A few days ago Emma Watson gave a speech to the UN about feminism and the need for equality, mentioning how often she was sexualised by the press. So, naturally, today:
Because that’s all a woman is worth.
feminism
I wish this was exaggeration, I really do.
IS IT SO MUCH TO ASK
TO JUST BUY A TOP THAT I CAN WEAR
THAT PEOPLE CAN’T SEE MY BRA THROUGH?
True story. Until I get the company shirt, my work uniform is a white polo. So I had to buy a white polo. Not a problem, right? Polos are just heavy jersey. Shouldn’t be an issue, even if it is white.
I went through four stores because every single white lady’s polo was see-through. See-through to the point where an onlooker could pinpoint the exact location of the bleach stain on my bra.
So, in a quiet rage, I finally went to the men’s section. Wonder of wonders, the men’s polos were not see-through.
WHY? WHY IS MY PROFESSIONAL CLOTHING NOT HELD TO THE SAME STANDARDS OF OPAQUE-NESS AS MEN’S PROFESSIONAL CLOTHING?
fafghdfghdfghsdfhdfghdfghdf
I get most of my overshirts/jackets from the men’s section. For one, they have awesome jackets, and two— I have rather large breasts. I do not want something in cutsy glittery girly shit plastered across my chest, thank you. I get enough people that can’t look me in the eye.
my kingdom for a leather jacket with a decent curved waist
Bless this post.
Every fucking time I go out to look for a simple t-shirt, all I find are shirts that are super tight and uncomfortable for the sake of showing off your bust, have stupid sayings on them like “Lean, mean, sexy machine” (I have seriously seen shirts with those exact words), and have tiny fucking sleeves that don’t even cover your armpits (because we all have those days when we really don’t feel like shaving). Unfortunately for me, my mother thinks these shirts are cute and gets them for me constantly. :/
I will always buy my sweaters in the men’s section. Not only are they bigger and more comfortable, they’re actually made with better material. Apparently, you have to be male to merit fabric thick enough to actually keep you warm. Ever wonder why girls complain about being cold more often than guys? It’s not them. It’s their clothes.
Women’s clothing is designed to be rubbish so that they can buy more all the time.
Men’s clothes actually makes SENSE.
I have so many feelings on this topic, I need to stop now before I break something.And don’t forget actual, functioning pockets.
I could probably write a fucking dissertation around the bullshit of women’s clothing and how it’s pretty much useless and overpriced, and even then you can only something that’s an approximation of “a fucking simple t-shirt” where the male equivalent is functional, easily accessible, and a price quote that won’t bankrupt you.
It will have 3 appendixes devoted to, in order, “Stupid cuts for jeans and how they are impossible to figure out store to store, let alone style to style,” “Why do people think all jeans need to adhere to your body like skin tight spandex, for gods sake sometimes I just want to wear pants that I can actually move in,” and “Girls Have Stuff Too: A look at why shallow pockets are a joke and “fake” are the stupidest fashion choice ever made.”
Fake. Fucking. Pockets.
(no subject)
You know who’s quite underrated in Doctor Who fandom? Adelaide Brooke.
I mean, look at her. She’s capable, clever, brave, and makes her own choices 100% of the way. She makes the choice to focus on her life’s ambition instead of staying on Earth with her daughter…she’s a mother whose motherhood is only a tiny part of her character, and she’s not punished for it! She even outright says that the sacrifices she made were worth it, to stand on Mars…a mother, a grandmother, turning down traditional motherhood? And everyone’s fine with that? Good lord!
She has no romantic interests whatsoever, not in the Doctor nor in anyone else…we don’t even know who fathered her children. But she has ‘starlight in her soul’ the same way the Doctor does, and he completely respects her. And her crew respects her, and her family respects her, and her planet respects her, and even the bloody Daleks respect her! Yet (unlike the Doctor in this episode) she in turn respects them, and calls the Doctor out on his labelling Yuri and Mia ‘little people’. Sure, other people (Donna, Rory, River) have tried to point out the Doctor’s destructive nature, but she actually succeeded in making him rightly ashamed of himself.
In fact…she’s completely the hero of The Waters Of Mars, more so than the Doctor is. She tells the Doctor that she followed the Daleks into space not for revenge (“What would be the point of that?”) but to learn. She’s compassionate enough not to instantly shoot her possessed crew members, or to shoot the Doctor come to that. And (most importantly) her decision to die shaped the future of not just Earth, but the whole universe. Even though she’s initially desperate to survive, she knows what the Doctor is doing is wrong, and if fixing that means her death so be it. Hey…in this episode, the whole universe is saved by a woman taking back a choice the Doctor tried to make for her!
So yeah. She’s a pretty darn feminist character, I reckon, and that’s good to see. Message ends!
As usual I arrive several months late to the party, but I was thinking about that thing Karen Gillan said about feminism…
“Feminism is not the issue any more, not for me, anyway. It’s just never occurred to me that a woman wouldn’t be equal, in any sphere, to a man.”
This was from a 2010 interview, but recently I gather people were angry about it. But…and I’m honestly trying to work this out in my head…surely that’s a win, if a girl grew up really truly thinking she and all women were equal to men. That’s gotta mean that the people around her were doing something right…right? And she did say feminism wasn’t the issue for her rather than everyone in general. I don’t know. I think it’s a good thing for her if she really grew up like that…
We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.
I never did learn how to reblog myself (I tried everything I was advised, but nothing worked) so here this is again.
Layla Ibrahim
(trigger warning for rape and racism)
Male blood was found at the scene, but it was dismissed because it did not belong to one of the suspects and did not match anything on the DNA database…
A male blond pubic hair was found on Layla that Rosemary Swain, the doctor who examined her, said would be crucial evidence against her attackers. But the family later learned it had been destroyed in the forensics lab…
Layla’s shoes were not tested for DNA, although one shoe was alleged to have been held by an attacker. Her leggings were not tested for DNA, nor was her bra fully checked, although blood was found on it….
Sara [Layla’s sister] laughs, quietly. “I had a few beatings because I was black. I can’t remember which one you mean.”…
When she heard the verdict, Layla collapsed. She was immediately remanded to the category A prison Low Newton in County Durham. “It was the worst place I’ve ever been to in my life,” she writes. “You were among people like Rose West, and the Baby P killer, and you just think, ‘What am I doing here?’ They were eating dinner with us…
Layla’s only hope of being able to work with children again is appealing against her conviction and clearing her name. “Childcare is now not an option,” she writes. “I was also starting my NVQ in elderly care but neither of those are now possible.”…
“How can you give my daughter three years, when she’s never done anything wrong in her life? I still couldn’t understand it if, God forbid, she had done it, but she hasn’t. She’s never been in trouble, she’s worked hard, she’s done everything right. Why was she sentenced to three years in prison? I can’t understand it, and nobody will give me the answer.”…
Quotes from the Guardian article on Layla’s case. I know it’s an old story- well, a good few months old anyway- but it’s so, so, SO wrong.
There’s a petition (not started by me- thanks to whoever started it) here. Please reblog this if you can…
Steven Moffat, Sex And Me
“Show me the man who says anything against women, as women, and I boldly declare he is not a man.” -Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers
Steven Moffat ain’t a feminist. He’s said some really rubbish things, like that thing about how difficult it is to be a straight white male when it is most certainly not. Okay, I know a lot of quotes from him were taken out of context, but enough of them weren’t. Like this one, which really got me:
“A young married couple without a kid? They’re just dating. You tell yourself you’re married, but really you’re dating.”
That one hurts because I know people who are trying desperately for a kid and I’m pretty sure they’re married, since I was at the wedding and all. Or what about the people who don’t want kids? Or, selfishly, what about me? There’s something wrong with me now and children may not be an option any more. Things are piling up and sex might not be an option anymore. Does that make my future marriage mean less? I wish he hadn’t said that; I wish he’d use his not inconsiderable media power more wisely.
But I think Moffat’s writing problems spring from the fact that he thinks (or, you know, I think he thinks) that sex and the ability to have sex is the most important thing about a person. Sex gives you power, sex gives you control, sex gives you children. That’s why neither Sherlock or the Doctor can be asexual, why Amy, River and Irene all use sex as a weapon- to Moffat, that’s what makes characters good and makes them interesting. Sex and everything it creates.
Which brings me to Moffat’s attitudes on women, specifically. With only Moffat the writer to go on, not knowing the man…I think he’s jealous of them, in a way he probably doesn’t even know about. Womb envy or whatever it’s called. If sex is the most important thing, and if he thinks a woman can use sex as a weapon (or as a distraction- see Space and Time), and if he thinks a woman can have a baby and bond with it in a way a man probably can’t…I think The Doctor The Widow and the Wardrobe hinted that Moffat thinks being a mother is the most important thing in the world. And he isn’t one. Hence bad stuff. I doubt he even considered how traumatic a situation he put Amy in at the end of The Almost People– according to DWM, he “wanted Amy to have a baby just like that,” and thought about time
compression to reduce her pregnancy period before settling on the Ganger thing. And in the end poor old Amy suffered more than anyone, with things that wouldn’t have happened if not for her gender.
I wish he’d pay attention to his critics. (I do suspect The Doctor The Widow and the Wardrobe was a reaction to the misogyny criticism, just not the most well-thought-out one.) He badly needs to get some women on staff, for a start, and he needs to think about what his female characters can do rather than what can be done to them. Amy deciding to kill Kovarian was a good start, but River needs more interests outside the Doctor, and Irene needs to come back and kick everyone’s arse (including Sherlock’s) in style. I know Moffat will never read this, but I hope he picks up somehow that people want less Strong Female Characters (i.e. sex, guns, rock n’ roll) and more…female characters. If that makes sense. I think he can do it, he’s a great writer. Someday he may even be a good one.
Recently Moffat was rightly criticised for saying asexuality was boring. His worldview really does seem to revolve around sex and procreation, and I hope one day it doesn’t. I don’t know for sure if there is a place for me, or for many others, in Moffat’s Whoniverse. But I’m gonna force my way in anyway- I love Eleven and Amy and Rory and River and they, I’m sure, would welcome me with open arms.
I don’t really trust Moffat to make improvements, he has reacted badly to criticism so far, but I believe and hope that the world isn’t divided into good people and misogynists. (Paraphrasing the fabulous JK Rowling there- hey, maybe she should join the writing staff!) And regardless of what happens with my future children, I will be married, because I want to be.
(no subject)
“I’m a woman, so I am a feminist.” / “All women are feminists by default.”
Are this statements true or false? Do they make any sense whatsoever in my mind? In anyone else’s mind? I dunno.
(no subject)
I’m doing some research for a script I’m writing (expect a little_details post shortly) and I found…this. Please tell me it’s not saying what I think it’s saying. Tell me it’s a rubbish joke. Tell me it’s a satire. PLEASE
Killing your family for their own good
When I first planned this post out in my head, I was gonna put at the top “Thankfully, there’s no recent cases I know of.” But then this happened, right near where I live. Sigh.
Okay. One night, I watched a documentary about a case where a very wealthy man, faced with the prospect of losing his wealth, killed his wife, teenage daughter and himself. I can’t remember the names of anyone involved, but it was in the papers for a while. And it was pretty hard-hitting and my dad said to me that most men have that wired up in them, the idea that if they’re going down they’re taking everyone with them. So I watched that documentary, and then a few days later there was a show on BBC3 or something about comedy and comedians, with self-confessed arsehole Jim Davidson blathering on about how he hated women. And somehow it got into my head, these two very different documentaries about different things, they were probably connected somehow in one significant way…
One man might hate all women, and another man might believe that his wife and children’s lives mean nothing without him as head of the house, the husband, the father, what we’re told is the most important person– and I think both things spring from a failure to see women as fully-fledged people. Wikipedia claims that an overwhelming proportion of people who commit murder-sucides are men, and just looking at the news I think they’re right. Cases of women killing their children are not uncommon, I know, but I just remember all the news stories, so many, where it was the father or the husband who did it. Who seemed to think that without him, without a man, a female life couldn’t be worth living. So he shoots her first.
I hope it isn’t really hard-wired up in all men, I really hope not. I know that in some of these cases there were other factors, mental illness, and I know how badly I’m simplifying, but…a man says he hates women. A man kills a woman out of what he probably thinks is love and a kindness. Both of them spring from the idea that a woman isn’t worth as much as a man…