Meet Patricia's feminist side

Today I watched North Country. I don't think I have ever cried so much while watching a movie. It was really heartbreaking. The things that Charlize Theron's character, Josey, (and the other women that worked in the mines) had to put up with were sickening and disgusting. The women were regularly called names like "bitch," "cunt," and "whore," among others; there were incidents where these words were written on the walls of the women's locker room in human feces (and the women themselves were forced to clean it up); there was one incident where several men tipped over a Porta Potty with a woman inside; and not to mention the daily ass-grabbings and crude, suggestive comments. There was one scene in particular that moved me to tears, in which Josey attended a union meeting where the members were allowed to speak in front of everyone on the microphone if they so desired. Josey attempted to talk about what she and the other women in the mines had to go through daily, but the men hardly allowed her to speak. Instead, they harassed and heckled her, telling her to "get the fuck out of here." The few women that sat in the back remained silent, not making a single attempt to help her for fear that they, too, would have to put up with that same harassment.

It really infuriates me that things like this have happened and are still happening in our world today. How can people be so cruel and ignorant? Everyone should see this movie. Although it's about the sexual harassment of women, it's really a lot more than that - it represents all types of harassment, whether it be for gender, race, sexual orientation, religion, and so on. Incidents much like the ones portrayed in this movie occur every day, under the radar, usually going unnoticed. It's awful and inhumane. How can people treat others this way and genuinely believe that they are doing nothing wrong?

Another thing that this movie made me think of is how women are objectified in the media. I'm sure you hear this all of the time and are probably rolling your eyes because you're sick of it, but it's really true. Women are portrayed like slabs of meat, designed to cater to men's sexual needs, and it's disgusting. Think of the majority of rap music videos. Most of the visuals are nearly-naked and fully-oiled women in thongs and tiny bikini tops, shaking and gyrating to the music. Come on. This is teaching boys that it's okay to portray women in this manner and to think of them as merely sexual objects. It's completely unacceptable, and I can't believe women allow themselves to submit to this image. Some of them call it "female empowerment." Oh really, female empowerment means stripping down to nothing and shaking your ass in front of men so they can get off? Yeah, something is definitely wrong with that picture.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not conservative in any way. It's not like I'm against showing your ankles, wrists, or thighs and midriffs for that matter in public. Please. My cleavage has seen the light of day many, many times, so it would be pretty hypocritical of me to preach about how wrong it is. In short, until butt cheeks are involved I probably won't have a problem. Sexuality certainly isn't a bad thing, it's just when women are portrayed in a bad light the feminist side of me comes out and, well, I get pretty angry... as you can see.

While we're on the subject of sex (sort of), I bought a magazine, JANE, during my little excursion with Siobhan yesterday. While reading it after I got home, I was shocked (not in a bad way, mind you) to find several articles on sex (and not the whole "10 Ways to Please Your Man" garbage. Please. Can you really see me reading that crap?). Now, you have to understand that I have been reading girly teen magazines for years. I'm talking YM, CosmoGirl!, and Teen People girly teen magazines. I really don't see how I survived reading that crap for as long as I did. It is extremely taboo to discuss sex in those types of magazines (otherwise they will receive a slew of angry letters from the mothers of pre-teen readers), so usually as far as they go is your typical STD/STI info and answering questions like "omg what is this icky stuff in my undies?!" So you can imagine my surprise when I stumbled upon an article in JANE entitled "How to build a sex library." Finally, I have entered the world of mature magazines for women that discuss sex honestly and frankly. Thank god. (Granted, it's really for twenty-somethings, but I only have two and one-half years to go until I reach that age, which is close enough... right?) I am so subscribing to this magazine.

On a side note, I heard "Bom Bom Bom" by the Living Things again today on WAAF. Yeah, this is good, but can't they play any other good songs?

Check out this slice of genius.

Anyway, that's all for today. Ciao.