Ugly girls will stop bothering the cute boys if the girls accept the love of Jesus. That’s the message I got from Christian Archie Comics. Now there’s a gay guy in Riverdale. Will the Christians love-bomb him, or have they all lost their faith? Have Mercy! What happened to the doctor who would remove your appendix with a sharpened spoon and accept payment in chickens? Revisit the good old days in Old Time Doctors.
This week at SexGenderBody: Christina Engela addressed the harm done in widespread acceptance of gender identity as insult in “It’s Okay To Say “Gay = Stupid” – BCCSA. Also, as part of her continuing and thorough reporting and analysis of the attack on the SA Constitution to strip the Pink community of rights, she laid out the current charge led by the media in Tick Tock. Annabelle River is losing patience in fending off judgment and misrepresentation of polyamory from the cis-het-binary mindset in The Privilege of Not Defending Oneself. Jessica Who offers up her efforts to use comedy from the inside of a trans life, in order to foster understanding in Can Comedy Help Break Down Gender Stereotypes?. James Turnbull discusses gender stereotypes that cross cultural lines in Gender Advertisements in the Korean Context: The Mile High Club. Rabbit White addressed the ways societal structures reward women for playing along with sexism in Dumb Blonde Ambition. I went postal on “holy men” when a Bishop in Mexico blamed child-molesting priests’ criminal behavior on the institution of sex education in Mexico. (Warning: a lot of profanity and angry language about the Catholic Church, Vatican & men who pretend to be god) in Catholic Church Goes “All In” on Victim Blaming, Denial and Depravity. I toned it down a bit to address a recent holy-roller / morality police charge aimed at equating BDSM with human sex trafficking as unhelpful, misguided and simply inaccurate in Donna M. Hughes is lying to you about sex and slavery.
I curated a feminist photo show and some friends and I wrote about it. We’re having an open house / closing event in about an hour (it’s a weird 2nd-floor salon at 285 E. 3rd St., NYC) if anyone’s in the neighborhood. Catalog and store: http://www.tribes.org/web/girleye-show-catalog/ Chavisa Woods: http://www.tribes.org/web/2010/04/03/watching-objects-objects-watching/ Amanda Spitzer: http://www.tribes.org/web/2010/04/15/a-girl-eyes-girleye/ , http://limnrix.blogspot.com/2010/04/girleye-background-by-amanda-spitzer.html Me: http://limnrix.blogspot.com/2010/04/girleye-show-response.html , repost http://www.tribes.org/web/2010/04/20/girleye-response/
A discussion of Judaism’s perspective on birth control and the Pill’s 50th anniversary, as well as an exploration of the connections between race, gender, and religion
I have never done this! This is fun! At Unnatural Forces this week, we (I!) talked about having Body Dysmorphic Disorder, wrote a post about how I thought Boobquake was stupid and thus got a lot of trolls, and admitted that I won’t be your best friend if your favorite writer is Tom Clancy.
I have never done this! This is fun! At Unnatural Forces this week, we (I) talked about having Body Dysmorphic Disorder, wrote a post about how I thought Boobquake was stupid and thus got a lot of trolls, and admitted that I won’t be your best friend if your favorite writer is Tom Clancy.
I just blogged. Megan Fox on budget cuts: http://loveashley.net/2010/04/25/megan-fox-wants-to-make-schwarzenegger-cry-2/
I have never done this! This is fun! At Unnatural Forces this week, we (I!) talked about having Body Dysmorphic Disorder, wrote a post about how I thought Boobquake was stupid and thus got a lot of trolls, and admitted that I won’t be your best friend if your favorite writer is Tom Clancy.
A post decrying Arizona’s immigration bill from an anti-state, human rights perspective, and another criticizing anti-DADT activism.
This week at femonomics, Duchess updated us on the many LGBTQ rights fails across the nation, Coca Colo caused a stir with her discussion of Ke$ha’s indigenous blackface on SNL (posted last week late, so you may have seen it already), and with help from our readers I try to solve the stuck jar lid dilemma. Other bits include an update on the US’s raging cleavage debates, a quick guide on wedding season etiquette, and why you should definitely NOT listen to anything the NYTimes has to say about exercise. For those of you interested in international development, we also tackle Paul Romer’s problematic proposal for charter cities to cure the developing worlds’ ills.
Um, guys, sorry, I don’t know what just happened there . . . AH! If there’s a mod, those can be erased . . .
Where the Disabled are not Welcome: Looking at accessibility issues and examining how language continues to act as a barrier for the diferently abled. Ann Coulter Dates Jimmie Walker: Can I get a Negro Please: Apparently despite a history of racist comments Coulter has convinced her token Black man that she is sweet. Everyone is a Friend of Renee Baio: It seems the Baios have vowed to be douches together until the end of time. Renee is now using her lesbian friends to justify her lesbophobia and sexist attacks. My relationship isn’t perfect: Looking at the pressures that are placed on gay relationships. Shades of Oklahoma: people are still angry: Looking at the threat level of domestic violence now that fifteen years have passed since the Oklahoma city bombing. James Cameron: The White Man will Save Us: Looking at the paternalistic comments of Cameron regarding stop the building of a dam in the rainforest. Of course it is necessary because this reminds him of the near slaughter of the Sioux Indians because “they didn’t try hard enough.” Finally this weeks Sunday Shame: Holding Onto Something Fugly Edition: You know that you are holding onto something that just needs to go. Your friends and loved one have told you about it but for some reason you make up excuses to hold onto it.
This week at Love Letters in Hell, I tried to answer the question of What is feminist sex? and talked about why examining pop culture is important for feminism.
The 3rd Annual “Million Fag March” May 1st 2010 http://queersunited.blogspot.com/2010/04/3rd-annual-million-fag-march-may-1st.html The Effect of the Tea Party on LGBT America http://queersunited.blogspot.com/2010/04/open-forum-effect-of-tea-party-on-lgbt.html Pilgrimage to Riverside – Journeying Toward Equality http://queersunited.blogspot.com/2010/04/pilgrimage-to-riverside-journeying.html ‘Hot Pieces of Ace’ – New Asexual YouTube Channel http://queersunited.blogspot.com/2010/04/hot-pieces-of-ace-new-asexual-youtube.html Demand Obama Repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell NOW! http://queersunited.blogspot.com/2010/04/demand-obama-repeal-dont-ask-dont-tell.html Tell KISS 108 to Pull the Plug on Anti-Gay Dawson McAllister http://queersunited.blogspot.com/2010/04/tell-kiss-108-to-pull-plug-on-anti-gay.html
I had an immense amount of fun discussing a Doctor Who character, River Song, from a feminist point of view. Lots of people joined in and the conversation was thought-provoking. Spoilers for season 4 but so far none for season 5. http://community.livejournal.com/doctorwho/5902755.html
Today is going to be extra shameless because I’m self-promoting a self-promotion, but…I got props from Alison Bechdel, and I’m excited about it! (Also: a related coincidence.)
Early in the week I posted a rumination on female high school soccer supporters, which touched off a nice discussion in the American soccersphere. -FS
It’s a good week on Kloncke for those of us trying to keep our blogging from overtaking our life. 🙂 Developing equanimity in letting go of the need to publish daily; Thanking webcomic xkcd for helping to put computers, and the daily grind, in perspective; And logging off to feed our bellies with delicious, spicy, homemade soup. My favorite recipe. Take care, y’all!
Thought y’all might enjoy my colleague’s post about the cultural pressures of body hair and hair color : “Dying One’s Hair…Gray?” http://humaneconnectionblog.blogspot.com/2010/04/dying-ones-hairgray.html
I got dumped by a right-wing friend. Goodbye… probably for the best when friends are moral and political polar opposites. http://gratefuldread.wordpress.com/2010/04/22/goodbye-right-wing-friend-goodbye/
I wrote about pockets and the gendered expectations they imply, and about Conservative Party bigotry disguised as “doing the right thing”.
Also, I forgot to mention for all the True Blood fans, Alan Ball is releasing mini episodes that will not be appearing in season three and were not aired in season two. They are separate from the on going series and meant to stimulate your anticipation of the coming season.
Let’s Read Books – Sex is not a Natural Act, conclusion and final thoughts – The final part in what was a continuing series in which I read a feminist/sexology text and blogged about it all the way. I don’t think you need to have read the other parts in the series to follow along with this particular post but it might help. And then there is also the Weekly blog link roundup.
This week I blogged about… Proposed sit/lie laws in San Francisco. Narratives about queerness and death, and my reaction to reading The Well of Loneliness My response to David Mitchell’s column on political correctness and pole dancing. –IP
Did you see the story about the crucifix in Oklahoma in which Christ’s abs looked more like oversized genitalia? There’s a long history behind such representations, which I tried to mine for a sex-positive tradition within Christianity. Also, I ruminated on my grandpa, who actually did accept chickens in payment for his medical services. His career underscores the absurdity of Nevada senatorial wannabe Sue Lowden’s proposal to revive the barter system in medicine.
The Labels and Keywords of Our Identities – When can labels be a good thing? How do we define ourselves? I take a look at the semantics of identity. Don’t square dance while menstruating – I’ve been looking at old sex ed videos, and share one of my finds Your Last Bite of Chocolate – THE philosophical question of our age
This week in Evil Slutopia: We examined some highly accurate and intelligent race-based skin care advice: Cosmo‘s Guide to Racist Skin Care. We found out what a towel, a horror movie, a straightjacket and olive oil all have in common: Cosmo Fixes Your Sex Glitches. (That one also inspired a very special venn diagram. It was a very Cosmo week for us. We read Cosmo so you don’t have to.) We discovered what a courageous, visionary, groundbreaking activist James Cameron is… in his own mind: James Cameron: Learned Scholar of Native American History. And we demonstrated an example of parenting at its finest through the work of Madonna: Flashback Friday: Educational Double Feature
This was our busiest week ever at re:Cycling: We did the math on a new magazine ad for Always maxi-pads; had two different guest posts and one of our regular bloggers address different problematic aspects of last Sunday’s New York Times piece on “The Estrogen Dilemma”; discussed another commercial for U by Kotex, a.k.a. YOU. BUY. KOTEX; analyzed the “birth control riddle” as defined by The Wall Street Journal; featured Chella Quint’s definitive remarks on the whole “tampon ads are ridiculous” campaign from U by Kotex; figured out why tampon users are more likely to choose a vaginal contraceptive ring than non users; wondered at the magic of (female) body fluids; and rounded up the first blast of “Happy Birthday to the Pill” news stories (expect more of those as May 11 approaches).
This weeks 9th circle of Hell candidate: WellPoint, the megainsurer who, despite press accolades for working with breast cancer patients, was revealed to have spent years systematically purging their rolls of women following their breast cancer diagnoses, canceling their coverage and saving themselves hundreds of millions: http://errport77.blogspot.com/2010/04/your-nightmare-is-wellpoints-profit.html
This week at Gender Across Borders… What does feminism mean to you? A dispute with another blog turns into something much bigger. What is the Crying Girl DVD and why does it exist? Understanding the gender politics of the movie Kick-Ass. Queen Noor of Jordan stands against nuclear weapons, will you? Will the upcoming White Stripes influenced ballet help to de-feminize ballet?
We’ve also been busy at the abortion gang! We talked about: – Reproductive Justice: A New Home for Birthing Rights? – Note to Older Feminists: WE EXIST! – The Dangers of Abortion: A Catch-22 – A Tale of Two Governors – New OK Law is Intrusive Beyond Belief – Trust Women: The Movie
This week at f/law our contributor discusses Canada’s G8 Maternal Health Plan. http://canadianwomenandthelaw.blogspot.com/2010/04/bring-on-debate.html
A Cal State Economics professor who was caught running a Thailand “sex tourism” website has been forced to take the site down, but he still has his job. Meanwhile, the site lives on in Google, and it’s much worse than has been reported in the media. Trigger warning: discussion of child prostitution and physical assault of women.
Comments welcome, particularly from gays and lesbians–how do you feel about outing gay conservatives? (Keep in mind it was the far-right tea partiers who outed him.) The Outing of Senator Lindsey Graham
Hi all–from a fledgling pro-feminist/academic/litblog, some quick thoughts on the misogyny of Mark Dery’s critique of Lady Gaga, Paul Muldoon’s critique of Ke$ha, and the weird, gendered implication (in both cases) that singers sing “Oh” because they can’t write better lyrics.
I wrote about the new sex education curriculum in Ontario. http://ms-marx.blogspot.com/2010/04/sex-education-in-ontario-beyond.html Unfortunately, the government retracted it on Thursday because of pressure from various groups, but I still think it is important.
I wrote about women being heckled and harassed on college campuses during Take Back the Night marches, and what drives hostility to anti-rape activism. I also covered “Boobquake.” Rather than just mocking a fundamentalist Muslim, we should also use this as a backlash against the American “modesty” or “purity” movements. http://www.ashleyherzog.blogspot.com (Yes, the blog is brand new, and this is my first shameless self-promotion!)
Sorry for the double post but I’m just too happy! This is my first guest blogger and first successful attempt at creating a space for Indian teens to voice their opinions. Support us!
This week on Yes Means Yes Blog: The Dead Letter And The Word, about the story of two men who did everything the State of California allowed to join their lives, and were still treated as strangers when one was seriously injured and needed care. The law is a dead letter if the culture won’t recognize it, and that’s why, to my mind, culturally important words like marriage are worth the fight. Big Ben And The Emerging Pattern, about Ben Roethlisberger. The pattern of the kind of serial rapist that David Lisak studies is beginning to emerge.
I made a bunch of posts about Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution over at my livejournal. You can find the first post here.
A few things this week: I finally, after a couple of years of wanting to, have got around to reading and reviewing “He’s Just Not That Into You – decided to experiment in just dumping my thoughts about each chapter more-or-less in the form they sprang into form in my mind, and see how that works out. I noted a couple of interesting points from a feminist point of view about the Parliamentary election candidates in my constituency at the hustings here – the Tory candidate said (I kid you not): “Abortion should be one of the most difficult and traumatic decisions.” **Shudder** I also rounded up a selection of soul-destroying news stories that all turned up together on Friday.
I continue my analysis of Peter Watts’ Rifters science fiction series, this time in terms of the Bechdel Test: http://cyberpunksnotdead.wordpress.com/2010/04/12/bechdels-rifters/ I’m also interested in non-western science fiction, and talk about satirical novel Cat Country and how useful metaphor is when talking about social issues: http://cyberpunksnotdead.wordpress.com/2010/04/24/cat-country/ And, lastly, an incredibly interesting account of a fictitious Russian video game: http://cyberpunksnotdead.wordpress.com/2010/04/22/killswitch-engaging/
I wrote about how women are depicted in the latest animated hit, How to Train Your Dragon. The post is entitled “How To Train Your Dragon – Astrid is Tough, but That’s Okay Because She’s Pretty” http://www.achilleseffect.com/?p=376
This Tuesday 27th will be the launch of BoLT magazine, of which I’m the editor http://www.boltmagazine.ie/ BoLT is a magazine by and for LGBTQ women in Ireland, the first of its kind. We are launching as an online magazine, but if you attend the launch party you may win a rare limited print copy! The launch is on April 27th, 7pm at the Sugar Club, Dublin 2, republic of Ireland. €8 ticket as it doubles as a fundraiser for issue 2.
Two Feministe-relevant posts this week, both related to my research: Why young women are tired of talking about raunch culture: a response to a review of Natasha Walter’s book in The Australian: If this space is increasingly dominated by conservative and older voices rather than progressive, younger ones, it is because the pendulum has shifted since Ariel Levy released Female Chauvinist Pigs in 2005. Lady Gaga, Gen Y sex icon?: Gaga’s world is one in which “anything goes” – but that means literally anything goes. You can be gay, straight, trans, cis, sexually active, virginal, temporarily celibate… Gaga doesn’t care, so long as it makes you happy. She accepts and embraces you, and she wants you to accept and embrace yourself.
At Ms. Mag I examined the trend of celebs releasing unretouched photos and the recent “curvy girl” images: body image victories or empower-tainment? http://bit.ly/bJ7739 At Feminist Fatale: Body image and pregnancy: I’m pregnant but I just feel fat http://bit.ly/cW9m5f Kick-ass Females don’t pass the Bechdel Test http://bit.ly/cPcGZN Jean Kilbourne releases KUS 4: http://bit.ly/bIexmV Kourtney Kardashian strikes again:http://bit.ly/bronUO Earth Day; AXE wants you to showerpool in the name of environmentalism http://bit.ly/ceGApW What did you do for Earth Day? http://bit.ly/cypSHZ Archie comics first openly gay character http://bit.ly/93hRUj Help Buffy v Edward win a Webby! http://bit.ly/9tW44I Body image bits http://bit.ly/dnamsP
I’m just trying to get back into writing (I’m two years out of my degree and not doing much) so taking practice where I can get it. In the following I respond to a questionnaire mailed to me from the Australian Liberal party. http://thisyearsblogbetterlast.blogspot.com/2010/04/politics-for-breakfast.html#more
The disparity in how men and women are treated when they express anger has stuck in my craw for many many months. I decided to birth a rumination: Women, anger and status: taking the long view
I’ve never actually read a memoir before, so I went into Melissa Febos’ cleverly titled Whip Smart with complete ignorance…I found the real-life narrative of a twenty-year-old college student turned self-destructive sex worker simultaneously engaging, sickening, unflinchingly honest, and enormously annoying. Kick-Ass: I like super-violent films, I love comics, I love female characters, and so I tolerate a lot of crap movies and am willing to suspend a certain measure of disbelief and accept that some jerk-off was hired to “punch up” a script to sell the movie to a teen male demographic. I get that it’s a business run by dudes, for dudes, and that it primarily showcases the fantasies of dudes. But for a small shining moment, we got Hit-Girl. And I am all for a sequel based totally on her. Instead of concentrating on the various scourges that plague Africa, the Aya series presents the quickly changing fortunes of people living on the Ivory Coast, and there are also a few bonus features at the back of the book to get you better acquainted with some of the customs, recipes, and lingo used there. We see an Africa replete with intrigue, beauty, and humour.
Bright Lights, Big City, Temple Garments: A Mormon Girl in New York Being a single Mormon gal in New York City isn’t without its unique challenges, and Baker addresses them with just the right blend of earnestness and self-deprecating humor. More Sex and the City than Big Love, Baker’s story is an uncommon version of a common enough conflict for the modern American woman: how to be yourself and nab the man of your dreams. For a liberal Mormon like Baker, religion gets added to the mix, and The New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance takes us through her coming of age—and coming to terms—as she attempts to reconcile her desire to embody conflicting identities: that of a headstrong, adventurous, sexually curious young woman who wants to be desired by men (and envied by women) versus a submissive, straight-laced wife and mother. A New Dé Is Donning India’s Publishing Industry Dé’s form of rebellion is based in shallow, individualist consumerism rather than a progressive ideology with a goal of widespread social change. Positioned by Penguin CEO John Makinson as a revolutionary woman of courage, a compliment to which there is some truth, Dé is not universally believed to be a feminist heroine.
This is an account of a (scary) conference on guns in the world, and in Canada, and their role in femicide.
Just posted at Feminist Fatale: Tabloid talk…what do they say? Why does it matter? http://feministfatale.com/2010/04/tabloid-talk-begins-this-week/
5 sources of assumptions, stereotypes, biases and stigma against BDSM: http://clarissethorn.wordpress.com/2010/04/19/5-sources-of-assumptions-and-stereotypes-about-sm/ I’m surprised how many people seem to think that S&M is “mainstream” and there’s “no stigma” against it. Really?
I have a post up about video games and gendered weaponry, wherein I try to think of vulvic weapons that subvert the more common phallic imagery of weapons. The post was inspired by the “Too Many Dicks – Video Games” video from Feminist Frequency. I also discuss male and female experiences that might be unavailable to the other gender (trigger warning for discussion of sexual assault). I have a post about a recent study exposing sweatshop labor in a Chinese factory that sources to a number of electronics companies, including Microsoft. One highlight (*cough*) of the study is that the managers said they prefer to hire teenage girls because they are easier to control (and sexually harass). I suppose this is more like 1/2 a post than a whole post because I have been experiencing technology problems, which inspired the post in the first place.
Game Over: Pickup Artists & Social Conservatives Hook Up “For socially conservative writers, PUAs provide a way to vindicate their otherwise past-oriented views about marriage, sex, and cultural decline by squeezing them (never quite comfortably) into the framework of the cutting-edge. It’s relevance by any means necessary.” http://elizabethnolanbrown.com/2010/04/26/game-over-pickup-artists-social-conservatives-hook-up/
I’m spending an uncommon amount of time thinking/writing about body hair at the moment, over on Beauty Schooled: Hairy Legs Are Not A Trend http://beautyschooledproject.com/2010/04/19/hairy-legs-are-not-a-trend/ I’m Your Waxer Not Your Mother http://beautyschooledproject.com/2010/04/22/your-waxer-is-not-your-mother/ And I participated in Blog for Fair Pay Day! http://beautyschooledproject.com/2010/04/20/its-blog-for-fair-pay-day-government-watch/ Thanks for reading! xo
This week at Eugenia de Altura, a post about a program credited for reducing maternal mortality in Bolivia (and that, as a plus, may be a stepping stone to recognizing women’s rights).