God

What does God have to do with abortion? I'm sure all of the "good" Christians/Catholics/Muslim/Jewish/whatevers will say because we are killing one of God's creations. Well gee, all this time I thought it was MY body that created this little blob of cells (along with some man-sperm)! Guess I was wrong...but then again I am not totally convinced that God exists. Evolution is not a theory, so when I ask for proof do not tell me to "look around." That's a stupid cop out. And don't tell me to prove that God doesn't exist, because you are asking me to prove a negative which is logically impossible. Can you prove that my imaginary friend doesn't exist?  As tempting as it is, I never make fun of anyone for their beliefs no matter how stupid they are  "strange" they seem to me. So since I am not inserting my sarcastic commentary into your sermons, please do not insert your God into my uterus.

I suppose it is a question as to how you define "life" but see, I have this theory. When a person is in a vegetative state, living on life support, the spouse/family is given the choice to pull the plug. Why? Because the person cannot live without support. Similarly, an embryo/fetus cannot live without the support of the mother- so why isn't it her choice to "pull the plug"? We seriously have enough  unwanted and abandoned children in this world, so lets not fool ourselves into thinking that giving the baby up for adoption is the best choice. On top of that, have you ever seen an orphanage? It's like a homeless shelter for kids- not exactly the best way to "preserve the sanctity of life" if you ask me. I've never met anyone who had an abortion who has these life long emotional scars that the crisis pregnancy centers warn us about. However I have met loads of depressed single mothers who haven't finished school and struggling to make ends meet who would have chosen abortion had it been an option and opted for a planned family later on in life.

So anyways this post was supposed to be about God and turned into abortion...sorry. I will end on the God note anyways. Does it seem creepy to anyone that people take comfort that there is a guy in the sky watching us and just waiting for us to die and judge us? Who comes up with this stuff... I do believe in shared energy of life, why? Because I can feel it. I do not feel anything when I look up at the sky, nor when I dig a hole and bring myself closer to supposed "hell."

By the way, LOL at my picture.

Women on Women

How many times have you heard a woman say "I mostly have guy friends, I can't stand other girls...SOOO much drama" (insert Elle Wood's Legally Blonde accent here). Maybe not in those exact words, but I have heard this declaration countless times.

Ok, first of all- some of the most over dramatic situations I have experienced in my life have been with MEN. I won't name names, but some pretty great examples just came into my head. Anyone who knows me well knows this story: "Damn you Devil Springs!!!!!!" hehe. But seriously, only in the case of men for some reason we take it as serious life and social problems, while with women, it is silly and over exaggerated drama.

Second of all- I hate woman-on-woman bashing. Notice, when you say this as a general truth about women there is also another woman out there saying the same thing in reference to YOU. I don't necessarily think that this is some scandal created by women-hating men and the right-wing secret agenda to destroy female solidarity, but I do think that this phenomenon is robbing us of a fundamental and beautiful connection that can only be made between two women. The first wave of feminism left much to be asked for, but it got the ball rolling and it all began with conversations between women in their homes. If we do not recognize, communicate and relate to each other in our position as women, we will never be able to face the oppression and injustices that we face.

There is a real benefit in the joining of underprivileged groups. Solidarity is the only way that anything gets accomplished (unless you live in a communist militaristic dictatorship...then it gets a bit trickier), and one of the main tactics used by oppressors is to "divide and conquer." Plus, outside of the idea of rewriting the constitution and changing the rules of society, this solidarity also helps us psychologically and emotionally. It's nice to hear from another woman that I am not the only one angry about street harassment...it is something to be angry about! It's nice to know I'm not the only one outraged about my limited reproductive choices here in Ecuador. I'm not the only one who noticed that women make much less money than men here, leading to an extreme economic dependent relationship and therefore many times an abusive and controlling partnership.

To be a woman is a beautiful thing and we are all different and unique- but we share many things (like being inherently better than men in every way! calm down, thats a joke...kind of). Any woman who has had a best female friend will testify that it is a connection that cannot be measured or compared. My relationship with my sisters and mother is hard as rock and could never be broken. My ex-roommate from college and I  had a friendship that was deep and I will never forget nor trade for anything in the world.

So ladies, please think before you start placing labels on our own kind. You would never (at least I'm going to assume that everyone who is reading this would never) make these general assumptions about another group of people. Imagine if we were to say "I really only have white friends, my black friends are so _____(insert stereotype if you really want)," you get my point? "I really only have black friends because my white friends are so _____." Get it? It's not right, and it really is just a question of changing our deep-rooted socialization. Easy peasy. Not really, but a good start is to cut this out of our dialogues with other people.

And lastly, this is not a sexy or attractive belief. Men will not like you more if you have all men friends. In fact, because of our cultural definition of masculinity as being over-protective and jealous boyfriends, most men will be threatened by your massive amounts of male friends (who in all sincerity probably would jump at the shot to hook up with you). You know what is sexy? Being comfortable with yourself in every way, not judging others or using sweeping generalizations, and being open-minded. Maybe my definition of sexy isn't exactly applicable to all people, but overall this deeply embedded misogynistic attitude seems to be a reflection of our own lack in self-confidence, and if there is one thing I do know, self-confidence is the most attractive trait a person could have.