a hairy subject

while perusing one of her guilty pleasure sites, your devoted proprietress came across this critique of comedienne/actress mo'nique's unshaven legs.

i won't even assault you with some of the commentary around this vintage madonna nude.

now, while we are always ready to promote good health and hygiene here at the shack, the hysterics around these womens' choices speaks to a much larger issue about what's acceptable, why, and how it came to be that way.

maybe it comes from growing up in the semi-south, but a black woman with hairy legs is not anathema. on the contrary, some men were quite vocal about the fact that they enjoyed "natural" women, and it was not unusual to see an attractive woman in a short skirt or shorts with unshaven legs and/or armpits. still isn't.

so...why so squeamish?

because we {read: black/colored women} ought to present a particular way once we've "made it"? because men--the men we're told we should desire, anyway--don't approve of it? because we live in a post-modern, affluent, overly-sanitized western nation?

sorry to break the news, but, ultimately, we're animals. primates. mammals, even. primates have hair. mammals have hair. hair is simply one sign of a functioning body. whether or not you choose to remove that hair is your choice, no one else's.*

secondly, how do we presume to know that "most women" shave? probably through television, movies, and pornography.

while we are not categorically anti-porn, just about any relatively conscious human being who's had sex in real life and real time would have to admit that images of the female body and sexuality itself are often distorted in all media, not just porn.

looking back, many of the sex kittens, bombshells, and pinups of the early to mid 20th century probably would have been lipo'ed, rhinoplasty-ed and breast enhanced beyond recognition today.

maybe leg hair and rounded tummies disgust us because we haven't seen a real woman in 20-30 years or more.

too bad we'd rather nix the body hair and keep the women fake.



*for another good hair rant, visit goddess glory. also, it's really interesting to see women from vintage porn/erotica. baby sinead has some good examples. additionally, dove's campaign for real beauty is brilliant--although greenpeace takes issue with their parent company.

mark your calendars! steak & bj day!

now that valentine's day is over, we have steak and blow job day to look forward to...

*record scratch*

hey, look, we're just the messengers.

there's all kinds of analysis going on there, but occasionally it's nice to let the readers do the work. so if you blog about it, let us know!

sexy news

hopefully v-day doesn't get you down, but this might help you overcome valentine's day depression.

and just in case your date turns in to something more, ecuadorian "gravity births" could teach us something.

always grateful for inclusion: sex and disability. bonus link - david steinberg's photos.

apparently love ain't easy in taiwan.

quickie!

you should visit the black nerds network.

www.myspace.com/theblacknerdsnetwork

http://blacknerdsnetwork.blogspot.com/

nerds need love too.
especially black ones!

if ya don't know, now ya know.

for you, valentine

whether you're in love, out of love, hopelessly bitter or overly optimistic, you'll find something to smile about in the city paper's valentines.

enjoy!

quickie!

democracy now! does a feature on women and war, focusing on the crisis in the congo.

to learn more, you can visit wikipedia for a recent timeline or see a ngo perspective here.

the word

lovelies, draw your attention to the work three pieces by the illustrious ntozake shange.

today's reading is an excerpt from act 1, scene 4 of the piece entitled a photograph: lovers in motion:

sean: i really like the way you look/ sleepin like that/ yr face in the mornin/ is a blessin/ some women/ i look at them/ i wanna get up...but you/ i wanna go back to the womb with you

michael: sean/ somebody's been sleeping here recently/ just like me

sean: you know somebodies have been sleeping here/ & you know yr here now & that is all you need to know...damn/ you are so soft...

michael: no/ it's important/ i cant lay in any old body's morning & evening smells/ i want an arrangement for me/ i know/ when i'm here i'll bring my japanese mats & we can sleep on the floor

sean (laughing): you mean yr not upset abt them bein here/ just bout where you sleep?

michael: uh huh

sean: well i'll be damned. what kinda woman are ya/ dont you wanna know/ why i need somebody else sides you/ & where am i going & who is that/ how much do i love you & all that stuff?

michael: no

sean: well/ i dont know how long this is gonna last/ but it sure feels funny

michael: feels funny?

sean: dont be getting all holy & above possession/ aint a bitch in the world cant get jealous & loud/ they been running me crazy

michael: that's them [stage instruction] i cant do that. i'm physically incapable of chasing & arguing abt a man/ i just cant. i dont have the energy

sexy news

brain sex, huh? while we agree that the brain is the sexiest organ, dead prez kinda coined that phrase years ago, mr. research man.

not cute: it seems that several areas are seeing a rise in teen dating violence. also, this past week was teen dating violence awareness and prevention week.

did you know? february is national condom month!

obligatory love day mention: recession-proof v-day ideas.

honorary love

robert nesta marley would have been 64 today. bless his life.

repression, the t-shirt

take a look at this.

the shirts are also mentioned on gawker, but your loving proprietress isn't too fond of the tone over there. try feministing for a better take.

so here's what initially comes to mind:

what happens when you choose to not teach your kids about sex/sexuality in a comprehensive way and they go around saddlebacking instead?

if god is love and god loves us and wants us to love ourselves, what's wrong with enjoying pleasurable feelings on one's own in the absence of marriage and/or a committed partner?

the spiritual nitpicking around what is acceptable and what isn't, which parts of scripture to uphold and which to ignore becomes more telling by the hour.*

on that note, hell, what's wrong with feeling good, period? there are far more pros to masturbation and orgasm--both scientifically and spiritually speaking--than cons.

the sexual force is what spurs creativity, life, and all forms of loving. even a mother's love begins with the sexual act she performed in order to conceive her child.

...don't cringe. it's true. obviously none of us feels the need to envision our parents in that position {and you don't have to!} but one cannot, on the most basic of levels, separate the two. doing so forces a sort of schizophrenia that produces, well, shirts like this.

it is worrisome when a culture or religion relegates masturbation to furtive petting in front of a computer during a late night porn binge. there are volumes of literature from the corners of the world outlining how sexual energy can be used for healing, instruction and enlightenment, making threats of hairy palms and blindness all the more ludicrous.

we're sure that you beloveds will continue your scheduled pleasure sessions without a second thought, but we weep for the children who are being told to keep their hands to--or is it away from?--themselves.



*that link further proves the problems inherent in trying to use a plagiarized, politically edited and deliberately incomplete text as the infallible word of the divine. also problematic is the absence in said text of an initiation system or other specific means of working with said divinity--within or without oneself--beyond the bare minimums of prayer and unexplained endless rules and regulations. but that's another post.