Friday, August 21, 2009
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
The Food of Love
This blog is about things I like. It is about words, and language, and books. It is a female-ness, being a woman. (Being a man is, I am sure, pretty damn cool too--but it just wasn't how I came out this time around). It is about other things that are basically good things: food, music, television, pop culture and the occasional rant. Because ranting about things that are annoying or ludicrous, but essentially unimportant, is one of life's true pleasures.
But sometimes I come across something that is the pure and utter dark side of all of these things. Like a bill being passed into law in Afghanistan that removes all rights of custody from mothers, does not allow them to work without a husband's permission, and allows a husband to refuse to give his spouse food until she consents to sex. The selfish use of force can spoil anything. It says motherhood is unimportant, food is a weapon, a woman is a sexual amenity without free will, marriage is slavery and the law is a mechanism for the oppression of the vulnerable.
This is so saddening and perverse I cannot even enjoy complaining about it. Because it is not unimportant. It cuts to the heart of what we should be as people. Men and women. This law suggests not only a horrible role for women but a terrible identity for men and I do not see why either would tolerate such a law, let alone write, support, vote for or celebrate it.
I am grateful not to live under such a law which would make the independence I experience as a single professional woman literally impossible. But I should not blithely enjoy my status without aome gratitude, and some obligations. My pleasures are allowed to me as a virtue of my culture, not the birth right of every human being. It makes me realise that each of my pleasures (freedom from oppression, education and literacy, self-determination, ample food) is also a privilege, and not one to be taken for granted.
But sometimes I come across something that is the pure and utter dark side of all of these things. Like a bill being passed into law in Afghanistan that removes all rights of custody from mothers, does not allow them to work without a husband's permission, and allows a husband to refuse to give his spouse food until she consents to sex. The selfish use of force can spoil anything. It says motherhood is unimportant, food is a weapon, a woman is a sexual amenity without free will, marriage is slavery and the law is a mechanism for the oppression of the vulnerable.
This is so saddening and perverse I cannot even enjoy complaining about it. Because it is not unimportant. It cuts to the heart of what we should be as people. Men and women. This law suggests not only a horrible role for women but a terrible identity for men and I do not see why either would tolerate such a law, let alone write, support, vote for or celebrate it.
I am grateful not to live under such a law which would make the independence I experience as a single professional woman literally impossible. But I should not blithely enjoy my status without aome gratitude, and some obligations. My pleasures are allowed to me as a virtue of my culture, not the birth right of every human being. It makes me realise that each of my pleasures (freedom from oppression, education and literacy, self-determination, ample food) is also a privilege, and not one to be taken for granted.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
For the record: Baby Glutton
For the record, breast feeding is normal, natural and admirable. If a girl imitates breast-feeding with a doll after seeing it, that would be perfectly normal play.
But, at the danger of agreeing with the Daily Mail, designing a doll for the specific purpose of simulating breast feeding, complete with strap-on nipple, is ... odd. And "odd" is putting it mildly.
I don't know, maybe it is fine in the context of Spanish culture, but making this an export product was, IMHO, a mistake. Or maybe I am a throwback because it never bothered me that newborn dolls came with bottles. Not that I would consider, even for a second, giving a young girl a newborn doll unless she asked for it.
Oh well. It won't be the first time I was caught being a hypocrite.
But until people are ready to see actual breast-feeding in public without blinking, complaining or deleting it from facebook, I doubt it will be considered a fine recreation activity for the 5 to twelve set.
But, at the danger of agreeing with the Daily Mail, designing a doll for the specific purpose of simulating breast feeding, complete with strap-on nipple, is ... odd. And "odd" is putting it mildly.
I don't know, maybe it is fine in the context of Spanish culture, but making this an export product was, IMHO, a mistake. Or maybe I am a throwback because it never bothered me that newborn dolls came with bottles. Not that I would consider, even for a second, giving a young girl a newborn doll unless she asked for it.
Oh well. It won't be the first time I was caught being a hypocrite.
But until people are ready to see actual breast-feeding in public without blinking, complaining or deleting it from facebook, I doubt it will be considered a fine recreation activity for the 5 to twelve set.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Classic Covers: Sex is Like Money
Don't miss the rest in this series:
* Food is like Love
* Truth is like Beauty
* Flares are like Totally Last Decade
and
* Riding Naked and Bareback on a Windswept Beach is like Vigorously Applying Sandpaper to Your Genitalia.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
He Said What?
"Was the sex tape a seminal moment, in changing your life...." (ET Reporter to Paris Hilton)
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