and sometimes chihuahuas . . .

I know this is not political, nor is it about feminism, but when I saw this image I couldn't believe how stunningly beautiful this little chihuahua is, wrapped in a lovely scarf, impersonating Kim Novak. The image is available from Etsy seller Lucy Snow.

you just have to be scared . . .

Pretty hilarious critique of those osteoporosis drug advertisements. I actually never thought about them as being gendered in a sexist way, but they sure are. Just goes to show what a good parody can do for critical thinking!

p.s. Feministing mentions that Sarah Haskins is no longer doing her lady advertising spoofs--oh no! What will we do without her?

stuff christian people like . . .

I found this really great, snarky blog called Stuff Christian Culture Likes. It's pretty funny and actually enlightening. Most of the posts are kind of silly, but I actually learned a few things about contemporary christianity that I didn't know. Check it out--it's interesting! Being a semi-fan of 24, I really like this Jack Bauer post. Hilarious!

Lemon-Blueberry Coffee Cake semi-disaster

This morning I made a delicious coffee cake that I've made before. It's a lemon-blueberry coffee cake, made with bisquick, lemon, sugar, eggs, milk, and fresh blueberries. I mixed it up, baked it, then took it out of the oven. Then, like a doorknob, I didn't test it for "doneness."

So of course when I tried to flip it out of the pan, it kind of fell out in a saggy heap. So sad! So I put it on a pizza pan and baked it for another 15 minutes. It looked ridiculous, but tasted very good.

I learned my lesson: always measure the bluberries, and always always test for doneness. Duh.

Jaan Pehechaan Ho!

I love the novel Ghost World by Daniel Clowes. In the movie version there is this incredibly groovy song, and my very stylish and cool friend Nikki posted this video of the very cool song on FaceBook. I decided it was so awesome I wanted it on my blog.

Enjoy!

Oklahoma not okay!

From The Daily Beast:

The Oklahoma Legislature has voted to override two vetoes to pass two strict measures restricting abortion. One requires a doctor to set up an ultrasound in the woman’s room, show her the fetus, and describe its organs and limbs (there is no exemption for rape or incest). The other says doctors are not liable for malpractice if they elect to not tell a pregnant woman that the fetus she’s carrying has birth defects—the intent is to prevent parents from suing a doctor who hid the information to prevent an abortion. Democratic Gov. Brad Henry vetoed both measures, calling the second “unconscionable” in allowing a physician to mislead a patient. Another measure in the legislature requires a woman to fill out a questionnaire about why she’s seeking the procedure; the statistics based on answers would be posted online.

You can read more about this idiocy at the New York Times.

bitch, complain, appreciate . . .

I've been wanting to complain lately. Not for any particular reason, just because I'm getting irritated at certain things in life that continue to plague me when perhaps I should just let them go . . .

So I thought I'd first appreciate a few things.

1. I love this piece of art by Jennifer Davis. Sublime.
2. I love the spring in Des Moines. Nothing better.
3. I really truly love my family and friends.
4. I like it when strangers wave at me.
5. My sister can make me laugh harder than anyone else. (sorry, Bob.)
6. The semester is almost over! Summer awaits!
7. I love the new word for redheads: Gingers!

Now here are my complaints:

1. It really bugs me when people call California "Cali."
2. I'm sick of people texting and talking on their cell phones ALL THE TIME.
3. I'm really, truly tired of anti-feminist bullshit and unexamined male privilege.
4. If those Tea-partiers don't go away soon I might scream.


So, now that this is all out of my system, I can go on about my life and perhaps finish all the work I should have been doing as I wrote this diatribe.

Too Fat for Television?

Here we go again. Apparently, ABC did not want to show this advertisement for Lane Bryant lingerie because there was "too much cleavage" showing. The ad was supposed to air during some show called Dancing With the Stars or something like that.



I'm not a big fan of lingerie ads, especially the Victoria's Secret commercials, since they perpetuate the objectification of women's bodies, and they uphold a ridiculous standard of beauty.

The Victoria's Secret images, in particular, reinscribe the idea that women need to have big boobs and be ridiculously skinny in order to be beautiful. That said, I like this Lane Bryant ad simply because the model is NOT stick-thin and has curves. But really, ABC, are you objecting to cleavage or to the fact that the model is more than a size 2?

Come clean, you scumbags.

UPDATE: Of course, Sociological images has a truly excellent and much more nuanced analysis. Check it out here.

You should call it black-span???

Unbelievable. Really, truly, what a fucking jerk. The host was way too nice to him--should have called him out.

Vintage Franciscan china is sublime . . .

and I'm weirdly obsessed with these beautiful Franciscan china patterns. I don't know why I've got this jones for these particular patterns, but for the last few years I've been slowly collecting various pieces (only when they're reasonably priced) on Etsy and Ebay.

Also, I thought I'd take a needed break from ranting and raving about politics and add a little homage to design.

These patterns are, from top to bottom, Fern Dell, Sycamore, and Moondance. Love these vintage patterns.

Stupid People Scare Me!

Another astounding video from the smart and sassy folks at New Left Media. If you can bear it, this video is truly worth watching.

Women Deserve Better Than Feminists For Life

Last night I attended a talk given by Serrin Foster, president of Feminists for Life. This talk was sponsored by the pro-life student group at Drake. I decided to attend because I was very curious how such a group would present their ideas and ideology. To me, feminist and pro-life don't really go together. I do accept that many feminists disagree about many things, but I also feel very strongly that feminism must accept female autonomy in terms of reproductive rights. That said, I was very disturbed by the group's message last night.

Serrin Foster is a dynamic speaker and very personable. She is also smart, knowledgeable, and seems to care about women. But, and this but is a big one, despite all of the rhetoric of her organization, I have to argue that they don't care about women. They care about birth. And what I mean by that is that they don't really care about preventing unwanted pregnancy, or unplanned pregnancy, or helping women avoid pregnancy--they care about the woman once she is pregnant. Or really, they care about the pregnancy itself.

This organization actually does some really positive things for women. They try to make it possible for women who become pregnant while still in college or grad school to stay in school and complete their educations. They help with housing, childcare, breastfeeding issues, and healthcare. But they also only help a woman who wants to keep or adopt her baby. They are profoundly against abortion--no matter what. So in other words, they care about helping women give birth, and uniquely, they actually give a shit about her life once she gives birth. My objection to all of this is that there is no room in their ideology for anything but reproduction--no abortion, no birth control, no family planning.

When I asked Ms. Foster about if her group helps young women prevent pregnancy by providing sex education and access to contraception, she told me that they only really get involved once the woman is pregnant, partially becasue there is "so much controversy" about the various methods of birth control. This stance tells me that they really don't care about women--they care about the pregnancy. Pro-life? No. Pro-birth is more like it.

I could go on and on about the problems and inconsistencies of this group and their twisted ideology, but I've got real work to do. Some of my work involves helping actual women with all kinds of issues. But I have to mention one thing in particular--I liked Serrin Foster. She was smart and seemed kind. She actually spoke the truth about many things, although she did make a few important factual errors--like saying that any woman can get an abortion any time during a pregnancy, even during the ninth month. This is patently wrong--abortion is illegal in the third trimester. Anyway, when one particularly smug woman in the audience asked a question about women who have abortions cavalierly, Foster backed me up when I argued that this woman was dead wrong.

My other favorite moment was when another woman in the audience made a comment about how birth control messes up a woman's body by subverting a system that is meant for reproduction. Aha! I asked her if she realized that what she was saying was that women should only have heterosexual intercourse in order to reproduce. A bunch of people in the audience spoke up, challenging my interpretation of what the woman meant. So I asked her, are women allowed to have sex for pleasure? She said yes, in marriage. So then I asked, so not outside of marriage? She said, no--that's what the Lord wants.

Once that came out, to me, the real purpose of Feminists For Life and their vision for women was crystal clear. Their mission is an end-run around reproductive rights. Their goal, although not explicitly stated as such, is to convince women that it is not feminist to have an abortion, and that their true purpose on earth is to give birth. In other words, their slogan "women deserve better than abortion" means nothing more than abortion is wrong and women who have an abortion are also wrong. Birth control is wrong. Family planning is wrong.

I wish I had the time to more thoroughly analyze the talk and this group. If you're interested, you can visit their website and read for yourself how they have appropriated the language of feminism to further their decidedly anti-feminist goal of controlling women's bodies.

Why are we afraid of the word vagina?

Here's a funny advertisement for a new line of period control products. Er, rather, tampons and pads!

Although I like the humor of this ad that really makes fun of our cultural cover-up of bloody menstruation, I wonder why we still can't say vagina on television?

Headline I'd LOVE to See . . .

I just read a headline about the most recent teacher student sex scandal to hit the news. This incident was especially upsetting because it took place between a teacher and a student at my former middle school (which was called junior high back then) David Starr Jordan Middle School, in Burbank, California. Very sad.

I appreciate very much the headline which reads: Teacher-Student Sex 'Never the Kid's Fault.' Of course that is a laudable and excellent ideology to assert in cases like this. I agree. But what is bugging me is how I have never, ever, read a headline about rape where anyone states a similar sentiment.

I would love to see a headline that read: Rape is Never the Woman's Fault. Or, Rape is Never the Survivor's Fault. Let's work on that, shall we?

We need to work very hard to destroy this hideous rape culture that we tolerate and participate in each and every day.

Ignorance is not bliss . . .

Well, the State Board of Education in Texas has gone and done something really stupid and willfully wrongheaded. They have decided to revise their curriculum in social studies to more purposefully reflect the conservative, reactionary, and just plain incorrect views of certain members of the Board.

Here are a few of the highlights:

•Religious conservatives on the board killed a proposed standard that would have required high school government students to “examine the reasons the Founding Fathers protected religious freedom in America by barring government from promoting or disfavoring any particular religion over all others.” That means the board rejected teaching students about the most fundamental constitutional protection for religious freedom in America. (3/11/10)

•Religious conservatives stripped from the high school sociology course a standard having students “differentiate between sex and gender as social constructs and determine how gender and socialization interact.” Board member Barbara Cargill argued that the standard would lead students to learn about “transexuals, transvestites and who knows what else.” She told board members she had conducted a “Google search” to support her argument. Board member Ken Mercer complained that the amendment was about “sex.” The board consulted no sociologists during the debate. (3/11/10)

•Board conservatives succeeded in censoring the word “capitalism” in the standards, requiring that the term for that economic system be called “free enterprise” throughout all social studies courses. Board members such as Terri Leo and Ken Mercer charged that “capitalism” is a negative term used by “liberal professors in academia.” (3/11/10)

•The board removed the concepts of “justice” and “responsibility for the common good” from a list of characteristics of good citizenship for Grades 1-3. (The proposal to remove “equality” failed.) (1/14/10)

I've always tried not to marginalize Texas because both of my parents were born there--but this is not a good sign. If you want to read more about it, there is a good article about this fiasco at the New York Times.

Husbands and Husbands

Came across this video on FacePage this morning. I have to say it is one of the best things I've seen in a long time. Perhaps there is hope for the world!

Looks Like Pants!

This cover article in Life & Style magazine deserves some kind of award for ridiculousness and sheer stupidity. Apparently, Shiloh Jolie-Pitt (daughter of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt) recently got a short haircut and frequently wears pants.

Holy Shit! A little girl is wearing pants! What does it mean?

Well, apparently, to the critical-thinking challenged folks over at Life & Style, this wardrobe and hairstyle choice may be dangerous to little Shiloh. Because, you know, she is wearing pants.

I have some news for you idiots at Life and Style: women have been wearing pants for many years. We also frequently get short haircuts. This is not 1940. Wake up, ya morons! Clothing choices are irrelevant . Haircuts are NOT that important. Gender identity is fluid! Females can wear whatever we want, and cut our hair, and even change our names. The world will not end. We are not "damaged" by this gender liminality.

Trololololo

I'm not even sure what this is, what it means, what it's from, when it's from, or why I like it. But here it is: your few minutes of joy and silliness.

I'm betting on number 9.

Okay, so I know this is mean-spirited and cruel and all of that, but I can't help myself. Dick Cheney has had yet ANOTHER heart attack this week. That makes five. How many fucking heart attacks can a person have before he dies? Especially when said person doesn't even really have a heart, since he is pure evil. Just saying.

So which one is going to kill him? Let's start a pool.

Double Plus Ungood

Well, this is not a good sign. The Justice Department, after years of wrangling, has cleared John Yoo and Jay Bybee (Bush Administration lawyers) of misconduct in the "torture memos" scandal. In other words, the two lawyers who crafted the memos that gave the Bushies permission to use waterboarding and other methods of "enhanced interrogation" are not going to be prosecuted. They did show "poor judgment" but will not be sanctioned or tried.

This is not only sad, but dangerous and misguided. We need to prosecute the people who were and are responsible for denigrating the constitution and the people of the United States.