You won't find me on the menu at Outback.

I believe in demanding respect for women. I believe in respecting yourself, even if to simply halt degradation around the world. I believe that until women begin to feel globally responsible for each woman who lives through involuntary objectification, sexual exploitation will continue to grow.    

Thankfully, I have never been a victim of rape, my father never sold me into prostitution, and I have never felt in danger of sexual harm. I have, as any teenager has, witnessed the less obvious objectification of women that fuels the more serious crimes against humanity.

Recently, I went with a friend to Bourbon Street, a ‘dance’ club in Baltimore. It is impossible to walk ten feet into the club without being touched, rubbed on, or, in my opinion, and generally violated. It may seem that I should let each woman act how she pleases; it’s not my business what someone else enjoys, but I feel globally responsible for showing men that a woman's body is not created to satisfy men. Objectifying yourself and losing your dignity for the pleasure of a man in your own bedroom is a personal decision, but in public, it simply teaches that men are the superior, powerful gender.

Freedom is beautiful, and I’m glad that each woman can choose to do with her body as she pleases. I simply hope that one day, despite the freedom given, we as women will band together, say enough is enough, and stop degrading ourselves for the benefit of men. I hope that we will stop setting the stage for sexual exploitation. I hope that we will stop letting men enjoy us for our bodies, but instead for our hearts. I hope that we will see that selling young girls into prostitution is not okay, and that it is fueled by the actions of women around the world. I hope that we will learn to keep our clothes on, grow some (hypothetical) balls, and stop being submissive to men who judge us by our looks, whistle at us on the street, and shout vulgar comments. I hope we learn to keep our boobs in our shirts and stop flaunting our asses as advertisements.

I believe that you and I are not tasty 12 oz steaks on a plate, and we are not paintings on a wall to be gawked at.

Instant Gratification Generation

       Anyone born in after the late 80’s has a skewed perspective on timeliness. It is no longer acceptable to wait to talk to your friends away at college through ‘snail mail’ and calling someone seems to take too much time. Why take the time to use a dictionary when you can Google the definition? In our generation, we are always a click, message, or Google search away from answers to all of life’s questions. Is it instilling good values to be always connected and in reach of the answer with little effort put forth?

Word Count: 94

Picture from http://news.injuryboard.com/california-is-sixth-anti-texting-behind-wheel-state.aspx?googleid=248166

Articulating Anger

                 

           My mother has always been zealous about language. She loves words and can choose, with ease and grace, the perfect word to express exactly what she is thinking.  Growing up, I never heard my parents curse frequently, hold the occasional “damn” when they thought I was not listening. Naturally, when my mother heard me curse for the first time, it came as a shock. I was probably in fifth grade, and was in my sister’s car when I heard the radio DJ say, “Bitching bikes”. Having no idea, whatsoever, about the word’s meaning, I proudly repeated the phrase in a loud yell, to my audience: my Mother, My Grandmother and my Father. My Mother was not mad at me, and I did not get in trouble. Later, however, she discussed with me the importance of choosing the most accurate word to express your idea. She preached that “Using curse words is a sign of a low vocabulary”, and despite rising anger inside, there is always a more descriptive word to use than a vulgar word. The true definition of an obscene word is almost always betrayed, leaving an empty, meaningless shell of a word that has no use other than to express anger without giving reason, which is not very effective. If you cannot effectively and accurately express your feelings, how can you expect others to understand them?

228 words

Blog Assignment 1

Consistency has always been an organizing component in my life. All of my eighteen years, I’ve lived in the same house, with the same people. I grew up in a typical family: Mom, Dad, Brother, Sister. I’ve always known that if I need to talk to someone, my family is there for me and supports me in everything I do. From small material things, such as living in the same house all of my life, to larger things such as having the same dog now as when I was three. Though I’ve gone through many changes and struggles in my life, I know that I can always find stability and structure in my family.