Change your profile picture to raise awareness about child abuse!

Yet another facebook chain message is going around asking everyone to change their profile pictures in support of raising awareness against child abuse. Before I go off on a rant, I'll just keep it simple by saying I think it's another silly thing that does nothing to fight a very real and serious problem. Much like the "I like it" for breast cancer chain, this is not proactive, and virtually does nothing.

If I was not up to my ears in papers, projects, and exams, I'd probably be doing a post of my own about this, however one of my dear friends posted this blog on the issue, and his words speak much better than mine possibly could. Check it out and decide for yourself whether this is a worthwhile way to support the cause.

Cartoons, child violence, and symbolic activism.

Airport TSA

In my Information Technology class I was introduced to the fairly new yet ongoing debate about the new airport security screening: X-rays. They are now asking you to walk through an X-ray machine where they scan you through your clothes, and are able to virtually see you naked. It's interesting though, they try to make this sound less heinous by giving you the option between a naked X-ray or a "pat down." So now you have the choice between someone looking at your naked body in the middle of the airport or being groped.

There are several things wrong with this. First of all, they don't tell you what they are doing. I recently went on a weekend trip and on my way home was asked to walk through the metal detector like usual (or so I thought), but instead of just walking through I was asked to stop and put my hands over my head for about 15 seconds. I had absolutely NO idea they were taking X-ray photos of me. I consider that an invasion of privacy and also health fraud. I was unaware that they were sending radiation into my body which could potentially cause cancer, or what if I had been pregnant? Not telling me or having any kind of signs hanging around security explaining what was about to happen is unacceptable.

I also think this is just completely unethical. You are asking me to give up my privacy on both levels. I either have to show someone my naked body or have someone touch me inappropriately in front of others (or, you know, I can ask to be groped in private). And it doesn't stop there, either. TSA has been repeatedly saying that the scans they take are not stored in the system and are deleted immediately after viewed. However, some 35,000 images from a scanner were saved and some were leaked to the public (see: HERE). This is absolutely mortifying. Not only does it become an invasion of privacy, but an invasion of trust. Other people are obtaining access to these scans which is completely humiliating.

When people come up with these new and improved ideas, they don't think about the big picture. They don't think about how these scans could get leaked to the media or how radiation can cause health defects. They don't consider a pregnant woman traveling and having no choice but to be groped because she can't go through radiation, or the children traveling who are in the midst of being taught that touching is inappropriate. They don't think about recovering cancer patients, or people in wheelchairs, victims of molestation or rape, or religious observances. Maybe they don't think about this, or maybe they just don't care? I don't know which is worse, but either way they are disrespecting and humiliating several groups of people.

I personally don't feel comfortable with either of the "options" they give us, and given the choice I don't know which I would choose. Airport security has gotten so tight that our privacy has been completely ripped from our grasp.

VOTE

It is extremely important as a member of a democratic society to make your voice heard through voting. Some people don't vote because they claim they aren't political or they don't think their one vote will make a difference, but it does. And not voting speaks just as loudly as voting.

People have fought endlessly for the right to vote in this country, so having that right is something we should all appreciate and take advantage of. This is our country and it is our job to exercise the right we have been given.

I voted, did you?

Clint McCance: Taking hatred to new and disgusting levels

If you haven't already heard about this on the news or the internet, I think it's something that really needs to be addressed. With all the incredibly painful things going on right now in the LGBT community, we need people who are supportive, accepting, and tolerant in our society. When people like Clint McCance, a school board member in Arkansas, start running their mouths and making ignorant and shameful comments about wishing all gay people would commit suicide, it sends a message of hatred. There is a line, and he crossed it by a mile.

Read about his hate here.

Never in my life have I been so ashamed or utterly pissed off at someone I don't even know. He thinks that people who support the LGBT community and have tolerance and love for others are "stupid," gay people should never come out and be who they are - they should keep it to themselves, "fags are ruining our lives," and he likes when gay people get aids and die. Every single stereotype he could come up with he used as an insult, he repeatedly used the words "faggot" and "queer" in his hateful messages, and even admitted to the world that if his own children were gay he would disown them (but also that there is no chance they would EVER be gay because he raised them with "Christian" values - need I mention the hypocrisy here?).

Is this the kind of person we want around our children or on a school board in our community? Is this the kind of person people listen to and agree with? It's absolutely astounding to me that someone could have that little of a brain to send those ignorant comments out into the public with the position he was in, and also that someone could be that closed minded and hateful towards other human beings.

CLINT MCCANCE IS A BULLY.

I'm glad he resigned, although I wish he had just been straight up fired. He does not deserve to have a job on the school board. My wish for him is that he never gets hired anywhere again because no one in their right mind would want a horrible, disgusting person like him working for their company or school. I also hope that people watch his interview with Anderson Cooper and can see through his fake, backhanded, shell of an apology. He is not sorry for what he said, he's only sorry he got caught and now has to suffer the backlash.

LOVE. ACCEPTANCE. TOLERANCE. SUPPORT. Those are qualities McCance is severely lacking. I hope with everything I have that he is not teaching his children to think or behave like him.

STOP TRYING TO DIVIDE US, FIGHT FOR EQUALITY INSTEAD.

Minor Change.

I've decided to change the name of this blog to "Fighting For Social Equality" because on top of feminism, I find more and more that I have so much to say about LOTS of social issues.

Mostly I just want equality for everyone. Women, minorities, LGBT's, everyone. It's really important to me to fight for us all because there's people out there who wont. There's people out there who want us to be grouped into categories and then degraded for our differences. So from now on I think I'm going to be writing about equality for everyone.

The title needs some work but you get the idea for now.

Ken Buck.

Ken Buck is one of the nominees for a US Senate seat for the state of Colorado in the upcoming November 2nd election. I must say, I don't think I have ever felt so threatened or offended by a politician in my life. This man is, to put it nicely, an asshole. Time after time I have witnessed him make degrading comments about women on TV, in speeches, in public.

I do not understand on any level whatsoever how any self respecting woman could or would ever vote for this man. Not only does he think he is "above" women, he is very outspoken about wanting to limit a woman's right to birth control, but he is also in favor of outlawing abortion. Whether you are pro-choice or pro-life, why does Ken Buck, a man who would never have to experience anything to do with abortion or birth control, think he should have any sort of say in this issue? Not to mention that being in the US Senate would mean dealing with much more serious and important issues than this, yet he has made it a platform for himself and people are buying into it.

I am tired of being degraded for being a woman. In this clip below, Ken Buck says that people should vote for him because he is not a woman. The crowd around him bursts out in laughter like this was such a great joke and silly ol' Ken Buck is such a kidder! But this is offensive and degrading. It buys into the fact that he, and others, think a man should be above a woman. There's no way a woman could do a man's job like being in the senate, right? Oh, and did I mention that his statement has no relevance because his opponent, Michael Bennett, is a MAN? (unless of course he was trying to imply that Bennet is a woman which would be a whole different issue in itself.)

Watch this video and see the man that could potentially be a representative of this country. I will be really sad if Colorado votes this man into office because it will really show the rest of America just how highly we think of women.

Social Equality

Although this blog is called "Fired Up Feminism," I strongly believe in the importance of social equality as a whole, which is why from time to time I feel the need to post things not directly related to feminism, like this message from Sarah Silverman.

Today, I saw this awesome Q&A type article from Dan Savage who writes a column called "Savage Love" and I think it is just awesome and definitely worth sharing. I've been so fed up with the hypocrisy of the Christian religion lately that it's a breath of fresh air to hear someone called out on it in relation to gay bullying, same sex marriage, and equality.

Dear Dan: I heard an interview with you about your It Gets Better campaign. I was saddened and frustrated with your comments regarding people of faith and their perpetuation of bullying. As someone who loves the Lord and does not support gay marriage, I can honestly say I was heartbroken to hear about the young man who took his own life.

If your message is that we should not judge people based on their sexual preference, how do you justify judging entire groups of people for any other reason (including their faith)? There is no part of me that took any pleasure in what happened to that young man.

To that end, to imply that I would somehow encourage my children to mock, hurt, or intimidate another person for any reason is completely unfounded and offensive. Being a follower of Christ is, above all things, a recognition that we are all imperfect, fallible, and in desperate need of a savior. We cannot believe that we are better or more worthy than other people.

Please consider your viewpoint, and please be more careful with your words in the future.
-L.R.

Savage's Response: I'm sorry your feelings were hurt by my comments.

No, wait. I'm not. Gay kids are dying. So let's try to keep things in perspective: Fuck your feelings.

A question: Do you "support" atheist marriage? Interfaith marriage? Divorce and remarriage? All are legal, all go against Christian and/or traditional ideas about marriage, and yet there's no "Christian" movement to deny marriage rights to atheists or people marrying outside their respective faiths or people divorcing and remarrying. Why the hell not?

Sorry, L.R., but so long as you support the denial of marriage rights to same-sex couples, it's clear that you do believe that some people—straight people—are "better or more worthy" than others.

And—sorry—but you are partly responsible for the bullying and physical violence being visited on vulnerable LGBT children. The kids of people who see gay people as sinful or damaged or disordered and unworthy of full civil equality—even if those people strive to express their bigotry in the politest possible way (at least when they happen to be addressing a gay person)—learn to see gay people as sinful, damaged, disordered, and unworthy. And while there may not be any gay adults or couples where you live, or at your church, or in your workplace, I promise you that there are gay and lesbian children in your schools. And while you can only attack gays and lesbians at the ballot box, nice and impersonally, your children have the option of attacking actual gays and lesbians, in person, in real time.

Real gay and lesbian children. Not political abstractions, not "sinners." Gay and lesbian children.

Try to keep up: The dehumanizing bigotries that fall from the lips of "faithful Christians," and the lies about us that vomit out from the pulpits of churches that "faithful Christians" drag their kids to on Sundays, give your children license to verbally abuse, humiliate, and condemn the gay children they encounter at school. And many of your children—having listened to Mom and Dad talk about how gay marriage is a threat to family and how gay sex makes their magic sky friend Jesus cry—feel justified in physically abusing the LGBT children they encounter in their schools. You don't have to explicitly "encourage [your] children to mock, hurt, or intimidate" queer kids. Your encouragement—along with your hatred and fear—is implicit. It's here, it's clear, and we're seeing the fruits of it: dead children.

Oh, and those same dehumanizing bigotries that fill your straight children with hate? They fill your gay children with suicidal despair. And you have the nerve to ask me to be more careful with my words?

Did that hurt to hear? Good. But it couldn't have hurt nearly as much as what was said and done to Asher Brown and Justin Aaberg and Billy Lucas and Cody Barker and Seth Walsh—day in, day out for years—at schools filled with bigoted little monsters created not in the image of a loving God, but in the image of the hateful and false "followers of Christ" they call Mom and Dad.

http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/SavageLove?oid=5135029%EF%BB%BF

Engaged?

I've been noticing a pattern lately. A pattern that I'm not entirely fond of. A bunch of girls I went to high school with are getting engaged and I can't figure out why now. In the past week alone, 4 girls I went to school with announced their engagements and before that several more, plus a few that have already tied the knot. We are 21 years old, none of us have finished college yet, and the majority of these girls have been with their boyfriends for less than a year. In all honesty I'm disturbed by it.

At first I was feeling defeated by this. Because of how many engagements I've been seeing from people my age, I was feeling like I was the one out of the norm. I was feeling like maybe I'm the outcast here, the only one NOT getting married. I don't know why I was thinking that way, it's not like I'm even CLOSE to a point in my life where marriage would be an appropriate next step or even an option, (and even if it was, I wouldn't want to yet) but for some reason I kept thinking I was the crazy one.

It wasn't until a friend calmed me down by slapping some sense into me and talking to me about how abnormal THEY are. At this point in life we are supposed to be in school, dating, focusing on getting a degree and soon a career and finding out who we are. It's only the girls who don't believe in those values that are getting married at this age. In high school people referred to these girls as "The God Squad" and it didn't click until now that it's only the girls in that group choosing to tie the knot at such a young age (and it's not that they don't have values in general, it's just that they apparently value being a wife above all else).

Now, far be it from me to say when someone is ready to get married, I have no idea what constitutes being ready for that but if you knew you had found the person you wanted to spend your life with, then what's the big rush? Is it sex? Or is it that you just don't have any reasons worth waiting for, like a career or a life?

For me personally, I know that marriage can wait until I have a stable career and have been with this person for long enough to be 100% sure that a marriage could work. There's just no way of knowing that when you haven't even been with that person for a single year yet. It really just doesn't make sense to me.

Maybe the reason I feel defeated by this is because I feel sorry for those girls. It's almost like a feeling of, "damn, lost another one to marriage." I don't want to see my friends go down a certain path because of sex or because they don't consider their future worth waiting for.

It's buying into patriarchy. It's buying into the fact that society tells us that the only future a woman has to worry about is getting married and starting a family. But that is not true. I am not going to college to get my "MRS" I'm going to college to get a degree in Communications and learn how to be the person I want to be. I'm still growing up and figuring things out.

I do want to get married someday, but that day does not have to be when I'm 21 and still in college. I'm young, I still feel like a kid sometimes. I still feel like a kid and we're talking about marriage? We're young! We're still in school for crying out loud. And I just don't understand why people absolutely cannot wait until we have at least graduated from college. Why?

Don't be too anything.

"Don't be too fat, or too thin, or too dark, or too light; don't be too sexual, or too chaste, or too smart, or too dumb. Be yourself. But make sure you fit in."
-Anna Taggaro

I enjoy this quote so much because it really sums up how I sometimes feel, and I know other women can relate. People always say, "just be yourself" which is what we should do, but society tends to tell us otherwise. Be yourself, as long as it's perfect.

Ever have those days where you don't really feel like getting out of bed and you would rather just throw on a pair of sweats and run out the door with no make-up on and just genuinely not care? I know I do. But it's hard to not care when we are told how to be perfect by magazines and models. They seem to scream how unacceptable it is to be anything less than perfect when you walk out the door.

But I have news, no one is perfect. It's an uphill battle for all women because we all have body-image issues or self esteem issues and it's hard to look past those and have confidence when everything points to us having to be this picture perfect woman who, in reality doesn't exist.

We all have things we like and don't like about ourselves, but for some reason we get so stuck focusing on the things we hate. It's really tiring to constantly compare ourselves to others or to be thinking "I hate my legs, I hate my butt, I hate the pouch on my stomach, I hate my arms" or whatever it may be. Chances are, we are the only ones who even notice or care. So, for the next week I'm going to try really hard to focus on the things I like about myself. It's probably not going to be easy but we all deserve to love and appreciate our bodies, even if they aren't "perfect."

Love Your Body.

I like it.... actually, I don't.

Right now it's supposedly "Breast Cancer Awareness Week." Last year during this week, all the women and girls of Facebook were instructed via some chain message to change their status to the color of their bra. All the men were wondering what the deal was, why all these girls had a random color as their status. Obviously they soon figured out that all the girls they knew were posting their bra color.

This year, there's another chain going around where you are supposed to put "I like it...(insert location here)," as the place where you like to keep your purse. Girls are getting really creative with this one saying things like "I like it in the bedroom," or "I like it on the kitchen counter" or "I like it up against the wall" creating a sexual innuendo for guys to interpret.

And this is all in the name of breast cancer awareness? I'm supposed to believe that girls are insinuating sexual comments all for the sake of fighting breast cancer? In my humble opinion, I think it would be much more useful and constructive to raise awareness about a serious issue in a more serious way. Add a pink ribbon to your profile picture, volunteer, donate... don't make sexual comments, there is no correlation between a sexual suggestion and breast cancer.

Frankly, it's pretty degrading to women. Acting suggestive, but using whatever justification you have on hold, just makes us all look like we can't get a man's attention without the use of sex. If this is really about breast cancer, find a more constructive way to show your support that doesn't objectify women.

A message.

This doesn't really have to do with feminism, but more social equality in general which is why I'm posting it. With all the recent events of gay teenagers committing suicide, I think it's as important as ever to fight for equality for all. Lots of people are beginning to speak out and this short message from Sarah Silverman says so much. Kids learn from their parents and when we teach them that certain people are lower than us whether it be gay people, women, people of different race... we are feeding into hatred and intolerance and we are the ones responsible for the outcome.

Totally Fired Up.

Hello world.
I am excited and anxious and thrilled to be starting this blog, on a topic I find so relevant in my life and so important to society as a whole. More and more each day I find it harder to stay silent and more important to speak up.

I'm going to keep this blog fairly anonymous for obvious reasons but just as background, I'm a 21 year old college student and I feel like it's my duty in society to promote social equality and stand up for what I believe in: equality, respect, and acceptance for all. I fight for it every day and I will continue to fight until it's achieved.

My good friend was a huge inspiration for starting this blog, after having many awesome and intense discussions about feminism and our patriarchal society. Luckily, she's beginning this journey with me at Resisting The Man.

I'm working to keep myself moving toward becoming a strong, successful, independent WOMAN and I'm hoping this will help me to do that. I have a lot of people in my life that inspire me to stand up and speak out and that's exactly what I'm going to do.