Uncensored Feminista

With Gustav on it’s way to New Orleans you can’t help but think fo the irony that Katrin hit 3 years ago yesterday and the devastation of which the people went through because of this storm.  And of course, let’s not forget the lack of response from our prestigious President Bush.  Think Progress has a great timeline illustrating President Bush’s priorities when it comes to the people of this country.

Having been through Hurricane Andrew in 1992, I know what it’s like to live through something devastating.  I know the noise the wind makes as it howls through the house, and the way the pressure moves all the closed doors in the house as if there’s a ghost on the other side trying to get out.  What I don’t know is about having to sit in your attic to get away from the rising flood waters.  Dead strewn about the city.  The conditions these people had to endure, nobody should.  Granted I had to deal with rising sewer waters, rats, and other such pests, but not to the extent they did.  I don’t think anybody could ever know what they went through without actually going through it yourself, and for the President of our country to act as if he did not care, and acted as if he cared more because there was a direct threat to him by terrorist then an act of God shows to me that he only cares about his own interests.  This also tells me why he actually went into the middle east to invade Iraq.  It’s because they hit his pride and it was never about the people who perished in the towers.

I’m concerned about Gustav and the readiness of the people in this area.  I’m concerned that they have not rebuilt to the point where they can withstand another big hurricane of the magnitude of Katrina and my thoughts are with them.

I have a lot of thoughts on the issue of Sarah Palin being picked by McCain as his running mate.  The one thing that does scream out at me is that this is a sad attempt to rope in what people are calling the “angry Hillary supporters.”  I think this is just a cheap ploy to gain votes among the female constituents, but I am truly offended by this act.  Sarah Palin is very anti-Choice, anti-gay rights, and anti-anything that speaks of people who are not just like her having any kind of freedoms and rights, and by McCain appointing her (because she’s basically a carbon copy of his beliefs) I’m offended that he would think I would be stupid enough not to do my own research on this woman and come to my own conclusions as opposed to voting for someone simply because he had a female running mate.  I would also hope that the rest of the nation can see the ploy for what it is: a trompe d’oeil, an illusion at bringing women closer to “breaking through the 18 million cracks” when in truth it’s the beginning steps necessary to replace the glass with a newer, stronger pane.

For more, as always, visit Feministing, Huffington Post, even CNN.

This is a really great video. I found it over at How Much Time Should She do? and I feel it’s really interesting how they view the penalties that should be imposed should abortions become illegal. Watch it and leave me your thoughts.

I was deeeply saddened when I opened my email today to find out that Del Martin passed.  As a huge activist for gay and lesbian rights, her strength and her spark will be severely missed.  When I first her story and what she had been doing for gay rights, I was deeply moved, even more so when she was finally able to marry her partner of 55 years just recently with the passing of the California law allowing gay marriages.  It’s because of strong women like her that people are able to achieve the rights and freedoms they have and commend all her work and will feel the loss of someone who in her work could mentor future activists and show them the paths to take to achieve their goals.  Here’s what the San Francisco Chronicle has to say:

Ms. Martin, an author and organizer, died at UCSF Hospice after a long period of declining health. She was 87 and was admitted to the hospital nearly two weeks ago with a broken arm.

Ms. Martin’s crusading began in 1955, during an era in America known more for social conformity than for rebellion, when she co-founded a lesbian social-turned-political organization, Daughters of Bilitis, named after a 19th century book of lesbian love poetry.

This year, on June 16, she and her partner of 55 years, Phyllis Lyon, were legally wed. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom officiated. Theirs was among the first same-sex nuptials in California.

“Her last act of activism was her most personal – marrying the love of her life,” said Kate Kendell, a longtime friend of the couple and executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights.

My heart goes out to her partner Lynn and her family.

So how did I celebrate this historic day?  I voted!  I voted in the Florida primaries, and I vote for all the causes I believe in.  I make sure to use my right to vote because women fought long and hard to make sure I was given this right, and I will not stand idly by and allow someone else speak for me when they might speak wrongly, because only I know my true intentions, and only I know my true beliefs.  No one, even those who claim to know me the best can truly say that they know the true me, nor could they claim they know what I see for my future.  Therefore, I exercise my right to vote.

How else did I celebrate?  I exercised my right to an education.  I spend all day in class and becoming an educated woman, which is something my ancestors were not allowed.  My mother was too busy working trying to support me and did not have time for an education, especially since my father was going to school.  My grandmother uprooted her family from Cuba and brought them here to this country because of the promise of freedom and the hope for the future that defines America.  She came from an extremely patriarchal country, with a patriarchal husband who fully believed that a woman’s place was in the home raising the children and taking care of him.  I love my grandfather very much, but we differed severely in these views, and my grandmother simply conformed to her husbands demands.

Finally, I celebrated by watching the speeches given by the many women Senators during the democratic national convention and I watched as many of my dreams for my future and my childrens future were spoken about and idealized on the stage in Colorado.  I’m jealous of all the women who were able to attend, particularly my friend Stephanie who will one day help change the world, whether she knows it or not.  She has had a great leader in her grandmother Evelyn who I have admittedly butt heads with, but for all the wrong reasons and have come to truly idealize as a woman who is not afriad to speak her mind and speak the truth, and all with a southern charm I wish would rub off onto me.

So to Amendment 19 I say Happy Anniversary and I would like to thank all the women who worked so incredibly hard to make sure that I have this right, and the women, like myself, who are continually fighting to make sure that our daughters and grandaughters have a better life.  Thank you.

1. Class is back in today and I’m incredibly excited as I’m taking, what I think will be some really great classes taught by some really great people.  More on that after my first week.
2. VOTE!  Florida primaries are tomorrow and there are a lot of controversial things up for vote.  For example, Amendment 2 that is trying to establish marriage as that between a man and a woman and nothing more, and domestic partners will not be allowed the same benefits as married peoples.  This is no good in my opinion.
3. I think that’s it for now.  There’s load of things going on in my head and I haven’t been able to sort out my thoughts as of yet (resting my brain from the hectic summer semester), but I’m sure as soon as I warm up my brain for school, thoughts will just spew out of me, so stay tuned.

I had something happen to me last night that really bothered me, whereas a long conversation ensued with my boyfriend about it and we both came to the conclusion that men and women see things completely different on this topic.

Last night my boyfriend, my stepson, and I went out to dinner at this really cute hamburger joint that we all like. There were two older men sitting at the table in front of us and they sat facing each other. At one point during our dinner I decided to get up to grab some ketchup for my fries. As I was walking back to our table, I noticed that one of the men at the table was completely turned around in his chair and they were both sitting there staring at me.  What’s worse is that they weren’t really staring at me but at my boobs. This really bothered me a lot. It made me feel uncomfortable, it made me feel small, and it made me feel like a piece of meat. Objectification at it’s worst. I sat down, made a loud comment to my boyfriend about how men who stare at boobs have no life, and they quickly left,  I’m assuming because they had been caught.

I then started asking my boyfriend questions about that mainly along the lines of why the fuck men have to do that when it clearly doesn’t work and only makes the woman feel uncomfortable and self-conscious. He claims that he feels that staring at a woman should be looked upon as a compliment, not as an insult or as harassment.  Are we really supposed to swoon over guys who stare at our tits as if they were the juciest piece of meat they’ve seen in a long time?  Is it really that hard for some men to understand that this kind of behavior is completely inappropriate and not complimentary whatsoever?

I love my boyfriend but in our conversation he decided to compare this kind of visual harassment to calling a woman beautiful, and he really doesn’t seem to understand that the way something is executed is key. Yes, you could call a woman beautiful, but if that’s the first thing you say to her it’s going to come off as a cheap pick-up line and not be viewed positively at all. There’s more to women then their beauty, and in my opinion, people who are considered the most beautiful of all can be pretty ugly because of how they view life and their status in this world.  I think I did make him see the error of his ways.  I tried, as gently a I could, to explain to him that women like to feel as if there’s more to them than just their looks, and that calling a woman beautiful right off the bat is not a good start.  I told him that if you like a woman, and you want to get to know her better, you get to know her first and then tell her she’s beautiful.  Make her feel as if she’s important and matters to you.

The thing is that these guys didn’t really care about me, they didn’t care that I was with my family, and they didn’t care that they were not only disrespecting me but disrespecting the man who in their minds could have been my husband in front of what could have been our child.  Those are men who just don’t care, have no respect for anyone, and did what they did because of their misogynistic views, and it’s these kinds of things that I’m trying to teach my stepson not to do, with a very big long explanation of how doing this is not showing women that you like or love them, but is showing them how much you disrespect them.