This week, I wrote: Nature vs Nurture? – Why We Need to Stop Using Evolution as an Explanation for Gender Differences
when i married 20 years ago, i tripped over patriarchy and changed my name. I knew I’d made a mistake almost immediately and still regret I didn’t set a different example for my kids. just call me “stands with a book”
Hi! Please come check out this brand-new body-positive, queer-friendly, unapologetically feminist health and fitness web ‘zine: http://www.msfitmag.com. If you like it, you can subscribe for free!
I explored the myth of American exceptionalism and the varied ways that it undermines women’s rights and feminist movements, both nationally and globally. http://4thwavefeminism.blogspot.com/2013/02/we-are-not-exceptional.html
Wow I have not done this in a while! My new erotica available: Amy’s Innocence – Pt. 1 – Coming of Age/Deflowering Erotica Hot Desert Daze – M/M erotica A Night of the Arts – Exhibitionism / Female Worship Erotica Femmedia blog – my partner is now my blogging partner too! Introduction: Class, Poverty, Gender And Violence – I watched powerlessly as a boy as my mother was abused, emotionally and physically. I suffered it myself, but always pushed it away to the back of my mind, forbidding it purchase in my thoughts because I had to care for my mother and sister, help them through. Video Games And Violence: The Connection – The violence that concerns me most is that perpetrated by the state. Today the west–though primarily the US–is engaged in many wars, mostly undeclared, across the world. Wars and extra-judicial executions. My blog posts on an erotica blog: Cock Worship – Worship is something I’ve always felt a little too shy to do, both in real life and in writing. It always seemed that it would come off as really cheesy and porny, over the top and unrealistic. Valentine’s – I just don’t buy this idea that women are only interested in having sex with their partner in exchange for material goods, or that men have to take their partner to an expensive, crowded restaurant on one of the busiest days of the year. It’s a societal expectation, however, and people do like that. Comments and reviews are always loved as long as they’re respectful 🙂
The real martial artist is the Japanese wife he abandoned for his film career. Not this entertainer and his sidekick Joe ‘Sheriff’ Arpaio– Steven Seagal- Poseur in a Gi
This week I looked at the end of the 30 Rock and whether the show was as feminist as people thought. http://canbebitter.wordpress.com/2013/02/07/the-end-of-an-era-the-feminism-of-tina-feys-30-rock/
This week I wrote about the controversy over the new Anne of Green Gables cover and went off about setting examples for your kids in public
British Conservatives Try to Whitewash History Nurse Mary Seacole was honored for saving the lives of British soldiers in the Crimean War–who honored her though she was shunned by Florence Nightingale. A Black woman who defied convention– she was deleted from history after her time. Now her story is being censored again.
Thank you Miss Nancey Green for that information about Nurse Seacole! She was one heck of a hero and nurse! Thank you for enlighting us! I hope she doesn’t censored and her story stays out into the light! I just wish that I could have meet her!
I have been following, and supporting via my real name the campaign about this, its a travesty, tho the whole of Goves idea of what history is sucks.
I wrote this essay in 2011 but it is still very relevant. “The Fractured Yin Yang: The Escalation of Female Violence and Aggression” http://agonist.org/the_fractured_yin_yang_the_escalation_of_female_aggression_and_violence/ I wrote “Should she have become a porn star” recently in response to a study published by The Independent claiming that porn stars were happier than other women. http://agonist.org/should-she-have-become-a-porn-star/
This week I wrote a response to Rick Moody’s piece for Salon defending his criticism of Taylor Swift, and asked what would it take for there to be an openly gay player in any of the four, big money-making sports.
February Recipe: Lentil-Stuffed Acorn Squash and coming to terms with some of my emotional baggage around “convenience” foods. Other than that, it’s been kind of a feh pain week, so I wrote a bunch of shorter, less serious stuff, including reactions to two Sesame Street clips — one on how to act like a grown up and what makes me feel better when I hurt. And some quick thoughts on the character of Tuppence in Agatha Christie’s The Secret Adversary.
Oh, and a links post of my own, in case anyone should want to shamelessly self-promote there as well. 😉
I have a brave 15 year old son, who is very secure in his identity. Leek and Potato Soup. Note, it does not freeze well, which I just learned yesterday. Forward Thinking is a community values project. This week’s topic was Talking to teens about sex. All relevant content notes… A rare religious post: Theogamia, Hera and Geasa or why I pray to a bath oil bottle. What I am currently writing. Probably needs warnings for straightness, gayness, werewolves, werehorses, and campiness. I finished the first of these four stories last night.
Is our “pickiness” helping plunder the planet? http://humaneconnectionblog.blogspot.com/2013/02/is-our-pickiness-helping-plunder-planet.html Read our interview with Megan Kajitani, founder of Giraffe Revolution, about how she helps others live with heart: http://humaneconnectionblog.blogspot.com/2013/02/humane-education-in-action-helping.html 25 children’s books for social & emotional learning: http://humaneconnectionblog.blogspot.com/2013/02/25-childrens-books-for-social-and.html
“Homophobia at Home in Connecticut” started as a comment I couldn’t fit into a literal & metaphorical comment box. As a citizen-anthropologist of sorts, I find small, local media outlets to be amusing, even fascinating, sometimes encouraging, & sometimes disturbing cultural “artifacts.” However, there are moments when the online debate over LGBT civil rights—or lack thereof—is simply painful. Here’s my latest post for The New Civil Rights Movement.
I wrote about travel and climate change: conflicting truths, continued doing Fatshion February, and rounded up lots of links.
What’s the difference between ‘being queer’ and ‘doing queer’? Is there a distinction? Can straight people identify as queer? http://thenameoflove.wordpress.com/2013/02/10/being-queer-vs-doing-queer/
10 Tips on Dressing for the Spotlight. What to wear when you’re the guest of honor, keynote speaker, job candidate, what have you.
Lent Madness is Coming! and I’m quite looking forward to it. While reading material only vaguely related to my thesis (which I’m still trying to define, I came across a good quote by Rosemary Haughton on Mother Church and her twin sister, Sophia.
It’s been a busy week for me. This week, I used physics to show my husband how he probably saved a guy’s life, explained how the Superdome is like a nuclear plant: When the Lights Go Out, why Pilgrim Nuclear Generating Station had to shut down and watch you can this super cool video of the steam generator replacement at Sequoyah Nuclear Power Station Unit 2. Also, I got really mad when a girl on twitter reduced Beyonce’s performance to nothing more than a strip tease. What a busy week.
Also, this one is not mine; but it will probably be VERY funny to the godless meat-lovers among you. Meatmass – A Celebration of Meat
A break in the clouds (of depression) – A follow up to my post from 2 weeks ago, about developing yet another episode of depression and getting treatment for it. It was hard to seek aggressive treatment since I internalized too much bs about mental health.
I’ve been writing a series on (mis)quoting Shakespeare, and what it says about the kind of cultural power people are trying to wield when they do it: Shakespeare Misquoted, Misunderstood and Misapplied Misunderstood Shakespeare: Polonius Special Misunderstood Shakespeare: Yorrick, We Hardly Knew Thee
This week I wrote about …my defense of the term “thin privilege” …growing up in an emotionally abusive environment …and my annual Superbowl sexism watch.
Religion, Twitter, and Tolerance: What Can We Learn by Listening?– Fred Phelps granddaughter left the Westboro Baptist church after a Twitter argument made her question her beliefs. What can we learn by testing our beliefs against other ideas? Reading in My Own Time: Outdated Bigotry in the Sot-Weed Factor, Dr. Seuss, and Disney– I read John Barth’s The Sot-Weed Factor for class and was surprised that very few people seem to be reacting to page after page of “humorous” rape.
On the Equality of the Sexes (1673) – from the Essential Feminist Reader – Part two in a 64 part series, where I’m reading and commenting on every piece in the Essential Feminist Reader. And the obligatory post about my gender reassignment surgery fundraiser. Almost hit $2,500, which is exciting!
This week on KMWW, we reviewed Warm Bodies and Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters. We also looked at Tamora Pierce and the Cult of the Gentle Mother, the http://kissmywonderwoman.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-crippling-emotions-of-women-arrow.html, and why our culture seems so convinced breastfeeding is obscene.
I wrote a letter to my favorite public commentator, Melissa Harris-Perry about the way mental illness is treated in the media post-Newtown. Along the way, the letter morphed into a discussion of how we could, if we wanted, have constructive, non-oppressive conversations about mental illness in mainstream spaces.
It’s been a while since I’ve written something, but here… installment #50 of my “Handy Guide”: Learn what sexual objectification means (and doesn’t mean)
This week: The latest in a conversation I’ve been having about Alive! Gay Pro-Life Network. They claim to “bring together LGBT Americans in support of the right to life”. I think not. In Marriage and the Homos: I get comments, I talk about the idea that pleasure-seeking in relationships is somehow a bad thing, as well as the idea that relationships without kids are somehow meaningless. I repost a couple of oldies on civil partnerships, and why I hate being called bisexual (call me bi). And finally, something very important: UK LGB (yes, that’s not a typo) charity Stonewall have released a booklet called “So you think your child is gay“, which purports to be for parents of LGB kids but entirely fails to include anything that relates to anyone other than cis gay men. Since LBTQA kids deserve to not be marginalised relative to their cis gay male counterparts, I want to make an inclusive version, but I need help! If you’re queer, trans or ace, or if someone in your family is and you had a tough time dealing with that initially- please get in touch!
Two posts on the Finally, A Feminism 101 Blog this week: * Call for Feminism 101 Links V – Drop your favourite introductory/clarifying-concept/debunking-factoids feminist posts here! Recent links ideally, but older links that you just keep on sharing are also welcome. * Cyberbullies 101: Part 2 – The Art & Science of Moderation – Free Speech vs Free Audience – I had a long post in the works about comment moderation, but RealLife™ intervened and I hadn’t been able to complete it. Luckily Bora Zivkovic at Blog Around The Clock has a long and detailed post full of relevant links which includes pretty much every point I wanted to make. I’m providing a summary of his headings with some meaty quotes, but please make sure to click through and read his post in full in order to see all the points he makes and the many link citations he provides. The op-ed regarding moderation was scheduled last weekend before the Threads O’Doom here this past week, the timing is pure serendipity.
Faye Wattleton was Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s president from 1978 to 1992 — tumultuous years that saw the rise of the religious right, organizations like Operation Rescue, and escalating anti-abortion violence. We’re observing Black History Month every Monday with a blog series sharing our recent conversation with Ms. Wattleton. In last week’s inaugural installment, she reflects on her career in the movement for reproductive rights, comparing the cultural climate over the decades. Some readers might be surprised to learn that Ms. Wattleton believes that, despite the slow erosion of Roe v. Wade, in some ways, things have gotten better for us! * * * The birth control pill works best when it’s taken every day at the same time. For those of us who have a lot of trouble remembering to take our pill at the same time day after day, Depo-Provera shots may be the way to go. Depo-Provera is given as a shot in a doctor’s office or a health center such as Planned Parenthood, and lasts for three months to prevent pregnancy. Curious about this option? Read our blog to learn more about it.
I interviewed David France about he development of How to Survive a Plague and what we can learn from AIDS activism and ACT UP.
Several weeks of no posts in Fromage. Trying to break out of the non-writing funk! First, a long love letter to Twitter. With subheads for easier reading! And second, a paean to sparkly people. Now to check out your posts!
Things I’ve been writing about this week: Flipping cultural scripts around vulnerability in sex What do doctors expect to learn when they ask you when you had your last period? And a couple of my favourite other posts, since it’s my first time posting here: The “asking for it” narrative A primer on gender neutral/non-binary pronouns
Women, people of color, and others lacking power in unbalanced relationships are often punished for showing anger. Painful double-bind messages convey that any anger is “too much” but calm speech can be ignored. Ideally, we would lovingly welcome anger like any other emotion. We can start by acknowledging its existence. “Here it is.” Loving Anger
I created a tumblr called Feminist Fandom to discuss issues of representation in the modern mythologies created by supernatural films, tv, movies, comic books, gaming, and virtual realities: http://hollylderr.tumblr.com/ I also wrote a fourth installation in the series Internet Dating: A Play, in which our Woman hero tries the laid back approach to internet dating.
I did a post on Queers for Jesus about the arrogance and small mindedness of those who oppose equal marriage. http://queersforjesus.wordpress.com/2013/02/03/how-they-choose-to-pray-revealing-the-attitudes-of-the-coalition-for-marriage/ A couple of threads here (guess which ones lol) prompted a post on labyrinths, process and needing to take the long way round sometimes http://itsjustahobby.wordpress.com/2013/02/07/when-i-mean-well-is-no-defense/
How much of the shit that gets labeled “mental illness” these days is really just poverty, the logical result of the way employers treat workers combined with the messages our culture sends out about money and personal worth? I wrote a poem about what happens when your job is killing you: Arbeit Macht Frei And a prose post about same: Arbeit Macht Frei (part II) The second post contains an appeal for funds. That’s not the only part of it, though, so please read/comment regardless of whether you’ve got money or not right now.
Please don’t think I don’t appreciate what you’re saying. And I liked both your posts. But the title you chose makes me extremely uncomfortable, and I wish you hadn’t used it.
The title is disgusting. It’s appropriation and despicable. Checking in as a black women who would have been just as pissed if you’d used pictures of slaves and named it after a plantation. In other words, take your self absorbed white privilege and shove it up your tone deaf a**.
Seriously? First of all, how do you even know she’s white? Second, if anyone should be offended by mentioning Nazis, it should be Jews*, most of whom have white privilege themselves**. So, no. *Personally, it didn’t offend me, but I don’t speak for all Jews, and I can understand why others might be uncomfortable. ** Yes, there are Jews of color! But the majority of Jews in the US are Ashkenazi, and are considered white today, although we weren’t in the past.
This week I reviewed Soulless, a fun piece of steampunk comedy fluff. It can get a little melodramatic in places, but it also has interesting flashes of examining societal gender roles. The vampires are ruled by hive queens and the werewolves by male alphas, and both societies blend interestingly with human life.
Essie Mae Washington-Williams, the biracial daughter of segregationist Senator Strom Thurmond, passed away at age 87: http://daisysdeadair.blogspot.com/2013/02/african-american-daughter-of-strom.html Michael Lind’s article in Salon, titled “The white South’s last defeat”, was the catalyst for this one; I used his piece as a counterpoint to my own reflections: http://daisysdeadair.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-white-souths-last-defeat.html
I reviewed the first day of the Berlin Film Festival: http://film-nut.tumblr.com/post/42622597999/belleville-baby-sweden-2013-3-out-of-5-mia there are nine more to come!
Jen wrote an amazing talk for a group of students performing That Takes Ovaries about her journey to feminism and her vision for what feminism still has to offer.
Last week I wrote 2 posts about ‘bigfoot like’ legends in Coos (and to a lesser extent Siuslaw) mythologies. This is the 1st of the 2 posts: http://shichils.wordpress.com/2013/02/02/legends-of-giants/
February 8, 1887 the Dawes General Allotment Act was enacted by the U.S. Congress regarding the distribution of land to American Indians in Indian Territory (later Oklahoma). The Act was amended in 1891 and again in 1906 by the Burke Act. The act remained in effect until 1934. The act provided for the division of tribally held lands into individually-owned parcels and opening “surplus” lands to settlement by non-Indians and development by railroads. By dividing reservation lands into privately owned parcels, legislators hoped to complete the assimilation process by forcing the deterioration of the communal life-style of the Native societies and imposing Western-oriented values of strengthening the nuclear family and values of economic dependency strictly within this small household unit. The land granted to most allottees was not sufficient for economic viability, and division of land between heirs upon the allottees’ deaths resulted in land fractionalization. Most allotment land, which could be sold after a statutory period of 25 years, was eventually sold to non-Native buyers at bargain prices. Additionally, land deemed to be “surplus” beyond what was needed for allotment was opened to White settlers, though the profits from the sales of these lands were often invested in programs meant to aid the American Indians. American Indians lost, over the 47 years of the Act’s life, about 90 million acres (360,000 km²) of treaty land, or about two-thirds of the 1887 land base. About 90,000 American Indians were made landless.
Pheeno, thanks. Are there any good sources/discussions you’d recommend that go into more detail about this subject?
http://or1noco.wordpress.com/2013/02/08/the-dark-side/ I don’t blog often. I did this weekend. This post is raw and honest. It’s about the dark side of mothering, at least, one small part of the dark side. So far for me it’s raised more questions…
Spent Sunday packing and thinking about being home and getting into my kitchen! Making some really good Jambalaya with lots of meat and veggies! Along with some shredded beef tacos and some carbonara! Along with reading a couple of good books and finding out that someone thinks that I hate women. I hate it when someone comes out and says something using a great big word that you have to look up in a dictionary when simple word or two works! I like women, no I love women being women! It makes life so much more enjoyable! Not that I would ever fool around on my wife, to death do us part is the rule I live by unless she wants to trade me in on a new model! Then it will be who wants a man who can cook, clean, please a women every dang way he can while still being a really good guy! But I don’t do litter boxes! LOL!
I recently, along with one of my employees, put together this piece on the Colorado Catholic hospital using the defense that two unborn children were not “people” and delved into an explanation of Roe v. Wade and the pro-choice stance. http://www.consoleandhollawell.com/law-blog/in-the-land-of-abortions-and-hypocrisy Please have a look! Thank you to Feministe for all the insightful posts!
As I’m a sex worker and think my comment on this is relevant, I’ll dare to promote myself even though the comment section of the sex worker threads is closed: @ Jill, even though I strongly disagree that paying for sex is in any way inherently unethical, I’m very happy to see that there are opponents of sex work who don’t just abuse the phrase of “solidarity with sex workers” to inflict harm on us, but actually mean it.