NGO and VAW-related links

Teaching teenagers conflict resolution skills. This is so cool. The numbers are small, yes, but it's a project that actually appears to be well thought out and - shock! horror! - working.

November 25 is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. What will you be doing to mark it? (Read more about the week-long VAW awareness-raising campaign). If you do organise something don't forget to add a link here, and pimp it the hell out.

Some links people might be interested in, both VAW-related and not:

- Refuge: a UK-based Domestic Violence charity.
- Women's Aid: UK-based, they are currently launching a 12 month campaign with The Body Shop.
- Amnesty International has a list of seven women who are currently at risk of stoning.
- Womankind Worldwide is seeking a Communications and Information Manager.
- Or you could have a look at vacancies in any other charities, compiled at idealist.org
- Can't switch careers but want to do something practical anyway? Try the International Voluntary Service.
- The Sudanese Organisation Against Torture issues periodic emailed updates on goings-on within the region, and provides addresses for officials for the purposes of protests and letter-writing. ( One recent bulletin reported the rape of 17 women outside a Kalma IDP camp )

Fannish 5: Five Fanfic Cliches I Hate

Five fanfic cliches I hate:

OK, I very nearly started off listing the five fandom cliches I hate, but they're something else entirely, aren't they? So, here we go.

1. 'Slash' involves making one of the characters effeminate
Nothing makes me click 'back' faster than the emasculation of one of the main characters. Having Spike or Mulder or Daniel Jackson referred to as having the body of a 'willowy young boy' does this thing to me where I sorta throw up a little. Stop it. Just - stop it.

2. Het happiness means marriage and babies
If I come across a fic where a character gets pregnant, has an abortion and then decides that it was the right thing to do? I'm going to marry the author. Because all female characters, no matter how gutsy and ballsy, want to do, it appears, is get married and have babies. If they get pregnant before marriage? Ooops, well, the baby will bring our two lovebirds together! I have seen this done in the Veronica Mars fandom and - urgh! urgh! urgh! Whatever happened to cohabitation without a ring or small miniature copies of yourselves running around? Why is there so much baby!fic out there??

3. The two people who hate each other have the best sex - and it brings them together for LOVE&HAPPINESS
Yep, I'm guilty of the first part of this one, mainly because I've found that it also works in real life. HOWEVER, I have at least never deluded myself that good sex = love&happiness, and the next person who writes a post-Confidence Man lovefest-ing Sayid & Sawyer snuggling because of the happiness-making powers of Sawyer's amazing magical cock will have my foot so up her arse that she'll be able to use the heel as a toothpick.

4. Rape heals all wounds
Yeah, this one makes me so angry I could kill things. Rape does not lead to healing sex, and so using it as a plot device to bring your favourite characters together? IS BEYOND TACKY. It's actually very very distasteful. Sure, tv is several steps removed from reality, but in what possible world could the brutal rape of a character lead to healing sex immediately after, making the rape the catalyst for love&happiness? I'm thinking of a specific CSI fic in this instance, where just that happened. I stopped reading said author's fic from that point onwards.

5. First time penetrative sex = orgasms all around
Yeah, that'll happen.