Moregasm: Babeland’s Guide to Mind-Blowing Sex, a Video Review
About a month ago I received a really awesome book from Babeland. I’ve known about Babeland for years now and have also worked with them periodically on another website of mine, so I was pretty psyched to have this book show up. Moregasm: Babeland’s Guide to Mind-Blowing Sex is something that all sexual beings can truly enjoy, learn from, and also even broaden their sexual horizons with the help of. I thoroughly enjoyed it, especially how inclusive it is, so regardless of your sexual orientation or gender identity, you will find something in this book that you can completely relate to.
I went into a bit more detail on this book in a video review. Mind you, this is the very first time I have ever done a vlog of any kind for Menstrual Poetry and I am not very comfortable in front of the camera just yet, so if you totally hate this video, please be nice because you just may make me cry.
Check out product and purchase information for Moregasm: Babeland’s Guide to Mind-Blowing Sex from Babeland.
Book Review: Kinky Gazpacho by Lori Tharps
Lori Tharps grew up in the white suburbs of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, went to private school, attended a prestigious college, and continuously never felt a sense of belonging among her own people and a part of her own culture. While her life may not be too unlike the lives led by thousands of other American people, her accomplishments and her journey through life makes for an intriguing and captivating memoir.
Tharps’ memoir starts off when she is in the third grade, listening to her teacher tell the class about an International Day bazaar where the students would be participating by sharing their cultures in the form of food, games, decorations, and dress reflecting their native countries. Being the only black girl in her class and one of only a handful in her entire private school, the prospect of International Day weighed on her mind and brought her to the conclusion that on that day, her classmates would realize that she was different than they were; that she was less than them. Deciding not to attend school in costume that day because she did not want to attend school dressed as a slave, she went throughout the day in a panic, hoping that no one would ask her why she was not dressed in a costume reflecting her heritage. Throughout the following school years of Tharps’ life, similar thoughts and memories arise very much like her third grade International Day bazaar. She was raised in a privileged household and attended private school and for a fraction of one particular school year when she was nudged into the public school system, Tharps was received as a snob who was trying to “act white” by the other black girls she had wanted to fit in with, was ostracized by other black young women during her college years, and that was just the beginning of the racial dilemmas she would encounter throughout her life.
From a young age, Tharps became infatuated with Spain; knowing that Spain was her destiny and that she would someday live there. While in college, she traveled to Morocco with the American Field Service, but later studied abroad in Spain, where she came face to face with the culture she never knew Spain to have. She notices that a great deal of products, such as something as simple as a chocolate bar, has racist connotations, but when she brings them to the attention of Spanish natives, they are quick to declare that Spain is not a racist place. But after falling in love with a Spaniard, getting married, and having children, she spends a great deal of time traveling to Spain and her memoir becomes a detective story on how Spain had been involved in slavery. Throughout her life in Spain, Lori Tharps had searched for where the kinky mixed with the gazpacho.
I absolutely loved this memoir; it was a simple and lightweight read that packed a punch of reality that is undeniable. I devoured her memoir in utter anticipation of what her next move in life would be and was overjoyed over her boldness and determination to uncover a black past in a country where most of its citizen were unaware of the world that had come before and still revolved around them. The only flaw with the book is that it leaves you wanting to know and experience more of her life and general thoughts. Kinky Gazpacho will bring you on a journey that is so much more than merely a life led by a woman who dares to open her mouth and question her surroundings.
Getting Off: A Woman’s Guide to Masturbation
Masturbation is a healthy part of every person’s life. Even as part of a relationship and while maintaining a healthy sex life, self-love still plays a healthy role in one’s life.
People start exploring their bodies at very young ages; from infant boys who every time you change a diaper, their hands are immediately exploring their penis and young girls who will mindlessly start exploring themselves whenever time permits. This is extremely healthy and positive behavior, but there are a great deal of people and organizations who beg to differ, going as far as to saying that any type of sexuality whatsoever, including masturbation, is unnatural, sinful, and just about anything else they can think of in order to scare people out of doing something that is natural and should be celebrated.
Jamye Waxman has a master’s degree in sex education and has written the book Getting Off, an entire guide to masturbation just for women–Or for men who want to know more about the body of a woman and pleasuring all of those sensual zones a woman has. Getting Off is an asset for every single woman, regardless of their knowledge of sexuality or their bodies. The book goes over several different topics, from the anatomy of an orgasm (the small, indifferent orgasm, the mediocre, satisfying-but-not-by-much orgasm, the can’t-get-enough, pass out afterward orgasm, and everything in between), fantasies, vibrators and other sex toys that can be used to heighten sexual pleasure while masturbating, how masturbation is viewed by mainstream media and the people who use the media as their only ground for knowledge, and so much more.
While reading through the different sections of the book, I was overjoyed to see a lot of the topics brought up that I didn’t expect to be brought up in such a refreshing light, such as the topic of anal sex and stimulation and how a great deal of women enjoy anal stimulation but feel too shy to explore the possibilities it can bring them sexually due to its social stigma as being referred to as strictly an exit. It also highlights a great deal of fun facts, such as the fact that graham crackers and Corn Flakes, food items that people eat to curb hunger, which in fact invented to curb masturbation, and the first vibrators were found in doctors’ offices to help cure women of “hysteria,” or what I deem as merely “sexual frustration” since the hysterical woman stereotype is still alive and going strong.
Getting Off is a resource that you will find yourself flipping through again and again, it is full of extremely positive and helpful information and completely obliterates the falsities that society and mainstream media have put in place for women, especially the “prudish woman” title or the belief that women cannot be sexual and sexually satisfying individuals.
AmazonFAIL
If you have a Twitter account and have logged in at any time during the last 24 hours or so, chances are you’re already familiar with #amazonfail, the current number one trending topic on Twitter, but just in case, here’s the deal—Amazon.com is and has been stripping sales rankings from LGBT, sexuality, and feminist books because of its “adult” content as part of Amazon’s new discriminatory censorship policy.
First of all, if Amazon wants to remove the sales rankings from products containing adult content throughout their site then they should not be selling books, as people tend to have minds of their own and the right to write and read books of their choosing. It is also not okay to go on a witch hunt specifically targeting content that only the religious right has had a vocal problem with. Some titles that have had their Amazon Sales Rankings revoked include Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity, Full Frontal Feminism, Gay Life And Culture: A World History, Lady Chatterley’s Lover, Queer Theory, Gender Theory: An Instant Primer, Men Who Rape: The Psychology Of The Offender, one of my favorite books of all time, Little Birds by Anais Nin, and quite a few others that can be seen here, as well as books as harmless as Heather Has Two Mommies, a children’s book, Ellen DeGeneres: A Biography, and The Truth Is…My Life In Love And Music by Melissa Etheridge. However, some titles that have not has their Amazon Sales Rankings removed include The Complete A**hole’s Guide To Handling Chicks, Ron Jeremy: The Hardest Working Man In Showbiz, Playboy: The Complete Centerfolds, and generally any book spreading the hetero love. In fact, the first search result that appears on Amazon for ‘homosexuality’ is A Parent’s Guide to Preventing Homosexuality followed by a series of other hateful, discriminatory titles written with the purpose of “curing” homosexuality in mind.
Amazon’s director of corporate communications, Patty Smith, has made a statement saying that there has been a “glitch” in their systems and it is being fixed, but as many people have been pointing out over the last day, it does not take a technical glitch to pick and choose through a list of books on queer, gender, and women’s studies and remove their sales rankings and turning into yet another corporation catering to the homophobic religious right; that takes a human touch. As Renee of Womanist Musings points out:
Glitches usually happen randomly and this seems far to calculating to just be some sort of error. When we consider the fact that two states approved gay marriage last week, does the timing of this whole fiasco not seem to be just a little be too convenient? I think the fundies are trying to sell us their special brand of kool aid again.
But this “glitch” hasn’t just been affecting titles this past weekend; as Craig Seymour, the author of All I Could Bare: My Life in the Strip Clubs of Gay Washington, D.C., this discrimination has been happening since February.
It is about time that the word about Amazon’s hateful behavior has spread like wildfire throughout the weekend and there is sure to be more press on this topic in the morning. In the meantime, please enjoy this video by YA author Jackson Pearce:
Read more about AmazonFAIL at Womanist Musings, Feministe, Shameless, Daily Kos, and Smart Bitches, Trashy Books. You can also sign a protest regarding Amazon’s new “adult” policy here.
If you’re looking for a replacement for your Amazon needs, check out Powells Books, who also have a Partners Program for those of you with affiliate accounts.
Book Review: If Women Ran the World Sh*t Would Get Done by Shelly Rachanow
As soon as I read the title of this book, the first thing I thought of was ‘Damn straight!’ and I am sure many, many other women thought that to themselves upon first glance, but If Women Ran the World Sh*t Would Get Done is a great deal more than just a completely spot on, oh-so-true title; it is a collection of wonderful, amazing, stupendous, inspiring, butt-kicking things that women have done, continue to do, and your motivation and inspiration to do all of the butt-kicking things you want to do.
Women have done a great deal of amazing, awe-inspiring, and out of this world things to improve the quality of people’s lives everywhere simply by imagining the world as they would like to see it and creating it. But despite all that women have and continue to do to change the world, we are still often denied the respect that we have worked for and undoubtedly deserve. Most often, we are not taken seriously and even degraded and ridiculed for the work that we do because of society that has yet to overcome the patriarchy.
Even if we’re not making international headlines, in Rachanow’s mind (as well as in all women’s minds!) we should be given Nobel Prizes for friendship. We should be celebrated for what we do for our friends, for our families, for our jobs, for the world, and yes, even for ourselves. Self love and self care are what a lot of women have trouble doing because naturally, we are nurturers; we take care of our friends and our families and we stand up for and battle for the civil liberties and rights that we should undoubtedly possess for our determination and hard work at our jobs but when it comes to doing for ourselves, we tend to make excuses and we tend to think that we have not done enough yet in order to simply celebrate how much we have kicked butt that day. Rachanow gives us all that kick in the pants we need to celebrate who we are and what we do every single day of our lives and gives us the permission we so often deny ourselves to celebrate what we do as well as who we do it for.
Every page of this book is full of inspiration and motivation to celebrate what we do all the time and highlights the courageous, mind-blowing things women have done. Women created The American Legacy Foundation in efforts to build a world where young people can reject tobacco and help your friends quit smoking for good. Trickle Up is another organization that was created by the minds and hands of a woman sick of hearing about eradicating poverty and who actually did something about it. As we continue to learn more about exactly what women have done throughout the years to change the world, Rachanow tenderly reminds us at the end of every section that we too have the power to do wonderful, amazing, stupendous, inspiring, butt-kicking things equipped with lined pages to remind ourselves what we do for our families, how we’ve kicked butt that day when we don’t feel as if we have done quite enough, what we would do if we ran the world, what we will demand in our lives that we are not currently receiving and refuse to accept anything less, and of course, what we will get done for ourselves–Because we deserve it for all we do!
If Women Ran the World Sh*t Would Get Done is a no-bullshit book that will jump start your mind to begin thinking about the world you would like to see and the steps you can take to create it.
Women Step Out of the Closet of Shame & Start Talking Openly About Periods
Most women remember their first periods and no matter what emotion or range of emotions they experienced on that day, they can still look back on it many years later and smile–for one reason or another. No matter what a woman thinks about her period, the bottom line is that it is with us for the long haul. It is one of our long-term relationships and even if we love it or hate it, it is with us for the majority of our lives; and if we live with our periods for the majority of our lives, why do women (in general) constantly feel shamed by it?
A great deal of women will give you an odd, ‘what planet are you from’ look if you ask them to tell you about their first periods. Many women (and especially men) will visibly become bothered if you dare speak its name during a conversation. Most men downright refuse to go on late-night or after work runs to the store to pick up a box of pads or tampons and all of these situations deal with the shame that is associated with menstruation. Sure, our lack of openness can be chalked up to menstruation happening to be an awkward subject, but it goes deeper than that, especially considering that it doesn’t have to be and it only is because our society has let itself become a woman-shaming society.
I have always been very open about my body, my sexuality, and the miracles that the body of a woman can perform in her lifetime. I honestly did not know where this openness came from, being raised by a single father, but I always had strong female role models in my life, one of which was my father’s girlfriend who became my mother-figure throughout my childhood. She taught me that the anatomy of a woman is beautiful and despite the abuse I had endured as a child from my mother (and the reason why my mother has not been in my life for more than a decade) there is nothing to feel ashamed about when it comes to your own body because it is yours and no one else’s and no one can tell you that you are not beautiful and that your body is in any way something to be looked at as vulgar or disgusting; including menstruation. For a while I thought that perhaps my natural-born feminism was something instilled in me from my upbringing, but from running this website (and hello, have you noticed the name of this website?) as well as paying special attention to the women who come from my generation, I am noticing that there are a great deal of women who are coming out of the shame closet; who are demanding that the awkwardness associated with the bodies and bodily functions of women are what is truly shameful and that the period is something that should be spoken about openly and honestly. That is exactly what Rachel Kauder Nalebuff, a young woman of 18, did when she started asking women to tell her about their first periods.
Nalebuff realized with her own first period and hearing the story of her Aunt’s first period that she had kept a secret for over 50 years, that people needed to start talking about this and the other events that happen in a young woman’s life that people are simply refusing to talk about openly. Something needs to be done in this society that would let this silence continue for so long and keep so many women captive in its process of women-shaming. And so she started collecting stories from women and girls all over the world about their first periods and now presents us with an absolute gem, My Little Red Book, for women and girls of all ages who are either just about to get their periods, just got it and feel awkward about it, or for women who remember their first periods vividly and celebrate the right of passage that we as women have to talk openly about it.
There are 90 short stories in all and several names we’ve come to know through their own books and activism work make appearances in this book, including Jennifer Baumgardner, Meg Cabot, Megan McCafferty, and Gloria Steinem’s 1978 essay, ‘If Men Could Menstruate’ which originally had appeared in Ms. Magazine also appears in this book. There are stories of how many women thought themselves to be dying when noticing the small stain in their panties, women who “faked” their periods when knowing that their friends had gotten their periods before them, and my favorite is a story about a mother who when her daughter first got her period and felt awkward about it, she had to do something to mark the day and so she bought her daughter a vase full of red roses and in another story, her daughter talks about how special those roses were to here and how she had kept the vase for years after that first period. Another one of my favorite parts of this book is that so many women talk about the Judy Blume book, Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret a book that you would think comes with all little girls at birth due to how widely-read and coveted it is, albeit a bit out of date for those of us who have never seen these menstrual pad belts Margaret speaks of.
My Little Red Book is a must for all women who have ever felt shamed or awkward about their period and also for every girl’s first period kit.
All of the proceeds of this book are being donated to charity because there is a lot to be done as far as making the bodily functions of women something that can be widely spoken about. There is also a great need for activism in countries like Africa, where because of the lack of menstrual supplies, a young girl will not receive the education that she is entitled to because one week out of every month will be spent out of school due to her period.
In the back of My Little Red Book, there is a section of books to read about periods including, yes, Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret and there is also a Do More section where your support for organizations like Planned Parenthood, who are the largest provider of sexual education and health services in the United States, as well as Choice USA, a youth-led organization that seeks to protect women’s reproductive rights, can tremendously help girls receive the sexual education that they too are entitled to. A company that I would like to add, is Lunapads. Lunapads are based in Canada and make reusable, cloth and fleece pads. Not only do they make a transition from disposables to reusable pads easy, their pads are completely harmless, unlike disposables that contain bleach and synthetic fibers. Lunapads also does great work for girls in Africa by giving them their Pads4Girls Kit and each pad has a lifespan of 5 years or more that will help African girls attend school when they have their periods.
You can find out even more about this book and even share your own first period story at MyLittleRedBook.net.
Book Review: Be True to Yourself: A Daily Guide for Teenage Girls
I can vividly remember my “awkward teenage years.” It’s no surprise, really; they didn’t happen that long ago and looking back at those years objectively now, I have come to one definitive summary of those awkward teenage years–They are terrifying.
I recently experienced what happens when teenage rebellion and teenage angst is not simply a phase that one evolves out of, but a genuine problem that requires a sufficient amount of help with my 16 year old sister. There are hundreds of issues that affect the average teen every day and one of those issues is most often parents. Teenagers simply do not feel comfortable talking to their parents about important life issues. While that is unfortunate, I believe that it is a part of the growing up process to withdraw from your parents and is not something that can be helped because very, very few parents have that text book “perfect” relationship with their teens.
One of the most prominent activities I have always had in my life is reading. I have always had a genuine love for the written word and thankfully that trait has also emerged in my younger sister. I read Be True to Yourself and because it deals with the hundreds (366, to be exact) of issues that teens face on a daily basis, I knew that my sister would gain some wisdom from the book.
While the sub-title of Be True to Yourself is A Daily Guide for Teenage Girls, it really is just that. The book tackles one issue per day and gives teenage girls a daily message and is easily the companion they need during the years they need it the most, offering encouragement and daring teens to look inside of themselves for the answers to their true problems.
Be True to Yourself is the perfect gift for any teenage girl, no other gift could help them more and instead of being presented in a step-by-step self help kind of way, the format is a lot more fun and appealing to even girls who don’t like to read.
Write, Collage & Play Your Way to the Life of Your Dreams
As we take our first few steps into adulthood we are often told that now is the time to “grow up.” To get serious about our futures, get a stable job that we are most likely going to hate in a few months yet still find ourselves there after 20 years, and make sure we can support ourselves and the family we’re supposed to start as soon as possible with whatever person who is willing to put a ring on our fingers. Before you know it, we’ve been living the “grown up” life for decades and forgot all about those dreams we had for our lives while we were growing up.
Life is fast-paced. Life is much like going 120mph in a 35mph zone. It waits for no one and if we don’t keep up, life is pounce all over us without a second thought. As an adult who is determined to live the life I’ve always dreamed of for myself, I look at my family and the jobs that they have and I wonder about the lives they wanted for themselves before adulthood happened to them. So few of us really get to do what we want with our lives and I find that so unfortunate that I often find myself urging the people close to me to do what they really want for themselves; to go after their true passions instead of just living a life that gets them by and that is exactly what the author of the Permission to Dream journal, Lisa Hammond, has done.
The Permission to Dream journal is all about giving yourself the permission to go back in time and think about the dreams you had when you were younger; before life got in the way. It is a spectacular journal that allows you to write, collage, play and get back in touch with the arts and crafts child, teenager and/or young adult in us and really fulfill our dreams. If you knew that you wouldn’t–couldn’t–fail, what would you do with your life? Would you go back to school? Start your own business? Become a dancer or a veterinarian or an archaeologist? We are the only ones with full control over our own lives and while some of us may forget that at times, the Permission to Dream journal reminds us.
The Permission to Dream journal is a one of a kind journal with sections like ‘Remember Your Dreams,’ ‘Building Your Dreams,’ and ‘Living Your Dreams.’ Each section begins with a wish list and a prompt that will get your in the mindset to really let your dreams take off. It brings you from simply thinking about your dreams and how you want to live your life and into thinking about what it would take to accomplish it. Not only is the sky the limit in this journal, but it will get you thinking in terms of doing and no longer just wishing.
Book Review: Wild Words from Wild Women
It isn’t news that women are very opinionated people; the blogosphere alone speaks volumes about how women are demanding their voices be heard. I know, I run three of my own blogs because I have so many views and opinions that for years, people minimized or told me weren’t that important to get so worked up about. The feminist blogosphere alone gets an impressive amount of trolls; people who are just like those who used to tell me that my views and opinions weren’t that important, people who seem to get a great amount of pleasure from demeaning and talking down to women as well as men who identify as feminists or identify with feminist ideals. People like this prove that all women everywhere need to be born with or need to develop a thick skin very quickly just because they happen to be women.
In the movie Kissing Jessica Stein, there is a scene that talks about quotes; how that to truly finish your life successfully, you must come up with one great quote that has the ability to transcend time. Quotes like “There is nothing to fear but fear itself.” is a quote that is still being used now by present politicians and people everywhere. That is an example of a quote that has stood the test of time, the only thing that is wrong with it is that it was spoken by a man, as most quotes that people remember off of the top of their heads are.
Wild Words from Wild Women is a book full of words of wisdom, courage, laughter and much more all said by women throughout history who have made a difference in one way or another in the world we live in today. The words these women share with the words are words based on their beliefs, opinions and personal views that most likely, they were told weren’t important or didn’t matter by people who either didn’t like what they heard or didn’t believe that a woman should have the right to open her mouth about. This book gives you a look into the minds of several women where you will find yourself nodding in agreement or even vocally expressing your support for the words these women have contributed to the world.
Book Review: Remember Who You Are
Remember Who You Are by Linda Carroll immediately caught my attention with the dedication and ultimately was the reason why I was so interested in reading her book. The dedication includes Carroll’s daughter’s names including Courtney Love and her granddaughter’s names including Frances Cobain. I jumped at the chance to read a book, especially a book about a woman’s spirit and learning and living with authentic power, written by the mother of the famous and never boring Courtney Love.
Linda Carroll is a practicing therapist whose life’s mission is helping women and in Remember Who You Are, you can clearly see her passion and dedication as she offers personal anecdotes and genuine wisdom she has gathered throughout her life and from the people she has met and bonded with.
As a person who blogs almost compulsively, I have often used the phrase ‘life got in the way’ to excuse my absence from the internet world, as disappearing from this technological world a lot of us become staples in, is bound to happen from time to time; but that phrase has many more meanings–Because life can so easily get in the way, obstructing our paths to what we truly want to do in our lives, we also have the ability to forget who we are in a sense. With the help of the words and wisdom of many inspiring and creative women such as Margaret Atwood, Anne Sexton, Jane Kenyon, Alice Walker and many others, Carroll makes her readers really think about their lives and the people they have grown to be. According to Carroll, a woman’s “journey of spirit” involves seven stages–Forgetting, Remembering, Exploring, Practicing, Shadows on the Path, Reclaiming and Acceptance. As Carroll takes us through the stages, her book makes us dig down inside of ourselves and fearlessly acknowledge what makes us tick by using the teachings of several different cultures and the world’s major religions.
Being an atheist, I did not think I would take much from this book, given that the subtitle mentions a journey of spirit; however, I was happily surprised by the outcome. The reason why I am an atheist is because I know a great deal about the world’s major religions and while most of these religions instill a series of teachings that are the equivalent of personal morals and common sense and what goes into being a good person, that alone does not instill a sense of faith inside of me or the belief in a higher power that will ultimately have their say in what is to become of my soul at the end of my life. Given those facts, Carroll is not teaching one specific religion in this book; she introduces us to many different religions and aspects of those religions that coincide with her seven stages that she believes every woman moves through, perhaps even several times, throughout her life. Ultimately, the goal Carroll is teaching us is to remember who we are as people before life got in the way.
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Out Campaign
The OUT Campaign allows individuals to let others know they are not alone. It can also be a nice way of opening a conversation and help to demolish the negative stereotypes of atheists. Let the world know that we are not about to go away and that we are not going to allow those that would condemn us to push us into the shadows.
