Take a Load Off...

These are my boys :) Well, I call them that because Dan (bass) is my Ohio boy, and I'm working on getting him to come to Pittsburgh and be my BFF; Nathaniel (vocals, guitar) & Jim (aka JimmyGroo; guitar) were pretty much the only two people I hung out with all of DrunkFest Savannah, GA Style / McJunkin-Hoover Wedding Weekend, AND they took care of my drunk ass multiple times I'm sure. And I just adore them all. Good, good people. GREAT musicians. Anyway. I thought this was really awesome, even if my iPod videography sucks haha :) Tribute to Levon Helms on the day he passed, coincidentally the day that Cry Fire played Club Cafe. I just share this everywhere hah :)

Cuties for sure.

Last Post!! For Intro to Women's Studies, anyway.

The most important, or most recommended, ten reading selections:

1. Romance: Sweet Love - bell hooks, page 186
2. Feminist Politics: Where We Stand - bell hooks, page 33
3. The Social Construction of Disability - Susan Wendell, page 91
4. The Social Construction of Gender - Judith Lorber, page 126
5. I'm Gonna Wash That King Right Out of My Hair - Elisa Albert, page 203
6. If Men Could Menstruate - Gloria Steinem, page 238
7. Love Your Fat Self - Courtney E. Martin, page 265
8. My Fight for Birth Control - Margaret Sanger, page 310
9. Eyes on the Prize - Selden McCurrie, page 347
10. Lisa's Ritual, Age 10 - Grace Caroline Bridges, page 542

PS- I do plan on continuing to use this blog for my feminist/political/ED related writings that I'm not sure I necessarily want on the other blog (belleofthebullshit) which I mainly use to whine about pretentious, whiny, emo things haha. Just saying, if you wanna keep reading even though class is done, I'll be posting.

funny or die? yeah, die.

This is one of a few disgustingly sexist got milk ads. Not sure if they're real or fake, I assume fake, but it doesn't matter - they're out there on the internet for everyone to see. This one in particular made me cry. No joke. Not only is the entire idea of a web site warning men about how they should force feed women milk because women with their hormones and bitches be crazy entirely appalling, but THIS one is just inexcusable. THIS is the kind of stuff that makes people think rape is funny, excusable, and not something to be taken seriously. Teenagers are the most frequent visitors to sites like Funny or Die, and instilling this kind of "humor" into their minds... it literally makes me cry.

See the others
(it's easiest if you select "view all on one page" at the bottom of the first slide)

DO NOT read the comments. You'll barf.

*facepalm*

 

I didn't know if this was a joke or not when I first saw it.
I don't know if I can write 150 words analyzing it... it pretty much does it on its own.

So, why isn't it for women? And what's wrong with just Diet Dr. Pepper? Do you need 10 calories when you're shooting guns and jumping in jeeps in the jungle, but only 10 so that you don't get fat off of the other 150 or so that are in regular Dr. Pepper?

I'm just... confused? Offended? Shocked? I don't get it.
And WHY IS THIS STILL ON THE AIR?!

NEDA had Yoplait stop running an entire ad campaign because all of the commercials were so eating disordered. I'm pretty sure there are enough women around who are offended by this to petition it off the air. I think that's what surprises me more than anything - it's so normal and fine to be sexist that things like this are just scoffed at but accepted. That's worse than the profoundly in-your-face sexism.

Schlitz!

 

I think it's extremely interesting to look at advertisements for beer from the 50s or so in comparison to beer advertisements now. The blatant sexism [literally] written out for you vs. the more subtle (for lack of the right word), borderline subconscious sexism. I personally find this advertisement for Schlitz absolutely hysterical - I even have it as a set of greeting cards. But it's easier to find humor in the chauvinism of past generations when it wasn't affecting or directed at me personally. In my head, I continue the dialogue just for goofs. "Don't worry darling, you didn't burn the beer! So go ahead and make some not burnt food while I drink this, and if it's on the table before I finish all my Schlitz, then I won't drunkenly hit you for not being a good wife!"

I know that's not funny, either. Just a thought. And I'm sure in some households, that's pretty close to how it went down.

Women's Work

I feel that in our class discussion pertaining to the chapter "Women's Work Inside and Outside the Home" there was an option that wasn't discussed. We talked about stay at home mothers, we talked about working mothers, we talked about the financial influence of those kinds of decisions, but I wanted to bring up that there's another choice, and it's what my mom did and does still: work from home mother. My mother was always the bread-winner, she was even my dad's boss for a while, and she has to work. Financially, it has never been an option for my mother not to work. She was vice president of a company for a long time, going into my teen years, and I barely ever saw her. When my sister and I fell into dark places in our own ways, we went into therapy. In a family therapy session (that only my mother and I were at), I was asked what I wanted from her. I shrugged and said, "I just want my mom back." When we left, she went back to work, walked straight to her boss and gave her two weeks notice. They didn't want her to leave the company, so they basically made up a job that she could do from home and she's done it ever since. She still works from home for the same company that's based in Texas. I think there's too much emphasis on the binaries, the black-and-white, the homemaker or the breadwinner. We can do both.

Paradox of Perfection

Ever since reading "Don't Give Up Your Day Job," I can't stop squirming over this notion of perfectionism. I frequently use the word "perfect," but then I'll go off on some linguistic philosophical rant about how there's no such thing as "perfection" and it's a myth and the word and idea is a massive paradox and I hate it. (I'm a hypocrite, I know. What can I say? I'm not perfect!) When Bennetts said, "Perfectionism is the bane of women's existence. Everything out there is just harping on women to perfect various aspects of themselves. The message is always: you should be better, and it's the wrong message." I just about jumped out my chair and yelled, "YES! THIS! EXACTLY!" It IS the wrong message for a multitude of reasons. "Should" is a horrible word. It's kind of like when Yoda tells Luke, "Do or do not. There is no try." Do, be, say, or don't. I'm not going to get into that any further right now. Next: perfectionism is the bane of anyone's existence in whatever area they're trying to be perfect in because it's a goal that is not achievable. So, you "should" lose ten pounds and you'll be perfect. Okay, so you do lose ten pounds, and you're still not perfect in your own mind, in the society's standards, in all the various institutions and influential forces that are telling you to be perfect.

"Perfectionism is the bane of women's existence. Everything out there is just harping on women to perfect various aspects of themselves. The message is always: you should be better, and it's the wrong message."
I just love that quote so much.