Shameless Self-Promotion Sunday February 1, 2009 Jill Post a short description of something you’ve written this week, along with a link. Don’t just link to your entire blog.
Starting the Feminist Dog Lovers Uprising: Challenging the idea that all good feminist are cat lovers. Manitoba Doctor Refuses Treatment To Lesbians: Looking at the ways race and sexuality intersect in healthcare in Canada. Who Has The Good Hair: Looking at a documentary that Chris Rock made for his daughter about the ways in which black hair is constructed. Apparently transgender people need to stay with their own kind: Transphobia in action once again as a woman is not allowed into a club and told to stay with her own kind.
“Oy with the Holocaust already!” which was written due to amount of Antisemitism I’ve been seeing online lately. and No one asks. No one answers in which I talk about Israeli discourse of the Occupation with the help of the movie “Waltz with Bashir” and a review written about it.
http://www.myspace.com/femalesexuality: Two posts, one looking at the philosophy of the clitoris, the other at pre-marital sex. The first challenging women to reveal what they believe is the purpose of a clitoris, other than pleasure; the latter looking at a mother’s responsibility for helping their daughters develop a healthy attitude toward sex and developing the youngster’s sexuality. http://www.esybron.org: the continuance of gathering voices from women regarding their sexuality. Thus far, in our 50-year study, we have been blessed with the voices of almost 8,000 women telling us of their beliefs, feelings, and concerns and we add more daily. Woman is our salvation and her sexuality is the key.
Not so much to promote myself, but more to promote some awesome stuff Patricia Williams was saying the other night: http://www.deannazandt.com/2009/01/29/patricia-williams-on-miracles-and-delusions/ And for the nerdy-inclined, a short post on how to handle Twitter overload: http://www.deannazandt.com/2009/01/26/twitter-overload/
Divorcing Italy – After 17 years’ struggle as a foreign woman in the Italian job market, I have had to leave Italy (and live apart from my Italian husband) in order to have a decent career.
An open letter to the prison towns complaining about the Gitmo transfers. I also write to President Obama about bipartisan idiocy.
http://mzbitca.wordpress.com/2009/01/31/have-babies-but-only-the-right-way/ Just a short post on the octuplet drama
Thoughts on the absurdity of Georgia license plates. Humor in the stimulus bill. And the awesomeness of the Terrible Towel.
I discuss how I helped organize a nude “Love Your Body” photo shoot on campus and when I participated and saw my pictures, I felt disgusted by how I looked.
A post on using gender-neutral language that I wrote for my BRAND BRAND NEW group blog! Really excited about it, if that wasn’t obvious.
This week we wrote about how old people are apparently no longer allowed to have good sex. We got called “morally void” for defending sex workers (stay tuned for more on this subject in February). We celebrated Barack Obama’s signing of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act (yay!) And the Republicans have some good news and bad news all their own). We also did a monthly wrap-up: A look back at January 2009
Are women the new proletariat? http://directionlessbones.wordpress.com/2009/01/27/more-analogies-of-feminism-and-marxism/ Are people beautiful because of how they look, or vice versa? http://directionlessbones.wordpress.com/2009/01/29/two-concepts-of-beauty/ What does it tell us if snakes and hamsters can be friends? http://directionlessbones.wordpress.com/2009/01/30/cross-species-relationships-and-the-minds-of-animals/
I interviewed a number of fantastic campus activists who successfully got their schools to change their sexual assault policies.
I was trying to formulate a post about football mania seeing as it’s Super Bowl weekend, but I decided to write about another area of hyper-masculine pop culture — Lost. My post analyzes gender norms in the show, noting both its normative gender representations and its (too infrequent) nods to a more feminist conception of gender. The post, “What if Lost time-travelled to a feminsit future?” can be found here: http://professorwhatif.wordpress.com/2009/01/31/what-if-lost-t…eminist-futurewhat-if-lost-time-travelled-to-a-feminist-future/
this week on Stitching Tentacles: -photos and experiences from the Tranny Roadshow Midwest Tour -more self-portraits everyday! -exhibition of the fresh band Flor y Fauna Doublet
I’ve recently discovered Chickipedia (a “female-only encyclopedia”) and the DABA girls (who may or may not be a hoax at this point).
Over at our blog Pink Scare … – Arvilla laments that the apparent existence of Dating a Banker Anonymous (DABA) helps the New York Times play up the “oldest and lamest gender stereotypes.” – T points out the dangers of Obama’s appeals to bipartisanship – LN blogs for choice, and discusses the diversity of reproductive choices that people in her life have made.
On Monday I wrote about what I’m now calling sexuality feminism and trying to find a useful self-definition as a feminist working in the very-divided sexuality field.
I mused about the sexual use of butter in “Last Tango in Paris” here and then my disdain for needles in the alternative medicine world here. I hope everyone had a groovy week.
I wrote about how some people assume I’m going to be sexist, just because I’m transitioning from female-to-male. I also loved Ryan’s post Language Wars, on “…what it feels like to have our names and identities be a very bad word…” and respecting all the different trans identities (transgender, transsexual, genderqueer, men, women, etc).
Yesterday I wrote about Ireland’s shame. The Minister for Justice is trying to deport a Nigerian woman and her two daughter home where they will be subject to FGM. I tried to wrote more but couldn’t
I rant about what the writers of House (okay, Lawrence Kaplow, in whose eps I have noticed a trend…) did with their female characters this week. Spoilers are rife, fyi.
I figured out why we don’t have a cure for cancer in Octuplets, Botox and Boner Pills as well as How will you pay your medical bill? Cash, Check, arm and leg?
An exploration of the differences in the underlying messages/ideas of two AIDS-related NYC-based 90s pieces of theater, Rent and Angels in America, and the way Rent’s focus on its heterosexual characters and emphasis on romantic above other kinds of love may contribute to its having what is, in my opinion, a less mature/sophisticated message than Angels, here.
I wondered if there’s an emerging preference for girl babies in Anglo-American culture and what that might mean. I also mulled over the unsettling implications of “date auctions,” since one was just held on the college campus where I teach.
Umm, link didn’t work. weird. Oh, well, cut and paste y’all. http://pluckypunk.blogspot.com/2009/01/my-o-naugural-adventure.html
I’ve been struggling to articulate a clear foundation for the way men are indoctrinated to approach heterosexuality. After nearly 200 posts I think I’ve finally gotten it down to two rules in Shorter No-Sex Class Paradigm. figleaf
Over at The Feminist Underground: 1. Sally discusses her conflicting feelings about a site called Chickipedia 2. Maus talks about the ethical issues surrounding the recently born octuplets 3. I write about the dress code double standard at my new job
I wrote about Action for Children’s ad that quite literally demonizes Aspergers children, wrote about Kristine Ueyeda’s poem, Penelope Instructs Her Husband on the Nature of the Sea, and wrote a letter to my heart. I also posted the new issue of the online journal I edit: http://www.critjournal.com/current.html
Over at Sociological Images, Gwen posted a copy of the actual letter sent to men enrolled in the Tuskegee study, a federally funded project in which black men were denied existing treatments for syphillis and tricked into coming into the doctor just so that they could study how syphillis progressed: http://contexts.org/socimages/2009/01/31/tuskegee-syphilis-study-recruitment-letter/ Amazing.
I am so so SO excited to announce that I just started a new blog, which I titled Daily Dose of Feminism. My plan is to document how people throughout the world practice feminism, sometimes not even knowing they are doing it. I hope to show that being a feminist makes your life and the life of those around you happier, healthier, better. Please come by and say hi!!! And send me a note if you want me to add you to my blogroll!!! I
I wrote a post about an old white male professor of mine unexpectedly standing up staunchly against rape apology.
I wrote about the question “are you ok?” and the underlying assumptions of femininity and linked to an amazing poster made from comments left on the Yale Daily News after the verbal assault outside the Yale Women’s Center.
Are romantic comedies getting stupider, or am I just growing less tolerant? Dumb chicks on film get me down. Why do beauty therapists always make it their business to insult you about things no sane person would notice? The manicurist with the 1950s-style values. “Does my ass look fat in this?” Well, maybe. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
I have been following the story of former Bart officer Johannes Mehserle. Mehserle shot subway rider Oscar Grant. (Feministe wrote about this.) Johannes Mehserle’s Bail Set at $3 Million Side note: it’s Blogroll Amnesty Day. My pal Zencomix is letting people use his artwork to promote B.A.D. Go promote blogs you enjoy.
Now that anti-genocide activist and super-scholar Samantha Power is going to NSC, we’ll probably do something about Darfur and Congo, right? There’s reason to be hopeful, but plenty of cause for doubt, too.
I watched this amazing documentary online for FREE about the Porn industry. It deconstructs the porn industry revealing many disturbing statistics including the relationship of porn and child sexual abuse and breaks down many myths about porn. YOU MUST WATCH IT AND CONVINCE EVERYONE YOU KNOW TO WATCH IT!!! I found it on this blog, which isn’t my blog, but a blog with really good anti-porn resources on it. But I posted a quick post about the documentary on my actual blog. Thanks!
REVENGE OF THE FEMINIST CAT COLLECTIVE! Also I talked about My Banner, My Name, and My Avatar, an update on the Oscar Grant case (live from Oakland!) and I spotted Sarah Michlle Geller in Doctor Horrible’s Sing-a-long Blog!
I blog on local issues. One guy that didn’t like it decided not to respond to what I actually wrote but posted about my breasts elsewhere. I wrote this in response. Also ICE has started raids in my region and there was a press conference on that and the general seige mentality Latinos are feeling about that and the on-sided police offensive against Latino gangs (and thus Latinos b/c they don’t distinguish between the two very well) while ignoring violence caused by other gangs in the area. The focus on the Latino gangs (over Black gangs, White gangs) I think is tied in with the anti-immigrant sentiment which is increasing in my state in the economic crisis.
An old clip from Roseanne where she learns about Riot Grrrls, A short bio of Mary McLeod Bethune, clips from house of style, 2 reviews of He’s Just Not That Into You (both the book and movie), videos of women and girls dancing and feelin good, an old clip from the Carol Burnett Show of if everyone on Star Trek’s gender was reversed…. http://unconscious-and-irrational.blogspot.com/
Dov Charney makes it to my Anti-Feminist Dating Service. His superior math talents bring all the girls to the yard. http://afunnyfeminist.blogspot.com/2009/01/anti-feminist-dating-service-dov.html
I wrote Feminism in unexpected places about an interview with Jason O’Mara, star of Life on Mars; a review of Here Lies Arthur by Philip Reeve, a feminist take on the Arthurian legend; and No one should be scared to go to school which is a joint post on the acid attacks on female students in Afghanistan, the expulsion of two girls accused of being lesbians in California and some points on education for the marginalised.
This week on MMW, we look at a French Muslim women’s magazine, discuss the book/movie Brick Lane, examine whiteness and ideal Islamic womanhood in Malaysia, critic BBC reporting on South Asian drug users in the U.K., welcome a new Muslim women’s site to the internets, and link it up like it’s 1999.
Today I wrote a response to the current cats vs. dog war in the feminist blogosphere, and my particular take on it.
I wrote about the transphobic (and often ableist) trope of being trans* and/or medically transitioning as self-harm and unnecessary. I also made a short comic about how some people seem to think we “become” trans* and decide to transition.
I wrote about Chris Rock’s newest film project a documentary about African-American women and their hair. Aaaand here a really, really sad rundown of the massive corporate layoffs that took place last week. Actually it’s all pretty depressing.
Feminist Reviews of the Week: AIDS Sutra: Untold Stories From India: Negar Akhavi has masterfully edited multiple voices and rhetorical devices to show us how HIV and AIDS have affected Indian society. Half the contributors traverse the deep faultlines of misogyny, poverty, and religious hierarchy. The other half shows what it’s like in India in the time of AIDS to be faithful wives and daughters-in-law (and HIV-infected), poor and low-caste, overburdened healthcare workers, cast-off and orphaned, and non-heterosexual. College Girl: While reading, I couldn’t help thinking Natalie might have benefited from taking a Women’s Studies course. Perhaps instead of throwing around words like “slut” and “whore” and buying into the idea of sex as a form of “leverage” in relationships, she could have stood up for herself a lot sooner. Instead, she keeps quiet about unwanted sexual attention from her roommate’s boyfriend, and caves to her own “boyfriend” when he pressures her into performing oral sex despite her protests. One Fifth Avenue: I prefer not to make New Year’s Resolutions. However, there is one that I intend to make and keep. I will never read a “chick lit” book again. For years, the vapidity of this genre has enthralled millions of women and kept the printing presses running at publishers’ establishments. I frankly refuse to even glance through something of this standard ever. I read One Fifth Avenue on a whim. A college friend suggested it to me after I admitted that I had never watched Sex and the City. “It’s Candace Bushnell, you’ll love it!” she exclaimed.
I got engaged a month ago 😉 Finally came clean about it on my blog… and wrote about the “importance” of engagement rings… http://feministgal.blogspot.com/2009/01/ring.html
This week I wrote about the part of the Natalie Dylan story that I think has received the least attention and deserves the most: who are the bidders and what is it they are willing to pay so much for? Also, inspired by something Holly at Pervocracy wrote, I wrote a short internal critique of the BDSM community and assumptions about bottoms, particularly submissive women.
I am not sure this is the right place for what I have to say–I don’t have a blog–but 1st I am thankful for a fine crop of links, and 2nd, there is something abt #3, Esybron, that creeps me out. The last line of the doctor’s post seemed to imply that as a woman I am responsible for the salvation of the world. –Like I don’t have enough to worry about. [The question of whether any ability I have is “god-given” or not is one I won’t even get into.] In short, I smell pedestals. I clicked on the link and the out-creepage went on. I don’t feel any better being angelicized than demonized, for a condition I didn’t choose. To me, “miraculous powers of transformation” means turning metal into machine parts, flour into bread, art supplies into pictures, and ideas into other ideas–it does not mean largely involuntary body functions. Also, I wonder if this doctor would think I am slacking because when I did have physical pleasure I did it alone, and now that the urge is fading I don’t struggle to revive it. If anyone’s orgasms ever contributed positive energy to the world, at 22 I would have saved the universe. But it seems to me that salvation is the responsibility of anyone with a brain (religious or otherwise). You will probably say that I should address the doctor directly on his site, and this I will do. But I would like to hear some smart people discuss this, and find out if anyone else feels weirded out.
…and some of you smart people can look over the whole site, and the college it is attached to, and tell me if you think it is legit. It might be, but I am not sure. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are some fellows out there who collect women’s sexual stories just because they want some hot reads, and are clever enough to swathe their requests in adulatory newagey language. But some really do want to play a part in helping people thrive. So what do you, fellow readers of this blog, think this deal is? I’m not gonna touch it till I hear some informed and impartial critiques.
The Canadian women’s biathlon team makes a nudie calendar as a fundraiser because they are so underfunded. My take on the octuplets fiasco in California
After I blogged on the recent raids in Riverside, California against day laborers by U.S. Border Patrol agents, this article detailed that agents in the Riverside office of Border Patrol complained about having quotas enforced on them by supervisors in January that they had to arrest 150 undocumented immigrants or face discipline.