Wednesday, January 11, 2012

A Great Article on Porn and Strip Clubs

We are working so hard to normalize sexism as something that is an innate part of masculinity and I’m just not quite sure why. If we can imagine that it’s possible for people not to murder one another or imagine that there be an end to war or child abuse or whatever other kinds of behaviour we’ve agreed, as a society, is unacceptable, or, at least, undesirable, why are we so avidly working to preserve sexism?

Why are we so unwilling to see porn or strip clubs or prostitution as something invented by a society that is not egalitarian? Just because you get an erection when you see a woman being objectified onscreen doesn’t mean women deserve to be objectified. And I don’t say that because I have a hate-on for erections, or masturbation, or penises, or even sex (though some women hate all those things and that’s perfectly fine). But because I can separate men from misogyny. I don’t believe that your erection is dependent on my subordination.

And you know why? Because I don’t believe you were born an asshole.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Childhood Exposure to Violence Changes Brain Function

This is what has happened to me as a result of being around violence as a child as well as as an adult. I have P.T.S.D. I stay very stressed. It is hard for me to relax.
When a person has been exposed to certain kinds of stressful situations, such as ongoing family violence, the amygdala may become overreactive. When this occurs, the body's alarm systems react more quickly and more energetically to threats than they do in normally reactive people. This neural phenomenon has been documented in soldiers who show symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD.
This is an important article.

The Goddess Aradia

Goddess: Aradia /Aaradia

A champion Italian Goddess sworn to protect her people against the
aggression of masculine faith and its persecutors during the reign of
medieval terror. The original Aradia was a female Christ figures in
Italy who taught around 1353. She was imprisoned more than once,
escaped several times and eventually disappeared.

This is the story of Aradia is the daughter of Diana and Lucifer God
of the Sun. (Not the christian god of hell aka called Satan). She is
considered the Italian Queen of the Witches. Aradia is an extremely
powerful entity and a protectress of Witches in general.

The story I would like to tell her is the story of Aradia the daughter
of Diane and Lucifer. The Queen of the Witches. *The Story Of Aradia*
Goddess Diana used magick to charm Lucifer. He was a bit afraid of
her, most likely because she was a Moon Goddess, and very dark next to
his light. Of this union, Aradia was born. Diana liked using magick,
and wanted to develop her magickal strengths further, so she decided
to go to Earth and do this. She disguised herself as a mortal woman
and went to Earth. On Earth, Diana found that times were hard and the
people were oppressed. She decided to teach the people magick, so that
they were more easily able to care for themselves, and to protect
themselves from their oppressors. Diana became a Witch, and she taught
many people her craft. After a long while, Diana had no choice but to
reveal herself as a Goddess. After doing this, Diana realized she must
return to the heavens, and so she did. Diana knew there was more
teaching to be done with the mortals, so she decided to send her
daughter, Aradia, to Earth. Aradia was to take over where her mother
had left off. Aradia was sent to Earth with instructions from Diana to
be carried out. Aradia was instructed to teach the mortals aggressive
magick, in order to help themselves from their horrific oppression.
Aradia taught them well, as she was a strong and powerful Goddess. For
the gifts of magick she gave so many, Aradia is considered "Queen of
the Witches.

How Diana give birth to the Aadia (Herodias) "It is Diana! Lo! She
rises crescented." ~ Keats Endymion -Krats' Endymion "Make more bright
The Star Queen's crescent on her marriage night." -Ibid.

---Lady Abigail

Sunday, January 1, 2012

The Delusional Assumptions of Capitalism

Some have helped bring this nineteenth-century dissent up to date on the basis of a critical scientific analysis of the evolution of the capitalist system, (Paul Sweezy, Howard Parsons, David Harvey, John Bellamy Foster, et al.).

Dominionism is Scary

What you Didn't Know About the South

What You Didn't Know About the South: Surprises from a White Southerner

“The South” is an idea too often wrapped in a fog that emanates from the left as well as the right.


Yesterday I read an article by Peter Birkenhead, a Californian, who recently visited Louisiana and found “The South” a benighted land dominated by misty-eyed racists in denial of their slave history (See " Why the White South Is Still in Denial About Slavery"). His experience at a slave cabin-turned restaurant leaves him outraged and ready to send back his gumbo, never to return to Dixie.

I know the feeling. The South is my birthplace, and there are times when I'd like to cast it off, too. But my southern drawl and my heritage come along with me wherever I go. So we've had to come to terms with each other, despite an adulthood spent in New York.

I can't deny that in many places in the South, rebel flag-wavers abound, prejudices survive, and memory dissolves into myth. This is a pathology that must be confronted at every opportunity. But travelers have a way of taking a small slice of a place and creating a monolith, and Birkenhead’s account –despite its insights—leaves room for illumination and for recognition of the complexities that make this region of the country –and the history of slavery -- a challenging object of study.

As a white southerner, details of my own history challenge what most of my northern friends envision when they think of “The South,” an idea too often wrapped in a fog that emanates from the left as well as the right.

So pull up a chair. You may be in for a few surprises.

The Year in Review, Sexually Speaking

A year of focusing on sex scandals like Anthony Wiener's while reproductive rights were under viscious attack.

Ron Paul on Sexual Harassment

Ron Paul lives in some sort of alternative universe. He's dead wrong on sexual harassment. Sexual harassment creates a workplace that's bad for everyone. Sexual harassment has been a tool, a weapon, so to speak, of keeping women down in the workplace. The sexual harassment segment begins at around 5:33...but his response on Aids and health insurance is astounding as well begins around 3:12

Why Iceland Should be in the News, but Isn't

Look, Kitten, I am Too a Feminist - Fauxminism and Men

This is a great article about male allies - what they should and should not do.

Great Little Video

Great Little Video