I wrote a bunch this week, I just realized! I wrote a post telling the story about how I was almost “kept” woman (yeah, I KNOW, weird). I wrote a post about how I was burning out on social justice/activism/policy work, and how I needed to work through my fighting fatigue. And then I wrote two posts – kinda revolving around Mad Men: the first where I actually sacked up and put in a donate button, so I could afford to blog about the series after getting it on itunes, but I talked about how uncomfortable it made me to ask; and then the loooong follow-up post about poverty, being broke, the war on the have-nots, and the shame that revolves around money problems.
Action alert: This person came out to hir family as queer, and now they’re no longer paying for hir education. If you know of any job leads in NYC or can throw a few dollars hir way on PayPal, it’d be much appreciated. I used to feel very positive about the social taboo on racism. Now I’m not so sure. And Inception is overrated.
My latest on the Delphiad Blog. Went to see the film Salt, loved it, and love what’s behind its creation even more. Angelina Jolie transforms Hollywood: the significance of Salt.
Hair Weaves in “Toddler and Tiaras”: Looking at the damage done beauty contests to children of colour Really Jon Hamm: Looking at the Mad Men’s star assertion that: “There’s a cordialness that men had when dealing with the opposite sex, even when they were being blatantly sexist. It’s a weird conundrum. But that’s been replaced with men treating women like absolute garbage and not even being polite about it, which is too bad”. Canada Smacks Down PeTA and Pamela Anderson: PeTA was denied a permit after the government deemed one of their ads featuring Anderson to be sexist. Of course Pamela wants us to know that it is the equivalent of turning western women into Muslim women Enough of the Betty White Craze: Too much of a good thing is till not good for you. Christian Privilege and White Privilege: Looking at why we need to focus blame on institutions of power rather than individuals. True Blood: Trouble: Looking at the racism and sexism in last week’s episode. Finally this week’s Sunday Shame: Worst Feminist Crush Evah, where I am forced to call out a feminist blogger for her love of Iron Man. Pop by to join in the shaming or feel free to admit your own superhero lust/shame.
New at Musings of an Inappropriate Woman… Ladybeard: a ‘transhairstorical’ story: As I grew increasingly frustrated with the painful, expensive process that yielded poor results, I realised that there was an option that was never offered to me: rather than finding new ways of removing the hair that grew on my face, I could live as a hirsute person and build a hairy identity. And on the horror of seeing yourself through someone else’s eyes: But I wouldn’t have found the whole exercise so upsetting if it hadn’t tapped into fears that were already there. That my insecurities (surely exacerbated by the situation I was in) came across as vanity. That I was self-absorbed. That people thought I was stupid. That perhaps I had internalised those characters I had loved in my adolescence – paging Cher Horowitz – and in my young adulthood (Elle Woods, the Manic Pixie Dream Girls), to the point that they had completely taken over my performance of femininity.
Good morning. Or actually it’s after 12:30, so, afternoon. Symbolism, archetypes and stereotypes: What experts have said about vaginismus – This is a look at some of the sexist garbage that professionals (writers, doctors, etc.) have said about vaginismus and the women who live with it. I believe that while it’s unlikely (not impossible) that a professional would repeat these exact words to a woman today, the archetypes still influence beliefs about vaginismus and why it happens.
I’m missing Harvey Pekar, the pioneer of the confessional graphic novel. Rest in American Splendor, Harvey. You put our daily work grind in the comics, in all its untold heroism and small victories. http://kmareka.com/2010/07/12/a-light-goes-out-in-cleveland/
So, I’m new here (kind of) and have thankfully just stumbled upon this blog today. I’ve just started blogging again after a brief (okay, several year long) hiatus, and am now blogging about the joys of a childless existence. Not because I hate mothers, or even ankle biters. I mean house apes. I mean, uh…bundles of joy (ahem). But becaue I am sick to fecking death of attempting to get up to what everyone THINKS a woman of thirty should be getting up to. Well done on the blog ladies -it’s the first place I’ve felt I could even remotely relate to after several hours of red wine fuelled searches. Anyway, I thought I might find some kindred spirits here, so I am commenting like a good girl. Also I have no issues with shamelessness. Or self promotion.
This week on Eugenia de Altura: 1. A guest post at Womanist Musings on the crisis around abortion providers in the U.S. 2. At the home site, a photo essay on the culinary delights of Andean Bolivia.
I took apart an ev psych study that claims women aged 27-45 are more sexual than younger and older women because their fertility is in decline. I’m spending some time in Germany this summer, so I discussed parenting in a society where children are still supposed to be seen, not heard. (And maybe even preferably not seen!)
The problem with the Orthodox getting control over marriage and conversion in Israel and a discussion of homosexuality in the Orthodox Jewish world.
This week I wrote about how the New York Times wrote about a couple of not-so-different thieves in and responded to Laurie Penny’s excellent post about youth and deference in Enjoy!
I wrote the following posts: “Some of us are the President of the United States of America!”, about comedian Eric Andre’s experience of being a half-black actor in Hollywood. “Not the hair. On the back.”, about my favorite set of jokes from Ricky Gervais. Enjoy!
M.I.A. has gotten a lot of bad press lately. Basically she’s been labeled as an angry women. In my article, M.I.A. Backlash: Is all this fuss over gender?, I question if this would be happening if she were a man. By the way, in spite of Pitchfork’s bad review, Maya came in at number 1 on the Dance/Electronic albums, 5 on Digital, and 9 on Billboard 200.
This week at re:Cycling, we had a guest post from Jerilynn Prior about successful clinical trials of bioidentical progesterone for treatment of hot flashes, a critique of iOvulation, an iPad/iPhone app that predicts ovulation based on faulty algorithms, plus our weekly recommendations.
With three people posting this week, it’s been a busy week at Yes Means Yes Blog! Monster, Not Monster contains my thoughts on Jaclyn Friedman’s piece at The Nation about Al Gore. Rape is a monstrous act, and according to Predator Theory, mostly the act of comparatively narrow slice of the population, so I’m fine with calling them monsters. The problem with that is that they don’t look like monsters, and it’s hard to get people to understand that the person who is a monster may not be a monster to them. We think we know people from the parts of themselves that they show us … but we often don’t. Sex Workers Protest At AIDS Day, a video posted by Erotic Undulation about sex worker activism. The Slut-Shaming Kind of Feminist reacts to an antiporn feminist who (Amanda Hess of The Sexist reported) argued that women are more likely to be raped if they watch more porn. Yes, you read that right. No, no source was cited. Emily Bazelon, As If To Prove My Point is my reaction to Emily Bazelon’s first article in her Slate series defending the teens accused of bullying Phoebe Prince to death. Everyone deserves a defense, and there are good reasons to believe that three of the defendants did not take part in a pattern of bullying. But Bazelon stoops, on my reading, to accusing Prince of stealing other girl’s boyfriends and precipitating interpersonal conflicts. I was disgusted. Jaclyn is also cross-posting her Feministe guest pieces to Yes Means Yes Blog last and this week, but I’m not linking those for the obvious reason that they’re already on this blog.
The Undermedia: I explain how, besides the other reasons why he is a despicable person, Andrew Breitbart propagates the “persecuted hegemon” myth, ie. being “oppressed” because other people have rights.
Coming Out Surprises – I’ve been out for a few years now, so there are fewer and fewer people to whom I need to reveal I’m trans. But, every so often, someone will surprise me. Searching for something that fits – My ongoing search for a ceremony or ritual to commemorate my transition I quit! – Title kinda says it all. Eek!
Over in the UK, we have a new radio programme, called ‘Men’s Hour’. (Our ‘Woman’s Hour’ is famous and has been going for 64 years.) Some feminists are outraged; I think it may actually be a good thing. Would be interested what others think… http://delilah-mj.blogspot.com/2010/07/i-like-mens-hour.html
Whoops! I’m a different Rebecca than the last previous Rebecca. Bad luck my post ending up directly below hers… Sorry Rebecca Number 1 😉 I think next week I need to just add my last name!
I Was a Teenage Anti-Feminist: Confessions of a Former Professional Celebrity Blogger http://feministfatale.com/2010/07/i-was-a-teenage-anti-feminist-confessions-of-a-former-professional-celebrity-blogger/ Sexist meat market: Pam Anderson’s newest ad for PETA http://feministfatale.com/2010/07/sexist-meat-market-mpam-andersons-newest-ad-for-peta/ Scottish ad campaign tackles rape mythology: No woman asks to be raped http://feministfatale.com/2010/07/scottish-ad-campaign-tackles-rape-mythology-no-woman-asks-to-be-raped/ ‘Take a Breath,’ Honey. It’s just Sexism. http://feministfatale.com/2010/07/take-a-breath-honey-its-just-sexism/ What’s lurking in your compact? Annie Leonard will tell you. http://feministfatale.com/2010/07/whats-lurking-in-your-compact-annie-leonard-will-tell-you/ Let her eat cake! http://feministfatale.com/2010/07/let-her-eat-cake/ Mad Beauty http://feministfatale.com/2010/07/mad-beauty/
At The Czech: In the Czech Republic’s last general election, it elected a record number of women to parliament, 44. To celebrate that fact, a new-ish party, the Public Affairs Party, created a calendar featuring pictures of their winning candidates in sexual poses. What good is political power if you can’t be sexxxy (for the menz)?
This week at Happy Bodies: Is cheerleading a sport? Does counting cheerleading as a sport contribute to the aim of gender equality in educational and extracurricular programs? Navigating street harassment in DC: Not always fun! What’s the story? Weight loss stories about children.
I wrote about grammar and identity, and how there can be a big shift in connotation between different forms of the same words. (Just a heads-up: there was some trans-related cluelessness in the discussion thread. I think it *was* cluelessness, rather than malice, and I think I managed to clear it up without making things worse, but … yeah.)
I wrote about M.I.A.’s new album (which I like) and the racism and sexism (among other ugly elements) of so much of her backlashy press: Will the Will the Real M.I.A. Please Stand Up?. I also posted a short video I made about Ma’yan’s political theater apprenticeship for teenage girls, That’s Not Fair!
I asked for help in dealing with people who demand your phone number , tried to outline the basics of consent and questioned the idea of anorexic as a descriptor.
I haven’t written anything of substance this week, but I did want to give people a heads up that Questioning Transphobia has changed its address to http://www.questioningtransphobia.com. Update your links accordingly!
I moved (with plenty of help from one of my readers, Sharav) Questioning Transphobia to a new location last Monday. Also, I posted Disclosure, Trans Panic, and Ciscentric Narratives of Dishonesty to deconstruct the “this trans person lied by not revealing that she was trans” accusation, as well as talk about Nikki Araguz.
This week at Gender Across Borders: The feminist arguments for and against processed food. Are gay couples better at parenting than straight couples? Pakistan is trying to convince more people to pay taxes…by exploiting trans women. An interview with Guerrilla Girls Broadband. Why sex workers are protesting the Anti-Prostitution Pledge.
This dumbass on YouTube critiqued <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GorqroigqM"The Story of Stuff, and did so absolutely horrendously. I critiqued his critique. Part One, anyway… Parts 2, 3, and 4 to come shortly. http://ethecofem.com/2010/07/23/fornicating-with-big-business-doesnt-make-you-morally-superior-or-smart/
HTML fail! Here’s the link for the video being critiqued, The Story of Stuff, although the critique itself encompasses the entire original video.
Here is my review of pro-feminist scholar and professor Michael Kimmel’s book Guyland: The Perilous World Where Boys Become Men.
I recently traveled to Barbados for a couple of weeks to do historical research for my dissertation. A conversation with some English farmers really got me thinking about colonialism, the US as an imperial agent, and my general ignorance about it all. I wrote this essay as my reaction to all this. It’s amazing how little most of us know about an island that matters so much to our own history. To combat this feeling of ignorance, I have started to search out more information about the US’ history of imperialism. I started this week with Hawaii (which became a state because some US businessmen didn’t want to pay a sugar tariff anymore. Using the (illegal) backing of the US military, they deposed the queen, Dole became president of the islands, and then the territory was annexed when it became useful to the US in a time of war. Nice!) Finally, I was reading some twitter accounts of Tea Party members (you know how this is going to end – head on desk). The one I blog about tweets about her conversation (loose use of the word) with a black FedEx guy and her method of tackling the issue of race in this country. It’s a doozy. Oh, and this isn’t anything to do with me, but <a href="http://cdn.static.viddler.com/flash/simple_publisher.swf?key=a12b15f7&ref="watch this video if you are gearing up for Mad Men Season 4 Premiere tonight.
Part 6 of the Men Without Women series, focused on examining the need for a matricentralized society, looks at what a voluntary corporate tribe might be and how it compares to our current social system.
At Blueberry Shake: I discuss the autobiography of Elaine Brown, A Taste of Power. The book chronicles her childhood, her joining with the Black Panther Party as a young woman, and finally her leadership as she took over the Party when Huey Newton fled to Cuba. It’s a beautiful book, and I discuss the relationships she had with the people in the Party as well as the treatment she received as a woman. After reading Adrienne Rich’s “The Theft of Childbirth,” I compare the claims she is making against the health industry to how the industry is faring today, 35 years later. I discuss infant mortality rate, birthing positions, and the question of choice in how a woman wants to give birth. Sadly, my findings are not positive. In a long and kind of directionless post, I describe my crisis of faith in feminism, or how a friend described “liberal white feminism.” I ask a lot of questions and I’m still not sure I’ve figured out the answers yet.
Be a Biographer for Sexually Exploited Women The contest invites designers to creatively convey the stories of the survivors in order to raise awareness about the social, political, and economic conditions that contribute to the exploitation of millions of women and girls each year. Funds for Sexual Assault Prevention and Victim’s Services Cut in NYC When the New York City Council decided which programs would stay, and which programs were expendable, in the new city budget, sexual assault prevention and victim’s services was left out entirely.
The Fatal Beauty of Tajooj Suzanne Hilal, a Sudanese-English artist whose work spans a range of mediums including printmaking, pastels, and ink, is known for the way her works are inspired by Sudanese folktales and reflects the country’s culture and history. Despicable Me While the film neglects one of my cardinal rules of feminist filmmaking—having positive female role models—it did call into question traditional roles of masculinity, especially in response to parenthood.
I’m a lurker with a blog, and this week I complained about the female roles in Inception (among other problems with the film) and provided a link to a documentary about breast ironing, though I was a little too shocked by the practice to be more than be really thankful that that didn’t happen to me.
I rambled about human disconnection and raved about finding coveralls made for da ladies. Happy Sunday.
Self Promotion: I wrote a blog post about how furious I felt when my friend out ‘WHORE’ to a girl walking alone on the street, and looked at whorephobia and stuff. http://iamoffendedbecause.blogspot.com/2010/07/gay-bars-pies-and-hookers.html
So I’ve started a blog about Sex and the City (I can hear you groaning out there in the world… is such a thing necessary? Is this a thing anyone wants to read about anymore?? If we keep writing and talking about the show/the phenomenon, won’t we just encourage Michael Patrick King to continue to inflict his madness on the world???), called Back on Carrie’s Stoop, about 1) watching the second movie and hating it, 2) questioning why I as a feminist ever liked the series in the first place, 3) deciding to rewatch said entire series to deconstruct it from a feminist-y perspective… one episode at a time. I introduce the blog here, discuss the first episode here, and rant about singlehood and its representations in pop culture here … and there is more to come!
This week at femonomics: We discuss Elle magazine’s creepy guy friends, who apparently think it’s ok to describe every woman they casually encounter as though she’s a piece of meat, and the world is a gigantic grocery store. Mad Dr gives us a quick overview of proposed regulation of the cosmetics industry, and where beauty product-safety stands today. I discuss the promising evidence on a microbial gel to prevent HIV transmission, and what its implications are for gender dynamics, condom usage, and prevention policy. Lastly, my spin on the White House’s embarrassing move to push for Sherry Sherrod’s resignation, in the wake of misleadingly edited video that turned an anecdote about recognizing the shared humanity of all people, especially those in need, into an example of “reverse racism”.
It was a busy week at Planning the Day! The latest reports about Al Gore came out on the same day I read an amazing article about the tolerance for misogynistic leaders in radical political movements. I attended the first Cambodian screening of Enemies of the People, a documentary made by a Khmer Rouge survivor who interviews Khmer Rouge killers. CNN and Nicholas Kristof both pissed me off. Why am I surprised? I went to visit a woman dying of cervical cancer to bring her medicine — and arrived to her funeral. My Magic Jack provides unexpected joy. Happy Monday from Cambodia!
This week, we started with the glute-building, squat-type pelvic floor goodness. My breakdown of chair pose.
I started a new blog and here are a couple of things I’ve written about. I wrote on the recent fashion trend of boys donning skirts in Japan. Gender Bending Across Cultures: Boys don skirts in Japan As well as this. When you think your complementing another culture or ethnicity.
A few recent things from my blog: A guest post about Salif Keita, who is raising awareness about the stigma of Albinism in Africa. Interviews with a few other interesting artists: Lynn Van Brocklin, Amy Coleman, VectorCloud, and Rebecca Plotnick. And a couple of giveaways: 250 custom stickers and a free copy of the new Parlour Suite EP I was also invited to curate a list at Unanimous Craft. Fun!
A short film made by the Montreal Life Stories Project–for which I work–about four Montreal women who have experienced living in a conflict zone: Cambodia, Haiti, Rwanda, and Columbia. I have provided a full transcript for the film, and it is in both English and French.
I created a facebook page called “women don’t need guardians” opposing the fact that competent adult women in saudi arabia are required to have guardians approve their plans to travel, work etc. It would be great if you would check it out.
I forgot! I also put up some of my academic work from this year (I study medical Anthropology and Women’s Studies): “The Grass-Eating Boys and Anxious Masculinity: Examining Euro-American Media Portrayal of Japan’s Young Male ‘Herbivores’“ http://switchintoglide.wordpress.com/essays/#herbivores “Colonised Bedrooms?: Examining the Narrative of ‘Imported’ European Homophobia in Japan“ http://switchintoglide.wordpress.com/essays/#japan-homophobia “Sexual Diversity in Canadian Healthcare: The Policing and Pathologising of Gender-/Sex-Variant Lives” (published in Sprinkle: An Undergraduate Journal of Sexual Diversity Studies) http://switchintoglide.wordpress.com/essays/#sexual-diversity http://www.freireproject.org/blogs/new-edition-sprinkle%3A-journal-sexual-diversity-studies “The Ghost and the Zeigeist: Gender and the Male Gaze in Ugetsu“ http://switchintoglide.wordpress.com/essays/#ugetsu Beyond the Looking-Glass: Exploring Global Health with a New Lexicon http://switchintoglide.wordpress.com/essays/#global-health “National, International, Global: Tracing the Origins of the Global Public Health Movement“ http://switchintoglide.wordpress.com/essays/#public-health
I wrote about what my relationship was with my body this morning. It wasn’t easy. http://fukshot.com/2010/07/25/didnt-go-to-dore-alley/
I posted a couple things on my relatively new blog http://www.42liberal.blogspot.com this week. One well received post about BP’s use of mostly African-American prison labor to clean up the Gulf beaches and a previous post that took some research on conservative Debt Hawking in Washington. Check it out.
My thoughts on Andrew Breitbart’s smearing of Shirley Sherrod (among other things): http://aleksandreia.wordpress.com/2010/07/23/accusations-of-racism-true-and-false/ I also did several posts on a Jewish genealogy conference: http://aleksandreia.wordpress.com/2010/07/17/jewish-genealogy-conference-in-los-angeles-part-i/ http://aleksandreia.wordpress.com/2010/07/21/jewish-genealogy-conference-in-los-angeles-part-ii/ http://aleksandreia.wordpress.com/2010/07/24/jewish-genealogy-conference-in-los-angeles-part-iii/
Well, I took on one or two ‘serious’ issues in the last week–trying to signal boost a story about an anonymous group in Utah that sent ICE and the media the personal information–including social security numbers, children’s names and pregnant women’s due dates–of 1,300 Latin@s they (sometimes falsely) accused of being undocumented, demanding that they be ‘immediately deported.’ And I posted a little web simulator that uses reasonably specific numbers to let you try and get the US federal deficit under control, by adding and cutting major programs. Let’s just say letting the Bush tax cuts expire is pretty much a cheat code. And then to lighten things up, there were Pride-appropriate rainbow cocktails, bioluminescent puppies, and a sappy happy-anniversary-to-us post about an anatomically correct heart I knitted for my partner.
Oh crap, I cut and pasted the wrong address for the post about the racists harassing people in Utah. Here’s the correct link.
Here’s one I forgot to post to SSP Sunday last week. A poor dude cleaning with a mop / Puts all Heaven in a strop* Also a stroll around some of the landmarks of a little Australian country town. *Strop: Aust. slang a temper, tantrum, sulk
The Post Office rejected my “Women Working” artwork this week, so I ran a little experiment to see if they would accept a “Men Working” sign after rejecting the “Women Working” sign I submitted for a postage stamp. Here are the results: Post Office Now Approves of Women Working