Other than that not much else to say for now. . .I’m working on some more poetry pieces and some new “revelations” have taken place I just need to find the time to type it all out lol

Oh, and I think I spend way too much time one Facebook- My time should be better spent on this or maybe even cracking open a book or two. . .

- Wants to be a machine that doesn’t need sleep.

Typical Tweets On Topic:

aricmitchell Cris Cyborg…proving you should always bet on the ugly chick. Poor Gina Carano :-(

olli_r I’m really glad Cyborg won that fight. Gina Carano has got way too much attention because of her looks etc. MMA isnt a f*ing beauty contest.

saturdaynights gina got an owie. :( cyborg should be fighting amongst his own gender anyway…..

LethalPrincess Cris Cyborg becomes first-ever Strikeforce 145-pound women’s champion with

Jelly31 So Gina is still a bad ass, even if she lost. It takes some big cojones to fight Cyborg!! Cyborg needs to start fighting men!

So I’m newly getting into UFC and MMA and the feminist in me questioned “Where are all the women fighters?” Carano and Cyborg are said to be two of the top in women’s fighting. Cyborg ended up claiming the belt 4:59 mins into the FIRST round. With 1 second left the ref called it. Cyborg mounted and dominated Carano (which is what she’s known for). And FYI I was going for Carano either way it was a historical event for women in fighting. Honestly I can not for the life of me believe that the bias in women fighting, It is ridiculous! If anything I think that women have MORE fight than most male fighters (since they seem to have to prove their passion and talent for fighting to everyone else).

So that was mainly a short sum up of the fight but after looking at the tweets and comments after the fight I’m livid. It pisses me off that even in something like cage fighting a women’s appearance seems to be challenged. Carano is said to be the face of MMA and was #16 on Maxim’s Hot 100 List. Where as Cyborg has often been question on her gender. I know MMA isn’t a beauty contest but just because she is ascetically appealing makes her a less serious fighter? And yes I myself have called Cyborg a beast because she is just vicious and fierce athlete. I have tons of respect for both of these women and both the negative options on them on women in fighting in general make me want to get into women’s MMA even more.

I don’t know I need to think about this more but it just got to me.

X<3X

BUT I’m still here planning to catch up so don’t write me off yet. . “Signs and Wonders” post in the works (Just Delayed)

-The isn’t enough hours in a day

Blogs can play a very powerful role in making the “f-word” possible again by opening people up to new ideas and views. The views and ideas shared can be similar to those of others but putting them into your own words and sharing themis essential to creating the battleground for change and feminist futures.

Feminism isn’t dead and it’s out there. If more people put their views into blogs it would show the community that we can still create an impact. There should be a point where gender is gender and it doesn’t define who you are, its only a small part of who we are as human beings. Hopefully one day there won’t need to be Gender Studies or Women’s History month because at some point we all need to be equal. I plan to continue blogging my voice may be small but all voices of races, ages, and genders can help make a change.

-Wants to do her part in creating equality

Putting all that aside I developed a concept that I am rather proud of. I am interested in looking into the role that masculinity and femininity play in male and female poses in main stream advertising. By doing so i would be reversing and then comparing the typical roles of male and female models (the idea started brewing after viewing documentary by Jean Kilbourne Killing Us Softly).

To start off the project I have been looking in various magazines, ranging from Vogue to Maxim and various art and music publication. What I found were repeating poses for both male and female models. From my observations the female poses tend to be over sexualized or submissive and innocent. In the male poses they tend to be confident and dominate demanding attention.

Needless to say I knew this would be an interesting venture but I am very surprised by the atmosphere that was present during the first session of shooting in the lighting studio. . . .

My concept has morphed into something larger. . .

There was one female model and two males models present (who were friends of the female model). The only other people present were myself and another female friend who stepped in as my lighting assistant. The models were fully clothed in a “uniform” (white or black shirts and jeans- I wanted to make the clothing as gender neutral as possible). Anyways to get to the good stuff. . .I realized that women are more comfortable being “masculated” (which I didn’t think would be proven true because how do you pull women away from becoming feminists. . .tell them they’re ugly and look like men!). It was easier for the female model to emulate the “male persona”.

When it came to the males posing. . .it was typically done in a joking manner (I’m assuming to maintain their manhood in front on the other male model). When the other male was not present the male modeling allowed himself to take the positions seriously and began to morph into a more “feminine persona” and began to observe the females present in the room.

The movements that a naturally seen as only done by one gender were the ones that were more difficult for the opposite gender to recreate, for example the weight shift on the body in female poses to one hip while arching the back. For the female model the movements that were typically overconfident male poses took longer but better developed and were more convincing. As the model become comfortable portraying them in front of the camera and not shying away from them (even in front of the male models) she was complemented on her ability to have the “hey gurl yeah im gunna hit that” look.

I could go on and on about the example and comments that were made. This has been a very interesting process and is turning into something bigger than I could ever expect.

Part two of shooting will resume tonight. . .Stay tuned for part two (and when I can I will develop and post sone of the images)

-Still stresses but excited

But I think I will take the time to select some to share.

I have written the items that will be posted in the section over various amounts of time (some of them are rough cuts and not yet fully polished). My writings are along the lines of “spoken word” and are just a creative medium that I use to vent my emotions, state of mind, and thoughts on everyday events and subjects.

So readers be ware you have been warned. . . .

-Paranoid Writer

Based on my knowledge of feminism/ Women’s Studies (meaning this class and in Into to Women’s Studies Class) I would have to say that my theme that I am most interested in is women’s roles in popular culture and mass media. In pursuit of being an artist I think it’s the artist’s responsibility to strive to push the limits. Not only as an artist but as person I think I am daily face to face with the contently changing issues dealing with mass media and pop culture and how it is commercialized to different ethnicities. If my idea were to stray or evolve over the course of the semester I would most likely venture more into women’s role in the art world.

I want to learn what I can do to make myself useful and empower myself and enable me to embrace my heritage. Overall I would like to use this blog as a tool to share my point of view and ideas to hopefully spark some intellectual stimulation and conversations.

-Ya Know What I’m Sayin’

I am an undergraduate student at New Mexico State University persuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photo/Graphics and a Minor in Women’s Studies. This is my third year of upper level education and I have already earned an Associate degree in Graphic Design from Western New Mexico University.

This blog has been tagged under cyberfeminism because it is part of course I am taking online. The course is titled Cyber-Feminisms: Feminists Digital Cultures and being instructed by Dr. M. Catherine Jonet, Assistant Professor of Women’s Studies.  This space is provided in order to explore and comment on the different kinds of “feminist cultural work being done on the internet”. In the process of reclaiming the “F-word” (Feminism) I hope that this space will create a better understanding of my thoughts and views on what is taking place in our society.

Basically this blog can be thought of as mapping out of my journey of what i like to call a feminist in training.

Ooooh and I’m pretty new at Blogging so bear with me.

Happy Reading,

-Danielle A.K.A Just Another Feminist In Training