A little something about aging

bolded for convenience.

Last week my friend and I were taking a trip to the grocery store, as she drove I was touching up my eyeliner in the car mirror when I noticed that I had a slight wrinkle under my eye. Being 21 years old, my immediate instinct was to internally panic, and as soon as we got the grocery store I abandoned my mission of finding vegan cookies and dashed to the beauty aisle. While I was looking at the anti-wrinkle creams (priced at $15 or more) I decided to do some Aisle 4 soul searching. My first question to myself was “what are you doing?”, and really what was I doing? I am a feminist, and a body acceptance advocate, why did a slight change in my skin cause me to abandon rational thinking and consider paying $15 for an anti-wrinkle cream? Even though I know the bullshittery of the beauty industry, I had considered this because I have been programmed from a young age to fear aging. Beauty ad’s always rave about products that stop the signs of aging, television characters have break down’s on their 30th birthday’s and runway models retire at 18. When you are bombarded by all of these things since childhood, it’s hard to reverse your mindset. So when I saw a small wrinkle I wasn’t upset over the wrinkle, I was upset over the notion that I was losing a small part of my worth. This was a pretty heavy discovery to happen in a grocery store, but once that hit me I felt better. I put down the $15 eye cream, and realized that I didn’t need it because changes in skin will not make me feel like I am losing my worth. I will proudly wear any wrinkles that life throws at me because aging is not something to prevent, hide, or reverse, it is something to celebrate. Celebrate another beautiful day lived, another year of lessons learned, and celebrate the wisdom you’re gaining. The only reason aging became a bad thing was because companies decided to make products to ‘fix’ it, the moment something claims to ‘fix’ something then there is the assumption of a problem. If lotions fix aging, then aging is a problem. The next time you feel badly about any feature you have (whether you have wrinkles, or cellulite or stretch marks) remember that these are not ‘flaws’, they are simply a part of your body and were dubbed flaws by people who want your money. This rant is getting a little long, but it was just something I wanted to address here.

(source: themodernfeminists)

Still in need of artists/photographers

hey! The zine is very close to complete but we still need art. We need original pieces (photos, drawings, comics, anything) that relates to feminism. All art must be original pieces, and amateur artists are welcome to submit. We still need a cover art piece as well. Please message us if interested.

Submission Changes

Hello everyone. We’ve had a big growth of followers on this blog, but sadly, submissions seemed to have dried up (to submit click here and if you have any questions or concerns about feminism click here). I think this is because we were only accepting personal stories that related to feminism, now the submission will be more lenient. You can submit articles you’ve written yourself, ones you’ve come across (please credit if you did not write it), basically you can submit anything as long as it is related to feminism. If you have any other suggestion to keep this place more interesting let us know!

Cat Calls Aren’t Flattering!

There’s this sitcom cliché where the wife in said sitcom doesn’t get catcalled by construction workers/people on the street/etc and thus deems herself as unattractive. This trope always makes me roll my eyes into oblivion because it is just so ridiculous, not only because of the uncreative scenario but because the fact that the writers think that’s how women feel about being catcalled. For those who don’t know cat calling is when you get whistled at, or made lewd comments to just by walking from point a to point b. Why is this socially acceptable? Why do people think its okay to comment about another person like they are an object? People are not objects, and it makes me furious when cat callers think they have the right to strip a person of their humanity by objectifying them into a sexual object. I could make a few more points but I would rather link you guys to  an amazing documentary called War Zone that deals with a woman confronting cat callers.

WAR ZONE ON YOUTUBE

update on the physical zine

Hey guys, this is Hannah (one of the two mods) and I just wanted to update all of the followers on the physical zine. There will be two versions but both will have the same writing content, just different design aspects. The reason is that I live in the US and the other mod lives in Europe. We have an amazing article in it that was contributed, and a few of the stories posted here in addition to other things. I just wanted to type this to get an idea of how many people would be interested in a physical copy when they are done, so let us know so we can get a good number count. Additionally, we are looking for ORIGINAL feminist art if you are an artist willing to contribute (note: you will not get paid for getting your piece in the zine, but we can give you a free copy of the zine!). So please fill this out and submit if interested.

Reminder: Only submit 100% original pieces, everything must be your own and must not be copyrighted. Also, all zines are printed in black and white, so be sure the piece translates.

-Please submit either a link to the piece you want to submit, or attach the actual photo.

-Please submit the name you would like to be credited by in our zine

-Submit an artists statement about the piece, such as what inspired you or something like that.

We will be sure to get back you on whether or not we are putting your piece in our zine. Just because one submits does not mean their piece will go in the zine (we only have limited space).

Blank Slate

Feminism has always been an act of repentance and merely a continuation in a natural progression of understanding those around me—understanding, that they are the same as me. Feminism, in my opinion, isn’t only about women, for all oppression is connected. I’m a feminist for my brothers, for my father, for my fellow students. I’m a feminist so men don’t have to stay in caves and so my children won’t grow up fearing their bodies. And when I said that it is an act of repentance, I meant that in the original root of the word; a ‘turning about’. I want to apologize for all the times I’ve thought a woman with cleavage showing was easy. I’d like to apologize for thinking my stomach fat was hideous or my leg hair ugly. I’d like to apologize for every time I laughed at women who openly flirted or women who dated men shorter than them. I would like to apologize for every box I’ve put around myself, those I loved, and those I thought I understood. Feminism is one great forgiveness. It is about erasing all the chalk lines we draw between each other and starting anew. Feminism is my clean slate.

-Gina Maini, age 20