October 2009 – Page 5

Feminist Reads

Various things to check out this fine Tuesday:

–Barbie has cankles: Christian Louboutin is the latest designer to create a signature Barbie, but he’s redesigning her feet because he says her ankles are too fat. Yes, Barbie is now too fat for the fashion mainstream.

-Outsourcing Pregnancy: Doree Shafrir covers the issue for the Daily Beast, and Arlie Hochschild offers a must-read, in-depth take in the American Prospect.

-Domestic Abuse and Insurance: Kaiser Health News does some great investigating into domestic violence survivors being denied health care coverage.

-The Edge of Edgy: Toddlers in fetish wear? For real?

-Femimint Hygiene: Never thought I would get to type this phrase, but: Vagina Mints. Ladies, here’s a good rule of thumb: If you’re with someone who doesn’t want to come near your vagina unless you pump Lysol up it, spray flower-scented perfume on it, or stick a mint in it, they probably don’t deserve to be near your bits in the first place. Vagina mints are, under no circumstances, a good idea.

-Pre-Existing Stupidy: An insurance company denies coverage to a breastfeeding baby because he has the pre-existing condition of obesity. I say that baby is just fat because he’s lazy, and this denial will probably shake some sense into him and make him go on a diet. God bless America.

–Pepsi is Disgusting: And it’s not just the taste that’s offensive (although seriously, who are you Pepsi drinkers? Yuck). The company now has a phone app that helps you “score” with chicks — by breaking them down into 24 different stereotypes, and helping you keep a “Brag List” about girls you’ve banged, which you can send to all your friends via Twitter.

-Any Given Sunday: Is there such a difference between football and dogfighting? And, perhaps a more loaded question, but is it irresponsible for parents to allow or even push their kids to play football?

-Against Meat: I’m a former pescatarian (I didn’t eat any meat except fish for 11 years) turned unapologetic foodie. This piece by Jonathan Safran Foer about vegetarianism, ethical and environmental responsibility, culture and what we give up when we give up meat (and the trade-off for what we gain) really struck me. His honesty about food was refreshing — while a vegetarian diet can be rich and enjoyable, it just isn’t as rich as a diet that includes meat; giving up meat isn’t just about giving up taste, but for some of us feels like a severing of memories — and he still makes the case that vegetarianism is worth it.

Anyone else read anything good this week?

The Pill makes you attracted to pansies

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Or so says perpetually off-kilter Jill Stanek — except she uses the term “quiche-eaters.” Basically, a study says that women who use birth control tend to be attracted to men with more boyish features with caring personalities, versus “rugged” men with controlling personalities. The study itself is questionable, and the article detailing it comes from the less-than-reliable Daily Mail. But Stanek jumps on it nonetheless, saying, “Also don’t forget estrogen from the Pill is water has been found by several studies to feminize male fish. So women on the Pill may be getting what they’re helping create, wimps.”

Her post is pretty revealing. Pro-choicers often make the argument that at the heart of the anti-choice, anti-gay, right-wing philosophy is misogyny and, in turn, a vise-like grip on traditional gender roles. Men are lionized and women are at best marginalized and at worst despised. When women act “like men” and take their lives into their own hands — by having sex for pleasure instead of just procreation, by working outside of the home, or by otherwise subverting traditional gender roles — those who adhere to “traditional morality” get awfully upset. The same holds true when men turn gender roles on their head. For people like Stanek, the problem with abortion isn’t that it’s ending a life; if that were the case, she would support efforts to actually decrease the abortion rate, like comprehensive sexual education, gender egalitarianism and contraception. The problem isn’t life versus choice; the problem is choice itself, and what that choice means for women’s empowerment, safety and access to traditionally male spheres.

That the Pill would make women more attractive to “feminized” men confirms Stanek’s worldview; even putting aside the fact that a little poking reveals the study to be ridiculous, Stanek and her readers operate under the very basic assumption that to be “feminized” is a very bad thing. Calling someone a “quiche-eater,” as she does in her headline, is insulting because quiche is a woman’s food.

And the Pill is bad for women because it gives women control and a tiny bit of power over their own lives, which they surely don’t deserve.

To Make: Spicy Sweet Potato Salad

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My room mate made this recipe over the weekend, and it’s so delicious I had to recommend it. It’s healthy, spicy, and even vegan-friendly. It’s also remarkably bright and pretty. Enjoy.

Anyone else cook anything good lately?

New Blog By Feminists With Disabilities

There’s a new feminist blog on the block, and it’s one that I was incredibly excited to read about. It’s called FWD/Forward (feminists with disabilities for a way forward), and it’s about disability issues and the ways in which disability rights activism and feminism intersect. The list of contributors is absolutely stellar and includes some of my favorite bloggers, and the content they’ve got up so far covers a wide range of topics and is just excellent.

A bit more about the blog, from the introductory post:

We’re still nailing down the specifics and working out the fine details of things like our comments policy, but in the coming months, you can look forward to:

A disability kindy (pre-101) series for people who are new to disability rights activism

Disability 101 for kindy graduates

A series of basic intersectionality posts specifically for feminists who are new to disability issues

Consciousness-raising posts about identifying as a person with disabilities

Discussions about how people without disabilities and feminists without disabilities in particular interact with people with disabilities

Disability news quick-hits on ongoing disability issues in the news

Link roundups featuring disability news and writing on disability issues from around the Internet

Discussions about the language of disability rights activism, from differing terminology used internationally to the specific language used by individual groups which advocate for disability rights

Posts about the disproportionate amount of sexual, physical, and social abuse targeted at women with disabilities

Posts about people with invisible disabilities and mental illnesses and challenges unique to those groups

Posts about the relationship between disability rights activism, social policy, and the law

Discussions of how to be an ally to feminists with disabilities

AND MORE!

Head on over and check it out, and don’t forget to add it to your blog readers.

The Good Old Days

This article will make you lose your lunch. The idea is that sex with children is more taboo today than it was in Roman Polanski’s era — thanks to victims’ rights groups and a family values revival. The evidence? Well, Polanski himself, and this one Woody Allen movie.

The article approaches a good point — that rape victims were treated terribly, and that the culture was disturbingly permissive of a “boys will be boys” attitude when it comes to sexual assault. But it takes almost a wistful tone, as if we’ve lost something culturally and artistically. It also suggests that the conservative upswing in the Reagan years was responsible for the cultural shift away from victim-blaming; in fact, conservatives blocked every effort that feminists made to promote rape shield laws, prevent sexual assault and hold perpetrators accountable.

Feminist successes aside, raping adolescent girls wasn’t acceptable even in the 1970s. Perhaps even more disturbing, though, is the fact that it isn’t wholly unacceptable today — just look at the conversations about Roman Polanski.

Shameless Self-Promotion Sunday

You know what to do: Leave a comment with a link to something you’ve written recently, and a short description. Don’t just link to your whole blog.

Abortion Foes on the Street

This article in the New York Times is… interesting. First: I love that the Times has labeled anti-choicers as “abortion foes.” If you look through their archives, that’s the headline in far too many abortion stories. Considering that the antonym to foe is “friend,” I always find their word choice a bit… odd.

But my feelings about “abortion foes” aside, the article is worth a read. It’s not perfect from a pro-choice perspective, and I have some basic journalistic qualms with it — like the fact that the author says that abortion protester James Poullion was killed for his activism, without mentioning that his killer was an unstable individual with no ties to the pro-choice movement, and was going on a murder spree and simply disliked Poullion’s sign. But it’s nonetheless an interesting take, and I’m mostly curious to hear all of your responses. Thoughts?

Month: October 2009