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By kallistos • 12 years ago

The “feminist response to drinking culture” that isn’t.

I have a serious bone to pick with the article Girl Talk: Why Being Drunk Is A Feminist Issue by Kate Torgovnick, which was included in June 1st’s What We Missed post here on Feministing. In fact, contrary to Feministing’s echoing the notion that the piece is a “feminist response”, I will argue that the piece contains a cognitively dissonant, problematic, and potentially destructive message. In essence, I don’t believe it’s a “feminist response” at all.

First, let’s look at the thesis for the paper:

The more I think about alcohol and its relationship to sexual assault, the more I am convinced that binge drinking is a feminist issue—one that young women in the U.S. need to think about in addition to more obvious issues like equal pay for equal work, better access to gynecological care, and the need for more women representing us in government.

This is certainly an issue worth discussing, but here’s where I think the author begins to go wrong (emphasis mine):

…there is one thing most women don’t want to say: what if this victim had recognized she was getting drunk, slowed down, and had a few glasses of water before leaving that bar in that cab? The reason we don’t want to go there is because it sounds like victim blaming. And do not mince my words here—there is only one person to blame in this situation—the police officer who used a drunk women’s keys to enter her apartment ...
By kallistos • 13 years ago

The Skeptic Community Has Serious Male Privilege Issues **TRIGGER WARNING**

So I’ve been trying to branch out from the discussion boards I use on Facebook and look into some other really active forums. Using Big Boards, I located a very active board, the James Randi Educational Foundation, devoted to critical thinking and debunking of pseudoscientific/paranormal claims. This seemed in line with my values.

I posted about the Scottish campaign, Not Ever, which was designed to combat the atmosphere of victim-blaming where people assign culpability to the victim’s clothing, the victim’s alcohol consumption, etc.. I personally view the campaign as fantastic and think it’s the right narrative with which we should be addressing the issue of rape: frame the issue to focus on what the perpetrator does wrong, not ...

So I’ve been trying to branch out from the discussion boards I use on Facebook and look into some other really active forums. Using Big Boards, I located a very active board, the James Randi ...
By kallistos • 14 years ago

Ross Douthat: Liberated and Unhappy

For those who are unfamiliar with him, Ross Douthat is a columnist with the The New York Times. He is refreshing when compared to the columnist he replaced, Bill Kristol, but I’m still very much at odds with his political views.
His newest article is about two trends: the various forms of equality that women have achieved and rising levels of unhappiness among women
I’ll assume that the findings in the economics paper he cited, “The Paradox of Declining Female Happiness”, are accurate. But I’m wary of what people might conclude from them.
Ross offers his conclusion based on what he thinks feminists and traditionalists have gathered from it:

The feminist will see evidence of a revolution interrupted, ...

For those who are unfamiliar with him, Ross Douthat is a columnist with the The New York Times. He is refreshing when compared to the columnist he replaced, Bill Kristol, but I’m still very much at ...