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I’m crossposting my Sugasm message just to make sure I reach all the submitters.
“Hey gang-
I’m doing a little traveling this weekend and thought I’d be able to get not only the draft out on time but the Sugasm as well. But instead I’m running a late. Looks like the draft will be sent out Sunday. I’ll post the Sugasm on Tuesday.”
I participated in the Feminist Carnival again. Want some new blogs to read? You can check out the full list on the Uncool blog here. Thanks to Lina for hosting this one.
Posted by Vixen as Musings at 10:38 PM CST
Lina from Uncool is hosting the Carnival of Feminists again. I enjoyed the last go around with her at the reins so am participating again.
President Bush says his drinking during his 30’s was a “youthful indiscretion”. As a grown Pagan woman my youthful indiscretions occurred during childhood when I experimented with Christianity.
My parents raised me to figure out religion on my own. It is one of the best things they ever did for me. Not liking the Christian teachings, I happily skipped church growing up. But I lived in a small town. Practically everyone I knew was some form of Christian and went to church. Repeatedly I heard the Good News about the Lord and Savior from friends and even in my public school. Afterschool activities often started with a prayer circle. I was known as the “atheist kid”. The kid whose heathen parents didn’t even take me tell me about God. Elementary school wasn’t too bad but for some reason when I entered junior high the teasing increased. It may sound odd that I was made fun of for not being Christian but that is one of the charms of living in a closed minded community.
Maybe it was the peer pressure or maybe I felt like experimenting but one summer I decided to go to church. I announced it to my parents. They were supportive but I remember the sideways glance my Mom and Dad shared when I delivered the news. My friends were overwhelmingly supportive. In my town a big deal was made by the churches to bring in more souls to the flock and to deliver the Good News to the non-believers.
In a way it was fun. I got to play religious tourist. For weeks I would stay the night at a friend’s house on Saturday and go to church with her family that Sunday morning. I tried several branches of Christianity-Baptist, Protestant, Presbyterian, Catholic, Pentecostal and Lutheran. The experiment didn’t last long. Feeling like an outsider in every congregation I soon gave up the idea, preferring to climb a tree. Even back then I saw more God in a tree than I did in a building. One episode stands out in my mind.
In seventh grade I had a friend Jamie whose family belonged to a conservative Christian church. Per my routine I spent Saturday night with her and accompanied her family to church services the following morning. Jamie and I rode in the back seat of the family car while her parents drove me home. Her father asked what I thought of their church. I mumbled something non-committal. (In reality I didn’t like it but knew it was rude to say so. Though my mother didn’t press religion on me she was a stickler for manners.) He commented about my parents not taking me to church and asked if they were atheists. I said something about them not liking organized religion. He asked me what I believed. There was a tone in his voice that made me nervous. I decided to only share a little and said I believed in reincarnation.
Silence enveloped the car. It was as if I had screamed a curse word.
Jamie’s father then launched into a lecture. Reincarnation was a lie. If reincarnation was real then humans could be born again as grasshoppers and that was ridiculous. (I remember thinking that life as a grasshopper might not be so bad. You could hop through the grass.) Reincarnation was a delusion created by the Devil to trick people. If I believed in reincarnation then I would go to Hell when I died. On and on he went until he pulled into my driveway.
Grabbing my bags I refused to look at any of them because I was embarrassed that he had made me cry. Though we remained friends Jamie later told me she wasn’t allowed to invite me over for a sleepover again.
Looking back I think some of my feminism was born during that car ride. I was so angry. I knew it was wrong for him to yell at me. I knew I hadn’t done anything wrong-I had just answered a question. But it was more than that. It was this adult man telling the little girl me that I was wrong to believe in something. It was so important to him that I believe what he told me to believe. But I was just a scared little girl and instead of yelling back I ran to my room to hide until I calmed down. I never told my parents what happened. Her church was the last one I experimented with.
As an adult I’m vocal about freedom of religion. But is it a feminist issue? Absolutely. How would the world be different if everyone were raised to choose their own beliefs rather than being told to worship a particular faith?
Would there be so many laws controlling women’s bodies? Would there be so much sexual guilt? Would there be so much sexual violence? Would sex work be seen as legitimate work? Hell, would the Madonna/Whore complex even exist anymore? Having true freedom of religion could change the world.
Posted by Vixen as Musings at 10:22 PM CST
From Bloomberg:
Free Sex at Prague Brothel Tests Taboo as Reality Romps Hit Web
“If you want to watch Nick having sex with a prostitute, he’s happy to let you.
The 36-year-old bank-security technician drove eight hours from his home in Metz, France, to Big Sister, a Prague brothel where customers peruse a touch-screen menu of blondes, brunettes and redheads available for free. The catch is clients have to let their exploits be filmed and posted on the Internet.”
(snip)
“Big Sister is marrying 21st-century technology with the world’s oldest profession to profit from the public’s appetite for ever-more graphic reality TV. Since 2005, more than 15,000 men have taken up the offer of free sex in return for 15 minutes, or less, of fame, according to the brothel. Big Sister is now expanding into the U.S. with a local version of its Web site.”
What an interesting idea!
Posted by Vixen as Musings at 6:16 PM CST
I have a few birthday traditions. Mr. Radical and I always get a birthday spanking in our birthday suites. I like to go to a fancy restaurant for a birthday dinner. And I like to eat a piece of birthday cake for breakfast. I’m having chocolate cake with mocha icing right now. Mmm.
Posted by Vixen as Musings at 9:41 AM CST
Give me a press pass because I am an amazing reporter!
Or not.
Turns out that my last post was about a story from 1970. When Jaded Hippy pointed this out in the comments I thought-No, I couldn’t have goofed up like that. But let’s go back the article. See that little line above that story that says “Monday, Dec. 07, 1970″? Gulp.
Teehee.
Despite my initial temptation to delete the post I’m leaving it up. Sure I feel a little goofy. But I’m also thankful to all my readers. I like that you check out the stories I link to and read them.
I did check out the story more and it turns out that the couple got to keep their baby. I found the update here. You can read the judgement here.
Posted by Vixen as Musings at 4:40 PM CST
With all the recent storms leaving many people without power I thought I’d mention solar power. I’ve been on solar for years and absolutely love it. I don’t have power outages or an electricity bill.
There are some misconceptions about solar power though. Many people think only certain states in the US are good for solar. Others think the set up cost is too high. Not so on either count. When Mr. Radical and I started out using solar power we were dirt poor. Bit by bit we built our solar system. First it was just batteries that we charged with our pickup truck. Then we added a small panel. Over the years we added to or replaced parts and now have several panels, an inverter, batteries. We do have a generator for back up power in case we get a week of clouds.
Want to get in on the solar revolution? Here’s some resources:
Wikipedia’s Solar Energy entry
Renewable Energy Policy Project Solar page
American Solar Energy Society
Solar Today
Home Power Magazine
Back Home Magazine
Posted by Vixen as Musings at 9:20 PM CST
Since I forgot to post about Buy Nothing Day I thought I’d post about Buy Nothing Christmas.
“From the Christmas Resistance’s site:
You know holiday shopping is offensive and wasteful. You know Christmas “wish lists” and “gift exchanges” degrade the concept of giving. You know Christmas marketing is a scam, benefiting manufacturers, stores, and huge corporations, while driving individuals into debt. You know this annual consumer frenzy wreaks havoc on the environment, filling landfills with useless packaging and discarded gifts.
Yet, every year, you cave in and go shopping.
The relentless onslaught of advertising exerts constant pressure. So do the unified bleatings of herds of shoppers, who call you “Scrooge” if you fail to enthusiastically join their ritual orgy of consumption. Friends and family needle you with gift requests, store windows beckon with shiny colorful packages, the same “classic” holiday jingles are piped constantly through every speaker in town.
How can you resist?
Join the Christmas Resistance Movement!”
Now for full disclosure I do buy some friends Solstice presents. But I keep it to a bare minimum. This year I’m buying presents for two friends and making a present for a third. That’s it. Mr. Radical and I haven’t decided whether to get each other presents. Last year we were moving so skipped the gift giving. We’re thinking of skipping it again this year.
Posted by Vixen as Musings at 11:29 AM CST
From Avert’s site:
“According to UNAIDS estimates, there are now 33.2 million people living with HIV, including 2.5 million children. During 2007 some 2.5 million people became newly infected with the virus. Around half of all people who become infected with HIV do so before they are 25 and are killed by AIDS before they are 35.
Around 95% of people with HIV/AIDS live in developing nations. But HIV today is a threat to men, women and children on all continents around the world.
Started on 1st December 1988, World AIDS Day is not just about raising money, but also about increasing awareness, fighting prejudice and improving education. World AIDS Day is important in reminding people that HIV has not gone away, and that there are many things still to be done.”
Additional information can be found at World AIDS Campaign.
—
I had an uncle die of AIDS. It happened in the early eighties. Back then it was thought to be a “gay disease”. My uncle was gay and there were whispers that his homosexuality was the reason he got sick.
My memories of my uncle are happy ones. I remember visiting his house with my parents. As a little girl I just thought he had a lot of guy friends as roommates. I probably met his lover though I didn’t know it at the time. He traveled a lot, mostly overseas. His tales of Egypt fascinated me as did the foreign coins he would give me when he came back from his many adventures.
I never saw him sick. He was a happy man, always smiling. And then he was gone, sick in the hospital.
With AIDS sadly being so widespread now it’s hard to imagine a time when it was just starting to become a problem. But many people didn’t even know how it was spread. My mother was convinced it was contagious and could be caught like the flu.
She refused my request to see him in the hospital. My aunt brought my niece to see him. My mother was upset by this and I wasn’t allowed to see my aunt or niece for awhile until it was obvious they hadn’t caught “the AIDS”. People didn’t call it HIV back then. I remember hearing adults call it “the AIDS”.
My father went to his brother’s funeral. My mother stayed home with me. She was adamant that I not be allowed to attend. Why I’m not sure. Whether she didn’t want me seeing “those gay men who might have the AIDS” or whether she wanted to shield me from death I can’t say; though I suspect the former.
Years later I took part in an AIDS Walk that was taking place in a major city nearby my hometown. I was in high school and organized a fundraiser with some friends. People sponsored us to participant in the AIDS Walk. The AIDS Quilt was showing there. There were so many quilts laid out on the grass, it seemed like thousands. My little group of friends walked around looking at them. Suddenly I stopped in my tracks-I had just walked by a quilt bearing the first name of my uncle. I stared at it. Could it be his? The quilt was decorated lovingly but offered me little clues. There was an earth on the quilt and other designs alluding to travel. Most of the decorations held no meaning to me. Since I was just a little girl there was so much about my uncle that I never knew. But there was one vital clue. He had an uncommon first name. Decades later I’ve only met one other person that shared his name.
Seeing that rare name on the quilt made me feel that it was his quilt. Someone who cared and loved him made it to honor his life. A lover? Another family member? A friend? I don’t know but I’m thankful that of all the quilts laid out that day that I was fortunate to walk by that one.
