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By herong • 11 years ago

Prometheus, Vaginas, and the A-Word. (HINT: It’s Abortion).

This weekend, I went to see the movie Prometheus. If you’ve been alive and within 50 feet of a television or computer screen in the past 30+ years, you know what a chestburster is.  If you haven’t, you’re welcome.  Summing up the plot pf Prometheus quickly (SPOILERS), Noomi Rapace (of Dragon Tattoo fame) has sex with a man who ingested some primordial alien ooze. Ten hours later she’s three months pregnant with a terrible alien fetus. She asks (logically) to have it removed from her body. David (an android played magnificently by Michael Fassbender), tells her “that’s not possible.” So she runs away to the self-contained surgery suite that Charlize Theron has smuggled on board.  I know.  Stick with me.

Noomi Rapace, wracked with cramps (?) paws away at the control panel of the surgery suite, is asked what procedure she would like, then speaks the dreaded word aloud:

Cesarean.

The control panel tells her that unfortunately, the table is designed for men only. She swears, manages to program for removal of a foreign body from the abdominal cavity, climbs on the table, and…well, we are treated to a scene of graphic abdominal surgery, topped off by a robot hand equipped with forceps, reaching into the character’s stomach and pulling out an alien fetus.

Two weeks ago, Michigan state Rep. Lisa Brown said the word vagina on the floor of the Michigan House of Representatives and was banned from speaking for the rest of the session (later reduced to only the remainder of ...
By herong • 15 years ago

The (Mis)education of Cathy Young

On Wednesday, May 18, the Washington College of Law Federalist Society hosted libertarian columnist Cathy Young to present a talk which she titled "Presumed Guilty? Rape, Feminism, and False Accusations." 

Ms. Young is not a lawyer.  She is a long-time columnist for The Boston Globe and Reason Magazine , libertarian publication extrodinare.  Ms. Young has written extensively on both feminism and false rape accusations:  here , here , here , here , HERE , here , etc.  Her general premise seems to be that First Wave Feminism was a boon to women, but now that we can all get jobs and stuff, shouldn’t we look out for the menz?  I realize I ...

On Wednesday, May 18, the Washington College of Law Federalist Society hosted libertarian columnist Cathy Young to present a talk which she titled "Presumed Guilty? Rape, Feminism, and False Accusations." 

Ms. Young is not a lawyer.  ...
By herong • 15 years ago

Double Shot at Love; or America’s Crazy Love Affair with Bisexualism

Caveat: I have not yet seen a single episode of MTV’s new hit reality show "A Double Shot at Love."  The few times I flipped past Tila Tequila’s Shot at Love were enough for me.

So.  This is not a new topic, but WTF is up with America and bisexual women?  MTV has a brand new reality show for all of us who were missing "I Love Money" and hadn’t really gotten into "Charm School."  On Double Shot, two identical, bisexual twins will vie for the affections of twelve lesbians and twelve straight men to find their one (two) true loves.  Tila Tequila, MySpacelebrity extraordinaire, ramped up the bisexual-reality-TV-show genre last year when she (albeit minus her identical twin) tried twice ...

Caveat: I have not yet seen a single episode of MTV’s new hit reality show "A Double Shot at Love."  The few times I flipped past Tila Tequila’s Shot at Love were enough for me.

So.  This is ...
By herong • 15 years ago

Casual Dismissal and Objectification of Rape in Quantum of Solace

This weekend I went to see Quantum of Solace, and thanks to my severely reduced expectations, rather enjoyed losing myself in the car, boat and plane chases.  One scene, however, snapped me from my suspended reality back to the misogynist world that Bond operates in.

Trigger Warning

This weekend I went to see Quantum of Solace, and thanks to my severely reduced expectations, rather enjoyed losing myself in the car, boat and plane chases.  One scene, however, snapped me from my suspended reality back ...
By herong • 15 years ago

Why do you hate WiW (Women in Wheelchairs)

I live in DC, where the buses and metro are often crowded during rush hour.  You know what?  It happens!  Deal with it!  People need to get home and thankfully they chose to take public transportation instead of driving a car and thankfully the public transportation exists for those of us who don’t have cars.  And guess what? Different types of people ride busses!  Because differnt types of people choose to take public transportation and different types of people don’t have cars. 

This afternoon, during rush hour, I took a bus I don’t normally take – a bus that runs rarely and is often very crowded.  On this particular afternoon, as we pulled up to this particular bus stop, there were ...

I live in DC, where the buses and metro are often crowded during rush hour.  You know what?  It happens!  Deal with it!  People need to get home and thankfully they chose to take public transportation instead ...
By herong • 15 years ago

Health Care, Gay Marriage, Domestic Partnerships, and Millions of Billions of Dollars

I live in Maryland, but go to school in DC, which has some of the best domestic partnership benefits of any state or territory in the country, even MA or CA.  Domestic partner benefits in DC are open to same and different sex couples. 

Currently in a hetero relationship, I feel uncomfortable taking advantage of rights given to some people in America and not to others, which essentially biols down to my unease with marriage And not getting married really screws with health insurance. 

I’m insured under my school health insurance, but my partner only has emergency coverage through his non-profit.  So we figured that we could ensure him as my domestic partner. 

I live in Maryland, but go to school in DC, which has some of the best domestic partnership benefits of any state or territory in the country, even MA or CA.  Domestic partner benefits in DC ...
By herong • 15 years ago

Shining, gleaming, steaming, flaxen, waxen

Reading QFinder’s post, 100 Stereotypes is more like it, I began to think a little more deeply of my own current hair dilemna.

I am a law student, going into my second year.  August 18th marks the beginning of the dreaded "Fall Recruitment", 8 weeks of hell during which all the second-year students compete for spots at interviews with the law firms looking for summer associates. 

Reading QFinder’s post, 100 Stereotypes is more like it, I began to think a little more deeply of my own current hair dilemna.

I am a law student, going into my second year.  August ...