Hello, all you fancy people! Are you ready for some fanciness? Are you ready to see some things we desperately need, because we like to be fancy, whatever that means?
I don’t think you’re ready. In fact, first I have to say that some of you shouldn’t even be here. If you’ve already thought: CONSUMERISM SUCKS! I need you to walk away. I need you to click the x on the box and just go read some other bullshit. Because you don’t belong here. You don’t understand.
OK, now that -those- people have left, we can get down to the fancy things. Continue reading →
The reality is that women are treated differently by society for exactly the same reason that children and the mentally handicapped are treated differently. It’s just easier this way for everyone. You don’t argue with a four-year old about why he shouldn’t eat candy for dinner. You don’t punch a mentally handicapped guy even if he punches you first. And you don’t argue when a women tells you she’s only making 80 cents to your dollar. It’s the path of least resistance. You save your energy for more important battles.-Scott Adams
This bullshit was brought to you by Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert (yes, that funny office comic. We have to give him that.), and this post was brought to you by Rachel, who does not find any of this bullshit funny.
To me, using a disclaimer is as good as saying no offense. Saying ‘no offense’ at the beginning of a statement is as useless as white bread because typically, you end up offending someone. I’ve said all that to say, Continue reading →
Oh hey, it’s Hump Day! It’s my fourth favorite day of the week (after Friday, Saturday and Sunday, respectively.) But really, Wednesdays are great. And this particular Wednesday lands us smack dab in the middle of LGBT Health Awareness Week!
“This year’s campaign is a chance for all of us to learn more about how we, as a community, support the health and wellbeing of ourselves and our families, friends and neighbors. The National Coalition for LGBT Health calls on policy makers and healthcare providers to address to needs of LGBT individuals and families not only this week, but everyweek,” says Hutson W. Inniss, Executive Director of the National Coalition for LGBT Health, who organizes the annual week of action and education.
This morning, activists demonstrated outside the U.S. Supreme Court as Betty Dukes (pictured) and other women of Wal-mart had their day in court. Dukes and the other plaintiffs claim they worked hard for their money, yet were passed over by management for promotions because they were ladies. [Ed. note: boooooo]
The high court will decide if the discrimination case against Wal-Mart can move forward as a class action suit sometime this summer. In the meantime, these ladies are still waiting.
So, this week has been stupid. There’s my job (waitressing full time until all hours of the night- sometimes until 6 am. Lolol), my house (sink and tub both clogged, no electricity in my living room, and yesterday, my fucking kitchen sink fell apart! Again LOL), the media (Chris Brown on yet another violent rampage and people still defending him even though he is a talentless, pigheaded, whiny piece-of-shit jerk), the news (we’re at war? Somewhere we don’t fucking belong AGAIN. Awesome), and a plethoraofarticles telling me that I, as someone who proudly identifies as a feminist and one of the 84 million white women between ages 15 and 64 living in this country, am a minority-hating bigot. Continue reading →
If you haven’t seen it yet, the New York Times has published a follow-up article on the Texas gang-rape story. We posted shortly after the story broke and will be writing our own follow-up soon, after we’ve talked through our reactions—emotional, logical, practical. Until then, we’d like to share one of our writer’s initial thoughts…. Continue reading →
1 — “Because if you don’t remember his last name, you probably didn’t remember to use a fucking condom.”
2 — “You’re making a run to Walgreens for Advil and Gatorade anyway.”
3 — “Getting pregnant after you didn’t even get off would be the fucking cherry on top.”
4 — “It’s easier to ask a pharmacist about emergency contraception than to deal with the fucking harassers outside the abortion clinic.”
This last one is super applicable because I walk past the crazy lady reading the Bible in front of the Planned Parenthood clinic every day. [Ed. Note – not every crazy person reads the Bible, and not every Bible reader is crazy.]
I could go on listing them, but really just go read them for yourself. Also, I feel obligated to tell you that the comedy comes from Back Up Your Birth Control,” which took its cue from the whatthefuckhasobamadonesofar website and others that surfaced a few months ago. Also, BUYBC is, according to its website:
a national campaign committed to raising awareness of and expanding access to emergency contraception (EC). While significant progress has been made to expand access, there’s still work to be done. You can help spread the word about EC by taking part in the National Day of Action on Wednesday, March 30, 2011.
Cool.
This post is brought to you by Laura, who speaks from experience…
This Choice USA video rolled into my inbox this morning and I had to share it with everyone just because of the sheer weirdness of it. Probably the best way to tackle this video is to lay it all out in words:
The video starts out with this bizarre music yelling “stroke it!” while Strokey the Penguin explains to you why contraception should be recognized as prevention under healthcare reform and why you should encourage government to require insurance companies to provide it without co-pays. Here are the reasons (in reverse order?):
5. Most folks – 62% of women ages 15 to 44 – are already using some form of contraception (Strokey: “For all the strokin’ they are doin’”)
4. Contraception is expensive! Its no wonder that in 2008, 17.4 million women needed publicly funded contraception services. (Strokey: “My co-pays are completely bogus”)
3. Lots of folks are having sex, and some folks – 7 in 10 women of reproductive age – don’t want to get pregnant while doing it. (Strokey says: “Keep on strokin’”)
1. Contraception is prevention. It saves money. It saves lives. (Strokey: “Word.”)
Meanwhile, the music in the background is saying “I stroke it to the east I stroke it to the west, and I stroke it to the woman that I love the best.” …?
But yes, Strokey makes a few good points. Especially the one about masturbation. And also that he can’t wear rings because he doesn’t have fingers. #keeponstrokin
This post was brought to you by Tara, whose co-pays are also completely bogus.
So much of what I’ve written lately has been reactive. It’s often the horrors of reality that move us to words to educate and bring about change. I guess that’s my typical m.o., but lately, I’ve been thinking about the wonder that words held for me when I was younger. To say something out loud, to write it down, to share it with others gave it this incredible power. I’m not sure when I forgot that, but I want to reignite that fascination with the power of words, communication, and human connection.
Too often, we’re bombarded with images of products that can help to improve us in one way or another. It’s so easy to think of what you could change about yourself if given the chance, even for the most optimistic people. But what if we could take that power held in words and unleash it in a way to love and accept the truly wonderful things about ourselves? Just love yourself and you’re set, Gaga says.
Take a few minutes for yourself. Breathe deeply, listen to your favorite song, close your eyes, just do something for you. Now, think of 3 things (or even just 1!) that you love about yourself. It might take a little digging to find your “I love me” words, but trust me, it’s totally worth it to remind yourself how important self-acceptance is.
Now, take those words and write them down. Post them here as a comment. Tweet them (#ilovemewords). Tell your friends. Do something to give those words power and remind yourself that you accept you for who you are.
I’ll start:
1. I laugh at everything. A lot. I’m such a giggler.
2. I am honest and dependable; I can’t lie and can’t imagine letting someone down.
3. I love, love, love my little waist that totally sets off my hourglass shape. Yes.
Share your “I love me” words! Have your friends do the same and make today about loving you. (‘Cause you were born this way, baby! Sorry, I couldn’t resist. After all, it is Lady Gaga’s birthday.)
This post was brought to you by Dawn, who is probably giggling right now at who-knows-what.
The daughter of a folk artist, I’ve always liked Ani DiFranco. In high school I sang along to her self-entitled album and burned a copy for my dad. He commented that it was “woman-centric,” to which I replied that I hadn’t noticed.
But not too long ago, Ani’s track “Talk to Me” came on shuffle on my iPod and I couldn’t help myself from putting it on repeat. It meant a lot more to me now as a self-proclaimed “city-dweller” than it did in my pre-college years when I first took a listen.
“In this city self preservation is a full time occupation.”
It sure is. That’s the reason I had to think twice about moving into my Columbia Heights townhome, the reason I carry mace in my coatpocket. My male counterparts laugh when I tell them I looked up the crime statistics for my block – something that would never cross their minds. Because they don’t have to consider whether the sound of their heels clacking against the sidewalk screams vulnerability. Or whether their decision to wear pants or a skirt might have any correlation to the number of catcalls they’ll have to ignore.
“Don’t you understand? In the day to day and the face to face I have to act just as strong as I am. Just a prison of the place where I can be who I am.”
This post is brought to you by Kelsey, the knower of all women trends.
OK biddies. If you haven’t listened to Nicki Minaj, keep reading. Don’t stop til you get enough. If you have uncertain or negative feelings toward rap, or if you get pretty pissed about how ladies are presented in that kind of music, you better stay, too. Let me blow your mind.
Well, let Nicki do it.
Now that I’ve raised unrealistic expectations, I’m going to bring them down by reminding you of the song you have probably heard by Nicki that isn’t 100% pro-lady – Roman’s Revenge. It’s a pretty awesome song that gets stuck in your head and makes you yell one liners (MANNING, ELI!), but it’s tainted with Eminem’s sick and twisted “Ima tie you up and pee on you” bullshit.
But! But. Don’t let that single fool you. Nicki’s Pink Friday is a fantastic lady album, and I’m going to prove it to you by raving about the first track, “ I’m the best.”
First off, this is the kind of song I want to wake up to every. single. day. I want this song to play while I’m biking to work, when I’m in an elevator, when I walk through my office doors. That way, I’m fully motivated to stalk through the halls, giving everyone looks like WATCH ME I’M ABOUT TO CRUSH YOU. Or something. I don’t really want to crush anyone.
You relate, right?
Hmm. Ok, well the song is also about saving the girls, another reason it’s a must-have on a lady’s i-pod. (I’m looking at you, Maureen.) Let’s take a look at some of the lyrics:
now the whole album back you ain’t gotta skip a track i ain’t gotta get a plaque, I ain’t gotta get awards i just walk up out the door all the girls will applaud all the girls will commend, as long as they understand that i’m fighting for the girls, that never thought they could win cause before they could begin you told’em it was the end but I am here to reverse the curse that they live in got two bones to pick, I ‘ma only choose one you might get addressed on the second album once which means you can breath, til I motherfuckin say so to all my bad bitches, i can see your halo
OK, so even if you don’t need a theme song to stalk around at your office, YOU CANNOT HATE THIS SONG. It’s for the girls! It’s for girls who wear halos! It’s for girls who are thrown down by society! What feminist can say no? Not you. Definitely not you.
Now that you are convinced, it’s time for a BONUS ROUND!
Nicki pays tribute to her mama in the song (and in the album’s notes, where she writes to her mama: “You told me all things were possible. You supported me unconditionally.”). I don’t know about you, but I’ve got a mama like that. I am pro-mama. And Nicki is too – she bought her mama a house! Just another reason to love/relate to Nicki.
Anyway. Let’s review – Nicki helps us stalk around and feel powerful. She wants to save the girls and give them all halos. And she loves her mama, which is why she bought her a house/couch (nice rhyme, Nicki!).
Really, what’s not to like?
This post is brought to you by Rachel, who is quite threatening in her office.
Her album Jagged Little Pill (1995) was a staple in my 9-year-old life. My older sister was a senior in high school, and she had an Alanis poster on her bedroom wall. Here I was, pumping her cassette tape in my walkman, which was perpetually on my hip (it had one of those belt clips – baller), singing awkwardly to songs while making up the words I didn’t understand. I think my family threatened to leave me on the curb during our family road trip to Alaska. I looked like Taylor Hanson. But, you know, the nine-year-old version.
This album resurfaced for me in college, when I started getting more into Woman Rock. I cursed the universe that Lilith Fair no longer existed. (But it has returned! Who wants to go with me this summer!) There was a period of time in college when every time I got into my boyfriend’s car to drive to his house I would automatically reach for his zune (I know!) and put on Jagged Little Pill. And I sang. I know that Alanis Morrissette is like, cliché feminist chick rock music, but it feels so good. It feels so good to turn it up and belt it out. Who cares if you can’t yodel like Alanis. And I mean, come on, look at her. That long hair – that long jacket. Its so 90’s and its fucking awesome.
The song “Right Through You” is one of my total faves – and I love this song because it so embodies and brought to mainstream the attitudes and sentiments of the riot grrl movement (those crazy third-wavers) – bands like Bikini Kill and Bratmobile. “Right Through You” is such a power ballad. It’s filled with all the tingly goodness of hurt, vulgarity, confrontation, and vindication – everything that embodied 90’s alternative music. so. satisfying.
This post is brought to you by Kelsey, the knower of all women trends.
