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

Month: July 2013

Selfless Signal-Boosting Wednesday

This thread is for links to pieces on other people’s blogs that you have found delightful/memorable/provoking recently. Please save the self-promotion links for a Shameless Self-Promotion Sunday thread – use this thread to let Feministe readers know about the other blogs you love to read.

Juror B37 has decided she’s had enough publicity after all (with @MoreAndAgain update)

Just two days after acquitting George Zimmerman of second-degree murder and manslaughter charges for killing Trayvon Martin, Juror B37 — one of five white women on the six-woman jury — had signed with Martin Literary Management to write a book. President Sharlene Martin released a statement saying that B37 felt it important that the public understand her experience during the trial. After the public got to know B37 a little better, however, the book plans have disappeared.

Trayvon Martin open thread

A jury has acquitted George Zimmerman, a self-appointed neighborhood watchman, of second-degree murder for killing Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager.

Comments on this thread will be fully, and heavily, moderated, so please be understanding when they take some time to appear. Please keep in mind that this is a sensitive time and a painful subject, so idle questions and dispassionate speculation may not be deemed appropriate for publication.

(My) menstrual blood is gross (to me)

I’m not ashamed to menstruate. I’m not afraid of menstrual blood. But menstrual blood, to me, is gross, in the same way that any other bodily fluid is gross, and I don’t see why I should have to make an exception for menstrual blood, just because it was hanging out in my uterus beforehand rather than my blood vessels or my sinuses. There’s a sense among some women, though, that menstrual blood should be seen and treated differently. Specially. Reverently.

Kate Middleton and Moms Who Aren’t Princesses

With much of England and half the U.S. on Kate Middleton Baby-Watch this week, I’m writing about motherhood in the Guardian. It’s great (and normal) that we’re all excited about a new (and royal!) baby. Babies are really cute, and all of them should enter the world into the arms of folks who are excited to welcome them. But our celebrity pregnancy obsession, coupled with our unrealistic and condescending view of motherhood (it’s THE HARDEST JOB IN THE WOOOOORLD!) make real political change difficult, and keep parents (mostly mothers) unsupported. A bit:

The ABC of ABCDs

So most of y’all will know what ‘ABCD’stands for; if not, the term was coined to fit a collective experience of growing up as a brown face in a white space. ‘American-Born-Confused-Desi’ was a 1999 film about the plight of our parents in wanting to see their newly Americanized kids reaping the rewards of the old South Asian proverb: ‘health, wealth and wife.’ It’s an acronym for the generational divide that whilst not being specific to the South Asian/American diasporic community, is almost exclusively attributed to it. In this article I want to redefine the ABCD term and challenge old notions of what it means to be born brown in America.

Jackie the Ripper: Where Are All The Female Serial Killers On TV?

Dexter is entering its final season and that means soon we’ll have to say goodbye to TV’s favorite serial killer. The show is such a hit because its plot is unique. Instead of recycling the standard detective-chases-bad guy trope, the show’s writers gave us the righteous anti-hero Dexter, a serial killer who only kills other serial killers and evildoers who deserve to die.