Yes, I am totally being a bum on this post. One of the great things about America? Our ability to procrastinate and do things half-assed. Some may not see that as an asset, but today, for me, it is.
My lovely cobloggers have already done a great job of describing the very things I value about America. So rather than give you another post that reiterates all of the things I love - the scenery, free speech, etc., let me not bore you with my post and just say "ditto".
Also? On the free speech note - vagnia, vagina, Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, condom, porn, plushies, pony play, fetish. That should get us some more hits.
Showing posts with label porn. Show all posts
Showing posts with label porn. Show all posts
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Stacey's Mom Has Got It Goin' On
Hmmm... feminism and the internet. Well if there's one thing I can say about this group, it's that you have all been keeping me on my toes as far as creativity and writing is concerned.
Right, well I don't know much about wikichix or wikipedia, and besides, who wants a rehashing of yesterday's post anyways? I'm sure the internet has done wonders for feminism, insofar as it has been able to get information to the masses in ways we didn't have before - single mothers can take classes or have jobs from home and battered or disadvantaged women can find resources to help (hopefully) get them out of their situation. Unfortunately, I think the internet has also done a lot to set back the strides we have taken to gain women the image they deserve.
Of course you've probably guessed that I'm talking about porn. Now honestly, I'm not dumping on the porn industry here. Acutally, it being online now may have given some of the women in the industry even more power over their own careers. I'm actually referring to all the sites that your average person has put up depicting his girlfriend, or some other random girl he slept with in some, um, compromising positions. With the power given to the people (a common theme when talking about the internet), there's also probably been a rise in the "Girls Gone Wild" type of sites. Any person with a cell phone now can take a pic of some stupid girl flashing her tits, and then post it online if they wish. I can only imagine the horror one might have if you stumbled upon pictures like that of your sister.
That's not to say that the people who take the pictures are entirely to blame. Unfortunately, as long as there are girls willing to lift their shirts for a pair of cheap, plastic beads, there will be more than enough men (and probably some women) willing to look, throw beads, and take pictures. The problem I have is that all girls, all women now look like sluts. We may be well-respected most of the time, but dangle some beads in front of us and apparently we'll be out of our clothes so fast you'd think they were on fire.
Some people might argue that porn already portrayed us in that fashion, and you'd be right, but we could still distance ourselves from it. Those women get paid lots of money to do that. Those are movies - fiction, but now that we have pics of your average girl-next-door doing the same types of things the porn stars do, what does that do to our image? Do guys look at all women as secretly being sluts now?
I actually have a story I posted awhile back on my blog about something related. Might as well retell it here, eh? I was sitting in my car at a traffic light back in mid -Feb 2006. A guy in the car ahead of mine and to the left leaned out of his car and started shaking a set of beads back in my direction. Automatically I thought he was doing that for some bimbo in the car behind me, so I ignored him. After awhile though, he was still doing it, so I turned around to see the girl. To my dismay it was a guy, and as I looked at all the cars around me I came to the realization that he probably meant it for me. This was in Lake City, at 2:30 in the afternoon, at least a week AFTER Mardi Gras.
Unfortunately the only solution is for other girls, other women to stop being such idiots, and as I have no faith in the human race, I'm afraid this will be an ongoing problem. (Also, I'm sure this post all about porn and flashing will do nothing to help the hits that we've gotten from such bizarre searches as Britney Spears' vagina or Paris Hilton with no underwear)
Right, well I don't know much about wikichix or wikipedia, and besides, who wants a rehashing of yesterday's post anyways? I'm sure the internet has done wonders for feminism, insofar as it has been able to get information to the masses in ways we didn't have before - single mothers can take classes or have jobs from home and battered or disadvantaged women can find resources to help (hopefully) get them out of their situation. Unfortunately, I think the internet has also done a lot to set back the strides we have taken to gain women the image they deserve.
Of course you've probably guessed that I'm talking about porn. Now honestly, I'm not dumping on the porn industry here. Acutally, it being online now may have given some of the women in the industry even more power over their own careers. I'm actually referring to all the sites that your average person has put up depicting his girlfriend, or some other random girl he slept with in some, um, compromising positions. With the power given to the people (a common theme when talking about the internet), there's also probably been a rise in the "Girls Gone Wild" type of sites. Any person with a cell phone now can take a pic of some stupid girl flashing her tits, and then post it online if they wish. I can only imagine the horror one might have if you stumbled upon pictures like that of your sister.
That's not to say that the people who take the pictures are entirely to blame. Unfortunately, as long as there are girls willing to lift their shirts for a pair of cheap, plastic beads, there will be more than enough men (and probably some women) willing to look, throw beads, and take pictures. The problem I have is that all girls, all women now look like sluts. We may be well-respected most of the time, but dangle some beads in front of us and apparently we'll be out of our clothes so fast you'd think they were on fire.
Some people might argue that porn already portrayed us in that fashion, and you'd be right, but we could still distance ourselves from it. Those women get paid lots of money to do that. Those are movies - fiction, but now that we have pics of your average girl-next-door doing the same types of things the porn stars do, what does that do to our image? Do guys look at all women as secretly being sluts now?
I actually have a story I posted awhile back on my blog about something related. Might as well retell it here, eh? I was sitting in my car at a traffic light back in mid -Feb 2006. A guy in the car ahead of mine and to the left leaned out of his car and started shaking a set of beads back in my direction. Automatically I thought he was doing that for some bimbo in the car behind me, so I ignored him. After awhile though, he was still doing it, so I turned around to see the girl. To my dismay it was a guy, and as I looked at all the cars around me I came to the realization that he probably meant it for me. This was in Lake City, at 2:30 in the afternoon, at least a week AFTER Mardi Gras.
Unfortunately the only solution is for other girls, other women to stop being such idiots, and as I have no faith in the human race, I'm afraid this will be an ongoing problem. (Also, I'm sure this post all about porn and flashing will do nothing to help the hits that we've gotten from such bizarre searches as Britney Spears' vagina or Paris Hilton with no underwear)
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Person of the Year wasn't Me.
Before I begin, let me give myself 2 justifications. 1. I'm new to the whole blogger thing. I'm a MySpace gal so far, and I'm just hoping there's a spellcheck on Blogger. 2. I had yet another happy hour this evening after work, at which I told my self I would only stay for 1 drink. After 3, I'm home, quite buzzed and watching Without a Trace while I blog. I'm a multi-tasker.
Thanks to some extra Delta SkyMiles (that were still not enough to actually travel anywhere), I've been getting Time magazine for several months now. Not that I've read many of them; I also get the Atlantic Monthly and the Economist from the same offer and hardly look at either. However, I keep hearing about this Time cover-- I'm the person of the Year?!-- but, no, I did not receive this issue. Are they trying to tell me something? I'm probably taking that too personally. A local friend blamed it on the "corrupt DC postal service, someone probably stole it," which is what I was thinking anyway since my mail is very sporadic. Once, they didn't pick up my departing mail for 3 or 4 days and when I called to complain the distribution manager who answered the phone told me, "Look, if you don't got any mail comin' in, he ain't gonna check it." "oh?" I responded, "I guess that's just the way you do things?" "yep." And how do you argue with that? So I'm going to read the article right now. Give me a second... I'm also eating dinner.
Ok, so, I haven't started reading yet, but it's awesome that the chrysler ad before the article begins, "You may not be the person of the year..." Oops. that was a waste of a couple gazillion dollars.
Who will leave a happy hour early after 3 drinks on a Tuesday to go home and fulfill her obligation to her brand new Blogsupergroup!? Me! I'm a winner! According to Time anyway.
Time? Are you listening? Good. Because that was a total cop-out. As the monstery-guy in 'Avenue Q' explains in song, "The internet is for porn." Also, I've been copyediting at work for 2 days now (I have other work, but this had been higher priority) and caught a typo in the last paragraph. There may be more, but I only caught the one. Can You?
So, I agree that the internet is fucking awesome. I can easily keep in touch with my non-DC friends who I love dearly, and that would be a lot harder if I only had to rely on free long-distance through cell phones. I can share photos and random thoughts and read about other people all over the world. and I email constantly. Also, it makes my job easier. in fact, it provides me with a job, since the project I work on within my company is a Web site (http://www.llis.gov/... you can't see it, you're not a member. And, no, I cannot give you membership, you're not an emergency responder).
Also, I participate in groups like Planned Parenthood, MoveOn, and NARAL-ProChoice, which I don't think would do very well without the internet. So I get emails about 3 times a day in my 'fake' email account asking for money from these groups. I don't mind-- I contribute about once a year. I just read what's gong on the rest of the year. If there's a petition or something, I'll sign that.
Democracy? At least the illusion of democracy, which, after voting for several years in Florida, I’ve learned to appreciate. When I sign an online petition I have full faith (not confidence) that it is delivered to and taken seriously by whatever Congress-person matters for that issue. I do understand, though, that I voted for none of them, because this year my highest profile election participation was DC School Board President. So maybe that’s what the internet provides—a voice for those of us who don’t legally have one (even though we pay the highest taxes in the country, thanks to Congress having full control of our city financials). And it probably works out to more of a voice than I had in Red-State-Florida, home of Jeb Bush, Mark Foley, Katherine Harris and the 2000 “Hanging Chads” election.
Clearly more important than some vague, faith-based concept of ‘democracy,’ though, is the vast capitalist orgy the internet provides. Catch the baby and win a Razor? Catch the baby and give Rupert whats-his-douche 50 more dollars. Shop for jewelry (click here to win free!), for music (get 5 songs for $5!), for entertainment systems (PS3’s on eBay!), for books (people still read?), for vibrators (who needs books?), for bigger penises (be a better man!), for hair implants (be a better man!), for hair removal (be a better woman!), for weight loss (be less of a person!), for anything your little mind could imagine. And, since the terrorists win when America is unable to sell penis pills and overpriced airline tickets, ergo the internet obviously promotes world peace. Ergo.
That and porn. there’s something for everyone. And what’s more democratic than that?
Also, shockingly, they found the pretty missing girl at the end of Without a Trace. And watch My Boys on TBS because it's freaking hilarious.
BLOG SUPERGROUP! Yeah!
Thanks to some extra Delta SkyMiles (that were still not enough to actually travel anywhere), I've been getting Time magazine for several months now. Not that I've read many of them; I also get the Atlantic Monthly and the Economist from the same offer and hardly look at either. However, I keep hearing about this Time cover-- I'm the person of the Year?!-- but, no, I did not receive this issue. Are they trying to tell me something? I'm probably taking that too personally. A local friend blamed it on the "corrupt DC postal service, someone probably stole it," which is what I was thinking anyway since my mail is very sporadic. Once, they didn't pick up my departing mail for 3 or 4 days and when I called to complain the distribution manager who answered the phone told me, "Look, if you don't got any mail comin' in, he ain't gonna check it." "oh?" I responded, "I guess that's just the way you do things?" "yep." And how do you argue with that? So I'm going to read the article right now. Give me a second... I'm also eating dinner.
Ok, so, I haven't started reading yet, but it's awesome that the chrysler ad before the article begins, "You may not be the person of the year..." Oops. that was a waste of a couple gazillion dollars.
Who will leave a happy hour early after 3 drinks on a Tuesday to go home and fulfill her obligation to her brand new Blogsupergroup!? Me! I'm a winner! According to Time anyway.
Time? Are you listening? Good. Because that was a total cop-out. As the monstery-guy in 'Avenue Q' explains in song, "The internet is for porn." Also, I've been copyediting at work for 2 days now (I have other work, but this had been higher priority) and caught a typo in the last paragraph. There may be more, but I only caught the one. Can You?
So, I agree that the internet is fucking awesome. I can easily keep in touch with my non-DC friends who I love dearly, and that would be a lot harder if I only had to rely on free long-distance through cell phones. I can share photos and random thoughts and read about other people all over the world. and I email constantly. Also, it makes my job easier. in fact, it provides me with a job, since the project I work on within my company is a Web site (http://www.llis.gov/... you can't see it, you're not a member. And, no, I cannot give you membership, you're not an emergency responder).
Also, I participate in groups like Planned Parenthood, MoveOn, and NARAL-ProChoice, which I don't think would do very well without the internet. So I get emails about 3 times a day in my 'fake' email account asking for money from these groups. I don't mind-- I contribute about once a year. I just read what's gong on the rest of the year. If there's a petition or something, I'll sign that.
Democracy? At least the illusion of democracy, which, after voting for several years in Florida, I’ve learned to appreciate. When I sign an online petition I have full faith (not confidence) that it is delivered to and taken seriously by whatever Congress-person matters for that issue. I do understand, though, that I voted for none of them, because this year my highest profile election participation was DC School Board President. So maybe that’s what the internet provides—a voice for those of us who don’t legally have one (even though we pay the highest taxes in the country, thanks to Congress having full control of our city financials). And it probably works out to more of a voice than I had in Red-State-Florida, home of Jeb Bush, Mark Foley, Katherine Harris and the 2000 “Hanging Chads” election.
Clearly more important than some vague, faith-based concept of ‘democracy,’ though, is the vast capitalist orgy the internet provides. Catch the baby and win a Razor? Catch the baby and give Rupert whats-his-douche 50 more dollars. Shop for jewelry (click here to win free!), for music (get 5 songs for $5!), for entertainment systems (PS3’s on eBay!), for books (people still read?), for vibrators (who needs books?), for bigger penises (be a better man!), for hair implants (be a better man!), for hair removal (be a better woman!), for weight loss (be less of a person!), for anything your little mind could imagine. And, since the terrorists win when America is unable to sell penis pills and overpriced airline tickets, ergo the internet obviously promotes world peace. Ergo.
That and porn. there’s something for everyone. And what’s more democratic than that?
Also, shockingly, they found the pretty missing girl at the end of Without a Trace. And watch My Boys on TBS because it's freaking hilarious.
BLOG SUPERGROUP! Yeah!
Sunday, December 17, 2006
Topic For The Week 1
Welcome to the inaugural week of Blog Supergroup! Basically, each week there will be a new topic, on which each of the five members will write a post. Everybody on this blog has a different writing style, so it should be interesting. For instance, my writing style is "dumb."
So I just got done driving 14 hours to Illinois, and was thinking a good topic for the week would be "Road Trips." It would be funny, or maybe somebody could write an intelligent post about America and cars. But then yesterday Time Magazine picked "you" as person of the year, so I couldn't pass that up. So this week's topic is Time Magazine's person of the year for 2006.
I guess I should explain. Time Magazine (http://www.time.com) picked "you" as person of the year for 2006 because with massive online communities such as myspace (sucks), youtube (sucks unless you want streaming video of shut in playing Halo or cat walking on ceiling [ok, doesn't suck after all]), and the ever present blogosphere (word sucks, I guess blogs are awesome), you have created a worldwide digital democracy. And then they say some newage crap like "welcome to your world" or something. I don't know. I got bored summarizing the article. You can read it by clicking the fancy pants link I put up there.
But do all of these things really add up to some kind of great worldwide "digital democracy" as the article claims? Even though we have the spectre of net neutrality's abolition hanging over us, and even though I can't visit any website without a banner ads telling me to catch the baby and win a razor phone, I sort of think it is some kind of zany, terrible democracy. Here's some reasons why I think that, told in non-serious joke format, because I drove for fourteen hours today and can't think seriously. Though I guess that applies when I haven't driven fourteen hours, also.
1 - 7 million percent of the internet is still porn - Most people in the world, according to a recent survey, like looking at pictures of naked people. Now this is a very vague and general sort of taste that doesn't really demonstrate democracy at its most digitalness, but when you break down the numbers further, you'll find that 6 million percent of the porn is divided into crazy fetish subdivisions. I have never visited a porn site in my life, but reliable sources have told me that on said sites are advertisements for all sorts of zany porn sites, like people who dress up in big Casper the Ghost outfits and have sex with each other, or people who cover themselves in mustard and have sex with each other, or people who talk about having sex with each other while eating ham sandwiches. They never actually have sex, but they're in their underwear, and they take the bread off the sandwiches in the end, so that's like the sandwich is naked. Anyway, if this isn't a sign of democracy in action, I don't know what is.
2 - Equal Representation of All Issues - For instance, the liberals have political blogs that dismantle the actions of the Bush administration and Republican party, and the conservatives have the Ku Klux Klan website or godhatesfags.com or something.
3 - Wikipedia - Ahh, finally! All these stuffy fascist encyclopedias have dedicated so much time to "facts" and "science." Well, that's not what people want, and finally there's an open source encyclopedia that allows the people to pick what's important. And according to length, "Sonic the Hedgehog" is more important than the "Moon Landing." Well, the people have spoken. Also, it's great to read an article on say, "whales," and then come to a line like "Whales appeared in the motion picture Star Trek IV." Fuck that hoity toity academic bullshit! Democracy! Also, "Star Trek" is more important than "Democracy."
Well, three is all I got right now. I'm pretty tired. I'll try to think of more throughout the week, and comment on everybody else's posts, or add some throughout the week. So keep checking back! Jen is posting next, on Tuesday.
BLOG SUPERGROUP, YEAH!
So I just got done driving 14 hours to Illinois, and was thinking a good topic for the week would be "Road Trips." It would be funny, or maybe somebody could write an intelligent post about America and cars. But then yesterday Time Magazine picked "you" as person of the year, so I couldn't pass that up. So this week's topic is Time Magazine's person of the year for 2006.
I guess I should explain. Time Magazine (http://www.time.com) picked "you" as person of the year for 2006 because with massive online communities such as myspace (sucks), youtube (sucks unless you want streaming video of shut in playing Halo or cat walking on ceiling [ok, doesn't suck after all]), and the ever present blogosphere (word sucks, I guess blogs are awesome), you have created a worldwide digital democracy. And then they say some newage crap like "welcome to your world" or something. I don't know. I got bored summarizing the article. You can read it by clicking the fancy pants link I put up there.
But do all of these things really add up to some kind of great worldwide "digital democracy" as the article claims? Even though we have the spectre of net neutrality's abolition hanging over us, and even though I can't visit any website without a banner ads telling me to catch the baby and win a razor phone, I sort of think it is some kind of zany, terrible democracy. Here's some reasons why I think that, told in non-serious joke format, because I drove for fourteen hours today and can't think seriously. Though I guess that applies when I haven't driven fourteen hours, also.
1 - 7 million percent of the internet is still porn - Most people in the world, according to a recent survey, like looking at pictures of naked people. Now this is a very vague and general sort of taste that doesn't really demonstrate democracy at its most digitalness, but when you break down the numbers further, you'll find that 6 million percent of the porn is divided into crazy fetish subdivisions. I have never visited a porn site in my life, but reliable sources have told me that on said sites are advertisements for all sorts of zany porn sites, like people who dress up in big Casper the Ghost outfits and have sex with each other, or people who cover themselves in mustard and have sex with each other, or people who talk about having sex with each other while eating ham sandwiches. They never actually have sex, but they're in their underwear, and they take the bread off the sandwiches in the end, so that's like the sandwich is naked. Anyway, if this isn't a sign of democracy in action, I don't know what is.
2 - Equal Representation of All Issues - For instance, the liberals have political blogs that dismantle the actions of the Bush administration and Republican party, and the conservatives have the Ku Klux Klan website or godhatesfags.com or something.
3 - Wikipedia - Ahh, finally! All these stuffy fascist encyclopedias have dedicated so much time to "facts" and "science." Well, that's not what people want, and finally there's an open source encyclopedia that allows the people to pick what's important. And according to length, "Sonic the Hedgehog" is more important than the "Moon Landing." Well, the people have spoken. Also, it's great to read an article on say, "whales," and then come to a line like "Whales appeared in the motion picture Star Trek IV." Fuck that hoity toity academic bullshit! Democracy! Also, "Star Trek" is more important than "Democracy."
Well, three is all I got right now. I'm pretty tired. I'll try to think of more throughout the week, and comment on everybody else's posts, or add some throughout the week. So keep checking back! Jen is posting next, on Tuesday.
BLOG SUPERGROUP, YEAH!
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