-
Recent Posts
Recent Comments
- Spice Girls Feminism: why the third wave needs more than a band-aid | The Hathor Legacy on Can we stop misrepresenting our own movement?
- If you were hacking since age 8, it means you were privileged. « Restructure! on "Check my what?" On privilege and what we can do about it
- Timothy (TRiG) on Girly kissing, raunch culture, and me
- Maybe they deserve to get married « Random Insignificant Things on World of Warcraft: Sexist by Design?
- christopher bowers on "Check my what?" On privilege and what we can do about it
Categories
- Abuse, rape, and domestic violence
- Anti-oppression activism
- BDSM, fetishes, etc.
- Books, magazines, etc.
- Carnivals, Blog Against -ism Days, etc.
- Censorship
- Childfree Issues
- Companies Behaving Badly
- Discrimination
- Features
- Feminism
- Gender essentialism
- Gender issues
- Just plain cool
- Link Blogging
- Media and journalism
- Multiculturalism
- Personal
- Politics
- Popular Culture
- Privilege
- Queer Issues
- Religion
- Science
- Series
- Sex, sexuality, and sexual politics
- Shrub.com Related
- Technology
- Teh Funnay
- The Evil -ism's
- The Gaming Beauty Myth
- Video Games
Archives
Monthly Archives: September 2005
The Ugly Side of "Alternative" Porn
On my thread about NOW’s use of American Apparel (AA) products, I got into a long debate with reader Anika, who felt that I, and many other feminists, had unfairly singled out AA and ignored other companies:
I have yet to see any retailer or manufacturer be subjected to this level of scrutiny – to the extent that a well meaning person such as yourself demands that NOW boycott their products.
Well, just for Anika I have created a new category called “Companies Behaving Badly”. I wanted to call it “Bad Company!” in tribute of a site my mom used to run, but I decided that it sounded too much like a dichotomy that left no room for a mixture of good and bad. So, in honour of my new category, I’ve decided to plough headlong into a critique of another company, Suicide Girls (SG). Continue reading
Newsflash: Religion is harmful to society
Finally, people are researching the claim that I’ve observed anecdotally for years: all this “god” stuff hurts more than it helps. An article in The Times reports on a new study recently published examining the assertion that religion is necessary … Continue reading
Posted in Politics, Pop-science, Religion, Studies
1 Comment
Acknowledging Inersections: MRA's, Feminists, and Gender
Hugo posted on MRA’s (Men’s Right’s Activists) and marriage on his thread, Querying the MRAs about marriage. He quoted a few of his resident MRA posters, and I decided to address a (possibly unintentional) implied undertone to one of the quotes about not wanting to be yet another person’s plaything. To which I asked the semi-rhetorical question, “But, somehow, it’s ok for women to go through this?”
For those of you unfamiliar with MRA’s, they’re men belonging to various specific organizations that focus primarily on men’s rights (or lack thereof) in the family court system. On the surface, it seems like a noble goal. And I’m sure for some in their ranks it is just about achieving equal representation in the way the legal system views divorce and child responsibilities. However, where the disconnect happens for me is that most of the MRA’s I’ve come in contact with have wrongfully blamed feminism, and sometimes Western women in general, for their problems. Continue reading
And the rest was… Silence.
I can’t seem to scrub that “part-time hypocrite” stamp completely off my forehead. I made a personal category, yet I’m still loath to use it. When I first started this blog, I made an “abuse” category. I’ve used it once for its original purpose, and even then it was just posting excerpts from an article because I was too chicken to involve my personal experiences. I don’t want to air my dirty laundry, but what else is having a blog for if not to be a space where I can express my opinions and experiences? Even as I write this, I’m not sure I’ll ever post it.
About seven years ago, I was in the middle of a year and a half long emotionally abusive relationship. Now, anyone who knows me for long enough will likely know that. If it comes up, I mention it. If not, I don’t. But very few, if any, of the people close to me really understand what happened. It is, after all, such a simple thing to say I was abused, but such a hard thing to actually talk about. Continue reading
Posted in Abuse, rape, and domestic violence, Personal
7 Comments
Parents are from Mars, Non-Parents are from Venus
I’ve suffered from yet another Attack of the 50-line Comment, so I decided to make a post about it instead of cluttering Jenn’s comment box. Jenn has done what I’ve come to believe is tantamount to death in many feminist circles: she has spoken up for her rights as a non-parent in her post, baby wars. She was firm in her opinions, harsh (perhaps too harsh) in her judgement, and made the mistake of bringing up breastfeeding. Her criticism of our baby-worshipping cultures brought the attention of Dru Blood, a mother very much concerned about parental rights. If you can stomach the tense exchange, I recommend reading it. Just keep in mind that this post is a general response to the arguments, so I’m not pulling quotes or anything. Anyway, on with the show.
One of the main arguments from the non-parents is that we don’t hate parents (or kids), we hate bad parents. The kinds that refuse to teach or discipline their kids, who let them run wild in inappropriate places (sometimes to the point of endangering the kids and those around them), and who freak out at even the most polite suggestion that they, I don’t know, at least keep an eye on where their children are. Overall, I support this stance; kids are kids and therefore it’s the adult’s responsibility to make sure they’re protected and as well behaved as possible. This is, more-or-less, the stance that Jenn took. Dru, arguing for the parents’ side, pointed out that there’s a fine line between parents trying and failing and not trying at all. In many cases it simply is not easy, or possible, to tell which is which. And, she’s right. If the world were black and white, we wouldn’t need to be having these kinds of conversations. Continue reading
The Gender Similarities Hypothesis
Janet Shibley Hyde is my hero. No, seriously. You may have read about her in the BBC, The Times, or The Guardian. I did (via Mind the Gap) and, for once, the coverage didn’t make me want to beat my head against the wall. But, pop-science is pop-science, no matter how good the reporting may be; if I’m ever in doubt of that all I need to do is read the uninformed opinion espoused by David Schmitt that The Times thought was worthy of printing. Suffice it to say, in order to learn about the article I had to go to the source.
What follows is part summary of Hyde’s paper, part critique of the pop-science articles. I hope to give a better understanding of Hyde’s work while showing how inadequate even good reporting can be when conveying complex ideas such as the gender similarities hypothesis. Unless otherwise noted, all quotations come from Hyde (2005)1. Continue reading
Posted in Gender Democracy, Gender issues, Pop-science, Skepticism, Studies
3 Comments
Complicitly exploiting young women NOW
I was starting to feel bad about dragging my feet in support of NOW (National Organization for Women), but not anymore. Well, I’ll let my letter speak for itself [link added]: I’m a young feminist who has been aware of … Continue reading
Gender: Making a Caste System Into a Democracy
For so long I’ve wanted a good way to articulate the battle feminists wage over gender. Too often we are accused of wanting to make everyone “the same” (aka. “like men”), but that’s neither possible nor, in my opinion, a helpful discourse in any way. People are not the same. Period. It has very little to do with the sex that they are born into and a whole lot to do with their individual traits, which are influenced but not dictated by primary and secondary sex characteristics. Thus far, I’ve used the terms “cult of masculinity” and “cult of femininity” as shorthand for society mandated gender roles, but they reference more the specific traits seen as “essential” to either gender and less the reality of what forcing people to follow these strict gender binaries really is.
Enter a comment on a mostly unrelated post on the feminist LJ community [emphasis mine]:
There are feminists who believe that the way to solve sexism is to do away with gender, but i think a more practical, interesting, and diversity-friendly approach is just to make gender voluntary or democratic, as opposed to the rigid “caste system” we have now, where your gender is determined by a doctor at birth and is seen thereafter as eternally immutable.
[From Not a REAL FEMINIST!!!, comment by sophiaserpentia]
Avast, me hearties!
Ahoy, maties! Grab some grog and listen to me tale. Smartly, bilge rats, lest ye be sent to Davy Jones’ locker! ‘Twas not so long ago when bucaneers ruled the seas and we pirates were swinging the lead. Arr, it … Continue reading
Posted in Popular Culture
Leave a comment
NES = Love
All I have to say is, yum: Old-school gaming is brought to life again with Generation NEX. Via Pandagon.
Posted in Advertising, Video Games
3 Comments
llencelyn
tekanji
Sour Duck
lake-desire
jfpbookworm
Luke
Sigel Phoenix
arielladrake
Katie