This was written the day that Bruce Jenner came out as Caitlyn Jenner in Vanity Fair in 2015.
So, you’re a woman now, Bruce? Welcome.
What with making the world Twitter record and dealing with public reaction to your transition, I’m not sure you had time to read the rest of the news?
No? Well, here’s a brief summary of what made news in the online version of The Guardian (Australia) on Tuesday June 2, after your Vanity Fair cover photo hit the streets.
On the front page, which featured a picture of the new you, there was an accompanying story called The Most Dangerous Time – Five women tell their stories of leaving an abusive relationship.
“Leaving an abusive relationship is the time a woman or her children are most likely to be seriously harmed or murdered by their partner,” the story began.
It quoted statistics from the Domestic Violence Prevention Centre, which said that on average, most women will attempt to leave an abusive relationship between five and seven times before succeeding.
“Between 25 per cent to 31 per cent of murders in Australia involve either spouses or sexual partners,” it said.
Also making front-page news on Tuesday was an obituary for Joan Kirner, Victoria’s first and only female Premier, and only the second female Premier in Australia.
“It was Kirner who moved in 1994 the resolution to entrench Labor’s affirmative action rule to require women to be preselected in 35% of winnable seats,” the story said.
At the time, only 14.5 of Labour MPs were women. Today 43 per cent of Labour MPs are women, compared to 23 per cent of Liberal MPs.
Kirner was the inaugural co-convenor of Emily’s List, which promotes and mentors progressive women politicians – among them Julia Gillard, Australia’s first and only female Prime Minister.
Moving to the Opinion section there was an item by D Watkins titled I’ve seen my friends harass women on the street. I can’t be silent anymore.
Watkins wrote about his experience as a man who joined with his mates in harassing women as they passed on the street in his hometown of Baltimore – and how he no longer wants to be part of that culture.
“Seeing the look on that young woman’s face while she was walking with her child made me realize how scary it can be for a woman to walk down the street,” he wrote.
And in World news, there was the story titled Protecting women and girls in India, with the sub-heading, Building a toilet for an urban community.
Almost 600 million people in India do not have access to safe toilets, the story said, “putting the safety of women and girls at risk”.
After her 14-year-old daughter was attacked while going to the toilet near deserted railway tracks, Radha Verma was determined to improve her safety and so worked with WaterAid’s local partner, Shramik Barhti to build one of the first toilets in the community.
And in another story from India, under the banner of Global Development and Cities, there was a story about a phone app that is “challenging violence against woman in the Mumbai slum”. Domestic abuse is rife in Dharavi slum, but a new project uses a smart app and trained community workers to improve the reporting of violence, the sub-heading said.
If you were looking for some lighter reading, the Lifestyle/Women section, featured a story titled Why Do Female Drivers pose such a threat?
It seems that Jewish leaders of the Orthodox sect Belz, are attempting to ban women from driving in Stamford Hill, north London, on the grounds that it goes against the “laws of modesty in our community”.
According to this story, the only country in the world that has banned women from driving is Saudi Arabia, where a woman must show written consent from a close male relative to travel anywhere.
And in Film and Television news, the headline was Tyranny of the casting couch. It never went away, say actors.
The story said Actors’ Equity planned to draw up audition guidelines in response to complaints.
“Rare, it seems, is the aspiring actress who hasn’t been sexually harassed by a director, casting agent or producer, and in recent years many have spoken out about their experiences – from Dame Helen Mirren to Gwyneth Paltrow, Susan Sarandon to Charlize Theron,” the report said.
Finally, in the Books section, there was a report of study by critically acclaimed author Nicole Griffith, who analysed the winners of six major literary prizes in the past 15 years and found that a novel was more likely to win a prize if the focus of the story was male.
Just thought you might like to see what you missed on Tuesday.
Yesterday, there was another interesting front-page story titled Melbourne Abortion Clinic says council must stop harassment by protesters.
The clinic has taken the City of Melbourne to court, claiming it has an obligation to stop clients and staff from being harassed.
Elizabeth O’Shea, senior associate in the social justice practice of Maurice Blackburn, who is presenting the clinic pro bono, told the Supreme Court: “The people who stand out front of the clinic do not consider themselves to be protesting, they consider themselves to be trying to stop women accessing abortions. And that is totally unacceptable in a state where abortion is decriminalised, perfectly lawful and in some cases, an essential health service.”
And today? Further down the front-page is the headline New York police seek man who pushed transgender woman on to subway tracks. The sub-heading reads: The 28-year-old woman sustained minor injuries after being assaulted while waiting for train, as NYPD investigates possible hate crime.
But you’ve probably read that one.
Now that the media storm over your transition to womanhood has passed, you’ve probably had time to relax and catch up on all the important news.
By the way, Caitlyn – nice photo.
http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2015/jun/01/caitlyn-jenner-bruce-jenner-vanity-fair