objectification

To clarify from my celebration of "Dress Like a Whore" Day: I do understand the Feminism 101 concepts of the "male gaze" and its companion objectification, wherein women are reduced to bodies existing only for men's pleasure.  There is already a huge assortment of feminist treatises showing how objectification and unrealistic beauty expectations damage women.  But then, however problematically, none of my Women's Studies courses have stopped me from feeling a great erotic charge from intentional exhibitionism. So for years I've been working to articulate how I, as woman, can occasionally enjoy the role of the flashy slut without being reduced to "only" a slut. (Step one is the deliberate choice.)

And then a fellow kinky female friend introduced me to the brilliant Filament magazine, subtitled "The Thinking Woman's Crumpet." Instead of fighting the erotic "gaze" as inherently evil, Filament fights for straight women's right to gaze at men.

[File under: give-me-a-fucking-break-you-ass-headed-freaks!]

In several countries, Chinese-made, 'artificial' hymens, ready for use, are available free.  In the Arab region, Syria is seen selling the "revolutionary" product on the black market.  In Egypt, investors are seriously considering its introduction.

The principle is simple and can be "mounted" by the woman herself.  Talk on some forums greatly appreciate.  It includes fake blood to more fully sell the illusion.

"the greatest invention of all time, ohh the Chinese, the saviors of the honor of Muslim women."

Others question whether the Chinese will make after-market kits to detect 'real virginity'.

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Seriously, folks - there are some completely fucked up conversations around sex, gender and body out there.  Femicide, FGM, MGM, homophobia, transphobia, the 'virgin cure' to name only a few of the most blatant and violent. 

What's the common thread?  I wonder...hmmm.  Oh, yeah - that's right Sexism and Patriarchy. 

Women Bodies (Il Corpo della Donne)

Directed by Lorella Zanardo, Marco Malfi Chindemi, Cesare Cantù

This project took off as a matter of urgency.  It all started with the observation that women–real women–are an endangered species on television, one that is being replaced by a grotesque, vulgar and humiliating representation.

We sensed the enormity of this loss: the erasure of women’s identity is happening right before our eyes, but without a proper reaction, not even from women themselves.

This led us to select television images that share a common manipulative exploitation of the woman’s body, to let people know what is happening–not only people who never watch television, but especially those who watch it but “don’t see.”

Our aim is to ask ourselves questions, and to pose questions about the reason behind this erasure, a real “pogrom” of which all of us are silent spectators.  Our project grants special attention to the erasure of adult faces on television, to the use of plastic surgery to erase any sign of the passage of time, and to the social consequences of this erasure.

By Sujata B. Shakeel

NEW DELHI, Sep 24 (IPS) - Here's a statistic that reveals the truth about gender relations in India.

Of the roughly 4,000 kidney transplants performed across the country in a year, about 80 percent of donors are women, with wives making up more than 90 percent of spousal donations.

Significantly, 80 percent of beneficiaries are men. "There is gender bias," declares Sandeep Guleria, assistant professor at India's most prestigious government hospital, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi. "Love is sharing kidneys, but it is very rare for a husband to donate a kidney to his wife."

Anju Babuta, 33, had given up on life. Born with a shrunken left kidney, she was put on a dialysis after the second kidney was damaged during pregnancy. In 2006, the doctors told her her only hope was a kidney transplant.

Still she went on, with the dialysis and her work in an office in Tees Hazari, Delhi's lower courts, praying and hoping her husband, whose blood group matched hers, would keep his promise and donate a kidney to her. But he didn't. When it came to the crunch it was a cadaver that saved her life: a 14 year old whose family decided to donate his organs.

This post examines the live performance of "Lollipop" from the 2009 "America's Most Wanted" tour. I think it's safe to say that the above video and this post are NSFW. The lyrics are explicit.

Please note that yes, I identify as a feminist, and as such will not tolerate "you can't be feminist and like rap music," for two reasons: 1). my feminism is not negated by my support or patronage of a genre of music in which I have no control, and 2). sexism and misogyny are not exclusive to the rap genre (I notice when I say I like rock music, no one says "omg but you're a feminist!" to which I can't help but think there's a touch of racism in there, which is also not to be tolerated). That said, enjoy the post.

I wrote a post yesterday discussing the Lil Wayne concert I went to Wednesday night, and in it I briefly touch on Lil Wayne's use of women in the show, and I wanted to delve further into presentations of gender in the performance, specifically in the performance of the hit "Lollipop."

Before I get to it though, you should all know that I love love love this song. I love how the words sound, I love the beat--and in this performance especially with the electric guitars. It's a wonderful work. I start this out with praise only because oftentimes people mistake my discussion of gender presentations as negative criticism, rather than what it is: pointing out what is right in front of you.