http://lezgetreal.com/?p=28315
This just in-- Mississippi Lesbian Prom Story
Constance McMillen, an 18-year-old lesbian high school student is challenging a Mississippi school district policy that says no same-sex dates at the senior prom.
At issue is a memo put out to the Itawamba County high school students that laid out the criteria for bringing a date to the prom, and one requirement was that the person must be of the opposite sex. The people in charge told her that if she showed up at the prom with her girl, and made people "uncomfortable" there, they would be thrown OUT!!!!
This is a huge OMG In The World topic!!!!!!!
First, is it really a problem starting with the people who would feel uncomfortable, or is it the fact that these two people happen to have this orientation?
Second, is throwing them out and canceling prom altogether necessary?! Come ON! This is ridiculous.
Where is the respect for who people are? If authority figures are using this form of--almost discipline-- to solve this social issue (which is really an issue for people that react to it poorly) imagine what that implies!
This implies that orientation can be "wrong" instead of being exactly what it is-- orientation.
Is love wrong? Should love be disciplined? Should prom be canceled because of it?
Really now.
Constance contacted the American Civil Liberties Union, who said the schools district policy was a direct assault on her First Amendment right of free expression!!!! Yes!!!
They demanded the school respect those rights or be sued. The school officials responded by canceling the WHOLE PROM. (is this really how to solve this social issue? By ignoring it?!)
“It is our hope that private citizens will organize an event for the juniors and seniors… However, at this time, we feel that it is in the best interest of the Itawamba County School District, after taking into consideration the education, safety and well being of our students.”
Ellen DeGeneres is on the case. She happens to be one of my favorite comedians. Rock on!
Home of the....free?
How is this treatment different from other social treatments in history?
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Lingerie Football....and L'Oreal Worth It
The fact that I wasn't really sure there were women's pro football teams, but knew that they must exist, reveals that it just isn't talked about or very popular. I've watched women's basketball, seen women's pro-soccer, golf, hockey, lacrosse, all kinds of sports, but not the football. Until now. This popped on TV one day, and I was both concerned and admiring. This, is lingerie football, with models that play pro-football. Of course, there is just pro-football for women, but its not nearly as popular as this, which is likely why I really heard about it first.
I love sports. I'm competitive, and love the rush. I love playing soccer and basketball, and I know I'd like anything similar to hockey. I'd kill to play quidditch if it existed. It's not just a masculine thing to be strong and want to kick serious butt cheek! Strength is beautiful in any form. That's the truth of it folks. No matter what way it is expressed, strength and wholesome health are admired in everyone on the physical, mental, and emotional level. Putting it to work together in the active form of sport is like putting this whole story into motion. It's magnificent.
HERE IS WHAT ROCKS: I think the strong, beautiful women playing football are awesome for being models and playing very serious football with great tactics. The strong woman idea has become accepted socially over time, sort of like the sought after independent woman who's got it all. (Still note that they are sought after by the guys...its still a bit taboo the other way around, just a bit) This results from women historically taking their stand and gaining respect. I like this and totally fall into wanting to be the strong pretty independent. Classic for today, and seems natural anyway.
HERE IS THE PROBLEM: WHY, oh, WHY is it that in order for women's football to be recognized, does it have to be LINGERIE football? I'll tell you why! Men are controlling that market! There it is, I've said it. They buy the season tickets to see lingerie football, not regular women's football. Women's sports aren't as popular anyway as the men's, predominantly due to gender role ideals in history. Recently, football has been idealized as so masculine, that if you're a guy and you don't like football, you might be classified into a stereotyped category. SO THERE HAS TO BE SEX APPEAL IN ORDER TO GET ATTENTION TO WOMEN IN THIS PARTICULAR SPORT?!?! That's what ticks me off a bit. Of course, sex appeal gets women attention for many, many things on subtle and not so subtle levels, especially with something in the market. Sex sells is the problem. Where did that respect go? The good thing is, once the guys have a seat, the girls actually play a great game.
But this reminds me of the commercial that came on right after I saw this TV clip. It was for a jaw line cream from L'Oreal, to make a woman look a certain way right on the jaw line, and then, after they've bought the product, after they've changed whatever it was about their natural look, only then, according to a social standard, are they worth it. Like the models.
The football and makeup extremes meet... the sexy models are free to be sporty, but both elements are subject to sex appeal here. It goes straight backward.
Excuse me, but I think all women are worth it without having to change themselves from who they are or how they naturally look, and are worth much more than all the sex appeal ideal. I think over time, women will get more involved in sports and gain even more respect for being tough.
For real. ; )
Gay Real Estate, Really? (Feb 2010)
People are people, people….
So I was scrolling through the internet to find out more things to do in Asheville, NC since I will be heading there this spring as a nice get-away. It is going to rock. I love the diversity, the artwork, music, mountain terrain, trees, open-minded people and food. It's a really awesome place to be. I found a website with some menu headings.... showing "Cabins and Cottages, Downtown Asheville, News and Articles, Real Estate, Gay and Lesbian, Maps and Weather, Hiking, Gay Real Estate, Restaurants, Outdoor Guide..." Wait. Really? Hold on. Let me look at that again... http://www.romanticasheville.com/gayandlesbian.html Perhaps I have not visited enough travel guide websites, but it was an eye-opener for me to see: First—an isolated section for Gay and Lesbian listed as a category and menu item with specific things to do, just for them--second, the Gay Real Estate subsection. Ok. I'll break it down for you in a minute. Gay Real Estate included information about gay neighborhoods and cottages owned mostly by gay men (I noted that as I searched through the site, it was a little bit stereotypically skewed to cater to gay men, an interesting intersection of orientation and gender). Hold all those phones, just hold them all for a second!!! Your horses too. There is many a cow to be had.
I love all kinds of people and have that desire for equality for all, just like many modern middle-class white heterosexual women do within a degree of invisible privilege that must be recognized, especially in a Women’s and Gender class like this. People are people, people! I think each individual person would love to do a wide variety of different things in Asheville, NC, romantic or touristy.
I can see why there is a need and a growing market for Gay Real Estate, or neighborhoods that are gay-friendly. Of course there is a gay community, and in the heterosexual bird cage, there’s got to be a social network that gives that community the freedom to find others to date, (for example, gay bars, under the things to do of the Gay and Lesbian section) and the freedom to not be judged constantly by your own neighbors. I mean, come on. As a heterosexual woman of this planet, I personally enjoy the freedom of being able to meet and date people. I also like having respectful neighbors that understand me.
What makes me pause is the fact that our society just isn't judgment free yet, and there remains a need for gay-friendly neighborhoods and website menus identifying a group with what really looks like isolated stereotypical "things they might like to do," and neighborhoods or cottages, just for "them," by “them” for “their” social protection from –those- that would oppress “them.” Who are “they?” Why aren’t they considered part of what forms us? I wish the social judgements of –those- that create touchy social boundaries ceased to exist.
Gay and Lesbian Things To Do: Highlighted in introduction text is the art, crafts, galleries, bakeries and flowers…. And pictures of gay men mostly enjoying those things. Where did the lesbian things to do go exactly? Are they stereotypically identified to enjoy the art and crafts as much? There is some balance, but it’s skewed a bit to appeal to gay men using their stereotypically identified characteristics. In addition to the highlights, they mention everything I want to do too. So the only thing that’s different in what I want to do in Asheville would be the gay bar scene. Why not just have the gay/lesbian dating ideas presented instead of an isolated things to do category?
Gay and Lesbian Real Estate: People that have been stereotyped sometimes group up as an identity to create their own freedom, because frankly, they’re not enjoying the bird cage much anyway. This can become a bad cycle when they isolate themselves as an identified group, but also something good because they aren’t being judged for happening to exist. To break the cycle, social judgment must stop here. I like how this is happening in the city of Asheville, but wary of the title, Gay and Lesbian Real Estate... it acts in a similar fashion to the things to do idea...
Why is there so much beef with sexual orientation? Is this menu item any different from having a category full of exciting things to do for Latinos based on racial stereotypes? It gets beefy when you analyze the construction of our social norm. and the fact that social behavior is even more carefully under control than judgment over something like race.
These are people, people! It is my opinion that love does not judge.
So I was scrolling through the internet to find out more things to do in Asheville, NC since I will be heading there this spring as a nice get-away. It is going to rock. I love the diversity, the artwork, music, mountain terrain, trees, open-minded people and food. It's a really awesome place to be. I found a website with some menu headings.... showing "Cabins and Cottages, Downtown Asheville, News and Articles, Real Estate, Gay and Lesbian, Maps and Weather, Hiking, Gay Real Estate, Restaurants, Outdoor Guide..." Wait. Really? Hold on. Let me look at that again... http://www.romanticasheville.com/gayandlesbian.html Perhaps I have not visited enough travel guide websites, but it was an eye-opener for me to see: First—an isolated section for Gay and Lesbian listed as a category and menu item with specific things to do, just for them--second, the Gay Real Estate subsection. Ok. I'll break it down for you in a minute. Gay Real Estate included information about gay neighborhoods and cottages owned mostly by gay men (I noted that as I searched through the site, it was a little bit stereotypically skewed to cater to gay men, an interesting intersection of orientation and gender). Hold all those phones, just hold them all for a second!!! Your horses too. There is many a cow to be had.
I love all kinds of people and have that desire for equality for all, just like many modern middle-class white heterosexual women do within a degree of invisible privilege that must be recognized, especially in a Women’s and Gender class like this. People are people, people! I think each individual person would love to do a wide variety of different things in Asheville, NC, romantic or touristy.
I can see why there is a need and a growing market for Gay Real Estate, or neighborhoods that are gay-friendly. Of course there is a gay community, and in the heterosexual bird cage, there’s got to be a social network that gives that community the freedom to find others to date, (for example, gay bars, under the things to do of the Gay and Lesbian section) and the freedom to not be judged constantly by your own neighbors. I mean, come on. As a heterosexual woman of this planet, I personally enjoy the freedom of being able to meet and date people. I also like having respectful neighbors that understand me.
What makes me pause is the fact that our society just isn't judgment free yet, and there remains a need for gay-friendly neighborhoods and website menus identifying a group with what really looks like isolated stereotypical "things they might like to do," and neighborhoods or cottages, just for "them," by “them” for “their” social protection from –those- that would oppress “them.” Who are “they?” Why aren’t they considered part of what forms us? I wish the social judgements of –those- that create touchy social boundaries ceased to exist.
Gay and Lesbian Things To Do: Highlighted in introduction text is the art, crafts, galleries, bakeries and flowers…. And pictures of gay men mostly enjoying those things. Where did the lesbian things to do go exactly? Are they stereotypically identified to enjoy the art and crafts as much? There is some balance, but it’s skewed a bit to appeal to gay men using their stereotypically identified characteristics. In addition to the highlights, they mention everything I want to do too. So the only thing that’s different in what I want to do in Asheville would be the gay bar scene. Why not just have the gay/lesbian dating ideas presented instead of an isolated things to do category?
Gay and Lesbian Real Estate: People that have been stereotyped sometimes group up as an identity to create their own freedom, because frankly, they’re not enjoying the bird cage much anyway. This can become a bad cycle when they isolate themselves as an identified group, but also something good because they aren’t being judged for happening to exist. To break the cycle, social judgment must stop here. I like how this is happening in the city of Asheville, but wary of the title, Gay and Lesbian Real Estate... it acts in a similar fashion to the things to do idea...
Why is there so much beef with sexual orientation? Is this menu item any different from having a category full of exciting things to do for Latinos based on racial stereotypes? It gets beefy when you analyze the construction of our social norm. and the fact that social behavior is even more carefully under control than judgment over something like race.
These are people, people! It is my opinion that love does not judge.
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