the future is now

loves of our lives emma and megan have moved away from me and alex, back to edmonton.
and it is the worst.

except!

it isn't all the worst because it has inspired us to create a shared tumblr blog, emma and me, for all our jokes. and gosh darn it, i love jokes with emma, and i love tumblr blogs.

so you can keep an eye on what is jokes at:

futuretits.tumblr.com

you're welcome.

also, don't worry, we - the ladies be drinkin - have all been having dreams about eachother on the reg. because this damned giant country can't keep us apart, not in our hearts and in our sleep-brains!!!

ff

this week cats agree that they are against (and confused by) feminism, and then feminists spoil everything because it is what they do, such spoilers, everything is spoiled.

maybe you saw the news goin' round that a pile of ladies on the internet were making signs-and-posts about why they didn't need feminism. surprise: it is because they don't know what feminism is... anyway! it was-and-is depressing. but as always, the internet is a place of great sadness AND great joy, and the tumblr response to women-who-don't-need-feminism has been joyful, indeed.

SPOILERS, obviously, in the spoilers link. duh.

* confused cats against feminism

* i don't need feminism because spoilers

high-fives, the internet!! you did real good on this one. really turned that frown upside down. which is important because wrinkles, no boy will ever love me, damn you feminism, damn your wrinkle-causing curse upon me!

happy friday, spoilers.

ff

OMG GUYS, THIS IS GREAT!

  

{tumblr takes you to task, asshat}

* men taking up too much space on the train

this makes me CRAZY. it is just SO hard to close your legs, ain't it, menfolk. high-fives, the internets!

happy friday, considerate public transiters.

obsessed with succulents and dust

 {stolen from my own tumblr, aka stolen from somewhere a million times over}

i am a million miles away. that is always running through my head.

i used to always feel like a girl with her arms outstretched and reaching, everything slipping off the ends of her fingers. like i was perpetually on the edge of having a grip, but then never actually getting it. like i was so close. dropping all the things. and it was an awful feeling. being that close, but still not. constantly, frantically, straining.

and now i am a girl who is so far away from that, it doesn't seem like it was ever even a thing. and i'm not sure that it is better. i am sure that it is more reckless... but. it is different. at least. it is quieter and more still. somehow.

ff

over the last few weeks, as i spend hoards of time scrolling through images on tumblr, i have been thinking a lot about nudity. something i haven't engaged in much since i was in art school... the thinking. i essentially see nudity in two ways.

one where it is this totally whatever thing, such a regular and mundane thing. anatomy. part of learning colour and light and flesh as an artist. it becomes universal and boring, almost. i hated drawing and painting nudes by the end of my art school career because it was so booooring. i felt like i could only tell an interesting story when there were clothes involved. and otherwise they were just studies. technical. and so the naked body was very 'meh!'.

but then, too, there is the politicalized/objectified/sexualized/empowered/inhibited body. (hey look! it s almost only ever the female body that ends up in this second category...) where body politics are so real and so polarizing... and of course such a huge part of feminism. bodily autonomy  is such a massive goal for women. how we handle our bodies. whether we have the freedom to choose both internally and externally how our bodies go through the world. when we are still slut-shaming and putting in women's hand the responsibility to not be sexual victims rather than attempting to progress the idea that maybe men should be responsible for whether or not they objectify and victimize. nakedness, then, is a very big thing. a short skirt is dangerous. is an act of rebellion.

so it is very conveniently timed that the following piece came my way this week:

*topless jihad day

and i thought YAY but also hmmmmm... how do i feel about women getting their tits out for a cause? the part of me that thinks of bodies as kind of silly things and nudity and really not a big deal thinks 'yeah! shake it up, ladies. ra ra! show the absurdity of women's breast being such a scandalizing thing when they are JUST BREASTS! just flesh. haha. wooo!' but the part of me that worries about the 'male gaze' and what bodies we deem appropriate to look at (aka skinny, conventionally pretty, young) and the degree to which these women are becoming, always, again, objects.

and then, YAY OH YAY! a really aces conversation on a facebook wall in response to the response to the above piece. allow me to quote some of the cool folks on the facebook machine. (THANKS JENN DUNCAN AND PALS!)

jenn said:
'As a woman, my main issue is with this persistent idea that by turning our bodies into objects -- even if we're the ones choosing to do so -- women will somehow break through age-old cultural taboos, customs, and laws that keep us socially and legally constricted.
... 
What remains interesting to be is what it means when women use their bodies as part of a subversive tactic. Is this an attempt to desexualise the body or are women using this to shock and sexualise the debate? What are the implications of these tactics?'

to which the replies ran as follows:
adele wessell:
'I'm really torn on this. For the first time in ages I haven't known how I felt about a protest action. Aren't they saying ths is my body and don't they get such a huge media response that might contribute to highlighting different issues than are normally reported...? At the same time I also find it hard to imagine people taking the bare breast seriously and it also not attracting a whole lot of creeps who like the femen Facebook pages for very different reasons. Is the measure of a good protest strategy the outcome or the debate. I've struggled... Not sure.'
jess duncan:
'I fully share your perspective. Women should own their bodies and attempts to de-sexualise the female body are fundamental to feminism, so long as they also respect sexuality, but I don't really think this is about that. I just get stuck on using the feminine body as a tool in political protest seems to reinforce so many of the challenges they are fighting. It's a tension inherent to late capitalism taken to a corporeal level. It's not their bodies on the line, it's their boobs and they don't control how the images are used which is where it gets more messy for me.'
emma hooper:
'I agree with Jess Duncan here, especially as all the footage I've seen (and since I notice this, I've been looking up lots) is of, well, hot girls. Where are are the women over 40's breasts? Is this, in some way, reinforcing the idea that a woman's body should be free and her own... so long as she's young and hot: aka not her own at all? I understand that there is a certain demographic drawn to protest, and that's fine, of course. But there's one striking picture of a cute 20-something topless girl protester next to a fully clothed 60-something woman protester. What's the message there?'
desmond leo:
'Societal change is quite often dictated by the extremes because those extremes set the boundaries for which to gauge the appropriate middle (so to speak). I absolutely applaud the case of the Fems using nudity as protest because it redefines the playing field. When one side of the argument is literally threatening death because a woman is improperly dressed (not even because they're naked), what else can you do but challenge that control with complete defiance? As for why there are not many older women who are naked and protesting in the same way - it is not because young women tend to sexualize their bodies - it's because the younger generations are still bold and ideological enough to challenge such ingrained institutions. Sure, in a perfect world, mature discourse would be the way to go. However, many of the freedoms we currently take for granted were at one point "extreme" and we only have those freedoms now because at one point a group of men/women decided to challenge that standard by "dressing naked" (figuratively speaking).'
cathleen kneen:
'Jess, I wouldn't go tops-off for the same reason that I quit smoking pot: If I am going to make a political statement, I want it to be clear and difficult to misinterpret. It is certainly true that media pick up on such actions, but I have never been able to trust the media to adequately communicate my message.' 

and there was more, too, said. but those are the ones that sum up nicely and ask the questions i like to see asked. i am very glad that this kind of discourse is happening in my world.

and now i will direct you off on a slight tangent, but one that has been a relevant backdrop to my thinking. snp wrote about nudity vs nakedness, and the conventions of beauty. (i love what she says about how she is never as happy being complimented on her 'natural' self rather than on her made-up dressed-up self. about the biased and very much rammed home idea of conventional beauty... 'natural' beauty... what we deem 'worth' looking at.) 

*no body is too nude for a billboard 

AND THAT'S IT FOR THIS WEEK! hahaha. that's all. did you make it all the way down here? my money is on mom, dad, and chris having dropped out way back around the first link... but if you did make it here. CONGRATULATIONS! YAY! i will give you a cookie next time we hang out. how's THAT! ha HA! 

happy friday, every bodies! 

thanks mom & dad

it is after midnight in toronto, which means it is TIME. y'all better have a good day in my honour. i expect you to consume sparkling wine and gummy candies. and to celebrate, all gifs all day over chez the tumblr.

saved my life

two things this week. both being the internets. one being words-on-the-internets...

{oh shosh...}

 

girls on girls is always always my favourite written-thing-on-the-internets these weeks. i love all of the girls. all. i love them even though i often don't agree. hooray and thank everything for these girls and their words (and, of course, for the girls-on-tv who inspire the words.)

and then. pictures. all of the pictures that go ping in my insides, and i collect them all together and there they are. or.

{a bit of the world i'm making}

 

 tumblr. fine, okay, fine, i love it. i didn't understand it for forever, but now i get it, at least i do as a tool for me and the pictures. endless and scrolling and looking and instant and easy.

tumble

so i made myself a tumblr. i still don't really know how to use it. but. pictures and things i like will be there. fewer words than on this thing here. mood board or something. over there.

i should probs just make this a tumblr for a while......

ff

CANCEL ALL OF THE THINGS!

i had another post lined up. but this is TOOO FUNNY to pass up.

trigger warning for feminists having a sense of humor about themselves...

* is this feminist?!

well?! IS IT?! PROBABLY NOT! PROBABLY PROBLEMATIC!

HAHAHAHAHA! i love this tumblr. i love it unto forever.

and then on a more serious, but lovely note that i couldn't pass-up posting:

* dear daughter

for the record this made me cry. (...a lot of things make me cry. y'all know it. whateves.) it's a really wonderful yet sad letter to a young woman (girl). and i, being maybe more of a less-young woman (girl), needed to hear it too. the bits about determination and not giving a damn. because somewhere along the way that little girl in me got lost and a damn was given and i got smaller and beat down. maybe not a ton. but enough. to feel it. to wonder how i was ever so brave and so fierce and to want that back so badly. and i am coming back. i'm working on it all the time. and i've been lucky and loved and supported and all that. but it is still a forever process. and it is nice to be reminded. fuck 'em. 

have a good weekend, yo!

 {kickassedness borrowed from here}

(oh hey, ps. next friday, the 25th of may, is slutwalk toronto. nathan phillips square. consider taking part! because victim-blaming and slut-shaming is not cool beans.)