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I have to say I had never heard of this version of the ever popular Monopoly until recently when the TVC started making the rounds again on social media. If you missed it, here it is.
The idea of this game from what I believe, (I have not played it) is to empower girls and women. Female players get more money from the bank than men to start with and collect more than their male opponents as they pass go. You don’t buy property but rather inventions made or co made by women (conveniently excluding the disregarded original inventor of Monopoly, Elizabeth Magie.) This is the complete opposite of what happens in the workplace and women are asking for equal pay for equal work, not more money than our male counterparts. I think it’s pretty lame to suggest that for women to get ahead or to remain ahead if treated with equality, we would require head starts. But it gets worse. According to Megan Garber (who has actually played the silly game) in her article, “I played Ms Monopoly so you don’t have to.” “We dutifully follow the directions: Roll the dice, move forward, buy, pay, repeat. Andrew lands on Community Chest. This is what his card says: “You see the newest superhero movie with a female lead, and it’s awesome! COLLECT $50. If you’re a man, COLLECT $100.” Wait, what? He gets rewarded for sitting through a super hero movie with a female lead? I’m already confused. Mixed messaging much? And you gotta love the perky Ms Monopoly thrusting a hip out on the centre of the board, is she sassy? Defiant? Quirky? Independent? Is that what a successful ‘Ms’ looks like? I’m in two minds, I wonder if I would buy it for my daughter if it interested her. The gimmick of it might intrigue her for 2 minutes then it would offer no more value than the original game. The thing is, women don’t start out with more money than men, we get paid less and a lot of women end up with little or no super. Things are better than they once were but we are not there yet. I think I would rather she picks up a book, like the awesome Rebel Girls series to learn about women and their accomplishments. Not given some bullshit drivel which seems to patronisingly “support” women’s accomplishments. What do you think? Peace When I had just finished acting school, I moved out of home for the first time and lived with a classmate who also happened to be vegetarian. It appealed to me, especially after a life time of eating chops and boiled vegetables, so I became one. As the years went by and I became more informed about how we get our meat and dairy I started to consider veganism. If slaughterhouses weren’t bad enough, the absolute misery of dairy farms and the cruelty involved is heart wrenching. I’m not going to go into it here as it has been well documented but I will say that the torture a cow feels when their male baby is taken away from them right after birth to become veal is shockingly heartbreaking, it fills my heart with anguish. The primary reason I am plant based is because of my love for animals, they are beautiful sentient beings who deserve to live their lives without fear, abuse, torture and death. There is no such thing as a humane death. A bolt to the head is a bolt to the head. Now though, my health is also a primary concern when it comes to being plant based. I have read extensively about plant based health and nutrition, done several courses and am thoroughly fascinated by the plant based world. Check out Dr Fuhrman, Dr Esselstyn, Dr Barnard, T Colin Campbell, Dr McDougalland Dr Gregor(for starters) I guess I am a plant based nerd who eats crappy vegan food more than she should. Why am I writing about this? Maybe because I believe in order to heal ourselves and our planet and to truly be compassionate people we need to stop eating animals. Simple as that. Would Covid -19 be around if people weren’t eating animals? I don’t know, I’m not a scientist or even remotely qualified person but I hesitate to guess that it probably wouldn’t. Would our hospitals be filled with people with heart disease, cancer and diabetes etc… probably not so much. I get that people like to eat animals and a lot of people think it is our right and biological necessity but it isn’t. Honestly even if it was, I wouldn’t. Let’s try and lessen the suffering in the world, including for animals. Try a vegan burger, they are quite delicious. Peace Adele has lost weight. A lot of weight. She is also an established, successful recording artist. She has numerous awards including Grammy’s, Brit awards, Golden Globe, Billboard Music awards… She has released 3 albums and more. She is a formidable talent, a strong mother, forging a career in a brutal industry that places enormous pressure on artists, especially women to look and certain way, to be desirable, half naked and thin. Adele has successfully bucked all of this and is the epitome of class, style, elegance, integrity and she has a wicked sense of humour. She has also for most of her career been what society considers, overweight. So the weight loss. She looks wonderful but then again she always has. I say good for her if it was important to her to improve her health and to change the shape of her body. I hope it has nothing to do with a bunch of keyboard warriors relentlessly condemning her for being larger than what they think she should be (hypocritically regardless of how they themselves may look) What is so typical and boring is how excited media/social media gets when a woman loses weight. It is as if the weight loss is their biggest accomplishment. Now come on. Adele is phenomenal, size 14 or size 8. Who gives a fuck. Celebrate how much of a strong, talented, smart woman she is. Can we once and for all stop commenting on women’s bodies. Can we please get past it? There is not a woman on earth who avoids this. I vividly remember boys and men commenting on my appearance throughout my life, letting me know what was good and bad about it. Yawn. There are currently protests going on in Australia against the Covid lockdowns and footage emerged of a woman who had her young son with her, being arrested. The footage is harrowing; the boy is clearly traumatised. I absolutely believe she has the right to peacefully protest, which is what she was doing. She also probably shouldn’t have had her son with her and probably shouldn’t be protesting while Covid is kicking our arses. However whilst reading some comments about it on social media, some people were commenting on her appearance, criticising her for having Botox. What the fuck does her face have to do with anything, who cares if she has Botox, how does anyone know she has Botox, fillers or a face lift and why is it worth mentioning. Grow up. This is yet another example of what women face everyday of their lives. We are not allowed to simply exist. We are constantly told how we must look and behave. I tell you if she was older and has jowls she would have been criticised for that. We are never enough. I am so tired of it; I look at my amazing daughter and just think we must do better. I want her to know she is perfect the way she is, everyday and forever. But what a battlefield she will face as she grows up and navigates the world. I only hope I can help to make it a little easier for her. And while we are at it, don’t shame yourself if you put on a kilo or two or three throughout isolation. It is ok, you are ok, you are perfect. No more fat jokes. No more fat shaming. Peace I have had the stink of being super judgy lately. I acknowledge my shittyness by saying, I know this is being very judgy but….before I say the super judgy thing I’m gonna say. It is just plain shitty. What is even shittier is when you hide you judgyness behind ‘being concerned’ for the person and who their behaviour is hurting. Don’t get me wrong, I am genuinely concerned for my friend and those concerned but I am not being a good friend behaving the way I am. My god, real concern would be sitting down with said friend and expressing my deep concern for their mental health and safety based on the behaviours they are doing, even knowing they are going to arc up... not sitting down with a different friend discussing those behaviours. It is gross and not coming from a place of love, even if I tell myself it is. When I’m not judging other people from my fucking glass castle in the sky, I am firmly and repetitively judging myself. Ruminating over decisions and actions I have taken in my life and scolding myself more severely than anyone else ever could. Punishing myself by reliving these actions. My therapist tells me over and over that I am way too unkind to myself. But I don’t hear it, not really. I mean I know I am, but seriously I have done some stupid fucking shit... mania or not. I am trying to learn to not ruminate so much, to not think forward too much. To be present… but my brain isn’t having it. I won’t give up though. I’ll do the work and oneday maybe I will settle into glimpses of peace. As for my friend to whom I am, Ms Judgy McJudgy… I will have a conversation. I will stop the judgy chatter because it isn’t in line with who I want to be. If you are chattering away behind a friends back, quit it, stop it, It is too ugly and boring. Be better. See that, I just judged you. I am quite skilled aren’t I… Seriously, if you love them and value them, talk to them. If you don’t then remove yourself from their lives. They deserve better too. Peace |
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