shyfoxie

Hi! I'm a Canadian biology student, studying at UofA. I enjoy reading, playing video games and reading sites like this one. On an unrelated note, I'm also engaged to get married after I graduate to my wonderfully understanding and supportive fiance.

Posts Written by

By shyfoxie • 15 years ago

Becoming a Woman is About More than Just Sex

Myself and some friends saw Miley’s video for Can’t Be Tamed earlier, and we got into wondering why it is that the only two main choices for a pop starlet are to be a perfect, pure pop princess or to go with a highly sexualized image, and why the second is supposed to indicate instantly that the little girl has now matured into a woman.

I thought it was just a myth that having sex (PIV especially) magically transformed girl into woman, yet at least implying sexual availability seems like the standard way young female artists are expected to indicate they’ve matured. You could argue that yes, artists do have a certain amount of agency and choose how they portray themselves and that I have no right to over-analyze, but as one of my friends observed, a pop singer can either portray herself as sweet and virginal or sex it up (there is some middle ground but the younger she is, the more defined the difference it I’ve found) and there’s not much room in the mainstream for taking an alternative course from what we expect. Despite this, it’s just an accepted fact that even a deliberate use of sexually provocative costumes and choreography that involved input and planning from many individuals means that a young pop singer has matured whether the change of image is totally her idea and  relfects her own self-image or not. Yes, they are just performers and maybe not an accurate reflection of ...
By shyfoxie • 16 years ago

Article from Campus Paper Trying to Reframe Pro/Anti Choice

This is an article in the University of Alberta student newspaper. Just a little background info: prolifers and a prochoicers have been waging a war of posters against each other since the fall. Prochoice puts up a poster of stats about maternal deaths, prolife puts up a poster with a cute baby saying “is this the enemy?” on it. Prochoice puts up a picture of a coat hanger, prolife puts up a picture of a rubber boot (took me a sec to get the joke). Prochoice puts up a poster saying that illegal abortions kill women, prolife puts up a poster that says “fetus means ‘young one’ in Latin”. And then there’s all the ads in the school’s transit ...

This is an article in the University of Alberta student newspaper. Just a little background info: prolifers and a prochoicers have been waging a war of posters against each other since the fall. Prochoice puts up ...
By shyfoxie • 16 years ago

How Can I Help a Male Sex Assault Survivor?

It’s a long story, but basically my fiance and I had an argument on the weekend when I brought up the subject of gay rights. He told me it’s great that gay men and lesbians can get married, and it sucks that they still face violence, but he doesn’t want to hear about gay men. The thought makes him uneasy, even though he realizes that it’s not like they can help it.
He did tell me once (quite some time ago) that he felt uncomfortable about gay men because someone had hit on him when he was younger (he hadn’t gone into detail), and he felt really scared at the time, but I must have not been thinking particularly clearly ...

It’s a long story, but basically my fiance and I had an argument on the weekend when I brought up the subject of gay rights. He told me it’s great that gay men and lesbians can get ...
By shyfoxie • 16 years ago

You should take it as a compliment

It’s no secret that a woman’s character is often judged by her looks, and that appearances can be used as an excuse for the behaviour of others. I’ll admit that I’m lucky to be heathy and conventionally attractive, and I’m happy with the way I look. What I’m sick of is guys thinking that pretty girl+ short skirt= permission to grope, and other women somehow thinking they can use “I hate you” as a compliment because of how I look.
More than once I have told a guy who was getting too touchy-feely to back off, or just mentioned it to someone afterwards, only to be told that my appearance magically justifies bad behaviour, and that it’s really a compliment ...

It’s no secret that a woman’s character is often judged by her looks, and that appearances can be used as an excuse for the behaviour of others. I’ll admit that I’m lucky to be heathy and conventionally ...
By shyfoxie • 16 years ago

But that’s not in the script…

I’m sure that we all know what the expected behavior is from a woman in our culture: you date when you’re younger (teens and twenties), then marry and have kids a bit later (mid-late twenties and early thirties). That’s just fine if that’s what you want, but what if it isn’t?
What if I don’t start dating young enough? I never went out with anyone in jr. high or high school, and I was fine with that. What I wasn’t fine with was being asked WHY I didnt’ have a boyfriend. I didn’t get this so much from other teens, but from adults. One woman I worked with after school told me I was “stuck up” when I told her ...

I’m sure that we all know what the expected behavior is from a woman in our culture: you date when you’re younger (teens and twenties), then marry and have kids a bit later (mid-late twenties and early ...