It’s all about the Art (and the textures) in the new issue of Prim Perfect!

Prim Perfect: Issue 46 – March 2013 – cover

Welcome to our second issue of 2013 - and more of our new range of features in Prim Perfect magazine, as well as those you know and love!

This month of theme is Art – and we’ve expanded that to also look at textures.

And our inworld issue this month is full of gifts and tools for you, many designed to help you create you own items, as shown in the magazine! So as you read throughh the magazine, watch out for those gift tags  on the left or right of the screen – clicking on them will bring you something very special!

On the fine art front, Rowan Derryth supplies an Overview of Virtual Art, and a guide to some of the art that you might choose to display in your virtual home in Home is Where the Art Is.

Prim Perfect: Issue 46 – March 2013 – Home is where the art is

Honour McMillan interviews the well-known Second Life artist Bryn Oh, and talks to a comparative newcomer to the art scene, Livio Oak Korobase. And I visit our Designers of the Month, Marcus Inkpen and Sharni Azalee, who combine fine art with superlative design on their beautiful region, The Looking Glass.

Prim Perfect: Issue 46 – March 2013 – Bryn Oh

In addition, Honour McMillan supplies an introduction to the Linden Endowment for the Arts, while Tricia Aferdita explores ten amazing art galleries that you should visit.

If your tastes run to textures, you’ll find plenty of information in this month’s magazine.  Ceejay Writer interviews Hyasynth Tiramisu on the subject of the beautiful textures she creates for Silent Sparrow – more than that – Hyasynth not only gives a masterclass on creating textures – she has also supplied a very special texture free to Prim Perfect readers that you can use to decorate your own home.

Prim Perfect: Issue 46 – March 2013 – Silent Sparrow

In addition, Ethan Westland looks at the importance of textures (and gives away a few secret texture-buying locations!) while Qwis Greenwood, in the second of our series promoting small business around the grid, has found three very exciting and very different texture creators to share with our readers.

Prim Perfect: Issue 46 – March 2013 – Building a skybox

In our continuing series on building your own home, our designer (and phenomenal builder) Winona Wiefel will be teaching you how to create a door and windows and add them to the basic skybox that you created in Part 1 of the series.

And to help you with your building, there’s not only a copy of the skybox (which you can use as a model) but there’s also a pack of textures for you to experiment with too!

Prim Perfect: Issue 46 – March 2013 – Building in Mesh

We also have the second in our major series on Mesh. Beq Janus supplies a simple entry to the world of mesh, touching on buying full perm mesh from marketplace with a rudimentary guide to texturing those – and giving a brief view of in world tools for mesh.

And she also supplies a mesh chair for you to start practising texturising too!

Then there are reports on the fantastic One Billion Rising event — the Second Life version of the global event that celebrates women even as it raises awareness of the issue of violence against women. And Beq Janus looks at the opening of Relay for Life and tells us all about the upcoming season of events.

Prim Perfect: Issue 46 – March 2013 – The Looking Glass

Rosamoo Mendelsohn brings us Hunting News, while there are details from our TV shows, Designing Worlds and Happy Hunting!, available on Treet TV.

Our team of talented photographers, led by Judith Lefevre, PJ Trenton, Winona Wiefel, Wildstar Beaumont, and Honour McMillan, bring you some of the most artistic eye candy from across the metaverse.

All this with News From the Grid and more!

Prim Perfect: Issue 46 – March 2013 – Art Galleries

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So how can I get Prim Perfect?

Prim Perfect: Issue 46 – March 2013 – Textures

If you prefer to read the magazine online but not inworld, there are choices. Firstly, there’s the wonderful Calaméo system, which allows you to moves smoothly through the pages, giving you the feeling of reading a real magazine. You’ll find Issue 46 here – and please do leave a comment!

But, if you like to download your magazines to read as you commute to work, or in the bath, or wherever, you can also download a pdf of the magazine from Calameo – or print it out!.

You can get the latest issue inworld – and copies of all our earlier issues too – at our new head offices in the Irish Isles.  It has a great cafe to relax in while you’re reading the latest issue too!

Prim Perfect: Issue 46 – March 2013 – Art Galleries

We also have subscribe-o-matic kiosks throughout Second Life – so you can just click to subscribe. You’ll be sent a copy of the latest issue, and then you’ll receive your issues regularly!

Or you can have it delivered to you each month as an IntelliBook, by joining the Prim Perfect Readers group inworld. It costs nothing to join and, apart from delivering the magazine each month, we won’t overload you with chat or messages!

Prim Perfect: Issue 46 – March 2013 – Ars Virtua

In addition to delivering the Intellibook version of the magazine, you’ll also get a link to the online Calaméo version of the magazine, so you’ll be able to access that too.

How to Join Prim Perfect Readers

• Inworld, open Search.
• Search Groups for Prim Perfect Readers.
• Click to join

Prim Perfect: Issue 46 – March 2013 – LEA

So … enjoy! And let us know what you think of our new edition!

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Designing Worlds looks at how we rose for One Billion Rising in Second Life

Now available on the web – our latest episode, as we take several peeks behind the scenes at how the event One Billion Rising in Second Life was created – and how the music video “Break the Chain” was created in Second Life as well!

Find out about Second Life residents’ contribution to the international campaign to raise awareness about violence against women, and the resulting 24-hour event on February 14, 2013. Hosts Saffia and Elrik find out about the event One Billion Rising in Second Life, and how the in-world version of the music video “Break the Chain” was created.

We’re joined by just some of the many people who played a part in creating the event and the video that accompanied it – and have a chance to see both the video, and some of the fantastic art works that formed part of the event too.

The Stage at One Billion Rising, photographed by Honour McMillan

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Prim Perfect Jigsaw: Steampunk Rising!

Steampunk Rising!

Yes, it’s another jigsaw from the One Billion Rising in Second Life video – this time featuring the steampunk ladies – and if you look closely you should see that very keen jigsaw-completer Miss Stereo Nacht getting down and boogieing with the rest. Even this image makes it clear that Miss Nacht is as nifty with the moves as she is with the jigsaw pieces …

Now, I have to confess that a leetle digital manipulation went on with this image as in the original the ladies were rather more spread out.  If you take a look at the video, you’ll see what I mean.

But for now, let’s do the jigsaw!

Steampunk Rising!

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Catch up with your Prim Perfect jigsaws (showing images of Second Life and other virtual worlds).

If you’d like to submit a photo of your own to feature as a jigsaw, send it to the Prim Perfect Flickr Group. It should be sized 800w x 600h, or else it will need to be re-sized.

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Designing Worlds explores the making of One Billion Rising in Second Life

The Stage at One Billion Rising, photographed by Honour McMillan

Join us at 2pm SLT today, Monday 4th March, for our new episode of Designing Worlds at our studio in Garden of Dreams as we take several peeks behind the scenes at how the event One Billion Rising in Second Life was created – and how the music video “Break the Chain” was created in Second Life as well!

We’ll be talking to Victor1st Mornington about how he created the amazing stage, to Judi Newall about how it felt to be there as a volunteer on the day.

The four-region stage at One Billion Rising in Second Life, photographed by Wildstar Beaumont

And then we’ll be visiting the Dazzlers to talk to Pyper Dollinger and Tatiana Kurri about how they created the amazing dance that formed the core of the video, to Samantha Ohrberg about her work with sponsors and pulling the dance together, and to Petlove Petshop who filmed and edited it (with a little assistance!). Petlove also talks about the challenges of streaming such an event for a full twenty four hours, as she was the organiser of the Livestream team who made sure the whole event was broadcast.

The Dazzlers Break the Chain – Image captured by Petlove Petshop from the Second Life Break the Chain video

And we’ll be looking at the stunning art installations that were created for the event, and talking to two of the artists whose work was such a vital part of One Billion Rising – Em Larsson and Solkide Auer. And we’ll also be taking a tour of many of the installations that were on display.

Solkide Auer’s Respawn at One Billion Rising in Second Life

It makes for a fascinating show – so do come and join us at 2pm.

Or – if you can’t attend in person – tune in at 2pm SLT on Monday for the live show on http://treet.tv/live – or catch it later in the week on our shows page on the Treet.tv web site at http://treet.tv/shows/designingworlds – our very own version of the iPlayer!

One Billion Rising in Second Life, photographed by Tillie Ariantho

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After One Billion Rising in Second Life … what next?

OBR in SL – What Next?

The One Billion Rising event was an inspiration for people all around the world. Here in Second Life, the event was a success – both for those taking part, and for the discussion that followed.

Now we want to build on that – but how? How can we translate the energy and enthusiasm into progress in continuing to work on this issue?

In the real world, different ideas are being discussed.  For example, there’s the Guardian’s campaign to discover inspirational people and projects. Stella Creasy, the Member of the UK Parliament who made sure that the issue was debated there on V-Day, is pressing forward with the campaign  to ensure that every child in Britain is taught about consent and respect – a campaign with cross party support. And requests are being made for submissions for a planned documentary.

And in Second Life too, people are asking how the campaign can be moved forward.

Yellow Hibiscus at Virtual Ability

We have some ideas – but we want to hear your thoughts too! So come along to one of two open discussion at the Yellow Hibiscus Cabana, Virtual Ability Island
FRIDAY March 1st at 1pm SLT
and
SATURDAY March 2nd at 4pm SLT

Come and share your thoughts on what should come next.

Discussion in text as much as possible, with optional voicing of Local chat, and voice-to-text transcription for those who need it.

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Moving forward with the campaign … after One Billion Rising in Second Life

Bryn Oh’s installation at One Billion Rising in Second Life

During the one Billion Rising event last week, The Guardian newspaper in the UK live-blogged the event – and  mentioned the Second Life event as part of their coverage.  But – as for so many of us – it’s not going to end there.  Today I received an invitation from them, to carry the campaign and its message forward.

Following on from the momentum of last week’s campaign and running up to the Commission of the Status of Women in March, we’re asking readers who inspires them in the fight to end gender violence. Malala caught the world’s attention last year – who else needs recognition? What are the amazing projects we should be highlighting?

You can submit yoru nomination directly to our site, or upload a photo to flickr, twitter, facebook or instgram using the hashtag #globaldevwomen. Full instructions here http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2013/feb/14/ending-gender-violence-inspiration

Please share this – and send in your thoughts and inspirations.

I’m also going to be talking here on the blog about elements of the event and sharing ideas how we could move this campaign forward in Second Life – and asking how best we could share our ideas too. So watch this space!

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Events don’t changes things. People do. Part 2 – Do the middle class have a right to protest?

There have been several charges levelled against the One Billion Rising in Second Life. One was that it was invalidated by its refusal to address the issue of violence against men.  Or indeed, the issue of all violence everywhere.  So often was this repeated that in the end I actually wrote a post about it – which you can read here.

A second charge that was made against the event (in Second Life and in the real world) was that it was in some way invalidated by the fact that it was organised and attended by middle class women.  Several commentators made this point – including one who, in addition to stigmatising the protest as “middle class” felt the need to stress that they had working class parents.

Middle class women in Mayfair?

Here I want to stress my perspective as a Brit so there shouldn’t be mis-interpretation.  For me, “middle class” is a term that refers to white collar, professional workers. It covers a wide range of trades and professions – ranging from company directors to shopkeepers, from university professors to office workers at management level.  It’s the widest class in the UK – the upper classes are a smaller part of the system, generally being seen as people who have inherited land and/or titles.  A company director, no matter how wealthy, would not be seen as part of this class – although he or she could marry into it.  The situation might be different in the US.

In the UK, the working class would be seen as people who work primarily in junior positions, manually (or jobs where manual labour is a core component).  It would also largely include the non-working population who are claiming state benefits – although some of those might generally be seen as unemployed middle class.  Again, this might be different in the US.

The middle class is the largest class in the UK at present.  In previous times, the working class has been larger proportionately; one of Margaret Thatcher’s ambitions was to ensure that as many people as possible should identify themselves as middle class, and therefore aimed at raising living standards and matching aspirations, with the intention that the new middle classes, their aspirations to – for example – own their own home, should then vote for her party, the Conservative Party. For about a decade, this strategy was highly successful.

Ironically, despite the fact that so many people aspire to join the middle class or would classify themselves as middle class, the name itself is frequently denigrated or used pejoratively – as it has been in discussions of One Billion Rising.

And I believe this is wrong in this context – for four reasons.

1) This event wasn’t just for middle class Westerners
Of the many, many exciting aspects of this event, one of the most exciting was its global nature. The Guardian newspaper live-blogged it, and reported what happened in the UK, the Democratic Republic of Congo, across the US, in Egypt, Ethiopia, Australia, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, India, Mexico, Philippines, Singapore, Germany, Albania, the Netherlands, Somalia, Israel, Hong Kong, Nepal, Iceland, Turkey, the Maldives, Italy, Poland, Indonesia and … oh yes, they featured an event in Second Life too.

This was not just middle class women – although middle class women were involved.  In Albania, for example, one arena featured a centre for Roma women – one of the most disadvantaged communities in Europe.  In some countries, where dancing is seen as shocking, women marched or watched films, or talked.  In some countries where dancing is frowned upon, women danced in their own spaces – Virtual Evangelical referred to having seen it on a Saudi Arabian blog. In Bangladesh, at least 1,000 acid attack survivors were planning to take  part in rallies across the country.

It goes without saying that there are middle and even upper class women taking part in all these events.  But they are reaching wider. Women of all classes are joining in, from the Queen of Bhutan to Indian street vendors.

Someone made the point on a blog that it would probably be more useful if women spent a week reading the newspapers than dancing.  But that presupposes a free press. It presupposes that women have access to newspapers, and the means to purchase them and that – once they do have them – they know how to read. The idea of dancing was chosen, in part, because it is a simple, low cost activity that is easily understood.

2) Violence against women affects middle class women too
This really should go without saying, but the abuse that women face crosses class boundaries. Middle class women are beaten up and raped too.

3) You shouldn’t limit protests to the people affected
This is actually a more general point – because, as I said above, middle class women ARE affected by the issue.  But even if they weren’t, even if no single middle class woman was sexually or physically abused, I believe passionately that it would still be right for middle class women to protest in support of their sisters – just as we welcomed men into One Billion Rising.

Because, if you impose that limitation, you are saying that unless you have experience female genital mutilation, you can’t protest on behalf of your sisters.  You are saying that unless you have been through the hell of a forced marriage, or an acid attack, you have no right to stand up and say, “This is wrong. This must stop.”

And if you start to slice and dice in that way, you are left with one terrified girl cowering in the corner of a room … because her experience is unique and, if you have not been through it, you have no right to protest about it.

And that is so very clearly wrong.

Middle class women dancing in the tropics?

4) The middle class – and middle class women particularly – are routinely stigmatised in a attempt to silence them
And other women should not be a part of doing this.

It is an age-old problem that where we should be uniting, women attack other women. They negate what women are doing. They belittle it.  This happens for a variety of reasons, many more complex than the one that is usually cited – that these women want to curry favour with men. I think we do see that, even in an internet age (the appalling attacks on Kathy Sierra involved other women, for example).

But to assume that is the case in every instance is wrong.  There’s a space for valid criticism and a space for valid critiquing, and that is important – indeed, essential.

But the use of stigmatising terms does not foster debate.  It promotes the skewed disparity in language that consistently sees words that reference women acquiring a lower value than words that describe men.

Don’t believe me? Run these pairs through your head and remember, once they were completely matched as a term for a male – a term for a female:
Sir – Madam
Master – Mistress
King – Queen
Bachelor – Spinster
Courtier – Courtesan
In every case, the female pair of the word has either become less of an honorific than the male term, or has acquired a secondary meaning that can be used pejoratively.

In the same way, “middle class” has become a pejorative term, occupying the space once held by “do-gooder”.  It implies people who, through economic stability, are out of touch with the “real world”.  It suggests that these people are patronising and (frequently) domineering, attempting to impose their own world view on others.

And yet …

If one looks at social history, it has frequently been middle class women who have brought about great social change in the world. In times when working class women had little leisure time to give to things such as protests and social change, it was middle class women who were in the vanguard with the male social reformers – from Hannah Moore to Elizabeth Fry to Florence Nightingale to Josephine Butler to Octavia Hill to Elizabeth Garrett Anderson to Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughters. And that’s just Britain in the 18th and 19th centuries, and the best known women.

There were, of course, far many more nameless middle class women involved in campaigns – sometimes as decorous as the slave sugar boycott. led (in Sheffield) by Mary Anne Rawson – but rapidly spreading across the country. Arguably the first political boycott of its time, the refusal of British consumers to be slave-produced sugar played a significant role in the ending of the slave trade in 1833.

Sometimes the campaigns were rather more dangerous.  Josephine Butler had to escape through the window of a hall where she was speaking to avoid an angry mob on at least one occasion. And one thinks too of the bravery of those women who campaigned for Prohibition. Nowadays we might find their campaign wrong-headed, but there’s no doubting the courage of those women who marched into beer halls and fin joints and knelt down and prayed.

The stigmatising of middle class protest has continued into the twentieth century too – it was one of the charges levelled at the women of Greenham Common and their protests against the nuclear weapons sited there, suggesting that their protest was, in effect, a “fashion statement” and that they would, soon enough clear off to their nice warm houses.

Well, the women have gone now, So too have the missiles.

And conditions in prisons, housing, medicine and nursing have all improved. The slave trade is long gone in the UK, women are not licensed and bullied as prostitutes, and women have had the vote for nearly a hundred years.

Thanks, in part, to the efforts of middle class women.

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Prim Perfect Jigsaws: Tough and Crazy – from One Billion Rising in Second Life

Gracie’s installation

At One Billion Rising in Second Life

You have all been very patient about Prim Perfect Jigsaws while I have been a tad busy with a certain event known as One Billion Rising in Second Life. So here today are not one but two jigsaws (yes, count ‘em – two!). Admittedly they both come from One Billion Rising in Second Life but … I’ve been a little tunnel vision for some reason, you know?

And one is tough because it’s a complex abstract image, and the other is … well, I went a little crazy, you know?

The first jigsaw is a glorious, colourful abstract, taken from Gracie Kendal’s joyous mini-version of her installation Ce n’est pas une peinture, the large size version of which is on display at LEA15 – it was one of the locations used in the One Billion Rising in Second Life video.

Gracie Kendal’s Installation at One Billion Rising in Second Life

Gracie will be in conversation with Rowan Derryth today at The Linden Endowment for the Arts Festival – you can read about the Talks here. But first – do the jigsaw!

Secondly, we have a jigsaw taken from a photograph taken on the One Billion Rising in Second Life regions – and here, as you will see, I decided to go a little crazy!

One Billion Rising in Second Life region

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Catch up with your Prim Perfect jigsaws (showing images of Second Life and other virtual worlds).

If you’d like to submit a photo of your own to feature as a jigsaw, send it to the Prim Perfect Flickr Group. It should be sized 800w x 600h, or else it will need to be re-sized.

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Thank you for what you did

One Billion Rising in Second Life, photographed by Tillie Ariantho

I just want to let everyone know something.

There’s an awesome team of people on Prim Perfect. “Sure!” they said. “We’ll put together the February issue  of Prim Perfect AND the One Billion Rising Event too.”

There’s an awesome bunch of people who will enable events in Second Life. “Sure!” they said. “We’ll give you the money so that you can have the regions. And we’ll give you gifts, plants, information, people to help you research – and a bunch of other things you need as well. Including a dance and a music strea, We’ll be your sponsors.”

You can see who they were here … and I’m going to add a special thanks to Lilith Heart here, who as well as sponsoring a quarter region, basically allowed us to drive a pantechnicon up to the Heart Garden Centre, load it with plants – and then plant them all out to create a beautiful park around the four-region main stage.

One of our sponsor booths at One Billion Rising in Second Life, photographed by Tillie Ariantho

There’s an awesome group of artists in Second Life. “Sure,” they said. “We’ll create amazing artworks that can be placed all around the edges of the regions. Sure, we can do breathtaking, beautiful, moving – and all in two weeks.”

And you can see who they were here …

There’s some awesome performers in Second Life. “Sure,” they said. “We’ll come along and mix and spin tunes and sing and play. We’ll give you beautiful, quirky, familiar, unique music, music to sing along to, music to inspire you, music to lift you up and bounce you around, music to dance to.”

Check out our performers here …

There’s some awesome dancers out there in Second Life. “Sure,” they said. “We’ll create you a fantastic dance for a video. And we’ll come along and dance it, over and over again, in different locations, in different clothes, until you have it just right.”

There’s an awesome team of video-makers and designers out there. “Sure,” they said. “We’ll film & then edit through the long nights till we get it right. And we’ll take bare empty regions and make them bloom.”

There’s some awesome camera people out there in Second Life. “Sure,” they said, “we’ll film the event. We’ll set up a studio and a small band of us will Livestream it all day long – a full 24 hours, calmly, professionally.”

There’s some awesome volunteers out there in Second Life. “Sure,” they said. “We’ll come along and help out. We’ll organise or take special training courses. We’ll be there to welcome the visitors, to encourage the newbies, to confront (firmly but politely) the griefers. We’ll be your security. We’ll be your greeters. We’ll take time off work and be there for you to depend on.”

There are some awesome researchers in Second Life. “Sure,” they said. “We’ll find out the information that you need to put in your kiosks. We’ll make sure that there’s details of good places and organisations trhat people can donate to. We’ll point them to places where we can find out more. We’ll draft advice and reassurance for those in a bad situation.”

The four-region stage at One Billion Rising in Second Life, photographed by Wildstar Beaumont

There’s an awesome Victor1st Mornington out there in Second Life. “Sure,” he said. “I’ll build your four-region stage and make sure that it’s strong and stable and infinitely danceable.”

There’s some awesome bloggers and photographers out there. “Sure,” they said. “Give us the details and we will give the pictures and the words that will bring people to this event.”

There’s some awesome people with fingers on the buttons out there. “Sure,” they said. “We’ll put you on the front page of the viewers. We’ll get you in the destination guide. And a bunch of us will turn up and help you fix those crashy sims.”

There’s many, many awesome people out there. “Sure,” they said. “We’ll be there at this event. Or if we can’t, we make sure that the issue is still talked about, that the issues are raised and discussed – in Second Life, in the real world, on the net and in the streets.”

You are all, as the song says, beautiful, beautiful creatures.

Thank you. Thank you all.

One Billion Rising in Second Life – photograph by Victor1st Mornington

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Events don’t changes things. People do.

One Billion Rising happened yesterday.

Around the world, it was a big thing. It felt like a big thing to be part of it. It felt like a big thing in Second Life too, where I had the honour of being one of the people to organise it.

And this morning, when I wake up, is the world a better and bright place? Have we changed hearts and minds, and reached those clear green uplands where we have peace, truth, and justice for all?

Well, no.  But then I didn’t expect to.

Throughout much of my life, I’ve tried to take a stand on issues that I believe in. Sometimes, those issues have had popular support.  Sometimes, those issues seem to have been proved right by history – I must admit to a wry smile on reading the news that the majority of the public, ten years on, now thinks that those of us who marched against the Iraqi War in 2003 were, in fact, right.  Sometimes, protest against an overwhelming majority felt like being part of a small crazed cult who saw something that no-one could – it was crazy of us not to believe, for example, that siting land-launched nuclear missiles on our small island at vast expense was going to make Britain a safer place to live, and only left-wing fanatics and man-hating lesbian feminists could believe otherwise.

Things have changed – the missiles have, to a large extent, gone. But “socialist” and “feminist” are still often used as abuse.

There’s a story – I don’t know how apocryphal – that Chelsea Clinton had always tended to treat her mother’s feminism and her defensiveness about it as something of a joke (“Oh, Mom!”). Until she was out on the campaign trail with her – and saw for herself the level of venom and hostility directed against her mother not for political reasons (although that obviously happened too) but simply because Hilary was a woman.

Since I was a teenager, I’ve defined myself as a feminist.  I’m still a feminist. Not a post feminist.  Not a modern feminist, a lipstick feminist or any of the other labels that are applied in an effort to make feminism sound less threatening.  Just a feminist. I believe passionately in female equality – and for a lot of my life – and, let’s face it, even today in many parts of the world and in many, many societies, that’s still a deeply unpopular and often a dangerous position to hold.

Living in a Western social democratic country, I have it comparatively easy.  But throughout my life, a thing that has made me blazingly angry is that I am the target of sexual abuse simply because of my gender.

To put this in perspective – I have not been raped or beaten.  But I have been flashed at a few times, been aggressively propositioned by kerbcrawlers, been groped, verbally abused, sexually threatened etc etc. A third of women will be raped or beaten. But the overwhelming majority of the remaining two thirds will be subjected to a level of “Eve teasing”, as the appalling Indian phrase has it, that will make us feel shocked, soiled and very often scared – not because of our actions, but because of our gender.

But many men don’t understand this. I was once at a wedding party where a group of us where sitting around a table – me, my husband, a young male friend we’d brought, a single woman, and a mother with her five daughters, all in their late teens, early twenties.  For some reason we got on to the subject of the levels of abuse women faced for being women. My male friend thought that the older women were exaggerating – until every single woman round the table said, “It’s happened to me.”

And our experience can’t even compare to that of women around the world where social and cultural norms mean that for a woman even to uncover her face or step out of the door alone is to become a target for state supported abuse that might take the form of physical beatings or worse.

So do I think that dancing yesterday changed any of this?

Of course I don’t – any more than I think we stopped the Iraq War by marching, or that protests at Greenham Common sent the missiles away.

But what marching against Iraq did do was to change the focus of debate.  For politicians now to claim that a distant country endangers us and we should commit our soldiers to all-out war is far harder. Not for all time, and not for every cause – but (as the Guardian article points out) the terms of debate have been changed.

And those cold night protesting against cruise missile convoys did raise the level of debate too.

Dropping a pebble in a river won’t make a dam. But if enough people drop pebbles over enough time, there will be a dam.

Some people, of course, won’t like pebbles. They will argue the merit of grit, or mud, or concrete. “If we can’t have concrete,” they’ll say, “it’s not worth doing at all.” Some people will say that the river doesn’t need to be controlled – that if people choose to live in the floodplain, well, that’s their lookout.  Leave well alone.  All of these arguments have their merits.

But I will stand here with my pebble. Drop.

Various arguments have been raised about why One Billion Rising was wrong, was not a good event, was pointless.  I want to address some of those points. But, as I don’t want to bore you with a HUGE long screed, I propose to do this as a series of posts.

I want to make a few things clear before I start.

Posts that name people who are not taking part in the debate here, posts that attack individuals, and posts that use abusive terms will be moderated. My blog, my rules.

Other than that, let’s talk.

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