(Source: ltm, via feministfeels)

•  10 February 2013  •  621 notes  •  View comments

“A culture in which women are expected to remain virgins until marriage is a rape culture. In that vision, women’s bodies are for use primarily for procreation or male pleasure.”

—

E.J. Graff Purity Culture is Rape Culture (via goforthandagitate)

(via feminishblog)

•  10 February 2013  •  1,421 notes  •  View comments

“

If a young woman in middle school or high school hangs up a poster of Barack Obama in her room, this is seen as acceptable. It’s fine for women to admire men and want to be like them.

If a young man (the same age) hangs up a poster of Hillary Clinton in his room, this is seen as odd (maybe even troubling, is he gay? Oh no!).

Society tells us young men can’t think of women as role models, unless they’re a family member, whereas young women can admire and seek to emulate anyone, regardless of gender.

If you’re a young man, and if you have a poster on your wall with a woman, she had better be half-naked in a bikini, even if the Ronald Reagan or Gen. Patton poster next to it obviously features the man fully-clothed.

Young men are not to taught to think of women as role models. They are taught to think of them as either family members or sexual objects. There is no other category presented.

”

—

http://charlesclymer.blogspot.com/2013/02/why-are-we-so-ashamed-of-our-women.html (via there-was-a-girl)

THIS IS SO TRUE!

(via jahalath)

(via blueeyes-auburnhair)

•  10 February 2013  •  48,230 notes  •  View comments

futurejournalismproject:

So God Made a (Latino) Farmer

fjp-latinamerica:

One of the most popular ads during the Super Bowl was for the Dodge Ram. The spot took a 1978 speech by the late Paul Harvey and played it against images of American farmers.

Something was missing though. We let Latino Rebels take it away:

Do you notice anything about the farmers being featured in the commercial?

Yeah, 100% Americana. An America that seems to be stuck in another time. Last time we checked, the commercial overlooked a few other farmers, the over 3 million workers who contribute to the country’s $28+ billion fruit and vegetable industry. Or what about the fact that “the majority (72%) of all farmworkers were foreign-born, with 68 percent of all farmworkers were born in Mexico?” We are guessing that displaying the REAL FACE of farming in the United States would that have been way too uncomfortable to show? By the way, we know you showed only two Latino faces for a second, but that didn’t cut it, Chrysler. 

So, a remake is in order. Doing so above is the award winning investigative reporter Issac Cubillos, 

(via fridaywest)

•  5 February 2013  •  818 notes  •  View comments

“The power of a glance has been so much abused in love stories, that it has come to be disbelieved in. Few people dare now to say that two beings have fallen in love because they have looked at each other. Yet it is in this way that love begins, and in this way only.”

— Victor Hugo, Les Misérables 

(Source: larmoyante, via tslovinglife-deactivated2013031)

•  29 January 2013  •  5,604 notes  •  View comments

“The thing about patriarchy is that individual men, gay and straight, are often really wonderful people who you love deeply, but they have internalized some really poisonous shit. So every once in a while they say or do something that really shakes you because you’re no longer totally certain they see you as a human being, and you feel totally disempowered to explain that to them.”

— (via forgetwhoweare)

(Source: lasluchasdelcorazon, via punkrockandmisandry-deactivated)

•  28 January 2013  •  27,637 notes  •  View comments

ohhpoppycock:

nepetaquest:

this class requires group work

Literally me.

(via blueeyes-auburnhair)

•  28 January 2013  •  90,979 notes  •  View comments

By CHLOE LAMBERT, 21 January 2013

Can you whisk eggs without your arms aching, or push a car that’s broken down? 

Your grandmother might have been able to do this, but chances are you can’t.

For new evidence suggests humans are getting weaker — today’s generation simply don’t have the same muscle power as their parents. 

And it’s women who are affected most.

New evidence suggests humans are getting weaker - today’s generation simply don’t have the same muscle power as their parents

‘In Western countries such as the UK, U.S. and Canada, muscular strength has hit a plateau and muscular endurance — the ability to repeatedly exert force, such as doing sit-ups — has declined by 8 to 10  per cent since the Eighties,’ says Dr Grant Tomkinson, senior lecturer in health sciences at the University of South Australia, a leading researcher on trends in fitness over time.

It seems our average muscle power peaked in 1985 — since then we’ve increased in weight, but our muscles have got weaker and weaker, especially among women.

‘I’m seeing a massive epidemic of weak women who have no muscle strength,’ says London-based physiotherapist Sammy Margo. 

‘There are skinny women who have no muscles supporting their spine, and overweight ladies who don’t have any muscles under the fat.’

Women’s lack of muscle has serious implications for their health. 

Experts say poor muscle strength is to blame for a host of health problems such as osteoporosis and fractures, arthritis and back pain.

So why are women so weedy — and what should they do about it?

GIRLS WANT TO BE THIN, NOT STRONG

It takes only a cursory comparison of the covers of men’s and women’s magazines to understand the differences in what motivates men and women  to exercise.

While men strive to get ‘the ultimate six pack’ and ‘more body bulk now’, women’s objectives tend to be negative — to lose fat and burn calories rather than gain strength.

Women’s objectives tend to be negative - to lose fat and burn calories rather than gain strength

Ken Fox, professor of exercise and health sciences at the University of Bristol, says: ‘The majority of young females want to look thin. 

‘They don’t eat much, they don’t exercise much, and because of that they have weak musculatures — it’s really not a healthy way to be.’

A survey by the Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation found 40  per cent of women said feeling better about their appearance was the main factor that motivated them to exercise; in another, a third of women said they felt more pressure to be thin than healthy.

SCHWARZENEGGER BODY MYTH

Girls and women often avoid muscle-building exercise such as weightlifting or press-ups because they’re afraid of becoming too muscular and bulky.

Even the golden girl of the London Olympics, Jessica Ennis, has admitted she had at first been concerned about weight training because she ‘didn’t want to be all muscly’. 

But many experts say it’s actually difficult for women to ‘bulk up’ because of their hormones. 

Jessica Ennis has admitted she had at first been concerned about weight training because she ‘didn’t want to be all muscly’

This resistance exercise, as it is known, triggers muscle growth by causing small amounts of trauma to the muscles — the body repairs the damage by adding protein strands to the muscle to increase its strength and size. 

Testosterone is the hormone that triggers this process and men naturally have higher levels of it than women, meaning it’s much harder for women to develop big muscles, explains Professor Fox.

‘They can get toned but looking like Arnold Schwarzenegger isn’t an issue,’ he says. 

Women also can’t lose as much fat — men can conceivably get down to 4  per cent body fat while women typically cannot get lower than 10  per cent. 

Women evolved this way because they need more fat to bear children.

THE PROBLEMS START AT SCHOOL

Today’s children are set up for a life of puniness from an early age, thanks partly to our increasingly indoor lifestyles.

Dr Gavin Sandercock, a lecturer in sports science at Essex University, tested the strength of 315 Essex ten-year-olds in 2008 and compared the results from children of the same age in 1998.

Today’s children managed only around two thirds of the sit-ups of the previous generation; arm strength had fallen by 26 per cent and grip by 7 per cent. 

Dr Sandercock says he was especially concerned by the children’s poor performance at sit-ups, because ‘your ability to do sit-ups has been shown to be an indicator of back pain in later life’.

Meanwhile, in a study by the Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation of 1,500 schoolchildren, half the 14-year-old girls surveyed said getting sweaty was ‘not feminine’, and a third of boys said girls who are sporty are not feminine.

It probably doesn’t help that teachers don’t have the right specialist PE training, which is leaving younger generations ‘physically illiterate’, as Susan Campbell, the head of UK Sport said last week.

She claimed this lack of training means thousands of children start secondary school unable to run, jump, throw a ball or catch.

MUSCLE MATTERS

Women’s disregard for muscles may be costing them dearly. Muscles are the ‘scaffolding’ that holds the body up, vital for protecting the joints and bones, and it’s essential to start building muscle in early life to avoid miserable repercussions.

Numerous studies have shown the strength of your muscles can be a key indicator of longevity. 

Healthy muscles reduce the risk of falls in later life, says Professor Janet Lord, director of the Arthritis Research UK Centre for Musculoskeletal Ageing Research. 

‘Muscle allows you to control your movement,’ she says. ‘So if you do have a trip, you fall in a controlled way and there’s less chance you’ll fracture your wrist for example.’

A PAIN IN THE BACK

Strong muscles are also vital for preventing sore backs. Sammy Margo blames the endemic problem of back pain on weak tummy, or ‘core’ muscles. 

It’s the stomach muscles that hold you up straight when sitting or standing. 

But if these are weak, we tend to use the tiny muscles in the back, which leads to damage. 

If you have poor tummy muscles, you tend to slump and overstretch the muscles, tendons, ligaments and discs in the back — setting  up inflammation and, in the  long term, chronic back pain,’  she explains. 

‘It’s not just back pain but ankles, neck pain, shoulder pain, even knee pain. 

‘You can postpone or prevent the need for a knee replacement just by building up the surrounding muscle.’

WOMEN DON’T EAT ENOUGH PROTEIN

Healthy muscles rely on regular intake of protein — it is essential for the structure and functioning of muscle cells.

Catherine Collins, principal dietitian at St George’s Hospital, London, says recent health concerns over meat, and the growing popularity of extreme diets that exclude whole food groups, such as veganism, means more and more women may be missing out on protein.

‘The best sources are meat and dairy products,’ she says. ‘It’s essential we get about 60g a day — equivalent to an 8oz steak or 200g chicken breast.’

Being deficient in protein can have devastating effects, she adds.

‘If you’re not getting enough protein from food, your body cannibalises your own tissue. It starts by taking from your muscle bulk, but then it will use organs.’

BLAME LIFTS, CARS AND THE INTERNET

Our sedentary lifestyle has been blamed for expanding waistlines, but it is also causing our muscles to waste away, say experts.

The decline in manual labour means our jobs are now overwhelmingly office based, and even getting up to go to a meeting has been replaced by email.

Our sedentary lifestyle has been blamed for expanding waistlines, but it is also causing our muscles to waste away

‘It’s not just the fact that the average person sits for eight hours a day,’ says Sammy Margo.

‘We have remote controls so we don’t have to get up to change channels, and cars and internet shopping so we don’t have to walk to work or school or carry heavy shopping back home.’

OLYMPIC EFFECT

There may be good news on the horizon, however, thanks largely to the stunning success of Britain’s female athletes at last summer’s London Olympics.

Lucy Wyndham Read, a personal trainer, has noticed a shift in women’s requests and aims.

‘Women are now asking for an athletic shape. They want to look feminine, but have definition and tone,’ she says.

Strong could be the new sexy — and it’s healthier, to boot.

•  27 January 2013  •  4 notes  •  View comments

so angry at myself. 

•  27 January 2013  •  View comments

abbeymonster:

This dress was inspired by the student in my sociology class who thought that all feminists were hairy and butch. I just want to make sure that everyone knows that a feminist can wear whatever the fuck she or he (or both or neither) feels like wearing. My sociology professor loved the dress and she gave me extra credit! I used a potato stamp to make the print, I used a vintage pattern to make the dress, and I embroidered the phrase “This is what a feminist looks like” on the bodice.

(via fuckyeahfeminists)

•  27 January 2013  •  12,033 notes  •  View comments