Good morning, Readers!

​Strap yourselves in, I'm going on a feminist rant.

I kept as silent about this as I possibly could, but oh boy, my blood is up.

Apparently, it didn't cross the minds of some people that a feminist might be someone with breasts.  This above photo sparked outrage, some even going so far as to suggest that it was somehow anti-feminist to pose as she is.

What.

The.

Fuck?

For fuck's sake.

I don't think you understand what feminism is, people.  Feminism is about equal rights.  It's about championing the idea that women are also people, and should be treated as such.  More to the point, we're WHOLE people, with more than one dimension just like, wait for it, men.

It is entirely possible to be an intelligent woman championing women's causes and pose without a bra in a very artful photo shoot... or any kind of photo shoot, actually.  Being without a bra, topless, or completely naked does not negate the hard work a woman has done to champion women's causes.  It doesn't make her less intelligent.

Woman are WHOLE people.  Intelligent, funny, sexual (I mean... I assume #AsexualJoke).  WHOLE PEOPLE.  With many facets.  We should be allowed to be whole.  More to the point, posing topless shouldn't be seen as some massively controversial thing.

Have you never stopped to consider why men can pose topless on any old magazine cover and still be taken seriously, but women, apparently, can't?  Have you ever stopped to consider that your puritan pearl-clutching, this ridiculous need to police what women wear and how they behave, is part of the fucking problem?

Why is it that women must police their own bodies so fucking much to be "taken seriously" and men don't?  That is precisely the king of bullshit feminism is trying to combat.  Emma Watson posing as she was a feminist statement.

She owns a body, and she decided what to do with it.  In no way did that impact the work she's done for equality.  And Emma is a beautiful young woman.  Why wouldn't she show that off?  Christ.  If I looked like her, you'd never see me with clothes on!

Now, you don't have to like it if you just don't like it.  That's on you.  But you don't get to decide that owning a body with breasts means you can't be taken seriously if you show any part of the pectoral region at all.  You're not a better feminist because you cover up and conform to current societal norms about gendered propriety.  You're not a better woman, either.

So, piss off with your faux concern about women being taken seriously.  I don't believe you.  Because it's clear to me you certainly don't see us as equals.

Oh, and for the record, one of the most enduring images of feminism happens to be bra burning.  So you go on with your bad self, Ms. Watson.  You are still an inspiration to this feminist.

Now I'm off to continue marking.

Ciao.

Good morning, Readers!

So, I haven't really stopped in a couple of weeks.

Cait had returned Skylark to me with a bunch of edits, which is what I spent almost all of last week going through and fixing up.  I'm happy to say that there weren't really any story issues that she found, and most of it was punctuation.  To tell the truth, I couldn't tell you the difference between an em-dash and a hyphen.  I didn't take any formal classes beyond what we did in English class in high school, so it's really good to have someone on hand who does know this stuff.

I still have a lot to do with the editing, even though I finished the basic perusal and fix-up.  However, that will have to take a back seat, as I'm now also marking papers and exams for the University of Ottawa.  They're due back to the instructor on Wednesday, and that means I need to get going on the marking quick smart.

I haven't really had a chance to relax this week, really.  I stayed late Friday after work to get the editing done and out of the way.  Saturday I taught my martial arts classes, and then returned home to finish reading the book and watching the film for filming on Sunday.  Sunday I filmed, returned home and edited and uploaded the next episode of Nights at the Round Table.  Then I went through and read up on the subject I'm supposed to be marking as a refresher.

Now I'm sitting at my desk, typing like crazy to get this blog post done so that I might get to marking as fast as possible.

I got distracted by the marking.  Sorry.  I genuinely would have finished this blog post about half an hour ago, but I made the mistake of reading an answer, and then I got sucked right in, as anything to do with the Celts tends to do to me.

So I guess that's my signal to keep running.  I hope to get through the majority of the exams today.

I should be able to get back to Skylark on Thursday, and once that's all fixed, printed and submitted, I can return to Outworlder.

Gah! So much to do!  I must dash.

​Ciao!

Good morning, Readers.

Today is not a good day for me.

I still have a migraine.

My back is still quite sore.

And now I'm in a depressive spiral.

Yay.

I'm quite lucky, really.  I survived long enough to be able to afford some therapy and I can now recognise when these depressive spirals hit, what they are and how to cope.  It affords me a buffer where before there was none.

Rationally, I can say out loud that this is a spiral.  I will get over it.

Emotionally, I'm currently a wreck.  I'm not dealing with with anything.  I don't want to be here.  I don't want to be anywhere.  No amount of rational discourse with myself helps with the feelings of isolation, or the vast chasm of emptiness that is carving its way through my entire person.  It doesn't help me in any way, but to know what is happening.  All it affords me is the ability to put a name to my experience.

Even still, that's a step up from my teen-aged years, when I just fell into a spiral and nearly drowned each time.

It will pass.  It always does.

But for now, I just want to hide from the world.

On that note, I'm going to go hide.

Ciao.

Good morning, Readers.

I'm still struggling with a migraine today, but couldn't stand the thought of another day in bed, so I came to work anyway.

It's really a no-option thing, as I have so much shit I need to get done this morning.

There's this blog post, which, I guess, I can scratch off the list.  I have two eNewsletters to write, one for my writerly stuff (which was supposed to be written yesterday and sent out first thing this morning) and one for the Silver Stag YouTube channel.  The second one should be sent out first thing tomorrow.

I also have a tonne of book review requests to send out this morning (forty-two, in fact), a book to read and, if I'm lucky, a manuscript to finish Beta Reading.  I might not even get to the manuscript today.

I would prefer to be writing, but I don't think I'm going to get there today.  Or even this week.

And since I'm so busy, I'll leave it there and go do the things I'm supposed to do.

Have a good day!

​Ciao!