A perfect storm - Reeva Steenkamp

All these blogs have comment on what has happened:

charlyscomment

samambreen

frothydragon

bigfashionista

thenation

sianandcrookedrib

When I put 'A Perfect Storm' I meant the combination of several powerful comings together of people around the world:

#onebillionrising A world wide uprising to protest against violence perpetrated on women.

#valentinesday A world wide celebration of love and affection.

#hernamewasreevasteenkamp A death, possibly murder, possibly accidental, of a woman in her boyfriend's house on that very same day, 14th February 2013, early in the morning.

#thesun After suggesting it would rethink the concept of Page 3, The Sun puts a bikini photo of the woman who died the day before, all over the front page. That is the tipping point for lots of us in the UK.

Twitter is incredibly helpful in all this, tips on actions to take, a hashtag people can gather around, the accurate phone number of a news desk, open in the middle of the night as papers go to press all night, internet compaign tools like petitions and online Press Complaints Commission access, work email address for the editor of The Sun, and a sense of common but varied expressions of upset and rage. There is already an array of anti-sexist organisations and twitter addresses.

I am so glad that my previous experience at calling Governors and an Embassy meant I could simply pick up the phone and dial. I spoke a few simple sentences. I hope I said thank you as I am glad when the phone is picked up and someone politely takes a call of complaint.

I wonder what the next step is? Someone said it is contacting the major advertisers in The Sun, there is a list of about 10 who spend the most currently on advertising. I can't find the link now, but here is nomorepage3 's page on the major advertisers. Read around their blog and follow it if you can. They are speaking up for us all.

I wonder what tomorrow's front page will be? How does a campaign like this unfold, what is the pace? It could be very quick. The undercurrent of dismay at the way women are portrayed has been present for years. The MP Clare Short brought it up years ago and was mocked roundly for it. But I do remember that she did it.

Is this all combining to create a perfect storm for saying No Thank You to having females treated horribly every single day of our lives? Here's a thought, can older women be involved in this? They of all people have experienced even more decades of this than we have. Can they help to change our culture for the better?

Finally, sign this one day old petition asking The Sun to apologise.