There’s certainly a double standard because no one would talk about it if it were a woman, and I would say… Why? Because are women expected to do it and men aren’t? And why aren’t men expected to do it, and why haven’t men done it before? Does it show vulnerability? Does it exhibit this vestigial, kind of puritanical shame over the human body and human intimacy? Yet violence and self-flagellation, self-hurt, hurting one another, we can do, because that’s what we’ve been taught culturally is okay? I don’t know, but it certainly seems to be an odd thing.
The voices of little girls are so powerful and profound because they haven’t yet been completely eaten away at by social conditioning.
“I am a rich pie filled with knowledge. I will not be eaten.” Holy fuck my new motto.
Transcription (with original line breaks):
The true feminine
I am not sugar and spice and everything nice. I am music, I am art. I am a story. I am a church bell, gonging out wrongs and rights and normal nights. I was baby. I am child. I will be mother. I don’t mind being considered beautiful, I do not allow that to be my definition. I am a rich pie strong with knowledge. I will not be eaten.
i’m not kidding, this poem shook me to my core. it inspired me more than any famous poet in the past few months. this little girl is going to influence the world in such a beautiful way.
“As the Bechdel Test began to creep into the sightline of mainstream movie criticism, it was notable to see the surprise of some male critics that their favorite movies—One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Goodfellas, The Princess Bride, Clerks, the original Star Wars trilogy, the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy, and even Tootsie, when you get right down to it—so soundly flunked it. For many women, the reaction was more of a shrug, along with relief that, finally, there was a simple way to help writers and directors step over an embarrassingly low baseline. To be clear, applying the rule isn’t about snatching away the well-earned status of Raging Bull or The Godfather or even This Is Spinal Tap. As Anita Sarkeesian, creator of the Web site Feminist Frequency, noted in a 2009 video about the rule, “It’s not even a sign of whether it’s a feminist movie, or whether it’s a good movie, just that there’s a female presence in it.” The latter point is something that many people fail to grasp when trying to explain away why their favorite movies don’t pass the test (“But Batman is the hero of the movie! Of course the women characters are going to talk about him!”): the Bechdel Test is not a judgment of quality or nuance. After all, the beautiful, moving Gravity fails the test, while a formulaic rom-com like 27 Dresses passes with no problem. But the test itself is a simple, bloodless assessment of whether female characters are deemed important to a story—and a way to conclude that, most of the time, they aren’t.”
— We Were Feminists Once: From Riot Grrrl to CoverGirl®, the Buying and Selling of a Political Movement (Zeisler, Andi)
This makes me happy that it has an explanation, because too many people misunderstand the point of the test. “It sets the bar too low!” They say. That’s the point. It’s the lowest bar possible and many movies can’t pass it.
The other guys at my school are finally understanding feminism and working toward equality and it’s a beautiful thing to see.
When A came in for freshman year, he was a run-of-the-mill immature jerk who thought rape jokes were funny and that sexism didn’t really exist. Two years later, in a classroom circle about sexual assault, he groaned loudly that “it’s so STUPID the way people try to defend rape. Like the crime isn’t the fault of the perpetrator.” (This guy is going to be a lawyer, by the way. We’re all happy to know there’s another lawyer on the victims’ side.)
Three weeks ago, I sat in on a class during my off-block where two guys were explaining to the classroom why it was okay for them to catcall girls, saying that “it’s just a compliment” and “I’m just telling her I think she’s sexy.” Three girls, with a patience and eloquence that I could never hope to match, disemboweled their arguments and laid out exactly why catcalling hurts them. The guys were shocked to realize it wasn’t just harmless complimenting and basically swore off catcalling for life.
Yesterday, B caught himself saying “man up” and immediately corrected himself with saying, “Wait; that’s a bad choice of words. Here, let’s try ‘stand like a brick wall.’ Yeah, that works. Gender-neutral and powerful.”
I’m watching as the other guys in my school learn about consent, rape culture, and what equality really means. I’m seeing guys treat girls with more respect, interrupt girls less often, treat girls as social and academic equals, and even choose girls as leaders for projects. And honestly, it’s really great.
Does anyone else find this creepy and disturbing? I love how the OP is perfectly fine with indoctrination.
A guy who’s going to be a lawyer who chooses not to defend rapists is indoctrination?
Two guys choosing to stop catcalling women is indoctrination?
A guy choosing to acknowledge that everyone is strong is indoctrination?
Guys choosing to treat women as equals rather than lessers is indoctrination?
In what universe is this creepy, wrong, or bad? Guys are choosing, of their own free will, to treat women better. What about this is not okay?
Did I misspeak in the post? Is this a misunderstanding? I don’t know where the disconnect is between us but something doesn’t add up.
Indoctrination = the process of teaching a person or group to accept a set of beliefs uncritically.
Education = the process of facilitating learning, or the acquisition of knowledge, skills, values, beliefs, and habits.
Teaching people to treat others better is not indoctrination.
Blessed addition
terrific post, fantastic addition
OP: Here’s a heart-warming story about personal growth and people learning to be better human beings.
@cullingofthelambs : Basic humanity and not acting like a piece of shit? What kinda feminazi cult indoctrination is this? I’m very smart and refer to myself as a NiceGuy™️ who women don’t like because I’m an assho…because they’ve been brainwashed by the liberal academic elite conspiracy to turn all men into cucks.
“If you criticize X in women but do not criticize X in men, then you do not have a problem with X, you have a problem with women. For X please insert words like ‘anger,’ ‘ambition,’ ‘loudness,’ ‘stubbornness,’ ‘coldness,’ ‘ruthlessness.’”
—Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie, Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions
Making fun of girls who dream of being a wife and stay-at-home-mom actually doesn’t make you progressive or feminist or cool, it just makes you a person who shits on someone else’s dream, a.k.a an asshole
I WILL ALWAYS REBLOG THIS
Always important to remember; the enemy of feminism is not a particular lifestyle, the enemy of feminism is to not be able to choose.
The baby girl that was born just a few hours ago… her father wants to drown her in milk because he didn’t receive a male heir!
Rekha as Ramdulaari // Lajja (2001)
This is why it angers me when people reduce Bollywood to frivolous musicals made solely for entertainment. Bollywood is a multidimensional platform that exposes a lot of prevalent issues in an often bold and unapologetic manner. Powerful scenes like the above illustrate how the Indian movie industry seeks to enlighten the public. I promise you, it’s not all song and dance.
I’ve been looking for the English sub for months 😢
wupacing 