fuckyeahfeminists:

fuckyeahsexeducation:

stfusexists:

This isn’t to say that there aren’t still huge problems with the porn industry and even porn itself. Porn actresses are still paid less, on average, than their male counterparts, the industry is still majority white women, and there is plenty of evidence that actresses are often exploited by their employers. And this is without even touching the male gaze and abusive nature of a lot of porn - plots? scenarios? whatever you call them.

BUT this study is important, because it reminds us not to generalize about a person based on their profession. Porn actresses are professionals doing a job, and there is no reason to regard them as victims or somehow damaged. That simply isn’t the case for these women, or for sex workers in general. 

I know a lot of the sex workers (not just porn stars) I’ve talked to have said if anything their work gave them a higher self esteem and sense of worth. I definitely think that these stereotypes about sex workers needs to go away. It’s fine to look at sex work in general critically, just as we need to do so for every profession or our economic structure and society in general, but judging sex workers is not okay.

Hmm, I’ve definitely read that female porn performers are paid more than men since the sex industry is the only one in which females are consistently paid more than men. However, I can’t seem to find any sources that support this claim. (Any help, folks?)

Another problem with the porn industry: the racism. Beyond just the stereotypes that they utilize and make money off of, the pay gap is ridiculous. Women of color are paid half to three quarters of what white actresses tend to make.

Anyway, the study shows that the porn actresses:

• enjoyed sex more than the matched sample,
• were no more likely to have experienced child sexual abuse
• had higher levels of self-esteem, positive feelings, social support, sexual satisfaction, and spirituality

What i had always hated about arguments saying that porn stars *must* be sex abuse victims or something else, is that it is somehow used to justify judging their decisions or taking away their agency. That is not feminists, regardless of what your feelings on porn are.

So yeah - the more you know! Can’t wait to see more studies about this.

I can’t believe that we’ve got to scrutinize the workers and make sure they’re clear before we can get around to scrutinizing the industry that they work for. 

femetits:

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Prime Minister of Australia kicking ass and taking names (mostly Tony Abbott’s). [x]

amazing.

(Source: numbtongue, via fuckyeahfeminists)

I might not be concerned for K-Stew, but I am concerned for my younger stepsister who has pictures of Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson on her walls, who idolizes and worships them, and who might grow up to hate Kristen Stewart for reasons she doesn’t understand. I’m worried she will be taught that it’s not okay to mess up, learn from it and apologize, because no one wants your apology, just your suffering on camera. I’m worried that she’ll think its okay to harass and threaten women for their indiscretions, even if men get off scot-free. I’m worried she will think this culture of bullying, slut-shaming and rhetorical violence against women is the norm, because you get a t-shirt for it. I’m worried she will learn to internalize the shame brought on far too many women today, for having sexualities, for not being perfect, for not fitting into a box. I’m worried she’ll believe men like Todd Akin, Paul Ryan and Mike Huckabee are right.

No one likes a woman that wants or tries to pick herself up after falling down. Women get one chance, and men get many.

(Source: fuckyeahfeminists)

fuckyeahfeminists:

Shout out to the Nice Guys (tm) out there who need to see this.

(Source: emmajstones)

(Source: thetart, via fuckyeahfeminists)

breanieswordvomit:

foulmouthedliberty:

indigenousfeminist:

“Men’s indifference to learning about contraception and to taking any responsibility for it is a theme that emerges from many reports of projects that have attempted, and failed, to reach and educate men. One of the most successful programs of contraception education for men, a Planned Parenthood project in Chicago, abandoned its attempts to reach men over the age of twenty-five when it was found that these men simply would not participate, even when offered beer, sandwiches, free condoms—and “stag” movies. Instead, the project targeted a younger group, and as part of its research the project conducted a survey of over a thousand men aged fifteen to nineteen:

• These young men were asked whether they agreed with the statement “It’s okay to tell a girl you love her so that you can have sex with her.” Seven out of ten agreed that it’s okay.

• They were asked whether they agreed with the statement “A guy should use birth control whenever possible.” Eight out of ten disagreed and said a guy should not.

• And when asked, “If I got a girl pregnant, I would want her to have an abortion,” nearly nine out of ten said no, they would not want her to have an abortion. These teenage men agreed: Deception to obtain coital access is okay; male irresponsibility in contraception is okay; but abortion is not okay—“because it’s wrong.”

Largely because of attitudes such as these, one million teenage women—one tenth of all teenage women—become pregnant each year, and two thirds of their pregnancies are not wanted.”

—John Stoltenberg, Refusing to be a Man

This is all the more disturbing when you consider the vast majority of our lawmakers are male.

Well this is horrifying

What’s even worse is that I’m not in the least bit surprised. And that the book is only 12 years old.

“On the postpartum floor of a large New York City hospital, Dr. Maria Boria-Berna interviewed 130 women who had just given birth and approximately 100 men who had impregnated them. She asked the men how they felt about their wife’s using birth control. The majority of men “did not like the idea at all.” She asked the women how they felt about using birth control, and eight out of ten replied that they “favored contraception without reservation.” But about half the women favoring contraception said that if their husband objected, they would defer and not use any. […]

In this phallocentric culture, a woman’s unwillingness to admit a man’s “manhood” and accept his proferred “seed”—or a woman’s unwillingness to incubate the stuff—is felt at some level to be an act of violence against men’s personhood. Since phallic personhood is contingent on female deference, nurturance, and sustenance all its life in order to differentiate and thrive, any female noncooperation—whether in fucking or breeding—is perceived as an attack on men’s core selves. […]

I believe that men as a class know that reproductive freedom for women is not in men’s interest. Men know this in their guts. Men as a class know that if reproductive freedom for women ever became a reality, male supremacy could no longer exist. It’s as simple and logical as that; and men’s laws, men’s dollars, and men’s gods serve that knowledge.”

fuckyeahtheten:

There are plenty of sex positive and body positive lists and posts around on tumblr that try to combat the poisonous things especially people commonly identified as women get taught by mainstream society every day.
Unfortunately, in their enthusiasm to counter these things,…

(via chauvinistsushi)

(Source: racialicious.com, via newwavefeminism)

(Source: hellyeahscarleteen, via chauvinistsushi)

fuckyeahfeminists:

Why do so many women end up on the pill when it fails them?

Women overestimate the effectiveness of the Pill and condoms — the two most popular methods of birth control in this country — according to a new study in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. After the study group of 4,100 women was counseled about other methods of birth control, such as IUDs, 71 percent chose to go on that or an implant. The findings suggest that many women choose the Pill because they don’t receive thorough counseling about their other birth control options or the true effectiveness of the Pill — which isn’t as great as pharmaceutical companies tell you it is.

This helps explain why the most popular methods of contraception in this country are the birth control Pill and condoms — if you don’t know all the information about all the methods of contraception available to you, why would you choose the one you know the least about? What many women don’t know about the Pill is that only if you take it exactly according to the manufacturer’s instructions, including at the same time every day, that your chances of getting pregnant are 0.3 percent. But for whatever reason — business or forgetfulness — many women don’t take the Pill exactly according to the instructions, bringing its real failure rate to a rather startling 9 percent, according to Dr. Nancy Stanwood, obstetrician/gynecologist and board member of Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health. That means that nearly one out of 10 women will get pregnant while taking the Pill over the course of a year.

Read the rest at Buzzfeed

I take the pill because I’ve been poked and prodded and threatened with intra-muscular shots enough as it is, and they wouldn’t give me a partial hysterectomy like I’d asked. :P (I guess that’s what I get for sounding like I was joking or something… no really, Mr. Surgeon, you don’t have any idea how much I don’t ever want to get pregnant.)