Pregnant?

I know I already posted today, but I just needed to get this article out there for all to see.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h6ByeoSmlUzSq7mytGzyf6Dq-GxgD8TK87IG0

There is no God.

I'd Rather have a Coke and Rum

Tila Tequila is the new hit reality show on MTV about a bisexual woman who must chose one person out of 16 men and 16 women who compete for their “shot” of love with Tequila. The season finale ended with Tequila choosing Bobby, a man from New York. Last night, in the company of three close friends, was the first time I watched the show . While I was extremely intrigued by the program, soaking in every moment, much of this intrigue was simply an attempt at trying to figure out what has happened to our world. So, I have taken only a few hours to work out what bothered me so much about the program…and I am not sure that I have figured it out…but, I thought “what better way to work it out that to blog it out online?”

At first, it seems nice—a reality show that has a member of the LGBT community as its star—representation!...a voice!...yay!... But, then the reality sets in…so, here is a comparison if you will: what if one of the first heterosexual female reality stars was…oh, I don’t know, Paris Hilton or Post-2004 Britney Spears or Pamela Anderson or some figure of that sort. (side note: I actually really enjoy Paris Hilton’s music so nothing against that…she just doesn’t scream women’s rights in my view). In a culture when members of the LGBT community are already inaccurately portrayed as promiscuous and hedonistic, Tila Tequila is just not helping to advance the cause. Go to her myspace—what do you see? Tequila, legs spread, in lingerie. Enough said. I admit, in some twisted way, this gives visibility to the LGBT community, but gee, I think this is the kind of visibility I could do without..

Why post this on a feminist blog? The first and obvious answer is that women’s rights and lesbian rights are inextricably connected—one cannot happen without the other. Secondly, its not a “lesbian” or “bisexual” issue that I am discussing—it is one about the portrayal of women on TV and what happens when the one who is sending the bad image is the woman herself? I love when women shake things up, say things they aren’t traditionally supposed to say, step out of the box we did not create for ourselves, but there is a line between that and degrading ourselves for attention. It’s a line that Tequila crosses.

Those are my initial thoughts—if I have any more, I wont keep them to myself.

War IS a feminist issue

And this article makes me so goddamn sick. The Senate just approved a $70 billion increase in war spending totaling $555 BILLION dollars that the US is spending on the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The reason this is a feminist issue is because it's a humanitarian issue. There have been countless reports and articles and more articles discussing this issue and bring attention the fact that rape is being systematically used to "defeat" the "enemy." And we're spending more money on it. I'm not saying that the government is directly endorsing rape. Obviously. But what they ARE doing is supporting a paradigm in which rape is silently accepted and encouraged. People know about it. It's nothing new.

So instead of increasing spending on a war that is turning into a political and economic quagmire (not to mention a MORAL disaster), let's increase spending on education programs so that kids can grow up learning about diplomacy instead of violence.

Feminism is not your expectation - from the blog Alas!

I came across this article and thought you all would like to read it...

Feminism is not your expectation.

Feminism is for atheists. Feminism is for Jews, both ethnic and religious. Feminism is for Muslims. Feminism is for pagans. Feminism is for Baha’i feminists. Feminism is for Mormons. Feminism is for Unitarian Universalists. Feminism is for Quakers and Buddhist-Quakers. Feminism is for the anti-religious, and for the anti-atheistic too. Feminism is for evangelicals.

Feminism is for black people. Feminism is for white people. Feminism is for Boricuas. Feminism is for chicanas. Feminism is for desi people. Feminism is for Asian people. Feminism is for people with a mixed race identity.

Feminism is not the top 3 blogs on your blogroll.

Feminism is for men. Feminism is for women. Feminism is even for white men.

Feminism is for environmental activists. Feminism is for animal rights activists, and those who prioritize people. Feminism is for anti-racists, but we certainly have our racist moments. Feminism is for the transsexual and genderfluid, but we also have our moments of gender essentialism and transphobic screeds.

Feminism is for trans men, even when they halt transition. Feminism is for trans women. Feminism is for cissexuals. Feminism is for people whose gender identity formation is ambiguous.

Feminism is a constellation.

Feminism is for mothers. Feminism is for the childfree. Feminism is for mothers who stay at home with their children, and mothers who work outside the home, and those who homeschool. Feminism is for fathers: gay, straight, partnered, and unparterned. Feminism is for fathers of boys and girls. Feminism is for stay at home dads.

Feminism is for heterosexual couples raising children, gay parents raising children, polyamorous people raising children, single parents raising children, and people who prefer to help raise the children of friends and family.

Feminism is for lesbians. Feminism is for gay men. Feminism is for bisexuals. Feminism is for people who like to look at men. Feminism is for asexuals. Feminism is for polyamorous women and polyamorous men. Feminism is for the monogamous. Feminism is for those creating unusual families.

Feminism is not just Shulamith Firestone and Andrea Dworkin. Feminism is not just Bell Hooks and Angela Davis. Feminism is not just “do-me feminism.” It is not just “choice feminism.” It is not just suffragettes, third wave, or second wave.

Feminism is for psychiatrists. Feminism is for the anti-psychiatry. Feminism is for people with PTSD, cyclothymia, narcissistic personality disorder.

Feminism is for the fat, the thin, and those with eating disorders. It is for real women, with and without curves.

Feminism is for people who I admire, people who piss me off, and people who I admire who piss me off.

Feminism is about safe spaces, or constructing safe spaces for groups that aren’t always centered in feminist discourse, or feeling frustrated with the pitfalls of constructing safe spaces, or criticizing the implementation of safe spaces.

Feminism is for those who adopt or foster, and those who use IVF, and those who’ve given birth to many children. Feminism is for the married, the divorced, the unmarried, the several times divorced (and happily remarried), those who are in interracial marriages, those who are in cross-generational relationships, those whose hard-won joyful marriages anger many Americans, and those who are unfairly barred from marriage.

Feminism is for the disabled and the abled and the parents of the disabled, and again feminism has its problematic moments.

Feminism has many definitions. Sometimes, it has none.

Feminism is for people who are pro-sex, and people who believe that pornography is irredeemable, and for sex workers. Feminism is for people who believe that values must sometimes be compromised from necessity, and those who believe that actions must be consistent with beliefs.

Feminism is for people who live at the intersection of many axes of oppression.

Feminism is for Americans in New York, California, North Dakota, Missouri, Tennessee, and Texas. It’s for people in Australia, New Zealand, Egypt, Syria (by way of Iraq), India both “>group and singly, South Africa, and people who are pan-Africans — and that is only a sampling of blogs and not of activists on the ground.

Feminism is for people who practice BDSM, and people who think BDSM is oppressive, but probably not for many Goreans.

Feminism is for those who believe in litmus tests, and those who eschew them.

Feminism is for Republicans. Feminism is for fiscal conservatives. Feminism is for libertarians. Feminism is for anarchists and Marxists. Feminism is for Democrats. Feminism is for people in the Green party and people who think all American alternatives are far too conservative and people who are looking at American politics from the outside.

Sometimes, feminism is made of straw. Sometimes, someone really made the arguments that are often used as straw.

Feminism is for those who believe in reproductive rights — whether that means focusing on birth rape, on making sure that women of color have real choices, believing abortion is a moral good, disapproving of abortion but approving of choice, struggling for a principled feminist pro-life stance, educating people about masturbation, attacking domestic violence, or building up childcare options.

Feminism is not represented by this list, any more than it’s represented by any other single perspective on the whole.

Feminism is academic, or emotional. It is filled with rants and careful logical arguments.

Feminism is for lawyers (lots and lots of lawyers), writers (lots and lots of them too), scientists, engineers, recording artists, professors, students, quite a few sex workers, stay at home parents, veterans, ballerinas, and veterans who are also ballerinas. Feminists live on government assistance. They are poor, and middle class, and the kind of people who know the difference between OKOP and NOKOP.

Feminism is not about reaffirming every part of your identity, or of mine. Feminism is not about burning these things away, either. Privilege exists within discourses of feminism, but that does not invalidate the privileged or the underprivileged’s claim to feminism.

Feminism is not what I believe. Feminism is not what you believe. Feminism is Feminisms, many and varied.

Bonfire of the Disney Princesses

Thanks to Evis for e-mailing this out. It's not really anything we didn't already know but it raises an interesting question. Yes, duh, Disney perpetuates a bunch of really awful stereotypes about women and minorities (not to mention they treat their employees like shit), but it was SUCH an integral part of my childhood and it created a bond between me and my friends growing up. I don't want my daughters watching that crap and thinking that growing up and marrying a handsome prince is the end-all-be-all, so how do you balance it? I think the answer is communication. Talk with your kids about the messaging and see how they respond. That's what my Mom did and the LAST thing I wanna do is marry a prince. Ew.

Bonfire of the Disney Princesses


by BARBARA EHRENREICH

[posted online on December 11, 2007]

Contrary to the rumors I have been trying to spread for some time, Disney Princess products are not contaminated with lead. More careful analysis shows that the entire product line--books, DVDs, ball gowns, necklaces, toy cell phones, toothbrush holders, T-shirts, lunch boxes, backpacks, wallpaper, sheets, stickers etc.--is saturated with a particularly potent time-release form of the date rape drug. We cannot blame China this time, because the drug is in the concept, which was spawned in the Disney studios. Before 2000, the Princesses were just the separate, disunited, heroines of Disney animated films-- Snow White, Cinderella, Ariel, Aurora, Pocahontas, Jasmine, Belle, and Mulan. Then Disney's Andy Mooney got the idea of bringing the gals together in a team. With a wave of the wand ($10.99 at Target, tiara included) they were all elevated to royal status and set loose on the world as an imperial cabal, and have since have busied themselves achieving global domination. Today, there is no little girl in the wired, industrial world who does not seek to display her allegiance to the pink- and-purple clad Disney dynasty. Disney likes to think of the Princesses as role models, but what a sorry bunch of wusses they are. Typically, they spend much of their time in captivity or a coma, waking up only when a Prince comes along and kisses them. The most striking exception is Mulan, who dresses as a boy to fight in the army, but--like the other Princess of color, Pocahontas--she lacks full Princess status and does not warrant a line of tiaras and gowns. Otherwise the Princesses have no ambitions and no marketable skills, although both Snow White and Cinderella are good at housecleaning. And what could they aspire to, beyond landing a Prince? In Princessland, the only career ladder leads from baby-faced adolescence to a position as an evil enchantress, stepmother or witch. Snow White's wicked stepmother is consumed with envy for her stepdaughter's beauty; the sea witch Ursula covets Ariel's lovely voice; Cinderella's stepmother exploits the girl's cheap, uncomplaining, labor. No need for complicated witch-hunting techniques--pin-prickings and dunkings--in Princessland. All you have to look for is wrinkles. Feminist parents gnash their teeth. For this their little girls gave up Dora, who bounds through the jungle saving baby jaguars, whose mother is an archeologist and whose adventures don't involve smoochy rescues by Diego? There was drama in Dora's life too, and the occasional bad actor like Swiper the fox. Even Barbie looks like a suffragette compared to Disney's Belle. So what's the appeal of the pink tulle Princess cult? Seen from the witchy end of the female life cycle, the Princesses exert their pull through a dark and undeniable eroticism. They're sexy little wenches, for one thing. Snow White has gotten slimmer and bustier over the years; Ariel wears nothing but a bikini top (though, admittedly, she is half fish.) In faithful imitation, the 3-year-old in my life flounces around with her tiara askew and her Princess gown sliding off her shoulder, looking for all the world like a London socialite after a hard night of cocaine and booze. Then she demands a poison apple and falls to the floor in a beautiful swoon. Pass the Rohypnol-laced margarita, please. It may be old-fashioned to say so, but sex--and especially some middle-aged man's twisted version thereof--doesn't belong in the pre-K playroom. Children are going to discover it soon enough, but they're got to do so on their own. There's a reason, after all, why we're generally more disgusted by sexual abusers than adults who inflict mere violence on children: we sense that sexual abuse more deeply messes with a child's mind. One's sexual inclinations--straightforward or kinky, active or passive, heterosexual or homosexual--should be free to develop without adult intervention or manipulation. Hence our harshness toward the kind of sexual predators who leer at kids and offer candy. But Disney, which also owns ABC, Lifetime, ESPN, A&E and Miramax, is rewarded with $4 billion a year for marketing the masochistic Princess cult and its endlessly proliferating paraphernalia. Let's face it, no parent can stand up against this alone. Try to ban the Princesses from your home, and you might as well turn yourself in to Child Protective Services before the little girls get on their Princess cell phones. No, the only way to topple royalty is through a mass uprising of the long-suffering serfs. Assemble with your neighbors and make a holiday bonfire out of all that plastic and tulle! March on Disney World with pitchforks held high!

'Sex slaves' win cash in landmark legal deal

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2228263,00.html

I was reading the article referenced above on the Observer and was excited to see that human trafficking victims are being treated and recognized for what they really are- victimized, kidnapped individuals, often children that were forced into sex slavery. The issue is very dear to me personally as I have done some work around Human Trafficking and raising awareness.


The site below ( quite outdated) talks a little about the project that I worked on in the summer of 05.

www.scotland2005.org/wyc/files/positivenews_0508052.pdf

Feminist Profile: Taslima Nasrin

I stumbled across this woman's name in an Op-Ed profile written by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a former member of the Dutch Parliament who was exiled to the US due to her outspokenness against radical Islam. According to Ayaan, Taslima is a "45-year-old Bangladeshi writer who bravely defends women’s rights in the Muslim world." Sadly though, her opinions have come at a price.

Forced to flee Bangladesh, she has been living in India. But Muslim groups there want her expelled, and one has offered 500,000 rupees for her head. In August she was assaulted by Muslim militants in Hyderabad, and in recent weeks she has had to leave Calcutta and then Rajasthan. Taslima Nasreen’s visa expires next year, and she fears she will not be allowed to live in India again.- (Ayaan Hirsi Ali, NY Times Op Ed, December 7, 2007)

Inspired by this description, I visited Taslima's website and wanted to put up the link:
http://taslimanasrin.com

Here is a link to all of her work available on amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=sr_adv_b/?search-alias=stripbooks&unfiltered
=1&field-keywords=&field-author=Taslima+Nasreen&field-title=&field-isbn=&field-publisher
=&node=&url=&field-binding=&field-subject=&field-language=&field-dateop=&field-dateyear
=&sort=relevancerank&Adv-Srch-Books-Submit.x=41&Adv-Srch-Books-Submit.y=10

Check out this feminist without borders!

Something to Cheer About

To all of our readers- welcome to feminists without borders! I have no idea what this beautiful brain child might turn into, but I thought I might start out on a positive note. I got some great news today from V-day. For those of you who have been living under a chauvinist rock V-day is Eve Ensler's organization started to bring about an end. An end to violence against women!
I have attached an excerpt from the news clipping celebrating the Kentucky governor's pardon of 13 women who were convicted for crimes of self-defense against their attackers. It took the Kentucky Domestic Violence Association eight years to finally free these women, but they did it!

Read below:

The Kentucky Domestic Violence Association is proud to announce a victory for 2007 for incarcerated victims of domestic violence. In August 2007, KDVA was chosen as a pilot state for the V-Day's Until the Violence Stops: KY Festival to end violence against women and girls. During the festival, it is believed that over 1 million individuals across the state were exposed to the message that violence against women and girls can end. As part of the festival, an entire day was dedicated to victims of domestic violence who are incarcerated for defending their lives and in some cases the lives of their children from their abusers.

For 8 years KDVA has been advocating for the release of several incarcerated women who were serving time for killing their abusers. In 2003, KDVA and the Department of Public Advocacy petitioned outgoing Governor Paul Patton for the pardons of 13 women. These requests were never reviewed and several of the women remained behind bars. In spite of the disappointment, KDVA has continued to give support to the remaining women, as well as identify other women who are incarcerated under the same circumstances.

On November 19, 2007, KDVA and the Department of Public Advocacy reissued pardon petitions for the remaining women. On December 10, 2007, justice finally emerged as Governor Ernie Fletcher granted commutations of sentences and full pardons for over 17 women. Additionally, he gave an executive order for 4 of the other women to appear before the Kentucky parole board for a chance for early parole. Included in the full pardons were a group of survivors who received commutations of their sentences in 1996 from then Governor Brereton Jones.

Through the hard work of incarcerated survivors, advocates and attorneys over the last 11 years and the combined efforts of the 2007 V-Day Until the Violence Stops: KY Festival a difference has been made in the lives of domestic violence victims in Kentucky. Because of this victory in Kentucky, hope has been restored and we move one step closer to seeing an end to violence against women and girls and justice for those who have been denied.

- V-day December 13, 2007
Let's celebrate!