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Who hijacked term:"feminist"?A cackle of rads who want 2 crucify other women w/whom they disagree on a singular issue; it's ironic (& passé) -Sarah Palin
Well Sarah, you certainly don't speak for my cackle. Fun is at #cackleofrads and #jointhecackle on Twitter.
Found many-a interesting things while perusing the web on my Sunday afternoon, so here's a nice little round-up for y'all.
If you need your daily dose of disgust, you can read about the opposition to building mosques near Ground Zero.
For those of you who haven't heard, an appeal has already been filed against the Prop 8 ruling. No one's particularly surprised.
From The New Gay: Queers You Should Know: Fred Karger, Our First Gay President?
In honor of World Breastfeeding Week (which ended yesterday), Kimberly Seals Allers wrote a piece for Women's eNews about the low breastfeeding rates amongst black mothers.
I found this absolutely horrific but thought it served as a good reminder of the lengths people will go to in order to protect their precious gender roles. A man allegedly beat his girlfriend's 17-month-old son to death because he wasn't acting "manly" enough.
From AlterNet: In States Where "Gun Ed" Is Prevalent, Comprehensive Sex Ed Is Nowhere to Be Found.
Another one from AlterNet: The GOP Fights to Make African-Americans Sicker and Poorer.
Scenes from an anti-choice abortion-kills-black-babies protest.
Ironically, Lucky magazine airbrushed Jessica Simpson to make her look thinner in her photo for an article about how much she loves her body.
I'm watching "12th & Delaware" right now (if you're not sure what it is, see below post) and one particular part got me so angry that I had to sign onto Blogger and start writing a rant-filled post in here to keep myself from throwing things. I was fine for most of the film because all the lower-than-low deceitful and manipulative tactics used by the anti-choice crisis pregnancy center in Florida wasn't anything I haven't seen before: make the young pregnant woman get an ultrasound, make her hold a tiny plastic fetus, refer to her "baby" as "he" and "him," call her and her boyfriend "mommy and daddy," etc.
BUT THIS.
In one scene, a 24 year-old pregnant woman went into the CPC, and she was what the staff calls "abortion-minded," which means she is certain she wants to have an abortion and probably wandered into an anti-choice center by mistake, which the CPC staff admitted in the film they hope happens. The staff member, who is most shown in the documentary, sat down with the woman, already a mother of 2, and started talking to her about her boyfriend.
Young Woman: He's not the best boyfriend... he is verbally abusive. CPC Staff member: He's verbally abusive? Young Woman: Yeah. CPC Staff: For all you know, the baby changes him.
I'm still shaking. How dare you suggest a woman stay with an abusive partner in order to selfishly impose your own agenda. That was one of the most appalling tactics I have ever seen an anti-choice advocate use. They claim to be "pro-life," yet they tell a young impressionable woman to go back to her abusive partner because a baby might magically make things better. It just makes me sick.
In light of the sheer stupidity demonstrated within the comments during the Prop 8 trial, Jason Kuznicki wrote an interesting opinion piece, analyzing the arguments of same-sex marriage opponents:
For the opposition, possibly the strongest is the claim that children need a mother and a father, and that marriage is the institution that ties heterosexual sex to childbirth and parenting.
Clearly, that's one thing that marriage does, but it can't be the only purpose of the institution. If it were, we wouldn't let 80-year-olds get married, and if you've had a hysterectomy, then forget it. To complicate matters, gays and lesbians also raise children, and an institution that ties them to their kids, and that empowers them to raise their children responsibly, seems like a reasonable addition to the law.
He later concludes:
All of this brings up a strange inconsistency to the opponents of same-sex marriage. Their ends -- every child gets a mom and a dad -- are strangely mismatched to their means -- prohibit same-sex marriage. It's sort of like banning bad moustaches to stop pornography. Perhaps there's some vague association, but that's about it.
Same-sex marriage isn't nearly the root of the problem, and we all know it. If it's really so important that every child gets a mom and a dad, then there is an obvious policy solution: prohibit divorce after childbirth. Of course, divorced parents are numerous and politically powerful, and it's always easier to scapegoat a minority.
Why, oh why, can't the same-sex-marriage-will-ruin-society crazies understand such simple and undeniable logic?
Came across a charming article from The Frisky called 19 Ways to Get Her to Go Down. According to this list, dudes can get blowies from their chicks by doing things such as: buying her jewelry, taking her to the opera, sending her flowers, or giving her an engagement ring.
How about: ask us and we'll "go down" if we effin' feel like it? Why all the bass-ackwards ulterior motive bullshit and not, oh I don't know, communicating with your partner? Major fail on the part of The Frisky and on the (female) author for perpetuating stereotypes that men are conniving assholes, and women are shallow gold-diggers.
Bill O'Reilly has had some pretty douchey moments, but this might just be one of the douchiest things he's ever said in his entire douchebag history.
Remember the French McDonald's ad I posted about the other day, the one featuring the gay teenager with the phrase "come as you are"?
Last night, during O'Reilly's segment, first he and Fox News anchor Jane Skinner implied that the commercial will only make gay men hungry for McDonald's (what?) Then, O'Reilly went on to say: "Do they have an Al-Quaeda ad? You know... 'Come as you are.'"
Here's some advice, Bill: gently wrap hand around ankle, then in one swift motion, remove foot from mouth.
The ever-amazing Sociological Images posted recently about the undeniable fact that in the fashion world, "nude," "skin," and "natural" equals Caucasian, and I went hunting for some examples. I found three of them in all of five minutes.
This model is wearing a "natural"-colored bra (the name "natural" might be the one that bothers me the most).
Victoria's Secret made my case for me by putting a woman of color in a nude bra that clearly is so far from her skin color.
In this one, the color meant for black women is called "mocha," while the color meant for white women is simply "nude."
Lesson learned: white people are the default, and people of color are the other.
When will the fashion industry learn that there is no one color that can be associated with "skin"?
So, Sarah Palin recently spoke at the Susan B. Anthony List breakfast - for those of you who don't know, Susan B. Anthony List is "a political action committee helping pro-life women gain election to Congress." I watched some of the video of her speech but I couldn't get too far into it because my body wouldn't stop cringing whenever Sarah Palin mentioned the "new conservative feminist movement."
...Wait, what?
Isn't that an oxymoron? I respect people's individual political opinions, and I'm certainly not one to render feminism an exclusive movement, but I will until the day I die assert that a person cannot claim to want the best for women when they do not trust women to make the right choices for their own bodies.
I have met people who admit that they would never get an abortion themselves, nor are they particularly 100% comfortable with the idea of abortion, but they understand the importance of this right remaining intact because they know it is what is best for the emotional and physical well-being of women. To me, that is a true feminist: someone who, despite any personal hang-ups they might have about a particular issue, will always support the position that protects our needs and rights.
Sarah Palin is not that type of feminist. She isn't a feminist.
You simply can't be a feminist if you don't support a woman's individual rights. Announcing a "new conservative feminist movement" without acknowledging the individual freedoms of women won't cut it. This feministic facade that actually takes aim at women's rights should be seen for what it is.
Anything less than supporting women's full individual rights simply renders you a pretender, a fake, a feminist fraud.
I sincerely hope this "conservative feminist movement" doesn't gain momentum. I might have to *headdesk* repeatedly.
Oh my goodness, now I want to go down on you!
This model is wearing a "natural"-colored bra (the name "natural" might be the one that bothers me the most).
Victoria's Secret made my case for me by putting a woman of color in a nude bra that clearly is so far from her skin color.
In this one, the color meant for black women is called "mocha," while the color meant for white women is simply "nude."
