What Tami Said is doing a series of posts making sense of Obama's budget. First up, Housing and Urban Development.
Can this be real? Some sort of survey says more women would rather win America's Next Top Model than be awarded the Nobel Prize.
Alyssa Rosenberg reviews Joss Whedon's new show, Dollhouse.
Does your state take dating violence seriously?
Bilerico Project was recently shuttered by hacker attacks -- glad they're back up and running. As Lisa points out, this is something that's a constant problem for those of us who write consistently about women's rights and gay rights.
Renee tells you what you should know about disability.
An Indiana high schooler sued her school district for the right to wear a suit to the prom. (On a related note, see Miriam's post, "Black Tie Blues.")
New ads for a Schick pube-trimmer are... pretty awful. So in terms of anti-woman advertising metaphors, topiary trees are the new "not so fresh feeling"?
I am so sad Samhita and I missed GAYbiGAYGAY at South by Southwest! There's always next year...
The debate over choice in Brazil rages on. And Old Feminist catches a New York Times headline fail with regard to the 9-year-old rape case.
Nisha lists 25 ways to use your blog and social media to create change.
Jill has been doing some great liveblogging from WAM.
How history is repeating itself on gender and the economy.
Hoyden About Town has a roundup of feminist responses to a recent article in the Atlantic making the case against breastfeeding. Rachel's Tavern has more.
On police and transwomen of color. (TransGriot has a related post.)
Looks like there's been an uptick lately in right-wing vitriol directed at Michelle Obama.
Reading increasingly bleak news of the floods in North Dakota, Melissa Harris-Lacewell writes, "We are all residents of Fargo now."
Aunt Jemima's Revenge remembers historian John Hope Franklin
On buttons as a tool for spreading ideas... specifically, feminist ideas.
The Associated Press claims more women are turning to sex work as they lose other jobs.
A really interesting guest-post over at Sociological Images on how photo selection informs how we think about cultures other than our own.
What are you all reading/writing this week?
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Sadly, I'm not really that surprised about the survey regarding America's Next Top Model and the Nobel Peace Prize. Women are continuously pressured to value thinness and exterior beauty more than striving for independence. There is, and definitely always have been, an emphasis on looking attractive and less focus on determination when it comes to careers and social change. Not to mention that women are told that men value their beauty and would see too much independence as 'intimidating'.
Unfortunately, shallowness is something that society cherishes, not just women. I feel this survey is more of a reflection of the world as a whole.
Look at how many Nobel Prize winners have been murdered over the years. There's a very practical reason so many people want no part of it. Winning a Nobel makes you a target for assassination, whether it's an assassin's bullet or a smear campaign by people who hate your guts.
There's also rampant anti-intellectualism among people who think the Nobel Prize is for "pointy-heads", which is to say: anyone smarter than they are.
Yep, about 25% of people are mindless twits, regardless of gender. Reverse the poll to ask men if they'd rather be some pop-culture icon thingie and you'd get the same results. Bleh. This is all very bad for my incipient misanthropy.
Im confused about the gender and economy one because it didnt seem to address women as chosen breadwinners and same-sex couples. I felt like this is saying that men SHOULD be the breadwinner and when women are there must be some sort of problem. IDK maybe I misread it.
Thanks for the link to the review about Dollhouse. I've been keeping a close eye on it so far, and was wondering about some other female perspectives on it, particularly since the idea behind it (attractive, twenty-something girl gets brainwashed and is essentially sold into human trafficking/prostitution) has the potential to raise some interesting issues, or conversely be very problematic.
I think it really picked up plot-wise in the last two episodes, 6 and 7. That review only goes up to episode 5.
I really liked the last episode, except the fact that they had her wearing a very sexualized outfit for the whole episode on a rather flimsy excuse.
I agree, I wish she would have held off a week on the review. The preview of ep 8 makes it look like it's moving even further in the me-approved direction.
Agreed. I wish she could have waited until this week's episode, where we find out about Caroline's origins.
For what it's worth, that Dollhouse review is kind of not good.
Any feminist Joss fans wouldn't be unhappy watching episode 6, which was actually a really insightful look at institutional rape. The series really does a 180 in terms of feminism from the beginning to now, probably due to Fox's waning influence.
Re: The Schick pube-trimmer
I saw that a couple nights ago for the first time. I'm tempted to email Schick and let them know that I do not appreciate that type of commercial. I just regard it as a private (no pun intended) thing and not something that should be advertised. Smart people can use common sense to realize they could find something like that next to "regular" trimmers/shavers. I saw the first bush (pun not intended) and thought to myself "Ok..." and then saw the second and third one. I caught on to what was going on by the second one. I felt violated for some reason...as if I were publicly humiliated...
does that mean there should not be commercials for tampons, condoms, or prescription medication either? those are private things too.
schick is advertising their new product. i've never seen something like this in the razor isle before. it's good business to let your customer's know when you come out with something new.
Yeah, good luck telling a company they shouldn't advertise their product at all. As far as the ad itself goes I didn't find it offensive, I thought it was a clever way to get across the purpose of the product. And its not like they stripped the bushes bare, either.
Maybe I just thought they should have been more blunt instead of "beating around the bush" (no pun intended). This is what irks me about this society. We can't have honest discussions about sex (or anything) when everything is a damn euphemism. Just say "Here is a razor for your pubic hair". It was clever, I give them that. I just hate that we can't be to the point in this country. I find Viagra commercials even worse. As far as tampon/maxi pad commercials, those are bad too. A maxi pad as a roller-coaster? or a lady handing me a read "present"? Give me a break.
Excuse me, I meant to say "red" instead of "read".
That Atlantic article about breastfeeding was ridiculous. I'm glad someone took it on.
Also, I've been enjoying the posts on class warfare over at the Feminist Agenda.
Actually, it was a very good, rational, well reasoned article, that challenged the breast feeding fanatics with scientific data.
I'm sorry, but I've read tons of the research on this, and it's simply not the case that the benefits of breastfeeding are "thin" (as stated in the article. New studies show a link between significantly increased risks of developing diabetes for formula-fed babies due to the high amount of corn syrup in formula. Similarly, recent studies show that breastfed babies have much lower rates of asthma, ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, and breastfed babies have on average 1/3 less ear infections in their first year. Breastfed babies are far less likely to get meningitis, become dehydrated due to diarrhea, or develop various respiratory infections. A recent Swedish study showed that people who were breastfed are less likely to develop rheumatoid arthritis or osteoporosis as adults. Similarly, breastfed babies are at lower risk for obesity as adults. And these are just a few of the established benefits of breastfeeding. I accessed this info via my mother's current journals and the research available to her as a nutritionist, but most of them are available to anyone with institutional (ie university library) access.
I agree with the author of the Atlantic article that mothers must be able to make their own choices. But I strongly believe that this should be an informed decision, and misleading people about the benefits of either form of feeding is not the way to help families make informed decisions.
Also, the article assumes a lot of bullshit. It is a feature of our culture that fathers tend to be less engaged with infants than mothers. But blaming this on breastfeeding is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. Men are less engaged with their children because they're socialized to be and expected to be. And conversely, women are socialized to feel all kinds of pressure to be the sole or main caregiver. And if the decision to breastfeed or not was made by the parents together, then maybe the father would "own" the decision and be more inclined to help out so that breastfeeding wouldn't be this horrendous burden that the author claims it is. I breastfed by daughter for a year, and I simply don't relate to the horrible burdens she cites in the article. I had 3 months paid leave and then went back to work, where I pumped twice a day and went to the daycare at lunchtime to nurse. While nursing I read or paid bills or worked on my dissertation on my laptop or did whatever work I needed to do. My partner picked up a larger share of the housework than he usually does because of the fact that I was "stuck" sitting on the couch nursing for a larger percentage of the time. There's no doubt that caring for an infant increases the workload on the parents, but the author's assumption that it only increases the mother's workload is bullshit. Both parents should know going into the birth of a child that their workload will increase, and if men aren't OK with that then that's the issue, not breastfeeding.
And thanks for the link...
Re: the high school student who wants to wear a tux to the prom...
oh please, did you get that bit from the American Family Assoication? what a bunch of nuts! I took a girl to my junior prom in creaking 1994 and got no shit for it at all...I hope this girl wins big.
I'm really surprised that the schick ad made it on this blog AGAIN.
I don't think there's much wrong with it. The imagery of the hedges illustrated what someone who would buy their product would hope to do with it. The ad was effective. I was glad they didn't imply that a woman would trim her bikini line for a man's pleasure and I thought it was cool that they had different shaped hedges.
It's interesting to have a conversation about bikini trimming/shaving/grooming/growing, but I don't find this ad offensive.
You know, when I first saw that add I was like "Ugh, women's hair like wild untamed nature? Yuck." But the more I think about it...I actually like that ad. You're right, they aren't making it about appealing to males and as MissKitty said above it's not like they're stripping the bushes bare. I actually think it's a really clever way for them to advertise their product and I no longer think of it as offensive. And the truth is this is something I might actually buy.
Excellent links - thanks for doing a roundup of things that could have been missed.
I wrote about my own brush with domestic/dating violence: http://hardtobehuman.blogspot.com/2009/03/that-one-time.html
Cheers!
Amy
Monster's Assault energy drink.
A few more reasons why young women do, in fact, have fire in the belly for the reproductive justice movement.
"Twenty five percent more respondents said they'd rather win ANTM."
My brain isnt working right now, but is this even mathematically possible?
The closest I can think of is a 60/35 vote.
Well, because of the ambiguous wording ("Twenty five percent more respondents said they'd rather win ANTM."), it could be one of two things:
1) A 62.5/37.5 split, thereby making a difference of 25% of the total sample.
2) A 55.5/44.4 split, thereby making a difference of 25% of the respondents saying they'd rather win a Nobel Prize.
Most likely, it's the former, as a statement supporting the latter might necessarily have to read, "Twenty five percent more respondents said they'd rather win ANTM than a Nobel Prize." I've been a bit lazy in my Grammar Wonk duties as of late. ;-)
As for what the poll actually means, I'm deeply saddened, but not wholly surprised. First, katemoore hit it right on the head re: how scientific this poll actually was. Second, I'm thinking that a lot of people have the economy front and center in their minds, and what many people don't realize is that you don't just get a prize when you win the Nobel Prize.
From infoplease: "Each winner of a Nobel Prize, which can go to individuals and institutions, takes home a medal, a diploma, and cash, which varies each year and depends on the income earned on the Nobel Foundation fund. In 2008, winners recipients receive 10 million Swedish kroners, or about $1.72 million."
I guarantee you that if they had put that in the question, the results would have been somewhat different.
I've always wondered-- do you get to keep the Nobel Prize money for yourself and your family or are you expected to spend it on something related to your field? (More scientific research, or charity work, or whatever).
This week I looked at
TV body shaming under the guise of body acceptance;
Institutionalized sexism in the Metropolitan Police force that freed rapists to terrorize more women; and
Britain’s new enforcement of old colonialism in the Caribbean.
I just finished up at WAM! so I'm a little loopy still, but I did put up my presentation (text here, slides here) from Sex::Tech 2009 on how libraries support teen sexual health.
I'm hoping y'all will report back from WAM! (I know I will), but in the meantime I think Renee's post is a great jumping off point for talking about privilege and networking.
I was also lucky enough to meet Caitlin Rogers, founder of Wisecrack, and she's got me thinking again about feminism and comedy (as well as just being a woman in comedy, and doing comedy with dudes).
Thanks for linking to me Ann! And re: ANTM. I can't believe more women would rather be the Top Model than win the Nobel Prize. I'm actually kind of speechless. I don't know what that says about American women and what we value.
Really? You don't think it says more about how much women have ingrained society's expectations of them?
Let me get this straight. A reality TV network sponsors a poll somehow, polling methods undisclosed, and comes up with a result that conveniently supports reality TV.
There's more scientific credibility in the sleep-talking I did last night.
I'm pretty sure that the poll was one where viewers of America's Next Top Model were asked to text in their responses to various questions. The weekend before this stunning news came out there was an ANTM marathon on some channel and during each commercial break there was a variety of asinine questions asked. I strongly suspect the ANTM vs. Nobel Prize was one of those questions.
You know, I don't read that article as "making the case against breastfeeding." To me, it read as an article making the case against people who arrogantly push breastfeeding as the only acceptable way to nourish your child.
The author herself has breastfed all her children, and continues to breastfeed her youngest. She concludes the article stating that she does not intend to stop. She does not say people shouldn't breastfeed. She actually doesn't say in any way what people should or should not do.
The article is just about raising awareness of the dramatic exaggerations of the benefits of breastfeeding, and how put off the author is about the way mothers who choose to not breastfeed are looked down on. Nevertheless, she does say that she ultimately DOES feel breastfeeding is at least a little better than formula feeding, but whatever benefit there is needs to be weighed in with everything else going on in the life of the parents in order to decide if breastfeeding would ultimately be the best thing for that particular child.
This struck me as a very feminist article, expressing things I've felt for a long time rather amazingly. Never does she say anything flat out against breastfeeding itself, and as a long-time devoted reader, it pains me to see it listed here the way it is.
Just my own experience and the feelings of my fellow nursing mother friends, but in most places, you are given nasty looks/comments for breastfeeding not bottle/ formula feeding. Even the numbers that Rosin quotes in her article bears this out, we have very low numbers of breastfeeding in this country. Maybe Rosin’s social circle is all intense about “breastfeed your kid or you are a terrible mother” but I think that it is an exception more than the rule in this country.
After all, nursing mothers are still booted out of stores and have to fight for the legal right to nurse their children in public without being charged with indecent exposure.
After I read the article I got the feeling that Rosin had made some choices parenting-wise for her first couple of children, but those choices stopped working for her at some point with the third child. Instead of making different choices, she blames breastfeeding for her anger/feelings of frustration. She should have just changed how she did things if she was unhappy. As for all the “pressure” to breastfeed, maybe she needs to hang out with different mothers.
I found her claims that breastfeeding holds women down very insulting. I found it to be very compatible with everything I did, even, yes, and “meaningful work.”
Exactly. Don't you love the "could you go do that in the bathroom?" with the screwed-up "ewwwww" face? Think how much disapproval a bottle feeding mom would get if everytime her kid needed to eat she went and sat in a bathroom stall to feed him/her. I'm quite sure people would accuse her of exposing her child to unsanitary conditions.
Saying that the benefits of breastfeeding are "thin" is pretty out there. I'm just very uncomfortable with anyone encouraging women to make decisions on the basis of misleading statements, and if you read the current reasearch, there's no way to support the claim that the benefits are thin. I mean, helping you avoid Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, asthma, diabetes, obesity, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosis, meningitis, ear infections, respiratory infections, etc. is a "thin" benefit?
And beyond that, I think the burdens of breastfeeding that she lists are actually deep cultural issues that should be addressed instead of used as reasons to not breastfeed. If fathers don't feel that they need to be engaged with their own children enough to know how to soothe them and care for them, then that's a problem. If fathers don't realize that the increased time demands on a mother with a small infant means that they ought to be picking up a larger share of the housework, then that's a problem. But neither of these are a reason in themselves to not breastfeed. Where's the article that addresses these issues? That would be a feminist article.
Actually, the poll reported that 75% of women would rather win the Nobel and 25% Top Model. I'm guessing it was misquoted once and then ran from there.
http://adage.com/adages/post?article_id=135467
http://www.cnbc.com/id/29876749
For what it's worth.
I was saddened by the death of Jade Goody and pissed off about the scandal surrounding Real Age
Thanks for the linky love.
I'll just throw out a few more I did this week.
Women Action and the Media: Looking at how class effects who gets to attend conferences.
OOOh The Mehnz Are Stoopid: Looking at the claim by the MRA that feminists should organize to end misandry in the media.
The Sham WOW Guy gets arrested for battering a sex worker: Knew he was creepy but when Olberman turned it into a joke it certainly was not funny.
I really agree with that WAM article. One of the things that bothers me about all these conferences is that I'd love to attend but the price of the event itself, along with all the other costs, makes it impossible and leads to a lack of diversity.
Some reviews on our site this week…
Desiring Arabs: He argues that the consequence, if this Western "progressive" epistemology takes hold, will be the suppression of same-sex desire and practices as they have been and remain a part of Arab and Muslim culture.
Things I’ve Been Silent About: The memoir is also weakened by Nafisi’s profuse obsession with proving her critics wrong—the same literary critics that found Reading Lolita in Tehran to be an orientalist work relying on Western stereotypes to portray Iran. She goes to great haste to strengthen her father’s political stances; she too often repeats his love of Iran, critique of the Shah’s regime, and desire for revolution.
La Corona, which translates to "the crown," is a short documentary centering around a beauty pageant which takes place every year in the largest female prison in Colombia.
I Love You, Man / Duplicity: I can’t remember the last time that I went to the theater and saw two movies in one day. For that matter, I can’t remember the last time that I was even able to afford that; I live in Manhattan, land of the thirteen dollar movie ticket. However, there were two recently released flicks that I was absolutely dying to see. I also have two dramatically different friends with dramatically different tastes who wanted me to accompany them to two dramatically different movies.
And on other sites...
Controlling the Means of Reproduction: An Interview with Michelle Goldberg is about how US reproductive rights policy influences women's rights around the globe.
I just read this:
http://www.blackvoices.com/blogs/2009/03/19/disneys-first-black-princess-has-a-white-prince?icid=main|htmlws-main|dl8|link3|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.blackvoices.com%2Fblogs%2F2009%2F03%2F19%2Fdisneys-first-black-princess-has-a-white-prince
Some people are upset that the first black Disney princess' love interest isn't black. Uhh, what's the problem with interracial relationships.
I actually think it's MORE progressive for the prince not to be black. No need to impose segregation in modern cartoons.
I mean, he's not black, but he's not white, either. I think he's from an imaginary country, but he's definitely supposed to be Middle Eastern-esque, I think. So I agree, it is more progressive; two different non-white backgrounds in an interracial relationship.
I think its good that they're not segregating; black people don't have to only date black people.
But frankly, what bothers me most about that photo is that he looks like Gaston; he looks like what I'd think would be the arrogant jerk in a Disney movie, not the prince. It might just be that pose and ridiculously giant smile-- maybe he looks more normal throughout the rest of the movie.
The princess is adorable, although obviously has a ridiculously tiny waist as usual.
Fuck the Disney princesses.
Sorry - still sorting through the princess and Bratz fallout from my stepdaughter's birthday party. Return, exchange, repeat.
I actually didn't find the pube trimmer commercial offensive. Well, except for the last line where they say "free yourself" because I don't like it when phrases like that are co-opted to get people to purchase stuff. Otherwise, though, I actually thought the commercial could have been much more offensive than it was. It said to me that if I want to shape my pubes in any form I can buy this product. I didn't really get a sense of being shamed if I didn't and it did not make me feel bad about my body.
I just read an article about two women who won a video game challenge to develop a game about losing your virginity.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/03/27/videogame.losing.virginity/index.html
"Kelley began by explaining that her game would commence with the player having to pick an outfit for a date that was intended to conclude with their deflowering. "
Eww. Deflowering? Was that the author's wording or the game designers? I didn't know a woman could be deflowered. Makes it sound as if she was a pretty rose and then had sex and is now no longer fresh. Like her worth revolves around her hymen and how many guys she's had it off with. The higher the number, the more 'used' she is. Seriously misogynistic to put that in an article.
I'm a stripper.. Been doing it for two years now, and I enjoy my job. However, the money now compared to the money two years ago is night and day. I made so much more money then. These days 90% of my income comes from 10% of my customers, those who come specifically to see me, to spend money on me, and no one else. I have seen an increase of women baring their boobs to get by, but not many of them stick with it. It's physically demanding, and if the job is not approached with the right frame of mind, it has the possibility to get to you, thus a lot of women hang up their heels not long after they put them on.
Oh, and as for the alleged income that Rick's girls make? Bullshit.