Planned Parenthood Rally and Project Condom

The rally we organized took place, as scheduled, in front of Jim DeMint's office on Monday.  I'm not sure he was even in his office that day, but the important part is that people figured out that we were there -- plenty of scowls from workers.  We had roughly 25 people there, consistently, throughout the duration of the rally, which was a large enough crowd (at least, in this little city) to get a cop to come and tell us to stop disrupting the flow of traffic.  We walked back and forth from DeMint's office (located in a bank building -- I shouldn't even have to point out the symbolism there) to the State House, chanting and showing off our signs.  For every person who took the time to roll their windows up so s/he (mostly he, what a surprise) wouldn't have to hear us, we got a thumbs-up or a cheer from another person, and we handed out plenty of flyers.  All in all, I'd say it was a success.

The next day, I participated as a model in Season 4 of Project Condom at USC.  Project Condom is a "fashion show" that is put on every year (in our case, by Carolina Productions) and is affiliated with The South Carolina Contraceptive Access Initiative.  Teams sign up to compete by making dresses out of condoms.  The best part is that the condoms aren't even going to waste...at least, not more than they already would have.  They're the condoms that failed clinical trials, which companies donate to Project Condom.  I'm all for making art or crafts out of something that's going to be wasted, especially if it's an activity like this, where there's a cause behind the craft, as well (not that there usually isn't).

Rally 2/28 @ Jim DeMint's Office, 4-7PM

I'm thrilled and excited to say that I'm a key member in organizing a rally in front of Jim DeMint's office on Monday. It should last three hours, and the time is set so that, ideally, the workers will be forced to walk through our protest against cuts for Planned Parenthood. We have fliers, and even though we're not directly affiliated with Planned Parenthood, the Columbia branch has been indispensable in helping us get this together. I have several friends working on this with me. It all started when I e-mailed a few of them with a certain blog post at BlogHer and said “What are we gonna do?” The rest is history in the making.

I'm really excited. If anyone reading this blog (currently few of you, but the support is appreciated) has any input and advice that you suspect hasn't been mentioned to us, I implore you, do tell! Help is always appreciated: Leave a comment or e-mail me at forreal.respect@gmail.com. Also, if you want a copy of the flyer to print and/or distribute, I'd be happy to send it to you.

"I stand with Planned Parenthood."

The passage of the bill that bans funding for Planned Parenthood makes me want to cry.

I want an internship there now more than ever.

Petition and news here:
https://secure.ppaction.org/site/SPageServer?pagename=pp_ppol_ws_I_Stand_with_PP&s_src=istandwithppfeb2011ppole1&JServSessionIdr004=m3pbkbybm3.app209b

Happy Valentine's Day, Indeed

Some interesting things happened at the beginning of this week, though I don't think that they got the attention they deserved in my hometown.

[BACKGROUND INFORMATION:  I recommend reading an article or two in order to familiarize yourself on the topic of J. Marion Sims.  I've provided the citation for the favorite one I've read at the bottom of this post.  I am especially fond of it, because it examines the issue without demonizing Sims, but without freeing him from any sort of blame; I think it could be considered as objective an article on the topic as can be expected by anyone.]

I saw what I fondly think of as My Valentine of 2011 while I was driving home from a friend's house late at night.  Sometimes, I'll go somewhere to study where I can be supervised and held accountable for completing my work on time, which is why I found myself driving back to my building around 4:00 in the morning.  I took the route that would put me past the SC Statehouse, since I prefer more heavily trafficked roads at night.

My Thoughts on The Vagina Monologues

People have given a lot of negative reviews regarding The Vagina Monologues, particularly in the Feminist blogosphere, so I was expecting to dislike it more than I did.  My favorite feminist friend [moniker pending?] went to see it with me on Friday, and we both concluded that the best way to review it would be to do a play-by-play of each monologue, individually.  This is a really long post, so I don't blame you if you don't read the whole thing.  Our overall conclusions are as follows:

• There is some man-hate present here.  DO NOT APPROVE.
• Celebration of Vaginas.  APPROVE.
• Outraged dismissal of the capitalist attempt to push unnecessary products on us to convince us that we "smell bad" and are "unclean".  In the words of the monologue, "I don't want my vagina to smell like rain!"  APPROVE.
• Coercion present here.  DO NOT APPROVE.
• Double-standard present here.  DO NOT APPROVE.
• Promotion of Embracing Your Sexuality.  APPROVE.

DISCLAIMER:  You'll understand this review better after you go see it.  Can't hurt, right?  At my school, the proceeds went to benefit a Sexual Health and Trauma/Violence Center.

Keep reading if you're interested in my thoughts on each individual monologue.

PREPARE YOURSELF.

Welcome to my blog.  It is under construction.  If you don't like feminism, please get out.  Expect posts on weekends, probably Fridays, but no guarantees. 

PS -- This font is called "copse".  I chose it because at first I thought it was called "corpse".  And I chose a background full of books for reasons that you can probably guess.