something secret

It's time! I'm finally going to see Catching Fire tonight and I'm BEYOND EXCITED. I love the Hunger Gamer trilogy and I'm practically shaking with anticipation about seeing the newest installment in the franchise. *bounces off walls* I had never heard of the Hunger Games until my senior year of college when the promos for the first movie started running. The trailer looked so enticing to me that I knew I had to find a copy of the book and get reading. I ended up devouring the first novel in a day, and then reading the next two over Spring Break. I vividly remember my glee at understanding the references in the trailer after finishing the novel. I'm corny! But I really did love the world that Suzanne Collins had created and I loved that it dealt with so many complex themes and issues. Seriously, the series is just begging  for some cultural analysis. How could I resist? In preparation for tonight I'm rereading the entirety of Catching Fire (speed reader! *pops co

I wasn't online for most of today, so when I got home an hour ago and saw the furor online about #feministselfies , I had a bit of catching up to do. Trust me when I tell you that I was not in any way surprised to discover that Jezebel had stepped in it  again with a pretty condescending piece about the inherent narcissism of selfies. Plus ça change! After reading the piece though, two quotes in particular stood out to me: "Stop this. Selfies aren't empowering; they're a high tech reflection of the fucked up way society teaches women that their most important quality is their physical attractiveness." "Further, self-taken digital portraits are typically posted on social media, ostensibly with the intent of getting people to respon to them that's what social media is. In that respect, selfies aren't expressions of pride, but rather calls for affirmation." Here's the thing; my own relationship with selfies is fairly complicated. I'm a photo

I've been thinking about writing this post for a while. It was originally conceived as an examination of the "Stripper Anthem" as presented by Nicki Minaj and Rihanna in Beez In The Trap and Pour It Up, as it related to the sexuality and sexualization of black women, but after last week's post on Lily Allen, and some of the... ill-informed responses it received, I realized that there is a different conversation that needs to be had first. That conversation is about the distinction between the exploitation of black women's sexuality for the (white) male consumerist gaze, and a black female celebrity's reclamation of her own sexuality on her own terms. For whatever reason, there seems to some difficulty in grasping the concept that the most significant difference between these two scenarios is agency , and the way in which the presence or lack of agency determines how a display of sexuality is to be perceived and received. To that end, I want to examine the ima

I've been thinking a lot about the objectification of women, and the way in which it is normalized in a misogynistic, patriarchal society. One of the things that struck me was the way in which inanimate objects are very often coded as female. Cars, boats, planes, countries; they're all afforded what I call "T he Royal She. " It seems innocuous, but labeling inanimate objects as female contributes to the idea of actual women  as objects; objects you can own. It plays into the idea of ownership of the female body, and the subsequent "rights" afforded to someone who "owns property." When we make the connection between objects as female, we also make the reverse connection of women as objects. And objects exist to be owned, dominated and conquered. The symbolism of conquering land that is "inherently" female is quite shocking when you think about it. Especially when you consider the attitudes of the people who do so. Early settlers colonized

I'm.... conflicted about this video.  Lily Allen has always been a bit of a socially progressive, feminist badass, and I do love her for that. In her new single "Hard Out Here", Allen discusses the state of the pop industry, and the impossible standards that women are held to in order to be allowed to progress. The lyrics are classic Lily Allen; she calls out sexism pretty blatantly, and points to the ways in which women are expected to conform in order to succeed: If I told you about my sex life, you'd call me a slut/When boys be talking about their bitches no one's making a fuss/There's a glass ceiling to break/There's money to make/ And now it's time to speed it up because I can't move at this pace. [...]  If you're not a size 6, then you're not good looking/Well you better be rich or be real good at cooking/You should probably lose some weight 'cause we can't see your bones/You should probably fix your face or you'll end up

Joss Whedon gave a speech the other day and had some things to say about feminism. A lot of it was problematic , but I won't go into it here because it's already been said , and the fact that he said it is only vaugely related to the point I want to make. See, Joss Whedon is free to say whatever he likes about feminism in a "freedom of speech" kind of way. That is his right. But the arrogance of suggesting that a movement centered on women and their efforts to advance their own causes should refocus itself based on the self-serving suggestion of a cishet white guy is, well.... astronomical. But truthfully, the bigger issue here is not what  he said, but the reaction to what he said. While I don't agree with the nitty gritty of his reasoning, there are legitimate complaints to be made about the word feminist, and the feminist movement. Women of Colour, and black women specifically, created womanism for this very reason; to address the issues that were unique to t

I love Louis C.K.'s bit on white privilege . To me, it's the epitome of what good comedy is and does; it allows us to tackle hard sociopolitical realities in a way that is accessible to everyone. True comedy is philosophy. True comedy illuminates the truths of our world in an objective way, without alienating those of us who might be the targets of that truth. Lazy comedy doesn't do that. Fat/black/ugly/asian/gay/female etc. jokes, don't do that. The one thing that all those jokes have in common is that they boil down to a common idea: "Laugh at this thing/person because it's different!" That's not funny. It's lazy and unmotivated. I know that sometimes people are different from me. That's what makes life so interesting. I don't need a half-assed comedian to point that out. Bad rape jokes are the worst kind of lazy comedy. It's not that I think that rape should never be laughed about. Comedy can and should be cathartic, but making the v

Here's some random but also awesome news: I've decided to participate in National Novel Writing Month  and write my first novel! Completely left field I know, but I've always wanted to write a novel, and what better time to start than now? I've always been a huge reader. When I was in primary school, my teacher called my parents in because she kept catching me reading story books under that desk during class. What can I say? Math was boring. Roald Dahl was not. Books and the stories within them have always been a huge part of my life and to this day, I always have a book on hand in my handbag for unexpected downtime. I honestly think I've read upwards of two thousand books in my lifetime, and that's not counting the ones I keep going back to because I love them. Writing a book of my own has always been something I wanted to do, mostly just to be able to say that I did it, but I don't have the discipline to start and finish a project like that on my own unfor

No one likes to be wrong. No one likes to be told that something they do or so with no ill-intent, is in fact, incredibly offensive. We're living in a time where people are becoming increasingly aware of the ways in which different cultures interact, and the way in which history has coloured those interaction. We're realizing that callous disregard for the lived experiences of other people is no longer acceptable. But when you've grown up in a world that tells you that something is okay, it takes time and commitment to adjust your worldview. That's where "-isms" come in. Bigotry and intolerance are big, bad, intangible monsters, and no one person can fight them alone. But what we can do is call out the people we love on their bigotry when it rears its ugly head. I am personally of the belief that everyone is a little bit racist/sexist/classist etc. The world is set up in such a way as to reinforce those things as the prevailing accepted values, and anyone who

I don't usually write these kinds of posts, but after a fun conversation on twitter sometime last week, I just knew I had to sit and write about this properly.  Sex is... inevitable for most us. As human animals, it's one of the things that drives us innately. Sex is fun. It's messy, and exciting and exhilarating, and... sometimes it's unexpected. You know what I mean; that hot date turns out to be hotter than anticipated...? So what's a girl to do when she finds herself overnighting at her guy's place unexpectedly? Short answer: Be prepared. Long answer: Make sure you're prepared! Once you're settled on your expectations for the evening, it's relatively easy to avoid the walk of shame the next morning.  Firs things first: be realistic. Is it likely you'll end up at his place? Do you want  to end up at his place? If the answer to either or both those questions is "yes", here's what you'll need: Continue Reading My Brilliance! &g

Unpopular opinion: As a feminist, I take absolutely no issue with gold diggers. As far as I'm concerned, the only grievance they commit is to not be honest about their motives with their chosen partner. People always forget that marriage is an archaic and largely outdated institution that has traditionally been about the acquisition and exchange of property and power between men. More so, women have been the tools of that transaction. Marriage existed solely to allow property to pass outside of a direct familial line. The idea of marriage for romantic love is a relatively new concept in mankind's history. So as far as I'm concerned, "gold diggers" are doing marriage "right". In a society that still largely sees women as transactional property, gold diggers are simply playing the system to their advantage; utilizing traditional practices as leverage against slightly more progressive but still outdated ideals. In 2013, women are still being told  that fin