Feminism | Posted by Colleen R on 01/11/2010
Impulse Control
I have been told that I have impulse control problems.
I have a tendency to put in my two cents in for every little issue that passes me by, whether it was asked for or not. My mother has always told me I need to learn to “let things go.” I do my best to just keep my mouth shut and let things slide, but sometimes I just can’t. So imagine my struggle to control my raging anger impulses when my friend sent me the link to a group on the social networking site “Facebook” entitled, “102 Things Girls need to know about Guys!” in response to another “Facebook” group entitled “102 Things Guys should know about Girls!”
Let me just say, I find both groups ridiculous. The group made …
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Pop-Culture | Posted by Julie Z on 01/10/2010
Support Women Artists Sunday: La Roux
La Roux are an English Electropop/Synthpop band made up of singer Eleanor Jackson and synth player, co-writer and co-producer Ben Langmaid. Jackson describes their respective roles as “very much a half and half sharing situation… not like a singer producer outfit”, but also recognizing that it often can “look like a solo act.”
Their music is influenced by 1980s synthpop including Yazoo, Erasure, Depeche Mode, The Human League, Heaven 17, and Blancmange. The band’s name originates from Jackson’s red hair; she has said
“To me, it means ‘red-haired one’ – and it does, vaguely. It’s just a male version of ‘red-haired one’, which I think is even cooler, because I’m androgynous anyway. So it kind of makes sense.”
Elly Jackson’s first interest in music revolved around folk music. She was particularly …
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Creative | Posted by Kate S on 01/8/2010
Monster
there was never a pat from dad
there only was a slap on the head
unconditional love that lasted a blowjob
a dollar bill measuring her worth
how many men does it take to crush a girl
millions could taint, hit, mutilate but
their most prized possession was under her teeth all along
at her mercy
she kills without shame
she pulls the trigger so defiantly
all the fuckery she swallowed
returns as a bullet through his head
so much anger but who can blame her
what a monster
what an ugly cocksucking monster
but who is the real monster?
the one that gives away everything for a living
or the one that takes away everything from the dying?
you shun and electrocute her but you’re just jealous for
you …
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Pop-Culture | Posted by Julie Z on 01/7/2010
Taylor Momsen Surprises Me
So, usually I don’t read Seventeen Magazine, because frankly I feel like they recycle the same article every single issue – you know the one: how you need to fake a certain personality to get guys to like you. This time it’s called “The best advice from the hottest guys!” Oh boy, oh boy. Plus I can only take their fashion suggestions for “every body type” so seriously when the page facing it shows a picture of an alarmingly thin model. And so does the next page. And the page after that. Guh.
But recently I was really bored in an airport and caved in and bought an issue. This time, Taylor Momsen is on the cover (Jenny from Gossip Girl). But this time she wasn’t promoting Gossip Girl, but …
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Pop-Culture | Posted by Julie Z on 01/6/2010
The Lovely Bones
I read the book The Lovely Bones a few years after it came out. I was about fourteen and I couldn’t remember having ever read a book where the protagonist reminded me so much of myself, or at least somebody with a voice I could relate to. The protagonist, Susie Salmon, was the same age as I was, but all the other fourteen year olds being portrayed in books that I had read were usually vapid (uh, The Clique books, anyone?). The character of Susie Salmon was smart, compassionate and observant.
She was also dead and spent the majority of the book watching the people she loved slowly self-destruct in the wake of her rape and murder and was dealing with the fact that her life ended just as it …
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Feminism | Posted by Mvibes on 01/5/2010
A Walking Chest
I was on an online forum when I saw that a girl asked the question: “Girls: would your life be easier without boobs?”
I thought about this for a moment. My chest is awkwardly large, a pain when it comes to shopping for shirts (or bras). And I’m sick of boys staring at my chest, seeing me as nothing more then a walking pair of boobs and making lude comments. On the other hand boys who don’t stare are worth my time and boobs do feed babies.
So I answered her question with a well thought out answer. My mistake.
Every girl who answered said something along the lines of:
“OH GAWD NO! I LOVE MY BOOBS!!!”
“They attracts boys! So of COURSE I need them, how else would I …
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Pop-Culture | Posted by Julie Z on 01/3/2010
Support Women Artists Sunday: Kate Nash
Nash was born in Dublin, Ireland, to an English father and Irish mother, on 6 July 1987. She grew up in Harrow, North West London. Nash became interested in music in childhood. She learned how to play the piano at Sandbach School and was taught guitar by teacher Louis Mitchell. She auditioned at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School but was rejected after falling down a flight of stairs, breaking her foot. During her recovery she was housebound and unable to move, so her mother bought her an electric guitar. Nash used this time to focus on her songwriting: she began to write some new songs, finished old ones and decided that she would book a gig at a local bar in Harrow called Trinity on Gayton Road for herself, …
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Feminism | Posted by Steph on 01/2/2010
Why I Don’t Like Pride
But Steph, you may say: you’re trans, and sort of a lesbian – queer as hell! You should love pride!
And yes, I should. But I don’t. There are a few reasons, all compelling.
1) Transphobia. Full stop. Pride organizations worldwide ignore trans people and their individual struggles, choosing instead to focus on the needs of the (cis) white middle class men(and it is overwhelmingly gay men, and not lesbians)Source 1Source 2. Groups like the HRC and EGALE Canada have tried to distance themselves from trans communities(source), in order to make themselves more palatable to their intended heterosexual audiences. Which brings me to
2) Assimilation.
It seems that a lot of the goals of the modern pride movement are concerned with fitting in and being …
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