“Amazingly, honor killings in the U.S. have been largely ignored by the national media. That’s because these incidents are typically dismissed as “domestic” in nature — a class of crime that rarely makes the headlines. Since the murderer is a member of the woman’s family, there’s no extended investigation to capture the public’s attention.”
Because yes, they do happen.
True, periods can drive you nuts. It’s a stereotype, but at the same time it’s based on fact. A lot of us get horrible cramps, bloating, and insecure thoughts. Blood is a bitch to wash out of clothes and sheets, especially if you don’t do it right away. BUT.
We are also conditioned to think poorly of out periods. (And I’m as guilty of this as anyone else. I writhe and moan on my heating pad. I feel like I don’t look right in any of my clothes. I go between feeling extremely hungry and extremely bloated. I mean fuck, I have my period right now. And yes, I did just reblog and entry embracing period stereotypes.) As much as it helps to commiserate, I don’t think enough we as women allow ourselves to celebrate our periods. And we should.
Because it’s cleansing. Because it’s a monthly rebirth in our bodies, that in effect allows us to live longer. Because we are regenerating. Because our senses are heightened these days. We’re always trying to get rid of our periods, or control them, or minimize them, or ignore them. But what if we welcomed them?
Even as I know I’ll have to face more than a week of spotting, then heavy bleeding, cramps, fatigue and all the other textbook symptoms, there’s always a part of me that’s like “oh hi period.” Because I know that when I’m not bitching about it or worrying about bleeding through onto the sheets of my friend’s guest bed, I’ll kind of enjoy the swirls of blood that rush into the shower drain. Or the heightened sensation I have below deck. Or how cozy I feel when I cuddle up and watch something nostalgic with my cat and best friend. And I undoubtedly feel the most connected to my inner feminine goddess when on my period.
We should try, at least once a period, to hate Mother Nature for her but to actually embrace it and see it as our “monthly gift.” Maybe we can bond over the strength and wisdom it gives us, as opposed to the pain.
I convinced my friend to watch Barbarella. I watched it about a year ago for Valentine’s Day with my boyfriend. It was campier and weirder than we ever could have hoped. And everything about it was just crazy cheesy awesome. And I’ve realized that I should write a longer post about this, but for now I’d just like to say how cool it is to have a woman who is unapologetic in her sexuality. And whose sexual power itself is a force of good.
Yes, kids. Pygar is a blind angel. And yes, having sex with Barbarella makes him regain the will to fly. I saw this clip before I saw the movie, and every time it makes me lose the ability to even.
BUT STILL. SHE IS THAT GOOD.
And later on, when the evil Concierge tries to kill Barbarella with the Excessive Machine (a machine created to kill its victims by orgasm) our plucky heroine writhes in ecstasy but does not die. Instead, she wears the machine out and breaks it. That’s right. She breaks that fucking machine. No man-made orgasm machine can kill Barbarella. The Concierge is extremely flustered and shouts “have you no shame?!” And why should she? Barbarella’s just disappointed that the machine won’t give her a repeat performance.
One of my high school teachers mentioned in her AP class that this is the reason why women scare men. They feel things more intensely - both pain and pleasure. And so the way I see it, stripping away or villifying female sexuality is a means of depowering women.
Barbarella feels. She embraces her sensuality. No one can shame Barbarella. And that, in my book, makes her pretty fucking awesome. The cheesiness and ridiculousness of the movie just makes it fun to watch.
![tinydragongina:
femvolution-msu:
OMG’S WTF: reblogged from the wonderful feministblackboard tumblrif you aren’t following already, you should!
feministblackboard:
When aspiring to be on MTV’s The Real World you have to sign a contract that states that you understand you may get raped. Other issues that get covered include:
-If you undergo any medical procedures while involved in the show, they carry the risk of infection, disfigurement, death. (4)
• You may be humiliated and explicitly portrayed “in a false light.” (12)
• Producers are under no obligation to conduct background checks on your fellow cast members. (7)
• You grant the Producer blanket rights to your life story. (49) • The Producer can do pretty much anything they want with your life story, including misrepresent it. (49)
• You authorize the Producer to have total access to your school records, government forms, your credit history. (19)
• The production crew can show up at your personal house at any time to film and/or to take anything they want, as long as they return the objects once production has ended. (20a)
• Under ordinary circumstances, all of this would be considered a “serious” invasion of privacy. (11)
- you may die, lose limbs, or suffer a mental breakdown
It’s amazing that there are people out there willing to sign over all of their rights just like that.Full List [HERE]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lpqidcnkkx1qgtmnto1_500.png)
OMG’S WTF: reblogged from the wonderful feministblackboard tumblr
if you aren’t following already, you should!When aspiring to be on MTV’s The Real World you have to sign a contract that states that you understand you may get raped.
Other issues that get covered include:-If you undergo any medical procedures while involved in the show, they carry the risk of infection, disfigurement, death. (4)
• You may be humiliated and explicitly portrayed “in a false light.” (12)
• Producers are under no obligation to conduct background checks on your fellow cast members. (7)
• You grant the Producer blanket rights to your life story. (49)
• The Producer can do pretty much anything they want with your life story, including misrepresent it. (49)• You authorize the Producer to have total access to your school records, government forms, your credit history. (19)
• The production crew can show up at your personal house at any time to film and/or to take anything they want, as long as they return the objects once production has ended. (20a)
• Under ordinary circumstances, all of this would be considered a “serious” invasion of privacy. (11)
- you may die, lose limbs, or suffer a mental breakdown
It’s amazing that there are people out there willing to sign over all of their rights just like that.
Full List [HERE]
(Source: feminist-blackboard)
Particularly so that I can turn chauvinistic, privileged men into women so that they can understand what it’s like to be slutshamed, objectified, judged on the basis of their weight, height, ethnicity, age, pubic hair, hair color, the tightness of their vagina, the width of their nose, the location and size of their nipples, the texture of their hair. So that they can feel the discomfort of walking down the street alone at night, spying out large vehicles driving past and cringing at cat calls. So that they can see that lesbians do not love women so that men can masturbate to the idea. So that they know how it feels to have others can tell them how they should wear their hair, clothes, underwear in order to better attract husbands. So that they can feel institutional bias as they try to get into law school, med school, culinary school, art school, the armed forces. So that they are feel the judgment cast at them if they choose not to marry or have children. So that if they do have children they have to worry about the impact of the media on their child’s understanding of gender roles and self esteem. So that they can understand that our society, our media, our world is not fair to them either. That so long as we do not have equality, feminism is not obsolete.
I would do these things not because I want men to suffer. I love men. But I also love women, and it is a shame that far too often in our world men are conditioned towards misogyny. I want these men who I call privileged chauvinists to understand these things, because I cannot teach them by yelling at them. By crying or hitting or castrating them. I cannot make them children and immerse them into a version of our culture where women are valued for the simple fact that they are human beings. We must work toward that culture. All of us.
Particularly so that I can turn chauvinistic, privileged men into women so that they can understand what it’s like to be slutshamed, objectified, judged on the basis of their weight, height, ethnicity, age, pubic hair, hair color, the tightness of their vagina, the width of…
But what about the men who get labeled just as badly by the women who think all men are like that? It’s not fair to them, either. The road always goes both ways.
Look, I’m sorry. But I don’t “walk down the streets in fear.” As shitty as things are, it could be so much worse. We could actually live in a country like South Africa where getting raped is something that will DEFINITELY happen to you if you walk down the street alone at night. And as far as feeling judged and objectified, yeah, there are times when certain people make me feel that way. But not everyone. Nobody makes me feel anything except me. It’s my choice to feel a certain way. Nobody tells me I have to be insulted or shamed. I can easily brush it off and chalk it up to stupidity. And honestly, the majority of the guys I associate myself with are really awesome people, who love and respect women, and I’ll be damned if they get lumped in with a bunch of assholes who are just making everyone look bad.
I understand that, and I believe that I addressed that when I said that the system is just as unfair to them as it is to women. The labels are unfair to both parties. Society is as much telling them how they should act as it is telling women. Feminism is about gender equality, not pigeonholing men into categories. And I do love men. My guyfriends are fantastic people and I wouldn’t trade them for the world. Which is why I started off my post saying that I would want to do this specifically to chauvinistic men. I never lumped all men into the same category. So please don’t accuse me of misandry, here. If you believe that I made all men out to be assholes, or that I lumped all men into the same category, then I’m not sure you read the same post that I wrote.
And I agree. Nobody shames me. Nobody can tell me when to feel afraid or ashamed for my behaviour or choices, or anything. The fact that we don’t live in a country that has a high rate of rape, or that institutionalizes genital mutilation or honor killings is great. I love my country. But the fact is that things are far from equal. And what I said specifically addresses men who stand from a place of privilege and say that feminism is all about hating men, or perpetuate the stereotype that all feminists are “feminazis,” or say that there is no point in feminism in this day, this age, this country.
Particularly so that I can turn chauvinistic, privileged men into women so that they can understand what it’s like to be slutshamed, objectified, judged on the basis of their weight, height, ethnicity, age, pubic hair, hair color, the tightness of their vagina, the width of…
But what about the men who get labeled just as badly by the women who think all men are like that? It’s not fair to them, either. The road always goes both ways.
Look, I’m sorry. But I don’t “walk down the streets in fear.” As shitty as things are, it could be so much worse. We could actually live in a country like South Africa where getting raped is something that will DEFINITELY happen to you if you walk down the street alone at night. And as far as feeling judged and objectified, yeah, there are times when certain people make me feel that way. But not everyone. Nobody makes me feel anything except me. It’s my choice to feel a certain way. Nobody tells me I have to be insulted or shamed. I can easily brush it off and chalk it up to stupidity. And honestly, the majority of the guys I associate myself with are really awesome people, who love and respect women, and I’ll be damned if they get lumped in with a bunch of assholes who are just making everyone look bad.
I understand that, and I believe that I addressed that when I said that the system is just as unfair to them as it is to women. The labels are unfair to both parties. Society is as much telling them how they should act as it is telling women. Feminism is about gender equality, not pigeonholing men into categories. And I do love men. My guyfriends are fantastic people and I wouldn’t trade them for the world. Which is why I started off my post saying that I would want to do this specifically to chauvinistic men. I never lumped all men into the same category. So please don’t accuse me of misandry, here. If you believe that I made all men out to be assholes, or that I lumped all men into the same category, then I’m not sure you read the same post that I wrote.
And I agree. Nobody shames me. Nobody can tell me when to feel afraid or ashamed for my behaviour or choices, or anything. The fact that we don’t live in a country that has a high rate of rape, or that institutionalizes genital mutilation or honor killings is great. I love my country. But the fact is that things are far from equal. And what I said specifically addresses men who stand from a place of privilege and say that feminism is all about hating men, or perpetuate the stereotype that all feminists are “feminazis,” or say that there is no point in feminism in this day, this age, this country.
I never meant to imply that you, specifically thought these things, and I apologize that I came off that way… I was speaking in a broader sense, because there are a lot of “feminazis,” as you say, and it’s very frustrating to deal with them. As much as I’m proud to be a woman and am all for equality, it’s really frustrating and exhausting trying to talk to one of those women about anything involving the opposite sex.
However, I have definitely dealt with the men you refer to. Namely, my high school gym teacher, who never let me play hockey during class even though I was one of the best defensive players they had, and always separated the girls from the boys… we would play things like tennis and frisbee, and the boys would play football. Is that fair? Hell no. Does he need to wake the fuck up and see that times have changed and women are very capable of doing these things? Hell yes.
I think the problem with a lot of people who believe feminism is pointless are still thinking in terms of the past. Like, we can vote now, so doesn’t that count for something? And it does. But it’s still not enough. I want to vote, yeah, but I also want to get paid the same amount as the guy in the cubicle next to me for having the same qualifications and doing the same job just as well, if not better in some cases. And I hate hearing the asshole in class next to me go, “Well the thing about women is that they always think they’re right…..”
So yeah, in that aspect, I definitely agree with you. Like, I said, sorry for coming off the way I did!
It’s alright. I’m glad we could come to an understanding! But yes, exactly! Women should be allowed to play football and hockey. And women should earn as much at work as our male counterparts. We’ve made huge steps in terms of rights, but it’s the little things that shape the way our society views women. Dressup for girls and hot wheels for boys. Sure, playing with dolls is fun, but I never understood why commercials never had girls messing with chemistry sets or building with Legos. The problem is that many people don’t see the gender biases. And men lose out as much as women do as a result.
I made this post mostly because I was watching the documentary America the Beautiful today. And one of the people being interviewed throughout the film was this completely chauvinistic prick. He just had no fucking clue. Proudly proclaimed that he viewed women as objects. He said that for the most part “women don’t know as much as men do,” as if it was a fact. And it’s men like that that I want to take and put in our shoes, be they Manolo Blahniks or Doc Martens or Birkenstocks.
