Who is to blame?

I wonder if the period affects women mood or maybe could be the insecurities. I really don't know, like I said before I'm very touchy and I'm not patient with my family and people who are closer to me, I mean I'm not empathic  these days, and I don't  know who to blame but a week before my period I just get cranky and I want to cry all the time. Once I read in a feminist post about that blaming for your bad mood to your period is sexism, it's something that society had imposed women and they believed that, but if it's not the period, what is it? 

Maybe it's because  of fears or insecurities?  Well, first I need to calm down and find out the answer.

Bianka

I'm not charming

Yesterday I found, in my mom's things, a course book called "How to be charming"  It was a christian book, written by a pastor's wife I think... As I was reading that book I realized that I didn't fit in any of the canons that a "charming woman" had suppose to behave... The most interesting thing about that book is that how the feminity of a woman  was portrayed; the book said that a charming woman shouldn't be angry, should be well dressed, should smile all the time and many sexist things. My sister, as a joke, told me that I should follow all those advices that  were in the book so I could be more femenine... Well  I think I'm girly, and I don't care what a book says about feminity, a woman creates her own feminity and the false idea of feminity that mass media portrait is a bunch of lies.

Every woman is beautiful, unique and amazing. You just have to believe in you!

Here's a picture of me. All of these years I've been complaining about my nose, thinking about a cosmetic surgery but now I realize that I wouldn't be the same if I fix my nose, it's part of me and I love it!

God bless you :)

Bianka

Shave or not to shave?

Today I read an article about a woman who hates to shave his body, she explains that shaving is something imposed by the beauty industries. Every decade a new body prototype is promoted in the mass media and all women are dominated by this situation. Have you wondered if you shave your legs, your armpits or other place in your body for your own welfare or because of the society presure?  What beauty is for you?  Women who don't shave their body are beautiful? Think about it...

I like to shave my legs and my armpits but the bikini part no thanks and if my boyfriend (I don't have one yet, perhaps in the future, who knows) bothers me about shaving my body I can send him to hell, just simple like that :)

If you want to read some articles about not shaving your body, you have some here:

what to expect when you stop shaving 

Why I don't shave my legs

Bianka

It has to see the light

This is a special post because I'm going to show you an essay that I wrote for my master degree application, which unfortunately I've been rejected, so here you have. This essay talks about feminism in Bolivia and why it's not growing. It's my point of view about this situation. And I decided to show my writings in order to start the revolution that I've waited for so long .

Hope you read it.

Bianka

FEMINISM IN BOLIVIA

Bianka B. S.

Is there feminism in Bolivia? Bolivia is a diverse, multicultural country; we’re living in a revolution process that implies a return to Bolivian authentic roots, a decolonization process, however, the feminism is not accepted. As many countries, feminism has been misunderstood, people conceive it as a radical ideology of angry lesbian women who want to be like men (Hooks, 2000) and this country is not the exception. 

Sexism is the main factor of feminism misunderstanding.  For this purpose, it’s imperative to know the meaning of this problem. Sexism is a way of repression to human beings, this violence works through prejudices and segregations against men and women based on gender roles. By the same token, sexism has clung from education, religion and mass media. At school they teach us how to think in male and in female, the Bolivian education trains students with determined roles, teaching boys to make a chair and girls, to embroider a tablecloth. It’s interesting how school texts portray women, as weak, who have to suffer because of their gender, they show mothers like a sacrificed soul who had to kill all of their dreams.  Religions all over the world have always had a similar vision of women and the roles that they have to play; for example, some Christians use the bible to repress women indicating that the bible says that a woman has to be a virgin who must get married to have sex, a mother who has to give birth many children, a wife who has to be subjected to her husband, a hearer, not a speaker less a preacher. As well as education and religion are part of sexism, mass media plays a crucial role on its development, for instance, the television’s commercials, shows even the news objectify women, it’s regrettable how those commercials associate them with meat or leather. Mass media imposes the idea of beauty, exhibit voluptuousness in skinny bodies, a fantasy of perfection that any of us will see in real life.  Furthermore, mass media, through the commercials, expose women as a mother who need in “mother’s day” a new dish washer or a vacuum or maybe a new iron to iron her husband’s and children’s clothes. Unfortunately sexism is rooted in our everyday life and most of the people visualize it as a sacred law that anyone can break.

Adela Zamudio was a Bolivian writer of the XIX century, who fought for the women rights in Bolivia, she wrote a poem called “Nacer Hombre” (Born man), in which she talked about the segregation that Bolivian women were living in that time, she was so sublime in her revolution that everybody could understand that women are just as intelligent as men, that women can be writers and they can think by themselves, however, her writings did not impact to Bolivian people. In the late of XX century a movement called “Mujeres creando” (Women creating) started to redefine feminism through riots, graffiti and fanzines, their leader Maria Galindo have been a controversial figure in Bolivia, she is used to make unusual protests that call the attention for few people, but not to the whole Bolivians. Unfortunately she shows herself as the typical feminist cliché. Mujeres Creando had made a great effort to the Bolivian feminist literature though feminism is still considered as an angry radical ideology of crazy women.

It’s interesting how Bolivian people answer to you when you ask what feminism is, they instantly relate it with “Mujeres Creando”, thinking that feminism is for selfish women who try to be like men, who are vulgar, who doesn’t have manners, who dress sloppily with lack of hygiene. As a result, there is a huge mistake about the real meaning of feminism. Bolivian women are in status quo, indeed some of them think are feminists just because they think they are better than men, some of them think feminism is the same as machismo by arguing that men and female are equal. The Andean world view proclaims the nature duality, men and women together for the Pachamama (Mother Nature) wellness, this world view think that feminism is colonialism, that is the case of Andean people, who tout their love and protection to their women, but even Andean women suffer the violence and discrimination. 

Bolivian women suffer, who are the responsible? Women, men, sexism and culture.  As well as some men believe in machismo, women themselves  can be the most fervent male chauvinists, they protect men from women, they think women have to obey everything  that men orders;  there is a saying in the Bolivian culture: “A woman should not make a man cry because men never cry” They support their husbands’ violence against other women, at this point  they are decoupling of their gender, they defend this kind of protection by arguing that men are defenseless and they can be manipulated by “some mean women”, by the same token,  they consider them as enemies. As a result, most of Bolivian men are chauvinists, they want a woman who has to be a lady, a virgin to make his wife, a young girl that can be easy to manipulate, a homey woman who can cook for him, raise his children and organize everything in the house, they want a woman who speak less and smile more, they want to think for them and be the only head of the family, on the other hand there are men that fight for women rights and gender equity but there are only few of them. Subsequently, sexism rules in Bolivian women suffering, even in the revolution field think that women are weaker than men, that a woman has to be a mother and she’s the only one who can make the family organized. Sexism still lives in Bolivian people minds and because our lack of criticism we keep following all the predetermined canons of how men and women have to be, for this reason, women and men struggle with an unnecessary pressure just because absurd impositions of the past. Thereby, we reach to the most difficult factor of Bolivian women suffering which is Bolivian culture, no matter how hard you try to change something in a culture sometimes you fail in your purpose, Bolivia is multicultural, and it’s hard to make people understand that women is just as equal as men, they can do hard work, they can be clever in mathematics , they can take care of themselves, even they can be stronger than men, but that’s not the case, the Bolivian woman is wonderful, intense and put all of her passion in everything that she does. It’s an arduous work to make people understand that a woman has the right to decide to get married or not, to have a family or not. Some people think that if a woman is not a mother or a wife is not a woman and that’s a wrong idea, a woman can decide which be or not be.

At the end of this written, all I can say is that there is feminism in Bolivia, but it’s a new born who needs to be feed and caring. Bolivian people have to work very hard to take sexism away, because it’s the most principal repressor of the human being, it’s amazing how it has rooted to people’s mind, how many lies about our nature had become part of our history.  In most of the times you can’t fight against culture but if you see that women suffer because of traditions it’s important to make a change. And that change is through education, literature, internet, radio and in everyday life. It’s time to make a revolution and not a show, it’s time to make chaos in people’s mind, it’s time to make a unique and sublime revolution, I know the journey would be full of obstacles but we have to try and try and fight for a better place where women and men can be free just as they are.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

HOOKS, Bell

      2000

                            Feminism is for everybody: Passionate Politics, United States of America, South

                             End Press

He's not that into you

I begin with the title of an interesting movie that I watched yesterday, the intro was my favorite part, it made me think how women make many mistakes with men when they like them.
So I decided to write some kind of advices to those women who have a wrong thought about starting a relationship.Some of these are based on my experiences but most of them are based on other girls experiences. Here we go, let's be cruel:

•  First, if a man treats you like garbage, doesn't care about your feelings, insults you, and he doesn't want to have a serious relationship with you, well, he doesn't love you.
• Stop thinking that all bad treatments you have to put up with it's because "he's confused".
• If he doesn't call you after a "lovely night" it's not because he's too shy or he might be busy, he cares about some important things than you.
• Stop thinking that he will mellow if you're pregnant, because you would commit a huge mistake and the one who is going to suffer a lot is going to be the baby.
• Don't talk about marriage at the beginning of your relationship, he might not be ready to make that commitment neither do you...
• If he tells you he doesn't love you, it's because he doesn't, he's not confused and he's not angry with you, he's just not that into you.
• Even if you have sex with him you have 50/50 percent to marry him or not.
• Don't call him many many times if the answer is always an excuse to not going out with you.
• Don't push him thinking that he could fall in love with you if you chase him all the time.
• Don't be sticky, sometimes those men are not for you, so don't force anything.
• Be yourself and let things happen, you will find a man who loves you and you will love him, he will respect you and he won't use any violence against you, a person who loves you doesn't hurt you.
• Don't think that you have to be with someone just because you're going to be alone. Think what kind of person you want in order to enrich your life.
• Don't be afraid about lonelyness,  being alone it's a choice :)

So I leave you the intro of the movie I watched yesterday.



Bianka

Nu Project

Matt Blum is an american photographer who started thenuproject which is a series of honest nudes to american  and south american women. This artist show real women bodies in all kind of size, shape, style, even there are women shaved and women who are not. It's not a sexual art is a human art. It's time to stop the false perfect woman prototype, top models are just few and most of them are anorexic and  are exposed to many transformations by photoshop or plastic surgery. Every woman is beautiful and diferent, there is no perfection, only beauty.

Here are some pictures.

Source: huff.to via Amy on Pinterest

Source: thenuproject.com via Solveig on Pinterest

Source: huffingtonpost.com via Amelia on Pinterest

Source: thenuproject.com via Buck on Pinterest

Source: thenuproject.com via Chanel on Pinterest

Bianka

I refuse to suffer

I'm a woman and my destiny is not to suffer. All of this week I 've been watching the news and I really felt hurt because all I watched was women murders and rapes, in less than a week there were 3 women dead in my city. By the same token, I was listenning a ladies chat, they were talking about the women disgrace, they said that our destiny is to suffer, since the beginning of our lives we cry and we'll keep crying at the end of our days...

Why a woman have to be weak? I just don't understand  why people portray women like a soul in pain who had to sacrifice all their dreams for having children...  I don't understan why are happening these murders, why are there men who rape and kill women?

I'm very mad with people who think women are weaker than men, that we are delicate persons, but  men are delicate too!

We have to stop with the wrong idea that we need someone who protects us because it's not like that, women are as strong as men. We have to stop denying that women are ok, because we're not, we keep living in this sexist society that represses both women and men, that determines who is pretty and who's not. We're still living a repression even inside us and we have to show that we're strong and we could live free without consumerism and without sexism.

I'm a woman who doesn't need someone in her life just because the society says that I will be alone. I'm strong and I won't let anyone to hurt me because he or she thinks I'm weak. I'm woman who believes in feminism that is not a ideology for selfish women is a way of life that fights for gender equity. Maybe someday, I'll have a relationship with a man who believies in feminism and fight for freedom, and I'm sure I'll find him. Feminism is not a ideology that hates men.

Women have to united and start to think critically. Please, stop consuming, it's time to fight for freedom that make us creatives to make this a better place.

Bianka

What is Pin Up?

 Yesterday I had a conversation with a friend who didn't know about the Pin up art, and I tried to explain him how does that work, I think he didn't understad well, probably it's because here in Bolivia the pin up art is not known, so I decided to write a little bit about this art.

First of all Pin up it's not pornography, some people may say that and they are in a mistake,  it is  women sensuality art reflected in photography and illustrations. Every woman can be a pin up model, there are a lot of curvy girls and also skinny ones. The touch of the pin up models is that they are sexy everytime in all kind of clothes. Some people may say that pin up art objetifies women, but in my point of view it doesn't, because it's a way that women can finally love their bodies and their unique forms, I don't like to see in magazines skinny girls dressing for big fashion trade marks, they don't show the women reality, they show a fantasy so that's why most of the women are not satisfied with their bodies. Being skinny is not in most cases synonymous with beauty, a woman is beautiful when she is confident with herself, doesn't behave like a weak person, don't use a lot of make up thinking that makes her pretty, when enjoys food and don't worry about calories, when she's avid to get more knowledge, when she thinks for itself, when she reads books.... There are many things that make a woman beautiful, but the main feature of being beautiful is being you, smiling, talking without fear.

That's why I love the pin up art, because it includes the diversity of beauty, women with confidence with itself.  Here are some pictures of  pin up art.

Make a dinner with your friends, listen good music and dance in the middle of the street or in front unknown people.

Bianka

Source: ufunk.net via Kara on Pinterest

Source: retronaut.co via Justis on Pinterest

Source: Uploaded by user via Mégane on Pinterest

Source: 27.media.tumblr.com via Amber on Pinterest

Source: thrilld.com via Amber on Pinterest

Source: Uploaded by user via Amber on Pinterest

Source: polkadotsandlipstick.tumblr.com via Amber on Pinterest

Source: Uploaded by user via Chasity on Pinterest

Source: flickr.com via Stacey on Pinterest