Got Me Drove

I have long been skeptical of how ownership and property rights configure of our relationships to each other and to the earth we share together. It seems that when people are convinced they own something, they claim dominance over it. They can either decide to use it, exploit it, abandon it, take care of it, or love it. They can also choose whether to act morally towards it. Familiar snippets from typical disputes between neighbours run through my head: “This is my house/land and I can do what I want with it”; The notorious “Get off of my lawn!” which almost every kid has heard at least once. My ambiguous feelings about weddings due to the origins of marriage also surface when this topic is broached. Marriage began as a legal contract in which a woman and her things became the property of a man. Honestly, I squirm each time I witness the act replayed in the 21st century in which a father “gives” the bride over to her husband to be. Property largely entails a one-way relationship ...

Giorgia Davis, taken from her Facebook post Call me oblivious to popular culture, but before reading Giorgia Davies’ Facebook post blaming feminists for her job becoming redundant, I did not know who she was or what a “grid girl” is. Nevertheless, after reading her words, now shared thousands of times, I was infuriated. But not surprised. It’s an all too familiar scenario; once again, a woman divides herself from other women and villainizes “feminism” as the reason why she will no longer be able to objectify herself for profit. The issue, quickly stated, is that Formula 1 announced on last week that it would end the practice of sending models in tight clothes bearing sponsor names out onto the grid holding driver name-boards. In Davies’ own words: “‘Feminists’ .. You're not defending women.. you're actually defending women who are threatened by other women who are in a career that you know absolutely nothing about other than what you see on the exterior.” ...