OceanPullsMeClose

Earth mother, Radical Feminist, music fan, science enthusiast, man hating dragon. pronouns her majesty/ royal highness/ most evil sorceress/ your worshipfulness

[gloriasteinem]

This abstract was taken from the Kalamazoo College website that can be found here.

“Feminist leader and editor of ‘Ms.’ magazine Gloria Steinem and civil rights leader Margaret Sloan came to Kalamazoo College in February, 1972, as part of the College’s ‘Emphasis Women’ series. On February 14, they gave a press conference on campus, which is likely where this photograph was taken. The photographer was Carl Bennett for the Kalamazoo Gazette.”

[ronweasley]

Simone Veil, the woman who fought for and managed to legalize abortion in France, died this morning shortly before her 90th birthday. She was Jewish and an Auschwitz survivor (she lost her parents and brother there), as well as definitely pro-European Union. She was a wonderful woman who went through so much and gave French women so much more. She had so many insults hurled at her when she was fighting for abortion but she never backed down. She was an inspiration to me and my first step into feminism. I will miss her forever.

[hex-360a1b]

[butchflirt]

This is quibbling but the original cartoon appeared in the Appeal to Reason, a Socialist Party paper

[drziggystardust]

Hello lovies! I've been on an unplanned tumblr hiatus, but am working on cleaning up this blog (or starting a new one if xkit keeps mucking around). Either way I should return to regular posting within the next week or so. 

In the interim! Please head over to the sparkly new youtube channel Ms.Mojo and subscribe please! Watch Mojo is a good channel if you're into top 10′s (why are these so addicting?) but you do have to wade through the male-centric muck. Ms.Mojo was just launched last week to address this issue and the whiny shit babies are out in force. Brace yourself and look at the comments on this innocuous vid featuring feminist icons! So please check Ms.Mojo out, make suggestions for lists you would like to see and let the producers know we are here for more woman-centric media :) 

[importantwomensbirthdays]

Mazlan Othman

Dr. Mazlan Othman was born on December 11, 1951 in Seremban, Malaysia. She was Malaysia’s first astrophysicist, and was the founding director of the Malaysian National Space Agency. She has made numerous contributions to science education in her home country, including the establishment of Malaysia’s first planetarium. In 1999, she was appointed Director of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, a position she held for several years.

Happy birthday, Mazlan Othman!

[humblekitten]

How is this any different from what men have been saying to us for centuries?

[drziggystardust]

Because the man saying it has fierce eyeliner game?

[micdotcom]

The first plane of Syrian refugees headed for Canada touched down in the country late Thursday, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was on hand to welcome the arrivals. Just a few hundred had landed, but Canada is on track to accept many, many more.

[ofwhichiamtheworst]

a male feminist walks into a bar

because it was set so low

[gnc-centric]

DYING. YESSSSS.

[importantwomensbirthdays]

Hülya Koçyiğit

Hülya Koçyiğit was born on December 12, 1947 in Istanbul, Turkey. She appeared in over 100 films, many of which won awards at international film festivals. She also starred in the film Derman, the first Turkish film to play on five continents. In 1991, the government of Turkey named her a State Artist for her contributions to Turkish culture.

Happy birthday, Hülya Koçyiğit!

Photo (cropped from original) from the Dutch National Archives, shared under a creative commons license.

[uglyuglytruths]

exiting a mindset that ignored and/or excused the reality of female oppression will leave you reeling. the misogyny that you weren’t allowed to name will creep up and crowd around you. we have been through so much. this is the beginning of a long, slow healing and there are many of us in many different stages. know even as your pain grows that it will not be ignored this time, and that you are not alone in it.

[dailydot]

Why Captain Phasma is important as a female villain in 'The Force Awakens'

Finally, a female character who isn't living up to a lofty moral code.

Captain Phasma—a towering, armor-clad captain of the First Order—is a true rarity in Hollywood. She’s a female villain who is neither a femme fatale nor a foil for a female hero. Even her appearance is revolutionary.

“I don’t think many female actors get the opportunity to play a part where they’re not having to think about the way their face looks,” said actress Gwendoline Christie.

Even in supposedly gritty action movies, attractiveness often outweighs authenticity for female characters. One of the most egregious examples is Elizabeth Olsen’s turn as Scarlet Witch in Avengers: Age of Ultron, for which Joss Whedon told Olsen to keep her face calm during action sequences. Scarlet Witch is fueled by anger and grief throughout the movie, but her facial expressions were deemed too unattractive for slow-motion shots.

In a similar vein, Jessica Alba admitted that she was told to cry less realistically in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. “The director was like, ‘It looks too real. It looks too painful. Can you be prettier when you cry?’”

[READ MORE]

[hellotailor]

[lierdumoa]

Supergirl’s Fauxminism

 Supergirl is a new superhero show with a female lead. Many people want to believe that this, in and of itself, makes the show feminist. People are even arguing that it’s a good “starter kit” for people who are on the fence about feminism.

I might have agreed with these people before I actually watched the show.

But after watching, I’ve come to the rather unfortunate conclusion that Supergirl is not, in fact, a good starter kit for people who are on the fence about feminism.

If anything, it’s the opposite. In the same way that Raven Symone is using her brown skin to legitimize anti-black racist propaganda, Supergirl is using female characters as tools to legitimize sexist norms.

I’ll start with Cat Grant’s “girls are great” speech:

“What do you think is so bad about ‘girl’? I’m a girl. And your boss, and powerful, and rich, and hot, and smart. So if you perceive ‘Supergirl’ as anything less than excellent, isn’t the real problem you?”

Now even if we ignore the fact that the speech is coming from a white corporate mogul and look solely at the content, the speech is still essentially arguing that equating a woman with a girl is empowering.

But it is not empowering. Equating women with girls normalizes two major social problems:

1) the sexualization of young girls

2) the infantilization of grown women

Consequently, Supergirl is both sexually objectified and infantilized throughout the pilot episode.

.

Let’s start with the infantilization.

Infantilization can happen in real life or within the context of a fictional narrative. Infantilization means exactly what it sounds like it means – treating an adult like a helpless infant. 

The paternalistic figure – a romantic partner, a parent, a boss, etc. – deprives the adult of agency, either by making decisions for the adult, or by deliberately depriving the adult of information necessary for the adult to make informed decisions for themself.

Infantilization in a superhero narrative tends to look something like this: 

Male superhero conceals his secret life of masked vigilantism from his female significant other. He claims the secrecy is for her protection. Of course, she cannot protect herself from a situation she doesn’t know she’s in, and even superheroes cannot be two places at the same time, so the female significant other generally ends up dead.

Now you’d think, since Supergirl is about a female superhero in possession of godlike powers, and not about a male superhero’s girlfriend, that this brand of infantilization would be avoided.

You’d think.

James Olson starts working at Supergirl’s place of business at the beginning of the pilot episode. He is established as a potential love interest the moment he appears on screen.

We discover at the end of the pilot episode that not only does James Olson know Supergirl’s secret identity, but that Superman sent James to Supergirl’s place of business to “watch out for her” and that both James Olson and Superman kept this secret from Supergirl.

She manages to see through this paternalistic ruse a the end of the episode, thereby “proving” that she is a “mature enough” to “handle the truth.”

This sends two decidedly un-feminist messages.

First, it sends the message that it is okay to lie to adult women for their own protection.

Secondly, it sends the message that adult women must earn the right to be treated like adults  – a right that is simply granted to adult men without question.

James Olson and Superman are not the only people who infantilize Supergirl in the pilot episode. A secret government organization infantilizes her by secretly monitoring Supergirl’s behavior and by concealing knowledge from Supergirl regarding her family history and aliens that want to kill her.

Supergirl’s adoptive older sister infantilizes her by concealing the fact that she belongs to said secret government organization and participates in said monitoring.

Supergirl’s mother infantilizes her by concealing the fact that she also belongs to said secret government organization, as well as the fact that she is even alive at all.

All of this secrecy is supposedly for Supergirl’s protection.

.

Now, let’s talk about the sexualization and sexual objectification of Supergirl.

Her costume.

Supergirl later acquires sheer black tights to go under the costume. Zero explanation is given for the addition of sheer black tights to her costume.

Put plainly, this is the shortest skirt I’ve ever seen outside of an otaku fanservice boarding school hentai:

But that’s not even the shameful part.

Supergirl’s suit is designed by a male coworker/friend with a crush on her. He is the only friend she trusts with her secret identity. Supergirl has no female friends besides her sister.

She tells him her secret identity the day after she performs her first feat of heroism because she “just really wants someone to be excited for her.” When he receives this knowledge, he proves himself to be a total personification of the friend-zoned Nice Guy™ trope. 

Here’s a transcript of the exchange, copied verbatim from the closed captions:

Supergirl: Uh, there’s something about me that for most of my life, I’ve run from it. But last night I embraced who I am and I don’t want to stop.

Nice Guy™: Oh, my god, you’re a lesbian. Oh, Kara, that’s why you’re not into me. This is, this is great news!

Supergirl: No, I’m not gay!

Of course, he cannot wrap his head around Kara’s failure to reciprocate his interest unless he rationalizes it by assuming she is a lesbian. 

That’s not the shameful part either.

This is the shameful part:

This is the first costume design her coworker/friend comes up with.

He doesn’t even try to pretend he is designing her costume with functionality in mind. He dresses her up like his own personal sex doll. She goes along with it. The audience is expected to view this incredibly creepy and objectifying behavior as normal male/female friendship.

It takes him two more tries before he comes up with a costume that satisfies both Supergirl’s need for functionality and his selfish desire to sexually objectify his so called friend.

ETA: Just to clarify, I would be all for Supergirl expressing her sexuality if that were what was actually going on. But it’s not. She’s not expressing her sexuality. Some gross friendzoned loser is using her body to express his.

.

Let me just recap everything Supergirl’s done wrong thus far.

The most socially/politically/economically powerful woman in the series delivering a speech promoting a sexist ideology that simultaneously infantilizes adult women and sexualizes young girls.

Every single adult in Supergirl’s life infantilizing her, including her closest family member and one of her potential love interests.

The narrative confirming that Supergirl has no close female friends.

And immediately following up with an obligatory affirmation of Supergirl’s heterosexuality.

The show introducing Supergirl’s second potential love interest – a friendzoned Nice Guy™ who sexually objectifies her – thereby completing the show’s unnecessary love triangle.

The spandex teddy pretending to be a superhero uniform.

The sexy™ Halloween costume pretending to be a superhero uniform.

Everyone in the show pretending the superhero is wearing a uniform when in fact she’s running around in a sexy™ Halloween costume.

Everyone in the audience pretending that any of this bullshit can be considered feminist.

Now let’s step back and think about why so many things went wrong in the pilot.

The episode had 1 female writer, 4 male writers and a male director. Women are not in control of Supergirl’s narrative. Instead we have a bunch of men using “strong female characters” as mouthpieces to perpetuate sexist preconceptions.

This show is not a starter-kit for people on the fence about feminism. It is not teaching sexists to be less sexist. Rather, it’s teaching sexists that it’s perfectly okay to perpetuate sexist norms as long as you call yourself a feminist while you do it and you find a woman who agrees with you.

Hell, you don’t even need to find a real woman. Just find a fictional woman and dress her in a really short skirt.

Supergirl is not promoting feminism.

Supergirl is mansplaining feminism. 

[sixpenceee]

The white house states that Trump has disqualified himself from presidency

[drziggystardust]

the

[feministcurrent]

Today is December 6. Twenty four years ago, 14 women were murdered at École Polytechnique in Montreal by a man who shouted: “You’re all a bunch of feminists, and I hate feminists!”

Today is also the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women. Though some have been commenting on “gendered violence” today, I prefer a more specific description. This is about male violence against women.

Indeed, this violence is gendered, but to talk about “gendered violence” is too vague. What this term signifies is fear — and, indeed, that fear exists with good reason. Feminists are targeted because they name the problem. We target patriarchy, male dominance, female oppression, and male violence against women. Men are threatened by feminism because we refuse to mask the problem with ambiguous words, tepid critique, and polite requests.

On December 6, 1989, 14 women were murdered because a man was afraid to lose the power and privilege he believed he was entitled to. He was so angered by the notion that women might usurp that power and privilege, that he resorted to violence.

He is no anomaly.

Male violence happens to women on a daily basis, throughout the world. Depending on our various locations, economic status, class, and race, we may be more vulnerable. Our Indigenous sisters, for example, are prostituted, abused, and incarcerated at disproportionate rates. Indigenous women are five times to seven times more likely than other women to die as the result of violence. Poor women are trafficked daily to satisfy the desires of Western men. Here in Vancouver, on the Downtown Eastside, women with few to no other options are forced to resort to prostitution in order to survive and are subjected to abuse and inhumane conditions as a daily reality.

To be sure, all women are vulnerable to male violence. We know this, as women. We feel it every day when we walk down the street at night, listening for footsteps behind us, assessing the men walking towards us, planning our defense. We feel it when we take public transit and wonder whether we will be harassed or assaulted, trying to plan our response should the man next to us turn out to be a perpetrator. We guard our drinks at the bar, we avoid eye contact on the street, we wonder whether someone will crawl in our windows at night, we fear the cab drivers who we rely on to get us home safely at night. Many of us fear of the very men we live with — our fathers, our brothers, our husbands, our boyfriends.

The feminist movement is our response. The feminist movement names men as our attackers and our oppressors. Perhaps not all individual men, but many individual men, and certainly men as a class.

“Gendered violence” is polite. It doesn’t offend. It doesn’t point fingers. It isn’t enough. Male violence against women is the truth.

Solidarity.

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Heidi Rathjen, who survived Polytechnique and became a resolute gun-control advocate, warned in an interview there could be a repeat of such violence. “Absolutely! Today, if we’re talking about massacres, killing many people rapidly, there are weapons on the market today that didn’t exist in 1989 …weapons of war designed to pierce light-armoured vehicles and there are sniper rifles that can shoot up to two kilometres,” she said. “You can buy them on the Internet. I find ads on the Internet all the time.” Rathjen blamed the abolition of the long-gun registry in 2012 for the difficulty in knowing how many assault-type weapons are now available. She said about seven million guns were circulating in Canada in 2012 before the Conservative government scrapped the registry – mostly hunting rifles and shotguns. “But that list is getting old because the new weapons coming on the market are not being classified as restricted or prohibited,” she said. “It’s very difficult to be here 25 years later and to see that most of our gains are being destroyed by the current government.”

- Woman shot in 1989 Montreal Massacre remembers confronting killer (via allthecanadianpolitics)

[cybergata]

[progenyofworms]

In the spirit of Andrea Dworkin: ‎"It is incumbent upon each of us to be the woman that Marc Lépine wanted to kill. We must live with this honour, this courage. We must drive out fear. We must hold on. We must create. We must resist.“ 

Geneviève Bergeron (born 1968), civil engineering student Hélène Colgan (born 1966), mechanical engineering student Nathalie Croteau (born 1966), mechanical engineering student Barbara Daigneault (born 1967), mechanical engineering student Anne-Marie Edward (born 1968), chemical engineering student Maud Haviernick (born 1960), materials engineering student Maryse Laganière (born 1964), budget clerk in the École Polytechnique’s finance department Maryse Leclair (born 1966), materials engineering student Anne-Marie Lemay (born 1967), mechanical engineering student Sonia Pelletier (born 1961), mechanical engineering student Michèle Richard (born 1968), materials engineering student Annie St-Arneault (born 1966), mechanical engineering student Annie Turcotte (born 1969), materials engineering student Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz (born 1958), nursing student