tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34861776016465338342013-05-22T10:29:15.959-04:00Womanist MusingsDedicated to critiquing current events and pop culture from a womanist perspective. Its sole purpose is to give voice to those that have historically been marginalized and silenced.Reneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16388113393817266374noreply@blogger.comBlogger4426125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3486177601646533834.post-6341496066064258092013-05-22T09:59:00.000-04:002013-05-22T09:59:23.602-04:002013-05-22T09:59:23.602-04:00Special K, The Fat Shaming CerealI'll be honest, even if I liked the taste of Special K, I would never spend a dime of money to purchase it because of the continual fat shaming focus of its commercials. Sure, they have a few ads with plus sized women but largely, Special K, sells the idea that if you eat their cereal you can attain or retain a slim physique. The following ad is appearing in Canada but with a different person Reneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16388113393817266374noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3486177601646533834.post-89783159367983521222013-05-21T13:31:00.001-04:002013-05-21T13:31:36.962-04:002013-05-21T13:31:36.962-04:00All marginalised people are practiced at biting our tongues
This is a guest post from Sparky, of Spark in Darkness.
Many of you are familiar with him from Livejournal, as well
as from his insightful and often hilarious commentary here.
Each Tuesday, Womanist Musings will be featuring a post from
Sparky.
Senior Partner #1 likes me to be “discreet”
about my sexuality and in a million ways tries to poke meReneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16388113393817266374noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3486177601646533834.post-27655161337918525422013-05-16T11:34:00.000-04:002013-05-16T11:34:29.194-04:002013-05-16T11:34:29.194-04:00Yes, GLBT People Need Protection Under the Law
I was reading Jezebel (don't judge me) when I came across the story of yet another bigoted bakery who refused to make a cake for a couple who are getting married.
An Oregon bakery owner, Pam Regentin of Fleur Cakes, has refused to make a wedding cake for two brides-to-be, Erin Hanson and Katie Pugh, soley because they are gay."I mentioned Erin in passing," said Pugh of her future wife, "Reneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16388113393817266374noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3486177601646533834.post-51573331388931094552013-05-15T10:51:00.003-04:002013-05-15T10:51:48.108-04:002013-05-15T10:51:48.108-04:00New Jersey Teens Create a White Girl Club
I recently came across a story about a group of teens who created a White Girl's Club. The club became so popular that it quickly spread to other schools. Apparently, a group of these young women showed up at school on PI day wearing shirts identifying them as members of this club with a teachers permission no less. The teens communicated using instagram and twitter.
Another Franklin Reneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16388113393817266374noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3486177601646533834.post-59632882498471844002013-05-08T10:22:00.001-04:002013-05-08T10:22:53.346-04:002013-05-08T10:22:53.346-04:00Please Don't Let it Be One of Us
If you are a member of a marginalized community, at some point a crime, or a ludicrous action will become public or go wildly viral and the first thought that will go through your head is, "please don't let it be one of us." We will follow up on the story, find out that it is indeed one of us, shake our heads and think about how the action of one individual will come to reflect upon us. If youReneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16388113393817266374noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3486177601646533834.post-53732726047951029592013-04-30T14:57:00.000-04:002013-04-30T14:57:09.750-04:002013-04-30T14:57:09.750-04:00In the real world Coming Out is a risk
This is a guest post from Sparky, of Spark in Darkness.
Many of you are familiar with him from Livejournal, as well
as from his insightful and often hilarious commentary here.
Each Tuesday, Womanist Musings will be featuring a post from
Sparky.
So another famous person comes out of the
closet and there are many reactions. Some of which are great, Reneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16388113393817266374noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3486177601646533834.post-30194576078478518002013-04-25T11:42:00.000-04:002013-04-25T11:42:34.004-04:002013-04-25T11:42:34.004-04:00UFC fighter Touches ESPN anchor Sage Steele’s hair during interview Since beginning this blog, I have written about the desire of White people to pet us at will. I have yet to meet a Black woman who doesn't have a story to tell about this inappropriate touching. In the latest public incident, Sage Steele was interviewing UFC fighter Chael Sonnen, when out of the blue he requested permission to touch her hair.
Steele graciously leaned forward and Sonnen took Reneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16388113393817266374noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3486177601646533834.post-44643534775470438422013-04-24T08:39:00.002-04:002013-04-24T08:39:25.869-04:002013-04-24T08:39:25.869-04:00Introducing LokiHey everyone, a few weeks ago we opened our home to a new undog (shush it's not denial), very aptly named Loki.
He's high energy and pure trouble. Already he has declared himself above the dog and drinks from poor Sookie's water bowl. He also has zero manners when it comes to human food but we are working on it.
Reneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16388113393817266374noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3486177601646533834.post-59521317321805800402013-04-23T11:26:00.002-04:002013-04-23T11:26:58.567-04:002013-04-23T11:26:58.567-04:00It's Time to Stop Fawning
This is a guest post from Sparky, of Spark in Darkness.
Many of you are familiar with him from Livejournal, as well
as from his insightful and often hilarious commentary here.
Each Tuesday, Womanist Musings will be featuring a post from
Sparky.
I’ve written a post before about low expectations
and why we need to expect more from straight, cis people.
There’s Reneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16388113393817266374noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3486177601646533834.post-6100946467984687792013-04-19T09:38:00.002-04:002013-04-19T09:38:43.024-04:002013-04-19T09:38:43.024-04:00Racist Reporting in the Boston Bombing
The media is not a neutral source of information. Some stations like Fox, are more blatantly problematic than others but reporters, just like everyone else, are raised in a racist, homophobic, cissexist, ableist society and that means that they have internalized all of the isms and cannot help but reveal their biases in their reporting. This stigmatizes historically marginalized people and Reneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16388113393817266374noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3486177601646533834.post-89290915740654592652013-04-18T12:01:00.002-04:002013-04-18T12:01:48.454-04:002013-04-18T12:01:48.454-04:00Blackface in Vogue Netherlands
The above image is from Vogue Netherlands. The model is Querelle Jansen, the photographer was Ishi and the stylist was Marije Goekoop. According to Jezebel, the inspiration for these images was Grace Jones and Josephine Baker. Pause for a moment to think about that. Both Baker and Jones are iconic Black women and yet Blackface was used. Both of these women encountered racism and actually Reneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16388113393817266374noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3486177601646533834.post-9958666431766949612013-04-17T13:47:00.001-04:002013-04-17T13:47:31.823-04:002013-04-17T13:47:31.823-04:00Mother of Two Wishes She had Remained Child Free
I recently came across the story of story of 57 year old Isabella Dutton in The Daily Mail. In it, she talks about never wanting to have children but choosing to become the mother of two to make her husband happy. She talks about never having a connection with either of her children but deciding that since she brought them into this world that she would care for them. Though Dutton claims Reneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16388113393817266374noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3486177601646533834.post-37705368960483500652013-04-11T11:14:00.002-04:002013-04-11T11:14:56.977-04:002013-04-11T11:14:56.977-04:00Bullying and Where Are the Parents?
I have come to hate the term where are the parents because it ignores that parents can dedicate every waking minute to fighting for their kids and not make any progress because the system is not designed to be helpful. I have also come to hate the term zero tolerance policy in reference to bullying because it's a lie. When my children were born, I promised to love them unconditionally, to Reneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16388113393817266374noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3486177601646533834.post-15139253927974549702013-04-10T10:40:00.000-04:002013-04-10T10:40:20.172-04:002013-04-10T10:40:20.172-04:00A Traditional Same Sex Wedding in AfricaOne of the things that disgusts me about homophobes, is their absolute denial of the beauty and power of love. No matter how love occurs, whether it be people of the same sex, parent to child, man and a woman, or platonic love between friends, it's beautiful and make us more than the sum of our parts. There is so much ugliness, violence and hatred in this world that to look at love and not see Reneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16388113393817266374noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3486177601646533834.post-22631359190970633992013-04-09T13:06:00.003-04:002013-04-09T13:06:40.241-04:002013-04-09T13:06:40.241-04:00Marginalized People and Low Expectations
This is a guest post from Sparky, of Spark in Darkness.
Many of you are familiar with him from Livejournal, as well
as from his insightful and often hilarious commentary here.
Each Tuesday, Womanist Musings will be featuring a post from
Sparky.
One of the many many many not-very-coded speeches
privileged people like to give is the one on “low Reneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16388113393817266374noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3486177601646533834.post-43236540960542764412013-04-05T13:00:00.001-04:002013-04-05T13:00:31.769-04:002013-04-05T13:00:31.769-04:00 Eugenics and Prochoice
Mike is an 18 year
female to male transman. He is currently studying psychology at The
Evergreen State College between making quilts. He someday aspires
to be a social worker, and in the mean time, he wants to fix the
fact that not everyone is born with an inherent right to be
themselves.
Quick AN: I use gender neutral language throughout this post because thereReneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16388113393817266374noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3486177601646533834.post-16797770828093703492013-04-04T11:26:00.001-04:002013-04-04T11:26:14.569-04:002013-04-04T11:26:14.569-04:00Father Beats Daughters With Electrical Cord for Twerking and Many Call it DisciplineMassive Trigger Warning for discussion of child abuse.
A video released by World Hip Hop Stars (which seems to exist to show abuse against Black women and the worst elements of our community for the purposes of entertainment), shows a father beating his two daughters with an electrical cord after finding them twerking. He could have sat his daughters down and talked to them about their behaviourReneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16388113393817266374noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3486177601646533834.post-59190403040134459672013-04-02T14:00:00.001-04:002013-04-02T14:00:38.263-04:002013-04-02T14:00:38.263-04:00Achieving Equality- Difficult but Simple Victories and Long, Complex Wars
This is a guest post from Sparky, of Spark in Darkness.
Many of you are familiar with him from Livejournal, as well
as from his insightful and often hilarious commentary here.
Each Tuesday, Womanist Musings will be featuring a post from
Sparky.
There are increasing movements forwards with legislative
battles with our rights – a new trans bill in CanadaReneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16388113393817266374noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3486177601646533834.post-72570492300773171862013-03-28T12:26:00.002-04:002013-03-28T12:26:54.870-04:002013-03-28T12:26:54.870-04:00Homophobia on 'Shameless'
No matter how progressive or liberal minded someone is, the one thing you can count on, is that they watch at least one show which they know to be problematic as hell. Media like all social organizations is problematic because it has been created by a world which privileged certain bodies. The only way to avoid this is to stop consuming media altogether, which as we know, is not really possibleReneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16388113393817266374noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3486177601646533834.post-42713659062029295332013-03-26T12:00:00.001-04:002013-03-26T12:00:27.520-04:002013-03-26T12:00:27.520-04:00Medical People Have an Overwhelming Obsession With AIDs
This is a guest post from Sparky, of Spark in Darkness.
Many of you are familiar with him from Livejournal, as well
as from his insightful and often hilarious commentary here.
Each Tuesday, Womanist Musings will be featuring a post from
Sparky.
Dear readers, I come to you with wonderful
news! It seems I am immortal!
Yes, I have found the key Reneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16388113393817266374noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3486177601646533834.post-41718859683306144272013-03-25T12:00:00.000-04:002013-03-25T12:14:22.035-04:002013-03-25T12:14:22.035-04:00'The Face' Model Devyn, Is Apparently So Light Skinned, She's International and Not BlackWomen of colour have always had a hard time in the modelling industry. There have always been a few who have managed to have a successful career like Alec Wek, Naomi Campbell and Iman but by enlarge, despite their obvious beauty, their race has been a stumbling block rather than an asset. The fact that population demographics are clearly changing, has not effected the fashion industries Reneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16388113393817266374noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3486177601646533834.post-48350800103021385032013-03-21T12:30:00.001-04:002013-03-21T12:30:31.464-04:002013-03-21T12:30:31.464-04:00Male Privilege and Power Equal Rape
The recent media coverage of the Steubenville, Ohio, rape trial was disturbing to say the least. Little to no concern has been aimed at the victim and instead what we saw repeatedly, was sympathy for the rapists. To be clear, both of these young men are guilty of rape and there should be no soft peddling of what happened. The fact that the media was so concerned with the promising future Reneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16388113393817266374noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3486177601646533834.post-24458246845944411562013-03-20T13:56:00.000-04:002013-03-20T13:56:45.721-04:002013-03-20T13:56:45.721-04:00Ground Hog Punxsutawney Phil and I have issues
I was really excited when Punxsutawney Phil announced this ground hog's day that we would have an early spring.
In front of thousands of people at Gobbler's Knob, a rural area near
the small town of Punxsutawney, a group of town elders repeated the
famous tradition of consulting the town's famous groundhog on the
prospects of when winter might turn to spring.
To the relief of
many, they Reneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16388113393817266374noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3486177601646533834.post-59660633256004185662013-03-20T12:17:00.002-04:002013-03-20T12:17:57.918-04:002013-03-20T12:17:57.918-04:00Jada Pinkett-Smith Questions Whether White Women Should Grace the Covers of Magazines Aimed at WOC?Like many women of colour I grew up looking at magazine racks with row upon row of White faces staring at me. I would be lying if I said that it didn't have an impact upon how I perceived my race and gender growing up. Things have not changed much and now I find myself wondering how this exact same circumstance is going to effect my niece as she grows up. As a woman of colour, I cannot divorceReneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16388113393817266374noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3486177601646533834.post-61473684357257286402013-03-19T11:45:00.000-04:002013-03-19T11:45:57.621-04:002013-03-19T11:45:57.621-04:00Silence is Golden
This is a guest post from Sparky, of Spark in Darkness.
Many of you are familiar with him from Livejournal, as well
as from his insightful and often hilarious commentary here.
Each Tuesday, Womanist Musings will be featuring a post from
Sparky.
Today I’m going to talk about the value
of silence
Yes, privileged folks, flock around, I be
SILENCING YOU, ohReneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16388113393817266374noreply@blogger.com