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The Thrilling Tales of Cah Cah: March 2014

Sunday, March 30, 2014

Mother's Day

I am so sad that I'm not home for Mother's Day so I could spend it with the most amazing woman anyone could ever know. The love, support, and sacrifice that I have received from her and the way in which she has always come through for me so selflessly in ways most people can't even imagine is why she is my hero, my inspiration, my biggest role model and indeed the person who has taught me everything I know about strength, kindness, unconditional love, and humour. Mom, if you're reading this, I can't ever describe how much I love you, but I can only hope I can give you back even one hundredth of what you've given me. If I told you a thousand times, it wouldn't be enough. Your love is the reason I'm alive, your love is the reason I'm happy. You are, truly, the best, most generous, giving mother - make that woman - in the world.







I love you, Mom.

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Thursday, March 13, 2014

"Why Should We Send Money To Third World Countries When There Are So Many Poor People Here?"

This is probably one of the most commonly used excuses for not donating to the suffering people of third world countries. Of course, we're much more generous to the people in our own countries, aren't we? Well...






YouTube artist fouseyTUBE as once again created a video that touched my heart [click here for the other one]. "A child looking to get enough money to feed his sister? Nah, fuck that." And that woman trying to say that he is sick for making this video? "There are a lot of children on the street." Oh really??? What an amazing reason not to give this kid any money. Obviously the kid used in this video isn't homeless, and they returned all the money that was given to him (an impressive $2.10 after a day's worth of shooting). At 2:35 Nathan (the "homeless" kid), eyes brimming with tears, asks the question "What happened to this world?". At 3:01 a passerby does something that should leave everyone wondering the same thing (if you weren't already).


I just wanted to share this video with you guys. Let me know what you think!

If you liked this, share it with your friends!
Yours,



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Saturday, March 8, 2014

Female Sexuality and Sexual Objectification

"It's part of a wider culture that teaches girls to be sexual in accordance to men's desires, but shames them if they explore their own sexuality." That is an excerpt from this article about rape culture at universities, but just because it's used in that context, doesn't mean it's not true in other aspects of life. I feel it's a very accurate description of how female sexuality is treated in general. The idea of women owning our own sexuality and expressing it in a powerful way strikes fear and contempt in the hearts of men and (often) other women, and we are viewed as these sordid creatures that are looking for attention. If we dress in a way that can be considered "sexually provocative" to men, we are of course doing it for the sole purpose of getting male attention. If we are proud of our bodies and dress to celebrate what we love about it, whether it is our long legs, breasts, hips and ass, or what have you, if we choose to accentuate one or all of these features we are slut shamed and treated as if we are somehow less worthy of respect and common courtesy. If we complain, we are sent dirty "one-over" looks that imply a change of clothes might be in order if we want people to respect us. Those of you who've read my post about carnival/halloween nudity (if not, you can read it here - it was my very first blog post!) you know my stance on the whole dressing as scarcely as you please, so I'm not going to go into detail about it here. Another way of expressing our sexuality can be how we verbalize. In the case of female musicians, this can be blown out of proportion. There has been some amount of outrage in regards to Beyoncé's new album, especially when one of her arguably raunchier songs/videos called "Partition" was released on Vevo a week ago. Those of us who bought her socalled "visual album" when it was released back in December have long been acquainted with it, but those of you who aren't should have a look:




As you can see, it features Beyoncé in one of the most explicitly sexual video we've seen her in. I love the video, and I love how shamelessly she embodies her femininity and her sexuality. Many others, however, feel she is "trying too hard" and criticize her use of lyrics like "Take all of me/I just wanna be the girl you like", saying it goes against feminist ideas. It's not like I don't see where they're coming from with that, and if this was being preached as an attitude women should always have to all men I would agree. Beyoncé, however, seems to have made a very personal album, and this song is for her husband. The video is erotic and sensual, but tastefully so (in my opinion) and the line "oh he so horny, yeah he wants to fuck" is nothing more than an honest description of how raw sexuality is expressed. This is Beyoncé exploring herself and sharing it with us.

Another female artist that is criticized a lot for her overt sexuality is Rihanna, and her most controversial video is arguably the one for her song Pour It Up:





Rihanna stars in various states of undress throughout the video, and it features half naked women pole dancing and twerking throughout. Now, I don't agree with twerking. I think it's completely ridiculous. However, I like what Rihanna does in this video: she's both "the pimp" and "the prostitute" so to speak (forgive me that very bad analogy). What I mean is that she embodies both aspects of sexuality: the dominant and the submissive party. To truly own your sexuality you have to be fearless and she shows us that she is time and time again. People criticize her skimpy outfits, but again this is based on the assumption that if women weren't "brainwashed" and were "free to choose" we'd choose to cover up, and that "skimpy" outfits are for the pleasure of men and not ourselves. I don't understand why people assume that. I've yet to see any evidence that suggests "respectable" women would choose to cover up for any other reason than fear of slut shaming and an inability to being taken seriously if they don't. People who insist bodies are to be hidden away are, at the very least, just as "brainwashed" as people who are comfortable with their own nudity.

  

Why is this OK when men do it, but when women do it it's gross and offensive? Is it because it's a sign of owning your sexual power, something which is only permitted for men?

I deliberately used two examples on one end of the extreme, but there are many nuances between this and the more "socially acceptable" end of the spectrum, and the closer you are to this end, the more opinions people are going to have about you.


I don't mind if this is you and you're afraid of your own sexuality, but please, don't be offended by me not fearing mine.


When is it OK for women to be sexual? When we do it on men's terms. When our sexuality is about pleasing and appeasing men, when we look good for them, when the essence of our very being is about them, it's OK. As long as we submit to how men dictate our sexuality should be, we're OK. If we resist, we're "difficult". Have you ever blatantly objectified a man the way they do women? You should try it. They get so uncomfortable it's almost amusing. If you talk about men the way they talk about women, people get offended. You're being morbid, you're being gross. It's interesting how both men and women will agree on that and defend men, insisting men have more important things to offer than muscles and a broad back, but both sexes can quickly agree on judging a woman based entirely on her looks. It's her own fault, though; she's not dressed properly. How can she expect to be treated with respect when she has her tits out. Yeah, she's her own problem. Shut up and cover up.


A fun illustration of how absurdly women are portrayed in the media, is this little experiment on the red carpet at the Academy Awards that past Sunday. A female journalist asked some very routine questions, however, she asked a man, Kevin Spacey no less, rather than a woman:






Why are these common questions for women, but offensive questions for men? These questions are posed to every single woman on the red carpet, regardless of how talented she is or how many awards she is nominated for. Reducing women to numbers is Perfectly OK, but do the same thing to a man and it becomes absurd? Surely, it's the action itself that's absurd, not the gender to which it's applied?


OK, as usual I got a little sidetracked, but to sum up, the questions posed (albeit cryptically so) were:

  1. Why is it wrong for women to own up to our sexuality on our own terms?
  2. Why can we not embody our sexuality however we please, without being slutshamed into submission?
  3. Why is it OK for women to be objectified but not men?
  4. Was Kevin Spacey in fact wearing Spanx and is that why his attitude was so.. tight?
  5. Is Elvis still alive?

OK, I need to get back to my homework now. This blogpost has turned out to be about half the length of the assignment I should be writing and that realization is creating a feeling of fuck my life.


If you enjoyed this post, please Tweet it, like it, share it with your friends on Facebook, call your mom, do the boogie woogie, buy a llama, RUN FOREST, RUUUN!

Yours,






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