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

Month: February 2009

Yes Means Yes LiveChat (6-7)

Moderated by Jack, this livechat will feature Jill Filipovic, Javacia Harris, Stacey May Fowles, and Rachel Kramer Bussel. Read along below, and for the livechat that took place earlier today, see here!

Yes Means Yes LiveChat (3-4)

Moderated by Rachel, this livechat will feature Cara Kulwicki, Toni Amato, Hanne Blank, Heather Corrina, and Kate Harding. Read along below, and remember to tune back in for the second livechat at 6pm EST!

Public Service Announcement

On the subject of a certain very popular entertainment blog posting a photo of Rihanna after she was allegedly assaulted by Chris Brown: Not Fucking Cool.

On the subject of reposting said photo on other blogs: Not Fucking Cool.

On the subject of linking to said photo on other blogs: Not Fucking Cool.

On the subject of TV stations also running said photo: Not Fucking Cool.

On the subject of the LAPD’s “oopsie!” letter (pdf) in response to the leaking of the photo, as though it makes a difference now: Not Fucking Cool.

And yes, on the subject of people who have not seen the photo on their own now actively seeking it out, due to this post or one like it?  Even as I understand that our most base instincts can get the best of us?  Please, just don’t.  If you haven’t already, just don’t.  Because that’s not fucking cool either.

On the subject of all of this: Just Stop It.

It’s bad enough that her name was released, when it should not have been.  This woman was clearly attacked, in what is very strongly believed to be an intimate partner violence incident.  She is dealing with more than enough, and more than she or any other woman should ever have to deal with.  Every woman deserves some sense of privacy in a situation like this, no matter how famous she is.  Every woman in this situation deserves our support.

And every woman in this situation should get to decide for herself how public she wants to be about it, and whether or not she is portrayed in this way.  Not you.  Not me.  Not some stupid entertainment website that clearly just wants to make a profit.  Just her.  Her, and only her.

Also see Frau Sally Benz.

Reminder: Yes Means Yes LiveChats Today at Feministe

Just a reminder, everyone, that we’ll be hosting the finale of the Yes Means Yes blog tour this afternoon in two separate livechats.

At 3PM EST, Rachel will moderate a livechat featuring Cara Kulwicki, Toni Amato, Hanne Blank, Heather Corrina, and Kate Harding.

At 6PM EST, Jack will moderate a livechat featuring Jill Filipovic, Javacia Harris, Stacey May Fowles, and Rachel Kramer Bussel.

Just come by the blog at those times, and a post will be up!

Because we have so many people chatting all at once, and such a short time (one hour) to discuss during each chat, we sadly don’t anticipate that we’ll be able to take your comments as they’re happening. But we do want your questions for the participants.

We’ve asked you before, but we’re asking you again. If you have a question for the contributors who are taking part in the chats, ask now in the comments!

The Story of Blog

Or more accurately, the story of this blog and money, and how we make decisions about what is and what isn’t featured here. There has been a partial call for transparency recently that is causing some controversy, and after some smoky backroom decision-making that occurred in an undisclosed, underground location (right alongside Dick Cheney’s own undisclosed bunker), your humble bloggers agreed that being transparent about our processes will only lead to a greater understanding of how these things work. Most of it is boring and messy because we all have day jobs — but you ask, we answer!

Another issue cropped up in at the previous link that we will answer in the near future. Rest easy, we are going to discuss the issue of “tokenism” and representation in another post.

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Thursday LOST Blogging: 316

Spoilers below the image!

So, last night’s episode 316, was in my humble opinion quite the killer.

The episode opened up just like the very first episode of the show — with Jack’s eye opening, and a zoom out revealing that he is startled to find himself lying in the jungle in a pretty nice suit.  What’s happening?  Are we back in Season 1 for some reason?  Has Jack also become unstuck in time?  And then: wait! I know this scene like the back of my hand, and Jack was wearing a white shirt.  That shirt looks blue!  This is new!  Hey, that’s not his mini vodka bottle . . . is that Hurley?  Oh shit.

And it was awesome.

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North Dakota House Passes Bill Giving Rights to Fertilized Eggs

For those who have not already read elsewhere, North Dakota’s legislative House today passed a bill that would grant personhood, and the rights that go with it, to fertilized eggs.

A measure approved by the North Dakota House gives a fertilized human egg the legal rights of a human being, a step that would essentially ban abortion in the state.

The bill is a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court decision that extended abortion rights nationwide, supporters of the legislation said.

Representatives voted 51-41 to approve the measure Tuesday. It now moves to the North Dakota Senate for its review.

The bill declares that “any organism with the genome of homo sapiens” is a person protected by rights granted by the North Dakota Constitution and state laws.

The bill’s sponsor, Dan Ruby, is clearly talking out both sides of his mouth.  Because while in the article linked above he takes pains to note that the bill does not explicitly and directly outlaw abortion, he notes in this article that outlawing abortion and directly challenging Roe is precisely the point of the bill’s chosen language.

For arguments about why granting full rights to fertilized eggs is not only a really bad idea on the basis of pro-choice and feminist beliefs, but also really stupid in a general sense too, see this post by Jill.

I would, however, just like to add that the language of this bill is also a direct challenge to contraception as well as abortion, since non-barrier methods of contraception are believed to maybe cause fertilized eggs to fail in attaching themselves the uterine wall.  I’d also like to add that since that attachment to the uterine wall is the only real way that we are currently able to identify pregnancy, and therefore how we define it, this bill would also give these fertilized eggs rights from before the moment at which we are currently able to scientifically prove that they even exist.  Just wrap your head around that one.

I haven’t found any information yet on specific actions that you can take if you’re in North Dakota to help to stop this bill before it gets any further.  Once/if I do, I’ll post it at the time.

Whoa.

This Delonas cartoon appeared in the New York Post today. (h/t)

Barack Obama did not actually write the stimulus bill.  But I don’t think that I’m at all incorrect in asserting that it is the general public perception that he did.  I didn’t even know for sure until I looked it up, and I read quite a fair amount of news.  And regardless of who the actual author was, the bill was promoted as the president’s package.

Which means that we’ve got our first African American president being portrayed here as a monkey.  A dead monkey being shot by police in a country where deadly police shootings of black men are not at all uncommon.  In a world where death threats against the president are not at all uncommon, and where death threats against this president in particular have caused special reason for worry.  And regardless of who specifically the cartoon is supposed to be portraying (since I’m sure that a disingenuous “it wasn’t supposed to be Obama!” will be the defense) — since when is it okay to promote the murder of any government official?

Racism does not surprise me, anymore. But this has me flabbergasted.

It is the New York Post, so I doubt that it will do much good.  But nevertheless, their contact information is here.

Happy Birthday, Lauren!

Let’s all wish Feministe’s own wonderful founder Lauren a very happy birthday!

We all hope that you have a great day, Lauren. And with today also being Yoko Ono’s 76th (ETA: and Toni Morrison’s 78th, and what would have been Audre Lorde’s 75th! Wow!) February 18 really must be a day on which truly fabulous females/feminists are born!