Month: May 2008

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Breathe Right, Sleep Right, Wake Up Crazy

I’ve discovered that I do indeed sleep better – as does Betty – if I use a Breathe Right strip on my nose. I breathe better, so I sleep better, just like it’s supposed to work.

But using them has added some time to my morning ritual, as invariably the strip unsticks itself from my nose and re-applies itself elsewhere. Like under my chin, or on the back of my neck, or on my forearm. So now when I wake up I have to play “find the Breathe Right strip” before I go outside looking like a crazy person. Although I do foresee a day when I won’t really care, either, if there is a Breathe Right strip stuck to my forehead. Thank God Betty will be there to see me along when I full abandon myself to absent-minded professor.

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Which Wave Are You?

This essay by Caillie Millner expresses a lot of Third Wave thinking and has a lot of valid points — especially that doing stuff rates a lot higher than talking. But as a tweener, an essay like this strikes me in two ways: (1) that these women couldn’t be doing things if it hadn’t been for the 2nd wave, because sometimes it’s hard to be aware of history. A woman, after all, wasn’t legally allowed to have a credit card in her own name 40 years ago, and (2) Geraldine Ferraro is an ass & always has been.

It’s like the 2nd wavers got used to having to shout & shout & shout just to get stuff changed so that women could just get things done, & forgot to stop shouting, & now the 3rd wavers don’t seem to be aware that the shouting had to happen in order to “just do it.”

I’m on the old side for the Third Wave, and way too young to be a proper Second Waver. I feel like I bridge the waves – applauding the Third Wave for lots of cool stuff (multiculturalism, empowerment, financial acumen) and the Second (for having passed so many of the laws that make Third Wavers’ lives possible as they are). But I think they both have their downsides, too – the Third Wave gets a little too “everything a woman does empowers women” about stuff, and the Second Wave is just a little too white, & a little too privileged, especially lately.

So feh. Forget the waves & just call yourself a feminist.

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Meme x 2

A couple of recent memes:

  1. What is your favorite word? indeed.
  2. What is your least favorite word? relax
  3. What turns you on? genderfuck
  4. What turns you off? passivity
  5. What is your favorite curse word? cunt
  6. What sound or noise do you love? rhythmic handclapping
  7. What sound or noise do you hate? led zeppelin
  8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? fighter pilot (i’m not kidding)
  9. What profession would you not like to attempt? corporate anything
  10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates? you were right.

and

  • If you get something out of a vending machine, it’s most likely the: MetroCard
  • A word you sometimes catch yourself misspelling: relevant (or is it revelant?)
  • You least want people to see you as: dull
  • You’re a little scared of: street crime
  • The least attractive thing you do in your sleep: snore
  • The number of contacts in your cell phone: lots
  • How many of them are relatives: plenty
  • You lose your cool when someone: condescends
  • When you go to the drugstore, you often can’t leave without buying: rolaids
  • Your dance moves can best be described as: masculine
  • The majority of your underwear is: dirty
  • Something you eat even though you hate how bad it is for you: ice cream
  • You think you’re really not a great: writer
  • How much cash is in your wallet right now: $12
  • The majority of your shoes are this color: black
  • You don’t think you’ll ever be able to get rid of your: bad skin
  • If your breath is bad, it’s most likely because you had the: cigarettes
  • You feel embarrassed when you: fart
  • The last public place where you used the restroom: City College
  • Something you don’t like to debate in mixed company: obama v. hilary
  • You don’t think you can pull off wearing: skinny jeans
  • Something you own entirely too much of: ants stuff
  • Someone you would love to see in concert who might bring down your street cred: devo?
  • The last thing that you spilled on yourself: tea
  • If you were on a reality show, the producers would likely portray/characterize you as the: humorless feminist
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Afghan Girls

And in another part of the world, an update on far more dire issues: the percentage of Afghan girls enrolled in school is not increasing.

Aid agencies like CARE International last week attributed the gender disparity in Afghan schools to a lack of female teachers, the number of Afghan girls forced into early marriages and work, and attacks on schools by militant extremists, reports AFP.

Um, White House? Wasn’t this one of the big things we were supposed to help fix? Hello? Anyone? Have we forgotten about our goals in Afghanistan entirely.

(via Feminist Daily News)

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GID Group

For those who are astounded by the news that Blanchard has been appointed to the Work Group for Sexual and Gender Identity Disorders, consider this: the chair of that group is Dr. Ken Zucker, who believes transgender kids can be cured with reparative therapy.

Read this story, from NPR, about the difference between therapists in how to treat children who are brought in with gender issues. And then consider that Zucker is in charge of the work group working on GID for DSM V.

If you are a psychologists or know any, please ask them to contact anyone they know at the APA to advise against Zucker as chair of this work group.

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Gendered Lessons

Humorless Feminist checking in again – but have you seen the recent Dairy Queen commercial for the Brownie Wafflebowl Sundae? A little girl goes into the DQ with her mom. Sees little boy already seated at table. Waves cutely, smiled, bats eyelashes. Tells mom she doesn’t want a sundae after all. Once mom & daughter are seated at table, mom says how surprised she is that she didn’t want a sundae. Simultaneously, waiter brings sundae to table, says, “compliments of the young man in the monkey shirt.” Same boy as before waves, smiles.

How fucked up is that? That’s right, let’s teach the girls to flirt to get what they want before they’re even 10. Feh.

Imagine it the other way around – a little boy either acting coy & cute so a girl would buy him a sundae, or if the boy acted all touch & strong in order for her to buy him one.

Degrading much?

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Help the Burmese

Many of you know how much I loved visiting the country of Burma when I got to. Now, after the military junta cracked down on more democracy uprising, there’s been a horrible cyclone that has killed tens of thousands of people.

You can donate directly to the network of Buddhist monks who are doing a great deal of the work in these early days before a lot of international help can get there.

Do donate if you can :https://secure.avaaz.org/en/burma_cyclone/77.php

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Bee a Mensch

The honey bee colonies in the US are dying. We really are up shit’s creek without them, since they pollinate most of our food so it grows. Haagen-Dazs has created a site, Help the Honey Bees, to raise awareness. You can donate there, find out more, & even buy “Long Live the Queen” t-shirts (profits go to the people researching the problem).

Me, I wish them good health when I see them.

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Burma

It’s as if the places I love most have been targets of natural (and unnatural) disasters these past few years. The Washington Post has a beautiful and heart-breaking collection of photos from the cyclone that just devastated Burma.

My only hope is that somehow Mother Nature just accomplished what even Buddhist monks couldn’t: Burmese exposure to the rest of the world.