A Prayer from Alice Walker

WOMAN

TO STOP THE VIOLENCE
AGAINST
WOMAN,
WOMAN
MUST STOP THE VIOLENCE
AGAINST HERSELF

WE CAN BEGIN TO DO THIS
NOW, NOW THAT WE SEE
A SKY
AND NOT A ROCK
A STICK
OR A FIST
ABOVE ALL
OUR HEADS

WOMAN

TO STOP THE VIOLENCE
AGAINST WOMAN,
STOP THE VIOLENCE
THAT YOU
PERPETUATE
AGAINST
YOUR OWN
SISTER
WHO IS
A WOMAN, YOUR OWN
DAUGHTER
WHO IS
A WOMAN,
YOU OWN
DAUGHTER-IN-LAW
WHO IS
A WOMAN
YOUR OWN
MOTHER
WHO IS A WOMEN

WOMAN

TO STOP THE VIOLENCE
AGAINST WOMAN.
STOP THE VIOLENCE
THAT LIVES
IN OPPOSITION
TO YOUR LIFE,
DEEP IN YOUR
OWN TERRORIZED AND
UNCHERISHED HEART

WOMAN

REMEMBER WHO WE ARE:
NOT 'GUYS'
BUT
THE MOTHER
OF ALL
LIVING
WE CREATE OUT OF OUR OWN BLOOD
AND MILK
EVEN
THE CREATURES
WHO OPPRESS
US;
WHETHER THEY ARE MEN
OR
OURSELVES

WOMEN

AWAKE!ARISE!
STAND UP!

WOMAN

TO STOP THE VIOLENCE
AGAINST
WOMAN,
GET UP
ON YOUR PERFECTLY
UNBOUND FEET
WE HAVE LOST THE EARTH
LIVING ON OUR KNEES

http://members.tripod.com/chrisdanielle/alicemain.html
http://www.luminarium.org/contemporary/alicew/

Are some of the many web pages on Alice Walker, a person who has changed the women's movement not just for women by black women.
The first feminist movement was mostly middle class white women, Alice Waker, completely changes that around. She showed race issues and sexism through her book, "The Color Purple."

She continues to inspire me today so I wanted to dedicate an entry to her.

Ant-Feminist Websites

http://freewebs.com/antifeminist 

I debated showing the link, then i saw how little people went to this website. Basically its a ridiculous way for men to put down women. It's almost laughable.

These websites were few and far between.  They warn not to donate money to women's groups as and under the link, "what can i do?" it states on the page that men are, "Forced to commit a violent act" against women. Not women who threaten them or mock them, just women who think they are as good as men.

Thankfully after research, it was easy to find out what pig wrote this, a hick, a male hick, I imagine he has a confederate flag and wears overalls and is missing his teeth. I suppose he thinks African Americans aren't equal to whites either. 

Yet how many men walk around with these ideas? This is why feminism still exists. 

Whenever I tell a male I'm a feminist i either get a "good for you" or a "why you're so pretty!" 

I don't think these men are the norm, in fact, they just get angrier and angrier because days of the "good old boy" are long gone and they cant change with the times. Male chauvinists are a dieing breed and I can't wait till they are extinct. 

Beauty Pagents

Why do we really care if Ms. Puerto Rico was pepper sprayed? I clicked onto the MSN home page and low and behold she was on the front cover. http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/22111394?GT1=10645

Who cares whether or not she was pepper sprayed. There are child slaves and girls getting their clitorises chopped off in female mutilation and this, this is what we care about?

Beauty competitions such as Ms. Universe only started, as well as cheerleaders because women weren't allowed to play organized sports. So thus, they started an organization devoted to beauty. So what is their role now? To inspire young girls to fit into the "norm." Big breasted skinny girls with overly made up hair and pancaked makeup and brushed and poised within a inch of their lives?

I just can't see how this woman, whether she cheated to win or not, deserves any PR at all. She didn't cure cancer, she didn't stop world hunger. She's just a pretty girl with a big sexy scandal surrounding her so the media pays attention.

In Honor of Victoria Secret Fasion Show

Do me a favor? Know when the "fashion show" (or skank show) airs on CBS you realize what you're looking at is silicone and makeup. These images are what hurts us as females. Walking through the mall, I couldn't help but noticed what the media has done to us as women. We have been made to look like sexual objects, to always look sexually available.
The truth is, most women don't know what they want or their purpose because they are to busy trying to be what men want (I'm speaking about girls my age, 18-30) , sexual objects. In the book, "Transforming A Rape Culture," on page 213 it state's
(THIS IS MY FAVORITE QUOTE SO READ IT CAREFULLY),

"What a girl wants, what a women wants, is what Freud knew is held precious by every MAN: self-determination, autonomy within reason, life without undue fear, liberty without causing harm to others, and the ability to pursue one's happiness. None of those desires can be fulfilled for women so long as we live in a rape culture. A general recognition is dawning that our culture will need both women and men who are strong, wise and generous if the future is to be better then the present."

I can't help but think we could have all this as women if we can start to understand we aren't billboards for sex. We don't have to play stupid and we can assert what we want without bringing sex into it. That women can still have worth if we are not walking sex.

The Introduction, a Little Late

It was noted to me by a friend, that I never discussed what feminism was. So I suppose, I'll give you a rough definition from the good people at wikipedia.com ;

"Feminism comprises a number of social, cultural and political movements, theories and moral philosophies concerned with gender inequalities and equal rights for women .In the United States, according to some, the history of feminism consists of three waves.^[1][2] The first wave in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the second in the 1960s and 1970s and the third from the 1990s to the present.^[3] Feminist Theory developed from the feminist movement.^[4][5] It takes a number of forms in a variety of disciplines such as feminist geography, feminist history and feminist literary criticism. Feminism has changed aspects of Western society. Feminist political activists have been concerned with issues such as a woman's right of contract and property, a woman's right to bodily integrity and autonomy (especially on matters such as reproductive rights, including the right to abortion, access to contraception and quality prenatal care); for protection from domestic violence; against sexual harassment and rape;^[6][7] for workplace rights, including maternity leave and equal pay; and against other forms of discrimination"

That I suppose in a nut shell is feminism but so much more. Many people don't understand the three waves of feminism, which is really very important and a key issue. So F-ing look it up. I'm kidding, here is a very basic explanation. First wave feminism, was simple basic human rights women were lacking, very early 19 century. Second wave was more radical from 1960-1980. The third wave is present day, trying to further the rights that second wave failed at.
I know many don't understand the feminist geography and feminist history aspects. Which is a bit more complicated to understand and I get asked about it a lot. Women aren't traced as individuals through history, they are traced through men. Many very important women are left out of the history books or simply understated as individuals. Why? Simple, men write 90% of school history books. In the early 90's this was called to the attention of makers of high school scholastic books, they did nothing to change it. It wasn't until I got to college that I learned how many women in history were left out or simple abandoned all together by historians.
For those interested in read the "The Feminine Mystic," can further explain all these points.

Hollywood Websites

I check the websites www.perezhilton.com and www.dlisted.com almost daily, they are both funny websites that poke fun of celebrities, mostly they make fun of "actresses/models" who take themselves to seriously. They call out stars on their bullshit to put it basically.

I can't help but notice on these websites, that they attack women's looks more and more. If they look older, they poke fun. If they get work done if they do look old, they poke fun at that. If they are too skinny/fat they poke fun of that. No wonder women are going crazy trying to be perfect.

It should be noted that both these websites are run by males. Does this make it worse? Is it really any better then women's magazine who cut themselves down by constantly talking about weight and beauty.

I have a hard time keeping my obsession with how I look in check. I can get crazy but when all you're told is that "you're pretty/beautiful/sexy/hot/" it's hard to see myself as much else. I mean, yea... I'm passionate as hell, slightly crazy, athletic, a writer, a student, a feminist, a fighter, a lover, a advocate, a victim, a liberal, funny and adventurous but no one sees that, all people see is my outside. When you have a terrific boyfriend like I do, it helps but I can be my own worst critic.

Is there really any clear messages for women that are positive? If there are, they are few and far between.

I have included a picture of me made up and another completely natural, not posing, in a bathing suit, with no makeup, just to keep my ego in check, tummy out and all! Hey, I can't look picture perfect all the time, no matter what the media tells me.

"Forgiveness is more then saying sorry......"

Are women able to forgive more easily then men? I think men's ego's get in the way to be honest,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forgiveness states,

"Forgiveness is the mental, and/or spiritual process of ceasing to feel resentment, indignation or anger against another person for a perceived offense, difference or mistake, or ceasing to demand punishment or restitution^[1]."

Why is it women might forgive more, is it because we are able to talk about our emotions because its more acceptable by society? I'm unsure, this act of "forgiveness" is really, about being the bigger person. It seems most of history's wars are mens egos so I could easily see why they have more trouble forgiving.
How can people forgive murders? People who rape or steal? I don't even know how to answer that one ...
The "main male" forgiver was Jesus and pulling out my Bible, {finding it slightly dusty after searching for it for a while) states this:

The Miracle of Forgiveness

Mark 2:7-11 (Wey) "Why does this man use such words?" they said; "He is blaspheming. Who can pardon sins but One--that is, God?"... Jesus asked them, "Which is easier?--to say to this paralytic, 'Your sins are pardoned,' or to say, 'Rise, take up your mat, and walk?' But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to pardon sins"--He turned to the paralytic, and said, "To you I say, 'Rise, take up your mat and go home.'"

Conditional Forgiveness

Mat 6:12 (TEB) "Forgive us the wrongs that we have done, as we forgive the wrongs others have done us."

Luke 6:37 (NIV) "...Forgive, and you will be forgiven."

Mat 6:14-15 (NIV) "For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But, if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins."

It would be nice if everyone had that outlook huh? If we would have forgave the terrorists of 9-11 think how many thousands of lives we would have saved and not be in war.
If we just forgave the Japanese after Pearl Harbor instead of counter attacking with a bomb in a place that was mostly filled with innocent civilians. If we didn't hold everyday grudges and instead thought about our own mistakes we've made. Why do we, as individuals always exclude ourselves when pointing out mistakes.
Though I do think women can forgive easier, I do know I need to work on my own lack of ability to forgive. If I were to die tomorrow, I'd be so mad at the anger i held in for people that have wronged me, even those who wronged me severely. Still it is hard to look past my own emotions and silently forgive.

"uhhh are you on you're period?"

No matter what, when a girl gets emotional and spirited or god forbid passionate it usually means a guy is gonna assume shes on her period and gonna ask her.
I'm always a feisty passionate girl, so does that mean I'm leaking blood 24/7? NO, it means I don't keep what I'm feeling bottled up, (maybe that's why serial killers aren't mainly women?} I either display it or feel it....mostly display it psychically.
3 weeks ago, we were having our usual family dinner at my house and my sister turns to me and says,
"I was at Blockbuster renting a video and the guy working recognized my last name and said, 'hey you're sister Avalon punched my cousin in the face" and he said you punched his cousin in the face when he hit on you and you turned him down so he called you a dumb bitch."
My boyfriend who is used to me said "that sounds about right." My parents were mad, mostly my mom but my dad was slightly amused.
I can't help but think I handled that situation like a man but if I had cried or been upset with a guy calling me that, it would of been "to girly."
Perhaps I see crying as something vulnerable and i hate being that way, I only cry when I feel safe enough with the person there to witness it or mostly alone. I just see crying or getting emotional as a waste of time, sometimes I feel actions, maybe physical, are a better reaction.
Maybe I just got tired of being asked if i was on my period.

A For Effort for girls....

My absolute favorite quote ever, "a prayer for the heart kept in cages" by Tennessee Williams.

I hear girls all the time talk about marriage in classes at FAU, how if they date a guy for more then 6 months they expect a ring or move in together. I hear about a "biological clock" and these girls are barely over 18!
I've been with my boyfriend for more then 2 years, {on and off, off for a few months but mostly on} and I don't expect a ring or commitment anytime soon. It's a good day if he remembers to call me (since we go to separate Universities) and most days he doesn't or I'll have to call him. In fact, he's talked about leaving me more then being with me. He left me for three months going to Europe alone, now he wants to go into the Peace Core without me too, since it's worked into his masters program at FSU.
Why does this tie into my quote? I feel sometimes caged...er... no I really feel caged by everything in this world all the time but I get that, lots of people do. The one time I don't feel caged is when I'm with my boyfriend. Though I do feel, unlike most girls, that I don't need a ring or marriage for commitment. I would however, like to feel the person I'm with isn't wanting to leave me all the time. I'm not one to open up, (to anyone really) and with a long distance boyfriend where conversations are just catching up on the basic comings and goings of the day, I really feel like I don't have anyone to talk to.
I suppose guys don't pick up the phone wanting to discuss feelings, they call to tell you something funny, what they did that day or phone sex. Women I suppose call for the complete opposite reason.
Is it a "girl thing" to call and write letters and stuff for guys when really they just see it as "a cute thing" their girlfriends do and could care less.
Why is it girls can only make the effort when it comes to emotion? Guys will drive, pay and fix things, is this what we've been made to think is making an effort to stay together? Granted I don't want a guy crying on my shoulder after the last episode of "Grey's Anatomy", .....maybe I don't know what I want.
Maybe, no not maybe, I WANT someone who feels caged like me and Tennessee and so at least i know I'm not fighting an uphill battle alone.

Stripping

Stripping, titty bars, nude bars, topless bars, it's all a sticky subject when it comes to womens issues. Is it an exchange of power for money, (since women do indeed still make 76% to what men make)? Perhaps it's a form of power over?
To me really, it's all visual masturbation, I know I'm going to get "eye fucked" or "mentally undressed" by men even if I'm 100% covered up, I cant help that. So to me, it doesn't matter if a female is naked or not, men will still imagine women however they choose (but probably naked).
I also think it's freeing to be naked or walk around and show some skin when for hundreds of years men have told women to cover up, that womens bodies should be something of shame, as long as its respectable, (for example Playboy yes, Hustler no}.
I don't like to tell others what to do with their bodies or how to display it, so I don't. Stripping to me, can be a powerful thing, it can be beautiful, it can be sexy but it can also be demeaning and disgusting, I think it comes down to whats right for the individual. What if a single mother works 2 nights a week and is able to spend the rest of the time with her children? What about a student trying to make their way through University?
Whose to judge what goes on in anyone else's life?

Abortion

Abortion, it's an extremely controversial topic, both sides should be clearly heard.
My opinion, since this is my blog, is more important then what others have to say on this topic so I'm going to focus on that{I kid, I kid}.

Here are my short version of a long and complicated topic. It's not women in Congress making these laws up, it's men in suits telling women what to do with their bodies. If it were women getting together deciding what should be done, it might be a little easier. Yet it's not women, it's men, men who have no idea what its like to be a women. How fast would a man change his opinion if his wife or daughter or sister was rapped? How fast would they change their opinions?

Further more, how come the government does not regulate male masturbation? How many million of "potential children" are killed every time a male whacks off? Why doesn't the Catholic Church get on that? Oh yea maybe the church is preoccupied with alter boys....I kid..sorta.

Whore/Madonna Complex

It seems in this day and age, women can only be sluts or virgins {think the "mothering figure}. Why is women are only one or the other.
I made the mistake of watching the show, "Americas Next Top Model," they critiqued girls if they were just "pretty" or simply "mens magazine pretty."
Why is it women can not be sexy and motherly? Women can not own their sexuality if they have kids? People magazine has their "sexiest male celebrity" and they are almost all fathers.
If women are mothers and sexy, they are branded the title of 'M.I.L.F.' which means, "Mom I'd Like to Fuck." Super classy right? Women can be mothers but must know their place of men's sexual things.

Women and weight

These pictures were all altered on the website http://celebsonfire.wordpress.com/2007/04/17/fat-hot-celebrities/ . Why is it we pick on women and their weight so horribly? Why is it fat women are useless in todays society?
Female standard of beauty is unreachable without computer airbrushing because its impossible! So when a women gets "large" she is disposable. We are so obsessed with weight loss in this country we have enough time to Photoshop celebrities pictures.
Mens appearance are not critiqued as much as the female form, although its close. I think it's because its men setting the standards in the beauty industry.
One has to wonder why we find these photos just "so amusing."

Women's Poverty Part 2

Women are more and more becoming the brute force of poverty in this country, as I discussed in my last blog, not only do women get paid less, they also have other factors within their fight to stay above the poverty level.

"At the same time that women produce 75 to 90 percent of food crops in the world, they are responsible for the running of households. According to the United Nations, in no country in the world do men come anywhere close to women in the amount of time spent in housework. Furthermore, despite the efforts of feminist movements, women in the core [wealthiest, Western countries] still suffer disproportionately, leading to what sociologist refer to as the “feminization of poverty,” where two out of every three poor adults are women. The informal slogan of the Decade of Women became “Women do two-thirds of the world’s work, receive 10 percent of the world’s income and own 1 percent of the means of production.”

— Richard H. Robbins, Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism, (Allyn and Bacon, 1999), p. 354 found at http://www.globalissues.org/HumanRights/WomensRights.asp#FeminizationofPoverty

I am not saying that women are better then men at all, I'm just asking for women to get the recognition they deserve. I think men are reminded how hard they work, I mean, thats basic American History, our founding fathers, how man built this country. Women have been toils of war, stepped on, left to raise the children at home, made to cook and and clean and have children.

I remember, way before I even knew what feminism was, I read this eye opening book and it was excerpts from real, {100% real} diary's and story's of women and depression all the way up from the 1800 century till now. I really really wish i still had it this book or bought it but thats besides the point. There was a few chapters about child rearing and bringing up children and it was so depressing. These women were praying, hoping, writing that they wished they died in their next child birth, that they were so exhausted they wished death. Another women said they would "expose" their little girls because she didn't want them to have the miserable life she had. These were entries from 1900.

I just remembering reading this and being horrified and I can't help wishing i was born a white. A white middle class man would could be free to do what they wanted, I couldn't help but feel jipped being born a girl.

Will this world ever see the contribution's of women?

Women's Poverty Part 1

Estimated earnings for women are substantially lower than for men

Region	Estimated earnings per year (in 1000s of US dollars at 2003 prices)	Percentage of men’s earnings
Key: The first number in each row represents women The second number in each row represents men Estimated earnings are defined as gross domestic product per capita (measured in US dollars at 2003 prices adjusted for purchasing power parity) adjusted for wage disparities between men and women. Some numbers rounded for display purposes. Source: UNICEF, State of the World’s Children, 2007, p. 41, Figure 3.3
Industrialized nations	21 37	57%
CEE/CIS	4.6 8	59%
Latin American and Carribean	4 10	40%
East Asia and Pacific	4 6.5	62%
Middle East and North Africa	2 7	28%
South Asia	1 2.5	39%
Sub-Saharan Africa	1 2	51%

Women are often underpaid in other countries {this graph found on page http://www.globalissues.org/HumanRights/WomensRights.asp#WomenWorkMoreThanMenButArePaidLess} yet how many people know that the women in this country are severely underpaid as well.
Just think how much work single mothers do and don't get paid for. They cook, clean, do their own child care, car pool and do errands, all of this is a job in itself. Most single mothers have another job on top of taking care of their children and most have to pay for child care when they are at work, causing them to lose even more money.
So why does "womens work" go so unnoticed in this country as well as others. I think men, yes, I'm going there, I think men take us for granted. I think men assume we will do everything and stay quiet, that it's "our roles." That they can go "SPREAD THEIR SEEDS" and we're suppose to just sit tight and have THEIR kids and everything is fine and dandy. And GOD FORBID they get emotional about it, GOD FREAKIN FORBID we have feelings and don't want to be treated as if we will always be there for them, to be taken advantage of mentally, verbaly and physicaly.

Facebook or predator stomping ground?

According to the website http://womensissues.about.com/ Facebook is the new way for predators to spy on young kids:

"The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) of New York State announced on September 24 that it was looking into Facebook's safety controls. This action was prompted by the results of undercover tests conducted earlier by OAG investigators. Posing as underage users between 12 and 14 years old, the investigators set up Facebook profiles and found out how vulnerable children and adolescents are to the advances of adult sexual predators. As a news release from the Attorney General's Office stated:

Within days of opening these accounts, the OAG received numerous sexual solicitations from adults sent to several of the underage profiles, including:

l “u look too hot....... can i c u online (webcam)? im avl at . . .”
l “i'd love to get off on cam for you hun ; P”
l “do you like sex?”
l “if u want call me [number deleted] or u can give me ur number?”
l “call me if u want to do sex with me [number deleted] ok”

Underage profiles set up by the OAG received several other solicitations of a more graphic nature."

What is with these men that they can't keep it in their pants? What is it about these websites that bring out the worst in men. Theres no excuse, women aren't perfect, so why can women resist the urge to prey over the internet and sexual harass young males? Women can also be sex offenders, yet one has to wonder why on "To Catch a Predator" or websites like these there are vastly fewer female sex offenders preying on young males.

Why is it that myspace.com and facebook.com even have profiles available for underage students, really what can they talk about? They have cell phones and AOL Instant Messenger so I can't imagine that having an Internet profile can do that much more for them. Why not make these sites 18 and over, even if it's mildly unfair, it could be safer.

Muslim Barbie?

I was on my Hotmail page, when low and behold I came across a title that said "Hot Topics" and a link to the site, http://www.buzzfeed.com/buzz/Muslim_Barbie .
Yes, ladies and gentleman, there is now a Muslim Barbie, her name being 'Fulla'. Thanks to a mother who wanted her daughters to play with a more 'modest toy.' Granted I don't think girls in general need to play with Barbies, with their short shorts and big blue eyes and DSL lips, they all look like the ideal Americanized woman.
Yet as much as i wanted to like this idea of a Muslim Barbie is still makes me irritated. This Barbie, though yes modestly dressed still has double D boobs, a tiny waist and hot hooker pink lips, {umm hello? No one even wears hooker pink lipstick anymore.}
Ahhhh what man doesn't want their woman to look like a freak of nature. I did a paper in high school about the measurements of a "life sized Barbie" and she would literally topple over by the weight of her breasts and her tiny waist couldn't hold her up. Lovely, crush little girls self esteem more eh?
Not everyone in the middle east is loving this doll either. This quote was taken from the web page: http://www.justtotheleft.com/2005/09/barbie-muslim-style.html
'Maan Abdul Salam, a Syrian women's rights advocate, said Fulla was emblematic of a trend toward Islamic conservatism sweeping the Middle East. Though statistics are hard to come by, he said, the percentage of young Arab women who wear the hijab is far higher now than it was a decade ago"

I agree to everyone having the right to religion yet I don't think a women should be forced to cover her body. I look at this like the female form is so hideous it has to be covered. I just don't think we're sluts or 'easy' if we wear t-shirt that show our arms yet I also think this new Barbie is a better replacement then the original. So I suppose I am unsure where I stand on this issue, I can see both sides of the argument and both make sense. So i suppose, the better question is, what do you think?

Hollywood pretends to be perfect

Salma Hayek boobs she said were real till this photo was brought to her attention.












Idol wannabe Kellie Pickler's "pre op and post op."















Matthew McConaughey's hair is fuller at his premiere in far right 2006, but looks a little thin at Lakers game in 2000 far left.







Paris Hilton's profile in 2001 far left, and in 2007 with a very different nose.

(All of the celebrity's above have deniedor made no comment about their obviously physical improvements.}
Why is it celebrities pretend that they don't have cosmetic surgeries. I think it's to keep the illusion that they are perfect. We give them such high standards that the idea of being normal propels them to lie about their surgeries so god forbid, they are like us normal human beings with flaws.
So with these lies and well done surgeries, I can only imagine how helpless a preteen/adolescent girls feel when they are constantly comparing themselves to their favorite celebrities.
Besides whats so bad about flaws? Flawed noses can add personality, scar's tell stories, lopsided smiles are cute. My absolute favorite thing about my boyfriend is the long scar he got on his right hand where his pinkie finger was removed after an accident in the Army. It's overly sentimental {defiantly overly sentimental for me, I hate romantic movies} but every time I see it, it reminds me how lucky I am he's alive and well and that though yes we all die, it reminds me to enjoy the time we have to together. I guess it reminds me of our own mortality and to me that's romantic. But I'm a freak i suppose.

The point is, if we all looked the same, no one would be beautiful and no one would be ugly, we'd all be robots. Variety is the spice of life! We as women should not to look to others to what we "should look like" and just be who we are.

Women in Fashion Advertisements

It seems in fashion, women are not only objects, they are sexually powered over by men. They are subliminal messages to the public that slips into our subconsciousness. It's always "men on top" even in a phone ad!









Fashion ad's are notorious for their portal of female sexuality as disposable to men. Take the add by Dolce & Gabbana, its an orgy and the women is helpless. This is rape. Made into a fashion layout. This disgusts me.







This is a typical racist add of women, the "bad black" vs. "the pure white race." What the hell is this add selling? We don't have any idea, because we would just look at the image and flip the page. But these images stay with us, unknowingly and play into our racism.




This add is for ice cream people, ice cream. Used over in Europe. Yup, just wanted to throw this one in there to show just how messed up we as human beings are.

rap lyrics

hail Mary full of grace.. smack the bitch in the face;
take her Gucci bag and the North Face
off her back, jab her if she act
Hit mummy in the tummy if the hooker plays a dummy
Slit the wrist of little sis
After she sucked the dick, I stabbed her brother with the icepick
because he wanted me to fuck him from the back


These are lyrics to Notorious B.I.G. song "Dead Wrong" where he openly talks about hurting women and controlling them. Not just that, the "Notorious B.I.G." openly beat his wife, Faith Evans and his popularity grew, not declined when this information was made public.

Why is it gangster rap can openly talk about "hoes" and "bitches" and "sluts" with no one saying anything. Women in the music videos for these songs are simply there for their butts or tits all shaking violently at the camera. Really, don't they know that yes, they are gaining fame they are making themselves into just things, sexual things. That these men don't even view them as human beings. How is it empowering to have a man curse so violently at women?

"Put Anthrax on a Tampax and slap you till you can't stand." -- Eminem, "Superman"

"Baby you're so precious
Daddy's so proud of you
Sit down bitch
If you move again I'll beat the shit out of you"---Eminem "Kim"


Eminem was made famous for being a white gangster rapper and I believe he made beating his wife mainstream. At his concerts he took blow up dolls and ripped them apart and said it was his wife "Kim." He even "pretend-acted out violence" in his music videos. This lead to speculations that his wife tried to committing suicide over this. He did not stop.


So when does it stop? When do we say enough?

To all who think feminism isn't needed anymore....

According to "Perezhilton" celebrity blogger, he posted this item on his blog under Icky Icky Poo > Film Flickers:


"Jeff Robinov, Warner Bros president of production, has industry players buzzing over his future. His decree that “we are no longer doing movies with women in the lead” has sent shock waves throughout the movie biz and even Gloria Allred is complaining!

The LA Weekly is reporting that Robin made his misogynistic decree following the box office disappointments of Jodie Foster’s The Brave One and Nicole Kidman’s The Invasion.

Somebody’s in big trouble!"

This statement, is just an insult to all actresses. What are women suppose to be, just pretty little things in the backdrop of a film? Some "tit's and ass" for men to see, visual masturbation? This man is reducing women to nothing more then objects and saying they are not strong enough to lead a movie. He is arguing a mental weakness in my perspective, (one could easily argue women are physically weaker then men in most cases}, making it something women lack in comparison to men.

Perhaps it goes to show men are not willing to see women in strong roles, that it's a threat to their own masculinity. That the problem does not belong to women in leading roles, it belongs to men refusing to acknowledge that women's roles are changing, both in the cinema world and the real word.

Perez Hilton's blog, { located at www.perezhilton.com} is read by millions of people all over the world, he even received his own TV show due to the popularity of his website. Not only is he bringing this injustice to the worlds attention, Perez Hilton is bashing him, so that his blog readers see how outrages this statement is.

This is an outrages, sexist statement. Proving it's still the men who run things in Hollywood and women are still pretty little things to them . Hopefully this kick in the ass will open some eyes.

Makeup..friend or foe?

I get why people like makeup or don't wear it at all. You can look natural and improve your appearance when worn correctly {hello giant pimple} or one can look like Tammy Faye Baker

What few girls don't know is the point of makeup is to look aroused. It's made to redden the lips and cheeks, which is what happens when women are sexual aroused. So we use lipstick and blush to walk around looking constantly aroused, to a point.

I have mixed feelings about it personally. I know a ton of feminists that refuse to wear it, find it insulting for "the man" to tell you how to look, to look sexual at all times. I think makeup is changing, now it can be a point of expression. I like to wear that thick 1950's eyeliner and smudge the hell out of it so I get that rock-n-roll and cat-eye look. Sometimes I do bright red lips and white eyeliner to stand out. Really makeup, when you know what you're doing, can be fun.

There are drawbacks, such as men don't wear makeup, they are taught they don't have to always look sexually available. In fact, they can get away with looking casual 99% of the time while girls must have makeup speckled on and their tits or ass or legs showing to be considered attractive. Except for drag queens, who pile it on and over exaggerate what a woman should look like, they play characters of woman (or so I've been told).

So perhaps makeup can only be judged by the individual user, is it a must or something fun? Can you live without it? Perhaps when you go through a couple of tubs of mascara and lipstick you might rethink that look you've got going. I think it's all in the mascaraed eye of the beholder.

The Worst Thing to be Called?..

"Man, you're such a pussy."

How many times is this phrase used in a day? Whether its a man calling another man that or a man calling a girl that or visa versa. Basically it means you're the biggest wimp ever
So what does this make us as women?

If our sex organs, {or really slang word for our vagina} is the biggest insult to men, what then does that make us, the biggest wimps, something that should be viewed as dirty?

Women in general, are taught to be ashamed of their bodies, they are bombarded by images daily that their boobs aren't big enough, they aren't thin enough, they aren't pretty enough and now with this language used, women are ashamed of the one organ used to create life that, yes, even men are given birth through.

So instead of continuing to have this word being used against us {like the word, "cunt"} to put us in our place, lets fight back and correct people when they use this word in a negative fashion.

If I were a boy....

I came home from running the Pompano Blimp Base, {a five mile track) at nine o'clock at night. I was told not to do that anymore. I was pissed as usual and said,

"If I were a boy you'd let me!"

To which he replied

"Yes, maybe but i like you as a girl."

I don't get it, if I can run five miles and not get winded, certainly I can handle a guy trying to kidnap me. I always carry my knife with me, strapped around me leg and never listen to music so loud that I don't know whats going on in my surroundings.
I truly do not see how a penis dangling between my legs makes me safer. Does anyone see that logic?
I was in a baggy shirt and shorts, not dressed in "tight workout women's clothes," even though I shouldn't have to describe what I dress myself in! I should be able to walk around naked and men should be able to control their urges to not attack me {well everyone but the boyfriend, i attack him when he's naked}.

Yet I feel I must explain I was not dressed provocative so people don't accuse me of 'asking for it." Sad isn't it? {We as women attack each other when it comes to rapes and kidnappings, we ask, was she drinking? What was she wearing? Placing blames on the victims.}
I wish my father treated me like my older brother, who he doesn't give rules and restrictions to, especially since he got me into playing sports on men's teams.
If he only knew my fighting past....

Tips for Tits?

I've come to realize I just might be the most honest person that works at Coyote Ugly.

Last night someone gave me their ATM card and asked me to help withdraw money, he then had me type in his pin number and take out 300 bucks from his checking account. Did I mention he was from New Zealand and I could hardly understand him as he swayed back and forth drunk out of his mind? Well I did now and he was!
He then precedes to give me 200 bucks and said he would give me more if I found him some coke. I, being the girl who still believes everyone is good until proven otherwise, said, "Um, like Coke-A- Cola... that's only two dollars not two hundred...?"

To step away from this story for a second, I realize I could of taken his money and avoided him and asked the bouncers to remove him, {he was so out of it, he wouldn't know what was going on.} or got the cops that were standing outside. I also know that I am constantly, constantly being told I need to upgrade drinks and push merchandise. I could have taken this money and bought bartenders shots, my friends were there and I could of bought them a round, buy myself a few shirts, anything with that two hundred bucks.
Yet, as I looked at him, in his blood shot eye's, I felt unbelievably sad. I had served him and his wife and son (or friend) drinks and he was the only one drunk. So I handed him the money back and said no, absolutely no.
Then he handed me a twenty dollar bill and said I had "nice tits." He said it in a degrading way, maybe to elevate himself after he groveled for some cocaine from a girl he didn't know who was serving him drinks at a bar. I handed him back that money too.
At the end of the night, I got lectured that my sales weren't too bad and not too great and I only made 150 bucks in tips and my friends that I tolled the story to were giving me hell for not taking the money but..... I felt okay with myself.
Yea I work for tips but I work hard for them, I know I dress....sexy and I am told how hot/gorgeous/sexy I am, yet when a man degrades me when I won't run along and find him some drugs, even when I'm working for tips, I can't do it. How many girls would have taken that money? Apparently, I am one of the few that didn't. What does that make me and everybody else?

Observations at Coyote Ugly

So in order to work at Coyotes one has to do "observation hours" I chose to do mine between 10pm-midnight last night since I had a class downtown Ft.Lauderdale and my two friends, Wendy and Milan were doing theirs as well.
So we get to the bar and b.s. for a while, drinking, talking to the bartenders, our regular customers buy Milan, Wendy and I a couple shots and we hang with our bouncers/bar backs. No big deal, until we spread out and do what we're there for, observe.
So I sit in the back of the bar, beer in hand, taking it all in. Another girl who works at Coyotes was there to hang out,{ and shall remain nameless because i didn't ask her if she would mind being written about} walks by to put money in the Jukebox in her cute outfit {not slutty/revealing in anyway} and I see these guys turn around and motion to one another. My Coyote friend is standing at the Jukebox and these guys are drooling, dry humping the air and such, pretending to smack her ass.

{***as a side note, these guys came over to me and asked why my "pretty self was sitting all alone" and proceeded to place a hand on my leg. I growled at them I was doing my observation hours for Coyotes and ripped their hand off my leg and told them if they touched me again I'd bite their balls off. Don't you love my language after working there?}

So they're doing this dry hump/ass smacking motions I've only see dumb frat guys do sober. So I call her over and point to those guys and call them out on their shit. She looks at them and spits in there direction. Those poor souls had no idea she was a Coyote too and is worse than I am when it comes to disrespectful guys. Long story short, they left shortly after I let her know.
As I sat and thought about it, I realized that these guys would NEVER do this if they knew we worked at Coyotes. I've never had a customer there do anything disrespectful and those that do are called out of the microphone in front of the entire bar and jeered and called "pussies" {or words I wont repeat on this blog} and sprayed in the face with God knows what until they leave.
This got me thinking, I know on top of the bar or working behind it, Coyotes have power other girls cant have for protection. Are we transformed into these girls that feel they can take on any guy or is it because guys respect us because of what we do and where we work or do they know we're smart ass tough girls?
These guys get whipped with belts and jeered and sprayed in the face with their own beer and love it. Yet when we are dressed normal, we are disrespected once again. I don't think this has anything to do with us being dressed "normal" or being at Coyote Ugly. This would have happened at any bar we were in because we are pretty girls. So I ask the question, when can normal women be respected and feel safe at a bar when we are indeed NOT dressed to impress?

Boyfriend Clinging Girls...

When did college girls find identity in their boyfriends?

I can't look through my Facebook, Myspace or any general website without girls clinging to their boyfriends in such forced poses of intimacy.

Looking at my friends pictures on their websites with titles of pictures that say, "his" or "I love my man" or "I love my boyfriend" along with pictures of them making out, looking at one another lovingly or holding one another in awkward poses. Icky!

When did girls become obsessed with talking about "their man?" Not only do these pictures look forced, they seem like the guys could care less, usually they're looking away or looking bored holding/kissing/gazing at their girlfriends. When i peruse guys website profiles that are in relationships, I rarely see pictures like that of their girlfriends. Usually it's them and their buddies drinking/smoking or giving the finger (how original) and the titles of their photo albums are "#1 Player/Pimp" {guess there are hundreds of #1 pimps}.

I also see this at FAU, girls leaning on their man like there's no tomorrow, dry humping before class where I feel like I'm watching HBO soft core porn stepping over them to get to class.

When did strong minded college girls care so much about broadcasting who they were through a man? College is all about finding "oneself." I cant help but compare myself with these girls, my boyfriend goes to graduate school 6 hours away, he left me for three months to backpack through Europe alone and never once did I stop and think, "oh no my life is over blah blah bliddy blah" if anything, I was like, "hell yea time to cheat!"

I kid I kid!
Yet I do wonder how many "true love couples" really are anything but pretty pictures and false identities .

Coyote Ugly

So, I'm a feminist, that just so happens to work at Coyote Ugly...does this make me a hypocrite?

I used to think so until I actually went into the bar and saw that it was women dominating men, whipping them, spraying beer in their faces and heckling them from the bar. I see these women I work with, how pretty they are and how perhaps....... I can see the other side to this bar.

I love working there but are we exploiting ourselves for money? If not ourselves then our beauty? I am constantly told I don't hustle enough with guys, or "work them" enough. I'm also told if I dress more provocatively I'd get more tips {I dress more conservatively then most}. Sure I still make great tips and drinks bought for me but I cant play the game the other girls I work with play. I can't play that "tickle their dick game" that other girls can, I can only be me, so when they ask for my number or ask for a hug, I sneer.
One night I worked, a guy was talking to me and said, "You must hate guys after working here," and I thought, I don't hate men, thats not what Feminism is about, its about equality. Though I do understand why he said it, guys hitting on you, looking at you as if you are naked, making comments.

Am I any different then other girls at FAU? I mean how many girls use guys for drinks and free stuff at FAU, {or "sugar daddy's" as they're called}.

Is that any excuse?

We have to pay for women's safety now. After the shooting at Columbine High School and Virgina Tech one would think that safety is a right, especially at a University. Yet the Florida Atlantic Police department held a RAD{Rape Aggression Defense} course, charging students $10 and $20 for all alumni and staff.

This women only course is “a program of realistic self-defense tactics and techniques for women, with awareness, prevention, risk reduction and risk avoidance.” The police department further explains they are simply charging for the class due to, “the rising costs of reprinting student manuals and replacing equipment, a nominal fee is charged for the course.”

For a school that has so much money that they can afford to completely redesign the cafeteria off the Breezeway and constantly expand and construct new buildings, I would think they could throw a little money towards violence awareness among students. Why not make it mandatory, for BOTH sexes?

Looking past the fees, I ask myself, what is FAU doing to protect all of their students? I cant help but think that the police department offering an anti-rape class for men to take is the best “risk reduction” and “risk avoidance. ” Yet the pressure and responsibility is put on the women to take the classes and be responsible around men, not the other way around. Some students disagree, senior and N.O.W. (National Organization of Woman) member Nondance Garrett stated;

“I know the idea that the course is only offered to women can make a feminist feel queasy, but not all women think alike.” .

Perhaps it’s because we have Mr.Brogan’s perspective about whats important (President of the University} and not a womans. I think a female University President might have a better understanding, that a woman should yes, be prepared but why should we be the only ones to work towards a common goal of safety?

Just this week in my “Women, Violence, Resistance” class taught by Dr. Jane Caputi, she raised the question would rape and violence occur as much or at all in a matriarchal society? Would the world be as violent if women were in charge, would men be in an anti-rape class?

“Rapes occur at a much higher rate amongst women than men and why is that?” Continues Nondance Garrett. “ Isn't it because women typically grow up in a world dominated by men, where they're afraid to stand up for themselves and say no? If that wasn't the case, what would feminists be fighting for?”

To elaborate even further, when a women who has done nothing wrong but prepare for the worst as well as paying for safety and the opposite sex have not been tolled to take a class on rape prevention one cant help but stop and think how unfair it is. As well as the fact it means enforcing the stereotype women should be in fear of men.

Women shouldn’t have to pay for their safety but in a male dominated society, one cant help but sigh and sign the check.

American Apparel

Yes, the uber-indie clothing store famous for its "sweatshop free clothing" that many pseudo intellectual emo kids wear are {of course} oblivious to the numerous sexual assault cases based on the company, mainly female workers. As the links below show

http://www.blacktable.com/graham050720.htm

http://majikthise.typepad.com/majikthise_/2005/07/dov_charney_of_.html

http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F30913F638550C7A8DDDAB0994DE404482&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fSubjects%2fS%2fSexual%20Harassment



So why do they still get the indie press they don't deserve? I cant pick up a hip underground magazine without one of their androgynous models staring back at me.

Are these the choices we have to now? A piece of sweat shop made clothing or one from places where women aren't safe in the work place?

1st Entry

This blog is an assignment for my Multimedia Studies class, so yes, it is for a grade.
So welcome to my world of ranting and bitching ...just kidding...?...

I'm a senior at Florida Atlantic University, a double major in Journalism and World Politics/Humanities {Human Rights} with a minor in Women's Studies. I try and take at least one or two womens studies classes a semester, so hopefully anyone who reads this will think I'm slightly informed....and funny.

Besides, I talk everyones ears off about womens issues anyways, now at least I have a bigger audience.