(Unnatural) Blonde Ambition

 

Tweak it, cramp it, flatten it but go blonde and it could be the best thing you ever do for your career*. 

*spoken with a true note of sarcasm. 

A Thousand Sisters against Violence in Congo

A fact for you to digest but only digest because you may not ever be able to fully empathise. 

Since 1998, 5.4 million people have died in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The death toll is the equivalent of an Asian Tsunami every 6.5 months. A September 11 every 2.5 days. And nearly half of the deaths in the Congo are of children under the age of five.

A Thousand Sister's Official Website can be found at this link.

Going Large with this: Cape Town harassers fall back!

Have this Tee-Shart

Paying homage to the lovely Grace Jones...as I do!

2011's Biggest Biter: Beyonce's Choreographer

The individual who "choreographed" the 'Run the World' dance decided to take some footage from round here and copy and paste it onto the routine. Watch this and you will know. This is for that troll, hutton, that came onto the blog a while ago and decided to make some unjustified remarks. Here you go.

Venomous Trolling: my response

As much as I appreciate the comments that have been flowing into my blog, there is a limit to what I am able to read. I question the sanity of any individual obsessed with coming to my blog and making hateful remarks such as the following:

"For those with the luxury of attending 95% white private schools, then proclaiming their blackness behind a computer screen at the University of Cape Town or Chicago, I truly envy you. Instead of feeling sorry for myself in solitude, I plan to move beyond your unbearbly condescending, self-serving bullshit and spend time with people who are actually proud to be black South Africans. One more thing for those who think every person with a white parent thinks alike. We don't fuckers, we don't. I hope in due time the scales will be removed from your eyes."

May I begin by stating that I find it hard to understand how you would know this much about my history and background of which I speak very little of to those I am not familiar with? This is surprising.

It's a lot of venom to have to stomach. Such strong hatred is abnormal. That you would come to this blog for a second times even after recommended readings that might help you understand why you are acting out this way is just amazing to me. There should be something more worth your while to invest your time in than shaming me with notions that are false.

Firstly, blackness is not defined by a state of lack or poverty. In trying to nullify my proclamation of blackness by stating that I went to "white private schools" you make a negative remark about what this so called blackness really is and how it is defined on a social scale.

To whom am I being condescending? There was never any individual that I addressed when making my posts. You are entitled to your own opinion but if you want to read this blog there is a certain protocol required and that is that you maintain respect for the writer of this blog. I have allowed your first two comments to be published. Any further vitriol will be blocked and you will no longer be permitted to voice your opinion on the 'Unspoken Word'.

There will be things written in this blog that do not please you so I advise you, open at your own risk. If there is something here you find offensive, I cannot be responsible for your response. This is my domain where I am free to spit my own opinions and vent as honestly as I can. If it strikes a nerve then I suggest you don't read it at all.

I am a pacifist and do not believe in making others feel small. If you wish to do so please divert your attention to some other individual or perhaps blog.

Destiny's Child and Beyonce

It's official, this is my anthem of the moment. Just can't seem to stop listening to it. It sounds great, the lyrics are empowering to me as I'm sure plenty of women and girls around the world find it.

My own childhood was filled with Destiny's Child's music. 'The Writings on the Wall' album was a permanent fixture in the conversations I used to share with friends at school during 5th and 6th grade. At the ages of 10 and 11, I was learning assertiveness and not submissiveness, strength and not weakness and Kelly, Beyonce, Michelle, LaTavia and LeToya had plenty to do with this.

While there seems to be a lot of feminist backlash about the song being an inaccurate portrayal of the gender structure in society, I find the song favourable because as many of these types of songs, it is encouraging and empowering. Women may not occupy equal power positions as it is but with enough work, we could well be on our way to sharing equal footing. The debate is about whether empowering songs of this nature do more harm than good. I would have to argue that they play a positive role in fostering a healthy sense of self which is what most women and girls need anyway given the circumstances of being part of a marginalized group.

Girls running the world may not be the reality now but it sure as hell does not hurt to dream. When I listen to this song, I see images of all the powerful women I know who have made their mark. Though they have had to struggle and found themselves exploited at times, they have given as hard as they could give and that is an accomplishment in itself.

Africa Day Today

Well, I had no idea but kudos to "google" for making me aware!

Mama Africa, though your adversity is steep, you are still loved. How beautiful you are! How lovely your people.

Mah Dawgs at the Merridienne Cypha, elke Woensdag

Shout out to Jay-Tip, Green Pantha and that dude who sounds like that dude who isn't Q-Tip in a Tribe Called Quest.

Silenced in Solitude: the sustenance of hegemony

This song strikes a deep chord that resonates in my mind, compelling all the thoughts that lurk in the shadows to elude their fear and bring themselves to light. Fear is a crippler, a useless emotion that I must rid myself of.

Fear of speaking the unspoken and sometimes, just giving rude motherfuckers a solid piece of my mind sans profanity or anger but full of dignity and sensibility.

Again, I thank you Lupe.

@Home_UCT_Res

I commend the photographer for making this desert-place look so cool! Ah, photography...what an art!

Beyonce Backlash: Trollers, How I Love Thee!

So all of a sudden, the 'Unspoken Word' came to life after I made that post about Beyonce. Since then I have:

1. Rejoiced about the fact that I have trolls. Wow, the 'Unpoken Word' finally has some real blogosphere action.

2. Responded to the individuals that do not get my drifted and posted serious-sounding comments about me being a hater.

3. Downloaded the song (yes, I'm a pirate...aaaaargh) and listened to it over at least 30 times.

4. Had my inner-Destiny's-child-loving girl self rejoice about the fact that Beyonce is singing real female empowerment songs again that are not overly sexualized like some of the work she has delivered as a solo artist.

5. Danced around to this song pumping hard through my earphones.

6. Loved the hell out of the song, how she incorporates a South African dance style in the song for all the world to see and appreciate.

7. Had parts of the video play in my head in joyous recollection of how dope it is.

Now, I don't know where the trolls discovered something in my words to attack. It's just a case of subtle misunderstanding because this is quite obviously my new feminist chant.

But trolls, I love you. Reading your comments has brought back a new enthusiasm for blogging that died with along with my reader count.

All I have to say is, "Thank You" and please by all means, keep on trolling. What would the blogosphere be without you entertaining individuals?

Back to Bey....

WHO RUNS THE WORLD...GIRLS BEEEATCHES!!! YEAH!!

Next up: my discussions will revolve around an analysis of women's role in science and the general male response to their presence at all levels of the academia from Undergraduate, Graduate ("Toast to the college grads" - Beyonce) to Doctorate and Professorship level.

Beyonce Dancing Pantsula

Oh, boy. We have to deal with another carbon-copy of an African-dance style from some artist in the states. First it was that teach me how to dougie which was a straight-up 'Twalatsa' done by Arthur and 999 about 12 years ago over here in South Africa.

Now, it's Beyonce doing semi-awkward pantsula in this:

Can't say which one is worse. But I'm glad the song seems to have feminist undertones.

Psychobabble Bullshit at Psychology Today

Whoah, I did not know that this piss-ass publication even existed. Here's a post from Angry Black Woman's website explaining the whole mess.

More from the loon who writes this shit at the Psychology Today Website Satoshi Kanazawa


Excerpt:

Satoshi Kanazawa is an evolutionary psychologist, Reader in Management at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and Honorary Research Fellow in the Department of Psychology at University College London, and in the Department of Psychology at Birkbeck College, University of London. He is the coauthor (with the late Alan S. Miller) of Why Beautiful People Have More Daughters (Perigee, 2007).

Now here's my take on it. A qualification does not nullify the fact that you could very well be insane. Even after studying psychology. Clearly this must be the case. This is yet another example of the perpetuation of scientific racism.

Can racists just give the Black race a break already? Geesh!

Darkie Conceptions within the Western Mind

"I am talking about a book which parades in the most vulgar fashion prejudices and insults from which a section of mankind has suffered untold agonies and atrocities in the past and continues to do so in many ways and many places today. I am talking about a story in which the very humanity of black people is called in question."

Chinua Achebe on 'Heart of Darkness' by Joseph Conrad

A very subtle form of this is in stereotyping. I want to share this experience because not only has it scraped against my soul in an annoying way, it has illuminated a fact to me. One particular individual has been open enough to voice his percption of me on more occasions than even I can bear. But perhaps these have been good in showing me what thoughts could be lurking in people that think white and think European.

The black female sterotype returns to haunt me in the form of "you look angry", "OMG, you looked so pissed in that picture", "are you mad?", "why are you angry?"

Now I ask, has there ever been any offense in not smiling. Should I smile for every waking moment I expel air. For those who are not black and female and are allowed to contemplate serious things every now and then, I envy you. That you are not bombarded with a reminder of how angry the world thinks you are. Just because, you know, you are a black woman and that's what is expected right.

These questions along with "What's wrong?" when it's clear that nothing could be wrong irritate me on several levels. For me it does not imply concern, though the speaker may try to bring this across. Rather it is a sinister way of elevating themselves above you. Thinking that you are "sad" or "angry" "all the time" (real quotes from the same dude) reveals a firm belief in these status quo ideas that society has constructed. So deep, they defy the logic of what is in front of you. I could smile all day but it wouldn't change the thing deeply embedded in your mind and that things spells "angry black woman". Wonder where you heard that one.

Also, about thinking people of colour look the same. We don't fuckers, we don't.

Brilliant Mind: Fanon

"Sometimes people hold a core belief that is very strong. When they are
presented with evidence that works against that belief, the new
evidence cannot be accepted. It would create a feeling that is
extremely uncomfortable, called cognitive dissonance. And because it
is so important to protect the core belief, they will rationalize,
ignore and even deny anything that doesn't fit in with the core belief."

"Imperialism leaves behind germs of rot which we must clinically detect and remove from our land but from our minds as well."
— Frantz Fanon

Both quotes taken from "Black Skin, White Masks", an absolute must-read for anyone interested in the psychology of colonialism.

Protests Proliferate: Police Brutality in "post-apartheid" South Africa

After the killing of Andries Tatane during a peaceful march on 13th April and another brutal assault from officers at a nightclub in Woodstock, UCT has organized a protest scheduled for the 5th May.

So, this is meant to be our post-apartheid South Africa. What's changed then?

Easter Weekend Woodstock "pig"brutality.

Scene from Andries Tatane's burial during April.

Unlikely Trip-Hop 90's

Used to love this song when I was 9. My brother borrowed this 5fm compilation disc and out of all the commercial pop-sounding rock songs on the CD, this one caught my attention. This eeries vibe mixed with indie acoustics. Perfect blend. In true youngin in the 90's style, I wrote down the lyrics from listening to the song line by line. The trip-hop downtempo spirit had me years ago. See this now in my love for 'Drowned World' taken off of the 'Ray of Light' album of 1998. Produced by William Orbit, the song takes on the trip-hop influences of Bristol in a bittersweet gem of a song I cannot get enough of.

New Favourite Wiggaz

!She-Devil?

Primitive?

I found this racist image at wikipedia:

Attacking Power in an Unlikely/Unlikeable Form

The Williams sisters dominant tennis. They come from a poor background and did not follow the traditional path to professional success. When you combine that, with the fact that they are Black women, that is more than enough reason to send people on the attack.

This is just one example taken from "Womanist Musings"

How many times have I been subject to a cross-sectional analysis of Oprah, Venus and Serena and countless other powerful, accomplished and successful Black women who do not conform to traditional standards of beauty. It can only be classified as plain simple "hating". These women have more than enough going for them - plenty of dosh, accolades, fame and the loving of a good man so what's left to use as ammunition: relegating them to the bottom of the so-called beauty heirarchy used against women only. A rich man can continue being rich without any critique of his external appearance. But a woman violating patriarchal codes of dominance as measured by wealth must be attacked.

Perfect Songs for International Anti-Street Harassment Day

Boobs

Sitting in physics class this morning and a young woman wearing a royal blue flowered strapless sundress decides to adjust its top while she is walking past the entrance of the lecture hall. While she does, her girlies accidently pop out for three seconds with only a few of us in the class noticing. Quick escape for her. But hilarious to watch for those of us that did see. Can I hear a wardrobe mash-up. This one goes out to you Janet, Tara and others...

A young guy in my class who saw the event said that he believes women should keep their ta-tas in bras obviously motivated by the thing he saw. So, it made me think about bras: their actual purpose and how they intertwine with aspects of gender conceptions. He, as a young man, wants women to wear bras as a means of keeping that which he views as erotic out of his sight. The bra in this sense is not for support is rather a cover up or concealment. In extreme cases in society, women wear burqas to conceal that which men find erotic which happens to be their entire body. So perhaps the reason why first wave feministas starting burning bras in the first place was because they saw these items of clothing as a means by which the sexualization of the female form propagates. But men have nipples too yes? But theirs have not been made sexual in a common sense.

Bras are bloody uncomfortable. Going without always feels amazing. Who cares about the sag or the nipple, it's about freedom. The freedom to roam, reach, explore, investigate, learn, discover and walk the journey of life with ease not hiding.

This ties right into a recent event. The Rio Carnival which took place this month. Astounding! The kind of show one has to try their darndest to see at least once in their lives. Some of the women performing had their breasts out. Some cultures in Southern Africa also have women bearing their breasts during cultural dances. Neither are ashamed. Shame about boobs is a social construct but more importantly a Western social construct. Stating obvious stuff of course.

Anticipating: 'Lasers' by Lupe

Coming up with new and inovative ways of promoting upcoming releases - interessant!

Taking Sexy Away

First saw Gail Dines who is the author and promoter of several books on the following topic state her piece on SkyNews and I was immediately drawn to this. It's great that her website and reading materials have been given this much coverage by global news networks.

Packaged in a concise 47 minute video presentation is a full discussion on why pornography is so damaging to the mind's and attitudes of people the world over. Whether you are an active user or someone who couldn't care, this is some information that you most certainly need to have at your disposal. For standing in opposition to this profitable yet seedy and destructive industry the word "prude" should not even come to mind when considering popular opinions but rather "dignified" and mindful of the humanness of not only girls and women but all of us. Something strong should be said about this beast. It may not change the minds of millions over night but one step at a time, society may start to acknowledge the ugly that it has amalgamated and like those powerful lyrics in 'Man in the Mirror' - "make that change..."

The sadness of it all is that there seems to be a culture of dismissing and excusing misogyny as a "boys will be boys" trope. They can't help themselves. They need an outlet for their voracious appetites for human flesh. Where better than to see this subtely portrayed in a current obsession for movies and TV shows that carry 'vampire' themes.

Even videos where models are used as embellishments for the set design just make you sick to your core when you come to see what's really going on here. These women are not people with voices, opinions, histories, background and rights. They're voiceless, ornamentalised objects. That's some sad isht going on there I'm telling you.

Not to mention how this kind of material and messages such as these reduce boys and men to view intercourse as a kind of sport without any non-physical meaning. It's just plain old 'fucking' to them. Nothing intimate. Nothing that has to do with a mental, psychological, spiritual connection to another human being no. Just plain ole fucking.

Clearly remember English teacher from 12th grade who lead us through a length analysis of 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' by George Orwell - what led me to find love for the book in the first-place (shout out to Ms Gardyne!). Something interesting about the fact that the 'Ministry of Truth' supplied pornographic material to the Proles in the novel - a population the government saw little use for and ignored for the most part. The dregs of humanity were fed the worst kind of media for entertainment - porn. Because "porn is boring" as I vividly recall Ms Gardyne uttering that afternoon in English class. And hey, you know what it just is.

When leave out the meat (and not talking about that meat) of it. What really makes this level of intimacy so powerful. Subtle nuances that almost often have zero to do with anything on a physical level. The brain is the most potent factor in all this being the source of all physiological activity. Why skip all that. Why trash all the meat and just suck on bones. Literally. It's wack. Just straight up wack.

Notwithstanding the effects that it has on the psyche. Subliminally. The video goes in depth into every aspect of this.

Know someone personally who is a regular user of porn. Even aspired to be a porn star at some point in his life. Knowing this it's no surprise to hear anti-feminist statements come out of his mouth. That he found the 'Tip Drill' video "cool", you know the part where that foolish Nelly swipes a credit card between a woman's convulsing butt cheeks. That same foolish Nelly when being confronted about having released such a debauched and lewd video asked a member of the audience whether he should "put white girls in there" as a substitute to prevent the vitriol that 'Tip Drill' caused. See that attitude. That's the misogyny. Instead of inspecting his actions and seeing the wrong. He sees as a solution, replacing the black "ho's" with a new set in a brand new hue. Reflective of an attitude that regards women as yup...disposable, replaceable, movable and interchangeable objects. What a dumb dumb.

Back to my young friend who also views erotic literature as a product for "girls" since they probably don't have that same insatiable sexual appetite for 'fresh meat' as their male counterparts do. They are soft, unassuming and not interesting in sex - prudish and innocent. Which again, as was explained in the video is a myth that often needs to be acknowledged in porn that fetishizes innocence and virginity. So, the erotic books that explore the psychological complexities of characters both male and female are demonized and dismissed as stuff for "girls" and instead the hardcore pornographic images that degrade, debase, humiliate and remove all possibility of interaction between male and female that does not involve violence, aggression, intimidation and violation are favoured. Favoured first and then absorbed as a representation of how intercourse should be (as the video clarifies).

This is also someone that believed that C.Brown's abuse had justification because RiRi allegedly gave him an STD and shoves off any discussion of gender inequality in favour of a false belief in an idea that "women are powerful" anyway. This sounds like that "punnany-power" thing again. Perhaps in possessing appetites that are difficult to control. The objects upon which these very appetites are satiated hold power, an overwhelming power which matches an overwhelming need to 'get pussy' no matter the cost or the stakes involved. So they bestow a false sense of power on them which helps them to easily ignore the actual non-power that girls and women have in environments where their rights are continually violated. In the forced marriages, the genital cutting, the honour killings etc. Hey, they still have "punnany-power" right so it really doesn't matter what you do them because they deserve it. That's what you call misogyny.

Have yet to comment about Kanye's dumb dumb 'Monster' video because just had enough of his attention-seeking ways. Watched 30 seconds of it and ignored the rest. Now, someone like that would defend their actions by reciting a monologue about record sales and money and the music business. Ya know how it is. Yep. There's the proof you need to realise how much of a big business misogyny is in the world. That images of women hanging dead from a ceilings, lying around dead fit with imagery reminiscent of depictions of demonic possessions in videos is sending out the message 'they're better of dead', 'they're evil' and if that's not hate speech against an entire gender then don't know what is.

Sunday Quote: on savagery

Courtesy of 'Womanist Musings'

"I absolutely promise, that if you look at the evils committed by Blacks honestly, it will pale in comparison to the history of violence and oppression committed by Whiteness and yet it is Blacks who are told that we are savage. There is nothing to be ashamed of. People are trying to survive in a world that exploits them at every turn."

Read the full post. It's riveting.

One can only listen in absolute horror at the sound of someone that has internalized colonialist belief systems. An individual who not only attempts to defend the evils of white supremacist domination by deflecting attention away from the cause of these measures - racism by making generalized and false statements about how we are all akin to savagery and in that nothing should be said about the damage done by European Imperialism and then goes on to side with those that have done this damage in an act of blatant self-loathing that shows up in a number of ways. Strong beliefs in racial stereotypes about one's own race which is somewhat pathological. It's as if one takes on the internal eyes of the oppressor, assuming a subliminally racist mindset that hinders them from seeing their own in an individualistic manner. Strange.

Adamant Game-Changers

After uttering the concluding "God's peace and blessings be upon you" of the prayer, they began the chant: "Leave! Leave! Leave!"

Cairo Protests Continue

bell hooks on rap music, new caste system and commodified blackness

She really hit the nail on the head with this one. I have always looked upon young white males that consume rap culture with a hint of suspicion. Though some may try to explain it away as an authentic interest in the music what she said seemed more profound and fitting to me. That these very consumers see 'rap' as a kind of "third world country" and the performers of this art a mere trasngression from the norm thus making them exciting, radical, different, cool and unique. In this sense, the act of exociticizing and othering takes place. Something distinctly different from perhaps the ability to engage with another's culture on a level where you become one with it.

Again, my mind is drawn to episodes of 'Jersey Shore' which I watch in a mixture of horror, amusement, surprise and sadness. Mike 'The Situation' and his pals often refer to women they perceive as unfitting to their tastes in animalistic and onjectifying terms. They will be referred to as "grenades" or "gorillas". It's not surprising to see the same individual using colloquial terms derived from hip-hop culture. He likes to "creep", he says in reference to his player persona. This seems to me a lucid example of what bell hooks refers to in her explanation of the otherizing and commodifying nature of a capitalist society when it comes to hip-hop culture in the US. They will readily absorb and buy the fruits of these artist's labour while never fully closing the gap, always standing at a distance looking into fields the way a slave owner would watch his slaves toil in the sweltering sun, profit from the fruits of their labour while continuing to otherize them to the point where their humanness would cease to exist in his mind.

Quote for the Day

"The worst that you can call somebody is crazy, it's dismissive. I don't understand this person so they're crazy. That's bullshit, people are not crazy, they're strong people. Maybe their environment is a little sick."

- Dave Chappelle

When You Know Someone Fucked Around With You

Forgive, sounds good
Forget, I’m not sure I could
They say time heals everything
But I’m still waiting

I’m through with doubt
There’s nothing left for me to figure out
I’ve paid a price
And I’ll keep paying

I’m not ready to make nice
I’m not ready to back down
I’m still mad as hell and
I don’t have time to go round and round and round
It’s too late to make it right
I probably wouldn’t if I could
‘Cause I’m mad as hell
Can’t bring myself to do what it is you think I should

I know you said
Can’t you just get over it
It turned my whole world around
And I kind of like it

I made my bed and I sleep like a baby
With no regrets and I don’t mind sayin’
It’s a sad sad story when a mother will teach her
Daughter that she ought to hate a perfect stranger
And how in the world can the words that I said
Send somebody so over the edge
That they’d write me a letter
Sayin’ that I better shut up and sing
Or my life will be over

I’m not ready to make nice
I’m not ready to back down
I’m still mad as hell and
I don’t have time to go round and round and round
It’s too late to make it right
I probably wouldn’t if I could
‘Cause I’m mad as hell
Can’t bring myself to do what it is you think I should

I’m not ready to make nice
I’m not ready to back down
I’m still mad as hell and
I don’t have time to go round and round and round
It’s too late to make it right
I probably wouldn’t if I could
‘Cause I’m mad as hell
Can’t bring myself to do what it is you think I should

What it is you think I should

Forgive, sounds good
Forget, I’m not sure I could
They say time heals everything
But I’m still waiting

One of my GOATs

Once More...

found increasingly solitary
ever present in this very moment
yet incapable of making the connection

and i find that...
there's never been a better time
than this

Sous Sol - Classic Werrason

May the Truth Be Told

All political thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way. People can foresee the future only when it coincides with their own wishes, and the most grossly obvious facts can be ignored when they are unwelcome.
George Orwell

Read more: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/g/george_orwell.html#ixzz181kIJXra

http://88.80.13.160

Interracial Sleb Couples

I must admit, I did not realise some of these men were into chocolatey cocoa!

http://opentotheidea.com/2010/05/20-black-women-white-men-celebrity-couples/

http://smokiesays.blogspot.com/2009_07_01_archive.html

http://www.flyguychronicles.com/2010/02/black-woman-dating-double-standard/

shout out to Mountain View, Cali

To My One and Only Faithful Reader,

Thank you for taking interest in the rants, opinions and grievances of a socially-frustrated "like" person like me. Please feel free to drop comments even if its only a word. The Unspoken Word is feeling quite solitary and would not mind creeping up from under the vegetation for a little conversation.

Yours faithfully,
Ms Sheeba

prodigy - omen (2008)

I would love to go to a 'Prodigy' concert. Only I'm worried I might come back with broken limbs.

my ugly boy

Her vocals are simply dope.

why i love kelis

And my appreciation for David Guetta's music-making abilities grows and grows.

"I am Going to Show you, you are a Woman."

Taken from this article on the 'Lezget Real' website - definitely worth a read.

"Her attacker acted like an animal who wanted to kill, strangling her with barbed wire;  “I thought he was going to kill me; he was like an animal. And he kept saying: ‘I know you are a lesbian. You are not a man, you think you are, but I am going to show you, you are a woman. I am going to make you pregnant. I am going to kill you.”  The attacker was known To Gaika, a neighbor."

These words spoken to a young lesbian woman while she is being brutally raped by a man who has beef with the fact that she is a woman who is not heterosexual, who does not conform to the so-called prescribed gender roles that society dictates and who is simply expressing the person she truly is. For this she must suffer.

It's obvious, I don't have to call out the blatant misogyny here. This is about power, it's about reifying male dominance in a patriarchal society. Nothing more, nothing less. South Africa and much of Africa is still very far behind when it comes to embracing progressive notions on gender, gender identification and sexual orientation. Most of this nation's citizens still seem to be under the impression that there are set roles that men and women should play which under no circumstances should be violated. Stuck in the Dark Ages and failing to rise to a new level.

Rock Star - Rihanna

 Slash made this one sound good. Maybe a better vocalist and this would have been really one to have on repeat.

Brazil's First Lady...President

Yes, I am biased. This world may very well be better off with women in charge!

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/10/31/brazil.winner.profile/

“We’ll care for our economy with complete responsibility,” Rousseff, 62, told supporters in Brasilia. “The Brazilian people don’t accept governments that spend at unsustainable levels and for that reason we will make every effort to improve public spending.”

and this is for colored girls who considered suicide..

...and are moving toward the ends of their own rainbows...



Looking forward to this one.

Willow Has Arrived

We waited for it and now here it is and at a view rate of approximately 1 million viewers a day so far...

Quiety Disrupting the Equilbrium

On Sally Gross: an intersexed woman who I had the pleasure of hearing speak at the "LGBTI: Who are 'We'" Panel Discussion for UCT's HUMA two-week long series of talks and discussions around various topics addressing society, politics, philosophy, medicine and science. Her words were wise and she spoke of the importance of embracing gender diversity. One or two others also raised the point that disdain for the LGBTI community is linked to patriarchal and heteronormative ideas that sustain the myth that a gender binary must exist in order to maintain structure and avert a kind of confusion or restructuring of the status quo that may be required upon acknowledgement of a multiple gendered people.

Citing the American scholar Susan Kessler, Gross observes that such interventionist surgery at birth is carried out not because the failure of the body to conform "is threatening to the infant's life but because it is threatening to the infant's culture".

From a biophysical standpoint, its plain to see how easily the gender binary breaks down yet society continues to fervently push forth the concept of male and female and no other.

Gross points out that the way biological sex develops is complex, and cannot always be regimented into a straightforward classification of a person as either male or female. At least five variables come into play: external genitals, chromosomal patterns, dominant sex-hormones, the nature of the person's sex-glands and the internal structures of reproduction - these jointly result in the person's physical sexual type. "But none of these are absolutes," says Gross. "You get in-betweens, even within the single variables. All sorts of permutations occur. What's needed to yield unambiguous male or female is for all five of these variables to be completely congruent with one another and unambiguous in themselves. Nature and the mathematics of it all ensure that many other types of outcomes are in fact possible."

Reading her story and bearing in mind women like Caster Semenya has allowed me to dispel my own mistaken beliefs on gender and its identification. I hope that the same can be said for others who have become aware of the prevalence of intersexed peoples in South Africa and throughout the world.

Another Day, Another Dollar

I've never been someone who revels in talking down on others. Being on power-trips at the expense of others is not something I fancy. Though it delights others, the mere thought of bringing another some sort of emotional pain makes me want to lose it because I can empathize - having been in that position - and I simply refuse to be a perpetrator. But today, I gave someone a serious lecture, an almost maternalistic lecture which I did not intend to do but ended up doing instinctively. We had a group project to complete for Applied Math and you know how it goes, some people get lazy and rely too much on others. But there was one, who was truly special. The guy did not show up for a single meeting or contribute anything to the project and claimed to be part of the group a day before the deadline submission. So, I gave him a little chat about responsibility and what your task is as a college student - taking full accountability for your studies and not relying on anyone. These words must've really struck him because he seemed to be on the verge of tears. And being me, I started to feel really bad.

Man, I find it so hard to be stern. But what kind of surprised me is how seriously he took my words. I have never had that experience. Being the youngest member of the family, I am so used to being lectured to, having others instruct me or at least try to! The tables turned today, I was the one giving stern instruction and it scared me a little. I shook and my heart palpitated. At that point I realised how used to being powerless I am. How conditioned I have been to falling under the authority of others. It was such a significant moment. An epiphany and it woke me up to something I hadn't noticed about myself for so long...I am a bloody coward who needs to grow a spine.

But experiences are there to teach us and today has taught me something profound!

Yeeah, You a Bad-Ass Bitch!

This is an important read for all who believe in the "illusion of race" and think that racism is still not an issue.

This comes from the black brute stereotype – blacks as having a violent, savage, immoral nature that they have a hard time controlling. Particularly true for big black men. A fear whites have had since the 1870s shortly after blacks were freed from being slaves. In fact, though, most crime against whites comes not from blacks but from other whites and is done for all the ancient, all-too-human reasons.

From personal experience, remembering all the pathological people who were not black and suspected me of having evil intent, being dishonest, angry or malicious when I was not even close to any of these, I know that the black equates all which is bad stereotype still lives and breathes in our society. Racism is still going strong unfortunately.

Taken from a blog that addresses the Black Female Attitude Myth

Ayn Rand

Rather than considering sexual desire a debasing animal instinct, Rand portrays it as the highest celebration of human values, a physical response to intellectual and spiritual values that gives concrete expression to what could otherwise be experienced only in the abstract.

wikipedia on Atlas Shurgged by Ayn Rand

Whip Yo Hurr Real Hard...

So they have a son that just made mega millions starring in a remake of Karate Kid and now their daughter Willow is tearing up people's lives with this DOPE track and she is only nine years old.



People are comparing her to Rihanna but boy, she this girl's swag tops Rihanna's nine times out of ten - Rihanna wished she had this much swag on a good day. Ah, Willow. Too much. Too much.

Broken Open - Adam Lambert

 Can't decide which version I prefer - the acoustic unplugged, the piano-backed unplugged or the album version. Either way, it is an absolutely ethereal, otherworldly, beautifully transcendent song. The lyrics are so deeply touching. This is by far one of the most incredible songs I have ever heard. This man is amazing. God bless him. My new favourite artist.

Fierce!

 I aspire to walk into a place looking that fierce! Why has it taken me this long to find out how cool this video is? Gosh.

The Problem with Not Believing in Anything

So everybody's favourite physcists, Stephen Hawking, has a book coming out on the 7th of September called The Grand Design in which he argues that invoking a Creator or Higher Power to explain the existence of the Universe is not necessary. Fair enough. There are plenty who believe that science alone is enough to help us make sense of it all but the implications of finally acknowledging the "death of God" as Nietzsche attempted to do are far worse than anyone can imagine.

Reading an article like this helps clarify why not believing in a Higher Power is so dangerous for humanity.

Hawking’s theory means that there is no morality as life is a merely meaningless materialistic mass – a body of matter with no definite distinctive significance and no perspicuous precious value. So, why have ethics and laws? Everyone should just go for the pursuit of pleasure, sensual self-indulgence, and do whatever he likes, including killing each other, since human life is merely a mass of matter that comes together by chance.

It seems that our acknowldgement of a Diving Creator (however imaginary it may sound), forms the very basis for order in terms of our morality and value systems. Disbelieving in God dismisses the dichotomy of good and evil - creating in one a sense of irresponsibility for harm committed against oneself and to others. Having an "anything goes" attitude is exactly what motivates some to kill and harm their fellow humans without guilt or remorse. It's an attitude that stems from refusing to believe that there is essentially a purpose to life and creation. If anything, it is for these reasons I cannot stop believing in God.