Tobi Vail's Words On Bikini Kill

The article below was written by Tobi Vail from an old riot grrrl zine in the early 1990's, when Bikini Kill was still together. I got the article from my Riot Grrrl Online website.

Tobi Vail's Words On Bikini Kill

BIKINI KILL IS A BAND MADE UP OF FOUR INDIVIDUALS, Kathi, Tobi, Billy, and Kathleen...
We have been written about a lot by big magazines who have never talked to us or seen our shows. They write about us authoritively, as if they understand us better than we understand our own ideas, tactics and significance. They largely miss the point of everything about us because they have no idea what our context is/has been. Their idea of punk rock is not based on anything they have ever experienced directly or even sought an understanding of by talking to those who have, yet they continue to write about it as if their stereotypical suraface level view of it is all there is. A lot of times we have been asked why we don't do interviews very often if we are so concerned with being misrepresented. To us this seems obvious... it is mostly based on our experiences. As a rule we don't do interviews with mainstream newspapers or magazines. In the few cases where we did do them we feel like we were totally fucked over by the way our words were framed to back up ideas that weren't our own. Quotes were taken out of context, we were made to look like we were dissing other women in bands when that wasn't our intention and in the worst case scenerious our confidence was totally violated by having stuff we told the individual writers NOT to focus on exploitatively (abuse histories, where we work/have worked, etc.) turned into the main focus of the article. We have constantly told writers to leave out personal information about us (our last names, who we go out with/used to date) out of articles and they always are sure to include it if we tell them not to. We always try to include perspectives of different band members but often times the writer only puts in quotes by Kathleen, our singer. When she has done interviews by herself as an indivudual it is often seen as an interview with the whole band even tho she continually says she is only speaking as an individual member of Bikini Kill whose opinions do not necessarily refelct those of the whole band. When we have granted these sources interviews it made us look like everything they said about us was done with our co-operation. The times when we have asked to see articles or edit them before they come out it has never really worked out. One time in particular we were told by N.M.E. in the U.K. that we could write our own articles and they would not in anyway comment on it or edit it. When the articles came out Kathi's was not included, but was rather taken out of context and cited to back up their ideas about us in the introduction they wrote to my article (something that to our understanding they weren't going to do). They laid it out in a way that included catty remarks bigger than our own words and put in a bunch of dumb pictures that we didn't send them. This was the last time we ever tried to co-operate with a big magazine but they have continued to write stuff about us. This is really frustrating but what is even more frustrating is when people who should know better, other punks for instance, believe these takes on who we are as being based on reality rather than on conjecture and in most cases on ill intentions of the writer/magazine. (when you refuse to grant interviews people get really insulted and make a point of going out of their way to use their influences to elaborately dis you--usually this is to the point of spreading deliberate lies or saying really naive sexist things in an effort to provoke a response from you) I want to make it cleat that we do not give a shit what people think of us, that is not what we object to in all of this, it is not about us being pissed off because of a bad review... it is about feeling like no matter what we say or do there continues to be this media created idea of 'Bikini Kill/Riot Girl' that has little or nothing to do with our own ideas and efforts... we want to be an underground band, we don't want to be featured in Newsweek magazine... maybe this sounds like a weak complaint to some of you who have worked really hard to get people to hear about your band, projects, record label, ideas, etc. and would appreciate any kind of publicity... we recognize that different strategies are totally valid for different situations... we are not trying to set any kind of 'correct' standard, we are just trying to present our views on what our experiences with the media has been in order to start to comment on how it has affected us as a band... we stopped doing interviews altogther for while mainly because we felt that we didn't need any mroe publicity but also because these experiences led us to not feeling like talking about our ideas atall... sometimes not even to each other, but fuck that you know and right now we are making Nu fanzine(s) about this whole weird machine media spectaclization process we have been going thru and so you should look forward to that ...
IN THE MEANTIME WE ASK YOU TO THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU KNOW ABOUT US AND THINK ABOUT HOW YOU GOT THAT INFORMATION, CUZ IN MOST CASES IT PROBABLY ISN'T TOO ACCURATE...
SEND US PICTURES, VIDEO TAPES, AUDIO TAPES OF OUR SHOWS, INTERVIEWS, RADIO SHOWS AND COPIES OF OR XEROXES OF MAGAZINE ARTICLES CUZ WE WANNA DOCUMENT THE SOUND OF THE SPECTACLE AND OFTEN TIMES DON'T GET SENT COPIES OF STUFF.
Oh yeah and please address all correspondence to Bikini Kill c/o kill rock stars (120 N.E. State Ave. #418/Olympia, WA 98501).
One huge misconception for instance that has been repeated over and over again in magazines we have never spoken to and also by those who beleive these sources without checking things out themselves is that Bikini Kill is the definitive 'riot girl band'... We are not in any way "leaders of" or authorities on the 'Riot Girl' movement. In fact, as individuals, we have each had different experiences with, feelings on, opinions of and varying degrees of involvement with 'Riot Girl' and tho we totally respect those who still feel that the label is important and maningful to them, we have never used that term to describe ourselves AS A BAND. As, individuals we respect and utilize and subscribe to a variety of different aesthetics, strategies and beliefs, both political and punk-wise, some of which are probably considered 'riot girl' . . .
You can get back issues of Bikini Kill fanzines (issues #1 and #2) from riot girl press for $2 each. They are a girl run girl fanzine distribution network, write to them and send them $1 for their catalog which contains brief descriptions of stuff available thru them as well as info on how to get involved in what they're doing. Please note that these fanzines are way outdated--both were made in 1991 and also that although both have contributions by other band members most of the stuff in them was written by our singer, Kathleen, this is not to say they aren't informative but rather to make an effort to posit them more exactly with regards to the factors of history and subjectivity . . . R.G.P. P.O. Box 73308/Washington, D.C.20009

What If Men Could Menstruate?

Gloria Steinem wrote the article below. I got the article from archive.org

Written by: Gloria Steinem, 1978
If Men Could Menstruate

A White minority of the world has spent centuries conning us into
thinking that a white skin makes people superior-even though the only
thing it really does is make them more subject to ultraviolet rays and
to wrinkles. Male human beings have built whole cultures around the idea
that penis-envy is "natural" to women-though to have such an unprotected
organ might be said to make men vulnerable, and the power to give birth
makes womb-envy at least as logical.

In short, the characteristics of the powerful, whatever they may be, are
thought to be better than the characteristics of the powerless- and logic
has nothing to do with it.

What would happen, for instance, if suddenly, magically, men could menstruate
and women could not?

The answer is clear-menstruation would become an enviable, boast-worthy
masculine event:
Men would brag about how long and how much.
Boys would mark the onset of menses, that longed-for proof of manhood,
with religious ritual and stag parties.
Congress would fun a National Institute of Dysmenorrhea to help stamp
out monthly discomforts.
Sanitary supplies would be federally funded and free. (Of course, some
men would still pay for the prestige of commercial brands such as John Wayne
Tampons, Muhammed Ali's Rope-a-dope Pads, Joe Namath Jock Shileds - "For
Those Light Bachelor Days," and Robert "Baretta" Blake Maxi-Pads.)

Military men, right-wing politicians and religious fundamentalists would cite
menstruation (MEN-struation) as proof that only men could serve in the Army
("you have to give blood to take blood"), occupy political office ("Can women
be aggressive without that steadfast cycle governed by the planet Mars?"), be
priests or ministers ("How could a woman give her blood for our sins?"), or
rabbis ("Without the monthly loss of impurities, women remain unclean.")

Male radicals, left-wing politicians, and mystics, however, would insist that
women are equal, just different; and that any woman could enter the ranks if
only she were willing to self-inflict a major wound every month, recognize the
preeminence of menstrual issues, or subordinate her selfness to all men in
their cycle of enlightenment.

Street guys would brag ("I'm a three-pad man") or answer praise from a buddy
("Man, you're looking GOOD!") by giving fives and saying, "Yeah, man, I'm on
the rag!". TV shows would treat the subject at length ("Happy Days": Richie
and Potsie try to convince Fonzie that he is still "The Fonz," though he has
missed two periods in a row.) So would newspapers. (SHARK SCARE THREATENS
MENSTRUATING MEN. JUDGE CITES MONTHLY STRESS IN PARDONING RAPIST.) And movies.
(Newman and Redford in "Blood Brothers").

Men would convince women that intercourse was MORE pleasureable at "that time
of the month." Lesbians would be said to fear blood and therefore life itself-
though probably only because they needed a good menstruating man.

Of course, male intellectuals would offer the most moral and logical arguments.
How could a woman master any discipline that demanded a sense of time, space,
mathematics, or measurement, for instance, without that in-built gift for
measuring the cycles of the moon and planets-and thus for measuring anything
at all? In the rarefied fields of philosophy and religion, could women
compensate for missing the rhythm of the universe? Or for their lack of
symbolic death-and-resurrection every month?

And how would women be trained to react? One can imagine traditional women
agreeing to all these arguments with a staunch and smiling masochism.
("The ERA would force housewives to wound themselves every month?" Phyllis
Schlafly. "Your husbands blood is as sacred as that of Jesus - and so sexy
too!" Marabel Morgan.) Reformers and Queen Bees would try to imitiate men
and PRETEND to have a monthly cycle. All feminists would explain endlessly
that men too needed to be liberated from the false idea of Martian
aggressiveness,just as women needed to escape the bonds of menses-envy. Radical
feminists would add that the oppression of the nonmenstrual was a pattern for
all other oppressions. (Vampires were our first freedom fighters!). Cultural
feminists would develop a bloodless imagery in art and literature. Socialist
feminists would insist that only under capitalism would men be able to
monopolize menstrual blood...

In fact, if men could menstruate, the power justifications could probably go
on for ever.

Girl Love Is...

The following is from the zine Tennis and Violins and it was written by Kristy Chan. It is taken from here: http://web.archive.org/web/20011020035444/www.geocities.com/SoHo/Cafe/3685/girllove.html

Girl Love Is…

* treating all girls with respect
* hugging your girlfriends and being there for them
* protecting each other and providing a feeling of safety when we walk down the street or go out
* making space where women/girls feel unthreatened and unintimidated
* talking about abuse and rape when no one else will listen
* making other girls feel unafraid to eat in public or around others
* making other girls feel comfortable in their bodies
* being kind to your mom and not expecting her to wait on you
* not judging women/girls on their looks and/or hating them for being pretty
* not competing for boys’ attention
* not looking/acting dumb on purpose so boys will like you
* not picking your new boyfriend over your old girlfriends
* calling people on their shit, including your girlfriends because it helps us to stay aware of things we do that are fucked up and things we need to change
* not feeling homophobic around your girlfriends and refusing to touch them
* learning and teaching each other how to do stuff and be active
* screaming in public
* knowing that girls can do anything boys can do
* stopping jealousy
* realizing that girls who have sex aren’t “sluts” or bad and respecting their sexual choices as something that you might not understand of have any business speculating on
* being pro-choice
* knowing that you are connected to all girls and the way you view yourself is related to their self-image as well
* sharing resources with other girls
* helping each other see our beauty and build our own culture around what we see
* wearing make-up and tight clothes because we want to
* being sexy and powerful
* being honest and straight-forward with your girlfriends because mind games suck and keep us divided
* talking about our feelings
* holding hands
* feeling okay about being naked around each other * having sex and making out (if you want to) and liking it
* understanding that girls that we may not like are people, too and are affected by the same institutions that affect all of us
* not letting the words “feminist”, “slut”, “whore”, “bitch”, etc. be used as insults against us
* refusing to let companies prey on our insecurities in order to get our money (how many times have you bought some low-fat diet shit because you feel insecure about your body or bought make-up to hide your face that you think isn’t pretty?)
* trying to understand how oppression and the status quo work and how we fit into it
* reclaiming our customs and rituals (hanging out in the bathroom, slumber parties, shopping, the color pink, whatever we fucking want)
* self-love

The Herstory Of Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there!

Here is some history of Mother's Day. After you read the article below, you will find my commentary about the article.

I found this article here: http://www.holidays.net/mother/story.htm.

The History (AKA Herstory) Of Mother’s Day

Celebrating motherhood is a historical tradition dating back almost as far as mothers themselves. A number of ancient cultures paid tribute to mothers as goddesses, including the ancient Greeks, who celebrated Rhea, the mother of all gods. The ancient Romans also honored their mother goddess, Cybele, in a notoriously rowdy springtime celebration and the Celtic Pagans marked the coming of spring with a fertility celebration linking their goddess Brigid together with the first milk of the ewes.

During the 17th century, those living on the British isles initiated a religious celebration of motherhood, called Mothering Sunday, which was held on the forth Sunday during the Lenten season. This holiday featured the reunification of mothers and their children, separated when working class families had to send off their young children to be employed as house servants. On Mothering Sunday, the child servants were allowed to return home for the day to visit with their parents. The holiday’s popularity faded in the 19th century, only to be reincarnated during World War II when U.S. servicemen reintroduced the sentimental (and commercial) aspects of the celebration American counterpart.

In the United States, Mother’s Day experienced a series of false starts before eventually transitioning into the “Hallmark” holiday that we celebrate today. In 1858, Anna Reeves Jarvis was the first woman to hold an official celebration of mothers, when in her home state of West Virginia, she instituted Mothers’ Work Day to raise awareness about local sanitation issues. During the Civil War, she expanded the scope of Mothers’ Work Day to include sanitary conditions on both sides of the battlefield.

Meanwhile Julia Ward Howe, author of the “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” attempted to institute a national celebration of mothers that honored women’s inclinations toward peace (rather than cleanliness). In 1872, she initiated and promoted a Mother’s Day for Peace, to be held on June 2, which was celebrated the following year by women in 18 cities across America. The holiday continued to be honored by Bostonian women for another decade, but eventually phased out after Howe stopped underwriting the cost of the celebrations.

Then in 1905, Anna Reeves Jarvis passed away and her daughter, Anna Jarvis, took up her mother’s torch. Anna swore on her mother’s gravesite that she would realize her lifelong dream of creating a national day to honor mothers. In 1907, Anna launched her campaign by handing out white carnations to congregants at her mother’s church in Grafton, West Virginia. In 1908, her mother’s church acquiesced to Anna’s request to hold a special Sunday service in honor of mothers – a tradition that spread the very next year to churches in 46 states. In 1909, Anna left her job and dedicated herself to a full-time letter-writing campaign, imploring politicians, clergymen and civic leaders to institute a national day for mothers.

In 1912, Jarvis’ efforts met with success: Her home state of West Virginia adopted an official Mother’s Day; two years later, the U.S. Congress passed a Joint Resolution, signed by President Wilson, establishing a national Mother’s Day emphasizing the role of women in their families – and not, like Julia Ward Howe’s campaign, in the public arena. Ever since, Mother’s Day has been celebrated by Americans on the second Sunday in May.

Perhaps the country’s greatest proponent of motherhood, Anna Jarvis ironically never had children of her own. Yet that didn’t stop her from making the celebration of Mother’s Day her lifelong mission. In fact, as the holiday took on a life of its own, Jarvis expressed frequent dismay over its growing commercialization. “I wanted it to be a day of sentiment, not profit,” she is quoted as saying.





My Comments: I have to say that like Anna Jarvis, I do not have any children either. I am not a mother. I agree with Jarvis that mother’s day is now commercialized and about profit, thanks to the media. I do celebrate mother’s day to an extent. I celebrate my mom for mothering me, but I do not go overboard about it. I think that everyone should have their own way of celebrating mother’s day.

Here are a few ways you can show appreciation of your mother: buy your mother a card, take your mother out to eat, buy your mother something, or tell your mother how much you love and appreciate her. Remember, Simple gestures go a long way and the message gets across.

What Is Riot Grrrl, Anyway?

The article below was taken from: http://web.archive.org/web/19990117024141/www.columbia.edu/~rli3/music_html/bikini_kill/girl.html at archive.org. The article was written by a girl named Spirit and the article was written in 1995.

1-6-95
By Spirit
What Is A Riot Grrrl Anyway?

I was fourteen when I first heard about riot grrrl. By that time it had been all over MTV, fashion and news magazines and newspapers yet this was the first time I had heard of it – in a small local entertainment newspaper. I don’t know how long riot grrrl had existed before the media got its slimy hands all over it but I know, from experience, how much it changed afterward.

I was attracted to the idea of riot grrrl initially because the beliefs I thought riot grrrl was about were ones I had always had myself. The San Jose punk scene isn’t very political or issue oriented (not to say that it should or shouldn’t be) so I often felt alienated and isolated in my beliefs which were all generally anarchistic, anti-fascist, anti-sexist, and anti-homophobic. Most of the time I was the only girl around, when there were others everyone knew they wouldn’t stay long – they were always just fucking one of the guys in the scene and they were never punx. I was surrounded by “punks” to whom punk had no meaning and my motivation was suppressed. My impression of riot grrrl as conveyed by that small article was: punk rock girls having the beliefs fore-mentioned, creating a scene alternative to the one that they found themselves rejected by. It was that simple. Who can argue with that? The early riot grrrl scene was inclusive of boys and girls, preserved D.I.Y. punk rock methods and morals, and wasn’t threatening to any other groups, people, or interests. Riot grrrl -the idea, the movement, the non-localized group, whatever -inspired literally hundreds of girls to do zines, start bands, collectives, distributions, have meetings etc. The uprising of riot grrrl has been the only activity in the scene most of us have seen in years, yet most of you probably don’t know what a riot grrrrl is and does, why we face so much opposition or who started it.

I won't offer a definition because it wouldn’t be fair to other grrrls to whom riot grrrl may mean something totally different. I will however offer my insight on what I have seen happen… After the height of mainstream media coverage, many of the more productive and popular chapters such as Olympia and D.C. decided to sort of “close up shop”. Refusing to answer most of their mail, rejecting interview requests, changing meeting locations or canceling them all together seemed like the only way to stop further exploitation, misquoting, and such. If a barrette wearing, magic markered, thirteen year old looking 20 year old was what the words “riot grrrl” would be translated as, they didn’t want it. The mainstream media-what seemed like the best medium for communication, the best way to spread “girl love” – had failed us. In fact, it had come close to destroying us. In some ways I think it did. Lots of girls have been inspired by the idea of riot grrrl after having heard about it through some magazine or TV show. They’ve begun to question, challenge, create, demand…others have learned nothing more than a hot, new, cute way to dress.

The most destructive and inaccurate image of a riot grrrl portrayed by the media was that of a lesbian, man-hating, ignorant, violent, bitter, bitch, an image that has followed feminism before it was feminism. Unfortunately, some girls, imitated the most negative aspects of this image blindly, giving riot grrrl a bad name. I disapprove of all violence outside of self-defense and am hurt when I hear stories of riot grrrls beating up boys “for no reason” or “because they are boys”. Usually these stories are bunk by the time they get back to us but I know this sometimes (rarely but sometimes) happens and it’s embarrassing. Does this scenario sound familiar? It should… to each and every one of you. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, turn on MTV right now. Chances are there’ s a Green Day, Rancid, Nirvana, or clone of one of those three bands on. Is a rich, homophobic, sexist, jock with a wallet chain and Doc’s a fair representation of a punk rocker? Is Sid Vicious even a realistic punker? What’s happening to punk right now and what happened to it in the early 80’s is exactly what’s happened to riot grrrl. For those of you who have had bad experiences with girls who call themselves riot grrrls, please remember that we are all fucking different! In every class, race, scene, etc. there are pollutant people – people who just want to get a piece of the action or feel like they belong

How can we fight the patriarchal, corporate, racist system when we’re fighting each other? When punks are rejecting riot grrrl for not being punk enough, when riot grrrls are rejecting punks for not being conscious enough, it is apparent that all of us have let the media’s image of us affect our behavior and treatment of each other. Riot grrrls – the strongest, the truest of us will outlast the trendiness. Our networking through mail, the internet, through music, through zines and through the punk scene keeps us closely knit and strong. Just as the punk scene itself does the same – no matter how many records Offspring sells or how many cheerleaders wear Doc Martens with 100 dollar outfits.

So where’s the riot? The riot can happen inside each of us, male and female. The riot is something that happens everyday. we are changing the rules, the codes, the fucking standards.

Think of Crass, Vice Squad, The Avengers, Blondie, Naked Aggression, Spitboy….think of Emma Goldman, Valerie Solonas… riot grrrl didn’t invent punk rock feminism. We are simply reclaiming our place/voice in punk rock- a voice we’ve always had that’s been trampled on.

The following quote is from Jennifer Miro of the old punk band, “The Nuns”. She is commenting on what she saw happening towards the end of 1977. *”Later it became this macho hardcore thrasher punk scene and that was not what it was about at first. There were a lot of women in the beginning. It was women doing things. Then it became this whole macho, anti-women thing. Then women didn’t go to see punk bands anymore because they were afraid of getting killed. I didn’t even go because it was so violent and so macho that it was repulsive. Women just got squeezed out”. I’ll be damned if I ever let that happen to me or any grrrl I know again.

DISCLAIMER: I don’t consider myself a spokesperson for riot grrrl, only for myself and I happen to consider myself a riot grrrl. My word is no more than my word of experience and indirect knowledge (reading, stories I’ve been told, etc..). Therefore what i say about riot grrrl should be considered only one girls p.o.v.

* Quote by Jennifer Miro from Punk “77 by James Stark.

Riot Boi Manifesto

If you have read some of the previous entries of this blog, You will see the "Riot Grrrl Manifesto". The article below was written by Joey Van Houten that lives in the United States. He submitted this article to the old Riot Grrrl Online website on girlsvomitcandy.com and ever since then, It has been up on the Riot Grrrl Online website. He got the idea for writing this article from reading the “riot grrrl manifesto” on a website. So, he decided to write his own "riot boi manifesto".

Some riot guys have asked, “Why is this manifesto directed at gay riot boys? There are straight riot boys out there too.” If your a straight riot boy, Feel free to send me your version of a riot boy manifesto, by emailing me. I have not received a riot boy manifesto from a straight guy yet and I hope to receive one, so I can post it on my Riot Grrrl Online website. Let me make this clear: Like the riot grrrls, Riot boys can be of any race, religion, sexual orientation, etc.


Riot Boi Manifesto

We desire music, literature, and zines, but most of all a way of
life that calls out to us, one that us boysinthebackoftheclub group can
feel apart of. We’re the types that don’t fit into the stereotypical
queer lifestyle.

We are artists and musicians, but most of all creative and
intelligent human beings that are fed up and desire a society in which we can
see/hear each others work, so that we can share ideas and
criticize-applaud each other.

We seek to create revolution in our lives everyday by finding new
ways around, and also ideas on how to rise above the bullshit Christian
right wing way of life.

We are unwilling to assimilate to someone else’s ways of conducting
their lives. As if life as we know it is nothing more than the premise
of some big wig television network program only showing the downside
of OUR culture. It seems most of us try to live up to this way of
thinking, and the rest of us simply can’t find the remote!

We are interested in creating non-hierarchical way of being AND making
music, friends, and scenes based on communications + understanding,
instead of competition + good/bad categorizations.

Because doing/reading/seeing/hearing cool things that validate and
challenge us can help us gain the strength and sense of community that we
need in order to figure out how bullshit like racism,able-bodieism,
ageism, speciesism, classism, thinism, sexism, anti-Semitism and
heterosexism figure in our own lives.

We know that life is much more that physical survival and are patently
aware that the punk rock “you can do anything” idea is crucial to
the coming angry queer rock revolution which seeks to save the psychic
and cultural lives of gays and lesbians everywhere, according to their
own terms, not ours.

We recognize fantasies of Instant Macho Gun Revolution as impractical
lies meant to keep us simply dreaming instead of becoming dreams. And
thus must take over the means of production in order to create our own
moanings!

We are angry at a society that tells us Gay=Moraless, Gay=Wrong,
Gay=Weak!

We are unwilling to let our real and valid anger be diffused and/or
turned against us via the internalization of hate as witnessed in gay/gay
jelousism and self defeating gay type behaviors.

We live in a society that tells us we must pick a way of life and act
this way or that, have such and such morals because we have picked this
way of life and if not than we face social disgrace!

Jigsaw Youth, seeing the world as misshaped pieces that form a big
picture. My life has always been full of contradictions; male feminist,
misanthropic social butterfly. Life doesn’t make sense, and it doesn’t
have to.

To go from a manic depressive burnout to the writer of a manifesto
about accepting the not always glamorous, angry, not hormonally oversexed
underbelly of the gay lifestyle says a lot.

It’s all about rising above people’s expectations of your
life/lifestyle and showing them not everything is AS SEEN ON TV.

I believe with my wholeheartbodymind that us boysinthebackoftheclub
constitute a revolutionary soul force that can and will change the world
FOR REAL

DIY: How To Do A Breast Self Examination

How to Do a Breast Self Examination

from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit

Breast cancer is the most common disease and the second leading cause of cancer death among women. This year more than 211,000 new cases of breast cancer are expected in the United States. Of this number, 1,600 will be men, and 400 are predicted to die from the disease. Seventy percent of all breast cancers are found through breast self-examination. When breast cancer is detected early the five-year survival rate is 96%. By performing the following self-examination steps, you may detect any changes in your breasts early.

Steps

In The Shower

1. Fingers flat, move gently over every part of each breast. Use your right hand to examine left breast, and left hand for right breast.
   
2. Check for any lump, hard knot or thickening.
   
3. Carefully observe any changes in your breasts.
   

In Front of a Mirror

1. Inspect your breasts with arms at your sides.
   
2. Raise your arms high over your head. Look for any changes in the contour of each breast, such as a swelling, a dimpling of skin or changes in the nipple.
   
3. Place your palms on your hips and press firmly to flex your chest muscles. Your left and right breasts will not exactly match - few women's breasts do.
   

Lying Down

1. Place a pillow under your right shoulder, place your right arm behind your head.
   
2. With fingers of left hand flat, press right breast gently in small circular motions, moving vertically or in a circular pattern covering the entire breast. Use light, medium and firm pressure.
   
3. Squeeze nipple; check for discharge and lumps. Repeat these steps for your left breast.
   

Tips

• Breast tissue is found all the way from the nipple to under the armpit. Be sure not to neglect checking along the side of your chest, as well, as it is still, technically, part of your breast.
  
• If you are wondering what to include in an early detection plan, here are some tips.
  
  • Do monthly breast self-exams starting at age 20.
    
  • Have a breast exam at a medical facility every three years from age 20 to 39 and every year from age 40.
    
  • Have a baseline mammogram by age 40.
    
  • Depending on the results of the mammogram, women 40 to 49 should have one every 1 -2 years.
    
  • Women 50 and older should have a mammogram every year.
    
  • Keep a record of your self examinations, mammograms and doctor visits.
    
  
  

Other checks for women

• The other part of the body women must check is their outer genital area. It is as just as easy as examining the breasts. This area is called the vulva and there is a such thing called vulvar cancer and to report any lumps, sores or anything which aren't feeling normal or right, to the doctor no matter how little it is. Another word for the vulva is the labia.
  

Treatments for vulvar cancer

• Biopsy
  
• Surgery to remove part/all of the vulva - This is called vulvectomy. Vulvectomy comes in different types, shown below
  
• Skinning vulvectomy - Removal of the top layers of the vulva only.
  
• Simple vulvectomy - Removal of the whole vulva only.
  
• Radical vulvectomy - Removal of the whole vulva, plus the lymph nodes on both sides of the groin
  
• Partial vulvectomy - Removal of part of the vulva/one side of the vulva only.
  
• Radiotherapy
  
• Chemotherapy
  
• Extensive female surgeries e.g. pelvic exenteration can sometimes include vulvectomy (vulva removal)
  

Warnings

• Breast cancer risk is higher among women who have a mother, aunt, sister or grandmother who was diagnosed before age 50.
  

Article provided by wikiHow, a wiki how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Do a Breast Self Examination. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

Rape: To Seize And Take Away By Force...Despoil

The following is a poem contributed by Tabitha to this blog. Check out Tabitha's blog, Mad Babe Zine and its Ning Site. She wrote this after realizing that she had been raped. The title is called "rape: to seize and take away by force . . despoil". Thanks for the poem, Tabitha! :)

What Tabitha says about this poem: "The following is a poem I wrote after realizing what had happened to me, and what keeps happening to so many other young girls."

"rape: to seize and take away by force . . despoil"

positive poetry in and out of ear
wandering aimlessly, in and out of fear.

timeless, unbuttoned. smooth over folds.
screams inside, shut in, fingers are cold.

my words they are numb, from things i don't know.
i stand upright, broken plateau

mindlessly grunting, words are unkept.
powerfully hunting, I'm already dead.

Color Activity Book Intro

This article was written by: Kathleen Hanna in the early 1990's, when Bikini Kill was still around and this was posted in a riot grrrl zine in the 1990's.

Color Activity Book Intro

Bikini Kill is a band and this is our little thing to give out at shows, etc... AND THEN THERE'S THE REVOLUTION.
Bikini Kill is more than just a band or a zine or an idea, it's a part of the revolution. The revolution is about going to the playground with your best girlfriends. You are hanging upside down on the bars and all the blood is rushing to your head. it's a euphoric feeling. the boys can see our underwear and we don't care.
I'm so sure that lots of girls are also in revolution and we want to find them. Sure our revolution has a lot to do with making ourselves important enough to start a revolution, but we also don't care about this... Because what makes us feel good without hurting others IS good. This society isn't my society cuz this society hates women and I don't. This society doesn't want us girls to feel happy or powerful in any way.
My girlfriends help me stop crying and start looking towards whats important (revolution) my girlfriends know the revolution (sex) my girlfriends aren't owned by me BUT have cringing and choking on boy cum in common (revolution) MY GIRLFRIENDS WANT REVOLUTION GIRL STYLE NOW.
Being sexy and powerful female is one of the most subversive projects of all. (We are the priestesses of a new kind of power oh yeah.)
We know we are not like this due to any weird gene formation or luck or trick. We are how we are from working together with our eyes open and having experience and getting help from out Moms and friends. We vow to struggle against the "j" word (jealousy) the killer of GIRL LOVE. We are not special, anyone can do it. ENCOURAGEMENT IN THE FACE OF INSECURITY is a slogan of the revolution.

A Guide To Being A Feminist

This article was taken from Associated Content.

Forget the stereotypes, being a feminist isn’t about having short hair, or refusing to wear dresses. It’s not about trash-talking, bashing or otherwise hating men. Feminism isn’t based on any kinds of strict, crazy principles like refusing to use a razor blade or protesting pornography. Anyone can deem herself a feminist without giving up her love of makeup, her super long locks or throwing out her favorite pair of stilettos.

Love Yourself. First things first, a feminist believes that all people, male or female, should be treated equally. This includes you, you savvy college miss! It’s easy to believe that women as a whole need fair treatment, but that starts with each of you individually. So take a look in the mirror. Embrace your womanly curves, your precious derr’iere, your overabundance of freckles, your pale skin—whatever! Forget about making fitting into that brand new pair of skinny jeans your top priority. Learn to love yourself, regardless of your flaws, because it’s those little things that make you unique as a woman.

Love Your Sisters. Women are all in the fight for equality together, from your too-smart-for-her-own-good English professor to that girl you love to hate in your Sociology class. It’s easy to let nasty words (think “slut”, “whore”, etc.) slip into your daily conversations when speaking about other women. If women talk about their own gender this way, what progress is really being made? Make an effort to stop gabbing and tearing down other women with unnecessary gossip.

Riding The Wave Of French Feminism

The following is a contribution written by: Colette Davidson. The same post is also posted on her blog, Kolet ink*. Colette lives in France and decided to write about feminism in her country. Thanks for the article, Colette! :)

Riding The Wave Of French Feminism

I have a bone to pick with Alain Soral, French sociologist and ex-Front National party member. It’s not his pretension or even his manipulation of his “followers” that bothers me, but instead his definition and loathing of modern feminism.
Soral claims there are two types of feminists: the “freaked out” feminist like Simone de Beauvoir, and the “bitches” such as Elisabeth Badinter. He claims that the modern feminist model only pertains to the plight of upper middle-class white women. At his debate in Bordeaux last Saturday, he openly admitted to detesting the “American neo-feminist.” I hate to break it to Alain, but being an American female today - or any female at all - means being a feminist. After all, what sort of gender would we be if we didn’t fight for our equal rights within a world run by men?


French feminist Simone de Beauvoir, circa 1955

In a televised program I watched recently, Soral claimed that the reason fewer homeless women were on the street than men was because they liberally took advantage of their ability to get government aid - and subsequently housing - by having a child. Do you mean to tell me that if I shoot myself up with drugs, run away from my family or lose my job and home, that I can simply have a baby and everything will turn out okay?
The idea in itself is ridiculous. This goes right along with those (mostly men or the religious right) who believe that birth control or the morning-after pill actually condone having unprotected, careless sex. Only a handful of women are dumb to the fact that having a baby is a lifetime commitment, not one to be taken lightly and certainly not a way to get out of a sticky situation. The fact is, having a baby usually is the most sticky situation a woman can find herself in. No matter how involved a man is in a pregnancy, those 9 months can only be fully experienced by the woman herself.
I’m not alone in opposing Soral’s views on the French homeless woman of the 21st century. On France Inter today, reporters announced the completion of a study as to the greatest risks of a woman on the street. Far and above was the issue of rape and sexual assault. So when Soral says that the reason we don’t see as many homeless women out there is because they are living comfortably in their government-owned apartments with their new babies, I have to disagree. Because the risks of being a woman and on the street are so high, most find shelter elsewhere - be that with friends, a boyfriend (even if he is abusive, this may be the more likable option) or at a homeless shelter. Being homeless is scary enough without bringing a child into the mix.
I think before anyone talks about feminism in France, the French language must change with the times. France has come a long way in terms of women’s rights, and soars high above U.S. legislation on the subject. French women get maternity leave for up to 16 weeks. If a French woman so chooses, she can take up to three years off (unpaid) from her job and come back to it afterwards with total job security. And she can ask for a one-month vacation from her job within three years of having her child, and be paid approximately 500 euros by the government-run CAF.


Gloria Steinem has been the face of American feminism for decades

So, then why are we still using terms such as “Husband and woman (mari et femme)” or “My woman (ma nana)” to refer to a man’s female counterpart? Of course these are but few feeble examples. But France has long explored ways to remove the sexism from its language and come up dry. In 1993, the University of California at Berkeley actually studied the relationship between the French language and gender in a course entitled, “Sexual Difference, Gender and the French Language.” As the course outlines:
“Though there is no necessary correlation between gender, as a grammatical category and sexism in language, for a variety of reasons, cultural as well as linguistic, it has been difficult for French, particularly in France (in contrast to francophone communities outside the Hexagon), to comfortably institute nonsexist usage.”
It seems, since 1993, that not much as been resolved. And Alain Soral’s sexist rhetoric certainly isn’t helping things. While Americans are already onto “third-wave feminism” (a movement led by Rebecca Walker, which challenges second-wave feminism and focuses on the rights of the non-white, wealthy female), the F-word is still a gros mot in France today and linked largely to homosexuality. It rests heavily in literary theory and philosophy instead of practice. As the scholar Elizabeth Wright points out, “none of these [well-known] French feminists align themselves with the feminist movement as it appeared in the Anglophone world.”
Feminism in France needs to start with women themselves. I wouldn’t say the situation here is grave, but it’s certainly urgent.

I'm Your Period

The following poem below was written on my myspace page. I thought it was a cute poem, so I thought I'd share it.

I'm Your Period

Calling to you when you're on the rag,
to light up another fag

In the candy store of the mall,
begging you to eat a red fire ball

See me sparkle like rubies leaked onto your floor,
at all the wrong times like when you're man's at the door

I'm your period! I'm your period!

Feel me making my way through your interior,
like an elephant riding a big old roller coaster

When you get strange urges keeping you up and feeling tight,
Mickey Rourke's entire cinematic career you watch in just one night

I'm your period, honey, your period!

Cause girl, you're a woman now and you sure know how
to a make a period proud!!

And oh how proud I am of you...

HAPPY PERIODING!

Love, your period

How to Change the World in 10 Ways

from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit

The world today is definately not a paradise. Hunger, abuse, poverty, pollution and other dangers are all too common. Granted, the world never has and probably never will be perfect, but that is no excuse to not try. YOU can help to create a better world for the future. And it's not as hard as you think...

Steps

1. Volunteer - It's not just about working in a soup kitchen or visiting the old folks' home. Today anyone can volunteer to do anything! Contact the local volunteer organisations in your area.
   
2. Get Passionate - Start a petition, donate money, support a charity, fundraise, be an advocate. Choose a cause and get passionate about it! Visit Google and search for your cause. Or check out common causes like:
   
   • Oxfam
     
   • Make Poverty History
     
   • One
     
   
   
3. Recycle - It's not something only hippies do! Anyone can recycle, and these days just about anything can be recycled—from newspapers and plastic, to computers and old mobile (cell) phones. Encourage your school or workplace to recycle and to use recycled products.
   
4. Pay It Forward - Seen the movie? Well, just like Haley Joel Osment, you can help others by "paying it forward." Simply do something nice for 3 people (or, preferably, more and with no limit), without being asked, and in return, tell them to do the same to 3 more people. And so on and so on. Imagine if everyone followed through with this and what kind of world it would be!
   
5. Do not harm the individual - Imagine a society where every single person did not look to harm another individual. You wouldn't have to lock your doors at night and self-defense would be a thing of the past. You may think one person cannot make a difference. The whole world is just six billion individuals. Just think, you may inspire someone to be like you and start a chain reaction!
   
6. Donate Blood - Many countries (especially Australia, Britain, Canada, and the United States) frequently experience record lows of blood stores and desperately need more people to donate. It only takes about half an hour and doesn't hurt (much!). Visit Red Cross for more info.
   
7. Buy a Wristband - They are all the rage in Hollywood, with lots of celebs sporting the most recent fashion accessory—a charity wristband. Not only do they look cool, they're cheap and they're a great way to do your bit for your favourite cause.
   
8. Support animal welfare - After all, animals are God's creations, too, and they should not have to suffer! Donate to the ASPCA!
   
9. Be an Advocate - Speak up about injustices in the world and get your friends involved, too. Organise fundraisers to help raise money for your chosen charity or cause. And if you can't raise money, just add your voice to those already campaigning to end poverty, war, injustice, sexism, racism, or corruption in the world.
   
10. Become an Organ Donor - You won't need your organs when you are dead, so why not give them to someone who can make good use of them? Save the lives of up to eight people by placing yourself on the organ donors' register in your country. Talk about the decision with your family and let them know your wishes.
    
11. Laugh and Smile - Many believe that laughter is the best medicine you can get. Not only that, but people who are happy are often more healthy and are lots more fun to be around! Sharing a smile and a laugh with someone is easy, completely free, and may just make somebody's day!
    

Tips

• Anyone can change the world; all it takes is a little time, effort and dedication!
  
• The Internet is a great place to find information about charities and causes to sponsor/support.
  
• Spread the word. Get your friends involved. The more the better!
  
• Find exciting and fun ways to change the world. Volunteering is not only a great way to help those less fortunate but you might also make some great new friends!
  
• Even if you are broke, there are lots of ways you can help to make the world a better place.
  
• If at first you don't succeed. Try, try, and try again (and again!)
  

Warnings

• People will say you are beating a dead horse. They will tell you that you are wasting your time, that you're an idiot for trying. Don't listen to them. It's because of people like that that the world needs to be changed in the first place!
  
• Use caution when following laws; recent (and not-so-recent) history has shown certain governing bodies to be somewhat untrustworthy. Instead of rigidly following laws set by politicians, cautiously develop your own "laws" on what moral behavior truly is, following a few guidelines:
  
• -It is never acceptable to hurt anybody.
  
• -The action which results in the greatest good is the one which is truly "lawful."
  
• -Never impose your laws on anybody until they fully understand them. If their understanding is complete, the law will be superfluous anyway.
  

Things You'll Need

• Passion
  
• Drive
  
• Motivation
  
• Commitment
  
• Inspiration
  
• A desire to help others
  
• A desire to change the world
  
• Money (if you wish to financially support a charity or cause)
  

Sources and Citations

• Good Causes Online
  

Article provided by wikiHow, a wiki how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Change the World in 10 Ways. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

Feminism Quotes From Wisdomquotes.com

Below are some quotes that relate to feminism and I find them inspiring, so I thought I would share them. I found these quotes here: http://www.wisdomquotes.com/cat_feminism.html.


Abigail Adams:
If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation.

Anna Quindlen:
It’s important to remember that feminism is no longer a group of organizations or leaders. It’s the expectations that parents have for their daughters, and their sons, too. It’s the way we talk about and treat one another. It’s who makes the money and who makes the compromises and who makes the dinner. It’s a state of mind. It’s the way we live now.

Barbara Strickland:
What I am proud of, what seems so simply clear, is that feminism is a way to fight for justice, always in short supply.

Betty Friedan:
It is easier to live through someone else than to become complete yourself.
The Feminine Mystique, 1963

Betty Friedan:
If divorce has increased by one thousand percent, don’t blame the women’s movement. Blame the obsolete sex roles on which our marriages were based.
speech, New York City, January 20, 1974

Elaine Heffner:
Women do not have to sacrifice personhood if they are mothers. They do not have to sacrifice motherhood in order to be persons. Liberation was meant to expand women’s opportunities, not to limit them. The self-esteem that has been found in new pursuits can also be found in mothering.

Erma Bombeck:
We’ve got a generation now who were born with semiequality. They don’t know how it was before, so they think, this isn’t too bad. We’re working. We have our attache’ cases and our three piece suits. I get very disgusted with the younger generation of women. We had a torch to pass, and they are just sitting there. They don’t realize it can be taken away. Things are going to have to get worse before they join in fighting the battle.

Faith Whittlesey:
Remember, Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, but she did it backwards and in high heels.

Gloria Steinem:
This is no simple reform. It really is a revolution. Sex and race because they are easy and visible differences have been the primary ways of organizing human beings into superior and inferior groups and into the cheap labour in which this system still depends. We are talking about a society in which there will be no roles other than those chosen or those earned. We are really talking about humanism.

Lya Sorano:
When we talk about equal pay for equal work, women in the workplace are beginning to catch up. If we keep going at this current rate, we will achieve full equality in about 475 years. I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait that long.

Margaret Atwood:
Does feminist mean large unpleasant person who’ll shout at you or someone who believes women are human beings. To me it’s the latter, so I sign up.

Mary Wollstonecraft:
Women are systematically degraded by receiving the trivial attentions which men think it manly to pay to the sex, when, in fact, men are insultingly supporting their own superiority.

Maureen Reagan:
I will feel equality has arrived when we can elect to office women who are as incompetent as some of the men who are already there.

Michele Le Doeuff:
A feminist is a woman who does not allow anyone to think in her place.

Nancy Astor:
No one sex can govern alone. I believe that one of the reasons why civilization has failed so lamentably is that is had one-sided government.

Pearl S. Buck:
The basic discovery about any people is the discovery of the relationship between its men and its women.

Rebecca West:
I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat, or a prostitute.
1913

Rita Mae Brown:
Any woman whose I.Q. hovers above her body temperature must be a feminist.

Susan B. Anthony:
Men, their rights, and nothing more; women, their rights, and nothing less.

Susan B. Anthony:
It was we, the people; not we, the white male citizens; nor yet we, the male citizens; but we, the whole people, who formed the Union.

Grrrl Power Is

The article below isn't about the Spice Girls version of "girl power". We're talking about "grrrl power" as in riot grrrl. I got this from an OLD riot grrrl website I used to visit called "++riot grrrls please stand up++", which is no longer around. However, the website can still be viewed here: http://web.archive.org/web/20021021055134/www.geocities.com/Wellesley/6788/index2.html on the archive.org website. Thanks to archive.org for letting me be able to still visit my favorite old riot grrrl websites from back in the day. The article was written by: Jessica Giusti in 1999, when the website was still online.

Grrrl Power is...

feeling okay about being a girl: Be proud! We ROCK!

promoting girl love and friendship: A kind of sisterhood. Don't talk to me about cliques or sororities; in this clique there are no rules, no certain way to be, and we don't leave anyone out!

encouraging one another: Telling each other it's cool to be who they are and let them express themselves!

teaching: girls, boys, men, women, old or young about grrrl issues things that effect each one of us (equality, individualization, the right to speak your mind and let your thoughts run free).

respecting each other: to realize the individuality of every girl on this planet, not to divide people into groups like race, religion, ethics, etc., to look down upon derogatory names and phrases against girls and anyone else.

respecting yourself: respect yourself for who you are. Not realizing you have flaw, but character, things that make you who you are. Realize and respect your strengths, interests, opinions, and beauty. Realize your self-empowerment.

being able to: say what you want to say and not be afraid, voice your mind and opinion, to express yourself in any shape or form, to wear what you want to wear and look the way you want to without being degraded for it. It's about not letting anyone judge you, because it's not about limitations!!!

No Girls Allowed

The article below was written by Amanda S. that lives in the United States and this same post can also be found here: Something Of Substance. Thanks for the article, Amanda! :)

No Girls Allowed

This misogyny thing that people still perpetuate is so tired. Girl-on-girl bashing is so passé. Hearing women proclaim (always with a sense of entitled pride) that they “can’t stand other females” is so boring. Snore.

We all know at least three people like who I’m talking about: girls who call every girl they meet and don’t take an immediate love to “sluts” and “whores” and “bitches”, girls who make a point out of loudly announcing how much they can’t stand “drama!” (always with an exclamation point) and girls who just plain diss and dismiss every other girl they meet.

Having spent a majority of my undergraduate years at an all-women’s institution (it’s not a “girl’s school”, folks), I would have been hard-pressed to make friends if I discounted an entire class of people based on sex. And, I do mean sex: gender seems to make the difference in this equation. Men who are transitioning or identifying as female don’t fall under the umbrella of disdain. Neither do women who are identifying as male.

Blind hatred is nothing new. Anyone remember the Holocaust? Yup, they hated people simply for being Jewish. Or homosexual. Or Bulgarian. Study the Spanish Inquisition? People were tortured and killed for the “crime” of not being Catholic. Or, hey! How about the World Trade Center bombings on 9/11? I recall that some Islamic extremist-fundamentalists flew planes into American buildings because they hated us for being American. Gee, isn’t your hatred so revolutionary and fetching?


Aside from not being the most becoming mentality to have, one of hatred- especially that of female-perpetuated misogyny- is dangerous. I don’t necessarily mean “dangerous” in that I believe girls will go out and start car bombing each other or poisoning the other one over drinks. Well, not every girl will resort to this. But, hatred itself is a slippery slope, especially when we can no longer recall the reasons for our extreme disdain.

For one thing, when girls proudly air their hatred of other girls based on genetic requirements, it does nothing to curb the growing misogynistic tendencies of boys these days. I can’t begin to enumerate the times when, as a Resident Advisor in a co-ed college, I attempted to re-direct boys who were shouting horrible adjectives at girls only to have to turn around and stop the girls from doing it to each other.

Where is all this hatred stemming from? I know I hear a lot about “drama”: how people don’t want it, don’t like it, don’t create it, etc. Here’s an obvious fact: if you’re talking about it, you’re creating it. If you’re gossiping about it, you’re perpetuating it. If you’re taking part in it, you like it. I would tell everyone to just stop already, but I think that solution is entirely too simple. All of this misogyny isn’t coming from simple gossiping.

I’m certain that envy is at the root of the female-on-female misogyny. Men are misogynistic for myriad reasons that I can’t even begin to go into in this post. Suffice it to say, statements such as “you’re a good writer, for a girl”, “girls don’t make very good IT people” and, my personal favorite, “women should never be in positions of power because they have emotions” are so common-place among men that most women shrug them off, titter and say: “well, you know, he has a point!” Congratulations, you just devalued yourself! Now that your self-worth isn’t stemming from intellect or character or healthy respect for your body, what should you base it on? I know!! How about your tan? Or, how little cellulite you have? Even how good-looking your boyfriend is?

And that girl over there? She is tinier and tanner than you and she’s checking out your good-looking boyfriend. Bitch! Get her! All girls are whores like she is? Right?

Right?!

Nope. Try again. When you base the crux of your existence on whatever you can display on the outside, then all you will ever be is envious of everything on the outside of everyone else. This isn’t to say that looks don’t matter, I think I firmly covered in a previous blog that they do. However, looks don’t last. But, your hatred will. It will outlast everyone in your life. It will be the only thing around to keep you warm at night. Unless, of course, your hatred attracts more hatred and, in that case, you better hope you stay alive long enough to watch your looks fade.

If you want men to start respecting you and drop their misogyny, then you, ladies, need to do the same. I don’t know very many men who refuse to hang out with men under the assumption that they are hanging around to take their girlfriend or might have a better looking shirt on. I don’t know many men who tirade against everyone else of their sex for simply walking the earth. I don’t know many men who don’t constantly encourage, validate, support, and even go out on a limb for other guys. And, you know what? They don’t have the same problems with “drama” or generalized hatred or low self-esteem that women, overall, have.

Females are the majority sex in the world. Instead of constantly tearing each other apart, allowing men to tear us apart and generally basing the whole of our existence on the packaging we came in, why not make an effort to find what there is to like about each other? Why not bond together and encourage, validate, support, and even go out on a limb for another female? Those men aren’t going to do that for you. And you don’t seem to be doing such a good job of it for yourself. In fact, it wouldn’t be far off-base to say that those qualities you so disdain in other women are ones you can’t stand in yourself. So, fix them! Build a personality! Embolden your character! Think a fucking original thought! And then, with your newfound sense of pride, tell the boys to knock it off. It won’t hurt you- I promise.



Is everyone ever going to love everyone else to the point of skipping off, hand-in-hand, into a beautiful sunset? Absolutely not. But, judging an entire class of people on one characteristic and using that as a reason to loathe never seemed to get us anywhere either.



*- misogyny means, quite frankly, “hatred of women”.

Something That Inspires Me

This was a myspace comment I received a couple of days ago. Nadia lives in the United States, like me. People like Nadia inspire me to keep updating and adding to my Riot Grrrl Online website. I had to share this because it has inspired me to keep being interested in riot grrrl and to keep on going with the riot grrrl website.

Apr 16, 2009 5:29 PM

Hi, Greta! Thanks for the add. I must say it is awesome having all these Grrrl-related links in one place. When I first got interested in Riot Grrrl culture about a year ago, I could barely find anything!

Hope I can find time to write something for the blog soon.
Thanks!
--Nadia

As for Nadia's quote: "When I first got interested in Riot Grrrl culture about a year ago, I could barely find anything!", I know how she feels. That's how I felt a couple of years ago, when I first created Riot Grrrl Online. Back then, It seemed that alot of my favorite riot grrrl websites from the late 1990's to early 2000's had died out. That's why I created the Riot Grrrl Online website. I was interested in riot grrrl and wanted to show my support and love of the movement, so Riot Grrrl Online was born.

GET INVOLVED! I encourage others that are interested in riot grrrl, feminism, or whatever your interest might be, to get involved with it. YOU can get involved by making a zine, make a website, create a group/community on a social network about your interest, join other groups/communities on social networks, etc. I'm sure you can probably think of more ideas than the ones I just mentioned.

Jigsaw Youth

Jigsaw Youth

We live in a world that tells us we must choose an identity, a career, a relationship, and commit... to these situations... as if we don't live in a world of constant flux... which we do. Don't freak out just cuz the jigsaw is laying on the floor and it's not all the way phone and has been laying there for 4 whole hours now, resist the freak out. You will get to it... it's all part of the process.
To force some forever identity on other people is stupid. Point out inconsistincies in their behavior, explain how they are not 'truly what they say' because you saw them 'do this' one time... why? Because it is easier to deal with cardboard cut outs than real people, cuz a lot of us pretend like we're the center of the universe sometimes and everyone is just background extras in the movie we imagine we star in. WELL WHILE WE ARE ALL ARGUING ABOUT WHOSE GONNA GET TO OPEN FOR THE MELVINS, WHOSE GONNA WEAR WHAT TO THE PARTY, WHO IS LAME/TAME BECAUSE THEY PERPETUATE THIS THING WE HATE, WHO IS NOT REALLY A PUNK ROCKER CUZ "I remember when he/she used to listen to Duran Duran", THE REVOLUTION IS GOING DOWN...no it's not happening without us, it is just plain not happening at all... it is going down under the gurgling sounds of our own voices, reproducing the voices of our parents in a slightly altered way, the TV people... trying to dictate to each other what is and what isn't cool or evolutionary or true resistence, what is or isn't true in other peoples lives we sit around making all these boxes and labels, nothing to put in them, we are wasting valuable time. FUCK THAT SHIT, LET'S START TALKING FOR REAL.
To be a stripper who is also a feminist, to be an abused child holding a microphone screaming all those things that were promised, in one way or another, "I won't tell." these are contradictions I have lived. They exist, these contradictions cuz I exist. Every fucking 'feminist' is not the same, ever fucking girl is not the same, okay??? Because I live in a world that hates women and I am one... who is struggling desparately not to hate myself and my best girlfriends, my whole life is constantly felt by me as a contradiction. In order for me to exist I must belive that two contradictory things can exist in the same space. This is not a choice I make, it just is.
JIGSAW, a puzzle made up of all different weird shaped pieces. It seems like it will never come together, it makes no sense, but it can and it does and it will. Jigsaw, pieces like where you grew up and in what kind of fucked up culture and do you have a penis or not and did your parents have money and did you get teased for wearing the same coat four winters in a row and are you Thai-american or Black or Mulatto? And what do all these things mean when you are trying to resist, do something, have a good time??? I see the Jigsaw, fuzzy in my head as everything else, sometimes clear. The fact that he grew up in a working class family has everything to do with he is gonna express sexism, what kind of music he is gonna like, how I am gonna treat him. Jigsaw girl, she got fucked by her father, 8 years, people say she's flakey and inconsistent, lays in her bed eating donuts, resisting going outside where the silence will engulf her, rather sit there wating than always being eaten up... her experience has everything to do with how the pieces are fitting together (or not) for her, judge her from your place without wondering what's going on in that there Jigsaw mind of hers, and you have pushed her further away from clicking, her hand wants so bad to feel, one edge against another, together, one piece next to another, locking into place... you have to be able to see the puzzle before you start putting it together.
Resistance is everywhere, it always has been and always will be. Just because someone is not resisting in the same way you are (being a vegan, an 'out' lesbian, a political organizer) does not mean they are not resisting. Being told you are a worthless piece of shit and not believing it is a form of resistence. One girl calling another girl to warn her about a guy who date raped her is another. And while she may look like a big haired makeup girl who goes out with jocks, she is a soldier along with every other girl, and even though she may not be fighting in the same loud way that some of us can (and do) it is the fact that she is resisting that connects us, puts a piece together.
Jigsaw Youth, I don't know what this means anymore than anyone... only what it means to me. Standing proud and saying "I don't know who I am, I wanna know more, I am not afraid to say things matter to me."
Assuming that people are either "part of the problem or part of the solution" disincludes a lot of people, who, at this moment, do not feel (and therefore ARE NOT) safe enough emotionally, physically, and/or financially to resist in the same ways you might be. By judging people according to your standards of resistence or whatever... it makes it harder for people to recognize what they're doing as being important and political, etc.... it makes it harder for them to get into safe enough situations where they can reisit in more outward, community oriented ways if they want to.

Jigsaw Youth, the island of lost and broken toys, feminists who wear lipstick, people who envision 'the land of do as you please', whose lives are not simple and they are sick of trying to make themselves cohesive enough to fit into a box. Jigsaw Youth, listening, strategizing, tolerating, screaming, confronting, fearless, girl soldiers, boy lovers, boofy haired teen girls scraping out the eyes on a photo of Rick Astley, Jigsaw Youth, the misunderstood seeking to understand other people's reality. Making mistakes... making mistakes... making mistakes... making mistakes... feeling something. Knowing you will never see the puzzle put all together but trying anyways cuz each fucking piece really matters and being with friends matters. Jigsaw Youth... inventing and reinventing what these words
mean.

Written by Kathleen Hanna from Jigsaw Fanzine #4 Spring 1991 Olympia, Washington.

Don't Rape

A lot has been said about how to prevent rape: Women should learn self-defense, lock themselves in their houses after dark, they shouldn't have long hair and wear short skirts, they shouldn't leave drinks unattended. Fuck, they shouldn't dare to get drunk at all.

Instead of that bullshit, how about:

if a woman is drunk, don't rape her.
if a woman is walking alone at night, don't rape her.
if a women is drugged and unconscious, don't rape her.
if a woman is wearing a short skirt, don't rape her.
if a woman is jogging in a park at 5 am, don't rape her.
if a woman looks like your ex-girlfriend you're still hung up on, don't rape her.
if a woman is asleep in her bed, don't rape her.
if a woman is asleep in your bed, don't rape her.
if a woman is doing her laundry, don't rape her.
if a woman is in a coma, don't rape her.
if a woman changes her mind in the middle of or about a particular activity, don't rape her.
if a woman has repeatedly refused a certain activity, don't rape her.
if a woman is not yet a woman, but a child, don't rape her.
if your girlfriend or wife is not in the mood, don't rape her.
if your step-daughter is watching tv, don't rape her.
if you break into a house and find a woman there, don't rape her.

if your friend thinks it's okay to rape someone, tell him it's not, and that he's not your friend.
if your "friend" tells you he raped someone, report him to the police.
if your frat-brother or another guy at the party tells you there's an unconscious woman upstairs and it's your turn, don't rape her, call the police and tell the guy he's a rapist.

tell your sons, god-sons, nephews, grandsons, sons of friends it's not okay to rape someone.

don't tell your women friends how to be safe and avoid rape.
don't imply that she could have avoided it if she'd only done/not done x.
don't imply that it's in any way her fault.
don't let silence imply agreement when someone tells you he "got some" with the drunk girl.
don't perpetuate a culture that tells you that you have no control over or responsibility for your actions. You can, too, help yourself.

If you agree, repost it. It's that important.

10 Simple Ideas To Empower Women

The following has been posted all over the internet, from websites to blogs, this has been all over the web.

10 Simple Ideas To Empower Women

As a woman, here are some simple tips and how men can help.

Value yourself, and relationships where you are an equal.
In any relationship, there is going to be give-and-take as situations and circumstances change, but you should also feel that, overall, your value in the partnership is equal to that of your partner's.

Learn how to own your voice and assert your opinions.
Pay attention to how women have been socialized to defer to men in conversations. For all you men, avoid interrupting, talking over, discrediting or dismissing a woman's opinion. Studies show that women are more frequently interrupted than men. Over the course of many conversations, they get the message that what they have to say is not necessarily as compelling or valued as what men have to say.

Identify words and language that communicate gender bias.
Make an effort to consciously change the language so it draws attention to areas where bias is apparent. Two places to look for gender bias include position titles that infer gender and school/employer policies that infer gender.

Speak up about sexist jokes or sexist images.
Promote sexual harassment policies in your workplace.

Focus on the person instead appearance.
To foster a healthier self-image, compliment yourself or other woman for achievements, thoughts, and actions.

Call attention to media deception.
Expose and understand unrealistic media images for what they are: retouched, computer-manipulated photos of models-a group that makes up only a tiny subset of the population.

Learn how to ask and negotiate for wages and raises.
Know the worth of your job. Education is your best defense. Research everything you can think of to find the competitive salary for your job in your region -- employment surveys, libraries, professional organizations, peers. For a raise, you need evidence to show your boss that you deserve it. One way to document your contribution to your company is to keep a job diary. Every week, or even every day, write down what you did and how it helped meet the company's objectives. Keep lists or spreadsheets, because managers like to count things. Remember that attributes such as positive attitude, willingness to put in overtime, and quality of work, are essential. Include a few good stories about your work in the diary to illustrate what you added.

Think about, plan and prepare for career advancement.
Mentors are a great asset. If your company doesn't offer clear career ladders, research or find a seminar to help you understand your industry and opportunities.

Encourage risk taking.
People develop self-reliance when they're given the space to solve problems and make mistakes in the process.

Know and be able to manage your finances.
Start saving for retirement immediately in a career - it will grow to much more than the same amount if you wait 10 years to start saving. And keep saving - Social Security doesn't provide the equivalent of a "living wage" for retirement years. Women statistically live about six years longer than men, and run a higher risk of living in poverty as they get older.