Recommended Reading

Here's your weekly dose of recommended reading:

Nerve's Scanner posed the question : "Who Would You Rather: Pamela Anderson or Madonna?" in a refreshing way:

This time, it's enormous fake tits + endearing sense of humor + no acting talent + married to two of the most unlikeable men ever to walk the pages of Us Weekly (not including Tommy Lee) vs. one of the coolest pop singers of all-time + not the hottest nude celebrity we've ever seen + still beautiful at 50.

Wow! Desirability not posed simply in terms of physical and behavioral conformity to heteronormative sexuality?! Not bad, Nerve!

PhysioProf's Blogging While Pseudonymous; Blogging While Female (UPDATED)

On Misogyny in Sports Media, from Sarah on Blogher:

So it is really needless to say that when I was working on a post about the greatest female athlete of all time I was shocked and disgusted that when I did a search for the greatest player in the history of the WNBA my search engine asked me if I wasn't confused and meant to search for the greatest player in the NBA.

While no one person is "in charge" of saying what is and is not 'feminist,' Hear Me Roar offers up a list of feminist deal-breakers.

Shakesville's polemic: you must advocate feminism if you are progressive, as feminism is integral to progressive politics.

From Racialicious: Dear America: A Few Things This Black Woman Would Like You to Know About Race:

Why is the very mention of our country’s racist past and its lingering prejudices anathema to some? Why does discussing racism so often result in defensive bravado? It’s as if pointing out racial challenges negates the progress the country has made and condemns every member of the mainstream as an irredeemable racist. That is not the case.

Our Bodies, Ourselves has info about a must-see documentary, The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo.

Shakesville points out yet another example of the media using the term "have sex" to report on "rape."

Teh Portly Dyke on 'if we paid our teachers like babysitters,' advice given by many who see teaching as meaningless babysitting. Brilliant and enlightening.

Resist Racism's post Why I hate white ‘anti-racists’ is a great read with a so-so title. Read it anyway. It's about white anti-racism supporters' ofttimes false understanding about racism when we presume that we fully understand what racism is all about. Um no we don't, and we never will.

Feminism 101's provocative [Feminism Friday] Prostitution: regulation, exploitation and death

An excellent analysis of whitewashing of minority ethnicities in the fashion/advertising of magazines from Racialicious.