In pop culture, girls who crush hopelessly on guys they can’t have are painted as just that – hopeless. Over and over again, we’re taught that girls who openly express sexual or romantic interest in guys who don’t want them are pitiable, stalkerish, desperate, crazy bitches. More often than not, they’re also portrayed as ugly – whether physically, emotionally or both – in order to further establish their undesirability as an objective fact. Both narratively and, as a consequence, in real life, men are given free reign to snub, abuse, mislead and talk down to such women: we’re raised to believe that female desire is unseemly, so that any consequent shaming is therefore deserved. There is no female-equivalent Friend Zone terminology because, in the language of our culture, a man’s romantic choices are considered sacrosanct and inviolable. If a girl has been told no, then she has only herself to blame for anything that happens next – but if a woman says no, then she must not really mean it. Or, if she does, she shouldn’t: the rejected man is a universally sympathetic figure, and everyone from moviegoers to platonic onlookers will scream at her to justgive him a chance, as though her rejection must always be unfounded rather than based on the fact that he had a chance, and blew it. And even then, give him another one! The pathos of Single Nice Guys can only be eased by pity-sex with unwilling women that blossoms into romance!

— Lamenting the Friendzone, or: The Nice Guy Approach to Perpetuating Sexist Bullshit  (via waschbar)

(Source: fozmeadows)

Women owning their sexual pleasure veers dangerously close to women wanting to own their bodies. And we can’t have that! The more sexual agency you possess, the less of an object you become. That’s threatening to a lot of people.

— On Slut Shaming (via fuckititsfriday)

I am sorry people are so tired of me writing about misogyny. I occasionally get tired of living in a world defined by it.

— Alyssa Rosenberg (via thenewwomensmovement)

(Source: culturewhore)

TotalRandomness: lettherebecramp: if your feminism does not actively advocate for and...

lettherebecramp:

if your feminism does not actively advocate for and with women of color, your feminism is shit

if your feminism does not actively advocate for and with trans* women, your feminism is shit

if your feminism does not actively advocate for and with disabled women, your…

(Source: mamamantis)

Female characters who behave badly can of course be used as sticks to beat other women — though so can female characters who behave well, witness the cult of the Virgin Mary, better than you’ll ever be, and the legends of the female saints and martyrs — just cut on the dotted line, and, minus one body part, there’s your saint, and the only really good woman is a dead woman, so if you’re so good why aren’t you dead?

But female bad characters can also act as keys to doors we need to open, and as mirrors in which we can see more than just a pretty face. They can be explorations of moral freedom — because everyone’s choices are limited, and women’s choices have been more limited than men’s, but that doesn’t mean women can’t make choices . Such characters can pose the question of responsibility, because if you want power you have to accept responsibility, and actions produce consequences.

—

Margaret Atwood, “Spotty-Handed Villainesses: Problems of Female Bad Behaviour in the Creation of Literature” [x] (via mswyrr)

So true. They have you coming and going: being ‘bad’ or ‘good’ is not a game you can win, so be your magnificent self.

(via sarahreesbrennan)

I need intersectional and inclusive feminism

whoneedsfeminism:

Because people still think that Western feminism is the only kind of feminism.

Being a feminist doesn’t mean suddenly no longer liking problematic things. If you stopped liking everything that was sexist in media and entertainment there would be no media or entertainment left. Being a feminist, to me, is being aware of what it is you’re liking, and of its problematic aspects.

—

(via idontlikemyselfsogoaway)

I was literally just thinking this, I mean it’s just being a socially aware person in general. There are problems in so many things and it’s hard to un-see or not be critical of it once you become aware. 

(via crystalsavestheday)

(Source: glvalentine.livejournal.com)

You won’t allow me to go to school.
I won’t become a doctor.
Remember this:
One day you will be sick.

—

— Poem written by an 11 year old Afghan girl 

This poem was recorded in a NYT magazine article about female underground poetry groups in Afghanistan. An amazing article about the ways in which women are using a traditional two line poetry form to express their resistance to male oppression, their feelings about love (considered blasphemous), and their doubts about religion. 

One of the best articles I’ve read all year. Here’s the link

(via katyuno)

I think our lives have just begun: rosalarian: I think the reason I most dislike the DC reboot putting...

rosalarian:

I think the reason I most dislike the DC reboot putting all the women in pants is that it seems like DC thinks that’s all it takes to eliminate sexism in comics. It seems they think the equation is “Women - pants = sexist, therefor women + pants = not sexist.” I don’t know if…