens, we cannot get the proper recognition at work, in the office, in the board room, in the cabinet anywhere.”

She glanced behind her and received a nod from Catherine; they’d talked beforehand and, when she’d finally opened up, Catherine had told her how long it had taken her to get a headship when her university contemporaries (male) had achieved it years earlier.

Marissa had quite readily said much the same thing when quizzed about her accountancy opportunities.

“To be honest, we women are our own worst enemies. When we gain the top spot we don’t offer a hand to another, rival woman – think of the Iron Lady – how many women in her cabinet? Let’s face it, we aren’t united, women don’t fight as one entity. We fight for our own cause, for our own family, our own interests. We’re not trained since babyhood like men to stand together, to fight for our rights as a group, as a marginalised section of society. Well, perhaps we should stop and think for a bit, stop and look at how the men have done it, stop and see what unity can do for us; we should unite as one and say no more of this. We should learn from the Dagenham women that united we are strong[1].”

She took heart from the applause that followed that comment, “But the problem is; there is always the woman willing to sleep her way to the top, to stitch up her competition, stab another woman in the back. This type of woman has no moral compass, no conscious sense of anything other than her own desire to get on."

She waved away the argument she knew would be coming, "Now I know there are similar types in the male world but frankly, that’s not our concern, our concern as women should be how we prepare for the fight, how we prepare for the cause, how we set out our stall and how we go about uniting in the coming struggle. We need to consider how we are treated and how we are looked upon. We should look at the lack of respect, the lack of courtesy, the lack of opportunity, the lack of reward that exists just because of our gender. It has nothing to do with our minds, with our imagination, with our abilities, with our intellectual capacity; it is all just because of our gender. Do you realise there is more concern today about racism than about the sexploitation of women?”

Steph waited for her words to settle with the audience before continuing, “Do you realise that? The media, the internet, twitter, everyone, including women, everyone is more concerned with how black footballers are treated on the pitch than with how all women are treated everywhere. Do you realise this? And do you know why? Because the footballers are men, that’s why. I love football, by the way … I just want to put that on the table, but I won’t take my son to a game because of the foul language and use of the ‘C’ word.”

She shook her head slightly at the gasp that went round the room, “you’re shocked, yet that word is used on the terraces every Saturday all round the country to insult males and as long as you don’t attach ‘black’ to it, you’re fine.”

She stared round the hall, deliberately seeking out the men, fixing them with a look, “How is it you can call a footballer, of any colour, the ‘C’ word, you can call him an ‘effing c***’ if you want to, but you can’t call him anything racial. Do you realise what that means? Do the women here realise what that means? It means that society and the law backs a man’s right to call another man a ‘c***’ and it’s OK, why? Why is it ok to use a slang term for the female sexual organ as a way of insulting a man? A deep insult at that! Anybody? Because in a man’s world women are seen as less than men, because women are seen by everyone, including women, as being less, as having less weighty opinions, less weighty views, women are just seen as fluff whose only purpose is for sex or to sexually gratify men. Other than that women can go to the back of the cave and wait until they are needed again to satisfy man’s sexual urges. Well that’s not the way it should be.”

There was some uncomfortable shuffling of feet and throat clearing, a smattering of clapping.

“I realise I must seem very radical.” Steph dropped her head for a moment and the room went very quiet, she counted five slowly then lifted her head, her eyes blazing, “Well if that’s what I need to be, then radical it is! I mentioned ‘sexploitation’ earlier and I used the term deliberately. One of the things we have to change is women’s role in the entertainments industry. Why is it that it isn’t good enough for a female singer just to be a good singer? Why does she have to be a sex symbol as well? Why isn’t it enough for a woman to have a good voice, to write powerful lyrics, why must she appear semi naked in her videos? Why must a female singer pose semi naked for hundreds of media shots? Why must a female singer sell her soul to the industry to sell her music?"

She stopped speaking abruptly, aware she was being controversial, that such a divisive message wasn’t to be readily accepted by this audience, by any audience.

She’d asked her boyfriend, Donny to come for moral support and knew he would be groaning somewhere.

She took a deep breath, shook her hair off her face and continued, “The implication is that if a woman doesn’t sell her body then her songs won’t sell. Rubbish…Music is an audio entertainment, there are no videos on the radio, there is no video playing when you put the CD in your player. A song is a song, a good song is a good song, regardless of whether or not the female singer is attractive, semi naked or fully-clothed, the whole industry has been abused and women have been abused by it.”

There was more applause now, she’d moved on to a safer subject it seemed, she continued “and it’s totally unacceptable to say that it’s just sex and that in today’s market sex sells, it’s not sex… it’s sexploitation, it’s abuse of women, it’s another example of where a woman’s contribution isn’t valued for what it is, another example of where it isn’t enough to be talented, it isn’t enough for a woman to have a good voice, it isn’t enough for a woman to be creative she has to be manipulated, controlled by men who only want her to be a sexual symbol.”

She paused again, “And then there’s acting, TV and films, why is it that in films and TV programmes today a woman always has to take her clothes off? Why is it that a female star has to be attractive and when she’s no longer considered so her roles start drying up? Why are there so few strong parts for women? Why is it that most women are chosen for their physical appearance rather than their acting ability?”

Someone shouted from the audience, and she rebutted with, “Don’t say Meryl Streep at me – she’s one woman out of hundreds of men, that’s why she wins all the female Oscars” laughter and applause greeted that snappy rejoinder, “Is it the same for men? Of course not, male actors can go on into their 90s but most female actors are finished when the first wrinkles and grey hairs start appearing. Then the movie making industry starts plying the halls for the next young piece of female meat to parade around on our screens, why? Why do we females accept this double standard? Why do we accept the notion that we’re nothing unless we’re young and attractive?”

Steph asked the question well aware that she was very young and attractive herself at this point, “I know that we are our own worst enemies in that it’s women singers and actors who are giving in to these demands, who accept it as part and parcel of the way things are. I realise that we won’t really win this war unless women in the industry unite and are prepared to stick together to stand against the sexploitation. I also understand that most women don’t start to think like that until their looks start to fade; then they’re willing to make a stand.”

She sighed loudly and was rewarded with amused laughter, “you know what I’m going to say before I say it, don’t you… by that time they don’t need you, they aren’t going to listen, they’ve found your replacement …another new young thing and the new sex goddess isn’t in the least bit interested in fighting for women’s rights, not if it will block her route to fame and glory and wealth… but that’s exactly what they must do, that’s exactly where it must start…we must unite; we must recognise we are half the world’s population, half the world’s work force, half of a partnership. We have power, we have influence and we can make things change. We must all stick together and we must demand equality of the mind, equality for who we are and what we are, then and only then will our thoughts matter, will our efforts count, then and only then can we as women be accepted for our minds and our personalities, then and only then can a woman really be equal for until that time occurs women will always be second class citizens who are just used and abused by the system and that will only encourage the average man in the street to see women as less than themselves."

"I’m Stephanie White, thank you for listening.”

Hope you have a good weekend

Cheers for reading

Arun