#Rebecca Dale

[paul-archibald]

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[lesbianmaxevans]

1.04 || 2.05

[haggishlyhagging]

There was no point in women putting their faith in men, argued [Rebecca] West, not even socialist men, because there was a conflict of interest between women and men, and men would simply 'protect their own' in the face of any threats from women. The unapologetic declaration of war, the unabashed insistence on it as a necessary and just war is a characteristic which marked Rebecca West then and now. The withdrawal of male approval - a weapon used effectively against women for a long time - appears to have made no impression on West who continued to mock male values and to expose the false nature of male 'protection'. That she did this so openly, unashamedly, and in the spirit of moral responsibility may have enraged many men but inspired many women.

Every aspect of man, and man-governed systems, was grist to her mill and week after week she wrote her stinging and sparkling articles: ‘Every man likes to think of himself as a kind of Whiteley's - a universal provider,’ wrote Rebecca West in 1912 in the Manchester Daily Despatch (26 November). 'The patriarchal system is the ideal for which he longs. He likes to dream of himself sitting on the verandah after dinner, with his wife beside him and the children in the garden, while his unmarried sisters play duets in the drawing room and his maiden aunts hand around the coffee. This maintenance of helpless, penniless, subservient womanhood is the nearest he can get in England to the spiritual delights of the harem.'

In the interest of making this dream come true she explains, man has thought of a multitude of reasons for paying woman less - even when she does the same work - for how else is she to be enticed into giving up her own life in order to serve a man, if not by financial necessity? But because many women want to lead their own lives, and because they can see that no pay and low pay makes marriage compulsory, they have started demanding better pay and the option of earning their living in occupations other than marriage. This is a perfectly reasonable and just demand, states West, but one to which men are likely to react with irrationality and rage - thereby unwittingly revealing the extent of the esteem in which they hold women and the unmasked nature of male chivalry and protection! When ‘womanhood declares,’ says West, ‘that she is no longer helpless, dislikes being penniless, and refuses to be subservient, the men become indignant and inarticulate,’ and find themselves caught in a contradictory position.

They have two areas they wish to protect - in their own self interest - the home and the workplace, and when 'only by the fear of starvation are women coerced into having husbands,' then starving women into marriage means among other things, paying them low wages. Unfortunately, however, men also want to maintain their monopoly on employment and they have to confront the unpalatable fact that lower paid women are often more attractive to employers than higher paid men, with the result that ensuring wives may necessitate the risk of losing jobs. Hence their irrational, inarticulate protest, states West, for men want both wives and jobs.

Equal pay for equal work was just a matter of plain common sense to Rebecca West: women's needs are no less than men's, and women's freedom to choose paid work or marriage - or both, as men had been doing for many a year - was no less precious. And if men were only sensible about this she argued, they might begin to see that they had something to gain as well, for once the compulsory element was removed from marriage, once women were permitted the same job opportunities as men, women would be more likely to choose a companion than accept an employer; ‘if there is to be any romance in marriage,' she wrote, 'woman must be given every chance to earn a decent living at other occupations. Otherwise no man can be sure that he is loved for himself alone, and that his wife did not come to the Registry Office because she had no luck at the Labour Exchange' (ibid.).

The male capacity for logic, however, appears to be severely limited for neither then nor now have men shown themselves to be convinced by the reasonableness of the case, and they give every sign of ending the century in the way that they began it - by paying woman less. Despite the passing of legislation such as Equal Pay Acts most sources (including the United Nations' statistics on the position of women) indicate that the gap between women's pay and men's pay is growing greater every year. Men still control the world's resources (more then 99 per cent of them according to United Nations' statistics) and therefore can still exercise control over women: seventy years has seen no significant change in the distribution of wealth between the sexes.

-Dale Spender, There’s Always Been a Women’s Movement This Century

[mouseonacloud]

Art dump👍

[magggg202]

I want this show back or a movie. I miss them all so much.

[reppyy]

[camyfilms]

IRON MAN 3 2013

What I need is for you to go home, be with your mom, keep your trap shut, guard the suit, and stay connected to the telephone, 'cause if I call you, you better pick up. Can you feel that? We're done here. Move out of the way or I'm gonna run you over. Bye, kid.

[stardustviolet]

thetingthais:

this is right where we belong, turn up the music: this is the dance for all the lovers, takin’ a chance for one another finally it’s our time now these are the times that we’ll remember, breaking the city sight together finally it’s our time now, it’s our time now.

[lovejam]

Reading Christina Rossetti’s Poetry

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Dalnavert Museum (@dalnavertmuseum) The readings of Christina Rossetti’s poetry. For more information on Christina Rossetti, here’s a link.

[robynsassenmyview]

There and Back Again, in a Grain of Sand

"There and Back Again, in a Grain of Sand", a review of 'The Hobbit' at the National Children's Theatre until 21 May.

WHAT has he got in his pocketses? Bilbo Baggins (Gamelihle Bovana) and Kira Timm (Gollum) in Alan Swerdlow’s production of The Hobbit at the National Children’s Theatre. Photograph by Rebecca Hearfield. DO YOU REMEMBER building forts with the cushions from your parents’ lounge suites and wearing your bedspread as a cloak and a colander as a helmet as you shouted loud and feral words and regally…

[haggishlyhagging]

So many things men have proposed that women do 'for their own good' are not in women's interest at all, argues Rebecca West: it is men, not women who stand to profit from these proposals and the justifications which men provide are nothing other than elaborate trappings designed to conceal the fact that men want women to serve them - in a variety of ways - and are prepared to try and convince rather than coerce women to comply. This is not surprising. Patriarchy is supported by an ideology designed to make the system 'palatable' for women. As with all 'totalitarian' regimes, those in power control the sources of information and promote propaganda which is meant to persuade those without power that it is the most reasonable and desirable form of government. Women are informed that it is to their advantage to support the system.

Feminism has always been concerned with eliminating these ideological niceties and with exposing the crude power basis that the propaganda is meant to camouflage: when it comes to cutting through the cant and uncovering the male self-interest it is intended to conceal, there have been few more effective feminists than Rebecca West. She has turned her wit and her pen against male power and its ideology (and against the women who have been taken in by it).

For their own good, says Rebecca West, men have held up to women an ideal of femininity or womanliness which women are obliged to aspire to. Women are assured that it is for their benefit that they should attempt to achieve this elevated state. But while there are many pretty rationalisations about the desirable woman, in essence a feminine or womanly woman is simply one who supports men and a 'man-governed system', and who will go to any lengths to prove her allegiance.

The word 'womanly' makes me alarmed, wrote Rebecca West in 1913 for 'It recalls a painful incident that occurred to my sister and me some years ago in a public park in Harrogate. We were selling Votes for Women,' she explains, and we offered one to a dear old lady in rustling black silk and a widow's bonnet. With superb vigour she raised her umbrella and brought it down on my sister's head, remarking: "Thank God I am a womanly woman!" And since then,' adds West, 'I have noticed that womanliness is a virtue claimed only with aggressive intent' (The Clarion, 7 March 1913).

It seems that a feminine woman may be virulent or vitriolic - qualities not usually assumed to be associated with the revered image of womanhood - as long as these qualities are used against other women and in defence of the man-governed system and its decrees. In contrast, women who use their energy to support other women and to question or defy the male-system, are consistently condemned no matter how cautious, courteous or clear headed their criticism. These are the unfeminine women, the feminists! 'I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is,' declared West, 'I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat' (The Clarion, 14 November 1913). Feminists are those dreadful 'uppity' women with opinions of their own, who do not subscribe to men's propaganda about themselves or women, and whose existence therefore - whether meek or mutinous - makes them a target for attack and derision.

-Dale Spender, There’s Always Been a Women’s Movement This Century

[sweetsmellosuccess]

It's pleasant to think, in a year in which seven of the top 10 highest grossing films were CGI fests (with two more animated), actual human performances still count for something toward a film's viability (if not financial success).

Amid a field of tentacles, ray blasts, swooping capes, and giggling little yellow people, these very un-digitally enhanced depictions of characters thrown into one extreme or another stayed with me long after the film ended. Sometimes secret identities don't have to involve a heroic alter-ego.

Reasonable minds can agree that Cate Blanchett ("Tár"), Michelle Yeoh ("Everything Everywhere All at Once"), and Brendan Fraser ("The Whale") were excellent, and remain worthy Oscar favorites, but you likely already know about them. While we're here, I would be remiss if I didn't also give a significant shout out to Eddie Redmayne ("The Good Nurse"), Aubrey Plaza ("Emily the Criminal"), Bella Ramsey ("Catherine Called Birdy"), Park Hae-il ("Decision to Leave") and Bill Nighy ("Living"), each of whom were equally wonderful and also belong on such a list.

That bit of business taken care of, let's dig a bit deeper and find some brilliant individual performances you might not have caught already.

[theambitiouswoman]

Book Recommendations 📚📒

Business and Leadership:

"Good to Great" by Jim Collins

"The Lean Startup" by Eric Ries

"Zero to One" by Peter Thiel

"Leaders Eat Last" by Simon Sinek

"Outliers: The Story of Success" by Malcolm Gladwell

Success and Personal Development:

"The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen R. Covey

"Mindset: The New Psychology of Success" by Carol S. Dweck

"Atomic Habits" by James Clear

"Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance" by Angela Duckworth

"The Power of Habit" by Charles Duhigg

Mental Health and Well-being:

"The Power of Now" by Eckhart Tolle

"Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy" by David D. Burns

"The Gifts of Imperfection" by Brené Brown

"The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook" by Edmund J. Bourne

"The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook" by Matthew McKay, Jeffrey C. Wood, and Jeffrey Brantley

Goal Setting and Achievement:

"Goals!: How to Get Everything You Want—Faster Than You Ever Thought Possible" by Brian Tracy

"The 12 Week Year" by Brian P. Moran and Michael Lennington

"Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us" by Daniel H. Pink

"The One Thing" by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan

"Smarter Faster Better" by Charles Duhigg

Relationships and Communication:

"How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie

"The 5 Love Languages" by Gary Chapman

"Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High" by Al Switzler, Joseph Grenny, and Ron McMillan

"Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life" by Marshall B. Rosenberg

"Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus" by John Gray

Self-Help and Personal Growth:

"The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck" by Mark Manson

"Daring Greatly" by Brené Brown

"Awaken the Giant Within" by Tony Robbins

"The Miracle Morning" by Hal Elrod

"You Are a Badass" by Jen Sincero

Science and Popular Science:

"Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari

"The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot

"Cosmos" by Carl Sagan

"A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson

"The Selfish Gene" by Richard Dawkins

Health and Nutrition:

"The China Study" by T. Colin Campbell and Thomas M. Campbell II

"In Defense of Food" by Michael Pollan

"Why We Sleep" by Matthew Walker

"Born to Run" by Christopher McDougall

"The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan

Fiction and Literature:

"To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee

"1984" by George Orwell

"The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald

"The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger

"Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen

[whale-music]

The Ghosts Are Here

The Haunting of Hill House (1959) by Shirley Jackson // The Haunting (1963) dir. Robert Wise // The H Word: Bringing the Horror Home (2013) by Dale Bailey // Rebecca (1938) by Daphne du Maurier // In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (1998) by Neutral Milk Hotel // The Hours (2002) dir. Stephen Daldry

[reppyy]