Christina Aguilera Okay With Her Body--And Why Shouldn't She Be?

Curvy Christina is beautiful just as she is.

Christina Aguilera has developed a more voloptuous physique in recent years, and some have felt that it is okay to bash her for gaining weight. But Christina says that she feels fine about being bigger and it isn't a problem for her.

"As long as I'm happy in my own skin, that's all I need, that's all the confirmation I need. I'm happy where I am, I have a boyfriend that loves my body, I love my body, my son is healthy and happy. That's all that matters," she said.

She is absolutely right about this. So many people are dreadfully shallow, and it is encouraged. Who the hell cares what someone's body type is? We should be judging people based on their character, not on their size. Anyone who thinks it's okay to bash people for being a certain size really needs to get a life.

Life for Intersexed Children is Difficult

I wanted to post this comment on Pam's House Blend, but I keep getting a popup that says "Bad Gateway." So I will post it here. The article was in regards to forcing intersexed children to be one gender or the other rather than allowing them to choose when they got old enough to make the decision, and the drastic consequence of making such a critical decision for them.

Thank you to those of you who shared your stories about your experiences. Gender is much more complex than the average person believes it to be. And there is so much stigma if you aren't a "manly man" or a "girly girl." I'm a straight woman who was born female, but I was never a "girly girl" so I got branded a "tomboy" and a "dyke." Being branded a dyke didn't particularly bother me because I figured anyone who refused to be my friend because they thought I was a lesbian wasn't a friend worth having. However I've always hated the term "tomboy." My name wasn't Tom and I wasn't a boy. I was simply an active girl.
But I digress. The situations you are referring to are much, much worse. I myself knew a girl when I was in junior high who came from this horrible, redneck family. She looked and acted kind of boyish, and I always figured she was another "tomboy" like myself. Her hateful dick of an older brother was always beating her up and her parents did nothing about it. I later found out that she was intersexed and the doctors had decided that it would be easier to "make her into a girl" than a boy. I don't know what happened to her. I only know that I liked her no matter what her gender was and I felt sorry for her having to live in that awful family.
I hope one day that minds will open enough to realize that we should treat all people as people, whether they are gay, straight, or bisexual. Whether they are the sex that they were born, or they are transgendered. Whether they are one sex or intersexed. That is the only way to prevent these sad things from happening any more.

Hollywood Hate

Jed Micheal Estes

So,1942's JUNGLE BOOK,When watching this I was reminded of the times as a child I would get sick and throw up in a toilet for hours on end,a very similar expierence.This film is nothing but bad acting reacting to even worse stock footage of animals and a bunch of white men who should have been fighting world war II playing Indians in black face, nightmarish garbage avoid, I wish I did.

Tempest Says: Yes the "Indians" of old films, often ridiculous. Why not hire a real Indian? Race hate, that's why. I remember hearing that Bruce Lee was not given the part of Kung Fu because he looked "too Asian." News flash--guy was Asian! Things are better to a degree these days, but it is still hard for very dark-skinned black people to find work as models. The work is often given to the lighter-skinned black people with more Caucasian features.

You Go, Little Star Wars Girl!

It galls me that in the twenty-first century crap like this still happens. Little six year old Katie is being bullied by proto-chauvinist classmates because she loves Star Wars. The boys tell her that Star Wars isn't for girls. This was my message for Katie. Follow this link if you'd like to leave her a positive message too!

I was always bullied for not adhering to gender roles. I hate, hate, hate the term Tomboy, for instance. My name isn't Tom and I'm not a boy. I was an active girl who enjoyed sports even if she was bad at them. 

I was one of the first Star Wars fans--my brother and I saw it as soon as it came out! We waited in line for 3 hours. I was always bullied for my love of science fiction. I was not a "girly girl" at all. 

I did love Barbies (obvious from my avatar, I suppose) but I also loved playing with Tonka trucks.

Bullies are small-minded, miserable people who make themselves big by making others feel small. 

Keep being you!

Is Suicide "Selfish?"

I don't wish to create controversy on a friend's blog, and she is not the one that used the word "selfish" in regards to suicide anyway, it was a commenter who did so. So I am not going to leave a link to the blog. However, I did wish to share my thoughts on the matter.

I lost a cousin, a friend, and someone who was very special in almost a romantic way. My brother lost one of his friends. I've dealt with suicide ideation on and off throughout my life.

For those who think of suicide as "selfishness," I believe this is an erroneous idea. The pain that the person is suffering at the moment they make such a decision is indescribable. It is not for the rest of us to call them selfish. It is an erroneous decision--in most cases. But error and selfishness are two different things. 

My cousin was not a selfish person. She lived with medication resistant depression for her entire life. She was unable to endure it any more.

Of the three young men I mentioned above who committed suicide--my friend, my brother's friend, and the special fellow I mentioned--all of them suffered from clinical depression and other issues. 

Do I wish they hadn't done it? Yes. But it is erroneous to adjudge them "selfish."

Is Bipolar Disorder Overdiagnosed?

This was a response for a question posed by the folks at The Comfort Compass.

"What do you think about this? Do you think there could be an over-diagnosis/mis-diagnosis of bipolar disorder or do you believe that this percentage is so high for those with bipolar disorder because individuals with bipolar disorder are more apt to seek help than anyone else with another diagnosis?"

I speak as a person with bipolar disorder. I do think there is a tendency for lawyers to use it as an excuse for bad behavior, as in, do you notice how nearly every one of these women who gets caught banging their underage students is "bipolar?" This actually makes me angry because I would never behave in such a reprehensible fashion. I think it makes those of us who struggle to make a decent life in spite of this disease have to fight all the harder to be taken seriously.

That being said, I believe in the general population, bipolar disorder is actually underdiagnosed or misdiagnosed as something else. Particularly, type II, which is what I have. I was misdiagnosed until the tender age of 38 as having "depression/anxiety" when what was really happening was I would have horrific depressions then cycle into hypomania and believe I was "recovered," only to spiral down into depression again.