The School of Visibility | Empowering women to be seen and heard

#girlboss is not empowering

The women’s empowerment space is an interesting space. On the one hand it attempts to boost women’s confidence and claims to be about women standing in their power.

On the other, there’s so much unacknowledged patriarchal conditioning there that it actually serves to entrench inequality and disempowerment just as often as it attempts to liberate women from it.

#girlboss is a prime example.

#girlboss is not empowering for women.

For girls? Absolutely.

But you’re not a girl. You’re a woman. Which means if you’re going to hashtag yourself, and feel the need to include a gender marker in order to connect with other women, let’s at least go with #womanboss.

Calling yourself ‘girl’ when you’re a woman is a nod to the long time infantilisation of women. It’s a tool that’s been used by the patriarchy to keep women submissive.

It sounds empowering because the word ‘boss’ is in it. … [Read More...]

The Visibility Compendium, August 2019

August was all about the Visibility Challenge here at the School of Visibility. We had such a blast talking to you about the three key areas we cover in the Challenge – the good girl, money, and public life – and how each is impacting on your capacity to speak up and be seen and heard in the world.

Toward the end of the Challenge I shared a tapping video with everyone participating to support them in clearing their blocks to taking their next visibility step. This is something I feel quite passionate about because inaction is one of the primary ways we remain invisible. You can check out the video here and take 8 minutes to run through the exercise with me.

We’ll be hosting another Challenge in November so be sure to keep your eyes peeled for that but for now, here’s all the goodness from August!

FROM

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You will be called upon

I recently spent a lovely afternoon talking to a few different classes at my kid’s school about some of the things we do at home to reduce our food waste, use of plastic, and general harm caused to the environment by our presence here. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Here’s the thing I wanted to share about that; when you say yes to visibility the universe responds in kind. It says, ‘There’s an open door, off we go!’⠀⠀⠀

Sometimes it may feel like the opportunities are random but I don’t think they are.

My function in the world for example is to support people to speak up and change the world for good. I don’t consider the environment to be my area of expertise but I do have a lot of knowledge about it and certainly enough to share with enthusiastic second graders. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

And you know what I was really encouraging them … [Read More...]

Talent and visibility are not synonymous

Feeling worried that your art isn’t good enough? That it might not be sufficiently worthy to be deemed art?

There’s a reason for this and it has nothing to do with your talent.

In 2010 the National Gallery in London held 2,300 works in its collection. Of the roughly 750 artists represented, 10 were women.

For far too long women have been told our creative pursuits were quaint or a nice way for ‘ladies’ to pass the time. Anything but serious art.

But you know what’s glorious about living in 2019? You don’t need the National Gallery to establish yourself as an artist. You can build a following without the establishment behind you. You can reach the people who understand your work and who appreciate you.

Each time you post your art to your IG account and someone takes the time to like or comment, and each time you sell … [Read More...]

Disrespecting women’s voices

The long history of men disrespecting women’s voices can be traced back thousands of years. Here’s a corker from Samuel Johnson (playwright, poet, and creator of the Dictionary of the English Language, 1709-1784) ‘…a woman’s preaching is like a dog’s walking on his hind legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all.’

The dehumanisation of woman, the diminishment of our capacity and our wisdom, is one of the oldest tricks in the patriarchal handbook.

Which is why, every time you speak, every time you put pen to paper, every time you hit publish on a blog post, or record a podcast episode, or say yes to being the guest speaker at a conference, you are partaking in a revolutionary act.

Be sure to take the time to pat yourself on the back.

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