Jan
11
Technical difficulties, oops!
Filed Under Aside | Leave a Comment
Well, I updated my blog build today without realizing that the theme I was using is broken with Wordpress 2.9…. I don’t really have the will to fix it, though the theme was getting a little cumbersome and way too overdone anyway. So my blog looks a little strange now, but I’ve been pouring my energy into my other blog project at the moment and sadly this one will probably languish for awhile.
I am sort of having this strange “web identity crisis”…… not sure of how to merge this identity with the other one, how much to do so or if I should at all…. It’s a strange line of thought!!
Jan
2
Sigh… come on… REALLY??
Filed Under Feminism | Leave a Comment
Apparently the point of the feminist revolution was so that women everywhere could “trail-blaze” for the sake of young girls regarding things such as…..
…posing for Maxim.
Olivia Munn talks about paving the way for young girls “like her 2 year old niece” in her rant regarding the backlash on her Maxim spread.
This is old.
The slut shaming is uncalled for, divide and conquer at its best. At the same time, don’t expect me to be glowing with happiness that yet another woman is buying this silly idea that doing a photo spread for the boys is empowered. Bullshit. Come back and talk to me when you’re doing something that doesn’t fit into the everyday paradigm of WOMAN=SEX. Not sure what in the hell is supposed to make me grateful about seeing this continuously upheld by women who think they’re doing something revolutionary, and HEY even better, let’s pass this fucked up structure onto our daughters without a shred of critical thought!
There’s this idea going around that being comfortable with one’s own sexuality, or working towards it, logically results in putting oneself out there as an oil-slicked commodity. It saddens me that in this day and age that’s the idea that women are buying into, and that they’ve been deluded enough to think that it somehow makes a difference. This is everyday misogyny, feminism hijacked, buy more shit/eat less/workout more/tweak, nip, tuck to the nines so you can properly fit into the role of woman.
And don’t paint me as someone who “just needs a good fuck” because I resent you for being just another woman to corner us all in this box. You’re not doing me any favors. Don’t act like it. Sure, pretend that your actions have no impact whatsoever, but acting like some sort of pioneer is far more insulting to my intelligence.
Ani DiFranco said it best:
Some chick says
Thank you for saying all the things I never do
I say you know, the thanks I get is to take all the shit for you
It’s nice that you listen
It would be nice if you joined in
As long as you play their game girl, you’re never gonna win
- Face up and Sing
ETA: I forgot my ever present disclaimer. This isn’t meant to criticize the ever day woman who does the things society sort of promotes as necessary to be a proper woman, etc. etc. Yeah, we all capitulate to some degree, I completely understand this and it’s a part of life. Her defense irked me in particular though, especially the whole trailblazer aspect.
Nov
29
“Good Girls Gone Bad” Syndrome
Filed Under Misogyny | 3 Comments
She used to be the sweetest girl ever
Now she like sour amoretta
She used to run track back in high school
Now she tricks off the track right by school- The Sweetest Girl – Wyclef Jean featuring Akon
I make them good girls go bad
I make them good girls go
Good girls go bad- (I Make) Good Girls Go Bad – Cobra Starship
Lights is blinding,
girls need blinders
so they can step out of bounds quick,
the side lines is blind with casualties,
who sip the lite casually, then gradually become worse,
don’t bite the apple Eve,
caught up in the in crowd,
now you’re in-style,
and in the winter gets cold en vogue with your skin out,
the city of sin is a pity on a whim.
good girls gone bad, the city’s filled with them,
Mommy took a bus trip and now she got her bust out,
everybody ride her, just like a bus route- Empire State of Mind – Jay Z
Yes, I love pop music. Having been a dancer for a number of years, anything that makes me want to move is labeled good in my book. Now that I have that admission out of the way, my love of pop music results in encountering a stratosphere of jaw dropping messages that pop culture continuously pushes. One theme which has made me particularly chagrined over time is the “good girls gone bad” theme.
This theme is one of those that makes me grit my teeth more than others. Finally upon downloading Jay-Z’s Empire State of Mind and discovering it was retread yet again (The Sweetest Girl had me yelling at the radio for awhile.) I sort of boiled over. This ridiculously pervasive attitude springs in part from the idea that men have a biological need for sex and must do what they can to procure it while women are supposed to withhold, do not need sex and should not want it. That the “promiscuous” woman, or the stripper and prostitute are “good girls gone bad” is a double standard that serves to prevent men from being held accountable for what we are all supposed to believe is just business as usual, aka “biologically sanctioned” degradation.
In the same way that the actions of abusers and rapists are erased through the language we use and the victim subsequently gets blamed, the same occurs with this “good girls gone bad” meme. While the “fall” of a woman in particular ways is an event to pay attention to and police, that a man is never held accountable for his side of the equation creates a continuum of behavior that is at best tolerated and at worst encouraged. It’s the promiscuous woman, or the stripper and the prostitute who cause the blemish on society rather than the man that creates the demand. (I’ll hold off on the crazy concept that women also want and like sex for another day.) Same justification Islamic fundamentalists use for the Burqa. We’ve even gone so far as to label places where men traffic in women “gentleman’s clubs” – business as usual when a gentleman participates in le doux commerce – women are just something else to be bought and sold.
Oh, but hey, silly me…. how could I forget that a man’s role isn’t completely erased in this equation……. Life for a pimp is tough! (Life Out There is Hard for a Pimp – Three Six Mafia)
Nov
2
Justice for All?
Filed Under General | Leave a Comment
The Pat Tillman case seems to have been blown out of the water by Jon Krakauer. But then, Tillman embodies much of what American culture places at the top of the hierarchy which is part of the reason this case gets so much attention. While I certainly don’t begrudge the justice that he or his family deserves, I would also like to see justice for all of the women in the military who have been sexually assaulted and raped as well as for the string of military “suicides” (ie brutally raped and murdered women) like Lavena Johnson.
Oct
23
Dust in the Eyes of the World
Filed Under Politics | Leave a Comment
After the tragic day of September 11, 2001, many in Afghanistan thought that, with the ensuing overthrow of the Taliban, they might finally see some light, some justice and progress. But it was not to be. The Afghan people have been betrayed once again by those who are claiming to help them. More than seven years after the U.S. invasion, we are still faced with foreign occupation and a U.S.-backed government filled with warlords who are just like the Taliban. Instead of putting these ruthless murderers on trial for war crimes, the United States and its allies placed them in positions of power, where they continue to terrorize ordinary Afghans.
You may be shocked to hear this, because the truth about Afghanistan has been hidden behind a smoke screen of words and images carefully crafted by the United States and its NATO allies and repeated without question by the Western media.
You may have been led to believe that once the Taliban was driven from power, justice returned to my country. Afghan women like me, voting and running for office, have been held up as proof that the U.S. military has brought democracy and women’s rights to Afghanistan.
But it is all a lie, dust in the eyes of the world.
From the book A Woman Among Warlords by Malalai Joya.
I just found out she is speaking today in NYC. Too late to see her, argh!
Sep
6
like old times
Filed Under General | Leave a Comment
ragged snippets of memory like leaves in the wind
some of them stick
Aug
29
I turned on talk radio for the first time in ages today. And I thank my lucky stars, for I have finally realized that socialism and communism ARE in fact godless!!! They lack THE FREE MARKET!!!
In the midst of Steve Malzberg ranting about 45 million people having access to health care if Obama’s plans go through, and Sean Hannity trashing the idea of providing a decent living for all, (apparently because we who advocate this love government – not because we care about people) it hit me. Just replace “In God We Trust” with “In Free Market We Trust.” They are interchangeable. I’ve seen the light, hallelujah.
So, Malzberg kept up the yelling refrain over his caller of “WHERE ARE THE DOCTORS DELLA???” See, letting 45 million people go without health insurance is perfectly ok because the doctors just aren’t there. And here I thought people like him didn’t believe in evolution, but apparently subscribing to some sort of fucked up survival of the fittest is A-Ok. What chaps my hide even more is Mr. Malzberg can be secure about his health care thanks to doing a job he is horrible at. I may abhor Hannity and Limbaugh, but they are good propagandists.
This whole thing makes me think of Joel Osteen’s screwy teaching of “prosperity gospel.” That if you’re right with god you’ll be blessed with material goods. (To the detriment of other people, who I suppose, are not right with god!) If you are lucky enough to play by the free market’s rules the same thing might happen. Both are ways of assigning value. And both are ridiculously shitty ways of thinking.
Lastly, I really couldn’t help laughing (to the detriment of my hurting back) when Hannity commented that a less than knowledgeable person he had just interviewed was educated by our public government schools!!!! I guess the free market could solve our education woes too. If people can’t afford to pay they must not be smart enough to go!
Aug
12
To the Blindingly Stupid American
Filed Under Politics | Leave a Comment
Much of the time, I try to convince myself you’re not out there. That you’re only misguided, and with a little bit more education and understanding you would come to your senses. But really, I can only abide such willful, intentionally stubborn ignorance for so long.
- Michelle Malkin, your assertion that getting health insurance coverage is merely about “priorities” is ridiculously insulting. I will tell you about MY priorities. In prioritizing my mental health, I can not afford to pay for the care of possibly serious physical ailments. Those of your ilk have told me that if it were really so important, I’d get a second job….. Possibly aggravating said physical ailment further in order to PAY FOR TREATMENT.
- “Well, you shouldn’t be at the doctor so much” – Another ridiculously ignorant, flippant statement made by people who have health insurance and don’t want to see the system change…. Obviously you’ve never met numerous coworkers of mine who have serious physical ailments that require biweekly doctors visits and costly tests. “Priorities” will also get them nowhere, as insurance agencies refuse to cover them. Getting second jobs in their condition is NOT POSSIBLE.
- “Personal responsibility” doesn’t make a WHIT OF DIFFERENCE IF YOU SIMPLY CAN’T AFFORD TO PAY!!!
- Justifying the care you get and its quality based on your “worth to society” in terms of how much you make, and justifying others NOT receiving the quality care they need because they don’t make enough – you are scum.
- Your beloved “liberal media” is out there smearing the Canadian system and the idea of single payer health care because it has a vested, CORPORATE interest in the status quo. THIS IS NOT ABOUT LIBERAL OR CONSERVATIVE. It’s about seven corporations owning our news outlets, looking out for CORPORATE INTERESTS.
- I consider myself to be, at the very least, a SOCIALIST. Yes, I said a super scary word that Americans will forever live in fear of without educating themselves about what it TRULY IS. So while you spout your misinformed propaganda about the US “turning into Russia or China” please understand that systems like Canada’s are NOT SOCIALIST.
- While I advocate a system like Canada’s, I do believe 100% that the US government WILL fuck up this health care reform because the system is too compromised by lobbyists – insurance and pharmaceuticals who don’t give a shit about the human factor, and will count every profit making penny despite the person on the other end who needs medical care. As much as I’d like to think this will ease a huge burden for me in the future, I HIGHLY DOUBT IT.
- For a “Christian Nation”, as many of your ilk like to claim, the current system is certainly the embodiment of Jesus’ principles! But Socialism, and making sure people’s needs are met is godless….. quite a switch.
- For once, the advice to “get out if you don’t like it” sounds like a GREAT idea. It would be nice to go to a place that’s informed by policy and citizens that CARE ABOUT HUMAN BEINGS AND NOT ABOUT PROFITS.
I know it’s difficult to believe that the world is not always so neat and tidy, that it doesn’t fit into a view that uses buzzwords like “priorities” and “personal responsibility.” I am tired of the blinding stupidity and ignorance, the mulish refusal to think critically. I am also tired of the selfishness and the “fuck you, I’ve got mine” mentality that permeates America like rot. Fuck terrorists – we’re doing an amazing job of destroying this country on our own.
MYTHBUSTING CANADIAN HEALTHCARE
Aug
12
Sisyphean
Filed Under Personal | Leave a Comment
Word of the day.
Aug
5
Come on, really?!
Filed Under General | Leave a Comment
NPR classifies The Lord’s Resistance Army a “military cult” but fails to note that the army identifies as Christian. And why does the media never discuss the religion of the participants of the Rwandan genocide? Yet they never hesitate to point out terrorists who identify as Muslims. All part of the typical process of default/other.
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