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

Shameless Self-Promotion Sunday

Jill

Yes, I know it’s Monday. Blame the LOST finale. Do your thing.

53 thoughts on Shameless Self-Promotion Sunday

  1. A post from last week in defense of ethnic studies. Excerpt:

    If we Americans are who we say we are, we are surely secure enough to lay open the books and tell the darker aspects of the national story with the same rousing passion with which we tell of our triumphs. And if we do that, there will be a great deal of resentment on the part of those who identify with the abused, the victimized, and the ignored. That is exactly as it should be.

    I’m a history and gender studies professor. I stir up resentment. The day that stops happening is the day I’ve begun to fail at my job.

  4. This week at Shitty First Drafts:

    Mark Twain Thought Chivalry Sucked Too: http://writingishard.wordpress.com/2010/05/23/mark-twain-thought-chivalry-sucked-too/

    Logical Fallacy Friday: http://writingishard.wordpress.com/2010/05/21/logical-fallacy-friday-ad-hominem/

    The human nightmare that is Rand Paul: http://writingishard.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=231&action=edit

    Why Women’s Colleges Still Matter: http://writingishard.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=225&action=edit

  5. No, You Mean to be Hateful to Gay People: Looking at how children are taught homophobia and why we must teach them to respect all people.

    Jillian Michaels Knows What Fat is all About: Jillian Michael’s of The Biggest Loser informs us that fat is all about emotional eating. So I suppose the exploitation that she engages in every week is just more therapy.

    Kola Speaks: “Modeling Sucks: Or How I met Colin Powell and Other World Leaders”: This is a guest post looking at the racism and race specific lust Kola Booth lived with as a Black model in the Middle East.

    Monstrous Musings: Monstrous Menstruation: Looking at the way menstruation is treated in popular vampire fiction.

    Chris Brown Attacks Sandra Rose and Reveals the Ugly Side of Black Masculinity: Looking at the racist and sexist attack Brown used against blogger Sandra Rose.

    Finally this weeks Sunday Shame: Gender and Money Edition: Pop by and admit the sexism that you participated in this week. Yeah I know you may be a womanist/feminist but we all to some degree do things to maintain patriarchy.

  7. An excerpt from The Tyranny of Coming Out:

    In brief, coming out is a necessary evil. In not-so-brief, coming out is a tyrannical byproduct of a ruling-by-exception culture of sexuality. We need to reevaluate our blind acceptance of the necessity of sitting down to explain romantic gender preferences to friends/family/co-workers/entitled strangers. When was the last time you saw a straight person forced to submit to a battery of questions about his or her sex life by people who claim to love him or her?

  8. An excerpt from The Tyranny of Coming Out:

    In brief, coming out is a necessary evil. In not-so-brief, coming out is a tyrannical byproduct of a ruling-by-exception culture of sexuality. We need to reevaluate our blind acceptance of the necessity of sitting down to explain romantic gender preferences to friends/family/co-workers/entitled strangers. When was the last time you saw a straight person forced to submit to a battery of questions about his or her sex life by people who claim to love him or her?

  9. http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=119594664744933
    International “Punch A Sexist Slut-shaming Idiot” Month

    You know this moment when you receive a supposedly “hilarious” message for events like “punch a slut” or “kill your hooker” and you are supposed to laugh and all you can think is “WTF? This is not funny, it’s awful. I would rather punch the person who created the event or the person who thought I’d actually find that idea amusing”?

    Well, suffer no more, because now we have “International Punch a Sexist Slut-shaming Idiot in the Face Month”.

    P.S. If you think that this is aggressive and negative approach, I would ask you to go and repeat the same thing to the people who created the above mentioned events. I am sick and tired to be expected to take the hire stand about issues like that.
    Being critical to harmful stupidity is much needed.

    I know, it’s quite childish. But I think that commenting on the subject could have only positive effect. We should be critical and we shouldn’t ignore bad stuff that happen around us just because we are not directly suffering from it.

    The idea is a bit funny but I see it more as opportunity to discuss where is the thin, red line which divided fun from careless cruelty and frightening stupidity.

    Or not?

  10. Tabloid Talk: week 4, an ongoing online content analysis: http://feministfatale.com/2010/05/tabloid-talk-week-4/

    Red Dead Redemption: Increase Your Gamescore For Violence Against Women http://feministfatale.com/2010/05/red-dead-redemption-increase-your-gamescore-for-violence-against-women/

    5 feminist criticisms of beauty: is it worth the fight? http://feministfatale.com/2010/05/5-feminist-criticisms-of-beauty-is-it-worth-the-fight/

    Is empowerment found in a “pink disco ball” vagina? http://feministfatale.com/2010/05/is-empowerment-found-in-a-pink-disco-ball-vagina/

  11. Lots of blogging when there’s no class to get in the way.

    I reflected on some predictions I made about gross anatomy at the beginning of the semester, fired off a brief rant about a sensationalized headline, and, despite (or because of) failing to express myself clearly in my post, generated comment debate about, well, comment debate.

  15. I wrote what I thought would be one more part in my ongoing series Pro-Life Is What They Call Themselves (this is part 4) about the pro-lifers who were angrily clamoring for two deaths instead of one.

    Then I ended up writing some more in response to some of the things I was reading on pro-life blogs, and had to post Part 4.5, in which I also discuss some things you might want to say to accrediting bodies and medical associations about the doctrinaire position of withholding life-saving treatment from a patient against the patient’s will.

    I also wrote a post about the new ConDem government’s sudden concern for the privacy of rapists.

  19. I wrote a love letter to my body.

    http://thevoraciousvegan.com/2010/05/24/a-love-letter-to-my-body/

    “Our body – we hate it, we loathe it, we bully it, we shame it, we hide it, we break it, we hurt it.

    But when is the last time we told it thank you? Thank you for being. For letting us exist. For helping us and keeping us safe. For doing the best it can. When was the last time we stopped looking at it as a series of embarrassments and flaws to be whipped into shape, and started admiring it for the unique perfection it already has? Do you remember the last time you smiled at yourself and told each and every amazing part of you thank you from the bottom of your heart? When is the last time you looked in the mirror and took your own breath away?”

  20. This week at Musings of an Inappropriate Woman…

    Romance, domesticity and the myth of female weakness:

    It’s not that we’re not supposed to want these things – to the contrary, as I plan to explore in a post-July essay. It’s that we’re supposed to want and attain them without ever actively expressing or doing anything about that desire. To openly admit to such desires is to risk identifying ourselves as any one of a number of unappealing female cliches. Bridezilla. Baby crazy. Desperate. Incomplete without a man (and yet unlikely to “land” one).

    A follow up, Love means buying a whole lotta stuff:

    As a reader pointed out in an email exchange on Monday, this isn’t just a video about commitment, marriage, children, grandchildren and growing old together – it’s a video in which all these things take place in the context of a whole bunch of products.

    And a guest post, In defense of (sometimes) dutiful Asian daughters:

    And in Asian culture, fulfilling these expectations is not a burden. Or more correctly, it is a burden one should feel honored and happy to take on. So from this perspective, the distinction between filial duty and a personal right to be happy become blurred. In Asian culture the two are inextricably linked, with the first giving birth to the second. Things become further complicated when, like so many young people, the daughter doesn’t really know what she wants. In this case, rebellion is for a question mark, and risks alienation from her parents, whom she loves, as well as alienation from her extended family and community.

  21. Helen Ukpabio knows how to beat the devil.
    “Ms. Ukpabio’s critics say her teachings have contributed to the torture or abandonment of thousands of Nigerian children — including infants and toddlers — suspected of being witches and warlocks.”
    Ukpabio is preaching in Houston on her U.S. tour and the congregation says Amen. From colonial missionaries, through an African culture in distress, comes the spirit of the Salem hysteria. It’s not so foreign. What goes around comes around. It can happen here, and it does.
    Thou Shalt Not Suffer a Witch to Live

  28. There’s a post in the New York Times called “What is a Philosopher?” Unfortunately, it’s mostly about how to use philosophy to preserve your social status.

    http://cyberpunksnotdead.wordpress.com/2010/05/17/philosophy-as-conspicuous-leisure/

    And, based on a “bride (casual) and groom (“hardcore”)” games sale on GoGamer.com, my thoughts on gender/gaming dichotomy and hierarchy.

    http://cyberpunksnotdead.wordpress.com/2010/05/24/dichotomy-vs-hierarchy/

  30. I just started a new blog, Blueberry Shake.

    My first post is the questioning of gender, and my identity as genderqueer.

    My second post is entitled “Domestic Violence in 50 Words or Less” where I deconstruct a Facebook Repost about domestic violence.

    I hope everyone likes it!

  31. In China, there’s been a dramatic resurgence in cases of syphilis since the infection was almost wiped out in the ’50s. Apparently, this is the first time there’s been a notable upswing in syphilis cases post-penicillin. This week, I wrote about the epidemic, and how it’s being fueled in part by stigmas against sex workers and men who have sex with men.

    What I didn’t get to in my post, because for some reason people frown upon posts that go on for pages and pages, is that the U.S. has a similar problem, though less dramatic — syphilis is slowly increasing again, especially among gay men, racial and ethnic minorities, and in certain Southern counties. I also didn’t get to pointing out that the stigma against sex workers and gay and bisexual men is also reflected in U.S. reports of the news out of China. The story’s “hooks” are babies born with congenital syphilis (which I absolutely agree is important!), and gay/bisexual men and sex workers are referred to as “driving” the epidemic — the only legitimate victims of the infection are seen as the indisputably innocent babies, not those who contracted syphilis through sexual activity many U.S.ians don’t approve of.

    I’d welcome fleshing-out discussion!

  38. This week at femonomics:

    We ask whether Glee, with its broad range of rarely-seen representations, really has as much diversity-cred as its creators claim.

    Mongoose runs down some online outlets that are reliable for excellent journalism.

    I discuss facebook’s privacy problems, and why selling out its customers is an inherent part of its business model.

    I also take objection to Jezebel echoing the “women aren’t good at business” theme by recommending we talk to our “dude” friends before asking for a raise.

    And we talk about the debate over HIV treatment, the smearing of Richard Goldstone, labias, and more.

  47. CALYX Press is starting a weekly update where the director, Margarita Donnelly, and other members of our staff choose a book from CALYX Books that has come to be very special to us. We’re doing a 40% discount on these books to allow them to reach the hands of more individuals. After all, our mission, as a non-profit feminist press, is to introduce a wide audience to fine art and literature by women. When asked to pick a book for the week, Margarita immediately said “The Violet Shyness of Their Eyes: Notes From Nepal,” describing it as a feminist travel adventure.

    Check it out: http://wp.me/pTNqu-2L

  49. I have a new blog.

    I write about queer stuff and guns and food and booze and motorcycles and feminism and fucking and kink and whatever else strikes my fancy.

  53. Holy cow, am I crazy late to the game! In fact, the game is over and the bleachers are empty. But I’ll throw in my post anyway, since Feministe covered the topic.

    Over at the ol’ bloggie, we have a A Nun’s Story, on Sister McBride, excommunication, Franco Zeffirelli and St. Francis of Assisi — and it totally makes sense in context, I swear.

    Also, the usual David Bowie lust.

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