I saw Lynda Carter & instantly swooned but the fact that Tori Amos was on this list too excited me to my very core! I swear that if it weren’t for Tori I would NOT have made it out of High School alive. She’s one of my ultimate goddesses too!

emotionalcynic:

Something that fuelingit posted about Barbie not being her body image ideal as she was growing up got me thinking. So here are the pictures of the women who inspired me and who I wanted to become (or at least be very much like) as I grew up.

Yes, I’m showing my age…

So, who does a 32 year old admit her role models were growing up? In no particular order:

  • Wonder Woman - in particular Lynda Carter. For as long as I can remember I wanted to be Wonder Woman. She kicked ass.
  • Sheena: Queen of the Jungle. I remember watching the 1984 film and thinking that she was incredible. Strong woman, strong body. Fantastic
  • Supergirl. This film changed my life and it was probably the first (and only) time I ever wanted to be blonde. And to be able to fly. Looking at Helen Slater as she was then I can’t help but think she would be a fantastic body-image role model these days. 
  • Star. Yes, that’s right, a random character from a 1987 film about vampires with an almost all-male cast (that said, the women characters are strong and brilliant in it). But I adored her - curvy, dark, mysterious. Who wouldn’t want to be her? I also had a massive girl crush on her and went between wanting to be her and wanting something else which I couldn’t quite put my finger on…
  • Shakespears Sister. Flash forward to the 1990’s and this band were my absolute style icons. A bit gooky, a bit goth and all kinds of stunning. Their video for their Number One single Stay still sends shivers down my spine…
  • Tori Amos. My absolute, number one goddess. Now and always. My first real crush on a woman was on Tori - not just for her beautiful, etherial, unusual looks but for her music. Stunning inspiration (did I just out myself a little with that comment? Hi Mum! I know you read this and that you don’t really believe in bisexuality, but there you go. If you’ve read this far then maybe you’ve learnt something new about me today!)
  • Bjork. Alongside loving her awesome music, Bjork made me realise that looking (and being!) a bit quirky and awkward wasn’t a bad or unattractive thing. Years before the contrived quirkiness of Manic Pixie Dream Girls (and, sorry, although I do like her, women like Zooey Deschanel who use kook to be cool) Bjork was there blazing a trail for women who are genuinely a bit crazy. And a lot sexy.
  • The Craft Girls. First off, if you haven’t seen this film then you need to stop reading, get on Nexflicks and queue this up. Now. A 1996 film about teenage witches, the main characters in this were cool, sexy and all I wanted to be when I was at sixth form. In fact, I dressed a lot like them and kind of believed I was mystical and magical. And you know what? I was!

Great first-person essay by s.e. smith about being asexual »

There’s an assumption that I must be missing something in my life if I’m not playing backseat bingo, but I actually have a pretty rich, complex, full and interesting life. Not having sex or being interested in romance doesn’t mean I live a lonely and tragic existence!

Nor does it mean that I have any interest in pushing asexuality on anyone else; as we like to say, it’s an identity you should use if it works for you. If it doesn’t work for you, don’t use it. I don’t hate people who have sex or think that sex is gross and bad. It just doesn’t interest me.

This insistence that “someone special” equals “someone you are having sex with” doesn’t just leave asexuals out in the cold. Lots of sexual people also have deep, meaningful relationships with people who are not sexual partners and will never be. Those relationships are much more than the word “friendship” can adequately describe, yet they’re often treated as less important than a marriage or long term sexual/romantic relationship.

This Is What Young Women of Color Really Want »

nicole-clark:

This weekend, I attended the Congressional Black Caucus’ 41st Annual Legislative Conference (ALC) where I spoke on a panel about African American women and reproductive healthcare and rights. I was recommended by Advocates for Youth , and invited by Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA). This panel, sponsored by PPFA, was the first of its kind at this ALC as no panel about reproductive health has been presented before. I’m excited to have been a part of it, and even more excited that it was a packed room filled with congressional members, constituents, and students who were interested in what this panel had to say.

Read the rest here.