I'm hoping to get a haircut soon. I'm totally sick of this hair.
I want a new look, period, but I can't seem to figure out how to go about it. I'm stuck in a rut. I wish I had makeover-minded friends to give me a hand.
In conclusion, I FUCKING HATE SNOW. Stop snowing you goddamn clouds! I hate you!
Lately I've been hungry in so many ways, craving everything I can get-- food, drink, attention, sex. I feel like I'm half-starved, like nothing's enough. As soon as I devour one thing I'm either back for more or onto something else.
I crave.
I'm hungry for sunlight, flowers, and spring. I want days that stretch on forever and taste like honey and salt and green.... Read More
It took us only a little over an hour to get to Arlington Heights, which is where Mitsuwa Marketplace, the Japanese market, is. The roads on the interstate really weren't bad, though when we got into the actual city... Read More
Seeing Dir en Grey in Chicago tomorrow! Whoo! I hope it's a good show. And that I don't die on the way there (or back), since we're supposed to be getting a fuckton more snow. Goddammit, I hate snow.
I think some parts of my views on feminism were a little... how do you say... misinterpreted.
I thought I emphasized it pretty well, but maybe I didn't use enough capslock and italics. Feminism isn't about raising women over men. It's not about degrading men or making them inferior, either. It's especially not about angry so-called "feminists" being annoyed when a man opens a door... Read More
I wish this were not a gender issue but a *person* issue. I would hope that we can agree that if one person does the same exact job as another person - for example I have the same sales position as Pat at the same Wallmart - that we should be paid the same for the same quality of work and experience. There may be issues of seniority, or training , but if all of the factors are the same then we should get paid the same. It shouldn't matter if I am male or female or a midget or a white person or if I am 18 or 55 years old.
From what I observe, as soon as we put a catagory on this argument we start to get backlash. As soon as I say "women" should be equal to "men" it gets uncomfortable. Or as soon as I say "senior citizens" and "recent high school grads" people will take sides. This is "us" or "them" thinking - when I can identify with a specific catagory and I will feel threatened and be defensive.
That is a point of the Muppets. "Peoples is peoples."
You can swamp me with links and comments. This is a topic that interests me. I admit to oversimplification. I am a white male and my point of view is not from the same angle. But I think my point is similiar to the quote in the article "Men are from earth. Women are from earth."
Injustice concerns me.
I *get* the fact that women are treated like objects - like non-persons. These are our mothers, sisters, wives and friends.
I think that this is a power issue. There is a belief that there is only so much power to go around and that men want to controll all of it. There s a feeling that to give others respect is to lose some of your own. This is a lie. There is no limit on power or respect in the universe. We all deserve it.
FEMINISM
-If You Want Equal Rights, Be a Pallbearer-
People have actually said that to me. This is the absurd ad nauseum "Pallbearer Clause" I often get when I start talking feminism, and it's completely ridiculous.
How would you like to be told that, in order to have equal rights, you must be able to do something that you physically cannot do?
Excellent post! (I know it's a year later, but I just ran across it. ) Very well written, and I agree with pretty much everything you said. This echoes my views of what feminism should be.
I do have to disagree with one point, though:
... If equality were instituted tomorrow, do you REALLY think there'd be as much war? ... If 50% of our government were female, do you really think a majority of them would be war-mongerers? ...
Yes, I do believe there would be as much war. I think those statements speak to a rather hurtful stereotype that men are more warlike and vicious than women. "The gentler sex" is unfair to the many men out there who are against war, fighting, etc. I believe the percentage of women who can be combative, vengeful, petty, and warmongering is the same as the percentage of men with those traits.
And if, as you say, "all politicians are corrupt", then, even if 50% of them were women, they would still be politicians. I don't believe that changing the ratio of men to women in government would necessarily change the ratio of warmongers to peaceniks. I've known many women who are staunch Republicans, who are still fully in favor of the war in Iraq, and George W. Bush.
As far as equality goes, having an equal number of men and women in a specific industry, i.e., government, finance, IT, salon ownership, etc., isn't necessary to equality. In many cases, the variance in the number of men and women working in a specific field is more due to interest level than anything else.
From my personal experience in the IT field, any woman enough of a computer geek to want to work in tech support or networking is pretty much guaranteed a job - provided she's qualified. Or maybe just enthusiastic. Most guys I know in the field would be more than happy to have a woman to work alongside with, and being geeks ourselves, we know it's all about the know-how. The women I have worked with in IT have all been equally respected for their abilities, and treated, at least by their male coworkers, the same as any other geek. Even so, it seems that there is only one female computer geek for every ten or twenty male ones out there.
I don't know if this is a symptom of the inequalites in our society, or if it simply a difference of interest. I suspect the latter. There do seem to be some things that men, or women, are more interested in. As long as there are no artificial barriers to someone's entry into a field, barriers based on gender, then I don't see a problem with there being an uneven distribution in the workforce.
Anyway, I've rambled on a bit, but I think your article was very well thought out and very well written. And I would hold the door open for you if I got there first. But, if you got to it first, I would expect you to hold it for me.
I have the cold from hell, and it WON'T GO AWAY. Took some Nyquil but it hasn't kicked in yet, so I'm still coughing like a smoker. Why does every illness I have need to involve sore throat/cough? It it God telling me I talk too much or something? Way to be catty, God.
In other news, I'm about to eat rice and a bowl... Read More
) Very well written, and I agree with pretty much everything you said. This echoes my views of what feminism should be.