Thursday, April 30, 2009

Boys fix things, Girls need things fixed.


Wow, I can't even believe i found this. This is a vintage cartoon i found on www.feministing.com . This gem comes from a children's book called, "I'm Glad I'm a Boy! I'm Glad I'm a Girl! It is from the 1950's and is obviously a gender-based message through a book. Examples in this book include "boys are doctors" and "girls are nurses" what kind of message did this give of to the children. Its pretty much saying women can't be police officers and men can't be nurses. Oh, have things changed that's for sure. This book is surprisingly still in the library when it was made nearly 60 years ago. I'm guessing back then that kind of book was okay and was exceptable for children. This is a prime example how much women have become equal to men. Sure there are still sterotypes but they're definitely not printed in children's book.

"Save Second Base"


So, I was on feministing.com and saw a blog about a campaign that is done every year at Princeton University, the student group Princeton Against Cancer Together holds an event called Manicure for the Cure, where they bring in beauty school students to do manicures for Princeton students in the days leading up to spring formals. Formals were that weekend, so advertising for manicure for the Cure are all over campus.But manicures for cancer is not the problem here, their slogan "Save Second Base" is. Second base as many do know is foreplay involving breasts. This fundraiser was for breast cancer and even though the slogan annoyed people no one said anything about it because they figured they were doing something good for cancer. Then this year are offering massages in addition to manicures to get the men involved. To advertise these services, they made posters that said: "Gentlemen: Save Second Base." "And that is when the proverbial poop hit the fan" says Chloe Angyal. I think breast cancer should at least be one thing that shouldn't be selling sex to men. I mean it's cancer for goodness sakes, it just attacks the breasts. And finally, we're not trying to save women's breasts were trying to save their lives.

What's your opinion about Miss California?

So I recently heard about Miss California and her answer about same sex marriage and thought it was important so I decided to write a blog about it. Miss Californias answer was that "in my country and in my family, I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman -- no offense to anyone out there." The first part that I don't get is her saying "in my country" her country? I thought we all lived in The United States, I mean she was trying to be Miss U.S.A. They even said that if it wasn't for that answer then she would have won Miss U.S.A. I'm not very sure on what my opinion is of this controversy. I believe in same sex marriage and i think it should be legal in all states of the U.S. but i also feel that its okay to speak your opinion. I think Carrie Prejean (Miss. California) could have worded her answer differently by stating what she believes but by not making it seem like that's the only way it should be. It's okay to have a opinion as long as you don't limit it from everyone else and making it sound like it's not alright to feel a certain way. Prejeans answer has hurt a lot of people including myself. She also stated that if she was to be able to answer the question again she wouldn't have changed her answer because she wanted to say what she really believed. I think that's fine but when you're on national TV especially trying to win Miss U.S.A you might want to consider everyone elses feelings and not just your own.

Octomom reality show...


So I'm sure we've all heard that the infamous "Octomom" Nadya Suleman might be making her own reality show of the life with her and her children. Apparently that whole idea went down the drain, but its back again. Suleman was close to signing a deal with some unidentified production company that would help her share her "sad"story with America. I can't believe the women who is a single mother who already had six other young children at home was not financially independent and was unemployed and conceived the octuplets and her six older children via in-vitro fertilization. Also, she claims she hasn't gotten or spent thousands of dollars on plastic surgery but its definitely apparent that she has, and that's just fantastic considering she was on public assistance programs at the time. What has America come to, considering having this women and her poor children be on a reality show? This is what she planned for and now she really doesn't have to work. Its apparent to me and many other people that shes definitely unstable. I don't think octomom should get to have her own reality show, like the well known show Jon & Kate plus 8, Jon and Kate Gosselin deserve their show. I hope this show doesn't actually air, I think it'd last for a season but only because people are interested, and I don't think any longer than that.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Domestic Violence in Tokyo

As I was looking through websites to find something to write on, I came across a post about Domestic Violence in Tokyo on Feminisiting.com.

"Domestic violence and emotional abuse are behaviors used by one person in a relationship to control the other. Partners may be married or not married; heterosexual, gay, or lesbian; living together, separated or dating. Violence can be criminal and includes physical assault (hitting, pushing, shoving, etc.), sexual abuse (unwanted or forced sexual activity), and stalking. Although emotional, psychological and financial abuse are not criminal behaviors, they are forms of abuse and can lead to criminal violence." This is a definition of Domestic Violence that i found on www.domesticviolence.org.

I'm very glad that reporter Al Jazeera's Tony Birtley did a video on the domestic violence issue in Japan. I had no idea that domestic violence was a issue in japan and has never heard about it in the news or articles except for this one. According to the post from the feminisiting website from a study last year, 25,000 women were violently beaten by their partners, an increase of 20 percent. 1 in 3 Japanese women have been physically assaulted in their relationships and 1 in 20 feared for their lives. According to the video it says that even if women come up with the courage to go to authority the police rarely take it seriously. I don't understand how that could be pushed to the side. As it also says in the video "Men think that as long as their is love, violence is permissive, just as a parent can slap its child to teach them how to behave." This IS a problem. Almost 100 percent of the time domestic violence by partners is caused by the need of power and control. There are some commericals and articles on the fight of domestic violence, but not enough. Like I said before I've never heard about the domestic violence issue in Japan and i think it should be addressed. The video also states that women's orgs believe that in this first world country many women will remain second class citizens. If women haven't become equal yet, when will they? And will they ever? I think Japan and many other countries that we don't hear about need to have more light put on the situation. I think these countries need the U.S. to help where women are considered first class citizens.


If you are in danger, please use a safer computer, or call 911, your local hotline, or the U.S. National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 and TTY 1-800-787-3224.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

LINDSAY LOHAN "SEARCHING FOR LOVE"

 I was on the ELLE news blog and came across Erin Clements new blog: LINDSAY "SEARCHING FOR LOVE".  In this blog Clements shows Lindsay Lohan "poking fun at herself in this Funny or Die spoof of an eHarmony personal ad, after her tumultuous split with Sam Ronson. "

Since the break up between Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson, Lohans been all over the covers of magazines and is the head news of talk shows and websites.  In this eHarmony personal ad Lohan makes fun of herself about what seems to be the talk of the nation, Lohan being extremely alone, depressed and heartbroken. According to the ad Lohan seeks a mate who "likes a night out on the town (as long as he or she is driving), likes ankle monitoring bracelets, and doesn't have family members quick to issue restraining orders." I think it's very healthy for Lohan to make fun of herself  and to show the public that she's just a 22 year old girl who's heartbroken.  I don't agree with publicity being on her case all the time along with other actresses.  I know a lot of people that feel the same way yet we all still buy the magazines that hit these topics and read the articles.  I know a lot of people that "hate drama" but why do we all like the drama in other peoples lives? I think that even though these people are famous that doesn't mean we should be monitoring  their lives 24/7. They have drama and issues just like everybody else, but when it's them and not us everyone seems to find it funny and make it 10 times worse than it really is.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Does 311 really stand for KKK?


311 is a popular 90's band that is always asked what 311 actually means. Growing up I've always heard that 311 stood for KKK, the 11 standing for K as the eleventh letter in the alphabet and 3 meaning 3 K's. It's no surprise that I’ve heard this considering that Americans have been consistently fighting the racial battle still to this day in 2009. 311 is constantly interviewed and asked if their name really stands for the Ku Klux Klan. Many times the band has answered with, " a number dictated to me by a higher intelligence", or that "3 minutes and 11 seconds is the perfect length for a song". The media has never believed 311, and always seems to go back to the original KKK rumor. It's no surprise to me that media carries on about this rumor because Americans have become accustom to believing the worst in things rather than the good. I think that media publishers would publish the racial rumor to draw more attention and to have high rates rather than the real explanation. Just like 311, other famous bands and people have to deal with these controversies everyday. It's sad to me that in order to sell a magazine or band, the media has to come up with a negative story about them to get societies attention.