A toast, to Ok Go for rising to the challenge and leavening no stone upturned while baking up such creative music video. :)
I hate it when people say stuff that rings true and hits close to home.
“A word about my personal philosophy. It is anchored in optimism. It must be, for optimism brings with it hope, a future with purpose, and therefore, a will to fight for a better world. Without this optimism, there is no reason to carry on. If we think of the struggle as a climb up a mountain, then we must visualize a mountain with no top. We see a top, but when we finally reach it, the overcast rises and we find ourselves merely on a bluff. The mountain continues on up. Now we see the ‘real’ top ahead of us, and strive for it, only to find we’ve reached another bluff, and the top still above us. And so it goes on, interminably.
Knowing that the mountain has no top, that it is a perpetual quest from plateau to plateau, the question arises, “Why the struggle, the conflict, the heartbreak, the danger, the sacrifice. Why the constant climb?” Our answer is the same as that which a real mountain climber gives when he is asked why he does what he does. “Because it is there.”
Because life is there ahead of you and either one tests oneself in its challenges or huddles away in the valleys in a dreamless day-to-day existence who only purpose is the preservation of an illusory security and safety. The latter is what the vast majority of people choose to do, fearing the adventure into the unknown. Paradoxically, they give up the dream of what may lie ahead on the heights of tomorrow for a perpetual nightmare – and endless succession of days fearing the loss of a tenuous security. “
-Saul D. Alinsky. Rules for Radicals p. 20 – 21
they took the hair on our legs and decided it was a shameful, disgusting thing
they said nothing about their own leg hair
they took our genitals and decided it was an ugly, disgusting and shameful thing, only good enough for them to use for their pleasure
they praised their own genitals and drew them on every corner of this planet
they took our bodies and decided they have to be fragile, small and easy to objectify, or we aren’t worth as human beings anymore
they keep their human value no matter what they look like
they took our periods, neglecting they were all born from them, and decided they were gross and shameful thing, not even to be mentioned in their presence
all pain they have to go through is over-dramatized and talked about constantly
they took our clothes and made it uncomfortable, see through, impractical, revealing, objectifying
then they accused us of distracting them when we wear it, accused us of asking for unwanted touch and abuse when they feel entitled to our bodies
they set us up in a trap then laughed at us for suffering inside of it
they never intended to acknowledge our pain
what’s been done to us is “life”, according to them
what they do to each other is “our fault”, according to them
we’ve been used as scapegoats for their own faults
we’ve been used as toys for their pleasure and satisfaction
we’ve been used as trophies for them to show off their importance
it was enough
I had enough.
Exhibit #1
http://tehbewilderness.tumblr.com/post/156196605249/grumpyoldnurse-qualitynighthideout
Exhibit #2
http://tehbewilderness.tumblr.com/post/156195173529/grumpyoldnurse-iloveradfems
I’m not sure where the idea started that being a movement that deals with a particular political struggle should be about other topics not related to said struggle. Feminism – the struggle to liberate females from the patriarchal structures and norms of society is about female emancipation. If you happen to be a woman (and by woman I mean adult human female) then yes, this is your movement and it should centre around you and the problems that you face.
If you are not female, then don’t expect (demand, whine, threaten, etc.) for the feminism movement to be all about you. If there is a specific set of problems and challenges specific to your situation, then the solution is make your own goddamn movement and not co-opt the one that has been built by and expressly for females.
Exclusionary? Every effective class struggle is exclusionary – or do you remember all those successful strikes overseen by the business class?
Me neither.
So ‘Amen’ to exclusion and ‘Ramen’ to effective class politics and actions.
Why, oh why, don’t we see more white leaders in the #BLM? Or why aren’t there more white leaders/representation in the Canadian indigenous Idle No More movement? Could it possibly be because you don’t let the class that is oppressing you (even if they strongly feel they belong in your class) run your movement?
So, Men, in your various forms, please understand that feminism isn’t about you. Will men benefit from feminist reforms? Absolutely, and do what you can to further feminist action, as long as you know that your role is secondary (in the most optimistic case) in the movement. Understand that there is no shame in being an ally, but for heaven’s sake realize that when you make feminism about *you* it isn’t feminism anymore.
Found a much better response that mine, the Bewilderness is on fire today:
http://tehbewilderness.tumblr.com/post/156191704449/officialweatherwax-thisisourwitchcraft
Just incase you thought this might be a few ‘bad apples’, wrong again.
I think given the recent turn of events, some ‘hands-on management’ might be appreciated.
Don’t like it, change it. These are the tools to do it.
bleatmop
Mystro
Dead Wild Roses 
Your opinions…