Shameless Self-Promotion Sunday February 22, 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.
I wrote this week about the uproar around Jessica Williams’ saying she’s under-qualified to host The Daily Show and how we don’t get to make decisions for her or any other woman. I also wrote about being a flawed feminist, jumping off a great conversation about relationships on the Dear Sugar podcast with Cheryl Strayed, Steve Almond and Roxane Gay.
I received a promotional brochure marketing vaginal surgery — and decided to deconstruct its messaging: In Which Alice Contemplates Rejuvenating Her Lady-Bits I also wrote about 50 Shades of Grey: 1) A Very Short Review of this Weekend’s Big Cinematic Release and 2) One of these questions is more rhetorical than the other (about reactions of the non-fan community).
The first one needs a trigger warning for the extremely ciscentric language at the link. The author mocks vaginoplasty and labiaplasty and uses the word “mutilated” (with a line through it that’s obviously intended to convey that that’s exactly what the author thinks of such surgeries), without any caveat or acknowledgement whatsoever that those are exactly the same terms used to describe the kind of genital surgery trans women have, or indicating that that’s not what the author is talking about, and/or that when she uses the term “women” throughout the article, she is referring to cis women only. And, yes, I know all the arguments about how trans women represent only a tiny and trivial subset of all women (assuming someone even accepts that trans women are women), and that one can’t expect people always to have trans women in mind when writing an article addressed to women in general. But when someone is writing about a subject like this, is it really that hard to include a sentence making your intentions clear?
Should You Transition? 3 Tips For Gender Questioners. If you are profoundly unhappy with your gender status, you might benefit from some form of transition, readjusting to relieve pain and nurture contentment. What might that adjustment look like for you? How do you figure out where to start, and where to stop?
I covered the Berlin Film Festival: Day 1 (Je Suis Annemarie Schwarzbach, Dora or the Sexual Perversions of Our Parents) http://film-nut.tumblr.com/post/110608526056/je-suis-annemarie-schwarzenbach Day 2 (Ben Zaken, Misfits, Queen of Earth): http://film-nut.tumblr.com/post/110828456286/ben-zaken-israel-2015-3-5-out-of-5-in-ashkelon Day 3 (Angelica, The Look of Silence): http://film-nut.tumblr.com/post/110960989221/angelica-usa-2015-3-out-of-5-in-19th-century Day 4 (Nasty Baby, The Diary of a Teenage Girl): http://film-nut.tumblr.com/post/111166729426/nasty-baby-usa-chile-2015-2-out-of-5-polly Day 5 (Short Skin, Daniel’s World, Censored Voices): http://film-nut.tumblr.com/post/111474860846/short-skin-italy-2015-2-5-out-of-5-teenager Day 6 (Petting Zoo, I am Michael): http://film-nut.tumblr.com/post/111475600681/petting-zoo-usa-greece-germany-2015-2-5-out-of-5 Day 7 (What Happened, Miss Simone?): http://film-nut.tumblr.com/post/111672412416/what-happened-miss-simone-usa-2015-4-out-of-5 Day 8 (Virgin Mountain, Sworn Virgin, One & Two, Haftanlage 4614, The Fire): http://film-nut.tumblr.com/post/111673251691/fusi-aka-virgin-mountain-iceland-2015-2-5-out-of and I also chose some weekend links: http://film-nut.tumblr.com/post/111746774656/the-weekend-5
Over at delagar, I write about pockets in trousers and the dangers of half-baked thinking in Destroying the World One Analogy at a Time.
Oh — and Crossed Genres has a new issue up: Issue #26 Betrayal. You will be pleased (perhaps!) to hear that we have been called out over on i09 for our practice of “discriminating” against straight white males. What form does this discrimination take, you wonder? Why, we state that we are willing and eager to publish the works of women, and LGBT writers, and writers of color. What is more, we actually do publish works by such writers! Apparently, not publishing works by only straight white males counts as discriminating against straight white males. Who knew!
It’s the commenters who have complained, not io9 itself, right? I thought Tempest Bradford writes a column at io9.
I wrote about the emotional implications of seeking an ASD label as an adult needing academic accomodations: http://t.co/y2JsgIROVd
We wrote about the origins of syphilis. There are quite a few hypotheses, one of which is that Columbus and his crew brought syphilis to Europe, where it spread across a war-torn continent and eventually evolved into the malady we know today. CN for colonialism, sexual assault (i.e., discussion of European explorers who probably would have sexually assaulted the people they encountered in the Carribean in order to import sexually transmitted bacteria back to the Old World). Also, keeping condoms sexy. CN for assuming that a phallus is involved in your sex play. Technically you can snip a condom up to be a dental dam, but I’d love for us to write an actual post on actual dental dams someday …
This week I got annoyed as a male acquaintance berated his teen daughter for ‘wasting time’ putting on makeup. Why are we so comfortable disparaging teen girls? It’s a bit late, but I also compiled a list of last-minute feminist Valentines. I put together some info about black Americans that you might not be hearing about during black history month (but should!). Finally, I’ll be blogging and tweeting for National Eating Disorders Awareness Week – today’s post looks at the ways that eating disorders don’t discriminate.
CN: Politics, religion, racism, homophobia. What’s a SF writer to do when the now is more progressive than her future? Stumbling Toward Progress Food: Hey Angel, What’s for Supper? and Greek Pie CN: MORE Politics and Religion Discussing the similarities between ISIL and the Dominionists in this country. Workflow of a manuscript at Inkstained Succubus (steampunk pirate imagery. It’s our thing, like Torquere’s booze theme) CN: Pain A Productive Day, includes pictures
I wrote about a few different things in the past weeks! Firstly the reasons I think nudity is feminist and the ways we need to deal with revenge porn. Maybe NSFW depending on your workplaces attitude to boobs. https://sergeantpolly.wordpress.com/2015/02/12/theres-no-shame-in-flashing-your-gash/ Then I got my outrage on at the commercials Australians deemed the most offensive in 2014 https://sergeantpolly.wordpress.com/2015/02/19/get-my-complaint-writing-hat/ Finally today’s post deals with brave women and the importance of speaking your mind, even when other feminists disagree with you. There’s swears in the title but it’s safe for the workplace! https://sergeantpolly.wordpress.com/2015/02/26/i-dont-fucking-care-if-you-like-it/