Nothing is more fragile than the male ego

Holy over reaction MRAs

I own a male tears mug. It s the second of it's kind that I have owned as the first one was smashed when Stirfry decided to push it off the table a few months back which led to me discovering that you can indeed buy tiny fedoras for cats.

Both of these mugs were bought for me by my cisgendered, white, straight, male fiancé, remember that, it'll become important later in this post. 

Nom nom nom

So it began with a couple of very odd comments on Instagram and Tumblr from guys who described themselves as "antifeminist" commenting that "male tears" are actually semen, now call me a hypochondriac if you want but if I had spunk coming out of my tear ducts I would see a doctor.

Name removed because I screen shotted this so I could post it to my Fetlife photos, and Fetlife doesn't allow posting people's usernames.

Then it just started to get weird. I posted a photo of my mug on Fetlife (basically Facebook for the BDSM scene), I also have a note on my profile that talks about my identity as a feminist (TL;dr I don't hate men in general, just the crappy ones, but I hate crappy people regardless of gender, I don't like SWERFS or TERFS because I feel like they're missing the point of feminism and while certain kinks are not for me, so long as the people involved are consenting I don't see a problem) and this landed in my inbox.

On 

A 

Fetish 

Site

...

So male domination is fine, but the vaguest hint of femdom? ALIENATING MEN!

Feminism is fine so long as it doesn't upset the men that hold a majority of positions in government and business? 

LOLWOT?

Pretty sure we can cope without the help of someone who freaks out quite so much over a mug thanks.

TIL Male tears are neither tears or semen, they're mint tea.

Then this thing happened. So you'll remember that a couple of days back I uploaded a photo of me drinking fresh mint tea?

But of course my mug featured quite heavily in the picture, so this guy decides to bravely fight the dragon that is me by making a Kermit meme.

See the thing is, nobody actually wants to drink the tears of men, tears are salty and gross, and honestly I'd rather drink tea but the "male tears" thing?

It exists in parody, parody of the horribly misogynistic slogans, that women are constantly told to "lighten up" about used on men's apparel.

And the thing is, decent men who actually give a fuck about equality, realise this.

Mr "real equality egalitarianism" up there is currently freaking out that Rape Crisis is Missandrist because the women's helpline is 24 hour but the men's one is not.

Rape Crisis.

The CHARITY.

Who like most charities has limited resources and has to make make decisions about using them based on the ones that are used more often.

Equality y'all

Then came this guy

This guy commented that I was being sexist... Errrrrrm.

Pictured: Backpeddling on the Douchecycle.

I was so weirded out by the fascist guy that I posted the screenshot to Tumblr and this guy replied.

And while yes he did eventually give me an apology, I checked out his profile, all he does is troll the feminist tag.

And this is what happens when your straight, cis male, white fiancé buys you a male tears mug.

25. Your Favourite Music

Tristan by Patrick Wolf

Tango Shoes from 1910

via Kickshaw Productions

Mr Pearl

A fascinating interview I found with Mr Pearl and Dita Von Teese.

24. Your Favourite Era

The Rococo Era

The Charles H. McCaghy Collection

I recently stumbled across The Charles H. McCaghy Collection on Flickr.   

Cross dressing as an 18th Century man

It is a fantastic collection of Victorian and Edwardian cabinet cards of burlesque, music hall and cabaret stars of the time.

It's an amazing resource for people interested in early photography, costume and entertainment of the time, and it's very interesting to see how burlesque costumes have changed since then.

Marie Tempest

There definitely seems to have been more effort in the costumes than there is in many burlesque outfits today, although in saying that it's likely that if someone had a cabinet card made of them they likely weren't just anybody, so I guess it would be like comparing someone from the local pub to Dita Von Teese.

Hear Me Roar

I just realised I haven't yet shared any of the final photos from my Cersei Lannester cosplay shoot

I was very happy to finally be able to be photographed on a balcony that I have admired for years.

Photos were shot by Fledermaus Photography and Peter Lennox, the wig is by Dolled Up and the dress made by Forever in Black

You can see the whole set over on my like page

23. Herbal Tea

Made fresh mint tea by tearing some leaves off my mint plant and pouring boiling water over them in my favourite mug.

It is much nicer than mint tea from the supermarket :)

22. Your God and Goddess

NWell two of them ayway

Apollo, ancient Greek God of Music

I tend to belive that the gods are all just avatars of the same two, they just eappear differently depending on why they appeared at all.

Nephthys Egyptian Goddess of Death and Vengence

21 You and candles

Corset Piercing

(if you're not fond of blood you might want to give this one a miss as there is a small amount of blood in the video)

Unrelated to actual corsetry I still find corset piercings pretty cool, but while they are only temporary I feel like the healing time would cause problems with my actual corsets.

Tightlacing Pinterest Board

Have you been enjoying my corset posts?

Would you like to see more pretty corset pictures?

Then follow my tightlacing board on Pinterest.

Follow Alexandria's board Tightlacing on Pinterest.

20. Your Favourite Witchy Tool

My scrying mirror

19. Your Favourite Tarot Deck

The Cosmic Tarot by Norbert Loache

18. The Moon

It actually asks for a full moon, but it's day time and the moon isn't full anyway. So here is The Moon as it is in Fergus Hall's Tarot of the Witches, which is the same deck Solitare uses in Live and Let Die.

7 Women Explorers You Should Know

Did you enjoy my post about the adventures of Nellie Bly?

Then you should check out this post over on Saints, Sisters and Sluts with seven more historical women travellers that more people should know about.

17. Your Favorite Shoes

My heel less foot babies

Woman Wears Corsets To Live In Victorian Era

How amazing are this couple?

16. You Hugging A Tree

This is me when I was 16, before I discovered hair dye.

Inspirations: Nellie Bly

Nellie on her travels via New York Public Libraries

It has been far too long since I last wrote about one of the people from history that inspire me, and recently as regular readers will know I have been writing a lot about corsets.

Still though the myth prevails that Victorian and Edwardian women were totally incapable of doing anything and just flopped around on fainting couches because of their corsets.

This post is not directly about corsetry, but is instead about a wonderfully inspiring woman who broke new ground in reporting and whose techniques are still used today, and as you can see from the photographs in this post, she did it all whilst corseted.

So fainting couch, much nothing, very fragile, wow.

In 1880 Elizabeth Jane Cochran read an article in Erasmus Wilson's column "Quiet Observer" entitled "What Girls are Good For".

Unfortunately I have been unable to find a scan of it online, although I did find this scan of his column from 1907 that reads much like something you'd still find on /r/theredpill today, however according to Mental Floss the article implied that women should not work and implied that gendered infanticide could deal with the problem of excess women (although apparently this was a joke, and much like MRA jokes of today it wasn't funny).

Elizabeth was so angered by the article that she wrote back under the pseudonym "Lonely Orphan Girl"which so impressed the editor of the  Pittsburgh Dispatch that he offered her a job.

Initially Elizabeth, under her new pen name Nellie Bly tried to write about the hardships women faced in the workplace and how unfair the divorce laws in Pennsylvania were towards women at the time however her publishers attempted to push her into the gardening pages instead so she resigned, and headed to Mexico. 

"BYE BASIC BITCHES!"

Aged just 21, Nellie spent six months in Mexico reporting on poverty, local customs and governmental corruption  which led to her being thrown out of the country, after which she headed back home, wrote her first book "Six Months in Mexico" and began reporting for The Pittsburgh Dispatch again for a short time before quitting again, leaving the note "I'm off for New York. Look out for me. Bly."

In New Your Nellie managed to talk her way into the offices of The New York World, which is where she made history. Nellie agreed to go undercover in the Women's Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell Island.

In order to get herself committed she practiced "deranged expressions" in front of a mirror for one night and then checked into a boarding house, where she attempted to make the boarders and staff think that she was insane.
Her plan worked and the following day she was arrested and taken to a court where she feigned amnesia and was declared insane by several different doctors and committed to Blackwell Island.

The Google Doodle from May 5th

Nellie found the conditions in the Women's Lunatic Asylum to be utterly horrific, in her ten days she spent there before The New York World had her released after revealing that she was in fact perfectly sane and healthy, she discovered that patients were being beaten, forced to have ice cold baths and being fed food that was spoiled and not fit for human consumption..
As a result an investigation was launched by New York's Grand Jury and both diagnosis of insanity and the conditions in the asylum were greatly improved as a result of Nellie's bit of investigative journalism.
Nellie also wrote her second book about this experience, entitled Ten Days in a Mad House.

In 1888 Nellie came up with the idea of trying to travel the world in eighty days inspired by the Jules Verne novel. A year later her editor agreed to it and she set out on her 24,899-mile journey.
At the same time Cosmopolitan (yes the same Cosmopolitan that now dishes out such wonderful sex advice as "bite his scrotum" and "put tomato sauce on your nipples") sent their reporter Elizabeth Bisland around the world to compete.
Seventy two days later after having even managed to meet Jules Verne during her travels through France, Nellie made it back to New York first, beating Bisland by four days,
Nellie managed to cause quite the scandal by completing much of her trip alone, without a male escort.

With her oil drums

In 1895 Nellie temporarily retired from journalism and married Robert Seaman, While married to Seaman she became president of Iron Clad Manufacturing, and went on to invent several new types of iron containers.
Her husband died in 1904, the company went bankrupt a few years later and Nellie returned to journalism.
In 1913 she covered the Women's Suffrage Parade, using the headline "Suffragettes are Men's Superior".
Nellie died of Pneumonia in 1922, aged 57 having had enough adventures to fill several lifetimes.

15. Your Favorite Jewelry

Photo by Y77MJB

Who doesn't love a flock of bats?

14. With The Person You Love

13. A Witchy Selfie

Elections

In Bloom

Look at all the flowers on my broad bean plants!

12. You're Alter Pentacle

Yes it is written "you're" in the original list, I probably should have changed it but

it gave me an excuse to post my tattoo

Escort Cards

My new Escort Cards arrived in the post yesterday!

Fear not, I don't mean that kind of escort, heavens no!

Escort cards were used in the 19th Century as a means to introduce people, a sort of cheeky flirt.

Mine are a reproduction of the ones in the link above, and I thought they would be a fun thing to carry around at parties etc, as I often have a habit of meeting people and then forgetting their names, thus if I hand them a card with my name, so long as they don't lose the card they can't forget me!

11. In The Wood

From my recent satyress shoot :)

10. Your Familiar or Animal

My Step-Kitty Stirfry

He's Kev's cat and he has had him since before we met (and he chose his name), but he is totally part of my family.

9. Your Alter/ Sacred Space

Since I moved out of my uni flat, I don't really have an alter any more, I just don't have the room.

I'm hoping that when we move I will have room for an alter, but for now I guess my studio is my sacred space.

Has Scarf, Will Time Travel

My mam knitted me a Tom Baker scarf for my birthday

It goes rather wonderfully with my Teaspoon and an open mind JSK

Not sure what's going on here hahaha

8. Your Favorite Insense

I don't use incense sorry o.0

7. Your Favourite Artist

The Strawberry Thief by William Morris.

I want part of this as a tattoo.