In defense of the sanctimonious women's studies set || First feminist blog on the internet

Month: October 2007

Shocker of the day: Presidential campaign staffs are dominated by men

Who would have guessed?

Mike Huckabee, Bill Richardson and Hillary Clinton run the most gender-balanced campaigns, while Rudy Giuliani runs the most male-dominated. Of course, Giuliani is staffing his campaign with right-wing nutjobs like Norman Podhoretz and Daniel Pipes, so maybe there are just fewer women in that pool to choose from (Michelle Malkin and Ann Coulter can only do so much).

Thanks to Jess for the link.

Shorter Donald Trump: I poke it, I own it

Not only is Donald Trump calling Angelina Jolie “no great beauty,” but he’s claiming he’s an expert because he “owns” pageant queens:

“I really understand beauty. And I will tell you, she’s not — I do own Miss Universe. I do own Miss USA. I mean, I own a lot of different things. I do understand beauty, and she’s not,” Trump proudly proclaimed.

And not only is Angelina not as poke-able as the lovely ladies that Trump owns, she’s also uppity enough to think she has the right to do something other than stand around and look nice:

“And now she’s like a representative of the United Nations and world peace on hunger and all of this crap,” he continued. “It’s called give me a break.”

Since Trump was the first one to break out the looks card, I’m tempted to throw it back in his face, but I’ll refrain (because really, does it even need to be said?). We all know Trump’s an a-hole and there isn’t anything productive that can come out of belaboring that point, so instead I’ll conclude the post with a video of the “not beautiful” Ms. Jolie, demonstrating why I’ll take uppity bitches over tacky misogynists any day (warning: it’s a real tear-jerker):

Thanks to Ellen for the link.

Back.

I am finally back in Hamburg, after 10 days in Tunisia. The vacation was fantastic, if a little… interesting. I went with my little sister, and we saw a lot of the country, were hosted by my sister’s lovely friend Isaac in Tunis, and met a whole lot of friendly Tunisians and ex-pats.

The upsides: Tunisia is beautiful, and really diverse for such a small country — we saw city, desert and sea in one short trip. I came back with a tan. Isaac, his room mates and his friends were really good to us, and showed us all the ins and outs of Tunis, which is a fabulous city. Tunisia makes it surprisingly easy to travel, so we were able to see a lot. The towns are gorgeous, and the beach was nice. And it was all pretty affordable, especially compared to Germany.

The downsides: When Chrissy (the sis) and I traveled on our own through the south and down the coast, we got harassed like nothing else. If anyone ever calls me a “Gazela” again, I might just punch them (and that line has officially ruined my love for my former favorite Portuguese wine). The food was not so hot — Isaac took us to some really good restaurants, but you definitely have to know where to go, and overall I have no love for Tunisian food (although I hear home-cooked Tunisian cuisine is much tastier than restaurant food). And we managed to embarrass ourselves. A lot. Highlights include a large gust of wind blowing up my (long!) skirt so that I flashed some serious butt cheek to a dozen construction workers in Mahdia; Chrissy wearing her ridiculous British-Air-issued sleep mask on the bus to Tozeur and almost falling out of her seat when they slammed on the brakes; some dude on the beach staring at me and then looking down meaningfully at his giant boner; and Chrissy coming upon another dude on the beach whacking off.

So, good stories all around. Overall it was a really fantastic trip, and I feel really lucky to have seen such a great country, especially when we were shown around and entertained by such welcoming and generous people. Now Chrissy is in Hamburg with me, laying in bed sick with a Tunisian stomach bug (I was woken up this morning by the little guy rolling over and saying, “Jill, I yakked,” followed shortly by, “and I think we’re out of toilet paper”). I have to return to school in half an hour, and she’ll be here until she plans the next leg of her month-long journey. I’ll post pictures tomorrow for Tuesday Travel Blogging.

A million thanks to La Lubu and Aulelia for guest-blogging — you two were phenomenal.

It’s good to be back.

Time to go….

…..but I hope to be back sometime later with a post on how women can get into the trades. In the meantime, this has been a real interesting week! And zuzu? Best of luck in the job hunt. I still think I could get’cha into my local in January—the powerhouse oughta be hiring full swing by then—just in case you’ve ever thought about trading in your briefcase for a tool bag!

Ciao!

Movie break

Enjoy this scene from The Warriors.

This is the big fight scene in what is ostensibly the Union Square station, but what is actually the Hoyt-Schermerhorn station in Brooklyn.

Times have changed. I’m in both of those stations regularly, and damned if I can’t find a public bathroom, much less one with multiple stalls and gang members in striped shirts and suspenders.

Seriously, what does it take to get a public toilet in this town?

Music break

Because I heard this song in a bar the other day, and because Cass Elliot was awesome.

Also, Dickie Smothers? Kinda hot.

Mind The Gap

This shocking report from the Guardian about young child workers in India “have been found working in a textile factory in conditions close to slavery to produce clothes that appear destined for Gap Kids, one of the most successful arms of the high street giant.”

According to the article:

the children in a filthy sweatshop working on piles of beaded children’s blouses marked with serial numbers that Gap admitted corresponded with its own inventory

This news is simply appalling. Sweatshops are nothin new to human imagination but their reality in 2007 is just not good enough! The PR heads over at Gap are going to have a mammoth to wrestle in order to salvage this but frankly, I’m not interested. I know that it is other companies who are contracted by Gap but at the end of the day, why hasn’t news of Gap going to check out these factories surfaced? Why didn’t they carry out their own checks?

When you make the decision to buy clothes, does ethics come into it? Do you shop on the high-street or do you think that making ”ethically-conscious” choices about mainstream clothing is basically impossible?

My tenure of guest-blogging is up! I had a great time and would like to thank Jill for giving me this opportunity and for the people who read my posts too. Back to rainy days in Bristol & trying to find my voice and place in this university.

–Aulelia–