Via Media Matters, I see that CNN contributor and RedState editor Erick Erickson was tweeting douchtastic last night.

I'm not going to link to his account, but it seems that the Twitter-feminist bashing has continued into today - complete with hackneyed comments about Birkenstocks, hairiness and having no sense of humor. I'm betting a tweet about castration is well on its way.

Via Feministe.

After all the controversy surrounding Focus on the Family's ad featuring Tim and Pam Tebow - this commercial seems somewhat...well, meh.

Transcript after the jump

Outside of the inexplicable tackling (ha!), this ad doesn't really say much of anything. In fact, it seems like it really just serves to promote Focus on the Family's website - where, of course, you'll find all sorts of anti-choice rhetoric including an interview where Tebow's father speaks about "weeping over the loss of millions of babies in America that were never given a chance."

But really, I have the same question that Jesse does: "[I]f the anti-choice position is so true, so mainstream and so critical to the future of our nation, why did Focus on the Family spend $2.5 million to avoid saying anything whatsoever about it?"

By now, unless you've lived in a cave or have Sprint as your cell phone carrier, you've heard all there is to be heard about "sexting" and all of its controversies. The main problem, it seems, is the legality behind it, and that many teens with significantly older significant others are sending racy text messages and pictures of themselves to those, and as a result, those photos and text messages might be publicized, begging the question of what constitutes child pornography, and what is a private matter between lovers.

There are also those who are worried that the main problem is that teens are sexuality active, or that they're starting to think about sex way too early. For some, "sexting" is sort of like the marijuana of drugs - it's a gateway to many others deeds that are bad for you - you know, like - I don't know, physical intimacy and exploration between two consenting partners.

I'm sensing an anxious masculinity theme for the Superbowl commercials this year. I mean, we get it, dudes: You're worried about being castrated by lavender scented candles and shopping with your lady friend. Go kill something, quick! And for the love of god, stop being nice to your girlfriend.

Amanda's take on this one is dead on: "The way for a man to regain his balls/spine, suggested the ad, was to get a Flo TV so that he could passively-aggressively watch his game while pointedly ignoring his wife on their outing while technically obeying her overbearing feminine demands he's powerless to resist openly. "

Transcript after the jump

People are always surprised when I talk about how much I loved my high school, that is unless they also attended the Boston Arts Academy (BAA). Yes, I entered high school a pro-life Christian fundamentalist, and I didn't come out as transgender until well into college, but besides being a teenager high school was one of the best experiences of my life.

BAA is an urban public high school for the visual and performing arts. Students audition for their arts major to get into the school, but previous academic success is not part of the admissions process. The school is racially and economically diverse, and students bring a range of academic experience and achievement. About half the day is spent in non-tracked academic classes and the rest is spent studying one's art major. Getting to do something I love for so much of the school day helped make high school a place I wanted to be (staff literally has to kick students out of the building hours after the school day ends). The school strives to link arts and academics so student artistic achievement can translate into other areas as well. And they're doing a great job - the school has a 94% college acceptance rate, pretty much unheard of among schools with a similar socioeconomic breakdown in this grossly underfunded district.

Linda Nathan, the school's founding headmaster, has written a book that outlines her experience of the creation and growth of BAA. Reading The Hardest Questions Aren't on the Test: Lessons from an Innovative Urban School brought back so many memories and emotions for me. I was sometimes moved and inspired, sometimes enraged, just like when I was at BAA. The book highlights the deliberate process of asking the right questions that has informed every major decision at the school. While gaining insight into how BAA was formed I also realized the degree to which students were encouraged to question as well. This is dangerous: the idea of encouraging young people to ask the hard questions probably scares a lot of educators who would expect rebellion. And yes, BAA can be a contentious community, but it is very much a community. Students, teachers, and staff feel an ownership of the school that creates a powerful learning community where everyone works and grows together. This is education for liberation, what I believe public education should be.

Ah, Superbowl commercials - you can always count on them for feminist fodder.  Throughout the day, we'll be bringing you the best (the worst?) of the Superbowl's commercials - including, of course, the Focus on the Family ad that's been the center of so much controversy.

Brace yourselves.

This first ad, "Man's Last Stand," is one of my favorites...

I will blame women for "making" me be a halfway decent human being. I will whine about having to do things like working, being considerate, and cleaning up after myself. And because I do all this, my unfortunate partner will be forced to listen to me insist that getting the kind of car I want is necessary for my penis' very life.

Transcript after the jump

These kinds of stories leave me completely baffled at the competency of the judicial system. (Warning: Story may be triggering.) Via the Curvature, we find a horrendous case where three judges refused a woman protection from her ex-boyfriend in fear of her and her son Wyatt's life -- not a month later, the man murdered the 9-month old boy before he committed suicide.

In the midst of a custody battle between Katie Tagle and Stephen Garcia, Tagle was trying to get supervised visitation with Garcia. She then requested an emergency restraining order against him after he sent her a text message threatening to kill her and her son. When Tagle didn't have hard proof of the texts for Judge Debra Harris because her phone was off, the emergency order was denied and a hearing was set. At the hearing, Judge David Mazurek not only denied the restraining order, but completely dismissed the fact that Garcia had physically attacked and said they should "work together":

"If I grant the restraining order, how do you think that's going to help with respect to you two being able to raise Wyatt together or work together to make sure Wyatt grows up happy and healthy?" the judge asked, according to the transcripts.

"I kind of get an idea of what's going on," Mazurek said. He denied the restraining order, saying, "I don't think that Mr. Garcia poses a threat to Ms. Tagle." Mazurek went on to suggest Tagle might have ulterior motives for alleging domestic violence. "I get concerned when there's a pending child custody and visitation issue and in between that, one party or the other claims that there's some violence in between. It raises the court's eyebrows because based on my experience, it's a way for one party to try to gain an advantage over the other," he said, according to the transcripts.

A day after the hearing, Garcia sent Tagle an email with a "story" about their relationship in which there are two endings: one with the woman returning to the man, and the other with the man killing their child. After rushing to Mazurek with the email, he then gave Tagle a restraining order. But alas, a third judge, Judge Robert Lemkau, refused to uphold the order 10 days later and forced Tagle to give Wyatt to Garcia for visitation. Wyatt was killed nearly two weeks later.

Check out the details to see exactly how this all went down. But when it comes down to it, there were three judges, and multiple incidences of violence as well as threats of murder. Just what is there to question? Cara has some great thoughts on this and the larger issue of a system that perpetuates the notion that women simply can't be trusted.

Information overload this week! So many links:

The HPV vaccine has been approved for boys!

What the Facebook doppelganger meme means for people of color.

Attorney General Eric Holder on the "macho bravado" that leads to wars.

Healthy sexuality is a human right.

Smacking down Asian fetishism.

A new court ruling says gender identity disorder qualifies as medical care under the Internal Revenue Code, and is therefore deductible.

Johnny Depp, rape apologist.

Jill takes apart the new study that says abstinence-only education works.

Tami on Haiti and the exploitation of people of color.

What women have to do with the recent dip in unemployment numbers.

Claire Messud on the "habitual--and primarily lazy--cultural expectation that male writers are somehow more serious, more literary, or more interesting."

Did Bikini Kill change your life? A new blog archives stories of people inspired by the band.

By far my favorite plenary at Creating Change so far, the Youth of Color Panel featured young leaders speaking to the priorities of the communities they represent. Kai Wright did an excellent job giving these folks space to share perspectives that are outside the mainstream of the LGBT movement. They articulated a vision that moves beyond marriage to the issues that actually impact their lives. Some highlights from the panel, which had the crowd whipped up like no other large session, after the jump.

Selly Thiam is the founder and executive producer of None on Record, a sound documentary project that collects the stories of QLGBT Africans from the African Continent and the Diaspora. Selly, who is of Senegalese descent, was born and raised in Chicago. She came out in high school, and found herself searching for women like her - West African lesbian women - but couldn't find any. Her search for people who shared her intersectional experiences led her to community organizing and activism and, ultimately, to None on Record.

Thiam started None on Record in 2006 in response to the murder of a Sierra Leonean QLGBT activist, and since then, Thiam and her colleagues have collected thousands of oral histories from all over the world. The first None on Record satellite project was launched in Canada, and there are now additional satellites in Johannesburg, Dakar, and will soon open one in Nairobi. The goal of these satellites, Thiam says, is to enable people to collect their own local oral histories, and to create their own archives. You can listen to some of those oral histories - some of which are absolutely stunning - here.

And now, without further ado, the Feministing Five, with Selly Thiam.