floatingbook:

- practical actions that can be taken to fight internalized misogyny

Why: Hands are one of our primary tool of action and interaction with the world. We can grab, grip, sort, tap, press, heave, mix with our fingers. Without hands it’s hard to paint, embroider, make bread, knit, wash ourselves, masturbate, write, turn the pages of books, serve tea, cut a cake, sand a desk, make a soup, play the piano, close a door, open a window, fix a sink, pet a cat, braid a friend’s hair, hold someone’s hand. And all those actions are made harder if we have to worry about a manicure. Long nails are easy to break, and when broken are painful; so in order to avoid such a situation, we renounce; to climbing trees, to fixing things; we dodge all the things that could lead to damage to nails. We contort our lives so that the varnish holds longer, so that we don’t nick it. The media shows us all the time these powerful, successful women, with their towering heels and long nails. See? You can have both: success and long nails (but the immigrant underpaid maid is hidden in the closet). Who benefits from women having long and coloured impractical nails? Men. Because then women are dependent on them to fix things, and to provide the finances to hire help. Because then women are spending their money on another useless item of damaging chemicals to hide behind, and who owns those societies which produce nail polish? Because then women give up and renounce and once you’ve let the habit of not doing things it’s complicated to start to do again. Long nails and nail polish teach women that they only have to be passive and decorative. It’s hard to make a fist with long nails.

How: Cut your nails short. Don’t buy nail polish. It’s full of toxic chemicals anyway. Save your money for food to foster your energy, for classes to learn new skills, save it to be financially independent. Reacquaint yourself with the feeling of a closed fist, feel the strength in your forearms. Use your hands with abandon and little care. You no longer have to worry you’ll break a nail or have to redo your manicure. You need to be able to use your hands.

(via deadlysunlight)

vladtheunfollower:

“In woman-hating societies, everyone finds women more annoying than men”

— The War Against Women, Marilyn French
(via vladtheunfollower)

ruthenian-knyaz:

“Churchmen had another concern about lesbianism: a connection between female homosexuality and pagan rites. Women who participated in lesbian activities were called “God-insulting grannies” (бабы богомерзкие), a frequent derisive term for female pagan leaders. They were also accused of “praying to vily” (female sprites) in their homosexual contacts. This female homosexuality had a dangerous anti-Christian component that male mutual masturbation lacked.”

— Eve Levin, Sex and Society in the World of the Orthodox Slavs, 900-1700 vily

(via dahliafyodorovna)

kiefbowl:

“Male perceptions of women are askew, wild, inept. Male renderings of women in art, literature, psychology, religious discourses, philosophy, and in the common wisdom of the day, whatever the day, are bizarre, distorted, fragmented at best, demented in the main.”

— Andrea Dworkin, Pornography: Men Possessing Women
(via california-aries)

(via agrarianradfem)