Thursday, February 24, 2011

More commercials I can't stand: Virgin Atlantic sets us back 50 years  

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Really, Virgin Atlantic? You couldn't have made a commercial without the horrific gender stereotypes? Apparently they want us to live in a world where the men are the pilots and the businessmen, and the (skinny, white) women are flight attendants dressed in short red skirts and stripper heels. Thanks, Virgin, for your big middle finger to the feminist movement.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Radio show dude endorses candidate for her "tight little butt"  

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Bill Cooksey, of WRKO-AM, wins Douchebag of the Week... or maybe even the year... for the disgusting language he used to "endorse" Republican state treasurer candidate Karyn E. Polito. These remarks were said by him on-air:

I think she’s hot. She’s tiny, she’s short. She’s got a banging little body on her. Facial wise, I give her about a seven. Body wise, I give her about an eight-and-a-half. Tight little butt. I endorse Karyn Polito.

For the record, Cooksey is a grown man, not an 18 year-old frat boy, contrary to what his language might demonstrate.

Be sure to cite this incident any time an ignorant person claims woman have complete access to political office. Because yes, we may be able to run for office, but what is the point if no one will take us seriously?

Objectification of women is a rampant problem. Yesterday, I was walking along W 71st Street, when three gentlemen behind me proceeded to talk loudly about my ass. Even a "fuck off" from me couldn't get them to shut up and stop leering at me in a way that made me want to take a shower. You know how it makes me feel when I get reduced to a piece of meat? It makes me feel like less of a person... like I'm not worth the same as them because I don't deserve to be known for my personality or my thoughts or my feelings. Even though I know they're wrong, an incident like what happened to me yesterday can break my spirit. Because sometimes, I worry that there will never be a day when a woman can walk down a sidewalk or run for office without some waste of life, piece of shit moron commenting on her ass.

Monday, August 30, 2010

John McEnroe: tennis "asks too much" of women  

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Pro tennis player John McEnroe wants to look out for us ladies by ensuring that we don't hurt our dainty little arms picking up those big heavy tennis rackets. Better let the menfolk do it for us. In an interview, he said (among many other things):

"You're asking too much of the women. They shouldn't be playing as many events as men."

and

"They should be required to be in less events, there should be less events for the women. It seems it takes an actual meltdown on the court or women quitting the game altogether before they realize there's a need to change the schedule."

Thanks for looking out for us, John, but seeing as how you don't have a woman's body, I think it's a little tough for you to decide what we are and are not capable of.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Tweet of the Day  

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Who hijacked term:"feminist"?A cackle of rads who want 2 crucify other women w/whom they disagree on a singular issue; it's ironic (& passé)
-Sarah Palin

Well Sarah, you certainly don't speak for my cackle. Fun is at #cackleofrads and #jointhecackle on Twitter.
Sunday, August 8, 2010

Buffet of the Week  

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Found many-a interesting things while perusing the web on my Sunday afternoon, so here's a nice little round-up for y'all.

  • If you need your daily dose of disgust, you can read about the opposition to building mosques near Ground Zero.

  • For those of you who haven't heard, an appeal has already been filed against the Prop 8 ruling. No one's particularly surprised.

  • From The New Gay: Queers You Should Know: Fred Karger, Our First Gay President?

  • In honor of World Breastfeeding Week (which ended yesterday), Kimberly Seals Allers wrote a piece for Women's eNews about the low breastfeeding rates amongst black mothers.

  • I found this absolutely horrific but thought it served as a good reminder of the lengths people will go to in order to protect their precious gender roles. A man allegedly beat his girlfriend's 17-month-old son to death because he wasn't acting "manly" enough.

  • From AlterNet: In States Where "Gun Ed" Is Prevalent, Comprehensive Sex Ed Is Nowhere to Be Found.

  • Another one from AlterNet: The GOP Fights to Make African-Americans Sicker and Poorer.

  • Scenes from an anti-choice abortion-kills-black-babies protest.

  • Ironically, Lucky magazine airbrushed Jessica Simpson to make her look thinner in her photo for an article about how much she loves her body.

  • Jane Lynch. Hosting SNL in October. 'Nuff said.

  • Thank goodness for Rachel Maddow and her ability to take on offensive media powerhouses, e.g. Bill O'Reilly.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Horrific scenes from inside a crisis pregnancy center  

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I'm watching "12th & Delaware" right now (if you're not sure what it is, see below post) and one particular part got me so angry that I had to sign onto Blogger and start writing a rant-filled post in here to keep myself from throwing things. I was fine for most of the film because all the lower-than-low deceitful and manipulative tactics used by the anti-choice crisis pregnancy center in Florida wasn't anything I haven't seen before: make the young pregnant woman get an ultrasound, make her hold a tiny plastic fetus, refer to her "baby" as "he" and "him," call her and her boyfriend "mommy and daddy," etc.

BUT THIS.

In one scene, a 24 year-old pregnant woman went into the CPC, and she was what the staff calls "abortion-minded," which means she is certain she wants to have an abortion and probably wandered into an anti-choice center by mistake, which the CPC staff admitted in the film they hope happens. The staff member, who is most shown in the documentary, sat down with the woman, already a mother of 2, and started talking to her about her boyfriend.

Young Woman: He's not the best boyfriend... he is verbally abusive.
CPC Staff member: He's verbally abusive?
Young Woman: Yeah.
CPC Staff: For all you know, the baby changes him.


I'm still shaking. How dare you suggest a woman stay with an abusive partner in order to selfishly impose your own agenda. That was one of the most appalling tactics I have ever seen an anti-choice advocate use. They claim to be "pro-life," yet they tell a young impressionable woman to go back to her abusive partner because a baby might magically make things better. It just makes me sick.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Bored of your suitcase? Decorate it to look like you kidnapped a woman  

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Posted on Jezebel, a charming suitcase sticker that allows you to look like you're carrying a bound and gagged woman... and for only $15!


"Disgusting" doesn't even begin to describe it. Send hate mail to info@thecheeky.com.
Monday, July 12, 2010

Sexism: everywhere, even in birthday cards  

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Straight from Sociological Images, I didn't know whether to be appalled or just laugh at this utterly ridiculous birthday card from Dublin:




Oh, how cute.
Saturday, June 19, 2010

More reasons as to why same-sex marriage opponents are wrong  

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In light of the sheer stupidity demonstrated within the comments during the Prop 8 trial, Jason Kuznicki wrote an interesting opinion piece, analyzing the arguments of same-sex marriage opponents:

For the opposition, possibly the strongest is the claim that children need a mother and a father, and that marriage is the institution that ties heterosexual sex to childbirth and parenting.

Clearly, that's one thing that marriage does, but it can't be the only purpose of the institution. If it were, we wouldn't let 80-year-olds get married, and if you've had a hysterectomy, then forget it. To complicate matters, gays and lesbians also raise children, and an institution that ties them to their kids, and that empowers them to raise their children responsibly, seems like a reasonable addition to the law.

He later concludes:

All of this brings up a strange inconsistency to the opponents of same-sex marriage. Their ends -- every child gets a mom and a dad -- are strangely mismatched to their means -- prohibit same-sex marriage. It's sort of like banning bad moustaches to stop pornography. Perhaps there's some vague association, but that's about it.

Same-sex marriage isn't nearly the root of the problem, and we all know it. If it's really so important that every child gets a mom and a dad, then there is an obvious policy solution: prohibit divorce after childbirth. Of course, divorced parents are numerous and politically powerful, and it's always easier to scapegoat a minority.

Why, oh why, can't the same-sex-marriage-will-ruin-society crazies understand such simple and undeniable logic?

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Want oral sex? Buy her pretty things!  

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Oh my goodness, now I want to go down on you!

Came across a charming article from The Frisky called 19 Ways to Get Her to Go Down. According to this list, dudes can get blowies from their chicks by doing things such as: buying her jewelry, taking her to the opera, sending her flowers, or giving her an engagement ring.

How about: ask us and we'll "go down" if we effin' feel like it? Why all the bass-ackwards ulterior motive bullshit and not, oh I don't know, communicating with your partner? Major fail on the part of The Frisky and on the (female) author for perpetuating stereotypes that men are conniving assholes, and women are shallow gold-diggers.

O'Reilly compares gay people to Al-Quaeda  

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Bill O'Reilly has had some pretty douchey moments, but this might just be one of the douchiest things he's ever said in his entire douchebag history.

Remember the French McDonald's ad I posted about the other day, the one featuring the gay teenager with the phrase "come as you are"?

Last night, during O'Reilly's segment, first he and Fox News anchor Jane Skinner implied that the commercial will only make gay men hungry for McDonald's (what?) Then, O'Reilly went on to say: "Do they have an Al-Quaeda ad? You know... 'Come as you are.'"

Here's some advice, Bill: gently wrap hand around ankle, then in one swift motion, remove foot from mouth.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Assumptions that all skin comes in white  

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The ever-amazing Sociological Images posted recently about the undeniable fact that in the fashion world, "nude," "skin," and "natural" equals Caucasian, and I went hunting for some examples. I found three of them in all of five minutes.

This model is wearing a "natural"-colored bra (the name "natural" might be the one that bothers me the most).


Victoria's Secret made my case for me by putting a woman of color in a nude bra that clearly is so far from her skin color.


In this one, the color meant for black women is called "mocha," while the color meant for white women is simply "nude."


Lesson learned: white people are the default, and people of color are the other.

When will the fashion industry learn that there is no one color that can be associated with "skin"?

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Sarah Palin's anti-feminism  

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So, Sarah Palin recently spoke at the Susan B. Anthony List breakfast - for those of you who don't know, Susan B. Anthony List is "a political action committee helping pro-life women gain election to Congress." I watched some of the video of her speech but I couldn't get too far into it because my body wouldn't stop cringing whenever Sarah Palin mentioned the "new conservative feminist movement."



...Wait, what?

Isn't that an oxymoron? I respect people's individual political opinions, and I'm certainly not one to render feminism an exclusive movement, but I will until the day I die assert that a person cannot claim to want the best for women when they do not trust women to make the right choices for their own bodies.

I have met people who admit that they would never get an abortion themselves, nor are they particularly 100% comfortable with the idea of abortion, but they understand the importance of this right remaining intact because they know it is what is best for the emotional and physical well-being of women. To me, that is a true feminist: someone who, despite any personal hang-ups they might have about a particular issue, will always support the position that protects our needs and rights.

Sarah Palin is not that type of feminist. She isn't a feminist.

Here's what Taylor Marsh, of HuffingtonPost.com, had to say:

You simply can't be a feminist if you don't support a woman's individual rights. Announcing a "new conservative feminist movement" without acknowledging the individual freedoms of women won't cut it. This feministic facade that actually takes aim at women's rights should be seen for what it is.

Anything less than supporting women's full individual rights simply renders you a pretender, a fake, a feminist fraud.

I sincerely hope this "conservative feminist movement" doesn't gain momentum. I might have to *headdesk* repeatedly.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Sexist B.S.  

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With all the offensive lower-than-low crap slung by Republicans and right-wingers on a daily basis, this really shouldn't surprise me. But their ability to exhibit sheer stupidity and disrespect still amazes me. Rep. Betty Sutton (D-OH) was the target of a sexist attack when a Republican multimillionaire, Tom Ganley, who wants to take her place in Congress, funded a mailer sent out by the Republican party that said:

"Let's take Betty Sutton out of the House and send her back to the kitchen."

I still have a hard time grasping that people still actually think like this. Women have come so far thanks to feminism, but attacks like this are a blatant attempt to shove us ten steps backwards. Well, I'm standing right here. My feet are planted and I am not moving.

Sign the petition
to push Tom Ganley to denounce this comment, and for Medina County Republican Party Chairman Bill Heck, who continues to defend this sexist attack, to step down.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Douchebag of the Day  

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...Robert F. McDonnell, governor of Virginia!

This prestigious award is given to Bob because of his push to create CONFEDERATE HISTORY MONTH in Virginia to honor a rich history of oppression, slavery, and proclaiming that "the negro is not equal to the white man."

Keep up the good work, Bob.

Fit into a gender role, NOW!  

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Well, Caster Semenya has fallen out of the media, but luckily people have yet another public figure to impose gender upon. A Filipino singer, Reggie Ramirez, from "Pilipinas Got Talent" has become known for his ability to sing both "female" and "male" parts of songs, and his tendency to perform in both women's and men's clothing.



And inevitably people MUST KNOW! Is it a tranny? A dragqueen? A hermaphrodite? WHAT IS IT?!? WE CANNOT ACCEPT THIS PERSON UNTIL THEY FIT INTO A GENDER BOX! AGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Methinks people should save themselves a whole lot of trouble and just realize it's none of their damn business.

Sebelius chews out Westboro protesters  

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Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius severely criticized the crazies that come (largely from Fred Phelps' Westboro Baptist Church) and protest funerals of former soldiers. You know, these people:


You really can't publicly condemn them enough.

Friday, April 2, 2010

$250 million for abstinence-only education in health care reform  

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Like cockroaches, abstinence-only education programs just will not die, no matter how many times they are proven to be a load of crap (I'm not buying the new studies that say they might work).

The health care reform legislation that President Obama signed includes a renewal of $50 million per year for five years for abstinence-focused education. That's $250 million to tell young people to put their chastity belts on.

RHRealityCheck has an explanation on how this funding made its way into the health care bill:

Here are some of the things we are hearing. Even though a number of prominent Democrats including Cong. Henry Waxman (D-CA) had contacted leadership and demanded that the ab-only programs be pulled from the bill, we’ve been told that leadership was focused on the "bigger issues" and never reached consideration of the ab-only piece.

Boy, does that ever smack of the “dog ate my homework” excuse. There was no rationale for keeping this amendment in the bill. Hatch is a Republican who opposes health care reform so there was no political need to placate the author of the measure. Taking Title V out of the bill would have saved a quarter billion dollars over five years and Democrats were desperate for savings so they could show that the bill would reduce the federal deficit.

Finally, we’ve been hearing that the recent publication of the Jemmott study showed that abstinence-only programs really work. One small problem with that line of thinking. Jemmott’s program would not qualify for Title V funding since it doesn’t follow the rigid, ideological eight-point definition—a point made by the authors themselves! So there is still no evidence those programs work; in fact quite the contrary.

This whole health care reform debacle is giving me an aneurysm.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Obama maintains ban on federal funds for abortion  

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Upsetting news. From The New York Times:

President Barack Obama signed an executive order on abortion on Wednesday that had won crucial votes for his healthcare bill, but disappointed women's groups that have been among his most enthusiastic supporters.

The order is intended to ensure the new healthcare law will maintain a ban on the use of federal money to pay for abortions, except in cases of rape or incest, or if the life of a woman is in danger.

The White House announced on Sunday that Obama would sign the order in exchange for support for the massive healthcare overhaul bill from Democratic abortion rights opponents' in the House of Representatives.

It's upsetting that Obama hasn't turned out to be as much of a supporter of reproductive justice as we hoped. But it's tricky... the morons who don't understand that a woman controlling her own body is a necessity won't budge on health care reform unless they know their tax dollars won't go to providing abortions.

Dear opponents of federal funding for abortion: There are plenty of places I don't want my tax dollars to go... but guess what! Part of being a U.S. citizen is paying all our taxes. Get over this "I don't believe in it, so I won't pay for it" bullshit, because that's unrealistic. Women need reproductive care, and there is no good reason to prevent this legal procedure from being funded by federal money. There will always be a demand for abortion, and whether you decide the government can pay for it or not, women will find ways to control their reproduction. The only difference is receiving the $700 to have an abortion safely and legally vs. paying a stranger $50 for a punch in the stomach. For once, stop thinking about what your churches tell you, and start thinking about the lives of women!

GAH!

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Protect our schools' textbooks  

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This whole Texas textbook debacle makes me shudder. It may sound cliche, but true change does rely heavily on our children. But how can they understand what needs to change if they are being fed B.S. in school? The entire schooling system angers the hell out of me. I wasn't taught a damn thing about feminism until twelfth grade when I had a feminist teacher for my U.S. government class, who finally explained women's suffrage in a way that I understood. Still, she was forced to teach us how to pass the AP test instead, and had to leave behind most of the truly important stuff.

Well I'll tell you: I don't remember one thing on that AP test, but I do remember her telling us how Alice Paul was sent to prison, where she went on a hunger strike and was force-fed meals through a rubber tube inserted in her throat... and all so women would be treated like human beings. Still, my eyes weren't truly opened to feminism and the importance of equality and all the social injustices that exist in this world until I went to my super liberal college. It's so upsetting to me that children are being given textbooks that glorify Christopher Columbus (and leave out his slaughtering of Native Americans), exclude the LGBTQ movement, and devote all of two pages to women's rights. And it's about to get worse! From CredoAction.com:

Led by far-right ideologues, the Texas SBOE recently gave preliminary approval to a plan that would radically change what children across the country learn in history class.

The ultra-conservative majority on the board (none of whom are experts in any academic discipline and many of whom are explicitly anti-science) took the curricula proposed by teachers and made over a hundred changes to "correct" the perceived left-wing bias.

But it gets worse. Since Texas is one of the largest textbook markets in the country, material written to cater to the Texas curricula will find its way into textbooks across the country unless textbook publishers take a stand.

We can't allow a small group of extreme ideologues on the Texas State Board of Education to re-write history.

Children who use textbooks conforming to the new standards will not learn anything about the political philosophy of Thomas Jefferson or his thoughts on the separation of church and state. When they learn about the Civil War, they'll have to study Jefferson Davis' inaugural address alongside Abraham Lincoln's. And when they study the civil rights movement they'll have to learn about the "unintended consequences" of Great Society programs, affirmative action and Title IX. Oh — and Joe McCarthy was right all along no matter what historians actually say about it.

*bangs head on desk repeatedly*

Write to the United States' largest textbook publishers and tell them this is unacceptable, please. The future of this country depends on it.