Here's a link on research that takes anorexia seriously:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7120564.stm

I can't believe you posted that ridiculous article about the lack of lesbians in the feminist movement. I read it on a gay blog a few weeks ago and was just as offended then. The article is awful, with absolutely no research to back it up, just anecdotal evidence and speculation. I am a young lesbian and a feminist and all the other lesbians I know are feminists. Though this article is from a gay website, I find it highly offensive and speculative. Are there other lesbians around to support me? I know you're feminists too...

Here's a link that I'll be on for a while:

20 Posts All Women Should Read

"On Iran's first female race car driver."

This post was interesting, but this part:

"Most Iranian women will never have the opportunity, cash, circumstance or even desire to race cars."

seemed odd especially since the post didn't mention Iran's highway speed limits or lack thereof. A whole bunch of Iranian women can *drive* cars, there are no speed limits on some of the highways, and does that count as an opportunity to (unofficially) race cars? How many girls who grow up thinking "I want to race cars on the circuit!" in the U.S. or U.K. would think "I'm all set when I can get my license!" instead if they grew up in Iran or Germany instead?

I looked at the video game post and I'm wondering why you say "sexist video gamers." It's a slideshow of video game girls with unrealistic features--which the slideshow acknowledges on almost every page. Why is that sexist? Video game makers make the women and men look ridiculously over-the-top in their physical appearance. My first reaction is that video games are unrealistic, not that video gamers are sexist.

Hooter21: Saying that female video game characters tend to have unrealistic features isn't sexist, but the language in the slideshow is sexist, especially the line about the woman's armor not protecting her "from us." That was pretty disturbing to me, even in a relatively silly article.

soisaystomabel, that article really pissed me off too. i'm a 21 yr old queer feminist and i know plenty of younger feminists. however, i do also know a lot of lesbians that aren't feminists, (at least in their actions.) some of the reasons that they gave were so stereotypiucal of any mainstream media article about why 'feminism is dead' whenever those articles come around every now and then. err it pisses me off!

i agree about the lesbian feminist article. it seems like someone was just looking for something to say, and did no research, made no equivocations, and came up with a few tired stereotypes.

i think that simplifying *all* queer women to a few flat "theories" about feminism (or something) is insulting, and in some ways, homophobic. i think the lack of nuance is most annoying. what about bisexual women, trans women, women who don't like labels? what about genderqueer people? have they all abandoned feminism too? or are we only talking about white American lesbians? and lesbian separatism? really? hasn't anyone found anything to say about queer women and feminism since 1980something?

i'm a queer woman. i'm under 25. and i'm a feminist.

i guess "all" the lesbians haven't abandoned feminism after all. phew.

vis a vis the lesbian-feminist thing, I would also point out that while lesbian feminists may have had more or less visibility at different periods in history, there really hasn't been a time when ALL lesbians were feminists! As an undergraduate I did an oral history project with a number of lesbian feminists who had been activists since the 1960s, and they were very clear about the fact that many of their contemporaries were not interested in feminism. Just because you were a lesbian--or even if you cared about campaigning for rights as someone who was homosexual--didn't necessarily mean you cared about feminist issues.

"As an undergraduate I did an oral history project with a number of lesbian feminists who had been activists since the 1960s, and they were very clear about the fact that many of their contemporaries were not interested in feminism."

Not even interested in women having opportunities to earn a living without depending on male sex partners for food and shelter? o_O

Finally a negative review of Enchanted! I ill-advisedly took my daughters to see the movie because I heard about how great it was that it turned the whole "happily ever after" notion on its head. It did not.

In addition to the problems with the Nancy character that the article above recounts, the way McDreamy [I can't remember his character's name] falls for Giselle is so annoying. Here's this child-like woman who dresses fluffy, cleans his apartment and relies on him for everything with her big, dewy eyes and he falls in love "for real." So girls learn that being independent and successful is a bad way to find true love. They also learn that getting a book full of stories about kick-ass is supposedly a bad present.

Thankfully, my six-year-old asked me after the movie where we could find the book "about all those cool girls."

While I didn't hate "Enchanted" as much as Deborah Seigal, I do agree that, what she basically describes as all of the third act, totally falls apart and spoils the rest of the film.

****SPOILER ALERT*****

While I agree that the characterization of Nancy in the end seemed very anti-independent woman, for me it wasn't so much of "this is what career women really want," as "We have to give all four characters 'happy' endings".

Nancy and Prince Edward we aren't supposed to like because we're supposed to be rooting for Giselle and Patrick Dempsey's character (forgot his name) and since they decided to not portray Nancy and Edward as complete assholes: Nancy is kinda a nag? I don't really know what we were supposed to think was wrong with her, aside from she wasn't Giselle, and Edward was just totally vain, which was playing on the "prince charming" thing. But neither one was mean and they both seemed to be in "love" with their respective paramours, it's just that Giselle's eyes have been opened by being in the "real" world and the jaded Dempsey character had his eyes opened to the joy of Gieselle's utter naivety about how real relationships work.

Going off of that, one can infer that what Disney has here is a promotion of "traditional" marriage, where the man knew everything and was responsible for everything, while the woman was ignorant and submissive. However, in the end Giselle did have her own business (and sadly it was of of making princess dresses but I don't think she had any other skill) and unlike Nancy and Prince Edward I don't think Giselle and Dempsey's character got married, or at least they didn't have a wedding scene and I don't remember seeing wedding rings. So it might be that, Giselle, who was so eager to marry her prince after only knowing him for one day, is now not so fond of marriage and is enjoying just living with Dempsey's character and getting to know him, while Nancy, who waited five years to marry Dempsey's character, just went ahead and married the prince after knowing him for a day because that was what she desired.

Even still, I was still sad to see the little girl go from Karate clothes to falling into the whole, "fairy tale princess" ideal, but it is, after all, a film about a Disney princess.

Sorry if that was long and rambled a bit.

Nancy and Prince Edward we aren't supposed to like because we're supposed to be rooting for Giselle and Patrick Dempsey's character (forgot his name) and since they decided to not portray Nancy and Edward as complete assholes

That should be, and since they decided not to portray those characters as complete assholes then it would have looked bad if Dempsey and Giselle had just up and dumped them for each other, so instead they paired those two together and all is supposed to be "right" with the world. I found myself rolling my eyes in the theater cause it was quite obvious and unnecessary what the filmmaker was doing.

I had a post about the Economic Mobility Project on my blog. It has a link to the actual report on it, and while none of it was surprising to me (and probably won't be to anyone here), I still thought it was important.

Here's the link for a cool new feminist art project! You should all participate!
http://antigonemagazine.blogspot.com/2007/12/cool-feminist-art-project-dreams-for.html

Antigone Magazine is launching a Feminist Postcard art project and fundraiser, inspired by http://www.postsecret.com/. But instead of asking what your secrets are, we want to know what your Dreams for Women are.

What are your own dreams for yourself, your friends, your sisters, your daughters? Paint, draw, write, sketch or decoupage your dreams on a postcard and send it to the address below

Antigone Magazine
C/O WILLA UBC
Box 61-6138 SUB Boulevard
Vancouver, BC, Canada
V6T 1Z1

With your postcard submission, we ask that you make a donation to Antigone Magazine for anywhere from $1 to $10. You can send your money along with your postcard or donate on our blog: http://www.antigonemagazine.blogspot.com/ . We will be posting postcards every second Saturday starting in January on the blog!

We want submissions from all over the world - so forward this on! Post it on your blog! Or link to it!

"Thankfully, my six-year-old asked me after the movie where we could find the book 'about all those cool girls.'"

I am now wondering which books she would like in that category...

I felt compelled to give feedback to GameDaily, as a feminist and a gamer:

"As a female gamer, I was extremely disappointed when a link elsewhere led me to the "Outrageous Boobs" feature on your site. It's features like this that make gaming a predominantly male pastime. Perhaps its your objective to perpetuate the boys' club atmosphere in gaming, but consider this: girls who game don't bitch when their boyfriends want to game. That is, unless it comes to playing games that promote objectification of and sexualized violence toward women.

If that doesn't ruffle you at all, you should at least consider how tired and trite features like this are. Setting aside for a moment the body-image issues female characters like these create in young girls — or the unrealistic expectations they instill in boys, for that matter — don't you think this sort of feature is played out? Wow, big tits in a video game, how novel. At best it's tired and lazy content. At worst, it's irresponsible, disrespectful and marginalizing. "

What do you guys think of this feature offered by NET-A-Porter? Sexy Woman to get your man to buy you expensive stuff?
http://blackbirdwhistling.wordpress.com/2007/12/02/sexy-blonde-convinces-your-man-to-spend-big-spend-right-this-christmas/
or at http://www.net-a-porter.com/santashelper

Question regarding the LA Times article on giving personhood to fertilized eggs: the article says that if this becomes law, it could affect the legality of birth control methods that prevent the implantation of fertilized eggs. He lists the sponge and the pill among these methods. The article has a correction stating that the sponge actually prevents fertilization, not implantation. But isn't he wrong about the pill too? Isn't it supposed to keep you from ovulating, not keep the egg from implanting?

Snarky Amber, that was exactly what I was thinking, only you articulated it much better than I ever could have (another girl gamer right here). And the Soul Calibur girls do not use their breasts to distract male opponents! There's no "Distract with breasts" move in the game. Their appearance is just sort of there, it doesn't affect the way that they or the male characters fight.

And what the fuck was with that, "Her armor won't protect her from us" comment? What the absolute hell is that supposed to mean?

"but consider this: girls who game don't bitch when their boyfriends want to game. That is, unless it comes to playing games that promote objectification of and sexualized violence toward women."

Sadly, when I was in high school and if I had a gamer boyfriend then, I would have assumed "playing video games is less popular than playing sports, so this guy must be better than those guys who play sports" no matter how misogynist he and his favorite games were. :(

Fortunately I later got a clue, realized that having so-called geek hobbies doesn't always make one more accepting, and realized that having many friends doesn't always make one snobbier.

Mina- If you [or anyone] could suggest any books in that category I'd be grateful.

"Mina- If you [or anyone] could suggest any books in that category I'd be grateful."

I wish I could, but I don't remember any from when I was around her age and probably around her reading level.

JennD: Womenfolk and Fairy Tales by Rosemary Minard is an oldish but fantastic collection of stories from all over the world with strong heroines. Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney shaped my life (her picture book biography of Eleanor Roosevelt's childhood, called Eleanor, is great too). And The Paperbag Princess is always a hit with that age group.

"Girls Vote Boys' Toys Top for Christmas 2007"

That's awesome.

I am sure the toy companies in our 'free market' economy will jump on this opportunity to advertise nontraditional toys to girls.

I wanted to comment on the toy story. All I have to say is that it's about TIME that toy makers and parents start understanding how the gender gap in toys impacts kids. I have rules when I buy toys for my relatives: 1) They must be educational (eg. no dolls) 2) they must be gender neutral 3) they must be fun!

There are all kinds of choices for "boys" - erector sets with pics of boys on the package, models that you put together and then fly or drive, etc. etc. Girls don't go for these toys usually because they are marketed to boys. I get so frustrated when I go to buy toys for the little girls and all I get is dumbass dolls of some sort. Almost all of the toys are dolls, even though they may be disguised. Doll ponies, doll babies, doll kittens, doll houses... anything and everything that reinforces the message that women are the natural care takers of our society. I want to see hotwheel tracks that you put together that have pictures of boys AND girls on the package. With a couple of girl drivers thrown in there. I want to see erector sets with girls on the package....

JennD--
it's probably too old for a six-year-old, but my favourite book when I was maybe 10 was Ella Enchanted, which started with the idea that she had been cursed with obedience and then just generally made Cinderalla into an awesome character. If your daughter wants princesses, I'd heartily recommend it.

A much younger book that I remember fondly is Stellaluna, a picture book about a (female) bat growing up among birds, with a strong message of tolerance and some seriously gorgeous art.

Finally, just because few people know about them-- if your library carries any Trixie Belden books, I remember loving them. Trixie is like Nancy Drew, except that she thinks about things other than clothes and boys.

Re: books for six-year-old girls -- the Girls to the Rescue series, edited by Bruce Lansky, is pretty kickass, and they have several different kinds of short stories to choose from -- some are pretty traditional retelling of fairy tales, some are adaptations or modernizations, and some are original fiction, but they all feature girls as the main characters, and the "to the rescue" theme holds true pretty well.

And I second The Paper-bag Princess. And maybe Little House on the Prairie? And when she's a little older, if you're in the U.S., or if you can find them wherever else, definitely the American Girl books.

And I have this great book called The Serpent Slayer and Other Stories of Strong Women, all, as far as I know, based on folktales from various cultures. It's probably a little older as well, but it kicks serious ass, and it has gorgeous illustrations.

Anyway, good luck. There's a fair amount of stuff out there now for girls, even young girls, but you usually do have to look pretty hard for it.

JennD,

Below are some of my suggestions for the 6-10 year-old bracket. In my experience (I worked at bookstores for a number of years) it really varies what kids take to, depending on if you're reading it to them, what genres they like, blah, blah, blah (you probably know all of this, being a parent!) . . . All of these books suggestions therefore come with the caveat that you probably want to screen them with your own particular child's interests and fears in mind.

One really good reference book I usually recommend to people is Book Crush, by librarian Nancy Pearl (you may have heard her on NPR). It's a book of booklists for children, arranged by theme and age range.

Some fantasy books with strong girl characters:

The Boggart & The Boggart and the Monster, by Susan Cooper. A brother and sister from Canada accidentally bring home a magical creature from Scotland who wreaks havoc in their household--and they have to try to get it back home.

Inkheart and Inkspell, by Cornelia Funke. One six-year-old I know is devouring these right now. Among other magical elements, they are infused with a love of books and reading, and a lovely, resilient father-daughter relationship.

The Fairy Rebel, by Lynn Reid Banks, has some scary fairies in it, but also a very winning punk fairy girl (the rebel of the title) who stands up to the fairy queen to save a human girl from an evil curse.

I have not personally read, but heard some solid recommendations about, The Princess Academy, by Shannon Hale. Despite the suspicious title, it apparently undermines the whole princess fantasy much like Ella Enchanted does.

Other slightly old-fashioned by wonderful fantasy authors for elementary-age kids are E. Nesbit and Edward Eager. Both authors write stories about families of everyday children (in Victorian England and 1920s small-town Ohio, respectively) who find themselves in the midst of magical adventures.

Some of my other faves:

Pippi Longstocking, and anything else by Astrid Lindgred. Pippi is my original kick-ass girl-child. The Lotta books are great too.

I'm still fond of Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House books, at least the early ones (always wanted to be wild Laura, not prim & proper Mary . . .)

The Penderwicks, by Jeanne Birdsall is a relatively new and totally charming "summer story" about (as the subtitle innumerates): "four sisters, two rabbits, and a very interesting boy."

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, by E. Koningsburg is about a girl and her brother who run away from home and hide/live in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

And another vintage author I think is wonderful is Arthur Ransome, circa 1920s and 1930s, who writes stories about families of children vacationing in the British lake district. The first in the series is Swallows and Amazons (there are some wonderfully strong girl characters, among them the "Amazons" of the title).

Hope at least a couple of those help out . . . gotta get back to writing papers!

The story about facebook groups and Hillary made my blood pressure rise!!!

I haven't mentioned this on Feministing, but I have mentioned it on Mighty Ponygirl's Web Page: if there is a game with scantily-clad women, there are always good items on those games. However, put badass women and badass men on the games, then the good items go away.

I do have several links to share with you all:

Kansas Supreme Court gives the OK for Phill Kline to investigate a Kansas City Planned Parenthood

Asshole of the Week: Former Tampa cheerleader punches her fiance in the mouth

Summerton man kills ex-girlfriend, mother

JennD:
I had several books growing up about women in history and one book that was essentially a feminist reader/empowerment book for elementary schoolers! I'll try to remember the names of those later, but on Amazon the title "Cool Women" is available. It includes profiles of many powerful women from history and pop culture. It's designed more for 12-14 year olds, but looks like something you could flip through with your daughter and that she would understand. The colors are bright and the text is fairly simple and short.

"JennD: Womenfolk and Fairy Tales by Rosemary Minard is an oldish but fantastic collection of stories from all over the world with strong heroines."

BTW, this reminds me of http://www.chinapage.com/mulan.html , which has the Mulan poem (very pre-Disney) in Chinese and in English translation. OTOH it doesn't have illustrations and I don't remember reading un-illustrated text OK when I was 6.

On the GameDaily article: I agree it is pretty sexist, but what I found elsewhere on their site is worse. From 'Top 10 Worst Mario Characters', here's how they describe Princess Peach:

"We used to think Mario's girlfriend was a gullible broad that couldn't avoid being kidnapped, but now we're not sure. We actually think she likes getting carried away, partly because she knows her whipped boyfriend will come and save her, and also because she secretly has a thing for Bowser. Total drama queen."

Maybe there's something silly about getting angry over a *video game character*, but... does anyone else see a seriously misogynistic message here?

Then again, perhaps part of the problem lies with Nintendo. When even Disney is at least *trying* to make movies which subvert the traditional 'Prince-rescues-Princess' paradigm, how can Nintendo keep relying on the same hackneyed cliché? Isn't it about time Princess Peach stopped needing Mario to rescue her?

Okay, here's another one along the myths-and-legends line:

Changing Woman and her Sisters: Stories of Goddesses from Around the World, by Katrin Hyman Tchana

and it does have illustrations ;).

re: Latasha Norman

How sad that this terrible case isn't getting more coverage.

Also, why is it being called "domestic violence?" These two people did not live together. It was a campus killing. The girl lived in a dorm. It wasn't her roommate that killed her, so how is it DV?

I know the answer, of course. DV is legal code for "It was just a guy killing his 'own' woman, no big deal."

"Isn't it about time Princess Peach stopped needing Mario to rescue her?"

I kinda miss Super Mario Brothers 2. You could play as the Princess.

"Isn't it about time Princess Peach stopped needing Mario to rescue her?"

Well, isn't that the point that the website was trying to make? I just read a review of the newest Mario game and SHE'S BEEN KIDNAPPED AGAIN!

I don't want to be accused of blaming the victim, but come on.

Hooter21, you are blaming the victim, so to speak.

You are blaming Peach for embodying the stereotype of the damsel in distress when you should instead be questioning why the creators of the Mario games keep MAKING her that way.

Possession of a marriage license is no longer the chief determinant of which obligations a couple must keep, either to their children or to each other. But it still determines which obligations a couple can keep — who gets hospital visitation rights, family leave, health care and survivor’s benefits. This may serve the purpose of some moralists. But it doesn’t serve the public interest of helping individuals meet their care-giving commitments.

Thanks for the link to Coontz's op-ed on marriage. I've been meaning to read her history of marriage for a while now.

I like the way she breaks the must keep / can keep obligations of interpersonal relationships and marriage down. As an unmarried woman, living in a rather dense network of kinship relationships (familial and extra-familial), I've been thinking a lot lately about the nature of obligation, responsibility, reciprocal care, and the types of relationships the government and society recognizes as legit (in the positive sense of conferring benefit). It's such a depressingly narrow list!

I want to sing some different version of Slim Shady: "Would all the lesbian feminists please stand up? Please stand up?"

Damn. That article was full of conjecture and personal anecdotes and no facts. As a young bisexual with plenty of lesbian/queer friends who ARE feminists I don't know where they're getting their info.

On fairy tale feminists: I don't remember the author, but it's a relatively famous series - Dealing with Dragons, on the princess that didn't want to be rescued from the dragon and thought the princes who tried to were stupid.

On obligatory panty hose, heels, skirts, and/or makeup: Any male who requires these must wear them for one full work day and get back to me. I'll wear some skirts and some heels, but I'll be damned if I have to have long hair or wear makeup and panty hose. I have trichotillomania, I'm fidgetty-anxious to the point where makeup would be rubbed off my face after an hour or two, and panty hose bothers my sensitive skin. I have no problem with women who want to wear these things - it just should not be mandatory. I'm looking at you, Bush.

Re. forms of birth control that could be affected by granting an egg personhood: I didn't actually read the article since I'm not a LA times member, but one of the minor mechanisms of action of birth control pills is preventing implantation of a fertilized egg. Most of the time, it works by thickening the cervical mucous and preventing ovulation, but ovulation is not always suppressed, and sometimes sperm are wily, so blocking implantation of the conceptus is how the pill works in these cases, mostly by way of the thinned endometrium from the progesterone in the pill. The thin endometrium is also why your periods tend to be lighter while taking the pill. However, this constitutes less than 3% of the pill's action, but good luck getting an anti-choicer to admit it. And forget about IUDS...

lunalelle,

The author is Patricia Wrede, and the series is hilarious! I wanted to be Morwen, the witch with all the cats, for years.

I think perhaps for a little bit older crowd . . . the 10-14s maybe? You have to be at the age where ironic subversion of fairy-tales isn't distressing.

The "creators of the Mario games" is Nintendo.

Super Mario Bros. 2 was never intended to be the sequel to Super Mario Bros. for the original NES. Nintendo released the REAL "Super Mario Bros. 2" in Japan, but decided it was too complicated/hard/similar to the original Super Mario Bros. and never released it in the US.

Instead, Nintendo released what we now know as Super Mario Bros. 2 as a rip off of a Japanese game called Yume Koji: Doki Doki Panic.

It was the first game for Nintendo AND the Mario series in which Peach wasn't being saved. It was the first game that you could play as a female! Woo!

Super Mario Bros. 2 is the 3rd best selling game for the original NES, while the original Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros. 3 take 1st and 2nd place respectively.

So why hasn't Nintendo made more Peach-playing games? Well, they have. Super Princess Peach for the Nintendo DS is all about her. Play as her, and save Mario and Luigi while you are at it. Mario Kart, Mario Party, Mario Tennis, Mario Soccer, Mario Golf, Super Smash Bros., and more (?), do not involve saving a damsel-in-distress. Peach is a playable character in all of those games, for varying consoles.

I agree with Hooter21, the point of Super Mario Bros. is 2 plumbers saving a Princess in yet, another castle. Who else are they supposed to save? Toad?

Plus, when you're playing Super Mario Bros. 1, 2, 3, Super Mario World, Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels, Super Mario 64, Paper Mario, Super Mario Advance 1 and 2, Super Mario Sunshine, Super Mario 64 for the DS, The New Super Mario Bros., Super Paper Mario, and Super Mario Galaxy, you don't realize that you are ultimately saving Peach. You just kind of play the levels for their challenges and then find Peach at the very, very end.

Blaming the victim? I don't think so...just stating how Nintendo makes this long running series. They make games with Peach in control, don't forget.

Also, why is it being called "domestic violence?" These two people did not live together. It was a campus killing. The girl lived in a dorm. It wasn't her roommate that killed her, so how is it DV?

abra abra - You're totally correct. This would be better labelled as "intimate partner violence."

Thank you, Mina, for echoing my sentiments exactly. Funny how when I was an undergrad, my queer friends were all into
their gender studies classes and okay with calling themselves feminists.

After graduation- past age 25-
most of my queer friends will say, "I am NOT a feminist". And there's nothing I can say regarding our not-so-distant- past society making women dependent on men (ahem, get married to them).

As a 30 (almost 31!)year-old, who is attracted to both sexes and resists labels- I at least am painfully aware of this trend of queer women rejecting the term feminist. Oh, and yes- I too knew I was a feminist at least by the age 13.

hmm... I guess this "anecdotal evidence" is only happening in large cities, outside of college.../snark

So why hasn't Nintendo made more Peach-playing games? Well, they have. Super Princess Peach for the Nintendo DS is all about her. Play as her, and save Mario and Luigi while you are at it.

That's one game in the twenty-three years that they've been making Super Mario games.

Mario Kart, Mario Party, Mario Tennis, Mario Soccer, Mario Golf, Super Smash Bros., and more (?), do not involve saving a damsel-in-distress. Peach is a playable character in all of those games, for varying consoles.

I'm sorry, but, quite frankly, they don't count. They're not story based games- they're party style games. You listed a bunch of Mario sports titles, the Mario board game, and a Mario driving game. I don't give Nintendo credit for including Peach and Daisy as playable characters in party games.

I agree with Hooter21, the point of Super Mario Bros. is 2 plumbers saving a Princess in yet, another castle. Who else are they supposed to save? Toad?

And yet, Mario 2 was the third best selling console game ever for the NES, and it didn't involve saving the princess in another castle. Is there a reason that they couldn't make a game where Koopa takes over the castle without kidnapping the princess? Or why Mario couldn't save some other people? Luigi? A king from some other land? Or why they couldn't come up with other plot devices? Koopa has a magical device that threatens the Mushroom kingdom and Mario has to stop him!

Mario keeps saving the princess because that's how they keep writing him. They could choose to do something a little different if they wanted. Saying "but this is how it's always been" isn't a good defense.

Plus, when you're playing Super Mario Bros. 1, 2, 3, Super Mario World, Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels, Super Mario 64, Paper Mario, Super Mario Advance 1 and 2, Super Mario Sunshine, Super Mario 64 for the DS, The New Super Mario Bros., Super Paper Mario, and Super Mario Galaxy, you don't realize that you are ultimately saving Peach. You just kind of play the levels for their challenges and then find Peach at the very, very end.

What? Yes you do! You know pretty much right away, in all of the games, "Hey, the Princess is missing!" With almost no exception, it's the entire premise of the game. And in the few instances where it wasn't, they still make it the point. If you really didn't know that you were going to be saving the princess, than what's stopping them from making some other McGuffin the point?

Blaming the victim? I don't think so...just stating how Nintendo makes this long running series. They make games with Peach in control, don't forget.

Peach is not "in control" of Mario Party. Nobody is. It's a board game. It's like suggesting that the Top Hat or the Race Car are in control of Monopoly. Same thing with the Mario Sports titles. When you've got titles that are pretty much designed to be strictly competitive games for multiple players, you don't get to claim one character is "in control".

Besides, they're still called "Mario Party" not "Peach Party" or "Daisy Racing", are they?

You can change the structure of a game, even one with a history. Castlevania used to always be about following the adventures of a Belmont on the way to kill Dracula. Symphony of Night changed it up and made the main character Alucard- not a Belmont. In fact, they made a Belmont one of the victims you had to deal with. Turns out to have been one of the best Castlevania games ever made.

Hello - can I plug my blog? I just recently started it, I would love some feedback or emails of suggestions, etc. I am trying to focus on feminism and women's studies from a more academic angle, though not exclusively. The premise of the site is still in the process of being molded/shaped by what is most thought-provoking that day. please come by!

http://www.feministrising.com

abby

One book that I loved as a kid was "Petronella." It is about a princess (named Petronella because she was supposed to be a prince named Peter) who decides she doesn't want to wait around for a prince to rescue her but instead goes out to rescue a prince.

Domestic Violence is being used because they were a couple. You don't have to live together for violence or battering to be called Domestic Violence. It doesn't need to happen frequently, one time is enough. There are specific criminal statutes covering DV, so it is important to classify this kind of violence as DV. These statutes are better for the circumstances than, for example, charging battery.

Re: Huckabee

The really odd thing is that ever since I heard Ron Paul saying "let the states decide", I've screaming "Oh, like they did with slavery? Yeah, that worked out SO well!" *eyeroll* .... was that out of order?

Peach is also an active character in Super Mario RPG. She also plays an active (but noncombatant) role in Paper Mario.

I have wondered why Nintendo gets a free pass from the gaming community in continuing to make "rescue-the-princess" games, and the conclusion I came to is that the Zelda and Mario series have and continue to be benchmarks for Zelda-type games and platformers, and the originals happen to have "save-the-princes" stories. Anyone who tried to make a new game with the same plot would probably be jeered for it.

RoymacIII, it sounds like you're trying to split hairs by drawing distinctions between "regular" Mario games and games like Mario Kart. You called for a change in structure of Mario games, so why does it not count when they make one?

Besides, Peach gets captured all the time because she's weak. It would we wrong to read her as a stand-in for all women. You wouldn't expect every male character to be Gordon Freeman, why would you expect every female character to be Terra Branford?

MrMorden--
Peach doesn't have to be weak. In Paper Mario 2, as soon as she became a playable character, my brothers chose to play her at all times because she best suited their playing style. There were points in which we had to rescue her, but IIRC, we also had to rescue Bowser. Nintendo really got Peach right in Paper Mario 2.
So why can't they do it again?! Why, oh, WHY is she stupidly kidnapped again at the start of Super Mario Galaxy?

How about some more red meat for meatheads? Mighty Ponygirl has more on even more sexist content in video gaming.

I also have more on Phill "Taliban" Kline and his quest to invade the privacy of women who go to the only health care provider that treats them with respect (Planned Parenthood).

Eloraine-

It doesn't have to be anything, but that's the way this game was made. Maybe Nintendo thinks that they would stretch the narrative too far by making Peach playable in the "standard" Mario games, and felt that they had some more freedom when they changed the game's structure to give us Paper Mario, SMB2, and Smash Brothers? Maybe Nintendo is afraid of being condemned for "political correctness" if they make Peach playable in a standard Mario game?

But I'm just speculating at this point, and we all know that that's worth. From a practical standpoint, you can either buy Super Mario Galaxy, enjoy it as the gaming benchmark that it is, and ignore the retrograde, paper-thin story like most gamers do, or you can pass it up.

Nintendo is obviously aware of the question, judging from the active roles they give her outside of the main Mario games. She certainly gets her due in Super Smash Bros. Melee when she gets the opportunity to knock Bowser clear over the horizon.

Mr. Morden, it would be wrong to have her stand in for all women if there were other female characters to choose from either within that game or if there were a plethora of female characters in other Nintendo games. We don't let Mario stand in for all men, b/c there are tons of other male characters.

kissmypineapple-

If you're letting Peach stand in for all women, that's your mistake. As for the main Mario games, there are only three characters: Mario, Bowser, and Peach. (Luigi is just Mario colored green.)

As for female characters in other Nintendo games, here's a brief list. All of these are combatants, BTW.

Samus, Terra, Celes, Rosa, Rydia, Quistis, Yuffie, Aeris, Tifa, Rinoa, Selphie, Edea, Garnet, Freya, Eiko, Yuna, Lulu, Riku, Ashe, Penelo, Fran, Purim, Marle, Lucca, Ayla.

Roxie, I felt the same way when Ron Paul said that.

I actually do agree with Huckabee that the issues of Gay Marriage and Abortion are moral issues and we don't want every state to have a different law regarding them. However, I'm on the totally opposite side when it comes to what I want the federal laws to be.

i can understand the excitement over the working car wash, when i was a little boy i really wanted a working toy garage, where cars went up little ramps and up on tiny hydraulic jacks.

but i also asked for (different christmas) a baby thumbalina doll.

i got the doll, but didn't get the garage.

yet i grew up pretty well adjusted. so i'm not so sure how big an impact toys have on kids' gender identity.

i will take back that "grew up pretty well adjusted" part...i'm still pissed at my folks for not buying me the garage.

Same here, MLEmac.

I just saw another relevant article here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7121397.stm

on a woman being pressured to test her 4th pregnancy for sex and abort it once she and her husband found out the fetus was female. She makes it clear that this pressure is *not* pro-choice.

Caveat: in the article she says "fitted in" without using it as a synonym for "been expected by the White majority to act according to their views," which I recently saw someone else here insist it should be.

I don't know if someone already poseted this information because I got so excited when I saw someone mention the Dealing With Dragons book that I looked it up. I read that series when I was young and I LOVED it. The author is Patricia C. Wrede, and heres the link to amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Enchanted-Forest-Chronicles-Dealing-Searching/dp/0152050523/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196687291&sr=1-2

Also, what about the Wrinkle in Time books? Its been years since Ive read them, and I know it's not about Princesses, but I remember Meg being very strong. I think Im going to start keeping a list of these books for when my neice gets older!

I want to echo the previous sentiments about the ridiculous opinion piece about lesbian feminists. I identify as a lesbian feminist.

Also, this piece was lacking even if one only considers it unsubstantiated opinion. If lesbian feminists aren't as visible as they used to be, maybe it is because the straight feminists have pushed them to the margins. It is common knowledge that lesbian feminists were at the forefront of the feminist movement of the 60s and 70s and that they were marginalized...

Thank you so much for all the great book ideas, everyone! I am new to feminism and I can use the extra tips. I really want to give my two daughters an advantage in this area that I did not have.

I have wondered why Nintendo gets a free pass from the gaming community in continuing to make "rescue-the-princess" games, and the conclusion I came to is that the Zelda and Mario series have and continue to be benchmarks for Zelda-type games and platformers, and the originals happen to have "save-the-princes" stories. Anyone who tried to make a new game with the same plot would probably be jeered for it.

Ico, Shadow of the Colossus,
any number of Final Fantasy games (VIII had the damsel in distress kidnapped and saved, what, five or six times?), Prince of Persia,
Resident Evil 4.

"Rescue the woman" is still a pretty common video game trope.

RoymacIII, it sounds like you're trying to split hairs by drawing distinctions between "regular" Mario games and games like Mario Kart.

And I think it's disingenuous to pretend that a party style game like Mario Kart or Mario Party is comparable to a platformer like Mario Galaxy. Party and sports games, by their very nature- a focus on multiplayer experience- rarely have much by way of plot or character development. By their very nature they need to provide a bunch of different character options. So, no, I don't think it's hair splitting to say that Nintendo doesn't get a lot of credit for putting Peach and Daisy in those games.

Besides, Peach gets captured all the time because she's weak.

She's a character created by Nintendo in a world that Nintendo also created. If she's weak, it's because they made her weak. Nintendo has started to make Zelda less weak. If they wanted, they could also make Daisy and Peach less weak. They've certainly changed Bowser, Mario, and Luigi over time, so there's no reason that they couldn't also change the Princess.

It would we wrong to read her as a stand-in for all women.

I'm not. I don't have to read her as "all women" in order to think that she's not a particularly empowering character, or to think that it'd be good if Nintendo could offer a better representation of women in the Mario world.

You wouldn't expect every male character to be Gordon Freeman, why would you expect every female character to be Terra Branford?

Again, that's not a position I've seen anyone take. The sad reality is that there are very few powerful women in video games that don't end up being hypersexualized as well. There are even fewer that are in popular mainstream games.

The Belle wedding is a little scary. But I consider most lavish, expensive, overdone weddings of any kind scary.

However, I don't think that all princesses are bad. I was really into the Little Mermaid when I was little, and now that I think back, it wasn't too bad. Yeah, Ariel's motive was love and her prince, but she wasn't exactly waiting in a tower for him to save her. Quite the opposite, she saved him when his boat blew up THEN fell for him. She wanted to be a human before she met him too.

P.S.

the conclusion I came to is that the Zelda and Mario series have and continue to be benchmarks for Zelda-type games and platformers,

I think Zelda is actually pretty cool. Take Ocarina of Time, for example (spoilers?). She's actually guiding Link through the whole second half disguised as Impa. She's much more badass than most princesses.

P.S.

the conclusion I came to is that the Zelda and Mario series have and continue to be benchmarks for Zelda-type games and platformers,

I think Zelda is actually pretty cool. Take Ocarina of Time, for example (spoilers?). She's actually guiding Link through the whole second half disguised as Impa. She's much more badass than most princesses.

THANK YOU EVERYONE for all the great book suggestions!!!

My wife and I were just having the "What new books should we buy?" discussion. Now I know.

And a question/request for those who suggested books on this comment thread:
I wrote a post on this. I think it's too common and important of a topic to have these suggestions buried amidst a lot of other stuff. Can I copy some of your suggestions to said post, with proper attribution?

Also, if anyone wants a post that is solely focused on Good Feminist Books For Girls, see below:

Moderately Insane: Raising Feminist Daughters: GOOD FEMINIST BOOKS FOR GIRLS said:

I am SO damn psyched by this recent comment thread on Feministing, which gives me some great book ideas with strong girl characters and/or less of the patriarchal bullshit a la Disney.
To avoid letting such a great idea get lost, I'm linking to the comment thread and will soon put this post in my "favorite posts" section of the sidebar.
And to avoid the good books getting lost in the remainder of the arguments about video game breast sizes (good points but not what I want in this thread) I have asked for permission to report the recommendations here.
Got suggestions? Let's hear 'em...

As for female characters in other Nintendo games, here's a brief list. All of these are combatants, BTW.

Samus, Terra, Celes, Rosa, Rydia, Quistis, Yuffie, Aeris, Tifa, Rinoa, Selphie, Edea, Garnet, Freya, Eiko, Yuna, Lulu, Riku, Ashe, Penelo, Fran, Purim, Marle, Lucca, Ayla.

MrMorden, except for Samus, all those characters are made by Square, not Nintendo, and most of them (Quistis - Fran) haven't even been on Nintendo systems, and one's a guy (Riku).

Sailorman,

Later this evening I'll come check out your post and add any more suggestions I can think of . . . I love talking books! Meanwhile, you certainly have my permission to copy and paste my earlier posts on this thread.

1) They must be educational (eg. no dolls)

Hype, I wouldn't be so hard on dolls. Using dolls in imaginative play can have tons of educational value for kids: Children can use dolls to practice human interaction and problem solving; they can create their own stories and use dolls to act them out. These are very educational and developmentally beneficial activities. The issue should not be whether toys are "boy" or "girl" toys, but whether they encourage children to play in a variety of creative ways and to develop their own ways to use the toy. A lot of the toys on that list seemed to be mostly popular because of their identification with a well-known brand name and to be designed around a very specific activity or trick the toy does--not a lot of creativity. Trading in dolls for highly commercialized, specific use toys that are conventionally coded as "boy" toys is not necessarily progress for today's little girls.

I'm coming late to the party, but some great fairy-tale books that feature strong heroines:

The Maid of the North - Ethel Phelps

Fearless Girls, Wise Women, and Beloved Sisters - Kathleen Ragan

Outfoxing Fear - Kathleen Ragan

anything edited or written by Jane Yolen--she co-edited a particularly good one with her daughter on mother-daughter pairings in folk- and fairy tales

Don't Bet on the Prince - Jack Zipes (a mixture of tales for kids, tales for adults, and critical essays)

"Using dolls in imaginative play can have tons of educational value for kids: Children can use dolls to practice human interaction and problem solving; they can create their own stories and use dolls to act them out."

I totally agree with that. When I was a kid my cousin and I used to come up with very creative and elaborate plotlines when playing with dolls in a little doll house that my dad had made. Thinking back I wonder what it says about me but I remember several occasions where male dolls where subjected to different types of penis torture (the dolls didn’t have actual penises) … No wonder I ended up a man-hating feminazi!

Oh, the Disney princess phenomenon. I know I've expressed my loathing before, but since, we're on the topic...
ARG! My cousin has 2 little girls under the age of five, and she SHOVES the princess crap down their little throats. They have all of the official liscensed Disney Princess merchandise (from videos to toothpaste to shoes to etc etc etc), and they won't eat their food unless she sprinkles, "Princess Powder" (salt) on their meals. I asked the 5 year old what she wants to be when she grows up, and she said, "A princess or a ballerina." And I said, "Jules, you know that a princess isn't a real job, right?" and it was like, *crickets*. She also goes through magazines and points at different women and says, "Too skinny. Too fat. Ugly. Pretty." I wanted to die.
I confronted my cousin about perhaps getting some more empowering messages to the girls and she was wholeheartedly offended and called me a buttinski.
My whole family thinks I'm some sort of weird commie-pimko feminazi hippie because I'm so anti-corporate.
Disney Princess shit embodies everything I hate. It's making girls strive to a white, upper-class, sexist, appearance-based norm, while Disney laughs all the way to their bank in the Caiman Islands off of the backs of sweatshop laborers in developing nations.
*deep breath*

Re: fairy tale princesses--

I'm really surprised to see so many people unhappy with "Enchanted" after all the positive comments I saw on this and other blogs about "Shrek 3". "Enchanted" was a mixed bag with some progressive values mixed with 'traditional' (read 'sexist') plotlines, but the entire PREMISE of Shrek 3--that because Shrek didn't want the throne it had to go to another male since neither Queen Lillian nor Princess Fiona (the actual hereditary heirs--both the king and Shrek married in) were apparently fit to rule--was blatantly sexist. I thought "Enchanted" was downright progressive compared to most of what else is out there right now, especially for a Disney 'princess' movie.

Re: Video games, I was surprised to see myself taken seriously when I blamed Peach for always getting herself kidnapped--I was trying to be funny, and the crux of the joke was in attributing volition to a video game character.

Once again without being too serious I wanted to note that the Mario games are mostly the product of the Japanese Nintendo Corp. Might it say more about Japanese culture than it does about American culture, that Peach is always getting caught and having to be saved by Mario? I mean, we still buy the games and play them, but it's some Japanese guy (Miyamoto, I think) and his team who comes up with this stuff.

There, now I've managed to blame a video game character and the Japanese.

Sure, Sailorman.

To add a few more suggestions (I can't help myself)... in the YA range, for anyone who likes fantasy, Tamora Pierce's books are definitely worth checking out. The ones set in her Tortall universe are the more overtly feminist, though the Circle of Magic books certainly have strong female characters. The older Tortall series starts out a little cheesy, focusing on a girl who disguises herself as a boy to become a knight and the sparkly adventures she has as the first female knight in centuries, but the more recent books, and the newer characters, just get better and better and branch out quite nicely into dealing with more nuanced issues of feminism and gender, and in the meantime there's magic and monsters and evil sorcerers and stuff. They're a good time. She has a website at tamora-pierce.com, for anyone who wants better synopses of the different series and books.

Crown Duel by Sherwood Smith is just a good fantasy book in general, but one of the nicest things about it is that it's set in a world totally egalitarian in terms of gender -- with never a comment about it, so with a female main character, it's not even a question of whether she can match up to the guys -- her struggles are really her struggles. And in that context, the other nice thing is that she's the most normal fantasy heroine ever -- she has honest-to-God strengths and weaknesses, insecurities about her appearance, the capacity to be embarrassed and doubtful of herself -- and yet she holds her own and comes out on top. She's really easy to identify with, at least for me, so it's especially satisfying that she has a happy ending.

And finally, I've always loved history, so the Dear America series was my favorite thing ever from the time I was about ten to, well, now, really. They're in diary form, and they're written by (fictional) girls living through significant periods/events in U.S. history -- slavery, westward expansion, all the wars, etc. They make sure to get in some of the less-heard stories -- there's a Tory girl during the Revolutionary War, for instance, a Sioux girl being re-educated at the Carlisle Indian School, a mail-order bride, a recently freed slave trying to figure out how to make a life for herself independent of all the forces influencing her... they're just the most awesome thing ever.

There are several spin off-series -- I think the My America diaries are aimed at a slightly younger age group; the My Name Is America ones are narrated by boys; and the Royal Diaries are about various princesses (or whatever equivalent) from different countries at different points in history. But anyway, some of them are really great, and obviously there's a wide variety to choose from. I'm not sure how widely available they are outside the U.S., but the Royal Diaries might be.

Re: pantyhose -- why did UPS require pantyhose, when their MALE DRIVERS run around in SHORTS year-round?

Re: "domestic" violence and "partner" violence -- why is it just "murder" if it's a man who's killed, but "domestic violence" if it involves a woman? Domestic implies tame, or light -- and it's neither of those.

roymacIII,

Point taken about Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, I hadn't played them so I didn't think of them.

Let's not drag out attack words like "disingenuous." I don't appreciate it when people call me dishonest. Unless you're going to bring some additional argument to the table, we're just going to have to accept that I'm willing to give Nintendo credit for the nonstandard Mario games and you're not.

As for FF VIII, IIRC Rinoa only needs rescue once. I think I'd remember more because I remember thinking "Aw geez, did Square really need to throw that stupid trope into an FF game?"

Good to see that you don't read Peach as a stand-in for all women, you're more sophisticated than some in this thread. To be more precise than "not every woman should be Terra Branford" and "Peach is not a stand-in for all women," my argument is that it should take something more than the existence of a weak female character to raise your ire, especially in a story with so few characters to begin with. Does every world really require a feminist ambassador? I'd argue that you'd need to show a consistent pattern of weak female characters before I'd buy that there's a problem.

As for hypersexualized heroines...if you really want to get into that discussion, which of the characters I mentioned would you consider hypersexualized?

And now for something completely different.

It's not a book, but it's still a good story for the teenage set: Revolutionary Girl Utena takes a look at the fairy-tale prince, destroys him, and constructs a hero to take his place. It doesn't have the level of sophistication that one would find from, say, Atwood or Plath, but it's still fun and there's some good substance there.

"and the Royal Diaries are about various princesses (or whatever equivalent) from different countries at different points in history."

I haven't read those, but from the list of titles (see http://www.scholastic.ca/titles/royaldiaries/ ) the focus seems to be princesses who did *not* become princesses via marrying royalty. There's a volume on Elizabeth I, a volume on Nzingha, etc.

Meanwhile, even if you're looking for adult-reading-level history books instead, that link can be handy as a starting point (learn from the link that someone existed, then go look up more about her in the adult section of the librart). :)

"Re: 'domestic' violence and 'partner' violence -- why is it just 'murder' if it's a man who's killed, but 'domestic violence' if it involves a woman? Domestic implies tame, or light -- and it's neither of those."

Good points. It's a shame that "domestic violence," "crime of passion," etc. are seen as excuses.

Meanwhile, a few years ago I heard that in Boston law "domestic violence" charges try to imply domicile. In some welcome-to-the-dorms orientations campus police will warn the new residents that if you beat up your roommate you can be arrested for domestic violence (even if your roommate is some stranger the school assigned instead of someone you're dating).

Here's another link:

Taking on the Economics of Gender Inequity

By Valerie Strauss
Washington Post Staff Writer

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/02/AR2007120202136.html?hpid=sec-education

"...Nobel laureates laud her work and call her brilliant; some economists credit her with an important economic theory. She is involved in the economics of fighting global warming internationally, and she was recently elected to the university senate.

"Chichilnisky is also embroiled in a bitter 16-year fight, including two lawsuits and a countersuit, against the Ivy League school where she teaches. She says she has been a victim of sex discrimination. Her salary, she alleges, has not kept pace with those of her male counterparts. Research grants have been taken away, and administrators have retaliated because of her complaints, she says..."

Re: domestic violence and murder:

domestic violence, in the law at least, can imply that there was a system of abuse going on in a relationship, and can help the jury to understand questions like "why didn't she leave him?" If you charge him with domestic abuse you can bring in past circumstances of battery, imprisonment, threats, ect. You can also have an expert testify to BWS.
Domestic violence isn't often taken seriously in everyday culture, but that doesn't mean it is a label that shouldn't be applied when a man is taking ultimate control over his wife or girlfriend. If he killed her, it would be domestic violence and murder.

If a woman killed her husband it would also be domestic violence, but only a fraction of the stats for spousal abuse are women killing men, and in those cases it is usually a woman killing her abuser. I think the only reason we don't think of women as being able to commit domestic violence is the normal gender stereotype thing.

"If a woman killed her husband it would also be domestic violence, but only a fraction of the stats for spousal abuse are women killing men, and in those cases it is usually a woman killing her abuser. I think the only reason we don't think of women as being able to commit domestic violence is the normal gender stereotype thing."

Good points, and that reminds me of this:

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=916339

"...The Article focuses on how the gender assumptions in the domestic violence discourse affected the representation of the Framingham Eight, a group of women who killed their batterers and were incarcerated in the women's prison in Framingham, Massachusetts. These women petitioned as a group for the commutation of their sentences. Seven of the women had killed their male partners; one had killed her female partner. Professor Goldfarb discusses why the lesbian petitioner faced the longest odds in her struggle to be seen and heard..."

Another article here on body image and discrinimation against people for being "ugly":

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7125580.stm

Interestingly enough, it includes a picture of America Ferrera as "Ugly Betty" and still looking like an unattainable ideal for some of us...

Posted this in a few places hoping it will get to someone on their staff---Open letter to Matt Stone and Trey Parker:

I’m terribly disappointed in you guys for the first time since South Park aired, so I’d thought I’d tell you why.

Somehow I missed the episode referred to here……..

http://www.newhouse.com/hillary-hatred-finds-its-misogynistic-voice.html

(which I found via feministing.com)

….where apparently you depict Mrs. Clinton having a bomb inserted into her pussy and then detonated. I wonder if it’s because of what the reporter said, no one was offended at your poking fun at killing a woman. I missed the original broadcast of the Tom Cruise/Scientology episode too but when I heard about it all over the news, I tracked it down and laughed my fucking ass off.

If you’ll bear with me, I’ll explain to you the difference. You see I can easily laugh at your brilliant satire about Mr. Cruise because, other than a few true wack jobs, there is not a large group of people who would actually take pleasure in exploding Mr. Cruise’s dick or raping his ass or killing him. That’s not the case with Mrs. Clinton. If you’ll look around and read some you’ll see that there are a lot, a whole lot, of ordinary men, not bad guys really, just your average NASCAR fans or football crowds who didn’t think your bit was a funny joke because they seriously think it would be a lot of fun to do.

Did you ever see that interview (I think it’s from Oprah) with Dave Chappell where he is trying to explain why he stopped doing nigger jokes the way he used to, like the bit about the nigger fairy? He was doing a bit about the fairy one day and some of the laughter out in the audience caught his attention. When he looked out he saw a few groups of white guys, who probably fit the red-neck stereotype, older, scruffy, lower class. He noticed they were laughing hard, a bit too much and too long and too loud. He looked at their faces and realized that they were enjoying his sketch a great deal and thought it was very funny but for completely different reasons than he had intended.

I’m hoping you’ll have a moment like that. Maybe you’ll talk to some of the women you love and are close to and see violence against women from a different perspective. Maybe you can even find a woman who’s been terrorized by a man AND gets your comedy and talk to her and see what you feel. It shouldn’t be hard in a country where violence against women is so prevalent that the leading cause of death among pregnant women is being murdered by their impregnator. I hope you decide that maybe it wasn’t so funny after all.

I love South Park. I think you guys are truly talented geniuses and should be studied beside Voltaire. You totally got me to believe in your idea that NOTHING was so sacred it couldn’t be made of fun, if handled properly. Over the first year you managed to gain my trust and I was ready to watch you take on some of my own sacred cows—like abortion rights, and the environment. You had me laughing so hard I was blowing snot bubbles.

But you got this one wrong, guys. Way, way wrong. And you owe a lot of people an apology.

I’ll be watching for it.

Should have stated that was in response to the article at Hillary and misogyny

Here's a clip of a recent column:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/03/AR2007120301621.html

"...In fact, the Great Sudanese Teddy Bear Controversy, like its Dutch, Danish and papal precedents, was not actually a religious or cultural affair: It was purely political. Nobody -- not the other teachers, the parents or the children -- was offended by Mohammed the teddy bear (who received his name in September) until the matter was taken up by a totalitarian government, handed over to what appears to have been a carefully orchestrated mob, and briefly turned into yet another tool of domestic terror and international defiance. The Sudanese government, which pursues genocidal policies in Darfur when it is not persecuting British teachers, is under pressure to accept peacekeeping troops from the West. At least some of the Sudanese authorities thus have an interest in building anti-Western sentiments among the population and intimidating those who disagree.

"But is also true that these affairs too quickly become politicized in the United States and Europe as well. NOW's refusal to tell Fox News that it supported Gillian Gibbons probably had less to do with politically correct anxieties about Islamic culture than it did with fear of being perceived -- in any manner, however distantly, however improbably -- to support George Bush's war on terrorism. In fact, there is no logical reason Fox News and the Sun newspaper should have been any louder in their condemnation of the Sudanese regime than NOW and the archbishop of Canterbury: Here was a situation so thoroughly ridiculous and so completely unacceptable that it clearly offended Western values, however you want to define them..."

annajcook:
CAREFULLY RECONSIDER RECOMMENDING THE LITTLE HOUSE SERIES TO CHILDREN!
I loved the books and the TV series as a kid but when I started to learn about my Native American ancestry I came across some interesting information about The Ingles and Ms. Wilder’s books.
According to this website…
http://www.oyate.org/books-to-avoid/littlehouse.html
…there is documentation that the reason Mr. Ingels was not granted title to the “Little House� plot is because he was illegally squatting on the Osage Indian Reservation.
I think most Native People would consider her work to be blatantly racist and not appropriate for children.

BTW, speaking of novels about cool girls and children's history books about cool women, how about a novel about a cool girl who reads about a cool woman? I just remembered _Harriet's Daughter_ by M. NourbeSe Philip (see http://www.nourbese.com/ ).

From http://users.rcn.com/alana.interport//feature.html : "As usual, I've decided to include a book suitable for a younger audience. In this case, the book is _Harriet's Daughter_. This is a delightful book about the friendship between two girls. Margaret is a Canadian of West Indian heritage and Zulma is a newly-arrived immigrant from Tobago. The story revolves around Margaret (whose hero is Harriet Tubman) and Zulma devising a way to return Zulma to her grandmother in Tobago."

I didn't read it until I was an adult, and I still enjoyed it. I would have enjoyed it at 10 too, but it might have been too hard for me to read at 6.

"The two girls embark on a series of adventures, unbeknownst to their parents, in an effort to mimic the life of Harriet Tubman."

The way this is a touchy subject is part of the plot too (some of the other characters disagree on whether it looks respectful or disrespectful). Also, it wasn't obvious to me at first that they had created a live-action role-playing game because there aren't any of the usual RPG trappings, but then I realized "They're gamers too!" Who says only white guys into D&D or SCA can be GMs? ;)