Sick Day

Hello everyone, as you can see, I am taking a sick day.  It all started when the baby got sick on Wednesday, and after days of being up to my armpits in fluids, you don't even want to know about, now I am sick.  Of course, Sparky has not allowed me to whine nearly enough and since the unhusband is also sick, there is no one to whine to.  So, not only do I have sick kids at home, I am now sick as well.

I'll be back as soon as I can.  Please be good to each other.

Renee

Enter to Win Rise of the Governor by Robert Kirkman and Jay Bonansinga

Hello everyone, it's giveaway time again.  As you know, the fangs crew are huge fans of the comics and show The Walking Dead.  Unfortunately, The Walking Dead is on hiatus until February.  If you're like us, you're already dreading the long wait.  This is why we thought this month we would offer one lucky a winner a chance to win:

 Rise of the Governor is the back story of the governor, the most hated character in The Walking Dead universe.  This is a must read for any real fan.  You can find our review of the book here.

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Hijab: As Seen On TV

WoodTurtle is a Canadian Muslim feminist currently using her extended maternity leave to explore developments of Islamic feminism in the Western and Muslim world.  As a woman who wears the hijab (owns several abayas and a niqab monogrammed with her initials in pink, sparkly sequins), she writes frequently on genderized Islamophobia. She also works toward dispelling myths and stereotypes about women in Islam for both Muslims and non.  

Introducing the Hijab 5000! Your life will be transformed within seconds of putting it on! Not only will it protect you from the untoward gaze of lustful and sexually uncontrollable men, but you'll sure turn heads when everyone hears of your hijab's scientific miracles. With just one application, the hijab will deep condition and protect your gorgeous locks from pollution; keep you warm by helping you retain 40-60% of your body heat; protect you from the sun's harmful rays; promote healthy hygiene – no more stray hairs in your salad; boost your self-esteem; pave the way for marriage proposals; grant you protection from the evil-eye and cure your infertility!

I love it when the media sensationalises the hijab – othering, exotifying and generalising a personal religious symbol. But Muslims sensationalise the hijab too. While a few of the above "facts" are actually true, they’re often used to market the hijab beyond reasons of modesty, religious adherence or identity with Islam.

Hijab influencing one’s fertility is something I recently heard on TLC’s All-American Muslim. Now, I know the show is reality TV – the aim is to sensationalise and pick up on minuscule but shocking sound-bites just to blow them out of proportion. So I wasn’t that surprised when looking through their online clips I found one called, “Hijab’s Influence on Infertility.”

Though after watching the clips, reading reviews, and speaking to fans of the show, I would have simply called it: “Women wear or don’t wear the hijab for a million different reasons.”

(But wood turtle, it's just a title – lighten up! I know, I know. But it reminded me of all the little, ubiquitous ways the media continues to perpetrate misunderstandings about hijab. So I'm going to take this opportunity to complain.)

So in last week’s episode, Samira Amen-Fawaz decided to put on the hijab. She wore hijab pre-9/11 but took it off believing that people saw the hijab as something “scary.”

One of her many reasons for putting it back on includes her desire to become closer to God, in the hopes that by doing so, she’ll have the support to get through this trying time of infertility while she and her husband attempt to produce a child. Now, she doesn’t overtly say, “wearing hijab will help me get pregnant” but simply explains in a twelve second sound bite, that her infertility struggles are a sign from God saying, “when are you going to wake up and listen to me?”

Naturally, this is the point reality TV wants to exploit.


Samira spends the rest of the episode experimenting with a funky, not-at-all-scary pink and orange florescent hijab; receiving compliments from her family when they see her in hijab; saying she wants her hijab to be friendly; claiming that she can still swim whenever she wants to and that she feels “God will protect her” from any negative attitudes.

Happy Hair and Shampoo Commercials

Gee, Some of you are thinking "now she is picking on shampoo commercials.  Is there anything that's okay?"  Well the answer to that is no, there's nothing that exists outside of discourse.  I was watching television this morning, when the following commercial aired.



This is not a new commercial, but every time I see it, it pisses me the hell off, because it is just one in a series that celebrates long straight hair to the exclusion of kinky Black hair. The most popular of this theme are the Fructis commercials.

Thoughts on Recent Sex Worker Suicides

Eva Rivera is a proud lesbian Chicana, daughter, sister and sex worker who can walk in 6 inch heels and twirl naked on a pole in front of total strangers but is still viciously afraid of moths. She hails from Fresno, CA and is a poet and aspiring film maker. You can find her more personal writing on her blog.

I was gone for a few weeks adjusting to a new city so I missed some opportunities to write about issues that are important in my life. Dia de los Muertos passed and I barely had time to make my ofrenda for my Tio who passed away recently. It turned out beautifully and I'm sure he was happy to see it. I also started a part time job as a phone sex operator--one of the lower paying jobs in the industry but also very versatile and considered one of the safest. I'll be sure to post my experiences with that soon. One peice of news that I read while away kept creeping back up my mind no matter how I tried to shut it out and It's what I am going to be discussing in this post. It was news that was very painful for me to process as I have struggled with mental health issues for a long time. Being a sex worker, it also hit very close to home. I don't think this peice of news went too mainstream but it carries a lot of weight and potential for analysizing some pretty glaring social fails.

On November 1, two women who were both sex workers killed themselves with poisonious gas in a suicide pact. The women met online and found that they both had a lot in common including that they both had recently been stalked. Both had reported the stalking to local police. Both felt that the police did not address the situation which they wrote about in notes they left behind. They also suffered from mental health issues and it appears that they actually met on suicide information website.