I was thrilled when I received an e-mail yesterday saying that I was chosen to be a GACC SafeSite.  I am going to concentrate my efforts both on giving condoms out through programming at the Center for Women at my school and on giving them out to my sorority sisters.  Sex is still a stigma of sorts on my campus and I hope that I am able to expel a lot of the myths about sex and condom use on my campus! Wish me luck :)

I read a very interesting article today, something that voiced what I had been feeling about PETA for a while.  I'll quote some of the most interesting passages.  Thoughts?

jezebel.com/5453982/ingrid-newkirk-is-the-worst-person-in-the-world

"Find an actress, preferably one upon whom fame once landed a glancing blow. Get her naked. Airbrush thoroughly. Slap her on a billboard. The actresses get to be seen publicizing a "cause"; more importantly, they look conventionally "hot" doing so (and perhaps the billboard, or the press release, or the media coverage of the billboard and the press release, will remind some producer somewhere of the actress's existence?). Most conveniently of all, the ideological commitment PETA asks of its "faces" is nothing so onerous as to prevent anyone from going about West Hollywood with her Birkin and her Uggs as per usual the next weekend. (Pamela Anderson once claimed that she kept wearing sheepskin boots, despite her long association with PETA, because she didn't realize harvesting sheepskin involved killing sheep.)"

"PETA's hostility towards women doesn't stop with the highly sexualized portrayals of its spokesmodels, either. The organization frequently holds demonstrations where naked women are put in cages, supposedly to represent the cruelty of factory farming and/or medical research. We get it: sow crates and battery hen cages are disgusting. But so is stripping a woman naked and likening her to an animal."

"And there's the acute hypocrisy of its actual mission. While it claims to fight against all animal suffering, PETA has several times been caught euthanizing animals that would otherwise have been eligible for adoption. In 2005, a rash of unexplained dumpings of dog and cat carcasses around Virginia and North Carolina — PETA is headquartered in Norfolk — found its apparent explanation when two PETA employees were arrested while attempting to throw out 18 animals they'd killed after picking them up from a shelter on the promise of finding them homes. "

"Last year, to protest the Westminster Dog Show, of all things, PETA operatives dressed up as members of the Ku Kux Klan."

Finally, PETA's response. "As for the sexy women in our ads, the silly costumes, the street tableaux and the tofu sandwich give-aways, in a world where people want to smile, can't resist looking at an attractive image and are up for a free meal, if such harmless antics will allow one individual to reconsider their own role in exploiting animals, how can it be faulted?"

I've finally gotten the chance to take a class that is very important to me: Introduction to Women and Gender Studies.  I'm considering making Women and Gender Studies one of my majors but I wanted to wait until I took the class and experienced what it was like before declaring.  The class so far is brilliant.  The professor is wonderful and the reading is very important to me: whether it's an article as to why feminism isn't "dead" or whether it's a piece dispelling myths about feminism, I find everything insightful and relevant to my daily life.  There is one small issue, and this is an issue that comes up for many people in many classes: some of the people in the class.

On the first day of class, we were assigned groups and ask to "find out about the other members in the group."  After discussing majors and what year we were, I decided to change the discussion and make it a bit more relevant to the class.  I said, "I think it's a pretty fair assumption to make, but are we all feminists?"  A vital fact to mention is that my group consisted of two women and three men.  The men were mostly silent or nodding, except for one that exclaimed, "I wouldn't ever call myself a FEMINIST!" with indignance.  To this, I calmly responded, "Oh, then would you call yourself sexist?  Because feminism mostly works for equality between sexes."  He sort of shrugged and looked away.

Today, I had this class again.  Apparently, this guy went to one of his friends (who openly dislikes women, namely feminists) and complained about "a short blonde girl who yelled at him about feminism."  (I would like to note that, as is a misconception with feminism, my calm statement about feminism was interpreted as "yelling" and "angry.")  This friend decided that it was necessary to join the class "to back his friend up."  Today was his first day in class.

Throughout the class, these two thought it necessary to make homophobic, misogynistic, chauvinistic comments.  When the teacher said "When white men did research on the shape of skulls and intelligence they, of course, decided that the white male had a superior skull that made them more intelligent than other genders or races."  The two looked at each other and the one said, completely serious, "Sounds about right to me."  The other nodded.  When the teacher talked about her son that liked Broadway and wanted to be a "dance professor," the two smirked and nudged each other.  After the class was over, the two thought it was necessary to point me out and laugh to each other.  There were other examples, of course, but these are the ones that I recall off of the top of my head.  It continued throughout the entire class.

After the class, I found myself quite upset.  I go to a leading university and am generally surrounded by educated, civil people.  I questioned why these people were so threatened by my simple explanation of feminism.  I found my answer in some of the readings we were assigned.  One reason as to why people are threatened by feminism is that people, white males in particular, don't want to lose their own supremacy.  They recognize, directly or otherwise, that they have an advantage in society and don't want anyone to challenge it: let alone a strong woman.  It is the same reason why there wasn't racial equality for a long time (and, in many ways, there still isn't).  I also questioned why they thought that a boy liking Broadway was comical.  My answer was also arrived at somewhat easily: homophobia.  I read about many of the myths about feminism.  One was that feminisms are just "angry women."  I find it very interesting that, when men are angry, they get things done.  When women are angry, it is considered abnormal and unattractive, not to mention notable.  Another myth about feminists is that feminists are all lesbians.  If our society wasn't so riddled by homophobia, this wouldn't prevent people from labeling themselves as feminists.  Because many people still view being gay as a bad thing, however, this is off-putting to people.  These are only a couple of the many negative stereotypes about feminists that exist.  I would like to note that all of these issues were addressed in my textbook.

I find it very disheartening that, at a leading university, students still adhere to old and destructive stereotypes.  There are men in my class that honestly think that, to be worth anything, you must be a white male (or so it seemed, by their words and by their actions).  It's obvious to me that, even in our day and age, we must still work for equality: whether it's equality between sexes, between races, or between sexual orientations.  I hope that, within the course, some of their beliefs are dispelled and disproven.  In the meantime, I hope that their negative attitudes and belief systems are just that, and that they don't take actions based on their own harmful attitudes.  I also hope that you are all working for equality in your lives!  Wish me luck.

 I grew up in a household whose motto on sex was "If I find out you're doing it, I'll kill you" from my father, "You BETTER not be" from my mother and "Good Christians don't have sex before marriage!" from my grandparents.  Many would think that, with such daunting, one would abstain from sex entirely.  Many would be wrong.

My childhood was less than ideal.  Without going into the gory details, my father was abusive and convinced me that I was pretty much worthless.  Throughout my childhood and into my teenage years, I found myself searching for someone (a boy, specifically) that would make me feel good about myself and, eventually, whole.

I found this boy, or so I thought, sophomore year of high school.  I had been feeling a bit desperate.  I had tried to get a date to homecoming freshman year and it seemed as though no one wanted to take me.  I had the same predicament sophomore year.  My father's cruel words seemed to be reinforced by the opposite sex's lack of interest in me.  "Maybe I am worthless," I would think to myself.  "After all, if guys don't think I'm special, why should I?"  Needless to say, I was suffering from a lack of self-esteem.  And this boy came around at the wrong point in my life.

I went to a football game with some of my close friends.  I looked over and saw a boy, about a foot taller than me, dressed somewhat eccentrically.  I was intrigued.  I would steal a few quick glances, only to find the gaze of his lined eyes meeting my own.  He eventually came over and talked to me.  He gave me his myspace (this was about 4 years ago, mind you) and, although I didn't want to leave at all, when the time came I agreed to contact him.

Not much later, I thought I was in love.  Not only was I in love, I was convinced that this was the love of my life.  I was certain that I would marry him.  He showered me with attention and opened the world to me.  He changed the way I viewed things and I told myself that I would do anything for him.

This boy was not, however, who I thought he was.  

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I'm new to this website and, as such, I feel as though a formal introduction is in order.  My name is Candace and I'm a 19 year old college sophomore at a leading research university.  I work at a women's center and am involved in various organizations on my campus.  One thing that seems to come up frequently in my life, whether on campus or in my community, is the many misconceptions about feminism.

One day last week, I stumbled upon a website.  This website had a somewhat humorous cartoon from the 1920s detailing what a "single woman" should do and how she should act on a date with a man.  It was humorous only because it was so obsolete and outdated.  One piece of advice was along these lines "Careless women never appeal to gentlemen.  Don't talk while dancing, for when a man dances he wants to dance."  A feminist myself, I laughed because I was able to reflect upon how far we've come as a society.  That's until I scrolled down to the comments.

Many comments talked about how it was a funny cartoon because it was outdated.  Most, however, said that the cartoon still applied today.  Many of the comments were quite grating.  One comment said "well maybe if u girls werent so fake, and did other things then put chemicals on your face to seem pretty. its as fun as watching paint dry, cause it basically is….." Another said "Feminism is NOT an excuse for man hating. Sadly its what it seems to be more often than not.  And if you think women are not considered objects, you are F***ing crazy. Hello p0rn, Hello Playboy, Penthouse, Hustler etc… Women have become bitches, treat men like crap, then cry boo hoo when they are alone." This comment was from a woman.  Another person said "I am only wondering what this bitch is doing out of the kitchen!!!!! Feminist are funny….. its funny because no one takes you serious and we all just laugh at you."  Another quipped "don’t even get feminism anymore, it’s pretty much over in America. Any jobs that women can’t get is because of different body parts. No jobs are denied because your a women. Seriously, almost 90% of people who say jokes and say all that sexist stuff is to purposely mess with feminist women; idk about you, but every feminist I’ve met is SOOOO ANNOYING."

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