Bubba The Love Sponge & Spice are Feminists at Heart

[this is a cross post from SlutWalkTampa.com]

Just got back from an incredible radio interview on the Bubba The Love Sponge show on 102.5. I was slightly nervous at first because I know of their reputation for being jokers. This is such a serious cause and I didn’t want it portrayed in any kind of bad light. I felt like I had the weight of the whole movement on my shoulders and I didn’t want to let everyone down.

Come to find out, I had absolutely NO reason to worry. They were fantastic! 

I’d like to point out that they are the ONLY radio show that has invited us on and offered to promote the cause, let alone make a HUGE and crucial $500 donation! So, yes, they may be just like high school boys, full of testosterone and ready to go “6 to midnight” at the drop of a hat, but they are a group of men who deserve the utmost respect for their generosity and ability to bring serious issues to the table in a way that makes them fun and titillating. THEN – to add even more excitement, Shawn M. from Friends and Family Support Center called in and donated an additional $500! I was on cloud nine!

If you didn’t hear the interview you can listen to it below!

Thank you again to Bubba the Love Sponge, Spice and the rest of their crew. There’s now a whole bunch of SlutWalk love that’s been soaked up in the Bubba sponge!

Click HERE to Listen to the SlutWalk on Bubba The Love Sponge Interview!

Her Dress is Not a Yes

I’ve been spearheading the SlutWalk Tampa coordinating the last few weeks and haven’t had too much time for blogging and writing over here, but there’s been a lot of cool stuff going on over at SlutWalkTampa.com. 

When I offered to organize the SlutWalk here, I knew it was a HUGE undertaking, but I also knew that there’d be many other women who’d want to get involved and I just had to trust that people would come out and offer to help. Over the past month or so I have received so many emails from people who want to get involved. The support has been incredible and I can only imagine it will continue to grow.

One girl in particular, Teagan, emailed me and said she was a rape survivor and that she wanted to get involved. I can’t tell you why, but for some reason I felt like I needed to ask her to get more involved. She told me she was a writer and that she’d love to help with the website. Her first post, Rape: Not a Casual Word was beautiful, powerful and inspiring. Then, I asked her if she’d be interested in doing a response to an article from Daily Mail Online, where celebrity lawyer, Nick Freeman, said, “girls who wear ‘racy’ underwear and skimpy tops made it clear they had one thing on their minds: sex.” He goes on to say about the SlutWalk movement,

“Those taking part claimed women should be able to wear whatever they like in public – including racy red underwear – without being judged and their motives questioned. But, as a red-blooded alpha male, let me state unequivocally that I believe how a woman dresses (and behaves in that dress) tells a man what’s on her mind.”

I wasn’t expecting Teagan’s response to be so incredible! She posted the video below and I love it! You can read the original post here. I love that she’s a young confident woman, with the courage to speak out and be so honest about her experience. I hope that she inspires many other women because I know she has inspired me. Keep it up Teagan!

For more about SlutWalk Tampa visit www.SlutWalkTampa.com or ‘like’ us on facebook at www.Facebook.com/SlutWalkTampa

Take Back The Night: End Sexual Violence

Here is a short video I made from a collection of street interviews about rape and victim blaming. Feel free to share it and spread the word! Thanks to everyone who participated!

Take Back The Night Part I

The teal butterfly is the international symbol for rape survivors.

I spent all day Saturday at the Take Back The Night event in Tampa. It was inspiring, powerful, emotional, beautiful, and life changing. I got the chance to do some random street interviews with people that were walking around. The interviews came out amazing and I will be putting them into a short video in the very near future. The event ended with a Survivor Speak-out. It was unbelievable. I’ve never been witness to such a powerful gust of intimate emotion on such a public platform. The women and men who spoke about their stories had an amazing sense of heart and strength. They were all such beautiful people. One young girl, in particular, broke right through my wall of armor and brought me to tears. Her story landed right inside my heart. Her courage and will to fight will stay with me forever. As she was leaving the stage after she told her heart wrenching stories of being sexually abused by a former boyfriend, her dad hurried over to her and enveloped her in this hug that radiated love and support. This was a tipping point for me  – I went from tearing up to full on, lip quivering, crying.

One of my favorite parts of the event was the Clothesline Project. Throughout Hyde Park Village were clotheslines of hundreds of t-shirts. Each t-shirt was decorated by a survivor of sexual or domestic abuse. White t-shirts represented women who died because of violence. Red, pink, and orange were for survivors of rape and sexual assault. Yellow or beige represented battered women. Blue and green t-shirts were for survivors of incest and sexual abuse. Purple or lavender for women who were attacked because of sexual orientation and black shirts for women who were attacked for political reasons. Reading the messages on each shirt was incredible. Out of hundreds of shirts here are my favorites.