Foprgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. I'm not a Christian, and yet I still think those are wise words
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1236323/Female-armed-robber-stripped-beaten-set-alight-lynch-mob.html
Not so the Mail facists, who seem to think this is good justice. Presumably they agree with judges handing down sentences of rape as well.
Yes, because I want to live in a country where women, whatever their crime, are stripped naked and beaten in the street. I don't think
Wednesday, 16 December 2009
Saturday, 12 December 2009
Why I Think Gender Stereotyping Sucks
So if you occassionally open a newspaper you'll have noticed the vitriol directed at a small group PinkStinks http://www.pinkstinks.co.uk/campaign.php
If you read the Daily Fail, these two fairy unassuming women and people who agree with them (me, incidentally) have been portrayed as eViL lEzZeR fEmMoS and who will think of the childrunz?
It's worth mentioning that I like the colour pink. I have a really nice Nomads dress in a lovely dusky pink. I have pink socks. I also have green socks, blue socks, and socks that have long lost any discernable colour or pattern. I appreciate most colours in some form or other.
However, the humble colour pink has been bastardised. It has been twisted, fondled, mutated, and sent out onto the shelves as a monster.
Yesterday my boyfriend and I were on an expedition to the cinema. We stopped in at a small independant toyshop to have a look for some puzzles and toy animals for the littlun's stocking.
We were both disgusted at the vomit-inducing range of toys directed at little girls. The boy's sections were filled with trains, diggers,boats, building blocks, Lego, Duplo, Playmobil and other toys and games which at least encouraged building, creating, working, learning about mechanics (except bloody Bionicle)
On the other hand, the girls section was filled with, to a man (or woman) pastel pink monstrosities. There was the odd square inch of purple, but it was completely beaten down by the wave of plasticky fashion dolls, doe-eyed toy animals, and scary baby dolls which crapped, peed, needed injections, and...ugh, it makes me shudder just to remember. Suffice to say, I almost cried with relief when i came upon the Schliech stand.
The thing about girl's toys these days. It isn't just the monotony of colour. It isn't just the endless churn of babiesfashionbabiesfashionfashionfashionbabiesfashion. It's the utter candyfloss mind numbing character killing headache of it all, the inescapable trashy cuteness, the patronising marketing surety of this-is-what-little-girls-want
Sorry, but this is what little girls are programmed to want. Dolls are good, by the way. Nurturing is good. But in boys, as well as girls.
Rethink femininity. If you are a "feminist", you can't be "feminine", right? Wrong. True femininity is about being a woman. Being a woman is about having periods, growing breasts and curves, having a uterus, regardless of whether you intend to use it or not, feeding your children, loving your partners and friends, wearing what you like, feeling sensual, as well as sexy, holding opinions, being brave, knowing you are equal, loving yourself warts and all, caring, but acknowledging the amount of fighting that is often needed to care for someone properly. And fighting long and hard, if necessary
Being a woman is not about being neutered for the profits of the marketing men. Neutered is neutralising. We suck up the soundbites: can't control hormones, dieting, slimline, no self control, WAGS, Jordan, bitchiness. Eventually that becomes who we are. Galaxy chocolate is indulgent so we eat more and more to "be a little naughty", then we agonise in mirrors because we're rounder than Cheryl Cole.
In being sucked into the petty profit-making squabbles, we lose the earthy woman-nature. We lose our true power and buy into a fake one, the belief that the only power worth weilding is sexual, and of course that can only be purchased with the latest fake tan.
Now what does that have to do with Tiny Tears and the colour pink?
Like I said, it's not the specific colour, in moderation. It's not even the pooping dolls, just like wearing makeup doesn't make you a tool of the patriarchy, and of course chocolate is delicious
It's the portrayal of these things as the centre of our being, as our whole life, as the extent of our intellect. Whether we be three or thirty-three,
Men can like golf, football, or computer games and in the eyes of the world it does not detract from them as grown adults, whose opinions and ideas should be taken seriously.
I am not a bitter man-hating psycho. I do not shun make up and nice clothes. I simply want role models who do not act like Jennifer Aniston in any given movie. I do not want my daughter to grow up believing that the sole focus of her world is beautification in order to achieve self worth. I do not want her growing up believing she is mummy and daddy's little princess, and thus develop a sense of entitlement the rest of the world cannot live up to
I simply want her to grow up with depth and character. I want her to feel as comfortable with whoever she is. If she's "girly," fine, as long as it's her choice and not some virus she's caught from the makers of Bratz. If she wants to do something more stereotypically "boyish" then she should not be vilified for that.
It's not too much to ask, surely?
If you read the Daily Fail, these two fairy unassuming women and people who agree with them (me, incidentally) have been portrayed as eViL lEzZeR fEmMoS and who will think of the childrunz?
It's worth mentioning that I like the colour pink. I have a really nice Nomads dress in a lovely dusky pink. I have pink socks. I also have green socks, blue socks, and socks that have long lost any discernable colour or pattern. I appreciate most colours in some form or other.
However, the humble colour pink has been bastardised. It has been twisted, fondled, mutated, and sent out onto the shelves as a monster.
Yesterday my boyfriend and I were on an expedition to the cinema. We stopped in at a small independant toyshop to have a look for some puzzles and toy animals for the littlun's stocking.
We were both disgusted at the vomit-inducing range of toys directed at little girls. The boy's sections were filled with trains, diggers,boats, building blocks, Lego, Duplo, Playmobil and other toys and games which at least encouraged building, creating, working, learning about mechanics (except bloody Bionicle)
On the other hand, the girls section was filled with, to a man (or woman) pastel pink monstrosities. There was the odd square inch of purple, but it was completely beaten down by the wave of plasticky fashion dolls, doe-eyed toy animals, and scary baby dolls which crapped, peed, needed injections, and...ugh, it makes me shudder just to remember. Suffice to say, I almost cried with relief when i came upon the Schliech stand.
The thing about girl's toys these days. It isn't just the monotony of colour. It isn't just the endless churn of babiesfashionbabiesfashionfashionfashionbabiesfashion. It's the utter candyfloss mind numbing character killing headache of it all, the inescapable trashy cuteness, the patronising marketing surety of this-is-what-little-girls-want
Sorry, but this is what little girls are programmed to want. Dolls are good, by the way. Nurturing is good. But in boys, as well as girls.
Rethink femininity. If you are a "feminist", you can't be "feminine", right? Wrong. True femininity is about being a woman. Being a woman is about having periods, growing breasts and curves, having a uterus, regardless of whether you intend to use it or not, feeding your children, loving your partners and friends, wearing what you like, feeling sensual, as well as sexy, holding opinions, being brave, knowing you are equal, loving yourself warts and all, caring, but acknowledging the amount of fighting that is often needed to care for someone properly. And fighting long and hard, if necessary
Being a woman is not about being neutered for the profits of the marketing men. Neutered is neutralising. We suck up the soundbites: can't control hormones, dieting, slimline, no self control, WAGS, Jordan, bitchiness. Eventually that becomes who we are. Galaxy chocolate is indulgent so we eat more and more to "be a little naughty", then we agonise in mirrors because we're rounder than Cheryl Cole.
In being sucked into the petty profit-making squabbles, we lose the earthy woman-nature. We lose our true power and buy into a fake one, the belief that the only power worth weilding is sexual, and of course that can only be purchased with the latest fake tan.
Now what does that have to do with Tiny Tears and the colour pink?
Like I said, it's not the specific colour, in moderation. It's not even the pooping dolls, just like wearing makeup doesn't make you a tool of the patriarchy, and of course chocolate is delicious
It's the portrayal of these things as the centre of our being, as our whole life, as the extent of our intellect. Whether we be three or thirty-three,
Men can like golf, football, or computer games and in the eyes of the world it does not detract from them as grown adults, whose opinions and ideas should be taken seriously.
I am not a bitter man-hating psycho. I do not shun make up and nice clothes. I simply want role models who do not act like Jennifer Aniston in any given movie. I do not want my daughter to grow up believing that the sole focus of her world is beautification in order to achieve self worth. I do not want her growing up believing she is mummy and daddy's little princess, and thus develop a sense of entitlement the rest of the world cannot live up to
I simply want her to grow up with depth and character. I want her to feel as comfortable with whoever she is. If she's "girly," fine, as long as it's her choice and not some virus she's caught from the makers of Bratz. If she wants to do something more stereotypically "boyish" then she should not be vilified for that.
It's not too much to ask, surely?
University and gammy eyes
Good news: I got an unconditional offer for university =] You'll probably know, by now, if you live north of the equator. English at Queen's University, Belfast. I am really looking forward to it. I had qualms about not being able to devote 100% of my time to Willowtree, but it's 6 hours of contact time, so from what I gather I will certainly not be in every day, 9-5. Anyway, I shall make it work, because I can.
Bad news- My eyes are gammier than ever. Oh eyes, I've always liked you. Well, you are due servicing, in the shape of two new cornea ( Cornii?). Or else, apparently, I will go blind.
Due to the idiotically long waiting list (it'll be March at least before the hospital will even see me, despite being "urgent") I may have to quit driving. This is potentially problematic, due to the awful transport links, distance from university etc. Plus I've invested a lot of time and effort into driving, and I was on "the home stretch". Oh, I don't know.
I wouldn't be too pleased if I went blind, though I suppose at least I would have been able to see in the first place. Technically I shouldn't, but this eye problem seems to be going downhill at rather a rate. Typically, I get the rare eye condition incredibly fast.
To be entirely frank, the whole scenario leaves me fantasising about ten glasses of vodka in a row. Still, I quell the unusual lust for triple-distilled and get myself a soya milk instead.
These little challenges make life more interesting
Bad news- My eyes are gammier than ever. Oh eyes, I've always liked you. Well, you are due servicing, in the shape of two new cornea ( Cornii?). Or else, apparently, I will go blind.
Due to the idiotically long waiting list (it'll be March at least before the hospital will even see me, despite being "urgent") I may have to quit driving. This is potentially problematic, due to the awful transport links, distance from university etc. Plus I've invested a lot of time and effort into driving, and I was on "the home stretch". Oh, I don't know.
I wouldn't be too pleased if I went blind, though I suppose at least I would have been able to see in the first place. Technically I shouldn't, but this eye problem seems to be going downhill at rather a rate. Typically, I get the rare eye condition incredibly fast.
To be entirely frank, the whole scenario leaves me fantasising about ten glasses of vodka in a row. Still, I quell the unusual lust for triple-distilled and get myself a soya milk instead.
These little challenges make life more interesting
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