This week I wrote about the addition of ‘Girl Power’ and ‘Riot Girl” to the Oxford Dictionary, as well as the gay blood ban, and my own personal struggles with shaving.
Sotomayor is “unnatural” in English” Looking at the racist attacks against Sotomayor including the claim that it is too much to ask that people learn to pronounce her name properly In Memory Of Robert Mitchell Can We Stop Calling Tasers Non- Lethal Force?: Looking at the taser death of a black male youth and why this is indeed a womans issue despite feminisms determination to remain silent, Two Spirits: Looking at the experience on and Indigenous Trans woman as she compares life on the tribe to life outside. Tory MP Pierre Poilievre Brings Tar Baby To Parliament Hill: Twice an Mp uses the term tar baby and refuses to apologize when asked because apparently his intent overrides any issues of concern by African Canadians. Yep multi-racial Canada strikes again. My Global comment pieces What Not to Wear: Blossom Faces the 360 Mirror and Marriage is “Between a Man and a Woman” in California
oddartist giveaway: Odd art and curious crafts from a truly twisted mind; Rhonda Brewer-Chaparro is the evil genius behind oddartist. Leave a comment to enter to win a pair of earrings made from erotica! http://suchcoolstuff.blogspot.com/2009/05/oddartist-giveaway.html
One on a truly laughable piece of porn: My Vagina is Defenestrating the Patriarchy Several posts about cooking, here, here, and here. And one on FA/weight issues/coming to grips with what is and is not “thin” here
Kind of a slow week for me, but I’ve got a post on whether it’s worth it to watch certain graphic scenes in movies, and a bit on how social gaming may actually be a positive environment for talking about things like homophobia.
I did a lot of gender blogging this week… 1. Gender Journey Update (Clothes): a short post on wearing men’s clothing. 2. Some Thoughts On Insecurity And Butchness: on my gender anxiety and my uncertainty about the word butch. 3. Bodies, Meaning, And Misreading: on the gap between the social meaning of my body and what my body means to me.
Women in their 20s are worried about wrinkles. Here’s one explanation. Plus, why I don’t care about Men In Power, a new group on a Chicago college campus.
I went to a rock concert and wrote about how the male-dominated culture of those shows is very problematic. I wrote about a personal experience with people telling me to “shut the fuck up” and I was absolutely floored by the number of comments I received (not all published) that told me that I should only give my opinion about topics when it is specifically asked for. 16-year-old Portuguese tennis player makes news for “shrieking” during matches. Ugh. And I’m trying to get to know the readers of the Female Impersonator blog. If you read us from time to time, stop by, leave a comment, and let’s get to know each other
http://combatqueer.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/05/sam-schulman-and-the-worst-thing-about-gay-marriage.html In this post I respond to Sam Schulman’s recent article about how the Worst Thing About Gay Marriage is that it endangers systems of kinship. He’s a system-worshipping idiot, and I explain why. http://combatqueer.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/05/love-your-enemy-is-difficult-all-im-saying.html In this post I talk about my recent fight with an old Vietnam vet who wishes for secession and thinks that the queers are ruining the Church.
I responded to the death of Dr. George Tiller with a conversation I had with a colleague about 10 years ago. Most of the conversations I write are altered in some way; this one is as close as I can get to verbatim.
This week I wrote about when I thumbed my nose at convention and had a symbolic marriage/commitment ceremony to myself. Just because. http://badassfemmes.blogspot.com
I proposed using the Equal Protection Clause to achieve marriage equality. And then Ted Olson took my advice! (Okay, so the Olson and Boies complaint was surely in the works long before my post went up, but it was still uncanny.) Even if this latest challenge to Prop 8 fails, my kids show why inequality is ultimately doomed. On the mother-blaming front, I looked at a meta-study that debunks the idea that caffeine is proven to be dangerous in pregnancy.
Comrade PhysioProf wonders why the nomination of Sotomayor to the Supreme Court is “identity politics”.
What’s new on Women’s Glib… Shira appeals to feminists: how do you deal with people complimenting you by commenting on your weight? Katie links to an article about her schoolmate, who is being criticized for playing on the boys’ tennis team even though the school lacks funds for a girls’ team. Lots of guest posts, including Luke on representations of women’s bodies in videogames, Shani on coming out as a feminist, and Sasha on girls’ access to education.
For structural reasons, states act like macho male stereotypes. Proof of the existence of ‘rape culture’ can be found just by looking in a dictionary. Different people talking about both ‘morality‘ and ‘moral relativism‘, may be talking about quite different things. Pangolins?
Sometimes we are our own worst enemies despite external forces of opposition. http://actsoffaithinloveandlife.blogspot.com/2009/05/poor-single-overworked-or-other-are-we.html Transrights have been subverted for the promotion of Marriage Equality which benefits gays and lesbians the most. http://actsoffaithinloveandlife.blogspot.com/2009/05/prop-8-fight-rages-on-what-about-trans.html 5th in my series of cultural appropriation and heritage abandonment of music created by African-Americans http://actsoffaithinloveandlife.blogspot.com/2009/05/deploying-little-negro-spirit.html
What do you do when you listen to many styles of music. How do you keep finding new avenues of artistic enjoyment? http://actsoffaithinloveandlife.blogspot.com/2009/05/old-school-friday-what-do-you-do-when.html Ruminations on love and life. I went off exploring new neighborhoods and have bootleg footage from my favorite concerts I attended this week. http://actsoffaithinloveandlife.blogspot.com/2009/05/ruminations-on-love-and-life.html The white men engaged in supremacy by protesting Judge Sotomayor’s appointment are quite ridiculous – esp considering she’s not really that progressive per se. It’s just she has a brain and a vagina and uses them as she sees fit. http://actsoffaithinloveandlife.blogspot.com/2009/05/youre-so-lame-award-of-shame-white-men.html Bill Maher had MIA on Real Time last week and really showed us how little he thinks of women. http://actsoffaithinloveandlife.blogspot.com/2009/05/youre-so-lame-award-of-shame-bill-maher.html
In one day, I tackled a child support hearing in family court… http://spectrumbeach.wordpress.com/2009/05/26/court/ and an IEP meeting… http://spectrumbeach.wordpress.com/2009/05/27/iep-meeting-part-2-of-my-ridiculous-day/ Later in the week, I had a letter to the editor published in the newspaper… http://spectrumbeach.wordpress.com/2009/05/28/letter-to-the-editor/ Long week.
Turtle Blogging Sotomayor threatens white men Ad calls for the assassination of Obama My review of Pixar’s Up
Turtle Blogging pictures of my turtle outdoors Sotomayor makes old white men project their own racism onto her. Ad calls for the assassination of Obama. apparently the personals let you solicit anything. My (feminist) review of Pixar’s latest movie, Up.
My thoughts on the “Men in Power” club at the University of Chicago. How Tancredo confused a radical activist group with a $40 million advocacy organization in the course of slamming Judge Sotomayor. And nine reasons that student activists should be using Twitter — each in 140 characters or less.
This week at Evil Slutopia we discussed why GOP adviser Dave Carney felt it was appropriate to make a whorehouse reference regarding Kay Bailey Hutchinson’s upcoming challenge of Texas Governor Rick Perry and why it’s disingenuous Bristol Palin preaching abstinence while refusing to acknowledge whether or not she had unsafe sex.
Discussed some brief thoughts on steampunk and what it means to me as a feminist. Otherwise most of this week was race-related stuff, particularly my wangst about writing white characters.
Over at Happy Bodies: We discussed that feeling of discomfort you can’t really place when receiving unwanted attention. Weight loss surgery as a means of managing the condition of the body was problematized. We talked about the problems with the reported trend that oral sex is the new goodnight kiss.
this week I wrote the following: 1. my boyfriend “casually” mentioning that he keeps porn on his computer, 2. the sexist/racist reaction from my friend about Sotomayor’s nomination, and 3. how to clean your place without a chemical cocktail enjoy!
I wrote about how white male perverts hate it when Muslim women veil, in response to a particularly misogynistic and Islamophobic article by some British guy telling Muslim women how to dress.
This week I wrote the following: Musings from a black woman: I can weigh in on this! about who really gets to write what they know. I have never worn Lacoste. about author Jen Lancaster, whose memoirs I am currently reading. My advice: about a high school senior who is graduating with a perfect record of attendance. Enjoy!
First, an analysis of the problems resulting from using an excessively narrow definition to describe “terrorism”: Bill Maher: Maverick Fail Next, a summary of the recent events affecting gay marriage in California: CA Supreme Ct. Upholds Prop 8, Existing Marriages And finally, a look in Judge Sotomayor’s judicial history, how race will affect her, and the obstacles she will face in the confirmation process: Scouting Sotomayor
Large number of reviews, including yet another tear-down of Eva Ibbotson and her wretchedly sexist and racist YA “romances”: http://talulahmankiller.wordpress.com/2009/05/26/when-i-wasnt-locked-up-in-alcatraz-i-read/ Aaaaaand how California stole my dignity: http://talulahmankiller.wordpress.com/2009/05/28/adventures-out-west/#more-691
Hello, Earlier this week I made a post that briefly reviewed a recent article about vulvodynia (It loosely translates to “Pain in the vulva.”) While I’m glad to see new articles about this topic, this one wasn’t a super great article so I tried to address some shortcomings while also gettin’ the word out.
I explain one of the great feminine mysteries. And last week, I discussed the possibility that true tolerance is apathy.
I was a bit of an angry trans woman this week… 1. Transitioning and Changing Sexuality – A discussion (possibly “yet another discussion”) on how to have a discussion about trans issues 2. The Great Trans Feminist Blogging Shakeup of 2009 – A followup to the previous post, where I talk a bit more about how to hold discussions about trans issues on blogs that don’t focus specifically on trans issues, and about the discussions that have happened in the feminist blogosphere around that topic 3. Are You Undergoing a Transgender Experience? – Dealing with well-intentioned, obnoxious, ignorant questions 4. The Transphobic, Cissexist People in Our Lives – A friend posts something unintentionally transphobic, and isn’t happy when I call him on it
I reviewed one of our documentary nights at my sex-positive documentary series — Masculine Sexuality Night! Film titles: “Private Dicks: Men Exposed” and “Forever Bottom”. http://clarissethorn.wordpress.com/2009/05/27/sex-positive-documentary-report-8-%E2%80%9Cprivate-dicks-men-exposed%E2%80%9D-and-%E2%80%9Cforever-bottom%E2%80%9D/
I just want to make sure that any and all women taking Tamoxifen check any other meds they are taking, especially antidepressants after new research.
So, it has been a bloggy week. Must be because I am studying for step 1 (med school) boards with crazy mnemonics and much procrastinating. I put up two posts about recent research showing our national cesarean section rate is misguided and has worse outcomes for the infant. First, I told about a friend in the typical situation of being refused an attempt at a vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC), and then in the unusual and completely medically ass backwards situation of getting a cesarean even when she showed up in labor! Then, I put up a reply turned post about the RH Reality Check coverage of the study. I have some of my own style of shameless self promotion, or, uh, bragging about being published in a zine soon! And, Dr. Tiller is dead.
http://primarydecomposition.wordpress.com/2009/05/27/papercuts-in-the-self-help-section/ Looking for a book about managing university life leads me to realise how the genre of self-help is, to all appearances, the exclusive province of neurotypicals; autistic or Asperger’s people needn’t bother to apply.
How foodie elitism stops some of us from enjoying/attempting to cook at home: http://www.sirensmag.com
This week, I wrote about how people of Italian descent are unquestionably white in the US, and dealing with denial of that in my own family and in other groups and reflected on how being invisible as various parts of my identity has been affecting my life recently.
This week, I wrote about double standards in media coverage of the Oxford Professor of Poetry mess: http://blog.elizabethkateswitaj.net/?p=1129 I also wrote about having to hear yet another unfunny rape joke. This time at a poetry reading: http://blog.elizabethkateswitaj.net/?p=1141 Two of my poems were published in Listenlight at http://www.listenlight.net/19/elizabeth-kate-switaj along with a three-poem series called Survivors in Galatea Resurrects – http://galatearesurrection12.blogspot.com/2009/05/critic-writes-poems.html
I wrote this week in support of the 2009 legislative agenda for the Sex Workers Project at the Urban Justice Center. This legislative agenda is specific to New York State. I want to join with them to call on you to support the following bills: -The No Condoms as Evidence Bill. Please tell your legislators to stop allowing police and prosecutors to use condoms as evidence that a person engaged or intended to engage in prostitution. This is currently a VERY common practice that discourages people from carrying condoms for fear of arrest. Police also confiscate condoms. -The Rape Shield Reform Bill. Rape victims may currently be questioned about past convictions for prostitution, under an exception to the rape shield law (which generally protects rape victims from being questioned about their sexual histories and practices), implying sex workers cannot be raped or should not be believed. This bill would change that. -The Vacating Convictions Bill. This bill would allow victims of human trafficking to clear their records of prostitution-related offenses. Victims of (sex) trafficking (people compelled by force, threat, or coercion into sex work) are often arrested many times for prostitution-related offenses before they are able to escape, without anyone recognizing that they have been trafficked. Prostitution convictions very much hurt access to housing, employment, ability to obtain professional licenses, and parental rights. This bill would allow trafficking victims to clear their record of those convictions. I would like to join SWP in also calling on people to oppose several bills, including a bill that would require legal sex workers (like exotic dancers, etc.) in “adult” establishments to register as “sex performers” with the goverment, and a number of bills that increase punishments, including one that increases punishments for multiple prostitution convictions.
In The Strong City Cult, Maria writes about a man who duped people into thinking that he was God’s son and that he was ordered by God to sleep with young virgins. Women’s health advocates want to make abortion in Chile safer in J. Mack’s Need an Abortion in Chile? Call this number Comments got quite steamy on Emily’s post: Title IX: Why don’t we apply it to sports? Obama’s refusal to release pictures of sexual abuse at Abu Ghraib was discussed in a blogpost by Elizabeth in Sexual Abuse at Abu Ghraib.
My post about Dr. Tiller is here. Looking at him — and NOT his assassin — as a true heir to Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
Citizen “Entrapment”: Lila Rose and 21st Century Stealth Pro-Life Activism, this piece is about a new method the Right is using to put an end to abortion that uses the rhetoric of the Left against itself. She Said No To The Test, how a Laotian American teen protested No Child Left Behind and won.
From Bitch blogs this week… Ladies…Firsts, Nancy Drew-loving Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor is joined this month by two other recent notable First…Ladies. Nollywood Actress Says ‘No’ To Nude Hollywood Role, Nigeria’s booming film industry, Nollywood, ranks second highest in global film production (nestled between India’s Bollywood and America’s Hollywood), and its actors are now being sought by the higher paying US studios. This new development brings with it the need for complex conversations about gender, sexuality, culture, and the lure of money. “How Well do you know Women??” I took the quiz to find out., Although this quiz claims to be “For Men Only!!” it has made me curious. How well DO I know women? Pièce de Résistance: Lila GhobadyIranian filmmaker Lila Ghobady speaks about resistance and Iranian underground cinema.
A few feminist reviews this week are… Forgiveness from a Feminist Perspective: Norlock argues that despite what many philosophers have ignored in the relationship between gender and forgiveness, the act of forgiving is very much a gendered act. Women are overwhelmingly expected to forgive—not necessarily because they are more wronged, though that argument could certainly be made—and often, forgiveness is associated with a particular type of femininity. Subversive Art Star: An Interview with Jerilea Zempel: Artist Jerilea Zempel turns brutal machines of war into “warm and fuzzy” sculptures through her subversive crochet projects. She achieved brief Internet stardom via The Colbert Report when Stephen Colbert called her “a dangerous returning American”—aka an artist who crochets covers for SUVs and tanks—after she was detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers, who discovered her artist notebook replete with line drawings of SUVs and crocheting plans. Dunya and Desie:Desie’s world focuses around boys and her best friend Dunya, while Dunya’s life revolves around her parent’s expectations of her. Dunya being Danish Muslim, her parents expect her to adhere to family traditions, one of which includes an arranged marriage.
Given the fact that it has had more than 1000 views, and that Jill re-twittered a link to it, many of you might already have read this post. However, I still thought I’d promote it here, because I feel it’s important. Words have consequences – on Operation Rescue’s role in the murder of Dr. Tiller.
Just finished a blog post on the New York Times piece that portrayed hugging as the new scourge of American teenage social life. And yesterday, I read and reviewed Girls on the Stand about the judicial bypass laws for minors seeking abortions (sadly a timely topic given Dr. Tiller’s murder).
about how my hair length has influenced my gender presentation and also some creepy thoughts on how sites like myspace and facebook are ruining communication.
MONUC: Peacekeeping in the DR Congo: http://notfrisco2.com/leones/?p=4351 Factions in the DR Congo: http://notfrisco2.com/leones/?p=4373 Round up, mostly about Sotomayor: http://notfrisco2.com/leones/?p=4371
Over at Deeply Problematic this week, I reviewed the Hemingses of Monticello, commented on the Eminem-forced sex interlude at the MTV Music Awards and how a song on his most recent album reflects on the incident, and talked about how little I read the news. Today I posted in reponse to Amelia above about discomfort and partner privilege at rock concerts. Over at Ms. Modern I wrote about how efficacy positively impacts body image.