"I love feministing.com and always learn from it." Katha Pollitt, The Nation
"Many people need a morning "fix." For some, it's coffee. For others, it's "SportsCenter." For me, it's Feministing.com." Katie Stone, The Denver Post
"Feminism is fun again! Every bit as edifying as your women's studies books from college, but with a biting sense of humor that keeps things punchy, not preachy." Marie Claire, December 2006
Last night Ryan Sorba, an "anti-homosexual activist" spoke at Smith College. Sorba, the author of the upcoming book, "The Born Gay Hoax," (yes, seriously) can been seen in action here. The awesome feminists of Smith forced Sorba out after a mere twenty minutes of speaking, when he was drowned out by protesters.
In one of our threads, commenter atheistwoman cited an article I was quoted in, writing that I said I "don't post more serious stuff because no one commented." I've seen this repeated elsewhere, so I just wanted to set the record straight - because it drives me insane when people take my quotes out of context. (And this is not a jab at atheistwoman at all, just the nutty game of telephone that is the blogosphere sometimes.)
Jessica Valenti, executive editor of Feministing, says she’d like to see some of the “less trendy issues,” like poverty and international concerns, get more space in the feminist blogosphere. “But what happens with us is we put that stuff up and no one comments,” she says. “You put up a blog on abortion, and people do.”
I never said we don't post on an issue because it's not "trendy" or because it doesn't get a lot of comments. I was expressing my disappointment in how posts dealing with more serious issues weren't commented on as much as lighter posts. I was criticizing how so-called trendy issues get all of the attention and talking to the reporter about how we could change that. (In our case, we post on everything we think is important, whether we think it will get traffic and comments or not.)
In any case, thanks, and back to your regularly scheduled blogging...
GGW founder and known asshole Joe Francis' response: "But I think it's ironic that she charged Gov. Spitzer $2,000 for sex and she wants to charge me 10 million for taking some naked pictures of her...I feel like I'm getting a raw deal."
At the beginning of the semester, there was an incident here at Yale involving a "fraternity prank" and the Women's Center where 12 members of the Zeta Psi frat stood in front of the Women's Center chanting "dick dick dick dick" while holding a sign saying "We Love Yale Sluts." Quite the incident.
On Monday, the Executive Committee of Yale College found the members of this group not guilty of intimdiation [sic] and harassment charges. No charges of sexual harassment were ever filed, even though complaints were issued with the Sexual Harassment Grievance Board.
The men also intimidated women trying to enter the center. But I guess that's not harassment, huh? One of the harassed women penned an article for the college paper, noting that she has no recourse to appeal the decision and that "all 12 brothers of Zeta Psi were allowed to read my written affidavit before they wrote their own — 12 iterations of the same collective story." Charming.
Fathers should not wax their daughters. Anywhere. (An obvious sentiment if I ever saw one.) They also should not pimp their daughters. Apparently both of these clearcut parental boundaries are lost on this guy.
Because this weekend, my friend Sara Bacon is coming over to install these awesome pieces: An investigation of boy doll accessories and An investigation of girl doll accessories. SO excited.
Sara is probably my oldest friend (we chilled in diapers together), and I'm just amazed by her work and just generally proud to know her. That is all.
Aborting of female fetuses is a "national shame" in India.
Despite an increase in education there doesn't seem to be a change in the practice of aborting a fetus when you find out it is female. There is still "missing" baby girls in India due to the practice. The Indian PM has made a statement against this.
Describing the abortion of female fetuses as “inhuman, uncivilized and reprehensible,” he said the government should crack down on the large numbers of doctors who illegally disclosed the sex of the fetus to the parents, and then arranged abortions of unwanted girls.
To put the national spotlight on the fact that this is a problem is a good thing. But I don't know about this:
Before undergoing an ultrasound test in India, pregnant women must sign a form agreeing not to seek to know the sex of the fetus. Doctors who disclose the sex during an examination can be imprisoned for up to five years. But the law is widely flouted. Studies suggest that doctors often give coded hints, by remarking for example, “Your child will be a fighter,” or by offering pink or blue sweets, as appropriate, on the way out. Successful prosecutions are rare.
I think attempting to moderate this problem at such an interpersonal level is a)impossible, but b) misses the bigger problem. It is not that young mothers are selfish and just want sons. There is societal pressure on women to deliver male born children and if they are not able to they are treated as though something is wrong with them. So to put the pressure on doctors and mothers avoids the bigger question of why there is preference for male children.
Blogging is not always easy. Your growth (and mistakes) as a writer and activist are documented for the world to see. You become public in a way that often feels dehumanizing. But with these things comes incredible privilege and opportunity.
I feel so lucky that I get to do the work that I do - that I was able to write two books, that I can go to conferences where I meet amazing feminists, that I can travel to colleges and speak about a subject I love, and that I’m able to make connections and work with activists and organizers whose work I respect so much. Not many feminists get these opportunities, and I’m grateful for them daily.
The recent happenings in the feminist blogosphere concerning racism have had me up nights. For the last few months - whether it was the issueof appropriation, feminist presses, or racist imagery - my stance for Feministing has been one of “let our work speak for itself.” Let’s make sure we pledge to do better, to do the work instead of just spouting the rhetoric. And I continue to think that this is important, and that Feministing’s body of work does walk the walk. But I’ve been remiss in not writing something more personal and more complex sooner - because as much as Feministing is a group project, I recognize that my profile is a bit more out there these days. (Of course, I want to echo a sentiment Samhita posted about long ago, which is why my name has been the one most associated with Feministing and the importance of looking at that in a critical way.)
But I've also been thinking a lot about my own role in all of this, which has brought up a ton of personal issues for me - specifically regrets I have. And this is something I've been mulling on for a long time, but felt scared to write about. But after all of this, the silence is just weighing on me, and I feel like I have to say something.
You can imagine that the sexed up photos Vanity Fair published of Miley Cyrus have been a topic of discussion at New Moon, just as on [the organization's blog]. Thanks for all the thoughtful comments so far on the topic - they're well worth reading.
Kathleen Kvern and I were talking about how the prevalence of sexualized images of girls in our public culture creates an atmosphere of impersonal, silent, constant harassment for girls.
Like an iron grip in a velvet glove, the hypersexualization of girls in the media holds actual girls hostage under the pretense of entertaining and informing them. And, like in the Stockholm Syndrome, it's not surprising when girls start to identify with the all-powerful culture that's holding them hostage.
It feels more subtle than verbal or physical harassment, but that's part of its stealthy effect. It's like a neverending buzz in the background that you try to ignore but can't. Gradually, sub-consciously, more and more of your energy and attention is spent on trying to ignore the buzz.
Girls are barraged by sexualized images all around them and everyone they come into contact with in daily life is also surrounded by those images. The images viscerally teach "the importance of being sexy" if you are female. The images teach all of us that acting sexy is how girls/women can have power without being rejected as domineering or bitchy (see media coverage of Hillary Clinton for the way "non-sexy" female power is conveyed).
Now imagine the extreme confusion girls feel when they are surrounded by images promoting the power of female sexiness and at the same time are told that it's bad for girls to be interested in sex, to act sexy themselves, to dress sexy, etc. The real message being conveyed, of course, is that girls shouldn't want to be powerful.
The conflicting messages about personal power create an epic inner struggle for girls that stays with us into adulthood, sapping creative energy and focus that would be better used in changing the culture and making our world a better place for everyone.
I believe media oppression of girls and women via hypersexualiztion is one of the most serious barriers standing between us and full equality. We need to break that barrier down and release the power it's holding back. That's why I work with girls' media and bringing girls' voices to the world at New Moon.
How would you do it?
Note: The above post does not necessarily represent the opinions of Feministing or its bloggers.
Grand Theft Auto: Prostitute killing is a big hit.
So this video is NSFW (not safe for work) and it is very disturbing. Trigger warning! But it is one of the trailers to the new Grand Theft Auto coming out today, and it is reprehensible. All around the country posters for the new GTA have been removed due to their offensive nature. Most of the complaints have been about the violence in the video game. Not one article has been about the blatant violence and misogyny displayed towards women.
If you get through the trailer you will notice that not only are the sex scenes very real looking, most of the women are killed shortly after forcibly performing sex acts. So, many young men are going to have their first (or already have, as this is not new content for GTA) sexual experiences via GTA and then they are going to kill the women they are sleeping with. The implications of that are mind-blowing. It is no question that GTA is merely reflective of the bigger misogyny embedded in capitalist patriarchy, but the question is why is a game that depicts such violence towards women so popular? How is that acceptable?
I think this has two consequences in the land of no child left behind where standardized educational systems have led to a cutback in the teaching of metacognition in elementary schools. What does that mean? Youth don't get taught to think about why they make the choices they do, they are instead force fed information that they must memorize. So it can be argued that they are being force fed heavily marketed violent images (that often reflect the violence in the media, movies, government policy and in their own communities) that become normalized. And not only normalized, but given the popular nature of GTA, it is cool to be violent and kill prostitutes.
The second implication is where does this put young women gamers? How do they feel when playing video games with such violent representations of women?
I can tell you that watching that video was humiliating and I don't play video games, so I never have to see it again if I don't want to.
Little did I know that finding feminism was also the beginning of the anti-click moments, dozens of little conversations and actions that served as a constant reminder that I was different. Reading anthology after anthology on contemporary feminist work and only hearing one or two tokenized voices from women of color. Attending feminist gatherings and realizing that a lot of the situations and scenarios discussed were things I had never experienced. Trying to articulate my experiences, and being told that we need to focus on the “real” feminist issues. Things that impact “all” (read: white) women.
Ashley Alexandra Dupre, the sex worker in the 
Some bad news 
Because this weekend, my friend 
Contributed by 
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