Menstrual Poetry

What Kids Think About Bill O’Reilly

As many of you may have known, the racist, bigot, hard-tempered, shock jock Bill O’Reilly had the nerve to put out a book for kids. That’s right–A man who is condescending, has spread countless, hate-filled lies and a bully himself had the audacity to believe that he could write a book to be consumed by impressionable children, but to also subtitle it “A Survival Guide for America’s Families.”

So how have his efforts paid off? Do the kids who read his book receive sound advice and take it to heart? Do they go through life a little less jaded and confused because of the wise words Bill O’Reilly’s co-author probably wrote, but put O’Reilly’s name on the cover for book sales?

Well, take a look…

Charles Flowers should have probably wrote this book with someone else; someone who wasn’t a walking contradiction.

Start ‘Em While They’re Young

The items people come up with for children astound me. First we have the toddler-sized kitchen sets which absolutely disgust me, sewing machines and kits for children, the insane popularity of dolls, and so on. Our culture does nothing but put out toy versions of the lives women have had to live for centuries. Women were and many still are expected to prepare all the meals, so little girls are given toy kitchen sets. Women must act as baby machines, so little girls are given dolls. Women must act as seamstresses and know how to replace a button, put in a new zipper, hem clothes, let them in, let them out, and so little girls are given tiny sewing machines and sewing kits. What this is doing is simply telling little girls “This will be your life in a few decades so you better get used to it and lucky for you, we’re easing you into it by first brainwashing you into thinking that it is fun.”

As more time goes by, people continue to manufacture absolutely fucked up toys and accessories for small girls and I think this trend has just hit a new low.

Heelarious is a company that sells high heels for babies. Yes, babies from 0-6 months to be exact. For $35 each, the first thing that popped into my head was “Who would do this to their child?”

While this isn’t the first astonishingly inappropriate item to be marketed to people too young to really make use of them, this has to be one of the first items to hit the consumer market that targets babies who aren’t even able to walk or talk yet. While Heelarious claims that their idea is “extremely funny” I feel a bit differently. It’s pretty much along the same lines as a baby corset or perhaps a baby garter. High heels are most commonly known as the “sexy shoe” and they most importantly do not belong on a small child.

Not All Princesses Need a Prince

Parents read to their children all the time; in fact, some expectant mothers read to their children while they are still in utero and one of the most popular things that parents read to their children are fairy tales.

One thing you will be slapped in the face with repeatedly while reading any fairy tale is that all fairy princesses find their prince and then live happily ever after. Of course most fairy tales were written so long ago that sure, finding a man and living your life together was the standard; but what you can absorb through watching just one episode of Sex and the City is that finding a man and living “happily ever after” is no longer the standard. Now, women can be without a man and still go on to pursue their careers, own their own home and most of all, be happy with who they are without needing the validation of having a man–And now there’s a fairy tale for the modern day life.

Princess Bubble is the fairy tale story of a princess who sees her friends find their princes, get married and live happily ever after all the while being told that she too must go out and find her prince charming. After searching high and low for the man of her dreams, she finds that she is happy just how she is–She has a career as a flight attendant, she has her very own castle (that is decorated just the way she likes it and she didn’t have to give up an entire room in that castle for her prince to make into a den or a rec room, by the way,) and best of all, she is happy with herself and her life without needing to find a prince.

This story is a must-read for both children and for adult women, in my opinion. It is a cute story and it validates women for the wonderful people that they are–And not because they attracted the attention of the right man. What I also liked about this story is that it did not mention that in order for Princess Bubble to be happy living her life without a man, she had to go out and get a lot of cats. The crazy cat lady stereotype may now be put to rest!

Innocent Images Takes Down Major Child Porn Ring

This is a few weeks old, but definitely still noteworthy. Hooray for the FBI having an entire program dedicated to catching child pornography and exploitation and an even bigger hooray for arrests and these sites being shut down!

Innocent Images, a program run by the FBI to combat online child pornography and child exploitation has recently busted a major child porn ring.

With messages that read “Mala is to die for in those pigtails.”, “I have a few 5yo [year old] Taras that you do not have.” and “Just dropping in for a hot minute … to help out the dry spell, and to give everyone something to do for an afternoon.” this ring doesn’t seem too different than the others circulating the internet, however, this ring had many features that Innocent Images had not come across before.

This ring was one of the largest and most sophisticated rings that the FBI has ever come across, using maximum security methods to make them increasingly hard to catch. The ring worked more like a business, with several different people spanning over different countries performing specific jobs within the community. The ring had traded, trafficked and posted over 400,000 images and videos and incorporated several operation security measures.

Since discovered, over 20 victims of child exploitation have been rescued and 22 men have been arrested in the United States, Germany, Australia and the U.K. while more rescues and arrests are being pursued.