[Music]
[Music]
let me begin my talk tonight with a
little story about a friend of mine who
went on vacation and then came back and
posted some photos of herself in a beach
wearing a bikini
she’s a big woman like myself and soon
after she posted it comments started
pouring in from people shaming her body
her choice of outfits but one comment in
particular stood out to me and it was
from another woman and she said she
wrote with lots of flowers and heart
emojis so I figured she sounded a little
sweet like this
she said my dear you are such a
beautiful woman but your beauty belongs
to your husband and your husband only if
other men sees as much as a strand of
hair you are definitely going to hell
don’t you just love it when someone
tells you you’re going to hell but they
do it in such a sweet way you think you
have to thank them for it anyway my
friend replied thank you mind your own
business and this woman replied back and
she said oh don’t worry about me I wear
a hijab so I know I’m on the right path
but it’s my duty as a Muslim woman to
remind other Muslim women when they’re
out of line I am a Muslim myself but
this trend of hijab wearing women
shaming women who don’t cover up is
gaining massively in Indonesia lately
but that is a topic for another talk
meanwhile let’s go to France in France a
woman in a beach wearing a muslima
swimsuit the media calls it a bikini but
none of us Muslims really know what a
bikini is but but she was forced to take
off her head cover by armed policemen in
countries where Islamophobia is right he
jobbies get
verbally harassed even assaulted for the
choice that they make on their own
bodies so whether it’s the body shaming
done by Muslims in Indonesia or done to
Muslims in the US or France or wherever
one thing is consistent it’s always
women’s bodies that become the object of
scrutiny now I see a lot of us here
females and when you’re born female you
will be raised with your body as the
center of your world from day one for
example here in Indonesia and maybe in
some other cultures as well we have this
tradition of piercing the ears of
newborn baby girls with tiny gold
earrings because we think well how else
are people are going to identify that
she’s female
if she’s not adorned with pretty
jewelry’s we weren’t old enough to even
sit up straight and already our identity
is determined by how beautiful we adorn
our bodies you know it feels as if we’re
living inside this beauty pageant that
we never sign up for where everybody
else gets to be the judge everybody gets
to say what to do what not to do how to
look everybody gets to say about our
bodies except for ourselves another
thing we are quite obsessed about is
virginity not men’s virginity though
just girls and women so you guys are
safe again here in Indonesia for example
we have certain institutions like the
police department the military certain
schools that have been reported to
conduct virginity tests on their
personnel and their female students to
determine their moral quality we’re also
taught to guard our virginity until
marriage right familiar with that any
Indonesians here we supposed to guard
our virginity until marriage but not
because we choose to but because our
virginity belongs to our husbands and
later when we marry
we have this expectation placed upon us
to malayani
to serve our husbands including sexually
whenever he wants now my journey as a
musician began in the early 90s and I
used to hate it when people asked me my
experience as a female musician because
I thought well female male as long as
you work hard and you write good music
you’ll succeed right it’s not about the
gender but that was until I was almost
signed into a record label and this was
about maybe 10 years ago and we were
having a meeting with the record label
people and the marketing guy asked me
can you gain 10 to 15 kilograms in a
month this was 10 years ago so I was
probably a little smaller than I am
today can you gain 10 to 15 kilos in a
month and I asked him why and he said
well we can either market you as a hot
singer or a fat singer you definitely
don’t fall into the hot singer category
so let’s just pump you up and sell you
as a phat singer
basically that’s what he’s saying I
didn’t go through with a deal and I
decided to pursue my career in the
independent music scene which which
suits me better but a few years later I
ran into the same guy at a music event
and he was talking to a bunch of
aspiring musicians aspiring producers
and music directors and he said sexy is
out demure is in the market no longer
wants a pop star that they can
masturbate to they want a pop star that
looks like wife material is what he said
so I jumped in and I asked him if that
theory of his applies to male pop stars
as well and he couldn’t really give me a
straight answer
so these things are how I know that the
playing field was never level when boys
want to be musicians they got to worry
about how well they play how well they
write songs when girls like myself want
to be musicians we got to worry about
how well
we play how good we sound we also gotta
worry about how desirable we look how
hot and sexy we look according to this
industry standards now when I tell you
all these things please don’t think that
these are just problems that are
specific to Indonesia because your
country wherever you’re from you
probably have your own misogynistic
culture and practices as well in fact
Indonesia going back in history have had
women leaders women war commanders women
holding important positions in society
like healers and educators and holders
of knowledge going back hundreds of
years way before the concept of feminism
was even invented but right now in this
day and now we are living under a
culture of patriarchy and it’s a global
problem so no matter where you’re from
you will find women’s bodies being
shamed being regulated being exploited
or objectified in one way or another
women’s bodies are used as political
leverage it’s used to sell products or
worse yet we are the product itself in
2013 I went on a road trip by myself and
I was in a night bus in Sumatra
traveling alone and I noticed I was the
only woman in the bus and I noticed I
was being stared at I was terrified
because not long before that
there was news about a woman in India
who was gang raped and murdered in a bus
just like that one so my first response
was to check if I was covered up enough
if my leg was revealed if my shirt was
unbuttoned I put on a jacket I put on a
hat even though it was seeming hot
inside the bus I have to make myself as
invisible as possible but inside I was
really really angry that as a woman I
have to constantly limit myself just to
be safe don’t go out at night don’t
travel alone don’t go out at all I have
to I can only wear certain kinds of
clothing to be treated with basic
respect so in that anger mix first fear
for my safety I pulled out a pen and a
paper and I started
writing the lyrics to what is now a song
called to buku authority at school my
body my authority Heaney tsuzuku dubaku
atari tasko this is my body my voice my
authority Yahoo the ryokan cannot gun
really uncool what I wear what I say is
my choice and I kept writing and I kept
writing and I felt bigger and stronger
and I made it through that trip safely
at the end of TEDx later I will perform
with my bed that whole song so stick
around
don’t don’t go anywhere anyway in 2016
I joined forces with four fabulous women
activists this is Iike Sheila FINA and
better please give a round of applause
even though there and together we formed
a collective called Mary Jane rabbit
Kamali which literally means ladies
reclaiming our rights back and together
we produce a music video for two bukata
Rita school where we invited 36 women to
come and make a statement about their
own body according to their own
experience in their own words and
written on their own skin and the result
was incredibly powerful
we have Rika a hijab’ who says to buku
Buchan pan jaga Emmanuel my body is not
the guardian of your faith because even
though she wears a longer job which
supposedly keeps her safe from sexual
harassment she still gets sexually
assaulted we also have Alexa a
transgender woman who says my body my
choice to buku Billy honk ooh at a time
when the LGBTQ community is under attack
it is still under heavy attack in
Indonesia we even have a fat woman aka
myself showing her belly which is
considered very offensive to some people
so the response we got for this video is
incredibly amazing it was beyond our
expectations we had negative ones and we
have positive ones but who would have
thought that a video of just women
claiming things about her own body could
be so controversial but then then again
it may be controversial in a culture
that wouldn’t let women do that we have
had comments emails letters from bigots
from Indonesia to Malaysia to the US of
A you put these guys in a room together
they’ll murder each other but you had a
feminist in there they will unite
against her there’s a lot more in common
to these people than they think
anyway but the positive response that we
got was also beyond our expectations do
bukata Rita’s COO opened ways for me to
meet with all kinds of people I’ve met
with survivors of eating disorder who
said that they listen to the song every
day and it makes them loved himself
again I’ve met with high school students
who said that ever since watching the
video they’ve been reluctant about
taking diet pills and whitening
injections
I’ve met with survivors of rape who says
that she listens to this song every
morning to help empower her and embrace
herself again I received letters from a
single mother in Estonia I’ve never even
been to Estonia and then a school
teacher in Japan and a father of three
children in China all saying that the
song have helped them to empower
themselves in different ways some people
in the media says that the song is about
giving a middle finger to the diet
industry and some others call it a
feminist anthem some others say that
it’s a song that speaks out against
domestic violence
but whatever the interpreted
interpretation I see one thing that is
consistent about people who relate with
tubu Corita school this song is about
women reclaiming
our bodies we take back what was
initially ours
to begin with my body is mine and mine
only and how good it feels to finally be
able to say that thank you
[Applause]
[Music]
let me begin my talk tonight with a
little story about a friend of mine who
went on vacation and then came back and
posted some photos of herself in a beach
wearing a bikini
she’s a big woman like myself and soon
after she posted it comments started
pouring in from people shaming her body
her choice of outfits but one comment in
particular stood out to me and it was
from another woman and she said she
wrote with lots of flowers and heart
emojis so I figured she sounded a little
sweet like this
she said my dear you are such a
beautiful woman but your beauty belongs
to your husband and your husband only if
other men sees as much as a strand of
hair you are definitely going to hell
don’t you just love it when someone
tells you you’re going to hell but they
do it in such a sweet way you think you
have to thank them for it anyway my
friend replied thank you mind your own
business and this woman replied back and
she said oh don’t worry about me I wear
a hijab so I know I’m on the right path
but it’s my duty as a Muslim woman to
remind other Muslim women when they’re
out of line I am a Muslim myself but
this trend of hijab wearing women
shaming women who don’t cover up is
gaining massively in Indonesia lately
but that is a topic for another talk
meanwhile let’s go to France in France a
woman in a beach wearing a muslima
swimsuit the media calls it a bikini but
none of us Muslims really know what a
bikini is but but she was forced to take
off her head cover by armed policemen in
countries where Islamophobia is right he
jobbies get
verbally harassed even assaulted for the
choice that they make on their own
bodies so whether it’s the body shaming
done by Muslims in Indonesia or done to
Muslims in the US or France or wherever
one thing is consistent it’s always
women’s bodies that become the object of
scrutiny now I see a lot of us here
females and when you’re born female you
will be raised with your body as the
center of your world from day one for
example here in Indonesia and maybe in
some other cultures as well we have this
tradition of piercing the ears of
newborn baby girls with tiny gold
earrings because we think well how else
are people are going to identify that
she’s female
if she’s not adorned with pretty
jewelry’s we weren’t old enough to even
sit up straight and already our identity
is determined by how beautiful we adorn
our bodies you know it feels as if we’re
living inside this beauty pageant that
we never sign up for where everybody
else gets to be the judge everybody gets
to say what to do what not to do how to
look everybody gets to say about our
bodies except for ourselves another
thing we are quite obsessed about is
virginity not men’s virginity though
just girls and women so you guys are
safe again here in Indonesia for example
we have certain institutions like the
police department the military certain
schools that have been reported to
conduct virginity tests on their
personnel and their female students to
determine their moral quality we’re also
taught to guard our virginity until
marriage right familiar with that any
Indonesians here we supposed to guard
our virginity until marriage but not
because we choose to but because our
virginity belongs to our husbands and
later when we marry
we have this expectation placed upon us
to malayani
to serve our husbands including sexually
whenever he wants now my journey as a
musician began in the early 90s and I
used to hate it when people asked me my
experience as a female musician because
I thought well female male as long as
you work hard and you write good music
you’ll succeed right it’s not about the
gender but that was until I was almost
signed into a record label and this was
about maybe 10 years ago and we were
having a meeting with the record label
people and the marketing guy asked me
can you gain 10 to 15 kilograms in a
month this was 10 years ago so I was
probably a little smaller than I am
today can you gain 10 to 15 kilos in a
month and I asked him why and he said
well we can either market you as a hot
singer or a fat singer you definitely
don’t fall into the hot singer category
so let’s just pump you up and sell you
as a phat singer
basically that’s what he’s saying I
didn’t go through with a deal and I
decided to pursue my career in the
independent music scene which which
suits me better but a few years later I
ran into the same guy at a music event
and he was talking to a bunch of
aspiring musicians aspiring producers
and music directors and he said sexy is
out demure is in the market no longer
wants a pop star that they can
masturbate to they want a pop star that
looks like wife material is what he said
so I jumped in and I asked him if that
theory of his applies to male pop stars
as well and he couldn’t really give me a
straight answer
so these things are how I know that the
playing field was never level when boys
want to be musicians they got to worry
about how well they play how well they
write songs when girls like myself want
to be musicians we got to worry about
how well
we play how good we sound we also gotta
worry about how desirable we look how
hot and sexy we look according to this
industry standards now when I tell you
all these things please don’t think that
these are just problems that are
specific to Indonesia because your
country wherever you’re from you
probably have your own misogynistic
culture and practices as well in fact
Indonesia going back in history have had
women leaders women war commanders women
holding important positions in society
like healers and educators and holders
of knowledge going back hundreds of
years way before the concept of feminism
was even invented but right now in this
day and now we are living under a
culture of patriarchy and it’s a global
problem so no matter where you’re from
you will find women’s bodies being
shamed being regulated being exploited
or objectified in one way or another
women’s bodies are used as political
leverage it’s used to sell products or
worse yet we are the product itself in
2013 I went on a road trip by myself and
I was in a night bus in Sumatra
traveling alone and I noticed I was the
only woman in the bus and I noticed I
was being stared at I was terrified
because not long before that
there was news about a woman in India
who was gang raped and murdered in a bus
just like that one so my first response
was to check if I was covered up enough
if my leg was revealed if my shirt was
unbuttoned I put on a jacket I put on a
hat even though it was seeming hot
inside the bus I have to make myself as
invisible as possible but inside I was
really really angry that as a woman I
have to constantly limit myself just to
be safe don’t go out at night don’t
travel alone don’t go out at all I have
to I can only wear certain kinds of
clothing to be treated with basic
respect so in that anger mix first fear
for my safety I pulled out a pen and a
paper and I started
writing the lyrics to what is now a song
called to buku authority at school my
body my authority Heaney tsuzuku dubaku
atari tasko this is my body my voice my
authority Yahoo the ryokan cannot gun
really uncool what I wear what I say is
my choice and I kept writing and I kept
writing and I felt bigger and stronger
and I made it through that trip safely
at the end of TEDx later I will perform
with my bed that whole song so stick
around
don’t don’t go anywhere anyway in 2016
I joined forces with four fabulous women
activists this is Iike Sheila FINA and
better please give a round of applause
even though there and together we formed
a collective called Mary Jane rabbit
Kamali which literally means ladies
reclaiming our rights back and together
we produce a music video for two bukata
Rita school where we invited 36 women to
come and make a statement about their
own body according to their own
experience in their own words and
written on their own skin and the result
was incredibly powerful
we have Rika a hijab’ who says to buku
Buchan pan jaga Emmanuel my body is not
the guardian of your faith because even
though she wears a longer job which
supposedly keeps her safe from sexual
harassment she still gets sexually
assaulted we also have Alexa a
transgender woman who says my body my
choice to buku Billy honk ooh at a time
when the LGBTQ community is under attack
it is still under heavy attack in
Indonesia we even have a fat woman aka
myself showing her belly which is
considered very offensive to some people
so the response we got for this video is
incredibly amazing it was beyond our
expectations we had negative ones and we
have positive ones but who would have
thought that a video of just women
claiming things about her own body could
be so controversial but then then again
it may be controversial in a culture
that wouldn’t let women do that we have
had comments emails letters from bigots
from Indonesia to Malaysia to the US of
A you put these guys in a room together
they’ll murder each other but you had a
feminist in there they will unite
against her there’s a lot more in common
to these people than they think
anyway but the positive response that we
got was also beyond our expectations do
bukata Rita’s COO opened ways for me to
meet with all kinds of people I’ve met
with survivors of eating disorder who
said that they listen to the song every
day and it makes them loved himself
again I’ve met with high school students
who said that ever since watching the
video they’ve been reluctant about
taking diet pills and whitening
injections
I’ve met with survivors of rape who says
that she listens to this song every
morning to help empower her and embrace
herself again I received letters from a
single mother in Estonia I’ve never even
been to Estonia and then a school
teacher in Japan and a father of three
children in China all saying that the
song have helped them to empower
themselves in different ways some people
in the media says that the song is about
giving a middle finger to the diet
industry and some others call it a
feminist anthem some others say that
it’s a song that speaks out against
domestic violence
but whatever the interpreted
interpretation I see one thing that is
consistent about people who relate with
tubu Corita school this song is about
women reclaiming
our bodies we take back what was
initially ours
to begin with my body is mine and mine
only and how good it feels to finally be
able to say that thank you
[Applause]
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