Consent, Rape and Sexual Assault

Consent is sexy. I know, I am asexual and I really don't find a lot of things sexy, but I find that consent is one of those things that makes any situation (regardless if its sexual or not) better. I think a lot of people can agree that rape can happen regardless of the gender/race/sexuality/age of the person or the victim. With that being said, rape can go on being condemned, depending on the gender/race/sexuality/age of the person and that is complete garbage. What I find completely sickening is that in some places, rape is a joke. I would always hear rape jokes in school, but we don't know what it actually means. Now that I am at the age to know and fully comprehend what damage rape does not only to one singular person, but how that affects a community. We as people need to wake up an realize that victim blaming is not okay. Just because the victim is wearing provocative clothing, rape is still not okay. I feel like I am giving the same talk so many other people have given the public about this issue and we really need to not just be a bystander but fix it ourselves. If you don't like the truth, change it. If you don't want your children to get raped, help out in a rape clinic or speak out about it to locals schools. Don't just sit there.
The media is such a wonderful place right?
So many YouTube sex abuse/assault scandals have been hitting the press recently and its pretty horrible to see some of your favorite personalities on the interwebs being charged with such crimes. I used to watch Sam Pepper , Luke Conard as well as Alex Day a lot. I never knew that these you tubers who I looked up to as well as many other people my age or even younger were able to commit such malicious crimes. Things such as forcing fans to have sex with them (even if they are underage), Grabbing people's butts on camera without consent beforehand, and other unwanted behaviors were conducted by these role models. I don't think you really want your child to be watching these types of behaviors or to even go to meet ups with people like this.

In contrast, there are things being done about it and I am glad. I am really happy to see that the You Tube community is taking a stand to thee issues that have ben thrown at them. Petitions, letters, videos and more content related to this topic have been spread across the world wide web and I think its amazing how the You Tube family can rebuild like this.

Stay safe y'all
<3 Jennie

Hey Guys, I am Actually Somewhat Back....Somewhat

So it has definitely been a while. A lot has changed, and a lot of change is going to occur soon. I am unaware of such future changes, but lets focus on the two major changes that have occurred:

1) I am now living in another country...I know its crazy, I am now living in Israel. I am studying here,  at a yeshiva (a center for jewish learning) as part of the year long gap year program called Nativ. Hopefully, I will spill more details about how things are going here in the motherland. But for now, I am living in Jerusalem with two roommates who are also on Nativ as well. I am not going to be spilling many details about them due to their probable requests to remain anonymous. Regardless, I think they are great. I am also making friends and adjusting to living here is getting a lot better ( Prior, I have had a variety of stomach issues and jet lag). I have been here for a month now and I am really getting a lot out of this experience.

2) The reason why I couldn't blog for such a long time was because of my summer job. I worked at a sleep away camp for eight weeks and the experience was so rewarding. I legitimately made a difference in a bunch of 10 and 11 year old girls lives. I also had a whole barn to take care of, with three alpacas, two goats, a sheep (who was super cute) as well as chicks, goslings (baby geese) and guineas. Bunnies hate me though. It seems like I am hated/slightly afraid of animals that little girls love. regardless, I have become more earthy crunchy.

so yeah, I am back. I am really trying to get back on track with this whole blogging thing. I was originally going to start a new blog about my excursions and such in Isreal but due to my lack of  camera, I cannot really show you much of the daily scenes. But, that does not mean I cannot rant about it....right?
<3 Jennie

My Name is Jennie and I Do What I Want!

So I haven't posted anything since late April, and I think I should tell you all why,
I have been busy, self consciousness about my writing and I am finishing high school pretty soon.
 I know, I just wrote "self conscious with my writing" and I am not asking for any sympathy or any sort of pity, but I will be frankly honest with you all since, I am an honest person in nature. The reason why I am self conscious is about the amount of views my blog gets, and one of my friends told me "Only three people actually read my blog".
No! This is not a scheme to get people to read my blogs, because honestly I don't really do this for the viewers. I have realized that this blog is a place for me to bring my knowledge and two cents into an issue that I find super important. As much as the statement was probably not true or even slightly true, I know that those three people are three people who want to know what I have to say and are willing to listen to voices that are not necessarily the most famous or will be going to some Ivy League school.
So, these past bushels of weeks, I was really pondering whether I should continue, discontinue, or totally jack up my blog. As I have stated before, I love writing A LOT and I will be continuing this whole shebang, so if you like it YAY if you don't, that is okay too! not every blog is alright for everyone.
Also, I love discussion, I want to hear YOUR voices, not just mine. If you have an idea for a project, or a cool topic for me to blog about, PLEASE COMMENT!!! Also, I wanna heeya yo' opinion! so like, please, comment with your thoughts. so yeah! cool! talk to you soon. I am coming back to Hogwarts!
Thank you all for your patience, and also for your views, because views are nice too!
<3 Jennie

Here is a cute picture for your troubles, how ironic! a sandwich!

My Reaction to the Jonathan Law High School Murder

Today, Meren Sanchez, a 16 year old girl was stabbed by her boyfriend in school because she did not want to go to prom.
wait a minute! Are you kidding?
No. Unfortunately, my fine feathered friends, this is real life. I found out (thanks to the rapid trending on Facebook) that this malicious act occurred. My initial reaction probably matched various others, "Are you serious? That is such a ridiculous reason to kill someone".
The most disturbing part about all of this is the fact that the reason why she was killed (not saying that killing is not disturbing) was because she declined her boyfriends proposal to go to prom. PROM, are you serious? Prom is a dance, NOT marriage or eternal happiness. Why would anyone want to kill someone because they don't want to go to prom? Prom is not even that great. Its just a group of sweaty over dressed teenagers paying too much for crappy food. I am just outraged by this to be completely honest because I don't think there can be any excuse permissible for this situation. Regardless of how good/bad a person is, I personally believe that no one deserves do die. The girl didn't deserve to die, nor does the boyfriend deserve to die (but he does deserve punishment for his actions). I think that what is scaring me about this all is that we live in a society where murder has become a trend. Getting what we want has become a demand, not a privilege. There are certain things in life that are not fair and not having a date to junior prom is not on that list. We live in a culture where there are video taped "promposals" and  they are purposely planned to almost force the other party to say yes. Is that really what we want? Do we really need to get what we want all of the time?
I am not just talking about prom now. This is a universal thing. With media waving fancy things in our faces we are always desiring the newest thing and having it now. With social media and the news: we have to know the latest gossip now. We have become such monsters and it's sickening. We have taught future generations that no does not mean no, but means persuade them until they say yes or else.
 It seems like a lot of today's problems have to be solved by violence, even the pettiest of the lot.
Enjoy your prom season, and if you don't, at least enjoy it for someone who can't.
My thoughts and prayers are with her family as well as her friends. She will be sorely missed.
What do you think? Comment with your opinion!
Click here for the article
<3 Jennie

My Jewish Identity, Grey Area, And Cats in a Mug.

Hey guys, sorry I haven't been blogging (pesach and stuff ya know).
So yeah, Jewish identity, like sexuality it is something that labels you as a person and labels your belief systems and it can be messy at times. The thing is, is that any form of religious identity seems like it has to be black and white "I'm________ so I act like ________". But the most frustrating thing about this is that not everything is black and white. Grey area happens, and I don't know how many shades of grey  there are but it  is natural. It seems like not being definitive or being in the middle about a subject or religious sect is abnormal and I feel like the Jewish community forces us to be an a specific sect. In my own not really expert opinion: Labels are stupid. but there is so much more to that.
For me, this is my life. I am caught in between Conservative and Orthodox Judaism. I have been told to go one direction or the other but to be completely honest with you, I cant. as a person who really likes black and white answers, I really am such a grey area person. I think for anyone going through their last year of high school, going into college or just going into life in general, you need to pick a sect you need to go somewhere. what really made me upset was when one of my friends told me that "there is no such thing as a conservadox Hillel". Well, this friend in question obviously feels restricted and needs to fit in somewhere. I am not trying to sound rude by that last comment but I just feel like there is more to Judaism than being in a specific sect. I know I am Jewish, I know I believe in G-d, but finding your levels of observance (in any religion for this matter) is a personal thing and you just cannot try and fit yourself into anywhere you can.
I can say now that I am a hypocrite. I 100% understand that I didn't take my own advice. I try to fit myself into the "orthodox feminist niche" when in truth, I see myself as one now, but I felt like I have been forcing myself to jump into that cold pool. Now I personally see myself as halachic egalitarian (for those who really care) or in plain "conservadox". I know there is no conservadox Hillel or a conservadox shul but I like my middle ground and I am going to stay in my middle ground. But always make some room to wiggle and to approach other sects and religions with an open mind. Approaching religion, you should always wait for the pool to warm up for you and not jump in when you are not ready. Moral of the story: Grey area is healthy. Not being definitive of where you want to go is normal. Labels can be helpful but they can also lead you in the dark.
Happy Easter, Pesach, April 20th, Sunday, whatever you celebrate

Eating Disorders

Eating disorders are not fully a feminist issue but, its an issue that really hits close to home. I know some people who have suffered with eating disorders in the past and it sickens me that there are people in the world that are very much pro eating disorders.

What is wrong with being pro eating disorders? A lot of things. We as a society are being pushed to look our best, whether it is being prodded by media or by family. Slenderness has become the symbol of beauty even though it is also the symbol of illness. No one should ever look at themselves and say "hey, I gained 5 pounds by eating one of my favorite foods. I guess I am not going to eat it anymore."

I really hate the saying YOLO (you only live once, for those dinosaurs out there.), I just think its over done and really annoying because everyone and I really do mean EVERYONE says it. We should approach eating as like saying YOLO. we should take care of our bodies (like it says in the Torah to do so). We live only once, so we should take care of our bodies to make sure we have safe and healthy fun.but also, don't be afraid to have what you like in terms of food, regardless if you like something that is healthy or not. I have a teacher who legitimately freaks out all of the time, because she cant have what she likes and she is always worried about things being an adequate amount of calories. I think that, almost like the theme of Passover, we are slaves. We are constantly trapped in our minds, worried about what we are going to eat and worried about our outward appearances. There are some people who are exceptions, but i feel like now, this type of slavery is getting worse with young adults. food has taken over people's lives, whether its journaling or taking bizarre medication to lose weight. It has an impact on everything and everyone. What is really upsetting is when something that is supposed to be a life source, could be the cause of death. My sister used to tell me about models who died because of not eating. Eating should be enjoyable and that is why on Jewish holidays and even secular holidays we eat food.

 We (as in people my age) should make it a goal to diminish and work to keep away eating disorders and body shame. But yet, we still  make fun of people calling people who are just plain skinny "anorexic" and on the opposite end of the spectrum saying "I am just going to eat my feelings". I am not saying that we should ban these phrases because banning them and making them socially derogatory makes things worse, we should just watch what we say to people. Words do really hurt and one could make the "people are just overly sensitive" argument, but we should just be sensitive to people and their own personal stories. Even I, the writer who has been sounding exceedingly preachy whilst writing this. I have made jokes and sadly hurt someone's feelings because I didn't know that it could hurt. Click here for what made me write this. 

<3 Jennie

On Being Single

This post could have been a valentines day type of post, but I feel like I should really say how I feel about this. I have been single since December, and I really feel like there are some blessings and curses about being a single lady. But the thing is, is that I personally don't mind being single anymore, and its kind of been the hot lava I've tried to avoid until  December when I made the decision to be single.
I  vowed to myself to not really blog about boy issues, thus me not going into detail about other reasons why/who I have dated in the past, but I think I should broach the issues as to why being single has been stigmatized.
We live in a society where being in relationships is a huge deal. We not only hear about elaborate wedding ceremonies of celebrities but also things like "look how cute so and so is..." or  "awwww they are such a cute couple". Ever since we are little children we feel pressured to fit this standard and meet prospective suitors, to the point where your parents see you with a boy/girl and think that you are dating, just because you are with the gender of your preference. I personally want to get married and have children in the future but there are so many people who look down on those who don't want to get married and have children in the future. Marriage is not for everyone,  romantic relationships are not for everyone and relations involving any sort of commitment are not for everyone.
Side note: Even premarital sex is still stigmatized in some areas, but gay marriage was not allowed for a really long time. On the complete opposite note, pre-marital sex has been almost glorified on television and has pressured teens to do so. We live in a very black and white society, even though a lot of our issues as humans are grey or whatever color besides black and white you choose.
Back to my point...There are a lot of these standards in society, where they expect us to fit this one size garment (the metaphorical garment AKA marriage or any other social norm) and some of us just cannot fit.
so, to all of those who push others to be in relationships: Please stop. If you are a real friend/family member etc, you would be supportive. Arranged marriages don't happen here in America.
Another thing: people really look down at single people. I know a lot of people who will deny that, but its society's dirty little secret. they spoon feed us these messages of having boyfriends and such at a very young age. Television shows with female protagonists having boyfriends and boyfriend issues, as well as teen quizzes in magazines making assumptions that boys like them. Its self esteem shattering, not only causes that, but also girls who are lesbians or bisexuals feel very confused and left out and very isolated.
So yeah, when you say forever alone, please remember that there are people who actually like being alone forever.
<3 Jennie

5 Things That Make Me Happy

One of my best friends suggested me to do this, so yeah...ALLONS-Y! YALLA!!! LEGO! YEAH!
(These are in no particular order)
1) Ice cream. Mainly because it is a stress snack and preferably chocolate chip cookie dough. I eat it when I work on things and it calms me down. Its really unhealthy so I am trying to not eat a lot of it.
2) Torah study. I am such a nerd. I am not really the best, but I learned over the summer that this is a passion of mine and I want to keep at it. (ps: if anyone reading this is a friend of mine on face book and wants to be my chevruta, please message me :) I want to keep learning but all of my crazy life is in the way and its finally starting to slow down. So yeah, I really love it, mainly because i get to exercise my intellectual part of my brain and not just the super artistic part.
Also, to elaborate, I find not only torah study but just learning in general to make me happy. I just find acquiring new information fun for me. That is probably why I never really hated school.
3) Theatre. Oh lord, I have been in love with it for such a long time, and it is pretty much my life now, that I want to go to college for theatre. I am a techie, so anything creative and theatre-y is my jam. I legitimately flip out every time I see a costume that is beautifully sewn or when there are historical error's in movies.
4)Feminism. Yeah, Its kind of obvious that feminism is one of the things that makes me happy. I think expressing myself in this form has developed me and my progressive thinking
5) BOOKS!!! I love to read and it has gotten me through some very difficult times. It has also expanded my vocabulary so that is very good.
Yeah, so hopefully that covers all of the bases. I thought that this would be refreshing, to give you a little glimpse at my inner self. There are many things that i could definitely add to this list, like art, a Capella music, and nature, but if you want me to elaborate, please share and stuff. I try to not worry so much about my audience as much as i worry about the content, but I just want there to be an audience for my content.

Beauty

So today I have been in one of the best moods ever. I was and still am just so content with everything and I just feel good. I really feel like ranting today, so yeah...rant rant rant rant rant
Besides that, I have spent a lot of time today on facebook (when i say alot of time, I mean an unhealthy amount of time) and I see that a lot of people have been posting things about beauty. But can we, as human beings really see beauty in life when there is just so much distraction with all of these electronics and privacy evading that the government does (thanks obama, for trying to get rid of it though). Beauty is such a broad definition, and i think that a large amount of teenagers and young adults connect beauty with physicality. as much as it is about psysical beauty, there is alot more.
Beauty: the quality present in a thing or person that gives intense pleasure or deep satisfaction to the mind,whether arising from sensory manifestations (as shape, color,sound,etc.), a meaningful design or pattern, or something else (as a personality in which high spiritual qualities are manifest).
Beauty is such an overused word and I am most likely a contributor for it to be such, but I think that beauty is something that we cannot just look at something and call it beautiful. beauty is something that is inspiring, provokes emotion or in any way is meaningful to us as human beings and I say chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream is very very very beautiful. Mainly because it is delicious.
Calling people beautiful, is the biggest roadblock that we encounter in our day to day lives, not knowing whether to tell them that they are to make them feel better or to tell your girlfriend that. In my opinion, calling someone beautiful could cross genders. I have called men beautiful, because they are, intellectually of course, but physically as well. Beauty should not have a gender, so yeah...to those people who think it is, SHUSHHHHHHH!!!!
Yeah, so this was a lovely outlet for my energy....you are all beautiful

<3 Jennie

My reaction to Ellen Paige coming out

Before I start, I should let you all know that this is a straight person's point of view.
So I just watched Ellen Paige's coming out video( I will link  it at the end of the post) so, here is my reaction:
I personally don't like the idea of coming out and how it has become such a huge thing to do with all of these elaborate videos and news leaking. I think that it is an important thing to talk about human sexuality and our personal sexual preferences, but it is really saddening to see a homo/bi sexual or transgender person to go through all of the torture coming out is. Its like a shot in the dark, not really knowing how people are going to react. In a perfect world, people should not have to come out because we as people would be comfortable in acknowledging that sexuality is a thing and that there is a spectrum of sexuality. But of course now there are people out there who are in their forties still not out of the closet, afraid that someone will find out, and have them disowned or something equally as terrible (trying to be super general here mainly because every story is different). Humans are beautiful creatures, I firmly believe in that, but yet there is so much hate and so much ugly that we have to hide out true selves from others.
Also, the fact that the event has been trending on Face Book and all of the news has been focused on this event. I think its really unfair for her and many other coming out stories to be such big deals mainly because they are just normal people living their normal lives and sometimes we forget that actors can be homosexual or bisexual or trans. The media has such a heavy standard of what is cool or popular that a lot of celebrities have to keep up with and that is probably why there are a lot of celebrities in jail and doing drugs.
I sound super preachy, but I thought I should give my opinion on the matter because It has been on my mind.
Goodnight Y'all
Click here to access the article
<3 Jennie

So, What Happened Was...

I was at a youth group dance when someone asked me, "Are you a boy? I mean, you do wear tzizit and all". This guy, lets call him parabola,made me really think and asses what my priorities are as a person and as a feminist.
On one hand: I really don't mind his curiosity. We should all be curious. Yes, the question seemed kind of offensive on the outside but i really understood where he came from (more on it later). I did not want to seem offended because I wasn't, and i was not sure if I should take it as a compliment. I don't think looking like a specific gender should be a compliment or an insult. I have been taught at a young age to embrace my gender and to dress like my gender. I recognize that I am a woman in today's world full of gender and sex fueled stereotypes and expectations. I am totally okay with being a woman and I am to an extent okay with my femininity. I am also, very much comfortable with my gender identity that i actually don't mind coming across at times as ambiguous. I understand that my short hair,skinny jeans with long sleeves and super hero converse are not the typical female wardrobe. I am comfortable with myself enough to recognize these things and to understand that is how people will see me. I don't find it an insult whatsoever. But...
On the other hand: My tzizit. I know, that dramatic pause. you can hear the orchestra now going DUH DUH DUHHHH. But my tzizit, the most contreversial part of my daily wardrobe is being questioned as being a "masculine" article of clothing. What is interesting is that i actually found this part more upsetting than the actual wondering if i am a guy part.I don't really enjoy when people give physical objects a specific gender (i.e. easy bake ovens vs. queasy bake ovens, girl and boy specific books, barbie dolls vs. GI Joe's ect.) I was in a conversation with another person, lets call him horse raddish, about what would we do when we grow up and have families of our own. I said, completely seriously, that I would love to paint my boy's room pink not only as an experiment, but pink is not that bad of a color! Horse raddish replied "so you are planning to turn your son gay and let him play with princess dolls? Pink is a girls color!". I never really liked the idea of assigning color a gender, thus wanting to try and paint a boy's room pink. Horse raddish,besides being  homophobic, does not realize that objects and things cannot change who you are attracted to as a person.We should have objects define us as a person and as a human being, not by our gender or a gender stereotype. Tzizit should define people as Jews and those who want to follow Hashem's commandments, not by who is more masculine or who should not wear them.
I still dont have a concrete reaction to this and I don't think I will ever have one. I don't know...at least it makes a really interesting conversation starter.
<3 Jennie

Being Feminist Enough Part One

Those who know me, know that I am not a huge fan of STEM. Mainly because it makes me, as a person feel inadequate. As an artist and an aspiring future clergy member, I feel that being a feminist and an artist is very "typical" if you will. STEM (Science, Technology,Engineering and Math) encourages women and men to have jobs in those fields, which results in more funding in those areas. But it also results in people looking down on those who go into artistic fields. yes, STEM can save lives, and change the world for the better but what about art? We (the art community including myself) are useful in many ways but when i am told that STEM gets more funding than arts because it is more practical, is annoying. At school, math and science are such big deals, and if you do not succeed in those subjects it seems to matter much more than if you do better in English or in a world language.
Feminism has grown into a giant over the last century. It seems that the more "feminist" jobs are the ones dominated by men Ex. Mathematicians, scientists, doctors, politicians. For me as an artist, it seems like it is viewed as a feminine job and it seems like women seem to not matter if they are involved in those fields.Thus, again, resulting in more funding and scholarships going towards women in STEM and other fields than women in arts.
In general we should look at what we do in schools. We should not just push all of the kids into STEM programs while they are young. It leaves a very bad message, saying that arts kids are not enough or not good enough or not smart enough. I think that arts should get more funding in schools and that school should have more of an equal amount of things so all kids can have these diverse opportunities. Women should not have a stereotypical major in college or in life and we should not be pressured to break that stereotype either.
So yeah, now you know why I really dislike STEM
To all of my friends who are into STEM, sorry...i'm an angry feminist/artist.
<3 Jennie

New Years Resolutions

What I really hate about new years is all of the really cliche Facebook posts. They all somewhat include "My new years resolution is _______ so I am going to stop doing ______ and _____". What makes them so cliche is the fact that all of the posts revolve around losing weight, reading, sleeping, eating and exercising more. There is actually nothing wrong with these resolutions, but what is annoying is when people do not fulfill what they strive to do. As a human being, we all have dealt at some point or another with disappointment. I feel like in order to reduce ourselves disappointing others we should try and reduce making commitments right away. One should think through their resolution or oath before they take on such a daunting task. A very good example is when I tried to participate in NaNoWriMo (for those not familiar with it, it is a month long challenge in November to write a whole novel in a month). Not only did I start late on the challenge but I also majorly procrastinating after I told all of my friends that I was participating in NaNoWriMo. NaNoWriMo is a very hard challenge but next November, I suggest everyone try it but it is so time consuming and challenging to plan, and write a full length novel in 30 days. So I suggest everyone to really think through their resolutions this year and maybe it is sleeping more or losing weight or cutting out junk food, but really try to actually do it.

Happy New Year everyone :)
<3 Jennie