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- Helen Mirren, beautiful in every way it’s possible for a human to be beautiful.
ek
(via like-a-bruce)
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Ancient moon priestesses were called virgins. ‘Virgin’ meant not married, not belong to a man - a woman who was ‘one-in-herself’. The very word derives from a Latin root meaning strength, force, skill; and was later applied to men: virle. Ishtar, Diana, Astarte, Isis were all all called virgin, which did not refer to sexual chasity, but sexual independence. And all great culture heroes of the past…, mythic or historic, were said to be born of virgin mothers: Marduk, Gilgamesh, Buddha, Osiris, Dionysus, Genghis Khan, Jesus - they were all affirmed as sons of the Great Mother, of the Original One, their worldly power deriving from her. When the Hebrews used the word, and in the original Aramatic, it meant ‘maiden’ or ‘young woman’, with no connotations to sexual chasity. But later Christian translators could not conceive of the ‘Virgin Mary’ as a woman of independent sexuality, needless to say; they distorted the meaning into sexually pure, chaste, never touched. When Joan of Arc, with her witch coven associations, was called La Pucelle - ‘the Maiden,’ ‘the Virgin’ - the word retained some of its original pagan sense of a strong and independent woman. The Moon Goddess was worshipped in orgiastic rites, being the divinity of matriarchal women free to take as many lovers as they choose. Women could ‘surrender’ themselves to the Goddess by making love to a stranger in her temple.
— Monica Sjoo and Barbara Mor, The Great Cosmic Mother - Rediscovering the Religion of the Earth (via munstersandghosts)
(Source: rabbitinthemoon, via derro-bitch)
Posted June 23, 2012 at 2:38pm in linguistics virgin virginity monica sjoo barbara mor the great cosmic mother women feminism
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9,875 notes
I don’t think it’s terribly controversial to note that women, from a young age, are required to consider the reality of the opposite gender’s consciousness in a way that men aren’t. This isn’t to say that women don’t often misunderstand, mistreat, and stereotype men, both in literature and in life. But on a basic level, functioning in society requires that women register that men are fully conscious; it is not really possible for a woman to throw up her hands and write men off as eternally unknowable space aliens — and even if she says she has, she cannot really behave as though she has. Every element of her life — from reading books about boys and men to writing papers about the motivations of male characters to being attentive to her own safety to navigating most any institutional or professional or economic sphere — demands an ironclad familiarity with, and belief in, the idea that men really are fully human entities. And no matter how many men come to the same conclusions about women, the structure of society simply does not demand so strenuously that they do so. If you didn’t really deep down believe that women were, in general, exactly as conscious as you, you could probably still get by in life. You could probably still get a book deal. You could probably still get elected to office.
Posted May 22, 2012 at 6:16pm in Jennifer DuBois feminism misogyny quote gender identity
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8,291 notes
Slut” is how we vilify a woman for exercising her right to say “yes”. “Friendzone” is how we vilify a woman for exercising her right to say “no”.
— (via buildingmosaicsoutoflife)
(Source: angels-and-angles, via caraobrien)
Essentially, the idea of a “slut” is a myth told to women to keep them in their place. Just as Santa will not actually bring you coal on Christmas if you break a few of the house rules, you will not actually turn into an intrinsically tainted, unpalatable creature if you break one of society’s rules and have sex with one too many men. The word “slut” isn’t a criticism for having too much sex necessarily, but for being a woman: a real, living, breathing woman with quirks, foibles, normal sexual feelings, and personality; and failing to live up to the societal ideal for a woman: the passive, pliable, perpetually innocent, and sexually available Barbie doll.
Posted April 23, 2012 at 1:45am in women slut slut shaming sex sexuality feminism quote
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14,224 notes
As a society, we encourage girls and women to be emotionally accessible, and in touch with their feelings; we say that it’s an innately feminine trait. We say it, that is, until they have feelings that make us uncomfortable, at which point we recast them as melodramatic harpies, shrieking banshees, and basket cases.
— Tori Amos (via dr-clear-heels)
(Source: imanassspankme, via fuckyeahsexeducation)
Art’s great nudes have gone skinny
Italian artist Anna Utopia Giordano has created a visual re-imagination of historic nude paintings, had the subjects conformed their bodies to what the 21st century considers an ideal of beauty. The results are revealing—and quite shocking in what they say about the modern attitude toward women’s bodies.
(via laury-kos)
Posted April 20, 2012 at 10:29am in art Anna Utopia Giordano body shaming fat shaming feminism artists female body women
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49,622 notes
Except you can’t show a topless woman on TV - and you can’t defibrillate a woman in a bra. So victims of heart attacks on TV are *always* male. Did you know that a woman having a heart attack is more likely to have back or jaw pain than chest or left arm pain? I didn’t - because I’ve never seen a woman having a heart attack. I’ve been trained in CPR and Advanced First Aid by the Red Cross over 15 times in my life, the videos and booklets always have a guy and say the same thing about clutching his chest and/or bicep.
And people laugh when I tell them women are still invisible in this world.
And people laugh when I tell them women are still invisible in this world.
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the prettiest man alive?
he’s totally fascinating.
“In this society, if a man is called a woman, that’s the biggest insult he could get.” He arches his eyebrows skeptically and asks, “Is that because women are considered something less?”
“I seems the world is still more titillated by a man who wants to become a woman’ than it is by ’ a woman who wants to become a man.’ The first is scandalous, the latter is taken for granted. This reflects the very different levels of privilege men and women have in our society. Of course women want to be men, the general attitude seems to be, and of course they can’t. And that’s that.”
Posted January 7, 2012 at 12:49am in andrej pejic model gender feminism misogyny male men female women
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4,516 notes
Why Gandalf Never Married by Terry Pratchett
OR: Witches, wizards and the inherant sexism the modern fantasy genre. Or: Why Terry Pratchett is a G
(Source: stormagedondarklordofall)
Posted December 27, 2011 at 2:24am in terry pratchet fantasy literature feminism sexism witches wizards link discworld
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1,914 notes
As a society, the questions are always on ‘should a girl be wearing that?’ or ‘is she going to be able to avoid the attention?’. The question is never ‘why does a guy think it’s acceptable to treat a woman like that just because of what she’s wearing? Why do we constantly sexualize women without their consent? Talk to any woman and she’s gonna have a story about being shouted at in the street or being harassed in some way because of what you’re wearing. When that happens to you regularly it dehumanises you, it’s not a compliment. We should really be focusing on teaching young boys, y’know, if you see a girl wearing that, then she’s still just a girl wearing that. She’s not ‘fair game’, you shouldn’t treat people differently based on what they’re wearing.
—
My ramble on The Joy of Teen Sex. We also talked a lot about the diversity at the event, the problems relating to slutwalk and about how it’s not just cis-women who are affected by slut-shaming. We talked about whether we’d feel differently if we were bringing up daughters (um, no, I will never teach a child of mine that they are responsible for being raped) and about whether we really can change people’s attitudes. This is the bit they picked. It’s…well, it’s better than nothing! We’ve already got people coming to the Slutwalk group because of it.
If you want to see it, it’s about 36mins in: http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-joy-of-teen-sex/4od#3264188
And I think that’s just about enough self-promotion/slutwalk-promotion for one night.
(via loveintheshadowsistheonlykind)
(via demarches)
Posted December 14, 2011 at 8:10pm in feminism slut-shaming rape-culture harassment street harassment
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159 notes
It’s also important to note that punishing women for complying with cultural demands for performative femininity is a key component of women’s oppression. Our culture insists that women conform to a certain conventional beauty standards, and concern themselves with “girl things” like fashion and hair and makeup, in order to be acceptable as women. Yet when women like Kim do this, they are derided – called stupid, shallow, and vapid. As feminists, we must never stand by while women are called derogatory names for engaging in socially coded feminine activities. Even if we don’t like those women.
—
Social Justice League: Leave Kim Kardasian Alone (via feminismduh)
(via feministdisney)
(via feministdisney)
Posted December 13, 2011 at 10:56pm in kim kardasian femininity women oppression feminism fashion beauty gender coded quote reblog
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1,235 notes
If Barbie was an actual woman, she would be 5’9” tall, have a 39” bust, an 18” waist, 33” hips and a size 3 shoe.
• Barbie calls this a “full figure” and likes her weight at 110 lbs.
• At 5’9” tall and weighing 110 lbs, Barbie would have a BMI of 16.24 and fit the weight criteria for anorexia. She likely would not menstruate.
• If Barbie was a real woman, she’d have to walk on all fours due to her proportions.
• Slumber Party Barbie was introduced in 1965 and came with a bathroom scale permanently set at 110 lbs with a book entitled “How to Lose Weight” with directions inside stating simply “Don’t eat.”
(via fuckyeahfeminists)
