Did you think you were going to get away with me not mentioning Lady Gaga or her new single? HA! I was almost last for work this morning as I stumbled upon it as I was doing my breakfast-and-facebook thang and chose to watch it instead of leaving on time.
I wasn’t sure how I felt about the song when it came out, but as expected it has grown on me and I really like it now. I can’t say I love it yet but I know I will, just like I did with Poker Face (I thought it was terrible and sounded just like Just Dance but bow thoroughly enjoy screeching it loudly at inopportune times). I was delighted by her performance of it at the Grammy’s and so was very excited about the video. Like with the song, it took me a few tries to make a decision and yeah, I love it. It’s a bit crazy and I admit I do not get a lot of the symbolism and stuff, but it’s weird, dark and quirky which is fine by me. I LOVE the skeletons in suits, I want to do that for Halloween this year! I also couldn’t get over Gaga’s body – oh my lord. If I had an arse half that good I;d never wear pants either! And her stomach. Goodness me. Let’s just say I worked extra hard at gym tonight after watching that video a few times!
The downfall with the clip though, is her dancing. She is not a dancer and even though I’m sure she practices a lot, she never will be. I cracked up at the 5:53 point when she’s spazz dancing for no apparent reason. I just think she should worry less about having elaborate dance routines in her clips when it’s just not her forte. She’s a singer and a performer, so let’s leave the dancing to those who need it to pep up their otherwise boring-as-hell film clips!
About Ruby
My name is Cara (but you can call me Ruby) and I like the colour pink, swearing, fist shaking, daggy dancing and 90s RnB music. Often all at once. I live in Brisbane which is always warm and is famous for its zombies.
I thought it would be a bit of a laugh to tell you about the random stuff that am scared of. We all have those irrational fears that seem ridiculous to just about anyone else. Not like clowns (man, am I the only person who’s not scared of clowns?) or public speaking. I mean the fears you have that are completely unfounded and very unlikely to happen. Like those freaks on Maury who are scared of rubber chickens and cotton balls or whatever. I have a few good ones which I thought I would share in the pitiful hope you will also share and help me feel like less of a wuss.
Escalators
I find myself filled with dread whenever I ride an escalator. Particularly when they’re going down. This dreadful mental image of me falling down them replays over and over in my mind and I picture my teeth kitting one of those terrifying, jagged edges and all my teeth being knocked in and my face being busted up. I also feel the same way, though to a lesser extent, about stairs. I think I am just worried about my face being ruined forever :(
Opening Garage Doors at Night
Now this is a very unique one! If every I open a garage door at night, I fear that there are wild dogs (wolves?) on the other side who will maul my legs off. I think this EVERY TIME I open a garage door at night and have done so for as long as I remember. The funny thing is, I once told this to my sister as we were opening the garage door when we were younger and she freaked out. Aw yeah, spreading those irrational fears to all I know and love!
Getting Caught in a Bus Door
We’ve all heard those horror stories where a kid’s jacket is caught in the doors of a bus and they’re dragged along the road until they are DEAD. Well I think about that every single time I’m on a bus. Not with trains though, strangely enough. Though I do worry about dropping valued possessions on train tracks and going down to fetch them when a train comes and fucks me up. I was stoked when I saw a sign in Japan indicating they had long pincer things to retrieve dropped possessions from the tracks so that I didn’t have to risk death.
Ladders
I don’t know if this means I have vertigo or not but I am terrified of climbing down ladders. Getting up them is OK but getting down from the top of a ladder is an absolutely terrifying experience for me. And if I’ve gone from a ladder to get on top of something high, then have to climb down onto the ladder… well just forget about it! I cry and feel sick and just can’t do it. The rare few times I have found myself stuck on something with a ladder waiting to get me down, I have had to have someone gently coax me down and tell me exactly what to do so I don’t fall and die/wig out. I wonder if this fear has a name? And if anyone else is terrified of climbing down ladders?
The Dark
I am shit scared of the dark. No matter how much I try to tell myself there’s no one there and I’m being an idiot, I can’t help but think the Blair Witch is going to come and get me (seeing that film allowed me to finally explain to people why I refuse to ever go camping because as far as I’m concerned, that’s exactly what will happen to me if I ever do). It’s not just outside darkness that scares me either, inside I am scared I will trip on something, step on spiders or get abducted by the serial killer hiding behind the kitchen counter. The dark is a mean and scary place.
Getting stuck in clothing forever
I suffer from mild claustrophobia, small spaces do scare me a little but nothing like how I feel when I think I am stuck in a piece of clothing. Have you ever tried something on that was either too tight or just really confusing and you thought for a second you were stuck? Well that is a fucking nightmare to me. As soon as I start to feel stuck in a a top or dress or whatever, I start to panic which only makes it worse (like a finger trap). The same applies to being stuck under bed sheets forever and especially sleeping bags. If it takes me more than two seconds to free myself I might as well just die then and there.
Goats
I wouldn’t say I’m terrified of them, but the big ones scare me because I have a very traumatic memory of being headbutted against a wall by an angry one as a kid. I don’t recall doing anything to it or even going near it for that matter, but that goat got me good. I’m sure if I got headbutted by one again I’d probably react the exact same way I did when I was 6 – scream and cry until my dad scares it off :(
EDIT: I have just thought of another one! James Bond’s invisible car at intersections. I’m not kidding, when I am merging or at a busy intersection, I always have this dreaded feeling that James Bond’s car from “Die Another Day” is there an will result in a horrific car crash. As a result I always heck for a shimmer in the air just in case the most improbable scene from a James Bond film ever has became a reality.
Submarines and moths
OK not really but I I’ve known people who are scared of both and it helps me not feel so dumb about mine :D
So now it’s your time to share. Do you have an irrational fear that you know is completely ridiculous but still find yourself crippled with terror when faced with said fear? If so, I wanna hear ALLLL about it!
Well the worst is now over and it’s now time for Brisbane to start cleaning up the areas affected by the floods. I’ve registered as a volunteer but have been told by a few sources that there have been so many volunteers there may not be enough work to delegate to everyone. I can’t even imagine that, too many volunteers? That’s just fantastic and I send hi-5′s to all thsoe who have donated their time and energy to getting Brisbane back to normal. I’m hoping I can go help out my friends who were affected tomorrow.
I have to admit I have been a bit disappointed in how little attention this has been given from people in other parts of Australia and the world. I wasn’t expecting everyone in the world to collapse to the ground yelling “WHY???” to the sky and donating all of their saving to the disaster relief fund. But I kind of expected a little more attention than what I’ve seen mentioned online. Of all of the blogs I read every day, only one mentioned the floods at all (Gala Darling, and she’s a kiwi living in NY) while everyone else has seemingly ignored the matter. Is it because there wasn’t a significant loss of life? Because Queenslanders have the “it’ll be alright” kind of attitude so people don’t realise how big a disaster it was? Or is this how it always is, and I’m only noticing because I saw the impact these floods had first hand? I don’t recall how much attention the fires in Victoria got in 2009 as I didn’t read a lot of blogs or use Twitter back then. And come to think of it, I’m not sure how much attention Haiti got during it’s earthquake disaster last year and I’m wondering if it was also largely ignored by bloggers and non-affected people like I feel the Brisbane floods have been. Not to say people don’t care about them of course. I just don’t know why it’s not being mentioned more to raise awareness, particularly by people other Aussies.
I guess all I’m saying is, if you know someone who may have been affected the the brisbane floods, make sure you contact them and find out if they are OK. And if you have a blog that has a significant number of readers, let them know what’s going on and encourage them to make a donation if they can. It won’t turn people off and it’s only going to do good, so start making some sort of fuss. We got smashed pretty badly and it’s going to take a lot of money and time to get things back to normal and every cent will help. Plus the floods are continuing around the country and things may only get worse still.
OK, that’s my rant for the day. If you want to get a good perspective of how Queensland has been affected, check out these great interactive before/after photos as well as the gallery on news.com.au. Please note my mum lives in Ipswich so those first few photos in the gallery are pretty shocking for me. Thank god my mum lives on a hill, as many of her neighbors (many elderly) lost everything.
Wow, I cannot believe 2010 is almost over! I know I’m not the only one who think this year went ridiculously fast. I remember going to the Good Vibrations festival in Sydney, having my 10 year high school reunion and moving into my awesome unit like it was last week (all happened in February) and I can’t believe I have had three, if not four, vastly different jobs in the last 12 months. I didn’t go overseas once this year while I managed to be overseas three separate time in 2009. That’s probably why the year flew by so quickly this year, as I didn’t have major holidays to look forward to, which tends to make time slow down drastically.
If I was going to be honest I’d tell you that 2010 hasn’t been my finest year. As I said, I’ve changed jobs a lot this year with some moves being great and others being not-so-great. Recently I lost my job, a job I loved, only to find myself staying within the company and into a position that I now also enjoy. It was tough but I try not to dwell too much and move on with my life. It did help me realise I am not content with where I am in life and have vowed to do something creative, most likely graphic design, next year. So now I am saving up to do a full-time course or at least a part time one sometime in 2011.
It’s not all been bad though of course. I’ve done some good things which I am proud of. I maintained this blog all year which is a pretty big deal for someone as vague and forgetful as me. I got into nail art and got over my fear of posting photos of me wearing clothes on the internet. I am also the fittest and healthiest (and therefor, slimmest) I have been in years which is an awesome accomplishment which I plan to continue. I’ve done some dumb diets and lost weight but this is the first time I just ate healthy and exercised a lot and I am really toned and so damn healthy, it’s sickening!
I managed to go to a heap of festivals, I didn’t even let the fact two of them were on the same day up here in QLD and went on a road trip down to Sydney for Good Vibes and then got to see one of my favourite bands, Faith No More, play up in Brisbane (and I also got to meet the band Anvil who I was briefly obsessed with thanks to their doco). I also saw Lady Gaga twice in one weekend and Calvin Harris twice this year, both of whom I love very much. I also managed to run one of the biggest events in Brisbane – the Brisbane Zombie Walk. 10,000 people and $13k raised in donations later, we officially run the larehst zombie walk anywhere in the world.
OK so maybe it wasn’t that bad after all. I didn’t travel and I am still without a bangin’ career but I am working on both of those things. In fact I am working on a lot of things already, including getting more crafty with the new sewing machine my mum bought me for Christmas as well as my new found love of scrapbooking. I also intend to totally overhaul my blog soon and so some excellent things with it which I haven’t had a chance to do yet.
I wish you all a fun New Years Eve and hope 2011 is all you want it to be. Don’t forget to keep safe and if you’re heading out, be responsible and look how while doing so! (Just remember to hide the tacky plastic cups when posing for photos, as I quickly learned today. Ooops!)
For my last few days of 2010, I plan to relax a whole heap, sleep in late, catch up with old friends and then head down to the Gold Coast for some trashy NYE fun before the first festival of the new year – Summafieldayze! Catch ya’ll on the flip side!
So Oprah is in Australia at the moment. Never before have I heard such a hubbub about a celebrity visiting this country. I can’t say I’m a huge fan of her but I do enjoy watching her show whenever the opportunity presents itself (ie. sick from work). When I heard that she was coming to Australia I thought “Oh that’s cool” and didn’t think much of it until she was actually due to arrive and BOOM the media circus really took off.
There seems to be a lot of negativity coming from the general public about her coming here. People complaining that our taxes are footing the bill for the security and police presence she’ll inevitably need, the fact her visit will be disruptive, that she’s not important enough to warrant so much attention and so on. Then there was that McDonalds ad which I admit was pretty stupid and misleading (um so only guys have business meeting while women do nothing but “catch up with friends”, please). Oh and the terrible scandal of how there was a quiz on her site with some tough questions testing peoples knowledge of Australia. Oh come on, while wasn’t the best quiz I’ve ever witnessed, it was actually kind of interesting and the fact a bunch of boon’s didn’t even know about the Dingo fence, it goes to show it may have actually helped some Aussie’s learn something about our country. Everyday there’s something new in the news, almost always with a bunch of nasty, whiny comments from disgruntled Aussie’s who just don’t get it.
Love her or hate her, she’s a HUGE influence on a lot of Americans. While we’ve had to spend a lot to impress her and keep her safe, the amount of money our country will make when all of her generally clueless American fans suddenly find out what Australia is all about and start coming here to holidays will be countless. The amount of knowledge the average American has about our country could barely fill a matchbox. And now they will not only get to see all of what we have to offer, but also get a first hand account of how great Australia from Oprah, who we all know can sway millions of people to buy anything that she says is good. Having her here is way better publicity for us than it would for Obama to come, because he wouldn’t be making a bunch of shows to document his trip like Oprah is. And let’s not forget, she’s about to retire and this will be her big finale which just makes it all that more important and exciting.
So if you’re one of those “Oprah go home” types, have a think about the bigger picture. It’s not about her, it’s about how many of her American fans will soon be pumping their US dollars into our economy and how soon we will have less people out there who think we all ride kangaroos to the shops and wear green khakis everyday after wrestling crocodiles while shouting “crikey” (no offense to Steve Irwin, of course).
I’m afraid I am going to have to get all serious and all up in your faces about something that has been floating around in Aussie news for a little while now. That awful thing known as rape and the scandals associated with it, particularly in regards to Australia footballers. If you’re not aware of what’s going on, a brief summary is that barely a day goes by when a high-profile football player from AFL or Rugby is accused of raping a girl after a boozy night out.
I have so much to say, so much so I am finding it hard to articulate myself, so please excuse any waffling, though I promise to avoid as much nonsensical ranting as I can since that always gets me into trouble, and I seriously can’t be arsed with it. First and foremost, there is never, ever an excuse for rape. It is one of the worst crimes I can imagine and never will there be a valid excuse for one human raping another (I also believe this applies to the animal kingdom but let’s leave that one for today). I do not care how the victim was dressed, how they acted, what they said or did or whatever; they do not deserve to be raped. I am even of the opinion that even if you’ve committed a horrendous crime, rape is not an acceptable retaliation. It is the most degrading act and serves only to hurt, humiliate and strip all power from the victim. There never has and never will be an excuse or justification for this atrocity and anyone who does not find the idea of rape unbearable or thinks it’s OK to joke about it deserves nothing more than contempt. And maybe a beating or two.
OK so now I have gotten that out of the way, I wanted to highlight some of my thoughts about these scandals and I guess the opinions people have about rape these days. First of all, rape ain’t a new thing that’s just popped up with the invention of TV or rap music. For as long as living creatures have been able to have intercourse, they have been able to rape or be raped. It’s impossible to work out when more rapes have occurred in history because it’s not like murder where there’s a dead body popping up (or to go completely missing without a trace). Rape probably exists a whole lot more than anyone could possibly imagine because most victims tend not to tell people, or at least not report it to authorities. And yet the way it’s portrayed in the media, you’d think it was this new, awful thing that’s a by-product of modern society. Of course the fact we all have so much more access to different news from all over the world thank to the internet helps one feel as though rapes happen more now than they ever did. Of course, maybe they do happen more nowadays than they used to, but we’ll never really know for sure.
I have a lot of mixed feelings about rape scandals involving celebrities. While I know the rick and famous have just as much ability to rape as any non-famous person, I always have this niggling thought that maybe the victim isn’t so much the victim and is actually the one doing the exploitation. It’s such a hard thing to think or talk about because it all comes down to their word against the alleged perpetrator and if you side with one or the other, you’re bound to get into a heated debate with whoever you voice your opinion to. After all, what if that girl was raped by that famous sportsman, you don’t want to assume she made it up for publicity because there’s still a good chance she actually was assaulted. This is why I guess all of these cases get so much media attention because nothing sells better than the combination of sex, crime, fame and the famous celeb vs the hapless victim. I’m not taking sides with either party because I feel sympathy for both because either one could be the victim. The girl who got raped vs the football player who had consensual sex with an eager fan. It’s a really, really messy situation.
I’ve read a tonne of debate over the idea of consent and how it’s affected by alcohol. Is it rape if the girl is wasted and can’t actually say yes, she wants sex but hasn’t said no either? But then if the guy is just as wasted, could he not also be in the same predicament where he was too inebriated to work out if the girl consented and just went along with whatever was happening in the bed at the time? It’s tough, because we all want someone to blame. In an ideal world the guy would realise how smashed the girl was and either send her home in a cab or if he took her home, let her sleep it off before attempting to shag. But this ain’t an ideal world and when a guy is drunk and horny and the girl he’s with seems to be DTF then he’s invariably going to sleep with her. If she said “No, I don’t want to have sex with you” then 99% of guys would stop, maybe curse their bad luck and jerk off in the shower. But there are still those guys who go through with it anyway, which is clearly rape. If the girl didn’t say no and seemed to enjoy the sex, but then woke up and realised what had happened though she couldn’t remember any/most of it and regretted it immediately, how is that classed as rape? According to most state’s laws it is because the girl was drunk and wasn’t able to give consent at the time. Most girls would just go home and feel like a total dickhead and maybe giggle about it with her good friends later but then there’s always those few who decide to make an example of the guy and cry rape, particularly when she has something to gain from it (ie. publicity). I hate the idea of this, and could never do this to someone no matter how much I hated them, but some people are idiots and willing to lie about something as horrific as rape for a little bit of attention.
I’m starting to get off track here and really haven’t come to my point…whatever that may be. Basically, rape is an awful thing but it happens. While a girl should be able to lie naked and spread-eagled on the footpath or wear a tiny skirt and dance provocatively with unknown strangers without being raped, rape is a very real thing and as sad as it is to say, women do need to watch themselves. I’m not saying we should all cover up, abstain from alcohol and wait for marriage, but we do have some responsibility for preventing sexual assault. Look at it this way, if you’re the kind of person who tends to get out of control when drinking and make some stupid mistakes like going home with questionable people or passing out in the street after losing all of your friends, then you need to re-evaluate your partying habits. Because while you do not deserve to be raped because you got trashed, dirty danced with some dodgy guys and acted like a bit of a sluzza all night, you need to be aware of the fact RAPE HAPPENS. If you keep putting yourself in dangerous situations then it becomes likely that something bad will happen to you eventually. When I drink, I get crippling migraines, so to fix this I do not drink very much anymore and do all I can to prevent migraines when I do decide to drink. Likewise, if you’re prone to going home with dodgy fuckwits when drinking, try to prevent the situation by drinking less or at least making sure your friends stay with you at all times. And for good measure, just avoid drinking with footy players in general as you never know, there could be a whole lotta truth behind those rape claims.
Rape can happen anywhere or any place, so don’t put yourself in a position where you might get raped when it can easily be avoided. For all non-partying situations (which is all I covered here tonight), all you can do is be aware, have a plan and for godsake, turn down your damn iPod when running through a park! Be aware and hopefully you will always be safe.
What can I say, I liked the smaller and more refined rants that this format has to offer, so I thought I’d do it again!
DO THE SPEED LIMIT PAST SPEED TRAPS
My best friend had a rant to me about this the other day. People who slow down to 20km/h past police of speed traps are fucking retarded. You know you can go the speed limit, right? They ain’t gonna book you for going over 35 when the speed signs clearly say 60! It’s dumb and totally dangerous.
BE MORE AWARE OF THE PEOPLE WALKING BEHIND YOU
You might like to think you live in your own little bubble where you can do what you want without really affecting anyone. But you don’t, and stopping dead in the middle of the shopping center in front of someone who’s walking quickly is rude and totally obnoxious. This goes especially to the fools who do this while with large groups of people. Move to the side motherfuckers, I’m in a hurry!
CLEAN OUT YOUR WARDROBE
OK so this is hilarious if you know me well enough as I HATE doing this and so rarely do. But you need to get your wardrobe in order once in a while. While you may not be able to find a lot to get rid of (like me) you at least get rid of the absolute dregs and get things looking spic and span by folding everything up nicely and sorting them appropriately so you can actually start finding shit again.
BUY MORE CDs/DVDs
I know this is the age of downloading stuff but I feel way too guilty to download more than the occasional song. Sure I’ll watch it if it’s not worth going to the movies for or if it’s a new TV show that won’t be showing in Aus for ages (if ever) but overall I like buying CDs and DVDs because it gives you something to look through and shows off you unique taste when others take a squizz.
STOP LIKING EVERYTHING ON FACEBOOK
Who creates these ridiculous pages and how are there so many knobs out there who actually go and “like” them? They range from the lame, though to-the-point ones like “Chicks in glasses are sexy” right through to the plain fucking long-winded and pathetic ones like “If your makeup isn’t done your hair is a mess and your in your pjs and he still cant resist taking you into his arms, he’s a keeper”. THESE ARE ACTUALLY REAL PAGES WITH THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE ON THEM, GUYS! I hate the internet so much sometimes.
DON’T RUIN STATUS UPDATES WITH INANE CHATTER
Speaking of Facebook, nothing boils my blood like those dumbasses who somehow manage to miss the 28 other comments on a status update to either ask a question that got answered in the first or second comment or else just jumps on and ask the poster a totally irrelevant question. Like one I saw about a friend who won a basketball final, some chick comes on after 10 other people have commented and says “Hey hun, what’s up, it’s been a while, txt me”. FFS it’s called an email or at the very least a fucking wall post! Way to ruin the vibe with your stupidity! Fuck I hate Facebook sometimes (aka most of the time).
STOP WASTING ENERGY
I don’t give a damn if you don’t believe in global warming (though I personally consider all global warming cynics to be massive fuckwits, FYI), wasting energy is a big NO NO. Turn the lights off when the room is not in use and use the dryer when you need something dry now, not just coz. Planet earth is a pretty neat place, and just think, the hole in the ozone layer is almost gone now because of the ban on CFCs, imagine how much better off we’d be if everyone just conserved energy and recycled more.
GET SOME REAL SKILLS
Your mum won’t be around forever (sad face) so learn some of her skills, plus a few from your dad and practice them. Knowing how to sew up a hem or check the oil in your car are amazing skills that so few people have these days. One day the mechanic or tailor won’t be there to save your arse when hems start dropping and cars start explodin’, so impress your friends by fixing it yourself!
OK that’s me for now. Sorry about the lack of blog updates, the Brisbane Zombie Walk is less than a month away and I have some blood to make for our fundraiser party tomorrow night!
I am not what most people would describe as a feminist. I enjoy being girly, I like to flaunt my magnificent boobs and I am constantly appalled that chivalry is dead. However, I do actually identify myself as a feminist. Oh don’t look at me like that, feminist is not a dirty word!
I am not a traditional sort of feminist by any means. I don’t go on rallies and I am not overly vocal about my beliefs, unless it involves a significant injustice against women, and I do not hate men. I do however believe very strongly in equal rights for females, something I do not believe we have yet achieved. That’s probably one of the reasons why I am a bit quiet about it, people take such offense to the idea of feminism, like women are lucky to be allowed the rights they have. The worst part is, a lot of women seem to agree with this way of thinking. I like to think they just don’t want to be labeled a feminist (like I said, people consider it to be a dirty word) but then again maybe a lot of women have the idea that they’re not quite as good as men deeply ingrained in them.
I only recently decided to start calling myself a feminist, in particular after reading a few blogs that were aimed at teenagers mostly, but I actually found a lot of the information on there really relevant to my feelings on the subject. I’ve always been the kind of person to get mad at anyone who claims (or even implies) women aren’t equal to men, and have had many heated arguments with people over sexist statements they’ve dared utter in my presence. But it wasn’t until reading some really good articles by these girls who identify as feminists who didn’t fall under the dreaded “feminazi” title that I actually decided to identify myself as a feminist. It’s a shame that I could never identify as one previously because I has this skewed idea of what feminism meant, and I’m sure it’s the same for most women. I think all women should be able to call themselves a feminist, because there are different levels of belief in the cause (kind of like religion, some people are super devout while others believe without feeling the need to go to church). All women should want to be equal to males in regards to human rights, work opportunities, sexuality etc.
One of the things that gets to me most is the difference in perception between males and females for doing the exact same thing. While I am naturally outraged by the idea of a male getting paid more for doing the same job as a female, just because of gender, it’s the smaller things that I feel don’t get voiced enough. An obvious example is the idea that a male can sleep with as many women as he wants and gets positive attention from other males while a female who does the same thing is no more than a “slut” (which is one of my most hated words, by the way). I hear guys often talk about how a promiscuous girl is a slut because she has one-night stands and has casual sex. When I interject and ask them how much casual sex they have, the fact they have a lot more than this poor girl doesn’t even matter. She sleeps around and that is disgusting and that is that. I’ve often asked how it differs between women and men, why can a man sleep with a hundred women and a woman sleep with say 20, and it be applauded for the male and found repulsive for the girl. There’s never a proper answer and usually comes down to the whole “women are not as superior as men” idea or the ridiculous belief that it’s dirtier for a woman to have had lots of penises in her than for a man to have stuck his dick in hundreds of vagina’s. And yet these guys will go buy a copy of FHM and ogle the featured girls (and possibly even fantasise about them) and not even care that thousands of other men are doing the exact same thing. It’s bizarre.
And then there are things like how people think the worst of a girl who’s overweight and barely bat and eyelid over a guy who’s just as heavy. I’m sure the guy also gets his fare share of criticism for being large, but I find women get it much, much worse. The comments differ so much. “Wow that’s guy’s huge” vs “Check out that fat bitch”. It’s a weird one, but I do feel that fat girls are perceived far worse than fat guys. Then there’s the whole representation in the media, where almost everything can be sold with an attractive lady in the picture, regardless of the targeted demographic, bang a hot girl in the ad and it’s gonna sell. Male-orientated advertising is going to be more sexual and in-your-face than advertising that’s aimed at women, but for the most part, it’s all about using a woman’s good looks and body to sell products and I think it’s sad. And my biggest gripe right now? The depiction of women who not only enjoy but actually get turned on by domestic violence. I have been noticing it in TV, film and even music videos lately and am shocked that it’s still tolerated. I also get riled by the women who suffer domestic violence, particularly against their famous boyfriends/husbands, and yet go back to them because it was “out of character”. I hope I do not have to explain how wrong, wrong, wrong this is.
I am not a man-hating lesbian as most feminists are perceived to be. I do not wear asexual clothing and hide my femininity because I feel I am exploiting myself for the benefit of men. I am a normal woman who loves makeup, dresses and the colour pink. I don’t demand or even want anything more than for women to have the same rights and respect as men get. I understand women have so much more available to them now than they ever did in the past, but I still feel women have a long way to go before a good level of equality is reached (I don’t excpect there will ever be such thing as total equality, not in my lifetime anyway). I just want people to accept the actions, desires and worthiness of women the same as they currently do for men.
There is so much more I could say on the subject, but I’d actually rather hear from other people about their ideas about feminism and whether you think there’s still gender inequality these days (namely in 1st world countries, as we all know gender inequality is rampant in many 3rd word nations). Tell me your thoughts, examples of gender inequality or whatever you’d like to contribute to the discussion.
EDIT: Just wanted to clarify a few things. I am not attempting to justify myself by saying I am a girly girl who likes guys and wears makeup, as though trying to distance myself from the feminist stereotype. I am attempting to make a point that even though I do not conform to how people think a feminist ought to look or act, I am one and not ashamed to say so. I am aware the feminist stereotype exists for a reason, and so if you are offended by the fact I made a point of distancing myself from it, I apologise because that wasn’t my intention at all. I think all women of all walks of life should be able to call themself a feminist without thinking they’re going to be labled as something they’re not.
Also, I do not necessarily agree with the sentiments in some of those links, I just wanted to share a few that raised interesting points that helped prove what I was attempting to say. At least one of these is exactly the oppisite of how I feel but I wanted to show the “other side” of the debate.
Madonna syndrome: I should have ditched feminism for love, children and baking
So this morning I woke up with both “Jesus Walks” by Kanye West and “The Power of Love” Huey Lewis. Yes that’s right, two of the most different songs ever produced. Am I the only person who gets two songs in their head at a time? Particularly of two very different styles/eras? I admit I know how they both got in my head, because I heard them at work. Yep that’s right, we listen to music at work! This probably seems like no big deal to most people but it’s a HUGE deal to me. Music makes my day go so much faster and I’ve not had the ability to listen to music at work since that last job I had up until late last year. Being able to listen to music while I worked was just about the best thing at that job and as glad as I was to get out of there, I missed music in the workplace terribly.
So at my new job we listen to the radio. I am not a huge fan of the radio, what with all that repetition, the morons who have “shows” and waste my time by talking absolute crap and then those damn obnoxious adverts that cut through me like razor blades. I thought that after a few years of rarely listening to the radio that maybe I’d be over it, but I’m not and commercial radio, particularly in Brisbane, bites balls. Luckily for me though, we discovered internet radio which has (foolishly) been put into my control! I know I am always about 5 years late on technological advances as a general rule, but I cannot believe I did not know about this!
So anyway, I have made some observations about pop music since I’ve been listening to the radio so much. Most notably is how badly they overplay certain songs. Sure we all know they do that, but it came as a bit of a shock to me when I realised how overplayed some songs really are. No one anywhere ever needs to hear “California Gurls” three times in one work day on the one station. No one needs to hear that song at all, but that’s really just my own personal opinion. And speaking of that song, I am amazed at how some stations don’t play the Snoop Dogg rap bit. What, are black people too scary for the listeners of anytime radio? Or is it just Snoop in particular that freaks out all the old cows in offices who tend to tune into stations like 97.3 and B105?
Another gripe is how often they plays the songs of Train. I didn’t even know who this band was until I got sick of this one song and found out who they were through the power of Google. Then I Googled the lyrics of another song I liked an discovered it was by Train as well! I cannot understand how two songs from the same band can range between being quite good to totally crap. Nor why they both get played so friggen much. This also applies to songs like “I Wanna be a Billionaire” and “Nothin’ On You” which I used to like until they ruined them with multiple plays every fucking day.
And last but most shockingly of all, I have heard Nickelback played a LOT. I honestly had this idea in my head that no one listened to them and they just released albums and kept touring anyway. Well, I figured they’d have a fanbase of redneck Yanks scattered around the States, but c’mon, Aussies can’t be that dumb. Turns out I was wrong, if how much they get played is any indication. My god that band fucking sucks. I’d choose to listen to all of Katy Perry’s music on repeat and possibly even out up with her for a day than hear any Nickelback song ever again.
So that’s my thought on music for the week. I’ve been out of the loop for a good nine months and as expected, not much has changed. Thank god for internet radio, even if I have to put up with the shittiness that is iTunes to use it!
As all Aussies now know, we have a new Prime Minister. The first female PM our country has ever had after being our first ever female deputy PM. She wasn’t democratically elected and was made PM after Kevin Rudd was kicked out for not doing a good enough job, according to some factions within the Labour party. This has been met with both applause and outrage because one one hand it’s pretty neat that we do have a female PM finally, but also kind of shit how she got the job.
Look, I don’t know dick about politics. It’s not an interest of mine and there’s always so much going on that I just couldn’t keep up, even if I wanted to. I’m basically the kind of person who believes most politicians are all the same and doubt there’d ever be one who I’d be proud to call my Prime Minister (except maybe Obama but that’s because I have this dream that when the world is taken over by aliens he’d kick major arse and save the day and then latter hang out and shoot a few hoops while listening to Montell Jordan). I’ve done a little bit of reading up since all this went down and also spoken to people who know a bit more about how the politics of Australia works and so while I get it to an extent, I’m an amateur at best.
My only whinge is that people need to sit back and let her do her thing before getting all hyped up. Yes she’s a woman and that’s cool, but she’s from the same party as Rudd (who I never, ever trusted, might I add) and so I’m not going to agree with about 60% of the things she’ll say and do because I’m not a Labour supporter and their policies aren’t things I necessarily approve of (when I actually get what’s going on, of course). It’s also kind of neat that she’s openly atheist and refuses to pretend she believes in any faith to win over the Christian voters. But her being an unmarried, childless woman as well as an atheist doesn’t mean she’ll be some kick arse new feminist PM. I’m a female who’s unmarried and childless and is also very openly atheist but I sure as hell couldn’t run a country! I can barely get my shit together and get to work on time every morning! On the same token, she may have taken over the position of PM in a nasty sort of way (I seriously never did trust Rudd but man I felt for the poor guy when he stood down, he’s just lost the biggest job in Australia remember, that shit gotta hurt!) she may end up being a good leader who we decide to keep at the next election. Only time will tell and so people need to shut up, stop hypothesising and let the damn woman do her job for a little while before we start jumping for joy or complaining bitterly.
And just one last thing, YES she has red hair. My god, why is this such a big deal? I fucking hate it how people have such a big thing against red heads. That shit is whack and almost like racism in my opinion! Red hair doesn’t affect your personality and I am sure as hell will not be what makes Julia Gillard a good or bad Prime Minister. Get the fuck over it people, this ain’t primary school any more!
Anyway, that’s enough politics for this blog for one year.! I promise not to do this again any time soon!
