OMFG. I’ve spent most of the past fifteen years in and on the fringes of the Neopagan community. I shit you not, one of the self-appointed leaders of the Neopagan community wanted to know what the big deal was about Bill Clinton running around on his wife because it is an Indo-European cultural expectation for leaders to be virile*.

*facepalm*

He’s a Neopagan Druid favoring the Irish tradition (what anybody knows of it) and the Celts were an Indo-European people so he can be forgiven for bringing that up; it wasn’t a racist tirade. Still. It is telling that initially I was nodding my head along with his statements, and then was surprised later on when a Neopagan man ran around on *me* and didn’t understand what the big deal was when I got mad about it. And we were polyamorous! How do you cheat on someone when you’re polyamorous??? But he managed it.

I’m starting to digress here, I just wanted to point out that Anastasia is not exaggerating. These assholes really do see something almost holy about behaving badly. IBTP.

(And I consider myself more animist these days. Because if you leave the anthropocentrism out of it, it’s a lot more difficult to deify da menz.)

Excellent summary, I’ll try to remember it. I’ve never worn makeup for everyday stuff (only for goth clubbing etc.) and haven’t shaved my legs in years (the last time was when I performed semi-naked onstage, and the few things I did wear stuck in the hairs)–I’ve never had any adverse reactions, so it’s worth reading that other women have.

I did want to tell one story–I was standing in a thrift shop in Lilongwe, Malawi, looking at the English language books, when I felt a hand on my leg–and turned to see a gorgeous light-skinned black woman rubbing her hand up and down my calf. ‘I wish I could grow my hair out like yours,’ she said. ‘It’s beautiful.’ I was, needless to say, completely speechless–but when I gathered my wits I said something to the effect that where I came from it was considered unattractive. She seemed baffled by this.

As a welfare worker I was pretty uncomfortable with all that too, for the record.
Yes, people in poor areas and particularly in rural australia have less access to education and health services, lower rates of literacy, higher rates of alcohol and other drug issues, even higher rates of mental health issues and much higher rates of incarceration than those proper rich folks from the city. Worse still in Aboriginal communities.
I would prefer to blame patriarchy for these issues, not those who are most affected by them.

http://www.civilsarcasm.com/boards/index.php

Thanks I really needed that!!