Marketing the Gender, Selling us “Sex”, & Other Thoughts About the Human Male

“There probably ain't one woman on Earth who hasn't considered this,
Men are from another planet, How can we possibly co-exist?                                                                                                                     They came from Mars, Women came from Venus,
We think with our brains, Men think with their penis,
Every stereotype has a little bit of truth!                                                                                                                                                                 There's a staircase of evidence, if you needed some proof!
I’m perplexed by the opposite sex; I'll tell you what's next,                                                                                                                      Where I'm gonna direct my love And affection?

I'm gonna get with a woman. You know I might as well,                                                                                                                              I'm'a tell every single guy who be hollerin they can go to hell                                                                                                                 Gonna make her my bride, even though we on the same side,                                                                                                                     Our lips gonna collide when we walk down the aisle                                                                                                                                 Gonna get with a woman and my ex's will be crying cause the ceremony all set                                                                                        But it won't be so bad. I don't mean to diss, I know I'll be missed,                                                                                                       Anyway, guys like when girls kiss!”

                                                                                          - “Guys Like When Girls Kiss“ / Little Jackie

 

THINGS I’VE LEARNED ABOUT STRAIGHT MEN FROM ADVERTISING, the ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY, the MEDIA…..    as Opposed To  What I’ve Learned Through Study & Observation of The Species***

1. Guys totally like it when girls kiss! When they kiss while drunk dancing, DOUBLE POINTS! Dressed like college cheerleaders? GUY HEAVEN!! DUDE!     Some guys like the whole porno-esque bi-sluttiness bullshit, basically making you jump through hoops to prove how much you want to please him & keeping it all hetero-oriented; a show for his enjoyment, rather than just watching the women actually being fulfilled by each other. Dude see’s that shit? Not good for the straight male’s spirit. Not good at all. (FYI: drunk dancing in costumes while making out with a chick is not only awkward, it’s sloppy & pathetic game. Forgivable only on Halloween, at night.)

2. Guys are uncivilized, unsanitary, lack decorating sense & hygiene concerns, are culinary morons, and would pretty much die off if somebody doesn’t tie him down by middle age. Some dudes are more image obsessed & concerned with the presentation than I have ever known a woman to be. Some keep their own houses (these men, apparently, don’t live in Stockton, but they do exist elsewhere, I’m told). Since men enjoy eating, they often are capable of making decent food (and manage to survive without Carl’s Jr.). If a guy is a reflection of the Ad Dude Stereotype, you should not attempt to fuck him. That “man” is a child.

3. Men are constantly available, ready, and willing to have sex. It is an undeniable impulse that they are powerless to dismiss. Women just don’t get it, because they don’t really want to fuck. They usually get coerced into it, tricked into it, sweet talked into it, or somehow conquered by the lecherous male!     Unlike the pussy, dicks don’t work sometimes. It happens. But the facade of infallible erections makes us women doubt our skills & dudes doubt their dude-ness. Sucky on all accounts because everyone places way more importance on Softy than it deserves. Men are in charge of the physical body, dicks included. They are not unwitting victims of Pussy Hypnotism. Some of them (many of them) are unable to control the demands of their egos & they blame that shit on their wayward dick, but it’s a bunk charge.  The whole idea that men always convince women to go against their better judgment when hooking up needs to be buried. Far too many men think they have game just because chicks fuck them, Not True! Respect the skills.

4. Boys think Girls have cooties & Dudes need lots of “GUY TIME”. This involves some male gender-exclusive socializing, consisting of any combination of the following: Beer / booze, football / basketball / baseball / golf / bowling / hockey and/or futball, foods that are grilled or deep fried or eaten with your fingers, viewing of half-naked or naked women at strip clubs / on porno / in the hotel / wet t-shirt contest, fixing & discussion of a manly machine such as a car or a riding mower. “GUY TIME” also involves convert operations, lying about location or recreation to one’s significant other is accepted, nay mandated unless you’re whipped! Also, “GUY TIME” is not gay.   Sometimes, GUY TIME is totally gay. Sometimes, it’s used as an excuse when lying to a girlfriend. Sometimes, guys want to communally kick it, similar to the way females do, other times folks are less picky when it comes to the number of X chromosomes a buddy has. Most of the time, when men hang out with each other, they spend the conversation on Peacock-like bullshit (comparing how great they are, things they have, what they did, who they & how they did her, what things the want or are about to do, who’s hustle is sickest, who got the most fucked up that one time in Allen’s basement… ) and the women in the room leave, because this shit is boring as fuck.     

5. ALL dudes “get” cars. Cars are a “guy thing”. Bullshit. That’s why my dad was always “fixing” his truck, rather than “driving” it.

 

 

*** Human test subjects were most definitely used in experiments. Some were even harmed. On several occasions. The sacrifices some men make for science; the pursuit of knowledge is paramount!

Slumdog Millionaire as reviewed by a Low Class Broke Ass

 

Thanks to the Cousin, I had the pleasure of seeing Slumdog Millionaire this evening. Y’ know how everyone keeps saying the film is “beautiful” and “moving”? That’s because it is. No bullshit, fuck the hype. This movie was good and, I think, worthy of its Oscars. I already had a thing for Dev Patel (the actor that played Jamal), ever since I watched his early shit on British television (a teen drama called Skins), so my assessment may be partially influenced by a mini-crush on the lead actor, I admit. I think M.I.A. is a badass & her music is featured throughout the flick (I “think” she’s a badass, because I don’t know for sure; I can’t actually understand a lot of her lyrics and I don’t know a whole lot about Sri Lankan refugee culture, so my opinion is based on the music I’ve been exposed to and the whole Performing @ the Grammys While 9 Months Pregnant thing. I’m pretty convinced she can be described as a badass…). The story itself appealed to my faith in the resiliency of the human spirit. People can experience some fucked up shit, be constantly exposed to the worst aspects of humanity, and still find beauty, love, compassion for other human beings. That’s beautiful shit right there! That “what makes life worth living” stuff, I suppose. Slumdog Millionaire made my heart hurt, as it should, with it’s portrayal of the ravages of poverty. Real fucking poverty is painful acknowledge & children getting hurt /exploited is tough to stomach; I must have uttered “Oh, that poor baby!” under my breath dozens of times during the movie. It takes a serious yank to my heartstrings for that kind of maternal response to surface, so trust in the fact that this movie is properly described as “moving”.

My viewing of Slumdog Millionaire was quite timely, since a conversation about the film has sprung up in the blogosphere today, addressing the film from a social justice stand point and a feminist perspective. Mitu Sengupta has written an Alternet commentary, titled “Slumdog Millionaire: A Hollow Message of Social Justice” , in which he highlights the film’s “dehumanizing view of those who live and work within the country’s slums” and “disempowering narrative about the poor”. Prior to reading the article, I hadn’t noticed the way the movie did take on it’s subject with a paternal & colonial-esque manner, but…come to think of it… India was portrayed as a Third World nation of victims. I agree that “it [Slumdog]grossly minimizes the capabilities and even the basic humanity of those it so piously claims to speak for.” The way slum life is depicted is similar to the condescending way movies have tried to portray life in the modern broke-ass American family or the life of a child raised by substance abusers. Meaning: they’re always 100% negative situations, forgetting all the good shit, & make me think the writer/director/whomever has never even been poor/high/etc. so are unqualified to speak on the subject. I’m totally feeling the gist of that article. Although, I think Australia stunk of paternalistic storytelling much more than Slumdog. Hands down!

The character of Latika set off feminist spidey senses at Feministing.com & Samitha discusses it in Slumdog Millionaire wins Picture of the Year!. A similar argument is made here; that the movie depicts her as helpless and without agency. The discussion is continued at Bitch, PhD. (Samhita on Slumdog). There’s a pretty interesting Feministing Community post titled The Narrative of the Masculine Hero in Slumdog Millionaire and Kung-Fu Panda;  Then, there are the Racialicious movie reviews: Perception Through the Lens of Slumdog Millionaire & You're The Man Now Dog: The Racialicious Review of Slumdog Millionaire. Controversial beefs with the movie are aired on the California NOW blog (The Slumdog Millionaire Controversy: Race, Class, Gender, and Colonialism), a needed reality check is delivered at Sacredcows.com (What ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ represents), and a film-geek offers praise at Season of the Bitch (Slumdog Millionaire).

While it is true that Latika and Jamal were way to pretty (hot, is the appropriate term, I think) & spoke in upper-class accents, we have to admit that movies do that kind of shit (the adjective “Hollywood” is synonymous with “fake”, right?). One gripe I did have with the movie that nobody else touched on was the closing scene. All that build up & that kiss? Weak! Maybe I’m just a perv, but I was expecting a way hotter embrace. On that note, I’ll take my leave from the subject.

Learning to Pick Your Battles: The Hard Way

Sometimes, I am dumbfounded by the level of stupidity folks stoop to. Amused by it, for sure! But also struck by just how unaware some humans seem to be. One such situation is the latest dip-shit move executed by Mr.Banana himself, Ray Comfort. The man earned that moniker in THIS video, where he “puts to rest” the non-theists position with the dumbest “proof” that god exists. Dude, I’ve had the divinity explained to me many times, by many different folks, & never have I been less convinced of the Almighty’s existence! THIS clip of Comfort on the 700 Club is even more ridiculous/hilarious! Now, it is completely alright to be ignorant, as long as you aren’t hurting anybody & Banana-Boy can preach to the brain dead choir until Judgment Day without me giving a shit one way or another. BUT,much to my amusement, he has decided to step his buffoonery up a few levels & challenge Richard Dawkins to a debate! A debate about evolution! Against Richard Dawkins! That, my friends, will be entertainment! Dawkins is a celebrated evolutionary biologist, former Oxford professor, author of The God Delusion, and known on the streets as Darwin’s Rottweiler. Ray Comfort offered $10,000 to Dawkins, in exchange for a chance to debate the man, head-to-head, because he really thinks he has a strong case against evolution! There are people that maybe quite capable of taking on Dawkins, those with strong theologically solid backgrounds, but Comfort is not one of those people by a long shot! Dawkins responded to Comfort’s challenge by upping the ante & requesting $100,000 in the form of a donation to his foundation, which financially contributes to needy secular charities (homepage HERE). This option is apparently too pricey for Ray, who has offered $20,000 as a compromise, but Dawkins ain’t having it. If I had to waste my time listening to some intellectually inferior dipshit that couldn’t debate his way out of a paper bag, I’d hold out for the big money too. I do wish the two would come to some kind of agreement, for my own selfish enjoyment, because that will make one fucking hilarious YouTube video. Fingers crossed!

Fine! I Admit It! Bitches really are crazy.

I hate to sell us out, Ladies, but the fact is We Are F-ing Crazy. Not “crazy” in that “She’s off the hook!” way that carries somewhat of a positive connotation, suggesting power and a no-bullshit attitude. Nope. Full-on, fucked in the head, distorted perspective of reality, padded walls & buckled jackets type of “crazy”. It is hard to deny this fact when you stop & consider the way we see ourselves, each other, the whole of woman-hood. Who else but the truly crazy hate their bodies the way we do & try everything in their power to force their figures into impossible shapes and sizes? Who else but the mentally ill would subject themselves to such levels of self loathing rooted in aspects of our physical appearances that we have no control over? Is it not abnormal to have such distorted visions of ourselves, to be blind to our own fabulousness because one minor flaw sticks out in our minds above all else? What about the way we detach ourselves from our bodies? As if the mind & the bod were mutually exclusive entities; one having to babysit & regulate the other, which never seems to project the person we are inside no matter how little we eat, how much we spend on our beauty regime, or what ridiculous women’s magazine “advice” we follow to the letter. It’s not like being a female is one long trip to Wakko World; don’t get me wrong! At some point after high school is over, you learn to give yourself a break now & again. BUT, it never really goes away does it? You still have spats of the “crazy” & you still judge other females by the book’s cover, so to speak. Self-loathing is either less extreme these days or it’s so much a part of your day-to-day that you notice it less than you used to, but either way it’s still hanging around; dictating your wardrobe choices, shot-calling when it comes to how much time you spend “getting ready”, and regulating when it is that you draw attention to yourself. I mean, shit! Look at the way advertisers speak to our inner crazy person to convince us to purchase their crap! Even they know what is going on in our heads, just how distorted our body image actually is, even if we aren’t all that quick to admit it out loud.

This one here is an ad for breast augmentation. Look how happy & healthy (& scar free) she is with her new fake tits! Don’t you want to be happy & secure enough to frolic about top-less? Yeah? Then buy you some silicone falsies, undergo a notoriously painful surgery that will increase the likelihood of breast cancer going undetected in it’s early (& easiest to treat) stages, run a 25-40% chance of having to undergo a second surgery to correct issues associated with the initial implants, and get used to the idea that your formerly normal breasts may now “leak”, “rupture”, “deflate”, “harden” from the presence of scar tissue around the implant, or result in irreparable nerve damage! Maybe even develop a Connective Tissue Disease! Still smiling? Despite the availability of this kind of vital risk information (here’s the FDA’s page on the subject), a whopping 399,440 women in the United States still bought into the bullshit in 2007. It is projected that over the course of the next five years, up to 179,748 of those ladies will undergo a reoperation to deal with complications (this is the FDA’s conservative estimate, BTW). Sounds like self-destructive crazy bullshit, don’t it?

And what about the mind-fuck we’re handed where food is concerned? The first ad, for Calvin Klein panty hose, just screams “Suck it in!” and we all know that bitch*** ain’t in need of the tummy & bottom control panels described in the ad copy. Is that even the lower half of a woman? A definite lack of curvature, a signature trait of the human female, makes me wonder. The second ad is accompanied by the copy “The pair you wear to cooking class will also look fabulous at your weight loss seminar.” WTF? Seriously? Can you sell us shoes minus the food/weight issues, please? And what would that slim woman be doing at a weight loss seminar? Anyone? If she’s in need of a fatty seminar, I’m way over due. The third ad sells us chocolate as a substitute for another guilty pleasure, expensive shoes. Not chocolate for it’s own sake, y’know cause it’s chocolate & tastes good? Nope, Hershey’s would rather appeal to our fucked up system of rewards be being “good girls”. Behaved yourself? Alright, you can indulge in a pair of shoes or a chocolate bar (just ONE though, fatty-fat-fat!). I mean, a food item can be associated with any other set of wants & desires EXCEPT those associated with eating. God forbid you acknowledge the candy for what it is! If you thought about the neurotic assumptions behind all these ads; that you might eat something & therefore need an excuse or explanation for your behavior, that you might have (ekk!) curves as a result of that eating, that you apparently only wear shoes to places associated with food or fasting; you might be taken aback by the Anti-Fatty messages being (excuse me) shoved down your throat. Or you might just (sorry) ingest the Skinny Minnie Ideology, just like the 75% of Glamour Magazine readers who think their “too fat”. Even you smart chicks aren’t above the bullshit on this one – a study of Stanford undergraduate & graduate students found 68% of their sample group felt worse about their looks after exposure to ads like the ones above. Even more annoying is the discovery that as we age, we tend to compare ourselves to advertising models more often & since we’re less likely to bare a resemblance, we’re more likely to be disheartened & depressed by the imagery. *sigh*

***See? Hostility much?

 

Is it really surprising that we see ourselves as a mish-mosh of woman pieces rather than whole female humans? And is it too much to ask y’all in the ad world to hook us up with an entire woman in a mo’ fucking ad? This bits & pieces shit is creepy & it’s gotta’ go, y’all. Might have been “cutting edge” way back when, but I think we can agree that it’s tired now. Thanks for the complex though!

And finally, my most favorite line of crap that I am as likely as any other broad to buy into…

The Photo Shopped Skin in Beauty Product Advertisements! Never a flaw! Not in the teen years, the twenties, thirties, on up to however fucking old Diane Keaton is in those fucking L'Oreal ads. My bucks fly like confetti when these ads invade my space & I’m not even gonna’ front by telling you I don’t believe the crap I’m told in the ad copy. In fact, it’s probably the only bullshit I believe at face value, without question; it’s sort of my theological belief – that said beauty product shall bestow promised results upon the believer, Amen!

Crazy bitches or what? Honestly?

Ms Maryjane Foxie’s All-Time Favorite Broads on TV

**** Californication’s Marcy: The naughty little smurf (formerly) married to Hank Moody’s publisher/best friend, Charlie Runkle, is one potty-mouthed bad ass & I love her for it. She runs a salon specializing in pubic hair eradication, she obliges her man with a threesome (even though it ends in disaster, she still goes there!), and all the while she juggles her own drug abuse demons & her philandering husband with style! This scene from season 1 is the best pre-wedding pep talk ever! Far too many good lines to quote just one, so just watch the video.

**** Veronica Mars: Being super girly & being kick-ass shouldn’t have to be mutually exclusive traits & the character of V. Mars proved how well the two go together in the detective-teen drama-comedy series, Veronica Mars. She’s witty, she’s smart (assed), has a normal healthy attitude towards sex & shit, PLUS she’s a little damaged without being emotionally retarded or unrealistically bulletproof. Played by one of the few blond actresses that I think is beautiful, Kristen Bell (from Forgetting Sarah Marshall), Ms. Mars is dearly missed; three seasons just wasn’t enough.                   

**** Nancy Botwin of Weeds: She’s flawed, beautiful, intelligent, and damned thuggish when she needs to be. She fucks when she sees fit (sometimes that causes trouble, but isn’t that the case in real life?), she loves her kids but isn’t some selfless drone like too many TV mothers, and she is one unexpectedly successful pot pusher on a show that is not only realistic about the ups & downs of the biz, it is also written & directed by a female (Jenji Kohan) which is a rare occurrence these days. This video features Nancy handling a screwed up situation as best as she can. When this prick won’t give up the brick she came to retrieve without her performing a “brick dance”, Nancy shows them assholes how a white girl gets down. 

**** Tara on True Blood: My most favorite character on my most favorite vampire show ever! Tara is BFF with the show’s lead character, Sookie Stackhouse, & this bitch has a mouth on her! She’s got a temper problem, but who wouldn’t when your mom is intent on killing herself by drowning in booze? Tara definitely gets some of the best monologues in the series & I am looking forward to more of her lip in Season 2. This clip features Tara showcasing her excellent customer service skills.

**** Lindsay of Freaks & Geeks: It was such a shame that Freaks & Geeks only lasted one season, especially since it had one of the most believable female teenage characters ever on TV. Lindsay navigates the scary world of high school without resorting to tired TV stereotypes of what teen girls act like. Bravo! This clip features Lindsay stoned out of her gourd on a good ramble about the universe & existence.

**** Joy Turner of My Name is Earl: Joy is soooo running shit! This clip features the trailer park queen getting hers!

**** Darlene Conner of Roseanne: I LOVE ROSEANNE & dearly miss the program. Obviously, my favorite daughter was Darlene & even though it ‘s totally weird to date the brother of your sister’s husband, I forgave that minor quirk & kept the character as one of my personal role models. Honestly though, Aunt Jackie is a close runner up. Since I couldn’t find a Darlene vid, I decided to post this hilarious clip of Dan, Roseanne, and Jackie stoned.  

**** Daria Morgandorpher & Jane Lane of Daria: I have watched every Daria episode several times & have yet to tire of her dead pan humor & outcast persona. The best spin off of Beavis & Butthead, wouldn’t you agree?

**** Dana Scully from the X-Files: Gillian Anderson’s most distinctive role ever will always have a place in my heart because Scully’s “But Mulder! What about Science?” attitude was the perfect counterweight to David Duchovny’s mentally off-balanced Fox Mulder conspiracies. I would have totally flipped the channel had someone not been around to point out how nuts half his ideas were!

 

Who are your favorite TV ladies?

Fuck pinching pennies while poverty reigns supreme!

Americans need to stop thinking of our government as a money making entity, like a corporation or company of some sort. The United States of America does not have to answer to shareholders or an investor’s board. America does not need to show a profit on it’s financial reports or guarantee dividends to anyone on a quarterly basis. In case everyone has forgotten, the sole purpose of a government is to protect the welfare of it’s citizenry. So, in these financially fucked times, the government should be expected to address the needs of the American people and maintain a standard of living in this nation that we can be proud of. We should not be concerned with whether or not they spend a shit load of money in this stimulus package (or in the following packages that will inevitably come) because that is what the fuck the money is in their hands for. Taxes are collected to service the communal needs of our people & holding back grant money or welfare funds or any other entitlement cash in the name of fiscal responsibility is unacceptable. How can we consider our nation among the greatest in the world when we allow the working class to become paupers & virtual serfs? How can we be proud when we allow our nation’s children to receive sub-standard educations or sit back while our system of higher education becomes the province of the wealthy because average folks can’t afford to continue their schooling? Is this really the “land of the free & the home of the brave” if we allow the wealthy few to run cowardly from their social duty crying foul, when they have been sitting pretty for the past eight years, benefitting from Bush’s tax cuts, from no-bid contract deals, from reduced regulation and other such bullshit? I’m sure you can agree that allowing our nation to slip into economic depression and then abandoning the masses in order to protect the wealth of the few is a detestable and shameful course of action. How is the GOP’s stance on the stimulus package any different? With that having been said, I leave you with some thoughts on the subject from some of the planet’s greatest minds:

 

“Poverty is the worst form of violence.”  -Mahatma Gandhi

“It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish”   -Mother Theresa

“Love conquers all things except poverty and a toothache.”   -Mae West

“In a country well governed, poverty is something to be ashamed of. In a country badly governed, wealth is something to be ashamed of.”    -Confucius

“The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all.”    -G.K. Chesterton

“I believe that, as long as there is plenty, poverty is evil.”  - Robert Kennedy

“We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office.”  -Aesop

“Our major obligation is not to mistake slogans for solutions.”   - Edward R. Murrow

“Laws for the liberal education of youth, especially for the lower classes of people, are so extremely wise and useful that to a humane and generous mind, no expense for this purpose would be thought extravagant.”  - John Adams

“States are not moral agents, people are, and can impose moral standards on powerful institutions.”  -Noam Chomsky

 

It’s the same old song & dance, my Friend

North Dakota’s House of Representatives has passed a bill (HB 1572) that grants legal rights & personhood status to fertilized eggs, fetuses, embryos, and zygotes. Republican State Representative Dan Ruby, House sponsor of the bill, says the bill will withstand any challenge based on Roe's precedent because, "This is the exact language that's required by Roe vs.Wade. It stipulated that before a challenge can be made, we have to identify when life begins, and that's what this does." According to HB 1572, life begins at conception & from that point on the fertilized egg is granted all the rights of a human being. The ignorance of such legislation can be clearly identified by pondering the following legal & practical questions… (some ripped off of Shakesville’s posts on the subject, others from the vast wasteland of my own mind, & still others from the mouths of those I’ve discussed the subject with)

1. In the event of a miscarriage, which happens 10-25% of the time according to the American Pregnancy Association, how are the authorities to deal with the situation? There must be an investigation & an autopsy to rule out foul play, because the embryo has the same rights as any other North Dakotan. Right?

2. What about all those embryos in the fertility clinics of North Dakota? They are technically being held against their will, being frozen & all. What to do with these new citizens?

3. How on Earth does the state of North Dakota plan on monitoring this shit? Since there is no test to determine pregnancy immediately after conception, there will be this big gray area when a crime against a fetus might be committed but no one will know! Will the vessel’s eating habits be monitored…er… the Mother’s eating habits, I mean. Will they be under scrutiny & subject to the latest scientific findings regarding the dangers of too much caffeine or sugar or sushi?

4. Since I don’t imagine North Dakota is a cash cow of a state, where will all the money come from to support the child welfare department & the foster system that will be increasingly over burdened after the Senate passes the personhood bill? What about funding for the prison system that will have to house all those “murderous” would-be mothers & abortionists? And the Medicare programs that will have to pay for the pre- & post- natal care of low income women forced to carry a pregnancy to term?

5. What about the personhood status of the woman who is forced by the state to carry a pregnancy to term? What about her rights? Are they not infringed upon by the state of North Dakota involving itself in her reproductive choices? I liked this point made by Melissa McEwan @ Shakesville:


"I'd like to note that, since a fertilized egg is actually dependent on another human body for its survival, the ND House technically voted to confer upon a fertilized egg more rights than any person. Unless, that is, ND has also passed a law allowing its citizens to, say, demand a spare kidney from any compatible donor, irrespective of the donor's consent."

These D-Cups are all I have room for on my chest, so let me unload some shit…

There are a few current events that have been bugging the shit out of me & since I’ve been occupied with the whole moving & schooling things, I haven’t had a chance to speak on them. Now that I’m bored & suffering from a bout of insomnia, I’ll do just that.

First, this broad with the 14 kids that the media is all up in arms about? Yeah, it’s actually none of our fucking business. I personally believe that Nadya Suleman is a masochistic nut job for carrying & delivering octuplets, not to mention the fact that this enormous super-birth brought her total number of offspring to fourteen (a wholly unmanageable number of rug rats, in my opinion) and she is doing the parental thing solo, which is tough for women with only one child to rear. BUT… just as my reproductive decisions are mine to make, her crazy-ass reproductive marathon is her own business. Anyone concerned about the kids draining public resources because Mommy isn’t wealthy enough to pay their entire way through life can chill the fuck out – since I’m not gonna’ have any, we’ll just say I gave her my Right To Bear A Working Class Kid Passes. It all will even out in the end. For more insightful discussion on this topic, see the following bloggers posts.

  Bitch Magazine’s Blog: The War on Choice: When Life is Chosen (Eight Times) and Update on Mother of Fourteen: Nadya Suleman

Bitch Ph.D. : Punching Bags (this one has some pretty interesting links to still more discussion of Suleman’s uterine abuse)

 

Second, to all my fellow Starving Students, there is a really good piece up on Easily Distracted about soaring textbook prices that might make your ass blow a gasket. Fucking over priced, god damned…

Third, I was very intrigued by a post over at Progressive Historians entitled White Washing History-No Queers Please. I was intrigued because I’m a nerd like that, but you non-history buffs may be interested in the subject, so I thought I’d mention it. Basically, the gist of the piece is that conservative folks hell bent on censoring higher education are using the economic crisis as an excuse to eliminate courses they deem unnecessary or inappropriate or morally bankrupt. As if being broke means you also have to be ignorant…

Finally, I think it’s beneficial for everybody to take a second & read Maritzia’s Thoughts post entitled Claim Your Privilege, People.  We all have to be aware of the place we each come & how our perception of reality effects our world view before we toss out judgment on others, y’know? I, for one, was born white in a culture that assumes white skin is the default setting. I may have crappy parents, but I was born into a family that values education & that certainly gave me a heads-up. Think about it for a second &, possibly, reconsider some of the preconceived notions or unfounded opinions you maybe lugging around… Hmmm…

And how does that benefit us again?

Anyone that filed their state taxes after February 1st & received an I.O.U. in place of their refund OR any state worker that was recently laid off / paid with an I.O.U. OR any student whose Cal Grant has been suspended OR any other Californian that has had it up to their eyeballs with the ridiculous squabbling in Sacramento over the passage of a damned budget will be happy to hear that legislators are working all weekend to finally handle the fucking business & agree on a damned budget proposal. Finally, right?

It’s too bad that our elected officials are giving up nearly $1 billion in corporate tax breaks, just to ensure that enough Republican politicians vote in favor of the budget bill, and then they plan on dumping another $14 billion in temporary tax hikes on us Average Joe Taxpayer-types. Higher vehicle licensing fees, sales taxes, gasoline taxes, & income taxes, plus a decrease in the amount of dependent care tax credits that Californians are allowed to claim and a reduction of more than $690 million in spending for higher education, will grease the budget bill just enough to allow it to pass through the legislature & right through the Gobonator’s hands. Joy.

Speaking on Domestic Violence

My last long-term relationship showcased my worst qualities on a regular basis – my violent temper, a penchant for drowning my problems in alcohol, and an inability to address emotional issues before they become unavoidable roadblocks to my own happiness. It is true that violence begets violence and my abusive behavior directed towards my former beau sprang from the internalized messages learned during my own abusive childhood, but at some point we all become responsible for our actions and the abuse I suffered does not justify or excuse my abusive behavior. Thankfully, I am a female without much muscle mass or physical prowessness, so the amount of damage I caused was minimal and, more often than not, evoked laughter from my target instead of the intended fear response. Never the less, abuse is abuse & this type of behavior is not all that uncommon. A recent study on the subject suggest that men are battered by their partners more often than we might expect, given the relative invisibility of male victimization in American pop culture and the media’s one sided attention to battered females. In the United States, according to this study, men and women are equally as likely to report having hit their partners in the past 12 months, so the whole “Men are more aggressive” line is obviously a fallacy & should be dismissed as a stereotype.

While men might be victims of intimate partner violence as often as women & their experiences should not be discounted or ignored, the truth is women are more likely to be seriously injured, killed, and suffer greater consequences at the hands of their domestic partners than men are. When one considers the biological fact that most men are larger, stronger, and more capable of inflicting pain upon their partners than most women are, it is obvious why abuse against women is the central focus of most domestic violence activism. Injuries sustained by battered women are more likely to result in hospital visits than those of battered men. Of the people murdered by a domestic partner, 74% are women and according to FBI statistics, domestic violence claims the lives of more than four women everyday. The Bureau of Justice reports that 30% of women murdered are done in by their domestic partners, compared to 5% of murdered men being killed by their partners. Men are also more likely to be in an advantageous financial position than their female contemporaries, making escape from an abusive situation easier & more likely to be successful. Another statistic that should be acknowledged is the fact that most intimate partner violence against women occurs to those separated from their abuser. It is often cited that women attempting to leave an abusive situation are in the greatest danger, but it is worth repeating since blaming the victim in these situations is still very popular in some circles. Additionally, violence against women has been justified by various religious, social, and cultural norms in a way that violence against men has not. After all, the bible does not advocate violent disciplinary action against one’s husband and there hasn’t been legal guidelines on the books to regulate how much force a woman can use when beating her man. Until the women’s liberation movement of the 1970’s made the personal political, domestic violence wasn’t even considered a social issue in need of our attention, so the issue is far from exhausted & the recent Chris Brown / Rihanna incidence illustrates how the subject is still in need of some serious discussion. Ill Doctrine posted an interview on the topic with journalist Elizabeth Mendez Berry that addresses domestic violence within & without the hip hop community that raises some scary statistics (See below).

African American women, aged 20-24, are more likely to experience intimate partner violence than are similarly aged white women, and murder by their partners is the number one cause of death of black women in that age group. Damn. Reflect on that for a minute. Young black women are more likely to die at the hands of the person they love than they are to die from any other fatal situation. Why is this?

For more discussion on the subject see the following pages:

Elizabeth Mendez Berry’s article “Love Hurts” from Vibe magazine

Bitch Magazine talks about how we address the Chris Brown / Rihanna issue

Domestic Violence Way Up says Shakesville

A blurb about Wrigley's response to Chris Brown's behavior vs. the corporate sponsorship backlash against Michael Phelp's pot faux pas