Sunday, March 22, 2009

Public Perceptions of Breastfeeding

This is not my article originally but Radical Midwife brought it to my attention and a quick search of Google shows that LOTS of people are reposting it!

Society is so sexualized that they have forgotten what God created our breasts for in the first place. They throw hissy fits over breastfeeding in public and expect us to feed our babies in dirty, stinky bathrooms. So I ask you to judge for yourself, which breasts are truly offensive here? And I understand some of you won't think ANY of them are offensive. But I am making a point by showing how ridiculous it is that society looks upon scantily clad women in sexy ads as ok, even GREAT, but providing important nourishment and nutrients to your child in public by breastfeeding is offensive, distasteful, disgusting, whatever. Give me your feedback. :)

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Wait... well, this is a bad example. Let's try again...

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Hmmm... just a minute. Surely i can find better ones than these...

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Eh... still not racy enough. I'll check one more time.

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That's better. LOOK AT THAT! I see about an inch of boob! Totally disgusting.

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Ugh! Look at that indecency!! She must be from some third-world country to be exposed like that!!

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Now that's just... There's no words to describe how inappropriate that is. Something needs to be done!!




Now this takes the cake!! How dare they actually put such a disgusting image on the cover of a magazine where teenage boys might see it. This simply must be disposed of ASAP via a shredder, before teenage boys learn what boobs are really for!!

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This just makes me want to vomit!

...but why stop at breastfeeding women? There are boobs everywhere. Beware! If you thought the above photos were offensive, you WILL DEFINITELY be offended by the photos below.


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Not this one though. This was in plain view on newsstands and in mailboxes in 19 countries worldwide!

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Not this one either. This one actually won an award!

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Oh, and i guess this ones fine too, since everyone knows you can't sell jeans without someone being topless.

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or beer, for that matter!

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or sunglasses...

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or movie tickets...

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or CDs...

...you know what? Maybe I'm crazy, but i think that someone mixed up some photos here. The first batch are offensive, but the second batch are just fine and dandy???

People who live in glass bras:
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shouldn't throw stones:
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Which message is healthier?
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Breastfeeding which is medically approved to give HUMANS the best start in life. . . or

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Images that promote STDs, unattainable beauty standards, sexual promiscuity, plastic surgery, and just plain TRUE indecency?

Which would you rather your daughter live up to?

Ifyou think women have the right to breastfeed their children no matter where they are, please re-post this. The least you can do is help some children get the best nutrition they can get. Breastfed babies have lower instances of obesity, asthma, allergies, certain childhood diseases, learning disabilities, and other health problems. For each woman who feels like she shouldn't be breastfeeding right where she is, there is an innocent baby who is losing out. Don't be responsible for any child's health problems. support breastfed babies and their right to eat in public like the rest of us.




Friday, March 20, 2009

Respect is not demanded but it is commanded

The title actually has nothing to do with anything. Have some pictures to cheer yourself up.

The Rules:
1) Answer each of the questions below and search for the answer using the Flickr Search engine.
2) Choose a photo from the first three pages for each question.
3) Copy the URL of your favorite photo into this site (you'll want to set it up to have four columns and three rows to get a result like mine).
4) Printscreen, crop, save mosaic to some form of photo hosting thing and share with the world!

1. First Name (Emma)
2. Favorite Food (mint)
3. Hometown (Adelaide)
4. Favorite Color (orange)
5. Celebrity Crush (David Tenant)
6. Favorite Drink (creamy cocktail)
7. Dream Vacation (Paris)
8. Favorite Dessert (berry pie)
9. What I Want To Be When I Grow Up (midwife and mother)
10. What I Love Most In The World (love)
11. One Word That Describes Me (creative)
12. My LiveJournal Name


1. Emma Watson, 2. chocolate mint cupcake, 3. A Day Out, 4. orange for orange day!, 5. Thoroughly Good People, 6. Creamy chocolate cocktail, 7. Last day in Paris, 8. 3 Berry Pie, 9. It's a GIRL!!!, 10. he loves me/he loves me not., 11. "Creative Hands" - Mindy, 12. for badylugz (which hasn't shown up but click the link to see!)

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

What would be hardest to give up?

It's going around the enviro-green blogs at the moment to ponder what the most difficult thing to change would be. "On the path to sustainability, What Is The Most Difficult Thing To Change" has a heap of comments outlining what readers think would be the hardest to lose. So here is my list of 5 things that I'd find hardest to give up:
  1. Coffee. Environmentally I try to get green(er) or organic, and free trade coffee. But when I'm out and about and want something, I'm not so able to find this and not so disciplined as to say no to my want.
  2. Toilet paper, paper towel, tissues and plastic bags for little bins - but that's from a hygeine point of view. It's a perception perhaps that these things make my life cleaner, and I'm trying to change my approach but it's really hard to see myself using reusable toilet wipes. Paper towel is a bit easier to get away from, but the plastic bin liners are also part of my culture and they save me time in maintaining bins.

    Heh - I didn't say I was virtuous here. Just honest.

  3. Eating non-locally produced food. Eating locally-grown produce is relatively easy. I refuse to eat imported fruit and veg, but I'd like to eat more locally-made foods to. It'd help if there were labels about this on items. Or alternately, a clear line of "it is better to eat locally-grown food than eat imported or shipped organically-grown food" to help me decide.
  4. Colouring my hair. I love doing it for the pick-me-up I get but it's not fab for the environment or for sustainability.
  5. Electricity, internets etc - I spend a lot of time on it. Our bills are low and not changed in winter too much but still, it's something of a concern.

Monday, March 16, 2009

Hippo birdy two ewes

I'm older today! 29 now! Yay! Nearly at the end of my 20s. Not sure how I feel about that. Today's horrorscope tells me:

It’s not a good day to postpone tasks or chores until tomorrow, no matter how straight-forward things may seem. Right now the signs are looking good for getting ahead of yourself in terms of work or school, so take advantage, because tomorrow’s planets warn of an unforeseen increase in your workload!


which means I should get organised to get out of the house to go and renew my license (wow that means I've had it for 10 years now!) and do a few other things. And do more of my assignment instead of playing online Uno...

Other dot points in my life:
  • Doctors don't have a clue, and what they say is usually crap. I have little respect for most obstetricians to give honest, balanced advice but am rather spoilt by having a lovely GP who does call it like it is. The fact that a physician then doesn't do the same thing as my GP shouldn't surprise me but it did. Physicians make money by convincing people that they are broken, incapable, at risk and on a long slow path to barely being able to function (MUCH LIKE MANY OBS!!!!!) and I need to talk to more people who know I'm amazing, driven and focused, as well as progressing amazingly well and if not, then I'm able to adapt.
  • House hunting blows goats. Especially when you find the perfect house, and the perfect landlord, who thinks you're perfect... only to say absolutely not to having a cat. And so I have to call up and beg for a reconsideration. When we're getting, but in the meantime my stomach is in knots waiting.
  • Baby show was horrendous and amazing and fabulous all in one today. There were LOTS of formula companies there that made me VERY VERY angry. The only helium balloons were from K@ricare for eg and that made me want to break things. I made a point of going to the cloth nappy places, and to the sling places, and to the breast feeding association and so forth, rather than the standard crap. I did look at prams but that was more for fun with my sister. I miss being around women and midwives something fierce - October can't come soon enough!
Cutest toddler ever:
Very cute puppy:
New hair:

And so on and so on - more are on Flickr

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Ambient intimacy

Hoyden About Town recently spoke on ambient intimacy and assistive devices. She said: "The internet is the virtual watercooler (or coffeehouse, or playgroup, or pub) for people like me, isolated due to disability. And I'm fed up with able-bodied folk slamming electronic community as a meaningless half-life. I'm sick of internet use being constructed as a signifier of a person as a pathetic loser worthy of mockery. And I'm over ignorant pundits reviling the rise in electronic community as The End of the World as We Know It, a one-way highway to the inevitable disengaged, apolitical fragmentation of society."

Disambiguity tells me that ambient intimacy is "about being able to keep in touch with people with a level of regularity and intimacy that you wouldn’t usually have access to, because time and space conspire to make it impossible". I do this. I am friends with people on a forum that is almost entirely US-based but I find a lot of support on there. I am also a member of forums on BubHub and Joyous Birth, and while I'm not a prolific poster there yet, I am doing a lot of reading for personal and professional reasons. I am also on Ravelry. These give me a community that I don't have access to in the real world or IRL (in real life) as it is referred to.

What makes these less "real" than the physical world? I tell people on these forums things that I wouldn't otherwise share with anyone other than my most intimate friends - but sometimes you want a community of people to respond to you. And that community is self-selecting, in that they have an inherent interest in you/what you're talking about. How am I to know whether my friend is interested in my school life, or my tooth ache, or how to deal with a situation with a work colleague, or how to talk to ManFriend about debt and plans for the future? I don't have that many tangible friends that are older and more experienced and forums give me access to those, so they are just as real as the person I can hug. And when the forums that I am part of are places where people will call me on my shit, or give me a point of view that I've not considered or would never have researched, I see them as more useful than my friends, who can sometimes want to save my feelings by not being honest.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

C.R.A.P.

I borrowed/changed this from Holly as I am gearing up to move house again, and need to do some more of this. She stole that acronym from a thread on the forums over at davesgarden.com.

C.R.A.P. (Clutter Reduction Action Plan)

Phase 1: Actual rubbish
Take a CAREFUL and thorough trip through every room and throw out rubbish. You'd be amazed at what you've put down in places because you can't think of what to do with it, and it really should have gone straight into the bin.

Phase 2: Stuff I Don't Need
Grab 4 boxes and go through the house and collect things to throw away (bigger things, not rubbish), things to donate to a new home, things to sell and lastly - things that you'd use if you painted it, fixed it etc. Set a time frame to do this (say, a month) and then work out whether these things are just hanging around and cluttering your life.

Phase 3: Reduce clothing hoard by 50%
Be ruthless and go through your clothes one sunny afternoon and reduce by 50%. This means looking at things with a critical eye - are they worn out? Are they out of fashion to the point where you won't wear them? Have you worn them in the past 2 years? I did this recently and was ruthless on tshirts that I love but are worn out, with clothes that are too small for me, and with things I've not worn since moving here 3 years ago. It was surprisingly easy. And means you wear everything in your wardrobe.

Phase 4: Hidden hoarding
Cupboards, boxes, bags, bookcases - all can be hidden hoard spots! Be ruthless.

Phase 5: Upgrade
Upgrade to higher quality, better planned systems/furniture that make for better organizing. Do this slowly and WITH PURPOSE so you don't get stuck again. For eg, I plan on upgrading our bookcases to tall ones to reduce their footprint... and hopefully use the books that I have on there!

Friday, March 13, 2009

Progress on 101 things

I have managed to mark a few things off my 101 things in 1001 days list:
#68 from a lovely gift from ManFriend;
#69 and #49 last weekend;
#72 in style on 26th with a bbq and JJJ Hottest 100 party; and
#87 and #90 just these past few days!

Next on my list:
#9
#11
#67
#73
#95

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Thankyou for the future

Leading on from Peak Oil Hausfrau:

Thankyou for walking to the shops to do some grocery shopping, for taking your own bags and backpack, for taking a trolley and for enjoying yourself in some sunshine. You have reduced your consumption because you are limited in what you can buy (because you have to carry it home), you're doing your bit for your own health by walking, and you are trundling your trolley along behind you so had to pack your goods sensibly and maybe buy in bulk.

Thankyou for buying a water bottle and using it, refilling it, washing it and keeping it with you when you go out. If not - thankyou for drinking out of your hands in the bathroom.

Thankyou for not washing your car, for not flushing the toilet every time you wee in it, and for wearing clothes until they really need a wash.

Thankyou for buying 2nd hand - clothes, books, baby gear, textbooks, furniture, cars, decorations etc.

Thankyou for using a Diva Cup or similar innovative item!

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

I went to the zoo



If you notice that the animals are all in the shade, half asleep, or looking pained, it's because it was VERY hot that day and the poor animals weren't really enjoying it. I loves the zoo though - this was Taronga Zoo in Sydney and it is an amazing place.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Tuesday I've got Friday on my mind...

Things are going on in my life and I've been of two minds as to whether to post here or not. On one hand, this is a blog. It's public. It's read by who knows whom, and so forth. But on the other hand, I need to have somewhere to write about:
  • school
  • life
  • health
  • fitness
  • ttc
  • wedding, marriage, that kind of thing
  • moving house
  • cooking, crafting and creating
in a respectful-but-totally-me way. Mostly because otherwise I will be labelled as obsessed by friends and family, and mostly by ManFriend (soon to be TheHusband actually, with only 3 weeks to go, but I think I need another name for him on here) as I tend to get obsessed with the details of something, get to be an expert in it, then move on. No harm, no foul - I just like having knowledge!

So I will turn over a new leaf on here and post some Real stuff that is going on in my life. Not just the minutea that I tend to post about here.

So, here are some photos of me! I got a new dress and loves it. I struggled to take a photo of that at the time as I don't have a tripod, but this is the best shot so far:



I have a heap more photos on my camera of recent excitements so will get the off in a minute and upload them... bring on instant transfer, sortage, improvement, upload, tagging and presentation of photos!!