Monday, April 20, 2009

Jazz - Delicious Hot, Disgusting Cold

To sort-of steal the quote from the presenter who played this on Radio 7 yesterday, every day should be started with the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band. It really does take some skill to be able to play so badly so well.



Now, back to university.

Sunday, April 05, 2009

Diary of a Hairy Young Lady: Conversations with other young ladies.

My friend was a little upset last night at the club, so I took her aside to where we could hear each other to have a chat. As we sat down, she glanced nervously at my strappy vest.

'Are... do you still do that... not-shaving-your-armpits thing?'

This was a little unexpected; such questions don't often just pop out of the blue from teary-eyed people who are asking advice on relationships. Nevertheless, I answered her question by raising my arm, exposing its now rather fluffy depths.

'Oh, cool. I'm doing that too - was worried I was the only one!'

The conversation then went on without further mention of hairiness.

Friday, April 03, 2009

Domestic Violence - Isn't it time someone called 'cut'?

Whilst Rhianna has been dragged out as the DV poster girl and had to suffer all the humiliation and idiotic, sexist commentary that comes with such unauthorised public exposure, Keira Knightley has teamed up with Women's Aid to produce this national awareness campaign against domestic violence. I must warn you, this could be triggering - the message isn't softened.



Knightley's line about 'not agreeing to this, this isn't in the script' is a telling one - women never 'ask' to subjected to this abuse and violence. Not by getting together with these men, not by staying with them, not by going back to them, not by 'nagging', not by being late home, not by burning the dinner - in the theatre of a woman's life, ABUSE WAS NEVER IN THE ORIGINAL PLOT - and she wasn't consulted when the scriptwriter added it in.

Also, via the Feministing Community, a Canadian PSA against verbal abuse:

Wednesday, April 01, 2009

Killing Us Softly 3

Kate posted an abridged version of this excellent talk a few days ago and I just had to dig out the full version. So, if you have a half-hour to spare, make yourself a cup of tea and sit back.

Jean Kilbourne talks about how advertising reflects and influences our view of women, often with a little humour but never de-emphasising how serious this subject is.











I couldn't help but notice that, in the comments for the first video, someone talked about how incredible it was for a man to post these videos. Whilst I am very pleased to see people spreading videos like this about and actively supporting the feminist cause, proudly calling themselves feminists, I couldn't help but bitterly think how very different the comments would be had a girl posted these. For every time I see a woman posting a feminist video or column, the comments are filled with vitriol, sexism, degrading comments; when men post feminist videos and columns, they are praised for being so amazing and brave as to believe that women are human beings too. So while I commend everyone, regardless of gender, who makes and spreads these videos and blog posts and articles and artworks, my joy is always edged with bitterness that, even here, sexism rears its ugly head.