Advocate – a film about attorney Lea Tsemel

Posted on September 25, 2019 by Femina Invicta

Advocate: A film about the Israeli lawyer Lea Tsemel. Directed by Rachel Leah Jones and Philippe Bellaïche.

I want to highly recommend this film, if there is a screening anywhere near you, or if/when it arrives on TV – run, don’t walk, and see it.

Lea Tsemel is an Israeli lawyer, who for over five decades has been doing one of the most thankless jobs imaginable: She represents Palestinian defendants in Israeli courts. Somehow, although she has literally never won a case for a Palestinian accused before the Israeli court system, she still believes in justice, and believes she can help bring it to the fore in Israel’s “justice” system.

In addition to archival materials and interviews with Tsemel’s family, coworkers, and professional colleagues, the film follows two contemporary cases of Palestinian defendants with extremely extenuating circumstances, who are nevertheless (not really a spoiler alert) convicted and sentenced to serious jail time. One of them, a 13 year old child. Because, as mentioned, there is not a single example of a Palestinian defendant being exonerated in Israel.

In addition to the constant frustration of her cases, Tsemel is regularly demonized in the Israeli press and by the Israeli public, called names, threatened, accused of collaborating with terrorists.

The film is edifying, interesting, frustrating, thought provoking, stimulating… I watched it with a sister activist, and at the end I wanted to kill the world, and she came out of it re-energized and ready for action. So I guess what you take out of it depends on what you took into it….

But no matter who you are – go see it. It’s a must.

Beautiful Dancer

Posted on January 2, 2013 by Femina Invicta

Who says you have to be a size minus to do a beautiful ballet leg extension?

………………….

photo credit: heytheretrivara

Plus-Sized Lady Mocks American Apparel’s XL Model Contest – And WINS!

Posted on December 16, 2012 by Femina Invicta

This post I’m reblogging was from about a year ago, but I just discovered it today, and now I’m in feminist love with Nancy Upton!!

Here is American Apparel’s sore loser response:

“It’s a shame that your project attempts to discredit the positive intentions of our challenge based on your personal distaste for our use of light-hearted language, and that “bootylicous” was too much for you to handle. While we may be a bit TOO inspired by Beyoncé, and do have a tendency to occasionally go pun-crazy, we try not to take ourselves too seriously around here. I wonder if you had taken just a moment to imagine that this campaign could actually be well intentioned, and that my team and I are not out to offend and insult women, would you have still behaved in the same way, mocking the confident and excited participants who put themselves out there?”

…

“Oh—and regarding winning the contest, while you were clearly the popular choice, we have decided to award the prizes to other contestants that we feel truly exemplify the idea of beauty inside and out, and whom we will be proud to have representing our company.”

.
After the story hit the blogosphere, Nancy and the friend who photographed her were invited to tour American Apparel’s plant and meet with the team who created the contest. You can read about it in her Tumblr.

*********************************************************************************************

American Apparel’s XL modeling contest ended yesterday. There was a clear leader in the contest, but she was actually making fun of American Apparel’s belittling view of plus-sized models. Here are her entry photos.

American Apparel’s “THE NEXT BIG THING” (Emphasis on big, if you will.)

Think you are the Next BIG Thing?
Calling curvy ladies everywhere! Our best-selling Disco Pant (and around 10 other sexy styles) are now available in size XL, for those of us who need a little extra wiggle room where it counts. We’re looking for fresh faces (and curvaceous bods) to fill these babies out. If you think you’ve got what it takes to be the next XLent model, send us photos of you and your junk to back it up. Just send us two recent photographs of yourself, one that clearly shows your face and one of your body. We’ll select a winner to be flown out to our Los Angeles headquarters to star in your own bootylicious photoshoot. Runners up will win an enviable assortment of our favorite new styles in XL! Show us what you’re workin’ with! via Jezebel

From her tumblr: “My name is Nancy Upton. I’m a size 12 and wanted to show American Apparel my fresh face (and full figure). My good friend Shannon Skloss came over to take some “booty-ful” photos of me… but I just couldn’t stop eating.”

Plus-Sized Lady Mocks American Apparel’s XL Model Contest.

Dina Goldstein’s Fallen Princesses

Posted on December 5, 2012 by Femina Invicta

If you followed my blog in its earlier days, you know what I think about young girls’ increasing obsession with princesses, and how Disney Princesses distort their image and expectations of themselves, of life, of relationships, of their sexuality… Everything.

~ Snowy ~

That’s why I was so thrilled to discover Dina Goldstein, my favorite photographer (today). I saw her Snow White photograph from her Fallen Princesses series on Facebook, sans credit as is common there. Today I finally put together the name with the photography, and what a discovery that was!

Here is Goldstein’s description of the project and some of the pictures from the series, but I truly recommend you browse her website. It’s gorgeous.

.
“These works place Fairy Tale characters in modern day scenarios. In all of the images the Princess is placed in an environment that articulates her conflict. The ‘…happily ever after’ is replaced with a realistic outcome and addresses current issues.
.

.
The project was inspired by my observation of three-year-old girls, who were developing an interest in Disney’s Fairy tales. As a new mother I have been able to get a close up look at the phenomenon of young girls fascinated with Princesses and their desire to dress up like them. The Disney versions almost always have sad beginning, with an overbearing female villain, and the end is predictably a happy one. The Prince usually saves the day and makes the victimized young beauty into a Princess.
.

.
As a young girl, growing up abroad, I was not exposed to fairy tales. These new discoveries lead to my fascination with the origins of Fairy tales. I explored the original Brothers Grimm stories and found that they have very dark and sometimes gruesome aspects, many of which were changed by Disney. I began to imagine Disney’s perfect Princesses juxtaposed with real issues affecting women around me, such as illness, addiction and self-image issues.

See my other Dina Goldstein post: In The Dollhouse.

Google Cultural Institute Launched Today

Posted on October 10, 2012 by Femina Invicta

,,,,,,

apartheid signs – Google Cultural Institute.

The Google Cultural Institute went live today — in cooperation with museums and cultural institutions, the site covers 42 major historical events/topics, including the Holocaust, South African apartheid, the coronation of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, Nelson Mandela, and more.

Check out Google Cultural Institute

Liberation hero: Steve Biko, the South African black rights campaigner, is among the historical figures remembered in the archives

SOME OF THE 42 EXHIBITIONS WHICH HAVE GONE LIVE ON GOOGLE TODAY

D-Day – details of the famous landings including colour photographs, personal letters and the D-Day order itself from Admiral Ramsay
The Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II – an account of the 1953 Coronation including colour photos
Tragic love at Auschwitz – the story of Edek & Mala, a couple in love who try to escape Auschwitz
Jan Karski, Humanity’s hero – first-hand video testimony from the man who attempted to inform the world about the existence of the Holocaust
Steve Biko – a 15-year-old’s political awakening in the midst of the Apartheid movement featuring nine documents never released in the public domain
Years of the Dolce Vita – this collection looks at the era of the ‘good life’ in Italy including the fashion, food, cars and culture

VIDEO:

Check out Google Cultural Institute

Femina Invicta

Feminist. Activist. Blogger.

Category Archives: Culture