Monday, April 13, 2015

The End...For Now



This is totally the kind of world we live in.


Someone sent me this link showing a photo series showing the lack of boundaries women have pretty much everywhere; work, on the street, at the bar, even in yoga class. http://magazine.good.is/slideshows/photo-series-boundaries

There’s this poem called The Daughters of Zion from the Bible, and this is where I can talk about how rape is written, because Johnny Miles used a feminist approach to re-read the text as a rape text. The original author makes is sound like rape is okay, and pieces like this only contribute to the culture. We need to start writing about these assholes going to jail.

Another thing I read was about how many sex slaves had been taken during World War II. And pretty much any war that has happened anywhere ever. Why does that seem to be the first order to business in a war? Rape all the women! How many stories have I heard about a woman or girl being gang raped while her husband/father/brother were tied up in the corner and forced to watch?


WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE??? How can such an act of intimacy get turned around into a violent hate crime?

We need to talk about this. People need to stop being uncomfortable, and need to share their own experiences, because this problem is not going to go away until we do. We need to raise our children with different attitudes. Shame needs to stop. We need to realize that this is a terrible problem that has to be resolved.

Who’s with me?

Thursday, April 9, 2015

Clothes Provoke, My Ass

So I know I’ve been very into my own opinion with this project, and lacking in my scholarly sources and what I actually wanted this blog to be about (well, sort of). So today I have one: “My Body is My Manifesto: SlutWalk, FEMEN, and Feminist Protest” by Theresa O’Keefe.

Apparently, a bunch of women in Toronto had had enough with people blaming victims for their traumatizing experiences, and therefore created SlutWalk. “The subtext of his instruction is that there is a causal relationship between clothing and consent and that, ultimately, victims are themselves responsible when raped and sexually assaulted. Four Toronto women, enraged by the comments, sent out a call to women to flaunt their ‘inner slut’ and publicly denounce the police officer’s remark.”

FEMEN was a protest done by Ukrainian women going topless.

This is something that bothers me a lot. Clothes are the reason women get raped? How does that even work? People forget two very important things: Men get raped. Children get raped. Is it ever about what they were wearing? Here’s my personal experience with clothes calling attention:

Comments I get from guys while showing leg and/or cleavage:
1) …

Comments I get while wearing a turtleneck and dress pants: 

1) “You’re fucking hot. Does the naughty librarian thing actually work for you?”
2) “You look like the real live naughty librarian fantasy.”
3) “I’m going to have to get new clothes if I want to be seen in public with a classy lady like you!”


Revealing clothing provokes, my ass. I once got a comment just walking across the street to Albertsons, and a guy called out: “I wish that light would have stayed green so I could run you over. That way I'd have to call the paramedics and go to the hospital with you.” Wow, not only leered while just trying to get to the grocery store, but threatened with getting hit by a car first?? WTH???


The worst part is people don't think saying stuff like that is wrong. They can catcall, make grabs and all that, and then still get all: "I didn't do anything" when they're called out on it. Why does no one want to believe someone was sexually harassed and/or assaulted? I was on Facebook reading something Planned Parenthood had posted, and came across this comment:


Ugh. Really? Someone tell this idiot to get an education. Thankfully, someone did. They replied with: “Only eight percent of rape reports are false. Meanwhile, ten percent of reports by children who claim to be molested are false. However, no one is going to go on a psychotic tirade on how children are liars and use to system to screw men over. That's because, unlike women, we don't live in a culture that hates children. We don't live in a culture which paints stereotypes and myths of them being liars and manipulators. Your vitriol says more about you and the society we live in than it does about women and rape.” Another added: “Obvious guy who didn't get laid is obvious.”

This SlutWalk sounds like a great idea and I want to participate!

Maybe. I have a hard time showing my body off.

O’Keefe ends her introduction with: “I situate my analysis in the broader context of gendered body protests — protests that make explicit the use of the female body to call attention to issues that pertain to women’s bodies, or simply protests where the gendered body is both subject and agent. I argue that this is a useful lens to examine such protests as it can clarify and build our knowledge on how gendered bodies might best be used as sites of resistance.”


No one should have to suffer that way. ^