Labor Day Book Giveaway

In honor of the upcoming labor day weekend, I'm giving away the children's book ¡Sí, Se Puede! Yes, We Can! Janitor Strike in L.A. written by Diana Cohn.

The book is a fictional bilingual story about the Los Angeles Justice for Janitors Campaign in the year 2000 organized in part by labor activist Dolores Sanchez. The book tells the story of Carlitos' mother as she goes to work every night as a janitor after she tucks him into bed, only to see him again briefly in the morning before he goes to school. One day Carlitos' mother comes home and tells her son that in order to make more money and buy medication for his grandmother, she must go on strike. Carlitos watches his mother make union speeches on television, and one day Carlitos goes to the picket line carrying a sign, "I love my mamá! She is a janitor!"

This book is a great book about working class Latina and immigrant labor activists!

The giveaway will end at 8:00 Pacific Standard Time, this Wednesday.

To win-(participants have the potential to submit their name in the raffle up to four times):
1 entry: leave a comment with your email address
2 entries: leave a comment about your favorite female labor activist
3 entries: tweet about the giveaway (please leave a comment with your twitter link) 4 entries: blog about the giveaway (leave a comment with the link to your blog)

Thanks for Making Me a Fighter

Dear Any Enemy or Player Hater that I've Ever Had,

As many of you know, I'm like the fucking energizer bunny-there's no stopping me when I set out to do something. I accomplish what I want, when I want and I don't let anyone let me tell me otherwise. You've tried to derail my plans, persuade me against doing something, told me that I wouldn't be successful or something wouldn't work, and all such jealous hogwash. You've slandered my name, turned weak people against me, and tried to make it hard on me.

Yet I still come out on top, bitches. People like you have kept me on my toes and keep me at the top of my game.

Fuck you very much!

Crazy Nymphomaniacal Penis-Envying Fucked-Up Frigid Bitch

In the feminist novel Memoirs of an Ex-Prom Queen, the female character Sasha Davis visits a male psychoanalyst in order to discuss being miserable in her marriage and her perceived "frigidity". The novel takes place in the fifties and sixties, so of course the therapist tells her that if only she embraces her feminine true self then she will be able to be happy. You know, her main problem is that she needs to set aside her penis-envy and get with the program, right?

At one point in her therapy session, she discusses with her therapist her need to have extramarital affairs. She considers leaving her husband, but the therapist advises her that she shouldn't make any drastic decisions. Sasha reflects to herself, "He seemed to feel that the known was better than the unknown, another man would prove no better for me than this one, and a crazy nymphomaniacal penis-envying fucked-up frigid bitch like me was lucky to have hooked any man at all".

Gotta love it.

Caster Semenya: Poking, Prodding and Proving "Gender"

I was just reading online that the South African teenager Caster Semenya who won an 800 meter gold metal is possibly undergoing "gender testing" in order to prove whether or not she is a genetic female. The verification includes "a physical medical evaluation, and includes reports from a gynecologist, endocrinologist, psychologist, an internal medicine specialist and an expert on gender".

Bullshit. I'd like to know how many men would allow themselves to be subjected to so much poking and prodding in order to determine their sex!?

I'm sitting here thinking of a couple of possibilities. The first thought that comes to my head is that age-old stereotype that men are faster and stronger than women, so therefore people are accusing her of being a man because they can't fathom that a woman can leave everyone behind in the dust. I'll bet that's exactly what's going on here.

It seems that any time that a woman KICKS ASS and takes names, people drum up tons of explanations for said ass-kicked-ness such as: she's a bitch, a lesbian, she eats her young, she slept her way to the top, she's not really a woman, blablafuckingbla. People just can't accept that many women are take-no-prisoners más-chingona-que-la-fregada bad ass divas.

Beyond that possibility, I could really give a shit. If she was not "genetically born" as a female is really none of our damn business if she happens to live her life as a woman, as far as I'm concerned. It just seems hard for me to believe that a man would be able to impersonate a woman all the way to the Olympics, so that's not even a possibility that I will even entertain at the moment. With all those doctors and tests, it sounds to me like it's a possibility that she might be transgendered, but then again it's none of my fucking business and it doesn't matter to me anyway.

You can read about the story:

Jezebel

You can also read more here, which discusses that this has happened before to women athletes, as well as male impersonators of female athletes.

Bad Ass Links: Heartless Bitch International

I was surfing online for kick-ass, take no prisoner kind of websites for women and I came upon the website Heartless Bitches International. The first thing that drew me in immediately was their catch phrase "Because We Know That BITCH Means: Being In Total Control, Honey!" They've got rants, a bitch board (if you are heartless enough to get accepted), book reviews and recommendations, and tons of other bitchy stuff that I haven't had time yet to sift through. Check it out for yourself!

Say It Sista: The Quotable Bitch

"I strive to get what I want and people have said that I'm a monster in that department. But that's always said about us ladies who grasp for our own strength". Julie Andrews, actress

"I also believe that when you are attacked, you have to deck your opponent". Hillary Rodham Clinton

"Once a crowd chased me for an autograph. 'Beat it,' I said, 'go sit on a tack!' 'We made you,' they said. 'Like hell you did!' I told them". Katharine Hepburn, actress

"If I had my life to live over, I would do it all again, but this time I would be nastier". Jeanette Rankin, first female U.S. Congresswoman

"Some people wear their heart up on their sleeve. I wear mine underneath my right pant leg, strapped to my boot". Ani DiFranco, singer

"When other little girls wanted to be ballet dancers I kind of wanted to be a vampire". Angelina Jolie, actress

"We are the women men warned us about". Robin Morgan, feminist activist

Source: The Quotable Bitch

Shakira: Bad Ass Gone AWOL

There was once upon a time when I used to love the singer Shakira. Those were the days when she sang exclusively in Spanish and cultivated somewhat of a bad ass rocker image. Shakira was so edgy, sassy, artistic, and seemed to have a lot more meat on her booty and hips. She sometimes had black hair, sometimes dark brown or with a dark reddish tint. Sometimes she wore her hair in braids or dreads. She played a guitar and had her cute little pseudo rap in songs. She sang about her neurosis, flies in her house, not bathing on Sundays, and referenced Marx in a song.

If you ever followed the pre-Pepsi Shakira and were a fan of hers, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Even if you don't speak Spanish, you can see for yourself what she used to look like and how she used to portray herself in some of these older videos:

Inevitable

Dónde estás corazón?

Pies Descalzos

I didn't even flinch when she started into her belly dancing phase because at the time it was something different and I admired watching a woman who had a little somethin' somethin' on her hips shake it for all the world to see. Here's video of Shakira shaking her hips:

Ojos Así

And then came the Pepsi commercials.

And singing shitty pop songs in English. And the blond hair. And the airhead behavior. And her comments that she's "a princess in a rocker's body". And the mtv or vh1 show (does it really matter which channel it was on?).

Next came Alejandro Sanz and the strange contortions that she started with her body, those movements that everyone seems to find sexy yet I find to be just plain stupid and un-Shakira-like. Not to mention that black crap all over body. All I'm thinking about when I'm watching the video is, "What the hell is that black crap all over her body?"

I've been waiting for her to come home and get back to her roots, yet I suppose I'm going to have to come to terms with the fact that the bad ass Shakira that I used to love has gone awol.

Her latest video She Wolf is so, how shall I explain it...."beyonce"-esque. If I ever had any thoughts of her reconnecting with her roots and getting back into her bad ass character, I suppose I will have to throw in the towel now. She's still blond, still singing practically in incomprehensible English, and looks just plain stupid.

Hell, I'm one sex-positive bitch. I'm a self-proclaimed unrepentant SLUT and advocate of sex workers. However, this video is just not jivin' with me.

Listen up, Shakira-you are a fucking LATINA. Cut it out with the fucking blond hair, grow your booty and hips back and quit your stupid ass singing in English. Until you have some sense smacked into that blond head of yours, I'll be sitting at home mourning the loss of one of my favorite old bad asses.