DJ's CHOICE OF THE WEEK: Twitter, tampons and Thor

DJ’s choice is a weekly section by GenderIT.org, exploring the depths of the web to provide you once a week with a top 5 of creative, interesting and informative pieces and resources on gender and ICTs. Delight yourself with this selection of “sparks”: Good readings, interesting links, videos, pictures, cool authors to point to, amazing tools, and much more. Send us interesting material to genderit at apcwomen.org or tweet us your links using #genderit.

In getting Twitter abuse, Zelda Williams is hardly alone

Zelda Williams, daughter of the late comedian Robin Williams, was prompted to abandon several of her social media accounts, including her Twitter feed. But Williams’s experience is just a small sample of the abuse that many Twitter users have experienced for years. Take Back the Tech, a global campaign to raise awareness about violence against women, gave the company an “F” on a report card assessing its policies. More

Source: The Washington Post, Hayley Tsukayama

Ruby Rose: ‘I used to pray to God that I wouldn’t get breasts’

Ruby Rose, an Australian model, DJ and television personality, discusses her short film that depicts gender-fluidity and her struggles of gender-identity. More

Source: The Guardian, Erika Jarvis

This Indian Ad Responds Powerfully To Men Who Stare At Women In Public

In several regions of the world, some men feel entitled to leer at women in public places. While this act makes women feel uncomfortable and violated, it is typical to suffer it in silence rather than to speak up. More

Source: BuzzFeed, Rega Jha

Guardian Columnist Gets Attacked For Suggesting Tampons Should Be Free

“In rode to reduce the financial and social burden menstruation puts on women, ‘women’s feminine hygiene products should be free for all, all the time’”. Columnist Jessica Valenti has receive immense criticism for her statement as she has opened the topic of feminine hygiene products as being regarded as luxury items instead of medical necessities. More

Source: Slate, Amanda Marcotte

Thor Is Now a Woman

This is not Lady Thor. This is not Thorita. This is THOR. This is the THOR of the Marvel Universe. More

Source: Slate, Katy Waldman

GenderIT.org, Women’s Rights Programme, Association for Progressive Communications (APC), August 18th 2014