Why I’m a feminist, or THIS IS WHAT A FEMINIST LOOKS LIKE

First and foremost, I call myself a feminist because my vision of the world includes men and women on equal ground. I reject those attempts to try and make “feminist” a dirty word, making it seem like braless, unshaved women who think men should be kept underground. To me the word feminist represents a vision of equality, one which women still are striving toward, regardless of what undergarments they wear, who they sleep with, and whether or not they shave. I’ve met some people lately who don’t seem to understand that this is still a struggle we women face daily. Here’s what I mean, and this is just off the top of my head, by no means an exhaustive list.

I’m a feminist because:

• I (and all people) should be able to walk down the street not fearing rape. Most men have the privilege not to fear being forced against their will to have sex with someone else, and this may be an altogether unfathomable concept for many men. However, it is rare that I am able to walk down a street at night not aware about the lighting, the other people walking, and calculating the best, safest route home.
• I (and all people) deserve reproductive rights: the right to choose what happens to my own body. I’m talking about the right to abortion (if that’s what I so choose), and I’m talking about the right to choose when and how (at least partially) I want to have sex.
• I am a feminist because it is unacceptable that 1 in 3 women is sexually assaulted in her lifetime. If you think you don’t know these women, it’s because they aren’t talking, not because it didn’t happen. 1 in three: that’s either your grandma, your mom or your girlfriend. It’s your classmate, the women on the street, the woman next to you on the bus. It’s a third of us: the numbers are clear.
• I (and all people) deserve equal pay for an equal job. I still can’t believe this is denied to women.
• I (and all people) deserve to be respected and not have my perspectives discounted because of my gender.
• I’m a feminist because “woman” is a dirty word in our culture. I watch “The L Word,” “Sex in the City,” and virtually any other pop culture movie and hear women -- ages 20 to 65 call themselves and be called “girls.” What is this? Are we so afraid of our womenhood that we can no longer freely use the word ‘woman’ to describe ourselves? That it feels weird to use it to describe myself is motivation for me to keep using it. Woman isn’t a ‘politically correct’ word: IT IS WHO I AM.
• I’m a feminist because I’m tired of this bullshit standard of beauty that’s constantly being fed to me and that I am compared to. Belittling me will not make me buy your stupid product.
• I’m a feminist because I’m fucking pissed off that men feel justified honking, whistling, yelling, and making kissing noises at me on the street.
• I’m a feminist because it’s so hard to find a significant other that respects me. For not being a feminist, for not being outspoken, I am used and abused. I must speak up to be respected: this is what experience has taught me.
• Also, I know that being a (passing-as-white) woman, and being a feminist in the United States is probably a whole lot easier to do than most of the rest of the world and probably a lot of women of color in my own country. I am also a feminist in solidarity with these women; though we have vastly different experiences, we share the common experiences of womanhood.
  

For if I do not call myself a feminist, that means I accept the current state of women, and I simply, utterly, and to my core do not. It should not be a struggle for half of the world population to achieve basic rights: of respect, of choice, and of equality. These rights are still being denied to us women, and we all must work together to bring them to all people. This is feminism.

Rape...fantasies?

So I was reading Dan Savage's advice column, and recently a self-professed feminist man was asking about enacting a rape fantasy with his feminist girlfriend.

I don't understand this idea of "rape fantasies." It seems sort of like an oxymoron - a situation in which one consents to have their consent removed. Rape is sex (of any kind) without consent. And in the case of a "rape fantasy," people talk this over with their partner(s) beforehand? (Also, as a side note: what kind of feminist are you who would continue to perpetuate this culture of disrespect toward women?!)

It's a very tiny little bit like asking someone to "act surprised" after they already know what the surprise is.

Oftentimes I've heard the idea of "rape fantasies" being nested in the BDSM category. I'm not really sure why this is the case, except for our society's convolution of rape and violence (though this is certainly not the case for all rapes, probably not even the majority).

On the other hand, my first response is to associate "rape fantasies" with the "rape culture" in our society, not BDSM or other deviant sex acts. (Here's a great post on Rape Culture 101, for those unfamiliar with this term. Check it out!) To me, it signifies a misunderstanding of rape and an insensitivity to the experience of rape (to the experience of having one's consent ignored, disregarded, and/or forcefully prevented).

"Rape culture is pervasive narratives about rape that exist despite evidence to the contrary. Rape culture is pervasive imagery of stranger rape, even though women are three times more likely to be raped by someone they know than a stranger, and nine times more likely to be raped in their home, the home of someone they know, or anywhere else than being raped on the street, making what is commonly referred to as "date rape" by far the most prevalent type of rape."

So I'm pretty sure my negative reaction to this idea of "rape fantasies" doesn't come from a prejudice against deviant sex acts, but rather my understanding of it as a logical flaw. Oh and that it is insensitive to the experience of rape, yeah.

What do you think?

4 Rs, for eaRth day

In a consumerist culture where forces act to keep us buying stuff we don't need, no wonder that the rest of this iceberg is left hidden from view. It pisses me off to see recycling touted as the way to 'save the earth,' to the neglect of these 3 other more important actions and lifestyles. Do it, or if you need to hear it again, here:
1) Reject those things you don't need. Don't buy shit that isn't sustainable. At least try not to. Don't buy into the idea that you 'need' to buy anything.
2) Reduce your consumption - buy less. Choose things with less packaging.
3) Reuse: think creatively about the waste that you do create. Compost. DIY.
4) Recycle: you know the drill.

But I don't really mean to be preachy at you. Just saying that this mass of actions below the surface is being hidden from us, as we're herded into doing as little as possible.

Meat (over)consumption

Americans eat 10 billion,

10,000,000,000
animals each year!

Holy cow! Learn more: watch or read.

AmeriCorps going green

I sent an email to my supervisors:

I'm writing in response to a call for "going green tips" for our individual lives. Though I think these changes are necessary, and I appreciate the opportunity to share, I feel that they should also be paired with the larger changes we must all work toward.
--

Our shorter showers, hybrid cars, and organic ranch dressing are far from useful if we don’t also work to change the larger systems of which they are a part. These important yet smaller changes are not nearly on the same magnitude of the problem they attempt to solve: shorter showers will not address the worlds’ water shortages, nor will driving a hybrid change a culture of car ownership, end greenhouse gas emissions, or prevent wars fought for oil security.

Now, if AmeriCorps committed to becoming a “greener” organization, we could enact real green business practices (read: sustainability!) to those (hundreds of?) thousands of non-profits we partner with. This would be change to get behind.

“Going green” doesn’t mean spending more money or expending a lot of effort; rather it is grounded in awareness of our use of resources and an acknowledgement of our relationship with the earth.

I see and appreciate the Forest Stewardship Council certification on the envelopes for the receipt of my direct deposits, but part of the reason I chose direct deposit was to reduce the amount of paper I get. We work for finding solutions to poverty but buy our AmeriCorps clothes from countries employing sweat-shop labor practices (read: exported American jobs).

If we as individuals commit to changing our lifestyles, part of that change should also be working toward “greening” the systems to which we belong, in which we work, and on which we depend.

Acting in Triplicate?

Seeing triple?


Michael Bluth (aka Jason Bateman)


Malcolm Reynolds (aka Nathan Fillion)


Marty McFly (aka Michael J. Fox)

Also, all of the characters names start with 'M'. Coincidence? I think not.

Thoughts from No Impact Man

Reblogged from here
Thoughts I come back to when thinking about environmentalism 2.0:
1. Happier planet = happier people.
2. You make a difference.
3. Our culture is broken.
4. The personal is political.
5. Economic growth ≠ Life satisfaction growth.
6. Jobs are paramount but we should work to make our planetary home better not worse.
7. The concept of zero sum game is for people with zero sum brains.
8. There is a better, happier system out there.
9. If thine eyes (or thine economic system) offends thee, pluck them (or it) out.
10. It’s not about having less. It’s about having more. The question is: more of what?
11. There is dis-ease in our culture. People yearn for something better.
12. People are trustworthy and altruistic and good and will do the right thing if you let them.
13. This does not deny the fact that normal people act abnormally in abnormal situations.
14. Love and good company, the chance to be of service and to matter, connection to something bigger, the use of our most prized talents—these things make most people happier than stuff.
15. Being responsible for the world is not a burden. It is freedom from victimhood!
16. My happiness cannot be complete unless you are happy, too.

Ants & Humans

Another William McDonough quote:

"Consider this: all the ants on the planet, taken together, have a biomass greater than that of humans. Ants have been incredibly industrious for millions of years. Yet their productiveness nourishes plants, animals and the soil. Human industry has been in full swing for little over a century, yet it has brought about a decline in almost every ecosystem on the planet. Nature doesn't have a design problem. People do."