Let's just get one thing straight. I have never, in my life, been called "promiscuous" or "slut" or "ho". Maybe that's because I just don't talk about sex. Maybe if I actually talked about it, people would look down on me and think of me as girl with questionable morals.
Now, why on earth would I be scared of being called a slut for just talking about sex? Because it seems like whenever a girl voices her opinion on sexuality, or even hints at her own sexuality, everyone gets all up in arms and thinks she must be a whore. If a girl is sexually comfortable, she must be loose.
Let's take Lil' Kim and Trina for example. They don't just rap about sex, they rap about feeling sexual powerful over men, and that concept is shocking to a lot of people. Why is it so shocking? In a way, I think the message of female sexuality is extremely empowering, and women haven't fully embraced our power yet. Yeah, women burned their bras in the 60's, we have the pill, but it's still some dirty little secret that we have our sexuality, or that we just plain love havin' sex.
That said, I just plain love havin' sex. You heard me right. Does that make me a slut? Absolutely not. Does that make me a bad person? No. But I bet you are SHOCKED to read it, right? You are shocked that some little white girl actually wrote that in her blog for school. You're shocked because the only place you thought you'd hear a girl saying that was in the rap videos. Well, this isn't a rap video, and I'm not Trina, but I can relate to what she's doing because she's just trying to show that women can be sexually powerful too, and that it's a good thing, not something to be ashamed of. We’ve come too far as women to be ashamed of who we are or what we have.
I think that if you respect yourself, respect your body, and RESPECT the power that sexuality can give you, NO ONE should be able to call you a slut.
Friday, December 22, 2006
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Fashion 5-0
Hip hop and fashion
Okay, I know that one day we’ll look back on our fashion today and say what where we thinking?, but I don’t think our trends could ever compare to the absolute train wreck that was The 80’s.
Case-in-point: Shoulder pads. What genius woke up one day and decided that making women look like offensive linemen would be a good idea? Maybe it had something to do with women being new to the workforce, maybe they felt like they needed to look more powerful next to men, and the “broad shoulders” were a way to do that. I think it’s interesting how in the 80’s women tried to make themselves look bigger, but today everything is about looking as slim as possible. Although, I have to give praise to hip-hop culture today where “big” is still celebrated and “thick” is considered sexy and beautiful. That’s something you don’t see in the fashion magazines, where every model looks like she’s on the verge of starvation and hip-bones are the hottest accessory. Even though some people think the rap videos with women shaking their “junk” is degrading to females, I think it’s much better for girls self-esteem than Vogue magazine. But what do I know, I’m just a skinny white girl who only whishes she had junk to shake.
Anyway…I found some info on Wikipedia about certain trends, and there is no doubt that hip hop had a huge impact on fashion (it still does obviously). During the 80's, styles like large sunglasses, Kangol hats, multi-finger rings, oversized gold "doorknocker" earrings (popularized by female rappers), and sneakers (usually Adidas - brand shelltoes and often with oversized laces) were prominently worn by the big-name hip hop stars of the day, including Run-DMC and LL Cool J. Performers also helped popularize the wearing of gold necklaces and other such jewelry. Popular haircuts ranged from the early-1980s Jheri curl to the late-1980s hi-top fade.
Also, like we saw in the movie Breakin’, the 80’s were the Era of spandex. Remember Jazzersize? Well, it pretty much looked like everyone was either on there way to, or coming from, a Jazzersize class.
I could go on and on about 80's fashion, but i'll save those words for another post.
Okay, I know that one day we’ll look back on our fashion today and say what where we thinking?, but I don’t think our trends could ever compare to the absolute train wreck that was The 80’s.
Case-in-point: Shoulder pads. What genius woke up one day and decided that making women look like offensive linemen would be a good idea? Maybe it had something to do with women being new to the workforce, maybe they felt like they needed to look more powerful next to men, and the “broad shoulders” were a way to do that. I think it’s interesting how in the 80’s women tried to make themselves look bigger, but today everything is about looking as slim as possible. Although, I have to give praise to hip-hop culture today where “big” is still celebrated and “thick” is considered sexy and beautiful. That’s something you don’t see in the fashion magazines, where every model looks like she’s on the verge of starvation and hip-bones are the hottest accessory. Even though some people think the rap videos with women shaking their “junk” is degrading to females, I think it’s much better for girls self-esteem than Vogue magazine. But what do I know, I’m just a skinny white girl who only whishes she had junk to shake.
Anyway…I found some info on Wikipedia about certain trends, and there is no doubt that hip hop had a huge impact on fashion (it still does obviously). During the 80's, styles like large sunglasses, Kangol hats, multi-finger rings, oversized gold "doorknocker" earrings (popularized by female rappers), and sneakers (usually Adidas - brand shelltoes and often with oversized laces) were prominently worn by the big-name hip hop stars of the day, including Run-DMC and LL Cool J. Performers also helped popularize the wearing of gold necklaces and other such jewelry. Popular haircuts ranged from the early-1980s Jheri curl to the late-1980s hi-top fade.
Also, like we saw in the movie Breakin’, the 80’s were the Era of spandex. Remember Jazzersize? Well, it pretty much looked like everyone was either on there way to, or coming from, a Jazzersize class.
I could go on and on about 80's fashion, but i'll save those words for another post.
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
say what??!?
Let me start off by saying, I was shocked, SHOCKED!, by the video we watched in class today. For a person my age, I consider myself to have an above average awareness of current events, both national and global. let me rephrase. I consider(ed) *past tense* myself to have an above average awareness of current events.
HOW THE HELL HAVE I BEEN ALIVE FOR 21 YEARS AND HAVE NEVER HEARD ABOUT OUR GOVERNMENTS CONNECTION TO CRACK AND THE STREETS?!?
Apparently this is supposed to be common knowledge, where have i been? how did i miss this? THIS IS HUGE! THIS IS A NATIONAL DISGRACE! I cannot believe that the powers that be in the government have not been punished for this! I am embarrassed, no, ASHAMED, for not knowing about this. I know that minorities in this country have been dealt a bad hand by our government many times, but COME ON! How can they get away with this?
Here is a link to a wikipedia site that talks about the CIA and Contra's cocaine trafficking in the US. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_and_Contra%27s_cocaine_trafficking_in_the_US
I still know very little about the subject, seeing as i was introduced to it today, so i am eager to do more research and hopefully i will be able to provide more links to sites with information (just in case any of you are as shocked, or just as interested, as i am)
Here is some information from streetdrugs.org about the explosion of crack abuse in the 80’s (thanks mr. oliver north): The crack epidemic dramatically increased the numbers of Americans addicted to cocaine. In 1985, the number of people who admitted using cocaine on a routine basis increased from 4.2 million to 5.8 million, according to the Department of Health and Human Service's National Household Survey. Likewise, cocaine-related hospital emergencies continued to increase nationwide during 1985 and 1986. According to DAWN statistics, in 1985, cocaine-related hospital emergencies rose by 12 percent, from 23,500 to 26,300; and in 1986, they increased 110 percent, from 26,300 to 55,200. Between 1984 and 1987, cocaine incidents increased fourfold.
THAT’S INSANE! Our government created an epidemic in the streets, and now they’re using it to persecute the victims. Talk about kicking someone when they’re down!
HOW THE HELL HAVE I BEEN ALIVE FOR 21 YEARS AND HAVE NEVER HEARD ABOUT OUR GOVERNMENTS CONNECTION TO CRACK AND THE STREETS?!?
Apparently this is supposed to be common knowledge, where have i been? how did i miss this? THIS IS HUGE! THIS IS A NATIONAL DISGRACE! I cannot believe that the powers that be in the government have not been punished for this! I am embarrassed, no, ASHAMED, for not knowing about this. I know that minorities in this country have been dealt a bad hand by our government many times, but COME ON! How can they get away with this?
Here is a link to a wikipedia site that talks about the CIA and Contra's cocaine trafficking in the US. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_and_Contra%27s_cocaine_trafficking_in_the_US
I still know very little about the subject, seeing as i was introduced to it today, so i am eager to do more research and hopefully i will be able to provide more links to sites with information (just in case any of you are as shocked, or just as interested, as i am)
Here is some information from streetdrugs.org about the explosion of crack abuse in the 80’s (thanks mr. oliver north): The crack epidemic dramatically increased the numbers of Americans addicted to cocaine. In 1985, the number of people who admitted using cocaine on a routine basis increased from 4.2 million to 5.8 million, according to the Department of Health and Human Service's National Household Survey. Likewise, cocaine-related hospital emergencies continued to increase nationwide during 1985 and 1986. According to DAWN statistics, in 1985, cocaine-related hospital emergencies rose by 12 percent, from 23,500 to 26,300; and in 1986, they increased 110 percent, from 26,300 to 55,200. Between 1984 and 1987, cocaine incidents increased fourfold.
THAT’S INSANE! Our government created an epidemic in the streets, and now they’re using it to persecute the victims. Talk about kicking someone when they’re down!
Maiden Voyage
Well, here goes nothing. I've actually made it a point to avoid the whole 'blogging' trend over the past few years, and I’ve been pretty successful, until now. But like the old saying goes, "ya gotta do what ya gotta do," and if it's on a syllabus, ya gotta do it.
Speaking of the syllabus, I’ll just go ahead and say that I’m probably a little too excited about doing the t-shirt. at first it seemed like it would be a waste of money, but I’d much rather spend 15 bucks designing a shirt than 50 bucks buying another textbook. I have absolutely no idea what direction to go in for the shirt, seeing as I'm probably the least "hip-hop" person you could ever imagine. But I do like anything that challenges my creativity and design skills, so we'll see what happens.
how long are these things supposed to be anyway? I enjoyed the speakers, DJ Eddie Brasko and Jasmyn, even though I wanted to hear what the Jasmyn had to say but they kept cutting her off. Everyone else had 30+ minutes of speaking time and she barely got in 5. I hope that doesn't happen to her all the time, maybe being a woman in radio is harder than I imagined.
they talked a lot about sampling and whether or not it was good/bad for hip-hop. I think it's a sorry excuse for lack of creativity. Granted, I know very little about the world of hip-hop, so maybe over the two weeks in class I’ll learn to appreciate sampling as a creative art form. again, we'll see.
out.
Speaking of the syllabus, I’ll just go ahead and say that I’m probably a little too excited about doing the t-shirt. at first it seemed like it would be a waste of money, but I’d much rather spend 15 bucks designing a shirt than 50 bucks buying another textbook. I have absolutely no idea what direction to go in for the shirt, seeing as I'm probably the least "hip-hop" person you could ever imagine. But I do like anything that challenges my creativity and design skills, so we'll see what happens.
how long are these things supposed to be anyway? I enjoyed the speakers, DJ Eddie Brasko and Jasmyn, even though I wanted to hear what the Jasmyn had to say but they kept cutting her off. Everyone else had 30+ minutes of speaking time and she barely got in 5. I hope that doesn't happen to her all the time, maybe being a woman in radio is harder than I imagined.
they talked a lot about sampling and whether or not it was good/bad for hip-hop. I think it's a sorry excuse for lack of creativity. Granted, I know very little about the world of hip-hop, so maybe over the two weeks in class I’ll learn to appreciate sampling as a creative art form. again, we'll see.
out.
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