The Rant Thread...

[Arctic Firefox]

Flit, I'm sorry you interpreted my comments like that - it certainly wasn't what I meant. I was referring to women who dress in a particular way deliberately to attract attention, not those who do so simply because of the weather. It's more of a combination between clothes and attitude.

My objection is to "raunch culture", which I see you have a hatred of as well. Reading through your posts, I think we're on the same wavelength about this, though I must admit I was more concerned with my xenophobic incident when I wrote the post - the girl who accompanied those two louts was definitely trying to be a Paris Hilton.

Of course, at the end of the day it's completely up to women what they wear and when they choose to wear it, I just find it extremely concerning that "raunch culture" is seen as a form of empowerment, when in the end it's doing nothing more than playing to the desires of (the majority of) men.

[Maryon]

Rant time. Grrr.

I am sick of the stupid different school systems. I'm in Qld yr 10 and was in NSW yr 8 last year. And now I find out (after they have been contemplating putting me in year 9) that I've already done half of year 10 in terms of work!!!!! I have better things to do than waste my time. I skipped a year and I want to make it count. I'm a hard-working student and they haven't taken my report cards from last year seriously and have put me in almost the bottom english and science classes. Talk about communication between schools.

[Elspeth]

siryn said:

Just letting you know:
Have you noticed lately, (and i dont know if it was a mistake -i hope not) but in some junk mail i was looking through i saw two ordinary looking women (under the heading 'plus size' btw -anyway) who were in their bras and undies. one of the women had cellulite and the other had stretchmarks on her legs and stomache!! someone said "oh, thats disgusting" but i thought it was wonderful! almost like a breakthrough!

Was it a Dove ad, good Siryn? I love those ads. The women look so normal! It's nice to see someone who looks real in an ad. Usually, they're so styled and made-up that they seem too perfect to be natural.

Campaign for Real Beauty

[Swallow]

crazyauro said:

Rant time. Grrr.

I am sick of the stupid different school systems. I'm in Qld yr 10 and was in NSW yr 8 last year. And now I find out (after they have been contemplating putting me in year 9) that I've already done half of year 10 in terms of work!!!!! I have better things to do than waste my time. I skipped a year and I want to make it count. I'm a hard-working student and they haven't taken my report cards from last year seriously and have put me in almost the bottom english and science classes. Talk about communication between schools.

That's what happened to me when i crossed over schools in the same town. No state difference, not even a different side of town. In fact, lyneham was only a bit down the road from Merici. And they put me in the level three classes when i was used to level one extended. By the second week while they assed about umming and ahhing and generally forgetting about me, i lost it, marched up to each of my teachers and told them that if they didn't move me now, they were going to have a REALLY impossible student on their hands who was going to make a HELL of a lot of disturbance if they didn't offer me a challenge.
Sadly, you sometimes have to push. And push HARD to get what you want. If you're a hard worker, bring in your work, plonk it down on their desk and go STOP MAKING ME INSANE I NEED TO WORK, or something to the like

And Fox, i knew our thoughts were very similar, i just get a little frustrated when people think it's the clothes. I'm not saying you think it, i'm not saying that at all. But it isn't a huge jump from saying people attract attention because of the clothes they wear, to people deserved to be raped because of those same clothes. It's just an excuse for something that HAS no excuse.

[Lauren]

siryn said:

honestly, i have seen children who must be 4 years old wearing boob tubes and miniskirts. i was horrified that, one people are making these clothes and two, parents are buying them.

This is what really gets me. I do not understand how parents can let their children wear clothes like that. It shocks me every single time I see a little kid in them. Argh, I cant even begin to try and relay what it makes me feel, but its not good!

And on the 'real women modeling' subject, I *love* it. Plus size women and men modeling is a huge step I think, because it means that we're beginning to understand (and not I said beginning...we're still a long way from it) that it doesnt matter what we look like...we're all the same on the inside. I mean, people are still caught up in the 'my religion is the right one', 'your skin colour makes you less human' and the like things, but I think that because we're starting to model larger people its definitely progressing. I mean, it wasnt that long ago that indigenous people were ridiculed (more than they are now, I mean) and werent allowed jobs, and the same with females. But I really think that we're getting beyond that. I hope anyway.

[Squirt]

This has been a really interesting thread to read!

For everyones information, I was 14 or fifteen at the time and wearing a school uniform (V-neck woollen jumper and navy pants). I was so embarrassed, from memory I just walked away, i think I was too stunned to speak.

[Siryn]

yes, and people who are coward enough to subject a 15 year old girl to sexual harrassment like that.....well...... this is a G rated site aint it.

[Kangaruth]

Don't you hate it when you work on something for ages, getting really frustrated because you just can't see how to accomplish your aim, and then you find out there's a really easy, completely valid shortcut and you've just wasted weeks of work because nobody thought to tell you it was that easy. I'm sitting here in shock, because my supervisor knows I've been struggling with this problem, and she must have known this was a solution!

On "plus size" models - they're a step in the right direction, but it frustrates me somewhat that even they are a (UK) size 12. I'm well within my healthy weight for my height and I'm sure as hell not "fat", but I'm a size 14-16, which is the largest size a lot of chain-stores make their clothes. My boyfriend is very well built (mostly is muscle rather than fat) and he just can't shop on the high street!

[shinigami]

re: the models etc
why design clothes which look good on size 6 (UK) model when the average dress size for a woman in the country is a 16?
also why do the clothes makers assume everyone is in the same proportion? I mean I wear size 14 bottoms but need a size 16-18 top to fit in my *ahem* assets. The only store I've seen that does different "curviness" sizes is a bra shop and they charge you £40 for a shirt. Grrrr! We are not all copies of each other so stop making clothes for us like we are!

[Lucy]

kangaruth said:

Don't you hate it when you work on something for ages, getting really frustrated because you just can't see how to accomplish your aim, and then you find out there's a really easy, completely valid shortcut and you've just wasted weeks of work because nobody thought to tell you it was that easy. I'm sitting here in shock, because my supervisor knows I've been struggling with this problem, and she must have known this was a solution!

Argh - tell me about it!! I struggled with a piece of my design coursework for ages because I didn't realise there were 1001 keyboard shortcuts for the software I was using that made everything so much simpler!

Shinigami, I'm totally with you on the proportion thing. Especially when they think that size (waist) correlates directly with height. Grrr.
I know how easy it is to feel pressured by media though...well, not even media directly, just the ideals it's placed in our heads. I live with 3 very slim, gorgeous people and it really makes me feel self conscious when we go out together. The worst thing is, they're all lovely so I can't even b!tch about them for being stereotypically gorgeous! Dammit!

[Siryn]

that just makes it worse....when they're, Practically Perfect in Every Way.....and sorry for that, my client makes me watch Mary Poppins over and over!!!

[Lauren]

I watched Mary Poppins the other day...its such a classic

[Siryn]

dont feel you have to: .

it is a lovely movie, its just that now i know all the lyrics/the script!!!

[Deleted]

avra said:

flit said:

Women get stared at no matter what they wear. I wore baggy clothing for years, and still noticed people staring at my chest the whole time.

I've always wanted to turn around and go up to someone staring and say "Do you want to touch one? Come on! Come on! I know you want to touch one!" Totally freak them out.

Bwahaha! Did anyone see Cal Wilson's comedy show at Comfest a few years back? This reminded me of it so much. Apparently some guy came up to her at the station and said, "hey, nice set of nips you got there."
To which she replied, "thanks! They're my dad's!" ;D

Anyway, I'm ranting about my uni timetable which just came out today. I have a 7 hour Monday! I don't think I'll be able to handle 7 hours of uni, 5 of them in a row starting from 9am. I tried moving one of the 3 hour pracs to a different day (the only different day in fact) and it says the class is full. Argh. It's not that terrible I suppose, and I should be grateful that my timetable doesn't clash at all but you know what? That's not helping! I'm going in tomorrow to see if I can change it manually though, so I should save the ranting until after then because the situation may be remedied. Gosh, that was pretty mild.

[Squirt]

At least you'll get lots of it over and done with early on in the week

[Siryn]

unless you drop dead from doing so much on the freakin monday!!!!

anyway, ...........success with the changeyness?

[Lucy]

Ouch, I thought my five hour Monday was bad! Good luck with changing. But if you can't, at least Squirt made a good point in that you'll have lots over and done with on the first day of the week/

[Arctic Firefox]

Today's rant:

Why oh why is John Howard's approval rating at 60%? He's spent the last ten years lying to the Australian public and introducing policies which only benefit the wealthy. And where's the opposition? Labor makes the American Democrats look good, and the Australian Democrats really need to change their line-up.

When the new Industrial Relations laws kick-in (1 March) and salaries start dropping, I would hope that the electorate MIGHT just take a bit of notice, maybe? Please?

It's ironic: Australians call the Americans dumb, but at least they've cottoned on to Bush after six years - most Australians STILL think Howard's fantastic after TEN years!

RAAGH! Also, this country is socially backwards. Euthanasia is not murder, same goes for first trimester abortion (and after that, it's still questionable) - and gays are NOT evil! Oh, and Christmas stopped being a religious holiday when people started buying presents for each other, so stop encouraging us to "celebrate the life of Jesus", Johnny.

Lastly, channel 9 is a right-wing station with right-wing viewers, which is why 97% of THEIR viewers (not Australians in general) think multiculturalism is a bad idea. If multiculturalism is bad, then everyone here who doesn't have Aborigine blood in them should return to the country of the ancestors, because, after all, the Aborigines were here first.

Thank you for your attention.

[Squirt]

I totallly agree Firefox! I was at a wedding tonght and I met a Labour politician whose main job was... something to do with the 'Yes Committee' (Republic).. can't remember exactly what, I'd drunk a fair few beers and lets face it, they still haven't completely worn off, but why does everyone always vote Liberal?!?! I'm not saying that Labour hasn't had it's problems in the last couple of years but not only does everyone vote liberal but they seem so sure that it's the right thing to do!

I work in the disability field and have a sister with a disability and they haven't done anything more than take more and more money away from people with disabilities in the last ten years! As you mentioned they brought in the new industrial relations laws (grrrrrrrr), the GST and as far as I know, I don't really pay too much attention when this story comes up in the news *blushes* but they sold Telstra! And don't even get me started on Iraq! Pah!

Sorry, I'll stop now, my apologies!

Squirt!

[Fuil Dearg]

what did australia have to do with iraq, i assume u mean the us gov invasion of iraq. i didnt hear that AUS had anything to do with it, (of course i am ten and a half thousand miles away but still u think itd be mentioned on the news). the irish news is excellent, they dont have the kind of propaganda diatribe that cnn has. i watched some cnn news round the time of the initial fighting and they didnt even know the geography of the place. also it was all bs rubbish propaganda. i love the rte news.

[Arctic Firefox]

Australia, along with the UK, was the strongest US supporter during the invasion, though Australia hasn't sent that many troops. PM Howard supports 95% of everything Bush does or says, but when it comes down to it, Australia just isn't considered to be important by most countries in the world.

CNN is actually one of the better American news networks. It still stands to attention whenever Bush makes an appeal to patriotism, but it criticises the administration a lot more than many of the other networks.

[Lucy]

Rant - ok, this is totally petty, but it's really knarked me so thought I'd finally make use of the rant thread!
Why are girls so touchy? My housemate has totally given the rest of us the cold shoulder because "we didn't invite her out with us until 20 min before we left" when in fact I spoke to her 3 hours before we left, she went somewhere else before we even left the flat and we always make 'spur of the moment' plans to go out! Grrrr. As I say, completely stupid sounding, but it's really ticked me off as she's refusing to speak to any of us about it, just moaned to someone else. The least she could do is ask us why we supposedly didn't invite her out sooner.
Sorry if that didn't make sense, but I feel better now and wanted to get it out before I went to bed. Conclusion: girls' emotions suck!

[aasder]

Oranges......because their smell is extremely putrid to me. And train travellers who occupy more seats that they need... But oranges annoy me more!

[Siryn]

Lucy, that does suck! if you ask me (and i'll give my opinion regaurdless) its not girls emotions to blame, it sounds like its your housemate to blame, in fact lets blame her for everyone elses problems here because it sounds just about as logical as she's being.

[Dark One]

The best thing to do is give her the cold shoulder too. If you stop sepaking to her then sh'll have to ask you why