This week at SexGenderBody: Jolie du Pre reviewed lesbian feminist web content in 5 blogs for the sex-positive, feminist lesbian. ptaguy discussed prejudices and misconceptions in Queer myths explained. Christina Engela focuses on the export of homophobic violence and intolerance from the USA into African nations under the cloak of religion in Hook, Line and Stinker. James Turnbull posted Gender Studies 101: How the media perpetuates negative body images. LaPrincipessa celebrated a company being held to account for sex / gender based discrimination in Major Corporation Loses Millions for Discriminating Against Female Employees. lustwithwings reflects on identity in Do I Owe Everything I am to The Internet?.
Thoughts on how to improve American Jews’ sense of Jewish identity, and a shout-out to the four women competing in today’s Indy 500.
It’s nearing – well, kind of – election time in Australia, and true to form the nasties are gearing up it. Here’s a really nasty email forward which plays on fears of (Australia’s pitifully small number of) refugees. Have any of you seen this? It originated in Canada. http://castironbalcony.media2.org/2010/05/29/nasty-email-forwards/
Also: Young dudez do a campaign on a worthwhile issue, but wouldn’t you know, they can’t resist putting women (in this case mothers) in their place while they’re doing it, and thereby alienate a good chunk of their supporters. Marketing fail. http://castironbalcony.media2.org/2010/05/30/its-time-to-tell-electronic-frontiers-australia-to-stick-it/
At World O’ Crap, the author of the World’s Most Essential Books explains how Feminism leads to dishpan hands.
Bret Easton Ellis, noted asshat, gets taken down a peg over at Flaneur in the City , with help of the Internet, logic, and a reality-based explanation of the male gaze (as opposed to a Bret Easton Ellis, noted windbag, explanation of the male gaze).
Miller Lite Ads Invoke the Straight Man’s Fear of Being Perceived as Sissy http://queersunited.blogspot.com/2010/05/miller-lite-ad-invokes-straight-mans.html O’Reilly Compares Transgender People to Ewoks http://queersunited.blogspot.com/2010/05/oreilly-compares-transgender-people-to.html UFC Fighter Quinton Jackson: “Acting is Kind of Gay” http://queersunited.blogspot.com/2010/05/ufc-fighter-quinton-jackson-acting-is.html President Obama’s Proclamation for LGBT Pride Month http://queersunited.blogspot.com/2010/05/president-obamas-proclamation-for-lgbt.html Exxon-Mobil Continues to Fuel Discrimination Against LGBT People http://queersunited.blogspot.com/2008/05/exxon-mobile-continues-to-alienate-lgbt.html Rep Roskam: Talk of Repealing DADT “Manipulating & Dishonoring” of Troops http://queersunited.blogspot.com/2010/05/rep-roskam-talk-of-repealing-dadt.html Tell Senators to Co-Sponsor the Student Non-Discrimination Act http://queersunited.blogspot.com/2010/05/tell-senators-to-co-sponsor-student-non.html
Could what Megan Fox apparently went through be the last straw for the women of Hollywood? Putting out to get ahead in Hollywood: it’s high time to start the lawsuits. How I feel about gender bending (and how it cannot possibly apply to three-year-olds like Shiloh Jolie-Pitt): does it inadvertently reinforce gender polarities?
A fish contaminated with the deadly radioactive isotope Strontium-90 caught near the Vermont Yankee plant is just a normal radioactive fish. They think it’s just the usual weapons testing and Chernobyl fallout. After all, no American ever died in a nuclear accident, except Robert Peabody, but no one knows about him. We have to stop the oil, let’s nuke the Gulf of Mexico, experts say it’s safe, and… That’s Reassuring
Dan Savage Does Not Have the Solution to Homophobia in Malawi: His royal highness decided to suggest that the best way to combat homophobia in Malawi is for western governments to stop all economic aid. Another racist, brainless solution. Awareness or Voyeurism: Hoarders: Looking at the A&E show “Hoarders” as well as a case of an elderly couple who were buried alive in their home. Daycare Subsidy and the “Good Single Mother”: Looking at the way race changes how we look at mothers who are on social assistance. Why it is not okay to depict women as skeletons: Looking at an ad that shames and attacks skinny women supposedly to end fat hatred against fat women. Yes, Arizona Law is about Hunting Brown People: Looking at radio station contest in which the top prize is a trip to Arizona to “hunt illegals”, as well as the story of an American who was detained by the federal government “because he looked Mexican”. “No es crimen pasional—es asesinato, or, It’s not a crime of passion—it’s murder”: Looking at violence against women in Bolivia. Finally Sunday Shame: Every Parents Worse Nightmare Edition: Yep, pop by and admit the time you bought children loud toys, or filled them up with sugar and sent them home. This week’s shame is how we torture parents with the things we teach or give to their children.
Oh I forgot.. I Can’t Believe You Laugh At This: The Edition Of Just Why I Want To Live In A Cave: Looking at how trans women are treated in India.
I think I just broke up with my father and Oh father of mine – At what point is it OK to tell family that enough is enough? Vector identity theory – A guest post on how aspects of our identity can be viewed as vectors in a three-dimensional space. Way geeky, and way cool! Glamour – I’m embarrassed that I want to read girlie mags…
Unnatural Forces was all about marriage this week! I don’t know why! First, I talked about how I kinda just don’t get marriage (and people really need to stop assuming that marriage = love and commitment, and the other way around, because that’s just silly), and also how annoying it is when people continually ask you when you are getting married (or, basically, your relatives need to knock it the fuck off).
At Deeply Problematic: I riffed off of s.e. smith’s excellent “Sarah Palin and the Arbiters of Feminism”. A couple of comics, Natalie Dee and xkcd, used Tourette’s syndrome and dyslexia for joke purposes. I did not think this was cool, but you should check out the comments for cessan‘s very helpful counter-argument. Pointing out facts: “transgender” is not an adjective or a verb, but it’s often used as one! Bras: good ones are hard to find! At Bitch for TelevIsm: The Office’s Subversive Messages About Fatness Pambition! The Office’s Abandoned Artist Spoiler Alert! Lost is Heteronormative! At my new shiny blog Critical Drinking: defending kittens and the Lost finale
I would love some input on what people think about our children’s school lunches being reheated in plastic wrap. I’m surprised with all the concerns about school lunches this isn’t mentioned. http://vegetarilin.wordpress.com/2010/05/30/school-lunches-plastic-wrap/ Also, here’s a great simple vegetarian summer meal, the only thing you need to cook is the pasta! http://vegetarilin.wordpress.com/2010/05/29/fresh-tomato-sauce/
Feedback reconciling BDSM and painful sex – I was struggling to come to terms with BDSM, having a history of painful sex. So I asked another blogger, Ms. Sexability, for help! Which she did. I think her feedback helped. There is also the weekly blog link roundup.
This week on Gender Across Borders: Men, Masculinities, and Peacebuilding, a manual about engaging men in the violence against women movement. An Interview with Eleanor Bergstein: On Dirty Dancing, Feminism and the Film Industry: This film is more than “No one puts Baby in the corner.” More from our Women Deliver series, a series leading up to a conference in D.C. from June 7-9 that brings together voices from around the world to call for action against maternal death: Canada pulls a blanket over the abortion debate Drop in Maternal Health Rates Also, stay tuned tomorrow and Tuesday for our “Theatre’s Rape Culture” series!
This week on Eugenia de Altura: 1. A guest post at Womanist Musings on the persistent problem of violence against women in Bolivia, and on the efforts of activists there to incorporate feminicide into local penal codes. 2. At the home site, a piece on the ironies of Bolivia’s recent press coverage around Mother’s Day.
After seeing too many news articles this past week on how Miss America is the new voice for female muslims, I decided to relaunch my blog by discussing current issues in hijab (veiling) and describing my own experiences.
This week at Shitty First Drafts, I covered education-related topics primarily, but my Logical Fallacy Friday post on Reductio ad Hitlerum might be of general interest: http://writingishard.wordpress.com/2010/05/28/logical-fallacy-friday-reductio-ad-hitlerum/
This week @ Tattooed + Pierced: Dealing with Men at Work when they’re your customers Two unrelated observations about American Idol
I went to see the exhibition “Exposed” at the Tate Modern gallery in London, and responded to how I felt about it, both as a feminist and as a photographer. (I also saw Hogwarts Express at Platform 9 3/4, if you care.) And, in ironic real-life commentary on “Exposed”, a photo I took of a man reading in Monmouth Coffee House (who didn’t realise I was photographing him) was featured in a group on Redbubble.
More adventures in math: When most of a class fails a math test, and even the best students barely score a low B, is the instructor partly at fault? What if he has been teaching sloppily, arriving late to class, and stopping mid-lecture to talk about irrelevant subjects? http://onefemalegaze.wordpress.com/2010/05/24/mathochism-quite-the-pigs-breakfast/ Logarithms: Engines of Satan or kinda cool if you understand them? http://onefemalegaze.wordpress.com/2010/05/24/mathochism-quite-the-pigs-breakfast/
Oops, second link is wrong, sorry: http://onefemalegaze.wordpress.com/2010/05/26/mathochism-the-logarithms-of-wrath/
This week at re:Cycling, we’ve got a new international ad that actually focuses on the product rather than freshness or empowerment; how the pill gave birth to the women’s health movement; right-wingers protest the pill because they’re so concerned about the environment; our weekly recommendations; and a new study to use with EvoPsych Bingo.
This week on Zora&Alice, a new online community for young black women: Susan Rice to Spelman grads: “get going” with kids No, I’m Not Okay: how I found help for anxiety On being a black woman in the TV writers’ room
I made a music-video mashup of UW librarians doing Lady Gaga. There’s more about the process behind it here.
New at Musings of An Inappropriate Woman… Slut Shaming: it’s not about how much sex you have: The consensus is that slut shaming stems from feeling threatened in some way. But while I’ve heard plenty of tut-tutting over women who “gave it up” too early (“he got what he wanted, and…”) or to too many people (an amount that differs from person to person), I think this fear comes from a more visceral place than simply thinking that women who have sex in unsanctioned ways pose a threat to the status quo. Guest post: You are not your muffin top: Apparently acknowledging the slight bulge over my belt loops immediately equated to me thinking I’m fat. And that meant I needed reassurance that I was still an okay person by being told that I’m cute to look at. Hating on Sex and the City is soooo 2006: That’s not to say that the film shouldn’t be criticised. By all accounts, it’s not very good (and now with extra! racism!). The idea that female happiness can and should be found through buying crap you can’t afford is one that should be taken to task, I think. But it also strikes me that there’s a bit of a bandwagon-jumping in this backlash, and being the somewhat contrarian lass I am, I feel compelled to question that.
Oh sod, HTML fail. Could someone zap that first comment out of existence, please? I wrote about who gets to have sexual desire vs. who gets to be desired, with especial reference to how this is played out in videogames.
This week at FemineUs: We professed our love for the Diva Cup, explored the health and environmental implications of using disposable menstrual products, and delved into the menstruation taboo. We looked at the many reasons why Sarah Palin is NOT a feminist. And we posted some of our favorite rape prevention campaign images: lnvitation To Rape Me.
This week, I posted the text from my offering as co-Admin on the Carnival of Kinky Feminists, offering a personal description of what I understand by “feminism”. All the other admin folks there have given their own versions. The submission deadline is currently 1st June.
I wrote a blog post this week about motherhood and how mothers are shamed for being anything besides just mothers. Right here.
http://animeg.blogspot.com/2010/05/im-mean-mean-person-who-hates-decency.html How you can end up dropping 20k on a wedding http://animeg.blogspot.com/2010/05/personally-my-reaction-to-this-ipads.html Online classes for kids? Bad idea. http://addtheater.blogspot.com/2010/05/huge-manga-linkspolsion.html On the upheavals in the manga market
http://buttonmakersball.blogspot.com/2010/05/its-time-for-squee-and-expensive.html Arcade Fire, Handmade and Piracy
Girl games are “casual,” boy games are “core,” says an online games sale. Is “casual (girl) gamer” always going to be an insult? http://cyberpunksnotdead.wordpress.com/2010/05/24/dichotomy-vs-hierarchy/ And a response to an article in Kitsch, one of my school’s magazines, about “liberal guilt at Cornell,” which the author defines as the “inability to admit that being white and having money does not automatically implicate them in the problems of the world.” http://cyberpunksnotdead.wordpress.com/2010/05/24/giving-in-to-the-have-nots/ Also, I just graduated, so this is my first post as the holder of a B.A.
Copy Edit Craigslist Tuesday! On Lessons for Old People I “taught” my parents about trolling and Purple Drank.
Hey there! My group mate Laylee has commented here before with the blog we’re working on for our class project. She made another great post this weekend and I just updated with a video blog. Check it out: http://femineus.blogspot.com/
Czech me out! The Atlantic hurricane season officially starts June 1st. Do you know what this means? HURRICANE VERSUS OIL SPILL! In all seriousness though, a lot of people are going to get fucked over. I mean, do you think Obama has a plan in place? Some Saudi women are fighting back against the morality police. Physically. Information wants to be free: Censorship and Western society Detroit police shoot a 7-year-old to death. Read my article to find out the hi-larious response of Mayor Dave Bing.
I wrote about Toronto Pride’s decision to ban the term Israeli Apartheid from pride festivities. I am particularly interested in hearing comments on this one, as it is a new area of interest for me. I also posted a humorous graph that has a bit of a historical perspective on commenters who use things like tax rates to justify calling Obama a socialist.
Back on the Kloncke blog after a meditation retreat hiatus, a minidoc of my wonderful POC, queer, trans, working-class and feminist -friendly sangha, the East Bay Meditation Center in downtown Oakland. The documentary filmmaker was rad to work with and I’ve got a lil’ soundbyte at 10:53! Reflecting on my experiences at work: disability as class — and bureaucratic parallels with “Gender Identity Disorder.” And pie in primary colors, just for fun. 🙂 Hope all’s well with everyone this week.
Mary has “So simple, even your mother will be opposed”, about the new pink-infused EFA anti-censorship campaign, “It’s Time To Tell Mum”. The campaign urges children to drag sensible-cardiganed Mum away from morning television and gossip magazines just long enough to instruct her, using words of one syllable, on why internet censorship is bad mmkay, before telling her to make you a lasagne or a lamb roast. I am not making this up. In other news, the mum of Hoyden About Town continue our long-running, well-informed campaign against internet censorship in “Iinet, Censorship, and Conroy’s Lies”, which exposes a couple of the more blatant and recent outright lies Senator Conroy is telling in support of his proposed censorship laws. Including more than a touch of Newspeak.
I talk about the racial problems with The Blind Side, and how its Oscar nomination is representative of bigger troubles in Hollywood with telling black stories. We summarize beauty and fashion sites that promote “reasonable grooming,” a middle ground between my naturally “girly” ways and my feminist discomfort with unrealistic expectations of female physical appearance. Mad Dr breaks down the efforts thus far to halt the oil spill, and the potential environmental consequences of the methods being used. Mongoose6 alerts us to a major human rights problem involving imprisoned women and children in Iraq. And we round up the news on SATC2, body snark, Terry Richardson, and more.
I got published in Womanist Musings and here a man-person friend and I debate over the Doe Vs The Dude phenomenon.
Speaking of Danica Patrick and Venus Williams: Selling out, caving in or something else? Self-sexualization of successful women in a man’s world
This week at Modus Dopens… I wrote about caregiving and care-receiving and the challenges of narratives about care that are dominated either by narratives of childcare, or the narratives of people who provide care to disabled people, almost to the exclusion of the narratives of the people who are cared for, and the subtleties of situations that involve two people who are disabled and care for each other, in De-centering: care, disability, and relationships. I wrote about words like “crazy” and “stupid” and a few things I realized about ableist words. Texas is rewriting history. How the “choice” discourse lets us down: reproductive coercion and reproductive freedom. –IP
It’s my first time doing this! Yikes… When life demands you come with a label – how diagnostic criteria for eating disorders and mental illnesses can make the situation worse. Mostly personal stuff. Trigger warnings apply. And in more light-hearted news, Why I like Pepper Potts from the Iron Man movies.
This week at Yes Means Yes Blog: I witness what appears to be a domestic violence incident about to happen. I don’t just stand there. In Fucking and its Discontents, I discuss the outsized role of intercourse in discussions of sex. It gets put on a pedestal at the only or definitive kids of sexual activity, but it shouldn’t. In Anatomy of a Street Groping, I relate the story of a sexual assault on a friend, and then explore how it happens and what can stop it. Men setting better examples for their peers can stop it.
I talked about how best to encourage sexual openness — not just in the world, but in our own lives, facilitating our own sexual evolution: http://clarissethorn.wordpress.com/2010/05/28/sexual-openness-2-ways-to-encourage-it/
I got a little far afield from the original post, but a comment in a Feministing thread got me thinking about sleepovers and growing up queer.
I’m a day late….holiday weekend in the U.S. What happens when you begin CrossFit? Video on the emotional and physical changes that impact body image http://feministfatale.com/2010/05/body-image-a-personal-story/ The Kardashians: Toxic Pop Culture Diet http://feministfatale.com/2010/05/the-kardashians-toxic-pop-culture-diet/
For those of us in the West, Afghan Star presents a thoughtful exploration of the life we so often take for granted: freedom of speech, the privilege of choice, and the unnecessary luxury of television and its star-making programs. Motherhood and Feminism is well written and documents a shared history that many moms and feminists often forget or aren’t even aware of. Without moms, we wouldn’t have won the right to vote. Without feminism, moms wouldn’t have the rights they have today. The Danish Girl is like a multilayered Flemish painting or tapestry. On the surface, it’s the story of the marriage of two painters, Clara and Einar. However, Einar Wegener was the first male to undergo successful gender affirming surgery.
The Philadelphia Trans-Health Conference (largest transgender event in the world) is this week! 130 Workshops, 2 Keynotes, Plenary on DSM V, Career Fair, Legal Clinic, Open Mic, Mini-Ball, Afterparty, Teen Space, Kid Space.
Gender and Sexuality at Prom: The Good, the Bad and the Awesome: It seemed like the theme this year for prom was take an uber-heteronormative rite and turn it on its head.