Happy Halloween!

I am bringing the orange joy to Europe. Trying to counterpart the commercial and capitalistic image people have here and replace it with the warm memories of my trick-or-treating days. My mom brought the decorations, some costume parts, make-up and what-not, and I’m making gory food. Plus: jack-o-lanterns, if I ever find my strength again. See, the problem is that I’m totally knocked-out by a cold I got Wednesday evening. I don’t do well when I’m sick. So, instead of overworking my already over-pressured head, here are some things I found this morning:

Spike’s pumpkin: “Yes we carve!” (can’t seem to post the picture directly)

Obama responds to the latest manufactured controversy from the McCain camp: “I don’t know what’s next. By the end of the week, he’ll be accusing me of being a secret communist because I shared my toys in kindergarten. I shared my peanut butter and jelly sandwich.” (“Quote of the Day” on Feministing)

I’m not going to lie. My main reason for voting Obama/Biden is that I feel like they’ve got what it takes to put aside the name calling and childish part of politics and really move this country forward. My inner ideologist loves the fact that Obama speaks in a calm, educated way and dares to use words like “hope”. (via Blurbomat)

State of the nation

My mom decided to come a week earlier than planned – announced this on friday, that she was coming sunday to stay for a week. Then she’s driving down to switzerland, to pick up my little sister, to then drive back up (no, that’s not a lot of kilometers to her. It’s perfectly normal) to stay another week. In my tiny one-room appartment. And then she wonders why I don’t want to drive back with them to stay a week-end in Paris. FREEDOM, mom, that’s why.

Anywho, that means I’ll be having a hard time getting some peace and quiet, let alone be able to write meaningful posts. I’m sorry. But I bet I’ll have a lot to talk about after this whole thing. For instance, Halloween is coming up on Friday. Can’t wait. I’ll be starting preparations on Thursday – my mom already brought back some very useful decoration. And then there are the jack-o-lanterns, of course, and the icky scary food. Fun!

Oh and by the way, I’m typing this while wearing the Obama t-shirt my big sister sent me. JUST ONE MORE WEEK, PEOPLE!

How to scar your kid at the youngest age possible

I’ve been seeing this topic pop up here and there and decided to collect some into one big, disgusting “the industry is making me sick” post. Here goes.

Apparently, there has been a trend of sexualizing young women and it’s getting crasser by the day. Now the “usual” image of women portrayed by the fashion and commercial industries is nauseating and infuriating enough, but when they start influencing us at younger and younger ages, I’m just plain in disbelief. As if it were in any way realistic or attainable, we already get the impression of having to be overly thin yet fit, smart yet naive, goal-oriented yet subordinate. I hate it. But being a young girl makes it even harder to place yourself in such a society and find a healthy image of what it means to be female. It really makes me mad that there are products like the following, that are pushing these suggestible young girls in such a direction. Some examples:

1. A wall decoration that was for sale in the baby-items aisle of a Target store. As Feministing puts it: “Apparently it’s never too early to start fat-shaming and instilling body-self-consciousness!”. Is this really all women are supposed to care about, even as a toddler with baby fat?

 2. High heels for babies. These “Hot 2 Trot” called things are sold on Amazon.com and are described like this: “She’ll feel extra fab prancing around in these Hot 2 Trot wedges by Mia. (. . .) Crossing patent vamp straps wrap over the arches to a slingback (. . .) A 1/2 inch cork textured midsole rises to a 2 1/2 inch wedge heel.” They cost 35 bucks and come in zebra, hot pink and leopard. This is sadly not a joke, there really are people that are that sick and don’t get treated.

3. Tiny matching lingerie sets of lacy bras and knickers in many children’s brands including Bratz, Saddle Club and Barbie, have hit the shelves aimed at girls as young as six. The Herald Sun last week revealed the latest Bratz Babyz range included sexually provocative baby dolls dressed in leather and lingerie. The lines also include “breast-enhancing” padded bras for girls barely old enough for school. I mean, come on, SERIOUSLY. There is something seriously wrong and gross with the way these people look at six year old girls.

4. Still in the lingerie department, only for slightly older girls with nubile lady parts: panties with a message. (In case you can’t read it, it says “who needs credit cards”).

These oh-so-charming panties were seen in the junior department of a local Wal-Mart. Because there’s nothing quite like telling adolescent girls that they don’t need to worry about finances since they have their very own moneypot between their legs.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some throwing up to do. Because, you know, it’s the best way to get skinny.

Ugh.