Oh my

Barbie Barbie Barbie (shakes head)

This argument was accented with nude drawings.

Also, recently Omer attempted to argue that men are better at drawing because they are trained/raised to look and thus are better at remembering from the point when they are looking at their model/object to when they look at the paper how she really looks. Women on the other hand are trained/raised to identify with the object/model and thus cannot actually see her or draw how she really looks.

I mean, it's kind of likes he's reading.

Kind of.

Everything past this point is now optional

So Harold, the Dutch man in my feminism and visual culture class was supposed to give a presentation on an article titled "Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists" by Linda Nochlin (which you can read almost all of here in chapter 26 ). So rather than engaging with Nochlin's argument that:

"The question "why have there been no great women artists?" has lead us to the conclusion, so far, that art is not a free, autonomous activity of a "super-endowed" individual, influenced by previous artists and, more vaguely and superficially, by "social forces," but rather that the whole situation of art making, both in terms of the development of the art maker and in the nature and quality of the art work itself, occur in a social situation, are integral elements of this social structure, and are mediated and determined by specific and definable social institutions, be they art academics, systems of patronage, mythologies of the divine creator, artist as he-man or social outcast."

He simply states that "I am going to have to disagree with Nochlin. Women are capable of making great work and to prove it I have brought in a list of great women artists from the past five centuries."

He then produces a list of about 20 female artists from each century. "See, great artists! Women can do it."

And I'm all "Are you serious, did you even read the article or just the title and figured you got the gist of it? 20 women from each CENTURY and you're using this list to discredit the entire article?"

And then my professor was all, "Let's discuss in small groups! Everybody split up."


So the next class period we're watching the film All About My Mother so we can write about it for our midterm exam. We all sit through it as a class and naturally, attempt a bit of a discussion when it ends.

There's a lot of discussion about the gaze, gender norms, women working together in a mutually beneficial way, heterosexual male stereotypes, etc.

And when it gets to Harold:

"You know what I realize about this film? It really is all about my mother. I see my mother in this film and how she gives and gives and nobody gives back to her until she has nothing and that's what it's all about. My mother."


OH MY GOD Harold, did you even watch the movie? Seriously.

I love this so much

nikki's husband on the film teeth:

here's the preview in case you're not familiar:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yH8yuld4DUE

Joey

it's a good movie

its very sad actually

but really feminist

1:24pmAlana

how so?

1:24pmJoey

well for starters

the lead is a woman

solely a woman

it's her story

and it presents some really difficult and unsavory situations

she gets raped

twice

of course she's teeth

so she bites back

makes you think about the shitiness of it all

it's not like a crappy lifetime movie either

where every guy is a walking penis out to rape and murder every girl

her dad is a really good guy

And David's response:

one more reason not to have sex with women.
that trailer is fucking scary.

David: you really are one big long feminist rant

David: although in your analysis of the paintings i think you failed to mention the possibility that the two dudes were really just attracted to each other and wanted a girl there so it wouldn't be too gay, and the threat to ruin her reputation was just their way to ensure their place in the closet

This blog has turned into one long feminist rant

much like my life right now.

Thanks grad school.



Recently, in my Feminism and Visual Culture class:

Zoe brings in 4 paintings each depicting the Bible story Susanna and the Elders. Basically what happens in the story is Susanna is bathing naked in the river and two elders come upon her and demand she has sex with them or they will tell the whole town she is sleeping with a young man and ruin her reputation (condemn her to death).

Three of the paintings were painted by men. This is one:


One was painted by a woman:


We have a short discussion about how unfair the female representation is in the male renditions and are about to move on. Until Omer pipes up.

Omer: Have you thought about who the real victim is in these paintings?

Us: Yes, the woman.

Omer: But who is the real victim? The real prey?

Us: The WOMAN.

Omer: No, it is the men. The men who have these desires they cannot control. They cannot control them and they are condemned for their actions.

Us: They can control their actions and not rape this DEFENSELESS NAKED BATHING WOMAN.

Omer: No, they cannot help it and fall victim to their own feelings of desire and lust.


Omer subsequently defends his position and refuses to budge.


This class makes me so sad.

Dear Vegas, Eat a goddamn dick.

See how you like it.


This is an article from the Review Journal I'm cutting and pasting here so I don't advertise the pictures any more than they already are. The highlighting is mine.

VICE ENFORCEMENT'S TOP OFFENDERS: Police are taking unprecedented steps to keep prostitution offenders off the Strip

WORKING GIRLS: Las Vegas' 50 most prolific prostitutes

Call it a unique kind of most wanted list or simply an attempt to clamp down on the area's worst-kept secret.

Working off a roster of the reputed 50 "most prolific prostitutes" in Clark County, Las Vegas police and prosecutors are taking unprecedented steps to keep repeat prostitution offenders off the Strip.

Some are criticizing the law enforcement crackdown as overly aggressive. And it comes at a time when some policymakers are talking about eventually legalizing or decriminalizing prostitution in the Las Vegas Valley.

The Vice Enforcement Top Offenders (VETO) list, which took the vice unit two years to compile, has the names of women with the longest prostitution-related criminal records in Clark County, said Lt. Karen Hughes.

Most of the women on the list have been convicted of exchanging sex for money or of prostitution-related theft charges inside several Strip hotels, not for street prostitution.

Within days of launching the crackdown, police over Super Bowl weekend arrested 13 of the women on charges of soliciting prostitution, loitering for the purposes of prostitution, or trespassing, police records show.

In all, 24 of the 50 women on the list were arrested between Jan. 28 and Feb. 13, all on misdemeanor charges.

Six on the list were arrested twice during that period.

Those arrested range in age from 20 to 41.

Police declined a request by the Review-Journal for the entire VETO list.

Hughes said it is time to stop the revolving door of prostitution-related arrests, especially when those arrests involve "trick rolls," in which prostitutes steal from men.

"We're talking about girls who have been arrested repeatedly over the years, ones that we all know by face and by name," said Hughes, citing one woman who was arrested 18 times in a single year.

"If they get the message that Las Vegas is not going to ignore their subsequent arrests, then maybe they'll take their lifestyle to a different city," she said.

Or at least to a different part of Clark County.

In a memo to prosecutors about VETO cases, Assistant District Attorney Christopher Lalli last month told his staff to offer plea agreements that would include possible jail time and an order that defendants "refrain from entering the resort corridor" for a period of six or 12 months.

The guilty plea offer also will include 100 hours of community service and mandatory attendance of an AIDS awareness class.

If caught back in the resort corridor for any reason other than lawful employment or residency, the subject will be rearrested and given jail time, Lalli's memo said.

City and county ordinances have allowed for so-called "order-out zones" in downtown Las Vegas and the Strip since the late 1990s.

In the past, order-outs usually were agreed to by defendants in exchange for probation.

Hughes spoke about the VETO program and the general problem of prostitution at a meeting of Justice Court judges last month.

The judges were briefed on the initiative even before the sheriff was.

Her appearance before the justices of the peace is problematic, said Gary Peck, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada. "It's a cause for real concern when police are going to judges and promoting their policy for cleaning up the Strip."

Peck also wondered whether police are relying so heavily on a Top 50 list that it will lead to prostitution arrests without probable cause. Such arrests would pave the way for the issuance of order-outs.

"It would be troubling if this list is being used as a substitute for sound police judgment," he said.

Hughes said police won't make initial prostitution-related arrests without proof that a new crime has been committed.

"Just because they're on the list doesn't mean they're going to jail," she said.

Lalli said he hopes the VETO effort will put a dent in prostitution. He cited special prosecution guidelines on other crimes such as car theft, which has been dwindling recently, as evidence that crackdowns work.

"Prostitution is one of those areas that brings with it a whole host of undesirable things," Lalli said. "If you're a prostitute out there, the message is, 'Don't commit your act of prostitution around here.' "

Hughes said new names probably would be added to the VETO list once the first set of cases goes through the court system.

She said law enforcement's tough approach to the problem could give way to a push for other alternative sentences for prostitutes and even a court that hears only prostitution cases.

Mayor Oscar Goodman, whose jurisdiction doesn't include the Strip, questioned whether a crackdown on prostitutes is the best public policy. He said pimps should be the main targets of law enforcement.

"It's the exploiters of these women who are the real villains here," Goodman said. "I have a deep and abiding conviction that they are the primary offenders."

Just because police don't have a list of the most prolific pimps doesn't mean the vice unit is ignoring that part of the problem in its undercover operations, Hughes said.

"We've got two investigative teams that deal with nothing but pimps," she said. "But we also want to minimize opportunities for prostitutes to be aggressive with the tourists and with men who aren't interested in that."

Citing more than 5,000 prostitution arrests last year by the vice unit along the Strip, a 46 percent increase from the number two years ago, Hughes said she is concerned that prostitution hurts tourism and creates a bad image for Las Vegas.

"Vice has always had a zero tolerance on prostitution," Hughes said. "There's more work out there than we can wrap our arms around. Our hope is that we convey to prostitutes and pimps who operate here that this is not an easy city to make money."

She rallied support for the VETO effort at a meeting of hotel security chiefs earlier this month.

Several hotel officials contacted by the Review-Journal didn't return phone calls.

Hotels are just one place police are looking for prostitutes, Hughes said. Their attention is also directed on the street and at "erotic services" advertised in print and online publications.

In a related effort, undercover female officers make arrests of men who try to hire prostitutes. This group tends to be less apt to reoffend, according to Hughes.

As police ratchet up efforts to reduce prostitution, Goodman renewed his call for a discussion about options for legalizing or decriminalizing prostitution.

"If I were to engage in discussion, I'd be thinking in terms of a Little Amsterdam," a red-light district with legalized brothels, he said. "But I'm not advocating it."

Prostitution is legal in 10 rural Nevada counties, but not in Clark or Washoe counties.

Goodman said legalized and regulated brothels over time could generate hundreds of millions of dollars for this area.

State Sen. Bob Coffin, D-Las Vegas, chairman of the Senate Taxation Committee, said last month he was open to the idea of holding a legislative hearing to discuss legalizing and taxing prostitution in the state's urban counties.

It appears, however, that the Legislature will not act on that idea this session.

At a recent meeting of the Review-Journal editorial board, Sheriff Doug Gillespie spoke out strongly against such proposals.

For now, Goodman said, Las Vegas police should enforce the laws on the book.

Barbara Brents, a sociology professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said she is surprised that law enforcement would focus so heavily on cracking down on prostitution.

"It seems pretty hypocritical to me to have an economy based on sexualizing women and then to come down on the women when police want to make it seem like they're enforcing the law," she said. "It's coming down on women who are least able to fight back."

Defense attorney James "Bucky" Buchanan, who has defended many clients accused of prostitution, sees practical problems with the effort.

"As much as Metro wants to do this, it's just going to clog the courts," he said. "I don't think Metro has thought out the consequences and financial impact of this."

On the bright side, Buchanan said, the crop of VETO arrests will make a lot of money for attorneys like him.

This is so painfully wrong.

-I've been thinking a lot about that film you showed in class last week. -You mean the porn? -Yeah, that one.

One of them older men in my Feminism and Visual Culture class has developed this irritating and insulting habit of whenever he speaks he first begins by doing this:

"When some of you speak, it is very easy for me to understand. You (points at classmates), you, and you are very clear.

"When some other people speak, like you (and he points at me every time) I have a very hard time understanding what you are saying. I am just asking that when you speak, you remember me and remember to take care of me. Please take care of me."

I felt mildly bad because he is from Sudan and doesn't speak the best English even though I was planning on strangling him if he ever asked me to "take care" of him again. That is until a month into the semester when he revealed he isn't planning on buying any of the books.

Really? Is my big, literate vocabulary too much for you? Are you really going to ask me to define objective and subjective?

The first day of my Feminism and Visual Culture class one of the older men asked the professor, "What exactly is feminism, anyway?"

It has all been down hill from there.

I hate this so much

I am transcribing this article in its entirety. It's from a website geared at professional women and I hate it so much.

10 Things You Should Never Say to a Lesbian

10. All lesbians just want to be men.

No, we don’t. We are women who like to be with women. Who said anything about men? So guys have penises, so what? It’s not like I can’t walk six blocks and buy one of my own. Plus, I don’t have to worry about being too small or any other “sexual dysfunctions” of which many men are concerned. If anything, men want to be lesbians.

9. I am totally cool with lesbians, I just think two guys hooking up is gross.

Do you really think that makes us feel good to hear that? While many lesbians might also be less than excited about two men hooking up, we are still a part of the gay community. We don’t care about your approval, and you are not any less homophobic just because you like the idea of two women together. You know what I think is gross? Your impudence and stupidity.

8. You’re too pretty and feminine to be a lesbian.

If you think all lesbians have crew cuts and wear flannel shirts and combat boots, then you have obviously had your eyes closed for pretty much your whole life. If you think all lesbians are ugly women who just can’t get a man, then you are an idiot. Lesbians come in all types, shapes, hairstyles, clothing, sizes, hot and not, fat and skinny, girly and not so girly. Don’t say stupid things like that—women are never too pretty and feminine to be lesbians … I bet you a hundred bucks my girlfriend is hotter than yours.

7. How do you have sex without a man?

Very easily actually. If guys didn’t have penises, I am sure they would find something to do in bed with a woman. Contrary to assumptions made during the Victorian era, women can and do have sex without men all the time—and very well I might add.

6. Why do you have to flaunt your sexuality and shove it in our faces?

Every day of my life, I see heterosexual people holding hands, kissing each other, and wearing their heterosexual clothes. I see advertisements and movies; I watch TV shows and read magazines; everything I see celebrates and flaunts the lives and loves of heterosexuals. If anything, you shove your sexuality in my face all the time. If I hold hands with my girlfriend, I am not shoving anything into your face; I am just holding hands with my girlfriend. Not everything is about you.

5. Lesbians can’t raise kids, especially boys. Children need a mom and a dad.

Are you living in the 1950s? At least half of you reading this have divorced parents and of that group, nearly 80 percent of you lived with your mom after the divorce. Are you saying that you are screwed up because you only lived with your mom? Kids need love and security, and besides, all studies have shown that children raised by gay parents are no different from those who grow up in heterosexual households … so shut up.

4. Are you hitting on me?

Ummm … probably not. This may come as a surprise to you, but not all gay people want you. Do you want every heterosexual person you see? Don’t you have taste? Discernment? Get over yourself—you’re not that hot.

3. Hello sir (or dude, or bro, or son …)

Do you have eyes? Can you not see that I have breasts? Just because I have short hair and wear men’s clothes does not mean that I am a guy, that I want to be a guy, or that I hate guys. It’s just hair and clothes—get over it.

2. Being a lesbian isn’t biological, it’s a choice.

Do you have a choice about who you are attracted to? If things were reversed, could you be convinced to become gay just because the majority of people are? The only choice we have is whether we want to be true to ourselves or not. End of story.

1. Can I watch?

No! And please stop asking. Life is not a porno movie. Would you want some dude watching you? I don’t think so.

I saw a girl today riding her bicycle in 0 degree weather.

She had ear flaps but no scarf!


I swear my own face almost fell off just from seeing her like that.




On a similar note, I had to leave my house in 0 degree weather without my winter coat because I had to pick it up from the dry cleaners.

That was quite a dilemma.


But they sewed a button I had lost back on without me even asking. Awesome. Now my chest will be significantly less drafty.

Before I leave I am going to do something really mean to Iowa City, I haven't thought of what yet, but watch out Iowa.

It took me all of 12 seconds of being home in Iowa to slip on the ice and fall down the stairs.

I actually have a line of bruses down my arm marking each individual stair I hit.



I have the feeling people think I'm being funny when I say I fall down in the snow and ice all the time. But, seriously, it's like, all the time.

In addition to the big news of the microwave...

The cat has somehow managed to lose an eyebrow during the trip home.



Where could it be?

I don't even own a microwave.

My mother's microwave broke this holiday season.

It is all she talks about.

She called three different people today to tell them and discuss her options (I don't understand why there are more options than just going to Target and buying a new one).

In addition we had to investigate the entire body of the thing looking for bits that can unscrew just in case we (my mother and I!) decide to try and fix it ourselves.

She called multiple appliance places asking for advice and pricing on getting it serviced ($200!)

The broken microwave came up at dinner three separate times (baked potatoes that were actually baked! Do you know how long that takes compared to making them in the microwave? ...I do).


This is the third day of this.

I can't wait until my own retirement.

Yes, this pretty much sums up my academic/life goals

Kyle: and i want my first published article to be on the play of sound, images, and text in his [Lubitsch] work.

me: I want mine to be about blue yoga panty/shorts



The race is on.

Can we discuss the fact that is it 57 degrees right now (in DECEMBER) and the weather forcast for tomorrow predicts a high of 13!?

ugh

My cat has more developed lifeskills than I do.

So I come home the other day and my darling, precious kitty rushes to the door to meet me. This is rather unusual considering all the acknowledgement I usually get is a quick glance from either the bed or the chair (depending on where I left him that morning). What's even more unusual, however, is the fact that the cat is SOAKING WET. Not kind of wet, not oops I got sprayed with the hose by a pesky neighbor wet, not caught in a rain storm wet (and it hasn't rained in days), not whoops I slipped and fell headfirst into the toilet (again) wet, no he's soaking wet.

"What the hell happened to you?"

Then I panic and run up the stairs to make sure nothing has broken or overflowed and now my whole (2nd floor) apartment has turned into a huge aquarium and kitty actually just swam to the door to meet me.

Interesting fact: Nothing else in the house is wet.

Gross. The cat is following me around like a sad puppy and I realize somebody smells Herbal Essence fresh and it is not me. I pick him up and his collar is tightened a hole too high.

SOMEBODY GAVE MY CAT A BATH.

Somebody (who is not me) gave my cat a bath and then sent him out into the 40 degree weather soaking wet.

Why?

Who bathes somebody else's cat, then puts them out in the cold?



This is how I answer all of life's questions now.

I'm probably a bad person

As most of you know I volunteer at a therapeutic horseback riding facility that teaches people with disabilities how to ride horses. This is a good thing I do.

Recently, because of the change in weather, we have reduced the number of classes and I go out on Tuesdays instead of Saturdays and have a whole new group of kids to work with. The first Tuesday class has little children in it, kids between 4 and 6 specifically. Today I happened to get out in the arena a little early with my horse Jasper and watched as the kids and their parents arrived.

There are two little girls in the class. One, the one I work with, only knows about 3 words right now and has a very distinctive way of purring everything she says. She really has an adorable raspy, purry way of saying "hi" if you can imagine. Another little girl doesn't pronounce words and is very excitable. Whenever she sees the horses she starts roaring loudly and jumping up and down as high as she can. This is also adorable.

So today the purry girl is dressed in a huge puffy pink coat with a furry hood and rainbow striped leggings. The jumpy girl has a big blue coat and red hat with tassels. When my girl sees the other come in she starts purring "hi" and goes in for a hug. The other girl, seeing the horses and all the people, gets excited and starts roaring and jumping as high as she can. My girl seems determined to give the other girl a hug and proceeds to chase her around with her pink marshmallow arms outstretched while the other girl, oblivious to my girl, continues to roar and bounce around.

All the parents are aww-ing and encouraging the each of the girls to interact with her "friend."

Needless to say, they let this go on for a very long time.


And her I am out in the middle of the arena and it's all I can do to keep from falling over myself because I all I can think about is how I am watching a real life Pokemon battle.






My girl did not get her hug in the end... which I think means she lost.

Ask me about the bunny plan next

Recently I was walking past Pet Central Station (my most hated pet store ever) and stopped to look at the kitties in the window.

Me: "You know what, Chris (who I was with, even though I didn't mention it earlier), I've been thinking about getting another cat. I don't want to get just any cat, though, I really want to get some old lady cat who doesn't really like people or other cats. Then Ransom, who is always desperate for attention especially from other animals, will always be pestering her and she will smack him around a bit and put him in his place and be forever exasperated at his youth. I imagine it will be kind of like a sitcom in my living room starring cats."

Chris: "..."

Me: "But, that's not really a good reason to get another cat, ...I guess."

Chris: "No."



Sigh.