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

The World is Now Dominated by Women, Where Have I Been?

March 26, 2008 · Filed Under Society ·

After hundreds of thousands of years of men ruling the world and everything in it, especially women and government, men are now saying that they feel emasculated. Boohoo.

Via Broadsheet, I read about a study done by the Telegraph surveying the feelings of modern men living in the 21st century. About 2,000 men and women were polled for this study online and the outcome is quite shocking, in a “You got to be kidding me” kind of way.

“Many men believe the world is now dominated by women and that they have lost their role in society, fuelling feelings of depression and being undervalued.”

Wow, you know, this sounds eerily familiar. Say, aren’t men guilty of dominating the world and making women feel as if not only they don’t have a role in society, but they shouldn’t have a role in society? In fact, aren’t men continuing to make women feel this way today? Why yes, I believe they are! I would love to be informed as to where all of these women are dominating the world because I am sure as hell failing to see this.

This “study” also has the nerve to include:

“Asked what it meant to be a man in the 21st century, more than half thought society was turning them into “waxed and coiffed metrosexuals”

So what men are trying to say is that they feel it is unfair for them to be judged based on their physical appearance? Wow, that also sounds like more of the same. It is common sense that no one likes to be told or believe that they must live up to a stereotypical norm when it comes to appearance, but come on now, get serious. Men feel as if they are being forced into looking like something they’re not? Take a look at every Maxim, Stuff, Playboy, Penthouse and Hustler magazine; in fact, take a look at any magazine or turn your television on to any channel or watch any movie–And then look at the statistics for eating disorders and tell me that they don’t have the least bit to do with each other. Women have been conditioned to hate their bodies, which is the product of the media telling women what men want.

And lastly…

“Men said they “felt handcuffed” by political correctness - only 33 percent felt they could speak freely and say what they thought, whereas two thirds found it safer and to conceal their opinions.”

I know many women who find it safer to conceal their opinions, since women have also been conditioned to be seen and not heard and to be the pretty face next to the strong and powerful husband, which can clearly be seen in any story where a male politician or sports star is discovered in a sex scandal; of course, the woman is always standing by her man with her mouth shut, smiling politely like she is told to. A woman who chooses to speak her mind freely and openly is mostly ridiculed for her blunt honesty by the majority of people who care not to listen based purely on her possession of a vagina.

It seems as if once women set their footprints in the wet concrete of history and start making own choices without having to consult a man before doing so, the men start to get all uppity. You would think that with men feeling the way they apparently do, they would begin to see what women have gone through to get where they stand today and that they would understand and appreciate the activism and determination in which we have fought for our rights and have a better understanding of equal rights. However, men believe that they are deserving of all power in all aspects of life and in society based purely on their possession of a penis.

While you feel completely emasculated, confused and rejected from society, welcome to the lives of women.

Tags: gender equality, men, Sexism, stereotypes, women's progress, world domination

Voting for Hillary Just Because She’s a Woman?

March 12, 2008 · Filed Under Politics ·

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.

Tags: 2008 election, Hillary Clinton, Sexism

Sexy Girls Play the Wii and You Should Too!

March 9, 2008 · Filed Under Media ·

In my last post, I mentioned Nintendo’s sexist marketing strategies when it came to marketing the Wii. Just in case anyone missed the “sexy girls play the Wii and you should too” ad, which blatantly feeds off of male stereotypes, here it is:

There’s several different things wrong with that ad. After watching it for the first time I sat here thinking, “So the PS3 is educated and someone I’d actually like to converse intelligently with while the Wii is annoying and portrays a version of someone who I would like to give a book and a sandwich to? It also feeds off of the male stereotype that all men really want is someone who is blonde, a size 0, exudes sex, has no real thoughts of their own and thinks that being “cute as a button” is all that is needed to get through life. Hmm…