Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Slamming Perspective

I've been doing more reading and learning than writing lately.

And so, I present to you: Miles. I found this video on genderkid while I was twiddling my thumbs waiting for genderfork to post my profile.



I have no words for how much this moved me. Actually, I have a plethora of words, but what do you think?

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Kentucky artist plug

I want to be sure to bring attention to artists, musicians, writers and activists in Kentucky who rock and who have something to say about gender and sexuality.

This month's awesome artist is Casie Lewis. A graduate from EKU in photography and printmaking, Casie now resides in Louisville where she's been cranking out amazing shit like nobody's business.

Here are some examples of her work:





 
 
 

To get in touch with her for purchasing, shows etc. email her at cassandra.lws@gmail.com. To see more of her work go here.

Please don't use any of these photos w/out her permission! (She's really nice. Just ASK)

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Curves Ahead.

I will post more about this tomorrow or Friday, but check out V magazine's cover shoot with plus size models. These women are gorgeous and redefining the idea that thin equals sexy. What do you all think?

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

BOOK CLUB UPDATE!!


 I promised that once the holidays were over, I'd get started organizing our feminist book club. Our first book will be The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. This is based on several of you indicating that you'd like to read this. You are free to purchase the book or borrow from a friend or the library. Here are some places online where you can get it for cheap.

Alibris $2.95


Amazon $2.25

We're going to get together to discuss the book on March 21st. (So make sure you've read it by then lol!) That's a Sunday afternoon. We'll meet at noon. I think it could be fun to meet at a coffee shop, but if we have too many people for that to make sense, we could meet at my house. Let's pick the location when we're closer to March 21st. At this meeting we'll discuss how we went to select future books. A couple of suggestions that have surfaced are that we could put book ideas in a hat and draw them out, or we could rotate and each take turns assigning a book. In the meantime, you should make a list of your favs.

I'm so excited!!

De Las.





Sunday, January 10, 2010

The Inferior Status of Women (The Dark Bible)

"The Dark Bible" as compiled by Jim Walker is something I stumbled upon this morning. I would like to say that the views on religion that are stated and/or implied by its author do not necessarily reflect those of Gendered Lexington authors and/or readers.

Mostly I was stricken by the segment on The Inferior Status of Women which I have linked below. The following is a statement found in the "about" section of the site:

The inspiration of the Dark Bible first stemmed from a combination of Ben Akerley's "The X-Rated Bible" and Steve Allen's, "Steve Allen on the Bible, Religion and Morality", for the purpose of finding relevant passages that dealt with the wrath, scatological, and dubious moral teachings of God in the Bible. The Bible has served as one of the instruments that has steered me away from this awful religion. Hopefully, the Dark Bible will do the same for others.

The Inferior Status of Women

Enjoy,
Jackson

Thursday, January 7, 2010

hair.

For the majority of my life I've had really long hair. I remember my mother would braid and style it before school for me. Sometimes she would make my pigtails so tight that I'd get a head ache halfway through the day, but that didn't matter to me because I thought my hair looked good.

When I hit adolescence I remember using half a bottle of rave hairspray to try and get my bangs to stand up just right. I was obsessed. I crimped, curled, ironed, feathered, layered, colored, and teased my hair. People complimented me quite often on how pretty my hair was. I could never conceive of cutting it all off.

My hair became intricately tied to my self esteem and my self worth. Like many young women, I based my worth on my ability to attract boys. I already felt like I couldn't measure up to other girls my age because I wasn't thin enough, or I was too poor to have the coolest clothes, or because I was too brown. My asset, became my hair.

I wish I could say that this changed for me once I left high school but unfortunately college was more of the same. I remember mentioning to my then boyfriend that I was considering cutting my hair and he threw a fit about it. That was all it took, and I left it alone.

My life changed a good deal after college, and I grew enough confidence to cut my hair to about chin length. Then for a number of years I kept it relatively short but always very feminine.

Over the last few years I've rediscovered (I'm sorry I lost you!!!) my feminist riot grrrl self and with that has come a great deal of personal reflection. Why do I care so much what other people think of me?  How can I unlearn all of this crap!I'm succesful, artistic, creative, and intelligent damnit. No matter what my hair looks like. I am beautiful no matter how I wear my hair.


So for new years, I got my first mohawk. I had to drink a glass of wine during the procedure, but I made it through and while I'm cold as hell (the high tomorrow is 17degrees F) I feel liberated.

So for your enjoyment, mohawk party pictures :)





 

 

 

Saturday, January 2, 2010

What Do You Mean You "Don't Like Female Fronted Bands"?

On our way home to Lexington from Louisville yesterday, Ondine and I were listening to 100.5 Gen X Radio. We were shouting predictions of who we thought the DJ would spin next.

"Stone Temple Pilots!"

"No, definitely Collective Soul."

Then we would "ah" to one another when C + C Music Factory would start in.

Inevitably this spurred a dialogue over nostalgia and what we deemed "classics" and what were simply "one-hit-wonders". It wasn't long however before the feminists within us began breaking down the Top 40 lists of the nineties and examined just how many of these bands were female fronted. We wanted to hear some Tracy Bonham, Hell we would have taken Edie Brickell but the station continued with its male dominant playlist and we continued breaking down this paradigm.

It is pretty clear to both of us that bands fronted by female vocalists are simply not approached or delivered in the same way that male dominant bands are. For instance, can you think of any Top 40 female artist that hasn't had to make her sexual prowess a part of her persona? Or at the very least (such as in the cases of Hilary Duff and Miley Cyrus) had it attacked? This while bands like Cake and The Toadies get to just focus on being cool and not have to worry about their weight or thier wardrobes. Although I must note that part of this conversation was spurred while discussing Silverchair's frontman Daniel Johns who developed anorexia nervosa at the height of the band's career.

And so I was reminded of a conversation I had with my brother, Nick a long time ago when I was 19 and he was 17. Nick is a very gifted singer and a thoughtful mind - someone whose opinion I have always held in high regard. A late bloomer to the talents of Ani DiFranco, I became absolutely immersed in her discography upon my first year at college. Being blown away, I wanted to share her sound with Nick. We were in my car when I slipped in "Evolve" and to my surprise, Nick did not dig it. When I asked why, he said something that took me by surprise and mildly offended me: "You know, I just don't like girl music. I mean, I just don't like female fronted bands." I said, "What do you mean you 'don't like female fronted bands'?" He shrugged and said, "I dunno their music is always, I dunno, corny to me or something." I can't recall how the rest of that conversation went and I didn't hate my brother for what he said, because in the end I still do value his opinion and in remembering this dialogue and relaying it back to Ondine, I found that men in her life had expressed the same sentiment.

I think this phenomenon is worth analyzing - don't you? What is it exactly that makes men in our culture not take female dominant music seriously? I know this is a loaded question and I know most of us will have the same answers, but lets really dig on this guys. Share with us conversations you have had with men on this topic and tell us why you think this is so.

Also, to wrap this up, De Las Ondas had a great suggestion for me to list Lexington bands that are female fronted. Please feel free to add ones that I miss (past bands count also):

The Rough Customers
Spooky Qs
Emily Hagihara
Blind Corn Liquor Pickers
Coralee and the Townies
Laloux
Saraya Brewer (DJ)
Ara
Eyes and Arms of Smoke
Beyond Dark Hills
City Mouse
Little Noodles
The Dialectics
Chrissy Foster
Hotbox
Miss Kitty and her Hotdogs
Little Miss Tammy Smith
Total Abuse
Tense Kids
Ford Theatre Reunion
Smuttynose

I didn't provide links because my computer is acting real slow and it was taking me a while. Y'all know how to Google!

-Jackson