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By l • 15 years ago

Humour and Feminism in the Same Sentence

There have been a couple really awesome posts lately on the subject of humour and feminism:

TIGER BEATDOWN FOR DUDES PRESENTS: That’s not funny, no, seriously, Dude, it’s not

OMG! Boys! They are so adorable, right? For example, here is an adorable thing boys like to do: sort of deny or dance around the presence of misogyny, no matter how blatant it happens to be, when it comes from somebody they want to like!

Oh, wait, that’s not adorable. That is some lily-livered bullshit. Yet people do it, particularly when they’re boys: name a famous misogynist (Updike, Roth, Tarantino, Polanski, Apatow, LaBute, etc.) and I’ll name you an article or appraisal that contains some cowardly, passive-voiced admission that “some have called his work misogynist.” Um, some? Who are these “some?” What were their grounds for leveling this criticism? Can you, the professional critic, give us a well-reasoned argument for or against? Oh, never mind, that sentence is totally over and we’re back to talking about how this dude is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Because misogyny, whether or not it exists, is not a serious issue, because women aren’t important. Gotcha.

Go read the rest. NOW.

We also have the wonderful Feminism 101: On Language and the Commodification of Sex Via Humor from Shakesville:

“Geez, can’t you take a joke?” That’s all it takes—the implication that the woman who objects to public expressions of misogyny, who doesn’t find funny the means of her own subjugation, ...
By l • 15 years ago

Shock and Gall

There’s an only-half-kidding joke that anti-choicers care about you from conception to birth.

I just received this email from Planned Parenthood of New Mexico:

Dear Friend of PPNM,

We are shocked and galled!

Yesterday PPNM staff exiting our parking lot noticed an injured woman lying semi-conscious on the sidewalk in front of our surgical clinic.  Staff immediately summoned police and paramedics who responded quickly, ultimately taking the woman to the hospital. She had not been a patient here, but had obviously been abused by someone somewhere else, staggered here and collapsed.

Meanwhile,   several anti-choice protesters were walking back and forth in front of our clinic in plain view of the woman. She was laying face-down on the sidewalk just feet away from them ...

There’s an only-half-kidding joke that anti-choicers care about you from conception to birth.

I just received this email from Planned Parenthood of New Mexico:

Dear Friend of PPNM,

We are shocked and galled!

Yesterday PPNM staff exiting our parking lot ...
By l • 15 years ago

Flasher in Aisle Three

This is my first post to Feministing.  By all rights it should probably be at a Hollaback site, but there isn’t yet one that covers the region this took place in.

This experience happened a couple of years ago.  At the time, I was working in a retail store in the arts district of Columbus, Ohio.  Even though we got the occasional drunk or creep in the store, I never felt unsafe working there.  Until…

The manager (female, as were most of the employees) had gone to the back of the store, where the office and restrooms were.  She was approached by a skeezy looking man who pulled down his pants and exposed himself to her.   She reported the incident to ...

This is my first post to Feministing.  By all rights it should probably be at a Hollaback site, but there isn’t yet one that covers the region this took place in.

This experience happened a couple of years ...