Feminism at its Finest: April 2008

April 30, 2008 · Filed Under Feminism at its Finest ·

Hooray, it’s the April 2008 edition of Feminism at its Finest!

Carol presents Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing, a great post on spousal abuse and when you know someone who is being abused by their spouse–physically or verbally. Definitely a must-read, so head on over toCan’t Holder Tongue.

The Eclectic Female presents Recognizing Verbal Abuse in Relationships, saying:

“Words can hurt, and it is important to recognize when verbal abuse occurs.”

This is posted at Women’s Lifestyle.

Jackson Kern presents 40 Million Trees and a Nobel Peace Prize: One Woman’s Story, which is a video exclusive on how Wangari Maathai became the first African woman, and first environmentalist, to win the Nobel Prize for Peace. You can see the video at The Alternative Channel Blog.

John Phillips presents Guide to Hiring Women. I’ve seen these pictures before, but here’s a little trip to the past for you. This is posted at The Word On Employment Law.

Kejda Gjermani presents Dissecting the Burqa posted at Kejda.

Madeleine Begun Kane presents An Ode To Lefty Bloggers Who Hate Hillary Clinton posted at Mad Kane’s Political Madness.

Nine Deuce presents Porn Part 4: Half of the Big Picture. This post is not offensive. In fact, it makes some phenomenal points, such as:

“There’s no other object that is both desired and hated in the way women in porn are.”

~
“The porn industry is fucking lousy with producers who not only don’t work too hard to make sure their “actors” are of age, but who actively seek underage girls as they know it will increase the revenue they can extract from the kinds of assholes who are obsessed with virgins and young girls. Chances are, if you use a lot of porn, you’ve participated in the rape of a minor by proxy, especially if you’ve ever done a search with the word “young” in it.”

This is definitely a post worth checking out, posted at Rage Against the Man-chine.

Shaheen Lakhan presents Domestic Violence: Call for Primary Care Screening and Gender Issues - Part I, saying:

“Nearly half of women killed by their partner are seen in primary care settings prior to their deaths, but only 4% of them were in shelters.”

You can read the whole post at GNIF Brain Blogger.

Tali presents Plus Size Pinups - Could they Ever Grow Beyond Sidestream?, saying:

” Plus-size pinups are a niche within a niche. It’s hard to see a potential of growth outside of the plus-size fetish community. I would like to propose otherwise, by showcasing a few plus-size pinup artists.”

She also presents Where Pinups Got Their Start, saying:

“he end of the 19th century brought us the curvy, flowing styling of Art Nouveau. What better suiting movement to kick-start the pinups of the mid 20th century?”

Both of these stories can be seen at The Pinup Blog.

And lastly, for some shameless self-promotion, everyone should go check out my weekly section on the commercial sex industry, Take Me Now Here.

And that’s it for this month. Be sure to submit your posts for next month’s carnival here.

Tags: 2008 election, Africa, blog carnival, body image, culture, domestic violence, exploitation, Hillary Clinton, men, misogyny, porn, sex industry, Sexism, Take Me Now Here

Take Me Now Here: The Commercial Sex Industry and Feminism

April 19, 2008 · Filed Under Sex ·

Take Me Nowhere I have very briefly touched upon my thoughts on the commercial sex industry here and basically all posts I have written on the topic have been quite popular versus the other subjects I have written about.

With the attention those posts have received and after talking to a friend of mine who runs Take Me Nowhere, a great site that touches upon some taboo subjects such as marijuana, law reform, Wicca, Paganism, The Occult and also some personal tidbits thrown in there for the hell of it, we decided that while she gives the majority of conservatives quite a bit to get pissed off about already, why not throw some sex into the mix?

And so starting yesterday, I will be writing a section on the commercial sex industry, everything revolving around the sex industry and I also plan on writing a bit about feminist-friendly sex and (gasp!) feminist-friendly sex toys and stores! I have a lot of ideas, so check out my section, Take Me Now Here over at Take Me Nowhere (ha, get it?)

Tags: body image, brothels, culture, escort services, exploitation, marijuana, Media, men, phone sex, porn, prostitutes, prostitution, psychology, sex industry, sex trafficking, Sexism, strip clubs, Take Me Now Here

Debunking the Feminist Myth

February 25, 2008 · Filed Under Society ·

badass

When people hear the word feminist, most identify with the word on a level of pure extremism. Some can’t help but contort their faces into a horrified, “hide the children” expression. My personal favorite, however, are the questions–Do you burn bras? So you hate men, right? Are you a lesbian? How many abortions have you had? The list can literally go on for hours. But I have a secret for those out there who think feminists are all man-hating, bra-burning, soulless creatures of evil–You’re wrong.

The myths that revolve around feminism captivate me. They often make me burst into high-pitched giggling fits. At times, they even make me angry because of the sheer ignorance that people hold so close to them and the close-mindedness that they refuse to rid themselves of. I can already sense that this may be just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to this topic and I may be writing more in the future on feminist myths.

Feminists come in all different shapes, sizes, colors, backgrounds and lifestyles; as does any “group” of people. Those who call themselves feminists or those who identify with feminists are simply the people who care about women and the equality of both sexes alike. They are those who care about the rights we, as people of both sexes, currently have and utilize and about the rights we want. It is a lifestyle–A lifestyle of caring, of standing up for what you believe is right and understanding the full humanity of equality.

For the record, feminists cliches are not always correct. The biggest cliche revolving around this movement is the one I am going to disprove right off the bat–Not all feminists are female! Not all feminists burn bras; although some do (and take beautiful pictures of the process.) Not all feminists are man-haters; in fact, many feminists are in long-term relationships and marriages and have families. It is pure discrimination to believe that feminism and homosexuality go hand in hand. Feminists can enjoy cooking and “being in the kitchen.” Feminists are housewives who do not work outside the house yet may have husbands who do. We enjoy sex–even with men! We are not on a rampage to destroy children, we don’t all hate children and we are not out aborting fetuses every chance we get. We are in the workplace and most of us are also in the home.

By the above examples alone, women have not abandoned their “past identities” such as cooking, cleaning and providing for her family. Women have simply grown stronger and have grown upwards in society and have fought for the right to be active and contributing members of society and to their families; that is something to applaud and to be proud of, not something to hold against women or blame unrelated issues on.

Tags: cliches, culture, education, gender equality