Cranky Fat Feminist Speaks

liberal feminist from the south who ran away to college in the mid-west, and quickly retreated back after my four years were up. trying to save the world one picture book at a time; attempting to live healthier to lose weight, but without giving up beer. challenging the idea that “big is beautiful” as well as what I’ve learned and experienced about women, gender, and feminism from my time in college as well as my time in West Africa. pissed about the apathy of the world, ready to create change one mind at a time.

I'd love any comments you'd like to share! And as always, I'd love for you to click on an ad when you're done reading, it's a simple free way for you to give money towards my student loans!


Friday, December 28, 2012

[feminist] India's violence against women

India has been in the spotlight lately for brutal gang rapes and police inaction.

On November 13 a 17 year old girl in the Punjab province was gang raped by 3 men. Her father killed himself, and the rape was reported on November 27. She suffered police harassment and embarrassing questions while they refused to arrest her attackers, and was pressured to marry one of the attackers. On December 27 she drank poison and ended her life, prompted the arrest of the three rapists.

On December 16 a 23 year old paramedical student was beaten and gang raped by 6 men on a bus while it drove around New Delhi. The woman's guy friend was also beaten. They were both left on the side of the road, naked after the attackers were finished. She was flown to Singapore for treatment because of massive internal damage, and succumbed to her injuries on December 29.

On Wednesday December 26 a 42 year old married woman was gang raped by 3 men while traveling to Delhi. She knew one of her attackers: a few months ago she filed an attempted rape charge against him, but the police didn't register it.

Monday, December 3, 2012

[feminist] abortion stories

Its time to end the shame and stigmas associated with abortions. To add your story, email me or message me on Facebook.


Emily
I was 18 years old and a senior in high school. I had recently lost a lot of weight within the past year and a half and I started getting attention for a lot of different boys. I met a boy that was in the military. He became my very first boyfriend. We had a very fast relationship. We dated for a month but since he was my first boyfriend I was completely delusionally in love with him. Even though we broke up I'd still travel hours up to his duty station to spend time with him and we continued to sleep together. We saw each other last around the end of December. We remained to talk over the phone. I found out that I was pregnant in February. I told him about it and he immediately demanded that I have an abortion because it would ruin his future career. Funny enough, his family is very conservative and very catholic and yet he was telling me to get an abortion. I knew it was the right thing to do. He offered me no support in the process though, so I kept completely quiet about the situation. At around 14 weeks I decided to cut off contact with him and had an abortion. Was it a hard decision? Yes. Was it the right one? For me yes. I was a senior in high school and I would be a single mom. There was no need to try to raise a child in hostility. It was pretty much painless and I went along my life. To this day he's never said a word about it and continues to be a shitty person but that's on him. Today, I'm a strong woman that is married and has a beautiful little girl. I know for a fact I wouldn't be married, be as happy as I am nor be the person I am today if I hadn't had an abortion. I volunteer with various women's rights groups. I have counter protested 'pro-life' groups outside Planned Parenthoods by myself that have tried to shame me in my decision. But I am not ashamed, not a bit.

Friday, November 9, 2012

[feminist] brief history

There are three "waves" of feminism in the United States:

1st wave: abolition movement, suffrage
1848 Seneca Falls Convention
1869 National Women's Suffrage Association (NWSA) founded
1878 "Anthony Amendment" (women's suffrage) introduced to Congress
1890 National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA)-- today the League of Women Voters
1920 the 19th amendment was ratified, giving women the vote
important names: Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Susan B. Anthony, Sojourner Truth, Sarah M. and Angelina Grimke, Henry Blackwell, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman

2nd wave: 60's  and 70's (academic) push for women's studies in academia
coining of the term: "the personal is political"
1963 Equal Pay Act
1964 Title VII in the Civil Rights Act-- forbidding workplace discrimination
1967 Affirmative Action extended to women
early 1970's creation of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
1970 first women's studies department was founded at San Diego State University
1972 Title IX of the Education Amendments Act-- equal education, forbid gender discrimination in schools (especially in sports-- this was why I was able to participate in my high school wrestling team)

3rd wave: "contemporary" feminism
today we can define two core principles of feminism, despite the definition of feminism varying from person to person
-- concerns equality and justice for all women; seeks to eliminate systems of inequality and injustice in all aspects of women's lives
-- inclusive, affirming; celebrates women's achievements and struggles; works to provide a positive and affirming view towards women and womanhood

Feminism is personal perspective, political theory, and social movement



Friday, November 2, 2012

[feminist] confession

Question: Why are you so passionate about women's rights, sexual victim's rights, and reproductive rights? You've never been raped or assaulted, you've never had an abortion, you've never been abused.

I have three best girlfriends. Among the three there have been two abortions, and two miscarriages. Today, two are married, one has two children and the other is expecting her first in a few weeks. The other is now happily single. I was the secret-keeper, the advice-giver, the voice and body of control and compassion. I've waited impatiently for pregnancy test results to show up in the tiny ambiguous window, I've seen how heart-wrenching the choice to have an abortion can be, I've seen how painful and confusing a miscarriage is.
My little sister was fourteen (I was nearly seventeen) when she was suddenly delivered home one Sunday afternoon by her then-best friend and her mother-- they pulled up in front of our house after calling to say she was sick, they opened the sliding side door of the mini-van, and my father and I pulled out a limp, wet, stinking child in a bikini. My father and I carried her up the stairs into the front yard as my mother called doctors to see why she was foaming at the mouth. I held my sister as she half-consciously rested against a tree, making sure she vomited to the side and not on herself, as my father went back down to the van to find out what had happened. The only answer they could give was that the bff and my sister had been at a guy's house, my sister had been drinking, and all of a sudden when they left she began puking. We live in a corner house, so we moved my sister around to the backyard, trying not to be seen as her breasts hung out of the bikini and she slipped in and out of consciousness. Eventually we laid her in a reclining pool chair that we had found a few weeks before on the side of the road, and hosed her down. She rambled on and on incoherently while smelling like a distillery.

Sometimes its really hard for me to forgive her stupidity, her choice of friends, her bad decisions. But she never in a million years deserved to have her drink spiked, her best friend turn her back on her, and to be drug up a flight of stairs and locked in a boy's bedroom while she was in and out of consciousness, and then to be slid back down the stairs and drug down the street to another house where my parents were called. What a sick power play, that this same boy has done many times over in our city since then-- his family has a great lawyer, and he has never even been brought into the courthouse for questioning, much less prosecution.

The evening after, my parents sat my sister down in the living room for a talk, and I was sent into the backyard. A bit later one of them came out and announced they were going to the ER and I couldn't come. They were gone about six hours, during which my sister had an incredibly painful and invasive rape kit that was never analyzed. She was questioned by several police officers who talked down to her. The doctors said that she definitely had something fucked up in her drink (how else could you foam at the mouth like a rabid dog?), but that it had already left her system and there was nothing they could do.

Since there was no stray hair, no sperm, no sexual evidence, there was no "proof" that she had been raped.

Since we didn't realize she had been raped when she arrived home that afternoon, and she was incapable of telling us, we didn't get her tested for drugs in time for there to be "proof" of that either.

When my father was five his father died of a heart attack. His older brother began sexually abusing him as a form of power... by the age of ten my father was able to fight back, and he turned on their little sister. When my sister was raped, my father nearly lost his mind. 

Who gets to dictate what is rape, who gets to dictate when and why women have abortions? Why is this a political topic of discussion? These are lifelong traumas, lifelong decisions-- these are personal traumas, personal decisions. I chose to run away from the south to go to school in the mid-west. But you can't run away from your past. So I am fighting for my future-- to keep my personal decisions, my personal traumas, personal. So that it can be my decision to press charges, my decision to have an abortion, and not someone else's.

Saturday, October 20, 2012

[Fat] my four legged kids

Some of you had asked for pictures of my old lady retired racer, and my child "chainsaw" the pit bull. She's 9 and he's not yet 2 and was dropped off harry potter style by my sister... the picture of him with a half eaten ball is what I wake up to every morning, and what's always sitting next to me at the computer. They're chillin on the porch, my old lady's bedroom.




Wednesday, October 17, 2012

[cranky] the letter you need to share: Explain That to your Daughter

 "An Open Letter to my 40-something white, male friend on Facebook"

Explain That to your Daughter

This is the letter that you've all be wanting to post on Facebook-- calm, well-written, and absolutely slamming the GOP and their misinformed supporters. How can someone vote against their daughter's future? How can someone vote against their own future? Does the general public have an attention and memory span the same length as my dogs? How much back tracking and mind changing does a person have to do before you realize that they're just full of shit? Have any of them taken the time to read the Republican party platform or the Democratic party platform? Does anyone know what the term "bipartisan" truly means, and does anyone comprehend what an ass John Boehner and his friends are? How many misinformed, uninformed, racist, sexist, ignorant people does it take to throw a country a hundred years backwards in terms of rights for half of the population?

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

[super cranky feminist] my theory on Paul Ryan's jobs plan

Reflecting on the religion/abortion question from the VP debate, Ryan said that (flip flop alert!) he WOULD allow abortion in cases of rape, incest, and life of the mother. Note that he said life of the mother, not health of the mother, which are two different things-- if the fetus isn't definitely going to kill the woman, there's a chance she won't get the abortion she still needs, or wants. We also can't forget that Todd Akin's "legitimate rape" fiasco goes hand in hand with Paul Ryan, they've attempted to "redefine" rape together-- further limiting a woman's choices. "Redefined" rape would mean that marital rape, ex-partner/spouse rape, date rape, etc would likely no longer be considered rape. Only violent "stranger" rape would be considered rape (if we haven't by then totally abolished the idea of rape...).

And how much work would a woman have to do to "prove" that she was raped? (Definitely not saying men are not raped, because I have male friends that are rape victims. I'm only talking about women right now because only women can get pregnant.) Already women usually pay out of pocket for a painful and humiliating rape kit that quite often is never analyzed; she would likely be required to press charges against her rapist(s) in order to secure an abortion (remember the rate of conviction is estimated at less than 3%); and she would have to face the public humiliation and stigma associated with publicly admitting to being a rape victim in today's society.

So then, if we've lowered rates of rape by redefinition, then why do Rape Crisis Centers need funding?
If we're going to teach and preach abstinence-only sex ed, why do we need to offer birth control? Why do we need to ensure that insurance companies cover birth control in health insurance plans? (just a reminder-- no one is asking for FREE birth control, we're asking for our health insurance to cover our birth control in the same way it covers other medications like pain killers and ED treatments) Should all sex be purely for procreating?

Reminder-- Romney has promised to de-fund Planned Parenthood (which just like PBS, can't run on donations alone).

Will my birth control pill, used primarily for controlling ovarian cysts and endometriosis, suddenly cost $120 a month instead of $30 a month because my insurance company (or my mother's employer offering insurance) suddenly has a "moral objection" to birth control?

Oh, and that Plan B you can get from the pharmacist? Forget that right now-- with fetal personhood lighting Ryan's toes on fire it will be outlawed. "Life begins at conception." Did you learn in your health/sex ed class that its quite common for eggs to be fertilized but simply fail to implant in the lining of the woman's uterus? So then is the woman a murderer for failing to have the perfect uterus for that particular egg to implant in? Plan B works to prevent a fertilized egg from implanting, and Paul Ryan wants to make sure that not only is Plan B off the market (it would help to "kill" a 2-cell "innocent life"), but that it's not available to any rape victim that asks for it. This implantation-prevention form of birth control would become illegal, and it includes IUDs as well as other forms of birth control. It also, in theory, makes IVF illegal (unless of course your last name is Romney)-- all of the eggs that are harvested and fertilized must be implanted, and if you chose not to implant some and have them frozen, you honestly have to include the frozen test tube fertilized eggs in your will (and you can't dump them as medical waste, either). You can't make this shit up.

And just for good measure, lets not forget that when you've got kids at home to take care of you often can't work. Day care isn't an option for everyone, especially when you've got several kids. This could mean that 50% of the sexually-active working-age population would be at home, and out of the formal economy. I guess that means that there are more jobs for men and the women that aren't yet mothers... but that sure sounds like a shitty jobs plan to me.

Saturday, October 6, 2012

[Fat] progress?

Progress is a long long journey. I feel that I've been making progress in terms of both my mental health (depression, anxiety) and my personal acceptance of my body ever since I came back from Ghana. Mental health has had two big hurdles/setbacks in the last year, but I've honesty never felt better about my body than I do these days. However, this week has been incedibly hard. My sister has been struggling for the last two weeks, she took it out on my father, and he took it out on me.
So I'm taking it out on the blog.
Have you ever written a hate-note to yourself? For years I used to just write "fat ugly stupid" and leave it in my underwear drawer or the corner of my desk so that my parents or roommate could never find it. I haven't written one in ages, but I did a few days ago... its almost funny, almost, that this time I wrote "too fat."
I know this is all part of being human. But it hurts so much. And waking up in the morning to find my note the next day just threw me back down again. I have to remember that we are all human, and I am not alone in this. And that if you have ever been here, you are not alone either. It takes time to make progress. And we're here together to make that journey.

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

[feminist] DNC- wednesday: where were you four years ago?

I'm hanging out with the four Unite Women national directors and a regional director, screaming and yelling at the TV and our computers. Right now its several small business speakers, but last night we had the tissues out for Lilly Ledbetter, Julian Castro, and Michelle Obama. (our mom-in-chief). I was floored by Nancy Keenan (president of NARAL, ProChoice America) being given prime time national coverage-- is this what progress looks like? Cecile Richards of Planned Parenthood spoke earlier tonight, which was also incredibly exciting, but for NARAL/Democrats/Obama to be so publicly affiliated seriously just about knocked me over. Maybe we're seeing the end of abortion-shaming and more general woman-shaming.

Like Sandra Fluke just said, its time to choose which America we are going to live in-- Paul Ryan, redefining rape, advocating fetal Personhood; or Barack Obama, advocating affordable or free birth control for all women. Elizabeth Warren is on now, and we're sitting in awe. I'm attempted to tweet from the national account @UniteWomenOrg (cough, you should follow) while paying attention, while smelling brownies baking in the kitchen. I don't know which is most distracting, haha!

I want to know, where were you four years ago? What did you think about your reproductive rights, health care, jobs, education, debt, etc four years ago? I was just beginning my first semester of undergrad, with no concerns for how my meds would get paid for every month, or how my co-pays would be paid-- not to mention what would happen when I turned 22 and was out of school. Life is scarier for me now, the future is scarier, but without Obama I have no doubt in my mind that I'd be on Medicaid and without all of the medicines that I need. I would lose my left ovary through an emergency room trip and several ovarian cysts. It would mean I'd be out of work for several weeks. It would mean I'd lose my job. I'd go back to waiting tables for $2.13/hr and wondering how I'd eat. But instead, I'm still going to wait tables for $2.13/hr, but I'm going to have my medicine, I'm going to have a whole body and a healthy mind-- and that is priceless. I'm ready to go forward, and I'm ready to fight for it. Where were you four years ago? Are you ready to fight for progress?


NARAL
Planned Parenthood
UniteWomen

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

[Feminist] DNC- Progressive Democrats of America

I'm hanging out with the UniteWomen.org national leaders at the PDA's convention. We've had awesome speakers and panel discussions all morning, including reps from organizations: code pink, roots action, united for peace and justice / veterans for peace, move to amend, demand progress, national nurses united. And that was just the morning! Can't wait for the rest of the day! I'll add website links for the orgs tonight!







Saturday, September 1, 2012

[cranky] roadtrippin' to sanity

Confession: at the last minute in May I found out that I wasn't graduating, by one class-- my senior research. This set off a genuine mental and emotional spiral, my father came up and packed me and my things into my car and took us home for me to lay in bed in total shock for two weeks. My therapist and I have been trying a new med, with no improvements on my ability to get out of bed before 5p, and the aching joints and muscles which made it easier to validate laying down all day despite the fact that that was the problem. Three months later, waiting for my school district arts program to get funding so I could return to work, I realized that I had no choice but to attempt a 180-- applying for a waitress job, joining a gym, contacting school, and finally just throwing my things into the car and driving up. I made the drive in record time-- afraid that if I stopped I would turn around. The registrar, provost, student support, etc were overwhelmingly supportive and kind in a way that I never saw for the last two years that I've been working with them. I'll be taking a long distance course so I don't have to be on campus. I saw my old fling for the two evenings, reminding myself what it feels like to be a very satisfied woman. Last night I drove to Louisville to stay with my best girlfriend from elementary school for a few days before I head home, and then to the DNC. Its the clearest I've thought in nearly a year, and I'm happy and satisfied. How wonderful :)

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

[feminist] #LegitimateRape and Todd Akin

when asked about allowing abortion in cases of rape, Todd Akin replied:

" First of all, from what I understand from doctors, that's really rare. If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. But let's assume that maybe that didn't work or something. I think there should be some punishment, but the punishment ought to be on the rapist and not attacking the child."

from our own cranky feminist Jessica Anders (thanks!)
articles:
videos:
why this is even scarier: 


"science" of women's bodies behind Akin and the Teabaggers

responses:


actions:
Mailing Address:
PO Box 519
St. Charles, MO 63302
Physical address:
820 S. Main St., Ste 206
St. Charles, MO 63301
  • leave Todd Akin a voicemail:
Voice: (636) 949-6826
Fax: (636) 949-3832
District office in St. Louis: Voice: (314) 590-0029
Capitol Office in Washington DC: Voice: (202) 225-2561
  • email Todd Akin:
https://forms.house.gov/akin/webforms/issue_subscribe.htm

if you find more articles, videos, blogs/opinions/letters, please share them in the comments!

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

avocado garden dip


I rolled up my sleeves and tested out my kitchen skills this afternoon, and threw together a "not-hummus" veggie dip. Here's what its got in it--
  • 1 cup of plain Greek yogurt for 2 avocados (try to make the avocado as creamy as possible)
  • 2 minced and crushed cloves of garlic
  • fresh from the garden basil leaves, chopped fine
  • fresh from the garden grape tomatoes, diced (handful)
  • 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup of fresh salsa
  • dash of thyme, crushed red pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and pepper

I'd also have added cilantro if there was any in the house, and may add a squirt of lemon tomorrow to keep it fresh and green-tinted. It goes great with carrots, cucumbers, and broccoli so far!


Friday, August 3, 2012

[fat] simple summer vanilla fruit pops

I pulled out my old popsicle molds that I used to put apple juice in, and my father filled them full of fruit, and then topped it off with vanilla frozen yogurt. He let the fro-yo melt a little to fill in the "cracks" between the fruit.Usually they didn't pop too easily out of the molds, but they tasted just as good with a spoon as on the stick!

The fruit in these includes kiwi, blackberry, blueberry, and pineapple. The fro-yo had also absorbed some of the flavor of the fruits, making it extra yummy!

As simple as it gets, and it doesn't even need chocolate! :)

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

[feminist] "Angel" Melek Karasslan

This is Melek Karasslan. A woman wrote to me today through Facebook, asking me to share this story. As requested, I am not sharing our friend's name. (I edited for grammar, as English is not her native language)

"A girl died few days ago in Turkey, her name was Melek Karaaslan. She was married when she was 16 years old. She was beaten every day by mother in law, father in law, and her husband. She had her first child while she was 18. But when she was at the end of her pregnancy, her husband kicked her out of her home and she had to give birth to her child outside where it is -30 degrees. Of course, her child died. She took her baby to her husbands house, expecting her husband to [take her back], but she was beaten again. Her father tried to save his daughter from that hell, but Melek's family and elders told her father that it was a matter of family honour and she had to go back to her husband.

And after this, everything got worse. She locked in bathroom for 3 months, she got weaker every day till dropped to 30 kg from 70 kg. She lost her mind when her brother come to mother in law's house and found her. She died in a hospital, at 24 years old.

That is a terrible horrible shame for our country.

But if she didn't get to that hospital [to which she was airlifted from another], we wouldn't have heard of her at all. That happened in the east side of Turkey. While the west side of Turkey is so modern and respectful to woman, the east is not. Violence against woman in the east is increasing. Our government says that they will do something about this but I don't believe them."

http://www.cnnturk.com/2012/guncel/07/26/melek.karaaslan.yasam.savasini.kaybetti/670347.0/index.html

I used Google translate to read the story for myself, but it is just the same as our friend wrote. There are no stories/articles about her in English. Please share this story and picture of Melek (which means "Angel" in Turkish), and remember that domestic violence is everywhere in the world. While we often feel that many of the safety nets for battered women are failing, in many places they still do not exist at all. Remember to help the victims of domestic violence in your city, and raise awareness about the victims on the other side of the world.

Turkey can do better than this, and Melek deserved better than this.


Monday, July 30, 2012

[feminist] defining gender binaries as a social construct

As requested, I've pulled out one of my women's studies books to bring you a definition of gender.

First, we have to acknowledge that the term "sex" refers to biology, and your sexual organs. You are born a girl, a boy, or intersex. Therefore, the term "gender" refers to culture and society-- often phrased "social construction of gender." What does it mean to be a man, or to be a woman? What adjectives have you been called recently?
  • weak, pretty, timid, demure (dowdy/frumpy, matronly, brazen, coy, slut, whore)
  • strong, handsome, burly, macho, stocky, strong (effeminate, queer, weak, timid)
Which line do your adjectives fit into? The top line usually describes women, while the second line usually describes men (and the parenthesis are generally insult-words). See any overlap? Comparing men to women is often an insult "you throw like a girl," while for a woman to be compared to a man is usually a complement "strong like your brother."


Quick homework, go to Toys-R-Us (or some equivalent) online, and search for toys for kids under 5... there is an option to sort for "girl toys" and "boy toys." Here's my test-- "girl toys" got this doll in the top 10 results, "boy toys" got this in the top 10 results. Pink baby doll, sports car, socially constructed gender.

You see your friend's young kid for the first time, what do you say? "Jane, your dress is so pretty!" or "Mark, you're so tall!"-- would you ever tell a boy that he was "pretty"?

Right there, you answered no. There is no escape from social constructions of gender. We are all victims of the society we are born into. But, we must all work to end these stereotypes of gender-- the manly man and the girly girl. Girls can do anything boys can do. Boys can do anything girls can do. We should never limit our children to dolls and pretend kitchens, or trucks and cars. We should never tell a little boy "you can't paint your toenails, that's only for girls" or tell a little girl "you can't play with trucks, that's only for boys." Just like we should never tell girls that they couldn't be things like doctors, astronauts, truck drivers, breadwinners, or the president; and how we should never tell boys that they can't cry, become a dancer, or be stay at home parent. Think before you speak and before you buy.



Thursday, July 26, 2012

[feminism] defining feminism, generally

Feminism, defined by Margaret Andersen.
"women's and men's positions in society are the result of social, not natural or biological, factors"
"social insititions and social attitudes [are] the basis for women's positions in society"
"transforming society on behalf of women"
thinking + acting
"women's experiences, concerns, and ideas are as valuable as those of men and should be treated with equal seriousness and respect. This does not mean women have to be like men, but that women's interests should be central to movements for social change."

Feminism, some stereotypes.
lesbians
man-hating
social rejection
aggression, angry, radical
male feminists: gay

Friday, July 13, 2012

[feminist] breastfeeding in public






Lately on facebook we've been talking a lot about breastfeeding in public. Many people in American society find it to be "disgusting" "gross" "nudity" or "insensitive"--


Kim: Not going to lie, even as a female I seriously don't want to see anyone nursing. Can't they just put in a nice little room in the malls, with some carpet and a few sofas for moms?

Yvette: One of the biggest complainers about women publicly feeding a child are young women who have never chosen to breast feed or don't have children. What kind of society do we have when we teach young women to hate one of their own natural abilities? Only in America.


Dana: Yes, nursing is natural. You need to be tasteful though. I wouldn't want my ten year old son gawking at it. 


Wendy: Honestly, I dont want to see either one in front of my face when i am trying to eat. Im sorry, but as a nonchild bearing woman with absolutely NO DESIRE to have children, I am tired of self righteous mother throwing their breasts in my face everywhere I turn.-


These were just a few comments on the images above, but what I'm wondering is how our society got to this point. Why did boobs become so sexualized that women can't feed their children in public without risk of being chastised (or even told to go feed their child in the bathroom). 


African woman

Arab woman and child, 1925

East Indian, 1950

painting by Mary Cassatt

Moroccan woman 1909
Why do you think American women's breasts are so sexualized? Why do you think we have become a society in which this is even a topic of debate, instead of a socially accepted norm for all people? While you're pondering your answer, check out these over priced nursing covers which further the idea that a nursing mother should (by society's rules, not by her choice) cover up to feed.

 Trend Lab Polka-Dot Nursing Cover 

Itzy Ritzy Modern Floral Nursing Cover

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

[feminist] Scott Walker recall election!

I'm excited and nervous for the historic recall election which will begin in a few hours... Wisconsin is voting again for governor-- to get conservative tea-bagger Scott Walker out of office and instate Tom Barrett, the former mayor of Milwaukee (both were opponents in the last election).


Scott Walker is in favor of both corporate and fetal Personhood.

He thinks it is acceptable for pharmacists to not fill birth control medications if it goes against their personal beliefs; as well as for insurance companies and employers to not cover contraceptives.

He has reduced access to women's basic health care for the poor and uninsured.

He has worked to change and restrict abortion laws.

Women in Wisconsin currently earn on average 78 cents for a man's dollar.


Friday, June 1, 2012

[fat] beer earrings!

update:
changing things up... send me an email at crankyfatfeminist@gmail.com to see the beer earrings right now!

My bottle cap earrings are on sale right now on Etsy--






everything in the shop has free domestic shipping right now, use the code CRANKY

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

[fat] WW, take 2

I restarted Weight Watchers a week ago. The end of last semester of school was absolutely overwhelming, and I enjoyed too much good beer and ice cream. I weighed in at 223 pounds, and somehow lost 4 pounds last week, to 219.
I can't wait to get down to 199, then I'm allowed to open up a big bag of clothes from Ghana, along with my shorts. (muffin top, anyone? haha)




Monday, March 26, 2012

[feminist advocacy] Letter to the Editior

Letter to the Editor of the Mount Gilead Ohio local paper. In response to a previously published letter in which the author clearly had his facts about Sandra Fluke, religion, Obama Care, and the Constitution confused. (to say the least)

Dear Editors,
I am a 21 year old college student, and I am on birth control. I am not ashamed that I am on birth control, because I have endometriosis and ovarian cysts. I was put on the pill at the age 15 so that my reproductive organs would remain viable for later in life when I chose to have children, and I would not have a high risk of an ectopic pregnancy. At the age of 19 I had a fast-growing cyst rupture after reaching the size of a tennis ball in just over one month. I could not go into work for three weeks, and laid in bed in excruciating pain when I was not at the doctor’s office. I was given a new birth control pill and told that if I stopped taking it, I might have to have my left ovary removed. Clearly, being on the birth control pill is a matter of my health, my quality of life, and my ability to be a productive member of society.
Sandra Fluke testified that as equal citizens in America, women should be able to access affordable birth control, meaning that insurance companies should be required to provide birth control coverage in their insurance policies. The birth control pill that I am on right now, which is the ONLY pill that I can be on for endometriosis and ovarian cysts without interfering with my hypothyroidism or pre-diabetes (the pre-diabetes was brought on after a 40 pound weight gain from my previous birth control pill trying to control the endometriosis), costs $30 a month because it is non-generic. It costs $120 a month without insurance. This means that, without required coverage for birth control, someone like myself might have to pay $120 x 12 months x 4 years = $5,760. Instead, after insurance I pay $1,440.
I am a Christian, I was raised a Southern Baptist. My NEED for birth control coverage has absolutely nothing to do with religion or sexual promiscuity or taking anything away from religious institutions. Put simply, I believe that birth control is part of my health care, and that if I have health insurance it should be covered. If a woman feels that it is against her religious beliefs to take birth control, then she has every right to never ever take or use any form of birth control. I do not think that an outsider, or any legislator, should decide my fate when they do not know me and my body.
Thank you for taking the time to hear my story and opinion.

Monday, March 5, 2012

[cranky] UNITE WOMEN




click here to go to the Unite Women on Facebook page, find other advocates of women's rights around the country, and join the organizational page for the state you're from and/or the state you're living in to find the rally on April 28 that you can attend.

I've managed to become the state leader of one of these groups and an admin on another. I'm not sure how I did this to myself as a 21 year old college kid, but the apathy of the people the same age as me is disgusting in the face of the war on women. I'm so glad to be a part of this movement, this march for social justice, women's rights, reproductive health care, for raising awareness and giving voice to people so frequently tossed aside. No matter which of my two states I march in, I will be bringing a car full of college-age people and I will be proud of every single person standing with me that day. Clearly, obviously, there is a war on women in America. I'm not going to sit down and listen to a man tell me how my uterus works-- I'm going to stand up and make sure that everything women have fought for in the past remains solidly in place for myself, for my god children, and for all women in America.

[feminist] video: virginia 3 march


Virginia state house, 3 March 2012. A peaceful protest against the state government's attempts to require ultrasounds before abortions. Walking, chanting, holding signs, and sitting (but not blocking) on the stairs of the state house received this response.

Full riot gear. SWAT armed with automatic weapons. In the 21st century apparently everyone in the world requires a response like this when they disagree with the government and want to have their voices heard. At what point will these police officers say "wait, my sister had an abortion 10 years ago. It was unbelievably expensive then, and now we're trying to increase costs with additional requirements? I'm NOT going to break this up, I'm going to sit this one out, even if I get in trouble." Wait until there are Personhood marches-- will someone say "but my girlfriend used Plan B last year, I'm so glad that was an option because we aren't ready for kids yet!"?

Why is the government, the police force, so quick to quell any dissent? Are we supposed to simply sit at home on our laptops using social media to bring down misogynist pricks like Rush Limbaugh and meanwhile never take to the streets as a physical, visible entity to say "this is fucked up, and you have to hear me say it. you're impeding on my rights as a citizen, as a woman, and as a human being, and I'm not going to sit by, apathetic, while you throw me into the dirt and spit on me because you're too egotistical to see beyond your own needs and wants and to understand that the world is not okay!"

Saturday, February 25, 2012

[feminist] why I need birth control

This video should be watched by every voter in America. The idea that all women should have access to affordable birth control shouldn't be shocking, and it shouldn't be up for debate. What a person does with their body is their own business, and the way that they take care of their body is their own business, not the government's.

congressional birth control hearing-- the woman on the panel gets to speak

I was put on the pill when I was 15 because the doctor was afraid I had endometriosis, just like my mother. (Who had a terrible painful and extra complicated hysterectomy eventually because of this). I was told if I'm not on some form of birth control, its quite possible that my fallopian tubes will become blocked by endometrium growth-- meaning that I could be sterile, and also that I would have an increased risk of an ectopic pregnancy.

At 19 my pill had to be switched-- I'm over the weight limit for the low dose pill I was taking and I was still ovulating. (period control-- not birth control!, which was what I needed) I had terrible pain in my hip, and an MRI showed a golf ball size cyst on my left ovary. Less than a month later after other tests (before the MRI results came back) I had another test which showed that the cyst had grown to the size of a tennis ball. Also, I didn't get that test result back before I was walking across my apartment one evening and collapsed onto the floor in excruciating pain. The cyst had ruptured, and its contents coated my insides. It took about a month before that pain went away. I was told that if I had another, it could mean the end of that ovary through a necessary surgery. My bc pill now keeps me from ovulating. With insurance its $30 a month. When I had to have the annual beg-and-plead with the insurance company to reauthorize it, I had to go without for a month because it was $120.

The thought of not having insurance truly scares me. The idea of having insurance one day that doesn't cover all of my medical needs is disgusting and even scarier. Access to contraceptives is not just about unwanted pregnancy through promiscuous sex, its about basic healthcare for the well being of all women.

We have to stand together, call the men and women representing us in Washington, call the people representing us in our state capitals, and let them know that this is absolutely ridiculous and that their time is better spent on other things. Then, come November, we have to show all of America that we have the power to get rid of the idiots who are sponsoring these bills against women's health. Standing by and doing nothing is just a form of siding with the oppressors. I refused to be oppressed in the land of the free.

Monday, February 13, 2012

[feminist] video: women "raped too much"

liz trotta: misogynist 

The link will take you to HuffPost's video of a Fox news interview with a well-respected journalist Liz Trotta. She tells her viewers that Feminists are the reason there is so much rape in the military, and that they are also the reason that there are so many useless jobs such as advocates for sexual victims, and counselors. She believes that women can should only expect to encounter more violent sexual attacks as they move closer and closer to attaining equality with men in the military. Except she doesn't use the word equality, of course. She also claims that women "are now being raped too much"-- too much? This leads me to believe that your statement also says that "being raped a little is okay." Did you really mean that? Do you honestly mean that women who choose to serve their country and aim to be the best soldiers they can expect to "be raped a little"? Whats the difference between a little and too much? Clearly your privileged bubble needs to be burst, and soon, before you contaminate any more minds and bring women back in time from all of their accomplishments.

Thursday, February 9, 2012

[feminist] birth control is a right in america

from Naral Pro-Choice America Facebook page

Suddenly Republicans care about the separation of church and state-- because Catholic women don't deserve access to birth control because it's against the beliefs of the celibate priests. We should have prayer in school and we should teach creationism and evolution in public schools. But we shouldn't allow all women the same access to birth control, because THAT would be church and state hopping in the same hay wagon to go ride around for a spin. Make a choice, and stick to it-- if you want kids to pray in public schools then you better allow every single woman in America get the birth control she needs for her body, if she so chooses, at a price she can afford. Today, a lot of people don't work at their ideal job. They work at a job which pays the bills. If it so happens to be a Catholic-run institution, then who is to say that Protestants, or atheists, or Muslims couldn't work there? And who is the government or the church from denying these people birth control? The church can preach all it wants about "sex is only for procreation"-- but the reality is that all women don't want to have ten children after marriage. Birth control is common sense. If the people making laws had uterus's, they might be more inclined to promote equal rights for all citizens of the United States. In this day and age, access to birth control is a right in America. It should not be a privilege. Until it becomes widely popular that men are willing to undergo some mild pain and discomfort themselves as a form of birth control, we as human beings need to stand up for the rights of women and not let us progress back into the dark ages of fear and unwanted pregnancies.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

[cranky] mitt wasting money... lots of money

I've been seeing Mitt Romney ads EVERYWHERE, and the Newt ads have been popping up too. Just now, "what is a one term Obama presidency worth to you?" popped up as the ad next to my blog.

I'm from South Carolina (and I'm not so proud of it, cough Nikki Haley cough) and one night right after the primary I was laying in my dorm room bed and I suddenly had this silly epiphany, and I laid awake staring at the protein shake stain on my wall and ceiling. (the protein shake story is for another day) This 2am epiphany was "what if Romney hadn't spent $1.9 million in SC for crappy attack ads during Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy? what if Romney had bought a pencil (with his name on it of course) for each and every elementary school student in SC, to use and keep and bring home and share with their parents?" From there it became Romney-nalgenes and Newt-lunchboxes, and ending pollution until I finally fell asleep.

Why can't the candidates spend money on something worthwhile instead of throwing it at the television, and at websites and blogs which clearly are liberal? Honestly, every time I see a Romney ad on addictinginfo.com I click on it so that Romney has to pay out his pennies for my click. It takes me straight to "how much do you want to donate today?" "will this be a recurring donation? how about monthly auto-deduct?"

Hey, Romney. How about, you don't speak for the people! You speak for the people scared shitless that Newt might win the nomination. And the more shit you manage to talk about each other, the more you tarnish each others reputation, the more you just open your mouths and sound comes out, the more people realize that they're going to vote to keep Obama right where he is. No president is perfect, no man is perfect, no presidency with its millions of tasks to accomplish can be perfect. But the more talking y'all do, the more we realize that he's a hell of a lot more perfect than either of you could ever be.

And now, go Google "Santorum" if you haven't already. Enjoy!

Monday, January 30, 2012

[fat] good news!

Shouldn't have been so hard on myself last night-- I weighed myself, finally, and after 7 tries I was confident that I had lost 3.5 pounds. Honestly, that's the most weight I've lost in one week since I had Typhoid Fever last May.

Last week's goal of walking 10,000 steps a day totally failed. I got to like 7,000ish a day... at least its a start, right? I'm really trying to hold onto the 8 glasses of water a day from the first week. Naturally it means chugging water in the evening after drinking coffee all day... but I'm hydrated. Don't burst my bubble.

[fat] and sad

Its the end of my second week on weight watchers, and I'm afraid to weigh myself. I haven't exceeded my points for the week, and I haven't really eaten the last two days. I've bizarrely not been interested in food at all. If only I could keep this up during the week and not just my lazy weekends.

I feel like my weight will have increased, for absolutely no reason. It seems like that's always the way my body works. Tonight I've been dwelling on Ghana, and last May when I was 50 pounds less than I am now. (Granted, I did have typhoid fever at the time, but it was 50 pounds less than today)

Maybe if I get on the scale it will have gone up. Could I blame it on my wet hair? Was I standing on the scale differently? Maybe my weight has gone down. I almost want to laugh at myself, I feel like this diet is just a trick for maintaining my weight because I will never drop any weight. I swear I'd throw myself a party at 20 pounds lost, I'd have my ass below 200.

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Video: occupy dc and excessive police force

It seems like the Occupy movement had gone into hibernation for winter, but apparently they're still camped out. Personally, I wouldn't move into a pseudo-tent city to make a political point, but we all get to make our own call on that. Either way, I think this video shows a complete lack of understanding and respect for other human beings in this country. Don't the police have something legitimate to be doing with their time rather than harassing non-violent people? Go break up a drug ring, answer a domestic dispute, hunt for online predators, something?



Stop harassing people and causing them physical pain when they have done nothing to provoke this kind of reaction. My boyfriend works for our state's Department of Corrections-- and as apolitical as he is (which astounds me sometimes), he gets so angry at these scenes because he knows how strong tasers are and how painful pepper spray is. That also means that these cops KNOW what they're doing when they tase someone. Beyond the argument for not arresting and not evicting, how about lets not cause physical pain to other citizens of the United States for standing up for a movement which calls on our government to NOT treat us like useable, meaningless shit. Rallies don't just include young unemployed people-- they include the employed, the middle aged, the elderly, the college students. I want to go to a rally. I don't want to be pepper sprayed or tased, or knocked onto the ground with my hands zip-tied behind me when I did nothing violent, and nothing to provoke the police.

Who is truly at the top of the chain of command in making these decisions? Are we really just to follow along, follow our superiors, when we know they're calling bad shots? These police are just another example of everything that is wrong with this country, and why the occupy movement has taken hold of the country and the world.

Friday, January 27, 2012

[feminist] Miss Representation Film

I just got back from watching "Miss Representation" which was absolutely incredible. Sometimes it takes being slapped in the face before we realize what we're absorbing into our minds, both consciously and subconsciously. I've attached the Trailer.

"Miss Representation brings together some of America's most influential women in politics, news and entertainment, including Condoleezza Rice, Nancy Pelosi, Katie Couric, Rachel Maddow, Margaret Cho, Rosario Dawson and Gloria Steinem to give audiences an inside look at the media's message and depiction of women. The film explores women's under-representation in positions of power by challenging their limited and often disparaging portrayals in the media. Miss Representation takes the stand that the media is portraying women's primary values as their youth, beauty and sexuality - rather than their capacity as leaders."

When was the last time you watched a movie where the star was a woman?
And she wasn't hunting down a man to marry?
Or Laura Croft, taking charge of the world as a badass go-get-um woman wearing not enough clothes?
You're not sure, are you?

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Video: Time in Lahore

Time in Lahore

This 2 minute video is beautiful! The photos are from Lahore, Pakistan, and show the beauty of the people and the city that we don't usually hear or see in the news. Definitely worth watching!

Monday, January 23, 2012

[feminist] 60 seconds of advocacy: congo's coltan is killing civilians for our phones

Amnesty International USA, Take Action! SEC: Companies Must Disclose Conflict Minerals in Their Products
I'm active in the Amnesty International USA group on my university campus, and I'm always looking for ways to be involved on a global level, without forking over money that I don't have. This link will take you to the Amnesty page which has information about emailing the SEC to be accountable for human rights around the world.

Thanks to wikipedia for its infinite wealth of random information (this is my condensed version):

  • Columbite-tantalite (or coltan, the colloquial African term) is the metal ore from which the element tantalum is extracted. [which is used in products ranging] from hearing aids and pacemakers, to airbags, GPS, ignition systems and anti-lock braking systems in automobiles, through to laptop computers, mobile phones, video game consoles, video cameras and digital cameras. As a result, it is used in jet engine/turbine blades, drill bits, end mills and other tools.
  • Cassiterite is chief ore needed to produce tin, essential for the production of tin cans and solder on the circuit boards of electronic equipment. Tin is also commonly a component of biocides, fungicides and as tetrabutyl tin/tetraoctyl tin, an intermediate in polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and high performance paint manufacturing.
  • Wolframite is an important source of the element tungsten. Tungsten is a very dense metal and is frequently used for this property, such as in fishing weights, dart tips and golf club heads. [Also] in metalworking tools, drill bits and milling. Minimal amounts are used in electronic devices, including the vibration function of cell phones and Blackberries.
  • Gold 
Don't you want to know if your laptop or phone helped to promote armed conflict against civilians? How about the golf clubs you're going to buy your husband for his birthday, the video game console your kid wants for Christmas, or the new GPS you want. If all companies had to label their products as to where they got their parts, wouldn't you choose the product that didn't fund the mass murder and rape of civilian populations?

Sunday, January 22, 2012

[feminist] (Crazy) Santorum explains hard line on abortion



A father can tell his daughters what he believes, and encourage them to make the "right decision" based on family values, and how they were raised. However, a father should never dictate to another man's daughter what she should do with her uterus, and her body. It is a personal, private decision not to be praised or criticized by the government. Separation of church and state? How about separation of my uterus and the state!

YENKO NKOAA, by Eduwoji

 

This is my absolute favorite song from studying abroad in Ghana. I spent the month of April 2011 doing dance research in a small village near where this was filmed, Klikor-Agbozume. (You have to drive through Sogakope where this was filmed to get to Agbozume.) I spent the evenings of my research time drinking Star, a local beer, and dancing in the village "spot" (bar) whenever we had electricity for music. Yenko Nkoaa was on every night that we had electricity, usually several times during the night. I always wore handmade bright new dresses with African prints to go dancing with my translator, and never once wore a bra-- just like every other woman in the village. Klikor will always remain in my heart, and shape the way that I feel about my body.

Saturday, January 21, 2012

[cranky] why is twiggy the ultimate (midwest) american beauty?


My midwest university is obsessed with the double zero, zero, and size 2. It seems as if the only way to be attractive to men and even other women is to be skin-and-bone skinny to the point where we might be afraid you'll pass out at any moment. Entering campus freshman year as a solid size 8 (Marilyn's size, right?) I already felt out of place, and too large to fit in.

Since when did men find it so appealing to fantasize and sleep with twiggy? Why are plump breasts and real hips going out of style faster than disposable water bottles? I feel like if I were a man I would be afraid to sleep with a woman as skinny as Nicole or Kirsten, I might accidentally break them in half. But I guess if you can watch a seemingly anorexic girl in a porno, then why can't you have that in your own life, right?

And I bet that seemingly anorexic girl in the porno doesn't have just a neatly trimmed bikini, she's got it completely shaven bald. So she already looks like she has the body of a pre-pubescent middle schooler, but now she has the vagina to match. Secretly, unbeknownst to men, are they all carrying around pedophile tendencies if they're only attracted to women with bodies of ten year old girls?


[fat] a new diet begins

I've joined weight watchers this week. The online food diary from last semester helped me figure out what I should and shouldn't eat, but somehow weight watchers feels more legitimate?

I have metabolic syndrome, meaning that I have elevated cholesterol, elevated blood sugar, a slow metabolism, elevated blood pressure, and a knack for not ever being able to lose weight. The carrots and hummus diet did nothing. The protein water diet did nothing. So now I'm on to the most legitimate thing I can find online. I weighed in this week at a whopping 220.5 pounds. Standing at just 5 feet and 6 inches tall when I bother to stand straight, my BMI tells me that I'm obese, and that my ideal weight is 125-155. That's 65.5 pounds to lose. And according to my doctor if I don't lose it, I'll be diabetic just like my grandmother. I inherited the huge boobs and bad blood, way to go.

Friday, January 20, 2012

[feminist] mass produced bras and my breast reduction surgery

In response to:
Brumberg, Joan Jacobs. “Breast Buds and the ‘Training’ Bra.” 1977. Women’s Voices, Feminist Visions: Classic and Contemporary Readings, 4th edition. 249-254.

Before reading this I had no idea that the first bra was created in 1913, “designed simply to flatten,” and that the more current/modern bra came about in the 1930’s (Brumberg 250). The concept of the bra is so new yet so universal now. Mass production and mass media are so influential in society, and the bra is a prime example. With mass production came sizing—A, B, C, D, the infamous DD, and the realm of un-tamed breasts even larger. (As a person who once wore the “more than a DD,” I know firsthand the impossibility of buying a bra in a department store that will be the correct size.) I was still in middle school when I made the transition to “larger than my mother” and up to DD, and had to face the realization that I wasn’t just larger than normal, larger than my peers, but I was freakishly, abnormally larger than society as a whole. For years I wore two minimizer bras at a time in an effort to “tame” my breasts even more, as they continued to grow. I was known as “jugs” for years in high school before I had breast reduction surgery, after which I spent my final year in baggy shirts so that no one would I know that I had “gotten my tits cut off.”  (which to this day people perceive as a “tragedy” despite the fact that it was practically a medical necessity)

The physical pain I had from wearing underwire bras aimed at “taming” my breasts has always led me to wonder why anyone would wear a AAA or AA (or even an A) bra when to me they so obviously don’t need one. But with stores and brands like Victoria’s Secret a AAA girl can wear a bra that makes her look like she has real B-size breasts. (I’ve always wondered how disappointed the boyfriend is once the bra comes off?)