Starting on October 11th, PBS launched a fascinating 5-part mini-series entitled “Women, War and Peace.” As they describe it: “Women, War & Peace challenges the conventional wisdom that war and peace are men’s domain. The five-part series reveals that women have become primary targets in today’s armed conflicts and are suffering unprecedented casualties; yet, they are simultaneously emerging as necessary partners in brokering lasting peace and as leaders in forging new international laws governing conflict.”
Check out the trailer (embedded below). The full versions of the five episodes can be found here.
I recently heard some of my classmates talking about how sexism really isn’t as big a problem today as racism is. They said that racism is on a different level and that all the feminists need to shut their mouths and just get over it. On Women’s Day, one student stated that the day shouldn’t be a big deal because women’s struggles are not the same, or as serious, as racial ones. I didn’t say anything, but I was upset by what he said. I do not agree with this, and it hurts me that people feel that way.
I feel that sexism and racism are both equally horrible in their own right, and to separate or rank them doesn’t do anybody any good. I…
This weekend I will be testing for my black belt after eight years of Taekwondo classes. During those eight years, I’ve grown into the person I am today. Not only have I learned how to kick, punch, and block, but I have learned compassion, respect, and confidence. Each Saturday, I spend hours practicing self defense, meditating, sparring or even teaching entire classes. It is one of the most rewarding activities I have ever participated in (and prevents the extracurricular section of my college apps from remaining blank). Unfortunately, the only aspect of taekwondo, or martial arts of any kind, that people pick up on for women, is self defense.
For example, one day this past year, I participated in a jujitsu class:
“Kick her Brian! She’s a black…
When I first read this article on Experimentations of a Teenage Feminist, the first thing I said to myself was “good God.” It wasn’t a good “good God.” It was a BAD “good God.” A REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, HORRIFICALLY BAD “good God.”
Apparently, parts of Kanye West’s upcoming music video for the single “Monster” were leaked online. (I would like to point out that the album’s title is My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.) In the video, half-naked women are drugged or dead, hanging from chains, as West, Jay-Z, Rick Ross, and Bon Iver make sexual advances towards them. Nicki Minaj also makes an appearance in the video.
The lyrics of the song are pretty bad, too. Bon Iver asks, “Are you willing to sacrifice your life?”…
One of my extremely good friends is finishing out her high school career abroad, and I spent the weekend at her apartment with some other friends as a send-off party before she left. When we were discussing how she would get around, since she can’t drive yet, she said that she wouldn’t go into a taxi alone. I agreed.
“Yeah, that’s not a good idea, you don’t wanna get…hurt,” I said.
The word I had in mind was raped, but I felt uncomfortable saying it. She didn’t, though.
“Yeah, since I definitely do not want to get raped or molested or something by a cab driver,” she said.
Why did I have such a problem saying the word rape? Seriously, what was wrong with me? Rape is a crime, just like murder. Both are…
The Democratic Republic of Congo: Understanding the Conflict
civil war in the DRC
This year in school, I’m taking a really amazing English elective called Gender, Culture, Power (SURPRISE! It’s taught by the same awesome teacher who handed me Jessica Valenti’s Full Frontal Feminism). Basically, some of the coolest, smartest, classiest girls (and one brave guy) get together almost every day to discuss gender…culture…and power. It’s bliss. And while we’ve had our fun dissecting everything from KFC advertisements to the Handmaid’s Tale thus far, we just embarked on a far more serious, yet completely enthralling, topic: the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
My class researched the conflict, and here’s a rundown of what we found:
History:In 1960, the DRC became independent of Belgium, which had colonized the African country in 1877. Soon after, violence broke out between different factions of the DRC…
An Unabashed Imitation of An Article by Peggy McIntosh
Peggy McIntosh
In 1990, Wellesley College professor Peggy McIntosh wrote an essay called “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack”. McIntosh observes that whites in the U.S. are “taught to see racism only in individual acts of meanness, not in invisible systems conferring dominance on my group.” To illustrate these invisible systems, McIntosh wrote a list of 26 invisible privileges whites benefit from.
As McIntosh points out, men also tend to be unaware of their own privileges as men. In the spirit of McIntosh’s essay, I thought I’d compile a list similar to McIntosh’s, focusing on the invisible privileges benefiting men.
Due to my own limitations, this list is unavoidably U.S. centric. I hope that writers from other cultures will create new lists, or modify this one, to reflect their own experiences.
The facebook trolls who think they’re hilarious for their misogynistic groups and events are at it again, folks!
Some FBomb readers and a recent Jezebel article alerted me to a series of “slut punching” events – one a week-long event that I believe was removed, and another, which will merely last a day.
The latter event includes some seriously gross comments, such as:
Dongie Lee: Some of you need to stfu about violence toward women. boohoo. Ever thought about violence toward men? toward elderly? toward kids? And I bet 99.9% of you fuckers bitching and crying aren’t doing a fucking thing to stop any real violence. Let’s also not forget that this group isn’t about punching women but about punching slutts. Do criminals deserve time in prison? Yes. Do slutts deserve to…
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