Lolita-meet!

Yesterday I was at my first lolita-meet! Which is weird because i so rarely dress lolita anymore! I should have gone on one around 2010-2011 when my closet was packed with lolita-dresses but I was too scared. 

I'm used to feel overdressed at many places, but with these pink and frilly ladies I felt like the least dressed up, haha! 

I also joined a feministchoir! It felt good, and one of the best part was that my art-teacher from when I was 13 was there! So nice to meet her as an adult and be able to tell her that she was my favourite teacher. ^_^ 

About hairy legs

For many years now, I have been following one of Sweden's biggest blogs. A girl who calls herself Foki writes it.

For every year, even though I feel like people should get smarter when they get older, I am struck by how stupid this person is in her opinions. She really lives in a tiny beauty bubble where everything else is laughable and weird. She has even written a post once about how quirky we hairy feminists, we are so extreme and embarrassing you know...

Anyway.

China recently released these leggings. The purpose of these is for a women to be able to take these on and avoid being flirted with.

Just the thought of that bothers me. Why should we keep pushing on how unattractive it is for a woman to have hairy legs?

But what angered me more than the leggings themself was the comments Foki received from her readers. 

As my sister said:

So many faces to punch.

I will hereby translate the worst comments into English to show how crazy this world we are living in is:

1. I almost threw up when I saw the picture.

2. God, how nasty, even as a woman I would flee from such a caveman if I didn't know it was leggings! 

3. Yes, there is something for people who want to be forever alone.

4. Thanks for the picture. My breakfast was just destroyed.

5. So ugly! I would rather be persecuted and molested by guys than to walk around in those.

Why why why?

If a man has hairy legs, it isn't considered neither disgusting or repulsive? People do not tend to loose their appetite when they see a man in shorts. When do we women get to have hairy legs without feeling constantly observed and evaluated?

Nora Roberts - sexism and preconceptions

I started a serie in three books from Nora Roberts and are now on the second book.
I had never read anything by Nora Roberts before and will probably not do it again either when I'm done with this series because the author herself is a sexist from head to toe!

Each and every page describes what is typical male or female, and usually it's really nasty things like for example "all men share the same brain and that's why are they can't think very far" or that "women can not handle furniture construction because that's a job for a "real man". Comments like this from the characthers are not unusual:

- Come on boys, we do not need a woman with us today, let the girls have their women's talk and we'll do the real job.

I just puke in my mouth a little everytime something like that comes up. It's really a shame because otherwise the books are well written and exciting, but Nora's view of masculinity, antiquated ideals and femininity really shines through too well for my liking ..

Do any of you read her books and have you noticed this?

Misogyny

I started watching a new TV serie this weekend called Rita Rocks. And it is good. Mostly...

I just finished an episode where Rita's husband are bullied by his best friends because he was crying watching a sad movie.
They think he is unmanly, ridiculous and laughs at him through the whoooole episode because he is soooo feminine.
What disgusts me more than to hear the audience laugh at this womenhate this episode demonstrates, is that this is something ordinary.
Men showing their emotions is being laughed at. The general opinion is that women show too much emotion.
I can't belivie that they are not seing what is obvious here, that people are looking down on women. That it is embarrassing and ridiculous to act like a woman.
And it's misogyny, which is another word for sexual discrimination.

Women in advertising

Yesterday I watched a really good documentary!

It's created by a woman who since the 60th century have collected ads, and this is now her fourth film about women in advertising.

I've thought about it a lot and I wanted to say a few words about it because I actually think it's crazy that this is year 2013 and it's as bad as it was in the 1960th when it comes to how women are portrayed.

As objects.

If you compare ads with men and women it's easy to see! Men are aloud to take more space. 

What I found most scary is when I think about how I myself are affected by this.

So I actually tried to take some pictures of myself to compare, doing typical "men in ads" poses and "women in ads" poses.

I actually feel myself automatically do these typical female poses everytime I'm being photographed and it is because I daily see these advertisements on how women is supposed to pose to look pretty and I'm totally brainwashed like many other girls and women.

And it's not just that. We women have so much pressure on ourselves when it comes to appearance.
I was 12 when I shaved my legs for the first time, and it was not because I wanted to, I had not even thought about it before but my classmates began to point out my hairy legs more and more often in gymclass so suddenly I got tired of it.

I was 16 when I started picking my eyebrows. And that after my friends for 3 years already laughed at my bushy eyebrows several times.
I think it's horrible that we women do that against each other, we should support one another instead!

And of course there is nothing wrong with wanting to look sexy and pretty, but I think it's important to at least be aware of this difference between the sexes, and think about why it's like this.

I suggest to watch this documentary here: http://vimeo.com/20024751

It will only take 40 minutes from your life!

About makeup

About 2 months ago, I stopped wearing makeup. This is something I had  thought long about doing, but first I wanted to save out my eyebrows. Unfortunately, they grew out very slow so I decided to try it anyway.

The first time I wore makeup I was 16. I used to smear eyeliner under the eyes because I thought it was more gothic than being completely without makeup. Since then I've honestly only used makeup because I have felt pressured, I never liked to wear makeup or been particularly good at doing it nicely. So it has been more a feeling that since I am a woman, I HAVE TO wear makeup.

So in the beginning when I stopped using it, I was afraid that people would think I was unkempt. But then I thought, guys have no makeup, and do I think they all look ugly? No.
Should  it not be okay for women then to also be without makeup. Yeees! :D

I can scratch my eyes whenever I want and don't need to worry about mascara in my whole face if it's raining.

And to be completely honest I don't think I look worse on the picture to the right than to the left.

I see makeup as an art, and I think it's fun to experiment with it on photosessions. But in everyday life, I feel no need to wear it anymore. And it feels really good (and cheap) ;D to have come to this realization.