31.3.13

If I Admit That ‘Hating Men’ Is a Thing, Will You Stop Turning It Into a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy?

Feminism is, in essence, a social justice movement—it wants to take the side of the alienated and the marginalized, and that includes alienated and marginalized men. Please stop turning us against you.

(...)

Feminism isn't about striving for individual fairness, on a life-by-life basis—it's about fighting against a systematic removal of opportunity that infringes on women's basic freedoms. If a woman and a man have equal potential in a field, they should have an equal opportunity to achieve success in that field. It's not that we want the least qualified women to be handed everything just because they're women. It's that we want all women to have the same opportunities as all men to fulfill (or fail to fulfill, on their own inherent merits) their potential.

by Lindy West

From Manly to Sexy : The History of the High Heel

Why do women wear high heels? Because men did.

Men were the first sex to don the shoe. They were adopted by the European aristocracy of the 1600s as a signal of status. The logic was: only someone who didn’t have to work could possibly go around in such impractical footwear. (Interestingly, this was the same logic that encouraged footbinding in China.)

Women started wearing heels as a way of trying to appropriate masculine power. In the BBC article on the topic, Elizabeth Semmelhack, who curates a shoe museum, explains:

In the 1630s you had women cutting their hair, adding epaulettes to their outfits…

They would smoke pipes, they would wear hats that were very masculine. And this is why women adopted the heel — it was in an effort to masculinise their outfits.


The lower classes also began to wear high heels, as fashions typically filter down from elite.

How did the elite respond to imitation from “lesser” people: women and workers? First, the heels worn by the elite became increasingly high in order to maintain upper class distinction. And, second, heels were differentiated into two types: fat and skinny. Fat heels were for men, skinny for women.

This is a beautiful illustration of Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of class distinction. Bourdieu argued that aesthetic choices function as markers of class difference. Accordingly, the elite will take action to present themselves differently than non-elites, choosing different clothing, food, decor, etc. Expensive prices help keep certain things the province of elites, allowing them to signify their power; but imitation is inevitable. Once something no longer effectively differentiates the rich from the rest, the rich will drop it. This, I argue elsewhere, is why some people care about counterfeit purses (because it’s not about the quality, it’s about the distinction).

Eventually men quit wearing heels because their association with women tainted their power as a status symbol for men. (This, by the way, is exactly what happened with cheerleading, originally exclusively for men). With the Enlightenment, which emphasized rationality (i.e., practical footwear), everyone quit wearing high heels.

What brought heels back for women? Pornography. Mid-nineteenth century pornographers began posing female nudes in high heels, and the rest is history.


source : here

can't wait

Graveyard Girls

 

by Petra

by the

30.3.13

26.3.13

25.3.13


24.3.13


Chromatic Typewriter Prints

Tyree Callahan has recycled (or upcycled, perhaps) a classic 1937 Underwood typewriter by replacing letters with sponges soaked across the spectrum with bright yellows, reds, blues and combinations thereof.


from Rookie

Street of Dreams


Detroit's Heidelberg Project
by Lauren Poor
Je ne veux plus qu’on m’aime Qu’on me sourie Qu’on m’invite au restaurant Qu’on me tienne la porte Qu’on m’offre des fleurs Je m’en fous Oui Je m’en fous Parfaitement Je ne veux plus qu’on m’aime Si je ne peux pas me loger travailler me réaliser arriver tout en haut Je ne veux plus qu’on m’aime si je ne suis pas dans les livres d’Histoire dans les livres tout court A la tête des institutions et de tout ce qui a une tête Je m’en fous qu’on me Courtise Qu’on me trouve sensuelle avec ma voix grave ma cambrure ma peau ambrée mes fesses rebondies ma peau d’ébène mon port de tête ma peau mes jolies tresses ma peau et tout le reste Qui n’est pas moi d’ailleurs mais c’est un autre débat Je ne veux plus qu’on trinque Qu’on se taille une bavette Qu’on se fasse une raclette Ni rien J’en ai soupé de la fraternité sans égalité Ce serait quoi la fraternité si ça ne marchait pas avec l’égalité Ce serait quoi la fraternité ce serait quoi à part une plaisanterie douteuse La fraternité si ça ne marchait pas avec l’égalité 

Leonora Miano

22.3.13

55

21.3.13

20.3.13

13 again

Dirty Girls


Shot in 1996 and edited in 2000, this is a short documentary about a group of 13-year-old riot grrrls in Los Angeles who were socially ostracized at their school by their peers and upperclassmen. Everyone in the schoolyard held strong opinions about these so-called "dirty girls," and meanwhile the "dirty girls" themselves aimed to get their message across by distributing their zine across campus. 

Directed by Michael Lucid

19.3.13

2.10

Oh, hello, you fucker! Are you kidding me? Where did you go? 
Who am I supposed to talk to if you won’t answer your fucking phone, okay? That anorexic, Marnie? Fucking Shoshanna? Or my stalker ex-boyfriend? It’s not like any of them will talk to me. I don’t blame them, cause I cut off all my fucking hair! 
And now you’re off somewhere, just livin’ it up, wearing a crop top, you probably got your vagina pierced, and you’re not answering your phone and you’re forgetting about everyone, who’s fucking it up here. 
So I hope you’re having a GREAT time. Love you.

by Saga Sig
J'ai fait la saison
Dans cette boîte crânienne
Tes pensées
Je les faisais miennes

T'accaparer seulement, t'accaparer
D'estrade en estrade
J'ai fait danser tant de malentendus
Des kilomètres de vie en rose

18.3.13

rebounds

17.3.13


by J. Baylor Roberts, 1937

by Alexei Hay, 1998

by Petra

La colère dessert-elle la cause?

Pourquoi devrais-je être douce, tranquille et mettre toujours de l'eau dans mon vin? Quelles qualités prétendument "féminines" attend-on de moi quand je m'exprime? Est-ce qu'aux hommes qui s'affirment avec poigne, laissent parler leur colère et versent parfois eux aussi dans l'excès de forme, on dit qu'ils sont hystériques et mal sucés et qu'ils se desservent eux-mêmes? Les disqualifie-t-on en tout quand ils osent aller loin, quand ils ont besoin d'interpeller, quand ils demandent à se faire entendre?

by Marie Donzel (Ladies & Gentlemen)

14.3.13

concepts


Janol Apin, Metropolisson, 90s

Ballade à Créteil

 

13.3.13

Wilson sisters

 ♥

12.3.13

6.18

2.9

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The rain fell slow, down on all the roofs of uncertainty
I thought of you and the years, and all the sadness fell away from me

Eating : A Manifesto

Stick this on the fridge.

Here I am making a vast and sweeping gender stereotype, but do you ever, ever hear dudes say “I just want a little bite” or “This is so bad, you guys, but I totally ate a whole pint of Ben & Jerry’s last night”? No! Because it’s OK for men to eat!

I want women to allow themselves to want food. I want women to be hungry and ask for what they want to eat without apologizing. I want women to stop looking for permission from others before they eat something that is not a carrot or spinach. I want my friends to get the chili fries if they want the chili fries, and not say something like, “It all goes straight to my ____” (hips, thighs, butt, etc.). I want to see a girl sink her teeth into a huge cheeseburger and fries and not cut the burger in half to save some for later. I want my mother to allow herself more than one small square of dark chocolate per day. I want women to take pleasure in food, without punishing ourselves for wanting it.

Hear me, womenfolk : I want all of us, everywhere, to stop apologizing, stop rationalizing our behavior, and just eat the damn brownie already.

by Krista

by Sonja