International Women's Day? Really, Etsy?
One of us makes calendars and admits that this was googled, because, as that one said
"Women's Equality Day" is the 26th of August. I put it on the calendar every year. My sister is very active in a chapter of NOW (National Organization for Women). She was pleased to find that as the lone 'observance' in August when she got her yearly calendar.
Well, then we read the rest of the wikipedia page about International Women's Day and discovered why we never seen this on a calendar:
Started as a Socialist political event, the holiday blended in the culture of many countries, primarily Eastern Europe, Russia, and the former Soviet bloc. In many regions, the day lost its political flavour, and became simply an occasion for men to express their love for women in a way somewhat similar to a mixture of Mother's Day and St Valentine's Day. In other regions, however, the original political and human rights theme designated by the United Nations runs strong, and political and social awareness of the struggles of women worldwide are brought out and examined in a hopeful manner.Don't misinterpret: we're not anti Commie, and we're not anti-Socialist, we're not fucking retarded "tea-partiers". But really? Of all the obscure things our etsy fees go to as features was this Storque article? Man, I can't wait for all those Storque articles about Hindu observances, and the ones about the Muslim holidays... you know, but I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for those or something.
So, basically, the "article" is actually a PARAGRAPH. And it says nothing about what "International Women's Day" actually is historically, how it came to be a holiday, who celebrates it, etc. If this was English 101, then this paragraph gets a "D".
This holiday is primarily celebrated in Eastern European countries. So, the caveat tacked on at the end is:
"From Madame Curie to Gloria Steinem, Queen Elizabeth to Angela Davis, what women have inspired you?"
All of whom are Western women. Could the references be any less socially relevant to the culture that invented this observance? Michelle couldn't spend 10 minutes googling influential lady communists?
Moreover, than the paragraph completely lacks any context or definition of what this observance is, is that it references some dopey personal tale of religion. If you can't bother to look something up to write something relevant and the only thing you have to go on is personal experience, then, well, congratulations on opening the door for a personal attack. Fuck, your feminism is that you read about girls instead of boys? That's fucking trite. Fail.
So, basically, this holiday is like the communist / eastern european version of secretary's day ONLY for women. Fuck.
So you showed us a wrist cuff
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=35356334
a painting of a woman in a bunch of leaves
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=13562455
a librarian style outfit
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=41493844
a women's fashion journal
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=42031234
a stenciled t-shirt
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=41851901
a plastic plaque
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=36836573
a painting of a nude woman
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=23628903
a paper mache fertility sculpture
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=39486837
strange Yoko Ono poster
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=37325233
zine
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=40863610
a blue leotard (modeled on a waif with a blank expression)
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=40956024
balm for stretch marks
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=42241657
a woodcut print of the back of a woman's head
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=40619523
a montage drawing of 1940's starlets
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=39859676
a painting that shows a nipple
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=7013295
Michelle is kind of like a nipple, isn't she? We mean that as the British slang. Go back and look at your Liam Gallagher quotes. Except she doesn't have the talent of George Harrison.
This Storque paragraph was idiotic. The collection of items that went with it were equally idiotic. The entire thing was a demonstration of ignorance.
You want to celebrate women, their accomplishments, their feminism, the equality they've attained? Fine. But do it like an adult, not like some idiot-fuck ignorant child with no respect for context.
The Cake
Yin
Whatever you want
Night Flight
Antique Style Butterfly Necklace
12 handmade heart embellishments
vintage women digital collage sheet
felted flowers necklace
hidden stories
Industrial Revolution Brooch
pendant
Happy Flowers
You know, International Women's Day, which has never appeared on any calendar I have ever purchased in America, whether it be at Hallmark, or Barnes and Noble, or Walmart, seems to be an international holiday, celebrated abroad. Logically, wouldn't you celebrate women by showcasing things that are made by women? And more apt, made by women from countries that actually celebrate the fucking observance? Oh, shit, that was using logic.
Now, we know, because we copied and pasted things into "shop local" that apparently there aren't a lot of shops on etsy in - let's say - Turkmenistan... so we went a little crazy with Romania, and the Ukraine. Obviously, I suppose, the entire list could have been composed of things made in China. Oh, go read the wikipedia entry.
How fucking hard is it for your staff, who are paid through our listing fees, to use the god damned wikipedia and a fucking online dictionary?
My mother was a feminist. I'm a feminist. I'm not a fucking nazi, I'm not militaristic, I'm not religious. I'm just a woman, and I make things. But that shit in your article? It doesn't do anything for me as a feminist, except raise my ire at the general ignorance of the etsy staff. That paragraph was a contextually bankrupt reference to a foreign holiday written by an American with no mention of the meaning or history or context of the holiday. That was fucking ignorant.
