Just watched Heat. So intense. So good.
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czar_child- November 8th, 23:32
- Dark Places by Gillian Flynn: A Review
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feministblogs- November 8th, 16:39
A patriarchal system invests men with the duty to talk and think about serious issues, while women are expected to dedicate their lives to trivialities. We can still see this set of expectations at work on a daily basis. During parties, men talk about politics, philosophy, and the meaning of life, while women are huddled together on the other side of the room, swapping muffin recipes. In class, female students rarely dare to offer their opinions on big-picture questions. They leave such questions to men and dedicate themselves to answering questions that are detail-oriented. I always know that when I ask "Is Hugo Chavez good for Venezuela?", I will get no female responses. But if I ask "When did Chavez come to power?", many female students will offer an answer. This doesn't happen because women are less capable of or less interested in analyzing serious issues. For the longest time, any woman who attempted to leave the realm of muffin-baking and affirm herself in the public sphere was castigated. This is why it is still difficult for women to believe that the sphere of great endeavors and important issues is just as much theirs as men's.
The saddest thing to observe is when this happens in the realm of creative activities. Often, incredibly talented women seem not to dare to enter the world of art and assert themselves there. They prefer to limit themselves to secondary genres and pretty much waste their creative gift on producing works of art that manage to entertain but are never taken seriously.
Gillian Flynn is a perfect example of such a female writer. From the first paragraphs of her novel , it is obvious that she is an extremely talented author. Flynn writes with incredible poignancy about life on a small Kansas farm nearing bankruptcy, about the tragedy of being a teenager in rural America, about the horrible burden of childhood trauma, about the damage caused by the purity movement. Her mastery of the English language is breathtaking. Dark Places: A Novelcould be a great work of literature but for one thing.
As many other female writers, Flynn unfortunately shies away from creating art. She follows in the footsteps of such talented writers as Ruth Rendell and PD James and confines herself to the realm of mystery novel. She takes what could have been a great novel and adds some mystery genre devices that are boring, conventional, and that feel completely alien to the main body of Dark Places: A Novel
Flynn is a great writer in the making. I truly hope that she will lose her fear of competing in the big leagues and will allow her creative gift to unfold without being fettered by these conventional limitations that plague so meny female writers.
- What Sources of Sexual Knowledge Correlate with Actual Knowledge?
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- feministblogs
- November 8th, 15:34
The D.C. Council’s Committee on Health released a report after surveying D.C. high school students about sex education (discovered via Feministing). One of their questions was about the source of sexual health information. The pie chart below shows that students name, in order, their parents or guardians, health workers, teachers, friends, and boyfriends or girlfriends as the most common sources of information.
I asked a similar question in a study I did with college students. The figure below shows that the college students in my sample rated their friends, secondary school teachers, books, their sexual partners, and the mass media as their most important sources. Men also reported that pornography was an important source of knowledge. Very few students counted parents among their most valued sources. (Significance indicators are for sex difference.)
My co-authors and I were interested in how those sources correlated with actual knowledge, specifically knowledge about the clitoris. And so we gave them a test and compared their scores to their reported sources of knowledge. The table below is a regression showing which sources of knowledge were most predictive of a high score on the actual test. The findings were interesting: only two sources predicted significantly higher scores on the test: media (for men and women) and self-exploration (for women).
So, only one of the most frequently used sources of information, media, actually translated into real knowledge. Tapping into the rest–friends, secondary school teachers, books, their sexual partners–did not predict actual knowledge. Ironically, the best source of information for women, their own bodies, was among the least often cited source of information for women, beating out only pornography and parents.
This puts the D.C. study into some perspective. The high school students in that study reported that their parents or guardians, health workers, teachers, friends, and boyfriends or girlfriends were sources of sexual information, but that doesn’t mean that they are. And my findings suggest that they very well may not be.
Also see my findings (from the same paper) on the correlation (or lack thereof) between knowledge about the clitoris and orgasm for women.
The paper, titled “The Incidental Orgasm: The Presence of Clitoral Knowledge and the Absence of Orgasm for Women,” was co-authored with Emily Kremer and Jessica Brown and published in Women & Health (2005). If you’d like a copy, feel free to request one at socimages@contexts.org.
(View original at http://contexts.org/socimages)
- Why the psychiatrist went crazy…
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- feministblogs
- November 8th, 15:10
Besides being a Muslim who got ticked off for being insulted about being a Muslim in the military, what else could have driven military psychiatrist Nidal Malik Hasan crazy enough to join those who immorally use terror to protest oppression? (Unless he was dumb enough to think terror is an effective method of proselytizing?)
Anyway, Kevin Tillman is the brother of football player turned American soldier Pat Tillman (at left) who was killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan - which the military covered up for 5 weeks. He was shot 3 times in the head! In 2006 Kevin listed some reasons even Christian and Jewish and Americans of all religions are disgusted with the U.S. government - and most of them still apply to President Obama...Somehow the more soldiers that die, the more legitimate the illegal invasion becomes.
Somehow American leadership, whose only credit is lying to its people and illegally invading a nation, has been allowed to steal the courage, virtue and honor of its soldiers on the ground.
Somehow those afraid to fight an illegal invasion decades ago are allowed to send soldiers to die for an illegal invasion they started.
Somehow faking character, virtue and strength is tolerated.
Somehow profiting from tragedy and horror is tolerated.
Somehow the death of tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of people is tolerated.
Somehow subversion of the Bill of Rights and The Constitution is tolerated.
Somehow suspension of Habeas Corpus is supposed to keep this country safe.
Somehow torture is tolerated.
Somehow lying is tolerated.
Somehow reason is being discarded for faith, dogma, and nonsense.
Somehow American leadership managed to create a more dangerous world.
Somehow a narrative is more important than reality.
Somehow America has become a country that projects everything that it is not and condemns everything that it is.
Somehow the most reasonable, trusted and respected country in the world has become one of the most irrational, belligerent, feared, and distrusted countries in the world.
Somehow being politically informed, diligent, and skeptical has been replaced by apathy through active ignorance.
Somehow the same incompetent, narcissistic, virtueless, vacuous, malicious criminals are still in charge of this country.
Somehow this is tolerated.
Somehow nobody is accountable for this.
- German Frat Sexes Up the Nursery
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- feministblogs
- November 8th, 15:03
Kay, a student at a University in Munich, sent along an invitation for a Corps Isaria fraternity, or or “Burschenschafts,” party. The cover for the invitation reads “Isarias Gute Kinderstube” which, she explains, “translates literally to good nursery and means something like being well raised, knowing how to behave.”
When you open the invitation you see a naked woman, covered only by a teddy bear, alongside baby-related items (a Snuffalufagus, a rocking Zebra, and a crib) and party-related items (a disco ball, a stag’s head, and high heeled shoes):
Kay explains that the copy, “Das Corps Isaria gibt sich die Ehre und laedt zur eskaloesesten Pyjamaparty der Stadt” translates into something like “The Corps Isaria is honored to host the most risque sleepover in town.”
The invitation is another example of the infantilization of women. Or, as Kay put it, a “mixture of the male gaze and child porn fetishism.”
For more infantilization of women, see here, here, here, here, and here, and here.
(View original at http://contexts.org/socimages)
- Pen-Elayne on the Web 2009-11-08 14:15:00
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- feministblogs
- November 8th, 14:15
Silly Site o' the DayOkay, this one made me laugh out loud: Big Ben's Twitter feed (via Rob at BoingBoing).
- Don’t Forget to Vote for Courtney to be WaPo’s Newest Columnist!!
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- feministblogs
- November 8th, 13:55
Hey folks, just a reminder to vote right now for our gal Courtney, who is currently one of ten finalists in the Washington Post's "America's Next Great Pundit Contest."
Courtney's latest column is here, and voting for the contest is currently in progress, but ends Monday at 3PM (ET). So please get the word out - blog, tweet and Facebook this after you vote yourself - and help make Courtney WaPo's newest columnist!
- Sex In the Parliament
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- feministblogs
- November 8th, 8:00
The Sex Party: no, this is not a women's sex toy evening. Nor is it a stag night with a woman, a cake and a payment for services rendered. This is a party in the sense of political representation. It could only happen in Australia.
The Australian Sex Party has just been registered as a real, live political party after a battle against the powers that be, who considered the name to be obscene; we can only assume that the party's ideological position isn't up to their standards either.
So what does the Sex Party stand for? Two of the key concepts are fighting against “censorship of adult entertainment” and “political interference in your bedroom”. Interesting, because these are two seemingly aligned ideas, which are actually very far from each other.
Fighting censorship means making porn more accessible. That may be libertarian, but it is also – in my understanding – a step backwards in sex education and a way of growing an industry that perpetuates sexual abuse. I would fight this with the fervour of (but not alongside) the conservatives.
Fighting against political interference in your bedroom, on the other hand, is a righteous objective. It involves giving the power to the professionals and the consumers/public when it comes to contraceptive choices, including termination of pregnancy, giving rights and exposure to the whole range of sexual orientations and same sex-families, and investing more in sexuality education in a positive, assertive sense.
Come to think of it, it could be that I've thought about this more than the Party has at this point. Maybe they're all about getting a vibrator into every bedside drawer and a plotless romp film in everyones DVD collection.
In any case, let's hear them out and discover if the new Green Party is the Blue Party...
- My Sixth Blogiversary Is Today
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- feministblogs
- November 8th, 5:44
You can read through the archives if you want to know what I have done for the last six years. Thank you for reading and commenting here. Presents are appropriate, according to the goddess etiquette book on blogiversaries, but not required.
- H.R. 3962 Passed. Some Collateral Damage.
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- feministblogs
- November 8th, 5:13
The House bill on health care reform passed. This is good news. The Stupak amendment was accepted. That is the collateral damage. Or the necessary compromise to get better health care for all (except for the collateral damage).
No Republican voted against the Stupak amendment. Isn't that something? I'm beginning to see a pattern here, what with only Republicans voting against the right of gang-rape survivors to sue. But of course several Democrats also voted for the amendment.
As is required, I'm of course pleased to see the House bill pass.
- Health Care Plan Passes House 220 to 215
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- feministblogs
- November 8th, 5:03
The health care reform bill passed and it's a bipartisan bill - one (1) whole Republican came aboard. Thank Gawd the Dems made all those compromises. Rep. Anh Cao (R-LA) voted for the bill. Thirty-nine Democrats voted against it. Conservadems in Tennessee who voted against the health care reform bill: Lincoln Davis, John Tanner, Bart Gordon.Dennis Kucinich voted against the bill. See the list of House Democrats who voted against the Affordable Health Care for America Act.
- Stupak Amendment Passes; 64 Dems Voted to Throw Abortion Rights Under the Bus
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- feministblogs
- November 8th, 4:40
The anti-choice Stupak Amendment -- "a dramatic departure from current law which would restrict a women's right to choose" -- passed 240 to 194. If this measure becomes law, private insurance companies will have to drop the abortion coverage which they currently offer.
Jan Schakowsky, the co-chair of the Congressional Women's Caucus, explains:
This amendment says that a woman CANNOT purchase coverage that includes abortion services using her own dollars; middle class women, using exclusively their own money will be prohibited from purchasing a plan including abortion coverage in every single public OR PRIVATE INSURANCE PLAN in the new health care exchange. Her only option is to buy a separate insurance policy that covers only abortion – a ridiculous and unworkable approach since no woman anticipates needing an abortion. This amendment is a radical departure from current law and will result in millions of women losing coverage they already have.Sixty-four (64) Democrats voted for the draconian anti-woman measure. Here are the traitors' names. (Roll Call) Oh looky, my dying-to-be-primaried Congressman Jim Cooper is one of the 64 Dems who voted to throw women's rights under the bus. As Rayne over at Firedoglake observes: 64 Dems are just begging for primary opponents.
- House Democrats pass healthcare reform for men
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- feministblogs
- November 8th, 4:12
Isn’t it exciting? I know I’m excited.
Earlier today, before the House began debate on the historic vote, President Obama delivered a pep talk to Congressional Democrats:
“I’m absolutely confident we’ll get this done,” Obama said, according to the aide. “And when I’m in the Rose Garden signing a piece of legislation to give healthcare to all American men, we’ll look back and say this was our finest moment.”
Obama struck the same themes when he spoke publicly in the Rose Garden before heading to Camp David.
“I just came from the Hill, where I talked to the members of Congress there, and I reminded them that opportunities like this come around maybe once in a generation,” Obama said. “Most public servants pass through their entire careers without a chance to make as important a difference in the lives of their male constituents and the life of the men of this country. This is their moment, this is our moment, to live up to the trust that American men have placed in us — even when it’s hard; especially when it’s hard. This is our moment to deliver.
“I urge members of Congress to rise to this moment. Answer the call of history.”
And they did. They rose up and answered the call of history: healthcare reform for all men!
Maybe someday, in the far distant future, there will be healthcare reform for women, too. But I realize that’s a fantastic dream, more science fiction than anything that could really happen in our lifetimes.
Personally, I’m just grateful that we have Democrats in power. I’m so glad that American women voted in a Democratic president and overwhelming Democratic majorities in Congress last year. True, most women voted that way because they thought the Democrats were on the side of women’s issues, but fortunately, they were wrong. The Democrats clearly have a more historic, a more — how shall I say? — masculine vision for America.
First, they made sure that women’s medical needs would not be considered part of basic healthcare. Then, today, they added in an extra special amendment to make extra-double-plus sure that abortion wouldn’t be covered. Even by private plans! That’s right: any insurance plan that participates in any way in the new exchange, or receives any federal subsidies, or is paid for with any tax credits, will not be allowed to offer abortion coverage. Gosh, it’s almost like making abortion illegal.
Thank god for our brave Democratic leaders. I’m so grateful and happy I think my head is about to explode.
- OH, NICK.
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- quiz_show
- November 8th, 12:00
impressed
i was sitting here writing a post about how much i love my house, and how thankful i am to have been able to afford it.
i cleaned all yesterday - i cleaned the hardwoods, mopped the kitchen, vaccumed the up and downstairs. i was feeling great about life.
then, as i was writing this post, i heard the sound of my cat puking in the other room. he made sure to get some on the wood as well as on the tile in the kitchen. i walked downstairs to get the resolve from the laundry room and saw that he also puked on the (nearly) white carpet, just to be sure to cover every surface.
i don't know what the moral of this story is. i'll let you figure it out for yourself. i'm going to pick up some barf chunks.
- Could the GOP Stop the Stupak Amendment?
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- feministblogs
- November 8th, 2:10
At least one Republican, Rep. John Shadegg, R-Ariz., says he’ll vote present on the amendment, and has four or five other members of the GOP who will join him. That may not be enough to scuttle the amendment, but it would make it close — Stupak has claimed between 220 and 225 votes in favor. If he was counting the whole GOP caucus, that would actually put him between 215 and 220 — and it takes 218 to pass.
Frankly, I don’t know why the GOP is going to vote for the amendment, at least if their goal is to stop health care reform; about their only chance of stopping the House from passing the bill is to get the Stupak amendment to fail. If it passes, the leadership has the votes to move it forward; if not, they probably still do, but it may peel off enough pro-life Democrats to make a difference.
Evidently, the GOP leadership has decided that reproductive rights is an issue that is important enough for principle to trump strategy. It would be nice if the Democratic leadership felt the same way.
- Saturday Reading Material And Some Eye Candy
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- feministblogs
- November 8th, 0:50
The eye candy first: Pippin (I can see my mouse from here!) by FeraLiberal.
Then the reading/watching material:
The Stupak amendment. Offered by your pro-birth Democrat, Mr. Stupak, who will never need abortions.
Wal-Mart offers swine flu advice while still punishing workers who are sick and stay at home.
Exploding tits in China (link thanks to sharl).
- Ask Professor Foxy: How Do I Bring Up Exploration With My Partner?
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- feministblogs
- November 8th, 0:14
This weekly Saturday column "Ask Professor Foxy" will regularly contain sexually explicit material. This material is likely not safe for work viewing. The title of the column will include the major topic of the post, so please read the topic when deciding whether or not to read the entire column.
Dear Professor Foxy,
I've lived my whole life in a cookie-cutter version of my sexuality. I'm starting to come out of my shell a bit, coming to terms with my body, and enjoying my sexuality. My most recent endeavor was taking nude to semi-nude photos of myself and putting them together in a movie/slideshow set to music for my husband's birthday. I was terrified that he wouldn't like it, or that I'd made a fool of myself, but he enjoyed it. While I was shooting the pictures and looking at myself naked on camera, I realized that I enjoyed the feeling of dressing up and being sexually aggressive. I also wanted you to know that to date the only other addition to our sex life has been a lubricant I bought off the shelf at Target when I thought no one was looking. Now I'd like to try adding toys/cuffs, etc. or costumes into our sex life, but I have a couple of questions.
First, how do I tell my husband I'm interested in this? Or do I not tell him, buy what I want and just introduce it to him and hope he likes it?
Second, do you have any suggestions for where to start? What should I buy or try to begin with?
Any help you can offer to someone just putting a toe in the pool would be helpful.
Thank you.
Hello -
Good for you for taking a major first step. It took guts to put the slideshow together. He responded favorably, so I think you two are ready to go to the next place.
Communication is key. Talking about desires heightens them and helps both partners feel comfortable. I would talk to him about the slideshow and ask what turned him on about the experience. Was it that you took the initiative? Being voyeuristic? The trust you showed?
Move on to asking him what his fantasies are and be ready to talk about your own. What specifically turned you on? What would you do again? Change?
I would also suggest exploring an on-line sex store like my new favorite one, Passionale in Philadelphia, PA. See what appeals to you and/or to him. Be ready to try new things. What are you willing to try for him and vice versa? Going through sites or catalogues together and talking about the goods is likely to spark more fantasies and things to try. So talk and try and have fun!!
Best,
Professor FoxyIf you have a question for Professor Foxy, send it to ProfessorFoxyATfeministingDOTcom.
- “I get knocked down: Women publishing law review notes”
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- feministblogs
- November 7th, 21:49
I read an interesting article in the Journal of Legal Education (unfortunately not online) about the underrepresentation, relative to law school enrollment and law review participation, of women publishing notes on the main journals of the top law schools. The author theorizes that women are more alienated from law school than men. Writing a note may seem like one more awful hurdle in a system that has proved less meaningful than they hoped. I was particularly interested in statistics from a study of the Yale Law Journal revealing that one source of the disparity was that women were only one-third as likely as men to resubmit their proposed notes after an initial rejection; given that most notes are only published after resubmission, this was a big deal. That brought back some powerful memories of my experience, which I share in the hope of encouraging more students—especially women—to try the publication process.
Read her entire post here.
–Ann Bartow
- Mixtape 1997!
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- feministblogs
- November 7th, 21:08
Found: a mixtape labeled with one small scribble across side A: I'm miss wrrrrrld. This leads me to believe it was the background music for the Halloween party my roommates and I held in 1997, the year I dressed in tribute to the Lady Courtney. I wore a thrifted prom gown, a sequined tiara, globe earrings, and nasty makeup that included blood red nails. Photos exist, but have yet to be scanned. That's probably for the best.
Side A
Miss World--Hole
If I Can't Have You--Eve's Plum
Mindreader--Sebadoh
Web in Front--Archers of Loaf
Complete Control--the Clash
Sliver--Nirvana
Dame with a Rod--Juliana Hatfield
Alien She--Bikini Kill
Sweet 69--Babes in Toyland
Supernova--Liz Phair
Words & Guitar--Sleater-Kinney
Never Say Never--that dog
License to Confuse--Sebadoh
Flux=Rad--Pavement
I Live Off You--X-Ray Spex
Makes No Sense at All--Husker Du
City of the Dead--the Clash
I Wil Dare--Replacements
Boat Song--the Picketts
Lookin' at the World Through a Windshield--Son Volt
In tribute to the hot trends of 1997, our friend Seth dressed as Rollergirl from Boogie Nights, and my sister and our friend Jesse came as Posh and Sporty Spice, respectively. My roommate Jen dressed as Carl Sagan. I don't know why.
Side B
Moby Octopad--Yo La Tengo
Devil's Haircut--Beck
Someone I Care About--Modern Lovers
Say No Go--De La Soul
Young Offender--New Order
Stereo--Pavement
Peg--Steely Dan
Big Fun--Inner City
Girl You Know It's True--Milli Vanilli
Night of the Living Baseheads--Public Enemy
Love's Theme--Love Unlimited Orchestra
The Only One I Know--Charlatans UK
Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Dub--Apollo Four-Forty
I remember precious little about this party--I got madly drunk, just as Courtney would. For some time I forgot that Liz was there, visiting from Boston, just because she didn't appear in any of the pictures. She stuffed a pillow under a lace dress and was a shotgun bride. I was a poor hostess, unfortunately, spending far more time securing a drunken hookup than paying my visiting friend any attention. If Liz were here I could call her for her version of the story, and I know she'd take great pride in embarrassing me over my horny tactlessness.
After Liz died, I never expected to feel that parts of my history, my life, would disappear with her. What else don't I remember? What more could she have shared with me? And where the hell are the rest of the mixtapes I made over the years?? I know there are more, dozens upon dozens more. Where did they go?
The Buddhists teach that nothing is permanent: not parties, not mixtapes, not memories, not even people.
- Stupak Amendment Makes a Good Day Bad
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- feministblogs
- November 7th, 19:20
Today should be a good day. It should be a day when Democrats and decent people celebrate the passage of health care reform out of the House of Representatives. But unfortunately, the usual suspects have decided that health care can’t be reformed if said reform leads to women having control of their uteri. So Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., will be pushing — and likely passing — an amendment that would actually manage to reduce the already tenuous access Americans currently have to abortion.
The amendment likely has the votes, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi has evidently decided not to stand in the way of a vote, in order to avoid any further delay in getting the bill voted off the floor. And I can understand that, and even support it as strategy; the bill passing the House today is not the final bill. It will have to be reconciled with the Senate’s bill (if one ever passes) in a conference committee, and the bill that comes out of conference could favor the language of either, both, or neither, depending. Pelosi will appoint the House conferees; presumably Bart Stupak will not be one of them.
So yeah, some bad language is okay at this stage of the game because it’s still a work in progress. But I tend to agree with Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., about the endgame here:
The Illinois Democrat said she’ll vote for passage today regardless of whether Stupak’s amendment is included, but would oppose a final bill if the amendment makes it through conference committe.
“If that language were in the final final bill, I certainly couldn’t support it,” Schakowsky said.
That, I think, is the important thing for Democrats to understand, because if that language is in the final bill, I can’t support it, either.
The Stupak Amendment is a bitter pill to swallow, but as of today, it’s a purely symbolic one. Yes, it sucks that a majority of members in the House believe that a person’s right to choose can be chucked aside at will. But the vote today won’t ultimately chuck that right aside. It’s the vote on the final bill that comes out of conference that matters.
If the Stupak language survives the conference committee, it is incumbent on those of us who support reproductive rights to pull our support, and actively campaign for defeat of the bill. For today, I’ll grit my teeth and make note of which Democrats to lean on when the vote for final passage comes. But that’s for today. Tomorrow starts the fight to make sure that the bill that ultimately is passed is a bill that supporters of reproductive rights can support.
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