THIS is what a feminist looks like...

Got to chill with my girl Gianni last night after she helped out with a focus group at my job. Her thoughts on the experience: "I think I kicked ass."

Anyway, we walked around and I took a few pics. Most of them were horrible, of course. But the whole area was just comprised of sketchy warehouses.

They did have this eerie beauty to them, I'll admit, what with the sun setting and the rooftops alight. But as it grew darker I couldn't keep from glancing over my shoulders every so often.

I thought my particular discomfort might have to do with the manhunt for three rapists going on in my neighborhood right now--contrary to what most would believe, this actually isn't common in my predominantly black neighborhood, so hold the stereotypes, please. G and I started to talk about violence against women and she went into the ways gender inequality is perpetuated by these absurdly large and powerful entities in society (the government, the media, science, etc.), you know the usual. Then of course, while walking by a bar around 29th, we peer in and, lo and behold, we see a really thin woman, who I'm assuming was the waitress, talking to a man at the bar while wearing a tiny black bikini. I'm not so naive that I'm horribly surprised or anything, but I guess that simple fact, that of my relative cognizance, should be most surprising. It's crazy just how acceptable certain expectations of women have become.

Anyway, I won't launch into a full on rant right now, I gotta feed some kids. Just meditating a little bit on yesterday. But here's some more food for thought. It makes you rethink what range of experiences are necessary or even capable of invoking the kind of empathy needed to spark a commitment to gender equality. That is, It doesn't always have to be just a women's movement.


(from Feministing, btw)