In defense of the sanctimonious women's studies set || First feminist blog on the internet

Month: March 2005

Watch Your Info

ISOU points me to a blog where a woman has a fake Adult Friend Finder account, uses it to lure married guys into contacting her, and then publishes their letters on her blog. She even posts phone numbers and names when they give them out and offer to meet her. Like David says, she is absolutely brutal.

And the men? Yeah, can’t work up any compassion for married people getting called out on their adulterous ways.

Watch your information, people. Let this be a lesson to ye.

Hmm

My email account at Yahoo! keeps showing up in Spanish. I think this is karmatic punishment for abusing my mother’s ebay account.

I don’t even care that “karmatic” is not a word. It’s Spring Break.

If You’ve Decided To Use The F-Word

Heart of Canada embraces a new term: androgynist.

I’ve never embraced the word “feminist” to describe my view of the world, and I doubt I’d be mistaken for a Marxist. On the other hand, if I so much as open my mouth in the direction of expressing thoughts about women’s status in society, protrayal in the media, or use in marketing, some readers will immediately reply with the F word — feminist — in retort to what I have said. Some of those readers are women.

Citing the ever encroaching authority of “the nanny state,” these readers seem to want society to put no limits on marketers, and if you object to degrading posts on blogs about women, you will be sure to stir the dregs of hostility into a full-out blogwar. I don’t usually advocate writing laws that restrict what marketers can do. Instead, I expect people to vote with their feet and not support organizations (or bloggers) who reap benefits from exploiting others. There are plenty of fine companies and bloggers out there who don’t.

In day-to-day life, the situation is usually much different. People aren’t so willing to jump out and pin a big F to your chest, but they show their biases in other ways. For example, I have seen men and women alike overtly discount the concerns of women by just denying that they hold any validity or credibility. When I’ve brought up concerns, myself, I’ve had men reply “No, that’s not true,” even to the mostly strikingly obvious of situations. On the other hand, I’ve also seen men override each other’s rights and feelings and have found myself sticking up, at times, for them as well. Accordingly, I find myself feeling simultaneously alienated from and identifying with the word feminist.

Therefore, I’ve come to a decision: henceforth, I shall refer to myself as an androgynist, equally concerned with the rights of women and men, as well as the exploitation of adults and children, particularly in the media. What does this mean? Nothing, actually, because it’s not like I’m going to be actively crusading for or against anything in particular. On the other hand, it will give me a link to point to the next time someone knee-jerkishly replies to one of my posts by using the “F” word simply because they couldn’t think of something less hostile and more interesting so say.

Giving Our Readers What They’re Looking For

People come to Feministe for many reasons, but these people were on a mission. From my favorite popular search terms that brought readers to this website this month:

disadvantages of masturbations
Apart from the hairy palms, poor complexion, eternal damnation, and that ever pesky reduction of pregnancy risk, there aren’t many disadvantages of masturbations although I’m curious which sort of masturbations one is interested in discovering the disadvantages of.

Take it from Woody Allen, masturbations is sex with someone you love.

what it means to be white
I’m not sure I can weigh in one this one. I’m generally pink with red splotches about the T-zone, unless I’m tired, in which case I look rather gray. I will do some further research on this topic and see if I can contact Nicole Kidman for further inquiry.

vagina is too small
Don’t kid yourself, honey. She only tells you that to make you feel better about that thing you do that resembles a rabbit.

don’t send me no flowers
First performed by The Breakers, this song’s best incarnation is by Demented Are Go, who also do a fabulous cover of “Aces High.”

birthday woman
Birthday Woman, the forgotten superhero, showered American mothers with rose scented bath beads and wreaths of dry macaroni noodles on Mom’s special day for hundreds of years. Her reign as Birthday Woman came to an end when mothers across the world revolted against the steady shower of homemade coupons meant for the performance of household chores that somehow remained unfulfilled and began demanding more reasonable presents such as the ability to poop
a) in one sitting
b) alone, and
c) with the door closed.

cool uncool
Oh my, you are in the right place. Ms. Lauren is arbiter of knowledge on this subject, although her knowledge is so vast that she cannot come up with any examples off the top of her head. Do know this, gentle reader, trends are not necessarily cool. And if you’re in Indiana by the time a trend hits the area, it is definitely at least three years uncool. Take notes.

cuter
What is “cuter” is not necessarily based on aesthetics as much as it is based on its ability to endear the beloved. For example, my cat is cute when he doesn’t have bald spots on his head, but he is even cuter when he isn’t parked outside my bedroom door meowing at 4 am just because he feels like it.

disappointment
I’m afraid I know nothing of disappointment. Move along.

estrogen
The presence of estrogen has been attributed to many things, including one’s ability to raise children, guard the temples of family and morality, and the inability to compose a literate and timely blog. However, we more firmly believe that estrogen is responsible for the formation of socialist, anti-family movements that encourage women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians.

It may also reduce the frequency of hot flashes.

Burnt on Outrage

When burnt out on politics and righteous outrage, blog about one’s domestic projects.

The Heavenly Blue morning glories and Bloody Butcher tomatoes are coming along nicely. Anyone else sense a dichotomy amongst these seedlings?

I Gots Ears

Two sets of ears, actually.

Mac sent me this lovely piece of hand-knitted kitty kitsch this weekend. Should I have saved this for Friday Cat Blogging?

Thanks, chica!

On The Disclaimer Train

Dorcasina takes my disclaimer and modifies it to “fantasize about the kind of disclaimer I could give my students on the first day of a class. I would ask them to read it carefully, then quiz them on the material on day two. Those who choose to stay in class must earn a B or better on the quiz and sign a waiver indicating that they are now fully aware participants in MY pedagogical universe (which I would, of course, call “Our” pedagogical universe).”

It’s hilarious. Read it.

Protect Our Right To Free Speech

The Online Coalition, “from left to right, preserve our rights,” has written a letter to the Federal Election Commission over possible regulation of blogs and websites. Add your name to the petition to protect our right to free speech on the internet.

Sign it now if you want blogs like this and other to continue free of governmental regulation.

via Rox Pop.