Just saying no
A quick pointer to a couple of interesting posts on the “art of no” at CaptainAwkward.com, a highly informative, often hilarious, and thoroughly feminist advice blog. In the first post, the Captain notes that: Women are socialized to make men feel good. We’re socialized to “let you down easy.” We’re not socialized to say a [...]
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Caster Semenya Case Opening Old Wounds
I was watching the track and field championships in Berlin last month when Caster Semenya won her 800m gold medal in the fifth fastest time ever run by a woman. But as I know from my time on planet Earth, if an African descended female athlete excels in spectacular fashion, we get accused of cheating [...]
...read moreWhy I Hate Filling Out Forms
I hate it, every single time. Name, sorted. Then… clunk. Sex – M or F. Sod. It seems like an easy question, right? For most people it is. For me, it should be an easy question. I live and identify unequivocally as female. I’m not a genderqueer person for whom the very either/or question is [...]
...read moreEmails from my mother
Okay, here’s what you need to understand going in: my mother is mentally ill, most likely with borderline personality disorder (characterized by certain patterns in a person’s social interactions). She is extremely passive-aggressive, as well as manipulative and emotionally abusive. Around sixteen years old, when I was just beginning to realize how fucked-up my family [...]
...read moreAir-Breathing, Water-Drinking Earthlings
Last night Ethan’s third grade class put on an Earth Day celebration, a “Prairie Home Companion” styled radio show, that was packed full of epic recorder songs and appeals to their parents to recycle and consume water and electricity in more responsible ways. Even though it was relatively standard in the school recital sense, what [...]
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Fashion Police Question Whether Michelle Obama’s Bare Arms Are “Appropriate”
Though I certainly do like pretty clothes, I wouldn’t exactly call myself a fashion buff — and I usually ignore all of the commentary surrounding Michelle Obama’s wardrobe choices, even though I rather like most of her picks, too. That is, I ignore it until the commentary on whether her dress was flattering starts to [...]
...read moreGendering Comfort
This advertisement for the Chevy Silverado truck isn’t anything particularly new, I’m afraid. It’s supposedly super masculine men like (Hall of Fame football player) Howie Long policing other men’s masculinity and shaming them when they don’t live up to the arbitrary gender ideals. In short, *yawn*. But for some reason the ad stuck with me, [...]
...read moreDaughter Offered to Iraqi Shoe-Thrower
I’ll be honest and admit that I’m not entirely sure what to say about this, what with the fucked up-ness seeming so obvious. But for the sake of completion, since Feministe did cover the shoe-throwing incident on multiple levels, I felt obligated to put it up. Last week, an Egyptian man offered his daughter to [...]
...read moreAccents
My mother is adorable. She’s lived in the US for over 35 years now. She has authored, edited or translated a half-dozen books — in English! But she still sends me e-mails with lines like this, in her recipe for Japanese curry, from ten minutes ago: “In the same flying pan, add some more oil [...]
...read moreMessage to the Guys: Donating Your Organs is Almost Like Sex
This ad promoting organ donation appeared in a Belgian men’s magazine. The message at the bottom reads: Becoming a donor is probably your only chance to get inside her. Nice way to objectify women to get across your “altruistic” message, suggest that women are only good for “getting inside of,” imply that women who don’t [...]
...read moreBodily Autonomy:Jehovah’s Witness Teens and Blood Transfusions
Lately, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about bodily autonomy. It seems to me that when feminists discuss this issue it is usually with regards to reproductive justice. However, I’ve got something different in mind right now and I’m hoping that others could give me some input on it. As a member of disability [...]
...read moreIs it worth the risk?
Well, what’s the risk? A lot of people took this tack in response to my PSA post. If I minorly annoy 49 people, but save one life!, isn’t it worth the risk? Psssst: your privilege is showing. See, here’s your thought process: If there’s a one-in-fifty chance my drive-by suggestions will help, it’s worth it! [...]
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