"My advice to the women of America is to raise more hell and fewer dahlias" - W.A.White
Rogue Midwifery
Women helping other women deliver babies is as old as humanity. It makes sense. So why do mainstream doctors and hospitals act like midwifery is some radical, dangerous, medically-irresponsible quackery? In Scandanavia, the UK, and the Netherlands, female midwifery is a thriving occupation. Yet in America, it has been constructively outlawed as a profession, for 100 years. While I was in labor, during my home birth, I actually asked the midwives, "Are you sure this is okay to do at home, and not in a hospital?" They said, "Kirsten, think about it. THIS is the way women birthed for thousands of years before doctors and hospitals." That made sense, but I had to ask, due to my years of American medical brainwashing. (Read More...)
"Beauty must be defined as what we are, or else the concept itself is our enemy." - Crimethinc.com
Chemical Coolness: Anti-Capitalists in Makeup and Hair Dye
I am trying to figure out why so many of my friends who are eco-conscious, anti-capitalist, and anti-authoritarian, wear tons of toxic chemicals and corporate beauty products in the form of hair bleach and dye and face makeup. The pollution created from the making of the toxins on many an anarchists' head is equal to an SUV's pollution, I would guess. I do not believe all of the counterculture is buying bio-friendly hair bleach. Does that even exist? And I also know that a lot of the counter culture is buying cheap hair dye, full of toxic chemicals not only in the dye itself, but in the output in pollution in the making of those hair dyes at chemical factories. Additionally, most punks and anarchists I know cannot afford the designer organic face makeup available in health food stores. Many of them use cheap chemical cosmetic products, such as Maybelline. But even "health" products are made in polluting factories. "Tom's Toothpaste" makes it sound like he is making that stuff in a stream in his backyard. But I have heard from people who have visited the town Tom's factory is in, and Tom's toothpaste is made in a factory, polluting like all factories do. I have been trying to figure out for decades now, why buying a bunch of chemical crap from corporations, then smearing it on your face, is considered radical or anti-establishment in any way.
(Read More...)
When I Am An Old Woman, I Shall Wear Lime Green
The other day I was walking down the street, and was passed by a woman who was about
85 years old. She was wearing white pants, a hot pink shirt, and a sun hat tied down
with a very bright hot pink scarf. She complimented *me* on *my* outfit when I walked
by! Okay, that was a red flag! If flamboyantly dressed 85 year old women are admiring
what I am wearing now in my 40's, I have to wonder if I will be dressed like them when I
am older! And if I am honest, I thought the woman looked fabulous. She stood out like a
freakin' hot pink thumb in the crowd, but I loved it. She looked very alive, and like
she still knew how to have fun. It was like her clothing was smiling...
(Read More...)
The Psychology of Gender Differences
The gender of babies is being determined while the babies are still inside the womb nowadays, due to technology. Parents decide what color clothing, toys, and furniture to buy, for instance, based on sex determination by doctors, pre-birth. And studies consistently show that male and female babies are handled differently. In hospital delivery rooms, for instance, baby girls are handled more gently and talked to more softly, while male babies are usually handled with more swift motions, and with more tension. So how and why is gender determined? And how are sex and gender different? Humans have four independent stages of development that determine sex. At each of these four junctures, development can go several ways, including male or female. The first stage involving chromosomes can come up with combinations besides XX for women and XY for males, such as XXY, XO, and XYY. (There is no YO combination as the Y chromosome by itself cannot sustain life). The second stage where development can go several directions is in the development of ovaries or testes. A pseudo-hermaphrodite, for example, can have male external genitalia, while having female reproductive organs internally. The third stage is the development of internal genitalia, including the vas deferens for men, and the uterus and vagina for women. And the last phase of biological sexual differentiation is the development of external genitals. Development can go any direction at any of these four stages. And it is still unclear how one's sexual development influences one's gender, if it does at all.
(Read More...)
Women Wage War On Weenie Waggers
Weenie Waggers. Guys who get off on indecent exposure. As a young girl,
I had many an unwanted dick thrust upon my naked eyes, and I was scared. These men chose spots that were isolated, they waited until there was no one else around, they were intimidating and scary, it was verging on rape and you could not tell if you were ABOUT to be raped if you did not get out of there fast. It definitely is more than nudity. I am fine with nakedness and nudity. This is something else. And it is not sexual either. I seriously doubt these men EVER get a reaction of "ooh, neat, can we have sex?" from the women these men assault. This is a power move by men on women. Plain and simple. And it is
the kind of power move that reinforces a Patriarchy. So it must come down NOW!
(Read More...)
My next house will not have a kitchen - only vending machines!
Kirsten Anderberg. All rights reserved. For permission to reprint/publish, please contact Kirsten at kirstena@resist.ca.
Kirsten Anderberg. All rights reserved. For permission to reprint/publish, please contact Kirsten at kirstena@resist.ca.
