the frosting

“In the forest, there was a crooked tree and a straight tree. Every day, the straight tree would say to the crooked tree, ‘Look at me…I’m tall, and I’m straight, and I’m handsome. Look at you…you’re all crooked and bent over. No one wants to look at you.’ And they grew up in that forest together. And then one day the loggers came, and they saw the crooked tree and the straight tree, and they said, ‘Just cut the straight trees and leave the rest.’ So the loggers turned all the straight trees into lumber and toothpicks and paper. And the crooked tree is still there, growing stronger and stranger every day.”

- Tom Waits.

http://www.parentstv.org/PTC/news/release/2012/0206.asp

It is fascinating that the display of a middle finger… or “the” middle finger during the super bowl half time show has created such a stir with the Parents Television Council. I understand that the common knowledge of this gesture has a negative connotation in the U.S. I also understand why a parent may see it necessary to “protect” their child from exposure to this gesture. What I do not understand is how a few brief moments of the middle finger being displayed can be seen as more detrimental to a child’s psyche than the hundreds of commercials displaying over- sexualized women, hyper- masculine men, violence, misogyny, and the list could go on. If the Parents Television Council is truly concerned about the family “appropriateness” during such a “spectacular sporting event” then maybe the focus should be shifted to the constant and consistent media messages being consumed by children daily (and especially during the super bowl). 

and on a side note… why do we give a finger so much power? It’s a fucking finger. Its the middle one… between the ring one and the pointing one… who decided that the middle one is the fuck you one?

I’ll crank up both my middle fingers AND say a “fuck you” to that.

disclaimer: my opinions are just that… mine. 

I will make this short and sweet…well, bitter- sweet at best. I would be lying if I said that I am not utterly disappointed in Susan G. Komen’s recent funding decisions. Planned Parenthood and other women’s clinics take on the responsibility of filling a health care gap that should not exist in the first place. This country should be able to better ensure that ALL women have access to cancer screenings, birth control, and yes… abortions. Basic women’s health care should not be at the mercy of foundation funding that is driven by politics. Although the Susan G. Komen foundation “apologized” and “retracted” their recent decisions, it is clear through their ambiguous language that the support and relationship that was once present between these two organizations is now unstable. The Susan G. Komen foundation has made the decision to “hold off” on funding grant applications made by organizations under investigation in order to avoid “controversies that hurt the cause of women”. This is baffling considering Susan G. Komen’s attitudes toward such a “controversial” organization from just last year, 

   ”In dozens of communities, in some areas, the only place that poor, uninsured or      under-insured women can receive these [medical] services are through programs run by   Planned Parenthood…These facilities serve rural women, poor women, Native American women, women of color, and the un- and under-insured…As long as there is a need for health care for these women, Komen Affiliates will continue to fund the facilities that meet that need.”

At that, I will conclude my mini- rant in saying: No, Susan G. Komen, for now I do not forgive you for your retraction of funding from an organization that you should be fighting along side of. I do not forgive you for allowing political pressures to be the driving force behind the decisions you make. 

For now… get your highly socialized, gender conforming, pink ribbons out mah face!