Shameless Self-Promotion Sunday February 8, 2015 Jill Promote yourself. Netiquette reminders: Want to recommend someone else’s writing instead? Try the latest 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)), Content Notes are not needed if your post title is already descriptive of problematic content. 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.
Four great pieces this fortnight — two on LGBTQ issues, one on reproductive health, and a reprojustice grab bag. First, we’re inviting you to eavesdrop on our conversation with Arizona LGBTQ leader Kent Burbank, who, along with his partner, was among the first (if not the first) same-sex couples in Arizona to jointly adopt their children. It wasn’t until last October’s 9th Circuit Court ruling in favor of marriage equality that Mr. Burbank could adopt his own children — and his years of co-parenting were finally legally recognized. Second: Homophobia and transphobia can create obstacles for patients seeking medical care, and even though medical students want to fully serve their LGBTQ patients, they aren’t receiving appropriate training in their classes. Luckily, there is a movement within the medical community to fight the health disparities that affect the LGBTQ population. Thirdly, we wrote about preconception health, which can include nutrition, STD screening, quitting smoking, and more. And finally, more links, if you’re into reprojustice headlines.
This week, I wrote a poetic narrative about what it’s like to grow up feeling unsafe and how that experience lingers: https://askanaspergirl.wordpress.com/2015/02/05/food-is-medicine-a-poetic-narrative/
Over at delagar this week, I wrote a post about the importance of writing with representation — of using more than whitecisgendered males among your characters — and how to do that. Read here: An Argument.
When anti-abortion and anti-vaccination ideologies combine, it’s really stupid: The Horrifying Irony of Anti-Abortionists Who Oppose the MMR Vaccine
7 Tips For Tackling Top Surgery. From picking the right procedure to dealing with questions about scars, suggestions for people contemplating, planning and recovering from chest reconstruction surgery. Card-Carrying Transsexual. I am the kind of transsexual you can take home for dinner: invisible.
BlackLivesMatter in Pgh where a 34 year old gay black man disappeared in late October. http://www.pghlesbian.com/2015/02/more-information-in-the-disappearance-of-andre-gray/ Taja Gabrielle de Jesus is the 4th transwomen of color to lose her life to violence this year http://www.pghlesbian.com/2015/02/update-on-the-murder-of-taja-gabrielle-de-jesus-4th-trans-woman-of-color-killed-in-2015/ The SelmaForStudents movement is in Pittsburgh http://www.pghlesbian.com/2015/02/send-pgh-students-to-see-the-movie-selma/
CN: BDSM I’m promoting Better Than Fifty Shades February, small press BDSM books, which are done right, or at least well. The rest is mostly day to day commentary or navel-gazing.
This week I had an interesting convo with the girl I nanny, and I asked my fellow feminists for their advice.
I’m in love with Carrie Schneider’s photo series “Reading Women,” and I used the images as a visual counterpoint to a bad Christian Right argument about “kids today”: Fragonard and Carrie Schneider. Also, I wrote a long post about masculinity, femininity, and Joan Didion. As always, thanks to Jill and to feministe for the opportunity to share!
Inspired by a conversation on reddit, I started a new wordpress blog (even though it feels so 2009!) and wrote a post in defense of a common archetype that gets a lot of criticism – the strong female character.
This week people fawned all over Sports Illustrated for including a “plus sized” model in their 2015 swimsuit edition. Here are my thoughts https://sergeantpolly.wordpress.com/2015/02/05/lets-hear-it-for-sports-illustrated/
Music of the Spheres: A female-centered interactive sci-fi experiment A pious woman who cuts out people’s tongues; a mysterious man who has aligned with the enemy to save his wife; a frustrated professor who is looking to capture real power at any cost; a desperate father with a death wish who is stuck in a time loop; and a replica who is as loving as she is brutally cruel. They are all standing in the way of Angela as she searches for the 9 blades that make up the mystical ancient weapon developed by Pythagoras called the Music of the Spheres; a weapon, that when fully assembled, can completely alter space and time. All this and the viewers have creative control over the story. Award-winning filmmaker Ruth Gregory has launched a Kickstarter campaign for “Music of the Spheres” a female-centered, interactive, sci-fi web series to be shot this summer in Washington state. “I wanted to make something that focused on women. And not just young women. I wanted a space to tell complex stories involving older women since there is such a lack of roles for that demographic,” Gregory said, “I’m a huge sci-fi fan and have always wanted to take the plunge in that direction as a filmmaker. This just seemed like the right time.” But a web series? “I was reading the Celluloid Ceiling reports for 2013. They outlined how women comprised only 15% of protagonists, 29% of major characters, and 30% of all speaking characters in the top 250 grossing films of 2013,” Gregory states. “I knew a longer film with a female focus would largely be overlooked by the mainstream media and probably not get distribution. I wanted to create a space where we could be successful outside of the studio system.” The “Music of the Spheres” episodes will be freely available on the web, but there will be a pay community that surrounds the show – the Order of the Spheres – that will financially and creatively support the show as it moves forward. “We wanted to provide a space for women who are into sci-fi and fantasy to come together and be a part of the world of the Music of the Spheres and feel safe and supported contributing their ideas to that world.” The cast includes a bevy of Washington talent including actors who’ve been on television shows like Syfy’s “Z Nation” and NBC’s “Grimm.” Rosalie Miller is attached to play the main character, Angela. The primary cast also includes Wonder Russell (Betty), Lowell Deo (Scott), Jennifer True (Petra), and Jodie Harwood (Pam). The “Music of the Spheres” Kickstarter campaign is live until 10pm on March 1at http://www.WheresAngela.com/Kickstarter.