Trans rights

"Ireland is not the only country where transgender persons have faced obstacles in obtaining legal recognition of their preferred gender. Some Council of Europe member states still have no provision at all for official recognition, leaving transgender people in a legal limbo. Most member states still use medical classifications which impose the diagnosis of mental disorder on transgender persons.

Even more common are provisions which demand impossible choices, such as the “forced divorce” and the “forced sterilisation” requirements. This means that only unmarried or divorced transgender persons who have undergone surgery and become irreversibly infertile have the right to change their entry in the birth register. In reality, this means that the state prescribes medical treatment for legal purposes, a requirement which clearly runs against the principles of human rights and human dignity.

All countries need to develop expeditious and transparent procedures for changing the name and gender of a transgender person on official documents, in accordance with the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights".

Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, Thomas Hammarberg, speaking up for trans rights.

http://www.thefword.org.uk/blog/2010/08/forced_divorce

Oh hai Megan

Frothing at the mouth in anticipation for this one. I have a feeling that Malkovitch is ill cast, a hunch that the trailer seems to confirm, but Brolin was made to play Hex, and really, Megan + corsets, garters, bad attitude  and gunz could make the most cardboard flick a plum good'un. Peow! Peow!

Blue like the Cookie Monster

Fat free TV and and anti-curves media

Jeez. So whilst dyke vamp Pam is starving herself to fit into her True Blood wardrobe, my hot ginger goddess Christina Hendricks is getting her wicked curves Photoshopped into oblivion by London Fog. I was gonna post about Pam last week but  I was too busy gorging on lemon drizzle cake to get to my keyboard.

I'll be thinking about both of these women every time I tuck into a butter cream loaded cupcake. Because nothing tastes as good as not starving yourself feels. (Shouts out to Cupcake Parlour for the pic. NOMZ!)

Free Redlight mix

Cherry bakewells, a large cuppa, and this free Redlight mix. Today is big.

Check the video for his Ms Dynamite collab here and then cop yr own copy of aforementioned mix here. Track list, which includes numbers from the rather wicked Maluca and Mz Bratt, belowww.


1. Donaeo - I'm Fly - Redlight Special
2. Redlight - Kid Soldier
3. Bingoplayers - Get Up - Diplo Remix (gianni marino mix) - Edit
4. Redlight - Source 16
5. Wiley - Electric Bogaloo (Roller Express Remix) - Edit
6. Loca feat. Diplo & Maluca
7. Katy B - Katy On A Mission
8. Redlight - Stupid
9. Mz Bratt - Selector (redlight Special)
10. Zinc - Nexx
11. Breakage Ft Newham Generals - Hard (redlight Special)
12. Buruka Som Sistema - Bruk Out
13. Seiji - Bass Lips
14. Magnetic Man - Air - Redlight Remix (special Mix)

Andreya Triana - Lost Where I Belong

Ridiculously stunning album from UK soul talent Andreya Triana. Wears The Trousers review here. Also catch the Voice On The Verge interview we did with her back in June here. She is SMOKIN'.

RIP Aaliyah

I'm gonna watch Queen Of The Damned tonight, as awful as it is, because if there's one day of the year you can watch this film and not feel guilty, its today.

Wish I could organise a swap with Death and give someone totally unnecessary to the Gods/Goddesses of the afterlife (oh, I don't know, David Cameron maybe?) and get babygirl back fully restored in return. Sux.

Lisa Fancher interview

I run a pretty neat column at Wears The Trousers on women in the music industry, the ladies you won't necessarily find on stage. WTT is all about the music, and this means giving props to DJs, radio hosts, journalists, music historians, festival organisers, CEOs, authors, and all the other super roles that weave this many-layered industry together.

This month I chatted to Lisa Fancher, the all-round punk legend behind LA label Frontier Records, which celebrates a mammoth three decades in the business this year. With Frontier hitting 30, Ladyfest hitting 10, and Wears The Trousers marking out our cake with a mighty 5 candles, this years is one, big, birthday bonanza.

Trey Songz ft Nicki Minaj - 'Bottoms Up'

There's really no point listening to this song until the 2.44 mark, when Minaj proceeds to make the rest of the track look like dry cracker to her thick slab o full fat cheese. You could put Nicki on the dustiest, driest rhythms and she'd still make it calorie-loaded appetizing.

Same problem on her mix tapes; the only thing wrong with them is all the snorefest ppl you gotta tolerate cluttering up her own verses. Other singers/rappers = the vegetables yr mum makes you eat before you can have pudding.

Wears The Trouser / Ladyfest 10 zine supreme!

So whilst we're waiting out the 57 years for the gender pay divide to maybe close, girls get busy with independent cultural production! 2010 marks the 10th anniversary of  Ladyfest the international, volunteer-run grrl-franchise that puts women firmly centre stage under a constantly evolving festival banner. To celebrate both this double-digit coming of age and Wears The Trousers own 5th birthday milestone, we think a reader-generated zine is in order.

Though our next official print edition is definitely sailing on the horizon, we’re getting our cut-’n'-paste on in the interim for this one-off project. As a non-profit, independent magazine Wears The Trousers has been blazing our own trail for five years now, and we’d like to extend that DIY spirit to our readers for this super-special zine project. What we’re looking for is anything from 50–200 words about your favourite female-centric band, singer, song or album and why they mean so much to you. Who makes yr heart thump? What were you listening to when you decided to come out to your parent? Which album brings back the rush of first love? Whose poster did you gaze up at during yr teen years? Maybe a particular artist inspired you to pick up your own guitar or microphone, maybe you've got a special anthem that never fails to set you on the right path when it blasts out yr stereo.

Feel free to be as personal as you like!

Whatever your anecdote or story (photographic submissions are also welcome) we wanna hear about it.  We’ll collate everything into a one-off, free-for-all zine that will be distributed at this year’s Ladyfest Ten events in London in November. We’ll also make it available to download. 

Deadline is October 15, so prime yr biro! Email the results to charlotte@wearsthetrousers.com.

Feature shizzle - Sage Francis and Spin Doctor.

Feast yr eyes on these yo!My features for this month's Tour Dates edition include chin wags with both US rapper Sage Francis, and UK DJ/promoter extraordinaire, Spin Doctor.

Chances are you've danced yourself silly at one of Spin Doctor's nights. Get to know the man behind the decks right herrr:

 If you're after intelligent, opinionated rhetoric and songs about outlaws, Sage Francis is yr man.

You are, of course, encouraged to read both. Cos why limit yrself right?

Evidence - 'To Be Continued'

Hot diggity dayum. Evidence from Dilated Peoples is set to release a solo LP Cats & Dogs real soon via Rhymesayers. 'To Be Continued' (which you can purchase right now via iTunes) precedes it.

Not gonna lie, this video made me feel rillly sick. Listen without the visuals if yr not into roller coasters and vomit.

Its so clear and I know just what I want to do

Wears The Trousers HQ - myself and editor Alan Pedder - were interviewed a little while back for Issue 2 of The Worlds A Mess And Yr My Only Cure, a rather rad zine by Em Ledger. Its available here and you should totes order a copy. DIY fo life!

Where the weirdos are

Weirdos on the bus to work this morning included a woman with a gigantic, planet-sized peroxide bouffant mullet - like, super huge; she could have had a small flock of starlings up in there - and a crazed Christian clutching rosary beads and muttering feverishly like the Devil himself was sitting next to her. (Maybe she sensed my innate queerness and was acting accordingly. I did have to hold back from clawing my fingers and hissing at her)


Of course, what none of them realized was that I could out-weirdo them all. So I just sat there, smiling serenely like a totally normal human bean, and no one there could prove otherwise.


Morticia: "And what are you meant to be dressed as darling?"

Wednesday: "I'm a homicidal maniac. They look just like everyone else."

Save Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, who is at risk of execution in Iran, has appeared on television “confessing” complicity in the murder of her husband.  The Guardian reports:

Speaking shakily in her native Azeri language, which could be heard through a voiceover, Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani told an interviewer that she was an accomplice to the murder of her husband and that she had an extramarital relationship with her husband’s cousin. Her lawyer told the Guardian last night that his client, a 43-year-old mother of two, was tortured for two days before the interview was recorded in Tabriz prison, where she has been held for the past four years.

“She was severely beaten up and tortured until she accepted to appear in front of camera. Her 22-year-old son, Sajad and her 17-year-old daughter Saeedeh are completely traumatised by watching this programme,” said Houtan Kian.

He added that there were now fears that the Iranian authorities would act quickly to carry out the death sentence, which was reportedly commuted to hanging after an international outcry last month. The sentence was initially for “having an illicit relationship outside marriage” but some Iranian officials have claimed she was also found guilty of murdering her husband and should still face death by stoning.


Info, resources and petition here: http://freesakineh.org/

(Heads up to the F Word)

Katy Perry got TOLD.

Faux lesbian gimmicks, getting all holier-then-thou and righteous on Gaga (bitch, please) for sexing up religious imagery with queerness, blatant transphobia - there is no end to Katy Perry's shtupidness. I wonder if she makes Russell Brand recite prayer before he porks her.

KrisWombat is a legend.

Soundgarden - 'Black Rain'

Aww mayn. New Soundgraden track leaked http://stereogum.com/465221/soundgarden-black-rain/mp3s/

I heart Cornell/Soundgarden, but got dayum, I'll never get over the soul cringes the below gave me. Just putting it on my blog feels like I need to reach for the Vanish stain remover.

Get your learn on

I didn't have a big enough word count to cover it in the final draft of my recent interview with the man, but Sage Francis is one of the heads behind this rather rad site http://www.knowmore.org/ 

"We are a grassroots, web-based community dedicated to chronicling and resisting corporate attacks on democracy, worker's and human rights, fair trade, business ethics and the environment. Our shared goal of a more informed and conscious consumer is being accomplished via this website: a vast database of easily searchable corporate and political info designed to aid responsible citizens, progressive thinkers and activists. We are not affiliated with any political party, candidate, or PAC in any way. Our primary objective is to provide an independent, objective source of information to our readers about some of the most crucial, contested topics of our time". 

You can search for brands and get hard info on how these corporations exploit both environment and workforce.  How did those kicks your wearing get made? Who suffered slave labour conditions to make those toys you throw away after a Happy Meal?

Bookmark it nuh? 

Row row row yr boat

Queen Latifah, snapped today on the Alicia Keys/Swizz Beats yacht in France with her (girlfriend)personal assitant/trainer/etc. So does this mean she is officially out as on the team now?

And just because its relevant:

Suheir Hammad

"Sky where once was steel, smoke where once was flesh"

When the gods get on to perform

I'm awaiting proud bruises today after holding my own down at the front of Brixton Academy last night for most of Wu's set. Belted all the lyrics, threw up W s like a good 'un and was generally happy vibing, despite one or two dick head gig-goers. Hold tight the girl with the 'fro who knew about solidarity, and all the other peeps that weren't there to bask in the on-stage greatness and swagger that they wish they had.

Gza, if your reading this, lets be best friends yeah? We can play chess and talk about how rubbish Curtis is.

Tonight.

This is happening

Kapow! Today Wears The Trousers launched an alternative Mercury Prize list today - the Venus/No-Penis
Music Prize.  Props to some of my personal faves Wet Dog, Ikonika, Invasion and Peggy Sue. Click through and exert your influence, grrrrrrrl style ♥

http://www.wearsthetrousers.com/2010/08/introducing-the-venusno-penis-music-prize/

 

YES