my name is not susan

If I had to pick for myself a feminist concentration, it would probably be body image issues.  Mostly probably because that is something that I personally have dealt with/am dealing with/will probably continue dealing with for the rest of my life.    

Body image issues are only a small fraction of the complex and difficult problems women face today.  Something that I fortunately have never been faced with is violence.  I don't really understand the violence against women thing.  My guess is that women are seen as the "weaker sex" and can therefore be taken advantage of?  Or maybe it is a form of control.  

And it isn't just physical violence that women face.  There is emotional abuse, sexual abuse and what I'd like to discuss here, verbal abuse (and many many more).  

I watched a video on feministing.com, an anti-violence commercial, that I would like you all to watch.  It is only a minute long, so here, watch it.

I understand that a lot of girls my in my age bracket like to use words like "slut" and "whore" and "bitch" as terms of sort of...endearment.  I know I do.  And I don't mean them as "hey, you, you who sleeps around a whole lot, you want to study with me later?" Those words have just become phrases that we throw around.

Maybe we should think more about what we are saying.

I hope that none of you are actually actively dealing with verbal abuse.  The closest I have come to this name calling is drunk idiots calling me "baby" or "sweetheart".  But seriously, lets please think a little more about how we speak to one another.  

I'll use this as an opportunity to invite everyone to participate with Take Back the Night.  It is a way to make people more aware of violence against women and in general.  Next Thursday, April 9, there will be events all day at the Tate center, starting around 10am.  At around 7:30pm, we will march from the Tate center to city hall, where there will be a candle light vigil.  It really is a neat experience, very moving and empowering.  

If you're uncomfortable with marching through the streets of Athens, there will also be Dance Back the Night, Tuesday, April 7.  It will be at Cine and it starts at 7pm and ends at 2am.  Various bands will be playing from 7-midnight and then a DJ will come on.  They are asking for a donation of at least $3, and all proceeds benefit The Cottage (formerly the Sexual Assault Center of Northeast Georgia).  It should be a lot of fun, and I know I'm really excited for it.

I know a lot of what I post is comical or silly or me ranting about cereal, but this is something I take very seriously, something that is very dear to me.  Even if you just read this and maybe change the way you speak to women (and I too am going to reevaluate my speech) or maybe talk to a friend about this, it would mean so much to me.  

AND IT WOULD SO MUCH MORE IF YOU CAME AND DANCED AND/OR MARCHED!!!