Hammam Days 22 > 24

Local Competitions

"Creatives" as change agents, FAQ

Since the vision of this site is ‘crowdsourcing places for creatives’, it may be beneficial to further clarify what the word ‘creatives’ means, as it relates to this site.


What is this site’s definition of creatives?
It’s stated in detail here, but it is essentially the cultural creatives, creative class and the renaissance generation (rengens), all of which have their own self-titled books. In a nutshell, it includes anyone willing to invest in making a difference (cultural creatives) and/or anyone in the creative industries (creative class), acknowledging we live in a period of (ie tremendous opportunity for change)(rengens).


Are the creatives a demographic?
No. It’s a psychographic. It often gets associated with demographics simply because some demographics tend to share many of the same psychographics as creatives. There is no demographic that is excluded, but the perception is often just the opposite. The most compelling evidence that demographics are not excluded is the fundamental commitment to attainability/affordability and diversity.


What are the psychographic characteristics?
The words associated with creatives as far as this site is concerned: Risk taking, original, diverse, attainable, independent, unique, authentic, imaginative, inventive, innovative, yet resourceful, practical and problem-solving. It’s about doing and implementing, in other words, creating, rather than just conceptualizing. In other words, creatives are change agents.


Why the creatives distinction at all?
Because change is hard, and you can’t do it without change agents leading the way. Not everyone can lead, but following or supporting doesn’t mean you’re excluded either. Supporting is a collective form of leadership, and its extraordinary effectiveness is witnessed by crowdsourcing. You need both.


http://sustainablecitiescollective.com/Home/29776?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Sustainable+Cities+Collective+(all+posts)&utm_content=Twitter  

Say NO – UNiTE

Say NO – UNiTE
Say NO – UNiTE to End Violence against Women

Say NO – UNiTE to End Violence against Women is a global call for action,
launched in November 2009, on ending violence against women and girls. It is presented by UNIFEM as a contribution to advance the objectives of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s campaign UNiTE
to End Violence against Women through social mobilization.
UNIFEM Goodwill Ambassador Nicole Kidman is the Spokesperson of Say NO.

Based on country data available, up to 70 per cent of women experience physical or sexual
violence from men in their lifetime. It happens everywhere – at home and at work, on the streetsand in schools, during peacetime and in conflict.

Violence against women and girls has far- reaching consequences, harming families and

communities, stunting human development, and undermining economic growth.
Everyone has a role to play in combating this global pandemic; the time to act together is NOW.

Say NO aims to trigger and highlight actions by individuals, governments and civil society partners. Actions can range from reaching out to students at schools, to volunteering at local shelters,
advocating for legislation or donating funds towards programmes that protect women and girls
from violence.

Every action will be counted to showcase the global groundswell of engagement that exists on the issue.

The initial target is to reach 100,000 actions by March 2010 and 1 million actions in one year.

Say NO builds upon the momentum generated during its first phase when
5,066,549 people signed on to a global call to make ending violence against women a top priority worldwide.

Heads of States and Ministers from 69 Governments and more than 600 Parliamentarians

have added their names to Say NO since then.
Working through traditional as well as online networks and social media,

Say NO engages participants from all walks of life.

A range of web-based and other tools available on saynotoviolence.org supports partners in their advocacy efforts, highlight stheir work to a global audience and inspires others.

In line with the Secretary-General’s campaign framework that calls for an increase in funding for the multi-lateral UN Trust Fund in Support of Actions to Eliminate Violence against Women, Say NO encourages donations for the UN Trust Fund, which supports local and national programmes catalyzing change on the ground.

Say NO - UNiTE to End Violence against Women is an expanding global coalition of individuals, organizations, governments and the private sector to realize a vision that is ambitious, but must never be impossible – a future that is free from violence against women and girls.

Let us count you in – take action to end violence against women now.

http://saynotoviolence.org/about-say-no 

I Am Not a Feminist

I Am Not a Feminist

Posted by DJ Nelson on February 18th, 2009

Why is it that when women say anything that indicates that they have a brain and wish to be treated accordingly they have to add “I’m not a feminist but…
I realize some may find my question a bit hypocritical because I’ve been known to say that I don’t call myself a feminist, however that’s because I rarely label myself as anything. 


I don’t want to be placed in a box, but if you want to call me a feminist I won’t be offended. I don’t feel the need to preclude my statements with “I’m not a feminist” as if it’s some ugly, dirty, sinful word.


If not wanting to be considered a second class citizen makes me a feminist fine!


If being disgusted by the sexualizing and objectification of girls and women makes me a feminist great!



If being able to speak my mind when others are being treated unfairly makes me a feminist excellent!


I think there’s a big misconception that in order to call yourself a feminist you have to believe in every single thing that others who call themselves feminists believe in. This myth is perpetuated by leadership in certain organizations who appear to believe that they own claim to the word feminist 


“if you aren’t down with all of our causes then get out our club!”.


Perhaps there is a patent or trademark that I am not aware of, but if I want to support certain movements and not others I don’t really see a problem with that. Things get accomplished when we work together, not when we try to divide ourselves based on some invisible scale of superiority.


In short, I’m all about women’s empowerment. Whether that means women feel empowered to be mothers, wives, CEO’s, sports stars, or bread bakers; I don’t care, as long as women know that they have a choice, and their choices are valid. I don’t care what your life choices are, as long as you respect that since you have choices, others should too. 
(Ladies, we’ve got to work on that!)


If that makes me a feminist then I don’t mind. If I don’t meet the feminist criteria, that’s fine too. But I’m too busy working towards a cause then to get caught up in semantics. 






http://www.alldivamedia.com/blog/2009/02/18/i-am-not-a-feminist/#F