Last year, I interviewed Cassie Jaye, the twenty-something phenom who travelled around America, talking with participants of the religious ceremony Purity Balls. This ill-name-fated event culminates when girls ages six to sixteen pledge their virginity to the fathers until marriage.  Cannes Film Fest gifted Daddy I Do with the Best Documentary Award.

Well, fast forward to 2012, and Jaye and her production team (her supportive family, in fact) have a new doc out, The Right To Love: An American Family, which explores the framework of the American Dream, to include LGBT families and pink picket fences. The traditional model is being obliterated – or better yet – expanded upon. {Love is love, I’ve always liked to say!}

Please read my interview with Jaye, and watch the trailer below. This is my debut in the cutting-edge literary zine The Rumpus. (I’m freaking over the moon to be included in a publication that regularly places Jerry Stahl’s work. 1 degree of separation to my new literary hero.)

*Comments, reposts and “likes” SO appreciated.*

XOX Thanks as always for the support!
your girl forever, Darrah

BUST Magazine (one of my subscriptions!) published an article online today, asking if a modern Finnish ad promoting safe-sex slut shamed? What do you think? [My humble opinion, as I responded online, below.]

I don’t think the ad is sexist, really, tho I understand the instant recoil of many. We should be aware of slut-shaming, but not hyper-aware and not to the detriment of our health. The ad reflects casual sex attitudes (not necessarily LTR in its aesthetic), is realistic about it, has an accompanying male ad, and your latter reasoning in your blog/article make sense. Yes, most men have more sex partners, as is portrayed in the ad. Not in a judge-y way, but in a very probable way. Look, anything that promotes condom-use and advocates awareness of STIs in our throw-away culture is good. Esp. one that is trying to be youth accessible, and socially aware (men & women have casual sex) and conscious via the mixed ad (male/female).

–To keep ya in the know, my blog will soon be open to comments. Until then, feel free to send your thoughts via the Contact box, or find me on Facebook.

I don’t open up very often about why I am a vegetarian. I got a LOT of opposition as a 15-year-old living in the Valley (I can only imagine what it was like for people living elsewhere, ie. the Midwest or south), and turned inward a bit. I gladly discuss my practices now from a holistic, whole foods standpoint, and in regard to green living. But, honestly? The above photo is what keeps me veggie.

Marked for slaughter and desperate to get back to their mothers, these children risk all to get closer to their source of love.

PETA is famous for its controversy-lovin’ ad campaigns, like the saucy “I’d Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur” series, which has included everybody from A-listers Eva Mendes and Christy Turlington, to TV hotties Pamela Anderson, David “the Hoff” Hasselhoff and Olivia Munn. Last year, they even celebrated porn star Sasha Grey in a pro-spay and neuter campaign.

And, I think they’re responsible for freeing animals locked up in unfair and archaic laboratories for animal testing and giving out free kits on ‘how to become a vegetarian’ but I’m not totally sure. Know why? Because the hoopla and mixed reviews about their in-house politics, the real agenda of founder Ingrid Newkirk, and their divisive demonstrations, staged around nude women covered in faux blood and wrapped up like meat in life-size styrofoam trays, upstages good intentions and honestly, gives all vegetarians a bad name.

Recently, those quirky root vegetable lovers over at PETA thought it might be fun to show the unexpected side- effects of your boyfriend going vegan, in their “BWVAKTBOOM” campaign. Well, the result is massively off target. To quote Nerve.com writer Virginia Smith, “As it stands, this “boyfriend went vegan” campaign just makes me want to run and hide in the arms of a safe, flaccid carnivore.”

The new ad begins with a voice-over narrating “Jessica’s” current circumstance:

“This is Jessica. She suffers from BWVAKTBOOM. Boyfriend Went Vegan, And Knocked The Bottom Out Of Me. A painful condition that occurs when boyfriends go vegan and can suddenly bring it like a tantric porn star.”

Unfortunately, PETA tried to placate to a Maxim, FHM crowd, but instead alienated and offended millions of viewers, as proven by their almost 100% dislike rate on YouTube. Showing a woman that resembles a sexual assault victim trudging upstairs in so much pain she can barely walk — her girly parts obviously sore — and donning a neck brace, no doubt, then smirking at her boyfriend as if this was somehow enjoyable is beyond poor taste. It’s pathetic.

Supposedly, a newfound vegan diet provides a sense of clarity and sensitivity to those around you. I think it’s time PETA walked their talk.

My two favorite posters right now! *Granted, I didn’t see (and had no interest in) The Help. But, this poster is magnificent! Thanks to Imani Henry for that, and Tiffany Smith for the hubris on women’s bodies. So true! OK, off my political high horse… XOX

While the Obedient Wives Club in Malaysia spreads faster than HPV on a Chatsworth porn set, women in America are suffering under the guise of another dictatorship. The media.

Miss Representation produced by Jennifer Siebel Newsom, is a powerful new documentary spotlighting a nationwide problem – misogyny in the press.  It usurps female’s voices and threatens to upend future generations of girls and women.  Miss Rep premiered Thursday on Oprah’s OWN TV, and features some of the most exciting minds today: Margaret Cho, Condoleezza Rice, Jane Fonda, Rosario Dawson, Gloria Steinem, Nancy Pelosi, Katie Couric and Rachel Maddow.  While their party lines, skin colors, body mods and hairstyles may differ, they all have one thing in common: a glorious vagina.  Perhaps she is the most powerful figure in the body politik?  Some delicious food for thought.  Don’t you think?

Update: Read SuicideGirls’ interview with filmmaker Newsom.

As reported in Adelaide Now, Iranian actress Marzieh Vafamehr will be jailed for a year and lashed 90 times for starring in a South Australian film production about the Western influence on life in the Islamic republic.

Actress Vafamehr was the main character of the 2009 feature film My Tehran for Sale. The film was jointly funded by the South Australian Film Corporation and the Adelaide Film Festival.

She was arrested in June after black market copies of the film began circulating in Tehran, showing Vafamehr in some scenes without an Islamic hijab which covers the hair and neck. Vafamehr’s family had requested a Western media blackout of the case since her arrest but on Sunday the Iranian opposition website Kalameh.com went public with news of the actress’s harsh punishment.

Want to help? Read the full story – and leave your comment to show support for Vafamehr and her family. Also, sign Amnesty International’s petition, to help repeal morbid Sharia Law. Women’s rights are human rights. She needs us now.Update: Actress Vafamehr has been released!  However, other filmmakers affiliated with My Tehran for Sale and films resisting the current regime in Iran remain jailed.  Read the full story, here.

San Francisco poet and “Sister Spit” co-founder Sini Anderson has spent the last year tracing the lifeline of Riot Grrrl rockstar Kathleen Hanna. Credited for originating Third Wave Feminism (tho’ it takes a Village!), Hanna fronted Bikini Kill, The Julie Ruin and Le Tigre, all seminal bands for female rights and experimental sounds. After draining her savings capturing Hanna and her famous friends, like Joan Jett, ex-band-mates and her husband, Beastie Boy Adam Horovitz, all singing her praises, Sini needed money for post-production to complete the project. Anderson set up a Kickstarter campaign asking for $44,000 from fans and supporters of Hanna, and in eight days, she surpassed her goal by nearly $1,000. The above vid captures Hanna’s quirky, deliberate manner as a showstopper, an activist, a feminist and a liberator of women everywhere. She is courage incarnate and now, after a five-year hiatus, she hopes to return to her dream.
As the punk singer.

You can still pledge, and spread the word!

I am proud and excited to begin research for my next Red, White and Femme column for SuicideGirls. This month, I will delve into the hot topic of teen bullying. While shows like “Glee” have done their share to shine the light on this nationwide (and potentially worldwide) epidemic, my focus will be on female friendships, and the hierarchy of girls that parlays into adult bonds. What happens when mean girls become women? What power lies in cliques, trash talk, dirty looks, gossip and other forms of acrimony? What is behind it, and how can we deepen our understanding of one another and better express our anger and powerlessness?

Subjects will include best-selling authors, filmmakers and forces of nature, promoting positive transformations. Whether you’re a Queen Bee or an Afraid-To-Be, there will be something in the latest story for you! In the meantime, I’ve embedded an important trailer, for The Bully Project, a recent winner at the Tribeca Film Festival.

My monthly column Red, White and Femme for SuicideGirls is going deeper.  For part two of my series on sex – from a woman’s perspective – I interviewed Tristan Taormino, a famed sexpert, and Vivid’s feminist maven!  She shared about everything – from multiple lovers to alternative sex, to directing Sasha Grey.  I can’t fib… I learned a lot!  Now for somebody to test it all out on…?

Grab a beverage, your lover or vibrator and buckle up for this one.  It’s going to be a whirly ride:  IN THE KNOW

Please leave your comments, too.  I want to know what you think.

p.s.: don’t forget to clean up your mess before you hit Send.