Love this!

http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2009/10/rape-culture-101.html

She says everything I want to and exactly as I would say it!

This is funny! and also really scary...

http://www.textually.org/textually/archives/2009/08/024332.htm

So brilliant!

Whitney Cummings is awesome. I'm not sure whether or not she identifies as a feminist, but she is certainly pro-women.

She also agrees with my stance on the infantilization of women. She talks about the school girl fantasy as making women into little children. Also shaving bald and spanking.

She talks about street harassment and how you never find a happy couple who met because he yelled obscene comments at her from the back of his friends pick-up truck while she was out jogging.

Then she talks about how much effort women make to be beautiful. "[It's] ridiculous because women are naturally beautiful, right? You guys (by which she means girls) don't need any make-up. Women wake up in the morning and are naturally beautiful. Period. You guys (by which she means boys) are disgusting." And "if we don't shave, we're lesbians." Becuase of course straight women only do things men find attractive. So if a women does something men consider to be a turn off, she's obviously actively trying to be unattractive to them.

Anyway, love her. Want more!

seriously Rihanna?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uelHwf8o7_U

Music video for Love the Way you Lie. I'd actually never listened to this song because I don't really like rap but I did finally and it's awful.

"Just gonna stand there and watch me burn. But that's alright because I like the way it hurts" No. No you don't like the way it hurts. So ok, seriously Rihanna? You were in an abusive relationship. How could you do this song? It has no point, there's no happy ending or lesson to it, just a man who's so fucking damaged that he lashes out on someone he loves. "I laid hands on her. I'll never stoop so low again. I guess I don't know my own strength." Yes you do. What you don't know is your strength is not for hurting. I can't believe that anyone would rather be in an abusive relationship than a loving one. I mean which is better: being constantly torn down or constantly built up? Please someone explain to me because I honestly do seek to understand and right now it is baffling.

And the song ends with "I just want her back. I know I'm a liar. If she ever tries to fucking leave again I'mma tie her to the bed and set the house on fire." Right, perfect. Then Rihanna says again "i like the way you lie."

I've said it before, if you're in an abusive relationship, leave. I know it's easier said than done. But I swear to god you're better than your partner. You deserve more no matter what he/she says.

Jenny Craig

So my summer job is over. Now my mornings are spent doing what I used to, watching lifetime in my bathrobe. And with lifetime comes stupid commercials aimed towards depressed housewives and bored college students. The most offensive today is Jenny Craig.

Diets are a business opportunity. It is estimated that the diet industry alone is worth anywhere between 40 to 100 billion (U.S.). CEOs of these companies are rolling in money made from false promises and dangerous drugs. While Jenny Craig doesn't seem to be peddling parasites in pills (oh yea, it's been done), we can see from kirstie alley's yo-yo weight that it doesn't stick once you leave the program.

But my big problem today is with the newest commercial featuring Sara Rue. I was multitasking (on my computer and watching tv!) when the commercial came on. All I heard was a female voice talking about how she was so insecure about her body that she was afraid to leave the house. Now me in my naiveté looked up expecting it to be an ad for eating disorders. For a second I thought the before picture would be of a too skinny women who was so consumed by her body image issues that she sought help. No such luck. Apparently Sara Rue has lost 50 pounds while on Jenny Craig and feels great. I am so disappointed.

Why don't we stop telling women they should be embarrassed by their weight and start telling them to enjoy life, no matter their size!?! It is truly ridiculous the amount of effort people put into making women feel bad about themselves. I hate it. It needs to stop. I mean what the fucking hell?

This is awesome!

"The fetishization of young women (pedophila chic, as some have dubbed it) is a cultural response to men’s anxiety about women’s increasing power. Part of the anti-feminist backlash is the sexualization of the very young."

YES!!! I've been saying this for months!!

http://hugoschwyzer.net/2010/08/11/biology-still-isnt-destiny-on-creating-safe-childhoods-in-an-age-of-ever-earlier-puberty/

EWWWWWW

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Yp5Nruy9CE

Avery apparently has new shipping labels available at Staples. This is their ad.

There are a couple things wrong with this ad. First, I'm assuming she's a designer so she wouldn't have a mannequin, she'd have a dress form. Second, he tries to make out with a mannequin!! gross. So it's sad for this guy because apparently the only woman he can get is a fake one. BUT at the very end of the commercial, she calls the mannequin "slut." Excuse me? A fake woman with no arms is a slut because a weird guy tried to kiss it? Furthermore that's supposed to be funny? What the hell. that's stupid.

You Think You're Cooler Than Me by Mike Posner

This song scares me. It's about a guy who sees a girl and is really attracted to her. She's ignoring him for whatever reason and he's angry about that.

you got designer shades just to hide your face and you wear them around like you're cooler than me. And you never say hey or remember my name. It's probably cuz, you think you're cooler than me.

Ok this woman is wearing sunglasses so obviously she thinks she's cooler than you. That makes sense. NOT! And if this woman doesn't remember your name, then she is not trying to tease you. She doesn't care about you. She's just not that into you!

I'll never forget my first real life experience with this. I have this male friend (Calling him John) who repeatedly asks me to send him erotic pictures of myself. We are not romantically involved and to be honest we barely speak in person. But our text conversation are always about sex. (not sexting, just talking about sex). Once I had dressed up for this guy I was interested in. I wore a short sleeve turtleneck out of lace and a pale orange cami underneath. I ran into John and he later texted me saying he thought my shirt was see-thru. I told him that was kind of the point. (I was trying to seduce this guy!) he told me that wasn't fair to him cause it's a tease. I don't get this. John is not and never has been the target of my desire so why did it effect him like that? Just like in the song, this girl doesn't even know his name, she's not interested in him. He's the one who's hung up, he should just get over it. I mean, why shouldn't i be able to dress up for a guy I like? Why do i have to worry about how my appearance effects every other man in the room?

One of my favorite essays is called Men on Rape by Tim Beneke. He interviewed men on the subject of rape. The interviewees said the scariest shit i've ever read.

When asked what they thought about sexy women in advertisements one man said, "It makes me hate them. As a man you're taught that men are more powerful than women, and that men always have the upper hand, and that it's a mans society; but then you see all these women and it makes you think 'jesus christ, if we have all the power how come all the beautiful women are telling us what to buy?' And to be honest, it just makes me hate beautiful women because they're using their power over me."

What exactly do you go through when you see a sexy, unavailable woman? " "I think 'Wow, I would love to make love to her,' but i know she's not really interested. It' a tease. A lot of times a woman knows that she's looking really good and she'll use that and flaunt it, and it makes me feel like she's laughing at me and i feel degreaded... It's a feeling of humiliation, because the woman has forced me to turn off my feelings and react in a way that i really don't want to... If i were actually desperate enough to rape somebody, it would be from wanting the person, but it would be a very spiteful thing, just being able to say 'I have power over you and i can do anything i want with you,' because i really feel that they have power over me by they're presence."

This is such bullshit! And i'm not being vain thinking I'm so hot that all men can't resist me. This is legitimately scary for all women. I mean it just takes that one guy to find you attractive and snap. Mike Posner is really scary. I can't believe he got this song on the radio. I can't remember where it is but there's this other essay about how the nice guy is the one that snaps because he's tired of finishing last. I'm afraid for whoever this song is about and I hope to god Posner never acts out violently on his insecurities.

Sarah Palin Doncha Know

She calls herself a feminist. Usually I love when people are brave enough to stand up and say "this is what a feminist looks like." It's sometimes difficult to do given the stigma attached to it. I mean, who wants to be told they must be ugly and man-hating if they're a feminist?

However, Sarah Palin is not a feminist. For starters she doesn't support women's choice in reproductive health. Look, this would be like me going on national tv, stating my political and social opinions and at the end saying "I'm proud to be an uber conservative republican." That would be a lie (because i'm actually so liberal i've been likened to a communist). Sarah Palin cannot spout off her anti-feminist bullshit and then say it's what feminists believe in. You can't change the meaning of a word that means so much to so many people with lies. Just like you can't say all feminist are lesbian women. It's a lie.

This is a really great article on Sarah Palin. Ms. Bennett puts it much better than I can.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sam-bennett/sarah-palins-brand-of-fem_b_588729.html