Today is the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia! This years focus is on combating transphobia and respecting gender identity. Read the appeal here (PDF) and sign it here. Also sign the petition to demand just treatment for trans people in NYPD custody.
France will no longer classify transsexuality as a mental illness. If you're in the Bay Area, there's a protest tomorrow (Monday, May 18) to push the American Psychiatric Association to do the same.
Feminist Scrabble fans, don't click this link! It's too depressing.
Girls in Afghanistan were poisoned for attempting to get an education.
Did you read the Malcolm Gladwell piece which prominently featured an anecdote about girls' basketball? Did you, like me, notice the weird racial comments? Post Bourgie breaks it down.
Is Hungry Girl the answer to Skinny Bitch? (At the very least, it sounds much better.)
There's a great series at Shakesville on one person's gender journey. Read Part I and Part II.
YO! (Youth Outlook) in the Bay Area interviewed high-schoolers about gender. Their comments are pretty fascinating.
Different takes on the whole "beauty pageant" concept.
A more in-depth take on the anti-women's studies lawsuit -- on why feminism is not a religion.
Alicia at Muslimah Media Watch has a great post on body image and eating disorders among Muslim women.
The State Department must grant same-sex partner benefits to its employees.
Racialicious reviews The Princess and the Frog.
Is Liz Lemon a feminist?
Reflecting on Marcelo Lucero, who was killed in a hate crime, six months later.
Esquire attempts feminist analysis. FAIL.
Does Obama want LGBTQ issues to "just go away"?
A black feminist critique of same-race street harassment.
Two Canadian provinces refuse to cover sex reassignment surgery.
Sierra Broussard, a biracial transwoman, is suing a club in Wisconsin for denying her entrance on the basis of her identity.
Are Americans less pro-choice than they once were?
Missouri has been locked in a serious legislative battle over choice. Shark-Fu has more on other shit going down in MO.
Native women are receiving fewer mammograms.
The Midwest Teen Sex Show is moving to Comedy Central!
Why are people (especially white people) so invested in defending the geisha?
An abstinence counselor is charged with sexually assaulting a student.
Jean Smith of the group Mecca Normal on how audiences -- in person, on music blogs, etc. -- respond to her as a female artist.
Should Adam Lambert make a public declaration about his sexuality?
Dana Goldstein reviews the new Helen Gurley Brown biography and a new book on Masters and Johnson, and ruminates on mixing sex with work.
What have you been reading and writing this week?
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I've been writing about gendered sentencing in a teen texting case, mainstream press outing a trolley driver as trans after he caused a crash, and a very belated roundup of some of the Twitter tools Deanna Zandt and Susan Mernit covered during their WAM! session.
I disagree with the designer games article. Usually I agree with your calling out of products that are marketed to females simply by making them pink, but that's because it says something like "for women" on the product, or the product is marketed with women in the advert., but the Scrabble box didn't look like it said anything about women on it, leaving it open to be bought by males as well! That's okay in my book.
Thanks for the linky love
Should Poly People Wait Their Turn?: Now that gay marriage is making some positive strides there are those in the GLB community who claim that poly people should wait to fight for their marriage rights in order not to panic Neo-cons
Activism The Best You Can: Looking at how small everyday acts can constitute the best form of activism that one can embark upon. Also examining how defining activism as participating in rallies etc excludes the work of the differently abled.
The Blue Diamond 10.5 Million Wasted: A diamond is auctioned for 10.5 million and yet the workers continue to live in poverty. Our overvaluation of shiny baubles is what keeps people poor. South Africa continues to be a divided society and yet we claim that it has improved because the legal framework of apartheid has been dismantled.
Don’t Swear When You Call 911: A young woman is hung up three times, called a hostile girl and a bitch because she dared to swear when she called 911 seeking assistance for her father.
I Am Not A Feminist: Looking at why for WOC womanism may be a better fit than feminism to organize for women's rights.
Sadly, I can't agree with the review of Hungry Girl. In addition to providing too many recipes that rely on highly processed foods, I also noticed that some of the advice in the book supports disordered eating behaviors. For example, in her tips to survive an office party, The Hungry Girl recommends taking a piece of cake, eating one bite in front of people to seem polite, and then disposing of the rest of the slice later. This is the same thing anorexics do. Instead of body shame and ways to not allow women to eat, let's support body positive people - people who try for healthy eating at any size and don't reinforce the stereotype that women must be thin to be worthwhile! Above all, let's not support disordered eating for any reason. Let's learn to be proud of ourselves and our strong bodies - and remember that it's ok to sustain them with food.
Not eating processed foods means that you have the time, money, energy, and strength to invest in constantly grocery shopping for "fresh" and "natural" foods. There is nothing wrong with being realistic about people and what they eat. If you have a problem with processed foods, great for you. Recommend a blog or start your own that's all-natural. Hungry Girl isn't pretending to be all-natural or anything, she just is providing her ideas. It's as simple as reading another blog if you are anti-processed food.
Just a little ways farther than the grocery stores near my house are two farmer's markets.
Not only the is the produce fresh, it's way cheaper than the grocery store.
I believe there is little to no reason why anyone should eat highly processed, sugar-loaded food. Take the money you spend on that crap and buy dry lentils, rice, in season fruit and vegetables, tofu, etc.
100 Calorie Oreo packs are not going to make you healthier- just skinnier.
So, how I've seen it:
Skinny Bitch is advocating health. Yes it's extreme and may use degrading language, but the word 'bitch' is in the title. Are people really inferring it'll have sweet language?
Hungry Girl is just telling us how to drop some calories and fat by eating crummy foods.
That's great for you, as I said. Your choices are yours, no need to shame my (and many others') choice to eat the occasional 100 Calorie pack as "crap". Not everyone can make your choices or has as many options at their disposal is my point, and again, if you dislike Hungry Girl so much, then read what fits your choices and lifestyle, just as I don't criticize vegan/raw fooder/natural foods advocates' blogs for being elitist.
I, for one, can't subsist only on "dry lentils, rice, in season fruit and vegetables, tofu" and such. I do eat those things as my main food but I don't limit myself to that kind of thing. Not everyone has to be a vegan/raw fooder/natural foods advocate in order to be healthy.
Oh, and not all of her recipes and recommendations are for 100 Calorie packs, by the way. If it weren't for her, I wouldn't know about shirataki noodles. Those are made of nothing but tofu and yam flour. And how about the recipes like this: http://www.hungry-girl.com/chew/chewdetails.php?isid=1653
Again, your choices are awesome for you. However, not everyone can adhere to such a stringent eating model.
Agreed. We are trying to save money and we eat a lot of rice and oatmeal. Just bought an 8kg bag of rice for $8 actually.
My thoughts on Hungry Girl:
I hate her website. Especially the titles of the links. Also, in “who is hungry girl?” she says she tries the latest fad diets, chomps on new fat free food and diet products. Some fat free things don’t even have that much less fat than the regular one but taste worse (like yogurt) or the full-fat thing was “good fats” and it’s really a marketing ploy to get you to buy their product because it’s fat-free. Excess protein and carbs turn into fat anyway. Rant over.
Also, she is “obssessed” with how much food will make it impossible for her to fit in her pants. Honestly, if you are eating when you’re hungry and stopping when you’re full and eating junk food in moderation you should settle at a weight (even though it might be higher than society thinks it should be) and shouldn’t need to obssess about finding “new low cal snacks”.
She just sounds so contradictory. Also, just because something is low calorie or low carb does not make it healthy. Carbs are what keep you alive. She sounds like she is looking for foods that will help her lose weight possibly more than she's looking for healthy foods.
A lot of people don't have the option of a fresh farmer's market or a Whole Foods, or a patch to grow things in the ground. I'm not arguing that processed is superior to fresh, le duh, but many people cannot afford the time or money to prepare a fresh meal for every single meal. It's tiresome to hear "just buy whole grains, fresh vegetables and fruit if you want to lose weight and be healthy" when 1)produce depending on the season and area can be expensive and of poor quality 2)more perishable, requiring more trips to the market which requires more gas/time/energy expended if it's not near by 3)the time and means to educate oneself in preparing said food items. I'm sure I could go on. It's all rather classist.
I have serious issues with the Skinny Bitches. They are, as Julie Klausner wrote, "a PETA pamphlet in chick-let clothing". There's nothing about that description I like, there was nothing about their book that I read that I liked.
I'm ready to make like Patsy Stone and give up eating all together in favor of booze, Benson and Hedges and a variety of banned substances.
Not eating processed foods means that you have the time, money, energy, and strength to invest in constantly grocery shopping for "fresh" and "natural" foods.
No, it doesn't. Unprocessed, or close to it, doesn't necessarily mean fresh. I go to the supermarket or Greenmarket once every week or two, mostly for fresh produce. But even when I don't, I eat well cooking from staples like canned beans, canned tomatoes, frozen vegetables, frozen meat, boxed pasta, potatoes, onions and garlic. In fact, most of what I cook (curries, pasta, soups, etc.) could be made -- easily, quickly and while doing something else -- with such ingredients.
Today is International Day against Homophobia! Read more about Carrie's post here.
Judy Blume: A Necessary Presence in Young Women's Lives by Alison about Kathryn Jean Lopez's attack on Judy Blume and Planned Parenthood.
Progress in the Ship-Breaking Industry? by Elizabeth about the new ship-breaking agreement and what it really means for the environment.
Co-operatives Bringing Down the House by Emily about why co-operatives are so vital in the feminist movement.
Post Mortem Report; the Migration Displacement Nexus in Pakistan by Maria about the refugee crisis in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
This week I read six different blogs picking apart different elements of Gladwell's bizarrely bad article, and Post Bourgie nailed them all!
Thanks, dangerfield!
I wrote an opinion piece of feminism and motherhood after the comment thread here earlier
http://mzbitca.wordpress.com/2009/05/16/feminism-and-motherhood-an-opinion-piece/
Also, gay rights take a hit in SC
http://mzbitca.wordpress.com/2009/05/17/another-hit-for-gay-rights/
FYI re the Missouri legislature stories:
On Friday, May 15, the MO legislature adjourned for the year.
They adjourned without passing ANY new restrictions on abortion!
The abortion restriction bill referenced in Ann's post did pass the Senate, and then went to the House. The House wouldn't pass the slightly watered-down version of the bad bill, and the Senate wouldn't pass the extreme version of the bill. So they played hot potato with the bill, sending it back & forth, for the last two days of session. Session adjourned w/ neither chamber concurring with the other chamber's version of the bill.
So: NO new restrictions on abortion added to our current 4+ pages of restrictive state legislation! Woohoo!
This is what we call a successful year in Missouri...
Ummmm ...does this mean all my sex partners weren't real feminists but only lied to get with me? :( I am shocked and hurt.
I forgot my piece at global comment.
John & Kate Plus 8, Plus a Scandal: Looking at the way Kate Gosselin is blamed for Jon's alleged infidelity and why the patriarchal family may not be the best way to organize living arrangements in the modern world.
I found the place in The Women's Room where one of the characters makes the claim that all men are rapists, and posted it in my Friday Feminist series.
Why isn't biphobia included in the title? I see more biphobia than homophobia.
I definitely see both but I would be rich if i had a nickel for every time someone said "i think bisexuals are just greedy" or "they are confused and can't make up their minds"
Thank you! It kills me that even with most of the progressive, feminist women I've gone out with, I feel (possibly without reason, but I think so) that I can't tell them that I've dated other men in the past.
Sigh.
I don't know what's up with that Roy Den Hollander and his feminism is a religion lawsuit, but it's pretty damn funny. He apparently tried to argue that Betty Friedan is an a prophet in feminism and that one of the central tenets of feminism is that women are divine princesses and men minions of Satan.
He has a website where he highlights all his anti-feminist lawsuits, all of which he lost.
I don't see the problem with the Scrabble board. It is pink and green with a botanical theme, but it clearly says it is the "designer's edition" not the "girls' edition." There are no girls on the cover and there is nothing proclaiming that it is for girls. A cute design that doesn't say that it's only (or primarily) for girls -- isn't that a good thing?
Isn't it more sexist to assume that it has to be for girls because of the colors? My son would prefer this packaging to the nondesigner edition, I suspect. There is nothing on the box to suggest it is for girls.
Fabulous links, Ann! I always love the Weekly Feminist Reader.
Again I Ask Myself, What Does it Take? The Curvature. [Trigger warning.]
Janet Jackson had a birthday this week. I’d like to see her get her career back on track. She’s been woefully misaligned and marginalized but also needs to examine her own choices.
http://actsoffaithinloveandlife.blogspot.com/2009/05/give-janet-jackson-her-due.html
The stereotype of the scandalous woman who’s after a man simply for his money often applies to certain women (Black) but not others.
http://actsoffaithinloveandlife.blogspot.com/2009/05/are-african-american-women-gold-diggers.html
Why are most restaurant chefs male?
Yep, it's probably sexism: www.sirensmag.com
A few reviews this week:
A Wink and a Smile is a unique and joyous celebration of the human body, mind, and spirit—complete with tassels.
The Speak! Radical Women of Color Media Collective CD uses spoken word, song, and poetry to detail the ins and outs of oppression and intersecting injustices, personal and collective struggle, and the redeeming powers of love, conviction, and pride.
We produce work and it validates us in a way that society doesn’t. Mainstream, white-American, classist culture is supposed to be the stamp of approval, but with El Reflejo, we have the opportunity to nourish a beautiful arena—one that’s free from the outsider’s gaze.
Nesrine Malik’s scathing review of the ITV drama Compulsion got me thinking a lot more about modern day adaptations of pre-twentieth century literary works featuring ethnic Indian actors. She has fair enough reasons to be perturbed: it seems that when diversity is presented on British TV, what’s served up for a wider, mostly White audience are actually tired stereotypes of overbearing family members, arranged marriages, and the ever recurring theme of honour and shame.
Some great posts from Bitch blogs this week:
Sex-Based Abortion Legislation: WTF?, a new way to undermine abortion?
YOU Read Harlequin?! ME Too!, a feminist take on smut novels
30 Rock and Liz Lemon and Feminism - Oh Blurg!, is Liz Lemon a feminist? and does that matter?
Wondering What This Is? Yeah, Me Too., get yrself a man hunting bra
"Precious" Set for Nationwide Release, trailer released this week
Double X Thinks Feminism Is Both Dead and Hurting Us, how to be a zombie feminist
Doppelgänger Alert!, Germany's new feminist magazine
I have a post about more than half of women giving birth now have cesarean sections in my city, the city where I will most likely be training as an ob/gyn.
Also, I wrote about a a dream internship for medical students at the AC frickin L U (can I get a hell ya?) working on reproductive rights. I am going to try to finagle a way to do it. If they'll have me.
Finally, I wrote a reply turned post about breastfeeding Nazis and formula is poison style
Also our blog explaining the difference between sex work and human trafficking was reposted on SexGenderBody.com