Keeping Saturn in Saturnalia Hot on the heels of Arizona news that one Christian woman was assaulted by another Christian woman in Phoenix because she said “Happy Holidays” rather than “Merry Christmas” (!) comes a New Jersey report that two men attempted to burn down a “Keep Saturn in Saturnalia” billboard put up by the Freedom From Religion Foundation (to counter a “Keep Christ in Christmas” banner hanging over Pitman’s main thoroughfare). It’s not the first attempt to deface/destroy the FFRF billboard since it was unveiled last week.
“All of the things we were told to never talk about” #NotYourAsianSidekick Writer and activist Suey Park has sparked a cluster of conversations about race, stereotypes, feminism, privilege, intersectionality and more with the #NotYourAsianSidekick hashtag which trended globally for over 24 hours.
Open Life and Times of Madiba Thread Around the world, old and new media is examining the legacy of Nelson Mandela following his death aged 95. Please link to pieces of interest you have found discussing the legacy of Madiba.
Today in racist body policing Many of you will have already read about Orlando student Vanessa VanDyke being threatened with expulsion from her private Christian school for wearing her hair exactly as it grows out of her head. There is the predictable pushback in online forums about how the school’s way of (not) dealing with racist bullying in their student body by body-policing the natural features of an African-American girl is not really any sort of racially discriminatory double standard – please use this thread to expound upon exactly how insulting that nonsense is.
Why do poor people buy expensive things? Today’s must-read by Tressie MC (if you aren’t reading her blog regularly, get to it) is about the logic of poor people buying designer clothing and expensive goods. A bit:
One avenue for justice in Maryville, closed. Across the internet, various groups are demanding justice for Daily Coleman, the 14-year-old girl who was allegedly raped by a popular high school football player from a well-connected family. But it’s unclear what that “justice” would actually look like. A special prosecutor has been appointed to the case, and I’m hopeful she’ll be able to shed light on all the facts. But were it not for conservative Supreme Court justices, Daisy could have had other options: She could have sued her alleged attacker under a federal cause of action established by the Violence Against Women Act. I’m writing about that in The Nation today:
Know Your Rights: Obesity, Disease, Employment Discrimination In the last month or so, the AMA, acting against its own science council’s advice, has declared obesity to be a “disease.”
Where are the women’s voices on Syria? When it comes to “hard” news issues like foreign policy and national security, male voices dominate. It’s not because there aren’t women with views and opinions though — it’s because we read more competence and authority into the male voice, and we socialize women out of feeling that they’re entitled to an opinion. In the Guardian:
Rape and Power Rape is in the news again this week with another widely-publicized gang rape in India and a 31-day sentence for an American teacher who raped a 14-year-old student (she later committed suicide). In the Guardian I’m writing about how certain cultures abet rape and keep reporting rates low:
Crowdsourcing: tell Feministe about your fundraiser My friends at the Ada Initiative are fundraising for their work supporting women in open technology and culture and there’s only a few days left for them to reach their target – if what they do is relevant to your interests, please consider donating to them ASAP. Since I don’t want to only boost my friends in this space, please use this thread to tell the Feministe readership about other projects you support for which fundraising is happening at the moment.