Oofdah.

Some people I love oppress other people I love. 
Some people I love are not safe around other people I love.

I’ve been struggling with this for quite some time now, but it was really clear to me this past week or two, with some concrete examples. I have sought solace in the blogosphere and my husband and a few choice friends, but am left unsatisfied and without answers. This isn’t something with a formula for success. It is life, a journey, a mess. With stories of failure and success. Some blatant and overt, some hidden and covert.

I feel a responsibility to speak up against racism, sexism, heterosexism, ablism, and pretty much any form of oppressive joke.  It is one thing on the blogosphere. With friends, it is hard, because it can alienate myself, and cause isolation. With family, it is even harder, because, well, they’re family. All three areas have been hard lately.

If it is this hard and unsafe for me, simply an ally, what must it be like for the people I love who are the subjects of these cruel jokes/opinions/beliefs/comments?

Have you been in similar stories? What person are you in the story?  How do you respond?

Here are some snippets in the blog world that are floating through my brain. Check out the full posts and their comments with the links.

1. From ResistRacism.com, “So Now I Know…”:

 It’s the moment that they realize that speaking up about race or racism distances them from other white people. 
…..
Then Me knew that typically nobody would speak up if I didn’t.  And Then Me knew that I couldn’t live a lie.

So what are the risks and rewards of being anti-racist? 

2. From EscapingBabylon.Com, “People She Loved in Several Cases, People She Knew Were Incredibly Racist”:

Do you compartmentalize, and only share with those you love those parts that will not cause conflicts?

Do you limit your activism on this issue to preserve your relationship?

3. From IrenesDaughters.WordPress.Com, “Taking It Home For The Holidays”:

Because ours is a white family, we are a meeting of “us” that can launch into conversations about “them.”  Do I confront these things?  Make passive-aggressive sarcastic comments (as I’m prone to do)?  Should I make a scene or let these things pass knowing that this will be my children’s only exposure to most of the folks for a whole year, and my husband and I can clean up the mess later?

4. From Womanist-Musings.Com, “A Spark of Wisdom: Why We Can’t Always Have Productive Conversations”:

Yes, it can be productive. Yes it has worked. Yes calmly and reasonably answering all the ignorant questions you’ve answered a thousand times or politely objecting and explaining why something was offensive can and does work.
…
And sometimes I can’t do it. Sometimes I’m tired, I’m in a bad mood or I’m just sick to the back teeth of the whole damn hetero-normative world, it’s ignorance, it’s insensitivity and it’s endless reminders that I don’t belong.  Sometimes I’m annoyed because it should be damned OBVIOUS why I don’t find that joke funny, or why I get angry at being called “fag.”

5. From StuffWhitePeopleDo.Blogspot.Com, “Assume That Other White People Enjoy Making Fun Of And Trash-Talking Non-White People”:

I, and some other white people, do not think your jokes about POC [people of color] are funny — at all. Most of the time we’re horrified. Contrary to what you believe, we don’t all secretly think POC actually fall into the stereotypes that you think they do. We do not necessarily share some collective consciousness together bound by our whiteness. True, we are all lumped together in the white category, but that doesn’t mean that we’re all as blissfully oblivious as you are about it.

6. From the same blog different writer, “Get Fed Up Sometimes With Their White Liberal Acquaintences”:

That did not feel like a safe social space to me. As I started to disagree, I could feel the undercurrent of uncomfortable hostility begin to grow. When I went quiet, the hostility just grew in me instead.

7. From MoreThanServingTea.WordPress.com, “Softening My Skin In A Mud Bath”:

The comment and admonition to get thicker skin is akin to saying “don’t be so sensitive” or “you’re choosing to be offended” – all of the interpretations lend itself to telling the offended person that this is their personal issue they personally have to overcome.
…
I don’t want thick skin because I do not believe God wants us to create a bigger barrier to feeling and engaging deeply with God and with one another.
…
 Thick skin means I just “get over it” and move along. But what if God doesn’t want us to move on so quickly all the time? What if our attempts at getting over it just mean “it” never goes away?

Thoughts?

May the peace and boldness of Christ, the great reconciler (who also called people out) help you and help me as we walk this path.

Confession:  I‘ve been doing it for years.   And it still hurts.   In fact it hurts more every time I do it.   No, it’s not masturbation or any other painfully gratifying form of self absorbing behavior.   No it’s much less satisfying than any of those other things you may now be fantasizing about.

I’m referring to the venerated independent news program called ‘Democracy Now’, currently broadcast on Free Speech Television.   For at least ten years I have been waiting with bated brain for some morsel, a mere smidgen of a reference to the plight of America’s invisible minority–the transgendered population.

Many years ago when I still believed in the power of the press, I held out hope for an independent news broadcast that would disdain the lives of the rich and powerful.  In the early days of Democracy Now, I theorized that the act of monitoring the show over time would yield a percentage of coverage relevant to transgendered issues. I am apparently too optimistic. Now  it seems that even the power of the independent press, which was once synonymous with the power of the people, has been usurped.

For all of these years that I have been l have been monitoring  Amy Goodman and ‘Democracy Now’, I have waited patiently, with very little jaw grinding accompaniment, for the compassionate Ms. Goodman to join the tiny crowd of voices screaming for transgendered justice.    Unfortunately of late, my confidence in Ms. Goodman notwithstanding, I’ve grown suspicious of the  passivity of my television watching habits, and resolved to do some research that might my prove my  observational skills incorrect. Unfortunately, a little research confirmed merely my perception.

WE’RE SKEWED!

A visit to the Democracy Now website  http://www.democracynow.org proved revealing: A search for sex and gender  related terms, beginning with the year 2000, showed 538  instances of the word ‘gay’, 175 instances ‘lesbian’, thirty-four results that mentioned transgender and nineteen results for ‘LGBT’, all but one of which were exclusively gay related. Last and apparently least in the eyes of the corporate media, the subject of transsexualism ranked the lowest with a dismal five stories.

]No, it’s not a typo, I counted five stories on transsexualism over a period of more than a decade, of which two were repeats of the transgender related stories.  Another story was an interview of Michael Eric Dyson including brief mention of the need for inclusion of the GLBT community by the church.

Dyson’s point of view was contrasted by another article, from 2008 that described Pope Benedict XVI’s case of extreme homo/trans phobia. The earthshaking, yet quasi-compassionate sounding headline appeals to not one but two darker aspects of the human consciousness, fear and the pride of ignorance.

Pope: Homosexuality Could Lead to Self-Destruction of Human Race

http://www.democracynow.org/2008/12/23/headlines#12

And last, a blurb about the former city manager of Largo Florida who was fired for beginning a gender transition on the job:

City Officials in Florida Fire Transsexual City Manager

http://www.democracynow.org/2007/3/26/headlines#18.

My point in mentioning these stories is to expose their inherent banality and complete lack of a rational, humanistic approach to an emerging phenomenon that means life or death to so many people whom I refer to as the ‘invisible minority’.–invisible because of the violent enforcement of sexism as it frames the gender binary. There are actually two subsets of this socially reinforced invisibility.

The most familiar of these two groups, ironically,  are transgendered people who live lives of stealth, whose goal in life is simply to ‘pass’ as a member of their  innate, internal self identified gender out of the very real fear of the violence that often accompanies judgment and condemnation.   Comprising the rest of this ‘invisible’ minority is the countless number of humans who repress the expression of an alternate gender identity out of the very  real fear of degradation and ostracism

Not only do these crimes against minorities rarely see the ink of major news outlets, according to the TRANSGENDER LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATION FUND, http://transgenderlegal.org/page.php?id=60,  culpability by mainstream news agencies,  for the ongoing persecution of TLGB people spills out in random waves over a broader section of the populace

“Inaccurate hate/bias crime reporting can unintentionally support a blame-the-victim strategy. Personal assaults and criminal acts may only involve a single victim, but perpetrators often intend them to send a message that LGBT people are legitimate targets for abuse, harassment and violence.  (In fact, the victims of some anti-gay hate crimes are heterosexuals who are thought to be gay.  In 2008, 9% of all victims reporting anti-LGBT violence to the NCAVP identified as heterosexual.)

THE DEVIL IN THE DETAILS

On November 20^th of each year, the transgender community holds a vigil celebrating the lives of individuals of predominantly transgender people. The commemoration is  known by the TLGB community as the Transgender Day of Remembrance, completely ignored in  the archived pages of  ‘Democracy Now’ or anywhere else, is a peer collaborative effort to  …

… memorialize those who were killed due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice. The event is held in November to honor Rita Hester, whose murder in 1998 kicked off the “Remembering Our Dead” web project and a San Francisco candlelight vigil in 1999. Since then, the event has grown to encompass memorials in dozens of cities across the world.

A review of the website The Transgender Day of Remembrance, http://www.transgenderdor.org/?page_id=192 dedicated to creating a heightened awareness over the hate crimes,is a daunting experience.   The cumulative numbers  no doubt under report the grim stats.   Yet they remain very disturbing from a humanist perspective. From 1970 to November of 2009, 305 people were murdered here in the United States for the fatal error of being unique in their personal expression.   America, ever competitive in all forms of endeavor, can be proud of its hate, for in the entire world there were only 276 hate murders for the same period.   Although, the similarity of the global figures are suspect due to a myriad of inhibiting religious and cultural implications of reporting hate crime, the grand total of people murdered for the mere expression of gender alternatives globally was 581.

NO REST FOR WARY

Hate is like a mutant virus that thrives in the darkness of societal bigotry.  Nurtured in the infected test tube of the nuclear family, it poisons the heart of all who allow it into their system. Hate toxifies the mind with the bitter rhetoric of societal condemnation, so often based on fear-mongering and a perceived threat to the male dominant hierarchy. Yet the persistence of  hate motivated crimes against the transgender community is consistently ignored by this show that proclaims to support democracy.

We need not look very far at all for a recent example. During the week that I wrote this post, the news comes that Uganda is on the verge of making homosexuality, and no the doubt transgendered lifestyle, a crime punishable by death. This story like so many others received no mention by mainstream media…or Amy Goodman.

The blatant omission of this very newsworthy story speaks loudly about this culture’s lack of concern for human rights and  begs the question WHY?    Why are we as a global transgendered minority consistently ostracized and marginalized by a purportedly progressive media  whose archival programming reveals it to be, more accurately, moderate or slightly to the left of center?    The answer is lies in the mentality of those who make the programming decisions-and they lack the courage to speak their truth.

The act of omitting the coverage of rampant, widespread hate crimes against  any group, especially by  so-called progressive media news outlets like ‘Democracy Now’,   is tacit complicity in the application of oppression, PERIOD.  It is analogous to the act of witness a crime from a distance, and using that distance as a rationale for doing and saying nothing.  With the inherent power of the media to influence public attention  in the 21 rst century , the act of non-reporting directly condones the suffering of a vast global minority.

For all my years of faithful watching and listening to‘Democracy Now’   I have eagerly  anticipated a show about democracy, small ‘d’, whose stories focused on human rights abuses of the transgendered minority populations  of  the global culture. For a brief, shining moment, with the emergence of the ‘Free Speech Television Network,  http://www.freespeech.org  I allowed myself a thread of hope.  Yet the genre of programming that  I have long  envisioned  has not arrived–neither in mainstream, nor alternative culture.  Then the question remains , if not ‘Democracy Now’ for transgendered people, with innocent lives at stake… can we afford to wait for “Democracy Someday”?

Amy, why have you forsaken me?

Amy Goodman did not respond to our requests for comment.

So every time that I watch a tv show online (usually the old standby of Castle), the little 15-30 second commercials interrupt. And of late they have all been the two for KY Intense, the “female arousal gel”. Both show a nice young-but-not-too-young heterosexual couple, discussing how fantastic their sex is now that the woman is stimulated by the KY product. And each commercial cuts to a symbolic scene to suggest the sex that occurs. Well and good enough, nothing to arouse (ah ha, sorry) any anger at the portrayals (as a heterosexual woman)… until the fourth or fiftieth time that I saw one of these commercials and realized that each time the sex act (or fulfillment thereof) was depicted with images that seem awfully connected to… male ejaculation. Commercial one, with “Mr. and Mrs. Gignac,” depicts the big moment with Mrs. standing by a boat’s steam chimney thing (sorry, completely blanked on the word…funnel?) as it lets rip a jet of steam. Commercial two, with “Mr. and Mrs. Mark”, shows Mrs. Mark standing next to a geyser for its moment of intimacy.

Why this depiction of “female satisfaction”? The images, especially the geyser, are traditional images for male ejaculation (and thereby, male sexual satisfaction). Why are they being used to show how satisfied the woman is by the sex? I find the question of whose satisfaction we are witnessing even more problematic when the woman in either couple is depicted, more or less unperturbed, standing beside the gushing whatever. That doesn’t look very satisfying to me, even if they do both smile a bit.

The KY Intense site has such reassuring information as “The K-Y® Brand’s market research team understood the link between a woman’s physical pleasure from intimacy and her overall intimate satisfaction.”

Also it seems a little confused as to whom the product affects: “K-Y® Brand INTENSE™ was specially formulated for a woman’s use, but will not affect a male partner when used as directed.”

OR DOES IT? “K-Y® Brand INTENSE™ allows a woman to experience a whole new level of sexual satisfaction and helps her partner enjoy a more intense and pleasurable sexual experience.” (my emphasis)

Beneath the whole fluff of advertising, there may be a decent product. There may even be a necessary product. That is not what I am remarking upon. Rather, the issue is how even a product for female sexual satisfaction is still marketed using images that portray male satisfaction. Can’t it be just about me, even for a moment?

I wonder what images our society even has for female orgasm. Fireworks seem appropriate, although they still carry the phallus /rocket idea. The so-called “reaction room” at the site features this image (fireworks around a phallus the Eiffel Tower). This site also shows such unambiguously male ejaculatory symbols as a cork popping out of a bottle and a volcano exploding. Also odd are the portrait of a couple on a beach that, when administered with KY Intense, expands to include a child, or the bunny slippers that breed like rabbits. The prize for creepiest attempt at depicting female satisfaction goes to the item on the bookshelf, presumably a stereo or some sort. Wave the magic KY intense wand over it and you are treated to a few seconds of an extremely deep man’s voice (“Baby-ahhh”), some “fat beats”, and a drawn-out male gasp/sigh.

An odd advertising strategy over-all. Kudos to KY for considering us lowly females’ sexual satisfaction, but couldn’t they find a way to sell it without limiting the occurence of female sexual pleasure to male orgasm?

For those who want to watch the commercials, the links are here and here.

A few nights ago I sat down with my whole family to watch a movie: Sixteen Candles directed by John Hughes (who also gave us Home Alone and the Breakfast Club)

I don’t know what it was about this PG rated “sweet and funny” (Roger Ebert) teen classic; maybe it was the fact that when it came time for “the geek” to rape the beautiful, passed out prom queen, nobody gave it a second thought.  That when the “jock but actually a really nice guy” character says “I can get a piece of ass anytime I want. Shit, I’ve got Caroline in the bedroom right now, passed out cold. I could violate her ten different ways if I wanted to,” it’s taken as a sign of his great maturity and sweetness that he doesn’t in fact violate her “ten different ways”  …rather than a sign that he isn’t a rapist and a criminal. That aforementioned Carolina clearly deserves to be raped, after all, she’s a beautiful cheerleader, and it’s about time the tables turned!

I won’t even go into the racism; suffice to say there is a foreign exchange student from China named Long Duck Dong.

If this is a PG rated classic, the kind of movie we show to twelve year olds, the kind of movie a whole family watches together on thanksgiving, the kind of sweet nostalgic movie taken as the antithesis of the violent, misogynistic, torture porn and regular porn and all the other garbage my mom finds so offensive…and it’s blatantly endorsing sexual abuse.

Well, I guess I already knew we lived in a rape culture…

Thoughts?

A contemplation on sexism, andocentrism, and misogyny, by Bhante Sujato, with some interesting comments by readers.

This is fairly amazing:

In this re-imagined narrative, Edward Cullen from the Twilight Series meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It’s an example of transformative storytelling serving as a pro-feminist visual critique of Edward’s character and generally creepy behavior. Seen through Buffy’s eyes, some of the more sexist gender roles and patriarchal Hollywood themes embedded in the Twilight saga are exposed – in hilarious ways. Ultimately this remix is about more than a decisive showdown between the slayer and the sparkly vampire. It also doubles as a metaphor for the ongoing battle between two opposing visions of gender roles in the 21st century.

Madrid. Sunrise over the city. At any watering hole  you will be able to observe the elder members of society sipping their cafe carajillo (strong black coffee with brandy), smoking cigars, black tobacco, gazing at the television, making sexist jokes and passing comment on the day´s news. By lunchtime they will have moved en masse to the public squares and parks, weather permitting, where you will find them lined up on the benches smoking cigars, black tobacco, and passing comment on passing women. By mid afternoon they move back to the watering holes and can be found playing dominoes, pressing coins into the greedy-mouthed One Arm Bandits, smoking… well, you get the general idea. You can also find these elder statesmen at any construction site (not that there are many of those left these days), leaning in small groups with their noses pressed up against the railings watching the diggers, cranes and other heavy machinery with an almost child-like fascination. If you are vigilant, you can also come across them at any spontaneous parking event- again watching with interest, passing comment, and sometimes even participating with excitable hand gestures and a general sense of entitlement. What would Madrid be without its army of Little Old Men? Well, quieter, less macho, less smoky, but also far more boring. I´m not afraid to admit it- they are one of my favourite urban animals  and I hope they aren´t about to be made extinct.

In the past week I have been up and hobbling with the aid of my trusty stick, noting reactions to me (and it) in the streets. The most vocal passers-by have been little old men, as always gleefully outspoken and endlessly entertaining. My favourite comments came this weekend. As I made my way down from Tirso de Molina to Lavapies village I crossed one on the street, also walking with a stick, who called after me,

´My dear, you´re far too young to have one of those!´

and on Sunday I passed another one with two sticks, who looked me up and down and exclaimed as we crossed paths,

´Ah, you´re just jealous!´

There is nothing more refreshing than someone who will quite happily strike up a conversation or make a comment to a passing stranger without shrivelling with embarrassment at the possible reaction.  That generally means someone not British. I love the fact that here you are never alone – even when some of the time you would prefer to be. Strangers turn to you in bank queues, bus stop queues, packed metro trains, shop queues and often from the other side of the street and say what they think. And nine times out of ten this someone will be one of these little old guys. So cheerfully un-self-conscious it is delightful. Nine times out of ten. The other time they are likely to pass a comment, under their breath as they pass, like

´Nice tits.´ This, evidently, is not so delightful. This is the downside of rampant freedom of speech and respect for the elderly. I am perfectly prepared to accept a gentlemanly compliment (a ‘piropo’) which is traditional here, and meant as precisely that: a compliment. Many times I have been called ‘guapa!’  (‘pretty’) with a beaming smile as I pass.But that is a far cry from a sleazy and demeaning comment.

A half-Spanish friend of mine suggested a reaction she claims always works. An attractive woman who also happens to be stacked, she is constantly the butt of comments like this as she walks the streets minding her own business. And eventually she snapped. Once, she said she was squeezing her way off a crowded bus as one of these old men was climbing the steps, and he carried out what he thought was a fail-safe manoeuvre: rubbing up against her as she passed, and mumbling some deranged comment under his breath about her breasts as he did so, quietly enough so that no-one else would hear him. You see, the one out of ten has probably made a life´s work out of this, getting away with it all the time, counting on the shame and embarrassment, added to the respect for one’s elders, of the Good Catholic Girl. Not in this case. My friend exclaimed loudly so that the entire bus could hear her, something along the lines of

´How dare you! That’s disgusting! How dare you try and touch me up and make a comment about me like that. You’re a disgrace-’ just as the doors slid closed and he entered the full bus, red-faced and publicly humiliated.

Inspired by her example, I found myself reacting similarly when a few days after she told me this a little old man walked past me in the street and muttered under his breath another tedious comments about my tits. Instead of hanging my head and scuttling away I stopped in my tracks, and shouted after him,

´How dare you! You´re a dirty old man is what you are. Would you like it if someone spoke like that to your wife- or your daughter? You should be ashamed of yourself….’ Result. Madrid streets are always packed, even at 3.a.m, and this was mid afternoon. Shoppers stopped to look, traffic slowed, people turned their heads to see what all the fuss was about, peering to get a look at him as he hurried away while I played the Catholic Shame card with gusto.

Thankfully, for every nasty, seedy comment there are nine charming ones. Like the time, years ago when wandering the Rastro flea-market I caught a gypsy girl with her hand clearly in my coat pocket. I was quick enough to grab her wrist and pull her round to face me so I could giver her a mouthful. About the only thing you can do under the circumstances- I was certainly not about to smile sheepishly and let her walk away after being caught in the act. Who were my most vocal supporters? Gathering round, rolling up their sleeves and air-boxing? Yes, you guessed it again- the Little Old Men. ´Yeah- you go for it, girl! You tell her! Don´t let her get away with it, the thieving cow, good for you!´Another positive side to the outspoken society is that it is also a ‘Have a go’ society, unlike ours, where you could possibly be raped and murdered in broad daylight with no-one raising an eyebrow. Here, even elderly people will wade in and help you out if there is a public scene of any kind and they can see you are in distress.

So let’s hear it for Little Old Men. May they live long and prosper! As long as they stick to genuine compliments or comments about politics, weather, sport, and any other topic of general interest which isn’t my breasts. This is going to sound very chauvinistic, but I would far rather deal with a Little Old Man than his terrifying counterpart- the Evil Old Woman. Why? Watch this space and I’ll tell you.

ESPN’s Outside The Lines has an interesting and angering profile of Mackenzie McCollum, a Texas high school student and volleyball player who faced discrimination from her coach and school administration. (I’m not allowed to embed the video, but I highly recommend clicking through to watch it. And I apologize, I have not been able to locate a transcript of the video.)

Mackenzie found out she was pregnant, and still wanted to participate on the volleyball team. The administration of Arlington Heights High School in Fort Worth, Texas told her family it was their strict policy to obtain a written doctor’s note to clear pregnant students to play. (They never provided physical evidence of that policy to Mackenzie’s family, though.) Her physician sent in a note, which they rejected, and a second one, which they deemed acceptable.

When Mackenzie returned for her first game, she found out that her coach had “outed” her to the rest of the team, making her fodder for school-wide stares, gossip, and judgment.

Despite the horrible treatment she’s faced, Mackenzie seems like a badass girl who’s not taking discrimination laying down. Her mother, Barbara Horton, has filed formal complaints with the United States Department of Education in reference to Title IX, which prohibits discrimination in school sports communities on the basis of sex or gender.

Keep up the good work, Mackenzie!

From the BBC, “Police warn women of Christmas drinking rape danger”.

Now, really, this initiative isn’t as useless as that headline would make it seem. (Though there is plenty “Don’t let men rape you!” tossed in for good measure.) In fact, police in England and Wales are including messages to men in their campaign as well, “of the need to seek consent for sex.” One such message: “Rape: Short world. Long sentence.”

So, okay, maybe I would prefer something a little more, “Respect women enough to seek consent independent of serving your own self interest,” but I appreciate that even some message like this for men is included.

In light of that, why don’t we retitle this article:
- “Police remind men that rape is illegal”
- “Police warn men not to force sex on women who are incapacitated and unable to consent”
- “Police give advice on how to avoid committing rape”

Now there’s a thought.

Israel’s finance minister was accused last week of trying to deflect attention from discriminatory policies keeping many of the country’s Arab families in poverty by blaming their economic troubles on what he described as Arab society’s opposition to women working.

A recent report from Israel’s National Insurance Institute showed that half of all Arab families in Israel are classified as poor compared with just 14 per cent of Jewish families.

Yuval Steinitz, the finance minister, told a conference on employment discrimination this month that the failure of Arab women to participate in the workforce was damaging Israel’s economy. Eighteen per cent of Arab women work, and only half of them full time, compared with at least 55 per cent of Jewish women.

He attributed the low employment rate to “cultural obstacles, traditional frameworks and the belief that Arab women have to remain in their home towns”, adding that such restrictions were characteristic of all Arab societies.

But researchers and women’s groups pointed out that employment of Arab women in Israel is lower than almost anywhere else in the Arab world, including such employment blackspots for women as Saudi Arabia and Oman.

“Most Arab women want to work, including a large number of female graduates, but the government has refused to tackle the many and severe obstacles that have been put in their way,” said Sawsan Shukha of Women Against Violence, a Nazareth-based organisation.

That assessment was supported by a survey this month revealing that 83 per cent of Israeli businesses in the main professions – including advertising, law, banking, accountancy and the media – admitted being opposed to hiring Arab graduates, whether men or women.

Yousef Jabareen, an urban planner at the Technion technical university in Haifa, who has conducted one of the largest surveys on Arab women’s employment in Israel, said the problems Arab women faced were unique.

“In Israel they face a double discrimination, both because they are women and because they are Arabs,” he said.

“The average in the Arab world [for female employment] is about 40 per cent. Only women in Gaza, the West Bank and Iraq – where there are exceptional circumstances – have lower rates of employment than Arab women in Israel. That gap needs explaining and the answers aren’t to be found where the minister is looking.”

He said a wide range of factors hold Arab women back, many of them the result of discriminatory policies by successive governments to prevent the 1.3-million Arab minority, which comprises one-fifth of Israel’s population, from benefiting from economic development.

These included widespread discrimination in hiring policies by both private employers and the government; a long-standing failure to locate industrial zones and factories in Arab communities; a severe lack of state-supported childcare services compared with Jewish communities; a shortage of public transport in Arab areas that prevented women reaching places of work, and a lack of training courses aimed at Arab women.

According to a study by Women Against Violence, 40 per cent of Arab women with degrees are unable to find work. When interviewed, Mr Jabareen said, 78 per cent of non-working women blamed their situation on a lack of job opportunities.

Maali Abu Roumi, 24, from the town of Tamra in northern Israel, has been looking for a job as a social worker since she finished training two years ago. She said cash-strapped Arab schools, unlike Jewish schools, could not afford to employ a social worker, and that Israel’s Arab minority lacked the equivalent of the welfare institutions and foundations funded by wealthy overseas Jews that offered work to many Jewish social workers.

“Most of the Jews I studied with have found work, while very few of the Arabs on my course have been employed,” she said. “When a job comes up, it’s usually part time and there are dozens of applicants.”

The Alternative Planning Centre, an Arab organisation that studies land use in Israel, reported in 2007 that only 3.5 per cent of the country’s industrial zones were in Arab communities. Most attracted such small businesses as workshops for car repairs or carpentry that offered few opportunities for women.

“Israel’s private sector is almost entirely closed to Arab women because of discriminatory practices by employers who prefer to employ Jews,” Mr Jabareen said. He added that the government had failed to provide leadership: among governmental workers, less than two per cent were Arab women, despite repeated pledges by ministers to increase Arab recruitment.

Ms Shukha said: “The civil service is a major employer, but many of these jobs are in the centre of the country, in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem, a long way from the north where most Arab citizens live.”

She noted that there were no regular buses from Nazareth, the largest Arab town in the country, to Jerusalem. “The transport situation is even worse in the villages where most Arab women live.”

In addition, she said, most could not travel long distances to find work because of the scarcity of child-care provision. Only 25 government-run daycare centres have been established for preschool children in Arab communities out of 1,600 operating across the country. Ms Shaukha also criticised the trade and industry ministry, saying that, although it had invested heavily in training for Jewish women, only six per cent of Arab women were attending courses, and then mostly for sewing and secretarial work.

Mr Jabareen said Arab men faced massive discrimination, too, but found work because they filled a need in the economy by doing hard manual labour that most Jews refused, often travelling long distances to work on construction sites. “Women simply don’t have that option,” he said. “They cannot do that kind of work and they need to stay close to their communities because they have responsibilities in the home.”

Toţi oamenii mari au spus la un moment dat nişte prostii mai mari de cît ei. Faptul că ai un intelect mai puternic decît al 99,99 % din populaţia lumii, nu te scuteşte de greşeli comice. Errar humanum est, nu-i aşa? Şi- asta  e toată latina mea. (Tocmai mi-a ieşit o rimă, pentru cine n-a observat)

Am vizitat ieri muzeul figurilor de ceară din Madrid (16 euro e destul de mult pentru un bilet, dar ţinînd cont de faptul că în preţul biletului intră o călătorie cu trenul groazei şi un simulator de montagne-russe…)  şi mi-am amintit de ceva spus de Immanuel Kant,  zeul raţiunii pure, în Antropologia din perspectivă pragmatică. Ţinînd cont de faptul că el vorbea serios cînd a scris ce a scris, faptul e astăzi mai mult decît comic.  O să spun imediat despre ce e vorba.  După părerea mea, atunci cînd vizitezi un muzeu cu oameni de ceară, pierzi toată distracţia dacă priveşti figurile de la distanţă. Trebuie să te apropii de ele pînă unde ai putea să le simţi respiraţia, dacă ar avea. Din cînd în cînd, mai vezi cîte o figură de ceară care simulează respiraţa, cum ar fi un model ce pozează pentru un pictor celebru, şi căruia i se ridică şi coboară sînii masivi, ca şi cum ar respira. Din păcate, nu era vorba de un nud, aşa că aparatele de simulat respiraţie stăteau bine ascunse  în spatele unei rochii ce nici măcar nu avea decolteu. Dar să revin: trebuie să te apropii de figurile alea de ceară pînă acolo unde ai putea să le simţi respiraţia, să le priveşti în ochi şi să observi cele mai mici detalii de pe piele. Dacă o să faci asta, o să ai senzaţia că ai în faţă o persoană vie al cărei spaţiu intim tocmai l-ai invadat şi care, din motivul ăsta, trebuie să reacţioneze cumva. Numai că nu reacţionează, dar ţie ţi se pare că ar putea, iar din opoziţia asta rezultă o tensiune pe care o poţi prelungi la nesfîrşit, dacă vrei, stînd acolo, nas în nas cu o figură de ceară.

Ce zicea Kant? Nu ştiu cum arătau manechinele din vitrinele de pe vremea lui, în niciun caz nu la fel de bine ca cele pe care le aranjează Puiu în zilele noastre. Oricum ar fi arătat, referindu-se la ele, Kant spunea  că manechinele trebuie să fie astfel făcute încît să nu semene prea mult cu oamenii din carne şi oase, pentru că faptul ăsta ar avea o nu ştiu ce semnificaţie metafizică care ar tulbura ordinea raţională a Universului. Sînt curios cum s-ar simţi Kant dacă ar vizita muzeul pe care l-am vizitat eu aseară. Aş fi dispus să-i plătesc eu cei 16 euro, chiar dacă, sînt sigur, Kant nu ar vrea să profite de trenul groazei sau de simulatorul de montagne-russe, considerîndu-le mult sub demintatea lui de părinte al raţiunii pure. Şi eu l-aş înţelege perfect. La fel de curios sînt ce părere ar avea Kant de realităţile noastre virtuale, în care ne putem alege după plac identităţile, de manipularea genetică şi clonare şi, mai ales, de emanciparea femeii, care, după el, e făcută dintr-un material metafizic inferior celui din care e făcut bărbatul.

Here we go again. *Sigh* Married male public figure allegedly has affair. Media hounds alleged lover.

Stories about Tiger Woods have been around all weekend and, like the “Kristen” story – the call girl hired by NY Governor Eliot Spitzer – when there’s a hot/young woman involved, the media tends to forget that a man cheated on his marriage. Particularly when there are photos of the hot/young woman, either right-clicked from her MySpace page, or snapped in the street.

True to form, The Daily Telegraph has a 14 image gallery of the supposed “other woman” Rachel Uchitel running with their story: Tiger Woods admits ‘it’s my fault’ after car crash and rumours of sex affair (he didn’t just have an affair, he had a sex affair. Oo-eee):

TIGER Woods has broken his silence on his bizarre car crash as a transcript of the 911 call to police after his smash has been leaked while the glamourous model alleged to have been his lover has stepped out in New York.

He had the crash on Friday. It’s now only Monday. I hardly think that warrants pulling out the “breaking his silence” cliche. And as far as the writing goes, that’s a terrible intro.

And how’s this for ridiculous detail:

…claims that Woods had been seeing the New York socialite are said to have sent his wife Elin Nordegren into a rage after they celebrated Thanksgiving at their $4 million Florida mansion… Swedish ex-model Elin, 29… The blonde beauty, described as “very upset”…

Is she less believable because she’s a “blonde beauty”? Is she more crazy-woman because she’s a Swedish ex-model?

As for the comments, am guessing this guy will be single for a long time:

charlie of melb Posted at 2:59 PM Today

TIGER TIGER TIGER…….. dont ever let a women treat you that way. Espicially your wife. She has just embarressed yourself, kids, family. Ellin you have disgraced TIGERS unbelieveable carrer. How women wreck mens lives.

The modern woman, in North America and most of the western world, is strong, fierce, and demands to be equal among men, as we tell ourselves. The majority of women like to believe that they’ve squashed the ideals of the past- ideals that had left women with the life purpose of working in the kitchen, bearing children, and accommodating their husbands to the best of their abilities. Through the industrial revolution, the views on working class gender differences were significantly reduced due to the increase of mechanical power versus muscle strength (work now not restricted just towards the need of the biological strength of a man). This resulted in another type of revolution- the revolution of gender equality (Macionis 2009). Women hung up their aprons and marched into the workforce, demanding education, and the same rights on paper as their male counterparts. Amidst all of the progress though, North America still finds itself in a patriarchal society. Women still are earning about 70% less than men, are less likely to be promoted, and are excluded from certain professions, such as engineering, steel working, and truck driving (Macionis 2009). Yet mainstream’s belief is still that today’s western society has reached a pristine level of gender equality as the glass ceiling is just seen to those who are affected by it. As significant as these biases and prejudices are, gender inequality here is not even comparable when looking towards the Eastern world’s perception. Islam, a predominately muslim nation that is very closely linked to traditional ritual and beliefs, has been scrutinized by the Western countries for it’s outdated view and oppression towards women. It is easy to see our progress when viewing a foreign social structure that is widely believed to have more of an extremist and outdated view on gender roles and drastic laws to uphold this sense of tradition. Is it right for demographics from another culture to judge another when its own society is not neutral and if so, where is the line drawn? This paper will try to analysis the balance between progress and tradition through investigating the cultural basis and impact of Shariah law towards women and new Feminist movements arising in Islamic nations.

Strong traditional ties of religion begin to spell out the enormous shift in the mindset of daily life and governance of Eastern views opposed to Western. These differences not only show us each culture’s values in society but are also at the heart of the comparison between Western and Eastern views on gender equality. Shariah law is a legal and religious structure within certain Muslim nations, that governs civil justice, government, moral and personal initiatives combining the Qur’an and the Sunnah. The problem with Shariah law is that it is openly misinterpreted, leaving a gap in consensus among leaders and religious figures, creating the ability for it to be used in a persuasive sense towards biased ideals. Despite the Qu’ran’s stance on equality of human dignity for both man and woman, this is not reflected in Islam’s modern societal structure as the interpretation of this scripture has been swayed to favour male priority over female (Safra 2009).

Until recently, women in Islam have been denied education, the right to vote, and the ability to legally own any property under their name. One restriction sustains that a wife should not leave her home unless she has a ‘permissible’ reason and approval from her husband. This is not where the inequality ends but is merely the least of concerns. Mercy killings, rapes, and beatings fall among the worst and unfortunately not very uncommon spectrum of behaviour among strong conformists of Shariah law. This is not to say that it is deemed acceptable by legal stance but cases involving these circumstances are often overlooked and slipped through the cracks of the judicial system. Andrea Strasser-Camagni, Amnesty International’s expert on Tajikistan pressed this point, stating, “Women in Tajikistan [a country known for cultural allegiance to Shariah law] are beaten, abused, and raped in the family but the authorities tend to reflect the societal attitude of blaming the woman for domestic violence. They see their primary role as mediator, to preserve the family rather than protect the woman and to safeguard their rights.” (Amnesty 2009).

The problem is not only that some old laws are wrecking havoc but is also with new politically implemented laws within some regions that are taking away even more rights from women. In August 2009, President Hamid Karzai was up for re-election and needed the support of the Shia’s muslim population and various important officials (Malik 2009). Worldwide wide controversy struck as he signed a bill supporting martial rape in order to gain votes. The law states that a women, unless ill or menstruating, cannot refuse sex at the request of her husband and therefore denial of intercourse is an illegal offence. NATO denounced this law and various other leaders spoke out publicly over this, wavering in support to sign off additional troops needed in the conflicting country (CBC 2009).
As other countries, that are more established with gender rights look on, they can only ask and judge these Muslim women for putting up with this abuse. It is not all as it seems though. Those who opposed Shariah law were often said to be enemies of the state, leading them to become targets of violence. Conerly Casey’s journal article, Marginal Muslims, states, “The Hisbah jihad, at the time of Shari’ah implementation, expressed the tensions of democratization and censorship, and provides an on-going perceptual framework for ethnic and regional significations of Islamic authenticity, the identification of “bad” Muslims as kafirai (nonbelievers) and ba’ki (strangers), a shift in the policing of “un-Islamic practices” to the identification of “un-Islamic people,” and for routine violence against such people as “enemies of the state” (2008).

Despite this though, new feminist groups within Islamic culture, with female scholars and academics heading them, are emerging and fighting for gender equality while still trying to work the system instead of throwing out all cultural references. It is not only women standing up for their rights. Because of the lack of education, women often find themselves secluded and unavailable to work within the system. In pre-1947 colonial India, men “were the pioneers in the movements for women’s rights” (Syed 2009) obtaining voting rights and right to elect . After the fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan and as a new government struggles to establish itself in the healing country, foundations for a new gender rights policy are slowly being paved through legalization. New policies such as allowing women to participate in education and better health care show a momentous landmark for feminism in Islam (Jacinto 2006). There is also a danger of going too far towards cultural abstraction from government. In 2005, women in turkey were banned from wearing their cultural and traditional headscarves in public spaces. An official ban stated that a woman caught in her headscarf was liable for employment dismissal and that she, and her supporters, “Carr[y] the stigma of being against the decree of the state, a state that is completely against the wearing of headscar[ves] in public spaces (Syed 2009).

Is this enough? The slow uphill battle in Islam for equality seems to be a double edged sword. As old traditions and laws get revised and become more gender neutral, new laws arise to drag back the progress. In conclusion, a lot of strong traditional ties seem to be the excuse for warranting destructive and abusive behaviour towards women. This is very apparent within Shariah law as it twists people’s beliefs towards an acceptable oppression of sexual and personal rights of every woman under the regime. When looking towards Western gender inequality, although scarce in comparison, we can see the corresponding cultural and historic ties that are impeding on feminine potential within society, past and present. These issues do not just fall under gender equality but are human rights issues in general. As residents in Western culture look upon Islam with disbelief at its values and shortcomings, more understanding is needed. All anyone has to do is look to the past and realize that this isn’t merely a muslim battle to be won but a global war to be waged. The battlefield lies and begins in Islam.

Works Cited

Amnesty International. “Tajikistan women beaten, abused and raped in the family. Human and Gender Rights.” November 24, 2009. http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and- updates/report/tajikistan-women-beaten-abused-and-raped-family-20091124.

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). “Rape law hurting efforts to sell NATO role in Afghanistan: NATO chief.” April 9, 2009. http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/04/04/law- nato.html

Casey, C. (2008). “Marginal Muslims”: Politics and the Perceptual Bounds of Islamic Authenticity in Northern Nigeria. Africa Today, 54(3), 67-92. Retrieved November 16, 2009, from Social Sciences Index database.

Jacinto, L. (2006). Abandoning the Wardrobe and Reclaiming Religion in the Discourse on Afghan Women’s Islamic Rights. Signs, 32(1), 9-14. Retrieved November 24, 2009, from Social Sciences Index database.

Macionis, J. & Gerber, L. (2009). Sociology (6th ed.). Toronto: Pearson Education Canada.

Malik, N. (2009). The great betrayal. (Cover story). New Statesman, 138(4962), 27.

Safra Project (2009). “Sexuality, Gender and Islam.” http://www.safraproject.org/sgi- genderroles.htm#Sharia.

Syed, J., Ozbilgin, M., Torunoglu, D., & Ali, F. (2009). Rescuing gender equality from the false dichotomies of secularism versus shariah in Muslim majority countries. Women’s Studies International Forum, 32(2), 67-79. Retrieved November 16, 2009, from Social Sciences Index database.

This is a work in progress, so visit again. I will continue adding relevant new stories. Feel free to add your own examples and links by comment below.

Glen Beck says Palin Belong in the kitchen. http://ow.ly/HdM2  If you’re opposed to Palin, attack her for her positions, or anything gender neutral especially if it relates to her political ability is fair game.  Fortunately, it’s no longer socially appropriate to make similiar types of statements of a raciest nature.  It is just as unacceptable to say a female politician belongs in the kitchen.  http://ow.ly/HdM2

Senator Mary Landrieu photoshopped to look like scene from movie There’s Something About Mary, where Mary character has semen in her hair. Time magazine was planning to publish this image of Senator Landrieu, photoshopped to resemble the semen in hair scene from the movie “There’s Something About Mary,” under the headline “There’s (Still) Something About Mary.” Rush Limbaugh and Glen Beck said Senator Landrieu was like a prostitute because of lobbying she did for a medicaid bill. When’s the last time you’ve seen a male politician refered to in this manner? See article at http://bit.ly/7Cnf1W

Sarah Palin Newsweek Cover Photo in Short Shorts, stating “She’s Bad For The GOP–And For Everbody Else, Too.” (November 23, 2009 edition) I know people say maybe this isn’t sexist, using the example of Obama on the cover of a magazine shirtless, with the headline about the attractive new man in Washington.  That may not have been an appropriate way to portray Obama, but the context of the Palin cover makes it even more offensive to me. This picture went along with an article criticizing her as a politician.  I’m not a fan of Palin’s politics, but think the picture was used inapproprately, to disrespect Palin and portray her as someone not to be taken seriously. If you’re opposed to Palin, attack her for her positions, or anything gender neutral especially if it relates to her political ability is fair game. No more calling her “caribou barbie” or “flight attendant” as has been done. Based on our history of gender inequality and objectification, people should error on the side of caution when it comes to portraying female politicians in a sexual way. This is no more appropriate in the context in which it appears then if they were to show a picture of Obama in a basketball outfit on the cover, to advertise an article to bash Obama’s abilities. See picture and article at  http://tiny.cc/7TRkI

From THINK PROGRESS:

In recent days, former Alaska governor Sarah Palin has indicated that she may be open to a conservative presidential dream ticket in 2012: Palin-Beck (or Beck-Palin). “I can envision a couple of different combinations, if ever I were to be in a position to really even seriously consider running for anything in the future, and I’m not there yet,” Palin told Newsmax. “But Glenn Beck I have great respect for. He’s a hoot.” Fox and Friends plugged the idea yesterday morning and asked Palin whether she would run with Beck. She kept the door open, saying, “I don’t know. We’ll see, we’ll see.”

But just a few hours later on his radio show, Beck shot down the idea, saying he was “absolutely” ruling out a Palin-Beck ticket. He explained that if he had the number two job, Palin would always be “yapping” like they were in “the kitchen”:

Original DVD cover

BECK: I don’t think things are hoots. I don’t. I don’t think it’s a hoot. I would never use the word hoot, and I respectfully ask that every time my name is brought up she would stop using the word “hoot.” [...]

No, no I’m just saying — Beck-Palin, I’ll consider. But Palin-Beck — can you imagine, can you imagine what an administration with the two of us would be like? What? Come on! She’d be yapping or something, and I’d say, “I’m sorry, why am I hearing your voice? I’m not in the kitchen.”

A woman’s appropriate place on a presidential ticket, according to Beck, is in the number two spot. Otherwise, she should just “yap” away in a kitchen somewhere. Apparently, being a vice presidential running mate behind a woman is a serious challenge to Beck’s manhood.

When Newsweek ran a picture of Palin in a running outfit on its cover this month, Palin and many others criticized the magazine for being sexist. Beck joined the outrage, saying the “attack” on Palin was “dizzying” and “devastating.” He said Newsweek had reached “the highest of the lows” and added that the magazine now “sucks.”

(Transcript and audio at THINK PROGRESS link)

egregious:

1. Exceptional, conspicuous, outstanding, most usually in a negative fashion.
2. Outrageously bad.

Example: this headline from Science Daily: Fruit Fly Sperm Makes Females Do Housework After Sex

Seriously. How freakin’ embedded in your culture do you have to be to project your heteronormist, traditional gender role shit onto FLIES, people?

Do fruit flies have a monogamous sex life? No.
Do fruitflies live in houses? No.
Do fruitflies live in nuclear families? No.
Do fruitflies iron, bake, or do any sort of traditional Western gender-role stuff? No.
Is it necessary to have all science news stories relate to humans? No.
Is it necessary to have all science news stories relate to sex? No. Maybe. Yes. What was the question?

PhD comics has an EXCELLENT description of the science news cycle. If you haven’t seen this, go print it out and stick it on your door/cube/whatever.

Anyway.

The paper they were actually describing is this one:

Isaac, R., Li, C., Leedale, A., & Shirras, A. (2009). Drosophila male sex peptide inhibits siesta sleep and promotes locomotor activity in the post-mated female Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 277 (1678), 65-70 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2009.1236

Oddly, no mention of dustpans and ironing there….

The paper is actually pretty fascinating–it provides a connection between a peptide in a male fruit fly’s sperm and a change in behavior in female flies after mating.  Mated females skip their afternoon naps (fruit flies take a siesta, as mentioned in the title of the paper) and spend that time looking for food, or places to lay eggs.

This is, regrettably, described as “domestic type activities” by one of the paper’s authors in the news story, although the actual research paper stays on point and doesn’t branch off into this sort of silly anthropomorpic speculation.

I was not aware that finding food was housework. Thank goodness I have science reporters to help enforce gender norms!

For bonus points, guess the Order of Insect covered in this news release before you click through:

Why Nice Guys Get the Girls

EDITED 11.30.09 TO ADD: Ha! the title of the article has now been changed to “Female fruit flies do chores after sex”. Screen shot of the original article now linked.

Pravda

From The Washington Monthly today comes this article from Steve Benen regarding public support for the public option. I know you will all be shocked, shocked! to hear that the public is not as wedded to it as they once seemed to be.

PRIORITIZING THE PUBLIC OPTION…. That Americans approve of the idea of a public option is no longer in doubt. After months of polling, we’ve consistently seen a majority of Americans say they like the idea of a public plan competing against private insurers. The results have bolstered proponents of the idea, on and off the Hill.

What’s been less clear is the prioritizing. Most Americans approve of a public option, but are they demanding its inclusion in the reform bill? How dissatisfied will they be if reform passes without the public option? The results here aren’t as encouraging for ambitious reform advocates.

There are so many things here that are wrong. What public option are they talking about? The imaginary one that existed only in the minds of delusional Obama cheerleaders, which would be based on Medicare pricing and would potentially cover 130 million people? Or the parchment-thin, denuded public options that currently exist in the House and Senate bills, which would be based on Medicaid, not Medicare, and thus would only cover a few million people?

Talk about a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you are an evil DINO like the ones currently controlling the Democratic Party, and you want to make sure health “insurance” reform passes without threatening the predatory practices of the health insurance industry, then pay lip service to what your liberal base wants by including an “in-name-only” public option in the bills. Make sure the general public doesn’t really know what the public option is by shrouding all the bills in thousands of pages of mystery.

Also, play nicely with the other side, post-partisan-like. Allow the Republicans with their Astroturfed Tea Partiers to scare people away from the public option. “Death panels,” my friends, is not a genius frame. It would have been easier than hell to beat it with something clever, like, for instance, the “Harry and Louise” style ads that Obama used against the 130-million person public option with mandates in the primaries. Hmmm, if he didn’t support it then, I wonder why people thought he supported it now? Cause he’s Christmas and New Year’s and Hanukkah for us all?

Speaking of us wimminz, 40 “pro-life” Dems in the House could not have been more post-partisan with the Stupak-Pitts Amendment. After all, you can’t call it health care expansion if you also support women’s sinful, scary ladyparts. The Catholic bishops said so! To make sure that women don’t make a big fuss about this, you just make sure all your press outlets do not even cover the fact that this Amendment would make abortion unaffordable for most poor and middle-income women. And if you do cover it, you’ll just pretend women are being unpatriotic and selfish for wanting health care. Hey, lady, who says you have the right not to die in childbirth? What are you, unAmerican or something?

The final step is to prepare the way for the whiny “progressives” who claim to be, like, totally, invested in the “public option” and who might possibly type a few expletives into their blogs if it isn’t included in the final version of the bill!!!1111!!!! No problemo. Just throw some articles like Benen’s into the air to show them that they are not in step with the American people, and that they need to suck it up and take one for the team. After all, the only thing that matters is that “the Democrats” and Obama win elections. Otherwise, the evil Republicans could win again! And then, we would be seeing more bailouts for the wealthy at the expense of the needy, no job creation in favor of tax cuts, back-channel “pro-life” bans on abortion and contraception through legislation, no end to the quagmires in Afghanistan and Iraq, no action on climate change, no change in the drug laws that keep a huge percentage of young black men incarcerated, and the continuing evisceration of the Constitution.

Oh, wait…

I postulated on Corrente that Joe Lieberman, who is promising to filibuster the public option, is actually doing what the Democrats want, by being the left’s Emmanuel Goldstein. Everyone loves to hate him, including me. (He really is dreadful.) But with the huge majority the Dems have, the plain fact is, they do not need him at all. There is no reason to keep him in the Party when he pulls stunts like this, is there?

I have another question for you all. How many more months of Democratic kabuki theatre will we have to endure before the original Baucus Bill passes?

This is an open thread.

Posted by Irresponsibility

Generic ex-American Idoler Adam Lambert is — oooh! Shock! Horror! — g-a-y. And when he performed at the American Music Awards he (Shock! Horror!) kissed a man as part of his routine. Homophobia is easily America’s favourite phobia, which is depressing but predictable. It far more irritating when prudish newspaper columnists gussy up their same-sex disgust as concern for public morality — as does a Guardian blogger, writing:

My issue, however, isn’t with the kiss but with the way Lambert has chosen to present his sexuality, particularly in his lyrics. Lambert’s idea of sex is imbued with aggression.

Oh shit. Stop the presses. Music where sex is imbued with aggression? That’s just terrible. Never seen or heard such a thing before. Why the kinky lyrics, like: “”I told you I’m a hold ya down until you’re amazed”? If only modern pop stars were more like those lovely Beatles (“You better run for your life if you can, little girl…Catch you with another man/That’s the end’a little girl”)

Or the Rolling Stones (“Scarred old slave driver know he’s doin alright/Hear him whip the women just around midnight/Ah brown sugar how come you taste so good”)

Or cheeky rockers Guns’n'Roses (“You’re a very sexy girl/That’s very hard to please… I, I wanna hear you scream“)

During his performance Lambert “simulated oral sex” and “cavorted in bondage gear”, prompting the blogger to primly note: “it became clear why an early morning programme would be wary of giving Lambert airtime”. Yikes. She has a point huh? Thank god Madonna, Britney, Christina, Rihanna, et al would never do such a thing.

The hand-wringing is not about sex, aggression, or leather chaps, it’s about our gawd-given right to not be reminded that sometimes boys don’t like girls, they like other boys. Heterosexuals are such delicate creatures.

En vän nämnde det pussel jag lägger när jag försöker förstå det här med kön: Könsroller, könsidentitet, könsuttryck, könsorgan, hormoner, grupptryck, hjärnans struktur och samhällets krav på att allt ska gå att sortera i entydigt rosa eller blått. Just ordet “pussel” fastnade jag för. Jag lägger pussel, jag löser deckare och jag utforskar vita fläckar på kartan trots att – eller tack vare – att min genuskompass inte är särskilt tillförlitlig. Så jag svarade:

“Det känns som om jag lägger ett pussel där det enligt bilden på kartongen bara finns rosa och blå bitar, men när man tittar närmare på varje enskild bit upptäcker man att nästan alla har ett stråk av lila i sig, och att det finns så många olika nyanser att man faktiskt KAN se skillnad på bitarna. Annars skulle det inte finnas någon mening med pusslet överhuvudtaget, kanske?”

Kanske är syftet med könsskillnader inte att hålla människor åtskilda i två fack, utan snarare att visa på den oändliga variationen och alla möjligheter det innebär. I så fall är det både talande och trist att människor ändå känner behovet av att ständigt kategorisera i antingen det ena eller det andra. Jag tror att fler behöver lära sig genusmedveten närvaro: Att hellre fria än fälla, att hellre utmana sina egna fördomar än att tvinga dem på andra – och att inse att det är okej att inte förstå.

Läs även andra bloggares intressanta åsikter om genus, genusmedveten närvaro, medveten närvaro, kön, könsidentitet, könsskillnader, könsroller, könsuttryck, psykologi, biologi, jämställdhet, normer, heteronormen, fördomar, sexism, biologism, manligt, kvinnligt, HBTQ, transpersoner, transsexualism, intersexualism, pussel, bilder, tvåkönsmodellen

Mark Athitakis reports that what have been called the best novels of the last ten years have all had a similar theme: “Men struggling against a society whose rules and limits are defined by women.” If I had actually read some of these works I could comment, but many have never really piqued my interest. However, it is a thesis worth noting and I would like to see it explored more. Definitely, worth exploring the threads he mentions.

A week or so back, Andrew Seal spent some time testing an argument by literary scholar Nina Baym that critics’ favorite works of American literature tends to adhere to a particular theme: Men struggling against a society whose rules and limits are defined by women. To celebrate such books, the argument goes, is to bolster a particular American myth. (At least, that’s how I understand the argument; I haven’t read the Baym essay that Seal discusses.) To investigate the matter, Seal picks a few consensus favorites from the past ten years—The Corrections, The Yiddish Policeman’s Union, Netherland, The Road—as well asKeith Gessen’s All the Sad Young Literary Men, I suppose just for the sake of slapping it around a bit more.

I have no idea what “Widdershins” means*(see below), but wanted to bring your attention to a newly discovered website by that name. Political posts with a radical feminist perspective. Expresses regrets that Hilary isn’t our Prez, and they’re more than cynical about Obama. I’ve put it into the place on my menu bar formerly reserved for the Huffington Post, which I eventually found to be somewhat shallow. Widdershins: if anyone knows what it means, let me know, and be sure to check it out.

A couple of Widdershins?

According to Wikipedia, Widdershins act “in a direction opposite to the usual”, and… contrary to the apparent course of the sun sixteenth century. It is cognate with the German language widersinnig, i.e., “against” + “sense”. The term “widdershins” was especially common in Lowland Scots, and was known in Scottish Gaelic as tuathal, or “left-hand-wise”. It uses the same root as tuath meaning “countryside”, originally “tribal-land”, “folk”, “people.”

The F-Word: Sexually assaulted during Reclaim the Night London

Last night, I marched through the streets of central London with 2,000 other women and dozens of police escorts, holding a sign that said “End violence against women”…Last night, when I should have felt at my most powerful, most inspired and safest, I was sexually assaulted.

Cockroach People: Immigrant Detainee Hotels

Last month, the Obama administration announced plans to begin housing some non-criminal immigrant detainees in converted motels and nursing homes. Housing detainees in motels instead of jails as they await deportation isn’t exactly what immigration reform advocates had in mind when they voted for “change.”

Salon: And may your first child be a feminine child

I remember the sonogram tech revealing that our first child was a masculine child, in the same way I remember Oprah revealing she had given her audience members cars. “Look under your seats and you’ll find your … BAY-BEE’S PEEE-NIS!!”

The Unapologetic Mexican: A Plush Destiny for Yet Another Pawn…

SIXTY-ONE YEAR OLD DANNIE BAKER stood up one day and grabbed his gun. He was getting ready to do some damage…A problem he had tipped off one of his neighbors to recently. Neighbor Crystal Lynn says “he did come up to me one time and asked me if I was ready for the revolution to begin and if I had any immigrant in my house to get them out.”

Gender Across Borders: Racism and Sexism in Standardized Testing

Racism: I was told by many test-prep books that I should learn all sailing and opera/music words…Sailing is usually associated with someone who comes from a wealthy background, and/or has access to a sailboat. Many underprivileged minority kids have never sailed a boat before; how are they ever expected to know this?

More links after the jump

Scott Mendelson: Five terrible male role models in guy-centric blockbusters

Muslimah Media Watch: Saudi Cartoonist Hana Hajar Sketches a Path for Female Cartoonist

Monitor Mix: What’s in an indie?

Marisa Acocella Marchetto: No Breast Left Behind (possibly NSFW)

Racialicious: What Do We Want?

La Frontera Times: Diabetes is an Epidemic in Latino Community…Manny is Changing That

Bitch PhD: Against Pseudonymity and Sexual Shame

Womanist Musings: But Accessibility is too Expensive

stuff white people do: mistake greeks for arabs, arabs for muslims, and muslims for terrorists

Jezebel: After Neda: “Now I Have Left Iran, I Can Cry Out To Break The Silence”

On the UC fee hikes (via Angus):

I just saw the movie “Precious”.  It was phenomenal.

Gabourey Sidibe portraying Precious (image from nypost.com)

I’m a very harsh movie critic — just ask anyone that knows me.  I rarely want to watch movies because I tend to hate what Hollywood has to offer, and can rarely justify spending so much money for an hour and a half of lacking amusement.

Precious was more than worth it.

Precious is based off of the 1996 novel “Push” by Sapphire.  It is about an overweight, teen-age, poverty stricken black woman, (fantastically portrayed by Gabourey Sidibe) and her life experiences and struggles.  And waaayyyyy more than that.

The movie is so powerful.  Samhita from Feministing wrote at the beginning of a post about Precious, “[Editor's Note] I haven’t seen Precious yet, but I have read about it endlessly and already cried just reading reviews.”

The NewYorkTimes.com reports that at the Cannes Film Festival “the film received a 15-minute standing ovation,” and the film won three awards at Sundance.   The article also explains why the director/producer, Lee Daniels, and actress Mo’Nique gravitated to making this film:

In part, Mo’Nique was intrigued by the role of Mary Jones because, she says, she was abused by a brother when she was a young girl. The abuse supposedly began when Mo’Nique was 7 and continued for four years. “We wanted people to see the illness,” Mo’Nique explained. “Lee said, be a monster. And my brother was that monster to me. When Lee said, ‘Action,’ that’s who I became.”

The movie is filled with issues of racism, sexual abuse, teen pregnancy, poverty, sexism, HIV, weight issues, literacy, love, forgiveness, pain, hatred, self-hate, and so many more.

Movie poster (image from examiner.com)

People can walk away from this film feeling varying emotions as Latoya wrote on Jezebel.com, “Movies are subjective things, and are highly subject to the viewers interpretation. So even if Daniels’ intended the movie to be a portrait of black life that isn’t part of the “Huxtable/Cosby world,” is that how the audience will interpret it?”

The main issue that I saw with this movie was the representation of the lighter-skinned person saving the darker-skinned person.  I’ve never had the privilege (yet) of reading Push, but from what I’ve heard, the teacher in the book was supposedly darker skinned with locks, but the teacher in the film, portrayed by Paula Patton, is light skinned with straight hair, and so is Precious’ councilor, portrayed by Mariah Carey.  However, the film does depict the self-hatred Precious has within her and her desire to be white, or lighter skinned, because that is what society has told her is beautiful.  It is painful to watch how horrible this social-working is, and how it really can dominate one’s life.

I advise everyone to go see Precious!