Happy V-Day, activist-styles
Yes, we love you, dear readers! But rather than endorse all the gendered trappings of this holiday -- i.e. chocolates (Sarah Haskins does a good job pointing out the gendered creepiness here, and exploitation of workers, too), flowers (often bad for the environment and for workers), or jewelry (see Haskins again) -- this Valentine's day, here are some action suggestions:
- via Cara, there's a campaign afoot to get CVS to unlock the condoms at all of its stores. (An issue we've written about before.) The condom lock-down is bad news, especially because apparently condom sales are up during the recession. Take action here.
- Yolanda Pierce suggests making a donation to New Orleans charity Labor of Love: "It is a grass-roots, multi-media, public awareness campaign with the goal of mobilizing thousands of volunteers to participate in reconstructing the city."
- Send a donation to Roberta Busby, the woman who was set on fire outside the strip club where she worked, and is currently in critical condition.
- In Delhi, protests are scheduled against the "morality police." Ultra Violet has more on other upcoming protests.
- Our events calendar features some local Vagina Monologues performances in the coming days. Search for V-Day events in your area!
And, um, notice PETA's recommended V-Day action does not make the list...
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If PETA's message was that vegetarians have lower rates of impotence, why didn't they have two men kissing? Or even a man and a woman? But I guess that wouldn't fit into PETA's exploitative style quite as well.
Also, I'm very excited to see my university's production of The Vagina Monologues.
It would have been nice if peta had also used different pairings for this demonstration (man and woman or 2 men), but "better sex" is not only about the ability to have erections. They also mention in the article fitness and endurance and taste/smell is often mentioned as well (although it doesn't seem to be in this article, perhaps its too scandalous to imply oral sex).
PETA makes me fucking sick. Now they have graduated from the simple exploitation of women's bodies to the perpetuation of lesbian sex as being something for hetero men to ogle? Wow, PETA. Absolutely disgusting.
PETAs Valentine's Day message:
Exploiting animals bad. Exploiting women good.
I find it very distressing that PETA values the experiences of animals more than those of women. A sad reflection on the concept of patriarchy.
@ PETA - *rolls eyes* ug. Really?
somehow i doubt we will ever hear the following phrase "if it weren't for those two nudie girls making out, i would be chowing down on some major sausage."
Nothing surprises me anymore about PETA. I knew they were jacked up crazy when they started trying to have fish renamed "Sea Kittens." I'm not even making that up.
All this stunt did was open the flood gates for all the fundies to have a fit over two girls kissing.
And did it -- just check out the comments from the Texas Fox affiliate. (God forbid their precious babies see two women kissing in public!)
But they attribute the fact to Evil Lesbians Out to Convert Their Children rather than PETA probably threatening yet another pair of interns to perform as lesbians for the male gaze in public or lose their unpaid job. (See: Every other post on PETA).
I just found out yesterday that most of our roses are imported. My university's chapter of Oxfam was selling fair trade roses and chocolate in the university centre. I am recently realizing the importance of fair trade products. How about the action of buying fair trade products for that list? I am seeing more and more fair trade products in my city.
My University's production of the Vagina Monologues has already raised more then any other production in the past on our campus ever has, and we still have one more night to go! Raising awareness and funds has never been so much fun! Pussies unite!!
How about buying some food for your local food bank instead? That's what real love is all about....
Look at yourself in the mirror and say "Damn, I look fine!"
In this country, sometimes self-love (or self-acceptance, at any rate) is subversive!
I am so offended by PETA this week, I can barely express it. Damn it - I hope that nobody thinks that all vegetarians are like that. I'm going to be writing to their spokespeople and telling them to back the fuck away from this ridiculous organisation.
Can you please add Washington University in St. Louis' Vagina Monologues Performance to the calendar? Many of the women who helped stand up (literally) to Phyllis Schlafly, will stand up, along with their vaginas, to help end violence against women.
For all you St. Louis area feministing-ers, there are performances February 19,20, and 21st at 8 pm at Wash U's Danforth Campus in Graham Chapel. Tickets at the Edison Box office or online at Metrotix.
Besides the percentage of proceeds that go to V-Day 2009's work against rape in the Congo, the rest of our profits will support Lydia's House, a transitional housing facility for abused women and children (www.lydiashouse.org). It's a great cause and a great time!
As a Walgreens employee, I am very proud to say that condom sales are WAY us in our store, and plenty are in stock and are available for access. Also, I spoke to the manager, and she will not let any pharmacy worker deny a customer birth control pills or Plan B pills, or else they will be terminated :)
That's good to hear, I knew I liked Wal-Greens. You know, a family member of mine is a pharmacist, and he told me that if someone is a pharmacist and has qualms about filling a legal prescription, that they should find another career. He said it's not his place to tell other people what to do with their lives. If only more people believed that.
VDAY is in Israel! Jerusalem and Tel Aviv host the Vagina Monologues in English! Check it out http://againstmybetterjudgement.wordpress.com/2009/02/11/israeli-pm-elect-has-a-vagina/
Wow. It's good to see that PETA has added homophobia to the collection of social bigotries they support -- apparently racism and misogyny weren't helping their cause as much as they'd hoped. Because of course, lesbianism couldn't simply be about women loving each other. It must be all about TEH SEKS. And not even TEH SEKS for your partner's sake, but for the sake of hetero men, because of course all lesbians, like everybody else in the world, secretly want to satisfy straight men because nobody else really matters. Which brings me again to the point that PETA is catering only to straight men -- they don't really give a shit whether women or gay men go vegan; they just want straight, preferably white, men to pay attention to them. None of their marketing suggests otherwise.
Also, I'd like to mention that as a vegan, PETA makes me totally ashamed and silent about my lifestyle. I can't imagine they actually believe they're helping animals with their rotten shit. As I just drunkenly wrote to a friend, they only exist to cut a paycheck to Ingrid "Uncle Tom" Newkirk.