Lady Aspascia profile picture

Lady Aspascia

I am here for Friends and Networking

About Me

Traveller, knowledge junkie, perpetual student, seeker, hider, feminist, survivor of domestic violence, vegan, animal rights activist, romantic realist, cynic, humanist, evolutionist, anti-prohibitionist, libertarian, skeptic, agnostic pagan, poet, artist, pro-choice, anti-war, conspiracy theorist, anti-Big Brother, concerned about our continuing tendency to rape the Earth, at odds with the world around me, and, finally, grumpy advocate of correct use of the English language (at this point I feel I should apologise for my predilection for the Oxford comma and my overuse of the comma in general, which, I am sad to say, have been beaten into me through my psychology studies and have thus become permanent features of my writing style!).
All of that aside, those who know me would agree that this is a pretty accurate portrayal of me (I know this because many of them have told me so):


I like the simple things in life: wandering aimlessly around museums, reading books lent to me by friends, seeing great works of art in the ostensibly mundane, making my feelings known when I've received poor service in a shop (which is not done often enough in this country!), laughing at someone who's just done something stupid, the knowledge that I'm learning something, and that blissful feeling of waking up early and realising it's the weekend and you can go back to sleep.
I also find great fulfilment in my work as a Confusionist minister, spreading the word of Confusionism and converting the masses whenever I can be arsed. If you want to check out this revolutionary new cult designed for today's hip, young nonbeliever, click below.


I dislike all forms of prejudice, human rights abuse, and animal cruelty. I have a great deal of trouble understanding how any person can believe they have the right to toy with another person's or animal's mind/body/feelings/life, and how humans as a species believe we have the right to play god over all other species and the planet we all share. I dislike organised religion because I believe it is largely responsible for most of what's wrong with the world. I also have no tolerance for people who are deliberately ignorant, naive, closed-minded or inane.
I particularly abhor sexism and female exploitation. I am opposed to pornography and prostitution because the sex industry exploits and debases women for profit and entertainment and proliferates the notion that we are mere sexual vessels to be used and abused as men see fit. I hate that women are dichotomised in every aspect of life and that no matter what we do we are portrayed negatively. I hate the double standards that apply to men and women. I hate that most men are so afraid of women that they feel the need to degrade us just to make themselves feel superior (despite - or perhaps because of - all of the empirical and anecdotal evidence to the contrary), and to constrain our intellect, ambition and voice for fear of having to share their power. I hate that I have to work twice as hard as a man to prove I'm half as good, and that for all our efforts women still get paid less than men for doing the same job. I hate the phrases "opposite sex" and "battle of the sexes" because men and women should not be in opposition to one another. I believe that gender is an arbitrary social construction that dictates what is 'normal' and promotes stereotyping of both sexes, and should be abolished. I refuse to be told what I can and cannot do with my own body by a patriarchal oligarchy spouting "Christian family values" and operating under the assumption that women lack the intelligence and the responsibility to make such decisions for ourselves. I hate being called a girl; I am an adult person and I won't tolerate being belittled. I find the phrase "girl power" incredibly irritating. I hate being treated like a mindless sexual object by men with double-digit IQs and no understanding of the world beyond their dark, safe little rocks. I hate that feminism has been given such a bad name by those who don't understand it and, perhaps, therefore fear it. Feminists don't hate men - in fact, many feminists ARE men - we simply believe that women deserve equality, respect and the right to live without fear of harassment or violence. It makes me both sad and furious that cultures still exist in which women are denied even the basic rights of citizenship, and that in ALL cultures rape and other hate crimes occur in epidemic proportions, often unchecked. And, while I hate being dismissed by privileged, socially dominant white middle class heterosexual males as nothing more than a bitter man-hater who's whingeing about nothing, it's even more disturbing when it comes from women who are actually content with the status quo and see no need for feminism. The fact is, we are still far from achieving equality. If nothing else, ask any woman who has been sexually harassed, beaten or raped and then told that it was somehow her fault if she's happy with the way she's treated. There is something seriously wrong with this picture.
FEMINISTS ARE NOT MAN-HATERS. FEMINISTS DO NOT HAVE TO BE LESBIANS, OR EVEN WOMEN. FEMINISTS CAN BE STRAIGHT WOMEN, LESBIANS, STRAIGHT MEN, GAY MEN, CHILDREN, THE ELDERLY, DOCTORS, LAWYERS, TEACHERS, BALLET DANCERS, BUS DRIVERS, CLEANERS, NUCLEAR PHYSICISTS ... THEY ARE AS DIVERSE AS THE HUMAN RACE ITSELF. THE ONLY CHARACTERISTIC THAT ALL FEMINISTS HAVE IN COMMON IS THAT THEY BELIEVE IN EQUALITY FOR ALL PEOPLE.
"When a man gives his opinion he's a man. When a woman gives her opinion she's a bitch." Bette Davis
"Because I am a woman, I must make unusual efforts to succeed. If I fail, no one will say, 'She doesn’t have what it takes.' They will say, 'Women don’t have what it takes.'" Clare Boothe Luce
"The emotional, sexual and psychological stereotyping of females begins when the doctor says, 'It's a girl'." Shirley Chisolm
"I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat or a prostitute." Rebecca West
"Women are the only oppressed group in our society that live in intimate association with their oppressors." Evelyn Cunningham
"You don't have to be anti-man to be pro-woman." Jane Galvin Lewis
"A woman reading Playboy feels a little like a Jew reading a Nazi manual." Gloria Steinem
"Women's chains have been forged by men, not by anatomy." Estelle R Ramey
"Women are the only exploited group in history to have been idealised into powerlessness." Erica Jong

You're Totally Sarcastic
You sarcastic? Never! You're as sweet as a baby bunny.
Seriously, though, you have a sharp tongue - and you aren't afraid to use it.
And if people are too wimpy to deal with your attitude, then too bad. So sad. How Sarcastic Are You?

My Interests

Films, theatre, literature, music, art and poetry (both creating and appreciating), politics, bioethics, religion, feminism and women's rights, human and animal rights, hugging trees - try it; it's very fulfilling - and arguing, be it to make a point or just for the hell of it.

I'd like to meet:

Like-minded individuals everywhere! More specifically: feminists; survivors of domestic abuse and sexual assault; people against human and animal rights abuse; people who inspire me; people who are creative and interesting in thought and action; people with whom I can have an intelligent conversation about things that actually matter; people who take me seriously and don't denigrate me because a) I'm a woman, or b) I think outside of the box; people who can accept and respect my views even if they don't agree with them; people who refuse to believe what the governments and corporations of the world tell them; people who can make me laugh and who can laugh at themselves; people who aren't afraid to look at the world with an open mind (no chauvinists, misogynists, racists, right-wing authoritarians, anti-abortion radicals, homophobes, bigots, Sun readers, yes-people or idiots please!) and to have an honest opinion about what they see; people who judge me not by the way I look, but by the way I conduct myself as a human being.

If I add you, it's because I believe you fall into at least one of these categories. Otherwise, I won't waste my time or yours.

adopt your own virtual pet!..

Music:

Techno, hard house, trip hop, jazz & swing... Motown, the Beatles, the Doors, the Kinks, Misty's Big Adventure, the Who, Patti Smith, Ben Lee, Sonicanimation, the Clash, the Sleepy Jackson, Ben Folds, Portishead, the Dissociatives, Machine Gun Fellatio, Gerling, Fatboy Slim, Sex Pistols, Groove Armada, Kosheen, the Retro Spankees ... could go on and on. I'm also the number one groupie of a very talented fella called looque. Please check out some of his trip hop stuff here and rate his tunes.

I love this Misty's video...

And this has got to be the greatest Ramones cover ever...

Movies:

Amelie, Love and Other Catastrophes, The Castle, Shaun of the Dead, Trainspotting, Lady Vengeance, Fight Club, Breakfast at Tiffany's, An Affair to Remember, Princess Mononoke, 28 Days Later, and good, thought-provoking documentaries (including everything by Michael Moore). I'm a fan of Asian cinema and old black and white films, and I love the serendipity of discovering really good low-budget or little-known films.

Television:

Sucks the soul from every living being in close proximity. That said, I'm fond of a select few televised products, including The Simpsons, Futurama, The Chaser, Spaced, Kath & Kim, Scrubs, The Office, Extras, Peep Show, and Michael Moore's The Awful Truth. I also enjoy a good documentary, particularly if it's about people or history.

Books:

To Kill a Mockingbird, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, the Harry Potter series, Nineteen Eighty-Four, Brave New World, Bandura's Social Foundations of Thought and Action, The Origin of Species, anything by Shakespeare or Austen, the works of pure genius produced by Coleridge and fellow great Romantic minds, and lots and lots and lots of books about all things psychology.

Heroes:

People who have bravely put themselves at risk to change the status quo, not for fame or fortune, but simply to stand up and speak for those who needed a voice and deserved a better deal... people like Emmeline Pankhurst, Emily Davison, Millicent Fawcett, Peter Lalor, Rosa Parks and Lawrence Anthony, to name but a few.

peta2.com

My Blog

Flying free of the pigeon hole

I was mightily disappointed to notice that, in the recent media coverage of the trial of Steve Wright, the alleged "Ipswich Ripper", there was a very disturbing tendency to refer to the five murdered ...
Posted by Lady Aspascia on Mon, 28 Jan 2008 09:18:00 PST

Hamster makes a break for it

This is one of the best articles I have read in a long time ... it made me laugh very, very hard, and for that reason alone, I just had to reproduce it here. It has to do with  a foiled escape at...
Posted by Lady Aspascia on Mon, 10 Sep 2007 12:59:00 PST

I've been tagged... so here are 10 facts about me

Right, I suppose if Lightning Paw can bring himself to do this, who am I to decline?  Thanks for tagging me (hmmm, is she being sarcastic or sincere?).  "The rules: Once you have been tagged...
Posted by Lady Aspascia on Thu, 31 May 2007 09:55:00 PST

Poor old ship...

I am so incredibly tired right now... At 4.30 this morning I was awoken by some odd noises.  The first thing I heard was a chorus of emergency sirens, and then I became aware of something that so...
Posted by Lady Aspascia on Mon, 21 May 2007 05:05:00 PST

The language of hate

One thing that really annoys me about prejudice is the covert, almost subliminal, way in which it works its way into our everyday lives.  Sometimes I almost feel like giving up (only briefly thou...
Posted by Lady Aspascia on Sun, 20 May 2007 07:16:00 PST

The truth about domestic violence: my personal experiences

First of all, I'd like to say that I'm not writing this because I'm looking for sympathy - I don't want it.  Neither have I, at any point, felt sorry for myself.  I know I was one of th...
Posted by Lady Aspascia on Tue, 15 May 2007 03:53:00 PST

Kentucky Fried Cruelty... you need to read this!

The Shocking Truth: What the Investigator Saw Eyewitness testimony From PETA's investigation into a Pilgrim's Pride's chicken slaughterhouse PETA's investigator spent eight months at a Pilgrim's Pride...
Posted by Lady Aspascia on Fri, 04 May 2007 04:55:00 PST

A word on security...

As you know, I'm currently reading The Female Eunuch by Germaine Greer.  On the whole, I have found some of her ideas somewhat outdated, and her use of the male pronoun (i.e., he, him, his, man, ...
Posted by Lady Aspascia on Mon, 30 Apr 2007 02:17:00 PST

It would seem I've done a survey

Meh, I figured what the hell... 50 questions for your myspace profile ..>..>..>..>..>..>..>..>..>..>..>..>..>..>..>..>..>..>..>..>..>..>..>..>..>..>..> ..> Where were you born?: Coffs Harbour, Austr...
Posted by Lady Aspascia on Thu, 26 Apr 2007 09:37:00 PST

Everybody is not created equal, apparently...

In a way, this is kind of related to my previous entry. But only in a very unspecific way. Predominantly, this is something that I have been noticing more and more as I become older and...
Posted by Lady Aspascia on Thu, 26 Apr 2007 03:34:00 PST