At The Pixel Project, we pride ourselves on our ability to draw attention to the many ways violence against women (VAW) affects the lives of women, men, girls, and boys around the world. We do so by sharing news stories from varied media sources through our e-news digest and by writing thoughtful and inspiring blog posts on our main website and our campaign micro-sites.
There is never a shortage of things to talk about here. From profiles of VAW activists to our regular Silver Lining posts, our wonderful 30 for 30 Father’s Day campaign interviews, and our exciting Music for Pixels campaign, we have spoken up about how people are making positive change on the issue of VAW. We have also provided articles listing ideas about how to get active on this issue. The dominant themes of this year’s selection reflect the diversity of the ways in which our campaigns have developed with music activism taking the lead.
Our blog has been quoted by the Associated Press, shared by thousands of activists, survivors and supporters worldwide and provided us with the privilege of showcasing some of the most innovative ideas and activists in the movement to end VAW today.
Blogging is a vital part of our mission, which includes: raising awareness about VAW, generating conversation by giving people a safe space to talk about VAW, and inspiring activism. As our 16 best blog articles show, we succeeded in fulfilling our mission this year. We hope that the stories we shared motivate you to join the effort to end VAW.
It’s time to stop violence against women. Together.
– Crystal Smith, Blog Editor (2010 – 2012) – The Pixel Project
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Blog Article Selection 1: ‘The Rose’ Inspires Survivors to Share Their Stories.
We had no idea how strong the response would be to the first song our YouTube Music Ambassador, Ahmir, performed for us – their music video cover of “The Rose” inspired survivors to share their stories with them and us in the music video comments section which we collected in this blog article.
Blog Article Selection 2: 10 Music Artistes Who Support the Cause to End Violence Against Women.
Continuing with our musical posts, this one listed ten music stars who have lent their voices to the cause of ending VAW—an eclectic group of male and female music superstars from across different countries and musical genres who have spoken out about the cause.
Blog Selection Article 3: 5 Ways to Combine Music and Activism.
Music was a huge part of our campaigns this year and this post talked about how musicians can add an activist element to their music. This blog article was specially written to mark the launch of our partnership with Breakthrough/Bell Bajao in India and accompanied the Tweet-a-thon about music activism that got the hashtag #musicactivism trending in India!
Blog Selection Article 4: Interviews with Artistes.
As part of our Music For Pixels campaign, we interviewed each of the artists participating in our YouTube Cover Carnivals, including the chat highlighted here with India’s The Other People, winners of the Fall YouTube Cover Carnival for their cover of Kelly Clarkson’s The Dark Side.
Blog Article Selection 5: Paint It Purple: People and Pets Say ‘No’.
In launching our third annual Paint It Purple campaign, we added a new element in which people could send us pictures of them posing with their pets to say ‘no’ to VAW. We included this element to raise awareness of the fact that many women stay in an abusive relationship is a fear of abandoning a pet who might also be suffering at the hands of the abuser. “People and Pets say NO!” is a photo-blogging campaign posted in a Facebook album rather than one of our blogs, so we are breaking with tradition slightly to feature a Facebook album instead.
Blog Article Selection 6: Engaging Men and Boys to Reduce and Prevent Gender-Based Violence.
Our partner, the White Ribbon Campaign, published an issue brief that, as we said then, “is extremely close to our hearts.” In this post we interviewed Todd Minerson, Executive Director of the White Ribbon Campaign about the brief and how it will help inspire more men to join the effort to end VAW.
Blog Article Selection 7: 30 for 30 Father’s Day Campaign. Our first blogging “marathon” asked 30 fathers from around the world to share their answers to 3 interview questions about the joys of being a dad and how dads can help prevent VAW in positive ways. We received responses from men all over the world, including India, the US, the Seychelles, New Zealand, the UK, Malaysia, Canada and the Czech Republic!
Blog Article Selection 8: 10 Fabulous Fathers in Fiction.
We also have a list of fantastic films about fathers, but this list of fabulous fictional fathers includes some greats, like number 1, Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird.
Blog Article Selection 9: 10 Movies to Watch for Mother’s Day.
Moms were front and centre on our blog during the month of May. This post lists some movies with great moms, including Little Women, The Joy Luck Club, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, and Mamma Mia.
Blog Article Selection 10: 10 Famous Mothers
From JK Rowling to Indira Gandhi to Angelina Jolie, we pay tribute to 10 famous women who have shown that it is possible to combine children with careers that make the world a better place. They are not perfect, but we salute them for their courage in taking up the challenge of raising children while continuing to reach for the skies in their work.
Blog Selection Article 11: Activism 101: 10 Alternatives to Flowers for Mother’s Day.
And to continue our Mother’s Day theme – some great ideas here for celebrating mom while recognizing and taking action on the problem of VAW.
Blog Article Selection 12: Inspirational Interview with Emily May, Founder of Hollaback!
The first in the series this year featured Emily May, founder of Hollaback and a globally-recognized leader in the anti-street harassment movement. She is joined by other exceptional activists in features that ran throughout the year.
Blog Article Selection 13: Event Report: The National Conference on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) at Bristol University
Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a form of VAW that is getting an increasing amount of attention. We were lucky enough to have our in-house writer, Angelique Mulholland attend a conference on FGM and report on it for us.
Blog Article Selection 14: Comedy and Rape Culture: Four Perspectives on The Daniel Tosh Controversy and a Silver Lining.
When American comedian Daniel Tosh joked in a comedy club about the humour in seeing a female audience member raped by “like 5 guys,” a media firestorm ensued. Founder and President of The Pixel Project, Regina Yau, used this post to share some of the more thoughtful pieces on the controversy. The silver lining? That his comments raised plenty of discussion about rape culture.
Blog Article Selection 15: Silver Lining Posts
We have been doing these for a while and they never cease to inspire. Our efforts to highlight the good news stories are apparent in these posts which, this year, covered diverse as the creation of a women’s centre in a small town in Afghanistan to children of the Solomon Islands helping raise awareness of the impact of violence, and women in the Democratic Republic of Congo using the media to educate people about VAW and train women interested in a career in the media.
Blog Article Selection 16: The Pixel Project’s VAW e-News Digest
Every two weeks, our e-News Digest Coordinator collates the latest and most relevant news related to violence against women and efforts at eradicating it from around the world for those who may have missed out. By collecting all the news in one place, we aim to keep everyone updated about progress being made in the global movement to stop violence against women.