The fire has been lit...

  I've been taking this philosophy in film class this summer. It's probably one of the most challenging classes I've ever taken, but one of my favorites. I looked forward to it every day. The class ended with a succession of presentations done by us classmates. There were seven of us. I was the only girl. Not only was I the only girl, I was the last to present.
  Most of the boys did religious-esque films. Life of Brian, Apocalypto. One boy did the film "Juice" starring Tupac, which for whatever reason brought out the gangster in all of the boys in the class. I ended up doing the film "All I wanna do!" which is a feminist film, set in 1963. It was between that, or Boondock Saints. I could tell my professor wanted me to do the feminist film, so I went ahead and presented feminism to a group of boys.
  It went better than expected, I got some of the expected questions "why do girls dress slutty, knowing men are visual creatures?" "Aren't women basically oppressing themselves and each other at this point?" But one remark killed me. Made me stop the film and get into a direct confrontation with a boy. (who is actually going for a philosophy major. He better check himself.)
  There is a scene in the film where the headmistress has a monologue discussing the years of oppression she has faced, urging a female student to go forth and lead. To promote change. It ends with the headmistress shaking the girl's hand with a firm handshake. The boy in my class commented "wow, that woman has such masculine hands." with a chuckle at the end.
  I quickly considered my options. Should I let it go? Treat it as a passing remark and leave it at that? I was seething, but I contemplated staying quiet. Then I realized that's exactly what women have been doing since the beginning. Staying quiet. If I wanted to be like the strong women I've seen and I look up to, I need to learn how to speak up.
  I paused the movie and said "That. that right there is the proof I needed to lecture feminism to a classroom full of boys. This woman just poured her heart out about the oppression she faces, and you degraded it down to the size of her hands. This is why we still need feminism." He came back with, "if I were to dress up, have my eyebrows and fingernails meticulously pampered, and went to shake hands with another man, he would look the other way. Judge me like you think I judged her. It's the same thing."
  The argument went on for a few more minutes between myself and him. My professor joined in as well, trying to let him know that it wasn't the same thing. This is why the world needs feminism and feminists. No matter what positions women hold, we will still be reduced to what we look like. We witnessed this in the 2008 election, when Sarah Palin's pantsuit budget was a hot topic of discussion. We witnessed it a week or so ago when people dogged on senator Wendy Davis for her outfit not matching. Above rape culture, above slut shaming, above fat and thin shaming, we need feminism because women need to stop being reduced to what we look like and start being held accountable for what we are able to achieve. And we are able to achieve great things.
  I know these boys went home thinking they are right and that women are just whiny bitches. Little did they know, that they fanned a spark into a huge flame, and I'll be damned if I don't add my voice to the millions of other women's voices that demand to be heard. I am that radical liberal "feminazi" I used to make fun of, and you have every reason to be afraid.

Hillary is about to Hulk Smash some shit.

  Let's start off this ranting post with a bit of good news.
  DOMA and Prop 8 were overturned!! This a HUUUUGE step in the right direction for equality for homosexuals in America and I am so happy that this was overturned. It's about damn time we started recognizing homosexuals and transexuals as real human beings and giving them some rights.

THAT BEING SAID. There has been a HUGE injustice on women in the past few days. As excited as I am for the LGBT community and their win today, I am equally as pissed off for my fellow women and their issues going on in Texas (as well as TWELVE other states in the U.S.) Yep. I'm talking about Wendy Davis, Senator Van De Putte (I cannot find her first name, damn it), and this whole abortion bill filibuster thing.
  Here's the shit most people know about it; Wendy Davis got up and talked on topic for 13 FUCKING HOURS STRAIGHT. She COULD NOT have water, food, go off topic, go to the bathroom, lean on anything, sit down, NOTHING. She got hit with a warning for someone adjusting her back-brace for her. Wendy, this wonder-woman, shared her own personal story of why women need abortion clinics and planned parenthoods, and she shared the stories of countless other women to keep a vote from happening that would SHUT DOWN these clinics, restrict abortions to before 20 weeks, and set strict standards for the remaining clinics. Oh, and it would restrict the use of drugs to end pregnancy. Yep, even though there are medications you can take to terminate a pregnancy early on, these asshats would rather doctors go in there the old-fashioned, incredibly intrusive way. How fucking quaint.
 Wendy WON her filibuster, with the help of the people in the gallery screaming and shouting and causing a ruckus so no one could vote. HOWEVER, the Texas Governor Rick Perry called for a special legislative to reconsider the proposal. And this is happening July 1st. Gov. Rick Perry was quoted saying "Texans value life and want to protect women and the unborn, we will not allow the breakdown of decorum and decency to prevent us from doing what the people of this state hired us to do." BECAUSE SAVING WOMEN'S LIVES IS BREAKING DOWN DECORUM AND DECENCY. Totally. That makes perfect sense. You know what Rick Perry? FUCK YOU. We dealt with this shit back in 1973 with Roe v. Wade. WHY ARE WE GOING BACK?! WHY?!
  Speaking of going back, while the whole nation was focusing on Texas and Wendy, our lovely government edited the Voting Rights Act. This act was put in place back in the 60's to keep people from being douche-bags and keeping minorities from voting. This is a link that will explain it better than I ever could. And in that link it explains why editing this act is fucking outrageous. States have closing polls in minority districts and zoning districts so minority-supported candidates can't get voted in. What the fuck?! And people still think America is over racism. SPOILER ALERT! We're not. Another clue that we're not over racism? This fucking Paula Deen scandal.
  Paula Deen has been fired from the Food Network because she used racial slurs and wanted to plan a Civil War themed wedding, complete with middle aged African-American waitstaff. Wait, what? Sure, Paula Deen is a privileged white woman from the south who grew up during the Civil Rights movement. Does that excuse her for using racial slurs? NO IT FUCKING DOESN'T. In fact, I think it makes it worse for her to say it. When she grew up, it was most definitely an insult to use racial slurs. And, perhaps more hurtful. Oh and a Civil War themed wedding?! Who the fuck wants a war themed wedding to begin with?! If you want an era themed wedding, that's one thing. Someone can say "I want a 1940's themed wedding!" but you don't hear them say "I want a World War II themed wedding complete with nazis, genocides, and bombings!" No, no that wouldn't happen. So why would someone actually want a Civil War wedding with slavery undertones? (and by "undertones" I mean SLAVERY THROWN IN YOUR FUCKING FACE.) If you can't tell, I most certainly stand behind the Food Network, and I sincerely hope that stores start pulling Paula Deen products off the shelves. I haven't bought her shit before, and I'm certainly not doing it now.

AMERICA. WHY THE FUCK ARE WE TAKING STEPS BACK?!