As usual, feel free to post your own links in the comments, and to discuss whatever comes to mind. Meanwhile, here’s some of what I’ve been reading lately….
Diary of a Goldfish: May First is Blog Against Disablism Day
Reappropriate: May First is Blog About Asian American Heritage and History Day
Blac(k)ademic: Call for Submissions for the 4th Radical Women of Color carnival
Call For Submissions: Speak Out Against Domestic Violence
“If you have been a victim of domestic violence (as defined, for the purposes of this project, above), or have been directly involved in another person’s experience of DV, and wish to speak out about your experiences…” then you should consider contributing to this project.
Capitalism Bad, Tree Pretty: Constructing Rape, a report on a lecture by Joanna Bourke
Another example she gave was a phrase that was used in a lot in legal cases at the end of the 19th century “you can’t sheathe your sword in a vibrating scabbard.” This was really explicitly tied to class as legal texts argued that while delicately bred women might freeze when a man tried to have sex with them, lower-class women, were used to rough and tumble, and could stop rape by cross their knees.
The Perorations of Lady Bracknell: One in Seven
“Being a few words written by Lady Bracknell’s editor with the intention of crystallising in her readers’ minds the real significance of Blogging Against Disablism Day.” So many great quotes that I couldn’t pick out just one, so please go read the whole thing.
Alfred Alschuler: How To Hide Gang Rapes
The facts of this case are in public records, published documents and are available from people who participated,… my sources. The story, however, is not primarily about facts. It’s about reactions to the facts, the absence of reactions, competing priorities, and ultimately about the courage to lead. These reactions matter, perhaps more than the facts, in determining what is done. (Curtsy: Abyss2Hope).
Black Looks: Kenya’s women MPs Walk Out Of Parliament
They walked out to object to this statement, said by a male MP arguing against a new sexual assault bill: “If the bill is adopted the way it is, it will prevent men from courting women and this will be a serious impediment to the young who would want to marry. In our culture, when women say ‘No’, they mean ‘Yes’ unless it’s a prostitute.”
Although it’s an inexact fit, I’m reminded of Rebecca West’s famous 1913 quote: “I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat, or a prostitute.”
Where The Revolution’s Gonna Begin: Blogging Against Sexual Violence #3
The thing is, the dichotomy of “victimhood” and being a “survivor” is absolutely false. Many, many people who have been victims of sexual violence go their whole lives with one foot in both worlds, stuck in between and never fully fitting into either category.
Pomegranate Queen: Awesome Photographs From Iran, Focusing (mostly) on Women
My Amusement Park: In Defense of Wal-Mart
An independent study led by an M.I.T. economist that found big-box stores like Wal-Mart make consumers better off “by the equivalent of 25 percent of annual food spending.” Moreover, because low-income Americans spend proportionally more of their money on food, they benefit most of all. “Lower prices are the equivalent of higher wages,” Mr. Furman told The Observer. “So, for the 150 million Americans who shop at Wal-Mart, Wal-Mart’s being there is the equivalent of giving them a pay raise.”
My Amusement Park: On Jealousy and On Tokenism in the Feminist Blogosphere
Two excellent posts combined into one (and I don’t say that just because she says something nice about “Alas”).
Truth and Reconciliation Commission Failed To Meet Victims’ Needs
Tutu said “South Africans are tremendous people” and the successes of the TRC had set an international benchmark in dealing with post-conflict situations, yet it failed to meet the needs of victims or reveal the full truth in many cases. (Curtsy: Black Looks).
Abyss2Hope: Demonstration of a False Dichotomy
My only response to Ms. Coulter’s attack on murder victims is to say she is either stupid or mean.
Definition: Eyeliner, Razors, High Heels, and Bras Are Feminist Issues
Official Shrub.com: A Declaration of Ambiguity
Ariel definitively defines her sexual orientation, and/or the ambiguity of it. I really relate to what’s she saying.
The Wage Project: What Has The Wage Gap Cost You?
Bean sent me this link – you can find out how your wages compare to the average wages of white, non-Hispanic men who have age, region, job, and educational characteristics similar to your own. It’s got some flaws – for instance, it assumes that everyone using the calculator works full-time – but if the calculations behind it are solid, then it’s a damn useful tool.
Creative Destruction: Fat-Bashing Britney Spears
Because she’s so fat. Oy.
Long Story Short Pier: She Who Will Not Be Named
Every time you say her name, you feed the dead light in her eyes, and Baby Jesus is forced to strangle another frolicking kitten. (Also, the man-hands jokes, and the bits about the Adam’s apple? Not getting funnier every time you tell them.)
Making Light: Fanfic doesn’t exist. There is only fiction.
Fanfic is a legal category created by the modern system of trademarks and copyrights. Putting that label on a work of fiction says nothing about its quality, its creativity, or the intent of the writer who created it.
The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction this year went to March, a novel by Geraldine Brooks, published by Viking. It’s a re-imagining of the life of the father of the four March girls in Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women. Can you see a particle of difference between that and a work of declared fanfiction?
Abyss2Hope: Detecting Subtle Differences Between Yes and No Before You’re Accused Of Rape
A guide for the confused. Although I agree with Marcella, I’d also add the phrase “enthusiastic participation” somewhere; men need to learn to require enthusiastic participation from anyone they have sex with, rather than just apparent compliance.
Reappropriate: Objecting to the Fortune Cookie-ing of my Heritage
What is it with young White Americans who can’t seem to get enough of the culture of the East? What is the appeal of the ninja, the anime, the manga, the geisha, the karate, the tae kwon do, the teas, the ceremonies, the lion dance, the yakuza, the curry and the chopsticks?
Reappropriate: The Racist Loophole in “No Child Left Behind”
Jewschool: How a Handful Of Super-Wealthy Families Are Financing The War On The Estate Tax
Counterpunch: How Congressional Police Treat White Congressmen Who Flout The Law
One wonders what would have been the fate of McKinney or any member of the Congressional Black Caucus had they run over the foot of a white child, congressional plates and all.
Debunkingwhite: Video of Speech By Cynthia McKinney
Pharyngula: Rat experiment: Autonomy is as real an aphrodisiac as any substance known to science.
Curtsy: Pandagon.
Stephen Cobert Lampoons Bush To His Face; Bush Unamused
Apparently you’re not supposed to be that cutting at a correspondents’ dinner. Curtsy: Shakespeare’s Sister.
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I could write for an hour about how perplexing I found the Wal-Mart link. But I don’t have an hour. So here are the comments I cross-posted to MAP, for what it’s worth:
One of the basic tenets of the anti-WalMart literature I have read is that WalMart is larger than the other chains. It therefore wields more power than they do in the marketplace and sets the tone for how the other, smaller “Big Boxes” do business. So I find it strange that you consider WalMart a “scapegoat.” For something to be a scapegoat, wouldn’t it have to be cast as having much power when it truth it has little ? WalMart is scarcely a powerless entity. By ignoring it, will we have a better chance of changing labor laws ? Considering the millions they spend lobbying politicians, it’s hard to imagine.
Furthermore, what’s wrong with making a film about WalMart ? How is that any more a distortion of the modern labor situation than blogging about WalMart (pro or con) would be ?
What good does praising the potential mobility of a Big-box stock clerk over a clerk at a Mom and Pop store mean, anyway ? Potential mobility is nice enough, I suppose, but no matter how ambitious the stock clerk is, there will always be more of him/her than there will be openings for supervisors. I fail to see how cheering on a corporation that pushes Mom and Pop stores out of business thus translates into a love of class mobility.
Finally, the assertion that cheap food is the same as a signifigant pay raise might make more sense if the shopper could count on everything they pay for coming down in price along with WalMart’s prices, but they can’t. When more WalMart’s move into my state, rents don’t drop suddenly in price. Utilities don’t. Gas doesn’t. College tuitions don’t. Or are you supposing that someday WalMart’s reach will be so broad that they will hold direct (and benevolent) influence in those spheres as well ?
Puzzling.
Thank you for the multiple linking!
There’s an update of COSMIC SIGNIFICANCE at the post you already so kindly linked.
will you be blogging against ableism?
Looking forward to that post!
Also, in the old days, a stock clerk could hope to spend years saving up money until he had enough to open up his/her own mom and pop store somewhere. As the economy becomes more Walmartized, the opportunities for people to own their own shops evaporate.
I think you’re mistaken here. It’s still comparable to a pay raise if only food prices go down – it’s just not as big a pay raise as it would be if food, rent, utilities, gas, and tuition all went down at once.
All right then, Amp. It’s the invitation for a company like MalWart to claim that they don’t have to pay workers an actual raise if they’re offering them the chance to pay 25 cents less for beans and powdered milk that makes me queasy. :/
EL responded to me back at the Amusement park, too. So check out those responses if you haven’t already.