Lies and falsehoods, Padfoot!

So Andrew and I saw Man of Steel the other night, and in lieu of doing a review (because I'm terrible at keeping my thoughts cohesive during movie reviews) I'm going to talk about something in the movie that I found really impressive.

( Minor Spoilers )

Answer to last Thursday's song: Going Away to College, by Blink-182.

Answer to last Friday's song: Sailing for Adventure, from Muppet Treasure Island. No one guessed either of these.

Quoted from The Pervocracy (who in turn is quoting Cosmo):

"Shocker: This Word Is a Turn-Off To Guys.
It's not "marriage" or "period." According to our most recent crop of Cosmo Bachelors, it's the F bomb--more than half said it's unattractive. [...] Experts say it's like burping. He knows you do it, but he'd rather think you don't... so you maintain a sexy, girlie mystique."

'Yeah... Fuck that fucking steaming mound of fucking bullshit.  I'm a fucking person and I will use all of the words available to fucking people.  I will talk like I fucking want.  I will accustom men to the idea that some women say "fuck" a fuckload and others don't because we're fucking people and we're fucking different.'


God fucking bless you, Holly.


From here: http://pervocracy.blogspot.com/2012/01/cosmocking-february-12-part-one.html

You know what I like about Legally Blonde? That Elle can change how she is, without changing who she is. She wears pink, cares about her hair, carries Bruiser around, and is still smart and excells at Harvard.

And I'm really irritated by all these movies that seem to say that you can be either smart and ugly/awkward, or stupid and pretty, but no other combination. And if you want to change your inside, you have to change your outside first.


Grrr.

 So, we (three girls and a gay, gay boy) went to Hooters the other night, and we were talking about how it's the objectification of women and all that, and I thought being the feminist that I think I am, this should bother me.

Then I realized that it doesn't, simply because Hooters is very open and honest about exactly what they are. I mean, if you apply for a job there, you know that you're going to be making money off people oogling your goodies (to borrow a phrase). I mean, the signs on the walls are all about boobs and the pictures are all of scantily clad busty women. Their motto is "Delightly tacky, yet unrefined." They're not pretending, they're not trying to hide it, and they're definately not being subtle.

Not that that makes objectification of women in broader terms of society and culture ok, but meh. It's just Hooters. And it was fun. It's not like they're hookers or strippers or anything. And some of the waitresses weren't even that busty. In fact, what bothers me is that I'm probably not hot/thin/boob-tastic enough to work there.


Also I gave our waitress (Abbie) a big tip. Because she was hot. And she had a nice ass.



So there.

Ok. I thought I could forget about this and not make it a big deal, but it's still irritating me, and this is my journal, so hey.

STANDARD DISCLAIMER APPLIES. What follows is my opinion, and only my opinion. As such, feel free to have a different one, but don't attack me for mine.


I keep hearing this ad for a spa on the radio, and it really grates against my feminist nerves. (Such as they are.)

Here's the ad, paraphrased: "American women will spend, on average, 150 hours of their lives waxing, shaving, and otherwise hating their body hair. If you come to *the spa we're advertising* we'll do all that waxing for you, and then you'll have oodles of free time, which you can use to go shopping."

Now, there are three things wrong with this,

1. It assumes that all women hate their body hair. Now, I'm no hippie non-shaver, but I know that they exist. Furthermore, what if I feel lukewarm about my body hair? Or just a slight distaste for it? Or only mild irritation with it? Don't go telling me how I feel about my body.

2. It assumes that only women have hair that they would like to remove from their bodies. Because there are no men in the world with unsightly back hair. No male bicyclists shave their legs. There are no male models that have their chests waxed. Obviously the makers of this ad have never seen The 40 Year Old Virgin.

3. This is the most infuriating one. This ad states, and I am not making this up, that if women had more free time, they would use it to GO SHOPPING. Not finish their Biology homework, or work on a cure for cancer, or even spend more time with their friends, or read, or hire a male prostitute to get them off. Nope. They'd go shopping. Why don't they just go the whole way then, and, since they know so much about women, tell us that what we'll be shopping for will obviously be lingere, so we can convince our husbands to knock us up, so we can bear their sons, and then have dinner on the table by 5:00.



I know it's just a stupid ad, but it makes me so mad. I do not hate my body hair, I do not want to go shopping, and I resent being generalized about like that.



Now I'm going to go do my Biology homework, so I can grow up to be an awesome biologist, cure AIDS, win a nobel prize, become rich and famous and not have to work anymore, and then use my free time to learn how to ride horses, and get a motorcycle license, and read The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and NEVER SHOP AGAIN. I will pay people to do it for me.

Ok kids, I think we need a weekend recap.

Friday:
Went to see The Lake House with Janeea, Sarah, Hannah, Liz, Jackie, and Erin. LOVED it. Sarah and I tried really hard to break each others' hands because we didn't know how it was going to end and OMG it was great. I laughed, I cried, I chewed my knuckles (which is the mark of truly good movie) and I still like Keanu Reeves.


Saturday:
Went to Renee's party. Tripped over her stairs and broke my shoe and scraped the shit out of my knee, all in one fell swoop. (Honestly, I shouldn't be allowed to walk.)

Ate. A lot. God her mom makes good food. Renee, I love you, and your mother, and all the food in your house. In that order.

Played with adorable dogs and sat and chilled with awesome people like Anna and Aaron and Vanessa and others. Met a girl named Cassie, and one named Nicole, who played Little Red Riding Hood in Into the Woods.

And then I ate some more.

Hope Renee liked her presents!


Saturday/Sunday:
CAMPING.

Ok. I didn't want to go camping. I don't camp. I'm not terribly fond of canoes, it was dark, I hate bugs, I was told I was going to get eaten by a bear or attacked by a weirdo, and peeing in the woods...Yeah.

Well, I think my friends (or at the very least, Janeea) have figured out that if you reassure me enough I will do a lot of the things that I don't do. And I would like to deeply and sincerely thank Janeea, because CAMPING WAS AWESOME.

Seven teenaged girls canoed out to a campsite, in the mostly dark, with a shit load of stuff, set up a tent, built a fire, cooked hot dogs and s'mores and whatever else we wanted, spent the night, did not get eaten by a bear or attacked by anything, peed in the woods, (I) did not get bit by ANYTHING, and then cleaned it all up and canoed back. (And we didn't tip the canoe either, no matter how much I was panicking about it.)

So there.

We are women, hear us kick ass.

I also caught a tadpole in a water bottle, and named him Ted. Ted the Tadpole. He's bi-lingual and has little legs and a little mouth and little eyes and someday he's going to turn into Fred the Frog.

Chittenden Dam is GORGEOUS in the morning. (There are big fucking rocks and sun and sky and water and mountains and GAH.) Really and truly gorgeous. I felt like Peter Pan. Don't ask why, but I felt so much like him that I crowed.

It was great.


Sunday:
Made it back from camping in one piece, hung with Renee for a little while, watched A Knight's Tale and then took a nap. Heh.


Ok. For some reason, my parents went out and bought a net and a volleyball and a badminton set. So if anyone wants to play... (Why? Why do they buy these things? The telescope that we've never used, the piano that no one in my house can play...Why?)


And last but not least, I finally saw Tristan and Isolde. It was ok. I mean, it wasn't bad, but it was pretty predictable and all I really cared about was that he was very very very pretty. (But since I am a total sap, I believed the whole "love conquers all and is stronger than death" bit. So I liked it, is my point)


And that's the end of this long ass entry.

Know what I just read about in my religion book Renee? Guess.

THE SPANISH INQUISITION! (Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!)

Also was amused by this: "Humanists placed humanity at the center of their world." Well duh. Hence the name.

"The emaphasis on the dignity of man, however, did not translate into equal roles for women." Well of course not. Why would it? God didn't also create woman or anything. But it did mention that Mary I, Elizabeth I, and Mary, Queen of Scots totally kicked ass.


Ok. I'm done being a dork for the night. Just had to share that with Renee.

Love to all!