Feminism | Posted by Beth T on 12/22/2009
Bitch
It’s the word that everyones heard before.
If you’re a female you’ve probably been called it at least once in your lifetime.
A bitch is sometimes that girl who speaks out.
She’s labeled a bitch so she’ll just SHUT UP already.
[And because I'm a girl and I refuse to shut up I'll proudly claim this name. Yes, I'm a bitch.]
Girls have repeatedly reclaimed offensive terms such as cunt, bitch, slut in order to bring power to the word, and consequently, bring power to ourselves.
It hurts me most when I hear other girls using the word Bitch to describe another female they dislike. In fact, girls hating girls just makes me sad in general. Hating each other to prove something to ourselves and to boys is the opposite …
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Creative | Posted by Julie Z on 12/20/2009
Support Women Artists Sunday: Florence & the Machine
Florence and The Machine is the name for Florence Welch and her cast of backing musicians. The band has received a great deal of critical acclaim since their inception and were chosen in 2008 as one of the BBC’s ‘Sound of 2009′ shortlist – an honour previously bestowed on the likes of Amy Winehouse, Duffy and Adele.
Florence Welch lives in Camberwell, in South London. She grew up listening to her parents’ record collection, which included bands such as The Velvet Underground, Love and The Smiths. At school, her teachers often had to reprimand her for singing in class – something she struggled to stop doing.
Florence has stated in the past that her songs are “stories with consequences and weird morality issues.”
The line-up of Florence’s band changes regularly. The …
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Feminism | Posted by Taylor S on 12/17/2009
An Old School Family
I grew up in an old school family. I am a second generation Hungarian immigrant, and first generation Canadian immigrant. Our family unites all of central Europe: Hungary, Croatia, former Yugoslavia, and Romania. Some of my fondest memories are of eating tongue, heart, and testicles at huge parties where no one spoke English. What made a stronger impression on me, however, is the lifestyle and customs of my family. Since they immigrated when they were very old, my baka and nagyapát (grandmother and grandfather), from opposite branches of the family, have different point of views on gender roles that have influenced my life.
My baka happily accepts her place as the quiet, puttering maid in the background, not getting involved in the business of the menfolk. She considers it her …
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Feminism | Posted by Julie Z on 12/16/2009
We’re Not Just Watching Gossip Girl
It really pisses me off when adults assume that girls my age are the most vapid, self-centered generation to ever have come along. Especially since that was probably assumed of their generation, too. It’s a vicious cycle.
Anyway, when I heard about Jessica Watson, a sixteen-year-old from Australia who is in the midst of becoming the youngest sailor to circumnavigate the globe, I wanted to point her out to all of those cranky old people and say, “SEE WE HAVE AMBITIONS. WE ARE DOING STUFF PEOPLE YOUR AGE COULD NEVER EVEN DREAM OF!”
Except that probably wouldn’t have worked if those curmudgeons are anything like T.J. Simers over at the L.A. Times. Faced with the news that another 16 year old, Abby Sunderland, wants to sail around the …
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Pop-Culture | Posted by DrewsieDrewsie on 12/15/2009
A Feminist Analysis of “Fifteen”
Taylor Swift’s song, Fifteen:
I love country music. I love it with a burning passion. And inside of my love for country music also comes a love for Taylor Swift. I like her because she is my age, her songs are extremely easy to play on the guitar so I feel like I have some musical talent, and I can relate to most of her songs. Her song Fifteen is now climbing the charts. This is a fine song, and some of the things in it were true in some degree to my life. When I was a sophomore at a new school, I just wanted to be wanted (“when all you wanted was to be wanted”) instead of feeling isolated and friend-less. However there are a few lines of …
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Awareness | Posted by Julie Z on 12/14/2009
What I Learned at SDLC
When I told my friends I was going to SDLC, the Student Diversity Leadership Conference, they all asked the question I’d both anticipated and dreaded. “How can you go to that?” they asked, “You’re white.”
I didn’t really know how to answer at that point. In a way, I had wondered the same thing when I found out that my school would be represented by 7 black students and me. I knew diversity was more than race, and I knew that I would inevitably learn a lot by going to this conference, but nevertheless I was a little uneasy.
In the airport, walking towards the flight for Denver, the confusion felt by my friends seemed to be mirrored in the faces of others we passed. I’d never really been stared …
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Pop-Culture | Posted by Julie Z on 12/13/2009
Support Women Artists Sunday: Tegan and Sara
Tegan and Sara
Ask and you shall receive, FBombers…
Tegan and Sara are a Canadian indie rock/indie pop duo consisting of identical twins Tegan Rain Quin and Sara Kiersten Quin, born September 19, 1980. Both Tegan and Sara write, sing, and play guitar and keyboard. They have released six studio albums since 1999, most recently Sainthood in 2009.
Tegan and Sara were born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. They initially played as PLUNK and lacked a drummer and bass player. In 1998, they made an early breakthrough by winning Garage Warz Battle of the Bands, a local music competition in Calgary. Since then, the two have toured extensively.
While both twins are similarly involved in vocals and playing instruments, the singing of the lead melody usually goes to whichever twin …
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