The Truth About Feminism

Feminism is the advocating the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes and promoting gender equality in society. Feminism is not misandry, which is hatred toward men or women wanting power over men in society. These are two terms that I believe have been widely confused by men and women. Society sees "feminism" as a dirty word that has no real value or purpose that was created by angry women. In reality, feminism is an equally important movement for men and women. It not only helps to create more opportunity and equality for women, but it understands the importance of fixing men's issues in society alongside women's. 

Feminism aims to improve the equality between men and women in the job world, in the social world, and in the political world. It aims to empower women to prove that we are capable of accomplishing anything that a man can and that men and women deserve the same respect, while also improving the lives of men rather than condemning them for the actions and beliefs of misogynists. 

Feminism aims to destroy gender stereotypes and roles, allowing women to enjoy sports without being seen as less knowledgeable or allowing men to enjoy knitting without being seen as less of a man. Feminists want men and women to chose their own roles in relationships as well as in life, allowing a man to be a stay at home parent without being looked down on for not being the breadwinner or allowing a woman to hold a high position in a career without being condemned for not staying at home with her children or for not having children at all. Its goal is to end the stereotypes that women must stay in the kitchen cooking and cleaning while the men are out making money and allow every man and woman the chance to do whatever they please within relationships and in the world without criticism from society. 

Destroying the gender roles that have been engrained in society would create more career, social, and political opportunities for both men and women. If women were no longer expected to stay at home or were no longer seen as sexual objects, the jobs that are specifically aimed at attractive women (cocktail waitressing, sexual roles in tv and film, etc) would be opened up to men and more women would be willing to venture into the job world if the opportunities were based on skill rather than gender or attractiveness. The wage gap (which does actually exist and is especially obvious in Hollywood, despite the doubt that is created by the numerous and sometimes difficult to understand factors) could be closed and allow women to work the same jobs for the same amounts of money without trying to take anything away from the men. 

Politics would be able to be opened up for women to be better represented by another woman who understands their experiences and help make informed decisions on women's issues. In the social world, men would no longer have to be the ones to pay for bars and clubs while women are allowed in for free and dating would become more of an equal effort from men and women. 

Feminism aims to destroy the idea that men must be aggressive and strong and controlling in order to be "real" men and the idea that women must be nurturing and sweet and complacent in order to be a "real" woman. Feminism wants to break down the expectations that society holds on men to be masculine and tough all the time. It wants men to be able to speak out about domestic violence from a woman or being sexually assaulted without being seen as weak or just being brushed aside as if it doesn't happen. It wants to acknowledge that, although it happens less often, women can and do rape and abuse men. 

Feminism wants society to stop portraying men as animals that have no control over their sexual urges and stop assuming that women always want sexual attention simply because of the way they dress. It is trying to destroy the idea that sexual assault and harassment toward women is simply a result of "boys being boys" because good men deserve more credit than being generalized as animalistic, sexually out of control beings. It wants both men and women to not become victims of blaming and scrutiny for speaking about sexual attacks that have happened to them. 

Feminism wants all people to be listened to and understood when they choose to come out about assaults so that they can have justice for what they've endured, whether it is a man or a woman. Feminism doesn't assume that all men are evil and misogynistic, but rather that men can be and are good and should not all be condemned for the actions of male rapists and abusers.

Feminism's goal is to create a society where men are taught that expressing their feelings does not make them less of a man and where women are taught that they are strong too. It wants a society where men are no longer taught that "crying is for girls" so that they can actually communicate their feelings and problems and have more successful relationships with women throughout their lives. It wants a society where men aren't expected to to always be the moneymaker of a family and women are able to provide for themselves without expecting a man's support. Feminism wants a society where a woman is seen as an individual before she is seen as a sexual being or a baby maker and where a man and woman can be seen equally as parents and treated fairly in parental or custodial issues.

Feminism is about creating a world of equality, free of prejudice, judgment, or hatred between the sexes.


Read this on the Huffington Post here

How It Feel To Have A Panic Attack

How can you explain to someone that you feel like you might be dying or stuck in a panic forever without sounding completely crazy and having it make some actual sense? It's hard to know exactly what you need when you're having a panic attack, and sometimes it's hard to even accept that you're having one. So in attempt to help people understand what happens during a panic attack (although it differs from person to person), this is the best explanation I've come up with so far:

It's like being engulfed by everything around you, one at a time.

It's like one by one, each and every stimulus around you takes over your mind and body. One by one, a sound or a feeling or a visual will become so engulfing that that one stimulus becomes your entire reality. That one thing becomes every thought that goes through your mind and every physical and emotional feeling you have.

Music seeps in through your ears and gets stuck pounding inside your brain, up against your forehead and against the walls of your seemingly hollow yet incredibly weighted down body. Voices and conversations invade your thoughts and echo themselves over any other thoughts.

Every space condenses itself so small that you become paralyzed inside it. Every space becomes the wrong space to be in and every second the feeling of needing to escape but not knowing where to escape to only worsens.

You can practically see yourself being trapped there as if it's not yourself.

Shaking spreads from your fingers to your toes until your legs wobble so much you can hardly stand. Your chest pounds and your stomach knots until you think you'll either vomit or explode. Tunnels cloud your vision until you can no longer focus or see. Your head feels light, like it's going to float away or fall right off. Your lungs suddenly shrink to half the size and can barely hold enough oxygen to keep you conscious.

Thoughts of being stuck that way forever overpower any rational thought. You don't understand why or how it's happening, but you're sure that there are no possible scenarios where it ends.

You're sure that you're stuck with an insane panic in your body and in your mind forever.

Artists I've Found Through Tumblr

     I spend a lot of time on Tumblr doing pretty much nothing, but one of the main reasons I do is because I follow so many different art blogs. I'm always stumbling across all sorts of great and weird art and inspiration so these are some of my favorite ones at the moment that I think are definitely worth looking at.


BevShots
These are really interesting because they're photos of alcohol through microscopes. Every different kind of alcohol looks different and they're almost like crazy abstract paintings.

Julie Sarloutte
This is a really cool portrait made of embroidery and it's so, so impressive.

Cheuk Lun Lo
This is one of my favorite photography series right now. It's a bunch of people's shampooed heads but when I first saw them, I thought they were some sort of abstract design or something.

Reedus Germanotta
This guy's work is a little bit difficult to explain but I'll try. It's basically photos with moving parts, almost like gifs. You have to look for yourself because they're completely different from anything I've seen.

Klaus Kampert
I love this photographer A LOT. He does all sorts of abstract photos of people's bodies and makes them look like something else completely. One of my favorite projects on this website is the one called Porcelain and it's amazing.

Elicia Edijanto
All this work is a combination of drawing and paintings and they're like black and white silhouettes of nature and animals and they're way, way cool.

Danny Ivan
This guy is a graphic artist and he makes all sorts of really abstract colorful things and they're beautiful.

Gesine Marwedel
This German dude is seriously awesome. He takes these incredible photos of people's painted bodies to look like animals and landscapes.

Why Bo Burnham Is The Best

 

     To begin with, Bo Burnham is just flat out funny. He's clever as hell and honest and makes fun of everything, including himself. He can talk about anything, serious or not, in a lighthearted way and give a new perspective on pretty much any topic. Not to mention, he's an awesome song writer and makes everything ten times more enjoyable by turning it into a song. Basically everything about him is gold, even the fact that he's 6 foot 5 and apparently did nearly perfect on his SAT's, so here's why I love him.

     In his comedy special "What" he addresses the topics of gay marriage, religion, and rape in a song he says is written from the perspective of God. He talks about it in a way that's clear and he doesn't beat around any bushes. He says exactly what he thinks about how it's ridiculous that it has to spelled out that people shouldn't rape and how masturbation is weird but totally okay and how God created gay people but it backfired. He's funny about it and knows that there's a chance people will be offended but says what he wants to say anyway. He's completely honest and straightforward but in an interview at Duke he says that he can stand behind everything he says and that he never sets out to offend anyone. He even says that if someone were to approach him and say that they were offended or hurt by something he said in a performance that he would be apologetic and understanding about it.

     He also never fails to call people out on their bullshit whether it's just someone's beliefs that are totally out of whack or hecklers at his shows or the government or corporations taking advantage of people. In the song "Repeat Stuff" he talks about how music is made to prey on young girls who are "in love" with musicians in order to make money off of them, even though it's overdone and redundant.

     In the song "Sad" he talks about how sad it is that there is racism and sexism and war while also acknowledging that he can't possibly know how that feels because he's a privileged white male who doesn't have to go through any of it.

     He makes fun of himself constantly.

     He's punny. Just watch "I'm Bo Yo" or "New Math" which are some of his older songs from Youtube that are basically just joke after joke and pun after pun.

     He sings nearly everything. He puts all of his jokes and everything he says to some catchy tune on a piano which makes it even better and he's so creative in the way he does it.

     The moral of the story is that Bo Burnham is an awesome, hilarious, smart comedian and musician and you should go watch his videos so you can laugh and be happy and thank me later.

Awesome Mash Up Covers

     I hardly ever come across mash ups of songs that are actual covers that I really like but I've come across a few lately that are worth sharing and here they are with links to the Youtube videos.


Blank Space/Style by Louisa Wendorff

This one is super popular and Taylor Swift herself tweeted it, so if you haven't seen it yet, you need to.

Cool kids/riptide by Less is More and The Queen and King

Home/Dirty Paws by the Gardiner Sisters

Love Story/Viva la Vida by Tanner Townsend

This is a little different than the others and there aren't vocals but it's awesome and I feel like I could play it in the background of my life forever and always feel good.

We Can't Stop/Price Tag by Megan and Jaclyn Davies

Taylor Swift 1989 by Sam Tsui and Kurt Schneider 

This is every song on Taylor Swift's 1989 album and it's incredible and so impressive.