- Redneck Feminist goes a few rounds with the IWF’s ridiculous – and sexist – criticism of Million Dollar Baby. TKO.
- BadChristian Blog confesses the grossest event of his life, and, well, it’s gross. Really gross. If you don’t like well-written essays about grossness, then I suggest you not follow this link.
- Nicely-written, impressionistic guest-post post on Beauty Dish – written by Patia Stephens, whose blog I haven’t encountered before – discusses fat and beauty in a fat-phobic culture.
I’ve spent time in the body-image trenches; I’ve read “The Beauty Myth” and “Fat!So?” and “Love Your Looks.” I know that looksism is a patriarchal tool of oppression, that weight doesn’t equal worth, that life’s too short for self-loathing and celery sticks. I’ve written papers on fat as a human rights issue and the social indoctrination of girls in “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.” None of these things change the fact that I just want to be loved.
Via XX.
- Via Patia comes this collection of Weight Watchers Recipe cards from 1974. It’s much, much funnier than it sounds, I promise.
- And again via Patia, Losing It, a really interesting blog about body image, weight, and trying to fine a sane position on fat and dieting while living in a culture that can’t see “sane” with a telescope.
- Eugene Volokh, who I generally think of as one of the smartest, most reasonable right-wingers out there, thinks the Iranian government is right about torture. Instapundit agrees. There really isn’t much to say to that, but Aliciablog, The Right Coast, Matt Yglesias, and Digby nonetheless all have responses worth reading. Many links via Body and Soul.
- Speaking of torture, do you know what to call it when you kick someone in the crotch, slam them into walls and furnature, and force them to breathe water instead of air? Well, if you’re our government, you call it “involuntary manslaughter.” Disgusting.
- Trish Wilson has a great post on why a-list bloggers seem to have so much trouble finding women they want to link to, and on the “food fights” that pass for debate in the mainstream media. Shakespeare’s Sister, meanwhile, reports what some A-list bloggers say when they can be anonymous. And while we’re on the subject, don’t miss this op-ed by Katha Pollitt, and this typically thoughtful post from Body and Soul.
- The Two Percent Company favors the legalization of gay marraige, pluralistic marriage, and incest marriage. I also favor legalizing pluralistic marriage (aka polygamy), but I think it’s a bad idea – both logically and politically – to consider all three issues within a single discussion, as if they were all the same issue.
- Respectful of Otters discusses why “crack babies” – a mostly fictional threat – was such a huge story, while “lead paint babies” – a real and ongoing problem – was pretty much ignored by the mainstream media. It comes down to priorities:
The lead problem is complex; it implicates delinquent landlords, decaying inner city housing stock, the shift in low-income housing assistance from federally maintained properties to the Section 8 system (which relies on private landlords), and state and municipal governments […] In contrast, the “crack baby epidemic” was about poor black women being bad mothers…
Major Trump donors who complained of immigrant ‘invasion’ used Mexican workers illegally https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/dec/20/uline-mexican-workers-trump
Re: lead paint. It’s been fascinating to see how blame can get twisted on this issue. I actually saw one non-profit housing group tell mothers that they shouldn’t “let” their young toddlers put their fingers in their mouths (neatly ignoring the fact that this is a normal developmental phase for young children) and that they should wash surfaces subject to abrasion (like windowsills) DAILY. Absolutely unbelievable. This is what they actually suggested to people currently living in a unit with lead paint. Do they ever listen to their own advise and realize how completely crazy and undoable it is?
Re above. Want evidence as to how lead paint can be totally depoliticized and made into something for which mostly low-income parents (read: mothers) are now totally responsible”?
Here’s a link to the housing rehab group I mentioned and their “handy tips” on “What Parents can Do to Reduce Blood-Lead Levels.” Hint: there is no mention of writing your congressman and screaming about reduced funding for lead abatement programs.
Read this advise and tell me if you think YOU could follow through all this crap on a daily basis and still have time for anything else. Or whether you wouldn’t just rather move to a safe apartment–assuming one is available and affordable.
http://www.chric.org/parentsdo.html
I am so glad you posted that link to Patia’s story. Not only am I bookmarking her blog, but I’m bookmarking that hilarious Beauty Dish blog. Have you read the rest of that site? The woman who writes it is an Avon Lady and details her experiences. It’s feminist and wacky and sad and funny all at once. Extremely well-written.
I am in agreeance with the reader above who mentions writing to your congressman and demanding lead abatement programs. I work in obstetrics as a registered nurse, and it is simply unreal how many young mothers have blood lead problems, almost all of them from economically disadvantaged neighborhoods.
Thanks for all the links. I was also dissapointed by Volokh’s praise for the Iranian execution– I admire so much of what he writes that this was a serious “wuh” moment.