I Ain't Born Typical

Are you keeping your 201 blog?

I’ll probably delete this blog just because I have another tumblr. If y’all are interested the link is HERE. 

However, let me know if you are planning on keeping YOUR blog and I’ll follow it on my other one. I want to stay in touch with everyone!

Also don’t be offended if i creepily add you on facebook….

“Empowered” and “sexy” are not universally synonymous. That a woman is not a sex kitten does not mean that she’s any less comfortable or empowered or any of that stuff. See above, re: not a homogenous demographic. Stop making sexiness a universal demand. Let some characters be unsexy. And for f*ck’s sake, please, please stop drawing women who are injured, or dead, or being tortured, or punching bad guys, in sex-kitten pin-up poses. That is bad visual storytelling, and it is INCREDIBLY creepy. Let women be heroes for the sake of heroism. Women don’t have to be damaged or traumatized to be strong, or to want to make a difference. Corollary: Dropping rape into a backstory is not a panacea for making a female character complex and gritty.

Imagine you have a daughter. Imagine the kind of women you’d like her to want to grow up to be. Write them. Write women you’d want to be friends — really good friends — with. Write women you’d get in arguments with. Write women you’d be legitimately scared of. Write women like your mom, like your aunts, like your wife, like your friends, like your nieces and nephews and daughters and bosses and friends. We are not aliens… This, too, goes back to “doing things.” A lot of the time, male characters act, and female characters are acted upon. Let female characters make difficult choices — and sometimes choose wrong — and have struggles and the same real victories. Because without those things, they’re not characters; they’re just window dressing.

-Rachel Edidin: (Editor, Dark Horse Comics) From the article “Female Superheroes and Sex”

Women’s role in both the Comic industry and within comics themselves is something I have been meaning to address for a long time. I was going to make a post on it during the Media unit, but there was just so much else to discuss! I love the quote above, and especially the second paragraph because it speaks to how easily the problem of sexism in comics can be rectified. Women just have to be written, and drawn like real people instead of always being sex objects. And, there needs to be some variety. 

I love comics, especially superhero comics, and I do think that there are lots of amazing female characters out there. However, the “big two” comic publishers- Marvel and DC- put out a disproportionately low number of well written females considering the size of their universes. And often, even if a character is well written, she is still contorted into ridiculously pornographic poses by the artists.

As a female artist, and one who would like to work in the comic industry one day, this really troubles me. When females are well written they can be incredible role models. They can be strong and opinionated and smart and sexy. They can quite literally save the world singlehandedly and they can more than hold their own, physically and intellectually in what is typically a boys club. However, the women written like this are few and far between, especially in the DC and Marvel universes. 

I don’t have a problem with sexy women in comics or sex in comics. There are women in this world who are sexually empowered and sexy, and comics should reflect that real-world statistic. However, its all about the way in which the character or the sexual encounter is handled. Also, it has to be recognized that not all women are going to be sexually empowered, or even comfortable in their sexuality.  This article highlights the failure of male comic writers to understand what “liberated sexuality” is and how they use it as an excuse to justify dressing all their women like lingerie models. 

Pill Poppin’

Penis Lovin’

Satan’s Girl!

(Source: blowjay-simpson)

ashleighlaurenn:

ryantcarson:

Me at Slut Walk ‘11. I have always been a feminist, and think that the SLut Walk has been a great way to raise media attention to a major problem in the U.S. In many places around the country, women are being held accountable for their being raped. For some reason, our culture makes excuses for perverts and horrid human beings. Men don’t rape women baseed on their wardrobe, me rape because they are rapists. People need to educate themselves.

Ryan Carson, you are fantastic.

Reblogging from my regular tumblr. 

Activism is essential!

teegood:

Blair and I (along with other disturbed students) attempting to “debate” with the “Abortion is Genocide” people.

*These images which are being displayed on campus are NOT accurate on any scale!

This is so ridiculous, and I purposely avoided it as much as possible because I knew if I was near the display for too long I would start an argument. However, I did stop briefly to look at the display and I was absolutely sickened. 

This is not a protest, this is not a rally, this is a scare tactic. There is no reasonable or intelligent argument being put forward, these people are letting the pictures speak for them and the pictures are not even accurate depictions of most abortions! I also couldn’t stand how abortion kept being equated to genocide and how the signs on either side of the display warned of “pictures of genocide.” These people have no respect for VCU students and the fact that some might be triggered by images like these, especially when there is not a proper warning for them.

I understand that as a public university, VCU has to let its students express their views. However, subjecting the entire student body to a graphic and possibly emotionally harmful display is absolutely ridiculous and there should be some type of screening process to stop this from happening again.

(via lookslike201)

"talking about virginity is so annoying to me, and here’s why- firstly it’s used as a tool. A tool to reinforce the virgin vs. slut mentality that keeps a lot of girls scared to death because you’re either a cute little virgin or a good-for-one-thing slut, with seemingly no in-between. God forbid a girl has fun right? God forbid she has some nice fun sex and feels all good inside. It’s wrong if a girl does it, and wrong if a guy doesn’t. At least that’s what we’re told. It reinforces the idea that girls should be quiet, conservative, pure, lovely little darlings and guys should be tough conquerors. The virginity myth hurts both genders. And it is a myth. Who the fuck decided that a cock in my vagina is the end of my innocence and purity but a cock in my mouth isn’t? What if I touch it..lick it a little..it goes in but doesn’t pop my cherry..then we decide to stop..What am I then? Am I officially ‘deflowered’ now or am I still a pure little virgin? What if I get raped? And finally your comment just pisses me off. I can’t even tell you how many guys have said that to me so listen: I’m not some gift you get to be excited about opening before any other boys have. I’m not an object, a trophy, a body, a label or any of the fictional categories humanity just loves to stuff itself into to regulate behavior. And if it’s not your comment, it’s these: “oh that’s so good for you! You should really keep it,” or “oh god you shouldn’t do that.” First thing everyone does when you mention your virginity is tell you what to do with it. No. Shut up and stop condescending to me. I’m not an innocent child just because I haven’t and you’re not a big strong man because you have. And I know society has taught you to value virginity in a girl and that as a guy you’re supposed to be the authority on sex but seriously, pull your head out of your ass- sex is natural and awesome and I can decide exactly when and when not to keep my legs shut."

(Source: nixonplumbingco, via ashleystayyfree)

"We were discussing homosexuality because of an allusion to it in the book we were reading, and several boys made comments such as, “That’s disgusting.” We got into the debate and eventually a boy admitted that he was terrified/disgusted when he was once sharing a taxi and the other male passenger made a pass at him.The lightbulb went off. “Oh,” I said. “I get it. See, you are afraid, because for the first time in your life you have found yourself a victim of unwanted sexual advances by someone who has the physical ability to use force against you.” The boy nodded and shuddered visibly.“But,” I continued. “As a woman, you learn to live with that from the time you are fourteen, and it never stops. We live with that fear every day of our lives. Every man walking through the parking garage the same time you are is either just a harmless stranger or a potential rapist. Every time.” The girls in the room nodded, agreeing. The boys seemed genuinely shocked. “So think about that the next time you hit on a girl. Maybe, like you in the taxi, she doesn’t actually want you to."

Homophobia: The fear that another man will treat you like you treat women.

(via dumbledoreisabamf)

(Source: andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com, via the-face-of-broe)

marinakayx0:

What is this, another R.Limbaugh issue? WHY DO MEN WHO HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT TRY TO TALK ABOUT BIRTH CONTROL?!?!? I have news for these people… you can’t just type “birth control” into Google and it comes enthusiastically and speedily flying out of your laptop and into your mouth. Uhhhh, way to fail at an interview question.

stfuconservatives:

unknowablewoman:

KEYES: What do we say to the millions of women who can’t afford access to birth control?

JOHNSON: My wife actually went online here in Wisconsin and typed in, “what if I can’t afford birth control?” Came up, bam. If you can’t afford it, you can get birth control in this country. That’s a straw-dog argument. There’s no conservative who’s trying to deny women health care or contraceptives. We’re just saying this is an issue of religious freedom. […]

KEYES: What do you mean, “if you can’t afford it you can get it?”

JOHNSON: You can get it. Go online, type it in. It’s easy to get.

So, does this guy realize that searching for things online doesn’t just make them appear, or…?

What is a straw dog argument???

This is the best argument I have ever heard.

Just google it! It will appear!

(Source: saturniinae)