Women's Studies major. Yes, I am a Women's Studies major. My father told me, "Oh, I'm glad I'm paying money for you to learn how to make the perfect brownie." My grandmother assumed I was a lesbian when I told her "I'm a feminist." My aunt asked me if I "hated men". To most of these I replied...I won't apologize for fighting for equal pay (fighting to enforce our constitution), for striving to make others realize how violence against women is around every corner and unless we use our voices, change won't happen...I won't apologize for wanting a better life for my children than I had. I won't apologize for simply wanting EQUALITY or for wanting to teach other young women that they don't have to be sex objects and that they can be president some day. I don't understand why being a feminist or studying the countless oppressions of women makes me a lesbian who will never get anywhere. Unfortunately, being a feminist comes with plenty of stereotypes. Being a Women's Studies major also comes with stereotypical baggage. However, that is always a great chance to USE YOUR VOICE! I advise those who think every feminist is a lesbian or a crazy man hater to take a walk over to Pine Dale Hall and come to the Women's Resource Center. You will find an assortment of books about feminists...straight, bisexual, transgendered, gay...the stories they tell are heart wrenching, moving, passionate, and motivating. Books about mothers and daughters, marriage, divorce, reaching out to men and other women. We have a collection of movies about domestic violence, women who have gone above and beyond, and plenty else. You will find a staff with open minds and big hearts. Being at the center makes me feel accepted, comfortable, and respected. COME ON DOWN :-)
Signed,
A Feminist.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Did you say pussy?!!!
You mean pussy-cat, don't you? Well, actually no, I mean pussy. Pussy as in Snatch, Beaver, Twat, Slit, Crotch, Pantie Hamster, Cunt, Vertical Smile, Gash, Muff, Poonnani, Bucket of Eels, Canoe Full of Moose Meat, Quim, Meat Curtains, Tuna Taco, Chuff, Gutted Hedgehog, Fur Burger, Spaniard With His Throat Slit, Sausage Wallet, Lap Flounder, Hippo's Yawn, Man In The Canoe, Turkey Purse, Tuna Flap, Fu#$ Chute, Cum Dumpster, Va-Jay-Jay, Harry Twatter, Crack, Stink Box, Gutter Hole, Her Fortune, Hairy Clam, The Screaming Eagle, Spam Purse, Flange, Wizards Sleeve, Hairy Axe Wound, Sperm Arcade, The Moneymaker, Bearded Clam, Pink Taco, Gummy Clam, Beef curtain Pleasure, Oyster Ditch, Vertical Monkey Mouth, Whisker Biscuit. Okay, okay, you get the idea. I am talking about the most revered and the most feared, part of the female anatomy. The beloved cunt. You know, the vagina. I know, I know. Sooooo many names for one small thing. In the larger scheme of things—it is a small thing. Why on earth would something so small, in the larger scheme of things, be such a threat to man, to the point that he would have to 'nickname' it and attempt to reduce its significance and its value? I would think that if a man spent so much time there, you know, trying to possess it, making laws about it, fantasizing about it, thinking about it, obsessing about it, dreaming about it, fighting over it, betting on it, paying for it, cheating for it, raping for it, AND being born from it, that he would find some value in IT, and respect for IT. Talk about POWER OF THE PUSSY! Let's talk about it! Well that is exactly what the UMD Women's Center has just done, by featuring the play that became inaugurated in 1998, and running strong. "THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES.” Yes, the Vagina Monologues are a fantastic and much needed platform to demystify the infamous vagina, and empower females of all ages. Vagina is very openly discussed here; over 100 times actually. Strangely, the outstanding, pleasure-bud, the clitoris, aka, clit, is sadly overlooked.
Barbara Raab's, “The clit conspiracy,” discusses V-Day and interviews Rebecca Chalker, author of “The Clitoral Truth: The Secret World at Your Fingertips." Chalker “is a longtime women's health activist, medical writer and sexologist. Women's sexuality is not about the vagina, Chalker says. (So get over it, Eve.) Her book blows the lid off some of the biggest secrets being kept from women and their partners about women's sexual pleasure and how to achieve it. The clitoris, Chalker tells us (and shows us, with drawings by Bay Area illustrator Fish), is the one part of the female body whose sole purpose is pleasure. It is, she explains, so much more than that pea-size, exquisitely sensitive bundle of nerves we think it is."
Drawing on her earlier work with the Federation of Feminist Women's Health Centers and its groundbreaking 1981 book "A New View of a Woman's Body," Chalker shows that the clit really is a "system" of 18 distinct but interrelated parts. In the chapter "The Case of the Missing Clitoris," Chalker details just how it came to be that, after 2,500 years in which the clitoris and the penis were considered coequals, so much information and knowledge about the clit just happened to get lost. When asked, “Why don't you do "The Clitoris Monologues"? Chalker answers, “I just might.”
Largely use, largely ignored. The clitoris is the pleasure 'bud' of the beloved vagina, and the most largely ignored when referring the female anatomy. The clitoris is the bud above the urethra, (urine orifice) in between the labia minora (inner lips). The clit has more nerve endings on it than any other organ in the female or male body, including the head of the penis. Sorry boys.
V-Day's primary purpose? To stop violence against all women and girls, at home and abroad. It's no secret that women and girls in Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), of central Africa, are being dragged from their homes in increasing numbers, raped in front of their families, including husbands and children, and dragged into jungles where their bodies are repeatedly violated and maimed by both men and foreign objects, only to be left for dead. IF they survive, and they make it back to their communities, they are completely ostracized, by friends and family alike. V-Day activist Eve Ensler reports, “...one survivor, Janet, who was raped so violently that the rapist pulled the leg out of her socket (she will be permanently handicapped), who, when I asked her if she was afraid to tell her story, said “I've always been courageous. Always will be courageous. If the military want to kill me for telling my story, I am ready to die.” Now that's power, AND courage! May we all have the courage to do what is necessary to insure the safety of others. Call this powerful, life-giving, love-satisfying, part of the female anatomy anything you want. It won't change what it is. Just STOP THE VIOLENCE against it. It is and will continue to be, the most talked about, the most revered, and most exploited human body part in history. Oops, did I say history...I meant Herstory. Relax, feminism does NOT cause death!
Namasté
Simply Me
a.k.a Dawna Cosme
For more information and Ensler's entire article, visit:
http://newsite.vday.org/
http://newsite.vday.org/node/1095
For Saab's entire “clit” article, visit:
http://archive.salon.com/sex/feature/2001/03/05/clitoris/print.html
For more vagina terminology, visit:
http://www.bedpan.ca/parts.php?which=3
Barbara Raab's, “The clit conspiracy,” discusses V-Day and interviews Rebecca Chalker, author of “The Clitoral Truth: The Secret World at Your Fingertips." Chalker “is a longtime women's health activist, medical writer and sexologist. Women's sexuality is not about the vagina, Chalker says. (So get over it, Eve.) Her book blows the lid off some of the biggest secrets being kept from women and their partners about women's sexual pleasure and how to achieve it. The clitoris, Chalker tells us (and shows us, with drawings by Bay Area illustrator Fish), is the one part of the female body whose sole purpose is pleasure. It is, she explains, so much more than that pea-size, exquisitely sensitive bundle of nerves we think it is."
Drawing on her earlier work with the Federation of Feminist Women's Health Centers and its groundbreaking 1981 book "A New View of a Woman's Body," Chalker shows that the clit really is a "system" of 18 distinct but interrelated parts. In the chapter "The Case of the Missing Clitoris," Chalker details just how it came to be that, after 2,500 years in which the clitoris and the penis were considered coequals, so much information and knowledge about the clit just happened to get lost. When asked, “Why don't you do "The Clitoris Monologues"? Chalker answers, “I just might.”
Largely use, largely ignored. The clitoris is the pleasure 'bud' of the beloved vagina, and the most largely ignored when referring the female anatomy. The clitoris is the bud above the urethra, (urine orifice) in between the labia minora (inner lips). The clit has more nerve endings on it than any other organ in the female or male body, including the head of the penis. Sorry boys.
V-Day's primary purpose? To stop violence against all women and girls, at home and abroad. It's no secret that women and girls in Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), of central Africa, are being dragged from their homes in increasing numbers, raped in front of their families, including husbands and children, and dragged into jungles where their bodies are repeatedly violated and maimed by both men and foreign objects, only to be left for dead. IF they survive, and they make it back to their communities, they are completely ostracized, by friends and family alike. V-Day activist Eve Ensler reports, “...one survivor, Janet, who was raped so violently that the rapist pulled the leg out of her socket (she will be permanently handicapped), who, when I asked her if she was afraid to tell her story, said “I've always been courageous. Always will be courageous. If the military want to kill me for telling my story, I am ready to die.” Now that's power, AND courage! May we all have the courage to do what is necessary to insure the safety of others. Call this powerful, life-giving, love-satisfying, part of the female anatomy anything you want. It won't change what it is. Just STOP THE VIOLENCE against it. It is and will continue to be, the most talked about, the most revered, and most exploited human body part in history. Oops, did I say history...I meant Herstory. Relax, feminism does NOT cause death!
Namasté
Simply Me
a.k.a Dawna Cosme
For more information and Ensler's entire article, visit:
http://newsite.vday.org/
http://newsite.vday.org/node/1095
For Saab's entire “clit” article, visit:
http://archive.salon.com/sex/feature/2001/03/05/clitoris/print.html
For more vagina terminology, visit:
http://www.bedpan.ca/parts.php?which=3
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