Jenny

The All Girl Army welcomes a guest post from Julie Z. of the wonderful teen feminist site The F Bomb:

So often, I feel that the discussion of clothing amongst teenage feminists revolves around how we morally feel about what we wear. Is wearing a short skirt empowering or a form of submission to patriarchy? Are low-cut shirts going to make me feel better about myself? But what we rarely ask about are the ethics of what we wear – and apparently there are few clothing options for a fashion-savvy teen that are both ethical purchases and not something my grandma would squeal over.

Feministing | The Consequences of Anti-GLBT Bullying

The Advocate | Another Child Suicide Blamed on Anti-gay Bullying

Salon Broadsheet | Another Victim of Homophobic Bullying

When have you been most secure about being a girl/young woman? When have you been least secure about it?

I don't think I've ever felt as insecure about my gender as I did when I was 11 and 12 years old.

As an 11 year old, I felt insecure for being "too much" of a girl. To everyone's surprise, I began puberty earlier than most of my classmates, and so boys and girls alike snapped my bra, stole my tampons, and generally made becoming a woman seem like the (now fragrant) pits.

12, however, was even worse. Once I began middle school, the general consensus was that I was not girly "enough." I can hear the catcalls of girls at their lockers still: "Jenny L! You're dressed like a boy! EEEEWWW!" or "Jenny L--why don't you shave?" Of course, being boyish, in their eyes, didn't absolve me from being a slut. Even though I had yet to go on a date or have a real kiss, the fact that I had spurned the affections of one of my male classmates meant that, naturally, I was actually having sex with him. "Jenny L did IT with Ryan P!" That last one took me to my limit, and I had the gossipers hauled into the principal's office for spreading rumors. Henceforth, they tormented me more quietly.

Bringing back an oldie by goodie:

What's a day in the life of a young feminist like, from start to finish? Not a special day, not a day your autobiographer will write about, just a plain old, average day.

Take notes on a day in your life, or reflect on a day at day's end. You can make a checklist that goes hour to hour, you can be more creative and spin a line or two of prose for each hour that passes. You can tell us all the things your body does, and/or all the places your head and heart go. You can pick a day that started like any other, but brought you to an unexpected place: a morni

According to Broadsheet:

Rutgers researchers Laurie Rudman and Julie Phelan surveyed 242 American undergraduates and 289 older adults and looked at men's and women's "perception of their own feminism and its link to relationship health, measured by a combination of overall relationship quality, agreement about gender equality, relationship stability and sexual satisfaction" (to quote the press release). And guess what they found? Women who said their guys had feminist beliefs had "healthier" relationships. Men who had feminist partners reported "more stable relationships and greater sexual satisfaction."

"When we speak we are afraid our words will not be heard or welcomed. But when we are silent, we are still afraid. So it is better to speak."
~Audre Lorde

I don't quite know what it is about quotations that attracts me to them, but I have collected notebooks of them since I was a child. A good quotation can be like poetry, or an entire uplifting sermon in two or three single lines.

What is your favorite feminist quotation (perhaps something you've submitted to "good quotes")? Why?

"You can take it from me that any man who willfully slanders the female sex does so because he has an evil mind, since he's going against both reason and nature."

The fifteenth century is rarely considered a high point for women's liberation. Yet Christine de Pizan, a Venetian woman who lived from 1364 to 1430, not only became Europe's first professional woman writer, but might even be called one of the first modern feminists.

The daughter of a court physician and astrologist, Christine was raised in the court of French king Charles V, married at 15, quickly bore 3 children, and found herself widowed and in financial straits by 24. She turned to writing.

To everyone who celebrates the winter holidays, happy holidays!

One of my favorite roll calls featured letters to our future selves, and so since I'm inspired by Dickens this time of year, I wanted to see what everyone had to say to their past selves.

Write a letter to yourself 5, 10, or even 15 years ago. What do you have to say to that little girl? What do you wish she had known that you know now? What do you want her to pay attention to, to appreciate more fully? What do you want her to avoid?

This meme started to protest the Canadian government cutting funding for “status of women” offices, and has been taken up by feminist bloggers at Pandagon and Shakespeare's Sister.

Explain 5 things that feminism has done for you, and per Amanda Marcotte's suggestion, add five more things left to accomplish. For a master list of people who have blogged on this topic, click here.

The current Carnival of the Feminists is up at Redemption Blues.

As for the next Carnival, post your thoughts here, and we'll forward them!

The 23rd edition of the Carnival of Feminists will be on Lingual Tremors on September 20th. You can use the Blog Carnival submission form or email lingualx AT yahoo DOT com. Submissions are due by 18 September 2006 at midnight.

Suggested Theme for the 23rd Carnival of Feminists: women & healthcare.

The now ubiquitous Our Bodies Ourselves, first produced in 1970, introduced and asserted the ideas:

The Carnival of Feminists is a fabulous, themed, bimonthly roundup of feminist blogs. The founder writes:

The Carnival of Feminists is held (usually) on the first and third Wednesday of each month. Hosted by a different blogger for each edition, it aims to showcase the finest feminist posts from around the blogsphere.

The Carnival aims to build the profile of feminist blogging, to direct extra traffic to all participating bloggers, but particularly newer bloggers, and to build networks among feminist bloggers around the world.