"If Men Could Menstruate"...

 I came across a great essay from feminist Gloria Steinem. She is one of the leading feminists of the second wave in the feminist movement. This is a funny satire on how the world would be if men menstruated....

"So what would happen if suddenly,magically, men could menstruate, and women could not?

  Clearly, menstruation would become an enviable, boast-worthy, masculine event:

 Men would brag about how long and how much.

  Young boys would talk about it as the envied beginning of manhood. Gifts, religious ceremonies, family dinners, and stag parties would mark the day.

  To prevent monthly work loss among the powerful, Congress would fund a National Institute of Dysmenorrhea. Doctors would research little about heart attacks, from which men were hormonally protected, but everything about cramps.

    Sanitary supplies would be federally funded and free. Of course, some men would still pay for the prestige of such commercial brands such as Paul Newman Tampons, Muhammad Ali's Rope-a-Dope Pads, John Wayne's Maxi Pads, and Joe Namath's Jock Shield's- "For Those Light Bachelor Days" .

  Statistical surveys would show that men did better in sports and won Olympic medals during their periods.

A MAN ON HIS PERIOD!

  Generals, rightwing politicians, and religious fundamentalists would cite menstruation as proof that only men could serve God and country in combat "(You have to give blood to take blood"), occupy high political office ("Can women be properly fierce without a monthly cycle governed by the planet Mars?"), be high priests, ministers, God himself ("He gave this blood for our sins") or rabbis ("Without a monthly purge of impurities, women are unclean").

  Male liberals and radicals would insist that women are equal just different; and that any woman could join their ranks if only she were willing to recognize the primacy of menstrual rights ("Everything else is a single issue") or self-inflict a major wound every month ("You must give blood for the revolution".)

  Street guys would invent slang ("He's a three-pad man") and "give fives" on the corner with some exchange like, "Man you lookin' good!

"Yeah, man, I'm on the rag!"

(OR YOU CAN BE A FOUR-PAD MAN!)

  TV shows would treat the subject openly. (Happy Days; Richie and Potsie try to convince Fonzie that he is still "The Fonz" though he has missed two periods in a row. Hill Street Blues: The whole precinct hits the same cycle.) So would newspapers (SUMMER SHARK SCARE THREATENS MENSTRUATING MEN. JUDGE CITES MONTHLIES IN PARDONING RAPIST.) And so would movies. (Newman and Redford in Blood Brothers!)

  Men would convince women that sex was more pleasurable at that time of the month. Lesbians would be said to fear blood and therefore life itself, though all they need was a good menstruating man.

  Medical schools would limit women's entry ("they might faint at the sight of blood")

  Of course, intellectuals would offer the most moral and logical arguments. Without that biological gift for measuring the cycles of the moon and planets, how could a woman master any discipline that demanded a sense of time, space, mathematics- or the ability to measure anything at all? In philosophy and religion, how could a woman compensate for being so disconnected from the rhythm of the universe? Or for their lack of a symbolic death and resurrection every month?

   Menopause would be celebrated as a positive event, the symbol that men had accumulated enough years of cyclical wisdom to need no more.

 Liberal males in every field would try to be kind to women. The fact that these "these people" have no gift for measuring life, the liberals would explain, should be punishment enough.

  And how would women be trained to react? One can imagine right-wing women agreeing to all these arguments with a staunch and smiling masochism. ("The ERA would force housewives to wound themselves every month": Phyllis Schlafly. "Your husband's" blood is as sacred as that of Jesus-and so sexy too!: Marabel Morgan.) Reformers and Queen Bees would adjust their lives to the cycles of the men around them. Feminists would explain endlessly that men, too, needed to be liberated from the false idea of Martian aggressiveness just as women needed to escape the bonds of "menes-envy."

   Radical feminists would add that the oppression of the nonmenstrual was the pattern for all other oppressions. ("Vampires were our first freedom fighters!") Cultural feminists would exalt a bloodless female imagery in art and literature. Socialist feminists would insist that, once capitalism and imperialism were overthrown, women would menstruate, too ("If women aren't yet menstruating in Russia," they would explain, "it's only because true socialism can't exist without capitalist encirclement")

  In short ,we would discover, as we should already have guessed that logic is in the eye of the logician. (For instance, here's an idea for theorist and logicians: If women are supposed to be less rational and more emotional at the beginning of our menstrual cycle when the female hormone is at its lowest level, then why isn't it logical to say that, in those few days, women behave the most like the way men behave all month long? I leave further improvisations up to you.)

  The truth is that if men could menstruate, the power justifications would go on and on.

If we let them."

Beautifully written, Gloria Steinem!

I Got That Good Hair!

On Tyra Banks’ season premiere of her show, she did something no black female celebrity has done: She revealed her natural hair to all of America! Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating a little by saying NO black celebrity, but this is certainly a huge event for TV and American women. This new move covered headlines and is still being discussed today.

This action may have been something small, but the meaning is quite significant. Women around the world count on weave to help their appearance, especially those in the media. We look up to those women and want to look like them, and someone as influential as Tyra Banks showing off her natural look and loving it, will inspire many women.




Tyra Banks on the Larry King Show
(She discusses her new look as well as some other body issues)



So I want to ask…have we gone too far. Nowadays it is no longer women getting just a few hair pieces to make their hair look fuller or longer, MANY more women are wearing full head of weave or wigs. Women used to feel ashamed to admit they even wear wigs, but now Wendy Williams talks about it in almost every episode of her show. One guest actress even admitted that her husband has never seen her real hair!

It may have come to the point that women are even ashamed of their hair, especially black women. It is neither cute nor stylish to walk around with an afro like back in the 1970s. If you do, people stare or make comments, or call you “eclectic” , “retro”, or "revolutionary". Revolutionary to walk around with your natural hair texture?

And this weave business does not just apply to adult women, but teenagers and children as well. I myself have been wearing extensions since the age of 5. More and more children, mostly African American are getting weaves put into their hair, and teenagers now basically cover up their whole head with fake hair as well. The dislike for thick and kinky hair has made its way down to the younger generation of females.

Besides all the weave adding and wigs, we spend years of perming , frying and dying, that by the time we are in our twenties, our hair is so damaged we have no choice but to add weave to our hair. Our need to look good in the moment allows us to risk our hair's health and natural beauty.

( I think I see a resemblance)

As a woman that does all the weaving, perming, frying, and dying myself, I know it is really hard to get out of that web once it is spun. Once you begin perming, you feel can never go back to your natural kinkiness and your hair finally becomes manageable, not to mention silky. When you begin hot ironing your hair, you look into the mirror and love the results because now you look like your favorite celebrity. Then once you start weaving and wigging, you think it is the answer to life because now you can have your hair look anyway you want it to look and you barely have to watch out for the rain!

All of these feelings are magnified by of course the media (we always gotta blame them), other women around us , and the men in our lives that love our silky, long, fake(including perming) hair.  We already know that we play monkey see, monkey do with the media and that our environment also influences us. It is customary for women to ask other women where they got their hair done. But the men in our lives are also very important. First of all, what woman is going to snag a man with unattractive or out of style hair? And like black women, black men have also created a dislike for the natural 70s afro look. Even women of other races and cultures that tend to have beautiful curly or wavy locks are straightening their hair for that typical all American look.


Women are dying their hair not just to be different but to give themselves a certain “look”. Over the past few decades, more and more women have gone blonde because supposedly “blondes have more fun”. When you open up Playboy Magazine, which is also looked up to as the pinnacle of sexy for mostly Caucasian people, most of the women are blonde, which of course influences women to get that look. Not to mention, Marilyn Monroe, who is often thought of as America's longest running beauty icon. Even many women in Asian countries are dying their hair as well to have a more European or American look.Women are willing to spend thousands of dollars to maintain their hair, but can barely pay for their bills.



Using your hair to show individuality:

But I am neither defending nor reprimanding the different uses of hair beauty. I think having all these options have helped in many ways. For people with damaged hair, weaves and wigs help, and for many others it is a way of showing individuality like the pictures above. But I do feel that hair beauty has gone too far. When little children are learning not to love their natural hair and people are using it to cover up their natural hair’s beauty, it shows that it has become a widespread issue.

My progression of weaving, perming, frying, and dying!

                            

TOP 9 RULES TO WEAVING:

1) Always wrap your head at night with a scarf
2) Beyonce said it herself, "Pat your weaves ladies!"...don't be a scratcher
3) Gease your scalp everyday
4) Let's be honest...don't wash it everyday, you WILL damage it
5) If you are wearing a weave make sure your real hair is not ten times nappier than your weave, it just looks tacky
6)  Make sure your wig is not pushed too far back
7)  Do not let your boyfriend run his fingers through your hair
8) Do not be afraid to wear your scarf during the day if you are having a bad hair day, it beats having an ugly looking weave, trust me
9) And if you your hair is all natural, rock it loud and rock it proud!


Chris Rock has a very interesting movie coming out on this very topic called Good Hair coming out October 9. He talks about perming and weaves as well, most especially in the black community, but it really speaks to all people both women and men. It is not only very informative and interesting but hilarious as well.

 Good Hair Trailer:




~{Don't ever touch a black woman's hair!   -quote by :Every black man on earth~}

Which one of my hairstyles is your favorite?

What do you feel about women and weaves in general?

Leave a Comment Below!!

A Long Way to Equality

If you thought that Hillary Clinton's success in the 2008 presidential election meant that we were pretty much close to our goal of equality between men and women...you thought wrong. We have a long way to go before we see more women not only in U.S politics, but also being respected on an equal level. The unfairness that I witness and hear keep me obligated to use my blog as a tool of equal rights for women and respect to us, among us, and within ourselves.

I came across a disturbing video depicting the very ugliness in politics against women that we often hear about but are too shocked to even believe true. Please watch this video: the WHOLE video. It is composed by the non-political organization New Agenda, which fights to put more women in power. I promise you, you will certainly be entertained by this video.



Hit her in the mouth with a "leg of lamb"? Little boys uttering, "put her in her place". And G. Gordon Libby, a prominent political figure stating, he hopes that another female politician isn't "menstruating" when working. These are just a few of the things that make me forget that I live in America, the land of the free, the place where justice and liberty preside. Where is all of that? I will not say much more about the video because I believe it speaks for itself. But I do encourage you all to keep your eyes open, your mind open, and try to be that little bit of difference in this country that we so desperately need.
Nobody can do everything, but everyone can do something

~{ How Wonderful It Is That Nobody Need Wait A Single Moment Before Starting To Improve The World- Anne Frank}~