Baylor told Brittney Griner not to talk about the, y’know, lesbian thing
When Brittney Griner, the first pick in this year’s WNBA draft, mentioned to SI.com last month that she’s a lesbian, it wasn’t a huge coming-out moment for anyone who knew her, because she’d been open about her sexuality since her freshman year of high school. It might have been a surprise to anyone who was only familiar with her college career, though, because she was on strict orders from Baylor University to keep quiet about it.
...read more![St Andrew's Cross Spiders (Argiope keyserlingi) are named for their bright, cross-shaped web decorations.
[Image credit: TTaylor, shared under CCL on Wikimedia Commons]](http://www.feministe.us/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/St_Andrews_Cross_spider-150x150.jpg)
Weekly Open Thread with Andrew’s Cross Spider
One of Australia’s less scary spiders is the host of this week’s Open Thread. Please natter/chatter/vent/rant on anything* you like over this weekend and throughout the week.
* with a few netiquette exceptions
...read moreHealing the Toxic Intoxication of Fat Hatred
I recently tried once again to read George Orwell’s 1984.
As always, I got a few chapters in and had to stop because it was so depressing that I couldn’t live in Orwell’s evocation of mind-controlled totalitarian world for a minute longer. One thing I did get out of the experience was adding one more time reading the early chapters including the Two Minutes Hate scene. Early in the book the hero, Winston Smith takes part in his office’s mandatory daily group hate ritual, an exercise in bonding and mind control.
...read moreThe brutality of reproductive control
A must-read op/ed in the New York Times about the dangers in state control of reproduction:
...read moreLiving in a pretty ugly world
Living for five years in California and then Oregon, Samantha Escobar felt okay about her appearance, more satisfied with her career and family and friends than she was concerned about weight gain or loss. After just over a month living in New York, she’s begun to feel ugly — “[u]gly enough that I view myself unpresentable to be in front of other human beings, as though I am literally disrespecting them by looking how I do.” It’s heartbreaking.
...read moreBreakfast: Not Sexier than Before, but Funnier than Ever
Having a product called “Sexcereal” is funny enough.
Seriously promoting it as being full of foods that make you sexy is funny enough.
Having different versions of it for men and women is funny enough.
But honestly, the folks behind Sexcereal are in the wrong business. Hollywood pays big bucks for people who can be this hilarious:
...read moreShameless Self-Promotion Sunday
Promote yourself.
...read more
Weekly Open Thread with Tapestry
Hosting this weeks open thread is Carole King’s classic hit from the 70s. Please natter/chatter/vent/rant on anything* you like over this weekend and throughout the week.
* with a few netiquette exceptions
...read moreAngelina Jolie and her mastectomy. (It was going to come up eventually.)
In February, Angelina Jolie had a prophylactic bilateral mastectomy. This week, she wrote an op-ed about it for the New York Times. And here’s all I’m going to say about it.
...read moreNo, actually. No. Violence against women actually isn’t funny.
No, The Onion. No, Hanna Rosin. A joke about beating a woman to death is not funny.
...read moreMother’s Day is Over – But Pregnancy Discrimination Isn’t
Stories of discrimination against pregnant women in the workplace are all too common, and that’s why we need the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), which was introduced in Congress today.
Despite the passage of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act over 30 years ago, which prohibits discrimination based on pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions, some employers continue to deny pregnant women the minor job modifications that could protect not only a woman’s pregnancy but also a family’s economic security, forcing pregnant women out of their jobs.
The PWFA would make it crystal clear to employers that they can’t treat pregnant women worse than other workers who have certain job limitations and instead must make reasonable accommodations if doing so doesn’t pose an undue hardship on the business.
...read moreLGBT community to the state of Minnesota: “YOU’RE WELCOME.”
Well, you’ve done it now, Minnesota. You’ve gone and okayed same-sex marriage, and now Michele Bachmann is leaving.
[Update: Okay, so I'm a sucker. It's satire. Wishful thinking on my part, I suppose.]
...read more
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