No means yes means rape

I recently came upon this revolting video. Not revolting because of anything graphic (you can barely see anything, as it’s dark outside and the camera appears to be sideways for much of it), but because of what they boys in the video are saying.

No, you weren’t hearing them wrong: “No means yes, yes means anal.” More under the jump.

Draw Muhammed, go into hiding

I know I didn’t cover Everybody Draw Muhammed Day back around April 20 (which was the date of the day itself), but that was because at the time, I didn’t realize the true gravity of it all.

For those who don’t know, Molly Norris, a Seattle cartoonist, declared over Facebook that May 20th should be Everybody Draw Muhammed Day. This was in response to Comedy Central’s decision to censor an episode of South Park that depicted Muhammed. Further, Comedy Central’s decision was based off death threats and murders that Muslims have made directed at those who have drawn their prophet (which is a big no-no in Islam).

Then, all hell broke loose. Groups and events supporting this day popped up all over Facebook, resulting in Pakistan trying to get the social networking site blocked. Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical Ismalic cleric, publicly ordered Norris to be executed (a threat that, at first, was thought to be a fake). And now, Norris is being forced to “go ghost”.

Due to the threats, the FBI has insisted that Norris move, change her name, and essentially wipe her old identity and start afresh. She will no longer be publishing her cartoons, either. Essentially, she is being put in a witness protection program, but without the government paying for it. Norris, it has been noted, likens her situation to cancer; it could be benign, but it could also be very serious.

Personally, I think that it’s a bit ridiculous that, for suggesting people draw a cartoon, Norris now has to change her entire identity to make sure she doesn’t get killed. Granted, I’ve never been good at not offending people, but there’s a line when it comes to offensiveness. You choose whether or not you get offended by something. Christians don’t get offended by drawings of Jesus because they choose not to. People should have freedoms to do as they wish, and if something offends you, you should fix your own actions so that you can avoid it, rather than forcing someone to stop doing it. Hindus don’t send death threats to those who eat (or even those who cook) beef, and similarly, I don’t think Muslims should be threatening to kill those who draw Muhammed, or suggest others do so.

I try to be fairly accommodating and not confrontational when it comes to others’ beliefs. I don’t deliberately try and offend people (I didn’t even participate in Draw Muhammed Day), but if you’re going to kill someone for drawing a picture, than I’m definitely going to side with the artist.

Barack Obama is NOT a Muslim

Alright, so I know this is a bit of a delayed blog post, but I’ve seen debates around the internet and magazine covers recently going over whether or not the president of the United States is a Muslim. This has spawned from the fact that a recent poll has shown that over 20% of Americans think that Barack Obama is a Muslim.

Clearly, I am not one of those 20%.

Obama has said repeatedly that he is a Christian, and whether or not this is true, one can figure out whether or not he is a Muslim (or I guess whether or not he is a good Muslim) by taking the five pillars of Islam (basically five duties Muslims must do, I guess like the opposite of the Ten Commandments) and, based on what we know about Barack Obama, figuring out which he fulfills and which he does not.

1. Shahada. At one time in a Muslim’s life, he or she must say and believe a statement (referred to as the shahada) that “There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet”, usually spoken in Arabic. We can’t prove that Obama has said the shahada, but we also can’t prove that he hasn’t, so let’s just skip this one.
2. Salah. Muslims must pray facing Mecca five times per day: at dawn, noon, afternoon, sunset, and evening. As the President of the United States, much of Barack Obama’s life is in the public eye, and I’m pretty sure that if he was praying five times a day, someone would have noticed and it would be all over the news. Also, Barack Obama has, many times, had meetings and the like when Muslims are normally supposed to be praying, for example, the White House Easter Egg Hunt. If he had stopped the meeting partway through to pray, someone probably would have said something.
3. Zakat. Muslims must give 2.5% of their wealth to charity every year. In 2008, Obama’s tax returns were released, and it was revealed that between 2000 and 2004, an average of less than 1% of he and Michelle’s joint annual income was donated to charity. It wasn’t until 2005 when Obama’s book was published (thus increasing his income) that he and Michelle started donating around 5% of their annual income to charity.
4. Sawm. Muslims must fast (abstain from food, drink, or even sex)  from dawn till dusk during the month of Ramadan. As I mentioned in point #2, much of Obama’s life is in the public eye, and that counts eating. So it should be no surprise that Obama has been seen eating pretty much every day, regardless of whether or not it’s Ramadan.
5. Hajj. Muslims must make a pilgrimage to Mecca at some point in their lives (if they are able to do so). Barack Obama has not made this pilgrimage (and believe me, he is able to do so). In fact, because the Saudi government only lets Muslims into Mecca, it is unlikely that he will ever do so.

So although we cannot prove or disprove whether or not Obama has said the shahada, we can disprove the other four, meaning that either Barack Obama is not a Muslim, or he is a really, really bad Muslim. So at this point, we really don’t need to get into all the other things like eating pork that Obama does that Islam doesn’t allow. Sure his middle name is Hussein, but that’s really just an unfortunately coincidence. I mean, we’ve had a vice president named Hannibal Hamlin, and that didn’t make him a cannibalistic serial killer.

But what does it really matter anyway? Barack Obama could be Protestant or Catholic, Muslim, Jewish, or an Atheist. Regardless of religion, they all have the same basic ideas of being nice to each other, an idea that Barack Obama clearly believes in. And really, we’ve had some horrible presidents who were Christian, so just like being Muslim doesn’t make someone bad, being Christian doesn’t make someone good either.

Penis, no vagina: when sex education only provides half the story

I know, I’ve been absent for the entirety of June. First there was finals, and now I’m taking a Women’s Studies class at the local community college this summer. So for the next month and a half, my posts will likely draw off of what we’ve learned in class.

For now though, here’s a video clip to make you think. It’s from the movie Teeth, and no, it’s not one of the gory scenes, so you can open your eyes now.

For those of you who don’t know, Teeth is a movie about a very conservative girl who has what’s called Vagina Dentata, or teeth in her vagina. It’s basically about how she finds empowerment in this and becomes comfortable with her sexuality.

Although I was lucky enough not to go to a high school like this, my class still left out information about contraception and the like. I remember being upset about this
(mainly because the other teacher felt comfortable enough to bring in spermicide and condoms and the like and taught the students how they worked, and I thought that was cool) but I can’t imagine not knowing what was inside me, knowing men had that privilege that I did not. Did any of you go to high schools where you weren’t taught about the vagina? Was your sexual education otherwise limited, or not?

Poking fun at tampon advertisements

The following advertisement was rejected for pushing aside the cliches of tampon commercials and daring to speak frankly about the female reproductive system.

Very safe for work.

It’s a sad world we live in when even tampon commercials can’t use the word “vagina” or even elementary school phrases such as “down there”. After all, who knows what kiddies might be watching? Surely, we don’t want them to develop any healthy, informed ideas about how their bodies work.

Boobquake

I know I probably should have blogged about boobquake before it actually happened, but in my defense, I’ve spent most of the past few days studying for upcoming midterms.

For those who don’t know, here’s the deal: Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi (Tehran, Iran’s Friday prayer leader) was quoted blaming earthquakes (such as the one in Haiti) on women’s immodesty and men being lead astray because of it. Jennifer McCreight, blogger for Blag Hag, proposed that today, women everywhere bare their cleavage (or legs, if you prefer) to prove that immodesty does not cause earthquakes.

In the words of the Blag Hag herself, “With the power of our scandalous bodies combined, we should surely produce an earthquake”. If there is no earthquake, we wonder what excuse Sedighi will come up with.

There have been questions as to whether or not this event is contrary to feminist ideals, as it involves being intentionally immodest. However, keep in mind that the idea is to wear a shirt or pair of shorts you already own. Basically, something you’d wear on any other day, except now you’re wearing it on this specific day. In my mind, that’s no more contrary to feminism than wearing green on Saint Patrick’s Day (only this is for a better cause).

Others have also brought up that there are earthquakes every day, though usually small ones. This is why McCreight mentioned she would do statistical calculations to see if the amount of skin bared today correlates with powerful earthquakes.

I’m currently in Santa Cruz, and it’s really hot here. Whether the people are baring it because of boobquake or because of the heat, I’m not sure. I originally planned on wearing my current outfit (tank top, shorts, knee socks) for the whole day, but I do have a class at 7 tonight, so I may end up changing into long pants, as it tends to get really cold at night.

So what about you? Are you participating? Or did you not know about it until it was too late?

For more information, the original post can be found here with a more serious explanation of the event here.

Excuses, excuses… and a poem

The past month and a half (or so) has been a string of reasons why I was unable to do my normally-bimonthly (at least) posts. Firstly, there was finals week in the end of March. After finals week was spring break, and shortly after that, my computer decided to go into a coma. I just got it back yesterday, so I should be able to get in at least one (hopefully two) post in before the month’s end.

I also happen to be doing something called NaPoWriMo this month, where you write one poem every day for a month. I figured I’d take the opportunity to share one of my poems on here, since I never put poetry up here. I really think it needs to be worked on, and want to at least make it longer, if not edit what I have (it’s about 1 minute long spoken and I want to get it over 3) but I’m not exactly where to take it, so constructive criticism would be nice. Oh, and keep in mind it’s a very rough draft.

Words will be words

Let me start by saying that I’m not afraid.
I’m not afraid of the little black box you put over my mouth
When I say “fuck you!” and mean it.
I’m not afraid of the *beep* you throw at me
every time I say something you can’t stand hearing
because you know it’s true.
And I like telling people what they don’t want to hear,
because rule #1 of knowing me
is that you’re not allowed to get offended.

You know, I never learned how to be silent.
I was an opinionated child,
frustrated that I couldn’t be the Blue Ranger or Baby Spice.
And of course, I was bewildered
that someone could just deny evolution,
push aside all scientific evidence and say “No,
talking snake and magic apple”
(a story that to me,
was less credible than Disney).
But now,
now I realize the type of world we live in.
Where life is just a chess game
and the white pawn always moves first.
Where Wikipedia doubts the existence of the g-spot,
proving that we know more about the moon
than we do about the female reproductive system.
Where peaceful people die violently
and violent people die peacefully.
It makes me wonder whose image we’re really made in.

UCSC protests = starving students

I am currently a student at UC Santa Cruz, where there was a huge protest last Thursday. Now when I say huge, I mean huge. Not only were there simultaneous protests on UCs and CSUs statewide but this particular protest lead to the blocking of all entrances to campus.

As one can imagine, this was a bit of a problem. UCSC is a large campus and both city buses and school shuttles run through the main roads. None of these were running, which meant that in order to leave campus, one would have to walk to the base of campus and cross the picket lines. The picket lines also prevented vehicles of all kinds from entering campus.

The first issue is classes. With no way for the professors to get onto campus, all classes were canceled. Since the protests started at 5am, there was no way to get on campus before they started (unless you wake up that early). Some TAs managed to get onto campus the night before and stay over, but they were all told not to have class. After all, any students that lived off campus wouldn’t be able to attend. Some teachers decided to hole section at the base of campus, but due to reports of the protests getting violent, these classes were canceled as well.

Because of the protests, only two of the five dining halls were open on Thursday, and both were supposed to be open until seven. However, by five they had both run out of food. What did this mean for UCSC students that lived on campus? Well, those in apartments had food that they could eat. However, those of us in the dorms had to fend for ourselves. Some had microwave meals, others mooched off of their friends. At around 7:15 I was told that the protesters left the West Entrance, so a few friends and I ordered pizza from Domino’s.

UCSC sent email updates through the day, but most of them were the same: do not go to the base of campus because people have knives and clubs and will hurt you. Based on the description it sounds scary, right? Well according to some people I know who were there, this has all been blown out of proportion. Nobody I know who was there saw any violence and all pictures I have seen indicate that it was a very peaceful protest. Now this isn’t the first time that UCSC would have exaggerated: during fall quarter and the occupation of Kerr Hall (one of the UCSC buildings), the protesters were made out to be childish and destructive. Pictures taken include tangled wires, food wrappers, and a refrigerator that was pushed over. However, people who were inside the building during the occupation have said that other than the evidence in the pictures taken, not very much damage was done. Now tell me, how sad is it when you can’t trust your institution of higher learning to give you the right information on what’s going on on our own campus?

Personally, I’m getting a bit tired of the method of protesting. It seems really childish, more like whining for attention than educated individuals who want their voices heard. The two building occupations that occurred in fall quarter are better representatives of this. During these occupations, students wrecked equipment and graffiti-ed buildings. Which seems rather counterproductive considering they’re against an increase in fees and their antics only results in the school spending even more money and, as a result, increasing fees. For a group of people who don’t want to spend unnecessary money on school, they sure don’t mind wasting a school day and throwing off everyone’s schedules. Now I’m not saying I’m against protesting; I’m just against their methods. On the first day of school this year in the fall quarter, there was a strike at the base of campus. However, this did not prevent vehicles from entering and exiting campus. No damage was done and teachers who felt like holding classes were able to do so. This is the type of protest that I am in favor of. Building occupations and blockading the school just seems to hurt us students more than it helps us, and also portrays us in a negative light.

Your thoughts?

Big time pig time: Corporate hipocrisy

There is some pretty surprising shit going down in this vlog.

More under the break.

PZ Myers was in Santa Cruz tonight!

So as a couple of you may know, PZ Myers came and did a talk at UC Santa Cruz (where I currently go to school) this evening at 7. For those of you who don’t know who he is, he’s a biologist and professor at University of Minnesota, Morris and he runs a well-known (among the atheist community at least) atheist blog, Pharyngula. Basically, he spoke about evolutionary biology and how many Creationists tend to try and dismiss it, and why their attempts at doing so are wrong. Afterward, there was a question and answer session, followed by dinner at a local Mexican restaurant, which was full of lively conversation about Atheism and our encounters with Creationism and Christians.

PZ Myers starting by showing us this video, which features PZ as the science advisor.

Afterward, PZ went on to talk about some things he had noticed about Creationists. He spoke a lot about Creationists who act like they know what they’re talking about. For example, a man named Geoffrey Simmons wrote a book titled Billions of Missing Links, subtitled “A rational look at the mysteries evolution can’t explain”. One of these mysteries is the transition between land mammals and whales. But wait, haven’t they found fossils of animals with, for example, nasal cavities partway up the snout? And is that not the answer to how the nasal cavity evolved into a blow hole over time? The answers, dear reader, are yes and yes. Mr. Simmons (I refuse to call him Dr. despite his MD) claimed that he was unaware of such things.

PZ goes on to speak about others, such as Ray Comfort, who fails to understand the idea of evolution. Ray seems to think that evolution is a theory in which males and females evolved alongside each other by reproducing asexually. Well firstly, if they could reproduce asexually, why would there be males and females? Secondly, populations evolve. Individuals do not evolve. Ray (as well as many other Creationists) believes that once upon a time there were monkeys and out popped a human baby from the mother monkey’s uterus. Human baby (who is always a boy, because Ray firmly believes that men always come first) then goes out looking for a human baby girl to mate with.

PZ also spoke about hormones and the evolution of various animals, such as Stickleback Fish. The question and answer session covered a variety of topics, from homosexuality to quantum physics and its role in consciousness. The discussion afterward covered even more ground, although there seemed to be a number of conversations going on at once, so this may just have been from my side of the table.

PZ Myers is touring through California. He’s been to Santa Barbara, Davis, Berkley, and Santa Cruz so far. If you live around Palo Alto, Sacramento, or Chico, he’ll be in your area soon. Click here for the map of where he’ll be and when.

I feel like I should have put a post about this earlier, but I felt it would be more appropriate to post afterward when I had more to say, and when I could tell you what he said during his talk. Plus, I’m not sure how many of my readers are even interested in atheism, especially since most of my posts are about feminism. So, why are you reading this article? I seem to get a lot of views, but not very many comments. I’m wondering if I get the same readers over and over (and if so, what it is they read) or if it’s just different people falling upon my posts in some way or another. And for those of you who are interested in atheism and evolutionary biology, read PZ Myers’s blog. He has a good sense of humor, and yet an air of intelligence, and I highly recommend it.