Just the headlines today, folks:
New York Times: Till Children Do Us Part
Zuky: Ongoing Echoes from the Women of the Long House
Muslimah Media Watch: Hope from Whom and for Whom? Palestine as a Muslim Cause
Feministe: Woman Set on Fire Outside Strip Club
Awesome & Fabulous: "The Last Bastion of Acceptable Sexism"
Salon: The great girl gross-out
Nicholas Kristof: The Senate discovers women
What About Our Daughters: Dear Jonesboro Dance Team, You Are Not Sluts
Bitch: Taking Gender Discrimination to the Cleaners
Trevor's Blog: ABC Squashes Ugly Betty
The Curvature: South Dakota Fails in Abortion Ban; Attempts Death by a Thousand Cuts
Women's eNews: Court Groping Case Revives Jr. High Memories
Questioning Transphobia: Kim Petras
Bust: The Lonely Soldier
The American Prospect: Why Ledbetter Isn't Enough
Comments from Left Field: Stumped Anti-Abortionists Strike Back
Sociological Images: Refining fine art
NPR: Justice Rehires Attorney Fired Amid Gay Rumor
Boing Boing: Make Love not Porn
Aunt Jemima's Revenge: Is This Art?
New York Times: Wrenching Film Poses Marketing Challenge
Muslimah Media Watch: Rachida Dati's Rise and Fall
Women's eNews: Gillibrand Is a Gal to Nearly Gush Over
Racialicious: To Gloria: Ching Chong. Love, Amy Sedaris
Kay Steiger: Secretary of State or Sexy Crimefighter?
AlterNet: Repealing the Global Gag Rule Is Only the First Step
Global Comment: That's DR. Biden to You
Pandagon: Romantic comedies slipping into caveman territory
Female Impersonator: "Pregnant women get the crazy all up inside them"
Art of the Possible: Is Obama backing away from overturning DADT?
NPR's Fresh Air: Antony Hegarty's Otherworldly Sound
XX Factor: For Women, Good Jobs Depend on Good Contraception ... and Yet ...
Jill Filipovic, Comment is free: For feminists, the time is now
TransGriot: Peruvian Neighborhood Watch Attacks Transwoman
Get Involved
What Tami Said: Call for submissions: Second annual Women's History Month blog carnival
What About Our Daughters: Best Buy Wants Your Daughters to Shake Their "Money Makers" and "Move B*tch!"
Plus, check out the events calendar! (And click here to add an event.)
As always, leave links to what you've been reading/writing in comments...
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The article on the Jonesboro Dance Team was really patronizing and condescending. Probably not the best way to advise young women to listen to what "adults" have to say.
I agree with you completely. I share views with her on pretty much everything, but what I guess was supposed to be humor was just insulting.
I agree! That was one of the most infuriating things I've ever read on a feminist website. It almost seemed purposely anti-feminist.
I felt the exact same way! Not only did I find that intensely patronizing, but it seemed like the focus was misplaced. It wasn't, 'it is wrong that you are being publicly shamed for acting in a sexual manner when it most likely would have been considered funny if males had done the same,' it was more like, 'your parents should have hit you for dressing in such a way that would allow society to shame you, because if they don't respect you, its your own fault. Parents need to teach their girls not to be sluts.'
The word 'slut' disgusts me all on its own. The definition seems to be any female who does or seems likely to have a lot of sex based on standards that she did not set.
You all are absolutely right!
The post on the Jonesboro Dance Team was nothing more than "slut shaming" - the author totally joined in on the attacks on those young women.
Those young women are being attacked for doing their job - entertaining the fans at a high school event by dancing in an entertaining way.
Instead of being praised for their talent and creativity, they are being attacked in a flat out sexist way!
As for the "What About Our Daughters" post, the author was not only insulting to those women and anti feminist, she also was guilty of romanticizing Black America's past.
There are a LOT of African American writers who do that - they go on about the "good old days" and endlessly insult the Black youth of today.
Of course, the "good old days" were the days of Jim Crow Segregation!
At a time when Black youth are under attack in this country, it sickens me to see yet another post glorifying the "good old days" of Jim Crow - when, according to these tales, Black parents were allowed to beat their children into submission, lest they "embarrass the race" in front of White people.
I hate narratives like that - not only are they historical lies, but they insult the youth of today and rub salt in the very real wounds of slavery and segregation that still haunt African America.
That was a truly awful post!
And to the Jonesboro Dance Team - keep ya head up, sistas!!!
I'm with you. The patronizing tone and 'In ancient times' conceit of the piece quickly grew tiresome and she lost me entirely when she suggested these girls needed to be beaten with sticks until they knew better. I agree that it's up to the parents and teachers to set limits, but wrapping that message in condescension and tedium doesn't help anybody.
It's also not an isolated incident. When I was substitute teaching in MA I sat in a on a dance class where the girls were practicing a hip hop routine heavily influenced by strip clubs. I was appalled. I have nothing against exotic dancers, but it's wholly inappropriate for teenage girls to perform at a school function. I asked the girls about it and they were insistent that their REAL teacher was ok with it, as well as the profanity heavy mix accompanying them. This is why I don't substitute teach any more.
We obviously have different feeling about the word slut. As for the article, I didn't agree with all of it, but I think it was intended to be sarcastic more than condescending.
Yes yes yes! That article was horrible!
While reading it I couldn't tell if the author was trying to be sarcastic or was just a complete ass. Either way it was just bad.
I haven't read the articles yet but the fact that a journalist would write "Till Children Do Us Part" is sad. "Till" means a drawer, like a money drawer. "'Til" is short for "until". I know it's nit-picky but shit, people!
I know fully well that there are probably errors in this very paragraph, but still. I'm not a journalist.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/till[1]
Also, journalists generally don't write their own headlines.
I swear to god they taught us that in English!
I stand pwned!
Am I missing something? Because that link seems to say that "till" was an old scottish word meaning "to," and "til" or " 'til" means until. Its not a very clear dictionary entry though, it could stand be expanded, with examples.
FYI: when there is a [1] appearing after the word in a dictionary, that is a clue that there are other meanings for that word. :)
From American Heritage dictionary:
Till
PREPOSITION: Until.
CONJUNCTION: Until.
ETYMOLOGY:
Middle English, from Old English til, from Old Norse
Usage Note:
Till and until are generally interchangeable in both writing and speech, though as the first word in a sentence until is usually preferred: Until you get that paper written, don't even think about going to the movies.·Till is actually the older word, with until having been formed by the addition to it of the prefix un-, meaning "up to." In the 18th century the spelling 'till became fashionable, as if till were a shortened form of until. Although 'till is now nonstandard, 'til is sometimes used in this way and is considered acceptable, though it is etymologically incorrect.
oops my bad. already resolved that issue.
Polytechnique: Is the first major film about the massacre of 14 women and instead of being told from their point of view it is told through the lens of the male survivors.
Looking at Feminist2pt0 and the Feminist Web: Looking the list of the top 30 feminist blogs and what it reveals about hierarchy.
Boo Yaa Its almost period time: A frank discussion of menstruation and how it changes as we age.
The invisible mother: Looking at the ways in which motherhood is understood differently by race.
I wrote about experiencing sexism when refinancing my house
http://mzbitca.wordpress.com/2009/02/07/just-another-little-bit-of-sexism/
I've got a post about lesbians and hair, as well as what's at stake for queer rights opponents. I've also been thinking a lot about Renee's post about identifying as a womanist. (Hi, Renee!)
For some reason the above link won't allow me to add an event to the calendar.
In case anyone is in the Seattle area from the 12th-14th, however, the Women's Action Commission (WAC) and the University of Washington's chapter of VOX: Voices for Planned Parenthood will be presenting their annual production of The Vagina Monologues starting 8 p.m. in the HUB Auditorium each night. Tickets are $5 for students, $6 for faculty and staff, and $7 for the general public. We will also be continuing the tradition of selling cunt cookies (sugar cookies topped with marzipan vaginas*) from the Erotic Bakery for $5 before the show and during intermission. This year the net proceeds of the show will be going to Communities Against Rape and Abuse (CARA), a local non-profit organization which focuses on providing safe spaces for victims of sexual and domestic violence and giving them the opportunity to become organizers and activists. Tickets are already on sale and we have a history of selling out way before the show, so if you're interested in attending you should pick some up at the HUB Ticket Office (206-543-2277) as soon as possible.
Kearstyn Takemoto
Co-Chair
UW VOX: Voices for Planned Parenthood
Hey, back to blogging after a long reprieve.
Allison Steven's article about the court case for school harassment led me to finally write a post about the gender dynamics I've been seeing on the playground of my daughter's school. Girls have to make their play invisible in order to avoid boys' harassment.
http://dandelionfield.wordpress.com/
as a mother of two boys, not yet in kindergarten, i struggle with what might be perfectly normal behaviour for their age and personality and what the voice in my head says "stop them right now or they will grow up to be super sexist pig rapists."
but it does no one a favour to project adult motives on small children.
We're holding a My Favorite Feminist Book Is... contest that ends Feb 13th. Check it out, y'all.
Feminist Reviews of the week...
He's Just Not That Into You wasn’t a terrible movie. Despite its manipulative moments, this film did manage to skip many of the eye roll-inducing rom-com conventions. This movie just wasn’t that romantic or particularly funny. In fact, He’s Just Not That Into You is filled with disempowering messages.
Revolutionary Road: Frank and April now battle their individual demons by making each other miserable. April is dealing with unhappy housewife syndrome (which would later be coined the feminine mystique by Betty Friedan), while Frank grapples with the loss of masculinity in the mindless workaday business world. They constantly bicker, moan, and full-out fight, but neither genuinely attempt to make their lives or relationship better. Eventually, this lack of communication and understanding collides with the film’s looming pessimism and disastrous consequences.
The Revolution Starts At Home: Confronting Partner Abuse in Activist Communities: The best thing about this zine, of which there is much good to speak, is the variety of voices present. It is written from a perspective of radical action, encompassing diversity in ethnicity, sexual and gender orientation, and yes, there are even male voices. An excellent job has been made to address partner violence between men and women, women and women, against transgender people, and even against the disabled.
We had a very busy week at Pink Scare (the recession, and the tepid responses our duopoly allows us create a lot of :facepalm: action). We took the Obama administration to task for the general incoherence and ineptitude of their approach to fixing this recession, including looking at their short-sighted political games, the stupidity of bipartisanship, and the ineffective, low-hanging fruit of pay caps for executives receiving TARP funds.
In non-recession news, I expressed my unwavering hatred for the sexist, racist Christopher Hitchens, and T lamented the racist/nativist thread emerging in Britain's general strike.
Wow, so many interesting links.
1) this struck a chord from the American Prospect: Why Ledbetter Isn't Enough aricle:
"Discrimination against women in the workplace happens across similar jobs within companies, but it also happens in entire fields -- when a heavily female profession generally offers lower wages than a male-dominant profession requiring a comparable skill set."
I honestly had no idea.
2) XX Factor: For Women, Good Jobs Depend on Good Contraception ...
an extra reminder that we can't get complacent...
lastly, a shout out to Renee, for more great links :)
Hi! I made some fun vagina-themed candy heart designs to promote our med school's production of the Vagina Monologues.
I also wrote about Lauredhel's great post about cross-nursing, a subject I have written about in the past.
Of course, I had to talk about the medical ethics issues behind the octuplets hullaballoo.
And, if you haven't seen it, I put up a new, improved Mommy Wars Bingo card. I finally updated it to include single moms, non breastfeeding mothers, and non heteronormative parents. (Way overdue, tech issues, sorry!) It is working for Firefox, not for Internet Explorer right now. Any tech advice is appreciated!
This week we praised Sarah Haskins, explained the difference between sex work and traffcking, took a look at what the new RNC chair is planning, celebrated women in sports and reminded everyone to wear red for women.