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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.

I Call Shenanigans!

April 23, 2008 · Filed Under Politics ·  

Hillary Clinton I’m calling even more shenanigans today, when I found out that Hillary Clinton won Pennsylvania.

This makes me even more sad than I was yesterday. After losing 11 straight states, Pennsylvania is the state that makes Hillary think she can make a comeback.

Grumble…

Voting for Hillary Just Because She’s a Woman?

March 12, 2008 · Filed Under Politics ·  

Hillary Clinton The topic of being a feminist and Hillary Clinton has come up quite a bit across many websites that I read and I have been meaning to address my feelings on the topic for quite some time now.

Are people counting on the population of feminists to secure Hillary’s standing in the presidential election? Are people counting on the population of women as a whole to secure Hillary’s standing? I think some are, but in a way I feel that that specific way of thinking is doing nothing but addressing women as nothing but sheep who believe that just because a woman is looking to find her way into the white house that other women will help her get there. I do not believe that by being a woman, or by being a feminist, that I am trumped to vote for Hillary no matter what just because she’s a woman.

This argument also reaches to Obama. Are black people voting for Obama just because he’s “one of them?” When putting it that way, of course it sounds racist, but by believing women will vote for a woman candidate based purely on reproductive organs, it is treating that situation the exact same way if people were to come right out and say “Well the only reason you’re voting for Obama is because you’re also black.” Or the same goes for McCain with “You’re only voting for McCain because he’s an old, white man and you also happen to be an old, white man.”

What ever happened to voting for a candidate based purely on how they stand on issues you feel strongly about? If Hillary was pro-life, would women still feel the need to vote for her based solely on her gender? I sure as hell hope not.

Some feminists believe that by not voting for Hillary, you are being a bad feminist and to me, this sounds a bit out of line. Sure, a woman president is good for history and on the same line, an African American president is also good for history, but does that really play a part in who would do the best job in office? Feminism is a movement that is based on equality and being granted the same rights and freedoms that men have, so by voting for a woman candidate just because she’s a woman, aren’t we taking a step in the wrong direction? Are we saying to hell with the men candidates just because there is a woman running for president? Isn’t that a bit sexist?

I am a firm believer that when it comes to voting someone into office, we must look closely at what their mission is and how they stand on issues that I care a great deal about. I believe that we must vote for the person whom we can agree with the most and who has our same ideals. I believe that who I vote for can be a man or a woman, as long as I can agree with what they are saying.

Our primary here will take place in April and when I vote, I will not be voting for Hillary. I do not believe that I am being a bad feminist or a bad woman by not voting for her, I simply do not believe that she will do the best job in office. By voting for someone who I believe would do the best job as president and who stands firmly on issues that I care about is what makes me a good feminist, it is what makes me a good woman and most importantly, it makes me a good citizen.

Third Edition of Feminism at its Finest

January 13, 2008 · Filed Under Feminism at its Finest ·  

feminism at its finest blog carnival The third edition of Feminism at its Finest is here! This week was a great turnout, a lot more than I expected. Thanks to everyone who contributed.

Firstly, my favorite feminist post I’ve seen this past week is from Cara of the The Curvature. In Whose Abortion? she talk about a new men’s rights, anti-abortion movement that seeks to change political and personal language from “I had an abortion” or “she had an abortion” to “We had an abortion.” This is definitely a must-read; I know I was seething from beginning to end!

Madeleine Begun Kane presents a great little piece on bras, Keeping Abreast Of Bras. Bras…a subject I am all too familiar with, yet not so familiar with at the same time. I know I hate them, I even know how much I hate them! This and much more is at Mad Kane’s Humor Blog.

D Robinson wrote a post warning people about an incredibly offensive T-shirt website that completely degrades women and uses their merchandise as their little sexism playground. Men behaving badly: sexist t-shirt slogans.

She also presents a post, ‘Right to Life’ bias in pregnancy counseling, which talks about anti-abortion pregnancy centers and pro-life extremists, citing a specific website, Pro-Life Victoria. This website has pictures of alive children and of course, being the extremists they are and carrying the entire pro-life “movement’s” belief that women have no idea what they are doing or are too unintelligent to care when seeking an abortion, aborted fetuses. For this, I issue a trigger warning because these types of pictures, while unnecessary and uncalled for, are rather disturbing. Both of these posts can be seen at Australian Women Online.

Vishal Gupta wrote a post, along with every other person in the blogosphere, about the one woman getting the most publicity in the media, Hillary Clinton. Iron my shirt?- Sexism and Leadership is posted at A Business Professor’s Weblog.

Megan Bayliss presents a great post on the traveling bra project that All For Women have going on right now, All for women, two sheilas and under cover BRAvery. She says:

Some women wear their bras on the inside, some on the outside. I wore mine up the street, in full view, as a consciousness raising walk about women’s issues and the circle of friendship between women the world over. Who stopped to talk to me about the bra - WOMEN.

Read this post at Imaginif child protection became serious business.

blue skelton presents Slippery Slope Movie Trailer, a trailer for a movie about Sarah Shenck and her dream to direct meaningful movies with a feminist message, but desperate for finances, finds herself directing a porno film. Could be interesting, especially if done right. This can be seen at Blue Skelton Publications.

For all of the business women or business women hopefuls out there, Bonnie Krueger has a post about business grants and loans–Where Do Women Go To Find Business Grants Or Loans? This is posted at Women Personal And Business Loans.

This week’s turn out was great! Thanks to everyone who submitted their posts, you can start submitting any feminist posts you may have for next week’s carnival!