Tag: unfair

left without a choice

mariethearistocatLeave a comment

we let people change us. from the moment we are born, our lives have a certain path dictated by others, whether you’re premature and in need of immediate surgery or cozily wrapped in a pink or blue blanket. after you go home from the cold hospital, you were placed in a crib and kissed on the head. the people

Photo Credit: wird.com.ua

who brought you home soon tell you what to wear and how to act. this is only reinforced when your teacher tells you to raise your hand and to ask politely to use the restroom. after you outgrow the brightly colored chairs at kindergarten table to a desk at a high school, you start letting your peers decide certain parts of you. they decide where you sit at lunch and who your biology partner is.

and after that you start letting one person decide. this person is commonly known as a spouse, partner, or significant other. you share deep night conversations filled with painful memories or happy ones. what they do with this information is up to them, and you’re allowing them to decide that for themselves. so, what if they pull the trigger, let go of your darkness over dinner cocktails or lunch sandwiches. so what if your leg got bruised when i pushed you around, sweetie? don’t worry, i’m sure a haircut will cover up that broken jaw or that black eye. when you go home, make sure to wear a little more makeup there so your mom won’t notice. you listen to them, curl your hair that way or stop hanging out with that friend.

no wonder 25% of women and one in seven men will be victims of domestic abuse. if you’re shocked, don’t be. we train people from birth how to change for others, but some don’t learn to change for themselves.

Super Scary (and Sexist) Halloween Costumes

mariethearistocat

When I was little, I’d play dress up. I’d put on my mother’s beige heels or my sister’s prom dress and strut around my room like it was a runway.

I’d wear a pink tutu and make a crown out of yellow construction paper and draw little jewels with magenta and green crayons.

I could spend hours and hours just frolicking around my room; trying on this shirt or pretending to be that Disney princess.

Even though my dress up days have passed, there is still one occasion where I can relive one of my favorite elementary school pastimes.

Halloween – It’s the day where the ghosts, ghouls, and zombies come out to play. Where you can be whoever you want to be, without judgement. It’s a time to live in a fantasy for a day.

When I was little I’d jump for joy knowing I could wear my princess or witch costume to school, and the incoming candy overstock I’d have after trick-or-treating.

Now that I’m older, I’m just excited for the excuse to dress up for a day. I’ve noticed that it’s becoming harder and harder to find a costume I like, and for one big reason: women’s Halloween costumes are hypersexualized.

Now, this may not come as a surprise to some of you. You’ve been through the struggle of picking out a costume. Whether it be you couldn’t choose just what you wanted to be or you couldn’t find the perfect costume for who you wanted to be.

For women, finding an appropriate costume takes another ounce of effort. I’ve found that once you grow out of child sizes and into teenage or adult sizes, that the dresses don’t really grow much longer.

If you go onto any major costume store, such as Party City, you can see just how true this is. There are very few costumes for women that don’t contain one of the following: little tutus, corsets, skin-tight body suits, or above mid-thigh skirts.

Now, some women like wearing these costumes, and I see nothing wrong with that. But, the problem is for the women who don’t want to show much skin on Halloween.

Bustle, an online news blog, did an article about the difference between men’s and women’s costumes, which you can see here: http://www.bustle.com/articles/7907-15-mens-and-womens-halloween-costumes-reveal-some-scary-sexism .

They bring an air of comedy to just how sexualized women’s costumes can be. For example, a man’s costume for an owl is a full-body suit while a woman’s costume is a short dress with little feathers all over it.

And that’s not even the worst of them.

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The problem with this inherent sexism is that it gives women boundaries for this fun holiday. If a woman isn’t particularly confident in her body, or doesn’t want to show it off, then her costumes are very, very limited.

Even teenage girl’s costumes are becoming more and more skimpy. In fact, most costumes that would fit me I can’t even wear to school, because they don’t follow school dress code.

Some would say that it would be easier just to make a costume at home, but why should I, and many other women, have to?

Instead of telling me what I should do to help my costume-less state, tell manufacturers to create more women’s costumes that are less provocative.

Athletes Vs. Technicalities

frog3Leave a comment

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Sports were not always so complicated. Sports use to be simple, the best man/woman would win. Now-a-days virtually every sport is bogged down with rules and technicalities.

Just several weeks ago a technicality “controversy” made headlines. a female golfer by the name of  Caroline Inglis lost a title. The reason for losing her title, failing to fill out her scorecard correctly. She wrote a 68 on her card instead of the correct score of 69. Although she would have won without altering her score she was disqualified and forfeited the championship.

I find this extremely unfair to the athletes. An athlete should win if they are the best not lose because of arbitrary rules.
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Time and Punishment

frog3Leave a comment

https://i0.wp.com/www.sosprograms.com/images/time_out_girl.jpg
Time and punishment. These words compliment with each other. If you commit a crime such as murder you can potentially receive a life sentence. This sentence will take possibly 25 years of your life away. Taking a human life is worth 25 years so what I might ask is the penalty for a minor infraction. Well at OVS there is a “convenient“ system in place. This system is known as Laps. I for one have become quite familiar with this system.

Sometimes Laps are quite justified, sometimes they are not. My most recent experience with this system is my “tardiness” during this Monday’s morning meeting. Well for one I arrived at 8:20, which is technically not late. Another thing is that everyone else arrived early making me appear I was late. During morning meetings I arrive at the same time every day. On Monday’s morning meeting when I was “late” I received 10 laps. I arrived at the top of the amphitheater hill at 8:20,  there was even teachers who walked down the hill with me.

If I received laps for disrespect then shouldn’t teachers have repercussions for lateness. Less than 59 seconds of lateness should not warrant a two-hour punishment. So is my 10 laps really justified? That’s for you to decide.https://i0.wp.com/osocio.org/images/uploads/torontohumane_laps_thumb.jpg

Talk about “Peaceful” demonstrations

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Riot police using tear gas on 21 April 2001 ag...
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OWS is suppose to be a nonviolent protest against corporate greed. The protestors should be protected by the constitution yet the violence still persist. Police around the country have been brutally beating protestors and tear-gasing them in an effort to disperse crowds.

An incident occurred last week, in Burlington, Vermont, when a 35-year-old veteran committed suicide do to a lack of a job and job security. Another incident occurred when police with tear gas severely injured a marine veteran

The government however turns a blind eye to such treatment, allowing thousands of citizens a day to be arrested and beat for protests. Although politicians may be distracted by the upcoming elections; does that give them an excuse to ignore the people’s rights?(the correct answer is no)

I believe that it is ok for police forces to break up protestors in public areas, what is not okay is to beat and tear gas them, using violent measures against nonviolent protestors.

If the government wants to retain the respect of the people it must allow people to voice their grievances without interference from law enforcement.

OWS, Right or Wrong

frog31 Comment
The corner of Wall Street and Broadway, showin...
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OWS or occupy Wall Street is an ongoing movement that protest against corporate greed, corruption, and the fact that 1% of Americans controls 40% of Americas wealth. OWS primary goal is to force the rich to pay taxes proportionate to their wealth.

These attacks have been criticized as merely the poor complaining about lack of work but have also been called a cultural revolution, an end to the rich controlling America power.

The problem being, of course, is it right to be angry over wealth that someone has rightfully earned. The answer cannot be answered with a simple yes or a no, we must look back on our nations founding.

Funny that the reason we became a nation was because of refusal to pay unfair taxes. (History has a way of repeating itself) When Britain decided to pass stringent tax laws, an angry group of colonist created a revolution that not only spread through their own country but to the rest of the world.

Todays “revolution” is not only changing Wall Street but has” spread to more than 250 American cities, [and] more than a [hundred] countries — every continent but Antarctica.”

Now the only question that remains will the months of protest pay off or will it go down in history as a misguided folly. I believe that it will pay off; obstructing the largest financial center into the world is bound to force Obama and congress to act.

Then again the chance of such a “miracle” occurring in congresses current climate, is not likely. (Partisans these days.) Only time well tell if the protestors months of effort will pay off.