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

Month: March 2007

The New Feminism



If there’s one thing that screams “empowerful,” it’s visible buttcheeks.

Stand aside, hairy-legged femi-Nazis, because there’s a new feminism in town. And it’s wearing some really tall heels.

Parents looking for role models for teenage daughters: Finally there is a show for you.

“Pussycat Dolls Present: The Search for the Next Doll,” which is to have its premiere on Tuesday night on the CW network, may look like just another reality show with attractive, slinkily dressed women preening for the camera in the hope of a shot at stardom.

But “Pussycat Dolls Present” is about female empowerment, the show’s producers explained to a group of television writers and critics here in January.

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Congressional Babes


Of course women can be sexy and political! Just smile, hike up your skirt, and vote!

Last week we had a short conversation about hyper-sexualized younger women, and why coming down on them is a little bit unfair. Now, the LA Times gives us this article about Rep. Loretta Sanchez, a Congresswoman who is, according to the paper, is being “tested on whether her reputation will be more coquette or congresswoman.”

Because Lord knows the earth would shatter if she were both a female politician and a human being.

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THEY’RE COMING FOR OUR WOMEN!!!

The Moonie-owned Washington Times did a recent series on sex-selective abortion in India. Which, handled right, could be a great opportunity to discuss gender issues and the value of girls in a society like India, as well as the economic and societal pressures that lead to the strong preference for boys over girls (not the least of which, especially for poor families, is the dowry system, which still hangs on despite efforts to eradicate it).

But it’s the Moonie Times, so anything like this needs to be assessed carefully. I haven’t read the whole series, but Tracy Clark-Flory feels that the politics (and feminst-bashing) on display outweigh the reporting.

Where could this political bias come from? Right from the top, we come to find out. The reason the story was printed had a lot to do with the fear of horny brown men coming to America in search of brides:

The day before, there was a brief discussion on the foreign desk about a pending series by religion writer Julia Duin on the abortion of girls in India….In the discussion with colleagues on The Washington Times foreign desk, [foreign desk editor David Jones] said: “The reason we are running this story is that [editor-in-chief] Coombs thinks all the aborted girls means that Indian men will be immigrating to the United States to marry our girls.” That is an exact quote, what Jones told his colleagues on the foreign desk.

Coombs has told me and others repeatedly that he favors abortion because he sees it as a way to eliminate black and other minority babies.

And by “our girls,” they most likely mean “white Christian women.” Watch for the Moonie Times to begin (afresh) urging white women to outbreed the brown invaders.

Shameless Self-Promotion Time!

I don’t mean me, I mean you.

Not real fond of the term “blogwhoring,” but this is your opportunity to do just that (and if you can think of a better term, please leave in comments). Leave a link to a post of yours — or someone else’s, even — with a brief description of what it is.

Your horn, it is to toot.

UPDATE: People, people, work with me, work with me. When you post a link, post a link to a post, not just your blog in general (that we could get by just clicking on your name). And just as imporantly, tell the class what the post is about. Because you’re burning to tell the world about it. It’s the Best! Post! EVAR! The Post To End All Posts! Uberpost!

‘Cause, you know, otherwise it’s nothing but a blogroll.

This is going to be at least a semi-regular feature, so post-by-post blogsturbation works better in this format.

Though, really. Cats. Herding.

Criminy.

For Shame, Ann Coulter!

Oh, my God, Ann Coulter called John Edwards a faggot!

Say it ain’t so, Ann!

You know what amazes me here? No, not that Ann Coulter yet again used a homophobic slur against a Democratic presidential candidate. The idea that we’re hysterical lightweights because the New York Post’s unexamined prejudice is more interesting than, say, Fred Phelps’ beliefs about homosexuality. (Should I link to the latest updates at WBC? He still doesn’t like gay people. FYI.)

Islamophobes in the Ivory Tower

There isn’t a question that the bed-wetters at JihadWatch are a bunch of hateful bigots who have nothing better to do than shriek, “The Muslims are coming, the Muslims are coming!”* I don’t go over to their site very often (and I’m sure as hell not linking to it), because it’s so chock full of teh stupid that I can feel my brain cells dying as soon as I see their orientalist logo and images of Scary! Arab! Men!

But it looks like Robert “pee pee pants” Spencer — New York Times best-selling author of brown-people-scare-me-let’s-kill-them screeds — has taken his vitriol onto the pages of Emory University’s student newspaper. And thank goodness for Ali Eteraz, who puts on his rubber boots and goes wading into Spencer’s giant pool of shit:

Unfortunately, however, jihad as warfare against non-believers in order to institute “Sharia” worldwide is not propaganda or ignorance, or a heretical doctrine held by a tiny minority of extremists. Instead, it is a constant element of mainstream Islamic theology.

The article then quotes various legal scholars from Islamic history that purportedly support the thesis of the article. It then, generously, concludes with challenging a college student to a debate.

Immediately one has to look at the most obvious of errors in this piece.

First, none of the scholars Spencer cites to were alive after the year 1406 A.D. The only link he offers between the past and today is the assertion that one of the jurists, Ibn Taymiya (d. 1328), is a “favorite of Osama bin Laden and other jihadists.” Yet, on the basis of the fact that one jurist, from more than 600 years ago, is the “favorite” of Bin Laden, Spencer derives his conclusion that Jihad is a “constant” element of “mainstream Islamic theology.” One scholar. 600 years removed. One Bin Laden. Can a reasonable person really believe that such a link proves something about “mainstream Islamic theology”? One doesn’t have to attend Emory University to be able to answer that.

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Friday Random Ten

The “Did we just create the longest comment thread in Feministe history?” edition.

1. Deathcab for Cutie – Scientist Studies
2. Neko Case – That Teenage Feeling
3. Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane – Monk’s Mood
4. Etta Jones & Strings – If You Were Mine
5. Refused – Refused Party Program
6. Portishead – Glory Box
7. Chet Baker – I Remember You
8. The Pogues – Hell’s Ditch
9. Rolling Stones – Paint it Black
10. The Avett Brothers – The Day That Marvin Gaye Died

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