Australia’s Largest Anti-Choice Rally to End to Abortion in Australia is being held to Sydney. So far over 2000 people have signed on to protest against women having control and freedom over their own bodies and reproductive rights. 

If you think that treating women like invisible incubators with no rights isn’t ok, please join us in a peaceful protest against the religious conservatives hellbent on ruining the lives, minds and bodies of women around the country.

THE FACEBOOK GROUP EVENT IS HERE.

I stumbled on this facebook event “Largest Pro-Life Rally - End to Abortion in Australia“ (I dont know how big or legit it will be) and thought it would be cool to organise a retaliation protest. 

I think we most certainly should! I’m in Melbourne but would gladly have a road trip to protest against this protest! I’m not sure how we would go about making this happen. I’d love to see more pro choice advocates than the horrible catholic anti-choicers. (Not anti-Catholic overall but this protest is run by Catholics)

Australian feminists and pro-choice advocates; Will you join us spread the Peaceful, Powerful Pro-choice message?

If so, how should we co-ordinate this? Facebook group?

As a women who fits / is the following:

• conventionally attractive 
• conventionally attractive in a sexual way (large bust/hips-tiny waist)
• enjoys makeup
• enjoys lingerie, sexualized and ‘sexy’ attire
• openly sexual
• openly displays sexuality
• creates profit from sexuality without exploitation
• true sexual exhibitionist
• a creator of sexual erotic material that is for sale featuring women 
• a ‘sex-positive’ feminist
  (I know the term is problematic but not sure what else to use)

I find it offensive that:

• I am blamed for womens and my own oppression
• I am blamed for violence committed against me 
• I am blamed for women being raped and sexually abused
• I am blamed for sexual slavery and people trafficking 
• I am blamed for women having problems sexually
• I am blamed for society hypersexualizing women
• I am blamed for children having low self esteem
• I am blamed for a rise in STDs and pregnancy
• I am blamed for partners being unfaithful
• I am blamed for ‘distorted’ veiws on sexuality and sex
• I am blamed for ‘fake’ lesbianism and ‘confused’ sexuality
• I am blamed for the fetishization of non heterosexuals and queers

• It is assumed I have no / low self esteem or body image
• It is assumed that I have no standards or am “easy”
• It is assumed my sexuality is only a toy for men
• It is assumed that my choices are not my own
• It is assumed I am influenced by men/patriarchy and have no autonomy
• It is assumed that I was forced into working and am a slave
• It is assumed I am exploitative, abusive and that I am a misogynist
• It is assumed I am uneducated, especially on feminist topics
• It is assumed I don’t care about feminism / womens rights
• It is assumed that when I say I’m not a sex slave I either support slavery or deny it exists

The worst part? Most of these inaccurate and nasty assumptions come from people who should be my allies; my feminist brothers and sisters.

Society is to blame. A lack of education is to blame. Not one single queer woman who naturally happens to be conventionally attractive, whose sexuality entails exhibitionism and visual displays of the erotic, who is confident, TRULY sexually liberated and unafraid. 

I am just being myself; WHO I TRULY AM. 

My sexual preferences and sexual expressions are just that- sexual preferences and sexual expressions. I have complete personal autonomy in all aspects. I am not ‘brainwashed’ or culturally contrived due to patriarchy. No part of me is just a ‘plaything’ for men; including my sexuality. I do not have low self esteem. I certainly have standards. There is no denying that expecting all women to be like me, or being pressed by society to be like me is wrong- but that doesn’t mean I am to blame, nor does it mean that because I enjoy those things personally I am wrong or responsible.

If you beleive I am responsible for the things above and you call yourself a feminist then I suggest you have a look at yourself and your views deep down and assess what feminism really is to you. Because if you think being a feminist is about repressing my sexuality, my sexual freedoms and who I am and then blaming all of societies problems relating to sex on me; I don’t think you are any better than what you think I am- which is apparently some kind of oppressive, sexually messed up monster.

The Victorian police are to be given new rights to ‘crack down’ on illegal brothels. Citing that Melbourne had a ‘booming illegal sex trade’ and that illegal brothels posed serious risk to the community because illegal brothels promoted abuse of women, tax avoidance, illegal immigration and health risks due to unprotected sex among other things. Cracking down on sex slavery is one thing but this is not whats going on overall.

I’d just like to say; if the government thinks that a return to the misogynistic, whorephobic and violent Vice Squad style of policing the underground sex industry is going to help women- they are deadly wrong- and it’s going to destroy and hurt many lives.

This isn’t about helping women. Sex slaves or freely and happily working.

It’s about getting rid of ‘illegals’ and ‘undesirables’ (Generally poor and abused women from Asian countries who want a better life but can’t get visas as they aren’t doctors/nurses/teachers/tradies- which is all we are taking in.)

It’s about taxing an underclass to death for jobs that already pay much less than they should so that life is unbearable and it makes legal work like prostitution not worth the tiny scrap of money you’ll have left over after tax worth it.

It’s about keeping women under the hand of oppressive “regulators” (pimps and brothel pimps) and keeping their pockets well filled, while stealing that money from workers. “Regulators” who in Victoria take MASSIVE and unfair cuts from women’s pay in exchange for little more than a legal venue to work in (often they take more than 50-60% of what they charge clients for the woman’s time- google-fu Melbourne brothels and see), making it unprofitable or unworth working in a ‘legal’ sexual; service venue. Many of whom force workers into contracts stating where else they can and can not work, taking advantage of women and smothering them.

It’s about fear mongering and then ‘fixing’ the ‘moral’ problem to ‘protect’ the public from its pearl clutching against many poor women who are just trying to get by but who are tired of Victoria’s nonsensical and grey-area laws regarding private sex work, who are tired of having over 50% of their hard earned money taken from legal pimps who give fuck all in return BEFORE tax, and who are tired of being discriminated against for being a sex worker even when it’s legal by almost every industry. 

As such they decide not to register as prostitutes, work for a ‘safe and legal’ pimp, decide to work for themselves or privately for an amount that is actually fair and reasonable for the work they do, not pay a huge lump sum of unfair tax for services they will not be allowed to use because they are part of a legal but disliked profession and as such are legally discriminated against.

Going after illegal brothels in the business of sex slavery is different, but over all this is not what it’s about at all. They should stop pretending this is about anything but hatred of illegal immigrants and underclass, making more tax money, fattening the pay packets of pimps and publicity at the expense of real people. I say;

NO RETURN OF THE VICE SQUAD!

(Source: theage.com.au)

I am a women, I am a feminist and I am a gamer.
I am also incidentally working in the pornography industry.

Lately I’ve noticed something that I believe has become a phenomenon; and that is the intense hatred, dismissal and disregard for ‘sexy gamer girls’ (Who are often referred too as fake gamer girls) and decided to write a post about it.

Here are some excerpts. You can read the full thing on my blog HERE.
(NSFW! Adult Content Warning 18+ ONLY!) 

(NOTE: I’d SUPER appreciate people commenting at the post on my actual blog! But I understand if you can’t as it’s NSFW) 

“As a woman I get ranked on the scale of what a ‘real’ gamer is and my interests and skill are constantly in question simply because of my gender.  I am also judged to a much harsher degree. So what if I don’t like shooters, or once in a while I like to play ‘feminine’ games? To suggest I am not a ‘real’ gamer because I don’t only play games which are ‘men’s games’ like CoD, Starcraft, Halo etc is sexist and ignorant. I am not any less of a gamer for those things, nor am I any less of a gamer because my career and my sexuality are linked.”

“There are so many offensive stereotypes and perceptions about female gamers and even more about adult workers like me who make their hobbies like gaming openly part of their lives or career. The assumption is generally that I’m just some airhead trying to make money off a niche I know nothing about. Except that of course I’m not an airhead and I know exactly what I’m talking about when it comes to things that I enjoy like gaming. “

“Being told that because I’m an adult worker, I should conform to the depthless bimbo stereotype and not discuss, enjoy or include my legitimate passions like gaming into my work because together they are too offensive; is in itself completely offensive. I should not be expected to not follow my dreams, which are inherently linked my sexuality and sexual identity as a respectful exhibitionist, erotica lover and a sexually healthy and liberated person. My work, sexuality, personality, interests and my pursuits are not all mutually exclusive and nor should they have to be.”

“I don’t assume that you are a prude, an elitist, fat, ugly, old, a dyke or any other rude or offensive stereotype because games, sex and the sex industry aren’t you’re cup of tea.

So please don’t assume that I’m some air-headed, disease ridden, talentless (in any way), poser simply because my sexuality, my business and my hobbies interconnect. I am no less of a gamer for being a porn performer than than I am any less of a feminist for liking pink things and unicorns. Slut-shaming, whorephobia and elitism is never ok. Stereotypes hurt all of us.”

Do you believe in the rights of women, or do you believe in multiculturalism? A series of verdicts in the German courts in the past month, have shown with hot, hard logic that you can’t back both. You have to choose.

The crux case centres on a woman called Nishal, a 26-year-old Moroccan immigrant to Germany with two kids and a psychotic husband. Since their wedding night, this husband beat the hell out of her. She crawled to the police covered in wounds, and they ordered the husband to stay away from her. He refused. He terrorised her with death threats. So Nishal went to the courts to request an early divorce, hoping that once they were no longer married he would leave her alone. A judge who believed in the rights of women would find it very easy to make a judgement: you’re free from this man, case dismissed.

But Judge Christa Datz-Winter followed the logic of multiculturalism instead. She said she would not grant an early divorce because - despite the police documentation of extreme violence and continued threats - there was no “unreasonable hardship” here.

Why? Because the woman, as a Muslim, should have “expected” it, the judge explained. She read out passages from the Koran to show that Muslim husbands have the “right to use corporal punishment”. Look at Sura 4, verse 34, she said to Nishal, where the Koran says he can hammer you. That’s your culture. Goodbye, and enjoy your beatings.

A Lebanese-German who strangled his daughter Ibthahale and then beat her unconscious with a bludgeon because she didn’t want to marry the man he had picked out for her was sentenced to mere probation. His “cultural background” was cited by the judge as a mitigating factor.

A Turkish-German who stabbed his wife Zeynep to death in Frankfurt was given the lowest possible sentence, because, the judge said, the murdered woman had violated his “male honour, derived from his Anatolian moral concepts”. The bitch. A Lebanese-German who raped his wife Fatima while whipping her with a belt was sentenced to probation, with the judge citing his … you get the idea.

Indeed, in the name of this warm, welcoming multiculturalism, the German courts have explicitly compared Muslim women to the brain-damaged. The highest administrative court in North Rhine-Westphalia has agreed that Muslim parents have the “right” to forbid their daughter from going on a school trip unless she was accompanied by a male family member at all times. The judges said the girl was like “a partially mentally impaired person who, because of her disability, can only travel with a companion”.

Listen to Jasvinder Sanghera, who founded the best British charity helping Asian women after her sister was beaten and beaten and then burned herself to death. She says: “It’s a betrayal of these women to be PC about this. Look at the figures. Asian women in Britain are three times more likely to commit suicide than their white friends. That’s because of all this.”

As the Iranian author Azar Nafisi puts it: “I very much resent it when people - maybe with good intentions or from a progressive point of view - keep telling me, ‘It’s their culture’ … It’s like saying the culture of Massachusetts is burning witches.” She is horrified by the moves in Canada to introduce shariah courts to enforce family law for Muslims.

Yes, it would be easy to keep our heads down, go with this multicultural drift, and congratulate ourselves on our tolerance of the fanatically intolerant. But I can give you a few good reasons not to. Their names are Nishal and Ibthahale and Zeynep and Fatima, and, yes, they were women.

Some excerpts from “How multicultralism is betraying women” by Johann Hari. All emphasis mine. I found these paragraphs get the the heart of this argument. I recommend reading the full thing.  

I am Eve

            the bad girl, the evil woman.

            I stand accused, and sentenced.  Without a trial.  For life.

            Because of my single action, millions of individuals have been born with ‘original sin’, have been guilty even before they acted, doomed before they started.  I alone have been held responsible¹ for this sad and pathetic fallen race.  Therefore, let me begin by correcting this: if I were free not to fall in the first place, they were free not to fall after me; and if I were not free, then I can’t be held responsible–for my fall or theirs.

            Now, let us further examine the charges, let us correctly define that action.

            I have been condemned for choosing knowledge over ignorance: the fruit I ate came from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  In a society that praises pursuit of knowledge and honours men of wisdom, why have I been viewed with disfavour?  Had Adam reached out first, would he have been so rebuked?  Or is the state of ignorance requisite for women only?  (Histories pass on Socrates, they pass over Aspasia.)

            In the same vein, I chose experience over innocence.  In a context of attitudes that value experience, the disapproval of my action can only imply the desire that women, like children, live in a state of innocence.

            I have also been condemned for disobedience.  If that were the issue, then why wasn’t the tree so named–‘the tree of obedience and disobedience’ or ‘the tree of temptation’.  By naming it what it was not, God either deliberately tempted me or deliberately deceived me.  And he should be judged, not I.

            Perhaps though, the tree really was a tree of knowledge.  In that case, one should wonder what insecurities led God to prefer obedience over knowledge.  Indeed, one should wonder why he went so far as to forbid knowledge.  The reason is evident in Genesis (3:22-23): he didn’t want us to equal him.  He sent us out of Eden to prevent our eating from the tree of life, because already we were as wise for having eaten from the tree of knowledge, and if we had made it to the tree of life before he found us, we would’ve been immortal as well–we would’ve been as godly.

            And that takes me onward, for counted among my sins is that of pride.  Considering that later, through his son, God commands us to ‘follow in his footsteps’, I find the label of pride odd for the action that would do just that–make me like God.  Furthermore, I find it odd to be condemned for being like God when, after all, he created us in his image (Gen 1:26-27).  And God certainly is proud: to create us in his image can be called narcissistic, and to prefer us to spend our time admiring him rather than learning about him is equally evidence of pride.  (As an aside, I would think that my knowledge would increase my admiration; that wasn’t why I ate the fruit, but if it was, would it have mattered?  Did God ever ask my intent?)

            I have also been charged with a lack of faith.  Yet I took it on faith in the first place that God told us not to eat from the tree: remember, he gave the command to Adam before I even existed (Gen 2:16-17).²  Further, I had faith in the serpent, I trusted the serpent to be telling the truth.  Is it dishonourable to trust?

            And is it reprehensible to act on that trust, as I did then in offering the fruit to another, to Adam?  God commanded innocence, then held me responsible for an act of innocent intent.  For how could I know my faith was misplaced?  How could I know the serpent was evil until I had knowledge of good and evil?  By telling us not to eat of the tree, he insisted on ignorance–but then held us responsible, for an act of ignorance.

            Lastly, I have been condemned for using my reason, for it is through the exercise of reason that I decided to eat the fruit.  The serpent’s explanation of God’s motives, that the knowledge of good and evil would make us godly and he didn’t want us to equal him (Gen 3:5), seemed very reasonable to me.  God’s command on the other hand, not even to touch the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil because then I’d die, seemed so very unreasonable.  Where is the fault in using that faculty given to me by God?  The fault is not mine, but God’s: he made reason guide our will and left our reason prey to deceit.

            Or did he?  History has it that the serpent’s words were false, that I was deceived.  But God’s words after the fact (Gen 3:22 “Behold, the man is become as one of us”) verify the serpent’s prediction (Gen 3:5 “Ye shall be as gods”): the serpent was telling the truth.³  And so I stand condemned, for listening to truth.      And for offering that truth to others.

¹  Even though Adam was beside me through it all (Gen 3:6) and made not one objection.  And, of course, also ate the fruit.

²  I don’t rule out the possibility that the command therefore was meant only for Adam–God knew that knowledge in the hands of men is a dangerous thing.

³  And in fact God lied: he said we would die (Gen 3:3) if we touched the fruit of that tree, and we didn’t–at least not for several hundred years.

(excerpted from Thus Saith Eve by chris wind - www.chriswind.net)