Weekly Feminist Reader

This week I discovered the hilarious tumblr LOLSlater, which screengrabs Saved by the Bell. It reminded me that Jessie Spano might have been the first “feminist” I ever came in contact with. Whoa, right?

TREND ALERT! Gay men, do you have an Insecure Female Best Friend? If not, you need one!

The coming fight over paying for the birth-control pill.

“Back when I was modeling, the first time I went to Italy I was having cappuccinos every day, and I gained 15 pounds. And I felt gorgeous!” -Christina Hendricks. File under: Things that shouldn’t be transgressive but actually are.

There’s new data on pay equity.

The reproductive health effects of the Gulf oil spill.

Alabama expanded its abuse protection law to include dating relationships.

A personal history of how Christian camp helped one person come out as queer.

In the Boston Review, Nancy Hirschmann argues against “care feminism” — and I argue against her. (As do others.)

A new survey shows “Latinos accept and welcome the rising status of women in American life and report many of the same needs as others in terms of balancing work and family life.”

St. Louis now offers basic protections for trans people in housing, public accommodations and employment.

“Pinkwashing harnesses global gays as a new source of affiliation, recruiting liberal gays into a dirty bargaining of their own safety against the continued oppression of Palestinians, now perforce rebranded as “gay unfriendly”. This strategy then also works to elide the presence of numerous Palestinian gay and lesbian organisations, for example Palestinian Queers for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (PQBDS).”

Tasers, seizures, and whose stories get told.

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS – Occupied Bodies: Women of Color Speak on Self-Image – Deadline October 15, 2010

What Tami Said: “I have written often of my weariness at white people exoticizing my black hair. But what makes me sadder than having my looks marginalized by the majority culture is when my own people, convinced as they are of our hair’s deficiency, communicate their conviction that only exceptional black hair can be pretty”.

Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was ruled unconstitiutional this week. How will that ruling affect the Prop 8 case?

Ruth Bader Ginsburg: If the Supreme Court were to change its mind about Roe, “the only women who would be truly affected are poor women.” I don’t think only poor women would be affected, but as with all abortion restrictions, they would certainly suffer the most.

A new study finds “that Blacks and Latinos are among the biggest users of mobile web technology, and that low-income communities are among its fastest adopters.”

What have you been reading/writing this week?