Things I've Been Buying Lately | Blogmas #5

Hi to all of my wonderful readers! Thankyou to you all for following my posts and for leaving me lovely comments, for chatting to me on social media and just for making the whole blogging experience so great for me. I feel so blessed to have so many lovely people in my life :) I am feeling very emotional today, about so many things! I came very close to not blogging today. Some of you may have noticed my twitter post earlier, but I have so many things going on in my life right now and I just feel like I want to do nothing at all. Blogmas is a really tough challenge when all you want to do is snuggle up in bed with Netflix and snacks and not have to think about all of the things you are supposed to be doing. So yeah, the post that I had originally planned for today just didn't happen, because I can't even brain today :D I decided to share a different post, one that I would enjoy writing about so much that it would be easier to do, if that makes sense. Everyone loves having a nosey at a good haul post, right? Well, I know I do! I like checking out what others have been buying, and since I've bought some awesome things lately, I just had to show you guys! Enjoy :) 

I'm going to be featuring items I've bought from two different online stores, Punky Pins and Veronica Dearly. I took full advantage of various Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals with both of my orders because they really were fabulous offers, that I just couldn't ignore when I'd had my eyes on these products for ages!

I absolutely adore pin badges from Punky Pins; there is so much variety and they are really great quality. So colourful and bright too! It really wasn't long ago since I did my last Punky Pins haul, but when I got an email about the amazing deal, I had a mighty need! I even kind of wish that I'd done two hauls for the same offer, haha! When it comes to Veronica Dearly, her artwork is just brilliant. She designs all sorts of products with important messages and comical slogans, which always make me smile. I had really wanted to own something with her artwork on ever since I followed her over on Instagram, and I'm so happy that I now own more than one item by her! Yay! I'm gonna talk about the latest Punky Pins additions to my enamel pin badge collection first :) This post is gonna have a lot of photos, oops! 

As you can see in the first photograph on my post today, there are five little paper packages, sealed with the cutest festive Punky Pins stickers. This is because the offer that was on around Black Friday included any five pin badges across the entire store's range, with free shipping for just £20. Not only was that saving you £15, as individual enamel pins are usually £7 each... Punky Pins were also offering a free surprise gift with every purchase! Oh my gosh, it was fantastic... can you see why I couldn't say no to that! So, I treat myself to four new pin badges plus I bought one for my dad for Christmas :) How beautiful is the Bunny Hearts enamel pin above!? It reminded me of a vintage-style tattoo because of the floral pattern, and I just love how pretty the colours are. Rabbits and flowers are two of my most favourite things in the world so this is the perfect pin for me!

As for the 'Call Me Maybe' pin, it's such a clever design! It's a mash of the popular hit by Carly Rae Jepsen and Ghost Face from the horror movie franchise, Scream. I love the Scream movies, well mostly the first one, so I thought that this pin was very creative and awesome. If you've seen the movie, you'll understand the reference with the character on the phone and the song lyrics. Everytime I look at it, I hear 'Hello Sidney' in my head XD This pin is available in two variations, a more horror-themed colour scheme and the pastel version that I chose! 

The gorgeous floral Fox Enamel Pin is the one that I have purchased for my Dad, who is also a bit of a pin badge collector. I thought that it was beautiful and so cute! Plus my Dad loves gardening and used to be a professional gardener so flowers are his thing too. I'm sure that he will love it! He has a hat that he shows off all of his pin badges on :) Maybe when I'm his age, I'll follow in his footsteps and rock a woollen hat covered in pins everywhere I go! Apologies for how blurry my photograph of the Cute Kitty Enamel Pin is... I didn't realise until later when all of the daylight had faded so I couldn't re-take the photo :( You can see a better photograph here on the Punky Pins website. This pin is too adorable! I've been after it and also the bunny version, that's made in the same design, ever since I first spotted them! I love the chibi appearance of the cat and it's very anime-esque eye :) It's little winking expression just makes it even more sweet!

The final pin that I chose in my haul had to be a Christmassy one! It's a penguin in a christmas jumper, omgosh!! It's super cute and I love the colour scheme. This little guy seems so sweet until you see the 'Festive As Fuck' slogan across his jumper, I just love it!! I didn't realise when I was ordering that there are two versions of this pin... a bold one with the slogan very visible and this 'pleasantly polite' version... which makes the slogan very faint to see so you don't offend anyone when you're wearing it out and about. I'm kind of glad now that I didn't see the options when I was ordering because I totally would have got the loud and proud version! But honestly, this is probably the best option because my snakebite piercings already get me enough stares from the elderly people, haha! 

So, here is the free gift that I received!! It's a really cute pupper holding a slice of pizza :) I checked out the standard price of Punky Pins patches before writing up this post, and they are £6 each! So not only if I get £15 off my items, I also got a freebie worth over a fiver. Wow, thanks Punky Pins!! The only shame is that I personally don't like pizza so even though this patch is adorable, it doesn't appeal to me much (Yes, I know that I'm very weird for not liking pizza! Everyone tells me so :D) so I'm gonna pop it in with one of my loved ones Christmas presents this year. I really love the mini bones print all over the presentation card! 

Keep scrolling to see what I ordered from Veronica Dearly's store... 

So let me tell you all about the offer from Veronica Dearly... it was a mystery box/package! She was selling a bundle worth £30 for just £15, and another for £5 containing £15 worth of items. Seriously though, how good is that!? I opted for the first of the two, a box worth £30 which would be filled with stationery items, pins, greetings cards and more. I was so looking forward to finding out what I got, and I certainly wasn't disappointed! I'll show you everything that came in the box before I share my thoughts on the items themselves :) 

Okay, LOOK AT ALL THIS AWESOME STUFF! My favourite item is most definitely the 'Don't Be A Dick' list pad! As my regular readers will know by now, I am an avid list writer. List writing is life! So, I was really happy just to have another to add to my collection, since I go through them so quickly. I am a little tempted not to use this one, or at least save it for super important lists because it's gorgeous. I love the spacing of the sections, you can easily fit two sentences in there, and there's so many sections too. I adore the shade of blue that Veronica has chosen too, pale blue is one of my favourite colours. Of course the 'Don't be a Dick' slogan is fabulous, and it's been a personal favourite of mine for a while. I neeeeed the pin badge to match! The pencil is great too :) The print that you can see in the first of my Veronica Dearly photographs is the same colour (or at least very very similar) to the list pad, so I can't not love it too! It's going to be displayed in my bedroom as soon as my decorating is completed; it will be a nice reminder to see each day. 

It was tough to choose what my second favourite item was... the pin badge or the 'I'm always here for you' greeting card. But... I think the pin wins simply because I am obsessed with pin badges!! I love the message 'Quit Playing Games' as I am someone who prefers people to be upfront about how they feel about things, etc., because it's hard on my anxiety when I don't know what peoples' opinions or intentions or whatever are, and also how the design matches it, with the little dice. I like the gold lining, it's very eye-catching :) The sticker sheet is another very noticeable item, with the colours being so vibrant and all that thick black outline. The stickers are cute AND quite funny, the perfect combination! I really like the I own you cat, the don't touch me goldfish & the donut be sad ones. I just need to decide where I'm going to stick them, probably on the front of a pretty notebook or folder. The last items are the four greetings cards, which are such fantastic quality! I love the feel of the card they are made with, I have a thing for certain textures of paper/card, haha! I've already mentioned how much I love the 'I'm always here for you' card; I think that the little location pointer thingie that you usually see on google maps or sat-navs, is such a clever little touch! The Get Out of My Life card makes me laugh everytime I look at it! I can't wait until one of my friends moves house so I can make their day with the new home card. The feminism themed card is amazing and no one can have it, haha! It's going onto my art wall :) 

Oh, I almost forgot! I got a discount friend code thing when I made my last Punky Puns order. If you click here, you get a code for 15% off your order and I get 15% off mine too apparently :) I hope you've all enjoyed today's post anyway. I only knew about these delightful offers because I signed up to the newsletters/email updates that both of these website offer, so it's worthwhile doing that too. Tomorrow my friend & I are going to a gig full of 90s nostalgia! We are off to see Steps and Vengaboys, and it's going to be fabulous! I'm so excited! Thankyou to my wonderful friend for treating me to a ticket for my birthday :) Be sure to check back here for Blogmas Day 6 because I'm doing a collab with one of my favourite bloggers, and her post will be on here tomorrow! 

Thankyou for reading! 

♥

What have you all been treating yourselves to lately? 

Fellow bloggers... if you've shared any haul posts, share a link in the comments so I can check it out too :) 

Learning To Be More Outspoken About My Period

Hello lovelies! This week feels like it's passing by so quickly! Don't you think? Not that I'm complaining, because I'm sooo looking forward for Comic Con on Saturday and I hope the next two days go as quickly as the start of my week! I don't think I'm going to be able to shut up about Comic Con for the next few days, so sorry in advance! For now, let's get on with today's topic before I get carried away with my nerdy ramblings!

Some of you will have read my post all about having my contraceptive implant removed and giving my body a break after years on contraception. Well, after a whole year without even a trace of a period, it finally arrived a week before the General Election in June (me & my best friend totally joked about how my body is running red in support for Labour, oh dear hahaha!). It was a relief though; I have never wished to menstruate so much in my life! I was getting so many worries that my uterus wasn't functioning properly and all sorts >.< That first period was all over the place- heavy then light then heavy again, missing for days and then suddenly coming back, and it dragged on for what felt like ages! It made me feel so drained, too. 

Last week I came on again, and it was a bittersweet experience. I am really happy to be having a period again, it relieves my anxiety after not having one for so long! However, this period was super heavy; I went through two packs of pads and I kept leaking. Ugh, and my boobs were so painful. All I wanted to do was sleep all day. Okay, that's enough complaining about it and on with my main objective... there were a few times over the five days that I was menstruating when I was inspired to write this post. I experienced things that made me think about how taboo the discussion of periods is, how little it's talked about. I spent a lot of time pondering about how it's barely discussed in my everyday life.

I am usually outspoken about most topics around my family and friends, and especially when those topics are the kind that are considered 'taboo'. I like to get people thinking about things and 'challenging' people's opinions. It felt strange that when it came to my period, I felt embarrassed around my male family members. It is so ingrained in my mind from being a teenager that it's something that you just don't talk about openly, like it's something 'dirty', something that should be kept private. It's ridiculous! I'm a period positive person and I wasn't expecting to feel like I did when it came to talking about it. 

I felt shy whenever anyone was around when I was putting my pads into the bin. I felt anxious every time I got up off the sofa or a chair or whatever because I was scared that I'd leaked through my pants and everyone would see it. I even felt a little awkward whenever I was walking to the bathroom with a pad in hand and someone saw me. I felt so uncomfortable as it was, then I had to deal with the added feeling like I couldn't talk about when I was experiencing. It made me think about my High School days and how literally no one talked about periods, not even amongst my friends who also had periods.When it was the most embarrassing thing ever having to ask a friend for a pad or tampon because you'd ran out, or asking to be sent home from school because your cramps were so bad. It made me think about how the boys would joke about someone 'being on the rag' if you expressed any kind of emotion, and how there's plenty of grown men that still have the same attitude now! It made me remember how awkward it was in class when you would ask the teacher to go to the toilet and they would ask you why you were taking your bag, which then made everyone else in the class aware of the fact you were menstruating and you had to endure their stupid remarks about it until they got bored. It made me reminisce about how worried I was when I was with my first boyfriend about staying over at his house when I was on my period in case I leaked during the night. It all seems silly now that I felt like that, until I realised that I still feel a hint of the embarrassment that I felt back then. 

I decided that this is something I'm not allowing myself to feel embarrassed about. It's natural and it's part of life, and hopefully the people around me are not going to act like 12 year old school boys and get grossed out. I don't care if they do! If people are not willing to talk about 'taboo' topics, then the way society as a whole sees them is never going to change. This is why I'm determined to be outspoken about my menstrual cycle from now on. I'm not going to censor myself when people ask me what's up or why I've had a hard day. I'm not going to try and hide the fact that I'm bleeding and I hurt everywhere and I'm exhausted and emotional and I've got cramps. Periods are not something to be ashamed of, to be embarrassed about discussing, or gross. They are a sign of a good health and not at all dirty, no matter what anyone makes you think. You don't have to deal with them in silence and although they may be annoying and painful, there are so many products out there now to make them easier to deal with. I am happy to have my period back and I'm going to keep talking about it. 

This post turned into a much more chatty post than I intended, but I like it :) I hope you all enjoyed reading it too. I think it's important to share posts about topics that are 'taboo', especially when they can make people feel better when they read them. I wish that as a teenager, I would have been exposed to more period positivity. I also wish that the school sex education curriculum had been better for all subjects, sex and periods alike. The only facts I was taught about menstruation where the reproductive diagrams in a GCSE Biology textbook, and when I was in Year 8 our school sent all of the girls to the library for a presentation about pads and tampons, but it was so straight-forward and used one of those typical blue-liquid demonstration videos. They gave us all a pack filled with pads and tampons and sent us away without even knowing how to properly apply a tampon. Way to go the UK high school education system! Although I understand why the talk as a girls only one, I think it's bad that boys are not taught about periods in the same way. By doing this, they could ensure that young men grew up informed about periods and not believing the misconceptions that exist about it. That they might not be the subject of jokes anymore, because they wouldn't be so 'weird' and unknown to them. Let's hope that it changes soon.

So, the message I wanted to share by posting this is that it's okay to be open about your period, don't let people make you think that it's gross and that it's not appropriate to discuss it. It might be hard at first but I'm learning to be more open about it and to not let people's opinions about periods stop me embracing mine. 

Thankyou for reading!

♥

 What misconceptions or negative comments have you heard about periods?

Found this post interesting? Check out my other posts about 'taboo' topics:
| Being a Feminist & a Submissive | National Masturbation Month | 

Tokidoki x Lovehoney Mini Vibe | Review

Hey everyone! As you all know, I am slightly *cough*alot*cough* obsessed with everything kawaii. Well, this love of kawaii extends into all areas of my life- kitchenware, bathroom/hygiene essentials, stationery, and also in the bedroom. Yep, I even love kawaii sex toys! If you've followed my blog for a while, you'll know that I'm a huge fan of Italian kawaii brand, Tokidoki. I have a big collection of their stationery, own several of their plushies and am an avid collector of their vinyl figures. So as you can imagine, when one of my friends brought the recent Tokidoki X Lovehoney collection to my attention, I had a mighty need to add some into my life! (My friends know me so well, haha). Today's post is going to be all about one of the adorable sex toys from this collection, which you can check out here. If my bank account would have permitted, I'd have ordered one of everything, especially the unicorno wand! Oh my gosh, you seriously need to have a look at it! I'm pretty impressed with my kawaii mini vibe, and I hope that you all enjoy reading about it. 

First of all, I was really happy with the packaging of this item. As you can see from the photo above, it's decorated with such adorable characters; I'm especially lovin' the little Lovehoney devil. How cute! The packaging says Series 1, which of course makes me super excited at the prospect of more Tokidoki sex toys in the future. The description on the back of the packaging was another lovely element. It reads... 'Release your hidden rainbow energy with sunshine, sparkles and a joyful treasure from the tokidoki pleasure collection. Take a trip behind the magic waterfall and discover a wonderful world of starry-skied pleasure. The powerful vibrations make for marvellous magical moments'. I absolutely love the fairytale esque imagery that the description creates. I'm going to forever refer to sexual pleasure as rainbow energy now! I mean, what is more magical than the feelings of ecstacy that come from sexual pleasure!? 

I decided to purchase a mini vibe from the collection, mostly because I'm a fan of bullet vibrators but also because the product was only £12.99. I was impressed with the price as it was similar to the standard mini vibes available on the Lovehoney website. With the Tokidoki mini vibe coming in six different designs, it was a challenge to choose which one to get. I eventually opted for the one which I thought was the cutest. My order arrived super quick, I've always received my purchases promptly when I've ordered from Lovehoney in the past. 

As soon as I opened up the parcel, I was in awe at just how incredibly adorable the design of this bullet vibe was! It's so vibrant and colourful, and I was glad to see that the print was great quality and that there were no printjob errors. I love the bright yet simplistic design of this item. It looks fabulous! 

 

I have to admit that I was definitely a little dubious about whether the material/casing of the vibe would be in perfect condition because I've purchased similar items from Lovehoney before that had damage to the tip of the vibe. The tip of the bullets had actually been rough and not the standard that I would want to use. However, the company were always very helpful and quick to send me out a replacement so I cannot fault them on customer service :) I was pleased to find that my new Tokidoki vibe had no such problem, and was manufactured to an excellent standard.

The silicon material/casing of the vibe has such a lovely, smooth finish. It feels awesome! The area were the mini vibe unscrews so that a battery can be added is smooth too. 10/10 for the design of the vibe from me. The size of the Tokidoki X Lovehoney mini vibe is great too; it's big enough to suit it's purpose but not small enough so you struggle to keep hold of it when you're using it. Oh, and just a note: the battery is not included, which is a little annoying.

I was curious about how strong the Tokidoki X Lovehoney mini vibe would be, since it only has a single speed VS other similar items I have that have 3+ different speed options. I was pleasantly surprised at the strength of this vibrator. It's pretty intense for such a small toy! It is a fantastic item and I can't recommend it enough. Another point that's important to mention is the sound- how quiet is this mini vibe? It definitely isn't the most silent of vibrators, so I'd suggest playing some music if you don't live alone, haha!

Overall, I was really happy with this product and I'm very tempted to collect all of the designs as the packaging encourages :) My kawaii obsession now extends to my sex life, so thanks Lovehoney for collaborating with Tokidoki to bring us this wonderful collection of toys!

Thankyou for reading! 

♥

What do you think of the Tokidoki mini vibe? Do you want one of your own?

Check out these related posts:

| Thoughts on being submissive & a feminist |  National Masturbation Month | 

National Masturbation Month

Today I'm going to be blogging about something very different from my usual posts. I've been wanting to blog more about issues and topics that are important to me or that I feel need to be discussed more, and up until now my anxiety has always made this difficult. I've decided that I'm now ready to blog about these kinds of topics as I wanted Raiin Monkey to be a space where I can blog about the things I love and my everyday life, however I also wanted my blog to be a sex-positive one that reflects my feminist opinions and values. It has always bothered me that there are so many taboo topics of which discussion is discouraged in society, and one of the ways to end this stigma is to not be afraid to talk about them. I hope you all enjoy reading!

May is a month which marks several awareness days; it is National Bike Month, National Strawberry Month, Asthma and Allergy Awareness Month and so much more, but what many people don't know is that it is also National Masturbation Month. This is a time to encourage something which is a perfectly normal and healthy thing to do, to remind people that no matter how society makes us feel about it, the majority of people masturbate. Although the discussion of masturbation is taboo in regards to both men and women, I believe that there is a lot more stigma when it comes to women and masturbation.

Growing up, boys at school would openly discuss and joke about masturbation, even parents would laugh about discovering that their sons were doing it and it was something that was quite regularly shown on comedy movies aimed at teenagers and young adults. The only time I ever heard girls doing it being mentioned was at high school, when boys were laughing at terms such as 'flick the bean' like it was the funniest thing they'd ever heard! None of my female peers felt comfortable discussing masturbation and it was never discussed in sex education (although we all know that not much as discussed in sex ed)! 

As I got older and began to talk more openly about sex with my friends, I found that although they were happy to chat about their sex lives, masturbation was still something that was never brought up. Even as adults, so many women are embarassed to chat about masturbation because it has been ingrained in us that it's inappropriate and as a consequence a lot of women feel ashamed even to the point that they are discouraged of trying masturbation. Studies have found that only 40-60% of women masturbate, versus 95% of men (source), however the results may be lower for women as they are not confident in admitting they do it.

Society teaches girls and women that exploring their bodies and embracing their sexuality is a negative thing. Due to this stigma, lots of adult women grow up without knowledge of what the female anatomy looks like and without understanding much about their own sexual response. I think that masturbation should be something that is mentioned in high school sex education classes and that the outer female anatomy should be on the sex ed/biology curriculum, not just the uterus and the ovaries. As the National Masturbation Month poster above states, there are lots of benefits to masturbation and it is a great way for people to get to know their own bodies. Self-love is something that should be promoted and conversed about more and it is definitely nothing to be ashamed about!

Masturbating has a positive effect on both our physical and psychological health in so many ways! It is a massive stress reliever, as it causes the release of chemicals in the brain called endorphins which make us feel happy and can reduce pain. For women, masturbation can help reduce period cramp pain because of the increase of blood flow into the pelvic region of the body and can also help reduce urinary tract infections. It helps to strengthen the pelvic floor muscles and is said to relieve back pain. For men, it is believed that it helps to keep the prostate gland healthy and free from infection, and may even prevent prostate cancer. Overall, for both men and women, it helps maintain the function of the reproductive organs and is also an energy booster. Basically, masturbation is awesome!

The more people talk about masturbation, the less taboo it will become and more people will be encouraged to learn more about their bodies, their pleasure and their sexuality. Masturbation is natural and fun, can be done with your partner or on your own, and there's so many toys out there to help make it a more interesting experience.

Thankyou for reading! 

♥

I hope you all enjoyed today's post, go and give yourself some self-loving! :)

Why girls should support girls

Today's blog topic is a little different than my usual posts but I was inspired to write it after a conversation I had with my best friend last week involving a recent Malteaser's advert. I can't actually find the advert on Youtube to show you, but you may have seen it on TV. It was an advert made for Comic Relief titled 'Bake Yourself Silly' and while it was made to be comical, some of the things said in the advert sparked a discussion between me & my best friend about the problems with women judging other women. 

On the advert, two women are discussing a casting/interview that one of them attended and how it was a 'waste of time' because another women who went to the same interview was 'absolutely gorgeous'. The same woman then comments 'I think they were looking for someone a bit more glamorous' and her friend later says 'Well, he probably fancied her, didn't he?' referring to the casting director. Finally the friend, who has been baking/decorating cupcakes, ends the advert by holding two of the cupcakes up to her chest and saying 'bet she was all, ''Oh look at me!''. This advert highlights something that I've seen happen so many times, which is women saying things similar to this, belittling other women because they are not happy about something. I mean, maybe the other woman will get the part because she is more talented, more suited to the role, has better stage presence, etc. Even though you may be annoyed, for example that you didn't get the job, you still shouldn't put another person down to make yourself feel better. 

Sorry if this post ends up being a little ranty, I will try not to go off on a tangent! haha :) After chatting about the wording of this advert, we got into the problems of internalised misogyny. Internalised misogyny (interalised sexism) is defined as 'the involuntary beliefs by girls, that the lies, stereotypes and myths about girls that are delivered to everyone in a sexist society are true'. The sexist comments that many of us grow up hearing from society can influence the way we think and unfortunately can mean that many women hold misogynistic ideas and opinions that will lead to them judging other women. There are many examples of this that I have experienced throughout my life and I'm sure you can all think of lots more, but I'm going to focus on a few that I hear quite frequently. 

Girls belittling or judging other girls for their choices

This is been something that I have constantly been surrounded by all my life, women judging each other for making choices that they wouldn't personally do themselves. I've heard people belittling girls who have plastic surgery for cosmetic reasons. I've never been able to see why people had such a problem with this! It's their body, not yours, they can do whatever they want and it's not something that has any effect on you so why do people feel the need to complain about this? It's making someone else feel good about themselves, what's wrong with that? Another example that I've heard a lot of gossip and nasty comments about when I was growing up was shaving VS not shaving. If a girl didn't shave her body hair, it was always made a big deal out of. They were called gross by boys, but also by other girls. So what if they don't shave! Again, it's not your body and if they prefer to not shave then it's up to them. There's a massive amount of further examples I could give, but this post would be never-ending! If another person's choices are not causing harm to anyone else, then you shouldn't judge them no matter if you would make that choice yourself or not. If it makes them feel happy or confident, then I'm all for that :) Do what makes you happy unapologetically!

  

 'I'm not like other girls'

It may not seem like it but this statement is very problematic and can be categorised as internalised misogyny. By saying it, girls are separating themselves from the characteristics that society has associated with women and therefore they are reinforcing them to be true. In a sexist society, the stereotypical women is portrayed as bitchy, dramatic and very concerned about her looks. They don't like sports, are not intellectual and are overtly feminine. In order to let the people around them know that they do not fit this mould of the 'typical woman', many woman will proclaim 'I'm not like other girls' and by doing so they are allowing the qualities of women to be stigmatised as inferior. They are supporting the ideas of gender roles that say sports or STEM subjects or lots of other things are not typically enjoyed by most girls. Of course, we all know this is not the case and there are so many girls who enjoy these things! Also, there is nothing wrong with girls who do not or those who are very feminine, and there is nothing wrong with wanting to look nice and feel good about ourselves. In most cases, the view that women are 'dramatic' comes from beliefs that women should not be open about their opinions and has roots in the traditional gender roles of the past. If a girl speaks her mind and voices her opinion, it is considered bitchy and over-sensitive, which is ridiculous. If you are annoyed about something, don't be afraid to say it! Never let society impose its sexist views on the way you live your life, you can do whatever you want to do. You are like other girls, be proud about it! 

Slut-Shaming 

This example is one that makes me really angry, like what makes anyone think they have the right to tell women what they can and can't do with their bodies and how they should be having or not having sex!? The definition of slut-shaming is, 'the act of criticising a woman for her real or presumed sexual activity, or for behaving in ways that someone thinks are associated with her real or presumed sexual activity'. It is so contradictory that in a society where women have always been oversexualised, women are judged so harshly for embracing and taking full control of their own sexuality. When it comes to sex, men have generally always been praised for their sexual activity, how many people they have had sex with, etc. whereas women are policied about what is acceptable or not, and labelled based on their sex lives. Being raised in a society that preaches about what girls should and should not be doing can contribute to internalised misogyny, as girls will judge other girls for their sexual activity. It really bothers me when I hear girls name-calling other girls for having sex with multiple  people, for having one-night stands, or for dressing a certain way. There is nothing wrong with expressing your sexuality, and as long as you are being safe, you can explore your sexuality however you like. 

It's so important that we eliminate girl-on-girl hate and support one another ♥ We need to spread the love and empower other girls. There are several ways to achieve this, here are some of my suggestions:

1. Don't stand for internalised misogyny. If you hear your friends or family members saying something that's stigmatising to other women, call them up on it.

2. Make sure you don't judge other girls. What you might think is good for you, won't always be the best for someone else - Kaylani Fuller 

3. Join your local girl gang or an online girl gang (see the super awesome lipstick button in the right margin? It will link you to Dorkface, a blog run by Jemma, who's set up a wonderful girl gang, for bloggers & non-bloggers to join! Go check it out). 

4. Be kind, spread joy and take time to say something nice to another girl, whether this is in person, on social media or via a blog comment. You might make her day and that would be awesome! :) 

5. Support ALL girls, of all colours, body types, sexualities and religions!

Thankyou for reading! I hope you enjoyed this post :)

♥

What are some examples of internalised misogyny that you've experienced or heard?

What are some ways in which you support other girls?