Shameless Self-Promotion Sunday February 22, 2009 Cara You know the drill. Leave links in the comments to your own best blog post(s) from this week. But don’t just link to your whole blog — be specific.
My take on the proposed abortion ban in North Dakota, in which I conclude that Brad Pitt is a trachea. A response to Jessica Valenti’s speech. The moral of the story is that conservatives claim to care about women’s welfare but emphatically don’t.
How is dieting like virginity? Patriarchy sets up no-win situations around women’s appetites so there are no unchallenged choices. Women are pressured to eat more and less, to put out and to hold out. Riffing on Piny’s remarks about Carol Lay here at Feministe a while ago, I respond to some folks’ reactions to the bits about abstinence and virginity in my Yes Means Yes essay, Towards A Performance Model of Sex here. Also, though I hadn’t planned on making it, I was able to participate in one of the live panels, here.
This week we took a look at some rather…misguided comments about being gay from Kenny Chesney and Kanye West. We also took note of the possible new feud between Pat Robertson and Rush Limbaugh, and celebrated National Condom Week. And we checked in with the American Family Association’s ongoing boycott of PepsiCo for refusing to ‘stay neutral in the culture war’, which is now complete with an official Boycott Pepsi website.
I wrote about the rise in domestic abuse as the economy tanks. Two crappy House outcomes in North Dakota: One Two A conversation on radical feminism and it’s meaning. And the use of the word “rape” to describe decidedly non-rapey situations
A short rant about American Idol http://mzbitca.wordpress.com/2009/02/19/american-idol-and-homophobia/ Also, my review of the first episode of Dollhouse. http://mzbitca.wordpress.com/2009/02/16/dollhouse-episode-1-ghost/
Hey Women Stop Wasting Time On A Career When You Can Run A Daycare Center: Looking at the sexist question asked by the media of who would run a better daycare center, Nancy Pelosi, Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, or Sarah Palin. Boo Yaa It’s Period Time: Looking at how we are shamed if there is evidence of blood on our clothing. Dear Black People WOC feminists/womanists do exist: Looking at how failing to acknowledge the work of WOC is harmful no matter who originates the erasure. Black History Month For Sale: Looking at the commodification of black history month by Walmart and Pepsi. Family Business: Looking at why it is not proper to use an epithet unless you belong to a marginalized group.
Become a fan of PostBourgie on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/PostBourgie/62505911702 And, of course, hit us up @ http://www.postbourgie.com
I wrote about how accusing a male pupil of ‘girlishness’ was the worst insult a female vice principal could come up with
I wrote about the proposed recommendations for a Statement on Human Sexuality for the Lutheran ELCA church, and how Senator Amy Klobuchar proved that women -can- be funny and brought down the house at a Washington Press Club event.
I wrote about the sexist responses to the possibility of Danica Patrick competing in Formula 1 later this year.
A post comparing the reaction my wife and I have gotten to the birth of our baby to that directed towards Nadya Suleman (who gave birth to her babies the same day our girl came into the world.
Commentary on how the new movie Obsessed frames working women, the tv show Maude, the communication difficulties on The Hills, the artist Isa Genzken, some awesome girls of rock…..http://unconscious-and-irrational.blogspot.com/
GT 2009-02-21: how professional social workers colonized the maternity home movement, and what came after looks at a long passage from Ann Fessler’s book on women who surrendered children for adoption in the decades before Roe v. Wade. In particular, it has to do with what happened to the maternity home movement during the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, and how a movement that originally started, in the early 1900s, as a sympathetic refuge, a form of mutual aid between ordinary women, and a way for unwed mothers to find sources of relief and economic support, was gradually taken over and transformed into a means for professional social workers to sequester pregnant women, to aid and abet the social practice of secret-keeping and slut-shaming, and to separate young mothers from their children. GT 2009-02-18: Public schooling #2: Criminal texting, in which a 14 year old girl in Wisconsin is detained by the police at her high school, interrogated, searched by a male police officer, arrested for “disorderly conduct,” then body-searched by a female police officer, all in order to find a cell phone that it turns out she was hiding in her pants. The charge is that she was sending text messages in class after the teacher told her to stop, and then hid her phone from the teacher when the teacher tried to confiscate it. This minor classroom management issue apparently was considered a police matter and a cause for arrest, for which the girl could in principle be fined up to $5,000.
Not much original this week, alas, but a brief intro to a poem by Diane Lockward titled “Linguini” —a very sexy foodie poem indeed!
i did a post about how we gender products in advertisements. basically is my way to vent about obnoxious sexist ads. i’d love some intelligent feedback: http://filthygrandeur.blogspot.com/2009/02/gendering-sexless-products.html
I’m originally from North Dakota, so I did a little digging into the “personhood” bill and found that the bill was pushed by a *national* movement to pass laws that would make each fertilized egg a person. Not that this totally lets North Dakota off the hook, mind you! But it does mean we’ll see similar nonsense in other states. I also explored a study on men, women, and kissing whose findings undermine gender stereotypes and challenge the Laura Sessions Stepp dogma on sex. Funny how this study got much less attention than the one that reinforced stereotypes by looking at how men’s brains react to women in bikinis …
The best work email I have ever received. Links, including t-shirts for grammar sticklers who still love lolcats.
Excerpt from the email: I spent a lot of time last evening handling problems that u created by poor communications and then trying to back track cause u…
Happy Sunday everybody! It’s been a busy week for me, so I have been posting less. I posted a link list, with some discussion, of all the stuff I have been reading this week. I linked to Antibreastfeeding Bingo on Hoyden About Town. Brilliant. I posted an email and reply between my uncle and me. I have since had to explain to him that no, I am not violating his right to free speech because I told him he is offensive and to take me off of his political forwards. And he is in Mensa. Sigh. And finally, I did a little shameless self promotion of my own by bragging about being an ally in the WOC Speak carnival.
As it turns out, I also had a lot to say about Dollhouse. (There’s probably a post coming about enjoying things that one shouldn’t politically…because I did enjoy it, in spite of what I saw as a lot of both technical and theoretical flaws.)
I wrote about sexism in the tax and student loan system here in Canada. And because there’s only 9 days left in my pregnancy, I wrote about about pregnancy.
This week I put up a series on Dr. Horrible’s Sing-a-long Blog, sort of in honor of the launch of Joss’ new show, sort of because I’ve meant to do it for a while… Chapter 1: Penny Chapter 2: The Death of Penny (and Billy) Chapter 3: Teh Menz Chapter 4: Archetypal Gender
I was challenged to write a <a href=http://aftercancernowwhat.blogspot.com/2009/02/cancer-poem-challenge.html”poem so I added to the challenge here and <a href=http://aftercancernowwhat.blogspot.com/2009/02/big-pharma-really-just-wants-to-help.html” Big Pharma really wants to help. This weeks celebs are Robin Roberts and Mr. T
I created a meme just for the hell of it. Basically it’s “I like … because …”, and I list down as many reasons as possible. I figure it’s a good one to get people thinking about the things they love in their life. An anecdote from my visit in China, where my dad and I were figuring out how to use the fuel-powered water heater. In the men’s bathroom. Also, the roleplaying forum I’m part of is looking for more players. If you’re a gamer who’s looking for a game that focuses on character developement, or you’re a creative writer looking for a space to practise your writing in small increments every day or so (or you’re interested in collaborative storytelling), you might be interested in my spiel about it. The moderators who run the game are a heterosexual non-gender-conforming couple, so as a result, we also explore gender-queer ideas, as well as interracial tension, cultural changes, and a myriad of other stuff on the game. See her spiel about it, too.
After this anti-foreclosure activism guest post from ACORN’s Bertha Lewis sparked a rancorous debate in comments, I wrote this one about blaming irresponsible homeowners for our economic crisis. I also break down the competing interests in Obama’s housing plan.
I wrote about my experiences in a third grade classroom and look for input on dealing with kids and gender.
http://www.jpmdasein.com/JPMDASEIN/Blog/Entries/2009/2/22_On_PhDs_and_Lent.html Thought I would share John Caputo’s comments on the institutionalization of the university.
Red Panda makes handcrafted, artisan chainmaille jewelry. Chainmaille is a type of metal fabric armor that was worn by knights centuries ago. It consists of hundreds or thousands of tiny circular rings. Each one is opened, woven around others, and closed by hand to create intricate patterns. Jessica of Red Panda takes the same concepts of medieval maille and applies them to modern jewelry pieces. http://suchcoolstuff.blogspot.com/2009/02/red-panda-chainmaille.html
I wrote about my experiences in conversations involving sex / gender / body (SGB) issues. I Was A Teenage Sexist Chicken I will be launching a blog to support communities involved in SGB communities, support and relationships. I hope that some of you from this blog, the individuals and communities it serves – will read my post and comment. thanks, -gadfly
Looks like mzbitca and I are on the same wavelength, as I also wrote a mini rant about American Idol and homophobia. We also seem to have the same favorites from last year. http://community.feministing.com/2009/02/song-lyrics-american-idol-and.html And Sean Delonas is so not funny. http://afunnyfeminist.blogspot.com/2009/02/so-not-funny-sean-delonas.html
NPR pissed me off to the extent that I had to rant. http://proportionwheel.squarespace.com/blog/2009/2/21/time-for-a-good-rant.html
I just started a blog about feminism, sex work, and mental health, among other things: http://bellareve.wordpress.com/ Not a lot of readers yet, so please take a look!
I wrote about normalising oppression through language and a follow-up post on appropriating loaded words. I added my perspective to the feminis conversation on House. I also ranted about toilets (and gender!) and thought about meaningful, ethical and feminist gifts.
This week we heard about the experiences of Muslim women visiting the U.S. Capitol, satirized the fight for Aqsa Parvez’s gravestone, rolled our eyes at the assertions that hijab make make us sick, critiqued the Muslim in America Experiment, and linked our hearts out. We also provided daily updates regarding the Aasiya Hassan murder, and tomorrow, we’ll be having a roundtable discussion on the issue.
I’ve got a little bit about class issues in the way we look at MySpace vs. Facebook, a look at transphobia in (sadly) my favorite webcomic, and a piece on young adult libraries and sexual health information.
As a random spate of geekiness, if you use WordPress and want to make Livejournal-type user links, here’s the code. More feministly speaking, I rambled on a bit about breaking up with music. (The preview isn’t liking the code, somehow, so if it fails, sorry.)
i wrote a piece called “way to counter stereotypes” about the beheading of aasiya hassan contrasted with the more typical violence that american men use against their spouses. http://getangrywithme.com/2009/02/beheading/
http://ripplesinasmallpond.blogspot.com/2009/02/guardian-asks-for-poems-about-love-but.html I think I might have missed the boat here – I’m in the UK and the post wasn’t up to reply to for most of Sunday here, so I’m hoping I’ll still have made it… I attempted to hijack a poetry blog about “love” with a poem about rape, but chickened out as they seemed to all be writing such nice love poems – anyway I put it up on my blog …
I wrote a post about the war on women in Guinea, and how practices are changing. And one about deceiving ourselves and how it relates to blame and privilege. Rather long and philosophical but that’s how I roll.
Hello everyone! Not sure if you’ve heard of CupcakeCamp before but we are hosting one in Ottawa, Canada. If you know anyone that would like to bring/eat cupcakes send them our way! This is a community event, in a community space and ALL proceeds go to a local women’s support group!
My most recent blog post is on the issue of being a relatively more observant Jew traveling home to my relatively less observant parents. But I suspect the issue is a little more general. How do you deal with trips “home” when the lifestyle you grew up with is different to the point of incompatibility with the lifestyle you live as an adult? How do you deal with, e.g., being a liberal feminist visiting parents who live very traditional gender roles?
I’m a little late with this, but here’s my Expanded Commentary on SB1065/HB890 – Forced Drug Tests for Pregnant Women on proposed legislation in Tennessee.
I celebrated National Condom Week and reflected on signs that said NO MEANS NO. Womenwriters.net also published a five-poem series of mine which includes one poem that began as a response to what I considered to be a very sexist reply to a review I wrote: http://www.womenwriters.net/jan09/poetry/elizabeth_switaj.html