moving to a new domain!

The blog is moving! I've purchased a domain for CFF, and am seriously planning on blogging more. I'm also working on adding ways for y'all to help me create a bit of income without spending money (or any extra money).

You can sign up for email alerts when new posts are published there, as well as check out some of my favorite Etsy, Groupon, and Amazon finds.

Come check out the new blog, and feel free to give me all the feedback you want to share, as it's still a work in progress!

CrankyFatFeministBlog.com

<3

[cranky] cranky #fuck card

For the fun of all who love the word fuck, here is the new "cranky fuck card."

Share your favorite fucks with us by using #crankyfuckcard whenever you post your handiwork! 

Cards are printed on 110 lb recycled matte stock paper.

[cranky] etsy sale!

I'm having a sale for all of my blog readers! When you check out on Etsy, use check out coupon code "FallFeminist" and get 20% off your entire order. The coupon code will expire on December 1st.

Cranky Homepage on Etsy
Cranky Store (in full) on Etsy

Featuring Fall, Pumpkin and Halloween Favorites!

Rogue Dead Guy Upcycled Mini Notebook

more notebooks and magnets!

Rogue Dead Guy Ale Coasters

 

Shipyard Pumpkinhead Coasters

Cerveza de los Muertos sugar skull coasters

Kentucky Pumpkin Barrel Ale Coasters

Terrapin Pumpkinfest Coasters

more coasters!

Cerveza de los Muertos sugar skull beer cap earrings

 

Shock Top Pumpkin Spice Wheat beer cap earrings

Boon Rawd red dragon earrings with small red skull

more earrings!

As always, I appreciate every purchase and every share! If you're looking for something similar but it's not in my shop, please send me a message so I can see if it's something I can make for you.

Additionally, if I'm not shipping to the country you're reading from, I want to know! It takes extra time to calculate shipping costs to countries outside the United States, so they are not listed for many items-- I'm more than happy to make sure you can get anything from my shop!

<3

[cranky] goodbye Boehner

I have NOTHING positive to say about Speaker of the House John Boehner. He just announced that he is not only resigning his position as Speaker but he's retiring from roughly 20 years in Congress. His home district in Ohio is solidly Republican, so the Republican Governor John Kasich (yep, that one running for the Presidential nomination) should face no opposition to appointing another party line Republican to replace him.

While I won't miss the fake spray tan sour face of Boehner standing in the back of countless photo-ops, I am worried abut what face will replace his. Boehner originally planned to give up his Speakership at the end of 2014, but Eric Cantor's humiliating loss at re-election prompted him to stay on. (Remember -- Eric Cantor so arrogantly neglected to campaign in his run off that he lost his nomination and wasn't even n the final ballot.) Boehner once compared being Speaker to being a prisoner in an interview with Politico. Clearly, he won't be shedding any tears on November 1st when he walk out of Congress for good.

But why leave now?

[feminist] Reflection: The Business of Being Born

The first startling statistic of childbirth in America is that less than 8% of births are attended by a midwife. In Europe and Japan, midwives attend an average of 70% of births.


Startling stats, part two. The USA has the number one worst maternal death rate and the second worst infant mortality rate in the developed world.


Perhaps this makes more sense when we realize that in other countries midwives deliver babies, not doctors. Obstetricians are always available or on call in case of delivery emergencies. Obstetricians don’t do the majority of baby delivery in any country except the USA.


What’s the big difference?


Capitalism.


Hospitals in the USA are businesses, and businesses are all about increased traffic and turnover. Pregnant women in -- baby out -- minimum recovery time -- goodbye. Any time additions lose money.



In an effort to keep turnover high and profits higher, many women are nearly immediately administered pitocin to induce stronger contractions. This is painful, so women are then offered and encouraged to have an epidural for pain relief. But epidurals slow contractions. Therefore she needs more pitocin to keep up the rate of contractions (and then needs another epidural…) The fluctuation between pitocin-induced contractions and epidural slowing contractions takes oxygen away from the baby, and too often results in “emergency” c-sections.


Since 1996 there has been a 46% increase in c-sections, s that by 2005 one in three births were c-sections. Additionally, it has been documented that c-sections peak at 4pm and 10pm -- when doctors are ready to go home before shift changes. The surgery is relatively simple on the part of the obstetrician, meaning that they’re less likely to be sued than in a traditional birth.


Why the lack of midwives? Answer one is that there is a lack of understanding what women in labor need (in the USA). The biggest reason though is that hospitals don’t like the competition -- therefore many insurance companies don’t like to want to pay midwives. This means midwives have to fight insurance companies for what is owed to them, and many go bankrupt. Midwives average 4 thousand for their services, while a hospital bill is often around thirteen thousand.



Food for thought --


Natural birth releases a huge cocktail of hormones and “love drugs,” helping a new mother to truly bond with her newborn. A c-section bypasses this, and no love hormone cocktail is released into the mother’s body. Does this screw up one in three kids later?


Also, do labor and delivery drugs fuck with infants? In previous studies with formerly used drugs there were side effects later in life for these babies. For now, and this round of drugs, there are no conclusive answers yet.

Links:

IMDB page

official site

official facebook

buy on Amazon

youtube teaser

[cranky] the boy's club that is my job

I've worked in the theatre production business since before I could legally be paid to be there. I started in community theatre, worked on every middle and high school production I could get my hands on, and created my own major in college to continue this work. Primarily, I'm a theatre electrician and lighting designer. Occasionally I work as a production manager, and previously as a stage manager. Since it's been over ten years I can do a little bit of everything, and I've even taught professional development classes for middle and high school teachers. I've done lighting design for local professional dance companies, symphonies, musicals, and graduations, as well as college musicals. Six years ago the minimum I was ever paid was $15 an hour. Right now I'm thrilled to get any gig working for less pay.


There is an international theatre union, IATSE (declining to share my local’s number and rat myself out…). While I live in a right to work state, we follow most union rules and are all treated the same. Except that I've discovered that the "girls get less work calls" rumor is actually the truth. Guys with years less experience than me are getting more work offers than I am. Guys with a much smaller knowledge base are getting more work than I am. Therefore, they do make more money than me.


Recently I found out that there was a huge work call at my local arena for a famous rapper on tour. A friend of mine that I helped get into my city's theatres was asked to do the show, so he dropped a previous commitment I helped him get so he could go do the union-run concert with "his boys" (his words). So not only was I embarrassed, I found out that the union preference is having a penis over having the most experience or hardest work ethic. What other evenings am I at home, bored, ready and eager to work, and not getting a call because I have a vagina and can't grow a caveman beard?

[fat] confessions on my own scars, stretch marks, and hairiness

giangie.tumblr.com

My first surgery scars came in high school from putting my shoulder back together after a weird overuse accident. (labral tear-- the tissue that holds the ball and socket in place was torn from the bone) After being misdiagnosed for eight months the three one-inch-long scars felt like battle scars. A year later I had a breast reduction, three pounds and some drainage tubes later I’ve got almost two feet of faint pink scars. I have yet to meet a man who noticed my scars until about a month of pillow talk later… it’s been quite the confidence booster. My other surgery scars are from having my appendix plucked out a few years after that. The scars are consistent with an ovary removal, but luckily it was my appendix that was infected and dying instead. The surgical scars could almost count as battle scars -- except my belly and boobs have faced no trauma.


All along my arms and legs are bug bites. Ants and mosquitoes for the most part, but the occasional family of chiggers or no-see-ums will try to take up residence under a flip flop strap. Many bites have scabbed over, and some have finally left smooth purple discolorations. I haven’t shaved my legs in over four years -- thighs in over six. Luckily the hair is rather blonde and thin, so I don’t need to worry about shaving over bug bites and opening up scabs. I’ve also got my fair share of old scraped knees and shins from work as well as my years of tree climbing and mud pie pancake making in the back yard. Additionally, no guy has noticed my leg hair until I've actually pointed it out to him. Women on occasion have noticed the leg hair.


[cranky] CFF manifesto (in progress)

CFF began as a way for me to post images and articles that spoke to me, without the anger of friend’s parents, or friends, or my parents and relatives, or any other jackasses. It was a way to share the new blog I had started, to contemplate my understanding of the feminist classes I was taking in college. I also needed to reflect on my recent return from Africa, and how feminism related to my trip.

CFF became a place for me to understand that there is more than fat shaming -- there is skinny shaming too, and that I’ve participated in it. Today, I do post mostly about fat shaming, but I make a point of never skinny shaming.


I’ve also reflected a lot on how I’ve felt fat since probably the age of 9 or 10. I hit puberty early (period came at age 10) so I was extra tall and hairy early. I’ve always had wide shoulders, and by 6th grade I was a 36C. I was always bigger than every other girl, and most of the guys. I told myself constantly that I was fat. Middle school (the years of self hate, mean girls, exploring make up, leg shaving, girl on girl hate…) only made my fat feel fatter.

 

[cranky] periods and porta potties, and bullshit at work

A month ago, four hours from home, I arrive at this new work site, 6:45am, bleary-eyed and desperately clutching my nearly empty coffee cup. Turns out we were called in early just for the sake of being early and sorting paperwork, which really only took 20 minutes. By 7:45 my bladder is full of coffee and I have to ask where the restrooms are… only to find out that we had access to porta potties. Perhaps if I walked half a mile up the road to this fancy arena people would be there and let me in to use a real restroom. But that was perhaps. After tucking a just in case tampon into the shorts I’m wearing (which are really my new boyfriend’s extra pair of work shorts) I hand my helmet to one of my female coworkers and head to the row of porta potties. My hands have already touched the gross “community box” of hard hats, borrowed someone’s pen to sign paperwork, and had just touched the door of the porta potty. While trying to keep the bottoms of my shorts from touching the pool of water around my boots, I discover that I have indeed started my period. And I have no where to wash my hands before I use the tampon. Surely comical if anyone had been watching, I managed to keep the shorts out of the puddle and put in the tampon. About to walk out I remember, I still have no where to wash my hands. I clean my hands to the best of my ability with the one-ply, but have no choice but to walk out, grab my hard hat, and get ready to work.

[feminist] review: #Orgasm, Inc

No one truly knows where Female Sexual Dysfunction (FSD) comes from, as a medical term and disease. The pharmaceutical industry (the third largest industry in the United States) is promoting FSD as a disease with a potential monetary and medical fix. Drug companies are in a race to be the first company to be FDA approved for their magic libido-boosting drug. Everything in our capitalist world can be commodified, even your orgasms. Because “orgasms should happen and feel this one particular way… therefore your way is wrong.” So we’re going to help you have the perfect orgasm, if you can fork over the money.

Why are we so gullible? The vast majority of Americans did not receive proper sex ed in school. The joke “if you have sex, you will get pregnant, and you will die” is unfortunately not really a joke. Many of us learned that “lesson” in school instead of facts. If we can’t learn about our reproductive anatomy, and the purpose of our anatomy, then we are doomed to learn about sex and sexuality from society-- our parents, our friends, the tv, the horrible things anyone can find online…

[cranky] dear ex, I feel like damaged goods

Dear LD,
I'm trying to forget you. I'm trying not to be childish. I'm trying to move forward. To move on.

You told me you loved me, and that I had re-awoken you to the world. You provided the sincerest illusion of true lasting love, friendship, and companionship.

Looking back, I never told you my secrets, and I never fully opened up to you. Perhaps I thought I had years to do that. Perhaps I was afraid that you'd comment using your judgemental tone of voice. That same judgemental and condescending tone of voice you've used every time you've spoken to me since you dumped me.

And yes, you dumped me. It was no mutual split. Your best friend even agrees to that. "Nothing lasts forever so it might as well end now" is the most truthful excuse you've given me since you sent that text message calling it off.

Clearly we cannot be friends. You look down on me and talk down to me. I am unworthy because I work freelance while looking for salaried work. You made pizzas for the man until you were 40 and decided you should grow up. But I'm unworthy.

The last few times we've run into each other you look right through me. I suppose it's better than you trying to give me unwanted life advice. Still, I'm desperate for your friendship. But when I've tried to reach out as a friend, you claim I'm booty calling you. Don't worry, you said you never wanted to sleep with me again. I'm not going to booty call the only man who's ever told me that.

I don't know why it took me three months to finally lose my shit, sobbing in a heap of snot next to my dirty laundry, punching the floor. I finally needed you to be there holding me, only to realize that I was truly completely alone, that you were never going to be standing in my bedroom again. I was a shrieking terrifying mess, finally.

And I hate you for it.

I don't know how to forgive, forget, move on, be friends. Part of my heart is scarred and dead, and you did that. It will be years before I can trust a man and love him, because I know he could be capable of running away tomorrow. If you, of all people, could run away and not look back then anyone could. And I'm not sure my heart can take that again.

[cranky] ebola, and why scared US residents need to get over themselves

When I woke up a week ago over a third of the stories on CNN's mobile news app were about Ebola. I've been following this outbreak since April, because I studied abroad in West Africa and have friends there. I also contracted Typhoid Fever while I was there, despite getting my mandatory vaccine. The people in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and now some in Nigeria (the country to do business in) who have come forward for Ebola treatment usually know how they got sick -- lack of safe water, or caring for a sick family member. I got sick from a lack of safe drinking and cooking water. Adding to the ease of which it can be contracted is the severe lack of flushing toilets. Without running water infected feces are not safely disposed of. When toilet paper is a luxury you clean yourself with your left hand, and hope there is some wash water nearby.

Ebola, like Typhoid and Malaria (from mosquitoes), can take up to three weeks to present any symptoms. The early symptoms are also consistent with Meningitis and the plague. (yes, THE plague) When I got sick, I had been sad for two or three days -- supposedly letting my immune system down -- but went to bed feeling fine. In the dead middle of the breeze-less night I woke up drenched in sweat with a migraine, and every muscle and joint in my body aching beyond what I knew was humanly possible. I managed to find my flashlight (we didn't have electricity then, a recent heavy rain had knocked us off grid for the last few days) and I found my class notes in a stack on the floor. "Day 1: visit from a doctor to talk about Malaria, Typhoid, Cholera. Symptoms of Malaria and Typhoid are identical: worst flu of your life. Stay hydrated, wash hands often, go to hospital ASAP." I took my temperature, and dry swallowed Advil since I was out of water, and collapsed my fevered body back into the bed.

I alternated which side of the double bed I laid on -- I would drench one side and then roll over and have the chills on the dry side until I sweated through the sheets, and rolled back over to the mostly dried out side. At sun up I called my translator and told him that I thought I had Malaria and needed his help. When he finally arrived about 3 hours later (he could have walked over in ten minutes) he was entirely unconcerned. He went out and bought me drinking water, and when I asked if he had ever had Malaria he said "I don't know." Apparently whenever he's had symptoms he "goes into the bush to collect the herb to fix it." I remember begging him to go get this herb for me, because it was Sunday, the power had been out for at least three days, and no pharmacies were open nearby.

[cranky] let me work

I've worked in the theatre production business since before I could legally be paid to be there. I started in community theatre, worked on every middle and high school production I could get my hands on, and created my own major in college to continue this work. Primarily, I'm a theatre electrician and lighting designer. Occassionally I work as a production manager, and previously as a stage manager. Since it's been over ten years I can do a little bit of everything, and I've even taught professional development classes for middle and high school teachers. I've done lighting design for local professional dance companies, symphonies, musicals, and graduations. Six years ago the minimum I was ever paid was $15 an hour. Right now I'm thrilled to get any gig working for less pay.

There is a local theatre union in my city, IATSE. While I live in a right to work state, we follow most union rules and are all treated the same. Except that I've discovered that the "girls get less work calls" rumor is actually the truth. Guys with years less experience than me are getting more work offers than I am. Guys with a much smaller knowledge base are getting more work than I am. Therefore, they do make more money than I do.

Recently I found out that there was a huge work call for a famous rapper on tour. A friend of mine that I helped get into my city's theatres was asked to do the show, so he dropped a previous commitment I helped him get so he could go do the union-run concert with "his boys" (his words). So not only was I embarassed, I found out that the union preference is having a penis over having the most experience or hardest work ethic. What other evenings am I at home, bored, ready and eager to work, and not getting a call because I have a vagina and can't grow a caveman beard?

[fat] Fatropolis

Have you ever sat on your kitchen floor, in tears, with the thought that everything in your cabinets is "fat food"? Have you ever drawn a hot bath only to realize you don't fit in the tub? When was the last time you heard snide comments about how your size makes you automatically unattractive? Do you struggle to find both well-fitting and flattering clothes?

Here is proof you aren't alone.

Tracey does a phenomenal job highlighting the absurdities and hypocrisies within our size-discriminating society by flipping the coin and showing thin people as the black sheep, and "hearty" people as the preferred body type. Fatropolis is flooded with advertisements for weight-gain products, television stars feature hearty actors, and there's no shame in second helps or ordering dessert. No need to hide your sweet treat to eat in private to avoid judgmental eyes.

Big really is beautiful. Escape to Fatropolis and fall in love with your body again.

Order Fatropolis on Amazon Here or by clicking the Amazon link on the side of the blog and searching for "Fatropolis" (if you enter through the Amazon link Cranky gets a commission that goes towards paying student loans!)

[feminist] pink or blue

I'm spending the week with my godchildren just outside of Nashville. My nephew is 3, my niece is 2, and there is a newborn baby boy. (Yes, my best friend is 23 just like me. She's been happily married since she turned 18-- all the kids were very much wanted, and totally unplanned.) Kiddie bowls and silverware and sippy cups come in lots of bright colors, and the kids get to pick out which color they want to eat from out of whatever is clean. Green and orange are at least as popular as blue and pink, but if plates are put out without asking and one is pink my nephew insists on his sister eating from it -- "here sissy, this is your bowl."

How in the world does he already know that pink "is a girl color"?!!

boy pajama drawer

My niece has her own closet, and my nephew has his own that he also shares a corner of with the new baby. The boy closet has a wide array of colors, but no pink or purple. At all. The girl closet is eye-burning pink -- every shade of pink imaginable with splashes of other colors mixed in. Nearly all of their clothes are hand-me-downs or gifts from grandparents.

My friend is afraid to dress either of her boys in pink. "People would look at them funny, and probably make fun of them." And what would their grandma say if she saw them? "boooooy, whachu wearin' that pink shirt for?!" If the newborn went out wearing a pink or purple onesie most people would assume he was a girl, and some would of course tell her what a bad mom she is for having her baby boy in a girl color.

girl pajama drawer

There's already been some social-gender-bending -- everyone except their dad wears toenail polish regularly, (Why not have color everywhere possible?!) but that took some serious grandparent-calming the first few times. Also, while my niece absolutely loves baby dolls, my nephew has some as well and loves trying to help his mom in the kitchen (my niece is in favor of magically-appearing food without the kitchen).

We're planning on watching the kids the rest of the week to see what colors they ask for, but in the mean time I want to reflect on why colors matter.

First, we have to acknowledge that in America baby girls are socially "supposed" to be dressed in pink, and baby boys in blue. 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 boy, or to be a girl?

my six week old nephew lovin' on his mom's boob :)

Question: 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 girls, while the second line usually describes boys (and the parenthesis are generally insult-words). Comparing boys to girls is often an insult "you throw like a girl," while for a girl to be compared to a boy is usually a complement "strong like your brother." Similarly, it's okay for girls to be dressed in blue, but not okay for boys to wear pink, especially as young children.

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 results-- "girl toys" got a pink doll in the top 10 results, "boy toys" got a kiddie sports car 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, and the next time you see a kid in the "wrong" color give them a compliment.

   

[cranky] "useless dependent"

I am the useless 23 year old dependent. I cannot find a job, and I'm not looking hard enough. Sometimes when the primary breadwinner loses their job, the child steps up and becomes the primary bread winner. Why hasn't that happened?

Why can't I be more dedicated to filing out dozens of online applications, and even more walk-in local applications? Why am I so disheartened by my lack of application response that I don't want to keep filling out applications? I can count on one hand the number of times I've received a response from a potential employer letting me know they're no longer interested and have found their person. I feel like I'm screaming out into a vast wasteland, and my voice has become hoarse. No one wants me to serve their burgers or stock their shelves. No one wants me to be their administrative assistant. Despite over seven years of employee and volunteer management, no one wants me to oversee a single person or task.

Every time I think we've made up, and I just start to get comfortable again with my father, this comes up. I'm not pulling my weight, I'm only getting more depressed. I'm able to pay my car insurance and student loan payments but not my phone or my medical bills and prescriptions.

I do something wrong, and then my sister or mother does something royally mean and evil-hearted to him, and his only outlet for anger is me.

Yes, I have applied for a job today. No, only one job. I've done more job research, but that doesn't really count.

I want to wait tables for drunk sloppy gross men for $2.13 an hour; I want to mop floors and take out trash for $7.25 an hour; I want to pay all of my bills and pay rent. I don't know what to do. I just can't keep doing this.

[cranky] stupid facebook, updated

Facebook banned me from posting for 24 hours because I posted "abusive" photos -- my first two profile pictures from nearly a year and a half ago. So, of course, I'm sharing them here:

 

this is the back of my head. you can also see two of my many "little sisters" in the village I lived in in Ghana. the picture was taken by another of my little sisters (who is a damn good cook, in case you were wondering)

 

 

nudity?! trees don't wear clothes

 

 

Tuesday evening I received a 12 hour ban. (the page is set up so that you have to be 17+ to access or view anything, so shouldn't it be okay to have sex-positive posts and jokes?)

 



[cranky] so broke, so pissed

I can literally feel a stabbing pain in my chest. My two $25 birthday giftcards are gone. Who has been in the house since I recieved them? Realtors, prospective house buyers, my good friend "J," and my old high school friend and new friend-without-benefits "Jack." About a month or two ago I had a disappearing cash meltdown -- was Jack going through bags, to find my purse, to find my wallet, to take cash?! Twice? No way. Has Jack managed to walk off with giftcards that had been tucked away? Is that what he was doing instead of cleaning the kitchen after he made midnight dinner a few nights ago?

Previously the thief was my younger sister -- stealing keys, making copies, and sneaking in while we were at work to steal cash and sell-able anxiety meds (usually klonopin). I feel like the biggest fool letting someone into my home and having money disappear. There is $5.05 in my purse right now, all in coins. That's all I have. Along with no job and a student loan payment due in 7 days.

My sister has Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). She was diagnosed when she was 17. There is a list of 9 "symptoms"/behaviors and you have to have 5 to get your gold star... she has all 9. Very briefly... she was drugged and raped at age 14 setting her off into a downward spiral of shit; by 15 she had admitted to us that she was drinking heavily since nearly age 13 and she also thought she had a miscarriage without actually having had sex; by 16 she had her first tattoo out of a pay-by-the-hour motel and was dating a 31 year old man with 4 kids from 4 different moms; at 17 I took away her PTI freebie and she had to be processed at the state prison after she stole my identity and all of my money while I was out of the country, she was a member of the Crips, got checked back into the psych ward, and skipped town for several months with my mom (to this day, I'm not sure where they went), after they came back in town she was checked into a residential outdoor rehab center and was their longest ever patient-- turning 18 at the facility and choosing to stay. By age 19 she accused me of molesting her repeatedly as children, and now at 20 I'm forbidden from being in the same building as her, per my mother and grandmother's orders. J has seen her out at bars several times, and she's going to be 21 in a few months. She's claimed to be an alcoholic since she was 15, and now she's regularly drinking and driving and the only person that could possibly stop her is my mother who is afraid of running her off. She is capable of constructing entirely alternate realities, alternate stories, events, persons and then believing them whole-heartedly.

Despite my father and therapist telling me otherwise, I feel like the ultimate dumb shit for allowing money to walk out of my house. I know better. I know the signs, I know what to look for. I let my guard down, and I feel like an idiot. I think there's some chocolate box cake mix in the cabinet I can make, so I can save that $5.05 for something... no clue what...

[cranky] gynotician activism/harassment

Information for the "gynoticians" who need to receive pads, tampons, VAGINA postcards, and/or wire hangers in the mail, along with a phone call, email, or tweet about scheduling your next ob/gyn annual:

ALABAMA, for TRAP laws identical to Mississippi

GOVERNOR: Robert Julian Bentley
PHONE NO: 334-242-7100
FAX NO: 334-353-0004
EMAIL form: http://governor.alabama.gov/contact/contact_form.aspx
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/governorbentley
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/bentley2010
ADDRESS: 600 Dexter Avenue, Montgomery, AL 36130

LT. GOVERNOR: Kay E. Ivey
PHONE NO: 334-242-7900
FAX NO: 334-242-4661
EMAIL: http://ltgov.alabama.gov/contact.aspx
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/LtGovIvey
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/KayIveyAL
ADDRESS: 11 South Union Street, Suite 725, Montgomery, AL 36130

ARKANSAS, for trying to implement a 12 week abortion ban

Governor Mike Beebe
Phone: 501-682-2345
Email form: http://governor.arkansas.gov/contact/index.php
Twitter: GovBeebeMedia
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Office-of-Arkansas-Governor-Mike-Beebe/177813702279256?sk=wall

Lt. Gov. Mark A. Darr
Phone: 501-682-2144
Fax: 501-682-2894
Email link: http://ltgovernor.arkansas.gov/contact-us/
Twitter: @ltgovmarkdarr
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ltgovmarkdarr

ARIZONA, for new clinic laws

Gov Jan Brewer
Phoenix Office: (602) 542-4331
Tucson Office: (520) 628-6580
Fax Number: (602) 542-1381
In-State Toll Free: 1-800-253-0883 (outside Maricopa County only)
@teambrewer
https://www.facebook.com/GovJanBrewer?fref=ts
The Honorable Janice K. Brewer
Arizona Governor
Executive Tower
1700 West Washington Street
Phoenix, AZ 85007

KENTUCKY

Senator Mitch McConnell:
Phone: (202) 224-2541
Fax: (202) 224-2499
Email Form: http://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=ContactForm
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mitchmcconnellcan send a message this way

Senator Rand Paul:
Phone: Phone: 202-224-4343
Email form: http://www.paul.senate.gov/?p=contact
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SenatorRandPaul
Twitter: @SenRandPaul

Governor Steve Beshear
Phone: (502) 564-2611
Fax: (502) 564-2517
Email form: http://governor.ky.gov/Pages/contact.aspx
Twitter: @GovSteveBeshear
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/govstevebeshear

Lt. Gov. Jerry Abramson
Phone: (502) 564-2611
Fax: (502) 564-2849
Email form: http://ltgovernor.ky.gov/Pages/contact.aspx
Twitter: @LtGovAbramson
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ltgovjerryabramson/timeline?filter=3

MICHIGAN, for new clinic laws

Governor Rick Snyder
(517) 335-7858
Email form: https://somgovweb.state.mi.us/GovRelations/ShareOpinion.aspx
Twitter: @onetoughnerd
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RickForMichigan

Lt. Governor Brian Calley
(517) 373-6800
Twitter: @BrianCalley
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/briancalley

MISSISSIPPI, for trying to become the first state with no abortion clinic

Governor Phil Bryant
Email form: http://www.governorbryant.com/contact/
Twitter: @PhilBryantMS
Phone: 601.359.3150
Fax: 601.359.3741
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/im4phil

Lt. Governor Tate Reeves
ltgov@senate.ms.gov
Twitter: @TateReeves
Phone: (601) 359-3200
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tatereeves

OHIO, for redefining pregnancy, passing TRAP laws, and defunding PP in favor of CPCs

Gov John R. Kasich
Phone: (614) 466-3555
@johnkasich FB John R Kasich
Riffe Center, 30th Floor 77 South High Street Columbus, OH 43215-6117 Phone: (614) 466-3555

Lt Gov Mary Taylor
Phone: (614) 466-3555
@MaryTaylorOH
Riffe Center, 30th Floor 77 South High Street Columbus, OH 43215-6117

NORTH CAROLINA, for #motorcyclevagina, lying, and TRAP laws

Governor Pat McCrory
Phone: (919) 814-2000
Fax: (919) 733-2120
Email: http://www.governor.state.nc.us/contact/email-pat
Twitter: @PatMcCroryNC
Address:
Office of the Governor
20301 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-0301

Lt. Governor Dan Forest
Phone: (919) 733-7350
Fax: (919) 733-6595
Email: lt.gov@nc.gov
Twitter: @DanForestNC
Address:
Office of the Lt. Governor
20401 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-0401

Chris Whitmire: http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/gascripts/members/viewMember.pl?sChamber=H&nUserID=660 Twitter: https://twitter.com/RepWhitmire

George Cleveland: http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/gascripts/members/viewMember.pl?sChamber=H&nUserID=476

Jacqueline Schaffer: http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/gascripts/members/viewMember.pl?sChamber=H&nUserID=647 Twitter: https://twitter.com/SchafferJM

Larry Pitman: http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/gascripts/members/viewMember.pl?sChamber=H&nUserID=633

NORTH DAKOTA, home of the fetal heartbeat ban trying to go into effect any day now

GOVERNOR: Jack Dalrymple
PHONE NO: (701)328-2200
FAX NO: (701)328-2205
EMAIL-DIRECT LINK: http://www.governor.nd.gov/contact-us
EMAIL: governor@state.nd.us
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/NDGovDalrymple
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/DalrympleforGov
ADDRESS: State Capitol, 600 E. Boulevard Ave, Bismarck, ND 58505-0001


LT. GOVERNOR: Drew Wrigley
PHONE NO: (701)328-2200
FAX NO: (701)328-2205
EMAIL: http://governor.nd.gov/contact-us
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/DrewWrigley
ADDRESS: State Capitol,600 E. Boulevard Ave, Bismarck, ND 58505-0001

Chairwomen of ALEC: Bette Grande
TWITTER: @bettegrande

TEXAS, for its 20 week ban, TRAP laws, and all-around unlawful bullshit

Governor Rick Perry
PHONE: (512) 463-2000
MAILING ADDRESS: Office of the Governor, P.O. Box 12428, Austin, Texas 78711-2428
DELIVERY ADDRESS: Office of the Governor, State Insurance Building, 1100 San Jacinto, Austin, Texas 78701

WISCONSIN, for trying to be the newest vag-probe state

Governor Scott Walker
PHONE NO: 608-266-1212
FAX NO. 608-267-8983
EMAIL: http://www.wisgov.state.wi.us/Contact-Us
EMAIL: govgeneral@wisconsin.gov
TWITTER: http://twitter.com/GovWalker
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/governorscottwalker
ADDRESS: 115 East State Capitol, Madison, WI 53707

 LT. Governor Rebecca Kleefisch
PHONE NO: (608) 266-3516
FAX NO: (608) 267-3571
EMAIL: ltgov@wisconsin.gov
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/ltgovkleefisch
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/ltgovkleefisch
ADDRESS: 19 East, State Capitol, P.O. Box 2043, Madison, WI 53702

VIRGINIA, for new clinic laws

Governor Bob McDonnell
Phone: (804) 786-2211
Fax: (804) 371-6351
Email form: http://www.governor.virginia.gov/AboutTheGovernor/contactGovernor.cfm
Twitter: @GovernorVA

Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli
Phone: 703-766-0635
Email form: http://www.ag.virginia.gov/ContactUsForm/ContactForm.aspx
Twitter: @KenCuccinelli
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KenCuccinelli

[feminist] #exposeCPC

 

The irony of today... Texas is preparing to protest their House of Representatives from voting 3 anti-choice bills into law (since lovely Rick Perry is quite eager to sign them). Meanwhile it's also the planned well in advance Expose CPCs day. Texas is looking at using TRAP laws to close 39 of the state's 47 abortion providers-- requiring that abortions take place in surgical facilities with minimum requirements for hallway width, and equipment; requiring that abortion providers have admitting privileges at a local hospital; as well as ending abortion at 20 weeks instead of 24 (which Roe v Wade made law). Apparently now we can speculate that fetuses feel pain at 20 weeks instead of 24, and some low-IQ politicians believe that male fetuses can feel pleasure and masturbate in-utero meaning that the week limit should be brought down to 16 or less.


If Texas flushes women's rights down the toilet this afternoon, even more CPCs will pop up across the state. I can hear my father's voice saying "what's a CPC?"-- I didn't know what it stood for until I started volunteer escorting at my local clinic in college (only a 45 minute drive). Crisis Pregnancy Center. If you look up abortion services, family planning, pregnancy help, etc in the phone book most of what you'll find are CPCs. But you don't know that until you arrive, unless you're a prochoice fanatic who already knows where the nearest abortion clinic is at all times.

Crisis Pregnancy Centers are usually funded by churches, but are increasingly eligible (on a state-by-state basis) for tax dollars as well. CPCs look like abortion clinics but once you're inside you're inundated with guilt and lies. "abortions cause breast cancer" "if you have an abortion you won't be able to bear children again later" "post abortion syndrome" "if you have an abortion you'll definitely become depressed and wish you hadn't" "if you become a member of our church we can help you care for your baby" Many offer free ultrasounds, and then conveniently round down how many weeks along the embryo is, allowing the woman to think she has more time to make a decision than she really does. (Don't forget, first trimester abortions and second trimester abortions have a huge cost difference-- the kind of cost difference that can't be made up in one pay check for the majority of women).


Texas has already slashed funds for free and low-cost clinics which offer exams and birth control (note: not abortion providers). With a lack of access to reproductive information as well as birth control options, the need for abortions will obviously increase. Then, shutting down nearly 90% of the abortion providers in the state will increase the demand for CPCs. And, in turn, increase the number of unsafe, unsanitary, botched abortions. (yes, this is where you turn and bang your head on the nearest wall)

Want some official information to share about CPCs? NARAL Pro-Choice America: nar.al/r8