Hayley in Wanderlust: Rio de Janeiro

First stop on my South American adventure is the dream destination; Rio de Janeiro. Admittedly, I was a pretty crappy Rio tourist. Having such a vast city as my first stop on this solo tour, it's easy to say I found it more than just a little bit daunting... But I still tried my best.



It wouldn't fit in my backpack

I stayed in Oztel, a hostel in the neighbourhood of Botafogo. It made Lonely Planets top 10 hostels in the world a couple of years ago, and it's easy to see why. Quirky décor, super friendly staff and a chill bar gave the pace a great atmosphere, and made introducing myself to new people easy, something I was unbelievably stressed about! Its bar is also open to the public giving it more than just a hostel vibe. The downside however, is that it means drink prices aren't super backpacker friendly. At RS16 for a caipirinha, I bought cheaper on Copacabana, but ho-hum.




A cloudy but still perfect Copacabana

Speaking of Copacabana- go. To me, all the buildings along the beach front looked fresh out of an 80s music video, which only added to the magical fact that I, Hayley Devlin, was on Copacabana. Be warned though, you will have that episode of friends where Rachel is a bridesmaid and starts singing it at Barry's wedding stuck in your head, but it's Copacabana. You can't go to Rio and not go, even if Ipanema is nicer (and it is).

Food wise, check out Blue Agave off Ipanema, it's a reasonably priced Mexican place that offered a veggie burrito, which surprised me greatly. So far, veggie food has been relatively easy to come by in Brazil. I've always accepted that at some point I'm going to have to stomach it and probably eat chicken, but I'm happy to put it off for a little while longer! A lot of the restaurants offer veggie options, even if they are limited and I spotted tofu being sold in one of the Rio supermarkets... Maybe this will be easier that I though?



Cristo Redentor

Botafogo, where Oztel is located, is a nice neighbourhood where I felt more than comfortable walking around on my own. It's home to plenty of bars to keep you busy at night too. Saloon 77 is a biker bar two doors down from the hostel that played cool music and was open late. Meza, is a bar and restaurant that served Caipirinhas with a twist and the food menu looked amazing, so it's definitely worth a try.

Sightseeing wise, Rio offers some of the best. Christ the Redeemer was one of the biggest reasons I've wanted to visit and it didn't disappoint. I went with a couple I met at the hostel and the views were spectacular, even though it was a partly cloudy day. I also took myself to Sugarloaf, which was just as amazing and gave you totally different views of the city, making both attractions worth the RS62 entry. The only thing I didn't get to do that I was desperate to, was hand gliding. All of the quotes I received for it were at around RS550 (about £118) and when you're on a £250 a week budget, I just couldn't justify it. Busses and taxis in Rio were cheap, making me further despair at the price of transport in London. The busses are weird though, many have two members of staff, a driver and another conductor who sits to the side, takes your money and lets you through a turnstile. Busses in Brazil have turnstiles. Mind = Blown.

Rio lived up to all of my expectations and so much more. The beaches are beautiful, the people are super friendly and I always felt safe, which was probably the biggest shock of all. As with most cities, I get the feeling that in Rio, you generally only get trouble if you go looking for it or leave all of your stuff unattended. I'm so glad I started my journey here.

Until next time...

-xo

Oh Dear, Ms Greer

Disappointment, we all know that feeling. Whether it's the shop being all out of your fave chocolate bar, being let down last minute  or someone doing something that totally shocks you, disappointment is rubbish.

But what happens when someone, a public figure, says something that so largely contradicts everything you thought they stood for?

If you don’t know who Germaine Greer is, you’ve either never really been that into feminism, never studied ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ or have just generally been under a rock for the past few decades. Writer of ‘The Female Eunuch’, Germaine Greer is one of the world’s ‘super feminists’. So when she wrote back in 2010 that Page 3 of The Sun wasn’t all that harmful, you couldn’t help but feel that a mother of the feminist movement had kicked you in the proverbial balls.

Last Tuesday, 4^th February 2014, at ‘An Audience with Germaine Greer’, 16 year old Kathryn (who hasn’t even taken her GCSEs) sat and listened to a lecture Greer was giving on breast cancer, cosmetic surgery and image issues faced by women. At the end of the lecture, Greer opened the room up to questions, and a journalist asked Greer if she had heard of NMP3 and what her thoughts were on it. Greer (the swine) replied that she thought Page 3 was totally innocent and that it was only bought by old men (lies, I think Greer lives in some sort of bubble, anyway…) and that it was nothing in comparison to the porn that’s available online anyway.

Firstly, Ms Greer, I think you’re a traitor to the cause here. I studied you at 16 after reading Atwood and thought you were this fabulous voice of reason and now, now I just think you’re a hypocrite.

And it would appear that I’m not alone. Following Greer’s response, Kathryn got given the mic, stood up and quite calmly stated,

'I am a full supporter of no more page 3. Page three is part of mainstream culture and sexualises and objectifies women shamelessly, and is essentially a gate way into hardcore pornography. If this 'soft porn' is openly available in mainstream culture, then it makes it seem like looking at the more hardcore porn is acceptable. How can you not support a campaign that is trying to shut that down, and how can you call it innocent?'

The whole room applauded.

And it says a lot.

SHE IS 16! 16!
A 16 year old girl stood up in front of Germaine BLOODY Greer and a room full of A2 Sociology students (I repeat, she hasn’t even sat her GCSEs yet) and spoke her mind. Not only did she speak her mind, but she said the words on the lips of thousands of young women up and down this country and across the world who are BORED of being objectified on a day to day basis and being told it’s all ‘harmless’.

I wish I’d been that brave at 16. I wish I’d had the guts to stand up and shout back when told that I was over reacting about the boys who branded my friends ‘sluts’ because they’d kissed someone at a party… Hell, I wish I’d had that much courage 9 months ago when I was bartending and customers felt it perfectly ok to comment on my chest when making their cocktails as if I wasn’t even there at all.

Germaine Greer is meant to be a feminist figure head. She should be at the forefront of a campaign that is trying to end the daily objectification of young women. Porn and Page 3, simply cannot be compared in my books. You go looking for porn, you know what you are doing, you’ve made the conscious decision to watch it. Same goes for when you buy a ‘lad mag’. You know what you’re looking at. People buy The Sun because it is a newspaper, Ms Greer, they buy it because, presumably, they want to know what is going in the world. Therefore, please, please, PLEASE tell me how this image of a young woman, boobs akimbo, on the third page of a NEWSPAPER is in anyway innocent, because I’m obviously missing the point here.

I mean, Page 3 has become so damn normalised that even one of the world’s leading feminists thinks it’s ok!

We live in a society where, when the lights get dimmed and music goes up, it is ok to see women as objects. Where girls are taught that if they go out alone in the dark they risk being attacked and where the media has no issues using the bodies of women to sell whatever product the latest big cooperation has invented.

We need more Kathryn’s. We need more young women (and men) who see the things that need to changed and aren’t afraid to challenge those who stand in their way.

Young girls are starting to find their voices. The idea that Page 3 out dated is no longer the fight of middle aged, middle class women with little more to do. We’re finding our voices, and we’re using them.

So society should be prepared that we won’t be silenced until it’s an equal playing field out there…
Greer, I’m talking to you.

Boobs at Dawn

Being part of a campaign like No More Page 3 was always going to come with it's hurdles because nothing worth having comes easy. Especially being the age I am and living the lifestyle I lead (unfortch, it's a quite drunk student lifestyle and not a particularly glamorous one), I feel I have to fight even harder to be heard and understood than the adults involved with campaign. Maybe it's because people within my age group are the most sexually active, the biggest watchers of porn and the largest readers of lads mags but whatever the case, I feel the need to set the story straight from the word go so that no one can turn around and call me something I'm not.

I am not pretentious or uptight. I am not insecure (Well alright, I am a little bit buy hey, we all have our hang-ups), I am not some nerdy virgin, a strangely religious being or bra burning feminist.
I am a student, a drinker, a fashion magazine obsessed, X Factor loving, boy crazy 19 year old girl. I don't like spiders, can't lift anything that's very heavy and yes, sometimes I am still scared of the dark.

None of that should matter though. I support the No More Page 3 campaign for a few very simple reasons, and not one of them is because I am a self-loathing prude.

I support this campaign because:

• I am bored of being unable to wear a low cut top without the conversation being directed at my chest all night.
• I genuinely do believe it conditions us all to think it's ok to see another human being as a half naked commodity.
• I am a DD and actually, finding underwear in my size is a nightmare. Don't put out the idea that with boobs 'bigger is better' when actually, bigger tends to mean more expensive and harder to find.
• When I have a picture of a topless male as my screensave it makes me look 'sad', 'pathetic' and 'obsessed' but when a guy can oogle over the Page 3 everyday that's alright.
• I am worth more than my chest.
• When David Beckham was poised in his Armani' it was like 'Here you go ladies, have a treat', like it was something special that we don't get very often but blokes get a beautiful half naked lady everyday and it's seen as normal.
• But mostly, because in 15-20 years time, when I have a daughter or a son, I want them to have a grown up in a world where you aren't conditioned to viewing anyone in a certain light. Where there are no pre-judgements of a person because of some way they are 'supposed' to be seen.

I just think that now, enough is enough. Page 3 is uncalled for, no one's lively hood depends on it, Google will kill it off sooner or later but I want us to get there first.

Sign here: http://www.change.org/nomorepage3

Oh...Tits!

Ah, the daily papers. Filled with news from around the globe, celebrity gossip, the weather forecasts, important political views and boobs.

Wait, what?!

Ah yes, if you are British, female and a regular reader of the paper then you probably already know what I'm talking about. In fact, you don't even have to be a female, you could be male, cat, dog or mouse and you've probably already picked up on what I'm chatting about. That's right, Page 3.

Now, before I go any further I am just going to state right here and right now that I LIKE BOOBS. No, this isn't me coming out of the closest, I'm just saying that glamour modelling itself isn't something I disagree with. Nor am I against sex, people that have sex, people that watch porn. people that buy lads mags, sexy underwear or newspapers. For crying out loud, I'm 19 years old! Of course I like sex and underwear and my first year flat was famous for our kitchen wall quite loving decorated with Nuts magazine cut outs. I just don't feel it necessary to have boobs in a newspaper. 

Boobs aren't news, they're just not.  They didn't just appear on planet earth, they've been around for awhile now and well, they're just not news!

That is why I was over the moon when a fantastic writer and friend of mine, invited me to be part of the No More Page 3 Campaign, started when during the Olympics she noticed that even though Jessica Ennis had just secured the hopes of the nation in winning gold in her Heptathlon event, the largest image of any female in The Sun was still the day's Page 3 girl. 

I mean, it's almost laughable, a women who has put her heart and soul into 4 years of training for ONE event, who was made the face of the London 2012 games which have, arguably, been the most successful games to date, still isn't worth as much page space as a girl who has her boobs out. Brilliant. The Suffragettes are probably turning in their graves, spitting feathers and thinking to themselves 'Well, what was the bloody point?!'

And it's true, what was the point? I'm not going to start burning my bra or join some strong Feminist rebellion, but let's be honest here, isn't it just a little bit rubbish that women are still being portrayed as items of sexual desire in a FAMILY newspaper? At least Nuts and Zoo and Maxim and Playboy dedicate entire magazines to us. At least with them it really is an industry, a career. Page 3 just seems out dated, sexist and more than anything, silly. We don't need boobs in The Sun. Honestly, we really don't. I can almost promise it won't affect the paper's sales and that it won't affect the way people take in the news. 

Getting rid of Page 3 will help promote women in a far healthier light and at the end of the day it's not like we get the torso of Dave, 21, from South Shields on Page 5 do we? IT'S A SHEER LACK EQUALITY HERE PEOPLE!

So, let's be equal and let's change the papers of tomorrow. Please sign the petition and spread the word because actually, I really believe in this campaign and it's ability to change the tabloids for the better.

Sign here: http://www.change.org/nomorepage3

- Hayley xx