V-Men

Victory Over Violence is hosting a V-Men event at Ustler Hall on April 3rd, from 12:00 to 1:30. V-Men is a branch of the V-Day organization (Violence Against Girls Is Not Acceptable). The topics discussed will be how men fit in the movement and how they can they can help. Refreshments will be provided!
"All that is necessary for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing" - Edmund Burke
DON'T BE A GOOD MAN WHO DOES NOTHING!!! Come to V-Men and check out the V-Day website!!! 

one love.

www.vday.org

on menopause and sexuality

"Ellen, a 53-year-old Caucasian married for 34 years, 

has vaginal dryness and pain in intercourse.  She first 

describes sex as something she 'endures'...a second 

reason vaginal dryness is problematic for some women 

is because they do not discuss what they enjoy in sex...

consequently, heterosexual women and men who do not

 discuss their preferences rely on dominant ideas about 

'real' sex, which results in some women enduring discomfort, 

pain and bleeding during intercourse...In contrast, three 

women's ex-husbands initiated discussions about vaginal 

dryness, but these men showed concern only for their own 

sexual pleasure...Similarly, two women's accounts illustrate 

how declining libido and orgasm intensity after menopause 

are also perceived as symptoms of poor relationships, not 

menopause.  For example, when Selena, a 60-year-old Caucasian 

lesbian, became postmenopausal, she was in an abusive second 

marriage during which she 'came out of a deep denial that I'm 

a lesbian.'  She attributes her decreased libido to her relationship:  

'Because he was a very bad lover, and, yeah, totally fixated on it 

[intercourse] and no skill at all.'  When she first became involved 

with a woman, she says 'the drive came well to active levels again.'"

- "Sex, Menopause, and Culture: Sexual Orientation and the Meaning of Menopause for Women's Sex Lives" Julie A Winterich

side note:  I got Abortion & Life by Jennifer Baumgardner in the mail today!  Jennifer Baumgardner, along with Amy Richards, created the Feminist Boot Camp I'll be attending this summer.  I'm really excited to read her and Richards' book Grassroots: A Field Guide for Feminist Activism and to meet them this summer.  Also I can't stop thinking about Leslie Feinberg's book Stone Butch Blues, I've always had an interest in gay and lesbian culture pre-Stonewall but something about that book seeped into my subconscious and I can't shake it.  

how men oppress women #1 & #2

They deny women [their own] sexuality

or

or to force it [male sexuality] upon them

"I'm remembering the busts in the bars in Canada.  packed in the police vans...I never told you what they did to us down there-queens in one tank, stone butches in the next-but you knew.  One at a time they would drag our brothers out of the cells, slapping and punching them, locking the bars behind them fast in case we lost control and tried to stop them, as if we could.  They'd handcuff a brother's wrists to his ankles or chain him, face against the bars.  They made us watch.  Sometimes we'd catch the eyes of the terrorized victim, or the soon-to-be, caught in the vise of torture, and we'd say gently, "I'm with you honey, look at me, it's OK, we'll take you home."

We never cried in front of the cops.  We knew we were next.

The nest time the cell door opens it will be me they drag out and chain spread-eagle to the bars."

-Stone Butch Blues, pg. 8

scavenger

Remembering that time is like watching old pictures of myself in a prison camp picking edible scraps out of the garbage heap, and knowing that without that garbage I might have starved to death...How little I settled for in the way of human contact, compared to what I was conscious of wanting. 

- Audre Lorde, Zami: A New Spelling of My Name 

angry coffeeshop worker rant

Middle-aged men are the worst fucking customers EVER!  They talk down to you, they ask you what every dessert is in the dessert cooler and how much it is despite the fact that you handed them a menu and pointed out that all the desserts, along with the prices, are on it.  They also feel free to comment on your hair, your clothing, your physique and if you're not wearing make-up they point out that you "look tired".  And when you don't look at happy at 7:15 in the MORNING (btw who the fuck does?) they say, "Girl, gimmie a smile."  AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! plus they're horrendous fucking tippers.  RANT OVER.

Gainesville Women's Liberation meeting

I began this blog because of the classes that I am taking this semester, which are; Feminist Fiction, Interdisciplinary Perspectives in Women's Studies, Gender Studies and Cross-Cultural Perspectives, and Transnational Feminism.  It seems like everyday I'm reading or hearing about something I find really exciting that I want to share and discuss with people, so I though this blog would be a good outlet for that.  People who are interested in what I'm learning about but don't have time to take the courses can come here to find links to interesting articles or movies or organizations.  Anything I get excited about really.  It doesn't even HAVE to be about women's studies.  It can be about my deep love of Reality Bytes or Pink Flag by Wire or pulling Kilo's tail.  Whatever makes me happy.  So enjoy, or mock.  haha.  

  

WOMEN'S EVENTS THIS WEEK:

March 1st (TODAY) @ 7pm on the UF Campus, Pugh Hall Rm 150

This is a Consciousness-Raising Meeting, which is "a way to gather information about our lives and experiences." It's an awesome way to talk to other women in the community and learn about how somethings may be affecting most or all of us.  

ALSO March 3rd Sarah Weddington (the youngest lawyer to win a Supreme Court case and one of the most important cases affecting women ROE v. WADE!!!!!) is going to be speaking at the Grand Ballroom on the UF Campus at 8pm!!!! It's going to be rad, at least I think so. 

Today in my Interdisciplinary Women's Studies class we read, "The Myth of the Vaginal Orgasm" by Anne Koedt, published in 1968.  We got extra credit if we brought a man to class so I brought Dante.  There were a lot of men present and everyone seemed to like the article and find it informative.  Most of the women and men agreed that education on female anatomy has become more widespread so that men now understand the importance of the clitoris.  I still feel like there should be sexuality education incorporated in sex ed.  Young men at my school were taught how to have orgasms but no one told me how to achieve an orgasm, some people might think that would corrupt young adults and encourage them to have sex but REALLY?  They're eventually going to participate in the "act" some day, they might as well be educated in how to enjoy it.  It's unfair that sex is taught with men's pleasure as the object and women's pleasure as the subject.  It perpetuates inequality and it makes women feel like the purpose of sex is to please the man or worse....reproduction yuck! :)  Anyways, here is the link:

 http://www.feministezine.com/feminist/modern/The-Myth-ofthe-Vaginal-Orgasm.html