mademoiselle mystique

eternalfeminine:

just curious, but why is it sad?

I don’t think it’s thatsad, I was maybe overexaggerating. I understand why kids would be inspired by Obama: he’s alive, he can be seen and heard, the things he talks about are immediate, all the grownups think he’s cool. Obama (and Michelle) are powerful symbols that are really helpful to some kids to see. I just hate the idolising of any politicians and think it is somewhat sad that one whose bark is far more progressive than his bite now exemplifies the mission of the school rather than actual advocates for social justice. But they’re kids ya know? And Obama can be pretty cool, so rock on I guess.

ahhh. i see what you mean. indeed, it seems like a slippery slope. thank you for elaborating your thoughts. very good points.

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School Renamed for the Obamas

igather:

apsies:

In St. Paul, Minn., a school board, in a 5-1 vote, decided Tuesday to rename the Webster Magnet Elementary the “Barack and Michelle Obama Service Learning Elementary.”

According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the name change was sought to reflect a new mission for the school.

“We talk about, so often, that what we do is for the children, for kids,” board member Tom Goldstein told the Star Tribune. “Our job is to inspire kids, and these kids got inspired. They went to the trouble to process and pick this name. They could have picked …George Washington Carver, Martin Luther King, they could have picked Sojourner Truth; they didn’t. They were inspired by Barack Obama.”

via Politics Daily

I think this is so sad.

just curious, but why is it sad?

May 15

(via audreyhepburncomplex)

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“ If western women are going to help the rest of the world they should really spend more time endlessly deconstructing their privilege, it’s definitely the only way to go. You don’t know me ay? | Things I’ve learned from Double X (via sexartandpolitics)

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“ When we tell you, “We’re not communicating,” it really means you’re not touching our clit.

Wanda Sykes: 10 Things You Don’t Know About Women - Esquire

via The Awl

(via sexartandpolitics)

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“ The study findings supported the view that before individuals will support efforts to right an inequality they must first recognize that the inequality exists. Men who were more aware of gender bias were more likely to say that it was important to them to achieve gender equality. Other findings revealed three key factors that predicted men’s awareness of gender bias: 1) defiance of certain masculine norms, 2) the presence or absence of women mentors, and 3) a sense of fair play. […] Lastly, interview findings revealed three key barriers that could undermine men’s support for initiatives to end gender bias: apathy, fear, and ignorance about gender issues.

Engaging Men in Gender Initiatives: What Change Agents Need to Know : Catalyst

via feministing

(via sexartandpolitics)

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igather:

“In precisely the same way, women turn to burlesque as a celebration of the limited, socially circumscribed forms of power that are permitted to us: the power to titillate, to excite, to look beautiful – all played out in silence. I became sick of being told that the stripping and grinding was acceptable, even empowering, because it was “tongue-in cheek”. After months of being instructed to shut up and smile, I didn’t get the joke. Contemporary burlesque has ceased to be subversive; it is now just another part of our own modern, sexed-up “culture of consolation”. Tired of fighting for equal pay, reproductive freedom and the right to walk down a dark street without fear, tired of being judged for what we look like rather than what we do, today’s young women can be forgiven for wanting to play with the small amount of power we have. But stripping of any kind can only offer passive, cringing empowerment at best. The sexual power-play of burlesque strikes no great blows for feminism. All it does is make us feel, for the space of a three-minute striptease, a little bit better about the hand we’ve been dealt.”

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Burlesque laid bare | Life and style | The Guardian

Writing op-eds is how one strikes a great blow.