it's a wonder

This is the studio I will be interning at starting in June

Tue, 14 May 2013 12:50:00 -0400

This is the studio I will be interning at starting in June

2013yearoflettering: Day 82: Every time it thunders, a voice in...

Tue, 14 May 2013 11:29:58 -0400

2013yearoflettering:

Day 82: Every time it thunders, a voice in my head says, “It was a dark and stormy night”

Oh did your department not give you a sweet stole? #graduation...

Fri, 10 May 2013 14:38:01 -0400

Oh did your department not give you a sweet stole? #graduation #vcuarts

If you want a sweet sticker you should come to my senior show...

Thu, 09 May 2013 15:51:44 -0400

If you want a sweet sticker you should come to my senior show tomorrow between 5 & 9 at 2700 E Cary St #vcugdes (at Odell Associates)

Any Phis out there interested in ordering this tank with us?...

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 15:23:29 -0400

Any Phis out there interested in ordering this tank with us? They would be shipped to our chapter at VCU and then shipped to other chapters. If we can get an order of at least 24 then they will cost $21 each! If you or someone in your chapter is interested please send an email to stevensjc2@vcu.edu LML!

Feminism & Religion: The fall of the goddess

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 18:42:49 -0400

We broached the subject of religion today in women’s studies and I was immediately transported back to my Human Spirituality class junior year with Juliana Rasnic(I love her). We were learning about the Divine and the idea of the Goddess in 20,000 BCE. Venus of Willendorf statues are these small hand-carved statuettes of female figurines found all over Europe and Asia. The figures are fat, and voluptuous, which implies they’re nourished and healthy as well as fertile. We can’t really know for sure what their purpose was, but critically analyzing these figures I think there’s a strong sense of purpose that comes into view. The figures are fat meaning she’s healthy, has access to food, and is nourished which means she can nourish you leading the the idea of women as caretakers. The figures might be pregnant>women as life givers. They don’t have feet or legs so they could be wedged between two rocks to guard the mouth of caves and sometimes people are buried with them>which means they served a religious function. The genitals(and mouths of caves) were sometimes painted red, symbolizing the menstrual cycle. Professor Rasnic made a really interesting point at this point in the lecture. She told us, “women can bleed for a week without dying, and that’s amazing.” Women at this time period, living in close quarters would have their cycles synced up with each other, as well as with the cycles of the moon. The moon is one symbol of the goddess tradition- it has 4 stages: growing/waxing, full, waning, and new moon(rebirth). We talked about other symbols of the goddess tradition like fruit(grows and give new life, also nourishes us), snakes(shed their skin, rebirth), water(symbol of birth), spiral(dynamic growth spiral, fibanachi sequence which is also found everywhere in nature). Then Professor Rasnic blew my mind again when she pointed out that Genesis 3 turns these positive symbols into negative symbols. How do you change the image of the divine-by using its own images against it. This was the beginning of a monumental shift from feminine to masculine images. So why did the shift occur? A few things:

1. The development of agriculture and domestication of animals means humanity has increased its power over nature, a symbol associated with the goddess.

2. Increase of war. Women were not the warriors in society, originally due to their value as creaters of new life. Over time this began to translate into a weakness.

3. Natural disasters wipe out goddess cultures

Is this the beginning of women becoming secondary figures in religion and society? Today we discussed how crazy it is that some things from the past seem to stick while others are completely forgotten. I think there have to be specific reasons for aspects to have changed over time, but it’s not always easy to look back and figure out why.

for lookslike201.tumblr.com

Anti-Street Harassment Week

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 12:12:39 -0400

Anti-Street Harassment Week:

I think hiding behind the visage of a compliment is a farce. A compliment shouldn’t make someone feel uncomfortable or sometimes unsafe. But let’s step back and look at this from the other side. Imagine a street scene of a young male walking down the sidewalk receiving cat calls from a group of females-what’s your initial reaction? Personally, I think that’s kind of creepy right and maybe a little desperate? Let me tell you a story.

My friend, we’ll call her Mary, told me a story the other day about why she hates walking through Monroe Park. Apparently, there’s a man(or more than one, I’m not sure) who has on multiple occasions followed beside her on his bicycle asking her questions. The questions aren’t inherently offensive, mostly,”What’s your name? You look nice today, can I have your number? Where are you going?” She’s tried different techniques to fend off the man, ignoring him, mumbling answers, walking a different way-he just follows right along side her. I asked her why she didn’t just tell him she’s not interested or tell him what she’s really thinking,”fuck off.” That’s when Mary said something that made me really upset. She said she doesn’t want to do that because she’s afraid he might react badly or even aggressively. That’s absolutely unacceptable for a student at VCU or anywhere to feel uncomfortable walking through a public park in the middle of the day because they might attract unwanted attention. There’s the victim blaming excuse-Oh, she’s probably asking for it by the way she dresses or acts. Mary is a very quiet, a little self-conscious girl who doesn’t open up and certainly doesn’t dress in any way provocatively. I think street harassment makes women more self-conscious about themselves when we need women to be strong, self-assured, and independant. No one should feel uncomfortable walking to class in the middle of the day.

for lookslike201.tumblr.com

drunkonstephen: How do YOU view the Republican party...

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 01:55:18 -0400

drunkonstephen:

How do YOU view the Republican party survey.

Oh my god, really!? Who wrote that question, this is awful!

Dear Steubenville Victim

Sun, 24 Mar 2013 13:46:00 -0400

Dear Steubenville Victim:

It’s time we stop victim blaming. I’m sick of hearing how promising these two attacker’s football careers were. That’s irrelevant, these attackers made the conscious decision to rape another human being and for that they should be punished, end of story. Thank you Melissa Harris-Perry for stepping forward and showing us that there are people in the media that get it.

19 Creative Ways People Have Satirized Anti-Gay Arguments

Sun, 24 Mar 2013 01:09:23 -0400

19 Creative Ways People Have Satirized Anti-Gay Arguments:

lol

Women in Media

Sun, 24 Mar 2013 01:07:50 -0400

Yesterday I watched a movie on Netflix with my roommate- it’s from 2012 and called “the pill,” and wasn’t very good, but after watching Miss Representation is class, I started to pay closer attention to the female roles of the film. The main character is a man in his mid twenties who has a one night stand(cheating on his girlfriend who is out of town). The next morning he realizes that he didn’t wear a condom and she’s not on birth control. He has a major freak out while the girl remains completely calm reassuring him that she’s not pregnant. He drags her to the pharmacy for the morning after pill and makes her take it. She promptly storms out of the store. He then realizes that there are actually two pills, for it to be effective she needs I take the second one in 12 hours. He chases after her and convinces her to let him take her to breakfast under the guise of apologizing for his freak out. They spend the day together, he continues to avoid his girlfriend who returns home from her trip. Long story short- he acts like a complete asshole to his girlfriend and basically avoids her the whole movie, succeeds in giving his one night stand the second pill right before she kicks him out realizing he both has a girlfriend and has only spent the day with her to give her the other pill. He returns home, has a fight and breaks up with his girlfriend, she yells at him for being distant, he yells at her for being so busy at her job. He admits to cheating and she says she’s being cheating on him too. He later runs into the one night stand girl and she gives him her number after some begging, end of movie.

Firstly, I hate that this movie is constantly trying to get us on this guy’s side. He doesn’t do anything to earn my sympathy, he’s cheating on his girlfriend and then tricking her in order to make sure she doesn’t get pregnant! Then, the strongest female character in the movie is made out to be a bitch because she’s the reason they drifted apart-she’s too busy with work and the cherry on top-we should hate her because se was cheating on him too. Newsflash- you’re both guilty of the same thing, the girlfriend’s not the bad guy here. Arguably, he is for lying to this girl all day long earning her trust just for his own selfish gain.

For lookslike201.tumblr.com

mslorelei: Stephen Colbert: But if girls feel good about...

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 17:02:57 -0400

mslorelei:

Stephen Colbert: But if girls feel good about themselves, how are we going to sell them things they don’t need?

(via One More Voice / Stephen Colbert. [GIF])

“You get a woman in the oval office, the most powerful...

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 14:55:36 -0400

“You get a woman in the oval office, the most powerful office in the world-what’s the downside?”

“Oh, you mean besides the PMS and the mood swings?”

Are you kidding me?

minkonernyc: My new member pin:) I solemnly swear to always...

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 12:10:18 -0400

minkonernyc:

My new member pin:) I solemnly swear to always love, respect and always be there for my sisters as well a as my community. AEPhi ‘till I die💚 #aephi #alphanu #betagamma @aephisorority

Pay Equity

Sun, 17 Mar 2013 11:39:49 -0400

Thursday’s class really left a terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach. Pay equity is really something I never considered having to deal with, but after seeing the latest statistics on the percentage minorities make compared to white males on average, I just felt like throwing up. How is that possible? The statistics were across all professions. I didn’t write them all down, but the one that sticks out in my head(probably because it is the wage statistic that effects me) is that white females earn 80 cents to every dollar white males earn. I believe the next statistic was that black males earned 76 cents for ever dollar white males make and black females earn 70 cents for every dollar white males make, etc.

The statistic only included male/female and white, black, and other minority which got me thinking about a friend of mine. She’s a white, lesbian female working at a bar. However, she keeps the fact that she’s not straight a secret because of the potential negative effects it could have- for example, if regulars at the bar knew she’s a lesbian they may not tip as much. That’s a legitimate concern, but it’s also terrible. Her being a lesbian isn’t something she should have to hide, but I understand why she does. It’s just disgusting that we live in a world where your sexual preferences effect your pay-those things literally have nothing to do with each other!

For lookslike201.tumblr.com

Lml #aephi

Sat, 16 Mar 2013 14:05:17 -0400

Lml #aephi

bhagatkapil: Science Day in India, posting whole series of...

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 23:03:30 -0400

bhagatkapil:

Science Day in India, posting whole series of Scientists, their inventions or discoveries.

Debunking Male Stereotypes

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 13:19:59 -0500

Debunking Male Stereotypes

Calendar reprint

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 19:04:01 -0500

Calendar reprint

80s Costume Bowling for Purim!

Sun, 24 Feb 2013 18:40:16 -0500

80s Costume Bowling for Purim!