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

Tag: Are you serious?

Sagging Pants Do Not Cause Inequality.

Oh Andre Perry. Oh Andre. Let me just say straight up that as a white kid from a tiny town in New Jersey, I’m, like, supremely unqualified to talk about issues in the black community. But even I can tell this is a bunch of impractical horseshit.

GOOD, PLEASE STOP publishing “pragmatic” articles that sound like they were written by a Young Republican. If you’re going to tackle the complex issues that affect black and low-income communities, the least you could do is come up with some solid bullet points that don’t make it sound like you hate poor people.

Is patriarchy dead?

Hanna Rosin wrote yesterday that the patriarchy is dead. And yet, in the world I live in, the patriarchy is far from dead.

The best comment section you will read today

I don’t usually point folks in the direction of right-wing comment sections, but man, this one over at Hot Air about access to emergency contraception is amazing. Background: A federal judge ruled that the law making emergency contraception (referred to variously as Plan B, EC and the morning-after pill) only available without a prescription to young women 17 and over was arbitrary and capricious, and not grounded in any scientific or legally tenable basis. Cue right-wing freak-out. The always incredibly astute and never hysterical AllahPundit started the post off by worrying about the hordes of 13-year-old Plan B addicts trolling pharmacies at midnight looking for their fix (“You don’t want your 13-year-old running around town at midnight looking for a pharmacist on duty just to get hold of some Plan B, do you?”). In other words, “It’s 11pm. Do you know where your kids are? Because they’re probably running around town looking for a pharmacist just to get hold of some Plan B for huffing. D.A.R.E.” Then, of course, the genius commenters joined in. These are all actual comments from Hot Air; I could not make this up if I tried:

Arrested for carrying condoms

Go read this piece about how the NYPD can arrest you for carrying condoms and someone please explain to me in what universe any of this makes sense. Trans and carrying condoms? You must be a prostitute, and condoms are the proof! Wearing a tight t-shirt and carrying condoms? You must be a prostitute, and condoms are the proof! A sex worker who is trying to keep herself safe in her work? You are actually a prostitute, so go to jail, or at the very least get your condoms taken away so your work is more dangerous. The condoms-as-evidence policy serves absolutely no one.

Anat/Phys 101 with Mary Sue McClurkin: The body’s largest organ is the baby

Birmingham, Alabama, is home to a world-renowned teaching and research institution. Discoveries in cancer research, endocrinology, transplant medicine, surgery, and literally dozens of other specialties have significant impact across the globe. Twenty miles south in Pelham, Alabama state Representative Mary Sue McClurkin is stupid as a bucket of hair and thinks a baby is a bodily organ.

Courtship is dead; dating has never been better

My latest in the Guardian about those Women Today trend pieces, and how courtship hasn’t existed for several decades but dating is perhaps better than ever. A bit:

Change is always scary, and I am sure plenty of commentators throughout history whined that the warmth of fire wasn’t as satisfying as body heat, the flushing toilet less authentic than the chamber pot, the buggy not nearly as charming as the covered wagon. But alas, things change; humanity moves forward and adjusts. Young college students “pinning” their girlfriends in the 1950s was not exactly a centuries-old tradition. A more authentic marriage proposal – being sold into matrimony by your father, and taking few rights with you – is one that I’m sure most women are happy to leave behind.