Yeah.... Let's not keep putting these people in office. 

 
                                                                        No it is not. 

Give those kids the sex ed they deserve!

LOVE  THIS!  Had to share! 

Abstinence only sex-ed is (cough cough duh) FAILING! Awesome Chart from publichealthdegree.com that gives some numbers. 

Sadly, my new state of Texas is leading the charge as the worst of the worst. More than 96% of school districts in Texas teach abstinence only AND Texas has the highest teen birth-rate in the nation. AH! Out of every 1,000 girls, 62 give birth to a child! These numbers could easily be CHANGED! WITH WHAT? SEX ED! 

And in case you missed it a few months back.... Rick Perry's FB bombarded by all sorts of women's health questions... hehehe Check it out in the link below. 
Who else thinks our politicians need to stop stepping in as "expert physicians" !? 

YOU MUST SEE THIS!  

Peace Love and Condoms! 
(not telling middle and high schools kids about safe sex doesn't mean they won't have sex!! It just means they won't have the knowledge to make safe, healthy choices that will prevent STDS and unintended pregnancies! I think you know why I said this directly after peace, love, and condoms! haha!) 

Oh wait I have more condom talk for you! Last week at NY Fasion Week Christian Siriano launched his line with Proper Attire condoms. 
                      They're modern. They're fashionable. They're required for entry. 

Aren't they lovely!? 

Okay now SERIOUSLY. Peace Love and Condoms! 

#ReasontoRise : 

I think everyone needs to read this powerful article by Soraya Chemaly, "We are all Sonali", Sonali a woman who at 27 is receiving surgery to help reconstruct her face which melted 9 year ago when three young men poured acid on her face while she slept. Chemaly argues we are all Sonali. She states "How can I say "we are all Sonali" when what she and these other girls and women have experienced are extreme and terrifying injustices? I can say it because women all over the world are not in possession of themselves. And we have the right to be."

And another powerful quote from Chemaly's piece: "What women experience as victims of abuse, or when they're seized and forced to undergo surgery against their wills, or even when they hear a vice-presidential candidate say publicly, without widespread and uniform condemnation, that rape is just another "method of conception," is someone else (or the state) claiming ownership of their bodies and existences. Usually that someone else is a man they know. The abuse and rape of women is oblivious to social status, education, race, nationality, ethnicity, or anything else. What Sonali asked for when she resisted her harassers every day, and what was denied to her when they attacked her, was the right to be female and in control of her own body. Men wanted to control her and wanted access to her body. Indeed, they felt that this access and control were their birthright. Her culture, the men and women in it, supporting the notion that her body was somehow public property, allowed this to happen. When she did not comply, they punished her severely. They invaded her privacy. They violated her bodily integrity. They ignored her autonomy, and they damaged her body horrifically. They denied her her agency. Does this sound familiar yet?"

Here is the entire article.

Or visit the facebook page Friends of Sonali

Or watch the 2012 Academy Award Winning movie "Saving Face" which follows women who have also been victims of acid throwing.

Peace Love and Condoms!

Pretty boring day followed by a super good evening! 

I recently moved to Houston, TX and the dream organization I would LOVE to work at is right in my neighborhood! (For now I'm sticking with selling/doing makeup for Chanel- holla) 

But if you can't get your dream job at a non-profit what's second best!? Volunteer! 

So tonight was my volunteer orientation. I'm rally excited to start answering calls for the hotline, tutoring kids, and hopefully doing some outreach. 

I'll share with you BATP's...

Mission: BATP provides recovery solutions services for survivors of family violence and sexual assault prevention strategies for societal change in partnership with our community. 
Vision: Peace...Every Woman, Every Child, Every Man....Every Day. 
Goals: Provide quality direct services to child and adult victims and families experiencing domestic and sexual violence. Work towards eliminating domestic and sexual violence through prevention and educational services. 

Check out BATP here!!!

And here is a link to RAINN's youtube channel! (Rape Abuse & Incest National Network) RAINN YOUTUBE PAGE

Everyone gets one and one only! And it's a very precious thing. Love your bodies, love yourselves! 

Peace Love and Condoms! 

 Hope you listened to some Lupe last night!

This post is made possible by my awesome friends.

First, Brittany Nolan for this super interesting read about the porn industry and how they deal with protection and testing for STIs.

"The gay porn industry has always had HIV-positive performers. A self-regulating policy of condoms and no testing — the inverse of the straight porn world, which prefers testing and no condoms — has allowed it. But that’s changed in some corners, where testing for sexually transmitted diseases is being mandated alongside rubbers. Testing positive means that you’re blocked from performing, even with condoms — and for some in the business, this raises concerns about discrimination and medical privacy." -the intro 

What do you think? Necessity? Or discrimination? READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE!!!!!

“Why has sexual freedom come to look so much like sexual repression? Why has sexual freedom come to look so much like unfreedom?” is a question posed by author Stoltenburg his article “Pornography and Freedom.” I would suggest reading it as ad on to the one I just posted. 

 Also if this is a topic that interests you watch “The Price of Pleasure”  (WOOT WOOT shout out to Jenn Scott and Ross Wantland!)  This movie portrays there is no question that MAINSTREAM pornography promotes sexual injustice between men and women. 

"Pornography and Freedom" argues that as we have moved away from sex with guilt, fear, or shame that came from institutionalized structures such as the church, but there is still something drastically wrong in our interpersonal view of sex and “to take into account in one’s consciousness that this other person is a person.” Stoltenburg gives the examples of a cartoon from the magazine Penthouse where a man says to the woman he is having sex with “I can’t come unless you pretend to be unconscious.”  I mean, EW. 

And just watch The Price of Pleasure.... it might shock you. In my humble opinion . . . what do the kind of images in mainstream porn say about our culture? If these are the images and what is mainstream in every young boys life as part of his sexual socialization, how will we ever break free from the shackles of dominance and subordination (which Stoltenburg states are the very essentials of injustice and unfreedom), the concept that men have a superior status to women and women are inferior and should submit to a man and his desires, even if those desires hurt her and humiliate her. 

Click here to watch clips from The Price of Pleasure

And speaking of HOLY WTF's in the world.....  what the hell is wrong with Chris Brown!?!?!? Word can not even express....... Just because this man is famous is NO EXCUSE. I have felt guilty every time I have sung along to Run It since the Rihanna beating and now I just need to stop. The debate is over whether or not this is a tattoo of Rihanna.... but either way it's incredibly sad to document an assault on ANY woman and W.T.H on your neck?

Moving on to the complete opposite!!! And super positive! I'd like to show off my Sexual Health Peers friend's joint blog The Sex Storm! It's amazing. You should read it. I do. Love you three! Chocolate Thunder, White Lightning, and The Storm are their names and bringing you The Sex and Relationship Blog thats Full of Pleasure is. their. game. My personal favorite part? At the end of each read is a 'Sex Vocab of the Week' - you could learn a lot!

Check out The Sex Storm Here!!!!  Or 'like' their FB page.


Peace Love and Condoms!

     Hope everyone had a fabulous weekend! Mine was full of warm weather and new friends!

There are a few things I want to share with you today. =]

1. My absolute favorite rapper if not musical artist and feminist and activist against violence particularly in my hometown of Chicago, Lupe Fiasco is possibly retiring. Other rappers in Chicago have been hostile towards him after the release of his song Bitch Bad

Lupe said he wanted to start a social dialogue with this song. Do you think he is challenging the use of the word 'bitch' in hip hop?

First check out the video if you have yet to see it: Bitch Bad by Lupe Fiasco video

And here are the lyrics:

[Intro]
Yeah, I say
Bitch bad, woman good, lady better
Hey, hey
Hey, hey
[Verse 1]
Now imagine there's a shorty, maybe five maybe four
Ridin' 'round with his mama listening to the radio
And a song comes on and a not far off from being born
Doesn't know the difference between right and wrong
Now I ain't trying to make it too complex
But let's just say shorty has an undeveloped context
About the perception of women these days
His mama sings along and this what she says
"Niggas, I'm a bad bitch, and I'm that bitch
Something that's far above average"
And maybe other rhyming words like cabbage and savage
And baby carriage and other things that match it
Couple of things are happenin' here
First he's relatin' the word "bitch" with his mama - comma
And because she's relatin' to herself, his most important source of help
And mental health, he may skew respect for dishonor

Bitch bad, woman good
Lady better, they misunderstood
(I'm killin' these bitches)
Uh, tell 'em
Bitch bad, woman good
Lady better, they misunderstood
They misunderstood

[Verse 2]
Yeah, now imagine a group of little girls nine through twelve
On the internet watchin' videos listenin' to songs by themselves
It doesn't really matter if they have parental clearance
They understand the internet better than their parents
Now being the internet, the content's probably uncensored
They're young, so they're malleable and probably unmentored
A complicated combination, maybe with no relevance
Until that intelligence meets their favorite singer's preference
"Bad bitches, bad bitches, bad bitches
That's all I want and all I like in life is bad bitches, bad bitches"
Now let's say that they less concerned with him
And more with the video girl acquiescent to his whims
Ah, the plot thickens
High heels, long hair, fat booty, slim
Reality check, I'm not trippin'
They don't see a paid actress, just what makes a bad bitch

[Verse 3]
Disclaimer: this rhymer, Lupe, is not usin' "bitch" as a lesson
But as a psychological weapon
To set in your mind and really mess with your conceptions
Discretions, reflections, it's clever misdirection
Cause, while I was rappin' they was growin' up fast
Nobody stepped in to ever slow 'em up, gasp
Sure enough, in this little world
The little boy meets one of those little girls
And he thinks she a bad bitch and she thinks she a bad bitch
He thinks disrespectfully, she thinks of that sexually
She got the wrong idea, he don't wanna fuck her
He think she's bad at bein' a bitch, like his mother
Momma never dressed like that, come out the house hot mess like that
Ass, titties, breasts like that, all out to impress like that
Just like that, you see the fruit of the confusion
He caught in a reality, she caught in an illusion
Bad mean good to her, she really nice and smart
But bad mean bad to him, bitch don't play your part
But bitch still bad to her if you say it the wrong way
But she think she a bitch, what a double entendre
[Outro: MDMA]
Bitch bad, woman good, lady better
They misunderstood
You're misunderstood (I'm killin' these bitches)
Bitch bad, woman good, lady better
Greatest mother hoood (I'm killin' these bitches)

What does everyone think about the word 'bitch' being reapropriated?  Bitch magazine is awesome and here's why they decided to title their feminist magazine with such a controversial word: 

"For as long as we’ve been publishing Bitch, there’s one question that gets asked over and over. And over. “Why did you choose that word as the name of your magazine?” While we’re aware that the magazine’s title, and the organization’s name, is off-putting to some people, we think it’s worth it. And here’s why.

The writer Rebecca West said, “People call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat.” We’d argue that the word “bitch” is usually deployed for the same purpose. When it’s being used as an insult, “bitch” is an epithet hurled at women who speak their minds, who have opinions and don’t shy away from expressing them, and who don’t sit by and smile uncomfortably if they’re bothered or offended. If being an outspoken woman means being a bitch, we’ll take that as a compliment.

We know that not everyone’s down with the term. Believe us, we’ve heard all about it. But we stand firm in our belief that if we choose to reappropriate the word, it loses its power to hurt us. And if we can get people thinking about what they’re saying when they use the word, that’s even better.

Bitch. It’s a noun. It’s a verb. It’s a magazine. It’s a feminist media organization." 

Either way, I don't think expressing your opinions artistically warrant the negative attention Lupe has received. When Lupe says "my problem is i'm peaceful.. and i believe in the people" it's SO INCREDIBLY SAD that that's a problem... It certainly shouldn't be. I say, let's stand up with Lupes! 

At Occupy Chicago.

Here is what he tweeted after the attacks referring to his song: @LupeFiasco 

Lupe Fiasco

i have spoken peace only 2 receive vitriol and malice in return. My brother seeks destruction my sister seeks attention paths to nothingness

September 5, 2012 10:44 pm via web Reply Retweet Favorite

@LupeFiasco 
Lupe Fiasco

i'd die for them...but they'd probably spit on my grave...i still will die for them...just bury me in a place far from their reach...Amin

September 5, 2012 10:47 pm via web Reply Retweet Favorite

@LupeFiasco 
Lupe Fiasco

This album will probably be my last...its been a pleasure to have all my fans provide so much love an inspiration for me and my family

September 5, 2012 11:07 pm via web Reply Retweet Favorite

@LupeFiasco 
Lupe Fiasco

but my heart is broken and i see no comfort further along this path only more pain. I cannot participate any longer in this...

September 5, 2012 11:10 pm via web Reply Retweet Favorite

@LupeFiasco 
Lupe Fiasco

My first true love was literature so i will return to that...lupe fiasco ends here...

September 5, 2012 11:12 pm via web Reply Retweet Favorite

          A WWII poster produced by the U.S military to promote the use of "pro-kits" after sex

A super interesting article to share with you today! Getting it On: The Covert History of the Condom

There was once a time where we couldn't just call a condom a condom.... we had to use clever tricks and pretty packaging to hide what is now such a normal part of engaging in safe sex.

                                                     Check it out these funky wrappers! 

Now a days we don't have to be secretive and hide that we're using condoms but that doesn't mean they can't be beautiful! ProperAttire Condoms says "Old stereotypes about who should buy condoms are so last season!" Amazing designers create one of a kind condoms that NO ONE should feel shamed about carrying with them. Plus, they are adorable and will blend right in with your purse.

Keith Haring Condom - my personal favorite design

Click, Click!  SEE ALL THE CONDOMS RIGHT HERRRE Click, Click! 

And also of course carrying a condom should not carry a stereotype because condoms save lives! 

Condoms prevent STDs, prevent unwanted pregnancies, less stress, lower rate of cervical cancer, and much more. 

I'll make a post soon going into further details about types and sizes but for now read up on some condom history! Neat stuff. 

Peace, Love, and (wow this really works for this post) Condoms! 

A pretty interesting sex quiz about some wild myths! 

Take it and learn some really cool facts

Here it is! On livescience.com

Peace Love and Condoms! 

Hello my name is...

                                                             
                                                                        Hey yall! 

I've been wanting to start a blog concerning all things women's health and I finally did.  

My name is Jordan and I am first and foremost a dancer.  joriballetgrl was my first email address back in the day but now you can call me joriballetgrlwoman! 

My primary areas of interest are sexual health, reproductive choices, healthy relationships, and ENDING sexual violence/sexual assault/domestic violence.  But I am going to try my best to keep educating myself in other areas so I can share that knowledge as well. 

I just graduated from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign with a degree in Community Health with a concentration in Health Education and Promotion. That's a photo of me from Take Back the Night Champaign style this year. 

Peace Love and Condoms!