bligoo network!

Hey cuties! frantic feminist now has a bligoo network for those who want to join the conversation on another level! Check it out here.

I'll have to play with it a bit more to figure out what I want to do with it, but it seems like a pretty cool site! A lot of the text is in Spanish, so I'm lucky I can speak and read it. I'm hoping to integrate all of my social media platforms—my twitter, my youtube, and my personal blog (you're not getting a link to that one just yet!)—and sync some of my content across all of them. That way, the friends, subscribers, and followers I have all over the place and bring them all to one great big party where we can talk about feminism and makeup and our interests. Does that sound like the most fun ever to you? Because it does to me! Personal branding can be super exhausting, but this seems like a super fun way to go about it. Swing on by and check it out!

So who hates flash drives as much as I do? you know the ones, the lil thumb drives that get lost and broken all the time? Ugh, they're the worst. Anyways, I lose mine or snap off the USB attachment all the time which is why I was super jazzed to learn about dataSTICKIES! Check these lil bad boys out:

(Image from link above)

So the concept behind dataSTICKIES is that they're the intersection between thumb drives and sticky notes. They were thought up by two Indian inventors, and are made of a thin graphine layer which is protected on the outside by sticky note-type material. It has an adhesive, like a sticky pad, and can stick to a "optical data transfer surface" stuck to your computer or phone. You stick the ODTS to the front of your computer or monitor, so there's no reaching around the back of your machine to fumble around with a USB port. 

And look! 32GBs on one little sticky! So much opportunity for high capacity storage. Like, I own all of the Sailor Moon anime (200 episodes and three movies) and that's 50GBs, which would fit on two of those! Plus, these are really easily shared, and the webpage said you can stack them to increase storage. You can also stick 'em to a TV, or the back of your phone... magical girl anime on the go!

That's what I've seen recently that I think is super exciting, and I can't wait for them to come out in stores some day.

Cancer sure is sexy!

October is finally over, which means that I'm strung out on Halloween candy and baseball emotions, but also that Breast Cancer Awareness month is over.

BCA Month is a huge deal to me, ok? My grandmother is a breast cancer survivor who had a double mastectomy when I was in elementary school. She uses the special bra inserts now to mimic the shape of breasts (and makes a lot of jokes about her "puppies" and the freedom she has to change her cup size depending on the occasion), but has totally beaten the cancer. (Kicked it right in the butt. My grandma is awesome.)

But it definitely hurts me to see the "Pinkification" of our world at this time of year. On the surface, Breast Cancer "Awareness" sounds like a good idea! And it might make you feel a little better to know that money you spend goes towards some nebulous idea of a cause. But focusing on the cute, pink accessories and the boobies instead of the people who have this incredibly destructive cancer minimizes their suffering and replaces it with sanitized consumerism. And besides, who does "awareness" even help?

Susan G Komen for the Cure, possibly the biggest name in Pink Stuff For Breast Cancer Reasons, had some pretty big controversy plop into their (pink!!!) laps in January of 2012 when they decided that they'd no longer be funding Planned Parenthood's preventative Breast Cancer efforts. The backlash was rightfully huge—PP helps people all across the country with their preventative care, and as the controversy unfolded it became pretty clear that Komen's decision was motivated by anti-choice politics—and SGK ended up folding, refunding PP, and hiding their (pink!!!) tail between their (pink!!!) legs (More about this from Jezebel, who covered the whole thing!). This was when I first got a clue about how little actual prevention and care mattered to these people. Barely 5% of their millions of dollars towards treatment on a yearly basis, while the CEO makes almost $700,000 a year. And have you seen some of the "pink" merchandise?? A bucket of fried chicken and a perfume that contains carcinogens??

But more egregious than that disaster, to me, is the sexualization of the disease that could have killed my grandmother. "I Heart Boobies," "Save Second Base," "Save the Tatas," and "Motorboating for the Cure" are all examples of this, which I will not link to. Instead, here's one of my favorite feminist vlogger's take on things:

Angelina hit it right on the head! This sexualization, and the act of treating the breasts as the most important part of breast cancer, can be taken to pretty dangerous extremes that hurt survivors, and I'm tired of people cashing in on my grandma.

There's no such thing as a "Blurred Line" of consent and this song should really not be popular

Sooooooo... It's late enough in the year to start talking about what the Song of the Summer was, right? The VMAs have happened, it's a little less humid outside, the grocery stores are breaking out the pumpkin spice and apple cider. Summer is over, is what I'm getting at! And what song finished the season at the top of EVERY chart? Robin Thicke's Blurred Lines.

I will NOT link the video, because it's trash. I should not have to tell you why a song by a man who has literally said "It is a pleasure to degrade a woman" is trash, but if you must know, take a look at Sociological Images' post comparing the lyrics of the song to what real-life rapists have said to their victims (huge warning for discussion of rape at the link!).

There's a lot of misogynistic media out there, to be sure, but I take particular issue with Blurred Lines because of how popular it is. It spent all summer breaking different records while it perpetuated misogyny and rape culture on a global scale. (Do we need a breakdown of rape culture? If we do, here's the Wikipedia page.) As a sexual assault survivor it turns my stomach to hear my teenaged sister singing this song that uses the words my attacker used against me when she's hanging out with her friends.

So do your best to keep Blurred Lines from selling any more than it already has! Point out to your friends that it's a gross, terrible song, and support other artists. For example, here's an awesome new song from a 17 year old girl from New Zealand! Her name is Lorde, the song is Royals, and as soon as I heard it I bought the Love Club album. I can't stop listening! She also just broke the record for longest female reign on the Alternative chart, and she's right below Robin Thicke on the Hot 100!

welcome pals!

Hey, friends! I'm Kylie, I'm 19, and I'm a UF student. I live in Gainesville for most of the year and my parents live in Martin County, Florida. I'm a History and Telecommunications major and my partner is an Electrical Engineering major! We like to play video games and watch baseball together.

I'm an avid feminist and an actual magical girl.

I like to knit, and play with dogs (LOOK AT MY DOGS) and educate people about feminism and what they can do to make positive changes in an oppressive culture like ours, so that's what I'll be doing with this blog! Topics will range from local Gainesville level stuff to things on a global scale.

A news piece that really got me thinking this morning was this anonymous letter from a woman who provides illegal abortions to people who can't get them anywhere else. It was pretty chilling. What have you read recently?