Author: ohsiena

the beyoncé revolution

Posted on by ohsiena

So Beyoncé is a feminist. She identifies as one. This is both great and problematic. It’s great because she influences whallops of young girlies (and boys too) all the way from little to teenager to even in their twenties and thirties. We love Queen Bey. So her coming out as a feminist is great because it means all these people across the globe who idolise her for various reasons are now going to think that feminism is something to explore, something that maybe is as cool as Beyoncé. It helps take away some of the taboo behind identifying as a feminist. Beyoncé doesn’t have hairy pits, or want to kill all men, say the teenage girls. Maybe being a feminist is a good thing! GREAT. That’s great.

But it’s also problematic because a lot of what Beyoncé says and does is not all that empowering for women or in line with the plight of women. There was the controversy over Beyoncé and Jay-Z singing the version of Drunk in Love involving those horrid lyrics which trivialise, sexualise, glorify a scene of domestic violence.

And then there’s what brought this to my mind in the first place: her GIRL POWER revolution songs which are celebratory to the point of ludicrousness. I know she is helping make thousands, millions of girls who have felt insecure, fat, weak, unloved, feel E M P O W E R E D and that’s amazing, I really think that is good, but she’s doing it at a cost, and the cost is that the message suggests the war is won.

Not even. The message Beyoncé sends is that there was no war. That we’re in charge. She doesn’t reference the battles past, and she certainly doesn’t acknowledge how very far we have to go.

I’m not saying it makes me love her any less, but yesterday was International Women’s Day, and my social network newsfeeds were kind of a patchwork of various WHORUNTHEWORLD hashtags and links to this song, and it just really didn’t please me. I’ve been unsettled about this message of Beyoncé’s, and in particular that song, for a while.

Luckily I’m not alone in my dissatisfaction. (This is a GREAT video explaining the dangers of Beyoncé’s GIRL POWER attitude, and I highly recommend you give it a look/listen.)

Happy belated International Women’s Day anyhow, to all the women out there, strong, weak, big, small, cis, trans. All of you. ❤

there is definitely no ‘a’ in definitely.

Posted on by ohsiena

just something for everyone to keep in mind, especially anyone who struggles with spelling! I’ve never had problems with spelling but I know some words are serial offenders when it comes to confusing the hell out of people! So just bear in mind: there is definitely no ‘a’ in definitely.

A Guide to Feminist Sex Positions – via Clementine Ford

Posted on by ohsiena

For all of those who are sick of hearing about ridiculously named [TW, NSFW] sex positions [TW, NSFW] that are glorified sexual violence against women. (The donkey punch? Are you fucking kidding me?)

2. A woman rides a dude. She gets him about 30% away from an orgasm but she gets up and leaves. It’s called The Equal Pay Act. 

…..so choice. Read the whole list here.

return to civilisation

Posted on by ohsiena

I’ve been camping, backpacking, hitchhiking, and generally meandering across and around Spain and Portugal for a while now, but now I’m back in ‘my’ (my best friend’s) flat in Madrid and ready to link a whole bunch of shit I’m really into at the moment.

Travelling around Spain and Portugal has been pretty amazing. I always struggled finding meat-free options in Madrid but I never truly realised just how easy it is in Madrid….when compared with the rest of Spain. Galicia, for example, which is  the region in the northeast of Spain, has pretty much seafood, seafood, and more seafood. Oh and ham, of course. Because Spain. 

But I did find some havens, especially in the highly traditional, old-fashioned, bullfighting, chorizo-eating southern Spanish region of Andalusia. 

There’s a place in Seville called Restaurante Habanita and I had the most delicious beans and rice, vegan croquettes, and white chocolate pie there. Plus the owner saw me eating and drinking beer there on my own for ages and mistook me for a stood-up date, and brought me a shot of rum on the house, which was hilarious and rather kind of him. 

The beautiful Granada is a hippie’s dream: full of wandering hearts and artesan’s markets, delicious arabic food with plenty of vegetarian options, not to mention you can score weed in Granada easier than at a Sublime concert. We did go to a speficially vegan restaurant though, and that was Paprika. The food was something to write home about, although the lack of motherflipping aircon or even a fan inside was pretty ludicrous. We sat outside in the sweltering August heat which I highly don’t recommend – the only reason I went south in August was because the timing worked out that way but it’s definitely not the best time to travel. 

Aaaaaaanyway the nib and jist of this post is that I’m back and I have heaps of random things I’ve come across that I want to share. So, yay. Happy Friday!