Category Archives: Random

Smile, Its Monday!

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Momentum Liveblog Note: My netbook started to fail around the same time I started to feel kinda sick at the conference… so I switched to paper notes. Expect posts on burlesque, race and sexuality, feminist porn, and probably a few other things sometime this week as I wrap up my recaps of the panels I got to attend!

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Its no secret that I’m not a huge fan of Disney. This video, however, is so impressive that I just had to share it anyway…

The planning, technical skill, and vocal range that went into making this are simply astounding.

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The REAL Rules for Girls

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The twitter trending topic #rulesforgirls is, for the most part, really awful. [See this Jezebel article for reference.] So let’s change that, I’ll start!

Here are some of my real rules for girls, boys, everyone really…

# Ignore the people who tell you that you HAVE to learn how to walk in heels, or shave, or wear skirts, or whatever… develop your own personal style and present yourself in whatever way makes YOU happy. You are the only person who will have to walk in your shoes, so you may as well be wearing a pair that makes you smile!

# Don’t ever sell yourself short (this includes “playing dumb”) you have a unique set of aptitudes and abilities, use them to contribute to the world around you as much as you can. If people can’t accept your talents and interests then they weren’t worth your time in the first place.

# Value your body by doing the work necessary to love your body for all that it does for you, exactly as it is. A positive, loving attitude makes it much easier to adopt habits that are physically good for your body AND your mind but that attitude takes WORK to cultivate in a culture that is constantly out to make money by creating and preying on our insecurities.

# Value your sexuality by taking the time to seek out resources and mentors that can help you determine what makes YOU happy and what your comfort levels are. Don’t ever let anyone make you feel inferior for the ways in which you express your sexuality, whatever they are.

# There will always be judgmental people who choose to put you down. You are stronger than them. You have the power to show them all by loving yourself in spite of their judgment… I’m not saying its easy, bullies are very talented at creating self-doubt and self-loathing, but you CAN rise above them and show them all how wrong they are. Even if it seems hopeless now, just keep trying because one day it will click. (I say this as a girl who HATED herself during Jr. High School because of the constant barrage of bullying.)

# If any person ever tries to pull a line like this (“if u deliberately give me an erection, plz get rid of it without complaining, its your fault! >:|”) on you remember you have the RIGHT to walk away from any situation, especially sexual ones, if you feel uncomfortable at ANY point. You don’t owe anyone sex. Period. If they choose to pressure you or trick you or intimidate you or force you in any way to do something you don’t want to do then THEY are in the wrong, not you, never you.

What would you add? Tweet it or tell me in the comments!

[Image source.]

All You Need is Love

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Today’s post will be short since I am in the midst of celebrating! (Yesterday was my 20th birthday, and today is my fourth anniversary with my boyfriend. Not to mention, the Prop 8 decision has given us all reason to celebrate!) In honor of all this, today’s post is about love!

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This is a good week for love. Yesterday marked a major victory for equal marriage, as Judge Vaughn Walker overturned Prop 8 in California! Jezebel has offered up a really comprehensive piece on how this decision was won, and yesterday’s ruling means moving forward.

“Animus towards gays and lesbians or simply a belief that a relationship between a man and a woman is inherently better than a relationship between two men or two women…is not a proper basis on which to legislate” Also, “rather than being different, same-sex and opposite-sex unions are, for all purposes relevant to California law, exactly the same.”

- Quotes from Judge Vaughn Walker’s Decision

In no way is this the end, but it is a brilliant step towards marriage equality.

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Moving on,  I also want to talk to another kind of love that inspires me: the love we show ourselves. Specifically, the inspiring love that the Indian women responsible for Blank Noise display as they bravely fight for their right to simply live their lives in public spaces without being harassed.

I stumbled upon this website yesterday, via Jezebel, and I was honestly blown away.

“Blank Noise is a public and participatory arts project begun in August 2003 with a small group of 9 participants. Conceived as a personal reaction to street sexual harassment, the project has grown through workshops and local volunteers to a five-city, hundred-plus volunteer project that seeks to address street sexual violence through dialogue made possible as a result of sustained public interventions.”

- From the Blank Noise Website

Some of my favorite pieces of art/demonstrations featured on their blog:

A Step by Step Guide to Unapologetic Walking

Street Signs

This interactive “What is Eve Teasing” poster literally took my breath away for a second. There is something really moving about seeing so many thumbprints (such a personal mark) coming together to have a visual “conversation” about something as serious and hurtful as harassment. This poster sends the message  you are not alone as well as something must be done in such a simple, striking way.

Their Clothing Collection Drive events are also awesome!

“Bring a garment you wore when you experienced street sexual harassment. Come wearing what you’ve always wanted to wear but did not wear before. No woman of any colour, dress , age, character deserves to be sexually violated or what some might lightly call ‘eve teased I NEVER ASK FOR IT.”

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Finally, I can’t forget that this is the first week of the new and improved Self-Esteem Awareness Month! It’s just me participating right now, as far as I know, but that’s fine. Last year’s month was huge and very hard to keep up with… I’m liking the more relaxed pacing this time around.

Around this time last year I made a list of all the things that I love about myself. That’s a great self-esteem boost, but this year I’ve decided to go in a different direction and reflect on all of the things that inspire me to write, and learn, and plan events, and have conversations, and just get out of bed in the mornings.

The list got incredibly long and personal, so I’m not going to post it here, but if you have a bit of free time during your day I’d recommend making your own list and tucking it away somewhere for when you’re needing inspiration.

Google Searches That Lead Here: Part 2

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After three ridiculously long and serious blog posts I think it’s time for me to write something fun :) So, here comes the second installment of random google searches that lead people here. [First installment can be found here.] I’m disappointed, there weren’t as many strange ones this time around.

how to date a feminist: treat her or him the same way you (should/would) any other human being, with respect. We’re not some other species, you know, we’re just people who believe in equality. Even if you know nothing about feminism, dating a feminist can be an awesome experience because she or he can teach you so much (provided you are willing to listen.) This is the post that goes with this search!

curvy girls in skinny jeans are awesome! So are curvy girls in bootlegged jeans, or sweatpants, or mini skirts;  so are skinny girls in skinny jeans, or mini skirts, or bootlegged pants, or whatever; so are fat girls in skinny jeans and sweatpants, and mini skirts and… you get the point, I like it when people express their style! :) This search reminded me to find and reread this awesome post from Definatalie.

deserves rape: No one. Ever. As another search from the same day points out, rape is a crime.

yummy looking womwns butts I’m not going to provide any yummy butt pictures… I just wanted to leave this here  to go with last time’s “how women’s butts age.” Why do so many butt searches seem to lead people here? Do I really talk about butts that much?

why do we have a beauty ideal? To make money for companies that sell diet plans, diet pills, clothing, makeup, hair care products, perfumes, plastic surgeons, etc. Plus, it’s a handy way of keeping people, women in particular, focused on something superficial so that they’re too distracted to threaten the current power structure… and even if they do we can just call them ugly and be done with it, thanks to the ideal.  I know all of this and yet,  I still get sucked into it.

feminism funny… Gladly! Here’s a video by my favorite feminist comedian :)

I’m going to end this here now so we can all go watch some more Target: Women! A real post is coming soon, either tomorrow or Saturday.