SO much stuff this week!
This entire article about sommeliers in Australia never explains why, in the photo, the one female sommelier is naked, while the men are all in suits.
Catholics in New York take to YouTube to bash pro-choice Gov. Eliot Spitzer.
How the media treat Britney Spears and Amy Winehouse differently than Owen Wilson and Heath Ledger.
DC Comics turns a black superheroine white.
More anti-LGBT bullshit in high schools. This week: Belleville, IL and Gary, IN.
Ve vill suck your period blood! (via.)
Can you believe that some whorish women want to wreck the white purity of their wedding gowns with a low-cut neckline? Horrors!
A new documentary explores what the Bible really says about homosexuality, and ponders why anti-gay sentiment is at the heart of the conservative Christian agenda.
I'm playing the world's tiniest violin for the so-called "angry white male" voting bloc.
A study by the Toronto school board found that "It appears a growing number of young girls are not only being sexually assaulted on campus, but have come to think of it as a normal part of their educational experience." That's incredibly upsetting.
Muslim Hedonist on talking to her daughters about FGM.
This article -- and the entire situation -- is pretty awful. Not only are they charging this woman for homicide for using drugs while pregnant, but the sheriff says her life consisted of "using drugs and having babies." Disrespectful much? Also, a reader sent along an earlier version of the article, which disclosed the woman is HIV-positive, which is totally unrelated to any charges brought against her. It appears they've now deleted the mention of HIV. (Check out our previous posts on drug laws that punish pregnant women.)
Next week the Canadian parliament will debate the "Unborn Victims of Crime Act." Pro-choice talking points are here.
The Bilerico Project has been running profiles of black LGBT people in history.
A Louisiana woman was arrested for a DWI and then brutally beaten by a police officer, who claims she "slipped and fell." (Trigger warning.)
They're marketing Frida Kahlo-brand skin cream? WTF?
A guy actually tried to get mini-silicone implants for his naked-woman tattoo.
An ultra-Orthodox Israeli politician blames gays for earthquakes. Seriously.
Anyone else find it sad that they're airbrushing kids' school pictures?
(Way more below the fold...)
Canadian activist gals Kick Action host a blogging carnival.
The State Department has dropped its completely backwards ban on HIV-positive diplomats.
Italian police seize an aborted fetus.
A University of Michigan dorm is selling shirts that say "Superman that Ho." Stay classy, U of M.
The National Women's Law Center is running a series of posts on women and health care reform.
Next week the UN Commission on the Status of Women will meet, and will be blogged at OpenDemocracy.
Too much light at night apparently may increase your risk of breast cancer. (Is anyone else annoyed by the slew of articles about all the little things that *might* cause cancer? They might as well publish the headline, "Study says sleeping, eating, breathing may lead to breast cancer.")
Kroger will sell Ortho-Cyclen and Ortho-Tricyclen at reduced prices. Yay!
Reader Marina forwarded a casting call for a new VH1 show in which "Girls will be learning lessons on being a better gold-digger and competing to be the best gold-digger." Sounds like this show will be giving Rock of Love a run for its money.
Being happily single is totally normal.
Conservatives are freaked out about what might happen if young girls look at their vaginas.
A bill in Tennessee that would have prevented public elementary school teachers from making any reference to gay people has thankfully died in committee.
And speaking of Tennessee, Tiny Cat Pants took issue with how we handled the outrageous comments about rape made by State Sen. Doug Henry. Her criticism is totally valid, and I just want to take the opportunity to a) apologize to Tennesseans if we've made political life harder for you and b) to encourage all readers that if you see us post on something happening in your state and we don't have the context or nuance right, please email the author of the post and let us know!
A video on representations of gender in hip-hop.
Another gender-nonconforming teen was killed in Charleston, SC, though police say his murder was "not a hate crime." But Feministe has news on another recent incident that was most definitely a hate crime.
North Carolina hospitals send victims the bill for their rape kits. (Wonder if they ever actually process said rape kits?)
I'm all for promoting the love-your-body message to women with big, beautiful back-ends, but popularizing ass injections isn't quite the same thing.
Actions, Events, Etc.
The Small Business Association is considering scrapping a program that promotes woman-owned businesses. NOW has an action item.
Send your own artistic interpretation of the nipple to The Nipple Project.
For those of you in the Atlanta area, check out Jezebel Jam next weekend. It's "a four day multi-disciplinary women's arts & culture festival benefitting Atlanta based domestic violence prevention agencies." Awesome.
Meet Ann Fessler, author of The Girls Who Went Away, at Moore College of Art & Design in Philadelphia.
On March 1, the True/False Film Festival in Columbia, MO is screening Very Young Girls, a documentary about G.E.M.S., an organization that helps young women who are at risk for or involved in sexual exploitation and violence.
Hey Californians: Next week, check out the Davis Feminist Film Festival.
Add your name to UNIFEM's petition to end violence against women.
And lastly, importantly, please send a few good thoughts toward Sara at F-words.
As always, leave your own links in comments!
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Re: Bible and homosexuality
I dont see how anybody can say that the Bible does not explicitly condemn it.
If you want to argue that the Bible is an archaic work that has no relevance to modern society, I'll buy that.
If you want to argue that the bible is not the word of god but instead a collection of racist, sexist ramblings from a bunch of bigots, then I'll buy that too.
If you want to argue that the Bible condemns a lot of trivial things (eating shrimp, wearing clothes composed of different thread types) and that people are being selective about the condemnation of homosexuality, then I'll buy that also.
But I wont buy the explanation that the Bible doesnt really condemn it, but instead uses coded language to refer to other activities besides homosexuality.
My original post had 3 URLs and I just remembered that those get held indefinitely, so I'll split it up into 3 posts:
I just remembered these links too:
http://www.racialicious.com/2008/02/15/not-woman-enough/
"...It is peculiar–in my experience, some white men don’t relate to black women as women. On more than one occaision, at more than one job, a white male co-worker has made comments to me that violate society’s codes of chivalry. What gentleman comments on how old a woman looks? This is not the first time the man in question has made a subtly derogatory comment about my appearance. I have also noticed how his eyes slide distastefully over my natural hair.
"When I began typing this post, I worried that I was overreacting. In the re-telling, the offense seems so petty and maybe subject to interpretation. Maybe it wasn’t about race at all, maybe my co-worker simply finds me haggard looking and is surprisingly untactful. So, I called up a good friend–another black woman–that I can always count on for wise counsel. She understood exactly what I meant about the peculiar state of non-femaleness black women sometimes occupy in the mainstream. It is the weird flip side to the stereotype of the wanton black sexual temptress..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7250458.stm
"...White House hopefuls' daughters were traditionally wallflowers wheeled out occasionally to help project a cosy family image.
"But a new breed is now taking centre stage to harvest the coveted votes of that once elusive demographic, the MTV Generation...
"...Twenty-somethings Chelsea Clinton, Republican front-runner John McCain's daughter, Meghan, and Mike Huckabee's daughter, Sarah, are all making an impact on the stump this year..."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/23/AR2008022300693.html
"When Nina Reiser disappeared in September 2006, investigators suspecting foul play looked long and hard at her estranged husband, the computer genius Hans. Eccentric, awkward and notoriously difficult as a human being, Hans Reiser proved quite accommodating when it came to providing clues...
"...But his attorneys cast it as evidence of an innocence peculiar to Hans, a computer programmer so immersed in the folds of his own intellect that he had no idea how complicit he was making himself appear..."
I've long thought that the media had a bit of a gross obsession with young women in Hollywood engaging in self-destructive behavior, but I hadn't thought about the double standard. While I'm not sure the Amy Winehouse-Heath Ledger comparison is entirely accurate (part of the reason, I think, people didn't want the video of Ledger shown is because of how recent his death has been. Winehouse is still very much alive) but the comparison between Brittney Spears and Owen Wilson is pretty much spot on.
And I'm also sick about all of the things that "might" cause cancer. (Oh, and there was a headline a couple of days ago that said sleeping could be a sign of an increased chance of stroke!)
That Angry White Men article is like, the most pathetic thing...
Re: For the Bible Tells Me So
This movie played at an indie theatre near my college campus back in November and it's VERY enlightening (and funny--they use cartoons to illustrate a lot of points). If you get the chance to see it, you definitely should. I saw it for extra credit in a Religious Studies class, but it's great to see just for your own interest as well.
Pleasing comic:
http://xkcd.com/387/
And the essay about the mother's explanation of FGM was really well done.
As always, thank you.
xkcd rocks!
And the angry white man rant was scary enough when I thought that it was a letter to the editor, but at the bottom, it says that the author is a regular columnist. Liberal media, my left one.
"And the essay about the mother's explanation of FGM was really well done."
I agree. I also just found this:
http://allafrica.com/stories/200802210106.html
"Uganda: Female Circumcision Bill in Offing
"New Vision (Kampala)
"20 February 2008
Posted to the web 21 February 2008
"Barbara Among
"Kampala
"A Bill that seeks to criminalise female genital mutilation was presented in Parliament yesterday. If enacted, a person found guilty of engaging in the practice is liable to imprisonment of between seven to 10 years or a fine of not less than sh1m..."
I just found this abortion comic from 1973, which I thought everyone here might find interesting.
Damn, that Aspen Times piece of shit is one of the most reactionary things I have read in some time. I especially love the whining insinuation that hateful, angry white dudes are actually the mainstream. And that most of those nasty female/non-pale folk ARE "looking for anything from anyone."
It's only a level playing field if AWM can always count on running downhill.
Wait. No, actually, that article really pissed me off. Now I AM an angry white dude. Thanks, Aspen Times!
wow. that abortion comic from 1973 is incredible. even more so... the "who killed junior" comic that is linked to from the same page. geez. i particularly loved the image of knife in uterus chopping up baby. [sigh]
as for other contributions, i don't have any links to stuff i've found, but i've been making my own comics on feminism/sexism stuff. (you can find them here.) they're all more than one page, though, so not as quick a read as xkcd. only three so far (7 pages total), but more in the works.
wormulus, for some reason that link doesn't seem to work for me.
did i somehow mess up that link? man. i'm sucking with the html today
link to my comics
That Angry White Male piece was sucha load of crap. Self righteous and reactionary. Amazing how people write so their readers can puff their chests out and swell with pride, at the thought of "thats right, don't mess with me or my kind, womenz".
AND how can the "angry white man" be part latino or mexican, yet still regard himself as White Men. How does the writer know this?
Are they and everyone else supposed to be eager to join the previledged ranks of white males?
Suppressing the urge to vomit over the Angry White Male manifesto (did anyone else find it hilarious that one of the paragraphs literally started with, "He's not a racist, but..."?), stomach in knots over the FGM one.
Also, my mom had my school pictures airbrushed one year. I didn't even find out about it until they came in the mail and my face was solid Silly Putty color, no spots of any kind. I'm pretty sure that if you asked her today, she still wouldn't be able to tell you why I was bothered. Crazy.
Re: Bible and Homosexuality
No one is saying that the bible DOESN'T condemn homosexuality, what people are pointing out is that Leviticus condemns a lot of shit that for some reason fundamentalist Christians choose to ignore. He's right in saying that one verse down eating shellfish is also an abomination and yet there are probably plenty of fundies who enjoy them some shrimp but no one is waiving signs around that they should be put to death or that they're going to burn in hell. The bible condones slavery, so would it be okay for me to snatch one of my neighbors kids and "own" them? No, it wouldn't. I'm wearing pants right now, that's also a no-no according to biblical law. If we don't follow those rules anymore, why the fuck are they [the fundies] still so hung up on the gays?
re: living single
I enjoyed that a lot. I'm currently single and sometimes wonder if I am "normal" and if everyone else is doing something I'm supposed to be doing, like clubbing and partying or whatever. Much like when I started finding child-free communities there is something to finding that you really aren't the only one and there's nothing wrong with you:)
1 more article:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/02/23/girl.saves.siblings.ap/index.html
"...As flames consumed her home and prevented her parents from rescuing her and two younger siblings, a quick-thinking 12-year-old girl saved the other children Saturday by kicking out a second-story window and helping them down, firefighters said.
"Derrionna Adams then leaped 15 feet to safety, East St. Louis Fire Chief William Fennoy said.
"'She kicked the window out and stepped up onto the roof of the first floor and was able to pull her two siblings out,' Fennoy said. 'This was a blessed day.'..."
That angry white man piece was sheer Comedy Gold!
A University of Michigan dorm is selling shirts that say "Superman that Ho." Stay classy, U of M.
I really liked that song. I thought it was cool and the dance was fun and I just really liked it. I had no idea what it was saying -- like, literally, I could only catch a couple words that sounded like English. 'Soldja Boy' and 'Superman' were pretty much it. Also "I got me some babymakers" which I thought was kind of dumb, but not as overtly offensive, as say, 'Bitches Ain't Shit', for instance.
Yesterday, I saw a comic on Married to the Sea that mentioned it and I thought, "No way is that what it's about!" So I looked it up and that IS what it's about. In my defense, I am very naive.
Don't forget, though, that God does hate shrimp.
In the article about looking at vaginas they mention It's Perfectly Normal- I bought the book and love it, although my son's not old enough for it yet so it hasn't been, um, road-tested as a parenting tool. BUT I did just read a really interesting book called Sperm Counts by Lisa Jean Moore. She uses the book as an example of how kids' body and sex books give sperm and eggs weirdly gender stereotyped anthropomorphic characteristics. It was a really interesting read, showing how we impose social ideas onto biology.
Can we please stop referring to vulvas as vaginas? These are two different things. Calling a vulva a vagina is like calling an arm an elbow.
Angry white male? Seriously? I have seldom read such crap in years. My favorite bit has to be that our poor AWM isn't opposed to kill people who need killing. I'm assuming the AWMs get to decide who it is who needs killing.
somebody call the waaaaaaaahmbulance for the Angry White Male.
somebody call the waaaaaaaahmbulance for the Angry White Male.
Wow. I just watched the hip hope and masculinity video, and I have to say, it's incredible. I highly recommend it!
(ungh. typo. *hip hop. though... an interesting freudian slip)
another article:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/health/bal-chemo0223,0,7856129.story
"A woman who had her medical coverage canceled as she was undergoing treatment for breast cancer has been awarded more than $9 million in a case against one of California's largest health insurers.
"Patsy Bates, 52, a hairdresser from Lakewood, had been left with more than $129,000 in unpaid medical bills when Health Net Inc. canceled her policy in 2004.
"On Friday, arbitration judge Sam Cianchetti ordered Health Net to repay that amount while providing $8.4 million in punitive damages and $750,000 for emotional distress..."
Thanks for pointing out the Bilerico Project's month long series for Black History Month focusing on LGBT people. Several of our contributors have participated with great posts and the NBJC has provided a personal profile every day.
Since next month is Women's History Month, we'll be doing the same thing with bi, lesbian and trans women.
We keep a special block in the middle column for the month to let readers catch some of the posts they may have missed.
Again, thanks for pointing us out.
Hey, I killed a man in Memphis, just to watch him die, and I wasn't even angry at him.
I was white, though....
Angry White Male? What a crock of shit. My ex-husband thought that the most picked on person is the white male. He made comments like, "Some women are such bitches, they don't deserve equal rights." I asked him what made him think he was entitled to equal rights. Of course, he didn't get it. He seemed to think that women should only be allowed equal rights as a favor, but men are automatically entitled to them just by being born male. He made similar comments about minorities.
The Angry White Man owns firearms, and he’s willing to pick up a gun to defend his home and his country. He is willing to lay down his life to defend the freedom and safety of others, and the thought of killing someone who needs killing really doesn’t bother him.
Wait, has the AWM told you recently how big his dick is? Really, it's huge. And don't tell him any differently, 'cause he has various firearms that he's not afraid to use (not that he has to use them to prove he's a man - have you heard how big his dick is???).
That article made my week.
Here's some misogynist ads from the past.
http://www.asylum.com/2008/02/19/real-ads-really-disturbing/
(Just don't read the comments. Yeah, "blah blah blah Political Correctness ruined everything blah blah blah I wouldn't mind seeing women beaten up in ads blah blah blah hey you want persecution, check out how dumb men are in sitcoms blah blah blah." I get it now. Stop whining, you easily offended, over privileged man-children.)
I just, uh, really haven't got past the fact that the AWM article wasn't satire. I mean... seriously? "Women love him or hate him but they know he's a MAN"? "I'm not a racist, but..."? "If you drowned in Katrina it's because you SUCK!"?
Meh. Cassie has a point, I think - it really would've saved everyone a lot of time if the writer had just written "MY PENIS IS ENORMOUS, HONEST" in big letters.
re: wedding dresses being sexy. Is this really a new thing? Both of my friends who've been married in the past year have gone with somewhat sexy dresses (one was in a strapless ballgown - classic but certainly not sexless and the other was in a halter dress) and I'm going with a slinky sheath for my wedding next year - showing as much cleavage as I can get out of my little boobs. My wedding, my right, lol.
In my browsing I haven't really seen any dresses that were too demure - even dresses with a higher neckline are form fitting through the waist and hip area.