On Feminism...

One does not have to proclaim his/herself to be a "feminist" to see the injustice going on in our world. A person who never really thought about "women's issues" (such as rape, sexism, etc) before still has eyes--and he or she can still see the rampant rape culture embedded in Greek letter organizations, and our world at large.

But I have to wonder, what about the word "feminist" turns people off so quickly? Do people hear the word and automatically think "man hater" or "lesbian"? It's not like that, people. There's nothing wrong with sticking up for women. We have been discriminated against, held back, and victimized for thousands of years. There's nothing wrong with fighting against that. That being said,

I'm proud to call myself a feminist!

(I'm not sure who wrote this, I found it online and I think it's an amazing poem)

I Fight Like A Girl

I fight like a girl who refuses to be a victim.
I fight like a girl who is tired of being
IGNORED and
HUMORED and
BEATEN and
RAPED.

I fight like a girl who's sick
of not being taken seriously.
I fight like a girl who's been pushed too far.
I fight like a girl who OFFERS and DEMANDS RESPECT.
I fight like a girl who has a lifetime of
ANGER and
STRENGTH and
PRIDE
pent up in her girly body.
I fight like a girl who doesn't believe in
FEAR and SUBMISSION.
I fight like a girl who knows that
THIS BODY and
THIS MIND are mine.
I fight like a girl who knows that

YOU ONLY HAVE AS MUCH POWER AS I GRANT YOU.

I fight like a girl who will never allow you to take more than I offer.

I fight like a girl who FIGHTS BACK.

So next time you think you can distract yourself
from your insecurities by victimizing a girl,
THINK AGAIN.
She may be ME and

I FIGHT LIKE A GIRL.

If Men could Menstruate

What would happen 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 (stag) parties.

Congress would fund 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, Muhammad Ali's Rope-a-dope Pads, Joe Namath Jock Shields - "For Those Light Bachelor Days," and Robert "Baretta" Blake Maxi-Pads.

Military men, right-wing politicians, and religious fundamentalists would cite menstruation ("MENstruation") 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 and 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 their ranks if only she were willing to self-inflict a major wound every month ("you MUST give blood for the revolution"), 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 are lookin' good") by high-fiving and saying, "Yeah, man, I'm on the rag!".

TV shows would deal with the subject at great length (Today on "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 try to convince women that intercourse was more pleasurable 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?

Liberal males in every field would be kind to women: the fact that "these people" have no gift for measuring life or connecting the universe, the liberals would explain, that should be punishment enough.

I am going to ask you to use every single thing you can remember about what was done to you - how it was done, where, by whom, when, and, if you know, why - to begin to tear male dominance to pieces, to pull it apart, to vandalize it, to destabilize it, to mess it up, to get in its way, to f**k it up. I have to ask you to resist, not to comply, to destroy the power men have over women, to refuse to accept it, to abhor it and to do whatever is necessary despite its cost to you to change it."

--Andrea Dworkin

"Garth, marriage is punishmentfor shoplifting in some countries!"
-- Wayne


Men are the enemies of women. Promising sublime intimacy, unequalled passion, amazing security and grace, they nevertheless exploit and injure in a myriad subtle ways. Without men the world would be a better place: softer, kinder, more loving; calmer, quieter, more humane.
-- Ann Oakley


Men’s hearts are cold. They are indifferent.
-- Mother Jones


The male chromosome is an incomplete female chromosome. In other words, the male is a walking abortion; aborted at the gene stage. To be male is to be deficient, emotionally limited; maleness is a deficiency disease and males are emotional cripples.
-- Valerie Solanos


Most men act so tough and strong on the outside because on the inside, we are scared, weak, and fragile. Men, not women, are the weaker sex.
-- Jerry Rubin


Men need women more than women need men; and so, aware of this fact, man has sought to keep woman dependent upon him economically as the only method open to him of making himself necessary to her.
-- Elizabeth Gould Davis


[Men say:] “Don’t you know that we are your natural protectors?” But what is a woman afraid of on a lonely road after dark? The bears and wolves are all gone; there is nothing to be afraid of now but our natural protectors.
-- Frances A. Griffin