Well, horror fans, I was amused to find the following post
on Facebook this morning:
Women In Horror Recognition Month
Announcement #2: Women In Horror Recognition Month will ***no longer be requiring a seal***. Even though it was never our intention we found it created a barrier. This year we hope you will email us, tweet us, message us, so we know what you are doing and we can promote it. If you are holding an event, a blog series, making a PSA, etc we want to feature it on all our social pages & blog but we can't do it if we don't know about it. That was one advantage of our old "seal request form" mostly a way to know what was happening. Sometimes people have thought we were snubbing them- really we just didn't know what you were up to. So we totally want to hear from you! ;P The only thing we will not promote is anything that doesn't fit with the WiHM mission or anything that is blatant self promotion. We want you to highlight other people and create spaces in your communities to showcase art and films by women you dig and that inspire your work. This is a great way to network and meet other amazing people working in the industry you may never have otherwise. Stay tuned for more information as we get closer to Feb! xox & even though it goes without saying: WiHM is for everyone regardless of gender! Let's have fun!!
Now don’t get down on me. I’m not going to go all critical
on this and call it complete bullshit. On the contrary I fully agree with this
move. I never thought the seal bullshit was a good idea, that is why Artists in
Horror month doesn’t have a “Seal” of approval. Actually we don’t need one. One
other thing I’m hope they will keep to the section of their announcement about
blatant self promotion. The last couple of years that has been all we have seen
from Women in Horror Month is blatant self promotion from their “board” members
and “ambassadors”. According to their mission they are supposed to be given
recognition to those women in horror who are neglected. So, I’m hoping this
means that they won’t be flooding Facebook and their page with endless photos
of The Twisted Twins mugging for photos
at their blood drive. I never understood how a blood drive hosted by Jen and
Sylvia Soska , board members of Women in Horror Month, in anyway gives recognition
to women in horror that are not being recognized or brings a spotlight on why
they are not being recognized. I guess I'm missing something, or not. To me it looks more like Jen and Sylvia mugging
and saying “Look at us! Aren’t we so FUCKING cool!”, which in the end gets into
that pesky self promotion promise WIHM has made in this announcement. I look
forward to hearing about the film festivals that are not just playing and
promoting films by only WIHM members and their friends. I also look forward the
blog profiles that will be written about little known female artists in horror
that have been ignored over the over hyped vampires that have dominated and
taken over the female horror scene.
I have to say that it is my hope and prayer that WIHM does a
complete turn around from how things have been the last couple of years,
because they have strayed from those they have said they’ve wanted to help and
have become something they should have avoided.
With the following said, and simply as a suggestion to help
WIHM return to an organization that all women can be proud of, I suggest that
they need to adopt a standards of behavior for representatives of
this non-profit organization representing women in horror and their issues. May I suggest the following as a start:
- Representatives, aka “Ambassadors” should not use the following terms in describing others when they are involved in anything remotely involving WIHM or feminism: Misogynist, mental case, stalker, creep, pervert. That is unless they feel secure that they can back up these assertions in a court of law. Remember slander and libel are criminal acts. Name calling and insulting also does nothing to show your organization in a positive light.
- Representatives, aka “Ambassadors” will not use negative political or racist symbols in postings remotely related to WIHM or feminism….such as, for example, calling themselves feminazies and posting Hitler pictures and swastikas, unless they are truly members of the Arian Sisterhood. This definitely doesn’t help your image.
- Finally, that no representatives, aka “Ambassadors” will participate in trolling or bullying other women or other people period. A bully is just a representative of other bullies and doesn't help your cause at all.
Now these are just suggestions,
but they are pretty good ones since you are putting yourselves as “Ambassadors”
for women’s rights and recognition. It doesn’t make your organization look good
if its representatives slander and libel others as well as promote negative
political and racist attitudes. Also, bullying does nothing to help your
mission, especially if you are bullying other women.
So, if you are truly set on
getting back on track and doing what you say I applaud you, but you still have
other issues you need to deal with before you will earn my respect. Remember
that. I’ll be watching and seeing if this is bullshit or not.
I thought I would add some appropriate music for this post...Enjoy.....
I thought I would add some appropriate music for this post...Enjoy.....
