25 body-positive and feminist New Year’s resolutions
With so many companies trying to seasonally body-shame us into buying their products, while promoting the marginalization of minorities using New Year’s resolutions as a catalyst, how can we stay positive this New Year? I’ve compiled a list of positive New Year’s resolutions that are either feminist, body-positive or all about essential self-care. Enjoy!
In praise of the “Weird Moms”
We’ve all seen it: tenacious and spectacular women — those whom Kerouac would call The Mad Ones — rounding their edges after their children were born, getting lost in chasing small beasts around with rags and screaming their burning questions about the status of little hands; are they washed or not?! Those of us who occupy the role of Weird Mom have a very difficult job cut out for us…
Why I’m ripping the minus sign off my calculator: the mathematics of women and body image issues
My whole life has been about taking things out of my life in order to make it better. Subtracting weight. Removing blemishes. Getting rid of the appearance of cellulite and stretch marks. Reducing belly fat. Banishing negative thoughts. Taking this or that out of my diet. Ignoring my needs, lessening them for the convenience of others. Literally lowering the volume of my voice because too many people have scolded me for being too loud. To say I’m fed up with it is a gross understatement.
Feminism and the beauty industry
If you’ve been reading Offbeat Home for a while, y’all probably know and love Roxie Hunt (the How to Hair Girl) for her hair tutorials, and her armpit hair revolution. You’re going to love her even more when you read her open letter to women about feminism and the beauty industry.
My top 4 inspirational female characters
I wanted to take a minute to appreciate some of the fictional women I grew up with whose creators dared to make them different. The ones that I could relate to. The bad-ass women who didn’t just let life happen to them — they happened right back to life…
Should I just shut up and let him pay?
Maybe it’s because, save for a handful of first and second dates, I’ve been single for five years and used to making my own way. Maybe it’s because I’m in inching towards my mid-thirties and my perspective has changed. Maybe it’s because he and I work in the same field and, therefore, the same income bracket and I have a rough idea of how much he makes. Or maybe it’s just my strong sense of independence and feminist ideals… Whatever it is, I suddenly find myself in a position where after half a decade of buying my own dinners and buying my own drinks, I have a man buying them for me. And having a man buying them for me feels, well, odd.
I simplified my beauty routine and I’m not “less of a woman” for it
I had a pretty complicated beauty routine and I used a lot of products. But as much as I love me some Sephora goodies, did I really need all of them? I had become trapped in societal expectations about my beauty routine. This beauty routine I had developed wasn’t because I enjoyed the pampering and the process, it was because I listened to “beauty authorities” tell me that I needed to be afraid of growing old and afraid of being seen as less feminine.
From sci-fi and Russian horror, to Sherlock Holmes fan fic and tear-jerkers: a lady writer reading list
Darlings, as usual, my reading list for 2013 is a study in contradictions. Four Horsemen smut, to Man Booker Nominee. Magnum opi, to video game popular fiction. But as I review my Goodreads list, I see that 2013 was really the year of the ladieeeez.