RIP Dixie Carter, whose Designing Women character was "a confounding woman for those who think liberal politics and feminine wiles can't coexist."
Australian Chief Justice Jim Spigelman blames immigrants and "diversity" for sexism. Ah yes, because we all know that white people have never, ever exhibited any sexist tendencies, and an Australia without immigrants would be a feminist utopia.
Obama failed to pass reforms that would have helped millions of low- and moderate-income students attend and finish college.
Is hormone replacement as dangerous as people say it is?
A meditation on dude music.
Looking closer at openly un-retouched celebrity photos.
Pilgrim Soul on her disinterest in the debate over Tina Fey's feminist bona fides.
Modeling "conscious antidiet" as a way of teaching your daughter to both be healthy and love her body.
On the speculation about the sexuality of women on the short-list to replace Justice Stevens on the Supreme Court.
Musician Baby Dee: "I am really inspired by the simplicity and beauty of love. I am a transsexual -- I am a house of mirrors. I am not, by nature, simple... This was a way to allow myself to get into the simplicity of desire that is not accessible to me -- to assume the role of the lover and the beloved."
RaceWire considers the legacy of former L.A. police chief Daryl Gates: "His 14 years as chief, and 30 years on the force prior, lay out all-too-familiar story of policing that targets people instead of actions, and that views some races as inherently more dangerous -- and less valuable -- than others. In other words, police work as war."
Erica Jong's comment that Oprah has "transcended" race actually prove the opposite is true.
"Eco-chic" vagina spray?? Still GROSS.
JK Rowling sticks up for single moms.
Helen parses the results of a project "that asked transgender, transsexual and questioning people to create a message they wanted others to know."
On the niqab debate and ableism.
Is it really all that surprising that blind men have many of the same ingrained beliefs and preferences about women's bodies as men who can see?
Check out all the Women's Health Heroes being featured at Our Bodies, Our Blog.
Chimamanda Adichie on owning stories, telling stories, framing stories.
"When black women say that mainstream publications don't represent us, it goes deeper than there not being enough pictures of or articles by women of color. It's about the larger "ethos" of the publication - and yes, I know that may read like a vague cop-out. Let me put it this way: I sometimes read Glamour magazine, I even sometimes like it but I don't feel like I am the "Glamour woman.""
Cara on the importance of consent in everyday situations.
Finally, love this fairy tale! (via.)
What have you been reading/writing this week?
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Respectfully, I think that's an overreaction on the Australia article.
Quote:
'There are important racial, ethnic and religious minorities in Australia who come from nations with sexist traditions which, in some respects, are even more pervasive than those of the West,'' he [Justice Jim Spigelman] said last night.
So when you say...
Quote:
Ah yes, because we all know that white people have never, ever exhibited any sexist tendencies, and an Australia without immigrants would be a feminist utopia.
It's weird, because when I first read it you sounded like you were sarcastically implying Justice Spigelman thinks that, but hey! he doesn't, as clearly shown in the quote, where he refers to the West's pervasive sexist traditions.
So... why is that on the reader?
This week at Radical Bookworm:
The Male as Male in All His Masculine Male Complexity of Manliness - in which I compare my experiences studying masculinity (awesome!) with the bizarre new "male studies" phenomenon (not awesome!)
Inappropriate Conversation Topics: A Cautionary Tale - in which I sometimes have trouble deciding whether to be offended or amused.
I think I posted this on a "What We Missed" post a few days ago, but it's worth posting again...
I go to Ball State University, and last week we had a big uproar because the campus police sent out a safety alert when two women reported that a man drove by on his bicycle, groped their bottoms, and then taunted them. The student response to this was disgusting, and a Facebook fan page for the perpetrator was created. He now has around 12,000 fans, I believe. The president of the university had to send out an e-mail condemning the unnecessary glorification of the groper. I wrote about it, and got quite a few nasty comments from my fellow students when my blog post got linked on his fan page. Apparently I just "didn't get the joke" about this, and I'm a "sexist feminist" because I thought it was sexual assault.
Anyway, here it is: http://leeraloo.wordpress.com/2010/04/08/university-of-sexism-the-revolting-response-to-the-ball-state-ass-grabber/
Totally agree. It's worth reading the article, because it's content isn't accurately depicted above.
Celebrities releasing unretouched photos doesn't challenge beauty norms, it enforces them. It doesn't say "you don't need makeup or photoshop to be pretty." It says, "I don't need makeup or photoshop to be pretty." It's exactly like the whole "size 2 isn't fat!" thing. Britney Spears and Jessica Simpson are conventially beautiful on their own, and having them release (professionally photographed) unretouched images just rubs that in our faces. And the article above pretty much nails it on the head: they aren't exactly embracing candid paparazzi photos of themselves.
As if J.K. Rowling didn't already have my undying love.
:)
That "conscious antidiet" has a name. It's HAES, and it's something anyone who's read anything in Fat Acceptance will have run into time and again.
That article, while good, would have been better if she'd not written it as if it was an innovative idea that nobody's ever written about before.