Posts Written by Mighty
By Mighty Ponygirl • 13 years ago

How hating on Planned Parenthood is about hating on women, not about hating on abortion

I’ve been following the story of the Bus driver who refused to bring women to Planned Parenthood because they might get abortions pretty closely in a number of online communities. And I’ve noticed that first out the gate in terms of commenting is usually someone pointing out that Planned Parenthood offers way more services than just abortion. Which is very true. And although it chafes at me that this is considered an appropriate response and not at all a way of further dividing women into sluts and good girls, the fact is that the people who protest outside of Planned Parenthood clinics know this. Of course they know this. They can’t stand around with their bullhorns and their fetus dolls day in and day out and not have women indignantly explain that they’re only going in for a pap smear and get the point that a woman entering a Planned Parenthood is not a guaranteed abortion. But focusing on the fact that Planned Parenthood offers much broader services than just pregnancy termination is missing the point of the anti-choice crusade against Planned Parenthood. It’s not that the anti-choice don’t want abortions to be performed, it’s that they don’t want women to have reproductive medical care available to them at all.
By Mighty Ponygirl • 14 years ago

Patrick Stewart speaks to Amnesty International about Violence Against Women

Warning: you may cry, even if you’re not someone prone to crying while watching videos on the internet. If you can see the pain and difficulty he has on describing his childhood and not be moved, then I’m not sure what to say to you. I have nothing more to add to this story.

Warning: you may cry, even if you’re not someone prone to crying while watching videos on the internet. If you can see the pain and difficulty he has on describing his childhood and not be moved, then ...
By Mighty Ponygirl • 14 years ago

The messed-up case for religious discrimination

Last week, we lost a member of the family. The details, being both private and not particularly germane to the argument, I will spare you. But suffice to say that this person has been in a long slow decline for more than a few years and had signed a DNR order. During his last days, he improbably contracted H1N1, and then even more improbably recovered from it, but as a result had to spend time in isolation–which was incredibly traumatic–but for more than the obvious reason of spending what could be your last few days on earth utterly alone.

Because you see, he wasn’t utterly alone. He was paid a visit. Not by a doctor or a nurse or other trained ...

Last week, we lost a member of the family. The details, being both private and not particularly germane to the argument, I will spare you. But suffice to say that this person has been in a long ...
By Mighty Ponygirl • 14 years ago

Shoshanna Johnson shuts down a bigoted JAG-off

I adore this woman, and I want to see more of her.
Long and the short: Larry King had Army Specialist Shoshanna Johnson (former POW, you may remember her fellow soldier Jessica Lynch), Dr. Phil, and JAG officer Tom Kenniff to discuss the massacre at Fort Hood. Kenniff immediately jumped on the “well of course he did this, he’s Islamic and he’s a terrorist!” express train to demagoguetown.

(Transcript here).
Watch in awe as Johnson and Dr. Phil tear this guy a new one. Apart from the obvious inflamatory anti-Islamic rhetoric that Shoshanna helped shut down, she also makes a point to defend people with mental illness and PTSD — pointing out that Major or not, an Army ...

I adore this woman, and I want to see more of her.
Long and the short: Larry King had Army Specialist Shoshanna Johnson (former POW, you may remember her fellow soldier Jessica Lynch), Dr. Phil, ...
By Mighty Ponygirl • 14 years ago

Two problematic feminist memes I wish would go away

I apologize if this gets a little bit rant-y, one of them just popped up in another discussion elsewhere and it got me thinking.

I’m not sure where this stuff comes from, exactly. It’s not like there’s a Feminist Textbook that’s teaching young aspiring feminists these bad things, but it seems like I see feminists continue to fall into these traps when we discuss matters online. And they bug the hell out of me. It’s tempting to say that I only hear this stuff from people who are new to the feminist movement, but alas, it is not necessarily the case.

I’ll keep it to two, because otherwise I could rant all day.

In a discussion about accessibility/likability of feminists:

"I don’t understand people ...

I apologize if this gets a little bit rant-y, one of them just popped up in another discussion elsewhere and it got me thinking.

I’m not sure where this stuff comes from, exactly. It’s not like there’s a ...
By Mighty Ponygirl • 14 years ago

Rethinking Sexism in Zelda: Is Link a Nice Guy™?

One of my first posts during my Feminist Gamers days was a review of gender roles and sexism in the Zelda Video Game series. With the recent news sparking a new round of discussion about Nice Guys™ (including the Penny Arcade debacle), I’ve been doing a bit of thinking about the relationship between Link and Zelda in the context of this ugliness.
As someone who has been a part of the online gaming community for some time now, I can tell you that it’s often been a popular refrain in the gaming community that Link, the Hero of Time, the keeper of the Triforce of Courage, goes through hell and back again and again for Zelda and ...

One of my first posts during my Feminist Gamers days was a review of gender roles and sexism in the Zelda Video Game series. With the recent news sparking a new round of discussion about