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!


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!