In defense of the sanctimonious women's studies set || First feminist blog on the internet

Shameless Self-Promotion Sunday

zuzu

Sorry this is late, folks! Just got back home a few hours ago; my flight out of Toronto was canceled Sunday night due to Biblical-type weather in New York shutting down the airports. Even though I got on a relatively early flight today, we were still delayed because of air traffic issues. 400 flights at LGA got canceled, so there was lots of traffic to accommodate.

But I had a lovely time, and enjoyed the city immensely; I also got a chance to meet Jenna and A. Pang, and have a wonderful bowl of pho to which I added way too much chili sauce, which made me cough uncontrollably and, I’m sure, turn purple. Note to self: next time, lay off the chili sauce.

And it looks like I missed *all* the fun this weekend!

But on with the self-promotion: This is your chance to leave a link to a post you’re particularly proud of, or think is important, or just would love to share with the class. Don’t forget the description so we know what you’re so het up about.

Link away!

24 thoughts on Shameless Self-Promotion Sunday

  1. In a scary conversation I realised I hadn’t taught my is-12-looks-17 daughter quite as much about protecting herself sexually as I thought I had.

    Parenting Wake-Up Call

    It’s hard to find that balance between not scaring them too much and making sure that they know what they need to know.

  6. I’m doing a series on the Mathematica report on abstinence-only education that came out in the Bush DocuDump™ this Friday. They really should know better than to do that; it gives research wonks and language geeks like me an entire weekend to pore over their stuff… Here’s Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 so far. It’s looking as though I might get as far as five or six parts, once I get around to trashing the study demographics, some of the contentions in the study, and the citations…

    Thanks very much for having this feature, zuzu; I think it’s great and I’m going to start doing it next Sunday, I think.

  12. I’ve never done this before, but here’s my post about why Entourage is both misogynist and boring and why aspiring to be the male version of Sex in the City is pure folly. (scroll past my excited identification of all the guest stars on Sunday’s show for the incisive commentary bit)

  13. I recently got a message from a friend of mine who works for the Red Cross recently returned to Iraq, and he said that the situation for relief agencies there has become more dire than he could have imagined. For many, the agencies inside Iraq and in refugee camps throughout the region are literally the only source of food and potable water. But agencies as diverse as the Red Cross, Muslim Aid, and War Child are running out of money and being forced to cut back on services, even as the number of people in need continue to grow.


    I wrote a post asking people to give, complete with links to the aid agencies’ donation pages    .

    I’m trying to get others to follow suit, either by reproducing my post or by making one of your own that includes links to some of the relief agencies. I think that this will do two things: first and foremost, get a much-needed boost to the relief agencies at a time when they are desperate. Second, I think that inducing people to give, even if it’s as little as $5, has the effect of building the psychological investment that they have the people of Iraq. In other words, it’s a good way of building consciousness. I think that people would be more inclined to push hard for a withdrawl if they had a better idea of the suffering that we’re inflicting by our presence, and that they would be more likely to seek information about Iraq if they felt a little closer to the people there.

  16. Well, I don’t have a blog, but if I did, I’d blog about ageism. I left this comment on your Imus post of a few days back, and I’m going to copy it here to see if you care to respond.

    Ok, this has bugged me for days, so I have to say something. I’m a 51-year-old single mom, my hair started going silver early, and the last two years have been horribly stressful, and it totally shows on my face. I really hate that you think it’s ok to use the word fossil and make the dessicated comment to show that it’s ok. It’s as if I called some woman a nappy-headed ho and then said, oh, sorry, I know that’s racist, but did you see the hair on that ho? I’m sick of the fucking assumptions about me because of my age, I’m sick of being invisible because of my age, I’m sick of being considered dessicated and the assumption that therefore my brain is ossified, too. It’s even worse when it’s summer and the sleeves come off and the tattoos are out there, then suddenly I’m interesting, but as an old woman, I’m not – I have wrinkles, and age spots on my hands, and I’m turning into a dessicated old cadaver and therefore inherently worthless. At what age will you stop aging, have you decided yet? Going to kill yourself rather than get old? Going to stop thinking and go play bridge? Going to spend thousands every year to look as young as you can as long as you can?

    I’m kind of shocked at how disappointed I am. It’s like the safe place you go to get away with the crap you’ve dealt with for 50 years, and suddenly they start making nigger jokes.

  17. Patti,

    I’m sorry you’re so bothered. I acknowledged that the swipe at Imus’s cadaver-like appearance was ageist in the post (and could even be called weightist, given his extreme thinness). I probably shouldn’t have said it, and I apologize for that. That said, I’d like to point out a few things.

    First, characterizing Imus as dessicated is not the same thing as making nigger jokes or calling someone a “nappy-headed ho” among other racial slurs from one’s perch on national radio.

    Moreover, the invisibility that comes along with age is not the same as suffering from racism. Ageism is a distinct concept that encompasses far more than mere invisibility and lack of interestingness (I for one would be far more concerned about loss of autonomy in old age), and it does not reflect well on you that you are making those comparisons.

    Then there’s this:

    At what age will you stop aging, have you decided yet? Going to kill yourself rather than get old? Going to stop thinking and go play bridge? Going to spend thousands every year to look as young as you can as long as you can?

    I’m not sure why you think I’m so vain, or why my vanity would lead me to suicide or plastic surgery. I’m going to be 40 in a bit more than a year, thanks, and have no plans at all to start getting facelifts or, alternatively, just laying down and dying.

    The one concession I make to the aging process, other than moisturizer (which I’d use anyway, having dry skin) is coloring my hair, which started going gray when I was 19. And if it would just come in honest-to-god silver already, I’d stop doing that, too. In the meantime, I enjoy being a redhead, a blonde or a brunette as the spirit moves me.

    Also, your idea that older women “stop thinking and go play bridge” is really, truly ageist. Is that what you think of older women? That they don’t think?

  18. No, I do not think that about older women, I AM an older woman. Your comments made me wonder about what YOU thought about older women, obviously. You used his age (his look of age, actually) as part of your criticism of him – the horrendous things he said had nothing to do with his age. It was an insult using the very fact of his age as an insult. Like saying something was “gay” as an insult, but saying, oh I have nothing against gays, it’s just a word.

    I didn’t weigh ageism the same as racism, obviously. I was taking issue with the way you “acknowledged the swipe” of calling him a fossil – which was to say, gee, I shouldn’t have said that, BUT have you seen him lately, he’s really “dessicated”.

    And I as an aging woman feminist am invisible to YOU, who are not yet “fossilized”. Yes, invisibility is not the same as racism. But, again, you’re comparing, not me. I think you’re vain because you’re expressing contempt for someone who is visible aged. As I am.

    Just expected more from you, that’s all.

  19. And you’re right, I shouldn’t be making such a big deal out of it – it’s only words on the internet, right?

  20. I didn’t weigh ageism the same as racism, obviously.

    Actually, you did. Because all the analogies you used were to racism.

    I was taking issue with the way you “acknowledged the swipe” of calling him a fossil – which was to say, gee, I shouldn’t have said that, BUT have you seen him lately, he’s really “dessicated”.

    He is. And part of it is age, but plenty of young people look like cadavers as well. Plenty of 70-year-olds don’t look dessicated. He does. Was it fair to bring that up? Probably not, and I’ve apologized for doing so.

    And I as an aging woman feminist am invisible to YOU, who are not yet “fossilized”. Yes, invisibility is not the same as racism. But, again, you’re comparing, not me. I think you’re vain because you’re expressing contempt for someone who is visible aged. As I am.

    Again, you’re the one who likened it to “nigger jokes.” I didn’t pull that out of my ass:

    It’s as if I called some woman a nappy-headed ho and then said, oh, sorry, I know that’s racist, but did you see the hair on that ho? . . .

    It’s like the safe place you go to get away with the crap you’ve dealt with for 50 years, and suddenly they start making nigger jokes.

    I’m really not sure what you want from me, since you seem utterly convinced that I don’t see older feminist women. Women who are only a dozen years older than I am. So if you have no further point than to continue to berate me over something I’ve already apologized for, I’d like to resume the topic of the thread.

  23. Right – like I said, I got it. I made a big deal out of something that just wasn’t.

    No, you’re right to call me out for slights. After all, I’m right to call other people out for slights. But I don’t think it’s helpful to speculate that my comment means that I’m so afraid of aging that I’ll kill myself at the first wrinkle.

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