Randomness | Posted by Julie Z on 12/11/2009
Happy Hanukkah
“Nefesh B’Nefesh brought over 150 participants together on Ben Yehuda Street for the first ever Jerusalem flash mob in honor of Hanukkah”
Feminism | Posted by Amy CT on 12/11/2009
“I’m Not At All Sexist, Except…”
I work in a café – this may not initially seem important, but bare with me. So, when I work on Sundays, I’m the team supervisor; a seventeen year old girl running a team which includes at least two over-eighteen year old guys.
Up until yesterday, that had never been an issue. I’d never considered for a moment that they might react to me being in charge, or that they might not respect me the way that they’d respect any other supervisor they’d ever had… or that they might not respect women in general.
Yesterday, though, two of the guys on my team started making sexist jokes – I don’t think either of them even know how it started, but by the time I heard them talking about this, for …
Feminism | Posted by Nellie B on 12/10/2009
That’s Not Funny
They’re everywhere, it seems. Polluting my conversation, tainting my first impressions of people, causing me to seriously question my feminism. I’m talking about rape jokes.
This culture has legitimized rape jokes. On TV, especially on the shows aimed at 18-24 year old males (I’m looking at you, Family Guy), rape is a noun, verb and adjective followed with a round of hearty guffaws. It doesn’t look like it’s going away soon, either. Once a certain crass attitude invades pop culture, it doesn’t fall away. “Dude,” the media tells us. “Rape is, like, totally funny. Lighten up.” This attitude has inevitably seeped into the minds of my peers.
In class, I am treated to the mind-numbing discourse of the guys who sit behind me, who use “rape” in such contexts as …
Awareness | Posted by Julie Z on 12/9/2009
Uganda Be Kidding Me
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Let me see if I have this…
There exists something called the “Anti-Homosexuality Bill of 2009” in Uganda and through this bill, if you are gay you can receive life in prison, execution through hanging and even 3 years in prison for knowing somebody is gay.
There is a group of political Christians (debatably a “secret” society) called “The Family” which includes Chuck Grassley, who has had influence in Uganda, and my BFF Stupak, who I guess took money that was to be used for causes in Africa, and instead put it into abstinence only sex education methods.
Richard Cohen runs an organization called the “International Healing Foundation” which has been …
Feminism | Posted by Becka W on 12/8/2009
How Many Calories Are In That Gerber Applesauce?
Girls have an immense amount of pressure on them from an extremely early age. For as long as I can remember, I or one of my friends has been experiencing some kind of an issue with our body image. Whether it manifests itself through literally staring down a cake, eating sugar-free chocolate (an abomination to mankind), or incessantly going to the gym; we’ve all been there – worried our waist sizes are getting too big.
I also think we all can remember a time way back when where this stuff wasn’t an issue. Where 7-layer cake was simply delicious, and not a evil overlord trying to force you into elastic-banded sweatpants. And for many of us, that time period included those magical years of preschool, where we were congratulated on …
Pop-Culture | Posted by Julie Z on 12/7/2009
Ken and Barbie 101
I am going to write about my experience at SDLC, because it was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever done in my life. But I want to think about it just a little bit more…I want to get it right.
While I’m doing that, here’s a piece by Rafael Casal called “Ken and Barbie 101.” One of my favorite vegetarian feminists, my friend Aubrey, showed me this video and I knew I had to share it.
Randomness | Posted by Julie Z on 12/6/2009
Just Got Home And…
So today I just got home from the SDLC (Student Diversity Leadership Conference)…and found out that I had about 200 comments waiting for approval, most of them coming from the post “Corduroy Skirts are a Sin.”
And all I can say is…holy crap, I love you guys so much. The debate on that post is insanely amazing and was fascinating to read. I’m glad so many people found it interesting and that people all over the world were able to hear about Chris Pesto’s amazing activism.
But I also want to say I’m really sorry that so many of you had to wait that long to have your comments approved! They’re all up there now — I was NOT trying to silence anyone, which a few people seemed …
Pop-Culture | Posted by Julie Z on 12/6/2009
Support Women Artists Sunday: Agnes Carlsson
Carlsson was born in Vänersborg, Sweden on March 6, 1988, and began singing at a very young age. She sang solo in front of a live audience for the first time whilst still at school. She also sang in the Vänersborg choir named ‘Voice’, citing legendary American singer-songwriter Stevie Wonder as her inspiration.
In the spring of 2005, 17-year-old Carlsson auditioned for the second season of popular Swedish singing competition Idol in Göteborg, singing “Varje Gång Jag Ser Dig” by Lisa Nilsson. The four judges were all hugely impressed by the strong power of her voice and she successfully passed through to the theatre rounds of the contest. Her vocals continued to impress, and she made it to the semi-finals.
To the dismay of the judges however, Carlsson did not …
