Feminist Weekly Update: July 26, 2016

Feminist Update
Your weekly update on all things feminism. Keep up to date on the election, the news, and what is going on in the world of women.

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In the News:
Chicas Rockeras camp teaches Southeast LA girls to be loud and proud: A punk rocker named Marin and other like-minded women started a rock-and-roll day camp called Chicas Rockeras in Southeast Los Angeles to encourage self-esteem and self-empowerment in young girls through music. “Girls are often made to feel small, to not be loud, to not take up space,” Marin said. “So imagine being 10, coming into camp, and being told ‘Yes you can’ over and over again, being celebrated for your mistakes, given a high-five, or even being encouraged to yell into a mic. Some girls, they have a breakdown, but they also have a breakthrough.” For more: Southern California Public Radio
Brazilian laws are not enough to deter gender-based violence: (CW: violence) In Brazil, a woman is killed every two hours and assaulted every 15 seconds – often by someone she knows — according to a report from the nonprofit Mapa da Violencia. Latin America is the continent with the highest number of murders of women in the world. In most countries of the region, including Brazil, there are specific laws against femicide and violence against women generally to deal with the epidemic, but many of those laws have not been working to reduce the rate of violence against women. For more: NPR
Doll creator shuts down colorism: Some toy creators, like Mala Bryan who created an Afro-Caribbean inspired doll collection named Malaville, have received criticism that their dolls are “too dark.” In response, Bryan has boosted comments such as the following: “I don’t believe a doll can be too dark. Black, in all shades, is indeed beautiful and that’s what Mala Bryan is trying to communicate to the world.” Bryan’s Malaville collection, which includes dolls representing four different shades of black, fills a void in an industry that still has a long way to go before it’s truly representative of all backgrounds. With the increasing demand of dolls for little black girls, dolls with darker complexions will probably become even more popular. For more: Huffington Post
Pakistan bills tackling “honor killings” unanimously passed: A committee made up of lawmakers from both the lower and upper houses of the Pakistan parliament has unanimously approved long-delayed bills that aim to prevent “honor killings” and increase rape convictions, meaning they can be voted on within weeks. The move follows a spate of high-profile killings in the country, including the strangulation death last week of social media star Qandeel Baloch by her brother. Rape convictions in Pakistan are close to zero, primarily due to the legal requirements on circumstantial evidence and a lack of forensic testing. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s ruling PML-N party has a large majority of seats in the lower house and the bills are believed to have enough backing from opposition parties to pass in the senate too. For more: The Express Tribune
Indian initiative aims to teach boys about girls’ rights: Activists Usha Houdhary and Yogesh Vaishnay founded Vikalp Sansthan to bring workshops and activities that focus on gender equality to villages around Rajasthan in India. They hope to end prejudices that they see as outdated and unfair to women and to create space for women to pursue education, careers, and independence. They also offer classes on equality to boys and men, where they ask boys to consider whether their sisters should have rights, too. Houdhary explained: “If we are empowered, our community and family will grow. So we decided to sensitize the community, including boys and men.” For more: New York Times
Election Updates: 
Debbie Wasserman Schultz to step down as DNC chair: Amid furor over an email leak that revealed a bias against Bernie Sanders inside the Democratic National Committee, U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz announced Sunday she will step down as chair. Rep. Marcia Fudge of Ohio will be the permanent chair for this week’s convention in Philadelphia. Donna Brazile, former Al Gore campaign manager and Bill Clinton adviser, will be the interim committee chair through the election.
The emails, which were released by WikiLeaks just days before the party’s convention, appear to show top DNC officials trading ideas on how to hurt Sanders at the polls. “It goes without saying the function of the DNC,” Sanders said, “is to represent all of the candidates — to be fair and even-minded.” For more: NPR
Hillary Clinton names Tim Kaine as her vice presidential running mate: Hillary Clinton announced on Friday evening that she picked Virginia Senator Tim Kaine to be her vice presidential running mate. The 58-year-old is a former housing lawyer who took off time from law school to work with Jesuit missionaries in Honduras, during which he became fluent in Spanish. He has served as a city council member, mayor of Richmond, governor, chair of the DNC, and senator. For more: NPR
Feminists of the Week: Three decades after they first began exposing inequality in the art world, a group of anonymous mask-wearing feminist activists called the Guerrilla Girls are to get their first dedicated UK show. The group will soon begin surveying more than 400 European galleries to explore whether museums are reflecting the full diversity of art and art history. The Guerrilla Girls use rigorous research and humour to expose alarming truths, including the art world’s slow pace of change. In a campaign last year, they found that galleries that once showed 10% women artists now show 20%. The new show, titled “Is It Even Worse in Europe?” will run from 1 October to 5 March 2017 and will be part of an autumn program at the Whitechapel Gallery. For more: The Guardian