No Means No ... Doesn't It?

As a relative outsider to T&T, I find myself in the unique position of observer to Trinbagonian customs that may seem normal to other nationals. Some of these customs have become relatively normal to me over the years, while others remain baffling and infuriating to my New York sensibilities. When I find myself confronted with one of the latter, I generally take to Facebook and/or Twitter to vent my frustration and seek explanation from other Trinis who, with the benefit of local upbringing, might be able to explain things to me in a way that I can understand. This time, I figured I'd blog it. Because I doubt that I know anyone to whom the following story will make a lick of sense:

June 22nd is WHAT day now?

So I hear that today was International "No Panty Day" (on Twitter and Facebook at least) and if that isn't enough to get me to dust off my blog then nothing is.

If, like me, you awoke this morning to discover your Facebook and/or Twitter feed plastered with images of women in various states of undress, like this popular one:

then you may have wondered what the hell was going on.

In the Eye of the Beholder

What could she possibly be looking at?

Knowing my fondness for anything related to the female perspective, friends recently pointed me in the direction of  an article in The Telegraph which paints a depressing picture of female self-esteem. According to a survey conducted by Dove Skincare, only one in every eight women (just 13%) are confident enough to call themselves attractive.

The article (posted on Facebook, naturally) led to an interesting discussion in which we mulled over the pressures women face in attempting to conform to the images presented by society (and the beauty industry) as "the feminine ideal" while trying to maintain a modicum of self-esteem.

It was while discussing my own inner-directed sense of self-esteem that something occurred to me: 

Blogging Reshuffling

Morning everyone :)

My experiment in blogging is going pretty well thus far, thanks in large part to your support (and willingness to read my semi-frequent ramblings).

I'd like to try something a little different, so bear with me here. I'd like to try backing off of the scheduled Monday, Wednesday and Friday posts. It's a little rigid and it makes it difficult to do what you all seem to enjoy the most, which is more current-events-centered (hopefully humorous) posts.

My plan is to continue daily current events posting on my Tumblr and, when I come across something particularly interesting, to post my extended commentary here (instead of the rambling Tumblr posts I've been doing recently - I don't think it's quite the right venue for that). This means that I might be posting here more frequently than thrice-weekly (it also means it might be less, depending on what I find and the demands on my time, but I promise I'll work hard to avoid that).

So what do you think? Feel free to give me your feedback in the comments, it's always much appreciated. Otherwise, look out for more from me very soon.

Thanks again for your support and encouragement (it really means the world),

~MeThinks

The Hunt is Off ... Again

Courtesy of "The Eternal Pantomime"

This morning's Special Early Edition blog post has been hijacked by Ian Alleyne.

Locals: bear with me here.

For non-Trinbagonians out there: Ian Alleyne is the local version of Batman. Or, if you prefer, Captain America. 

I'm only being half-facetious here. In a country which was only able to arrest the spiraling crime rate with a sudden (and poorly reasoned) State of Emergency, in which corruption is so endemic as to become an actual part of the way the society functions, and in which the police service is widely viewed as ineffective and corrupt itself, he and his TV show have become the only hope for justice for crime victims without enough influence to galvanize their neighborhood police force:

You want me to put WHAT ... WHERE? (Pt 2)

So, after wrapping my mind around the concept of Clean and Dry Intimate Wash (a product meant to bleach your vadge to an irresistible sparkling shine), I began to wonder whether something like that could ever take hold here in T&T.

My first instinct (said in the most Trinbagonian way possible) was: NAH! 

Not in the land of oil and music, a place with more beautiful women per square foot than most countries have for miles. Not in a place that manages to embrace women of every shape, size and color with special names for them all (darkie, brownin', reds, tallest, lil bits, rasta, empress, famalay, etc, etc, etc). No way anyone's convincing these women that their vaginas aren't good enough just the way they are.

But then I stopped to think. Beauty insecurities exist everywhere (even, alas, in sweet T&T) and, world-wide, many things previously thought to be extreme are now commonplace, particularly with our neighbors to the north. We all know what happens when America catches a cold. That's right: vajazzling.

So is it possible? Could a product like Clean and Dry Intimate Wash, with all of its insidious implications, take root here? I aimed to find out. After all, inquiring vaginas want to know.

You want me to put WHAT ... WHERE? (Pt 1)

*SIGH*

That (quickly followed by "UGH") was my reaction to coming across a recent Jezebel article titled "Your Vagina Isn't Just Too Big, Too Floppy, and Too Hairy - It's also Too Brown".

After witnessing the disgusting attacks that provoked Ashley Judd into a well-articulated shutdown of the American media and surviving weeks of bigoted Hunger Games Tweets, I had possibly reached my threshold on world-wide ignorance and discrimination. Even when it's being presented by way of the kind of hilarious satirical attack that can only be found on Jezebel.

Still, when the link popped up again a day later in my Facebook newsfeed, I realized that a self-proclaimed news junkie like myself wouldn't be able to avoid it forever.

I was not at all disappointed by what I found.