Voice of Dissent

The blog of a feminist/vegan/anarchist/riot grrrl

Men’s Rights? What’s Wrong with this picture?

December

Recently, a listener of my show, The Angry Hippies’ Podcast, sent me a website, that, out of good taste, I will not be posting a link to here. They thought I might want to rant about it on the program, but as it turns out, I was too angry to wait, so here goes!

The site was a blog dedicated to the idea of Men’s Rights. If you are not familiar with the concept, consider yourself lucky, here is the gist, Feminism is to blame for the undermining of the rights of men to be men. In other words, Feminism’s fight for EQUALITY, is making life harder on these sexist, misogynistic mental miscreants who cannot accept the fact, that womyn are their equals and must be treated with the same consideration and respect as anyone else.

Damn that Feminism! Next thing you know, rape will no longer be an acceptable means of establishing social dominance. What? They have already started on that, too? Is nothing sacred to this Feminism?

Okay, guys! Time is up! The days of thinking with your dicks are over! I know, I know, you didn’t really do much thinking anyway, but lets move those processes a little more north. Afterall, your dicks really are too small to handle all that pressure. Give them a break, why don’t you?

Let us briefly take a look at what Feminism does hold sacred. The idea of Equality for all. I don’t know, it sounds sketchy to me. Right. The idea that people should be valued and respected beyond the socially accepted gender identified norms is just so far out there. The idea that womyn should be granted equal pay for equal work, and not be subjected to secondary roles based again on gender. What are we thinking? These Men’s Rights advocates are merely trying to point out how upsetting to the standard patriarchal systems this ‘radical’ behavior is.

Their grief and righteous indignation are as justified as any racist fuckwit complaining and ranting about how the end of slavery and how the civil rights movement upset the standard systems of racial mistreatment and inequality in this once great land! Basically, dudes, when white men have been the ones in power for generations and their acts have been to oppress and suppress other segments of the population, then every right guaranteed and written, was written by and for them alone. Those assholes do not get to claim discrimination! In short, as Kittie says, you can eat dick! And maybe, just maybe, whilst eating said dick, the rest of us will not be subjected to your asinine, ignorant, sexist ramblings!

This has been a guest post by Robert Bowen, AKA The Angry Hippie.

The Angry Hippie's Soapbox

posted under Feminism

WTF Feminists?

October

Okay, I’m on the bandwagon, trust me. I’m not a fan of Sarah Palin either. I know that her views on abortion are archaic, as are her views on marriage, and well pretty much everything else. She’s a horrible governor that charged women for rape kits in hospitals, which further proves she’s got no issues with the system continuing to victimize the women who have suffered this despicable abuse. I get it. I’m totally there. She sucks.

But, what the fuck, feminists? How can you stand by, and what’s worse, condone the sexist slandering that she’s suffering in the media, the blogosphere, and the entertainment industries. Songs that rap about raping Sarah Palin have been praised by feminists as giving her what she deserves! I say again, WHAT THE FUCK?!? How is raping anyone hailed by feminists? A demeaning attack that women have long been subjected to, through a morally bankrupt and unbalanced societal forced and nurtured sadistic power structure. And now, it’s okay as long as it happens to Sarah Palin, jokingly or in the context of entertainment? Come on.

The t-shirts that call Palin a cunt also being shown favor from feminists is bothersome to me as well. It’s the misogyny mantra being spouted about a women in power and the reduction of her role to a sexual one as well, and they’ve got feminists falling in step with their chauvinist shit! I know what it’s like to think that Sarah Palin is the worst political gamble this country has ever borne witness to, but that doesn’t excuse this behavior. It’s still not right, even though she’s that wrong!

This has been a guest post by Robert Bowen, AKA The Angry Hippie.

The Angry Hippie's Soapbox

posted under Feminism

League of Vagina Voters

August

The Daily Show has some great commentary on the real reasons for McCain’s choice of Palin for VP.

Sarah Palin on Women’s Issues

August

Sarah Palin

McCain has chosen Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate. I’m guessing the republican party is either a. trying to show that they’re not afraid of strong women or b. making sure they have a “history making” ticket as well. Either way, I believe she’s nothing but window dressing. I say this mainly because of her level of experience (or more accurately, inexperience). After all of the talk from McCain about Obama’s inexperience, I can’t figure out any reason why he would choose such an inexperienced running mate other than her being a token. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s great that a woman has made it to this high a position in the republican party. I just wish she were a powerful woman on the side of other women.

Regardless of why she was chosen, the fact still remains that she’s going to be McCain’s running mate. So, let’s take a look at her record.

  • She’s a member of the anti-choice group Feminists for Life, and is opposed to abortion, even in cases of rape or incest.
  • She’s a hunter. This may not mean much to some people. However, as a vegan who sees the use and abuse of animals strongly tied into the patriarchy, I feel the fact that she participates in the barbarity of killing sentient beings for enjoyment to be very telling.
  • She’s a lifetime member of the NRA
  • She believes marriage should only be between a man and a woman
  • She’s an advocate of drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
  • She supports the aerial shooting of wolves as a way to build up herds of moose and caribou and sued the Interior Department for putting polar bears on the endangered species list because it restricts oil and natural gas development.
  • She is pro death penalty
  • She opposes federal funding for healthcare
  • She strongly opposes alternatives to oil and coal

“Sex” With a 12 Year Old is Actually Rape

August

The following article, Elizabeth Grove man spared jail for having sex with 12-year-old is from AdelaideNow. I came across the story when Hoyden About Town talked about it today and I was horrified.

All emphasis is mine.

AN “immature” 24-year-old who continued a sexual relationship even after learning his girlfriend was just 12 years old has narrowly avoided a prison term.

The District Court today suspended Jarrod James Hean’s two-year, 10-month sentence on condition of a two-year good behaviour bond.

Hean, who is now aged 25, of Elizabeth Grove, pleaded guilty to three counts of unlawful sexual intercourse and nine counts of breaching his bail conditions.

In sentencing, Judge Wayne Chivell said Hean had met his now-former girlfriend in March 2007.

She was 12 years old at the time, but lied and said she was 16 – Hean, who was 24, lied and said he was 20.

“When you learned she was 12, you continued to have a sexual relationship with her,” Judge Chivell said.

“By that time, you say you were in love with her, and somehow convinced yourself it was appropriate to continue.

“That was immature and irresponsible on your part, but I accept that you were not acting as a predator.

Judge Chivell said the relationship – Hean’s first – persisted despite authorities warning the couple to stay away from one another.

After he was arrested for unlawful sexual intercourse, Hean saw the girl on nine more occasions – resulting in the breach of bail charges.

Although he faced a maximum of life imprisonment, Judge Chivell said Hean’s crimes were “at the lower end of the scale”.

“Girls and young women need to be protected from their own immaturity and sexual curiousity at that vulnerable age,” he said.

He imposed a 20-month non-parole period, and said there was “good reason” to suspend the sentence.

“You are unlikely to offend again, and the relationship is now over,” he said.

In another article from ABC News Australia the judge is quoted as saying:

Judge Wayne Chivell said it was an unusual case because it was clear the girl was highly sexualised before the pair had met and an enthusiastic participant in the relationship.

It seems lately that I know the law better than most judges out there. The idiocy of the judge’s statements just amazes me. We have laws of consent because children under a certain age can’t mentally comprehend what they’re consenting to. That’s the whole point of statutory rape laws. It doesn’t matter how willing she was, she’s 12 years old which means she was raped. And like was pointed out at Hoyden About Town, the fact that she “was highly sexualised before the pair had met”, most likely means that she had been sexually abused in the past as well.

This isn’t the first time we’ve heard this kind of thing from judges either. It seems to be a pattern that if a child has been sexually abused in the past, judges view them as “experienced” and take a lenient stance against the attacker. And it seems if the victim is a child of color, they were asking for it regardless of whether or not they had been “sexualized” (ie raped) in the past.

It also really bothers me how both of these articles as well as the people involved in the case keep calling what they had a “relationship”, saying that she was his “girlfriend” and that they “had sex”. No! They didn’t have sex, he raped her. She wasn’t his girlfriend, she was his victim. The only relationship they had was victim/abuser. And someone who repeatedly rapes a 12 year old girl, even after being arrested for it once, is most certainly a predator and absolutely will most likely offend again.

I’ve been looking for contact information for Judge Wayne Chivell so that I can write to him and let him know how I feel about his ruling. So far I’ve come up empty handed. If anyone has this information, please reply and let me know.

posted under Feminism

Fabulous Feminist Photos From Flickr

August

I’ve been scouring Flickr a lot lately and after seeing all of the great feminist imagery decided to do a feature here on the blog. I hope you enjoy them and feel free to reply with links to your favorites.

Feminist Mural

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posted under Art, Feminism

Love Your Body

August

Love Your Body

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posted under Feminism

7 First-Rank Female Artists and 1 Simply Rank Critic

July

If you are an avid follower of the art world, you’ve no doubt heard the recent talk about how women are looked at as being lesser artists than men. Female artists make up a very small percentage of the art in museums and galleries and, just like almost every other professional field, earn significantly less money than their male counterparts. This is an issue that many women and men in the art community are recognizing and trying to correct. However, at least one critic has opposing views on the topic.

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posted under Art, Feminism

The Hilariousness of Sexual Assault

May

People naturally expect a level of offensive behavior at a comedy show. However, a recent performance by Johnny Vegas crossed the line from offensive to criminal, and most people just sat back and laughed at the victim’s expense.

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posted under Feminism

Sexy Meat?

April

And right on the heels of all the articles talking about the sexism involved in vegan activism, we have some gross sexism coming from the meat industry. I’m not sure Carol Adam’s book title “The Pornography of Meat” has ever had this literal a representation before. These are some of the sickest images and I can’t even see how omnis would be enticed by them.

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