I wanted to do a bit of a longer follow up from my last post. Of course I have been thinking about the extended topic of Planned Parenthood and basic women's rights lately, mostly because of how prominent it is RIGHT NOW in this country. There is this huge debate going on surrounding this issue and I honestly don't understand why. What it mostly boils down to in my eyes is that if you don't support funding for Planned Parenthood, you are not in favor of women's rights (and keep in mind that only 3% of their organization goes towards abortions which are already NOT funded by the Government under Title X, so cutting funding for the entire thing is 100% denying health rights to women on many different levels). It's pretty astounding to me to think of how disrespectful this actually is. And it pains me to think of how far women are being set back in time by this.
I really enjoy this picture, of course because of the satire involved but mostly because it's pretty accurate. Basically someone else is trying to control what we do with our bodies - and mind you, it's someone who doesn't even HAVE a uterus. So I hope you enjoy this on a satirical level while also realizing the truth behind what the picture is actually portraying.
I had the pleasure of participating in a fundraiser for Planned Parenthood last night simply by going out to eat at a restaurant that supports the organization and was gladly donating 10% of each person's bill to the cause when they presented a ticket saying they were there to participate. I asked our waiter if he had been seeing a lot of tickets that night and he said every single table he had been given that night was participating. That kind of thing really gives me hope. Just to know that there are other people out there fighting for the cause is really something to be proud of. I sometimes feel very alone on this issue because I focus on how many people out there are on the opposite side, but I'm starting to think (last night, anyways) and hope that there are more people on the side of respect and decency than I think. And that is an empowering thought. I'll continue to fight for this for the rest of my life.
I just found this facebook page (Democratic Military Wives) and I really enjoy their profile picture. Mostly because of the pun, but also because I am just so glad that there's at least SOME women sticking up for our rights and not trying to set us back 70 years. Things like this give me some kind of hope. Support.
This is just a short follow up to my last post about planned parenthood funding. I think everyone needs to see this and understand exactly what it is they want to cut ALL funding for.
One thing I love about living in this town is how outspokenly liberal some people are. It's really inspiring for someone like me who WANTS to be outspoken about it but is often times concerned with how it will be received (and rightfully so, after the kinds of things that have been said to me during countless political arguments and debates). But in this town it's not uncommon to see some pretty awesome liberal things that make me smile and give me hope for this generation. For example: Bumper Stickers. I have never experienced such bold forms of political stance in any of the other parts of the country I've lived in. I must say, it's awesome. Here's some of my favorites I've seen around town.
Today marks the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day!
(Which you probably already know if you use Google.)
Celebrate all the wonderful women in your life today. Moms, sisters, friends, women who inspire you, role models, teachers... All the important women in your life.
And as always, never stop fighting for gender equality and women's rights!
I don't understand what all the hype over Charlie Sheen is about. It's interesting to me that instead of condemning him for his recent (and also not so recent) drug abuse problem and domestic violence scandals, everyone thinks he's just hilarious. And maybe it was funny for a couple days, tweeting about #tigersblood and #winning because every word that came out of his mouth was utterly ridiculous, but I've been thinking more and more about how incredibly sad it is that society is completely glorifying his actions and encouraging him to continue.
When other celebrities get involved in these types of scandals, they are subjected to the worst form of media and social scrutiny and are, more often than not, forced to get help and retreat into hiding until it passes. Think Lindsay Lohan and Chris Brown. Lindsay has been in and out of jail and rehab for her drug abuse problem, and no one lets her get away with saying bullshit like "I cured my disease with my brain." When he's had MULTIPLE instances of violence against women (including prostitutes, his ex-fiance, and his own wife) he's not sent to jail or been scrutinized by the media in the same way Chris Brown was. It's sad, but I feel like people have become so used to his scandals that people are overlooking it now.
For god's sake, he has small children who look up to him and this is the example being set? That their dad can do drugs and sleep with prostitutes and hit women and that it's ok because no one is stopping him?
It's really not ok. To be honest, it's really disappointing to me that he joins twitter and gains over a million followers in less than 24 hours (setting a record, I might add), enabling him to continue. Is this because people are interested in seeing what the next crazy thing that will come out of his mouth is, or is it because people are encouraging him to continue his actions because it's entertaining? I wont lie, I started following him because I thought it would be entertaining, but after about a week of this nonsense, I'm just becoming more and more sad at the situation. It's not funny and he seriously needs help. People need to stop acting like his craziness is a joke, because he has some serious problems and, not to be dramatic, but he's probably going to die if he continues down this road.
Society needs to stop enabling him and get him some ACTUAL help before he takes the turn that so many other celebrities before him have.
If you haven't heard about this audio segment from Rush Limbaugh's radio show, you should really give it a listen. He is basically saying that Michelle Obama, in all her incredible efforts to fight childhood obesity, is a hypocrite because she was seen out with her daughters eating ribs. Not only does he focus on this one incident (which, by the way it is absolutely acceptable to "cheat" every now and then - don't try to tell me YOU haven't done it mister), but he goes on to say some really ignorant and disrespectful things about her.
He says:
"The problem is -- and dare I say this -- it doesn't look like Michelle Obama follows her own nutritionary, dietary advice. And then we hear that she's out eating ribs at 1,500 calories a serving with 141 grams of fat per serving, yeah it does -- what do you mean, what do I mean?
What is it - no, I'm trying to say that our First Lady does not project the image of women that you might see on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, or of a woman Alex Rodriguez might date every six months or what have you. I mean, women are under constant pressure to look lithe, and Michelle My Belle is out there saying if you eat the roots and tree bark and the berries and all this cardboard stuff you will live longer, be healthier and you won't be obese. Okay, fine, show us."
I take issue with this because Michelle Obama is absolutely NOT advocating for women to eat healthy so they can look like they should be on the cover of Sports Illustrated. He fails miserably to recognize the point of her mission. She is advocating for health, because we are a completely unhealthy country. Yes, she went out and had a fat meal of ribs with her daughters, but you can't honestly look me in they eye and tell me you have never cheated your health for even a second. If she was seen out having burgers and ribs and ice cream and pizza and fried chicken every single day of the week, then yes, she would be considered a hypocrite by anyone's standards. But ONE instance, Rush? One? And you're going to sit there and rag on all her efforts as a whole?
Seriously, how does he live with himself? He doesn't even realize how degrading his comments are to ALL women. She is not saying "go out and eat these roots and berries so you can look like a model." She is saying NOTHING about looks. It's about health and fixing the state of health crisis this country is currently in. However, at least now we know what is most important to him.
I mean, if you think about it, it's kind of funny that he thinks this is such a noteworthy piece of news that he just has to discuss on his radio show for all of his dear cult members to buy into. He obviously can't come up with anything interesting to say so he's going after the first lady in attempts to degrade her and her efforts, and by association ends up making degrading comments about women in general.
My advice to you, Rush? You might wanna consider her diet, because otherwise you'll never be on the cover of Playgirl. And that is just a crying shame because Lord knows, that's the only thing you should be striving for.
I had the pleasure of participating in a fundraiser for Planned Parenthood last night simply by going out to eat at a restaurant that supports the organization and was gladly donating 10% of each person's bill to the cause when they presented a ticket saying they were there to participate. I asked our waiter if he had been seeing a lot of tickets that night and he said every single table he had been given that night was participating. That kind of thing really gives me hope. Just to know that there are other people out there fighting for the cause is really something to be proud of. I sometimes feel very alone on this issue because I focus on how many people out there are on the opposite side, but I'm starting to think (last night, anyways) and hope that there are more people on the side of respect and decency than I think. And that is an empowering thought. I'll continue to fight for this for the rest of my life.
