I have started doing my "recommended reading" lists through a feature on my delicious bookmarking account. This way, I will be posting here on my blog the articles and posts that I bookmark on delicious each day, rather than doing my bi-weekly reading list posting. This is the first post using that feature.
Saturday, May 3
Recommended Reading/ links for 2008-05-03
Wednesday, April 30
Mid-Week Recommended Reading
Recommended articles and blog posts from the week so far...
Seeking Inspiration, a really nice post from Carol @ The Reaction about inspirational people on the net.
"I think life is easier for men" says an MTF transsexual on Postsecret, as written about by Female Impersonator.
Actress Juliet Binoche commenting on European sensibility of beauty vs. American Hollywood via AdFeminem. And this observation from Adfeminem is a brilliant connection:FHM Magazine published its list of the world's 100 sexiest women today. The average age of the top ten choices, all Hollywood actresses (could there possibly be a sexier profession?), is 26.
Daisy @ Daisy's Dead Air has a terrific post about the complexities of race in her Having a Black Name.
The Triple Standard of health care by Deane Waldman @ Huff-Po.
Angry Black Woman On Feminism
Sudy's post about feminism and racism. (H/T Feminist Allies)
Why does the media insist on using "sex" to describe rape? As in "forced sex with a child"? See Hoyden About Town's post on this.
Hugo writes about a interesting sounding article I'll have to get a hold of on self-objectification.
A great post from the Lizard Queen about a woman's sex work sticks with her identity in media reporting even after she leaves the biz.
The effect of Danica Patrick's historic win on aspiring girl racers. via feministing
And this is absurd: a pray-in for gas prices, via Pandagon.
Saturday, April 26
Weekend Recommended Reading
Your dose of weekend reading material!
A really excellent post at Shakesville, "Feminism 101: 'Sexism is a Matter of Opinion'". It's long, but it's really, really worth it. Some bits:We're all biased—either because we are the potential targets or potential beneficiaries of sexism, whether we want to be or not. A woman who rejects the existence of sexism is no more unlikely to be oppressed by it than a woman who spends her days documenting it. A man who acknowledges and fights the existence of sexism is no more unlikely to passively benefit from other people privileging men over women than a man who actively marginalizes women. That's the reality of institutionalized sexism; it compromises us all.
A commentary at Feminist Gamers about the recent "open source boob project" which I also read about here, and rightly proclaims, One more time: Women’s bodies are not public property. And also this take from Alternet, and this parodic response from misia.
...
Like the Matrix, which Morpheus described as "everywhere. It is all around us. Even now, in this very room… It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth," the systemic sexism known as the patriarchy is so comprehensive and profound that "seeing it" actually takes some effort, some willingness to see it. And, like those who find themselves awakening from the Matrix, people who find themselves awakening from the patriarchy learn to identify its patterns, upon which it is dependent for the transmission of its ideals and its continual self-generation.
The Kinsey Confidential reports on a new study (that I'm interested in reading, and can hopefully write about later) that states, news flash! Men's sexuality is complex and varies; it isn't unidimensional or homogeneous. Says study's author Erick Janssen,one of the main conclusions of the focus group study is that, just like women, men are different. Sex researchers tend to focus a lot of differences between men and women, while not giving as much attention to the differences that exist among men, and women.
This is pretty sad that we need studies to tell us these things. But we do. With how ubiquitous damaging, homogenizing, pathologizing presentations of "normal" sexuality are in all aspects of society, these kinds of studies need to happen more often, with a broader sample (this study only had 50 participants), and needs to be shouted from the freakin' rooftops.
5 Resolutions discusses a new study which says 65% of women ages 25-45 have disordered eating. Not surprising when our culture equates "health" with "skinny".
f-word's posting about a study of why men 'interpret' women's behavior and language as "yes."
Wednesday, April 23
Mid-week Recommended Reading
Check these out! “I just keep it to myself and it's nobody's business. If I wanna f**k a girl, a boy, a dog, that's my business. That's why there's bathroom doors." She adds: "What the majority of (people) want to know is what I'm doing with my vagina, and I think that that's sick.
Via feministing, this really great quote by actress Michelle Rodriguez:her awesome response to repeated prying questions from journalists about whether she's secretly into girls. She explains:
WORD.
“I picture [the journalists] turning into pigs, slime coming out the side of their mouth, and I picture them jerking off. I don't answer those questions.
On male and female leads in the top-billed movies.
Nice article from angry black woman POC and the politics of medical research. Unfortunately, this topic is still relevant.
Horrors! Every man just can't buy a Russian female sex-slave, er, bride, like they used to. Those women are actually having the nerve to be choosy who they'll "let buy" them!
From feministing on the new book, My Beautiful Mommy, that helps explain to kids the miracle of "the mommy job" plastic surgery procedures.
And for humor's sake, because with a nauseating book like that, you need a bit of comic relief, from Mikhaela at The Boiling Point:
So no, women often don’t speak up — sometimes because we’re punished for it, and sometimes because we know full well that people aren’t listening. And when women are trained to understand that we just aren’t taken all that seriously, we doubt ourselves — and then we silence ourselves even more.
From Racialicious, and excellent Notes on Fostering ActivismFor someone to say “We want to publish more women of color”, it implies that they have done their part. Have they created a safe space for women of color? Do they have their business sense together so they can provide the appropriate services to women of color (i.e. quality)? Do they speak to women of color in a respectful way? Do they allow women of color to speak for themselves, to tell their own stories their own way? Do they seek out promising talent and approach those women of color with a reasonable offer?
On Shaving, from Suzanne Reisman at Blogher and CUSS
My Fat Body from Jill @ One Girl Army. And a promo for this blog-I think it's great! It's a group blog project for young women age 10-25. Really terrific stuff!
Saturday, April 19
Weekend Recommended Reading
I decided I'm going to do this as a weekend and mid-week feature, since I get too gosh-darn many to post only weekly. Once again, these are articles and blog posts that I think are worthwhile reads that I either don't have time to add my extra comment to (although I often give a mini-comment with each listing-I can't help myself!) or simply require no further comment.
And feel free to comment on a specific article in my reading list if you found it interesting or discussion-worthy!
Without further adieu, the weekend edition:
From Racialicious, "A Different Kind of Asian Image"-a great post about Yuko Shimizu's illustration art of some pretty fab Asian female's who are kick-ass tough and sexy too..and not in the stereotypical superficial way. Check out the post!
I love AfterEllen's birthday tribute to Emma Watson (Hermione in Harry Potter), where they note:I couldn't be more thankful that the precocious Ms. Watson has reached this milestone with age-appropriate grace and modesty....Besides being a great student who aced her exit examinations, Emma has been a charming role model for young women everywhere. Aside from one leaked photo of Emma drinking a beer (and just a Corona at that, geez) she has kept herself out of the tawdry tabloid pages. No shots of various exposed body parts. No stories of feuds with celebutants. No word of diva behavior. Like I said, refreshing.
Indeed!
Bitch PhD on the cost of war for various countries. Oh the disparity between the U.S. and every other country!
A few great posts on body image and what women's bodies are "supposed" to look like:
From Pretty Little Girls, on one female athlete lamenting her body type, which ends (read the post!) with some positive words to her:But if my body didn’t look like the elite marathoner I was in my daydreams, I was not a true athlete, and I could not tick off the box labeled as such. No matter that I’ve run races, from 5Ks and 10Ks...On top of my muscle — you know, the virtuous weight, the kind we’re allowed — I have boobs and body fat and curves. Athletes have none of those things. Athletes are all skin, bones, muscle, and drive. No fat. I must look like an athlete or none of my athletic accomplishments count, and ergo, neither do I.
And from the livejournal Trouble Is A State Of Mind the statement: Real Women Exist and Take Up Space...a sort of counter to the effects of "real women have curves" message that then redefines "real women" again with a norm. Real women have bodies. Real women take up space in the world. My mini-soapbox: what we must fight against is the notion that women are their bodies, that they reflect their worth as a human being, that women are first bodies before being humans. Off. Soapbox.
An excellent post from Obsidian Wings on how misguided the (racist, idiotic) statements made by Patrick Buchanan suggesting racial minorities should be "grateful" to the American People (exactly when did black people become not part of the American people?) were.
A brilliant comparison between the U.S. and U.K. Cosmo's at Dirty Rotten Feminist.I find this attitude much better than the usual grin-and-bear-it version at Cosmo US. I feel our version of Cosmo has made it their mission to shame women into being porned-up fem-bots, willing to do anything to please their man (see this issue’s ”67 New Blow-His-Mind Moves”). However, Cosmo UK told a woman she should not have to do something she doesn’t feel comfortable with, to not take this shit lying down, and throw a nice jab at the pro-porn attitude. I loved it.
A great post by Jill at Feministe about how the prostitutes, not their rich powerful male clients, were forced to testify in the DC Madam trial. The trial was slut shaming at its finest, with fewer social consequences for the guys.
Monday, April 14
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.
Monday, April 7
Recommended Reading
Two posts about recent rape stories to add to my post earlier this week for Blog Against Sexual Violence that will piss you off:
In line with the way the Air Force handled the rape survivor who decided to decline testifying, a rape victim was arrested for--get this--having sex with minors. (via F-word)
So a woman reports being drugged, then repeatedly raped by three teenagers. Those teenagers video the attack, and post it on YouTube. She is initially too scared to report the crime to the police, but eventually does so. No charges are brought - against the teenage boys. But she is charged with sex with a minor and perverting the course of justice. Her own children have been put on the Child Protection Register.And via Feministing, an appeals court decided to uphold the choice of the Nebraska judge who banned the word "rape" from his courtroom, making "sex" and "intercourse" the terms used to describe the rape. So much for getting people past the misconception that rape is about sex, eh?
Why calling out misogyny matters (via Feministe)
This is why I continue to call out the use of misogyny and sexist insults in this campaign. It’s not so much that I’m defending Clinton (though I think she’s getting an unfair shake in the media and in the blogosphere, and that annoys me), but that I’m calling this shit out because this shit hurts women. Women like me. Women like many of you. Women like your daughters, your sisters, your mothers, your friends, your spouses, your SOs. If it’s okay to dehumanize a US Senator and presidential candidate as “that thing” or dismiss her as “that bitch,” or set up a 527 called “Citizens United Not Timid” (aka C.U.N.T.) to “educate the American public about what Hillary Clinton really is,” then we now have an environment in which it’s okay to dehumanize, demean and diminish ordinary women because they’re women.
This is a great post not only about the misogyny against Sen. Clinton, but about how women are discounted, dismissed, and insulted everyday and all this Clinton crap is just the public face of a culture that does not take women seriously.
Media Watch: Dunbar Village (via Racialicious)And excellent recap of the defense of the rapists in the Dunbar Village incident by the NAACP and Al Sharpton, who are protesting the rapists' arrest because they out to be treated the same as in another incident involving white individuals. As Racialicious argues, no the cases aren't the same, this isn't an issue of race, and you're just protecting rapists and basically looking like an idiot (my words).
Women Want Their Sexuality Back -- Now. And Opening Marriage Just Might Help. (via Huff-Po)
A great post about how both the cult of virginity (ie Purity Balls) and the valorization and objectification of hyper-sexuality in young women operate on the same logic: they both subscribe to the notion that the aspect of a woman's life and identity that is most fundamental and valuable is her sexuality--and that it doesn't belong to her. It belongs to her dad...or to all men as a (privileged) class. We should neither reject having or abstaining from sex because of what it says about us as women, we should do what we do because we own our bodies and our sexuality. A snipet:
I epitomize a woman who demands control over her own sexuality. That terrifies people. And rightly so. Once we girls refuse to think of ourselves as nothing more than receptacles for the male sex organ, then we are free to spend less time tossing our hair and more time tossing out the trash who are serving in office, making the laws, presiding over the bench, and generally perpetuating the myth of woman as helpless toy.
What some people fail to understand though is that women having control over their own sexuality (let alone their bodies and their minds and their lives) benefits everyone because those women have the opportunity to be whole women. And no self-respecting man should want anything less. No more guessing what she's thinking or what she wants. No more living with someone who has become so programmed to ignore her own desires that she doesn't even remember what they were. No more wishing you had an equal but pretending you wanted Barbie.
I used to be upset by the people who called me a whore and said they pitied my husband. "Who are you to think you deserve to be happy?" their comments seemed to say. "How dare you want to be fulfilled sexually? You're just a woman," I heard them whispering between the lines.
How do class and race affect different women's approaches to sex work? (via Why I Hate Fun)A really interesting post that discusses the discursive production of prostitution as liberatory is a (white) privileged position that some sex workers are fortunate enough to be able to take, and is one that ignores the situations and experiences of women of color in the industry for whom it is nothing close to a "choice."
Keep Reading...
Friday, April 4
Recommended Reading: Blogging Against Sexual Violence
Abyss2hope, the sponsoring blog, is doing an excellent catalog of all the blogs posting on Blog Against Sexual Violence, so rather than reinvent the wheel, please check them out here.
(NOTE: nothing more after the jump)
Monday, March 31
Recommended Reading
My weekly reading list from all over the blogs...
Lots of good (and ugly!) stuff from this past week.
Two perspectives on "Miss Bimbo" free online game. While I see the ironic potential that Jessica Wakeman at Huff-Po claims, I tend to agree with Jessica at Feministing about the creators' actual intention and its likely social affect. Perhaps to be better as social commentary, it needs a different venue. While you're at it, check out Adios, Barbie! and their "Feel the Model" interactive game.
Commentary on an article over at the F-Word on making alternative relationship configurations within marriage is possible, but damn, social expectations make it awfully hard.
A great guest post at Shakesville stemming from parents' reaction to the gender dynamics in a co-ed sports league. The point she makes...it's really great. Be sure to read it til the end.
At Salon's broadsheet, an article about how Feminism gets blamed for the stunted progress of workplace reform.
I read two really provocative posts on sexuality: from Girlistic, great commentary on OUT TV's special "Fallen from Grace: Lesbians in Love With Men," taking a look at how much complicated sexuality, gender, and identity are than our culture perceives them to be, and from 'Essen Em (over 18 only!) a great post on the incredible marginality of identifying as bisexual and also the misunderstandings arouns such and identification.
More surveys around public perception of rape and its causes continues to see rape as about sex rather than violence, and consequently persists in blaming the victim for the violence done to her. (via Menstrual Poetry and also The Curvature). On a related note, the Ohio Athens Messenger with this article stating that sexual assault is more than just rape (it's so discouraging that this is news!) and that making light of and joking about certain forms of sexual assault (i.e. cat-calls, groping) affect women's willingness to come forward about their own experiences of it. Here's a great plug for the HollaBack family of websites where you can photograph your street harasser with your cel phone and post it on their website!!! WORD!
A really important post at Shakesville about a study showing that fat women aren't getting the proper health care they need. Why? Negative attitudes and plain ole "repulsion" by doctors and nurses at fat women's bodies. This both saddens and angers me and is a clear human rights issue.
Lastly, from Pandagon, How Republicans turn all sexist on Condi Rice when she has the audacity to say that yes, America has race issues.
Monday, March 24
Recommended Reading
Some interesting articles from the past week...
First, an assortment of thoughts and discussions about prostitution. I deplore the way the media has invaded the privacy of Spitzer's prostitute, but it has been really great that the whole situation has resulted in lots of internet chatter about prostitution: why it's illegal, whether it should be, and about the difference between criticizing the patriarchal culture that makes prostitution possible and (sometimes) lucrative, about what consent and "free choice" really mean, about the working conditions that prostitutes work through, the differences between decriminalization and legalization, and about the cultural representations of prostitution.
Here's a sample:
Legalize ProstitutionDecriminalization, ending demand, and choice: Feministe interviews the Sex Workers ProjectFeministing provides a great recap of several articles and opinions on the topic.
A few other topics of interest...
Michael Stickings of The Reaction wrote an excellent analysis of Obama's Tuesday speech on race, politics, and the election.
Hugo Schwytzer wrote a provocative posting about how ED functioned as new connection to some of the damaging ways masculinity is produced through patriarchal notions of sexuality.
This is creepy: Maxim's guide to stalking. Misogyny provides the tools...for more misogyny. via feministing
The too-familiar collision of sports and misogyny, from Alas, a Blog: Anti-Feminist Attacks Favre For Crying “Like A Girl”
One stripper tells The Guardian about her experience being a sex worker...some interesting comments about how objectifying giving lap dances is and her thoughts on the politics involved (link is to f-word because they have some other related links)
Have a look at a 1954 quiz on How Masculine Are You?
Check out Jezebel's take on Vogue's World's Best Bodies (hint: the "Best Body" for women is the small-bodied fashion model who act as accessories for the male bodies; for men it is the strength and flexibility of an athlete. hmm....)
Friday, March 14
Some recommended web reading
A selection of interesting articles from the past week or so, some of which may not directly apply to the theme of my blog and others simply require no further comment.
ENJOY!
New book Women as Weapons of War: Iraq, Sex, and the Media, by Kelly Oliver. The Alternet review is interesting but has some very poor article editing (which this, rather than the actual content, unfortunately is what the comments revolve around and is used to discredit the author). Also see review on Media Mouse.
"Ferraro's comments about Obama were racist. Why can't we just say that?" by Ta-Nehisi coates via Slate.
"Let Me Clarify Something..." by Essin' Em. An insightful and articulate post by a sex blogger (!) about why abstinence and abstinence education are not evil.
"Porn vs. Prostitution: Why is it legal to pay someone for sex on camera?Slut-shaming "Kristen" in the media" via Feministing. The media is relentless at publicly shaming women who use their sexuality for anything other than making babies.
This horrifying story amounts to rape in my book. "Police: 'You fit the profile'" by Brendan J. Lyons. via Albany Times-Union.
