happy birthday to me...

my birthday is on thursday so i'm using it as an excuse to raise money for my cause.

the 3rd annual san francisco walk against rape is on april 26th and i'm $1465 short of my $2500 goal. if you have a few extra bucks to share, please send it my way. you can donate here.

thank you!!!

Hu-fuckin-zzah!

Polygamist leader convicted in Utah

The leader of a polygamous Mormon splinter group was convicted Tuesday of being an accomplice to rape for performing a wedding between a 19-year-old man and a 14-year-old girl.

Warren Jeffs, 51, could get life in prison...

He deserves no less.

Never ending blogwars...

I've stopped blogging for a few reasons, 1) because I've been really busy with work and the SPCA and my "real life" and 2) because I've just grown really weary of the same old blog wars being fought over and over and over.

I realize that not all feminists agree with one another or have the same priorities and I kind of don't give a shit. I'm so over the bickering back an forth over small and large things with other women.

There are plenty of MEN with actual POWER who are ACTIVELY trying to harm women - financially, spiritually, sexually, physically, and emotionally. I feel like my anger and resentment and outrage are better directed at them rather than other women who may or may not share their same goals.

Yes, there are women who are assholes and who are trying to fuck shit up for other women, but there are ten times as many men doing the same shit or worse and that's where I want to focus my attention.

So here are some things that have been running through my mind lately:

* Since when did they revoke a woman's "right" to pole dance?
* Since when did they shut down the strip clubs and end prostitution?
* Since when did they end racist, sexist pornography, advertising, television programs, radio shows etc. being broadcast?

As far as I know, the answer is since never. All of those things are increasing exponentially and becoming more and more mainstream and normalized and "appreciated" by liberals and conservatives alike so I'm not sure why the pro-porn crowd is so fixated on shutting up radical feminists. It's not like anyone listens to us or respects us or cares about what we have to say anyway.

Also:

* If stripping and porn are so "empowering", why don't more feminist women aspire to it and more feminist parents encourage their daughters to pursue it?
* If porn and prostitution are so "empowering", why do the majority of porn stars and prostitutes try to retire as soon as possible or move "up the ladder" into pimping instead of continuing to do porn or turn tricks? (i.e. Why is Jenna Jameson writing books now instead of still starring in porn?)
* If you're a "sex-positive" feminist do you use prostitutes? Why or why not?
* If you're a "sex-positive" feminist why aren't you a prostitute or a stripper or a porn star?
* If you think sexwork is so positive and feminist and empowering why aren't you doing it?

It just seems like in theory sexwork is AWESOME! But the sad fact of the matter is that sexwork isn't just theory, it's real life and women and children are raped, battered, abused, kidnapped, tortured, trafficked and murdered everyday as a result of the sex "industry" and men's demands for new, younger victims, and more degrading, disgusting fetishes.

No one is taking away your dirty magazines or your stripper poles or your HOOTERS girls, for the love of Maude, so I have no idea why there's such a concerted effort to terrorize and harass and shutdown radfem blogs.

Why don't you stop acting like the victim of radical feminists who have exactly zero power and focus on the TRUE victims of sexwork and work with us to end trafficking and exploitation and child rape?

"Sex-positive" feminists say they are against trafficking and want to help the victims who want to get out but whenever radical feminists talk or write about that, "sex-positive" feminists always seem to turn the discussion back to the so-called "happy hookers". If we were talking about ending world hunger would the focus always have to be on middle-class women and fad diets? Those who choose to skip meals?

Anyway, that's what I've been thinking lately, and why I haven't been posting. It's just exhuasting to read all the same old bullshit everyday when there's real fucking work to be done. I've been doing it instead of just reading or arguing about it.

School starts on Monday so I'm thinking about closing this blog. I don't have the time to monitor it anymore and I don't want to worry about it being hacked or destroyed by MRAs and their supporters like so many of my favorite radfem blogs have been lately. I'm going to leave it up for now, but you might want to bookmark any of your favorite blogs in my blogroll just in case.

Namaste.

"Serve and protect"...

my ass.

SFPD veteran charged in molest case

Sgt. Donald Forte, 58, was charged by Alameda County prosecutors with committing a lewd and lascivious act with a child of 14 or 15 years of age by someone at least 10 years older. He was released from Santa Rita Jail in Dublin on Friday after posting bail.

The girl was a 14-year-old prostitute whom Forte picked up on the 1700 block of International Boulevard in East Oakland on Thursday night, police said. The sergeant alleged agreed to pay her $50 and took her to Calcot Place, a dead-end street near the 23rd Avenue on-ramp to Interstate 880, police said.

I wonder how "empowered" and "independent" and "free" she was to "choose" the glorious life of prostitution, to be raped and molested by those who are paid to protect her.

Totally vomit inducing, especially after reading all the pro-john bullshit over on that feministe thread.

Everyone goes on and on and on about how important it is to listen to sexworkers when it comes to their health and safety, but apparently that only extends to the sexworkers who say what the pro-pornstitution crowd want to hear. When radfems want to discuss the health and safety of the vast majority of sexworkers and what they actually say, the ones who want out immediately, we're accused of disrespecting and derailing.

Well excuse the fuck out of me, but I totally don't respect a bunch of johns defending their right to a ceaseless supply of pussy and I'd like to see every last one of them behind bars.

Tell me what to do...

I really appreciate lists with specific examples of how to make positive changes.

10 Things You Can Do To Stop Commercial Sexual Exploitation

Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation

1. Work to help women gain supportive housing and jobs that pay a living wage

2. Advocate for shelters and clinics equipped and staffed to offer medical and psychological treatment for women

3. Educate young girls and boys on the harms of prostitution and how to avoid becoming a victim of sexual exploitation

4. Challenge society’s sexist views of women. Fight against pornography and other forms of media that continue to objectify women

5. Change language- stop using words such as “pimp”, “ho” and “whore” and challenge your friends when they use similar language

6. Support legislation aimed at stopping sexual exploitation and expanding options for prostituted individuals

7. Make sure the needs of sexually exploited individuals are being addressed in the domestic violence community, the sexual assault community, among homeless rights advocates and among individuals working to fight substance addiction

8. Pressure local CAPS and police enforcement to go after those purchasing sex instead of those selling it

9. Hold media and financial institutions accountable in regards to the ads they run that promote prostitution

10. Raise public awareness! Host book clubs, film screenings and art projects to raise awareness about the issue. Also join in local awareness raising initiatives such as the upcoming Rescue and Restore campaign.

(via Sam at Genderberg via Traffick Jamming Blog)

And the backlash is....

Men now free to gang rape with impunity. Huzzah!

Amanda: Thank god for Nifong and the immoral media! The hoopla over the Duke case has now made it quite likely that gang rape will be tacitly legal, because prosecuters will be scared to death to prosecute.

trailer park: I just can’t comprehend how this could possibly be seen as anything but rape.

Some adult gave the victim alcohol, illegally. Three witnesses can testify that she was semi-conscious, vomiting (unable to keep anything down), and that they had to carry her out of the house she was so drunk. They can also testify that the men were holding the door closed. Why would they have to hold the door closed if this was consensual sex? AND SHE IS UNDERAGE! How is this not a crime?? HOW? How much more evidence do they need?

The women who witnessed the assault speak out.

Honestly, I haven't even been able to follow this story because I saw it playing out from the first article I read in the Chronicle so I just stuck my head back in the sand and ignored it. Some things are just too painful to know about but unfortunately, there's really no way to unknow them.

Palo Altan:...Contact information for the DA, Dolores Carr:
Dolores Carr
70 West Hedding St.
San Jose, CA 95110
(408) 299-3099

Also, I found another number for her office: (408)299-7500. I called this number and left an irate message. You just have to wait through a very long message in many languages (yay multilingualism!) before you hear the beep.

If you happen to live in Santa Clara county (hi neighbor), make sure you mention that you are a constituent and will remember this case the next time she runs for public office. Your call will make an even bigger impact if you leave your address and ask for a written response to your concerns.

My depressing sitemeter...

All morning long I've been fretting and fuming over the search terms sickos use to find my blog and then I found this which somehow made it tolerable.

Thank you Cute Pussy.

It's truly terrifying, heartbreaking, and infuriating when one sees for herself just how-fucking-many misogynist, child-raping, morons are really out there and how-fucking-many of them can't spell for shit either, instead searching for "free xxx child rape pitchers" or the redundant "illegal child raping pitchurs". Every. Single. Day. Dozens and dozens and dozens of hits.

If every fucking one of them dropped dead right now I'd be totally cool with that. Happy even. Coz see, I just don't have the capacity to separate the vile, vile "damage [they do] from [their] [so-called] inherent worth and dignity as a human being[s]". The way I see it, the damage they inflict far outweighs any worth, dignity, or humanity they might possess and the world would be a much better place without them.

I'm not saying anyone should go out and murder them, but if they happen to drop dead randomly, like right now say, behind their keyboard, when they click that fucking link they think is going to take them to a free download of fathers underage sex fuck, I'm not going to shed a fucking tear for them or anything. Good riddance is how I see it. If that makes me a bad person, so be it.

How easy it always seems for those who've not suffered abuse to expect forgiveness for abusers. Like Garrison Keillor said, "What harm does it do me?"

Which reminds me - have you seen Deliver Us From Evil? I watched it last weekend and was horrified and disgusted by the Catholic Church and all those greedy, lying, bastards who've covered up, hidden, condoned and allowed hundreds of thousands of children to be sexually abused by priests. I mean, they knew about the abuse for years, sometimes decades even, and yet they did nothing to help the children or warn the families and just allowed those monsters parish after parish after parish of fresh, innocent victims to prey upon and rape.

Earlier this week American Justice had an episode about John Geoghan, the priest who was defrocked for raping and molesting over 140 children. Of course, it took them 30 years to stop him because you see, all sex is bad when you've taken a vow of celibacy and the fact that your victim is a child and in some cases an infant is no matter. Sin is sin and none warrants more serious punishment or action than another. You confess to your bishop, he tells you to knock it off and sends you to a couple of therapy sessions, moves you to a new parish where you can prey upon other unsuspecting believers and life goes on. Besides, naming and actually doing something about all those rapist priests makes it that much more difficult for the bishops presiding over them to move up the ranks. Right hand of god and all that.

And apparently, in the olden days of the church, when priests were allowed to marry and have families, they didn't have this huge problem with priests raping children. It seems that the reason they gave up allowing priests to marry and instead allow them to (quietly) rape kids is to raise money for the church. See, when priests used to have families, they left their assets to their wives and children when they died. Now that they can't have families, they leave all of their assets to the church, naturally.

There was an especially infuriating part in the John Geoghan story where one of the priests who had been his friend for lo those many years demanded forgiveness for him. He thought it was a "travesty" and an "injustice" to the rapist to have been defrocked, prosecuted, and sent to prison just for "fondling" some kids. I think he even went so far as to call him A SAINT. No, I know he went so far because I wanted to stab my fucking ears out after hearing it.

You'll have to forgive me if I just can't muster the sympathy to forgive the fucking perverts and assholes who pollute the earth.

I guess the only satisfaction I can take away from having hundreds of them hitting my blog everyday searching for child porn and women fucking animals is that they find me instead and the links they click on show them exactly how disgusting and pathetic they truly are.

We ARE on your search engines stealing your porn links.

From my inbox...

PRESS RELEASE
May 11,2007

MOTHERS FILE INTERNATIONAL COMPLAINT AGAINST UNITED STATES

Mother’s day complaint claims United States courts violate children’s and mothers’ human rights.

NEW YORK On May 11, just before Mother’s Day weekend, ten mothers, one victimized child, now an adult, and leading national and state organizations filed a complaint against the United States with the Inter American Commission on Human Rights. The case claims that U.S. courts, by frequently awarding child custody to abusers and child molesters, has failed to protect the life, liberties, security and other human rights of abused mothers and their children.

“For more than 30 years U.S. judges have given custody or unsupervised visitation of children to abusers and molesters putting the children directly at risk,” says Dianne Post, an international attorney who authored the petition. “These horrendous human rights violations have been brought to the attention of family court systems, and state and federal governments, to no avail. We turn now to international courts to protect the rights and safety of US children.”

The complaint details several cases with documented medical evidence of child sexual abuse, yet in each instance the abusing father was given full custody of the children he abused. Several of the mothers were jailed by the courts because of their persistent efforts to protect their children from abuse, several were ordered not to speak of the abuse and not to report abuse to authorities. Every mother was denied contact with her child for some period of time though none was ever proven to have harmed them.

"My life was completely shattered apart on that day and my childhood was destroyed," said Jeff Hoverson, the adult child petitioner, about the day a family court judge ordered sheriff deputies to deliver him into the custody of his abuser. "It was as if I was just kidnapped. I was torn from everything I knew....I was made into a possession rather than a child." Hoverson endured years of trauma and fear living in his father's home before escaping and returning to his mother at age 17. He is haunted by years of feeling helpless to prevent his father's night-time visits to his sisters’ bedrooms.

“The cases in this petition represent the proverbial tip of the iceberg,” says Irene Weiser, executive director of the national online organization Stop Family Violence. “We are contacted by an average of three protective mothers each week who have lost custody to child abusing fathers. This is a nationwide crisis of enormous proportion.”

“The lives of thousands of children and mothers have been irreparably harmed by family courts across our nation,” says Joyanna Silberg, Ph.D., executive vice-president of The Leadership Council on Child Abuse and Interpersonal Violence, another national organizations supporting the petition. “The years of trauma and psychological abuse because of the courts’ failings result in lasting emotional damage to the children they are supposed to protect.”

Studies of gender bias in the courts, conducted in the 1980’s and 90’s, found disturbing trends of courts minimizing or excusing men’s violence against women, and favoring the abusers. In 1990 the United States Congress passed a resolution recommending the prohibition of giving joint or sole custody to abusers. Seventeen years later, the practice continues unabated. Ten years ago today, leading national organizations were joined by members of Congress in a protest in Washington D.C. to again raise awareness about the problems in family courts. Today, petitioners say, the problem is systemic and widespread in family law courts across the nation.

The petition seeks a finding from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights that the U.S. has violated the Declaration of the Rights and Responsibilities of Man and the Charter of the Organization of American States and a statement of the steps that the U.S. must take to comply with its human rights obligations in regards to battered women and children in child custody cases.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights was created in 1959 and is expressly authorized to examine allegations of human rights violations by members of the Organization of American States, which include the United States. It also carries out on-site visits to observe the general human rights situations in all 35 member states of the Organization of American States and to investigate specific allegations of violations of Inter-American human rights treaties. Its charge is to promote the observance and the defense of human rights in the Americas.

Dianne Post, a 1980 graduate of the University of Wisconsin law school, has worked on issues of gender based violence since 1976. In addition to private practice and legal aid, she has taught legal classes and been a consultant working or living in Russia, Cambodia, Hungary and some dozen other countries. She is currently in Vladivostok, Russia.

Additional national organizations supporting the international lawsuit include: National Organization for Women and the NOW Foundation, National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Justice For Children, National Family Court Watch Project, Legal Momentum, Family Violence Prevention Fund, National Alliance to End Sexual Violence, Domestic Violence Report, Sidran Traumatic Stress Institute, and the National Center on Sexual and Domestic Violence. The petition is supported by many state organizations as well.

In December 2005, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a petition against the United States with the Inter American Commission on Human Rights for their failure to protect Jessica Gonzales’ three children from their abusive father, who murdered them. Their petition, the first of its kind, asserted that domestic violence victims have the right to be protected by the state from the violent acts of their abusers.

View the video, review the petition, and read the shocking stories of what is happening in our nation's family courts at http://www.StopFamilyViolence.org/468

You know what else is fucking annoying?

All the assholes who are all "FREE SPEECH, FREE SPEECH, FREE SPEECH! WORDS CAN'T HURT YOU! BLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAH!" when the subject is rape "jokes" but are all "You feminists are so mean and vicious and hurt our feelings when you fail to include a disclaimer stating that not all men rape or when you fail to include a male perspective on everything you talk about or when you don't make men your primary concern when discussing feminist issues! You're reverse discriminating against us when you won't allow us in your Dyke March or Women Only Spaces. I know we're not dykes or women but still - It's so UNFAAAAIIIIRRR!!! WAAAAAHHHH!"

However, the minute a woman tries to say that "joking" around about how a woman deserves to be raped because she's a "bitch" or a "cunt" or a liberal or a conservative or a mother or a spinster or a prude or a slut or what-the-fuck-ever - is fucking WRONG and offensive on so many levels, assholes start crawling out of shit-stained underwear to tell us to "shut up" or "settle down" or "just learn to take a joke". Fuck our free speech, apparently.

Well, to those assholes I say: Until you have something beneficial or at least somewhat intelligent to add to the feminist discourse, YOU shut the fuck up!

Just because you're a dude and you aren't offended when other men "joke around" about raping some "uppity" woman doesn't mean it's not offensive. Maybe you are just a total fucking pig who can't tell the difference between free speech and hate speech. Much like how most of y'all can't seem to tell the difference between rape and THE SEX.

FUCK OFF ALREADY.

FYI: Rape and Sex Are Not the Same Thing...

You'd think it would be absolutely clear but apparently men can't seem to distinguish between rape and sex. No wonder women are never believed.

XM Shock Jocks Apologize for Sex Comment

XM Satellite Radio shock jocks Opie and Anthony apologized Friday for airing a homeless man's crude comments that he'd like to have sex with Condoleezza Rice, Laura Bush and Queen Elizabeth.

The remarks were made on their show Wednesday by a guest the duo call Homeless Charlie. As the name of each woman came up, the guest said he would like to have sex with her — using language not fit for print.

Opie and Anthony laughed as they imagined Rice's "horror" while describing a violent sexual encounter in which Rice is punched in the face.

It wasn't a "sex" comment, it was a rape comment. You can listen to the actual exchange here but I warn you, it's extremely disturbing. And please spare yourself the additional horror and disgust of reading the comments which all seem to be from liberal men who have no problem with rape "jokes", but a serious problem with "copyright infringement".

It's disgusting how cavalier they are while laughing and joking about holding Condaleeza Rice down and sexually assaulting her. "Punching her in the face" and so on. Last I heard, holding someone down and punching them in the face while forcing your dick into them was rape, not "sex". Of course, I don't have sex with men anymore so maybe I'm wrong.

(audio link via feministing)

The sick fucks who live among us...

It's always about "free" with them. A brief look at what some of my latest visitors were searching for when they found me. These are all unique searches from different ISPs, mind you.

donkey shows xxx
violent underage rape porn
porn videos hot girls free
hot porn free
xxx mexican donkey show
free rape porn videos
pictures of homely girls who will suck cock
massage parlor reviews wichita falls
young xxx free videos
children rape porn pics
free rape porn
free rape porn videos
fucking child girl
give me some hot cunt girls that love to fuck email address so i can talk to them
free girl on girl porn
young girls fucking older men unwilling free clips
weak smooth sexy young girls
poor girl sex
girl shits in girls mouth
girl gets tortured free download
pedophiles porn xxx
fully free download sex porn
rape kids
girlfriend rape porn
free snuff sex porn
illegal underage black girl
fathers raping very young girls
girl fucks horse
pitchers girl and boys having sex

It's disturbing on many levels, not the least of which is how specific they are in what they're looking for, but also in the deep hatred of women and girls they so clearly possess. (And how stupid they are. "Pitchers"? Evil fucking morons.)

Granted, there are numerous searches for "free xxx porn", but the overwhelming majority of searches I get come from these specifically disgusting, hate filled requests. It really makes me look at everyone differently now. I wonder if the UPS man or or the MUNI driver or the guy who owns the deli where I get my salad every day could be one of these perverts. It's so fucking depressing.

I'm #1!

The numbers are in and I was "far and away" the highest individual fundraiser in the 2nd Annual San Francisco Walk Against Rape. I couldn't have done it without you!

With your help, I managed to raise $1400 ($150 over my goal!) and all together the walk raised more than $17,000 for SFWAR.

My goal next year is $1500 so look for more begging in the not too distant future...

We did it!

It was hot and we were sweaty but we made it all the way to the end. I'm not sure what the total amount raised was but I'll keep you posted.

It was a beautiful day in San Francisco and we felt strong and brave and amazing and we were inspired by all of the wonderful folks who walked with us. Next year it'll be even BIGGER!

You can see the fabulosity for yourself right here.

Tomorrow's the big day!

I'm moving this to the top coz, Yay Me!

I can't seem to stop bragging that I managed to raise $1400 this year, nearly twice as much as I raised last year. I really hope I'm the highest individual fundraiser. We don't win any prizes or anything, I just want them to love me the most. Hee!

No matter where I land in the fundraising spectrum though, I couldn't have done it without you. Thanks so much to everyone who donated and to everyone who has encouraged me and given their support. San Francisco Women Against Rape (SFWAR) is an incredible organization and they've helped a lot of people. (It will be a beautiful day when their services are no longer needed though.)

One by one, we are making a difference and I thank each and every one of you for the courage and inspiration I derive from you daily. We really are fighting the good fight, TOGETHER!



Although I've reached my goal, you can still donate if you'd like to, or join us on the walk. Everyone is welcome and encourgaged to show your support and solidarity with women. Hope to see some of you there!

I did it!!!

With the help of many generous friends, of course!

Thanks to everyone who donated and helped me not only meet, but exceed my goal. Yay us!

As of today, I've raised $1400 for San Francisco Women Against Rape. There's still a week and a half left before the walk so it's not too late to donate if you still want to. Just because I reached my goal doesn't mean we have to stop giving.

If you'd like to donate to help survivors of rape and sexual assault, you can do so here.

Again, many thanks to my online and offline friends for your incredible generosity and support. You restore my faith in people!

I *hate* porn...

Once, not even that long ago, I was a total moron and posted something on my older, stupider blog, like i *heart* porn! and then listed a bunch of half-assed, ill-informed reasons why.

I really don't know who the fuck I was kidding though, because I remember watching porn regularly with my then boyfriend and frequently feeling incredibly sad, hurt, inadequate, and scared. But rather than voice any of those feelings, I just kept announcing i *heart* porn! like it was some badge of honor and proof that I was a totally "cool" and "open-minded" chick.

I did everything I could to convince myself that porn was great and feminist and empowerful and that only ignorant prudes couldn't handle it. Sadly, I fell for it for far longer than I care to admit. I even had an I *heart* Porn! lighter that I'd received from a friend's husband which I sported proudly at every happy hour. I was such the asshole.

Needless to say, the lighter and the friends and I have long since parted company.

As my feminism has evolved and I've become more involved in the movement to end violence against women, my views on pornography have evolved as well. I've listened to women's stories, become better informed, and with that knowledge comes responsibility. I've since gone from *hearting* it to HATING it, and here's why:

Once she started giving her own answers to questions and trying to explain her years of coercion, she discovered that reporters were reluctant to rush into print. Her story was depressing, not glamorous or titillating at all. Because she had been passed around like a sexual trading coin, sometimes to men who were famous, there was also fear of lawsuits.

Only in 1978, when she was interviewed by Mike McGrady, a respected newspaper reporter on Long Island where she had moved with her new husband, did her story begin the long process of reaching the public. McGrady believed her. In order to convince publishers, he also put he through an eleven-hour lie-detector test with the former chief polygraphist of the New York district attorney's office, a test that included great detail and brutal cross-questioning. But even with those results and with McGrady himself as a collaborator, several major book publishers turned down the manuscript.[...]

One wonders: Would a male political prisoner or hostage telling a similar story have been so disbelieved? Ordeal attacks the myth of female masochism that insists women enjoy sexual domination and even pain, but prostitution and pornography are big businesses built on that myth. When challenged about her inability to escape earlier, Linda wrote: "I can understand why some people have such trouble accepting the truth. When I was younger, when I heard about a woman being raped, my secret feeling was that could never happen to me, I would never permit it to happen. Now I realize that can be about as meaningful as saying I won't permit an avalanche."

The Real Linda Lovelace - By Gloria Steinem
Excerpt From Making Violence Sexy: Feminist Views on Pornography

Awhile back, I wrote a letter to the editors at Bitch about Linda Boreman's story which they never published*. It was in response to an article they'd published highlighting the empowerfulness of sex work and neglecting to note the dangerous, enslavery side of it. The article made note of Deep Throat being the highest grossing porn film of all time, but didn't bother to mention that Linda Lovelace/Boreman said that anyone who watches that film is watching her rape.

Fancy that - a feminist magazine failing to mention porn's connection to rape when they have an actual, real-life example. They wouldn't want to bring anybody down or diminish sales by pointing out that a movie that millions of men have jerked off to was the filmed rape and torture of a real, live, woman. Like Linda said, "I just thank God today that they weren't making snuff movies back then."

Another reason I hate porn is because of the people who thrive on it. Those pillars of society and beacons of women's liberation who search the 'net for such empowerful film subjects as "free pics of hot incest", "girls treated like dogs porn", "shits in a girls mouth", "free porn snuff videos", "xxx incest free", "father and daughter porn xxx pictures", "girls pony sex porn", "hot underage girls being raped pics free vids" and so on, all of which are actual search terms perverted fuckwads have used in the last 24 hours, disappointed I'm sure, to find my blog instead.

I wish more people would wake up to the reality of porn and realize what it is they're actually contributing to; that they're perpetuating the myth that women enjoy objectification, subordination, and abuse. They are creating a demand for a product that by it's very nature ensures that thousands upon thousands of women and children will be raped, tortured, abused, and enslaved, world without end.
__________
* Interestingly, they published only one letter about the article and it was positive. They laughingly noted in the Letters to the Editor column how they'd expected to receive more negative feedback and had been surprised to get just the one positive letter. So I resubmitted my letter via email and post yet they still never published it. I'm not saying they were intentionally silencing dissenting voices or anything, but that's what it felt like.

What I'm reading...

Poverty and Homelessness: Cockroaches 1, Humans 0

Roaches, even immature roaches, understand that everyone does better when everyone does better. Humans can’t seem to grasp this simple fact.

Some notes on revolution

Do you guys get, I mean actually get, that our society is a patriarchy? Patriarchy isn’t just a gimmick for a blog. It really exists. There are actual implications. Do you get that a patriarchy is predicated on exploitation and victimization? It’s not a joke! It’s not an abstract concept dreamed up by some wannabe ideologue making up catch-phrases while idling away the afternoons with pitchers of margs. Exploitation and victimization is the actual set-up! A person is either an exploiter or a victim, or sometimes both, but never neither.

This means me! This means you!

Footnote to blaming greatness: the impending what-about-the-men section

I’ve been threatening for some time now to inaugurate a “Dear God, What About the Men?” section in the FAQ. I envision it as required reading for callow dudely proto-blamers, with the impossible-but-I-can-dream-can’t-I goal of keepin’em out of the comments section until they get a grip. This way, when what-about-the-men happens, I can post a single link, be done with it, and proceed, like any decent spinster aunt, with cocktail hour.

Musings on Safety and Slow Movies

From a feminist perspective, then, the film could be viewed as a woman realizing that she has been a prisoner of patriarchy, that she is not an actor, but acted upon, and that the foundation upon which her life is built is of no real meaning. Is that what causes that first nosebleed? I think of her as a story book princess for whom the magic potion wore off, the rose colored glasses crumbled, and she realized that she had no real autonomy. I am not religious, but I believe that the drive to consume; to have more stuff, new stuff, newer stuff, too much stuff, is deadly to the spirit. Particularly when, as a woman, one realizes that she is also socially defined as a commodity to be consumed.

Universalized White Male Culture: A Reminder...

So when all these politicians, these media people talk about evil misogyny in 'black music' they seemingly forget the sadistic, cruel, violent misogyny in white boy music - so here's just a sample of what white male supremacist culture comes up with on the top 40 charts, again and again and again. Feel free to add your own obvious examples in the comments.

Discussing racism and misogyny - one step forward, two steps back, and a lot of pointing fingers

Let’s start off with some important observations and distinctions about why you’re seeing the defense of rap, even with it’s misogyny. When it comes down to it, they don’t like “Whitey” pointing it out — they leap to defending the right to self-defined cultural expression — not freedom of speech, mind you, but an ethno-centric form of expression, the black vernacular within that genre. That’s what you hear when people get defensive about why everyone is “picking on” hip-hop only.

While that argument has some validity, it falls flat in a major way — since the defenders of this particular flavor of the hip-hop genre are saying that the “expression” of a slice of black culture is blatant, ugly misogyny and we’re supposed to be ok with that, as black women, as Americans? I’m not the only one calling bullsh*t.

How not to be an asshole: a guide for men

In the recent discussion about Kathy Sierra and Markos’ febrile and clueless response to her, I see there are some kind, helpful men who are taking pains to make sure emotion doesn’t run rampant in the discussion, that unfair accusations of misogyny or characterizations of harassment statistics get spread in an understandable emotional response to a few very upsetting instances of harassment by piglike men who fall far outside the norm. Surely, these men reason, we mustn’t let these nasty experiences color our judgment of the actual events involved. Surely it helps no one to make wild and baseless charges without looking, in uber-dispassionate detachment, at the actual statistics and methodology and margin of error of the studies that show women get harassed more than men. Come, let us reason together calmly, they say. References to Salem and the McMartin pre-school and such come unbidden to their lips.

I’m a big fan of dispassionate, rational, fact-based discussion of the issues myself, and it is in that spirit that I offer, to my brethren who’ve taken it upon themselves to be a shining light of dispassion on this topic, these fraternal words of guidance:

Shut the fuck up.

Spineless bully-boys and the morons who love them

So, Markos has decreed that Kathy Sierra is either lying or hysterical. This in a post that states that a proposed code of conduct is wrongheaded. Since, you know, one can't look askance at a code of conduct without deciding that the woman who inspired it is a liar. I see that Kos remains consistent and proves himself yet again to be irrelevant.

Trading Imus for Rosie

All week, I have been wondering why Imus says only three words and becomes the target of national vile, while Rosie O’Donnell can repeatedly deny the concerns of the Asian American political community and receive 30 second spots on E! Entertainment News. Perhaps it is the fact that Asian Americans did not take to the streets in protest (though we certainly could have and should have), perhaps it is the fact that prominent Asian American voices like Lucy Liu and Margaret Cho are neither truly politically-minded nor willing to publicly racialize themselves and speak out against White America, or perhaps we simply have too many Asian Americans amongst our ranks who, like the two girls who were at Rosie’s apology, found the “ching chong” remarks funny.

even the most humble creature... (from an essay by Betsy Warrior)

There is a great difference between feminism and opportunism. Feminists strive for the good of the many. Opportunists strive for their own good. So while feminists work for the advancement of all women as women, opportunists sell out the common good for their own advantage. While feminists fought for the right to vote, for reproductive rights, freedom from sexual harassment, battering, rape and porn, for equal wages, credit and so forth, opportunists don’t bother to, but will take advantage of any gains, and in doing so, call themselves “feminists.” They dilute the politics of feminism and divert it into issues equally effecting men or supporting right-wing policies. We’ve all seen this phenomenon.

Today’s Male Terrorism: Gunman Kills 32 at Virginia Tech, Injures 21

USA Today, in connection with its reporting of the shootings, linked to a list of 46 school shootings internationally between 1996 and today. Of those 46, 45 of the shooters were male. In the one instance in which the shooter was female, she shot and wounded one other female and killed no one.

How anyone can form his or her lips to suggest that women are ”as violent” as men, and expect to be taken seriously, is beyond me. I see this kind of statement a lot, nevertheless; it is either deliberate and conscious propaganda or denial which rises to the level of the irrational.

I Believe Her: All I Need to Know About the Duke Rape Case, and What It Has to Do with Imus

And I know this. This decision, and all of its apologists, every last one, including pro-feminists so-called – ”allies” my ass – every one who says “I don’t believe they did it,” “I think she was confused,” “I think she lied,” “I think she is mentally ill,” sends a revived and reinvigorated message out across this fucked up, racist, misogynist nation of ours that if you’re a white boy, it’s open season on young black women. Call them any names you want to call them. Do anything you want to do to them. You’ll walk. I know what these boys do. I know what they do. They do it, they do it to young women of color, and nobody cares, everybody thinks it’s funny, and nobody believes the girls, or if they do, they say the girls are making a big deal of it, are making shit up. They — and all of you who defend these and similar men and feel sorry for them — can run it by someone stupid, or racist, or misogynist, or ignorant or naive.

Why Those Who Say My Position on The Duke Case Makes Me Crazy Are Wrong

Carnival Against Sexual Violence #21

Disability Carnival #12

Another fundraising plea...

Before I forget - I'm now only $200 shy of my $1250 goal so if you'd like to sponsor me in the 2nd annual SFWAR Walk Against Rape, you can make a donation here: firstgiving/msjared2

The Walk Against Rape is on Saturday, April 28th so I've only got a few more weeks to raise the rest of the money. Anything you can spare is greatly appreciated!

(And thanks SO MUCH to everyone who's already donated!)

Another heartbreaking story about trafficking...

Read it and weep.

What price for a girl's life?

TEENAGE girls are routinely being trafficked from Eastern Europe to work in the sex trade in Northampton, with criminal gangs paying thousands of pounds a time to "buy" their victims.

Agency workers campaigning to help women escape prostitution admit they have no idea of the scale of the problem, due to the hidden nature of the behind-closed-doors trade, but said there was a serious issue that needed to be addressed in Northampton.

The number of girls illegally trafficked into Britain in recent years is believed to have exploded.

The latest Home Office figures, from 2003, suggest at least 4,000 women from abroad have been forced into prostitution but that figure is now understood to be far higher.

Sam Benfield, spokeswoman for the Sex Workers Around Northampton (SWAN) project, said: "Historically, we have had cases of underage girls working as prostitutes in Northampton and we have had cases of trafficked women. In the past few years we have seen girls as young as 14 working on the streets.

[...]

There is believed to be up to 200 girls currently working in backstreet massage parlours and brothels in Northampton.

One prostitute, who asked not to be named, told the Chronicle & Echo that anything up to 40 per cent of those could be working against their will having been brought in from overseas by criminal gangs under the pretence of securing a mainstream job.

She said: "The overseas girls are flooding into Northampton and are being made to offer a full range of services, often the type that long-standing girls simply won't do, for a fraction of the price.

"They are seeing anything up to 10 clients a day and are being treated horrendously.

"Sometimes, if the maid of a brothel suspects her girls have been trafficked, she will take them under her wing and try and help them escape, but it's not always possible."

Graham Maxwell, of the UK Human Trafficking Centre, said information programmes were in place in countries like Bulgaria and Romania to prevent people being conned into going abroad.

One woman, imprisoned and forced to be a prostitute, had been raped 50 times on Christmas Day, the Home Office said.

Another had been beaten to death after being held as a domestic slave and made to live in an outhouse, where she suffered from trench foot - caused by damp and wet conditions.

Mr Maxwell said being forced to have sex 30 times a day was common for some girls.

He added: "The average price for a trafficked woman is £2,000 to £3,000, but up to £8,000 is reported in some cases. We are talking about people here. These are prices that are being paid for individuals. There was £8,000 charged for two 15-year-old girls from Lithuania."

One prostitute, known only as Annabel, said the market in Northampton had become so overloaded with girls selling sex she was being forced to look for a mainstream job to bolster her income.

She said: "It's dead at the moment, there's too many girls working here and most of them are willing to do anything for hardly any money. They don't insist on safe sex and their prices are crazy.

"There is no business for people like me anymore, I'm going to give it up and get another job."

[...]

Police minister Vernon Coaker said human trafficking was "a form of modern-day slavery" and called for a change in legislation which could see prostitutes' clients face prosecution for rape.

He said: "Frankly it brings tears to your eyes. It simply cannot carry on. If we have got a situation where a man knowingly has sex with a woman he knows is not freely consenting to that, then I think that that could be considered as rape."

Amen, brother.

And they should also consider that any adult "having sex" with anyone under 18 is also rape. Because the more I read on the subject, the more I realize that the "johns" do understand what they're doing and they do realize these women and girls are often underage and there against their will, but they just don't care or that in itself is part of the thrill.

Stop punishing prostituted people and start punishing the predatory perverts.

(via genderberg)

The girl I'm not anymore...

Recently, I've been replaying incidents that happened to me or that I was told about over the years, trying to understand my lukewarm reactions and misdirected outrage then, compared to my feelings about them now. How little compassion for women and how much internalized misogyny I had for so, so long.

It makes me really sad.

In high-school there was a cheerleader named Melody who everyone secretly and not-so-secretly whispered was a whore and a slut and that she had a perpetual case of crabs. I was "the new girl" and had no background information or experience with her to reconcile this against so I took them at their word and did my best to avoid Melody at all costs, lest I catch her "skankiness".

The story I was given for what made Melody such a "slut" compared to the rest of us (although I think I was one of TWO virgins in the entire school anyway) was because she "pulled a train" with the football team at a party out at the lake over the previous summer.

Fifteen year-old me was horrified and disgusted, but not with the boys mind you, my contempt was reserved solely for Melody. I couldn't imagine what kind of "sleazebag" would fuck all those boys one right after another. How desperate and gross and horribly disgusting she must be.

It never occurred to me that it was more likely a gang rape than a "train", nor did it bother me that Melody was barely fifteen at the time and the boys were all seniors. I had been well-groomed by the media and the 80s and the American narrative to assume that "boys will be boys" and it was a girl's responsibility to keep them in check. "You can't rape the willing!" we'd laugh.

And this isn't the sole example of my own fucked up thinking over the years, obviously. It's mind-boggling to consider just how much of that type of thinking I've had to unlearn and actively fight against on a daily basis for the past thirty-six years. How much of that thinking continues unchecked and uncriticized in so many places, even today. How much of it I'm still guilty of.

I don't know where I'm going with this. It's just something that's been bothering me.

I guess what I want to say, even though it's obviously too late and I don't even know where she is anymore anyway, is I'm sorry Melody. I'm sorry I never gave you a chance. I'm sorry I didn't ever ask for your side of the story. I'm sorry that you had to spend your high school years ridiculed and ostracized and abused. I'm sorry for what happened to you and that those boys continued merrily on - popular, respected, happily high-fiving one another over what they'd done to you. I'm sorry you went through it all alone. I'm sorry I wasn't smarter, braver, or kinder. I'm sorry I didn't offer you compassion, concern, or support. I'm sorry it took me so long to realize the truth.

I know it's meaningless now, but I do still think of you and hope that things worked out for you; that you turned out okay. I hope you're somewhere happy and safe now, and that those years don't haunt you the way they haunt me.