Hello everyone, my name is Yemisi Ilesanmi and I am elated to be invited to join the Freethought blogs. My blog name is YEMMYnisting, the YEMMY is a ‘westernised’ short form of my name and nisting could mean ‘gisting’ or ruminating but I doubt if it means listening, but I do try.
Why I joined the already saturated blogosphere
I am indeed amazed at the tremendous opportunity provided by free blogs and other social networks that make communication and sharing opinions just a click away, right at our fingertips! I have come across some amazing blogs, especially here on FtB. I have shared and learned from bloggers’ experiences; the releases, the rants, the frustrations, the compassion, the need to reach out, build bridges and of course the opportunity to be very opinionated! I started blogging seriously in 2011 to share my opinions and I have been and continue to be enamored and enriched by the experience.
What is this blog all about?
YEMMYnisting is a space for me to open up and share significant parts of my life with my online readers, comment on general issues and share my opinion on happenings in the society.
My tagline is ‘Proudly Feminist, Proudly Bisexual and Proudly Atheist’. These tags are not things I do
part time or caps I take off when things get hot, as they often do, it is simply my life. I live it every day, every minute, actually every second with no apology.
As a feminist who is conscious about the need for equality, I blog about feminist issues, and share my feminist thoughts on equality for all.
My posts also touch a lot on sexuality and diversity. I belong to the “queer” group and identify as a bisexual, although the B in the LGBT is often silent and silenced, I do my best to bring visibility to the B in LGBT.
I am from an ultra-homophobic environment and I use my posts to create awareness on sexual orientation and also break the deafening silence on so called “taboo” subjects. I recently self-published an advocacy book titled ‘Freedom To Love For ALL: Homosexuality Is Not Un-African’. It is available in paperback and kindle editions on Amazon, I hope you will check it out and order your copy.
YEMMYnisting is also a place I talk about religion and my lack of belief in God(s); I am an atheist, from one of the most religious countries on planet earth, Nigeria, so that figures.
And talking of “Figures”, I also moonlight as a plus size model. Once in a while, I share my interest in plus size modeling and my campaign for better representation of plus size women in the beauty and fashion industry, with some pictures of me on the runway (mostly in my dreams) but I do have some nice photoshoots to share.
One great advantage of checking out my page is that you get to read some of my beautiful poems for free! Yes, you can add ‘Poet’ to my endless talents; actually I work at it to make it rhyme, so not sure about the ‘talent’ bit. Anyway, I love turning emotions into words that rhymes and I share some of my poems on my blog, all copyrighted! My collection of poems will be published towards the end of the year; I hope it makes it into a top ten Xmas gift!
You can also join my YouTube channel where I sometimes pose before my laptop camera to make some very salient points. My YouTube channel is also named YEMMYnisting and I go by the username Sexyyemmy, please don’t ask me why! Let’s just say I am sexy and I know it. If anything, my username is proof that being sexy does not impair the use of our evolved brain, as so many seem to automatically assume. Just doing my bit for humanity, lol! And oh, you can also check me out on Twitter where I am learning to tweet like a bird, albeit unsuccessfully cos this bird loves chirping too much to be restricted to a 140 words limit! Hopefully you will follow me on Twitter @yemmynisting.
Do enjoy my blog, your constructive comments and suggestions are welcomed. And if there are issues you’d like me to write on, please feel free to let me know. I appreciate diverse views but I have zero tolerance for hate comments. Actually, it is a health issue; I am truly allergic to self-inflicted ignorance especially when it attacks in the form of hate speech. In such cases, I won’t hesitate to use the block button.
I look forward to having a beautiful if sometimes bumpy ride with you all. Thanks!
Looking forward to reading your blog. Sounds fantastic.
Thanks 🙂
Same for me. Will definitely keep an eye on this blog 🙂
Welcome! 🙂
OMG, this is awesome! I’ve been reading your blog for about the past 6 months or so, semi-regularly. I know you’ll be a fantastic addition to FTB -- welcome!!
Thanks Sally! I will be posting and updating some of my old but still very relevant posts in this new blog space. You are probably familiar with some of my posts already, i am sure you will enjoy reading the updated versions, comments are appreciated. New posts will also be making an appearance soon, so stay in touch 🙂
Awesome, looking forward to reading!
Welcome, Yemmy!
Welcome to FTB, it’s nice to have another Brit in the ranks.
I wouldn’t call myself a Brit yet, but i am Brit enough to moan about the weather. Hang around and we can moan together, like true Brits. 🙂
I have only read this one post, but I think I love you already! Welcome: 🙂
Welcome! I thoroughly enjoyed this opening post. 🙂
Hello! So great to see you joining us 😀
Kate, the pleasure is all mine 🙂
Ooh, this sounds like it’s going to be fun!
Welcome, Yemmy! I look forward to reading your posts.
Welcome!
Hello Yemmy. I’d say “welcome” but someone already said that.
Hurrah and welcome, Yemi!
Thanks Ophelia, not just for the welcome but also for the recommendation, you rock! 🙂
Hi, will follow on Twitter. Look forward to reading your blog….
Hi, fellow bi. {waves paw}
Wow, it is great to have a fellow bi in the house, time to get visible! Watch out for some of my bi posts, we need to make some noise and educate those who think we are greedy! 🙂
Yay! Welcome!
Welcome! Glad to have you here.
Welcome! I can already tell that I’m going to enjoy your writing style!
Thanks everyone for the warm welcome, I feel at home already!
Welcome! I look forward to reading your blog.
Welcome! I enjoyed reading your intro and I’m looking forward to more 🙂
Welcome, Yemmy!
Thanks, good to see you 🙂
I’ll chime in with the welcomes!
Very much looking forward to reading more of what you have to say. Welcome! 😀
SO glad you’re here! Lots of good bloggers and commenters who also care about feminism and gender equality.
And gurrrrlll. .you have ALL THE STYLE. Great pix.
Thanks and… finally someone noticed the great pix! 🙂
Welcome! I’m really looking forward to reading your blog
Holy crap! A big welcome to one well educated and highly credible sounding lady! I am definitely looking forward to following your work and seeing that smile. 🙂 Too often I go online during the day just to be greeted with the angry, but I imagine you’ll help me smile back now and then.
Thanks, unfortunately most posts about religion and equality are not triggered by happy memories but by anger and a need for change. However, I will try my best to spice it up with a few smileys here and there, even if they are sarcastic smiles! 🙂
Welcome from another longtime reader of Freethoughtblogs. The quality of the writing here is superb and you should fit right in.
Thanks, looking forward to a perfect fit. 🙂
Excellent! This is wonderful news, very much looking forward to reading your work regularly. 🙂
As another Nigerian Atheist, I’d like to welcome you to FTB!
I have been following and commenting over a Pharyngula for years, and I look forward to your contributions here as well!
Cheers!
Ope
Yeah, great to have a Nigerian atheist in the house! Thanks Ope, oh that sounds funny considering that Ope means Thanks! 🙂
Wonderful introduction, and addition to FTB.
Welcome!
*bookmarks blog on must read regularly list*
Thanks and wise decision 🙂
Looks as if what you have to say will be interesting. I look forward to your words in future.
I rarely post on FtB, but I’m a long time lurker. I look forward to reading your blog. Welcome!
Glad to bring out a lurker, hopefully you’d drop a comment now and then. 🙂
Welcome!
Hi, and welcome. Hope you have lots of interesting stuff to write about!
Hi Yemisi! Glad to see you here, and I hope (and expect) FTB should be a good match for your blogging.
Also, what Josh said: awesome style!
Thanks 🙂
Welcome to our little collective, Yemmy! Looking forward to reading. 🙂
—Martin from AXP.
Thank you 🙂
Welcome, Yemmy!
hello, and welcome to FTB.
At the risk of being lost in the chorus, Welcome to FTB! 🙂
Bawo ni, Yemisi! My wife is Yemisi, and our insurance agent is an Ilesanmi (Rene). Feel like I know you already!
I must say I’m surprised to find a Yoruba athiest! Every last one of the hundreds of Yoruba women I’ve met is, at least outwardly, fearfully Christian, unless they’re Muslim. I say fearfully because if I approach the subject of religion with my usual circumspection, they are bewildered and often fear for my soul. And begin to try to draw me in. SO it’s a rare and refreshing treat to find a Yoruba woman professing Atheism.
Best of luck in the FTB family. Eb Brayton passed along the note about your blog.
Dada ni o, and great to have another Nigerian in the house! Actually, I think when it comes to religion and the belief in a God, it is difficult to find a gender disparity amongst Nigerians. The vast majority of Nigerians would call you insane if you ever mentioned the possibility that God might be a myth. Naija guys could call you antichrist and threaten you with hell fire while Naija women could offer to take you to their church, introduce you to their pastor to pray for your lost soul. Religious malady is unfortunately one thing that affects Nigerians without any gender discrimination.
Stick around and enjoy my posts. 🙂
I’m actually about as white as they come! But I love my Yoruba Queen! Hardest working and fullest loving woman I’ve ever met. And in my experience the guys are much more understanding of skeptics, with exceptions of course. One thing they are willing to do is criticize the women for worshipping Rock Star pastors instead of God.
Thanks for the reply I’ll be checking in frequently as I check Ed’s blog almost daily.
The paradox is if you want Love for All, then why do you not Love Jesus? Makes no sense.
Stephen John, love for all = love for all humans, not some mythical figure.
Welcome to FTB, Yemisi! With such a high-quality introduction, I look forward to reading more of your blog.
Thanks, I look forward to reading more of your comments! 🙂
Oh Stephen, why did you think I don’t love Jesus? Of course I love Jesus, even more than I love Superman! I actually call him Comrade Jesus, you know he leaned towards the socialist ideology, and he was also Bisexual. The one thing I don’t like about his character was the way he played two sisters, Mary and Martha. He kept one sister busy in the kitchen making his food while the other sister was busy rubbing his feet with sensual oil and her luscious hair. I am not against poly relationships but I think he should have at least be open about his intentions with the sisters, that way it won’t be cheating. But then, almost all comrades I know cheats anyway, so comrade Jesus was still true to character. Truly, I love that sexy dude. 🙂
BTW, the title of my book is Freedom To Love For ALL. I don’t think it means what you think it means. It is not about loving EVERYBODY, it is about EVERYONE having the Freedom to Love. Hope you get the sense in that now. 🙂
Oh hell yes! I enjoyed your introduction, but this comment right here got you a bookmark. I snortled, perhaps even a LOL might have startled the livestock, though the cows will never tell.
Welcome Yemisi, I think you’re going to fit in just find ’round these parts.
Thanks and keep the comments coming! 🙂
Welcome to FTB Yemmy!
Welcome, Yemmy, awesome hair btw. =~)
Thanks, i have a recent post about black women’s’ hair, I should be posting it here soon. 🙂
Excellent. Welcome again :+)
Welcome to FTB.
Nice to see a new face after we recently lost of fine bloggers here.
Hmmm an athiest bisexual from Nigeria? You don’t do things the easy way! Hello and welcome to FTB from a Pharyngula lurker.
Thanks 🙂 Unfortunately recognition of minorities rights don’t come the easy way. Even though I didn’t choose to be born a Nigerian or a Bisexual, I still wouldn’t change these for anything but I am definitely glad I chose to be Atheist. I can’t imagine living a deluded life just to fit in or please a deity!
Hello there! I look forward to reading your blog.
It’s not even 9 AM and I’ve fallen in love already.
Hooray! Feminist, Bisexual, Plus-Sized, and Atheist? Me too!
Wow, the more, the merrier! Glad to have you on board 🙂
That is some pretty damn awesome hair.
“…if sometimes bumpy ride… ”
/snicker
Mike
I love your allergy,
Welcome aboard, Yemisi.It would be a boring world if we were all the same. I, for instance, am bald. Let’s give a world courageous, kind, and diverse to our children, yes?
Yes Kermit, diversity is the spice of life, what a boring world it would be if we all looked the same! On my blog, I celebrate diversity in all its shapes, colours and sizes, stay on board and enjoy the posts. 🙂
Welcome! I look forward to reading your writing.
Wow! I’m stoked to read more from you! I’ll have to check out your other blog now too.
Thanks Claudia. I shall be updating and posting some of my old posts here regularly, so you will have them at your fingertips and safely nestled in the archive. Watch out for new posts too! 🙂
WOW!! I am new to your writings but so happy to be presented with them. I’m an AFSCME member, a shop steward and an e-board representative, proudly atheist, proudly unionist, and an outspoken male supporter of feminism (the structure of patriarchy hurts ALL of us, i.e. boys don’t cry). I am more than impressed by your achievements and look forward to reading you blog.
Stanbrooks, I am elated to have a unionist here! I am sure I have a few AFSCME logo pins somewhere. I was a guest of AFL-CIO a few times and was part of a team of trade union lawyers that embarked on a public campaign to lobby for the right of public employees in North Carolina and Virginia, to collective bargaining. We took the case all the way to ILO committee in Geneva. I shall be posting some trade union old event pictures and videos, I am sure you’d enjoy these, stay tuned! 🙂
omigod, really? You’re even more amazing than I realized!
Union! Union! Union!
Oh and happy May Day, belatedly. 😀
Union all the way, Ophelia! You know what we say, Don’t Agonize, Organize. And If you have a boss, you need a Union. Happy belated Workers Day! 🙂
Welcome to FTB, and I can’t wait to lurk here too!
Salutations and felicitations.
Yemmy:
Welcome to FtB.
As a queer male PoC, atheist, humanist, and feminist I think it is wonderful that FtB has sought to bring in more diverse voices like yours. I look forward to reading your posts.
P.S. I do not read YouTube comments anymore, but I am curious if you have received any backlash from viewers there. Having read some of the comments to various videos there (especially those that discuss atheism or *gasp* the intersection of atheism and social justice issues such as feminism), I find a vocal contigent of online individuals who-unable to check their privilege or see the implications of their non-belief-have engaged in an ongoing campaign of harassment against anyone at FtB or Skepchick. From what you have said, I have no doubt the haters will be circling soon. That these people have met with any success (cf. Jen McCreight taking a blogging hiatus due in large part to the ongoing hate spewed her way) infuriates me beyond belief. I can imagine that if you were unaware of this prior to your invitation to join FtB, that you may have learned about it by now. I just wanted to say that there are many commenters at FtB who are supportive of those seeking diversity in the atheist movement.
P.P.S. any chance you might do away with nested comments? They can be rather hard to follow.
Thanks Tony. I have a YouTube channel where I speak on equal rights for all including women, gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transsexuals and talk about God being a myth, of course I get angry YouTube comments! lol! No worries, I don’t lose sleep over immature, not well thought out outbursts, if anything, I just laugh and sometimes I get inspiration from these comments for a new topic.
I am very much aware of the unfortunate tactics of those opposed to Atheism plus social justice, it does not deter me, it is just another reason to speak out.
Feel free to check out my YouTube channel for my videos on Atheismplus and social justice, I shall be posting these here soon, so hang around! 🙂
Hey! Welcome to the blog neighbour!
Thanks Avicenna 🙂
Welcome!
Good to have someone addressing Bi-sexual issues. Like trans folks, we tend to get left out of the discussion a lot of the time.
Welcome! Welcome welcome welcome!