Happy Women's History Month!

It's March, Spring is coming, and it's our month ladies!

In honor of this, our month, Women's Voices is putting the spotlight on female bloggers.

If you like this blog, or have another favorite feminist blog, go nominate it here.

I think the whole concept of themed months is a little misguided. Each time the month rolls around, we have to remind people to celebrate a certain portion of the population. It's a nice sentiment, but it's a reminder that these people aren't celebrated year round.

Anyway, just some quick thoughts.

The Huffington Post Becomes Cosmo

Ugh. I knew there'd be plenty of fodder for this blog for the upcoming commercialized, forced, "romantic" Valentine's Day, but I didn't expect it to come from The Huffington Post.

Jodi Lipper and Cerina Vincent (it took two people to come up with this shit?) posted a cutesy, euphemism-filled column today titled: "How To Celebrate Valentine's Day Like A Hot Chick." Yeah, I know.

Yes, the title is a play on Jodi Lipper's book "How to Eat Like a Hot Chick" and it's ostensibly an empowering notion that we all have an "inner" hot chick, but that totally doesn't fly for me. What does it mean to have an inner hot chick? Is there a woman with great hair an a kickin' bod trapped inside my body? Is she the one that needs all that junk food? I think I need an exorcism.

Anyway, back to the article. I guess I should make clear that I am a V-day hater. I don't like to feel manipulated by the greeting card industry, and I don't like forced romanticism.

This article isn't about that, which, you know, is fine, if you're into expectations and obligation. Lipper and Vincent want to answer the question no one's asking: "Isn't it ironic that the same day that is supposed to inspire love, romance and bliss often ends up filled with arguments, disappointments and loneliness?" (No, it's not ironic it's exactly what the holiday is set up for.)

The article has two sections, one for couples, one for singles. Each has three different options for the supposedly big day. Each one assumes women expect to be pampered, surprised, adored...sorry, I have to throw up.

There are condescending suggestions:

If you have a Valentine and want all the frills..., then we know a way for you to get exactly what your little heart desires. Ready? Plan it yourself! Many women have super high expectations about what they want on V-day, but they don't communicate these wishes to their man and get all pissy when they don't get what they want. Well, here's the scoop, Hot Chicks - he can't read your mind. Sometimes we have to take the lead when we want something done the way we want it.

Suggestions of bribery:

...Steak and a BJ Day. This is a holiday on any day of the year when you take your man out for a giant steak, buy him beers and/or whiskey, and then... well... you get it. Not only is this a great way to make your man feel loved and give him a special treat that he deserves, but it's also a genius way to ensure that your Valentine's Day is a good one. Trust us, if he knows this holiday is coming, he will use all of his resources to make sure that your holiday is just as enjoyable as his is going to be.

Impulse purchases:

Buy yourself those earrings you've been eyeing online or get in your car and drive to a nearby city and spend the day exploring. Go for it - spoil yourself the way you deserve to be spoiled and you won't feel lonely at all.

Nowhere in the article is it mentioned that, if you happen to place a lot of importance on a made up day, maybe you should stop. Maybe you should take a cue from history. Valentines were martyrs. Don't let yourself be one.

To be fair, the article's last suggestion:

Valentine's Day is about passion, so take this opportunity to indulge in the things you are passionate about, whatever they may be. You don't need a guy to feel like the fabulous, sexy creature that you are - you just need the things that you love.

This would be great, if the rest of the article didn't contradict it. Huffington Post, I'm disappointed.

Oh, C.U.N.T

I resisted posting about this initially, because I didn't want to give them any undue press, but I'm just a little blogger with no readers, and more powerful people have already put it out there.

The PAC in question is Citizens United Not Timid, or C.U.N.T.

The object of the PAC is to "educate the public about what Hillary Clinton really is."[my emphasis] Republican Roger Stone is responsible.

How, exactly, are they educating us? By selling t-shirts, of course, with the slogan emblazoned right across the breast underneath a vagina-ish graphic. The image to the left is from the website. Girl in a tight t-shirt with no face. Nice.

Pure misogyny, pure disgustingness.

Some think it's a trick to create backlash so people will vote for Hillary Clinton, who will then be defeated by whatever Republican wins the nomination. I think it's a bunch of dicks being horrible people.

Call to Action: Misguided?

I hate Chris Matthews as much as the next person with any intelligence does. But this call to action from Media Matters is a little much.

They want you to tell MSNBC you're sick of him.

Okay, I'm sick of him. But I'm also sick of every other jackass sexist pig out there (cough: Howard Stern, and most people in the White House). He's got the freedom to speak and it's his schtick to be a fucking asshole.

I don't know, but I usually don't like to ask people to shut other people up just because I don't like what they're saying. I wouldn't want anyone to censor me. I'm free to blog all I want about what a deusch he is.

That being said, MSNBC, maybe you should just have a polite conversation with your asshole "pundit." Break it to him gently: women are actually people too! They actually have brains! Even Hillary Clinton!

Yay Feministing

When I saw this article on Feministing, I thought it was gross, sure. But what do we expect from Wal Mart? Plus, there's a ton of ridiculously inappropriate clothes out there for girls. On the back, it apparently says "when you have Santa" so it's not exactly as disgusting as it seems. But the innuendo is there, no doubt about it.Well, I was wrong. Claiming "parents" had complained, FoxNews broke the story. Wal Mart pulled the underwear. Feministing has officially changed the shopping experiences of Juniors everywhere. And they called out the hypocrite that is Wal Mart.

Three cheers for online activism! You can read Feministing's victory cheer here.

Surfing F-world

As a participant in Web Part Deux (web 2.0, for all you nerds out there, web with interaction, individualization, interconnectedness, and indifferentiation for those who don't know the lingo[I hate parentheses inside parentheses, but I had to note that one of my "in"s is completely made up])...

Okay, those parentheses were too long. Now you've forgotten what I said in the beginning.

Since my brother dragged me into the world of web dos (the Spanish way of saying it), I decided I should pull some of that into my blog.

Nope, I'm not cool enough to delve into anything more interactive than the little comment section below. But I HAVE been doing some surfing.

Is it still called surfing? I feel like there should be a more web the second way of saying it. Plugging? Hitting? Sticking? Clicking? Spotting?

Oh wait. That last one's already something. Interestingly enough, spotting is both a sign of hope and a sign of despair. Hmmmm...maybe that's just right.

Sorry, back from my tangent.

Anyway, I decided to explore the world of feminist blogs. I use Netvibes
as my RSS reader (how web: the next generation am I?), and I need a "women" tab.

No, I won't be getting laid there, or looking at porn, I'll be reading about women (health, news, language, society, you know). And I'm going to add the links to the left over there. If I stop reading one, I'll quietly take them off.

I'm sure these links will show up in my posts from now on. And ladies, if you're reading, feel free to put The Peeled Apple on your blogroll.

Finally, my background music for my search has been this excellent new-to-me band: Straylight Run. I'm listening to they're latest CD, The Needles The Space

New skin, new purpose

It's time this blog got some focus. No more BCOOs, no more Wallstrips (go to Wallstrip.com to get your fix - I'm writing a lot of them now). This blog is pure ladies. Women. Women's rights (or lack thereof), cool women doing cool things, etc.

I know there are a lot of great ones out there. And I have (and will) quote them a lot. But this is what I care about and what I'm interested in, so there you go.

Hope all one of you will stay tuned. I'll try to post more often.