Shameless Self-Promotion Sunday February 16, 2014 Jill Promote yourself. Netiquette reminders: Want to recommend someone else’s writing instead? Try the weekly signal-boosting thread. we expect Content Notes as a courtesy to our readers for problematic content in linked posts and/or their comment threads (a habit of posting only triggering/disparaging links may annoy the Giraffe (you really don’t want to annoy the Giraffe)) extended discussion of self-promotion links on this thread is counter-productive for the intended signal-boosting – the idea is for the promoted sites to get more traffic. If it’s a side-discussion that would be off-topic/unwelcome/distressing on the other site, take it to #spillover after leaving a note on this thread redirecting others there.
I wrote a post called Internet feminism, call out culture, and cis white tears, which you can read here: http://www.gappytales.com/2014/02/internet-feminism-call-out-culture-and-cis-white-tears.html It was a difficult post to write. I wanted to explore what the current virtual climate meant for feminism as a whole, and how it is affecting how women are expressing themselves online, all without sounding like an arsehole. Not easy as it turned out.
Earlier this week I wrote about pole dancing and body image. Then yesterday I reviewed the CW show “Reign“. (Spoilers if you’re not caught up!)
The degradation of working class women continues: People Who Oppose a Living Wage Think Flirting For Food Is an Acceptable State of Affairs.
Some creative non-fiction. All true except for the central character. Holding the needle with fear and love in my heart– Searching for Milo Stranger Part 1- Appointment at the Clinic The preacher shouted bloody Jesus and demonic African rhythms–I hated him– Milo Stranger Part 11- Rock of Ages
I covered the Berlin Film Festival on my blog, here are the first 3 days! Day 1: http://film-nut.tumblr.com/post/76843339584/kuzu-turkey-2014-4-out-of-5-trouble-is-brewing (Kuzu, Chilla, 20,000 Days on Earth) Day 2: http://film-nut.tumblr.com/post/76843867417/tochter-aka-daughters-germany-2014-3-out-of-5 (Töchter) Day 3: http://film-nut.tumblr.com/post/76844446066/kreuzweg-aka-stations-of-the-cross-germany-2014 (Kreuzweg, Kumiko the Treasure Hunter)
I wrote Dammit, I want pretty things: about how frustrating it is that I can’t just walk into a store and try on clothes for fun, and how I wish that the type of outrageous, over-the-top, colorful clothing I like came in my size.
When I started kindergarten (in 1990), I didn’t know who Madonna or the Power Rangers were. Was that the barrier to my social skills that would plague me for years? A close friend of mine wrote a guest post on my blog about body image and struggles with confidence as a gay man and how a Dove commercial helped him deal with them. (TW for weight loss talk). Picture a dinosaur, a Greek statue, Jesus. You’re probably wrong, but no one seems to care. What good is research if we don’t let it change our minds?
Last week at Bitch Flicks… Nun Better: ‘Sewing Hope’ and ‘Radical Grace’ The ‘Heart of Darkness’ at ‘True Detective’s Core The Women Both Admired and Ignored in ’20 Feet From Stardom’ The Strong, Detached Female Leads in ‘Bones’ and ‘The Tunnel’ Muted Female Power in ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ and ‘American Hustle’ Lack of Strong Female Characters in ‘RoboCop’ Reboot ‘What Maisie Knew’: (Muffled Quarreling) ‘Oppressed Majority’ (‘Majorité Opprimée’) ‘The Cherokee Word for Water’: The Wilma Mankiller Story Diablo Cody’s ‘Paradise’: Manic Pixie and the Napkin of Sin On ‘Heavy Weights’ and the Power of Perkisizing
I’ve got a new salad recipe posted for mixed greens with cambozola, hibiscus pearls, and pear vinaigrette. The hibiscus pearls are my first experiment using molecular gastronomy, and they’re incredibly cool.
The dating world has been one of the most resistant to gender equality. For instance, men are commonly expected to take lead and ask women out for a date, and women are expected to passively wait around for a phone call. Interestingly, it’s usually guys who ask me why that is — apparently, several of them would like to be asked out. So I asked women in one of my classes how they felt about asking men out. Here’s what they said: Why Women Don’t Ask Guys Out Yeah, I’ve Asked Men Out I’ll be exploring this issue more later.
Trans Romantic. What’s it like to be in a relationship as a trans person? What’s it like to be a trans person’s partner? Launching a new series with my fiancee. A Transsexual In Paradise. Were we born with the wrong hearts, the wrong bodies? Am I a mistake?
I posted an extensive interview with queer/feminist/music theologian Dirk von der Horst about the music Pope Francis mentioned in the papal interview that came out a while back: A Music Theologian Engages with Pope Francis’ Favorite Music. Or, as Dirk put it, “in which @VictoriaGaile asks me about Pope Francis & I respond with queer musicology.” 🙂 He’ll be hanging around for a while to answer questions in the comments and chat with folks about the interview, which includes plenty of music to illustrate what he’s talking about. And in thesis blogging, while struggling to adequately describe the dynamics between clergy and laity, I posted Who constitutes the church? A hypothesis on clericalism, factionalism, and mimetic rivalry. I’d love some feedback on whether my hypothesis seems reasonable and adequate.
Human with Uterus has new posts this week on the right to informed risk taking and heternormativity in breastfeeding support: http://humanwithuterus.wordpress.com/
Study says gay-straight alliances improve school culture, help prevent suicides: http://humaneeducation.org/blog/2014/02/10/humane-education-gsa-suicide-link-highlights-influence-school-culture/ 13 children’s picture books featuring characters w/ special needs: http://humaneeducation.org/blog/2014/02/13/13-childrens-picture-books-featuring-characters-disabilities/
Over at delagar, I wrote a post about teaching Jane Eyre and having religion (once again) enter the classroom: “Talking About Religion.” Also, a brief post about my latest Grounded Parent post, which reviews the work of Jon Muth, an under-appreciated children’s author / illustrator. Muth writes wisdom literature for 3-8 year olds, deftly and beautifully.
There’s a disgusting woman-hater on the airwaves in SoCal. Would you take a moment to tell his employers that that’s not okay? http://ablogoftheirown.wordpress.com/2014/02/15/lets-get-a-serial-misogynist-off-the-air/ Thank you!
I put together a not at all exhaustive list of 5 problems with James Taranto’s piece on sexual assault in the WSJ. He seems easy to dismiss, but the comments on my and many other posts show he is sadly not alone. I also covered new research showing that private prisons have an even higher percentage of people of color than public ones.
I wrote four posts about living with mental illness (a very big CN warning on all 4 posts.) Why? Because someone has to talk about these things. Because the reaction to the first post led to the second, etc. I’m going to write a follow up post this week discussing the responses to these 4 pieces so I’ll save my commentary for that. Why don’t people bring casseroles to people with mental illness? Why I’ve been referring to myself as a mental patient lately. How I would use three wishes to help people with mental illness. BIG WARNING – what happens when your cyberstalker resufaces when you write about your mental health. On a less personally intense note, I discuss the decision by General Hospital writers to explore how one learns homophobia.
“You don’t need to be on anti-depressants! You just need to be brave!” – AN ACTUAL MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL. And on the links between Valentine’s/Steak and Blow Job Day and rape culture.
In the past two weeks, Kiss My Wonder Woman talked about: Reign is pretty much historical fanfic. And that’s awesome. Think of the Children! Tuesday with The Worst of Kid’s Lit and Curious George The Six Most Accidentally (I Hope) Offensive Alien Races in Sci-Fi The Selection is a pseudo-feminist (but not really) piece of popcorn entertainment. That I like anyway. I remember Bitten being a lot more feminist than this – but I think I’m remembering wrong. Strong Female Character Friday, featuring Jenny Mills from Sleepy Hollow Tune in this week for The LEGO Movie, Vampire Academy, The Long Earth, and more.
[Content Note added by moderator team: this link is to a work of "some fiction, some fact" featuring an unreliable narrator, and has been flagged by other readers for problematic content (see comments below)] I wrote about a transgender relationship, and how it progressed over time.
For anyone else who might click on that link unprepared, please be aware that it should have trigger warnings for unexamined cissexism and past-tense misgendering.
Could I have said it features an unreliable narrator and left it at that? I appreciate the terminology, within reason.
A Content Note has been added to Comrade Kevin’s link above. Further replies in this subthread have been deleted because, as is repeatedly mentioned in these threads, detailed discussion of any self-promotion link belongs in Open Thread or Spillover rather than taking focus away from the links on this thread. This thread is now on full moderation to avoid further missteps. Maybe every single one of these threads should always be on full moderation so this stops happening (this suggestion can be discussed in Spillover, not on this thread).
What has the CIA been doing to creative writing programs in the US? We found out this week. I discuss an essay by Eric Bennett and put it into the context of my experiences in creative writing programs.
I wrote about why we should value brawn over beauty by teaching our girls that female olympic athletes are role models NOT models in “My Olympic Dream” http://rethinkpink.net/2014/02/11/olympic-bodies/
[Comment content deleted: a clear instruction to take further discussion of your link to Spillover was made. Abide by moderator instructions if you want your comments to be published. ~ Moderator Team]