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

Bits and Pieces

Jill

Steve McQueen photo gallery. You’re welcome.

Too many women are dying in the United States while having babies. Amnesty International details the American maternal health care crisis, calling it part of a systematic violation of women’s rights. Funny how “pro-lifers” aren’t exactly latching on to the cause.

Speaking of which, pro-lifers who oppose health care reform are for more abortions. Imagine that.

In praise of public abortions: “Abortion also isn’t simply justified by its legal protection of “right to privacy.” Denying a woman her right to choose is sex discrimination: Burdening women with unplanned pregnancies leads to systemic economic, social and psychological gender inequalities.”

Katha Pollitt on liberalism and women, arguing that if the left actually wants to succeed, it should embrace people who are already progressive — namely, the ladies.

The Boys of Summer: Our Lady Sady takes on 500 Days of Summer and the stories of “that bitch who didn’t want me to be her boyfriend.”

Why Rape is Not One Big Misunderstanding. Basically, that.

Healthcare reform passed, and you can thank pro-choicers for it. Here’s what the Dems can do to pay us back.

Tony Judt is a very, very smart man.

More congresspeople are receiving death threats, and now Anthony Weiner is being mailed envelopes of white powder (and apparently not the fun kind). Seems that swastika-illustrated letters calling him “Shlomo” weren’t really getting the point across. To quote the always-observant Choire, “Hey, also, remember when the right wing talking point was always “ALL MUSLIMS MUST LOUDLY RENOUNCE THE TERRORISM OF THE (40 or 50 TERRORIST) MUSLIMS?” Anyone? Because… So… You see… Oh never mind.”

13 thoughts on Bits and Pieces

  4. Yep. IIRC, McQueen did his own driving in Bullitt. Maybe that’s true of all of his movies, but that one has the most iconic car chase scene.

  5. Linnaeus, that’s nothin’.

    He did his own stunts in Bullitt, and in The Great Escape.

    He invented and patented two race car parts, including the transbrake, for drag racing.

    He supported himself while taking acting classes by racing motorcycles.

    He WON HIS CLASS at the 12 Hours of Sebring endurance race in 1970 in his own Porsche 908. He drove a camera car in the 1970 24 Hours of LeMans. He would have driven a Porsche 917 (in some iterations the most powerful race car ever to drove a road course) with three time F1 champ Jackie Stewart in that race, but the production company vetoed it because they thought he could die (which was correct: until Stewart’s safety reforms, F1 and endurance sports car racing were insanely dangerous.)

  6. (none of which is an endorsement of anything else about him. He was a mediocre actor, a conservative and later an evangelical, and for most of his life a generally undisciplined and self-serving dickhead.)

  7. >>Why Rape is Not One Big Misunderstanding.<<

    (after reading) I'm gonna puke. The women use the same excuses they do, but they don't think the women are saying "not tonight/not you." Swell.

  8. Tamora, I read the same piece and re-posted it on facebook because I think it demonstrates something very relevant about rape culture. What’s interesting for me to note is that these men probably didn’t even really realize what they were saying, and I wonder if they had the chance to look through their transcript afterwards.

    I hope it changes some of the actions of rape apologists.

  9. (none of which is an endorsement of anything else about him. He was a mediocre actor, a conservative and later an evangelical, and for most of his life a generally undisciplined and self-serving dickhead.)

    None of which detracts from him being cool ^_^. Maybe even makes him cooler.

  10. Re: McQueen.

    In the photo where he’s engaing the needle on his record player, McQueen seems to be playing — I deduce, from the arrangement of jackets, etc., on the floor — The Atomic Basie; but also the design on the LPs middle, which signifies the “Roulette” label. I cannot make out the LP that’s partially obscuring Sinatra-Basie, but it seems to be picturing a big combo. Of the two albums near McQueen’s left foot, one is clearly Kind of Blue (atop yet another Miles album, Sketches of Spain), but the one nearest his foot is too hard to make out. It seems to have a list of musician names in block letters. Do I see Kai Winding’s name atop the others? As for the Sonny Rollins album — where is it? Which one? I dig it that McQueen was digging Sonny, but which Sonny album? And which are the others that are partially visible.

    I’m glad that McQueen was a bad-ass, et cetera, but I’m interested in what he was listening to, there, in his fortress of mischief.

  11. The problem with 500 days of Summer isn’t that Summer doesn’t want to stay with Tom. That part of the movie makes perfect sense: Tom is too passive for her. He has ambition and maybe he’s even got talent but he’s too timid to act. He thinks that being pathetic is cute. He expects Summer to make everything right for him, but she’s not interested in the suffocating relationship that he demands. He makes her impatient. It takes her rejection of him for him to realize that a girlfriend is not a substitute for a life. That’s the interesting part of the movie.

    The problematic part is that Summer herself is such a cypher. She’s pretty and quirky, and that’s about it. She’s got no ambition, no skills, no plans, and no prospects – until she meets and marries an older guy with money. That’s the part of the movie that turned me off.

  13. So, Katha Pollit thinks Obama and his ilk are going to do jack squat for pro-choice advocates or women? Are you people just not paying attention? Tell me one fucking thing Obama has done for women? Lawrence Summers? Executive orders banning abortion for so many women in this country? When are you going to pull your collective head out of your ass and realize that he doesn’t give a shit about you. He cares about elections, just like every other politician ever. “I believe in change.” What a fucking laugh. A bigger laugh? So many people bought it and continue to make excuses for him.

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