Demeaning Women and Dehumanizing Sexuality

I accidentally got into another Facebook debate today...

I know, I know, it's a low thing to do. It looks like you're just starving for notifications, yes I agree. And I very rarely dispute virtually anymore. But this time I honestly felt as though I had to say something. This girl, who I'm not actually friends with of course, but who added me because of mutual friends, posted a status today that said "If I were skinnier and actually had a rack, I would totally be a stripper!"

So of course, the raging feminist in me HAS to say something. I can't let an attractive young woman go on thinking these thoughts... it's my civic duty right!? I won't recap the whole thing, it's long and tiring. But basically I said something like the objectification of women's bodies both demeans women and dehumanizes sexuality, etc. etc. And for some reason, that idea is so foreign to today's youth. Like, "be a stipper if you have the body, show it off". For a moment, I got a little lost in my own head. I really did. Not that that's a strange occurrence. But I was lost. Because I felt for a moment, a little bit... Mormon grandma.

It's so strange how these things crossover. Not just in my head, but in everyone's opinion. In mainstream and obscure opinion. We can be so radically liberal, but at the same time so conservative. I found a lot of that in myself today.

Obviously, I love women. If you don't know that about me at this point, then you have not been reading my blogs very carefully. I think the woman's body is amazing, in every single way. I'm fascinated by every single movement, every strand of hair. So some would argue in my case that they should show it off! Be confident with their body! It only makes sense, right? I say: wrong. There are so many other ways one can go about being confident, loving their body, expressing their femininity, than using their body as a sex symbol for the enjoyment of men.

Interestingly enough, it started out with me debating men. Well, I wouldn't really say debating... I would say me spitting out awesome facts and word choice, and them going "women need jobs too". Eventually a women entered the conversation, and her view was that if women are confident they should do what they want with that, yes, okay, I get that. But there are so many women in the "profession" who are only there for the money. And again, there are other ways to be confident. Other ways to earn money.

Here's my solution. We stop supporting clubs and bars where men go to watch women completely degrade themselves, and then the option of being a stripper diminishes. I'm not saying that can happen, it's the same kind of thing with starting up Socialism in today's government. It's not really an option. But in my ideal future, we don't support these things. And yes, there are male strippers. There are women who go to watch men and women strip as well. This goes along with the dehumanizing sexuality thing I mentioned earlier...

I'm getting a bit ahead of myself. Okay. We stop supporting strip clubs. Who knows, maybe prostitution will increase in numbers. Obviously, it's not a one-step kind of thing.

We inform the women.

Another kid stepped in at one point, being the devil's advocate, saying things like "Women suck at math cuz no women in my cs classes duh thats why we make more money girls dont know how to work programming and java too hard so they take pshycology then say we are 99% wtf they complain about getting free dinners for looking pretty idont even get scholarshep for pretty." 


What's horrible about this comment, is that it's sincerely what SO MANY MEN are thinking today! Women in secretarial jobs, nursing jobs, is what we are still seeing dramatically. But what so many people are missing is that it IS the oppression coming from men, telling women that they can't achieve "man's work" and a lot of women even forming these ideas on their own based on society. Based on mass media. Based on the culture we are living in which is blatantly man-run. I don't give a fuck if there are three women in today's major branches of legislation, or whatever. I give a fuck that there aren't more. 

We need to be equal. We need everyone to be thinking on a level of equality. And what does that mean? It means being informed. It means being open-minded (which, albeit, I have trouble with myself sometimes). It means you look at your girlfriend or your wife, and you call them your partner instead. 


Every woman has the same potential as a man does. However, society is looming over us as this fat atmosphere where all you can see is fog. And the fog is sheltering us from what potential DOES reside ahead. 


Okay, I feel better now. Sorry for the super-ranty blog today. I'm re-reading "Women and Socialism", so you know, it was bound to happen.

So You Got Back Crack

I have many issues. That's not hard to miss when conversing with me, or just viewing my mannerisms. I'm incredibly awkward, and I hate it. I hate not being able to say what's on my mind in a non-blog circumstance, because I can't spit out what my head is processing. Or rather, I can't process things fast enough to regulate with the speed of everyone else. And I do have to process things a lot. I have to look at it from all angles and research the things I don't understand before I give an opinion. That's what makes me such a premium blogger! And a horrible conversationalist. Unless it's through email.


The reason I bring this up, is because people seem to misread me in that sense. They think I pretend to be well-educated in regards to politics, which okay sometimes I do, but all because I can't get out my opinions in person. I could easily be making this up in my head, but really, I can't uphold my image of suave intelligence in person. WHICH MEANS YOU need to help me. Because this public speaking class is doing squat. Seriously, I hate it so much. So. Much.

But this is a political blog so I'll stop being a whiny shit. Oh wait, that's all I do in this blog.

The Occupy Movements are coming to a crack-down all over the country. In New York, Oakland, Portland, you know the whereabouts. This morning they reopened Zuccoti park to the public...
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My niece Emery wanted to add her opinion. She's a little democracy advocate in the making.

BACK TO THE GOOD STUFF.


So the police have been moving in all around trying to get Occupiers to pack up camp, and get out. It's funny because, you know, right to assembly seems to be turning into right to assembly until the cops get bored with it. My only hope that this is just the peak. That these outbursts of aggressiveness from the "enforcements" are only the ultimate tipping point. Maybe this is the point where we need to be more active than ever before.

Here are some photos to help you sleep soundly tonight.

That's really all I can say right now about the movement. I feel like it's so... been said. There isn't much more I can say without being repetitive.

Republicans annoy me. This is accurate:


I'm related to too many republicans.

That's all I got today. Right now. I want ice cream.

(The title of this blog post comes from my sister Molly's misinterpretation of Montel Williams)

OH AND I FORGOT TO ADD

This Friday I am having a Salem Youth For Change meeting at Broadway Commons. We have a small conference room booked, but we can squeeze! So come on down, it's at seven. Don't know about SYFC? Fancily enough, I have a blog about it: salemyouthforchange.blogspot.com

And remember, the only reason you can excel in public education is because of Capitalism!

A Pissed Sydney (What's New?)

Hello all.

I'm going to start today off with a quote from myself.

"They ask me if I'm pissed. And I say, Never in my life have I been more pissed than I am now. But never in my life have I been less pissed either" That's from a poem I'm working on.

So why am I pissed off? Many reasons. First of all, my speech class was canceled after I spent so long preparing myself last night and sacrificing study time for my American Govt. midterm. Which was not canceled.

But that's not the main reason. The main reason is that there are so many idiots in the world. Ann Coulter, author of the book "Demonic" (which I assume is an auto-biography) commented on the Sean Hannity Show last night with "Our blacks are so much better than their blacks," talking of course about Herman Cain in comparison to Obama. "If you are a conservative black, they will believe the most horrible sexualized (making up words again) fantasies of these uptight white feminists,” UGH UGH UGH. She is so gross. Here's what I think. Republicans, not in all instances, are racist. Time after time they VOTE on anti-immigration laws. There is no way you can hide that those are fueled by racism against the latino culture. Against spanish speakers. Against brown skin. Are presidential candidates forced to be bilingual? And if you're going to be so "traditional" why are you completely ignoring the fact that this country was built on diversity? That every single person, aside from the natives, immigrated here?

I'm not saying all republicans hate Obama because he's black. I'm saying that you can't say you don't separate people based on race or ethnicity when you are constantly voting on things that prove you do. She says something about democrats always saying "blacks can't be republicans", which is understandable that she would think that's absurd. Because it is. They're just as much an immigrant as she is, but what doesn't make a whole lot of sense is that we as a whole aren't supporting further culture to be embraced by our country. We should be. It's the same with the fact that she's a woman. Constantly, there are clear signs of the right being very anti-woman in their comments and actions. So it's kind of odd that she is supporting a... "thing" that isn't supporting her.

Another reason I am pissed off. House of Representatives is expected to vote on... keeping America's motto as "In God We Trust". This is just annoying and disgusting. I believe this saying was taken on by the United States as a symbol of strength compared to other countries. Kind of a, We Are God kind of thing. It's creepy. I'm not one for religion, we all know that, and the fact the country (again, which holds a very sincere "freedom of expression" quota which involves religion) is forcing me to bow down, makes me very uncomfortable quite frankly. I don't care if you're religious, but don't push anything on me, and do not use "the bible" as your only source of "factual information". I'll be even more pissed.

That's all for now. You're welcome, Jill.