2011 November Archive

This Wednesday: a Feministing happy hour and a farewell to remember

Hey NYC-ers, what are you doing this Wednesday night? If you answered “catching up with some of my favorite feminists, and bidding adieu to Courtney Martin,” then you’re probably headed to the Feministing Happy Hour at Sweet and Vicious!

As Vanessa mentioned last week, the Feministing crew and friends will soon be getting together to celebrate two very special things: the holidays and Courtney.

As you know, Courtney dropped the mic with her last day of officially editing the site in September. We’re incredibly sad to see her go, but are reassured by her commitment to always be part of the Feministing family and keep bringing her big brain and even bigger heart to the table. I ...

By Lori Adelman • 12 years ago

The new anti-marriage equality argument: it would promote “feminist marriage”

Let’s be real: opponents of marriage equality have been known to use some shameful tactics to make their case.

They’ve used weak analogies involving water and beer. They’ve subtly and not-so-subtly compared homosexuality with bestiality and pedophilia. They’ve suggested that LGBTQ folks don’t make good parents. They deliberately race-baited during the California Prop 8 debate, and have invented LGBTQ ties to Nazism out of thin air. They’ve even gone so far as to criticize LGBTQ people for rocking too much rainbow schwag.

But the latest argument against marriage equality is a new one, even for the creative anti-equality minds that brought you such logically fallacious classics as the “gay marriage is a slippery slope” argument ...

Let’s be real: opponents of marriage equality have been known to use some shameful tactics to make their case.

They’ve used weak analogies involving water and beer. They’ve subtly and not-so-subtly compared homosexuality with ...

By Chloe Angyal • 12 years ago

Quick hit: Men’s perceptions of violence against women

This year marks the twentieth anniversary of the White Ribbon Campaign, which was created in response to an act of horrific violence against women in Canada. The White Ribbon Campaign, which engages men and boys in the prevention of violence against women, now operates in over thirty countries. Australia is one of them, and this week, on the occasion of White Ribbon Day 2011, journalist Marcus Campbell called on Australian men to commit themselves to ending violence against women. One of the reasons men still refuse to make this commitment, Campbell writes, is that they don’t believe that the problem is as severe as it is:

While men’s attitudes are difficult to gauge, The VicHealth National Survey on ...

By Chloe Angyal • 12 years ago

It’s time… to get out the Kleenex

This ad from Get Up!, an Australian progressive group, urges the Australian government to legalise same sex marriage. Before you watch it, I urge you to grab a few tissues, because it is beautiful and it will probably choke you up.

The video is called “Love Story,” and with good reason: most people, if they didn’t know going into it that it was an ad for marriage equality, would probably assume it was about a straight couple. A straight couple that meets, falls in love, moves in together, builds an extended family, goes through ups and downs, and decides to get married. You know, all the things that “normal” straight couples do. The point is to show that same sex relationships ...

By Chloe Angyal • 12 years ago

Not Oprah’s Book Club: Agorafabulous! Dispatches From My Bedroom

I’m a long time fan of Sara Benincasa, who I interviewed last year. She’s a comedian, a sex advice columnist, a feminist, and she does a mean Peggy Olsen impression. She’s also a recovering agoraphobic, and her book Agorafabulous! Dispatches From My Bedroom, out in February, is based on her one-woman comedy show of the same title.

The book traces the origins of Benincasa’s phobia, which began with increasingly severe panic attacks in her adolescence, and culminated when Benincasa, as an undergraduate, locked herself in her apartment, became afraid to leave her bed, stopped eating, and considered suicide.

These days, Benincasa gets on stage in front of hundreds of people and makes them laugh. But for much of ...

I’m a long time fan of Sara Benincasa, who I interviewed last year. She’s a comedian, a sex advice columnist, a feminist, and she does a mean Peggy Olsen impression. She’s also a recovering ...

By Maya Dusenbery • 12 years ago

Weekly Feminist Reader: Open Thread

Thanks to a busy week filled with pumpkin pie and good friends, this week’s Reader is just an open thread.

What have you been reading/writing/watching/learning this week? And what are you thankful for?

Thanks to a busy week filled with pumpkin pie and good friends, this week’s Reader is just an open thread.

What have you been reading/writing/watching/learning this week? And what are you thankful for?

By Jos Truitt • 12 years ago

What We Missed

The Feministing crew is taking the rest of the week off from blogging on account of our national celebration of colonialism.

A win against the death penalty: Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber will not allow any more state executions while he is in office.

Major League Baseball’s new bargaining agreement will add sexual orientation to its discrimination clause.

A great post at Colorlines with tips for talking about race at the Thanksgiving table.

Martha Stewart pepper sprays a turkey.

Check out today’s content over at the Community blog.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Feministing crew is taking the rest of the week off from blogging on account of our national celebration of colonialism.

A win against the death penalty: Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber will not allow any more state ...

By Eesha Pandit • 12 years ago

No thanks: A little historical truth-telling about Thanksgiving

The historical narrative that surrounds the American Thanksgiving feast is fairly recent.

The purportedly idyllic partnership between the European Pilgrims and New England Indians is actually only about 120 years old. After WWI, the story that we learn in school today became THE story. I believe deeply in the power of re-appropriating racist and sexist traditions, but I do not believe that we can effectively do that if we do not know the history of what we’re re-appropriating. So, today I’m sharing some links that I’ve used as resources over the years that have helped me understand the holiday, the story and get a little closer to the truth. We know that victors write history books, but we also know ...

The historical narrative that surrounds the American Thanksgiving feast is fairly recent.

The purportedly idyllic partnership between the European Pilgrims and New England Indians is actually only about 120 years old. After WWI, the story that we ...