Female Genital Mutilation is not a Legitimate Cultural Practice

For people who have ever argued or heard the argument that FGM is a cultural practice that people have no right to intervene in, here are two quotes for you that I have found on Jezebel:

“Dr Guyo Jaldesa sees the consequences every day. ‘Instead of a normal vagina, these women just have scar tissue,’ he says. ‘This causes all sorts of problems. It is basically torture for the women to have sex. One of the purposes of female genital mutilation is to make it terribly painful and unpleasant for women.’ When he gets married, ‘the man has to prove his virility by forcing open the closed scar tissue. If he fails to perform this the man is ridiculed, but it can be very difficult. So often the man will use objects – like a knife or broken bottle – causing even more terrible damage to the woman.’”

And:

“Agnes leans forward, her hands bunched into fists. ‘These girls don’t think [mutilation] is wrong because a white man told them so. They know it’s wrong because it’s their body.’ With that, Agnes sits back, and looks out, towards the girls playing in the yard, free at last.”

This second quote is especially powerful. It encapsulates the fact that all arguments about “respecting culture” go out the window, when it produces barbaric practices such as FGM. And that last part, “because it’s their body,” could apply to so many issues (abortion, sexuality, economic freedom etc.) in which people try to encroach on a woman’s control over her own body, and her own life.

I highly recommend that you read the rest of the article; it highlights other deplorable atrocities committed against African women in order to keep them subordinate to and dependent on men.

Wearing Barbie’s body on your body

This is interesting… Margaux Lange is a jewelry maker who is obsessed and fascinated with Barbie. She makes jewelry using Barbie parts. She says, “I enjoy the funny juxtaposition of wearing the body, on the body. Barbie has become the accessory instead of being accessorized.” What stands out the most for me about this is how a commodity (Barbie) becomes commodified. She is dismembered and no longer stands as an intact doll but rather disposable parts that can be removed and re-moved (as in moved elsewhere). I don’t know, is this feminist art?

Here are some of her pieces:

A necklace made of Barbie breasts.

Barbie earrings

Barbie butts made into a bracelet

From the top left corner and going counter clockwise: Barbie bracelet, ring, earrings, rings, and necklace

This is the crap our tax dollars are funding?!

Needless to say, abstinence-only sex education, sadly the dominant kind of sex education in America, demonizes sex, condoms and all forms of birth control and is rife with false statistics and so called facts. It also enables slut-shaming and demonizes any girl or young woman who dares explore her sexuality and engage in sexual activity instead of remaining virginal, chaste and pure. This is not sex “education” but rather the imposition of conservative ideology, heteronormativity and patriarchal gender roles / norms.

So much of this ineffective and unrealistic maleducation relies on fear tactics. Much of the stuff abstinence-only curricula teaches and the material they use are simply laughable. It’s just too bad that that’s what young people are learning (or not learning) about sex. Here are some examples:

In South Carolina, Heritage Community Services teaches girls that boys simply cannot control themselves when they are sexually aroused and that unless girls cover up their bodies, those poor boys turn into sex monsters and just jump on them.

“Males and females are aroused at different levels of intimacy. Males are more sight orientated whereas females are more touch orientated. This is why girls need to be careful with what they wear, because males are looking! The girl might be thinking fashion, while the boy is thinking sex. For this reason, girls have a responsibility to wear modest clothing that doesn’t invite lustful thoughts.” (Heritage Keepers, Student Manual, p. 46)

Right, because girls and women are not sexual beings. They’re just passive receivers. This also reinforces victim-blaming because if a woman is wearing revealing clothing and gets raped, it’s because she asked for it – what else was she expecting wearing skimpy clothing? This also insults boys and men by saying that they virtually have no self control.

On the Teen FAQs section of their website, in response to the question “how far can you go with the opposite sex?” it says:

A good minimum guideline is to declare everything covered by a bathing suit as off-limits. Everyone needs to know his or her boundaries before getting in a risky situation. Once someone is excited physically, it can be difficult to stop.

Apparently boys will be boys, right? They simply can’t control themselves once they’re around one of “those” girls. The Heritage Community Services Curriculum also relies on scare tactics to scare young people into not having sex. In the student manual it says:

“Circle the consequences that you DO NOT want in your life”: “Sexually Transmitted Viruses, Sexually Transmitted Bacteria, Cervical Cancer, AIDS, Legal and financial responsibility for a child until he or she is at least 18, Raising a child alone, Emotional hurt and regret, Increased chance of abuse from a partner.” (Heritage Keepers, Student Manual, p. 35)

Because sex is bad, bad, BAD! Also, suggesting that “increased chance of abuse from a partner” is a likely outcome of sex is an utterly distortion of relationship abuse. Where is the sex-positivity? The possibilities that it can bring you closer to your partner, that it can actually feel good (gasp!), that it burns calories?

Meanwhile in Kansas, abstinence-only organization Women’s Clinic of Kansas City/Life Guard says on their website: “Being able to have sex does not make you any different from a rat in a warehouse. They have sex too. Is that what you want to compare yourself with?” WHAAAAAT?!!!! So basically teenagers who have sex are just like rats? Sex is a normal, natural part of humanity and biology, not just something that rats in warehouses do.

This is what tax dollars have been going to. Ridiculous, absurd, and untrue claims like the aforementioned that just try to reinforce heteronormativity, gender stereotypes and the policing of female sexuality.

Women: Know Your Limits!

Maybe you’ve seen this before…

A lot of people on YouTube have been giving this thumbs down because they view the video as sexist, but I think it’s really funny.  The  video is a satirical take on past (and present?) misogyny.  The video emphasizes the absurdity of gender stereotypes.

But it is really strange how the comments on YouTube have become a brawl between feminists, misogynists, and those who miss the irony of the video or simply view the humor as counterproductive.  And even though I appreciate the video for its irony, some commenters are using its message to back up sexist prejudices.

So what do you think?  Can making fun of sexism be sexist?  Is the video hilarious satire or more misogyny disguised as humor?

Indiana high school forbids a female student from wearing a tuxedo to prom

A 17 year old female from Boone County, Indiana, is suing her her high school, Lebanon High School, for forbidding her from wearing a tuxedo to prom. She is a lesbian and wants to wear a tuxedo instead of a dress because a dress reflects a sexual identity that she doesn’t identify with or embrace. School district attorney Kent Frandsen stated that the school district has had a long instated policy that only allows male students to wear tuxedos to prom, and that there is no need to change this policy because up until now it has not been challenged. The student was told to either wear a dress or not go to prom.

The Indiana Legal Director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Ken Falk argues that the district’s policy violates the US Constitution because ”From a First Amendment standpoint, wearing a tuxedo makes an affirmative statement about her own sexuality. Students have free-speech rights.” Furthermore, by only permitting male students to wear tuxedos to prom, the policy violates Title IX law which prohibits gender-based discrimination in schools.

The school district’s policy is so blatantly sexist and homophobic and this case exemplifies institutional/state policing of gender/sexuality norms. The case also addresses the limitations of student expression and how schools and institutions continue to infringe upon student rights and fail to reexamine outdated, discriminatory policies.

The Real Revolution IS to Love Myself

The Women’s Center has a list of events that are taking place at the Center or are co-sponsored by the Center for the remainder of the semester and preceding the list is “The Real Revolution is to Love Yourself.” Self-love is truly a radical form of activism. We live in a society that socializes us to dislike ourselves and tells us to buy unnecessary things, starve ourselves, exercise like a maniac, etc. to make ourselves better people.

Think about it. It seems that on every magazine cover and all over television and the movies, women are told that they are too fat, that they eat too much, that they have too many wrinkles, that they aren’t good enough in bed, that they aren’t sexy enough, that they’re too slutty, etc. Meanwhile, men are told that they’re not “manly” enough if they’re not super built and muscular, if they’re not aggressive enough, if they don’t pick up enough women are bars or clubs, if they aren’t into cars and violent action movies, etc. People are always putting themselves down, thinking they’re not ______ enough and if only they just got ______ or did ______ then they’d automatically be a better person.

Mainstream society works hard to keep making us think that there’s constantly something wrong with us, that there’s always an imperfection that we need to fix in order to be sexier, more attractive, more desirable. It’s not in society’s interests to have confident, empowered people who love themselves. Self-love thus becomes a statement against consumerist, capitalist mainstream society and is a way to truly give yourself the respect and honor you deserve.

It also sets a positive example for others to follow. Just as one lit candle can light up all the ones around it, one self-loving person can inspire others to journey into self-love as well. Moreover, in order to meaningfully contribute to society and try to make change, you need to love yourself. Otherwise you may get discouraged and burn out. You can’t take care of others unless you take care of yourself.

Self-love is not an easy or quick process. It is a journey of learning, struggle, frustration, growth and healing. You can’t just completely erase and get over the pain, suffering and oppression you’ve experienced over the years. But just setting the intention to start to love yourself will plant the seed and cultivate the ground that enables self-love to blossom. Make it an offering to yourself.