Vegan Steven

My scooter was stolen

2012-01-25T23:37:00.000-08:00

To most people I know that it seems like I am handling this pretty well. The truth of the matter is.......THAT I'M PISSED! Can you believe this nonsense? I mean who the hell steals someone's bike? People can be pretty sick. You know what? I actually liked that bike. An orange and white Honda Metropolitan of glory. People laughed at me sometimes as they passed me buy....... I didn't care, it was fun to ride. Now I have to walk everywhere I go or bother someone for a ride. I mean it's not bad walking to work or school, but it's still annoying..... Mostly because the reason that I'm walking is because SOMEONE STOLE MY BIKE!

Now I have to go through the whole insurance claim process, which you know what's like if you've ever filed a claim for a stolen vehicle. For those of you who don't I will say this:

It's like your sibling took your toy and hid it from you. You aren't sure who did it but you tell your mom it's missing, but for some reason she starts searching your room. You are like, "Hey mom, what the heck?! SOMEONE STOLE IT! It's not in my room!"

And then your mom is like, "Yo son, I gotta make sure you didn't steal it yourself just to try and get a new toy!"

So you're all like, "What?! Are you kidding me mom?!"

Your mom replies, "I just have to make sure it's not fraud."

Facepalm.

It gets worse and more annoying, but geez I've had enough already just typing about it. It's going to take forever to replace it. Whoever stole my bike, karma is going to kick your ass.

Reiki

2012-01-15T22:35:00.000-08:00

Tonight someone did reiki on me. I am not even sure how you say that reiki is done to you, but I got it done to me. Go and look up what it is. You may have heard of it before and are probably thinking that it's a load of crap. I was a little skeptical but I like to keep an open mind when it comes to these healing arts type of things. I mean let's face it, we all know that a proper vegan diet will prevent a lot of illnesses and even treat them. But doctors aren't exactly passing that info around.

At first it just seemed like a person was just putting their hands on me, but after a couple of minutes I could feel something in my body. It felt like a thick liquid was coursing through my body at first, then that developed into a strange swirling of energy within my torso (imagine like 2 whirlpools meeting that flow an opposite direction of each other). When she put her hands on my feet I could feel the energy flowing upwards into my legs. At times I could even feel it penetrating my bones, almost as the energy was traveling in the hollow. At one point I could feel the energy swirling around in me when her hands were not even touching me.

With a creative mind like mine, the relaxing music, and the actual reiki being performed on me, it wasn't long before I slipped into a different world. That's what it seemed. Suddenly I was floating through a thick mist. Streams of water with pebbles and larger stones began to develop in front of me. When I broke through the mist I could see giant mountains in the distance. Smoke was billowing from the highest peak in the center. I was suddenly relaxed and free of stress as I realized the mountain was a part of me. Then it was over. (And no I was not on drugs!)

When I got up from the table I felt completely energized and free of stress. Apparently it effects people differently. It's hard to understand or even really explain this unless you have had it done you. I would recommend anyone to give it a try!

Cut my hair for the cause!

2012-01-12T16:55:00.000-08:00

The new semester is about to start and so I cut off my hair! Some people begged me not to do it, others have been begging me to do it....for years! Well the time has finally come. The time of my hair being cut from my head. Well how does it look?

WHY?!?!?!

Here is why I did it. As you may know I am an activist for animals. This means I have to talk to new people and give presentations to strangers at times. People like an approachable look. I feel that my old haircut intimidated people in some way or another, at times. Although I already knew this, it was pointed out to me by a classmate last semester. Once this happened I started thinking about the possibility that someone might have stuck around to hear me out just because I seemed like a normal approachable man. So yeah, I did it for the animals! (but I think it looks good :p)

Calling out my classmates

2011-12-07T10:13:00.001-08:00

So I couldn't help it, I called out my classmates in Women's Studies class, Here is what I said....

So..... A lot of presentations about marriage on the day I presented "Hot Dog Penises and Vaginal Pies: How Food is Gendered through the Context of the Media", I noticed.

First of all I would like to apologize to my classmates for whose presentation I missed, I truly regret missing them.

With that being said, if you did your "research" project about marriage and it was in the style of the presentations I witnessed on December 1st, then I am calling you out. For one thing, you all just told us about the stereotypical aspects and information about weddings that we all already know. The stuff we have been conditioned to know about marriage since birth pretty much. Where are the findings of your RESEARCH???? I certainly didn't learn anything new. Perhaps you are from somewhere that marriage does not exist, so your presentation was actually new findings for you! Maybe you did not understand the assignment? Maybe you were just lazy? Maybe a combination? Whatever the reason, I am disappointed. How come no one talked about how marriage is literally a property exchange, where the woman is the property being sold/given from one man to another? How come no one talked about how the concept of the white wedding effects men and women in our culture? How come no one talked about non christian weddings? It seemed non traditional weddings were hardly mentioned, and very briefly at that I could go on all day about the social institution of marriage and try to teach you about marriage and the different social aspects of the issue, but THAT'S WHAT YOU WERE SUPPOSE TO DO! Right? You could have at least regurgitated the material on marriage from class but you didn't even do that! Geez, next time actually do some research as the title of the assignment, "Research Project", implies. What you all did would be like if I got up for my presentation and explained to you what food literally is and gave the book definition of gender.

"Hi, my name is Steven Garnett. I did my research on food and gender. Gender is....well crap I forgot, how about sex? Sex is if you are a male or

female! That's the same as gender right?! Let me tell you about food! Carrots and Grains are food! You can eat them! People eat them for lunch everyday!!!"

It's disrespectful to the instructor and your classmates, and yes I can be kind of a douche.

And just so you know, I am not against people getting married. I am happily divorced myself! My choices in life and my opinions in this post have nothing to do with how I was raised, I assure you!

(Uh oh! What ya gonna do?!)

Oh and one last thing! While I'm complaining let me offer you some advice. Stop making power points where everything you say is bulleted in power point. This is boring and makes for a dull presentation....You folks are in college.

Food and Gender through the Context of the Media

2011-12-07T09:17:00.000-08:00

Abstract

Over the last four months I have been extensively conducting research concerning the gendering of food through the context of the media. I was not surprised to discover an overwhelming amount of evidence to support that our media enforces the idea of women being equated with food and animals. By examining my findings I will explain and exemplify the different ways of how food is masculated and feminized while looking into the concept of the animalization of women and sexualization of animals. I will then explore the gendering of food through the consumption and preparation of food. I will examine how these food roles have been gendered throughout history and what this means for men and women living today. The whole idea of food gendering is like a thick tree trunk; a tree trunk that I intend to climb and examine every branch of from the bottom to the top.

Food and Gender through the Context of the Media

Before the Neolithic revolution most humans lived in hunter/gatherer societies. It was the role of men to hunt and provide the meat and other salvageable animal products that were needed in those times for the survival of the group as a whole. Another role of men was to protect the women and children of the group from any outside threats. It was the role of women to rear children, prepare and cook foods, craft from animal product and other natural materials, and to gather plant based food and water. This ideological explanation of past gender roles is widely accepted. From this root grew the idea of women belonging in the kitchen cooking for men, the idea of men providing the meat, patriarchal meat eating, and the idea of the aggressive male protector. Because food is needed for human survival, these types of gender roles originate from a system based upon the obtainment of foods and other natural materials. These ideological gender roles are still present, enforced, and policed within our society today.

Food related gender roles are not the only way how food is gendered. Certain types of food are literally assigned gender through the masculation and feminization of foods; in conjunction women are animalized and animals are sexualized, creating the subconscious thought that women, animals, and food are all equal items for male consumption. Have you ever participated in or heard someone making some type of penis reference about a hot dog or sausage? Have you ever heard female breasts referred to as melons? The media is responsible for implementing and maintaining these types of stereotypical food based gender associations.

Through the media: food based gender roles, the consumption and preparation of food, the equation of women to food, the animalization of women and sexualization of animals, and the masculation and feminization of food are all part of the socially constructed ideology of gendered food.

For centuries it has been the role of women to prepare and cook most foods for the group or family, while it has been the role of men to hunt and provide food for the group or family. These past gender roles are used to institute modern ideas of gender roles which are enforced by the media. The sitcom (situational comedy) style of television programming is normally used to display the ideal image of the nuclear family. In many sitcoms you will notice the wife character is usually in the kitchen cooking or serving the man in some form. On certain occasions, such as Independence Day themed episodes, you may notice that the husband character takes up the cooking. This type of masculine cooking display is always the cooking of meat, outside on a grill. Sometimes the woman will be permitted to cook the meat as long as the man is the one serving it to the family; this usually occurs on Thanksgiving or Christmas themed episodes. This act of serving the meat symbolizes the age old masculine gender role of the man as the hunter and provider of meat. He slices the meat and gives it to his family to show that he has the strength that brought down the wild beast that they are about to consume, reinforcing the idea that his brute power is needed for the family’s survival and continuity. However, it is ironic that in modern times it is the woman who is expected to go out and buy the pre-slaughtered and butchered meat that the family consumes. It is ironic that the man partakes in “traditions” that are symbolizations of acts that he does not actually commit. He is always portrayed to be without conflict, taking all of the credit.

During an interview with gender and diversity studies graduate student Veronica Limberry, she stated that:

Western history constructs men as being the hunters, so from our own historical perceptions of ourselves, men kill things to provide meat. Stemming from that, adverstising today provides us with men being associated with hamburgers, and manly meals always involving meat. I think that’s why we see men cooking meat, because if men aren’t associated with meat then they are not being manly. If a man was in the kitchen, which is where we most often see women, it would associate him with being a woman. (Interview)

This makes perfect sense because as stated in Gendered Lives by Julia T. Wood, in reference to male gender development, “The prime directive is don’t be female. The most fundamental requirement for manhood is not being womanly” (Wood 180). This is explains why it is acceptable for men to cook the meat, when cooking is normally associated with women. Meat is a symbol of masculine virility, therefore it is for men and preparing and cooking meat is acceptable when done by or for a man. Meat is a constant for men and it is intermittent for women, this pattern is painfully observed in famine situations today. In a global perspective women are starving at a rate disproportionate to men. Ethiopian women and girls are obliged to prepare two meals, one for the males and a second, usually containing no meat or other substantial protein, for the females (Adams 48). This notion is exemplified in the famous speech Ain’t I a Woman by Sojourner Truth when she stated, “I could work as much and eat as much as a man - when I could get it - and bear the lash as well! And ain't I a woman?” (Truth Lecture), acknowledging that women have less access to food than men. This should give you an idea of just how much meat and masculinity are intertwined. These food based gender roles and stereotypical ideas of food and gender identity are fully implemented by advertising within the media. This is why you see ads for convenience foods with tired and over worked women in the kitchen, and why you see ads featuring men having fun cooking hot dogs on the grill out in the open air. In the Sexual Politics of Meat, Carol J. Adams points out how these roles have been implemented in even our earliest forms of media illustrating that, “Fairy tales initiate us at an early age into the dynamics of eating and sex roles. The king in his counting house ate four-and-twenty blackbirds in a pie while the queen ate bread and honey” (Adams 49).

The marketing of food is also gendered. Basically anything that is not sold in a grocery store, such as fast food, is marketed towards women. You will usually see ads that tell women their product will make cooking for the family more convenient. These ads always feature a woman who is over worked and then is saved by the product that makes her and her family happy. In Katherine Parkins’ book Food is Love: Advertising and Gender Roles in Modern America, she informs us that:

Even though advertisers commissioned countless research studies to evaluate female consumers, food advertisers frequently neglected their findings and almost exclusively marketed their foods to women using a traditional guise. In order to maintain and stimulate their base, advertisers preyed on women’s insecurities, lavished them with false praise, and encouraged an entitlement to free time to necessitate convenience foods. (Parkins 77)

This makes sense because it is easier to manipulate someone by taking advantage of their socially conditioned insecurities than with the truth. The same concept applies to the masculine marketing of meat. In numerous ads I have seen tofu and vegetables referred to as “chick food” and meat products labeled as manly. A great exemplification of this can be found in a Hummer advertisement featuring a scrawny man buying tofu. As the man picks up his tofu, he witnesses another man who is tall and muscular buying steaks. In an attempt to regain his masculinity he rushes out and immediately purchases a Hummer.

The gendering of food goes beyond the classic and stereotypical food based gender roles of past and present. These types of gender role ideas have been long discussed in feminist theory. In order to fully decipher and decode the perpetuations instilled in us by the media, we must recognize that women are equated with foods and animals. “Women are often trivialized by language. They are frequently demeaned by metaphors that equate them with food (dish, feast for the eyes, good enough to eat, cheesecake, cookie, cupcake, hot tomato, honey pie) and animals (chick, pig, dog, cow , bitch)” (Wood 117). While researching this trend in the field I also heard more vulgar references to women’s genitalia such as pussy, roast beef, and meat curtains. My research leaves me to believe that Wood was rather modest in her listing of terms equating women with animals and food. When discussing the equating of women to animals and food it is important to understand that women and animals often become absent referents.

When you replace the meaning of a word that refers to someone with a word that refers to “something else”, that “something else” becomes a kind of absent referent. The most obvious instance I can exemplify is the usage of the word bitch to describe women. Here the actual bitch (female dog) becomes the absent referent. Carol J. Adams uses the term absent referent to help explain a psycho-social detachment that occurs within meat-eaters by saying that in meat the absent referent is animal death. Adams goes on to explain:

The animals have become absent referents, whose fate is transmuted into a metaphor for someone else’s existence or fate. Metaphorically, the absent referent can be anything whose original meaning is undercut as it is absorbed into a different hierarchy of meaning; in this case the original meaning of animals’ fates is absorbed into a human-centered hierarchy. Specifically in regard to rape victims and battered women, the death experiences of animals acts to illustrate the lived experience of women.

The absent referent is both there and not there. It is there through inference, but its meaningfulness reflects only upon what it refers to because the originating, literal, experience that contributes the meaning is not there. We fail to accord this absent referent its own existence. (Adams 67)

This should give you an idea of how to begin understanding absent referents dealing with food and gender through the context of the media.

It is also important to understand that women are animalized and animals are sexualized when discussing the equation of women to food and animals. This means that women are portrayed as animals and that animals are given feminine characteristics and portrayed as sex objects. On the Ludacris album cover for Chicken and Beer, Ludacris is featured behind a plate of dead chicken’s wings; he his holding up a woman’s leg and sprinkling salt on her skin as he prepares to consume the human female leg. This symbolizes that there is no difference between the “food” on his plate and the female body part in his hands. In this instance animal oppression and the oppression of women both become the absent referents. Understanding the equation of women to food and animals, absent referents, and the animalization of women and sexualization of animals, we can now observe that through the use of absent referents women, animals, and other minorities have been made into objects that are easily interchangeable for the consumption of the dominant patriarchal culture. This is a social construction that is completely enforced by advertising and the media as I exemplified using the Ludacris album cover. In an exclusive interview with Carol J. Adams I asked her, “Why are we equating women to animals and food?” She responded by saying that in order to maintain dominance, the dominant white male culture equates those who are not dominant with each other (Adams Interview).

We have embraced how historically and modernly food is gendered through the assignment of gender roles. We have also discussed how women are animalized and equated with foods. In these ways foods are masculated and feminized, but the foods are also literally masculated and feminized. As a result of historical and stereotypical genderings based on food, food has come to be gendered as well. With vegetables becoming the symbol for female passivity and meat becoming the symbol of the dominant male, we have learned how some foods are for men and others are for women. In modern times the media is responsible for upholding while policing and enforcing these ideas. We have come to see food items such as melons and milk jugs to represent female breasts, while penises have come to be represented by sausage type foods and meat in general. You can see this trend occurring often in fast food advertisements. In one Burger King ad, they are advertising a sandwich called the “Super Seven-Incher”. The ad features a woman with an open mouth presented with a phallic sandwich representing a penis. The ad reads, “It’ll blow your mind!” The sexual innuendo is obvious and intended. This is just one example from many. The media is so successful in its masculation and feminization of food that people within our culture literally cannot look at a hot dog without seeing a penis. In a popular movie entitled American Pie, a young man attempts to have sex with a pie because he is told by a peer that a woman’s vagina is like warm apple pie. Pies are usually associated with vaginas. Here we have women being equated with food that is equated with female genitalia. We can now understand how the entire concept of women being equated with food and animals is deeply intertwined with the literal masculation and feminization of food.

Observing how the media has skewed our image of women and food and animals, metaphorically putting them on the same plate, some women choose to actively and knowingly participate in the patriarchal treatment of women and eating of meat. Ariel Levy defines these women as female chauvinist pigs. A female chauvinist pig is a woman who participates in dominant male culture, attempting to exclude herself from the women who are being oppressed. They find enjoyment in the exploitation and objectification of women. In reference to female chauvinist pigs’ participation with the sex industry culture, Levy argues, “While the FCP shuns girly-girls (the type of woman an FCP despises) from her social life, she is fixated on them for her entertainment. Nobody has to wax as much as porn star, and most strippers wouldn’t be caught dead without a manicure. Weirdly, these are the women (the ultimate girly-girls) who FCPs spend their time thinking about” (Levy 101). This same concept can be applied to women who participate in masculine meat eating and adhere to the equation of women to animals and food. It makes sense that a woman who knowingly consumes a product that hurts women, and uses language oppressive to women, could also be labeled as a female chauvinist pig seeing as meat is used to exploit and objectify women. Levy goes on to state:

There’s just one thing: Even if you are a woman who achieves the ultimate and becomes like a man, you will still always be like a woman. And as long as womanhood is thought of as something to escape from, something less than manhood, you will be thought less of, too.

It can be fun to feel exceptional, to have a whole power thing, to be an honorary man. But if you are the exception that proves the rule, and the rule is that women are inferior, you haven’t made any progress. (Levy 112, 117)

This is a statement that I could not agree more with. Problematically, you may have recognized within the term itself, “female chauvinist pig”, there is an absent referent: an actual pig who has been attached negative connotations referring to masculinity.

We have women as animals, we have women as food, and we have hot dog penises and vaginal pies. We have women at the stove, we have men on the grill, and we have men defined by meat and women defined by domesticity and sex appeal. We have women as the meat the men are eating made by women for men who killed the meat and even women participating in role of the oppressor. It's like an endless cycle that almost doesn't even make sense. However, there is a way we can make sense of it all: by setting aside what we have been conditioned to accept; by realizing and making the connection to animal and human oppression and taking a stand to say "no more”; by educating ourselves further on the issues so we can come to understand how powerful the media is in shaping who we are and then pushing it back. Perhaps then we can create a humane and peaceful world, just as the one labeled as a monster in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein envisioned:

My food is not that of a man; I do not destroy the lamb and the kid, to glut my appetite; acorns and berries afford me sufficient nourishment. My companion will be of the same nature as myself, and will be content with the same fare. We shall make our bed of dried leaves; the sun will shine on us as on man, and will ripen our food. The picture I present to you is peaceful and human. (qtd. In Adams 150)

Works Cited

Adams, Carol J. The Sexual Politics of Meat: a Feminist-vegetarian Critical Theory. New York: Continuum, 2010. Print.

"Interviewing Carol J. Adams." Telephone interview. Dec. 2011. Web.

"Interviewing Veronica Limeberry." Personal interview. Nov. 2011. Web.

Levy, Ariel. Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture. New York: Free, 2006. Print.

Parkin, Katherine J. Food Is Love: Food Advertising and Gender Roles in Modern America. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 2006. Print.

Truth, Sojourner. "Ain't I a Woman." Speech. Women's Convention. Akron Ohio. 1851. Web.

Wood, Julia T. Gendered Lives: Communication, Gender, and Culture. Australia: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2011. Print.

In Memory of Dr. Karen Cajka

2011-11-17T10:35:00.000-08:00

Dr. Karen Cajka was a strong and intelligent woman. I remember that when I first met her I was actually a little intimidated. I didn't get to know her all that well; I was new to the women's studies program that she was the head of. One thing I did know about her is that she had good sense of humor, I could just tell. I remember being in the women's studies office making jokes at the expense of our sexist culture and society, and certain people ;) looking at me and telling me with their eyes, "Steve! Dr. Cajka is in her office!"

And me thinking, "Dr. Cajka gets it."

I remember when I first heard the news. I had overslept for my women's studies class and I woke up to Veronica calling my phone. I could tell by the tone of her voice, somehow I already knew what she was going to say. It turned out the class had been canceled.

I always wondered, "Would I ever cry if someone died?"

When my grandfather died I shed no tears. He had been sick for a very long time, and I was never really close to him. It just seemed proper and acceptable. I believe most of the family felt that way in some sense or another, although tears were of course shed. To lose such an amazing woman and to see how it affects the people who were closer to her, today I learned the answer to that question.

Today the world lost a strong and intelligent woman, a teacher and mentor, a friend to the vegan and vegetarian community, and friend and treasure. No one really knows what happens when you leave this world, but I'd like to believe that it will be the beginning of an all new adventure. Good luck on yours Dr. Cajka.

Please enjoy this video of Dr. Cajka doing what she did best, being awesome!

PETA Attacks Mario! Oh My God!

2011-11-16T12:59:00.001-08:00

PETA is attacking Mario now. First they degrade women in the name of animal rights, now they are attacking Nintendo’s Mario. This is ridiculous PETA. For those of you who don’t know, a tanuki is a raccoon like animal that lives in Japan. For one thing it’s obviously not a real tanooki skin or even supposed to be a real one. What? Is it from a giant tanooki? Those do not even exist. It looks like some kind of mascot style suit to me; it doesn’t even look furry like it’s made of rubber or something. I have seen PETA protestors dressed like Chickens before. Are you telling me that dressing like a chicken for an animal rights protest promotes wearing fur in the name of animal rights? Hmmm Geee that sounds familiar. It sounds just like your campaign that enforces sexism through the forms of absent referents and countless photoshopped models posing for Anti-Fur. The same campaign that says it’s ok to sacrifice women in the name of animal rights. So what’s the difference? First women, now Mario? Leave Mario Alone! Chris Crocker, come on, you’re vegan or vegetarian I think. Tell them; tell them to leave Mario alone!

The suit doesn’t even resemble a real animal skin, and I didn’t even think it was real when I was a child. And anyways, I am pretty sure the suit is magical. It just appears on you, so that proves that it’s not even from a real tanooki. It’s faux fur made out of pixels. That’s better than most real faux fur that has dog and cat fur in it. Why aren’t they saying anything about the frog suit or the fact that Mario de-shells and kills countless turtles or the fact that he kills dinosaurs, a species that is extinct but somehow in Mario there are some left and Mario kills them all? It’s genocide of dinosaurs in Mario people! It’s ridiculous PETA, so geez give it a rest you sexist lunatics.

I grew up on Mario. Disowning Mario for the tanooki suit is just like disowning your father because he wears leather shoes. Mario is a family member.

EDIT*

According to mariowiki.com....

While Tanooki Mario returns in Super Mario 3D Land, the Tanooki Suit doesn't. ^[1] Instead, Mario must obtain a Super Leaf to transform into Tanooki Mario. Tanooki Mario is able to attack enemies with his tail and scuttle to jump longer. Statue Mario also appears, but only after Mario (or Luigi) grabs a Statue Leaf, which is a brand new item in the game.

This means that now instead of it being a suit that Mario wears it is more like the magic leaf transform Mario into some kind of Tanooki Human Hybrid. So now I really don't see what is the big issue? If this does anything it just makes people aware that there is actually an animal called a tanuki that exists, it does not promote fur.

Hegans: The New Term for Male Vegans

2011-11-16T05:11:00.000-08:00

What is a Hegan? It's simple a male vegan. I am seeing this term flying all over the internet and have even heard a few friends use the term. I don't like this term because I feel like it's some kind of way to spotlight the fact that the vegan is male, as if it makes some kind of difference. Obviously it's a good thing that more men are going vegan. Due to the emasculating stereotypes that go along with veganism, it's like someone decided they needed to "man up" the word vegan so it would feel more manly to be a vegan. I don't see why women have to be vegan and men have to be hegan. It's kind of silly. It's like the same thing as spotlighting women in occupational roles of doctor, lawyer, or police officer by saying "It's a woman doctor, or woman police officer". I think that veganism and feminism go hand in hand, and to run around and start calling yourself and other male vegans hegans is the beginning of dragging even more gender inequity into veganism and the animal rights movement.

http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/food/articles/2010/03/24/men_leave_their_own_mark_on_veganism/?page=2

According to this article the Hegans, don't give a flying ball skin about animals or the environment. They are just old douchebags trying to live longer. Apparently from what I have read, this is one the original articles that the term hegan appears. So I guess the term hegan is a masculine gendered male who wants to live longer through dieting, and the diet just happens to be veganism (Cause DUH! It's the best diet). For them it's not a lifestyle change just a diet. So screw going hegan, GO VEGAN!

Men and Pornography

2011-11-15T03:30:00.002-08:00

As you may know, a lot of men look at pornography. In fact I know a lot of men and they all look at pornography. Because of "Dark Side of Masculinity" type conversations that occur within male groups, men often talk about pornography with each other. They talk about what kind of porn they like and what porn actors they like to watch. Most men are addicted to pornography, this is something that most men will never admit. In our masculine culture it is considered embarrassing and shameful to be a porn addict because we are socialized to act unbeatable, and accepting addiction is accepting defeat. Ironically overcoming an addiction is what requires true strength, but anyway that's men. Men don't even want their partners to know about their pornography so they keep it secret, although exceptionally a woman will express her own interest in pornography creating a safe zone where the man will then share some of his pornographic habits. Most men are addicted to pornography and are in complete denial with porn addiction unable to be seen as a serious or true addiction in the mindset of the masses.

If you are reading my writings then you already know that I understand how pornography harms and effects women, and that I do not support pornography. But how does pornography harm and effect men?

Men are usually exposed to pornography in some form at an early age. I recall my first e

xposure to pornography when I was around ten and a friend had acquired one his dad's pornographic magazines. It wasn't anything to graphic, just nude women. As I got older I obviously saw a lot more. Due the internet

porn is easy to find and you can spare yourself the shame of buying it publicly, this means that with porn being so mainstream the problems it produces are more evident than ever. Men who watch porn experience a sexual encounter that requires absolutely no social interaction. This promotes anti social behavior when it comes to dating, but more importantly porn creates an ideology that a personal connection or mutual desire is not associated with or required for sexual intercourse. Basically men are socialized that women are objects, and the only connection you can make with an object is that you are it's master and can do what you wish with it. You can surely understand how this is problematic.

Pornography creates insecurity in men. Although most women would agree that they would rather not sleep with men who have giant 12 inch penises, porn makes men feel emasculated by not having giant 12 inch penises. Most men wish they had a bigger penis. Male porn stars typically have unusually large penises, sometimes naturally but often surgically. Constantly seeing images of women who only want men with a gigantic penis, who often comment on the penis size before, during, and after intercourse makes men feel like having a gigantic penis is the only way to possibly satisfy a women sexually. Of course this mentality only applies in situations where a man is interested in dating a woman. In instances of random and usually predatory sexual encounters, a stereo-typically masculine gendered male could care less about a women's sexual satisfaction. These types of insecurities lead to self loathing and negative impacts on their sexual performance. Men who look at pornography often have more difficulties in the bedroom. Because they are so use to seeing unrealistic looking and acting women in porn, it's hard for them to become aroused by real women. They have become desensitized to sex itself.

In Gloria Steinem's essay "Erotica vs. Pornography", she argues that erotica is acceptable with feminist ideology where pornography is not. This makes sense through a female feminist point of view, but I have certain concerns that are problematic to her case on erotica. Because men have been so socialized to see women as objects you can't just trade out the porn for erotica. While someone with a complete feminist mindset can see erotica as an art of gender equity, a masculine gendered male will still objectify the women within erotica just as he objectifies his server at a restaurant or a women he sees in a chewing gum commercial. It doesn't matter because the utter disrespect and objectification of women is so embedded and internalized that it takes much more for it to become undone.

This is why gender and women's studies is so important. When you become educated on issues like pornography, only then can you begin to understand how it is problematic for men and women. I think that gender studies should be just as basic of a subject math, science, and history. We should be learning about feminist theories and practices from and early age and onward. Only through this type of education can we finally begin to overcome and solve problems of gender inequity. Only in that future can something like erotica be truely seen by men as how it is intended.

If your partner looks at pornography, you should find some way to encourage him or her to learn more about what it is that they are doing. If you can get them to come to terms with their addiction they are more likely to overcome it and stop participating in a sub culture that promotes the violence towards women, objectification of women, degradation of women and self-degradation.

Originally posted on DSOM and my WMST class blog.

Men and Single Mothers

2011-11-15T03:30:00.001-08:00

*Sometimes blog entries will be like journal entries based around the ideas of the DSOM*

It's not cool for a man to date a single mother. This is mostly due to policing from peers, media, and stereotypes of single mothers. However there are men who have become so lonely that they decide to start dating single mothers, because they believe that single mothers are desperate to find a man. Sadly the man falls into this mentality because it is a stereotype and he has a low self confidence. However, he doesn't seem to realize that a single mother is actually more picky about whom she dates due to the fact that she must consider her child in all of her decisions. That includes men.

Feminist men can see it another way. Becoming a male feminist means that you can comfortably date a single mother and see how it goes from there.

Masculine Gendered Male: Single Mother Stereotypes (list)

They are desperate

They are whores

They are easy

They are "gold diggers"

Unable to please men

Are gross due to stretch marks

Only goal is to find a father for child

On welfare

Originally posted on DSOM.

Rules of Attraction

2011-11-15T03:28:00.000-08:00

This entry will focus on how masculine gendered male's use initial physical attraction to determine what could be future relationships with women.

It's pretty well known that when men are looking for a partner, initial physical attraction is important. However, it's not so commonly known that this initial attraction is usually a deciding factor in friendship with a woman as well. It's unlikely that a man will see a woman he is not attracted to physically and want to initiate a conversation with her, which could lead to a possible friendship.

The Rule of Initial Attraction

In social settings, such as a bar/restaurant or college courtyard, we see the rule of initial attraction applied in full force. The Rule of Initial Attraction says that if a woman you don't know is not physically attractive then you should not speak with her unless you have to. An example of having to speak with an unattractive women would be a situation where you asked to borrow their phone to call 911 because your best friend is choking on a hot wing or something. So by this rule, men should not have any female friends that they find unattractive.

Hey! Sometimes I see men with unattractive female friends!

Keep in mind that not all men are attractive to what is stereo-typically defined and depicted as beautiful in our culture. With that being said, there are still men who have female friends that they found unattractive initially. How does this happen? The answer to that question is unfortunately and shockingly simple. They are forced into the friendship. It's a slow process that can take a lot of time. These forced friendships usually take place in work or school environments where a male and female are forced to be around each other for a repeated and extended period of time. To exemplify this, imagine your job. Think of who your "work friends" are. Are these all people you would have had friendships with had you not worked with them for all this time? Probably not. When men have to work with a woman they find unattractive initially it's possible they will become friends, simply because they have been stuck working with each other and just begin to naturally converse out of boredom. In some cases the male can even overcome his inability to be physically attracted and end up forming intimate relationships through this process, becoming attracted to the female for something other than physical appearance.

Does this mean my male friends are not really friends?

Well perhaps, but not because of the rules of initial attraction. Your male friends that you have slowly formed bonds of friendship with are most likely legit. Although they may not find you physically attractive, the friendship is a true relationship that you have formed together.

Don't women do that to?

Yes, but it's not as extreme. Of course women look at men and recognize if they are attractive or not, but men are the ones who take it to the next level and keep in mind this entry is focusing on mostly friendship.

Of course if you are a man and you initiate a conversation with a woman by hitting on her, she will most likely not want to keep talking to you if she finds you unattractive or if she just doesn't like being approached by aggressive men. I have personally found that almost any woman I approach will talk to me in a friendly manner as long as I initiate the conversation in a mutually friendly manner. Men however will not do this. There are two main reasons why a man will quickly dismiss a woman who initiates conversation with him.

The first reason is that he simply does not want to talk to an unattractive woman, when he could be talking to his friends or another woman whom he does find attractive. The other reason, which is usually more the case, is that men fear that talking with an unattractive woman will lead her on to believe that he may be interested. Because men socialized to be "protectors" of women, they feel that they are protecting her feelings by not even becoming involved with the woman at all, in attempts to avoid hurting her feelings in the future by having to say something like "Listen I think you're cool and everything but I just don't see you like that". That's peoples way of saying I'm not interested in you, and a man's way of saying I don't think you are pretty. You must also keep in mind that this situation may no apply in the off chance that it's happening in one of the previously mention controlled environments like work or school. A situation where the man is not interested and he has even surpassed the rule of initial attraction.

How Bad is it really?

To narrow it down, men won't even pay you a compliment unless they would have sex with you. Women will pay you an innocent compliment like "cool hair", "I like that shirt", or even "I like your bumper stickers", and it can be totally platonic without them being attracted to you physically. Men will not do this, and it's for the same to reasons that a man won't talk to an unattractive woman that I mentioned in the last section. Keep in mind that the deciding question for a man to determine if a woman is attractive, is simply the question if he would engage in sexual intercourse with her or not. That's right, it's true. I know you don't want to believe me but that is simply just how masculine gendered males have been socialized to be. So when some man you don't know walks up and pays you an innocent compliment, remember the thought process that led him into speaking with you in the first place.

The good news is that by pointing these things out and naming them, we can dismantle these sexist practices through our educations.

Originally posted on DSOM.

What is the Dark Side of Masculinity?

2011-11-15T03:27:00.000-08:00

What is the "dark side of masculinity"?

Before I go further I would like to say that in the past when the term "sexual harassment" did not exist, men who harassed women did it in open public. They did it in the office, school, the diner, the sidewalk, you name it. Because there was no word for it, there was no way to address the issue. I don't want to go into a lot of detail on that, besides if you are ready to learn about "the dark side of masculinity" then you already know all about that. My point is, naming is important. In issues like sexual harassment, marital rape, and date rape it's easy to see how these acts needed to be named in order to draw out the issue and attempt to resolve it. Well I present to you a new "name", if you will. Today, October 10th 2011, I present to you The Dark Side of Masculinity.

So what is it?

The Dark Side of Masculinity- When masculine gendered men are gathered in groups of two or more, conversations and actions likely occur of extreme misogyny and blatant disrespect towards women and often LGBTQ people.

Wait, educated people are already aware of this right?

Yes and no. The reason I say no is because I have come to the realization that it is far more extreme than what is presented in my gender studies classes. Throughout this blog, I will attempt to continually and fluidly explain and exemplify just exactly what the dark side of masculinity is, how it works, and how it effects us.

Welcome to The Dark Side of Masculinity.

It is important to understand that this series of writings does not generalize men, it refers to heteronormative masculine-gendered, traditional male-centered hierarchy men.

Originally post on DSOM.

GET DEM APPLES!

2011-11-14T11:20:00.000-08:00

My pals and fellow vegans, Jaime and Robert Santos-Prowse, have started up a blog of their own dealing with local activism, food issues, local ways to act, gardening, biking, and more!

Be sure to check it out!

http://www.getdemapples.com/

Female Chauvinist Pigs: Did you even read it?!

2011-11-14T11:11:00.002-08:00

I know this make me seem like a jerk kind of, but geez.....I feel like some of you didn't actually read Female Chauvinist Pigs or just didn't understand it. Just because you are a female and have a lot of guy friends doesn't make you a FCP, like some of you are indicating on your blog. A FCP pretty much treats other women like a sexist man treats women. They hate the "girly girl". What's the "girly girl"? The woman who worries about make-up, gets her nails done, tries to "look pretty", does feminine activities. Do you understand that? A FCP hates a woman like this so she fits in with men who act like assholes basically. She goes to the strip club with them and degrades and gets entertainment off the very women she hates, making them into objects as if somehow that even makes sense. A FCP like doing masculine activities but takes it to the next level by trying to leave behind their femininity. The most girliest girl ever can go ride around on dirt bikes or play football, but the FCP looks down on women who don't. A FCP likes pornography and will even defend it, saying things like "it doesn't hurt me personally so I don't care", "The women in the porno's deserve it for being such sluts". A FCP pig would say SHE DID DESERVE TO GET RAPED BECAUSE SHE WAS DRESSED LIKE A SLUT. Do you get it now? DO YOU GET IT?! Please go read the article again, read it twice more. Go buy the actual book it's from and read it. Sheeeeeeesh

Bottom line, having guy friends or feeling like sometimes you get along better wi

th guys=can be a good thing. Being a FCP= not good.

"When you become and exception to the rule, and the rule is that women are INFERIOR. You haven't made any progress"

Does anyone even read this stuff (these blogs) I'm starting to wonder?

Back to Mad Men

2011-11-14T11:11:00.001-08:00

Listen, I know it seems like I won't shut up about Mad Men but when we were watching the clip about the whole beauty myth and ideal beauty and how it's enforced through the media, I couldn't help but to start thinking about Mad Men.....again.

Like the introduction to chapter 5 and the clip from class tells us, society and the media's ideal woman has no pores, is rail thin, white, big breast, manicured, pedicured, small nose, big lips, no scars, size 0-2, etc, etc. You get the picture. If you think about what character from most shows is supposed to be the "sex symbol", she usually fits that description.

Well the power of the media may be stronger than you realized. That's why the "sex symbol" from mad men that I hear all my male friends going on about how hot she is, is a size 14. That's right a size 14, do even some of you all think that's fat? Shame on you.

The actor's name is Christina Hendricks. She plays the character Joan Halloway on AMC's Mad Men and last year Esquire named her one the sexiest women of the year. No one at her size as EVER received this label from Esquire. So what do ya think about that?!

Female Chauvinist Pigs and the Patriarchal Eating of Meat

2011-11-14T11:10:00.002-08:00

So basically we learned what an FCP is, A woman who participates in the objectification of women and in this way acts Male, whether it be for personal advancement, a sense of freedom and power, or even because they find it humorous. Making their self an exception to the rule, the rule that women are inferior.

Vegetarianism and Veganism have long been associated with women, meaning that it shows compassion, nurturing, kindness, all feminine traits. To be veg is to be female, something that is not acceptable to the masculine culture of our society. The whole act and process of meat eating is something associated with masculine culture. Hunting, preparing and cleaning, cooking (Think grilling out, in fact the cooking of meat is the only cooking for men) and of course eating. Remember thanksgiving dinner? Who is at the lead of the table cutting and serving the dead bird you are about to consume? Slicing and penetrating into the dead female turkey, with his phallic blade, is none other than the father, the patriarch of the family. This is tradition.

So now that you have an idea of how meat eating is male, I can talk about FCP's. I know and have seen/heard many women act like they are the most hardcore of meat eaters. They go on and on about how much they love meat. When I asked some of my female friends about this, they confessed to me that these type of women seem to be even more aggressive about their meat eating when in the presence of men. After some thought I realized how this over aggressive attitude for meat eating from women, is actually very relevant to our article. These women are overly participating in the eating of animals because it makes them fit right in with their male friends. It makes them like men, men are more accepting of them. It's like you hear men say at times "I hate when a girl just orders a salad, I want a girl who eats a whole rack of ribs!". Do you see where I am going with this? What are your thoughts?

As to it being referred to as Male and Female Chauvinist Pigs, that's a whole other issue, but I won't get started on absent referents today!

If you are interested in learning more about these two issues, I suggest reading The Sexual Politics of Meat by Carol J. Adams(I can send you a free PDF version, let me know), and the actual book Female Chauvinist Pigs (which I happened to already own ha ha)!!!

What's All This Talk About Gay Marriage?!

2011-11-14T11:10:00.001-08:00

It turns out my Intro to Women's Studies class isn't the only class I'm in right now where the class is discussing gay marriage.

In my english 1010 class we read an essay about religion and gay marriage. I'm sorry but I'm in a place where I can't look it up right now, or else I would also share the essaywith you. Anyway the essay goes onto actually defend gay marriage using religion. I know, it's shocking. So actually the article itself was very interesting, I thought. However, most of the other students were enraged. As we discussed the article in class, some students began shouting uncontrollably that all the gays were going to hell for their sins and that they were all abominations. One student even shouted out, "Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve!"

I couldn't help myself and said, "Hey A**Hole! I'm Steve!". But seriously, what the hell is going on? Are my classmates members of the westboro baptist church or something?

A majority of the class agreed that gay marriage should be illegal, of course these are the same people who a week before said that divorce should be illegal. I want to tell them to take their nuclear family and shove it up their...ANYWAYS... Instead I asked them why should gay marriage be illegal. They went on to explain that they don't only want gay marriage illegal but ALL NON CHRISTIAN WEDDINGS!!!! (Like Indian weddings for example) I don't normally react this way but at this point I was in shock, I said "You are all insane."

Seriously, I just wanted to share this with you all because it's so ridiculous. You should hear some of the things that these kids are saying.

P.S. You all know you love the pic of Adam and Steve, ha ha ha ha!

PETA pissing me off....AGAIN

2011-11-14T11:09:00.001-08:00

Before I begin, let me catch you up to speed. I use to be a writer for ThisDishisVeg.com, and I wrote this article about PETA and Sexism. So read this first...

PETA: Sexist advertising defeats the purpose, harms the cause <----LINK

I received a lot of feedback from this article, including a B.S. response from PETA and someone from Cattle Drover magazine even wrote an article about me. I know we haven't talked about pornography yet in class but like I said, now I'm really pissed.

PETA now has decided to launch their own porn site. They say it will combine images of pornography with images of animal cruelty. WTF?! Now they've really gone too far. Don't understand how Pornography hurts men and women? Porn justifies and reinforces rape myths that women enjoy and deserve pain, humiliation and violence. That's just scratching the surface really, I would HOPE that we can at least all agree that porn is F***ed up. (seeing that some of you think that transgender people are going to "hell", and that heteronormative gender socialization in our culture is a good thing).

So kids get exposed to porn easier now than ever before, THANKS INTERNET! Sometimes this leads to people developing sexual preferences and fetishes. So imagine when some kid is wanting to see naked ladies online and the first thing he sees is graphic sex images, that objectify women and make him feel like his penis is too small, BEING SPLICED WITH IMAGES OF COWS AND PIGS BEING BRUTALLY TORTURED AND SLAUGHTERED! I'm sorry this is some sick shit. PETA wtf is wrong with you?! Are you serious? Thank you PETA for making animal rights advocates look insane and disrespectfully slapping us Vegan Feminists right through our faces. Misogyny in the name of Animal Welfare is not the answer. Shame.

THE PETA PORN SITE ARTICLE <-----Link

I personally have never liked PETA because they are so sexist. If you are interested in Animal Rights you can talk to me or check out Mercy For Animals (MFA) they support LBGT, even marching in pride parades with a MFA Banner that reads "No one is free when others are oppressed." You hear that PETA?

Mad Men and Feminism

2011-11-14T11:08:00.003-08:00

In this clip you see character Joan Halloway having to entertain guests when she doesn't really want to (the clip has been cut up so it's hard to tell that's what's up). In the second part her fiance is referring to himself not being able to be a surgeon, something he went to school for, listen to how he talks to her and assumes she can't understand what it's like to want something for herself. Assuming that she is perfectly happy because she has him and a home, that's all a woman needs right?

Have you ever seen the show Mad Men? If you have and you are familiar with women's studies and feminist theory, then you already know that the content of this show goes hand in hand with what we are learning about. Mad Men is about ad men in the late 50's early 60's era. The show exemplifies in nearly every episode some sort of sexism, homophobia, or racism that was common during this time. It shows how advertising in this time period is extremely gender targeted and not designed to work with how the consumer thinks but how they want them to feel in order to get the consumer to buy more of whatever product. The main character, along with most of the other male characters in the show, is an alcoholic womanizer. His wife who they think there is something wrong with (she is suffering from "the problem with no name") goes to a psychiatrist who is in link with her husband, no confidentiality, this is common for this time period. I consider this show a must watch for anyone diving into women's studies and feminist theory, because it so accurately portrays a time period which is usually over glorified. You will see how women are treated in the office place, sex objects who are easily replaced. You will also see how a woman who works her way up into a career woman is perceived and how hard it is for her living in this "man's world". Mad Men shows how sexism and oppression effects not only women but men as well, in this time period. My feminist friends and I love this program, but sadly more ignorant people can't see what's in front of their face and seem to perceive the show in a different light. Obviously I don't want to spoil anything, so go watch Mad Men and form an opinion for yourself, it's on NetFlix!

Here's a cool article from the Washington Post, Why 'Mad Men' is TV's most feminist show

Veg Gender Discrimination

2011-11-14T11:08:00.001-08:00

Gender discrimination branches out to more than just the obvious scenarios that may come to your mind. New Yorker, Ryan Pacifico, sued his former employer for sexual discrimination after being constantly attacked for being vegetarian. You might be asking yourself, how is this sexual discrimination? We live in a society where it is acceptable for women to be vegetarian and vegan because it is seen as kind, compassionate, or caring. These are traits expected of women so it's perfectly ok. When you are a man and you choose not to take part in the expected patriarchal act of consuming everything possible, like eating meat, then you are pushing up against the grain. Just as the child on the playground is bullied and policed because he is no good at sports, males of the veg community are treated the same way by male carnists. Nightly I am called a "fag" or "pussy" just because I don't eat animals. Why does this anger or upset the carnist males? Perhaps because you are openly displaying that you are capable of compassion, a stereo-typically feminine trait. What's wrong with this? If you have feminine traits and you are man, that MUST mean that you are homosexual. This brings us to homophobia. I'm sure now you can see how Pacifico was sexually discriminated against. Because he did not conform to the masculine gender role, he was abused and eventually fired by his supervisor. Gotta love that policing of gender, it just keeps going....and going...and going...

Link to original article!

Women's Studies Blogs

2011-11-09T08:50:00.001-08:00

So I have been having to post blogs for my women's studies class on a private blog just for the class.

Some of them are pretty interesting, so I was wondering if any of you all would be interested in reading my posts from the class blog. Just let me know on here or on facebook if you think I should put them up on here. Thanks!

2011-10-29T11:23:00.000-07:00

Be sure to check out and subscribe to my new blog, The Dark Side of Masculinity!

Click link or picture!

The Dark Side of Masculinity

2011-10-20T23:48:00.001-07:00

Please check out and subscribe to my new blog

The Dark Side of Masculinity

Desperate for Friendship

2011-10-20T23:39:00.000-07:00

It makes me sad to see people who are desperate for friendship. I know people who are in this situation. The amount of nonsense that these people put up with from others, just for "friendship", is sickening. Most of it is due to enforced gender norms, seeing that most of my friends are female. I have seen them treated terribly by their male friends. Objectified repeatedly by men and treated with complete disrespect, they seem to get over it after venting to me or someone else. I wish that these friends would just not tolerate others who are completely sexist, instead of allowing these men to treat them in this way in exchange for friendship. It's not a great quality in my opinion. So yeah this is like a pretty short rant, that I could elaborate on but don't feel like it.

Putting up with idiots.

2011-10-02T03:02:00.000-07:00

This is what I have to deal with every night at my job. This is a real photo I took tonight at work. This guy fell in the floor like 15 times. Yeah... So you can see what kind of people I have to deal with.

Tonight I noticed that people call me "sir" all the time. Why are they calling me sir? I am not some old man, geez. Tonight I was wearing my shirt that says, "This is what a feminist looks like". You can always tell who is a sexist piece of sh*t when they look at the shirt and laugh their ass off. It's hard at work to keep my mouth shut, but it's work and I can't get political or I'd probably end up getting fired. Tonight a guy walked in and said he was going to come and "berate the f*ck out of us" tomorrow at the Rock for Farm Animals event. I asked him why and he said that we were on the top of the food chain for a reason, some people don't like tofu, and he spewed some pro farmers bullsh*t. I wanted to be like, "Listen man, there is no farmers in factory farming. Do you even know what you are talking about?!"

But I just had to be like "ok."

Last night a guy came in and saw a flier for the event and he said, "Farm animal rights? Jesus Christ.... First women? Now Farm Animals? Where is this world heading to?"

I looked at him and replied, "A better place."

He was not amused. Last week a guy came in wearing a T shirt that actually said "I give women respect. Respect is what I call my dick". I was so disgusted by this man that I got someone else to take his order. I should get paid extra for having to tolerate sexism, specieism, and racism on a regular basis.

Saying Goodbye

2011-10-01T04:59:00.000-07:00

I don't really do goodbyes. I've never really had to. Most of the time when someone leaves it's unexpected, like they just disappear. My best friend of like 12 years up and moved to another state and didn't really say bye. I haven't talked to him much, it's been over a year now I think, I'm not sure if he even really likes me anymore. Never said goodbye though. When you have to say goodbye to someone that you care about, you know in advance that it's going to be a really long time before you see them again, or maybe you even know that you may never see them again.

I remember the first time I had to say goodbye to someone. I was 14 years old and I had been living in Hawaii. I dated this girl back then, she was kind of like my first real girlfriend. We had a lot of fun together. We were young and in love like a classic teenage romance. After a while it came time for my family to move back to the states. I knew I was moving thousands of miles away and that I may never see this person again. Of course we said that we would, making plans of the future and trying to figure out how we could maintain our relationship. I think that's just something we do because we don't want to admit to ourselves that it's really goodbye. I remember standing in the airport holding her close. I remember how bad I didn't want to leave, but I knew that I had no choice. It felt so unfair. I said goodbye and I walked to board the plane. I remember looking back and seeing her crying. It was the kind of cry that was part sad, but part happy. Sad because I was leaving and maybe never coming back, happy because we got to have our time. Our time to know each other, our time to be us. This time was important to me, because it was the first time I felt like someone loved me for who I am, even though I was only 14. I remember sitting in my seat. I looked over at my mother, as tears rolled down my face. That was the first time I ever had to say goodbye.

Of course now I'm 28 and it's 14 years later. I'm doing my thing, and she has a beautiful family now. We remained friends and even got to see each other once 5 years after I left Hawaii. In fact I am planning to head out there this summer to visit, I'm pretty excited to meet her partner and child!

Today was an interesting day, because for the second time in my life I said goodbye to someone again. I had not seen this person in quite some time now, in fact we haven't really talked in months. I wasn't sure this person even wanted to talk to me ever again. Suddenly yesterday, this person calls me up and says, I'm moving away tomorrow and I want to hang out before I go. I said ok. We had some good talks, and then we did our goodbyes. It's hard to know what to say when you are telling someone goodbye that you might not ever see again. When you say goodbye, it's like you know that you have to leave so you don't want to, but the time comes and you hug and you go. You try to think of what is the best thing to say as you leave, that final verbal goodbye.

"I'm glad we met"

That was the second time I said goodbye.

2011-09-30T01:44:00.000-07:00

Motorcycle Cop

2011-09-21T15:40:00.001-07:00

I was riding my Honda Metropolitan down the street. It was pretty normal, wind blowing in my face and such. I like to ride, it makes me feel good and I enjoy it. I was riding down the street and I saw a motorcycle cop pulling up behind me. As usual I got a little nervous with a cop behind me, although I didn't do anything illegal. Suddenly he slightly swerved and pulled up beside me in the same lane. I looked over at him almost afraid. He waved. I waved back. He rode beside me until we got to the red light, where he took a left and went on his way. It was like one of those moments in a story where the villain encounters the heroes, acknowledges them but for some reason let's them go, even though he could have easily defeated them.

Hummingbird

2011-09-13T20:38:00.000-07:00

Whenever I see a hummingbird, it's like I'm seeing it for the first time every time. I'm not sure if I feel this way because I rarely see hummingbirds or what. I do rarely see them though, and I don't really see them in pictures or on TV that often. I mean you never see tigers, but when you see one in like a zoo or something it doesn't feel like a big deal. Maybe it's because you see them plastered all over everything all the time, I mean it's really not rare to see a tiger on a t-shirt, television, pictures, or whatever else. I have never seen a tiger and just been captivated by it, but that's what it's like when I see hummingbirds. I can't look away and it seems so amazing, you never see any other bird navigate it's way around in the manner of a hummingbird. And that few seconds that fully captivates you seeming like a couple of minutes is suddenly gone as the hummingbird flies off as quick as it appeared. I saw a hummingbird today. I was sitting on a rocking chair holding some random hats. I was waiting for someone to tend to their laundry, and then that person was dropping me off so I could set up a Women's Studies table at a Multicultural Expo event at school. As I was sitting there in that rocking chair, it happened. Suddenly a tiny hummingbird appeared, fluttered around a hanging plant, and then it was gone. It could be years before I see one again, it's been years since I saw the last one. But still every time I see one, I feel like it's for the first time. Perhaps this is the only reoccurring experience in my life that makes me feel this way.

Angry Vegan Moment

2011-08-26T23:20:00.000-07:00

Do you ever have one of those angry vegan moments? You know....one of those moments where you see one of your carnivore acquaintances wearing a dead animal and it just makes you sick to your stomach. You can't really say anything because you've already been around the block with this person and they are so stupid that they can't realize that animals feel pain. Yeah.... It pisses you off. I mean why? Why do you think it's cool or even ok to kill an animal simply just to wear it's skin or bones? You are sick, something is wrong with your head. I wish someone would rip out YOUR spine and wear it for a belt you sick piece of sh*t. Yeah...I'm having an angry vegan moment. I have them all the time. Also notice I mentioned acquaintance, vegans aren't really friends with carnists because they make us sick. Oh? You are mad I said that because you are dating a carnists? F*cking hypocrite....It's ok for them to participate in mass torture and slaughter? Yes...That's right! I'm having an angry vegan moment. I have them all time. Yes that's right, we don't want to be your friend because you hurt. You hurt animals for no reason at all. Selfish a**hole. Even if you try to stay friends with your carnist friends from before you went veg, you notice how they push you away and treat you different. Why? Because eating a diet based on death, torture, and massacre of the innocents is more important than a friendship with you. I'm having an angry vegan moment.

How Facebook has changed our relationships

2011-06-01T14:08:00.000-07:00

I don't usually write things of this nature but I can't help to point this out after thinking about the subject and also experiencing it myself in multiple situations. Facebook has seemed to have drastically changed the way we experience relationships. I am referring to intimate relationships of course.

I remember back in the old days when you were in a relationship and you didn't have to see countless numbers of people hitting on your significant other. Back in the old days this mostly happened when they were not around you. Well those days are gone my friends, now all you have to do is go to your significant other's Facebook wall and you can see it all! Even worse your significant other may leave their Facebook account signed into your computer, and you don't even wanna read what's in their inbox most of the time. Of course if you are a perfect human being and never get jealous that your partner doesn't seem to mind the endless compliments and hook up attempts and even responds most the time with innocent kindness, then you are in the clear. Unfortunately most of us are not perfect, therefore because of Facebook our own insecurities are then reinforced by having to read this nonsense everyday.

AND IT DOESN'T END THERE!!!! Let's not forget about the almighty and glorious relationship status. Now your partner can dump you publicly on Facebook and all the friends who pretended that they liked your partner the whole time are suddenly "liking" the break up. Thanks a lot you bunch of jerks for lying to me the entire time like you were down! Anyone ever had that partner that doesn't want to go Facebook official? Well I'll go ahead and save you some trouble, sadly in this world we live in nowadays it's not official unless it's Facebook official. That's right I'm telling you right now if you aren't labeled on Facebook, you are still single. There are only a couple reasons why anyone would not want to go Facebook official. They always say it's because they don't want everyone knowing there business. Well that's weird....You mean you don't want anyone to know that we are dating but you don't care if everyone knows where you are at all times of the day by checking in every damn place you go??? Really what this means is that your partner has multiple partners that they are spouting the same crap to. This way they can use multiple people for cash/rides/place to sleep/food/make them feel good about themselves/sex or whatever they are benefiting off of messing with your head and heart. If they went official with you it would ruin all their scams and lies, so they keep it marked as nothing. It doesn't even say they are single or anything. Dangerous games you are playing by participating in one of these relationships. The only other reason they won't go official is because they are just that ashamed that people might find out they are with you, in this case you mine as well kill yourself because that's pretty low.

Remember back when you called your partner and they didn't answer and you assumed they were too busy and you waited till they called you back? Oh yeah, those were the good old days! Now after attempting to call your partner and getting ignored you can log into Facebook and see where they actually ignored you because they were too busy making 2 new friends on Facebook, responding to some low-life's wall post, and liking "Glee" on Facebook. That's more important than answering the phone when their lover is calling right? RIGHT? Sheesh.... What is the world coming to?

Thanks a lot Facebook for making relationships even more complicated than they already were in the first place!

Macho Man Randy Savage to spend eternity with his dog Hercules

2011-06-01T14:03:00.000-07:00

As I am sure you have all heard by now, “Macho Man” Randy Savage tragically passed away in a car accident when he suffered a heart attack that caused him to lose control of the vehicle.

Perhaps you were not a fan of Macho Man because you do not like wrestling or you did not approve of him promoting the well-known meat product, Slim Jim. If that is the case then you will at least find it touching that his ashes will be spread under his favorite tree with the ashes of his deceased dog, Hercules. So even though Macho Man was mixed up in the beef stick trade, he at least had a soft spot for some animals such as dogs.....

Check out my full article on ThisDishIsVeg.com!!!

Rosetta's Kitchen in Asheville: Down to earth atmosphere with delicious vegan food

2011-05-29T20:32:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend I took a short trip to Asheville, North Carolina. Asheville is ranked as the number one vegan friendly small city, and because I formerly lived there I have already eaten at many of the delicious vegan friendly restaurants the city has to offer. I love to grab a quick lunch at Firestorm Books and Café or dine with a loved one at Laughing Seed, but there is one place that is definitely my all-time favorite. That place is Rosetta’s Kitchen, and there was no way I was not going to stop in and treat my taste buds while I was in town.....

Read my full review on ThisDishIsVeg.com!

Shania Twain shares tofu scramble recipe with the world

2011-05-29T20:29:00.000-07:00

There comes a time in the history of all civilizations when an event happens that changes the course of the entire future. In our civilization that moment has finally arrived. Legendary country music superstar, Shania Twain has decided to share her Tofu Scramble recipe with the world......

Read my full article on ThisDishIsVeg.com!

Vegan question: When it's ok for people to eat meat

2011-05-29T20:26:00.000-07:00

Being a vegan or a vegetarian, you obviously don’t think it’s ok to meat. Being a vegan myself, I agree with that for the most part, but sometimes I feel that you must make an exception. You may be asking yourself why and when is it ok for people to eat the flesh of another living creature?

Read my full article on ThisDishIsVeg.com!

Check out this awesome Samosa Recipe!

2011-05-16T21:43:00.000-07:00

I recently helped Veronica from Leaning Toward the Sunlight to prepare samosas!

CHECK IT OUT!!!

Rosetta's Kitchen!

2011-05-16T20:52:00.001-07:00

VEGAN HANGOVER!

2011-05-10T17:36:00.000-07:00

Check out and follow my new blog!!! It's called......

Vegan Hangover

Meet Lil Baby Jerry!

2011-05-07T19:18:00.000-07:00

A vegan in a non-vegan tattoo parlor, what do you do?

2011-05-07T11:41:00.000-07:00

Question: You want a tattoo. It's not a vegan parlor (very rarely do you come across a vegan tattoo shop). What do you do?

As you may or may not know, most tattoo ink contains animal product. If you were to do a quick search you may find that perhaps the closest vegan tattoo parlor is miles, possibly states away. So you really want a tattoo, what do you do?

Before I became vegan I already had six tattoos, so obviously getting more tattoos in the future was not out of the question. After I had been vegan for about 6 months and had been experiencing the benefits of veganism, I knew I was never going back at this point. To commemorate this permanent lifestyle change I wanted to get a vegan tattoo of the word “vegan".........

Read my full article on ThisDishIsVeg.com!

TOFURKY PIZZA!!!

2011-04-29T23:23:00.000-07:00

The great honey debate: Why honey is not vegan

2011-04-29T01:20:00.000-07:00

I live in Johnson City, Tennessee; therefore I don’t meet many other vegans. On the occasion that I do, there is often one difference in our opinions about what is vegan and what is not. That difference is honey.

I have participated in many discussions and debates arguing on the side of bees, alone. I am going to ask you now, why do you think honey is vegan? If you think that it is, I want you to think about the reasons why you think so. I will now explain to you why I feel honey is not vegan, and then I will ask you the same question again.

The number one reason why honey is not vegan is simply that the bees are literally enslaved. They live in giant man-made bee camps where they work hard to make honey. This honey is then stolen by humans who either consume it or seek to gain profit from the bee’s hard work.....

Read my full article on ThisDishIsVeg.com!

Short story: Escape from the slaughterhouse truck

2011-04-20T04:59:00.000-07:00

Once I had gathered my bearings, the first thing that hit me was the smell. It was unbearable, still not too unfamiliar to my conditions before awakening in this place but even then I never became accustomed to the smell. The smell of urine and feces mixed with the scent of blood and rotting flesh. To accept these types of conditions is to lose all sense of compassion and humanity, which is ironic seeing that I am a pig. That’s right, Sus scrofa domesticus at your service and when I say service I don’t mean your breakfast. You can go ahead and get that idea out of your head right now, detestable I say! Detestable! Now where was I.....

Read my full article on thisdishisveg.com!

Bird Deathtrap in My Hometown

2011-04-19T17:13:00.000-07:00

After reading this article from my local paper, I decided to go and check out the situation for myself. As you can see in the photos below; the entry does not look to be sealed, the carcasses have been removed, and there is plenty of evidence the birds were there. I will be keeping an eye on this location to make sure no more birds are trapped.

Vegan on the cheap: Eating vegan while on an extremely tight budget

2011-04-04T09:27:00.000-07:00

So you want to be or already are vegan? Is your budget a little tight; therefore you cannot spend as much as you would like on food? Perhaps you are student like myself and go weeks at times without any extra money? If you answered yes to at least the first question and either of the other two questions, do not worry, for today I shall share with you the secrets of eating vegan on the cheap....

Read full article on thisdishisveg.com!

One person can make a difference!

2011-04-03T15:51:00.000-07:00

I am not posting this to be arrogant, but I just wanted to show you this to let you know that YOU can make a difference as well! By just touching one person you make a huge difference, below are just a few things people have sent/said to me.

“You gave me the hope that I needed to go vegan again and believe that I can stick with it, I was so used to being surrounded by people who attacked me and did not support me. Thank you for providing me with that support.”

“Your recent proactive attitude and way of life is admirable. Our world is overly abundant in unjust atrocities and someone like me would find despair in the seemingly infinite negativity and give up on ideals when it comes to the task of trying to make a forcible impact. You actively fight for those same ideals and stay strong and are still able to smile, be funny and make others feel better about things (like tonight). That is your role and I am glad you have taken it. My roles are small: giving what I can directly to organizations that try to fix this silly broken place, share and model my views and love with my loved ones and hope seeds of inspiration can influence their lives, and applaud people like you. People like you clean up and educate the world. The innocent lives (of all species) deserve a world like that. You were always strong. Thank you.”

“You have been a big inspiration to me. Because of you I went from being a meat eater that didn’t care about anything going on in the world, to being a vegan and aspiring activist!”

“I want to continue to think about these things (oppression of humans and animals) as I start figuring out what exactly I want to do with my life. Thanks for making me think”

“What you are doing has inspired me to get involved and try to make this world better for my children”

“Hanging out with you has actually really changed me in a good way. Before you all I knew were self-indulgent, self-absorbed, denial reliant dullards. I obediently played the cards I was dealt, happy that at least I got dealt a slightly better hand than most people. Then I met you. I'll admit when I first met you I didn't take you very seriously. I thought there is no way someone actually lives this kind of moral high road lifestyle. However, as I got to know you I got to see more and more how strong your willpower actually is. So strong in fact that it make me second guess myself. Being around you has made me realize that I have kind of been scraping by like a c student in the school of life. I hope to one day to have a will as powerful as yours. You inspired the fire in me to seek out my true destiny. I must thank you because finally at last I am LIVING! I have never felt this happy and fulfilled. Thank you for challenging my thinking and my comfortable safe life. I am very glad that we met.”

“Thank you, because of what you do I feel like I can do it to!”

“You have opened my eyes to the truth, just by being yourself and standing up for what you think is right! Thanks so much.”

“I never really thought about where my food came from until I met you”

You can make a difference to! Never give up!!! We can change this world!

Erin Fenner on Feminist-Veganism

2011-03-30T11:16:00.000-07:00

Check out this blog post by feminist Erin Fenner, an aquaintence I met from the National Young Feminist Leadership Conference in D.C.!

Florida Senate attempts to outlaw bestiality for third time

2011-03-30T10:13:00.000-07:00

On March 23, 2011, the state senate proposed, for the third time, legislation that would make bestiality illegal in Florida.

Obviously this is not the first time this issue has been brought to senate. It all began in 2008, when Senator Nan Rich received news of a quite disturbing story. While committing the act of rape on a goat, the suspected man “accidentally” strangled the goat to death.....

Read full article on ThisDishisVeg.com

Artist and activist Sue Coe provides inspiration at recent lecture

2011-03-30T10:12:00.000-07:00

Sue Coe is an English born artist and advocate of animal rights. She has illustrated for Time magazine, and her art has been featured in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She studied at the Royal College of Art in London and moved to New York in 1972. Nowadays she lives in a small cabin in upstate New York that was once a shack that she converted into a solar powered sustainable home, built up from mostly recycled materials. She lives there peacefully with her rescued dogs, but her place of residence was not always one surrounded by beauty and flourishing wildlife. Sue Coe grew up next to a slaughter house..... Read the full article on ThisDishisVeg.com

The Blueberry Years

2011-03-27T19:56:00.000-07:00

(This is very critical and I wrote it this way on purpose, I do not hate eco-friendly farmers.)

I recently attended a lecture/reading by poet/author Jim Minick. He told us the story of one couple, one farm, and one thousand blueberry bushes. This was the story of Jim Minick and his wife, whose name for some reason was not worth mentioning. Together they started the first certified organic pick your own blueberry farm in the mid-Atlantic. They bought, cleared, and seeded the land all with the help their family dogs. Developing a homemade irrigation system that used no electricity, they brought the power of life that only water can bring to their blueberry bushes. Once the blueberries were ready for picking, it was time to invite the community in. People arrived from all different classes and ages, apparently Minick wanted to stress that even rich people came to get blueberries on his farm. Families from all around came to experience the wonder of picking berries and building community, a community that I assume collapses as soon as the customers leave the farm. Minick soon realized that his berries could be used to barter, trading them to webmasters for their services and such. They also sold around 150 pounds of berries a week at local markets, bringing the glory of blueberries to an even larger community. He read to us many poems, mostly about blueberries.

While I do support organic and sustainable farms and have nothing personally against Minick, I do have some criticisms about this lecture. Perhaps Minick was attempting to joke, but I could not help but to notice his multiple references to fecal matter. I was slightly insulted that I was expected to laugh at this type of toilet humor during a university lecture. He also brought up the use of wool as a fertilizer. Is this truly the most sustainable method? Does this mean that Minick supports museling? I was a little concerned when I left that maybe all farmers use this method, being a vegan I do not support this. I later researched this and found it is not a very popular form of fertilization. He then went on to glorify the existence of Beanie Weanies, which to me was disturbing on a whole new level that I won’t even discuss at this time. Minick then read to us a story about gluttonous children who ate so many blueberries their mothers had to slap their hand away. Interestingly enough he goes on to say that afterwards they go out to eat sushi together, which I thought was odd because they were apparently already overeating to the point of needing to be slapped. He then read to us a poem he called, “The Intimacy of Spoons”. The poem emasculated forks and knives making obvious phallic references. The spoon was then feminized and sexualized, making obvious sexual comparisons between a woman’s body and the shape of the spoon. The poem made it clear that a knife (male, brutal, rough, used for meat) could never be like a spoon (female, nurturing, compassionate, understanding). This is a classic example of the sexual politics of meat. The next poem went on to sexualize the actual blueberries, emphasizing the ‘sexual like’ act of eating a blueberry. Minick even makes a point to talk about the tender pink phase of a blueberry, which I could not help but to interoperate as a comparison to a young “blossoming” woman. To top it all off he then discusses how he kills raccoons that attempt to eat his blueberries, and would most likely do the same to bears. My biggest problem with this, other than the obvious, is that Minick has no problem with birds eating his blueberries and even seems to encourage and enjoy watching them. This is clearly speciest. I do not believe that Jim Minick is aware of his sexist and speciest implications. Perhaps one day he will realize that the fight for environmental sustainability, the oppression of women, and the oppression of animals are all related and worth equally fighting for.

Soul Vegetarin Exodus

2011-03-16T10:12:00.000-07:00

Steven Garnett Diggin' in!

Veronica Limeberry chowing down

YUM!

Veronica's Sweet Potatoes, Greens and Pepper Steak

Pepper Steak, Mac N Cheese, Broccoli

Soul Vegetarian Exodus

State rep. Virgil Peck jokes about killing immigrants...

2011-03-16T08:41:00.000-07:00

"It might be a good idea to control illegal immigration the way the feral hog
population has been controlled -- with hunters shooting from helicopters."

We stand for this kind of behavior from our state reps?! Absurdity that someone thinks it is acceptable to talk like this!

Email the Kansas State Rep. Virgil Peck and tell him what you think!

Not sure what to say? Here's the letter written by Veronica Limeberry of Leaning Toward the Sunlight, it should get you in the right direction!

Hello, my name is Veronica Limeberry and I am from Appalachia--Tennessee to be exact, and I am completely offended, disgraced, and outraged at your commentary on immigrants. As Americans, and especially as people who come from rural
heritage, we must step up to the plate and show that we are not backwards, ignorant, or disrespectful towards human life. You have not only exploited your power as a senator to demean the lives of living human beings, but you have attempted to support your outrageous remarks with your cultural heritage--furthering notions that rural people are incompetent, racist fools. In the Huffington Post today, Janet Murguia (from your own state of Kansas) stated "When political leaders suggest violence as a means to an end, even jokingly, their comments add to the public perception that such actions are acceptable. Peck doesn't think he did anything wrong. He needs to understand that this type of rhetoric has no place in public discourse," and I entirely agree with her. Immigrants, illegal or not, are living human beings, regardless of their national status. Because some may be in the U.S. "illegally" trying to improve their lives, just as our forefathers did centuries ago, does not make them any less human. Calling for the inhumane murder of humans beings is not a joke. I hope that you are aware of the image that your language has given to not only yourself, but to Kansas, to rural people, and to America. You have disgraced us as a nation. I hope that are able to rectify your outrageous statement and that you work towards addressing the human side of immigration before you write these people off as nothing more than "feral hogs."

Sincerely,

Veronica Limeberry

On a final note I would like to add that if the feral hogs community had a voice they would not be pleased either.

People with the power, dragged away by cowards...

2011-03-15T17:14:00.000-07:00

Seven protestors, including a woman from Chattanooga, were dragged from a state Senate hearing today and arrested, authorities said.

The seven were each charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, said Highway Patrol Col. Tracy Trott.

Ash-Lee Henderson, who is affiliated with the group Chattanooga Organized for Action, was arrested today...

This is an excerpt from an article about what's happened in Nashville today. While protesting the senate stripping away our rights, the cops dragged my friend and fellow activist Ash-Lee Henderson away and arrested her. As I watched the video footage I felt proud of her and angry at our law enforcement at the same time. HEY COPS GUESS WHAT?! You are public workers! It would be like if the government decided to destroy all the vegans and I helped them because they paid me. Here is a link to the video and a link to read the full article.

The Video

The Article

My PETA article on Feministing.com

2011-03-15T15:56:00.000-07:00

http://community.feministing.com/2011/03/15/peta-sexist-advertising-defeats-the-purpose-hurts-the-cause/

Veganism, religion, and the division of activists

2011-03-15T15:23:00.000-07:00

In vegan activism, along with most other types of activism, we fight for the rights of those who are oppressed. After a while people start to see the big picture, that all oppression is related stemming from the same place. To effectively fight oppression it is important to see this link, but there is one oppressive force that is only mentioned when in the comfort of friends or behind closed doors...

Read the full article in ThisDishIsVeg.com!

Looks like someone liked my Top 10 Vegan Questions article.

2011-03-14T21:31:00.000-07:00

Check out this repost of my article!

http://66.34.240.18/articles/answers.html

Here is the original posting at ThisDishIsVeg.com!

Even more attention from my PETA article!

2011-03-14T17:00:00.001-07:00

I was almost shocked when I read this. Dan Murphy, a veteran food-industry journalist, wrote an article on Drover's Cattle Network about my article. You all have to read this one. I found it pretty interesting.

http://www.cattlenetwork.com/cattle-news/latest/Commentary-Push-back-on-PETA-117928174.html

Pretty wild, right?

PETA responds to my article

2011-03-14T16:56:00.000-07:00

To my suprise PETA actually responded to my article. Here is what they had to say...

Dear Mr. Garnett,

Thank you for your thoughtful comments on PETA's advertisements and demonstrations. We appreciate that you are also fighting for animal rights, even if you disagree with one element of our many campaigns. We absolutely agree that it would be wonderful if we could tell the world how animals suffer on filthy factory farms and in terrifying slaughterhouses without resorting to the use of gimmicks, but we would like to address the criticisms raised in your editorial about the use of nudity and sexuality.

First, please know that PETA isn't using women's bodies. Women are using their own bodies. The women who use their bodies as political tools—including, yes, adult-film actor Jenna Jameson—do so willingly and gladly, and they don't like to be told to cover up by people who don't agree with their choices. As a feminist, I'm sure you can understand that our activists feel that they have the right to express themselves, and they don't want to be criticized for how much skin they wish to show—especially not in the name of feminism.

Thirty years of animal rights campaigning has shown us at PETA that simply making information available isn't enough—we have to forcibly grab consumers' attention and make them want to find out more about the cruel industries we're fighting. Our activists and celebrity supporters—women and men alike—are glad to use their bodies as one sure-fire way to draw attention to the ways in which animals are abused. And it works—more than 80,000 thousand people watched Oscar-nominated actor Taraji P. Henson's impassioned interview from the set her of her anti-fur ad campaign, and those 80,000 people all saw exactly what happens to the animals who are killed for their fur. One viewer commented, "Thanks Taraji for bringing this issue to our attention. I had considered buying a coat with a mink collar. That's out of the question now. Thanks for your most beautiful work of art."

As an organization headed and founded by a woman—and staffed largely by feminist women, including me—PETA is well aware of the serious problems that women face, both here in the U.S. and in countries where women are forced to cover up and shut up. But impassioned individuals have been "going naked" since Lady Godiva protested taxes, and we believe that all women—and men—should have the right to choose to use their minds and bodies as political instruments.

If we might be of assistance in the future, please contact me directly anytime.

Sincerely,

Amanda Schinke

As you can see, they didn't even address my points as to why their marketing is sexist. Instead they tried to turn the tables and make it seem like I am the dominating man telling a woman what she can and can't do. Perhaps they were not able to comprehend the article?

PETA: Sexist advertising defeats the purpose, harms the cause

2011-03-14T12:51:00.000-07:00

What comes to mind when you think of PETA? For most people it brings up images of sex hungry, over emotional women that don’t want you to have your cheeseburgers. Obviously the only people who even care about animal welfare are crazy and female. We all know that is not true, but it is the image PETA is responsible for placing on animal rights activists. You might try to argue and say that PETA is just using the sex sells advertising technique in attempts to get people interested in the cause, but since when have animal rights become more important than women’s rights? The fact is that it’s not more important, it is equally important........

Read the full article by Steven Garnett on ThisDishIsVeg.com

National Young Feminists Leadership Conference - Washington D.C. Day 3

2011-03-14T06:51:00.001-07:00

So the 3rd day was a little crazy! Starting out with an excellent panel of speakers, who included my personal favorite Lori Adelman of Feministing.com, we listened as the speakers talked about various issues such as women in Afghanistan and CEDAW. I attended a workshop about CEDAW as well. Sadly, this day was somewhat hectic for me and because of it I am unable to give an extensive report as I did on Saturday. I apologize for this and I know I could have done better, but we all have those days and must keep pushing forward. The important thing is that I am taking back what I have learned to my campus and I made connections with other activists so that we may work together through social media outreach. This was my first conference of this type and now I know how to formulate a plan of action to follow at my next one. All in all I had a great time and this trip has inspired me to write an article about veganism and religion (and activism in general, including feminism) and a restaurant review on thisdishisveg.com, I’ll keep you up to date when they are posted. Also as soon as I can I will post some pictures from another vegan friendly restaurant, that was not only delicious but eco-friendly and sustainable as well. Once again I am sorry this post is not more informative, next time will be so much better!

My message to the I.M.F. and quotes from the conference...

2011-03-12T23:32:00.001-08:00

"I did not ask permission to become an activist and you do not either."
-Steph Harold, creator, "I am Dr. Tiller"

"Look at what you have done that is amazing....and own it!"
-Quinn Pregliasco, Director of Women's Initiative, American Univeristy

National Young Feminist Leadership Conference - Washington D.C. Day 2

2011-03-12T20:44:00.000-08:00

After waking up and getting on the metro, we started out the day with coffee at George Washington University. We then listened to an excellent speech by Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, alongside with other influential women. What they had to say stirred emotion within me and I could not help but to release my tears. Women like:

Eleanor Smeal- President, Feminist Majority Foundation

Tina Tchen- Chief of Staff, First Lady Michelle Obama Executive Director, White House Council on Women and Girls

Terry O'niel- President, National Organization for Women

Nancy Keenan- President, NARAL Pro-Choice America

Steph Harold- Creator- “I am Dr. Tiller”

Kari Ross- Founder and President, Salem College Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance

They each had something to say that spoke to me personally.

I then attended a workshop entitled, No More Excuses: Reforming Sexual Assault Policies on Campus and Redefining Rape with:

Erin Burrows- Project Coordinator, Students Active for Ending Rape (SAFER)

Kim Gandy- Vice President & General Counsel, Feminist Majority Foundation

Quinn Pregliasco- Director of Women’s Initiatives, American University

--------------------------

No More Excuses:
Reforming Sexual Assault Policies on Campus and Redefining Rape

In 2010 there were 95,000 rapes recorded in the United States, but did you know that only 19 percent of rapes are even reported? 19 percent, that is estimated at about 500,000 rapes going unreported every year.

When a woman is raped and decides to report it, she must first call local law enforcement to come and build a rape kit. This is a degrading and sometimes traumatic experience for the victim involving the extraction of physical evidence from all over their body, describing to a nurse personal details, standing naked in a dark room while the officers scan you with a special light, and reporting and recounting the details of the rape. Sadly, most physical evidence from the rape kits is never examined. Hundreds of thousands of rape kits go untested today. There are over half a million unsolved rapes, and that does not include rapes that are never reported. Some of the rape kits have been there so long, that the investigations into them are no longer valid.

Most men, who commit rape, will not stop with that one act. They will continue to rape more women until they are stopped. Although convicted rapists D.N.A. are catalogued they get away with raping more victims due to these rape kits not being tested. A simple test could have possibly prevented thousands upon thousands of women being raped in the United States. When a woman reports a rape to be done by a stranger, stranger rape is the easiest rape to take to trial, as long as you have D.N.A. evidence.

Acquaintance rape is when you are attacked by someone you have met, even if it was just briefly. In these situations the women seem to be on trial for being raped. Being asked if they were dressed in ways to bring the behavior on, among other ridiculous accusations. Acquaintance rape is a big problem on campuses all around the nation, even at East Tennessee State University where I attend. I have personally seen questionable things going on at my own campus that makes me sick to my stomach. Alcohol being usually involved, these cases are hard to prove. It comes down to her word against his, and I’m sure you can guess whose word they want to hear the truth in. (The white male of course.)

Because of an outdated definition, the word rape needs to be redefined. Sexual assaults on men do not classify as rape, and neither does incest. Forcibly fingering, fisting, or forced anal sex is also not classified as rape. It must be penile to vaginal and forced against the female’s will for it to be considered rape. This is pathetic and needs to be changed.

Now you might be asking yourself, why are all these rape not being tested? It all boils down to one thing. Money, it would cost too much money to have them all tested. So while evidence is piling up on shelves, the rapists are out there and they keep raping.
President Obama wants a better world for women due to having daughters of his own, we will have to see.

Because there are so few rapes that actually get reported and because so few rapists actually get convicted, it makes it seem like to someone looking over a graph that there are substantially more other types of crimes than rapes. From here they put their resources into preventing these crimes that “occur more”, pushing the crime of rape to the bottom. Law enforcement needs to see rape for what it really is.

If you thought that was bad enough it gets worse. The National Crime Victim Survey that they do not include rape of children 12 and under to be classified as rape. One fourth of all rapes committed are against children 12 and under, so the N.C.V.S. excludes 25 percent of all rapes. A study of Navy recruits ages 18 and 19 showed that 95 percent of rapes were committed by repeat offenders. Not all men are rapists; the rapists are just the same kind of people doing it over and over with no one stopping them.

Sexual assault is the most common violent crime on campus. 25 percent of women will be victims by the time the graduate. 9 out of 10 times they will be made victims by someone they know. Because victims do not report these rapes nor are they encouraged to, the schools report 0 to 2 rapes a year. I hope you can see why and how this issue affects women off and on campuses all over the nation.

Schools can redefine rape. We can do this through student movements, and other schools have already started getting things changed on their campuses. Policy change can happen but it takes time and patience. We must continue to pass the knowledge down to new students as we move on, because sometimes it takes a long time for change. We can work to create policies about prevention, and talk openly and loudly about consent. Small changes matter and we can change the definition of rape on our campus. Administrators can help us out a little but it’s ultimately up to us. We can’t get fired, we are students and we will push as hard as we can.

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After that I met up with some of my fellow F.M.L.A. members for some coffee. I attended another workshop called Fueling the Femo-lution with Media Activism. In this workshop we had discussions about how we can be more active with our social networking rather than simply practicing arm-chair activism or slacktivism, if you will. I listened and shared with other feminists about what we are doing to use Social Media to the best of our advantage. My advice to you? Write, Share, Copy, Share, and Repeat. If you post something important on your facebook, put it on your blog and your twitter. Start getting involved with an online community of other social media activist. Share your work with them, get new perspectives! If you can even make a change in one person you have made a difference!

Finally we watched as Hilda Solis, the Secretary of Labor, closed the day with a speech about women, jobs, and the economy. Maybe this woman should run for president, because I was very much digging her today. After a Q and A, she hurried off to a meeting with President Obama. My friend Sabrina accidentally breached security as she was leaving and was surrounded by secret service, ha ha.

Next up, we decided to hit up the Soul Vegetarian Café. Everything in this place is vegan and delicious. I had pepper steak with macaroni and cheese and broccoli. It was so good a tear rolled down my face. I am going to write a review when I get back on thisdishisveg.com! So stay tuned for that folks!

After a jam packed metro ride, we got back to the hotel to prepare ourselves for day 3 of our adventure…

Washington D.C. Day 1

2011-03-11T22:35:00.000-08:00

We gathered up at the ETSU Women's Studies office, bags packed, ready to roll. Hungry, we dicided to grab some thai food before we went out. After a long straight drive and 2 gas station stops later, we arrived at our hotel room at the Holiday Inn. We have a nice view of a city scape outside on our balcony with people bustling below. We hit the metro and found ourselves having beers at The Black Cat and eating hummus at what my friend Veronica calls "the falafel stand". The Hummus was delicious and as soon as it was gone we went ahead and headed back to the hotel because we have to get up early. We have a conference tomorrow!!!!

National Young Feminist Leadership Conference coming up!!!!

2011-03-09T14:41:00.001-08:00

I am pretty excited to be attending the 2011 National Young Feminist Leadership Conference this year. Fellow F.M.L.A. (Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance) members, women's studies students and myself will be heading out to D.C. on friday! For those of you that read my articles on thisdishisveg.com, be prepared for a food review of some random veg restraunt in D.C. when I get back! Also check this blog for a post all about what I learned at the conference! It's going to be a great event, maybe I will see you there!!!

From Fat Ass to Bad Ass: How Veganism Saved My Life

2011-03-08T13:48:00.000-08:00

I used to not care about anything. I used to smoke cigarettes, eat animals, buy whatever I want, and do whatever I want. I only cared about myself, and I didn’t care who I hurt or who was affected by anything that I did. I would often ask myself why. Why don’t I seem to care about anything? The thought would normally float around my mind for a couple of minutes then pass as I went back to playing my video games or eating my double cheeseburger. I was a terrible person to be in a relationship with, always putting my needs and wants before my significant other’s. I was basically a waste of human space. Little did I know at the time, but all this would soon start to change.

One day, I randomly put out a cigarette, declaring it would be my last one. I know I had done this many times throughout the last 14 years, but something that I didn’t quite understand was different this time. As soon as I went 2 days without a cigarette, I knew I could do it. This was possibly the first time I achieved any type of goal simply through being positive and believing in myself. 2 days turned into 2 months, and I knew I was never turning back. I had will power, and realized that I could use it to do anything. What was I supposed to do with all this power? I didn’t really know what the next step was.

I remember one evening after work; I was sitting at my computer watching random YouT ube videos. I stumbled across a video of some random youtuber going on about how the vegetarian lifestyle is so much better. It made me think. It made me think back to a time when I was in high school, nearly 10 years ago, when I started to watch one of those slaughterhouse videos. I watched it for probably a minute and then turned it off. I thought it was disgusting, but I didn’t really care, I just didn’t want to see it. In fact, allow me to elaborate further on exactly what my eating habits were like for most of my life. Fast Food pretty much sums it up. The more meat the better, the more cheese the better. I hardly ever ate vegetables or fruit at all, I loved eating meat. I wanted to try all different kinds of meat from all different kinds of animals, domestic to exotic, and I did. You get the picture.

I found a ten minute video that briefly went over how animals are treated in the meat, egg, and dairy industry. With my newfound will power I knew I could finish the video. For some reason I just felt like if I was going to eat it, I should know exactly what I’ve been putting my money and support into all of these years. I watched the video. I watched the animals being beaten, tortured, and eventually killed in brutal and inhumane ways. I realized that immediately that this was wrong and that I could not support this any longer. I announced immediately I would go vegetarian. This had nothing to do with willpower because I no longer wanted to eat meat; therefore I needed no willpower to fight against a want. At the time I had no idea that everything in my life would soon change all because I discovered true compassion.
At first I was vegetarian. I noticed that I was avoiding dairy and eggs; whenever I would eat them I would feel extremely guilty, thinking about where it comes from as I consumed it. After only 2 weeks of vegetarianism I declared that I was vegan. It started out about animal welfare, but I soon discovered even more reasons to be vegan. Aside from saving animal lives, you get to help save the planet every day! It wasn’t long before I started feeling better and my tastes started to change. I was eating raw green peppers and onions in my salads and loving it, 2 vegetables that had me gagging before. My energy level had dramatically increased, making me actually feel like going outside and living. Through this new compassionate lifestyle I also discovered the power behind positive thought. I realized that with positivity and education you can change the world.

As I continued down my path of veganism, it wasn’t long after that others started to follow. I never once tried to force veganism on my friends and family, I just simply answered any questions that they had about the issue while continuing to better my own life. I didn’t realize it at the time but I was setting an example. I was showing everyone I know that a life led by compassion leads to a life of personal success and happiness. By now I have inspired a hand full of people to go veg in some way or another just by doing things for myself. Sometimes people who are still omnivores will call me up just to tell me that they chose not to eat meat for a meal that day. It makes me happy to know that by changing my own life I have helped to change others. We as individuals can make a difference even if it’s just in those around us.
It’s been a year now since I went vegan, and a lot of things have changed in my life. I went from being someone who cares only about himself, to someone who cares about others. I lost over 100 pounds, and took up biking as a mode of transportation. I went back to school to further my education, and became active with the on campus environmental and feminist groups. I am the founder of The Vegans and Vegetarians of the Tri-Cities, and the founder of an on campus animal rights group at my university. Every day it seems like my life just gets better and better, and I become more and more aware. I will never stop fighting for what is right no matter what the cost. A friend and colleague of mine once told me that you can’t fight one type of oppression while ignoring another. This will always stick with me in the constant battle we fight for civil justice in the human and the animal world. It’s all connected, animals and humans alike. I urge you all to consider and think about the products you purchase and support, food and non-food items. Do you agree with it? Do you want it changed? Do you wish it was difference? It could be, and it all starts with you. We shape the world we live in, and when you find something that speaks to you regardless if its animal rights or something related to human rights, you’ll see the connection it has to everything else. Understanding that it’s all equally important, your life to will be changed for the better, just like veganism changed mine. I see now how beautiful life is and can be.

For those of you out there fighting for what you believe in do not be discouraged, I know it gets tough sometimes. I know how it’s hard when it seems like everyone else just thinks you are crazy. You might be asking, how do you stop those who will stop at nothing? The answer is simple, you never stop.