What Girls Want

Honestly, I did not understand the point of this piece.  It was overly general and it tended to jump around.  It started off with divorce and moving and how stressful that can be.  Then it somehow morphed into a piece that says that teen girls need a place to hide when they are down, and that place should be an unrealistic, dramatization of love which will only let the girl down in the long run.  If authors want to keep showing how "easy" love can be and that the first encounter you have with love is the only one you are going to have, well then we can bet that the depression rates of teen girls will continue to rise.  I honestly wish that authors would write a story about how hard love can actually be and that it doesn't always happen overnight and that it doesn't always happen to be a muscular, mysterious, physically beautiful being.  Also, why does a girl need to blame stress to want to escape into a book where mythical creatures exist and love comes so easy.  I don't know, I guess I just didn't like this piece.

Prue Shows Her Knickers

First off I would like to wish all of you a happy Halloween... I think that's spelled correctly.  But anywho, I would like to eject my thoughts on Emily Oxford's piece entitled, "Prue Shows Her Knickers."  I honestly thought this was a really cute story.  It reminded me of when I was younger and just starting to morph into a woman.  I can honestly say that I have done something similar to that of Prue, but it was at my babysitters house instead, it was even for the same length of time and had the same outcome.  I may have only been around 8 years old, but after seeing him, I magically ended up with a "boyfriend."  Well back to the story, it is all so innocent.  The boy did not want to see because he was being a pig, Andy was only curious about the female body.  And Prue, well she had nothing to lose, who cares about a bunch of people she will no longer see after this adventure.  She was very gutsy though, I would have never done anything of the sort in a closet in school. 
It also interested me to see how mature Prue seemed compared to Andy.  I don't exactly know how to explain why I feel this, but I just felt that Prue was more mature over the whole ordeal. 

"If Men Could Menstruate"

I do not know about anyone else, but I found this piece by Gloria Steinem to be hilarious.  It is so true also.  My favorite quote from this story is, "Men would brag about how long and how much... I'm a three pad guy."  I read this to my boyfriend and he just looked at me and smiled and told me how true that is.  I have noticed in my past boyfriends, step-father, and male friends, that they turn into big whiney babies when they have the faintest ailment.  And honestly I would love to see a male menstruate every month for 7 days.  Even if they only did it once a month for 6th months, then they would understand the moods, soreness, pain, bloatedness, etc, that comes with menstruation.  It also made me laugh that pads and tampons were said to represent more manly things like John Wayne.  This made me think of "The Blue Collar Comedy Tour" when Larry the Cable Guy talks about if menstrual products ran NASCAR.  I loved this piece and I personally think that everyone should read it.

YAY BIRTHCONTROL!

Because we are on some of the readings about birthcontrol.  I would like to discuss my personal dealings with the forms of birthcontrol I have had.  Well, I had my first period when I was 12.  Until age 17 I still was not regular and the cramps and moodswings were unbearable for myself and for everyone around me, so I got put on birth control.  Well my family doctor put me on OrthoTricyclin Lo  which, for a girl my size around 200 pounds, was REDICULOUS!  This pill sent my hormones levels into a terrible tail spin which resulted in me getting put on Anti-depressants.  Also, this pill did not help with my moods, cramps, or to make me more regular, if anything, it made everything worse.  The next pill they put me on was just regular Ortho Tricyclin, and again, it was for women of average weights, not overweight teens like I was.  So, again, I had to try again.  This next time, I went to the Planned Parenthood in Appleton.  Thank God they actually knew what they were doing.  They diagnosed me with PMDD, premenstural dysphoric disorder, and put me on Yasmin, FOR FREE.  It was like a blessing from God.  My mood swings went away, I became more regular, and my cramps decreased.  But, I had to take it everyday at the same time, which, for a college student, is awfully difficult sometimes.  Sometimes I took it late, sometimes I forgot all together.  Because of this stupidity on my part, I became pregnant.  Well, needless to say, after I found out I was pregnant, I stopped taking my birth control.  Two months later, I miscarried and decided that I needed to switch my birth control method.  I stopped dating and continued to take Yasmin until I could research and decide upon a new method that I could afford.  Finally I settled on the plastic Intrauterine device called Mirena.  I had it inserted a month and a half ago and it was the most painful thing I have ever experienced, but it is free and effective for up to 5 years.  Now that I have had it inserted, I love it.  It was effective immediately and now that I have had it for over a month, I do not even realize it is even there.  I don't have to take it everyday, I just have to check my strings once a week at my leisure to make sure that it is still in place.  It is the best decision I have ever made.

Is that My Son Wearing a Dress

For this post I decided to blog a bit about "Is that My Son Wearing a Dress?" by Matt Cheplic (2010).  I understand the son's want to wear a dress.  When I was little, I wore little boy's clothes because I HATED dresses with a firey passion of a thousand suns.  My mother, after having 2 other girls who did the exact same thing, was more accepting of the concept and allowed me to do so.  But, when she had my oldest sister Gwen, it wasn't the same story.  Which is why I also understand the stance that the father took on this subject. 

My mom did not like the idea of letting her little girls run around in boy's clothes because it made her look like she couldn't afford to buy normal girl's clothes.  Also, my mother and the father in the text, were not happy because of the fact that little kids are mean.  Young children, when presented with something different, including girl's in boy's clothes and boys in girl's clothes, don't know what to do and often resort to teasing and sequestering of the one who is different.  It is rediculous, but that's how children are. 

What's Wrong With Cinderella

For this week I would like to blog about "What's Wrong With Cinderella" by Peggy Orenstein (2006).  I was wondering why the mother was so ungodly perturbed by everyone calling her daughter a "princess."  In my mind, being called a princess is a complement and it should be taken with gratitude.  I understand that it is over used and comes with certain stereotypes including; the favorite color of the child being pink, developing the snotty and helpless traits of a spoiled damsel, and even developing a poor self-esteem when the child does not have the funds or the body to look exactly like a princess.

Quite frankly, I do not believe that a child will become a snotty, helpless person, if the parents do their job.  If the parents choose to teach AND allow their child to do things for themselves, to develop some independence, then the child will not be helpless enough to depend completely on someone else.  Also, if the parents don't spoil their child, buying them everything the kid could want, then they will not become spoiled and will appreciate what they get because it is not everyday that they recieve a pretty dress or the like.  Also, if the child has to work and behave to get the reward, it is more loved and not so easily set aside. 

If Women Ran Hip Hop

For this entry I decided to collect my thoughts on "If Women Ran Hip Hop" by Aya de Leon in 2007. 

This piece makes me feel like it was written off of stereotypes of women.  Not all women are into pretty dainty places, especially for a hip hop show.  Honestly when I think of underground Hip Hop I think of a basement in some building that was cheap to rent, but then again, that could just be me.  Next, what is the definition of "too loud."  At a live show of any type, I would like the music to be loud and fresh, and the people who think the music is too loud, should back away from the speaers. 

Aya says "there would never be shootings cuz there would be onsite conflict mediators to help you work through all that negativity & hostility."  I think that is a bunch of bologna because honestly, I have seen a cat fight.  It may not have included guns, but man women are ten times worse than men when they fight.  Men can at least be separated when they fight, but women, oh no, they are almost impossible to separate.  and as for the mediators, that's like throwing them into the principal's office and telling them that if they don't talk their problems through, they will be suspended. 

I could honestly go on for a while about this one because it is based off stereotypes of a certain type of woman, and not all women. 
Perhaps if there are some comments we can continue this discussion via comments. 

Hold That Nose

Sorry this is so late, this has been a rediculous week, I know technically Sunday, but let's just say that my sisters internet is not very accomidating. But, enough of my excuses, this post I would like to write about "Hold That Nose" written by Lisa Miya-Jervis in 2003. 

The first thing that caught my attention was the fact that her mother was trying to gently pressure her into getting a nose job.  I do not think this is right.  If Lisa had wanted a nose job, her mother would have been made aware of the situation, but considering that Lisa did not want a nose job, her mother should have dropped the subject and let things be.  Although her mother tends to continue to offer to pay for a nose job.  Such gentle nudging toward a certain outcome can be irritating, but as long as that's where it stays, I wouldn't be worried about upsetting her mother.

Second, I couldn't believe that Lisa's father even said that Lisa and her sister wouldn't have existed without their mother's nose job.  It is incredibly shallow to say that and I know I would not want to be with a man who wouldn't have even given me the light of day if my nose were bigger than most peoples'.  

In my opinion, who cares if you have a big nose, or uneven ears, or even small breasts.  You will find people who like you for who you are, and won't try to pick out your imperfections (which everybody has you know).  Quite frankly, I believe that the friends that are made when you don't look physically attractive are better, more loyal, friends than the friends you would bake if you were physically georgeous.  Take what you have and learn to run with it, use your strengths to your advantage, and DO NOT let anyone pressure you into thinking you are anything besides a beautiful human being.