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

Month: May 2007

Project Guest Blogger

bitch

You’ve all hopefully already checked out Ms. Lauren’s first post and may be a little confused as to what’s going on, so here’s the explanation: I will still be blogging (almost) all summer (as will piny and zuzu). But I’m working full-time and won’t be blogging from work, so we’ve enlisted an awesome group of guest-bloggers to keep the site going and introduce a variety of new voices. We’ll have a new guest-blogger every Monday, and they’ll stick around for a week. The exception will be the last two weeks of August, when I’ll be out of the country — for those weeks, we’ll have two guest bloggers per week.

The full schedule isn’t finalized yet, but confirmed guest bloggers include Lauren, Mikey, Little Light, Flea, TigTog, Belledame, Trailer Park Feminist, Evil Fizz, kactus, SassyWho and Bean.

Amazing line-up, right? I’m incredibly excited. More guest bloggers will be announced as they confirm. If there’s anyone who you’d really really really like to see put up a few guest posts, let us know and if there’s space left, we’ll extend an invitation. Hope everyone has a lovely memorial day, and thanks to our wonderful guest bloggers for volunteering to help us out this summer!

Rufus Is My Other Boyfriend

Hey y’all. It’s nice to be back at a blog people actually read, and a blog I’m actually motivated to write for. That said, I’m Lauren, founder of and former proprieter of Feministe, and I currently blog or something like it at Faux Real Tho, where I mostly post videos of cats and bad New Wave talent. I’ll be here all week while Jill embarks on her drunken vacation/internship, so tip your blogmistresses.
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I caught this cryptic article on Rufus Wainwright’s new album on Salon this Saturday, an article that can’t decide whether it lurves Rufus or wants to contemplate Rufus’ feelings on American politics. If you’re a fan of the singer-songwriter genre, familiar with the family of Wainwrights (Loudon III, Martha, and Rufus, and mother Kate McGarrigle), or like a good family drama, I suggest you skip the article linked above and check out this extensive profile of the whole family from Vanity Fair, Songs in the Key of Lacerating. Feminists, too, will be interested in slicing and dicing dickhead dad Louden since his incredible ego and entitlement clearly damaged his children and ex-wife.

Excellent musical skills from all of them aside, the competition in this family is cutthroat. For example, after a fabulous Carnegie Hall performance by Rufus, dad Louden comes backstage to give his regards:

After the standing ovation had died down, Rufus was hugging well-wishers in one of the theater’s upstairs rooms. Kate was fluttering about, and Martha was talking with a couple of musicians. Loudon stepped into the scene, wearing a hat. He had just been on a brief tour himself, playing venues much humbler than Carnegie Hall, and he approached Rufus with a certain stiffness or formality. He didn’t hug his son but did hand him a small gift, a DVD of La Ciénaga, an Argentinian film about a bourgeois family sliding into a hell of booze and adultery.

Cutting! Hilarious! And mean.

In any case, having been reminded of My Other Boyfriend, I immediately got ahold of the new album and had to share the video with as many people as possible. Presenting Rufus Wainwright’s “Going To a Town”:

Between the ennui with war, homophobia, and general malaise with the attitudes controlling American politics, I’m tired of America too. It is only slightly coincidental that I post this on Memorial Day.

Enjoy your cookouts.

Friday Random Ten


A little Girl Talk is always good for Friday.

And, because I forgot to mention it when I got back, thanks to Ezra and Julian for showing me a lovely time in DC last weekend during the few hours I was able to escape familial obligations. Happy birthday to Matthew Ygelsias, who I also had the pleasure to meet, along with Ann, Kate, Garance, Chris (who you can blame for the above video, as he reignited my lapsed love of Girl Talk) the whole TAPPED crew, and others who I am forgetting because it’s 1am on Friday and my brain is fried. Congrats also to TAPPED for their Sidney Hillman Prize, and to Feministing for their Choice USA award.

On to the FRT:

1. Bonny Billy – Strange Things
2. The Mountain Goats – Jenny
3. Etta Jones & Strings – If You Were Mine
4. Rhett Miller – Your Nervous Heart
5. Tom Waits – Big Black Mariah
6. Van Morrison – It Stoned Me
7. The Rolling Stones – Let’s Spend the Night Together
8. Beth Orton – Ooh Child
9. Jodeci – Freak’n You
10. Chris Garneau – Castle Time

And an old favorite, just because:

MeMe Roth wants fat people to hide in their homes lest they get airs that they belong in public without showing the proper shame for existing

Unfuckingbelievable. Lauren passed this one along to me:

Got that? This woman here is so unbelievably obese that she did not deserve to win American Idol because she might inspire children to think that not starving yourself is acceptable:

My god, look at her! She’s twice the size of Ryan Seacrest! How dare Idol voters reward her for having the temerity to appear in public without wearing a circus tent!

Of course, it’s not an aesthetic thing with MeMe, mind you. Oh, nonononono, she’s just thinking of the children. The health of the children. Because there’s an epidemic! A pandemic! Of childhood obesity! And how can we fight it if kids go getting the idea that fat people deserve to walk among us without shame? Without sleeves????

Oh, my stars and garters!

Ahem.

I have one thing to say to MeMe Roth: fuck off. You know you’re an idiot when the commenters at YouTube aren’t agreeing that Jordin is the cow you believe she is.

And I have something to say to Jordin Sparks: Go talk to Kelly Clarkson, who told her label to fuck off when they wanted her to do what MeMe Roth wants you to do. It hasn’t hurt her career any.

Are you there, God? MSNBC has some questions.

This is quite the article. Our hapless male friend Brian is totally confused about those crazy lady-bits, and has decided to speak with some evolutionary biologists to figure out what the heck is going on down there.

Men just don’t seem to have the same number of unanswered questions about our biology. Male primates — male mammals in general — all have penises and testicles and sperm. We use them whenever we can. Unless we are sick or injured, we can make babies. And if anybody wants to know if we’re interested, all they have to do is look to see if we’re at attention.

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Prosecuting pregnant drug-addicted mothers

Good news out of New Mexico:

On May 11, the Supreme Court of the State of New Mexico turned back the state’s attempt to expand the criminal child abuse laws to apply to pregnant women and fetuses. In 2003, Ms. Cynthia Martinez was charged with felony child abuse “for permitting a child under 18 years of age to be placed in a situation that may endanger the child’s life or health. . .” In bringing this prosecution, the state argued that a pregnant woman who cannot overcome a drug addiction before she gives birth should be sent to jail as a felony child abuser.

I just wrote a big huge final paper on this topic, so I’ll offer some background. Basically, over the past 30 years pregnant women have been prosecuted in several states for using drugs while pregnant. They’re usually prosecuted under child abuse or drug trafficking statutes. These prosecutions have happened even when the child showed no signs of harm. Regina McKnight, a South Carolina woman, was recently convicted of homicide by child abuse after giving birth to a stillborn baby. Her conviction was upheld by the South Carolina State Supreme Court.

The New Mexico Supreme Court has come to the opposite conclusion in a similar case — that the state’s child abuse statutes cannot be used to prosecute drug-addicted mothers for their neo-natal drug use. This is good, as the South Carolina decision was pretty devastating. But the SC decision still stands in SC, and may be used to influence similar cases in other states; luckily, now the NM decision can be taken into account, too. There is still no national consensus on this issue, and women in various states continue to be prosecuted.

No one wants women to use drugs while they’re pregnant. Obviously we do want to protect fetuses from in utero drug exposure. But there are a lot of problems with these cases — equal protection issues, statutory interpretation issues, status crime issues, due process issues, and on and on. If you’re interested, short summaries of some of the many problems are below the fold:

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