Sexists Not Happy That A WOMAN Dared to Interrupt Obama
OH MY GOD. Did you hear that a WOMAN dared to stand up and interrupt President Obama’s speech to speak out on some very important issues like Guantanamo Bay and the killing of 16 year old Abdulrahman al-Awlaki? Well, that is exactly what Code Pink’s Medea Benjamin, a FEMALE, did. And would you look at that, Medea is a LADY. Just who does SHE think SHE is? Hint: She is a NOT A MAN.
Now, regardless as to whether you are an Obama supporter or not, or whether or not you think it was OK for her to interrupt the President’s speech, that’s not the issue here. What *is* the issue is the fact that some fine people, from the left and right, felt the need to demean Medea Benjamin because she is a WOMAN…
“Cunt!” “Whore!” “Daddy issues!” All very astute remarks that would also definitely be said to a man who did the same thing! Right?
Here’s a small snippet of people calling her a “bitch” because there was just way too much of that going on:
And don’t you dare happen to BE A WOMAN and come to the defense of Medea Benjamin, again ALSO A WOMAN, as Allison Kilkenny of Citizen Radio soon discovered:
“Being treated like possessions in our common history is true for women; it's true for people of color, and it's true for LGBTQ people. Our society can't bury us under the achievements of straight white men, though, because we are too much a part of history. We need to include ourselves in mainstream fiction and in speculative fiction, because we have always been here, all of us, all of us holding different, important roles. Don't let them ignore us anymore.”
—Tamora Pierce, “Because History Is NOT All SWM”
Hairy armpits
Okay, so we were in class watching a short film about a woman who gives feminist talks to young women and struggles with relationships. The woman continues to go on a blind date with a man.
On the date, she is very reserved and isn’t your typical girl. We see the couple become more intimate and then just as things heat up - the girl excuses herself to the bathroom.
In the bathroom, she takes off her tshirt and it’s evident she has hairy armpits. (She goes to shave her armpits and battles with the thoughts of “should I”, “shouldn’t I”, before going back to the intimacy).
Around the room, there were sighs of disgust at the hair. The people next to me were abhorred to see a woman with hairy armpits!
This infuriated me. More than half the people in this room are men, and probably have hairy armpits themselves.
In the film, the women decides not to shave. The story progressed and the couple became intimate again. As they take their clothes off, the man is revealed to have a hairy back. There was no reaction from the audience.
What is wrong with girls not shaving their bodies hairless? Many of us are shamed of our bodies when hair remains. We wax, pluck, shave etc, to feel normal and I guess… be sexually attractive.
We are made to feel disgusting when we do not conform to the stereotypical image of a woman.
This makes me so angry, the way that men and women have to be so different from each other. Why can’t we be equal with clothing, body image and feel happy with our bodies as they are?
(Personally, I hate hair on men and women and in some cases - I have to remove it. That’s because of my hair loss condition and how hair makes me feel - not because I find it unattractive or that it’s not normal for my gender.
