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

Month: February 2012

Being an Advocate and an Ally

One of the discussions that I’ve seen pop up on Feministe a lot lately has been the question of how one can be an ally or an advocate without crossing the line into paternalism or playing savior. When it comes to madness or special education, I feel that the best way to be an ally is to be educated. The problems with how we see madness are so deeply rooted that, in my opinion, the only way to really start changing the way we think is by actively challenging the ways in which we experience madness as a concept and mad persons as individuals.

A night at the Oscars (“Phew. There. I solved racism!”)

Managed to miss this year’s Oscar nominees, and now you’re biting your nails because the big night is coming and you aren’t prepared?! Me, either. But the good people at Jest have us covered in adorable fashion, with Kids Reenact the Oscar Nominees. For instance, if you missed The Help, little kids can show you what you missed.

Virginia transvaginal ultrasound bill proves effective at deterring sex

Most women seem to find Virginia’s proposed bill requiring transvaginal ultrasound for anyone trying to get an abortion horrifying and intrusive. We’re wrong, of course, because Virigina Delegate Dave Albo (R-Douchebucket) thinks it’s hilarious. Hilarious enough to stand up and joke about getting cock-blocked by his own bill on the House floor.

Bloodied Yet Unbowed

As some of you might know I’ve had the dubious privilege of sitting on a lot of different sides of the educational world. When I was very young I was given a series of trendy diagnoses and pumped full of drugs that made me sick, when they didn’t work I attended was sentenced to survived several behaviorally-based programs for children with severe behavioral, emotional, and learning disabilities. These were the kinds of schools where “reasonable goals” were about as ambitious as eventual independent living and a closely supervised service job.

February is Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month

And with all the coverage of Rihanna / Chris Brown (which I will write about later, but ugh, can we please stop blaming her for “being a bad role model” or whatever and maybe put the responsibility for beating another human being on the person who did the beating?), it’s a pertinent conversation. The stats are disturbing: