Feminists in Little Italy respond to Tucker Max's ad campaign for his upcoming film. Nice.
Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region gears up for the 40-day anti-choice protest planned to begin tomorrow with a great campaign in response, Defend the Truth Pledge-a-Protester.
E. Jean, advice columnist for Elle magazine, calls a woman thinking about selling her virginity a "flimflamming trollop."
A Detroit prosecutor is calling for an investigation into possibly thousands of mismanaged rape kits found in a Detroit Police Department evidence storage facility.
Move over, purity rings; the National Marriage Boycott won $10,000 for their idea to fight the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) with an "Equality Ring."
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Okay, wait, I'm not entirely sure how to take that E. Jean column. The whole thing, including the letter asking for advice, sounds like it's dripping in sarcasm and satire. Does anyone else know what they're going for there?
E. Jean's tone is generally pretty flippant (this isn't quite the right word but I can't think of a better one right now); this column isn't really out of the ordinary for her. The questions are usually kind of tongue-in-cheek too, so I'd hesitate to say the letter writer and E. Jean are being sarcastic specifically in response to this one question.
"there are better ways to make a fortune in this world"
Easy to say when you're already financially solvent. Hell, the other notable young woman who tried to pull this stunt cleared a quarter mil, has a book and film deal, and retained her virginity; which is, again, up for sale.
How many people who have had active sex lives make it ten years past their initial sexual encounter without having at least one lousy sexual experience?
The only thing I agree with in the response by the author to the article is that men who play in to the "virginity is special" deal are fucking morons, and morons with too much money are like a striped bass that jumps in to the frying pan. They are clearly asking for it.
Apparently certain Muslim extremists must play into this whole "virginity is special" thing, since when they die, they're apparently going to get a whole bunch of them. I bet the sex is lousy.
I love the clip from the simpsons or family guy or whatever where the terrorist dies and goes to heaven to get his 72 virgins, who end up being a bunch of nerdy looking guys playing video games.
aw, come the fuck off it...
why you gotta come on here and repeat that Zionist propaganda bullshit? i mean, i would be hard pressed to find a single Islamic source to corroborate that brainwash-induced rumor...
and, at best it's ignorant rumor-mongering... at worst, it's a fabricated justification for the violence that's been visited on the Islamic world for, um... how long? dang... i ain't even been alive that long... i was born the year the revolution overthrew the US puppet Shah in Iran... you know, back when it was the US and the USSR killing Afghanis in order to prove who has a bigger dick?
great. so let's keep the hate up... or you could try to come correct and not bring up bold-faced lies into a conversation that has nothing to do with Islam or the Muslim world.
It's not in the Koran, it's a Hadith (quotes of the prophet himself), and not canon in the way that Koran is but it is put forth by many mullahs so for many (possibly most Muslim men it is de-facto canon). It's Hadith 2,562.
The Koran promises basically mature women with nice breasts, but translation varies on breast description and I don't think there is a number of women mentioned but my Koran is elsewhere.
Of course there are no popular scriptures, that I'm aware of, that are free of misogyny (or really any form of hate you care to name) and that makes the initial comment a form of ignorant race/theology baiting.
Nope, I'm pretty sure it's just "Zionist propaganda". Don't you get it? You don't need to refute something with facts. Just call it Zionist. Everyone knows Zionists are Jews or Jew lovers, and are therefore not to be trusted.
Yeah, um, see, because if there's a false rumor about 72 virgins, that's totally. But refuting that rumor with actual quotes of the Islamic texts, like so:
Is just unreasoned bullshit, right? Come on, there have been absurd descriptions of "heaven," "paradise," whatever-the-fuck since the dawn of duping people with religion.
However, it's pointedly political exaggeration to suggest that Muslims actually believe there are going to be 72 virgins in heaven... and those kinds of distortions are put out there by people who have a political interest in denying the personhood of Muslims. So, cool... endorse the distortion and say I'm not dealing with facts.
Personally, I'd much rather folks figured out how the fuck to get along than how to misrepresent each other's religions in order to justify massive slaughter. And, trust, that's exactly what's happened in Israel and the United States with regard to the Islamic world (and vice-versa, I'm not giving any passes here).
But you know what my moms always said? Two wrongs don't make a right. If Christians say Jews killed Jesus, they're fucking idiots. If Jews say that Muslims believe they're going to have 72 virgins for wives if they blow up a disco, I'm gonna call bullshit on that, too. And if Muslims say the Shoah never happened, well fuck 'em.
Sorry for the profanity, but too many people have died over this shit and I've just about had enough with the willful ignorance of folks in my country regarding the Islamic world and what people actually believe and practice. Particularly since this has led to the murder of so many people and the destruction of countless more livelihoods.
correction... "totally" should be "totally cool"
So prove the link to this false belief and "Zionist Propaganda".
Show me how this is a vast "Zionist" (read Jewish) conspiracy.
It's one thing to call a statement false. It's another to say that a certain group, strongly associated with or at times substituted for Jews, is entirely responsible for it.
It is anti-semitic to call something a "Zionist Conspiracy" when really what's meant is "Jewish Conspiracy". It's similar to the whole "Banking Conspiracy" or "Media Conspiracy" points.
So again, whether you interpret the Hadith one way or the other, what the heck does Zionism have to do with this? Why did it even come up?
Because the above poster believes that this false or negative perception of Islam derives from Jews, with no material evidence to support this.
That's racist and I don't see why it has any place here.
Your Judaism is irrelevant. The above post is racist whether or not you acknowledge it.
To lay things bare, first, I do stand corrected... the best I can do to find an origin of the myth is here, which suggests that the rumor was actually started by a US television station in a willfully (as shown by their unwillingness to retract it) mistranslation of an interview with a Hamas functionary.
I will stand corrected in that maybe I jumped the gun by calling out solely Zionism and letting the manipulators from other right-wing groups off the hook, but my only flaw there was not spreading the responsibility for these lies around as far as I should have.
However, origins are not everything. Continuing (this assertion is repeated all throughout Gamla's website) the snowballing (under "Suicide Attacks...") of a myth (printed response by Seth Cohen, MI) is complicity (read the comments) in its execution as well. Are you going to argue that the individuals continuing to propagate this rumor on the Ha'aretz Daily, Gamla, the ITIC & Y-Net News are not Zionist in political orientation?
Speaking of political orientation, Zionism is just that. It is not a religious, cultural or racial heritage. It always was and always will be a political perspective. Further, Zionism =/= Judaism. Zionism is a nationalist movement that has just as strong roots in secularism as in Judaism. Further, it's not anywhere near universally embraced by people of Jewish heritage. Even in Israel, there are scores of Jewish organizations and publications that focus on building cooperation and peace in the region (Ariga, Peace Now, the Peres Center for Peace, National Census, etc. - even the Kahan Commission, which investigated the Sabra and Shantila Massacre, was established by the Israeli government)
You made the leap to "Jews and Jew lovers," which is a specious connection. I am of Jewish heritage and I'm a Jew-lover (the Christian side of my family disowned my mom, so I the first people I ever loved are Jews). However, the specific political manipulations of Zionism, specifically Zionist Nationalism, have nothing to do with Judaism except for the cynical way in which that movement manipulates sympathy for Jews in order to push forward a series of calculated military policies.
Is every Christian a Christian Nationalist? No. Not even close. Does Christian Nationalism use Christianity as a smokescreen for consolidating political power? Yes. Does condemnation of this cynical political movement equate with condemnation or hatred of Christianity or Christians? Absolutely not.
Similarly, recognizing and criticizing the ways in which adherents to Christian Nationalism, foreign interventionism, Zionism and other right-wing movements manipulate people with little knowledge of Islam into writing off a billion people as violent extremists is not hatred against Christians or Jews. It's simply wiping away that smokescreen of "religious" community to lay bare what is, at its heart, a mercenary strategy to pull at people's sense of moral right and ignorance about a culture with which they have little experience in order to focus political power. This has resulted in callous abuses of national power that has lain waste to both Afghanistan and Iraq in recent years, while sacrificing young people from the very nations (the US and Israel, primarily) in which these movements are most popular.
Equating Zionism and Judaism or the Jewish people removes the agency of the overwhelming majority of Jewish (and Jewish-descended) people world-over who do not support Zionist Nationalism. Further, it makes it difficult to argue against the true political manipulations of the cynical players in this game.
Oh, and did I ever say "conspiracy"? Nope. I mean, technically, any political movement or organization is a "conspiracy" in that people work together, but that's really a reach on the definition of that word and it's certainly not a word I'd use in connection with anything I talked about. Zionism is no more a "conspiracy" than Liberal Democracy or Conservativism or the Green Party.
But, hey, keep calling me racist, because that makes sense... riiiight. Just to sum up, Zionism =/= Judaism, Zionists =/= Jews (or Israelis or people of Jewish heritage). Zionism is nationalist political ideology and to claim opposition to that ideology as "racist" is really reaching. Really.
Oh, yeah, and, btw, my fam is Jewish... My grandpa's even borderline Zionist. I'm not speaking from a place of ignorance on this. I know nuff folks who have no problem justifying the Sabra and Shantila massacres and have heard that flawed logic enough that my condemnation of Zionism is pretty damned rooted in reality.
So call my Jewish ass an anti-Semite. Or get over yourself and recognize that hate is hate and slaughter is slaughter no matter who is doing it. It's time we squash this shit and that's not gonna happen until we disavow the flawed arguments on all sides that justify homicide.
Yeah, there's one Hadith with a broken chain of transmission (which means that belief in this Hadith is not required in the faith) that states that in heaven, a "person of paradise" will have 72 wives. It doesn't even mention virgins... the commentary written in response to Hadith mentions virgins. Further the rest of the passage is equally absurd - 80,000 servants? I mean, it reads like the Kubla Khan... and, as far as I know, Muslims don't really pay it any mind..
Why am I even writing this? It's pretty clear we're in full agreement... Most religions - and the Abrahamic faiths shine in this regard - are blatantly misogynistic (ever been to a Jehova's Witness wedding? holy crap - and I mean that)...
Bottom line, Logrus... what you said:
the initial comment [is] a form of ignorant race/theology baiting...
...gets right to the heart of the matter...
FUCK YEAH to that Little Italy retaliatory sticker on the Tucker Max ad! I hate hate hate those ads! I've just started to see them everywhere and the trailer for his stupid movie on every fucking channel. GO FUCK YOURSELF TUCKER MAX!
I want one of those rings.
While I'm a little squeamish about the whole "selling your virginity" bit, am I the only one who's also snapping my finger thinking "Damn! I could have done that and not ever worry about paying for med school!"
Maybe that could be a new angle for abstinence only education "Save your virginity through high school, then sell it for a few million!"
I would SO love to see this aspect focused on by the abstenece brigades.
grrr "abstinence"
note to self: more coffee please!
I don't know about you guys, but I wrote an email to Elle complaining about Ms. Jean's slut-shaming and name-calling. The email address is:
elle@emailcustomerservice.com
I don't know about you guys, but I wrote an email to Elle to complain. The email address is:
elle@emailcustomerservice.com
I think no matter your personal views on prostitution, she could have made her views clear without slut-shaming and name-calling. I'm just a little bit sick and tired of words like "slut" and "trollop" being bandied about- and by women?? Really, we don't need to help fan the flames of misogyny.
I'm glad to see that more and more people are standing up to that douchebag Tucker Max and his sick views on women. Bravo to Little Italy for fighting back against intolerance and misogyny! Someone should tell that pervert to his face!
Max Tucker is a moron. But you can't help but to think who are these girls who chase him and want to have sex with him? I'm all for women expressing and enjoying their sexuality...but with him? Ew!
Right on to Little Italy for standing up to Rape Culture. I'm so freaking scared that people I know will see and like that movie. Would it be so bad to stop liking someone or like them less just because they liked that movie? It sounds awfully shallow...
One of my facebook friends was a "fan" of him, so I made every effort to post as many articles as possible about his misogyny. Don't know if it worked, but she never defended being a fan.
I just ordered an equality ring! :) I think that's a pretty cool idea.
High-five to my Little Sisters down in the other (non-Bronx) Little Italy. When I saw those posters in midtown (the first time I saw them anywhere), I swear I almost exploded into little bits of rage. Then I swore I was going to return at night with a can of spray paint, but I don't think I would have come up with anything that clever.
In other news, people still use the word 'trollop'?
P.S. Lilith, as you point out, that movie is ALL ABOUT rape culture. So choosing to not like someone because they like that movie is equivalent to choosing not to like someone because they like rape culture. Which is fine in my book.
Everyone should send an email to the 40 days of life website thanking them for a list of clinics to support throughout their protests. It makes it very easy for me to see where I will be needed in my area.
info at 40daysforlife dot com