ff

this week has heralded a few great conversations about rape and rape culture. (some not so great, too, but let's not focus on those right now.)

people outside of the feminist blogisphere have been engaging in rape culture discussions triggered by the horrible so sad awful rage-tears-inducing gang rape in india. and. while i do agree with the following...

{@pushinghoops}

i am still grateful that soooomething is happening and people are thinking and speaking and learning.

jill over at feministe links to two really thoughtful pieces that discuss purity and virtue. read them both. they're worth spending some time with.  

{from e.j. graff's piece for the american prospect}

and then, too, mom sent me this little dude which is very yes and i like it very much. (because, say it with me friends, feminism is not about women wiiinnnnnning, its about gender equality and a world that is accepting of masculinity and feminity that fall outside of the rigid little set of descriptors we're all supposed to adhere to.)

and also, this video which a dear old friend (hi jess!!) sent me.

somedays my heart hurts so bad for the state of the world, and somedays i have slivers of hopefulness and somedays... and everydays i am thankful and thankful and thankful for my own personal world, where, jokes aside about 'erin's silly feminist posts', i am loved and respected by my friends and family and given autonomy. if only everyone was so lucky. (if only that, then... universe fixed...)

**and as always seems to be the case when i write an ff post that isn't 100% angry-sad a little in advance of friday, i came across this piece last night about two young men raping their jiu-jitsu teammate in a parking lot instead of driving her home safely like they said they would do. and oh, fuck it. ow. oh. my heart. my angry-sad heart.**

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ff

i am super excited about today's theme!!! i can't even stop smiling. below is a ted talk that i was directed to by my lovely ballet teacher kate. she was chastising us - her sad adult students - for being defeatist in class. ballet is scary and hard, and you sure as hell can't pirouette if you tell yourself you're going to fall over before you even plié. kate told us about the video. (also, she pokes at us for being so pathetic and scared when we come to dance class for FUNSIES because obviously none of us think we'll be ballerinas... so. duh.)



yaaaaayyyyyy! right? it makes so much sense. generally speaking, women are conditioned to take up less space. to cross their legs. to be petite. sarah has directed me to a social scientist, carol gilligan, who writes about the differences in women's use of their bodies from a young age onto adulthood and who i am SO SO excited to read. sarah gave the example of asking 5 year old and 18 year old girls to kick a soccer ball. the 5 year old will use her whole body - leg through hip through back through arms - and the 18 year old will kick only from the leg. we have the extent of our physical range conditioned out of us. and when i think about how bold and brave and occupying-of-space 10 year old erin was vs the accommodating thing i found myself to be in my early 20s... well. ooooof. i always wondered how i'd lost confidence with age and experience. this feels very true to me. (also, i do believe that i was taught the 'fake-it ' skills without knowing that that's what i was doing, and i have benefitted from that ability many times. thanks mom and dad!)

i feel like i'm too fired up on this particular theme to have made a lot of sense today. but i will read and think and reflect some more, and hopefully write a very coherent series of posts over time. seriously so excited about this. bodies, yo! space! extension!

happy friday!

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