A Plea For Self-Confidence and Sensible Chocolate

Hello! First things first, I must apologise to the (approximately) 0 people who read this blog for the reason that my blog posts are now few and far between. I am, admittedly, not as good at this as Vida. I would, however, like to share with you the events of last weekend's shopping trip with my beautiful and wonderful mother (I bought myself two new shirts and Haim's new album, in case you were remotely interested). The day did end with me moving all the Robin Thicke CDs to the Drum & Bass section of HMV, where nobody in their right mind would venture, but unsurprisingly, the first stop we made was the local corner shop. My mother and I alike are not able to go more than about an hour without stocking up our systems with chocolate, and it was here that I noticed the new packaging for Kinder Eggs- bear with me, this anecdote will gain some sort of relevance to the general theme of the blog at some point.

Kinder eggs are fab. No doubt about it. I mean, you get chocolate, and a toy. Possibly two of my favourite things, all wrapped into one cute little egg-shaped thingy. But here's the catch- and I'm not exactly sure if this is news, or if they have always been packaged in this way, but the foil wrapping now has a cute little pink or blue patch on, depending on whether you are a girl or a boy, respectively.

 How considerate of you, Ferrero!!!!!!!!!!!! Gone are the tedious days when a girl would have to put up with a free toy car or aeroplane, or when a boy would have to settle for a cat or  weird princess thing or whatever. How. Useful. Gender stereotyped chocolate. Chocolate. Ludicrous.

I am in no way of the opinion that this is the most important or offensive example of gender stereotyping today- but it has baffled me since I first saw the advert on television, and the product in the corner shop, that we would want to inflict the beginnings of expected gender roles on children so early on in life. Of course this does not affect me personally- I prefer a chocolate of substance- A Lion, or a Double Decker or what have you. But in general, assuming girls will favour one thing, and boys another, is always wrong.

This, in particular, is a minor issue when you consider the broader range of more poignant gender and sexism-related problems, I know, but I cannot ignore the implications that come with it. Small things like this are what indoctrinate young children into accepting what is 'normal' about their gender. And why should they? I worry that young girls- and boys (sexism works both ways, and don't you forget it!!!!!!!) who are not interested in what society, or Fererro, think they should be, will come to the conclusion that they are, in some way, not normal. And as trivial as relating this rather serious topic to chocolate may seem, the reality is, it's just not fair.

All I am saying is that small things like this are what bring children up to normalise gender stereotypes. They encourage a desire to change the things you enjoy and the things you like, which essentially make up what is important about who you are, to conform to the unrealistic expectations of our society.

So whether or not you buy Kinder chocolate is, really, irrelevant. What I'd like you to know is that whatever appeals to you, whether it conforms to gender roles or not, is really cool. My main message is- if it's not broken, don't fix it. And just as Kinder did NOT need to add these stupid pink/blue patches of patronisation, you do not need to change anything about your likes, dislikes, or hobbies. If you associate yourself with the pink patch, that's fine. And if you associate yourself with the blue patch? Also fine. But what about associating yourself with a combination of the two? I hear you ask. You guessed it- that is. Completely. And utterly. Fine.

-Daisy

a feminist "fuck you!" to Godfrey Bloom.

Godfrey Bloom has managed to secure his place in most people's, and especially feminists', "bad book", if you will... And i thought, why not make a list of Bloom's misogynistic mishaps!? and that's what i have prepared for you today. SO, if you have been living under a rock for the past few months and thus are not familiar with Bloom's outrageous ability to offend the entirety of humanity, and women in particular, in a just a few words, you may want to take a seat.

Here we go:

numero uno- 

2004: Bloom is appointed to the European Parliament's committee on Women's rights and  Gender equality. Just weeks later he told reporters that "no self-respecting small businessman with a brain in the right place would ever employ a lady of child-bearing age." 

eww man- not only is this a ridiculous suggestion because of the simple fact that would cut out a huge number of years of a woman's life, but also because just because a woman is capable of having a baby doesn't mean she is a less valuable worker than a man who is equally capable of impregnating that woman. we shouldn't be penalised for having wombs. jesus. 

2-
"i am here to represent Yorkshire women who always have dinner on the table when you get home". classic.

ah yes, because the only acceptable, desirable and worthy women are those who conform to your twisted ideas of a woman's appropriate status and role within society. Those good, ideal women. It's not like women can actually choose whether they stay at home, or actually equally come home, after work (shock! Horror! A working woman?!) and have other things to do than prep a meal- they might even dare to ask their partner, f they have one, to cook. radical, right?

3-
"I just don't think [women] clean behind the fridge enough" - oh, it's dirty, is it? ah. shame. Here take this scrubbing brush and this bucket of water. Why don't you do something about it yourself, eh? 

and on the same train of thought, women are apparently better at "[finding] the mustard in the pantry" than driving a car. hmmm. highly questionable. Especially as i don't even have a pantry. 

4-
when writing about feminism in August of this year for politics.co.uk, he wrote it off as a "passing fashion" that had been created by "shrill, bored, middle-class women of a certain physical genre" and that any men who supported feminism were "the slightly effete politically correct chaps who get sand kicked in their face on the beach."

What is wrong with these comments? WHAT IS RIGHT WITH THEM?! i think it is particularly shocking that he suggests that men who support gender equality should be teased and mocked- i rather think it should be the other way round: Misogynistic sociopolitical dinosaurs should certainly be made to feel embarrassed about their primitive ideas.

5-
"This place is full of sluts" 

I hate to break it to you, Godfrey, but it doesn't matter which way you try to paint it, this comment still demeaning and degrading women as it dismisses them as dirty, irresponsible and promiscuous... Also, on the "it means different things to different generations" argument, it's still offensive to call women dirty and lazy, generalise all the women in the room as one, homogenous group and, tbh, Godfrey ought to modernise his language and understand the implications of that word now. It's called not living in the dark ages and it's pretty darn useful. 

i could go on, but i'm getting a little bored of regurgitating his foul comments, so there you have it: Godfrey Bloom's top 5 sexist slip-ups! (on point with the alliteration today) huzzah! plenty of fodder for feminist debate and argument- just what i like. 

vida

xxx

On Doing Your Bit

Now that we have the formalities out of the way- we've introduced ourselves in an introductory post, and Vida has shared with you her first eloquent and beautifully written train of thought (just a warning: my posts will never be as much of a joy to read), I figure it's time for me to sit down and actually, you know, write something. I mean bloody hell, Daisy (Queen of Procrastination), we've had this blog for at least a month now.

The first post, from me to you, is not, in fact, my own tale. Because I am lazy and have a shit ton of art coursework to finish (yay). It is instead something rather funny that my Mum told me when she got home from work yesterday; but if you're a sassy chick with a fine sense of humour (which I am sure all of our 0 followers are/have) then you should be able to appreciate it nevertheless.

Mum works at LSE. For those of you who don't know, 'LSE' is shorthand for the London School of Economics and Political Science. It is situated in Aldwych and is able to pride itself for being one of the top Universities in the country- probably the world. In some way or another, the school gets a whole bunch of magazines which they then give out to staff and students for free. Fine. Of course this is a great thing. Free stuff. When is free stuff ever not a great thing?

According to my Mum, free stuff stops being a great thing when it starts to consist of free copies of FHM, the front covers of which are more often than not used to display photographs of near enough naked women (!!!!!!!!!!! Right on, Mama Keefe!!!!!!!!!!))))))))

'I was shocked, more than anything,' explained Mama Keefe to me, 'that this school, which has always been able to say it provides equal opportunities regardless of gender, could have such a blasé attitude towards the encouragement of demeaning and inappropriate images of women being easily available for public viewing. And for free!' (YES MUM. YOU GO GIRL.)

Then Mum proceeded to tell me the best bit. Apparently she was with one of her work mates when she saw these boxes full of disgrace, ready to be given out. 'I felt like a rebellious fifteen-year-old' she said in between the snorts in her laughter. She said that her and her mate decided that just to make a point, they would carry the boxes to the bins and be rid of them forever. The thought of my Mum carrying some ten boxes full of magazines down endless flights of stairs to the nearest bins- cigarette in hand, undoubtedly, made me laugh the exact same, piggy laugh (apparently snorts are hereditary). I literally welled up with pride that even in her middle-aged state (sorry, Mum), Mama Keefe can still stand up for what she believes in.

I've got absolutely no idea how much trouble Mum got into for binning a load of the school's property, but I think there's a message in here for everyone. You don't need to be radical to be a feminist, but you do need to do your bit, because it all adds up to bring about change. I at least know that LSE shall no longer be supporting FHM, for sure.

Daisy

Are you a feminist? I should jolly well hope so.

Heya Combabes (just go with it),

I was trying to explain to someone (whom we shall refer to, in the interests of confidentiality,  as... Ivan) what exactly a feminist is... A pressing question, you may agree, and surprisingly hard to answer objectively.

After all there are lots of different ideas around feminism, a variety of different things that we stand for, a selection of different sorts, if you will, of 'Feminists'. BUT there must be some shared values, some shared aims, something that we all intrinsically share a belief in and i suppose it is our fight for equality. I suppose, at the face of it, a feminist is someone who believes that people should be equal no matter their gender. That's what people should ask themselves when deciding whether they ought to be labelled a feminist (http://areyouafeminist.com).

Ivan: Yeah ok cool. But what else? What else makes you a feminist?

There are so many different ideas that are debated, explored and considered within feminist circles that it is impossible to create a comprehensive list of requirements for a feminist that is any longer than 'you believe in gender equality' and that makes Feminism tricky to define. But why does it need to be defined further than that, really? That's what i told Ivan anyway.

But if one does not provide any other characteristics of a feminist, then inevitably the question arises...

Ivan: Ok... Then why doesn't everyone who thinks women should be equal, call themselves feminists?

And here i start to get a little confused. Because... well... why don't they?

Feminists have been made into angry, man-hating, promiscuous and fanatic women who repeatedly wake up on the wrong side of the bed and proceed to scream down people who dare to question them as they work their Godzilla-like way through the world. Now i will admit that i have certainly had my moments, but i don't think that the femonster is really a very accurate depiction of the modern feminist, nor a particularly appealing one. Aggression is not a prerequisite for feminism and it never has been. Determination, defensiveness, strength of will, defiance and passion, maybe. But never down right aggression. It is this stigma and unattractiveness that is defining feminism and it is this poor and ignorant definition that is driving people away and making feminism into a so called 'dirty word'...

So here's a little poem about feminism that i have written for you...
(generous tokens of your gratitude will be accepted gladly)

Feminism isn’t a dirty word.

But I’m afraid that it’s becoming more than that…

It’s becoming a dirty concept in our cupcake crusted world

Because It’s only women on the front of the cath kidston catalogue,

And it’s mostly only women at the school fete selling candy floss in the rain,

And they say it’s only women organizing coffee for the PTA,

And only mums that organize that asda price Christmas that we are all meant long for.

And it just happens to be mum who is left without a chair-

Afterall it’s only mums that go to Iceland.

And they reduced Kate Middleton to a pair of tits and a baby bump because that’s all anyone’s interested in… that’s what makes good reading.

It's a boy!

 Oh. Joy. 

It’s all you and your wedding and your kitchen sink

Your man will build the kitchen as long as you don’t think

Because thinking is a man’s job. Obvs.

And it’s all B&Q and planning for the future with your husband’s ISA just in case you go and get pregnant- gosh. How bloody inconsiderate of you.

But don’t get an abortion. This might be your only chance.

And you’ve got to shave your way to the top nowadays

With your inner goddess released maybe you can achieve your dream of popstardom- right, venus?

But if I’m honest I never aspired to be Beyonce or Mylie Cyrus.

The thing is that whether Gok tells you you’re an apple, a pear or a piece of glassware

You are still a human being.

And it doesn’t matter if you don’t dress to your shape.

It doesn’t matter if you don’t date

Because there is totez such a thing as true love and fate- (They told me that in Closer. Apparently we like to read that shit.)

Forget the princess stories that they force fed you at school

Forget the myths about women growing parsley better and that you aren’t good enough because you’re not thin and tall.

Forget about the wolf whistles and the gentlemens’ gestures

Forget about needing to wear makeup and bowing down to society’s pressure.

Forget about the people who tell you that time is ticking, that you need to settle down.

Because time is ticking for everyone and everything and it won’t stop ticking if you get round.

Forget about the bastards who tell you to calm down when you say something valid

Forget about that bikini body that you need: no carbs, no sugar, no fun, just salad.

Your voice is not pointless just because it didn’t break.

We need to get that femen juice flowing through our veins…

We’re not after world domination

Just a basic level of appreciation for the fact that women have…. Brains.

Oh. My. Days.

Because feminism isn’t a dirty word, ok?

ok? good. Glad we cleared that one up. 

signing off, 

Vida

mwah.

The First of Many.

Heya... Babes?

...or is 'comrades' more appropriate?

Well, whatever you raggedy lot are... welcome.

Our names are Daisy and Vida but you may refer to us as 'David'... or Queens of Sass- Whatever floats your boat! (we would strongly advise the latter... with that kind of attitude you might even get yourself a much coveted place on our christmas card list!)

I suppose you want to know what the hell we are doing writing a blog and probably what you are doing reading it....

It went something like this:
"Urgh. Sexist pigs on the tube."
"Urgh. Sexist pigs on the news."
"Fuck it. Let's write a blog."

and Huzzah! thus 'fuck it feminism' was born. And, might i say, what a beautiful child it is.

Shall i briefly outline what we will be covering? Nah. Read it and see.*

*SPOILER ALERT: it might just have something to do with crushing the patriarchy...

So after a little-how shall i put it?- sporadic start,

We are signing off for the first time.

Vida and Daisy 

mwah.