The BBC responded to the misogynist myth-busting thing about men and women talking the same amount, with a stupidly misogynist piece about "the words women use that men don't". Their "tongue in cheek" (i.e. no complaining about it, it's supposed to be funny) list includes such gems as "Afghanistan", "pomegranate" and "why"...

I thought those Australian ads were pretty funny.

A case of an author taking Jane Austen's style and period but doing something fantastically different with it is Susannah Clarke's Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. Obviously it's a far cry from the Austen-tatious chick-lit the article was talking about, but I thought I'd mention it as an alternative.

The Laura Bush bit is really confounding. Of course we'd assume she knows her husband, the president, threatened to *veto* the HIV Prevention Act, but then, why not comment on that incongruity in their positions? Why no word like, "I believe he's wrong for wanting to do that"? One hates to suspect that she didn't know his intentions, but that omission really leaves it open, so instead of being the cool "our political positions don't always match, and I'm not afraid to speak my conscience to the media" gesture, we're left wondering if she actually knows what's going on. Annoying.

Also weird is the way the Austen article ended:

By phone, Sullivan said the trick is finding balance. "You can go too far" in Austen fantasy, she said. "That's one of the lessons of 'Northanger Abbey': that you can go too far with books, get far too lost in the fantasy. You need to keep things in perspective."

Um, wasn't the point that people are too distracted by the trappings (clothes, naive romantic fantasies) and so missed the social commentary and irony? That women living in a more fortuante generation think of Austen's life simplistically, as if she wasn't a progressive who might have no respect for their still living unexamined (retro?) status-quo lives, content with heroes and fluffy skirts in a system that wasn't fair to her and other women? So the point would seem to be not "finding balance" for all those intoxicating things at all, it's simply reading the book with a critical eye and not watching it on TV...

In linguistics, I've heard that other studies have shown that men are even more talkative than women, on average. Which could be related to their power, because I've also learned that they interrupt women more than vice versa. Either way, it's just ridiculous that people are so convinced that women talk more. And is it just me, or is BBC misogynistic?

An Australian campaign tries to combat speeding by questioning manhood.

Hah! I use a version of that evertime I hear some idiot rev his engine trying to sound cool. "Yeah, yeah, we know you have a small dick, so shut up already!"

An Australian campaign tries to combat speeding by questioning manhood

Thats the stupidest thing Ive ever heard. Yes, penis size certainly is as important as saving lives, isnt it? “Don’t slow down so you dont kill anyone, but to make sure they don’t think you have a little cock�. Oh but wait, why bother questioning why previous ads had no affect when we can just blame it on video games. Never mind that there is this cool-car-culture that I see 99% of my male friends, and some female ones too, being suckered into. Just like binge drinking.

And I fell for neither of them, yet I play lots of video games.

And I wonder if they have any ideas on any completely unrelated methods of getting female speeders to slow down?

Ms. Alsanea’s book and the controversy surrounding it sound fascinating. I feel for her that she has to represent her culture in such a monolithic way. That said, I probably won't read it; life is to short for women-oriented lit without sex.

Those Austrailian ads sound hilarious. I de facto assume all men with super awesome cars that need to rev the are men trying to make up for something. And I am not particularly a member of the wanters of giant cocks group.

Yeah, I thought there was something wrong with the way they just threw video games in there. But I do think people speed to be cool (I got crap for not speeding, but it was *kind* of ok because I'm female), so when I saw this ad I really thought it might have an effect on guys who speed. Obviously not on women, but we don't know if women speed as much. Not that women would never want to speed or never do, but they might be less pushed by their gender stereotype to do it. That's the problem with this ad - that it uses an appeal to masculinity to stop an action that stereotyped masculinity encourages in the first place. But I feel like dismantling that stereotype is so difficult and requires so much time to elapse that it's not really worth it to oppose this ad. I think it might work.

With regards to the school segregation article, I think this sums it up for me:

The brief cites an old southern saying that sums up the fears of the day: "The key to the schoolroom door is the key to the bedroom door."

It also went on to say that in those segregated classes the white girls were taught to be wives and mothers while the black girls were taught to be servants. Joy. I'm happy I'm no longer in the public school system but I fear for my niece who has yet to really go through it.

In linguistics, I've heard that other studies have shown that men are even more talkative than women, on average. Which could be related to their power, because I've also learned that they interrupt women more than vice versa. Either way, it's just ridiculous that people are so convinced that women talk more.

Yup. A good article that was around long before this study is here. There's also an older study showing that men interrupt women more, and that men communicate with women in a manner similar to how adults communicate with children. I also found this tidbit in a law journal analyzing the racial composition of juries:

"Research shows that in mixed gender groups men typically talk more than women, interrupt women, and use conversation to exercise control. The more numerous men are on a jury, the more likely they may be to pursue gender-linked agendas that emphasize male role concerns. For evidence of greater male activity and control in mixed gender situations, groups, and juries, see John E. Baird, Sex Differences in Group Communication: A Review of Relevant Research, 62 Q.J. Speech 179, 181 (1976) ("Males used more words, talked more often, and, in mixed groups, interrupted females more frequently than females interrupted them."); Deborah Tannen, You Just Don't Understand 77 (1990) (arguing that men use conversation as a means of maintaining status in a "hierarchical social order," whereas women see conversation as a way of establishing rapport)."

And is it just me, or is BBC misogynistic?

Yes. In fact, I find them worse than any mainstream American news outlet besides Fox.

I just think everyone should see this picture that I found on someone's myspace.com page. Also, be aware that the person who posted this is female. I don't understand how people think an image like this, a girl that passes out drunk with her boobs hanging out and wearing a revealing short skirt, is funny. This ad implies that it's okay to take advantage of a passed out girl...not to mention that it's funny, and we're supposed to thank all the alcohol companies (thank you, Senor Cuervo? My ass!) for helping create this? When will this end? And when will myspace layout pages stop reinforcing this? It pictures like this that give people like Bill O'Reilly the fuel and audacity to blame female victims of rape and murder. BULLSHIT!

...click on fiery_lil_redhead and this bad picture I was talking about shows up.

Thanks, ponies and rainbows! I can't wait to look at those articles.

I have to say, the way you framed the article about the anti-choice protester bothers me a little. I wrote about this more extensively in my own blog, but in short: it wasn't a case about the merits of the protester's opinion, but about whether or not the police were ignoring his constitutional rights when they arrested him for trespassing. The guy may be a maniac, but he does still have a right to make his case in court, which is what this appeal win allows him to do.

I have to say, the way you framed the article about the anti-choice protester bothers me a little. I wrote about this more extensively in my own blog, but in short: it wasn't a case about the merits of the protester's opinion, but about whether or not the police were ignoring his constitutional rights when they arrested him for trespassing. The guy may be a maniac, but he does still have a right to make his case in court, which is what this appeal win allows him to do.

It is, however, rather suspect that the Sixth Circuit panel reversed the dismissal of the Section 1983 case of a pro-forced birth protester of all people. Section 1983 actions generally are very hard to get beyond the 12(b)(6) stage (especially in the Sixth Circuit, where I live), because plaintiffs have to show not only that there was a constitutional violation, but that that violation violated "clearly established" law. This generally means that they have to show that there is an in-circuit (or preferably, Supreme Court) precedent that is directly on point establishing the violation. Courts often apply virtually neurotic standards in determining whether a violation is "clearly established". From what the article (from my local centre-to-far-right paper) says, it's rather amazing that the dismissal wasn't summarily affirmed.

More on Laura Bush:
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/07/04/laura-bush-abstinence/

She just completed a tour of Africa, so it would be hard to believe that she doesn't know what is going on with her husband, abstinence-only, and the emergency funds.

My understanding of the AIDS crisis in Africa is that 1) the myth that it can be cured by having sex with a virgin spreads it; and 2) married women lack the ability to tell their husbands to wear condoms, and most of their husbands cheat. Ergo, your highest risk factor of AIDS is: being married.

Condoms should be a bipartisan issue, with the pro-lifers and the sex-positive people all backing it.

The Australian anti-speeding ad can be viewed here on YouTube.

Previous examples of anti-speeding ads are here and here .