You know the drill, folks – here’s some of what I’ve been reading lately, in no particular order. Please feel free to comment on these links, or to post your own links (including your own stuff, if you want!), or to just discuss whatever the heck you want to discuss.
It Won’t Be The Same The Seventh Carnival of the Feminists! Because Nothing Illustrates The Extent of Homophobia Like Maps Report: Women and Children in an Insecure World Disputed Study Finds Low Rates Of Prison Rape Boy Brains and Girl Brains You Know What I Love About Barry Windsor Smith? Personhood: Is a Fetus a Person? Yet Another Depression/Abortion Study Abortion Doesn’t Cause Depression, Stigma Causes Depression Or Maybe It’s Children That Cause Depression The Religious Right Is More Opposed To Freedom Than The Religious Left Lies, Coercion, and Disrespect: Crisis Pregnancy Centers At Work Bashing Feminists Elizabeth Anderson is one of my favorite feminists in the blogosphere. Check out her concise and lethal critique of Christina Hoff Sommers’ boy-crisis anti-feminism, and also her discussion of feminist epistemology and its critics. And her defense of the Kelo decision, while not feminism-related, is excellent. More on Child Support Read the comments, too – it’s good to be reminded that some divorced dads remain decent guys. Mothers Don’t Get To Assume That Parenthood Is Just Writing Checks The men are acknowledging that they may have little or no control over whether an unplanned child is born. From there, they appear to assume that they won’t be around for any actual child-rearing, or even for a relationship with the child. The men are laying claim to the privilege of continuing their regular life, writing a check once a month and being done with it. Tom DeLay Denies All Charges (As Told by Dr. Suess) Life In Prison For a Pound and a Half of Pot Caitlin Flanagan Reviews The Rainbow Party Air American Fails To Support Fat Activism Oops. My Bad. The Argument For A Working Families Party In Oregon
Lauren of Feministe is calling it quits. Damn, damn, damn, damn. I mean, best wishes to Lauren and all – but, at the same time, damn, damn, damn, damn.
Daddy, Papa and Me illustrates the growth of homophobia – and homo-friendliness – since same-sex marriage moved onto the national agenda. Trey also has some predictions for the future. I think this is an excellent post, but we should also remember that the gay-friendly coasts represent a much bigger share of the US population than their modest square miles indicate.
This report attempts to summarize the harm done to women worldwide by abuse, rape, and war.
I’d be delighted if it turns out that prison rape really is rare; but, alas, there’s a good chance that this new study is bullshit.
Lindsey comments on the latest “boy brains” article, this time one from The New Republic. The article in question (which is behind a sign-up barrier) claims that teachers have to adapt to teaching to the biologically different brains of boys – but also has a few examples of schools that have been perfectly successful at teaching boys without using different methods for them, or having lower expectations. If boys have biologically different brains, shouldn’t that be the case universally?
It’s the way he draws tall grass.
Excellent essay outlining the pro-choice position on personhood. I don’t agree with every bit of it, but it’s a good read and a good summary.
The latest abortion-causes-depression study, this time from New Zealand. I’ve read the study, and it’s better than past studies which have made similar claims; this one deserves to be taken seriously (although it’s been criticized). Nonetheless – and as the authors admit – the study doesn’t make the comparison that matters most, between mental illness among women with unwanted pregnancies who gave birth, and mental illness among women with unwanted pregnancies who had abortions.
[Curtsy: I Wish I Was Ern Malley.]
[Curtsy: Whinging in New Zealand.]
Well, that’s what I think, anyhow. I’ve been debating the question with some folks in the comments of Cathy Young’s blog.
Jill at Feministe critiques the Crisis Pregnancy Center movement. Check out Stone Court, too: God Wants You To Lie.
Elizabeth Anderson catches the New York Times spreading the “Mackinnon says all sex is rape” slander.
Excellent post by Amanda at Pandagon, partly bouncing off recent posts here at “Alas.”
Scroll down to the January 16th entry to read it. It’s great, trust me.
It turns out I was wrong to call it “The Mo Movie Measure.”
Really excellent, pro-fusion-party essay.
So just to be clear it's not acceptable to call Ron a Fascist or a Nazi, but it is OK…
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Oh, goody — this is perfect timing. Folks, I’ve been following the case of an unwed father who is trying to get custody of his child. This guy is a delusional, dangerous liar, and his case has no legal merit, but he’s got some father’s rights groups behind him and is creating a media circus.
Last night the horrible Geraldo did a piece on the case — which I’ve transcribed and rebutted in detail. They slandered the birth mother and presented a totally false fairy-tale picture of the unwed father. I’m doing what I can to counteract the lies and get the truth out there. Unfortunately, judges in Georgia are elected and are notoriously susceptible to public opinion.
Please help!!!
(P.S. This is not an invitation to MRAs and FRAs to come over and trash my blog.)
That entire thread of mine you link to was weird. I was particularly amazed that a guy flipped shit and reached for something totally off-topic and said that I should write more about being a rape victim, and that I was probably “asking for it” anyway. I found the comment darkly funny, though not because he intended it so–some enterprising young man saw that many years in the future, I’d be a feminist blogger, so he took one for the He Man Woman Hater’s Club and assaulted me?
I banned him even though he amused me unintentionally–a lot of victims of sexual assault read my blog and they need that shit even less than I do.
I had the same reaction as you, when I read Lauren’s message. I understand why she is stopping, but damn.
I responded to a few posts included in the latest carnival about sex positive feminism which I thought included a couple of unfortunate misunderstandings of what the phrase means and where it comes from.
Nina Hartley, Susie Bright, Lusty Lady, Blac(k)ademic, and others have replied, as has the author of F-words.
I’m swamped with work Amp, but I’ll get back to you about the Carnival of Sex Positive FEminism. In the meanwhile, I just wanted to say that I was very grateful for the link.
This was a great round-up; lots of very good articles. I followed the Caitlin Flanagan Reviews The Rainbow Party link and found it pretty solid. It was long (hideously long) and had a lot of things I disagreed with– but I did appreciate the “step away from panic” tone of the article.
The maps from Daddy, Papa and Me were persusive– I like the way they broke their prediction into three trends, each of which sounds believable. Feministe won’t be the same without Lauren– hopefully she’ll keep a toe in, when the urge to write becomes irresistable.
The whole comment thread at Cathy Young’s blog seemed predictable, but thank you for putting the truth out there once again. Plus, your sincerety seems to be having a positive effect on the other commenters, so let me say thanks for that too.
Re: boy brains versus girl brains, have you seen this article? http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/19/science/19revenge.html
Speaking of the “Mo Movie Measure” – a lot of anime passes the test, actually. I wouldn’t say all (or even most) of it is feminist, exactly. On the other hand, I just watched “Twelve Kingdoms” (an anime TV series) recently and it passed every feminist “litmus test” I could think of. Certainly the (so-called) “Mo Movie Measure”. It was a good story too!
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2005512310342
“Prison rape worldview doesn’t interpret sexual pressure as coercion,” he wrote. “Rather, sexual pressure ushers, guides or shepherds the process of sexual awakening.”
I think that’s enough to discredit the “prison rape is rare” article.
Hi,
I’m trying to get a new blog up and running:
Feminist Law Professors.
Comments should be operative early next week. Stop by!
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