Almost here!
I just can’t help it, I love VS and their fashion show.
Can’t wait for this! I love the VS brand, although not everyone does. I can respect their pov but I just have a different opinion obviously. This is one of those times where I have to just propose to agree to to disagree.
Will you be watching the VS fashion show?
Lately I have been seriously considering getting into belly dancing. Now before some of you freak out and think that it’s all about scantily clad women showing off, I invite you to watch a couple of videos I came across if you have a little bit of time.
This first video is a belly dancer named Jalila. This is probably the best routine that I have came across from watching clips of belly dancers on youtube during the past couple of weeks. She’s great!
Next is a video blogger that I have been watching for a while. Her username is SickMouth. She talks mostly about women’s issues and I just love her discussions. She did one about belly dancing a little bit ago because she has been taking classes. I thought she had some really interesting thoughts on the issue.
I have always admired belly dancers and the dance itself as an art form. There is something very sensual and creative that I would love to try out, so I have been doing a little bit of research on the history of belly dance and how it came to be, and it’s really quite interesting.
I decided to learn a bit about it first and then I will start taking classes probably sometime next year. I’m not sure if I will get into performing, but it would at least be something fun to do as a past-time.
Has anyone had any experience with belly dancing?
I came across this awesome post from TheFBomb.org where the author interviewed current Miss USA Alyssa Campanella.
I was recently given the opportunity to interview Miss USA. Since I don’t really keep up on the pageant world I had to do some research. Alyssa Campanella seemed like a fine person – I was mostly curious to ask her about feminism.
Alyssa currently lives in New York City with Miss Universe. She is hardly ever there because of all the fabulous places she “has” to travel to such as Chicago, Miami, the Bahamas, Los Angeles, Cannes and others. Once her reign as Miss USA is over she wants to attend culinary school and has been doing some work with the Food Network to prepare.
Now for the interview:
Pageants receive criticism because they are seen as negative to young women because the focus is on appearance. How do you think pageants can be empowering?
Part of my job is to travel around with charity organizations raising awareness about women’s issues. I’m learning skills that I can apply to my future. This work is not just about being a glamazon. I help out organizations such Susan G. Komen For The Cure, Gilda’s Club, God’s Love We Deliver, and Project Sunshine. I would rather put less make up on, wear jeans, and spread cheer.Are you a feminist?
We are all human beings, so what if we have different body parts? There are women presidents — not in the U.S. but soon. There are women all over the world in positions of power doing a good job such as the Queen of Denmark and Brazil’s president. In history, there is Margaret Thatcher England’s first female prime minister. We don’t need only a man to do the job. Let women have power.Have you had negative experiences that have helped to shape you into a better person?
I was bullied as a kid. I became so upset about going to school I asked my mom to homeschool me. I was bullied because of what I wore. I liked to dress more mature, like my mom, so I was shopping at New York & Co. when I was 12. I took school very seriously and was teased about that. I never went to high school parties, so I wasn’t cool. When I became Miss Teen New Jersey everyone wanted to be my friend, but I knew it wasn’t sincere and remained friends with the three people who always stuck by me. I’m naturally thin and have always been teased about that. Even at Miss Universe people were spreading rumors that I was anorexic. I was stressed and eating a lot, but the weight wasn’t sticking.We commiserated over how it is socially acceptable to tell someone they are too thin and to eat a burger. However, if you reverse that and tell an overweight person to eat a salad you are vilified. What people need to know is that feelings are hurt in both scenarios. And women shouldn’t be attacking each other’s weights out of insecurities and jealousies.
Any favorite quotes?
My mom always said “You can’t make a difference in the world without knowing what’s going on in it.” She would leave a newspaper on the table in the morning and I would read it while eating breakfast. I still do this every day and I feel weird if I don’t.
Any advice on how to stay motivated on the path to fulfilling one’s goals?
You aren’t a loser unless you give up. If you don’t get what you want it’s because something else is on the horizon if you keep going. That’s what happened with me. I placed first runner up in a pageant, but I persisted and won Miss USA.
This post was a breath of fresh air! And might I add that Alyssa seems like the best Miss USA that we have had in a while. I have briefly talked to her through facebook and she seems so nice, humble, and genuine. I would love the chance to meet her!
Just a quick post. I decided to go with a new theme, just to change things up a bit. The bubble to the right of the post title is the comments sections. So what do you think, or should I go back to my old one?
I also changed my email address. My old one was starting to fill up way too much with spam, so I figured it was time for a new one for a fresh start. You can now contact me at: AshleyBPariseau@gmail.com
Feel free to contact me any time with any question or comment, thanks!
Ladies, listen up! Gentlemen, you might want to read this too.
So I usually try to avoid the Jezebel site for a list of reasons. However, once in a while there will actually be a good article. I stumbled upon one about the hormonal birth control and it’s possible side effects on female sexual pleasure.
The study, conducted at Indiana University, surveyed 1,101 sexually active women and found that hormonal contraception can make sex not-as-good, and that a lack of female enjoyment of sex led to those women who were on birth control having less sex than their hormone-free counterparts.
Alright so the title of the article is awful because the pill isn’t going to make sex “terrible” and to use that word is being way over dramatic, not uncommon for Jezebel but that aside, I found this article of interest to me because I have been on the pill for about 4 years now and I can relate to what these studies are showing. And for those of you who are wondering exactly how this occurs, well drawing from my own personal experience, the hormones seem to desensitize the body, making a normally awesome feeling a little bit more numb. Not totally gone though, just not as intense if that makes sense.
In fact, I noticed this side effect with my body within the first few months of being on the pill, way before these studies started coming out. I’m actually kind of surprised that this hasn’t been studied a long time ago. The unfortunate thing with this is, to my knowledge, these pills have different effects on different women and each one is often unique to each woman and doctors cannot yet pinpoint which brands will or won’t have the side effect of a decreased sex drive or decreased pleasure during sex. They can only guess and have their clients try it out. I have thought about the whole switching brands until you find something that doesn’t have the same side effect but that idea sounds like it could be a bad one. I’ve switched brands once about a year ago and it’s not something you want to do lightly. These are hormones that are going into your body. It’s not like switching brands of toothpaste. A lot of women go through mood swings, sickness, higher pregnancy risks, and a list of other things when they switch brands. I don’t really want to put my body through that, and yes I fear that the side effect that I would be trying to get rid of (the decrease in sex drive) would still be there, and then what? If I ever decide to switch again, it will probably be changing methods of bc, to the shot maybe, but that’s a different story.
The article also points out there the desire and pleasure in females is something that could be overlooked.
Researchers lamented what they say is a dearth in research into ways to make sex more pleasurable to women who choose hormonal contraception. Says Nicole Smith, project coordinator at IU’s Center for Sexual Health Promotion,
A great effort has been made to make condoms more pleasurable for men. But you don’t hear about this same effort going toward reducing the negative impact of contraception on women’s sexual functioning. It’s just not part of the discussion.
I can see how this would be true. The desire and pleasure for sex in women should be just as big of a priority as the desire and pleasure for men. And to the men, if your woman isn’t as revved up as she used to be, don’t take it personally and assume there is a problem with you or her love for you, it could be her pill!
Having that said, I can only speak for myself when I say that although my body can tell the different between how I am feeling on and off the pills, it’s not quite enough for me to want to just stop taking it all together. I am still looking into other methods and I might have a go on one when I am ready to go through any of the possible changes, which is just not right now.
Ladies, have you experienced a lack of sex drive or pleasure in sex after you went on the pill? Have you tried other brands or thought about stopping because of it?
I recent saw a blog post that said the following:
Everyone reading this post has access to the Internet. You probably have food in your fridge, while others are starving to death.
You probably have heating and cooling in your home. I am sure if you are reading this, you have indoor plumbing.
Back in the old days they went outside sometimes in the middle of the night to poop.
They had to check the hole for animals and the smell could be pretty horrible.
You all have toilet paper.
You know what they used before toilet paper?
Probably all of you have a stove and a microwave.
You have water to drink that comes to your house and all you have to do is turn it on.
You have water that is heated in your bathtub. You can control whether it is hot or cold.
These awesome features were not available 100 years ago.
So for most of human history, no one had what you have today.
You are the 1%. You are the rich. You are privileged.
So stop complaining.
Source
I thought it was an interesting perspective.
Do you agree with that message?
Drama Queen
She lives her life just like a sponge
She likes to absorb reaction to her lies
Her eyes convey a sort of sadness that’s not real
It’s just a mask she likes to wear
Drama queen on a string
See her dance, hear her sing
Her lies for you today
Drama queen on a string
See her dance, hear her sing
Her lies for you today
Please do not think that I have no pity for you
But it’s not the kind of pity that you want
The mask you wear is just like glass
It’s so easy to see through and easy to break
Drama queen on a string
See her dance, hear her sing
Her lies for you today
Drama queen on a string
See her dance, hear her sing
Her lies for you today
I follow many great blogs and I think I am going to start linking some of them, just because I want people to check them out. In no particular order, here are just a few of the awesome bloggers that I follow with their awesome blogs. Just because. Check them out!
The other day I received a new comment in my entry called Blog Suppression, a post where I expressed my struggle with how much I should censor my opinions on here and if I should worry about offending people. Their question:
I would like to hear how you have decided to handle your posts. I am considering starting a blog and I think I have a lot of entertaining topic/obervations/things to touch upon, but I also don’t want to cast a dark light on anyone I know or care about. I don’t even want to cast a dark light on people I don’t know or don’t care about. My observations would never be mean spirited, but more comic. I realize when someone else is the center of humorous observation they have a hard time wrapping around the poster’s humor. Not sure what to do myself.
That is a very good question to ask. Here are some thoughts. If you truly feel that your observations wouldn’t intend on being mean spirited then I say you don’t have anything to worry about, really. Don’t censor your yourself. Yesterday while I was typing my Express Yourself post, I was looking at the wiki page and I came across another quote by Madonna that I find fit for not only her song but this kind of situation as well.
The time I learn how not to edit myself will be the time I consider myself a complete adult. – Madonna
To put it simply, post about whatever you want. If your intentions aren’t to be mean, that should show through. If you are worried about coming off like a jerk, you might want to reread or have a friend read your posts to see how it comes across to an audience member. But also know that you can’t always please everyone. There will likely usually be someone who will find fault in something you write, and that just comes with the territory of being a writer/blogger. Maybe you could make a disclaimer or note somewhere in the About section that your blog is meant to be humorous, so people won’t take everything you say so seriously. With most humor blogs I see, there is usually a description somewhere stating that it is humorous. Take The Bloggess, for example. She makes it pretty obvious that her blog is meant to be funny and most people are on board with that. People can either take it or leave it and if someone hates what you say anyway, they don’t have to visit. It may take some time for you to develop the right kind of message you want to get across and that is ok. You’ll get it. Tell your friends and family about your blog and explain to them what kind of blog it is. They might not agree with every little thing you say in it, but that’s just natural. It’s ok to be a little candid sometimes. Everyone is that way from time to time. You might also be surprised at how many people will support you with it and become a fan of your writing. I hope this helps, good luck!
Every one in a while I reminisce via Youtube old songs that I used to like when I was little. I somehow came upon Madonna’s Express Yourself and it struck me. I was only five years old when this song was released and hit popularity so I never really understood or cared what the song was about. I just knew it was a catchy song.
This time I listened to the lyrics and what they meant and I have to say that this is probably one of the most empowering messages in a pop song I have ever heard.
“The ultimate thing behind the song is that if you don’t express yourself, if you don’t say what you want, then you’re not going to get it. And in effect you are chained down by your inability to say what you feel or go after what you want. No matter how in control you think are about sexuality in a relationship there is always the power struggle… always a certain amount of compromise. Of being beholden, if you love them. You do it because you choose to. No one put the chain around this neck but me. I wrote ‘Express Yourself’ to tell women around the world that pick and choose the best for yourself, before that chain around your neck, kills you instead. Its my take on how man can express what they want, the same prerogative should be there for a woman too.” – Madonna
So basically this song is about encouraging women to express what they really want out of a relationship, whether it be sexually or emotionally. That they deserve to have what they want and if their partner is unwilling to listen, communicate, or compromise then it’s not in the cards and they need to move on.
I think this is often what a lot of women struggle with at some point during a relationship with someone. Many of them don’t even realize the importance of this in order to maintain a healthy relationship.
It’s true that you don’t seem to understand a lot of ideas in songs until you experience something that puts you in a position to relate to what they are singing about. This song holds very true for myself. What about you?
