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

Month: September 2009

From the files of Captain Obvious…

christian-louboutin-prive-paillette-platforms

Comes a study summarized by the New York Times thusly: Study Finds Women Wear Shoes That Cause Pain.

Their grand conclusion: “More than 60 percent of women said that in the past they generally wore high heels, pumps, sandals and slippers, all of which researchers rated as higher risk.” Shocking. And then: “When it comes to shoes, men make much better choices, the study found; fewer than 2 percent wore bad shoes.”

Yes, because it just comes down to men making better choices and not, you know, social and cultural pressures to wear particular, gendered footwear, and limited availability of supportive women’s shoes. Men are just smarter like that.

Popular conservative website says a military coup would “resolve the Obama problem”

He’s careful to say he’s not advocating a military coup, he’s just saying…

There is a remote, although gaining, possibility America’s military will intervene as a last resort to resolve the Obama problem. Don’t dismiss it as unrealistic.

America isn’t the Third World. If a military coup does occur here it will be civilized. That it has never happened doesn’t mean it wont. Describing what may be afoot is not to advocate it.

Thanks to Mind for the link.

Getting Over It

[Trigger warning. Any and all rape apology will be deleted from this thread.]

I’ve been skeptical about the efficacy of trigger warnings in the past, but after reading post after post on the Polanski case on the blogs, and seeing the story cycle through news media hour after hour, and hearing the story discussed by acquaintances day after day, I can safely say I’ve been officially triggered for the first time in eight years, trigger warnings or not.

I was raped when I was thirteen years old. It was my first sexual experience, if you consider rape a “sexual experience.” There are some things that are private and will remain private about the incident, because I do not want to also trigger my family who still unnecessarily feel responsibility for the incident, but regardless, I was raped when I was thirteen years old. I kept it a secret for a long time because I thought it was my fault, and due to the five-year emotional spiral that resulted after I was raped, everyone around me was unable to discern whether I was being truthful when I finally gave my problem a name.

So when I’m reading the opinions about whether Roman Polanski should be extradited and prosecuted for drugging and raping a child, whether or not it was thirty-two years ago, whether or not the man is elderly today, whether or not punishment deters crime, whether or not the man is powerful and successful, whether or not our outrage is inspired by a hatred of all things libertine, whether or not the rapist is remorseful, and whether or not a child rapist has the support of the rich and powerful behind him, I think about a few things:

After years of therapy, personal reflection, and healthy, consensual sexual relationships, after relieving myself of the burden of feeling that I’d “gotten myself raped,” after (today) fifteen years, I thought it was behind me. I am surprised that it’s not. I’m equally surprised at my surprise.

Read More…Read More…

Polanski Defend-a-Thon, Part 2

[Trigger Warning]

Melissa has Part 1 (which disappointingly includes Whoopi Goldberg, who draws a line between “rape” and “rape-rape,” and leaves me wondering what the difference is — and if there’s also rape-rape-rape, and how many “rape”s we have to string together before we decide someone did something wrong).

Add to the list:

Ann Applebaum, whose piece is, in my opinion, one of the most egregious. First, she calls what happened between Polanski and his victim “statutory rape.” Well, yes, since the girl was 13 — but she was also drugged and anally raped after she said no. That is, to borrow from Whoopi Goldberg, “rape-rape,” and would have been no matter what the victim’s age. But, Applebaum reminds us, Polanski is a victim too!

He did commit a crime, but he has paid for the crime in many, many ways: In notoriety, in lawyers’ fees, in professional stigma. He could not return to Los Angeles to receive his recent Oscar. He cannot visit Hollywood to direct or cast a film.

Lawyers’ fees are not how you “pay” for a crime. Not being able to come to LA to receive an Oscar is not “paying” for a crime. And I’m pretty sure there’s not a whole lot of professional stigma going on when you receive the highest award in your profession (even in exile), and an audience of your peers stands up and applaud you.

Disappointingly, Katrina vandenHeuvel, editor of the Nation, agrees with Applebaum.

Richard Cohen also stands up for Polanski, basically arguing that the dude did a bad thing, but shouldn’t be punished — unless punishment means that Richard Cohen gets to punch him in the face.

Patrick Goldstein says Polanski is being “hounded” by LA County prosecutors and compares him to Jean Valjean:

We live in an age that is so thoroughly post-modern that you can find an obvious literary antecedent for nearly every seamy media storyline. The same goes for the Polanski case, which is full of echoes of “Les Miserables,” the classic Victor Hugo novel about Jean Valjean, an ex-con trying to turn his life around who is being obsessively tracked and hunted down by the Parisian police inspector Javert.

Hugo’s story is a tragedy, as is the life story of Polanski, who was a fugitive as a boy and is now a fugitive as an old man. Whether the L.A. County district attorney office has its way or not, it is not a story that can have a happy ending. I think Polanski has already paid a horrible, soul-wrenching price for the infamy surrounding his actions. The real tragedy is that he will always, till his death, be snubbed and stalked and confronted by people who think the price he has already paid isn’t enough.

…and I want to quit life.

Light the Night with Jack

Jack stepped away from the blogging world awhile back to deal with some real life stuff like the following, and I think we might be able to show her our gratitude for her work at Feministe, Angry Brown Butch, and in her real world activism by donating to a cause that is very close to her:

My family, my partner Margarita, and I are walking on October 3, 2009, to honor my Dad, to show him our support and our love and our gratitude for his spirit, his fight, his humor, and his heart. We are walking with the hope that he might still find a treatment that will help him feel better, get healthier, and have more time to spend here with us. My dad makes friends wherever he is and in whatever state he’s in, and he’s made many friends at his cancer center. We’re walking for them and their families too. Margarita and I are also walking for her friend and coworker, Yajaira Mercedes, a young mom of three who is also battling leukemia. We’re walking for all of the other MDS, leukemia, lymphoma and cancer patients and survivors out there; for their families and friends with whom we empathize. We’re walking in the hopes that with more research, there will be more survivors who will live better, longer, happier lives.

I’m asking all of you – my friends, colleagues, acquaintences – to donate whatever amount you can spare so that we can truly honor my Dad and his fellow cancer patients and survivors. I’d also encourage folks to sign up for the national bone marrow donor registry and to donate blood if you’re able to; both are very important and potentially life-saving things to people living with MDS, leukemia, and other blood cancers.

Jack is very close to reaching her financial goal, but there is a way to go to reach their team goal for the Light the Night walk. Let’s honor her family, and especially her amazing dad, by making a donation.

UPDATE: I don’t have a lot of cash on hand to make a donation myself, but I did apply to be a bone marrow donor today. If you’re already an organ and/or blood donor, why not make the leap?

Monday Reader

May your day of atonement be filled with misery

Hope everyone is having a good weekend, and that those of you who are observing are having a good Yom Kippur. Or at least I hope that you aren’t totally starving.

Lots of stuff for your perusal this fine Monday:

I don’t link to Tiger Beatdown enough. If you’re not already reading it, go. Sady is amazing and has an addictive, hilarious writing style — plus she’s smart and feminist, so there’s no downside. While you’re over there, read this post of hers from July on Roman Polanski and funding rapists, found via Ann.

The always-fabulous Kate Harding also offers a timley reminder that Roman Polanski raped a child. Like a lot of people, I like some of Polanski’s films. I think he’s talented. I recognize he’s had a tough life and I have sympathy for much of what he’s gone through. But he also committed a crime — a crime for which he has shown little remorse — and talent, age, celebrity and a sad backstory don’t give someone a free pass. Ann at Feministing offers a round-up of other Polanski posts. If you somehow missed it, make sure you also read Little Light’s take.

And while I’m fan-girling some of my favorite feminist bloggers, you should also be reading Amanda Hess. I have a whole list of Amanda’s posts saved, and I keep meaning to write about all of them, but then I run out of time. So go read this one, on the anatomy of a Tucker Max joke. I find Tucker Max so repulsive and juvenile I can’t even work up the energy to write about him, because as far as I’m concerned anyone who likes Tucker Max is such a numbskull with no taste and an uncreative, pathetic sense of humor. I care to engage with them about as much as I care to engage with a dining room table (h/t Barney Frank). But apparently he’s some sort of cultural phenomenon and I suppose feminist blogs should be calling out him and his supporters. Amanda is doing that, over and over. So check her out. And show some support in the comments, where Max supporters seem to come out in full force.

Katha Pollitt responds to New York Time columnist Nicholas Kristof’s challenge that we in “the West” fight gender inequality in the not-West. She writes, “If women’s equality is the great cause of our time–and I hope it is–we’ll get further by acknowledging it as a challenge no country has yet fully met rather than by framing it as a Western crusade.” The whole column is pretty great, so go read.

Deborah Solomon interviews Seth Macfarlane. And I love her.

Above the Law covers “girl-on-girl” sexual harassment. And it is a big, trainwrecky blog-fail.

Indonesia’s Feminist Islamic Schools. It’s a short article, but an interesting story. Just avoid the comments.

Taking on sex tourism in the Ukraine. Natalia interviews awesome activist Anna Gutsol.

This article on sex trafficking has been on my “To Write About” list for a week now, and it deserves more than the blurb I’m going to give it now, but since I’m not sure I’m going to get to it I figure I’ll point you all in the right direction. It’s one of the better articles on anti-trafficking efforts that I’ve read in a while. It points out that trafficking isn’t as cut-and-dry as a lot of news outlets make it out to be. The narrative of the 13-year-old girl kidnapped from her village and sold into slavery in Thailand isn’t totally reflective of the reality of the situation. Certainly kidnappings and forced prostitution happen, and they happen with disturbing frequency. But there’s a lot of grey area — as one anti-trafficking activist puts it, “There were degrees of volition involved,” Crawford continues. “Under international law the minors can’t consent to prostitution, but it was important to understand what they were thinking. As for the women, they were making a rational decision under horrible conditions–to be raped for free in Burma or paid to do commercial sex work is one situation. For me, they are making a rational decision, but that’s a decision no one should have to make. We should be talking about the labor laws, migration laws and the situation in Burma–just as much as working with the courts and police.”

What else have I missed? Any of you read good articles or posts lately?

Posted in Uncategorized

National Equality March, October 11, 2009

From NOW:

The 14th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified on July 9, 1868, and granted citizenship to “all persons born or naturalized in the United States. In addition, it forbids states from denying any person “life, liberty or property, without due process of law” or to “deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of its laws.” By directly mentioning the role of the states, the 14th Amendment greatly expanded the protection of civil rights to all Americans and is cited in more litigation than any other amendment.

On October 10-11, 2009, we will gather in Washington, D.C. from all across America to let our elected leaders know that now is the time for full equal rights for LGBT people. We’ve had a moment thrust upon us by the election of President Barack Obama and the spirit of hope and change, and also by the sense of entitlement in the new generation of grassroots organizing. This march is a vehicle to a larger goal. We want to work to bridge the gap between the national organizations and the grassroots community organizers. We will gather. We will strategize. We will march. And we will leave energized and empowered to do the work that needs to be done in every community across the nation. This is only the beginning.

Our single demand: Equal protection in all matters governed by civil law in all 50 states.

Our philosophy: As members of every race, class, faith, and community, we see the struggle for LGBT equality as part of a larger movement for peace and social justice.

Our strategy: Decentralized organizing for this march in every one of the 435 Congressional districts will build a network to continue organizing beyond October.

This is our single message as we march on Washington on October 11, 2009. We seek equal protection in all matters governed by civil law in all 50 states.

Click to learn more about the 14th Amendment and the Equal Protection Clause and how it applies to our fight for full equality.

Director of Equality Across America, Kip Williams, was interviewed by Alex Blaze of Bilerico regarding the National Equality March. Click to listen to the podcast interview.

Ciao!

….it’s that time again. Mille grazie to the Feministe crew and the loyal readership. Hope to see some of you at my blog sometime in October, when I start posting there again (gonna be at a union conference this week, so…..little to no internet access. Believe it or not, not everyone has a laptop, or wants to haul one around!), where I’ll be blogging on damn near everything. Peace, love and extra sugu (“sauce”).