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Miriam, Samhita, Jess, and I are headed to Hotlanta tomorrow for the National Women's Studies Association's annual conference. We look forward to meeting readers there for the first time and reuniting with old friends. (And pretty please, if any community posters are there and get to see Angela Davis' keynote tonight, please write about it. We were all dying to see it but couldn't get out in time.)

Anyways, we're doing a panel on bringing off line and on line feminisms more, well, in line. I thought I'd throw an excerpt of the abstract up here and see if anyone had any thoughts/questions for us as we head into our lil' talk:

There is no question that the internet is one of the most vital sites of feminism activism today, but too often the women's studies classroom feels separate from, at best, and alienated from, at worst, this valuable resource. Some academics may not be familiar with the terrain of feminist blogs and intimidated by learning the language and customs associated with them. Some may have had a taste and decided that contemporary feminism needs more, not less, grounding in theory and history.

Many bloggers, for their part, have turned to the internet as a medium in direct opposition to what feels like an academic discipline that increasingly falls into the same traps of inaccessible language and unnecessary bureaucracy as its patriarchal counterparts in the university system.

So how do we bridge the divide? It is our conviction that the feminism's very survival depends on the interplay between the academics that train young women and men to be critical thinkers about gender and power, and the bloggers that continue to engage them in grassroots movements and continued analysis of this half-changed world. And of course, many of us are both in the same body--professors and bloggers, academics and activists, theorists and artists. How do we bridge the sometimes largest gap of all--that within ourselves?

The International Museum of Women is always doing innovative, international work, so it came as no surprise when I discovered their most recent efforts: Economica. According to the site: "I.M.O.W.'s latest online exhibition explores the many facets of women's experiences of and contributions to the global economy."

You'll find interesting podcasts, including Naila Kabeer talking about "the relationship between social justice, economic growth, and gender equity" and Julie Nelson challenging economic jargon. You'll also find a great Q&A with Delores Huerta. I loved this excerpt:

In every one of our country's movements and struggles, women have always been at the forefront-whether it was the worker's movement, the civil rights movement, the peace movement or of course the women's movement. Because women set the traditions for the family, they're in a very unique position to be able to come forward. Unfortunately, so many women are burdened with the work involved in family life that they feel they really can't find the time, even though we need their voices. Women need to understand that speaking out is as much a responsibility as it is to be a mother and a wife. As women we've got to find out what's happening in this world. Sometimes we have to then neglect other parts of our life. I would like to say in my own life, for every unmade bed, hopefully some farm worker family got a dollar an hour more in their wages, or got some relief out there from their work.

For starters, it's critical that all of us learn more about economics and make sure we're making informed decisions, not only about our own finances, but advocating for the economic health of our country, and increasingly, our interdependent world.

Hey Folks! I'm back from my five week hiatus wherein I focused on life outside of the internet and worked on my MA thesis (which is almost done!) in Women and Gender Studies. In the last few weeks, I had the opportunity to push aside writing online to delve into my thesis research which is an exploration of the production of identity vis-à-vis the internet and specifically how people articulate, vet out and circulate ideas about race, gender, class and sexuality in online worlds. Academic writing is so different in many ways from journalistic or blog style writing; citations are more formal, arguments more nuanced, obviously pieces are longer and filled with complex terms. But in some ways it is the same, since as a blogger, we strive for more nuance, we clear theoretical ground and we hat tip those that said it before us. There are benefits and pitfalls to both and I think the two types of thought production hold the potential to compliment each other very well.

In researching, thinking about and writing about what identity means on the internet and how meaning is produced through how we discuss issues, where we fall along political lines, I got an opportunity to really think about the power and pitfalls of blogging. I am lucky to be in a position where I have a captive audience that listens to and engages with the work I put out there. But I also thought about the ways feminist discourse sometimes runs in a circle and becomes a constant game of she said/she said, difficult to break through with innovative new ways of engaging, when historical inequities and the language we use to describe them, has not changed.

For a few years, I disengaged myself from my academic writing, feeling constricted by what I felt its jargon and exclusivity. But after careful reflection on many of the events that have happened in the last few years at Feministing and the reactions to them by other bloggers, conservative bloggers and the greater news-reading public, I realize we have only but to gain from the intersectional analysis of authors such as Patricia Hill Collins, Donna Haraway, Audre Lorde, Kimberle Crenshaw, Lisa Nakamura, among many many other, anti-racist feminist, socialist feminist, cyberfeminist and radical feminist scholars that paved the way for us to be able to do the work that we do and engage with the ideas we engage with. Many of the battles being fought online and in feminism are battles that have been fought before, ideas engaged with and categories, like gender, destabilized. Of course, repetition is the name of the game, and hopefully every time we engage in a conversation, be it old or new, we learn something new.

That is a long-winded way of saying, despite the inherent exclusivity and accessibility issues around academia and blogging, I am glad to be back engaging with what feminism and social change means to us, as a movement, as clusters, as subgroups and as complex imperfect humans. I have a renewed energy and belief that telling our stories and writing our words is the most powerful and effective step towards creating the world we want to see around us. Perhaps in Lorde's vision, it was never possible for us to move forward like this, using the tools of the oppressor in this way, but maybe through our repetition and mindful diligence, it actually is making a difference.

Bear with me as I catch up with the news cycle!

Roman Polanski was arrested in Switzerland this weekend. He's spent the past several decades abroad after fleeing the U.S. during his trial for raping a 13-year-old girl.

Sometimes other bloggers say it first and say it better than I can. May I direct you to these fine writers for some commentary:

Kate Harding: Reminder: Roman Polanski raped a child

Amanda Hess: Common Roman Polanski Defenses, Refuted

Kieran Healy: "I look forward to more detailed explanations of who the Real Victim is here, and more fine-grained elaboration of the criteria -- other than "marvelous dinner guest" -- for being issued a Get Out of Child Rape Free card."

Scott Lemieux: "The fact that the victim forgives Polanski doesn't give him a license to skip out on his punishment."

Amanda Marcotte: "I tend to have a negative view of doggedly pursuing a criminal decades after the crime, but there are exceptions. In this case, I think that that the pressing need to send the message that fame and fortune doesn't give you a free pass to rape is worth the resources and effort put on bringing him in."

Sady Doyle on rape culture and liking the artistic output of someone who happens to be a rapist.

What have you all been reading about the Polanski arrest?

Related posts:
Newsweek hearts Polanski (and victim-blaming)
Loving sex and hating rape: Not mutually exclusive

No, I'm not having sex in the bathroom, but I am blogging from 30,000 feet. Virgin America has wireless internet these days so I'm trying it out. I'm titillated at the whole scenario--staring out at the clouds, having my little cup of coffee, and blogging away. Another part of me is resistant. I do a lot of traveling and plane rides have always been one time when I'm disconnected. I get great reading and reflecting done.

Reminds me of an interesting issue that came up, both this weekend at the Omega conference and yesterday when I gave a talk at the Girls Scout Research Institute: information overload. In a world where there is way more access to news and opinion than ever before, how do we protect ourselves psychologically and lead healthy lives?

I think so much of it comes down to self-awareness. We can't act like media or technology are happening to us, but instead be tuned in to how we feel and intentional about how we consume. For example, if I knew that I needed an internet break to be a balanced person, I wouldn't have logged on. (As it is, I had a computer coma on my hands the past few days so it feels great to have a working laptop and wifi again.)

I'm also confident that we're entering a new phase in the internet when the focus will be on curating all this volume we've come to produce. Pat Mitchell, facilitator of the panel I was on at Omega asked a great question: "How do we make sure the curators are at least 50% women?" I don't have an easy answer (other than support the women curators already working on making the internet a less sexist environment), but I'm excited to continue to explore it.

Check out Samhita the great (and many other friends of Feministing) at Netroots Nation panel "Women Bloggers Found: Has Feminist Blogging Gone Mainstream?" Panel description:

A few years ago, male bloggers 'round the liberal bloglandia were wondering out loud, "Where are the women bloggers?" Many of the women in the feminist and progressive blogospheres responded with frustration--we were there, and had been, the whole time. Today, the blogosphere looks awfully different, as feminist bloggers are increasingly mainstreamed and able to exert stronger influence on online discourse. But "blogging while feminist" isn't always easy, and feminist bloggers have faced harassment and threats that are uniquely gendered and sexualized. Feminists who have been most successful at running bigger blogs have also been mostly young, white, heterosexual and middle-class--so their issues have been presented to the mainstream progressive movement as the whole of feminism. This panel will look at what has changed, what hasn't and who remains on the edges of progressive blogging. It will also examine how female bloggers--and feminist bloggers in particular--are treated in mainstream spaces, and what we can do about it.

Ruthie Ackerman has written a lot of amazing work about Liberia--both past and present--as well as Liberian immigrants in the U.S. I had the good fortune of having coffee with her a month or two ago and was so struck by what a committed, courageous journalist she is, but even more, a truly incredible person. In her bio she explains:

It was following my second trip to Africa that I decided I had to do something. I could no longer just write and photograph people in communities far away from my own and then slip back into my comfortable life as if nothing ever happened. There had to be a way to show the world what I had seen, and that is when I made the decision to pursue a career in journalism. After one year in Cape Maclear and countless stories of adventures and hardships traveling in the region, I applied to New York University's Master's program in journalism and received a full scholarship. But before I left I promised myself that I would return to Cape Maclear someday to write stories that mattered about the women and people I encountered.

Ruthie has a sophisticated understanding of the complexity of telling others' stories (she and I hashed this out at length), and a real commitment to vivid reporting that reveals something about human nature, war, gender etc. She's actually in the process of working on a book about a group of Liberian immigrants in Staten Island, and meanwhile, is managing a really interesting blogging project that involves those folks--as well as a whole crew still in Liberia--to create their own content, use their own voices, tell their own stories. It's called Ceasefire Liberia.

It's exciting to see a forum where Liberians are speaking on their own behalf, instead of having their stories told through the lens of a white, Western journalist. I appreciate that while Ruthie is working on her own version of this story, she's inspiring her subjects to develop their own work as well. It's the kind of model I'm interested in following as journalism, as a field, starts to acknowledge the fallacy of objectivity and the intimacy (for so many) between writing or documentary work and activism.

Last week, I was lucky enough to be in the Bay Area and was invited to do my annual blog training at the YO! summer program (a project of New America Media). I have gone for the past 3 years and the students and staff never cease to amaze me. The YO summer program is in part funded by the San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris and is focused on youth that have been in some way touched by the juvenile justice system. They seek to give youth skills with the hope to not only tell their stories, but to stay out of the criminal injustice system. Harris has recently come under scrutiny after having been accused of allowing "illegals" back on the street due to her support of re-entry programs. This criticism has been part of conservative attacks on spending money on rehabilitation for criminal offenders.

This year we tried something different at the summer program. In trainings in the past we have usually discussed what blogging is and how young journalists and media makers can use new media in their work. This year, Neela Banerjee, director of the program (and my BFF), asked me to focus explicitly on what it means to be blogging about gender and sexism. So that is what I did.

We started by asking the group what they perceived sexism to be. Around the board the youth answered (2 women and 3 young men) that it was pay discrimination, hiring practices and the "get back in the kitchen" attitude. They hit the nail on the head, but interestingly their perception of gender issues were ones they had not experienced themselves. When I asked them to think about the ways sexism plays out in domestic violence, sexual violence or even in popular culture, they were more reserved in their responses.

Finally, I asked them what they felt about the depiction of women in Lil' Wayne's track (see above), "Every Girl," and had them compose their own blog entries around the topic. They had to write three paragraphs where they listen to the lyrics and defend their point of view. Initially, most of the youth were stuck, debating how to write about a track critically that they enjoyed so much. I admitted myself how much I can enjoy hiphop that may not portray women that well, but can evaluate it critically while still enjoying it (at least most of the time).

So long, farewell?

Yes, my headline is wishful thinking. But this is definitely a step in the right direction. (Ignore the article's headline if you can, ugh.)

A Manhattan judge ruled yesterday that a blogger can't hide behind a web of anonymity while flinging the ugly words "skank" and "ho" at somebody online.

The sternly worded ruling orders Google to give up the identity of an anonymous blogger-assailant who inexplicably devoted an entire blog -- titled "Skanks in NYC" -- to maligning beautiful blond model Liskula Cohen.

Once Cohen knows the name of her harasser, she can serve them with a defamation suit.

Now, how I feel about anonymous trolls - anonymous misogynists, specifically, is no secret. But Tracy Clark-Flory at Broadsheet has a point: "I am a true child of the Internet and a libertarian at heart, so I'm not all that enthused by the prospect, repugnant as these characters may be." What could a case like this mean for anonymous bloggers who aren't harassing creepsters? It's a tough one - I value the anonymity the Internet gives to people who are using blogging and online activism for progressive ends.

When it comes to the harassment and threats that so many people face online, the answer is clear - there should be some accountability. (And no, before anyone says it: Maligning people, calling women "whores," and issuing online rape and death threats aren't "free speech.") Sometimes that accountability comes in the form of a blogger outing a harasser. Sometimes it means that said harassers will face consequences they never expected.

Most of the time, however, there isn't any accountability - and the victims of online harassment and threats are left with no recourse except to live with it. I certainly know how that feels - having been the target of harassment ranging from bloggers calling me a slut from the way I looked in an innocuous picture, to rape and death threats in emails, to a website Photoshopping pictures of me to look pornographic. And let me tell you: that shit changes you. It changes your sense of safety, sense of self and any idealism you may have had about people being generally good.

And as I wrote in this 2007 Guardian article, battling online harassment should be part of feminist activism - because often the harassment is based on the same power structures and privileges that allow for real life racism, sexism, homophobia, you name it:

Is this what people are really like? Sexist and violent? Misogynist and racist? Alice Marwick, a postgraduate student in New York studying culture and communication, says: "There's the disturbing possibility that people are creating online environments purely to express the type of racist, homophobic, or sexist speech that is no longer acceptable in public society, at work, or even at home."

That doesn't mean I know what the answer is. The truth is, I really don't. But I do know that this is something feminists need to keep on their radar, keep talking about, and keeping fighting against. Because online or off - we all deserve to live free from harassment and fear.

I am in Pittsburgh for the Netroots Nation conference. This is my first time and so far it has been filled with run-ins with some of my favorite bloggers and lefty communications folks, meeting a famous NFL players who I didn't know and his son who is running for Mayor of Pittsburgh and of course getting to know the Pittsburgh nightlife, with a quick blogger party at the Andy Warhol museum.

I am heading to my first set of panels now and don't forget if you are here to check out my panel with Jill, Amanda, Linsdey and Pam tomorrow, "Woman Bloggers Found."

If you are here, say hi and you can follow the official Netroots Nation twitter feed here and follow me on twitter at desifeminista.

I love this post from Miranda at Women's Glib in its entirety (a response to conservative sex scare tactics concerning young people), but it's this quote that had me cheering in my seat:

Young people are certainly not the only group whose bodies are subject to public scrutiny and moral debate, but this backlash against the use of appropriate protection and enthusiastic consent to seek pleasure is an almost laughable example of the "keep your legs closed, you silly youngsters!" mentality. Is there a magical button, somehow pressed when a person turns 18, that suddenly allows them to experience sexual desire, pleasure, and satisfaction? Of course not; you and I know this is a ridiculous idea. But conservatives are all caught up in it when they act as though teenagers are across-the-board immature and utterly devoid of agency.

It's not a secret: we know -- because we're doing it -- that sex feels good.

A new blog for teenage feminists, called the f bomb is up!

About The F bomb:

The FBomb.org is a blog/community created for teenage girls who care about their rights as women and want to be heard. Young feminists who are just a little bit pissed off and very outspoken are more than welcome here.

Name
In this case the "F Bomb" stands for "feminist." However, the fact that the "F Bomb" usually refers to a certain swear word in popular culture is not coincidental. The FBomb.org is for girls who have enough social awareness to be angry and who want to verbalize that anger. The FBomb.org is loud, proud, aggressive, sarcastic...everything teenage feminists are today.

Author
Julie Zeilinger is one of the proudest teenage feminists of all, who delivers every bitter social commentary with a smile. She's from Pepper Pike, Ohio, and her own experiences with constant bad weather and a depressing city life have made her comfortable with (loudly) expressing her every complaint. She is a wary optimist who loves chocolate and hates people who speak two inches away from her face. Queries, comments and bad jokes to be sent to: juliez@thefbomb.org

Very cool. Check it out here.

Tranny-alert.com--an site aimed at alienating and attacking trans people--was taken down after a flurry of online activism this weekend. A highly effective Call to Action against Tranny Alert was started by a Livejournal user named gudbuytjane and circulated widely by GLAAD and a chorus of other blogs.

Thanks to our own community blogger basketcasey who mobilized the feministing community to do their part. We're so grateful that we have voices in our community that can lead folks into this kind of rapid response when we're not on the ball.

We've received a ton of reader mail (and public requests) over the course of the past week asking us to blog about an article that appeared on Playboy's website about conservative women they'd "like to hate-f*ck." Several people have asked us write about it to "prove" we are against sexism and hatespeech directed at all women, regardless of their ideological orientation. Others are saying that, because we haven't blogged about this one article, which has since been taken down, we are ok with sexism directed at conservative women.

And I'm getting annoyed. Because this sounds really familiar. During the presidential campaign (and long after) conservatives liked to invent a narrative in which feminists did not decry sexism directed at Sarah Palin. These poor souls are all apparently unable to use The Google. Because if they were, they would have turned up:

Sarah Palin Sexism Watch: O'Reilly Edition
Palin Sexism Watch: Proud Uncle McCain Edition
Palin Sexism Watch: C-Word Edition
Palin Sexism Watch: Sex Doll Edition
Sarah Palin Sexism Watch: Halloween Costume Edition
Palin Sexism Watch: Sexist Stereotypes Edition
Sarah Palin Sexism Watch: Schoolgirl action-figure edition
Sarah Palin Sexism Watch: Skirt-wearing, SexyMom edition
Palin Sexism Watch: VPILF Edition

And there's more -- including a recent post calling out the misogyny against Miss California Carrie Prejean.

What I find almost laughable is that most of the conservatives who have said, "HA! See? Feministing doesn't care about that Playboy article, and therefore all feminists are hypocrites!" are not folks who normally give two shits about sexism. They only care about this article because they think it's a "gotcha" moment.

The real reason I, personally, have chosen not to blog about the Playboy article (or the follow-up on a right-wing blog titled "liberals we'd like to hate-f*ck") is the same reason I choose not to write about every offensive thing published in Maxim or on many other sites that are repeatedly, link-baitingly sexist: because I (or any number of feminists) am not going to change the very editorial mission of these publications. My writing about how fundamentally screwed up an article is will not lead to more feminist or less sexist content in Playboy in the future. It will just give them many more hits. I'd rather spend my time calling out widespread media narratives that are sexist (i.e. Palin is a "VPILF") and trying to change them.

A new study shows that when girls do worse than boys at math, the likely culprit is culture.

Amanda gets her hands on an anti-choice manual - read it, if you can stomach it.

Ann and Dana bring you the third installation of "Ask a Feminist." This time it's door-opening protocol...

Emily at RH Reality Check calls out "pro-lifers" who abet in terrorizing abortion providers.

Saletan at Slate hits a new low with this headline: Is it wrong to murder an abortionist?

New research explores Twitter and gender

Julia Serano announces a show she'll be participating in at the 2009 National Queer Arts Festival: Girl Talk: A Cis and Trans Woman Dialogue.

Check out the Q&A that Damsel, a blog for and by feminist 20-somethings, did with me. I thought that they asked some great questions. An excerpt:

Damsel: I'm not going to lie: It really pisses me off when women who subscribe to feminist beliefs (and reap the benefits of the movement) refuse to call themselves feminists. Frankly, I think they're ingrates. You, on the other hand, have said you "don't actually care much" whether people wear the label. And you write for Feministing.com! Help me understand your reasoning.

CM: First off, I champion you for feeling so strongly about the feminist label. I get it. I really do. But for me, the history of feminism is so complicated and the continued class issues so entrenched, that I really empathize with women who want to distance themselves from the label. Feminism was historically seen as a very white movement, and too often, it still resides in the upper echelons of society (colleges, fancy feminist organizations etc.). I hope that young women of diverse ethnic and class backgrounds identify, but if they don't, I don't want them to feel like they can't fight for gender justice alongside me and the other card carrying Feminists.

Read the rest here.

Check out this fascinating blog, Tang Dunand, by a female AP reporter living in Afghanistan. With all the important developments there this week--ridiculous, misogynist law, courageous protests--it's nice to read the perspective of someone on the ground and see more varied photographs of women there in their own space. After taking a little friend to the emergency room she writes:

I worry that she lost too much blood. I worry that in a country like Afghanistan, the operation will go awry. I worry that she will not heal well in this war-torn, impoverished country and will be handicapped forever.

I only knew Basmina from our brief encounters, but today I felt so intricately linked to her. In the longed-for before, I saw a bright and happy young girl with the possibility, no matter how dim, of a decent future. Later, as I tried to keep up her spirits in the hospital, her tiny little frame on the hospital gurney, I grieved deeply. Basmina was the drop that made me overflow.

As these events tossed about my head all day, I learned that Basmina means "fragrance." I don't have any pictures of her. I took for granted that her freckles and smile would be there to greet me tomorrow.

Thanks to J. Courtney Sullivan for the heads up.

So there has been a heated dialogue this past week, partially in response to the comment thread on my post about Focus on the Family last week. Queen Emily at Questioning Transphobia wrote an initial response to it, voz responded to the larger issue of how trans women's issues are treated at Feministing and Feministe, and Cara responded at Feministe yesterday.

I've been doing a lot of listening, and hearing, and reading. I have a lot of thoughts brewing about all of these threads.

There are two discussions I think need to come from this. One is a discussion about comment moderation and Feministing. It's a discussion we as bloggers often engage in, and one that crops up all of the time, as each of us find strategies for how to manage comment threads.

Moderating comments is probably the part of this work that I feel least adept at. I do agree that moderating is a part of our role as bloggers. It's a conversation that we plan on continuing at Feministing, and writing more about as a group. This is a group blog, and while we each moderate our own threads, we do have a collective comment policy. So more to come on that.

The other conversation is around gender identity related writing and activism. This is a conversation I am highly invested in, which is why I really appreciated reading Queen Emily's thoughts about the comment conversation and my original post. I'm invested in it because I'm a feminist, because I identify as genderqueer, because I have a strong agenda around gender. I have all sorts of thoughts and ideas about how feminism needs to evolve it's beliefs and interaction with the gender binary--including what trans inclusion looks like. At the WAM conference this year, Julia Serano, Jack Aponte, Kate Bovitch and I were on a panel to discuss these issues. I hope to post the video soon, but these are conversations I'm engaging in elsewhere as well.

These two conversations need to continue and I plan on further engaging. Unfortunately because of how life works, particularly my life where I have other responsibilities outside of this blog, I can't engage in that dialogue with all of you tonight, or tomorrow, or in the next few days. To acknowledge the fact that much of the criticims of the original thread revolved the comment moderation, I'm going to turn comments off on this post.

I'm going to be back on Monday, with more thoughts about this. I'll post a new thread then, with comments open.

Hey y'all, just thought you might want to check out the awesome book club that TPMCafe put together on The Purity Myth.

Lila at TPM got a great group of women together to discuss the book, and I couldn't be more excited to hear their thoughts: Hanne Blank, Katha Pollitt, Emily Bazelon, Amanda Marcotte, Echidne of the Snakes, Jennifer Baumgardner, and Leora Tanenbaum.

My post introducing the book is here, and Leora, Echidne, Amanda, and Hanne have already weighed in. Make sure to check it out!

I stumbled across the Annual Asian Women's Blog Carnival via Hyphen and it is a must-read selection of pieces by Asian women. This year's focus is on identity and is an extensive selection of posts about shattering cultural stereotypes, racism and other issues that affect the lives of Asian women.

Check it out now and give them some comment love as this is a very important and exciting new carnival.

Most industries are facing difficult times right now. Media, and independent media in particular, have long faced uphill battles, but the economic emergency is pushing many state and local newspapers to fold. As the bad news continues, I wanted to speak with someone about the possible ramifications of these losses.

Tracy Van Slyke, former publisher of the progressive, independent magazine In These Times, is the program director of the The Media Consortium, a network of the country's leading independent journalism organizations. (Full disclosure: Feministing is a member.) From their website:

"Millions of Americans are looking for honest, fair, and accurate journalism. We're finding new ways to reach them. Our strategy has three focal points: Making Connections, Building Infrastructure, and Amplifying Our Voice."

Here's Tracy...

Lately, there have been some things going on in the loose, yet bizarrely limiting category of the feminist blogosphere. They have gotten me to thinking about social change, feminist activism and how it is connected to blogging and new media. This is one of those, "I am going to think out loud posts," so bear with me.

In light of recent conversations about inclusion and exclusion within the blog world, there are some facts that are apparent. Some voices are considered more legitimate than others and it doesn't exactly take rocket science to figure out why. Online interactions or power relations mirror the real world in many ways, so if you look at who is dominating dialog in mainstream media, sometimes you see those same patterns online. It is not true across the board, but generally, the words, thoughts and analysis of not just certain demographics, but also certain points of view, for example more centrist liberal ideology, is privileged.

But, I guess I already know that, since I have been blogging here for a long time and have felt first hand what it means to be a woman of color that says radical things in a very public way. It means getting threatened, it means being challenged, it means having my credibility laughed at, it means sometimes and often feeling delegitimized and stupid, it means not being linked, even when I wrote about something first. And blogging for what is considered a big feminist blog, it means being made to feel like an outsider, a betrayer to my community, someone who has stepped outside the confines of home and community, speaking my truths on someone else's soil (even though it is my soil, I have tilled and planted and I get to decide what grows and I have ownership of my croppage, and total rights to replant, haha, to continue with the metaphor if you will...). And obviously, I don't agree with all these criticisms, I can hear them, but in general, I know what I am doing and why I am doing it. I own that shit. But I am human and shit gets under my skin. I am sensitive, I get affected, I even cry (probably more often then I should.)

This analysis of race and class has been extended to which voices get heard in the feminist blogosphere. I don't want to minimize the extent to which it has been discussed, but I am not going to rehash old debates. I have written about the topic of racism and feminism before. But right now, I am just going to talk about myself. My work speaks for itself and I have let go of the belief that I can make everyone happy. Sometimes we won't get along, sometimes we just won't be friends.

What I am wondering about though is what is the meaning of all of this? Why do we blog? And is the reason we blog for our own individual voices to be heard? Or the voices of our communities? Hell, what does community look like online? I love many co-bloggers and commenters, both on Feministing and off, but my real friends are the ones I have met face to face, that have looked in my eyes and I into theirs. That does not mean that the community I build online isn't meaningful, it is. It is just different.

After working in the social change sector, I learned that everything is strategic and blogging has become one way to rally support around key issues. And it is a powerful way to do it. It is not perfect by any means, but despite all the opposition I have faced and despite all the racism that is embedded within this powerful tool and the inequitable power relations that are reproduced online, I realize this tool is not just about my own voice. It is about the stories we give light to, it is about the campaigns we support, it is about the tragedies we expose. Oftentimes, I am just the fire starter.

For me, staying rooted in a vision for social change and social justice allows me to make sense of the day to day pain of the racism, sexism, classism or othering I have experienced frequently here on the internet. I know I have a community of support behind me and I support them in the work that they do, by highlighting their campaign and their on the ground actions. That is why I blog, but obviously it is not the only reason.

I also blog because I know that I have had certain life experiences that are not documented in mainstream media or in mainstream feminism and I know there are young women everywhere that can relate to my stories. I also know there are people that appreciate my point of view and my analysis on issues, a perspective that is not often given in mainstream media. I blog because I have been given this tremendous opportunity that comes with great responsibility and I don't take it lightly. I do my best with the resources I have and I am here and I am present and I am "Fired up and Ready to Go!"

And sometimes, I get to meet people face to face and they tell me about how I changed the way they look at something, or someone running a campaign tells me that my exposure helped them get more support. And I feel really good about that and I realize that despite all the drama and all the problems with the tools themselves and the way they have manifested, I am doing what I want to be and I am accountable to who I need to be. I don't want to seem naive, because I know, we should all be so lucky. But I must say, I am lucky and I am thankful and I love blogging. And I am not going to apologize for my success at it.

There's been lots of talk about clean coal these days. Have you seen any of the industry's commercials? But what you haven't heard much about since Robert F. Kennedy visited the region back in the day is where coal comes from -- the Appalachian Mountains. His son continues to speak out about the region. Ashley Judd a long with many folks in her home state of Kentucky have been doing a lot of activism around mining and the disparities in the Appalachian Mountains there. Judd recently spoke out about a piece Diana Sawyer aired on 20/20 last week called "Children of the Mountains on Appalachian life in Kentucky -- Diane Sawyer is also from the state. The piece sparked some reaction in the blogosphere from folks who have been in the trenches working on these disparities just about their whole lives.

I decided to ask Theresa L. Burriss, the Assistant Professor of English & Appalachian Studies at Radford University, about everyday life in Appalachia and what she thought about clean coal and Diane Sawyer's piece. (Diane Sawyer did a follow-up piece last night on "Mountain Dew mouth".)

Here's Theresa...

Angry Black Bitch has been around for four years! Go leave Shark-Fu some congrats over at her pad.

Longtime reader and fave commenter SarahMC has started a new blog with some friends, and we wanted to spread the love. And I'm sort of in love with the blog title and tagline:

The Pursuit of Harpyness: As narrated by six of the most charming and vicious broads on the internet.

Blog on, ladies!

The Center for Emerging Media's Marc Steiner Show aired a talk with our girl Jill from Feministe, the amazing Latoya from Racialicious and Danielle Citron from the University of Maryland (whose research is on online harassment) to discuss the ways that the blogosphere has been extremely hostile to female bloggers and what can be done to create a safer environment.

I'd bet every blogger who is a woman has experienced some form of online harassment. This is definitely a necessary discussion to be had. Click here to listen to the show, I'm waiting on the transcript.

Just wondering... And please, share your fave feminist new sources in comments. (Or shamelessly self-promote your feminist blog, mag, etc!)

Woot!

A while ago I had written for the American Prospect about the blog Stuff White People Like and discussed some of the trends in race in America it so accurately highlights both intentionally and unintentionally. At the time there were several blogs that were spin-offs, but I guess I missed this most important one, Stuff Desi People Like. It is as though my analysis can come full circle.

My immediate feeling, stumbling upon such a blog was relief and humor. Even the first entry, #36 Fair Skinned Kids, is one of those dirty secrets that I keep close to my chest about my mother's preference for lighter skin, that I find to be frustrating and often fight with her about the racism embedded in such beliefs.

Check out the blog, I think it is pretty funny actually. But I always feel when mocking ethnic minorities it is different than mocking the dominant culture. At the end of the day, we are still not the dominant culture and there is still a sense of voyeurism and curiosity that turns into judgments and racist assumptions about ones culture. As a person of color, the culture I come from is but one part of who I am and does not limit me from understanding the diversity of this country. The onslaught of cultural productions about South Asians/Desis has excited me while leaving a bad taste in my mouth. Since I spent most of my life with people not knowing anything about India or Indian culture (outside of food and yoga), it is frustrating when people are in the "we think we understand your experience now" space. But it is also exciting.

So I guess in looking at SDPL, I suggest we laugh, but don't laugh too hard, because there are so many things that are just not able to be translated effectively given the racist assumptions we all hold about different cultures.

You're heard of the slow food movement, right? Well now folks are bringing that same sensibility--a mindful, patient, sensual exploration of the full enjoyment of the present moment--to one of the fastest of mediums: the blog.

The New York Times had a fascinating story on this trend on Sunday. It turns out that there is even a Slow Blog Manifesto, written in 2006 by Todd Sieling from (of course) Canada. Sieling writes:

Slow Blogging is a reversal of the disintegration into the one-liners and cutting turns of phrase that are often the early lives of our best ideas. Its a process in which flashes of thought shine and then fade to take their place in the background as part of something larger. Slow Blogging does not write thoughts onto the ethereal and eternal parchment before they provide an enduring worth in the shape of our ideas over time.

It got me thinking...what are the effects--both short and long term--of our speed as feminist bloggers? Sometimes we will have an activist goal in mind--eg. get Walmart to pull their sexist, violence-promoting t-shirts or make sure that Bush keeps his paws off our bodies in these last legislative days). In these cases, time is of the essence. It is less important that we write well, or get at the deepest recesses of the issue at hand, as it is that we get the content out there, incite outrage, and create collective action.

But other times, we feministing editors do try to insert some slower, more reflective posts. Vanessa thought back to her own experiences working in direct service with girls last week. I tried to introduce some of the ongoing questions in my own head and heart as I continue my feminist journey (interestingly, commenters were quick to speedy answers rather than the slow reflection I had intended.) I think sharkfu's beautiful stuff, more than anything on feministing right now, tends towards the reflective (even when it has decisively time-sensitive content).

So while I certainly don't see feministing as a member of the "slow blogging movement," I do think that we try to balance our quick hits with our slowly-developing consciousness, our action-oriented items with our reflection-encouraging content, and our sass with our search. What do you all think? Do you ever wish we were "slower" or "faster" (haha, sounds like we're doin' it)? For those participating in the community blog (THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU), what do you notice about your own literary instincts in this regard?

*For more interesting, and very slow, writing on blogging, check out Andrew Sullivan's piece in this month's Atlantic.

Writer Jessica Wakeman recently had an interesting study published by media watchdog group Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting on the present number of bylines belonging to women on Huffington Post.

After two months of tracking the number of bylines on the homepage, she found that only 23% of them belong to women:

The Post does seem to be making a conscious effort to include women's voices; despite the low percentages, the study found at least one female byline on the home page at all times. But if there is indeed such an effort, it stops far short of parity. Of the 89 times bylines were checked during the study, not once did the number of women's bylines equal those belonging to men. Only eight times did women account for more than a third of all bylines. And Arianna Huffington, appearing 57 times, accounted for more than a fifth of all women's bylines; 45 of those occupied the most visible top post. Only once, in fact, did a woman other than Arianna Huffington get her byline in the most visible top slot--Post editor-at-large Nora Ephron (8/26/08).

I'd like to see a larger study around this; too many of us feel that women bloggers are underrepresented and undervalued in the progressive blogosphere, but hard evidence is always helpful.Thoughts?

Need more reason to love Rachel Maddow? Probably not, but it is always good to love her more. In response to Palin's accusations of bloggers not being real media or not doing enough research, Maddow responds. Just watch it, it is so funny.

Rachel Maddow wins.

So as some of you may have noticed, I've been slightly MIA from the blog lately in terms of longer, and more frequent posts. That's because I've been in the last weeks of writing a new book (!) and have been too busy pulling my hair out and wearing out my keyboard to give Feministing all the love and care it deserves.

I'll be back in the swing of things in about a week, when the book goes to the copy editor. (Upon which I'll have a big ole drink and sit down and blog and blog and blog until you're sick of me!)

In the meantime, here's what I've been reading and thinking about - I'll let you do the snarky/smart commentary for me in comments...

A woman in NYC uses street art to speak out about rape.

Gloria Steinem and Suheir Hammad have a conversation in NY Magazine.

Anti-trans students at Manchester University panic over one set of unisex toilets.

Pandagon has an ad about Palin and hunting wolves that made me cry. And I'm scared of wolves!

Cara, on Feministe and The Curvature bring us South Dakota Live Action Camp.

There's a controversy brewing on a super popular group wedding blog, Weddingbee, because the proprietor sold the site to eHarmony - the dating site with ties to Focus on the Family and a discriminatory policy which refuses to match same sex couples. Several of the site's queer bloggers have quit in protest.

On a lighter note, Sarah Haskins is on Twitter!

I am really into lists lately. After Courtney's ten things she can do without and my own replica, along with all the responses we got, I figure why not make it a weekly feature. So similar to Amanda's Friday Random Ten, here is my second crack at the Tuesday Ten.

I have been thinking about highlighting men that do feminist work in their blogging (sort of in the vain of Twanna's Manly Monday, but different trajectory). Many of these men, I don't know personally, so I will not say they are feminists, however, in much of their writing I have found they support many of my ideals.

So here goes. This is my list of who I consider feminist friendly male bloggers.

1. Scott Lemiuex from Lawyers, Guns and Money

2. Nezua from the Unapologetic Mexican

3. Kevin from Slant Truth

4. Jay Smooth aka the Illdoctrine

5. Jesse Taylor from Pandagon

6. Baratunde Thurston from Jack and Jill Politics

7. Kai Chang from Zuky.

8. J Brotherlove.

9. Hugo Schwyzer

10. AngryAsianMan

Too cool - Michelle Obama blogged over at BlogHer on equal pay and Lilly Ledbetter.

Lilly is from Alabama. For nearly 20 years, she worked for a Goodyear tire plant. She was the only female supervisor--so you know this is a tough, hard-working woman. One day, someone sent her an anonymous letter with a list of salaries of her co-workers. That's how she found out that she was making less than the men she worked with--even men who were less senior than she was. And we're not talking about a few dollars. Some of her male counterparts were making 40 percent more than she was--for doing the same work.

It's a nice follow-up to Samhita's post yesterday on Obama and the economy...

The blog Women Against Sarah Palin was only created a week ago and is not only starting to get some media attention but has received nearly 100,000 responses from women across the country expressing their frustrations with the VP pick and all that's come from it.

Lyra Kilston and Quinn Latimer, the New York-based founders, use the blog to post women's emails who write about why they think Palin is the wrong choice for the vice presidency, and the wrong choice for American women.

On a random side note, you sort of have to love the quote they include by McCain the night he introduced Palin in Dayton, Ohio:

"And I am especially proud to say in the week we celebrate the anniversary of women's suffrage [that she is] a devoted, a devoted wife and mother of five."

Oh McCain, when will you ever learn? [*crickets*]

The always fantastic National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum has a great interview series over at their blog Warrior Prose this week.

Can you name...

A 93 year-old Chinese-American revolutionary anti-racist activist and feminist?

A queer journalist and writer named one of the most influential Asian Americans of this decade?

A Seattle based activist involved in international and domestic human rights issues over the last 30 years?

A labor organizer and lawyer, accomplished nature photographer and poet, and author of several groundbreaking books?

A visionary trailblazer and founder and Executive Director of an internationally recognized human rights organization?

Five amazing women. Five must-read interviews. In a week long interview series, the National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum (NAPAWF) gets up close and personal with Grace Lee Boggs, Helen Zia, Cindy Domingo, Lora Jo Foo, and Mallika Dutt, prominent women leaders who continue to define and redefine leadership and inspire us all. Check it out!

toothpastefordinner.com

I don't know about you all, but I read A LOT of blogs. Probably too many. It's my way of keeping up with the blog world and also reading and learning about things that interest me. I use blogs to keep up with current events, to stalk (I mean, keep track of) my favorite authors, to learn about pop culture. I have a particular penchant for blogs that are very personal in nature and discuss things like sex and gender.

I recent favorite of mine is Sugarbutch Chronicles. You know how I know? Because everytime it pops up in my google reader with a new post I get excited. (I'm aware of how nerdy this is)

Sugarbutch Chronicles is a personal writing exploration of sex, gender, and relationships, and attempts to celebrate queer theory, sexuality, gender, and culture in ways that are expansive rather than restrictive, liberating rather than limiting.

What blog gets you going? (In addition to Feministing, of course)

The National Women's Studies Association has created a student blog. Check it out and contribute if you're that kind of shiny age.

The math wars - Economic Woman: Allison at the fabulous blog Economic Woman takes an in-depth look at the recent study showing girls perform as well as boys in math.

Girls=Boys in Math - The Onion: I couldn't let you miss The Onion's take as well.

Recognising 'gendercide' - The Guardian: Heather McRobie proposes that we start talking about gender-based massacres, like Ciudad Juárez, in using the word 'gendercide'.

Our Bodies Our Blog - Tribal Law and Order Act Aims to Address Abuse of Native American Women: "Last week, bills were introduced in the House and Senate that are intended to empower tribal governments to address crimes that take place on their lands, and, among other aims, to 'reduce the prevalence of violent crime in tribal communities and to combat violence against Indian and Alaska Native women.'"

LENIN'S TOMB - Noam Chomsky on Pornography: Chomsky speaks out on porn in the video clip.

Popgadget - Samsung thinks patronising women will get us into tech; Engadget agrees: "As Engadget gleefully reports, Samsung has designed a concept compact hard drive that looks similar to a piece of make-up - and this picture shows it surrounded by make-up, to prove the point."

1960s ad for rice - Boing Boing: For funsies.

Picture from 2DaH Max.

My first ever print piece is up at the American Prospect about the blog Stuff White People Like. Enjoy!

Feministing community blogger apieceofwork points us to a story about a "pro-life" Congressional candidate in Oregon whose not-so-pro-life past is coming to bite him in the ass.

(PS. Can I just say how incredibly impressed I am by the quality of community posts going up? And we haven't even launched for reals yet! Amazing.)

CEO Barbie Criticized For Promoting Unrealistic Career Images - The Onion: "Toy company Mattel is under fire from a group of activists who say their popular doll's latest incarnation, CEO Barbie, encourages young girls to set impractical career goals."

First Female General Nominated - Feministing Community (Marc): "I'd say it's the beginning of a very critical start in the equalization of genders in the military. One of the reasons I decided to stay in after eight years of service, almost to the date, is because I realize that in society where rank does matter, that those who have a bit of rank can affect the people below them. Patriarchal as it is, the military leaves some room for change - and it is up to those in the military,with what little bit of rank they have, to change the culture."

Unfetter women's intellect on campaign trail - Newsday: "Media coverage everywhere is "Michelle vs. Cindy." Where do they buy their dresses? Do they make bacon for breakfast? And, of course, which one can we compare to Jackie O? Is anyone else as appalled as I am at how quickly we have gone back to thinking of women in the oldest of stereotypes - as only wives and mothers?"

The Loud Silence of Feminists - The Washington Post: "Michelle Obama has become an issue in the presidential campaign even though she isn't running for anything. An educated, successful lawyer, devoted wife and caring mother has been labeled 'angry' and unpatriotic and snidely referred to as Barack Obama's 'baby mama.' Democrats, Republicans, independents, everyone should be offended. And this black woman is wondering: Where are Obama's feminist defenders?"

"If she's not crying...then I did not do my job" - Women Who Serve: "In this same story, [Justin] Gimelstob goes viciously after Anna Kournikova, calling her a bitch, a douche and a scumbag. With regard to playing against her in World Team tennis mixed doubles, he says 'If she's not crying by the time she walks off that court,' then I did not do my job." That is mild, however, compared to: '...she's gonna be serving 40 miles an hour and I'm gonna be just plugging it down her throat.'"

Bratz Candy Cosmetics - Candy Blog: The doll company launches candy makeup for young girls.

Pantsuits and the Presidency - The New York Times: "Some supporters of Hillary Clinton believe that sexism colored news coverage of her presidential campaign. The Times reported in a front-page article on June 13 that many are proposing boycotts of cable news networks and that a 'Media Hall of Shame' has been created by the National Organization for Women. The Times itself, however, was barely mentioned, even though two of its Op-Ed columnists, Maureen Dowd and William Kristol, were named in the Hall of Shame."

Generation Y Refuses Race-Gender Dichotomy - AlterNet: Courtney's latest!

Judge's ban on the use of the word ‘rape’ at trial reflects trend - Kansas City Star: "It’s the only way Tory Bowen knows to honestly describe what happened to her. She was raped. But a judge prohibited her from uttering the word 'rape' in front of a jury. The term 'sexual assault' also was taboo, and Bowen could not refer to herself as a victim or use the word “assailant” to describe the man who allegedly raped her....Bowen’s case is part of what some prosecutors and victim advocates see as a national trend in sexual assault cases."

Tila Tequila: California lifted its gay-marriage ban "because of me" - Reality TV World: "Tila Tequila thinks she deserves some credit for California lifting its ban on same-sex marriages."

I have to admit I was pretty irritated by the cover story of the New York Times Magazine this past week. Not that they featured a young woman blogger, of course, but that the article by former Gawker blogger Emily Gould - which was more of a juicy diary of sex, lies and blogging - that gave a pretty inaccurate portrait of what it means to be a female writer.

And why is that when women writers get attention in the mainstream media, they can only be portrayed in this sexualized and pleasing way in tousled bed sheets? (The NY Time Magazine cover picture to the right is only one of a few.)

Rebecca Traister had a great analysis of the piece yesterday, where she addresses the way that the media - largely controlled by men - not only allows a limited number of women writers to get their 15 minutes of fame, but the only time we're given it is when we're willing to expose something:

"When we are fed -- and gobble up -- stories by or about single urban working women, those exotic and potentially threatening creatures presented to us are often doing things like confessing their self-doubt, discussing their sex lives, lying on rumpled sheets looking pretty."

But being personal is not what necessarily should be condemned:

We have to remember: There is nothing wrong with women writing about themselves, their youth, their indiscretions, their habits and values and personal development. Men have been writing about this stuff for thousands of years; they call it the canon.

And like their male contemporaries, a lot of this writing disappoints. When it does, there is nothing wrong with criticizing it. The thing that is wrong -- really wrong -- is when we forget that these kinds of stories are not the only ones that women have to tell. (Emphasis mine.)

The comments section of the article had to be shut down because of the severity of abusive responses towards Gould for writing about her experiences. Would she have received this kind of backlash if she was a man? Likely not.

What do others think?

By Roja Bandari.

A few days ago we hit a new low in systematic filtering of women's rights websites in Iran. Along with the website Change for Equality, 11 other sites and blogs belonging to local branches of the One Million Signatures Campaign in several cities or regions in Iran (Arak, Rasht, Mashhad, Esfahan, Shiraz, Zahedan) were blocked simultaneously. The list of blocked blogs included Men for Equality, set up by male activists in the campaign and those of a few Iranian immigrant populations in other countries (Kuwait, Cyprus, Germany, and the US). Campaign websites in Kurdistan and Azerbaijan had been blocked in April 2008.

Change for Equality has had over 10 web addresses since early 2007. The state continuously blocks the site, and in response activists create a new web address and move to a new location. This happens despite the fact that the activists of the One Million Signatures Campaign work strictly legally and despite the fact that they do not oppose the government of Iran.

Other women's publications both online and in print have also been a target of censorship in the past few years; the popular women's rights e-zine Zanestan ("Woman's Land"), and the long-published and well-respected magazine Zanan ("Women") have both been shut down and are no longer published as of and November 2007 and January 2008 respectively.

Read the rest at openDemocracy.

Thanks to Roja for permission to reprint an excerpt of her piece!

After leaving my last (very long) steady job, I was terrified about money. Because there’s no financial buffer but what I save. Even though I only have myself to support, it’s something I think about every day. That’s probably a result of knowing how hard my mom worked when I was growing up to give me everything I needed and some of the things I wanted. Really, I'm obsessive.

This is all only to say that I think about money a lot. So, discovering the blog Feminist Finance a few weeks ago was fantastic for me. The writer covers practical tips to get out of debt, to buying local produce, the importance of mentoring, and a lot more. If you’re part of a couple, she’s also got a lot of interesting content on dealing with joint financial lives.

A recent post notes a pregnancy discrimination lawsuit against a company founded by Michael Bloomberg. Check it out.

National Science Foundation - Chore Wars: Men, Women and Housework: "Husbands create an extra seven hours a week of housework for wives, according to a new study. But wives save husbands from about an hour of housework a week."

Shakesville: Horrifying New Law: Forced Ultrasounds Condition of Abortion: "Last week, the Oklahoma Legislature overrode the governor's veto and enacted a law that puts a horrifying twist on informed consent requirements for women seeking abortion. While other states require that women seeking abortion be offered an ultrasound, this law requires that the woman have either an abdominal or a vaginal ultrasound, whichever offers the clearer picture, as a condition of having an abortion."

New York Times - More Mothers Breast-Feed, in First Months at Least: "About 77 percent of new mothers breast-feed their infants at least briefly, the highest rate seen in the United States in more than a decade, according to a government survey released on Wednesday."

The Frisky - The Daily Squeeze: Disney push-up bras?!

Our Bodies Our Blog: On Increasing Rates of Diabetes in Pregnancy: "An article set to appear in the May issue of the journal Diabetes Care is garnering widespread media attention today, as it declares that the prevalence of pre-existing diabetes in women who become pregnant has doubled over the past several years."

Femme Den - Design for females, without "pinking and shrinking": "Women are still underrepresented in the design industry," says designer Erica Eden, of Smart Design. To combat that, Eden and three other female members of Smart's staff (Agnete Enga, Yvonne Lin, and Gina Reimann) have started Femme Den, an in-company initiative to address the needs of female consumers without alienating males by merely 'pinking and shrinking' existing products.

Except totally not cool, because they decided to link to someone who thought that the best way to counter-act my argument about patriarchy and Grand Theft Auto, was to make fun of the fact that I think patriarchy exists. Huh?

The girls at Feministing weren't having it: "It is no question that GTA is merely reflective of the bigger misogyny embedded in capitalist patriarchy, but the question is why is a game that depicts such violence towards women so popular?" (Jesus Christ, if this is what degrees in gender studies hath wrought, polysyllabic bloggers still carping about the patriarchy, please fucking stop handing them out.)

I don't think polysyllabic is an insult. And yeah omg, patriarchy is SO ten years ago. . . except these stories (among the many many others posted on Feministing and around the feminist blogosphere, this was just a quick google search) are testament to this assertion being false.

But Reverse Cowgirl continues (and ya know some feminists like doing the reverse cowgirl too, you don't have to shed feminism to enjoy different sexual positions, but I digress and sorry mom) with a very common anti-feminist argument about political correctness being outdated.

I've discovered lots of these. You've got to love The Onion. (Warning: There's auto-audio so don't click unless you want to hear something!)

Most U.S. women have 'disordered eating' - UPI.com: "Sixty-five percent of U.S. women ages 25 to 45 report having disordered eating behaviors, such as skipping meals or cutting out food groups, a study found."

Oh Joy: The Stupid Spirit Airlines M.I.L.F. Sale Is Back: "We're probably just encouraging them, but we felt some sort of strange obligation to let you know that Spirit Airlines has brought back the (controversial?) M.I.L.F. sale."

Facebook - Equal Rights Amendment: An ERA fan page!

For Chris Matthews, Misogyny Pays Handsomely - AlterNet: "In fact, in Matthews' case, the sexist outbursts have helped propel his career. That's how he landed on the cover of the Times magazine. Why? Because misogyny pays."

Congress Holds Hearings on Abstinence-Only - RHRealityCheck: "Numerous scientific and ethical critiques have been raised about abstinence-only education for young people. These concerns are articulated in reports by the Society for Adolescent Medicine, the American Public Health Association, and others."

Our Bodies Our Blog: Mortality Inequality: Life Expectancy Declines for Some U.S. Women: "The Washington Post has a front-page story today that's a shocker: Lfe expectancy for some U.S. women is on the decline, and the data points to a growing inequality between the best-off and worst-off counties."

Woman, 19, becomes youngest college professor - MSNBC.com: "Perhaps in Alia Sabur’s wildly advanced studies she came across a famous quote from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. 'Knowing is not enough. We must apply,' the German writer once observed."

Tomorrow we'll be participating in Blog for Fair Pay for Women day. You should, too! Head over to the National Women's Law Center to sign up.

All of us at Feministing have been following the heated discussion happening in the feminist blogosphere right now about issues of race and privilege. (We're not going to summarize, but here is some suggested reading. ) We want to say up front that Brownfemipower's voice will be greatly missed. We also want to say that, yes, there is a history of white women (and white feminists) appropriating the ideas of women of color. It's a problem that persists today. That doesn't make Amanda a plagiarist, and we don't believe she is.

And that's all were gonna say about the specifics. Not only because we don't want this to get too blog-insidery, but also because many brave bloggers have forayed into this territory before, and the discussion doesn't seem to be getting any more constructive. Here, we hope to have a larger conversation about feminism and privilege and community. And how Feministing, as a website and as individual bloggers, can find ways to contribute to a blogosphere that is vibrant, accountable, forward-thinking and just.

I will admit that the blog Stuff White People Like is no doubt one of my guilty pleasures, (maybe even an (Un) Feminist Guilty pleasure), but I, like most with a sense of humor certainly laugh along with the uncanny amount of humor in that blog and all those "aha" moments you have when reading it. The first time I read it I was sure a person of color was writing it and was honestly surprised and pretty happy that it was being written by a white man. I mean what makes a person of color feel better than a white person that can totally laugh at themselves and not take it personally? Well a lot of things, but it is definitely up there.

But jokes aside, I have some deeper feelings that I am trying to work out about this blog that make me not think it is as great and groundbreaking as many have hailed it to be. The real question being, what does this blog do for actual dialog on race?

I guess one simple answer is that it names, marks and makes visible the assumed invisibility of white culture. I grew up hearing, "you are so lucky to have a culture," and I remember thinking, dude you have a culture too. So on a basic level the calling out of white culture for what it is, is in fact powerful and will get you a lot of unexpected fans.

But if you believe that culture is not a static thing, but something that moves and changes and takes in and drops different participants as you go, than maybe it is not as salient. I am all about poking fun at the dominant culture, but if you are a person of color that is reading this blog and you can relate to a lot of the stuff white people like, does that make you white? Are you not a hard-core enough "person of color" if you like the things on that list?

For me, despite the humor (and yes, I see the humor and LMAO to different entries all the time) I don't see how marrying the concept of white-ness to the concept of material is actually helping us get to a new place. And as a friend of mine pointed out, the opposite effect of this is that the underlying assumption of stuff white people like is that the stuff they like is not cool, so then is everything that people of color do totally cool? Does that mean that we should look to people of color for what is cool (insert "wow you are such a good dancer!")? So in a way it is perpetuating that same thing we are trying to get away from. A hyper fascination with the things that white people like.

What sealed the deal for me was when I heard the author got a $300,000 dollar book deal. That is fucking crazy. If he had been a person of color he would have never gotten so much attention or such a hefty book deal. People would have said, omg, that is racist! They wouldn't have given it so much cred. My point being, there are a lot of people that call out racism and whiteness, but they don't get huge book deals for it because they are not white. So despite the potential transformative nature of calling out whiteness for what it is, the author is still getting rewarded for being white, even though he is making fun of white people. And let's not forget, white people also get paid for making fun of people of color. And what exactly do people of color get paid to do. . . ? To also make fun of people of color or to create characters that fit into white people's comfort levels of what is acceptable people of colorness. Because as the blog points out subtly, white people have the most capital to be the biggest consumers of everything, so all the images we see are tailored to their sensibilities.

This may be a total stretch, but this is where I am at with the whole thing and just had to put it out there. I see how many people LOVE this blog and how many people of color love it. And I see how uncomfortable it makes white people, which I also think is good. Being uncomfortable can often motivate you to think outside yourself. But is it really leading to this transformative conversation for a racially just world or is it perpetuating our assumed differences, realigning them with a gaze on what is considered white?

Allison Kilkenny describes herself as "a political humorist, a fancy way of saying writer, who makes shitty world news funny." She is a regular contributor to the Huffington Post, The Beast, Alternet.org's Wiretap Magazine, and Timothy McSweeney's. Her work has appeared on The Nation and SIRIUS radio.

Here's Allison Kilkenny...

Our lovely editors Jessica and Miriam are on this panel, along with the fantastic Carmen from Racialicious, who is also (in case y'all didn't know) the co-founder and President of New Demographic, and Patti Binder, an amazing leader and advocate of girls' programming in NYC and board chair of Girls Write Now.

Patti discusses her experience within girls' programming, and how people generally make the assumption that there shouldn't be a need for girls' leadership organizations because there's a woman running for president. And all of the girls' organizations that exist aren't recognized nearly enough, not to mention the difficulty in trying to get the same funding (since so little are funded) when they're all on the same side. She also touches on how the "boys' crisis" has effected their ability to get funding on top of that. And amidst all of these forces working against them, the organizations focus on pushing their message through to convince people that girls' and women's issues, well, exist.

Miriam talks about Radical Doula and as someone who is a part of the birthing movement, how she feels that it's important to identify herself not only as a birth activist, but as someone who supports abortion, and tries to bring the conversation into the movement. Hence, "Radical Doula." So for herself and the way she identifies, the push back she deals with is the doulas and midwives who stigmatize or judge her for being a supporter of abortion. Another form of back lash she's experienced, referencing to her work with the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health, is a general misconception that Latina women are all blatantly anti-choice. Yet the Latina Institute works with and helps Latina women who support abortion and those who don't necessarily support it but are accepting of the organization regardless and are pro-birth control and support a number of other aspects of reproductive health.

Carmen divulges her experience with Racialicious, where in the beginning there was no moderation for comments but came to a point when moderation was definitely necessary. She talks about the general "rules" that they ask their readers to abide by, which includes to not make generalizations about race or any other group of people or person, which is something that they deal with on a consistent basis. She also discusses how to figure out what's "ban-able," and some strategies that the editors have talked about to handle particular comments that have been problematic for the productivity of the site.

Jessica makes a point that - after listening to the speakers - how different blogs' backlash can be, and how disruptive comments are usually (and obviously) not appropriate in public spaces which is why commenters use anonymity to speak their ignorance. (Because they wouldn't do it in person.)

Somehow the suggestion that chicken and beef's hybrid would be spam also came into the conversation, but that's a whole other conversation. (And no, I'm totally not joking.)

iPartySmarter.com - Smart Women Smart Choices:"Girls just want to have fun. Right? However, a woman's party style can make all the difference between having fun or having regrets." (Nothing like a little victim-blaming campaign to shame women into not "partying.")

Copyranter - French men can't see the forest for the trees. Or something: Some charming ads for hair removal cream.

Rebel Dad - Men: Shrinking Violets?: Brian takes on Laura Sessions Stepp's latest nonsense.

Open Society Fellowship: "The Open Society Institute has launched a fellowship program for outstanding individuals from around the world working on issues concerning national security, citizenship, authoritarianism, and new strategies and tools for advocacy." (For all you activists who need funding, check it out!)

Feminists More Open-Minded on Weight - New York Times: "If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, then try to be beheld by a feminist."

Think Progress - HHS Secretary: OB/GYNs With Objections To Abortion Should Not Have To Refer Patients To Other Doctors: "In a little-noticed letter on Friday, Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt wrote a letter to the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ABOG), stating that providers with moral objections to abortion should have no obligation to refer patients." (NPR has more.)

"Spanx" Now Hold In Your Unsightly Boobies As Well As Your Hideous, Mutant Gut - Guanabee: "Speaking of bacon cups, “Spanx� underwear brand is re-launching their line of bras designed to make you, the average bacon-chomping woman, look more like the feminine ideal put forth by store mannequins and anime heroines alike."

Kansascity.com - Kansas House gives first-round OK to abortion bill: "The House today advanced a bill supporters say will lead to better enforcement of restrictions on late-term abortions. Approved on a voice vote, it also requires that women get more information about the fetus and the procedure before having an abortion."

Chicago Business - Illinois AG to appeal overturning of abortion notification law: "In an action that is scrambling normal political alliances, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan has decided to appeal a federal court order that overturned the state’s law on parental notice for abortions for minors."

Religion Dispatches - An Open Letter to Western Feminists: "It is appalling that in these catastrophic times, many U.S. liberal feminists are focused only on misogynistic practices associated with particular local cultures, as if these exist in capsules, far from the arena of imperial occupation. Indeed, imperial violence has given fuel to some of these patriarchal practices of misogyny and sexism. They should also know that such a narrow vision furthers a much older tradition of feminist mobilizing in the service of colonialism--�saving brown, or black women, from brown men,� as observed by Gayatri Spivak."

Top Ten Feminist Blogs - TakePart Blog Network

In Alabama, a Crackdown on Pregnant Drug Users - New York Times: "A day after she gave birth in 2006, Tiffany Hitson, 20, sat on her front porch crying, barefoot and handcuffed. A police officer hovered in the distance...Ms. Hitson’s newborn daughter had traces of cocaine and marijuana in its system, and the young woman, baby-faced herself, had fallen afoul of a tough new state law intended to protect children from drugs, and a local prosecutor bent on pursuing it. She made arrangements for the baby’s care, and headed off to a year behind bars." (Note: Make sure to check out this response from the National Advocates for Pregnant Women.)

Akansas Woman, Left in Cell, Goes 4 Days With No Food or Water - New York Times: "A woman was locked for four days in a tiny holding cell in a northern Arkansas courthouse, forgotten by the authorities and left without food or water, the local Sheriff’s Department said Tuesday...'Everybody is backing away from it as fast as they can,' Mr. Petty said. 'Frankly, that’s how they treat Hispanics down here. They treat Hispanics like cattle, like less than human.'"

UN Dispatch and RH Reality Check are hosting an online salon, "A New Agenda for Girls' and Women's Health and Rights," this week and next about what global plans the new U.S. president should be creating to improve the status of the rights and health of girls and women worldwide. I'm thrilled to be a participant along with a number of intelligent minds including journalists, authors and leaders within the international women's movement.

Adrienne Germain, the president of the International Women's Health Coalition, kicked off the salon on Monday and we've had some great discussion since. Make sure to check it out on either site.

The charming header above is the tag Jezebel chose to use in their response post to us and their own readers who were not too pleased about Moe's bizarre diatribe against Hillary. (Now, there is no link to Feministing, but they link here often and considering the first line addresses Jen's very post title, I think it's clear. But hey, even if it's directed at pissed commenters--WTF?)

Calling women "fucking dykes" (and something tells me this is not in the queer-reclaimy way) while saying you were just kidding when you wrote that NH women voters "suck" is just...I'm speechless. But hey, I'm just a fucking dyke so what do I know?

UPDATE: My bad. But I still think the whole Clinton coverage there is strange.

The super fabulous Jill Filipovic is the new editor of Alternet's recently-launched Reproductive Justice and Gender section.

I can't think of a smarter gal for the job.

Check out the fabulous Amanda Marcotte's interview with the also fabulous Miriam Pérez, doula, writer, blogger and Senior Advocacy Associate of the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health. And the rest of Amanda's podcast rocks too (as always).

The Boston Globe has a piece on bloggers of color, including quotes from Carmen Van Kerckhove of one of my fave blogs, Racialicious.

Congratulations to California NOW for launching their new (and very impressive) blog. I've had the pleasure of meeting several of the women at CA NOW, including President Mandy Benson--who I believe is the youngest NOW president in the country--and Zoe Nicholson. Both are awesome women doing incredible work. So add it to your blog readers, ladies! (Coincidently, I'm wearing my very cool CA NOW shirt this very moment.)

I have just been alerted to the fact that Sleater-Kinney's Carrie Brownstein has a blog on NPR.com.

This is just awesome.

I always like interviews with bloggers, because it helps to debunk some of the myths (like we get paid, LOLZZZ) or that we believe that the revolution will be internetized. I especially like interviews with the bloggers I read on the regs. So go check out this interview with Pam from Pandagon and Pam's House Blend. She breaks down some of the myths of political blogostopia. (Wow, I just made up a lot of words.)

Check out this great vid (and more!) from I Am Emily X, a new blog by an anonymous Planned Parenthood worker.

On the most recent episode of PBS's "To the Contrary," the panelists discuss, "Feminism Interrupted: The new push to get more Generation Y women involved in feminism."

Host Bonnie Erbe: Jane, is the internet now the primary tool that's drawing young women into feminism?

Jane Hamsher (of Firedoglake): Oh I believe that it is. And I believe that's largely due to the failure of many feminist institutions to reach out to young women in a real way. Organizations like NARAL have become insider and cliquish, and are making insider mistakes like endorsing Joe Lieberman, who said it was OK for a woman who had been raped to have to go across town to get emergency contraception.

I certainly agree that the online feminist community has stepped into a void that the older feminist organizations have been unwilling (in some cases) or unable (in other cases) to fill. But it's funny she would single out NARAL, which in my opinion does a pretty damn good job with online outreach. That's definitely not where I would start pointing fingers.

Later on, there's this:

Eleanor Holmes Norton: ... This generation is not a movement generation. I believe the feminist organizations are indeed attacking exactly the issues these young women are interested in, for example abortion -- these young women would be 100 percent there -- and homosexual discrimination. That's not the problem. The problem is they don't identify -- they do their own thing. They have the underlying values of the feminist movement. We don't have a right to say, look, if you have our values, you must also take our name. Let them do their thing, their way. Be happy they have adopted your values.

I think if the online feminist community has proved anything, it's that we are a movement generation. I participated in feminist actions on my college campus, but that felt more like a club than a movement. I worked for a women's rights nonprofit, but that felt more like a day job than a movement. I went to rallies and marches, but they felt more like one-off events than a movement. It took blogging here, and being part of a community of feminist bloggers, for me to really feel like part of a feminist movement. To feel I was part of a group of people, committed to a set of ideals, who are working day in and day out to advance those ideals.

I really wish Bonnie Erbe had had a young feminist on her show to articulate that, because I know I'm not the only one who feels this way. Overall, I was really disappointed by the show. How hard would it have been to have one woman in her 20s be part of the panel?

There's a lot more discussion fodder in this segment, but I'll stop there for now. Transcript and video are after the jump.

Feoshia Henderson is a former reporter for The Cincinnati Enquirer. Before the Enquirer she covered the Kentucky Legislature and Kentucky politics for The Kentucky Post and The Kentucky Gazette.

She is currently a freelance journalist and blogs about social issues on her Myspace page. Feoshia describes her blog, Femblog, and her blog identity, Femblogger, as:

“I’m a frustrated political reporter looking for people who care about themselves and the world and are looking for a place to talk about it. I blog every day and you’ll find stories here that you usually won’t hear about anywhere else. I’m working to create an e-community of people who vote, who pay attention and who have something to say to politicians. Come by MySpace anytime! If you like it, then friend me. Here you’ll read about politics, social trends, technology, free speech, mass media, women’s health, sex, gender issues, relationships and more!�

Here’s Feoshia…

You know what's fun? When you're linked to by a great blog just to have assholes in the comments section ruin it all.

And people ask me why I'm a feminist...sigh.

Deidra has been running her blog, Black and Missing but Not Forgotten since July 2007. She states:

"This blog is dedicated to all the missing black women in America. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr once said "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." If the media doesn't step up—who will? Let these ladies know that we did not forget about them."

Deidra made time between her two jobs and blog to answer my questions. Here's Deidra...

My colleague Garance Franke-Ruta put together a panel at YearlyKos to discuss Blogging While Female, or, as The Nation put it, "the toxic online environment for female political pundits." (The panel, which featured our own Jessica, Amanda of Pandagon, and YearlyKos organizer Gina Cooper, was also mentioned in this Washington Post piece about the lack of diversity at the conference.)

So... use this thread as a space to share your own "blogging while female" stories.

The 15th Erase Racism Carnival is up over at Racewire and it is GOOD! Please go check it out and show some love for all the excellent, insightful and necessary writing that makes this carnival what it is.

Lord knows we do it enough. Spread the word about a post you think Feministing readers might fancy; link it in comments.

Happy Friday!

Former Feministe blogger and dear friend Zuzu now has her very own blog, Kindly Póg Mo Thóin.

Congratulations, Zuzu!

I am few days late on this, but please check out the Carnival of Radical Action with a special focus on the Allied Media Conference. I have been liveblogging conferences for a while and it is always fun and exhausting, all at once. Conferences tend to be full of emotion, excitement, enlightenment and sometimes frustration. It is nice to have a forum to share your thoughts and give people an opportunity to read about an event they weren't able to attend. It is always fun for me to go back and read what myself and other people wrote during the conference and the sheer energy and raw emotion that being around folks, talking our talk, releases.

So please, enjoy.

So I am helping organize the 15th Erase Racism Blog Carnival which will be hosted at Racewire.org (part of the great and mighty Colorlines Magazine). I am really excited to get the opportunity to read some of the best anti-racism writing out there. So if you are interested click here for more details and to submit go here.

The topics are diverse, but super interesting including:

Black/Brown politics
Environmental justice/green economies
And Humor/Satire blogs and vlogs

So check it out or add suggestions in comments. And please go check out some of the older carnivals if you are interested.

Katha Pollitt takes on Knocked Up [SPOILER ALERT] on her new blog (yay!), And Another Thing.

One comment: I'm sorry, but am I the only person in the world who thinks Seth Rogen is frigging adorable?

Apparently, feminism is bad for the young'uns .

Photo by Niesha Studio, copyright 2006.

Audacia Ray is an executive editor of $pread, a magazine by and for sex workers, and is a contributor to the porn blog Fleshbot. She is also the director/producer of a bisexual feature adult film, The Bi Apple and head of her blog, WakingVixen.com. Audacia describes herself as "a sex nerd in both bookish and salacious ways."

Here's Audacia...

When eagle-eyed reader Melissa informed me that there was a Facebook cause called Full Frontal Feminism, I was confused. When she told me it was using my book title and cover image to raise money for the most gross anti-feminist organization ever--the Independent Women's Forum--I was livid.

I'm hoping the creator of the cause just made an honest mistake. I've sent her a message to ask that she change the recipient of any funds raised to an actual feminist organization--or take my book off of there.

If it is in fact some sort of bizarre IWF conspiracy to mislead folks into giving them money using my book...well, I then I know some ladies who'll be getting an early Christmas present.

Queercents, founded and headed up by Nina Smith, is a personal finance blog serving the LGBT community. Launched in April 2006, Queercents is produced by a variety of writers, including Nina.

Nina has a strong background in finances and financial planning. By day she sells software and conducts her own real estate investments--fixing and selling properties for hefty profits--and by night she runs Queercents. Nina started blogging because she was looking for a creative outlet in her life.

Here's Nina...

The Politico is on quite the feminist roll. (Sighs.) Apparently not only are feminist bloggers big ole hussies, we're also indistinguishable from each other.

(Screenshot after the jump in case they get their shit together and fix it.)

Have a post you think Feministing readers would be interested in? Link to it in comments. Happy Friday, folks!

UPDATE: The Politico is promoting a live chat about feminist blogosphere politics, and the headline makes it seem that I'll be participating. I will not be. Just wanted to put that out there.

Seriously, you have GOT to be fucking kidding me. From a post profiling Althouse:

Biggest dust-up: “Let’s take a closer look at those breasts,� a post about a female blogger who posed for a photo in front of Bill Clinton. Jessica Valenti, who runs and blogs on feministing.com, is standing at an angle with a slight arch in her back, making the focal point of the photo, whether intentional or not, her breasts.

Valenti isn’t shy about her body; she just published a book called “Full Frontal Feminism: A Young Woman’s Guide to Why Feminism Matters.� (Emphasis added)

You should be ashamed of yourselves.

Tried posting this on Nubian's blog, but it didn't go through for some reason. I tried twice. It's in response to Nubian's post Monday evening regarding our "Blogging While Black" interview almost a year ago:

"nubian speaks..."
http://blackademic.com/?p=174

Amanda and Lauren are talking about the riot grrl movement tonight on Radio Free Pandagon. Make sure to tune in!

To check out The Scholar and Feminist Online and its blog. And join in on the conversation!

Hey y'all. Gwen and I have been working on an issue of Barnard's The Scholar and Feminist Online for what seems like forever, but it's finally here!

We're really excited to have brought together bloggers and academics to talk about the relationship between feminism and blogging--not only do we have fancy scholarly articles on the subject, we've also put together a blog for the issue. So please check it out and participate. We'll be posting some really great stuff over the next few days.

(And keep an eye out for our video bloopers from the above intro. Too funny.)

Check out this IM interview I did with Bill Scher of LiberalOasis (the very guy who urged me to start Feministing in the first place).

A snippet:

LiberalOasis: So, isn't feminism dead?

Jessica Valenti: hahahaha
JV: nope, still here

LO: Time Magazine said you were dead, like, 10 years ago. After Ally McBeal.

JV: Time magazine can suck it

I stay classy, even on AIM.

Our gal Celina has a great piece up at ColorLines, The Segregated Blogosphere.

Make sure to check it out!

It's always nice to see our "progressive" brothers taking misogyny and violence against women seriously.

Markos on Kathy Sierra and female bloggers being harassed and getting death threats:

Look, if you blog, and blog about controversial shit, you'll get idiotic emails. Most of the time, said "death threats" don't even exist -- evidenced by the fact that the crying bloggers and journalists always fail to produce said "death threats".

So let me get this straight: blogging about the oh-so-controversial world of software development means you should expect to get death threats. After all, nothing brings out the crazies like tech-talk. And besides, she probably made it all up anyway.

...Email makes it easy for stupid people to send stupid emails to public figures. If they can't handle a little heat in their email inbox, then really, they should try another line of work.

I mean come on, if you can't handle your address and social security number being published along with threats of rape, hanging, suffocation and death--you're a fucking lightweight.

Seriously though, it's one thing to argue--as Markos does--that a blogger code of conduct would be ineffective. Fine. But dismissing online misogyny and Sierra's experience (without even bothering to do any research on the subject, to boot) is reprehensible. Though predictable given the source.

Implying that women are "whining" about harassment or violence against them and mocking them for taking these threats seriously is just such a sexist cliché. I think the progressive blogosphere deserves better.

Zuzu has the short and snappy version. Also see Shakes, Bitch PhD, Ampersand and Echidne.

CNN's Reliable Sources featured Arianna Huffington, Joan Walsh of Salon and Mary Katherine Ham from Townhall talking about online misogyny. Ham was predictabley wack, but it's worth a watch anyway.

Crooks and Liars has the video.

Salon’s Editor-in-Chief Joan Walsh discusses the Kathy Sierra madness. Here’s a snippet:

"Attitudes toward women have improved dramatically just in my lifetime, but still the world has too many misogynists, and the Web has given them a microphone that lets them turn up the volume on their quavering selves, their self-righteous fury, their self-loathing expressed as hatred of women. And yet, mostly, women on the Web just have to ignore it. If you show it bothers you, you've given them pleasure...

But it coarsens you to look away, and to tell others to do the same. I've grown a thicker skin. I didn't want skin this thick. And what does it mean that women writers have to drag around this anchor every time they start to write -- that we reflexively compose our own hate mail, and sometimes type and retype to try to avoid it? I can honestly say it's probably made me more precise and less glib. That's good. But it's also, for now, made me too cautious. I write less than I would if I wasn't thinking these thoughts. I think that's bad. I think Web misogyny puts women writers at a disadvantage, and as someone who's worked for women's advancement in the workplace, and the world, that saddens me."

This particularly reminded me of the conversation we had yesterday at the WAM! conference about this assumption that women threatened on the internet should be thick-skinned and just deal with the trolls that come our way rather than talk about the seriousness of the issue, that violence can actually exist on the internet.

I've been looking forward to this panel all weekend, maybe because Samhita is on it, as well as Deanna and the lovely Jennifer Pozner, director of Women in Media and News (WIMN).

Jenn discusses the efficacy of blogging in breaking stories, Deanna makes sure to tell us that women need to start editing sites such as Wikipedia in order to create more of a presence on the web, and Samhita questions the stakes that feminist bloggers take when they begin their journey into the blogosphere.

They also discuss the "new boys' club" that has seemed to have transferred from mainstream journalism to political blogs, the ways that power and inequality replicate themselves in this way, and how can we, as feminist bloggers, approach this problem. (One way -- for women in tech, at least -- is BRA Camp. Sweet.)

Also, what is a women's blog as opposed to a feminist blog? What are the problems that feminist bloggers have as opposed to bloggers that are women, like the severity of sexist trolling for feminist blogs as opposed to blogs written by women, etc. At the same time, if you're a woman blogging about a typically male field, like in Kathy Sierra's recent case, shit often goes down just as badly, to the point where you're life is actually threatened.

Intense stuff, but certainly a productive conversation. Intense weekend, but certainly a great one. Time for an excruciatingly long, hungover ride home.

Check out Feministe's Jill's HuffPo piece on the proposed bill in Texas that would offer young women $500 (essentially $.07 per hour) to give their babies up for adoption instead of having abortions.

With permission from Jill, I'm reprinting her entire post over here. Because that's how important I think it is. I saw this story earlier, and knew that these fuckers had messed with Jill. So I figured she'd write about it and I'd link to it. Then I saw this lovely commentary. As someone who has been on the skeezy end of douchebags posting about your body, this totally infuriated me. I still get folks asking me if I'm the "Clinton boob girl" at random bars, and I know that everyone I work with knows about the whole mess--and it ain't done me any good. So fuck anyone who says that women being exposed and harassed like this can't take a joke. Seriously--you have no idea. And you're an asshole.

More refined commentary from Jill is after the jump.

So I have three super cool bloggers coming to visit me this weekend: Amanda, Marc, and Norbizness (Austin, represent). So today is going to be a little slow, blogging-wise, as I run my ass back and forth to the airport and clean my apt in an attempt to look like a good hostess.

So as a thank you for your understanding and patience if we're a bit lacking today, I will express my love for you dear readers through the genius of Nelson. I know, don't all thank me at once.

Go check out this great post by Kevyn Abernathy at QueerSighted, Lies My Lover Told Me: The miseducation of a novice. Really great stuff.

After a lifetime as an enthusiastic and fairly skilled heterosexual, I fell in love with a woman and signed up for a new way of being. My guide was always quick to point out all the ways in which I was violating lesbian custom. When I told her, for instance, that I was feeling extremely horny, she sharply remarked: "Lesbians don't use the word 'horny.'"

"They don't?" I responded, feeling my face redden with shame.

"Never, ever, EVER," she intoned. "We say, 'I'm in the mood for a little hanky panky.'" (I'm not making this up.)

Hysterical. I guess I shouldn't judge though, I've still been known to say, "knocking boots." But that's just the Queens in me.

Steve Gilliard is having yet another round of open heart surgery. So send out those good vibes.

Our feminist bloggers/"potty-mouthed" friends talk about...well, you know.

Our gal Courtney Martin has an article over the The Christian Science Monitor, "The messy relationship between bloggers and politicians." Check it out.

I guess you guys will do. Happy Valentine's Day.

Yes, yes, I know. Valentine's Day is a consumer-based, heteronormative, evil/silly holiday. And there are way too many vaginas involved these days. But I'm feeling festive.

So being I'm solo this year, I figured I would send all of my love and V-Day wishes to you, the lovely readers and supporters of Feministing. Sorry I can't give you all boxes of chocolates and construction paper hearts. Xoxo.

In case you've been living under a rock this morning...

I think Bill Donahue may want to watch his back. Just saying.

UPDATE: Melissa has resigned as well.

Although its members are indeed Catholic, Bill Donohue's extremist group is not synonymous with "Catholics." So it's, uh, more than a little misleading to write a headline implying that a large religious group is pissed off that Edwards hired Shakes and Amanda.

Writes the NYT:

Mr. Edwards’s spokeswoman, Jennifer Palmieri, said Tuesday night that the campaign was weighing the fate of the two bloggers.

The fact that the Edwards campaign appears to be taking Donohue seriously is an indication that currying favor with an extremist conservative group is more important to them than standing by their own staffers. Ugh.

"John Edwards is a decent man who has had his campaign tarnished by two anti-Catholic, vulgar, trash-talking bigots," Donohue wrote in a statement. "He has no choice but to fire them immediately."

Actually, he already made his choice -- to hire them -- and he should stick with it. If he finds Donohue's opinions so persuasive he should have hired the Catholic League's blogger.

More from Shakes, Zuzu, Brad, Evan, Liza, Sheelzebub, Glenn Greenwald, and pretty much everyone else.

UPDATE: Say it ain't so.

The Ethics and Lobby reform bill has an amendment that could potentially force bloggers and other forms of grassroots communication to register as a lobbyist to speak.

"In what sounds like a comedy sketch from Jon Stewart's Daily Show, but isn't, the U. S. Senate would impose criminal penalties, even jail time, on grassroots causes and citizens who criticize Congress. "Section 220 of S. 1, the lobbying reform bill currently before the Senate, would require grassroots causes, even bloggers, who communicate to 500 or more members of the public on policy matters, to register and report quarterly to Congress the same as the big K Street lobbyists. Section 220 would amend existing lobbying reporting law by creating the most expansive intrusion on First Amendment rights ever. For the first time in history, critics of Congress will need to register and report with Congress itself. "The bill would require reporting of 'paid efforts to stimulate grassroots lobbying,' but defines 'paid' merely as communications to 500 or more members of the public, with no other qualifiers.

Ann suggested I look to the ACLU about this, but they haven't written much yet. Does anybody know anything more about this?

And who the hell is getting paid? Congress must just be trying to give me a big lobbying job, not cracking down on my right to free speech.

Contributed by Madeline Halperin-Robinson.

I was skimming the blog over at the Independent Women’s Forum -- I know, I know -- don’t judge me! Anyway, a sentence in the middle of one of the posts caught my eye:

Our… motivation is a hatred of modernism and a romantic, if perverted, notion of a return to a glorious past that exists only in… imagination. It has been a constant theme since the first manifestos… declare war on the “Crusaders, Jews, and Nonbelievers.� The ideology has been laid clearly since then 1990’s.

Huh?! What’s this? An introspective look into their far-right reactionary work and anti-woman philosophy? Did they finally realize they’re trying to take the country back to a world that never really existed? I blinked and looked again. This time I saw what the post really said:

Our enemy’s motivation is a hatred of modernism and a romantic, if perverted, notion of a return to a glorious past that exists only in their imagination. It has been a constant theme since the first manifestos of Al-Qaeda declared war on the “Crusaders, Jews, and Nonbelievers.� The ideology has been laid clearly since then 1990’s.

Funny how a few little words can make such a big difference.

Make sure to read this excellent, though depressing, post at RHRealityCheck about the history of feminist health care and how we are letting it slip away.

The feminist women's health movement gave birth to feminist health centers and, at its zenith in the mid-eighties, there were over 50 such centers around the United States. Over the last twenty or so years, an estimated thirty-five of those clinics have closed their doors forever. Clearly, something dramatic is happening.

The post is writen by Amie Newman, who works at the soon-to-be-shut-down Aradia Women's Health Center (AWHC) in Seattle.

Lauren of Faux Real Tho (originally of Feministe) is getting hitched. Go say congrats!

Amanda has a wedding song suggestion. So do I. (Ignore the bad ending and tweed overload.)

Ugh. Online virtual game Second Life allows you to purchase a rape. Options include "hold victim," "rape victim" and "get raped." Gawker reports that a sexual assault costs 220 Lindens (the Second Life currency) which, from what I can tell, is less than a dollar.

This is different from games like Grand Theft Auto, namely because Second Life is, for many players, really more like an alternate life than a video game. There have been several articles about the real-life implications of Second Life, noting how players are emotionally and socially affected by their virtual selves. So while the idea of rape fantasies in general is certainly disturbing to me, I'm even more troubled that it's even offered by Second Life as an option, as if this is one of a range of activities to make your virtual life more "real." You know... the "virtual you" can get a job, attend some social events, go to the supermarket, and then rape someone in an alley. This is a game that people get so absorbed in that they use it to help kids overcome social anxiety disorders. Now it's normalizing the idea of rape. I'm disgusted.

[UPDATE: Jess just sent me the link to RapeLay, which is truly a new low.]

Which seems like a natural segway to this post from Thinking Girl. In response to an entry she wrote on sexual assault, a reader recently wrote in and asked her for advice on how not to become a rapist:

I know we are just so humble. This is just silly, but whatever. Isn't bloglebrity really hard to say?

My girl Neela sent me this livejournal community she found via Sepia Mutiny called brownpeople. The site features pictures of random brown people. I love it.

Only one thing, their logo, is my eye!

Isn't that weird???

This is awesome.

Mukhtar Mai, a Pakistani woman who became a renowned women’s rights activist after was sentenced to be gang raped by a tribal council because of a crime her brother had committed, has started her own blog.

She’s been writing the blog through BBC’s Urdu website since July, which serves to inform not only about the violent crimes committed against women in her home of southern Punjab, but also about the daily struggles that the women have to face.

Let’s hope that this will also bring more attention to the Hudood Ordinance mess that’s been going on recently.

A big welcome to a fantastic blog on women’s health that’s recently been launched, Our Bodies, Our Blog.

Created by “Our Bodies, Ourselves,� the blog serves as a daily news source of analysis on women’s health issues, and it rocks. I’d like to also mention that it especially rocks because it’s written by the well-loved Christine of MsMusings.

I’m a regular already; the above pic is from a recent post I particularly enjoyed on vintage drug ads for women. Creepy stuff.

I heart Bitch Ph.D.

Tired of dumb-dumbs that would have you believe that emergency contraception is akin to abortion, Bitch Ph.D. has started an awareness-raising campaign in fashion form.

So go buy a shirt now and support telling the truth about emergency contraception.

BlogHer Participants, originally uploaded by Lindsay Beyerstein.

I'm blogging from the "networking" breakfast. The registration hall has some big name booths, including GM and Microsoft. GM will be test driving sports cars an hybrids in the parking lot later this afternoon.

The vibe is corporate, but we're being courted as consumers, not as players. There was a lot of wooing and sucking up at YearlyKos, but at least there was an acknowledgment the the "sellers" and the "buyers" needed each other to achieve some common goal.

Today's workshops are focused on the technical aspects of blogging, podcasting, and multi-media. The agenda for tomorrow is dominated by discussions of blogging and something known as "blog culture."

Click through to Flickr for more pictures of the conference.

I just arrived in San Jose for the BlogHer conference, I'll be speaking on a panel about political blogging with Ann Althouse.

I'm looking forward to meeting Lauren from Feministe.

More updates soon.

Check out The Shape of a Mother, a blog/forum where women discuss and post photos of how pregnancy has changed their bodies. Because the vast majority of pregnant (and recently-pregnant) women we see are celebrities, it's so refreshing to see real women grappling-- in a constructive, non-diet-book way-- with how motherhood has changed them physically.

Via BitchPhD. (Also check out Broadsheet's post from earlier this week.)

Amanda Marcotte of Pandagon made her first visit to New York this week.

See the pictures of Amanda's arrival, the Bohemian Hall bash, the road trip to the NOW National Meeting in Albany, and the Manhattan poking spree.

Alternet's PEEK: Colbert rips Bush to his face (I swooned.)

Abyss2hope at Alas, a Blog: Booze, Education, Male Bonding, the Cooties and Rape

GlobalVoices: What Salvadoran bloggers are saying — abortion and gay marriage

Lindsay at Majikthise: Ex-FDA chief faces criminal charges

Padagon points to Dawn Eden's freak-out over a safe sex commercial.

Because when the rest of the world is on the internet you are teaching second grade and you miss things like this.

Blog Against Heteronormativity Day!

Check it before you wreck it.

via Blac(k)ademic (the blog with which I am beginning to have an inappropriate relationship with, ahem, anyways..)

The latest Carnival of Feminists is up at Written World. It's definitely otherworldly.

Like the image? Somehow I thought the 'ball toss' was a really funny visual for a feminist carnival. Then again, I do have the sense of humor of a ten year-old.

New York magazine talks to the subway pervert who was captured, uh, doing his thing, by a woman with a cellphone camera. He's raw foodist Dan Hoyt (whose name, appropriately, is an anagram for "hand toy"), and he's disgusting:

As for his R-train exploits, Hoyt says, “I’ve met women who enjoy it. After this incident happened, I had a woman tell me, ‘You know, that sounds exciting to me.’ She wouldn’t mind being on the other end.�

Uh, maybe Kirstie Alley would be into it. But Thao Nguyen certainly wasn't. Her photo of Hoyt-- and the wide publicity it garnered-- spurred other women to take photos, and inspired some fab feminists to create HollabackNYC, which amounts to public shaming for men who harass women on the street.

This is the first time I've seen a man's response to being "featured" on Hollaback:

In [Hoyt's] account, the perpetrator is Nguyen, who misread his intentions ... and then humiliated him by posting his picture on the Web... “Even so, I wouldn’t imagine somebody throwing it up on the Internet for millions of people and destroying your life like that,� he says. “It’s one thing to take it to the police. But on the Internet, I read a lot of people saying, ‘That was not too cool of her. That was really screwed up.’ �

Actually, masturbating on public transportation is really screwed up. This is why HollabackNYC is such a great idea. Most harassers are totally comfortable saying (or doing) lewd things to women on the street -- but wouldn't want those comments published for the world to see.

I snapped my first-ever photo for the website this weekend (after a group of five guys with a video camera made comments about my ass), and have to say it was incredibly satisfying. Look for my picture of the creeps on Hollaback soon. Let the humiliation begin!

Blac(k)ademic is hosting the third edition of the Radical Women of Color Carnival.

This carnival's theme is women of color and sexuality. Given the recent Duke rape case, Nubian also shines a spotlight on posts discussing sexual violence against women of color. Go check it out...

From The Guardian: The third wave - at a computer near you.

I'm too tired to write anything substantive on this. We're quoted. Cool feminist blogs are discussed. Read it.

Now, I sleep.

A blog, Justice 4 Two Sisters, has been created to follow the rape investigation at Duke University. Make sure to check it out and show your support.

Also: Alas, a Blog has a great roundup of stories and posts.

Hat tip: Alternet's The Mix.

Carnival of Feminists XI is up at Angry for a Reason.

So go ahead, weep for joy.

I was planning on posting on the insane amount of fodder in this Sunday’s New York Times, but Broadsheet beat me to it. I don’t have much to add to Rebecca’s analysis, so I’m going to be lazy and just point you over there.

But this warrants repeating: Don’t miss the Walter Kirn review of “Manliness.” I almost peed my pants laughing.

The polls for the Koufax awards are open. Go vote for you favorite feminist blogs and don't forget Feministing was nominated for Best Single Issue Blog and Best Group Blog.

Go vote for us and all the other feminist blogs nominated. Let's take this shit.

Fah realz. The Blank Noise Project is mobilizing to stop street harassment in India which has become increasing commonplace.

Check it.

VeganKid is spreading the word on Blog Against Sexism Day set to take place on March 8, 2006--which is also International Women's Day.

So go sign up and spread the word.

My liberal, straight male friend Jonathan sent me a link to this open letter to all the liberal straight men, from the latest Carnival of Feminists, and asked if I would sign on to a letter like this.

My response? I think statements like this give all feminists a bad name.

The only real complaint I could find within this screed is that there are liberal, straight men who "derail the discussion" of gender by superimposing their personal experience. To which I say, sure, and there are also lesbians and straight women and gay men who do the same thing. I don’t think this implies self-centeredness. How can anyone completely separate from their personal experience while discussing gender issues? And why would we want to? Personal experience is what makes for a meaningful dialogue about how gender is lived on a daily basis. I want to hear what my straight, male friends have to say. And I expect them to listen to me, too.

I don't see this as a "defense of the male voice" so much as a defense of a wide variety of perspectives on gender. I understand that, as a group within institutions (like, say, the Democratic party), straight men have historically dominated and today continue to marginalize other voices. But I this isn't what the "open letter" is addressing.

And I do take issue with men who are unwilling to listen to women’s concerns/complaints/anecdotes about the subtle and not-so-subtle ways they experience sexism — and men who write off those complaints because they’ve never personally experienced or witnessed something similar. But in this post, she’s not making that argument. So I digress.

Other than that, I couldn’t really find anything specific to respond to. I honestly think this letter "detracts from the focus of the discussion" about gender by painting all liberal, straight men with such a broad brush.

I didn't catch this earlier, but it seems Kos didn’t take too kindly to Lakshmi Chaudhry’s In These Times piece on blogs in progressive politics, calling it “tedious whining about the supposed lack of diversity in the blogosphere.”

Yes, how boring we are.

Chaudhry, in The ITT List, says:

...any one trying to build or participate in a digital grassroots movement needs to prioritize including as many people as possible, especially those who are most marginalized by the existing political establishment. What’s so tedious or whiny about that?

Make sure to check out her full response. And please ladies, try not to nag the poor boys too much--they’re very sensitive.

Just good old fashioned feminist fun.

The Eighth Carnival of Feminists is up at gendergeek. It's better than cotton candy.

The next Carnival is being hosted at Mind the Gap. Send your submissions to mindthegapcardiff AT yahoo DOT co DOT uk by Feb. 19.

Lakshmi Chaudhry kicks some ass in Can Blogs Revolutionize Progressive Politics?, the latest cover story from In These Times. Love it. (And not just because Feministing's logo is featured, I swear.)

The whole piece is fab, but the focus on the “mainstream” political blogosphere’s lack of diversity is where Chaudhry really hits the nail on the head.

This little snippet is my fave:

As for the relative paucity of top female progressive bloggers, [Daily Kos’] Moulitsas is indifferent: “I haven’t given it a lot of thought. I find it totally uninteresting. What I’m interested in is winning elections, and I don’t give a shit what you look like.” It’s an odd and somewhat disingenuous response from an advocate of blogging as the ultimate tool of democratic participation.

Yawn. We’re sooo uninteresting, I’m totally boring myself out of writing anymore.

Just kidding: Also check it out because Amanda from Pandagon is quoted as the vagina-in-residence of the blogosphere.

Some things to peruse.

Media Girl compiles and analyzes blogger responses to the danger of being a tech/blogger model.

Pam at Pandagon takes on the tension between freepers (I love that word, had no idea people actually used it) and the new Alito.

Tennessee Guerilla Women cover the not so warm welcome of Dubya to Nashville, hehe.

Finally, read Pseudo-Adrienne's bitch-slap of Laura Bush's racism at Liberal Feminist Bias.

Yeah Yeah Yeah.

And this is why. I’m sure Jill and the other brand-spanking new bloggers at Feministe will continue doing a fabulous job, but I have to say that I’m super-sad to see Lauren go.

Reading Feministe was what inspired me to start Feministing and Lauren’s savvy, humor and great writing will be sorely missed.

So go give a shout out of thanks and goodbye to the best-est feminist blogger around.

A fun reunion with my old roommates last night proved to be a little more dangerous than I would have thought--a big old glass of red wine spilled all over my computer. Terrifying. It’s acting a little funky, so I’m giving it a little time off. Check out these other folks until I can nurse my poor iBook back to health.

Pseudo-Adrienne takes on the (non)ruling in Ayotte.

Ampersand debunks a men’s rights myth.

Pam at Pandagon reports that Laurel Hester’s plea for partner benefits has once again been denied.

The Countess on Fathers 4 Justice and their foiled plan to kidnap British Prime Minister Tony Blair's youngest son. (!)

And for the cherry on top, check out Echidne who posts some great Guerrilla Girls posters.

The seventh edition of Carnival of Feminists is up and kicking ass over at Feministe. Go be amazed.

The next carnival will be at Gendergeek on February 8.

The hearings have my mind turned to mush, so check out these very smart folks while I beat my head against a wall:

Pacific Views and Echidne take on John Tierney’s latest piece of crap.

Feministe points to a terrifying post by the Happy Feminist that shows just how ingrained the culture of rape is in women’s minds.

Pandagon muses over Alito’s inability to recall his membership with the Concerned [that the blacks and the women will get us!] Alumni for Princeton.

LiberalOasis on Alito’s abortion “snow job.”

At BushvChoice.

Thought I might as well get used to writing his name since it’s probably all I’ll be blogging about these next few days. Ugh.

I’ll be doing most of my Alito blogging over at BushvChoice as part of NARAL’s Blog for Choice campaign. A brief explanation: Basically, some of the best-est pro-choice bloggers have very graciously agreed to let me publish their posts on reproductive rights over at the BushvChoice blog. Talk about a one-stop shop. (The participating blogs are listed here.)

Another related campaign I’m super excited about: If you have a blog, go sign on to Blog for Choice Day. Blog for Choice Day is January 22nd--and the 34th anniversary of Roe. NARAL is asking that bloggers dedicate at least one post that day to reproductive rights--and to let them know about it.

Now, off to the races.

I still can't get the image of Birkenstock-wearing clowns out of my head when I hear that title. How wrong is that?

My fear of clowns aside, the sixth edition of the Carnival of Feminists is up at Reappropriate for your reading pleasure.

Nothing better than a post-holiday link dump.

Amanda takes on David Brooks and his helpful advice to women that “power is in the kitchen.”

Alas, a Blog’s Ampersand alerts us that New York’s Riker Island prison is shutting down it’s separate protective unit for gay and transgender prisoners.

Echidne asks what’s in a name.

Lynn at Broadsheet writes on how American girls are hitting puberty earlier and earlier (and the freaky new hormone implant created to stall puberty.)

Bitch Ph.D. points to a three part article on Laurel Hester and her heartbreaking story.

The fourth installment of the Carnival of Feminists was posted yesterday, thanks to Happy Feminist and her great assemblage of feminist bloggers this time around.

Make sure to check it out!

My internet is rebelling against me today, so I’ll happily point folks in the direction of these recent must-reads:

Rebecca “Smartypants” Traister points out the strange misogynist response to Dowd’s book on Amazon. I think Mr. John F. Ross really needs to meet Vox Day for some bosom buddy woman-bashing.

After a bit of a mailing list scuffle where Ampersand called Cathy Young an “anti-feminist” (and I think rightly so), he explores the meaning of the term.

Jill at Feministe wades into the scummy waters of guys who think rape is some sort of figment of women’s imagination.

Amanda breaks down the elusive nature of the Strawfeminist.

Media Girl tells it like it is (and it ain’t pretty) on the Global Gag Rule and the AIDS pandemic in Africa.

Go check out Holla Back NYC, a blog dedicated to calling out street harassers in the Big Apple. Love it.

Whether you're commuting, lunching, partying, dancing, walking, chilling, drinking, or sunning, you have the right to feel safe, confident, and sexy, without being the object of some duckweed's fantasy. So stop walkin' on and Holla Back!

The site encourages women to send in their street harassment stories and--if possible--catch the assholes in the act with a camera phone.

The creepiest harassing comment on the site so far? "Girl I can Smell You." Lovely.

And don’t worry, there are no Birkenstock-wearing clowns in this feminist carnival. At least I hope not. Clowns freak me out.

The third installment of this excellent round-up is available for your viewing pleasure at Sour Duck.

(Big thanks for including Feministing in the mix!)

Deanna Zandt at Alternet thinks we need to get rid of the term ‘women bloggers’:

...Not surprisingly, it's still a man's world, but that's not the point I want to address. It's the frame of "women bloggers." By addressing the issue in this way, we've already set the frame up so that the default "blogger" by itself is male, and adding a parameter -- "women" or "female" -- is necessary to feminize this default setting for the word.

...I'm thus putting out a call to bloggers (and readers of blogs) everywhere to help make sure that this word gets firmly established as a gender-neutral, happily androgynous occupation. Stop using those pesky gender-qualifiers today.

I agree with Zandt’s analysis, but I have one concern. If we erase gender from the equation, will it be easier for male bloggers to marginalize us? (I know I only have guys on my blogroll, but it’s just cause I’m super into equality and don’t pay attention to sex--there are no ‘women’ or ‘men’ bloggers.)

Any thoughts?

Zachary Karabell at The Huffington Post writes a predictable piece on why the Dems should just give up on Roe. (Don’t worry little ladies, abortion will only be illegal in some places.)

Karabell’s argument in What if the Supremes Overturned Roe? is that nothing would really change in the Blue states and that there would be a chance for debate in the Red. But his main point is that the “Democrats would be far better off.”

And women? Well, apparently it’s not necessary to discuss women (or even mention us once) in a conversation about Roe.

So long as Daddy Dems are doing what’s best for the party, I guess us gals should just pipe down and start stocking up on wire hangers.

Carnival of Feminists is looking for submissions.

The Carnival hopes to build the profile of feminist blogging, to direct extra traffic to all participating bloggers, but particularly newer bloggers, and to build networks among feminist bloggers.

All the info is here. Questions and comments can be sent there.

Hook it up feministers, this is a great opportunity to get involved, especially if you are new to blogging.

Pandagon has taken the sexist shirt controversy to a new level: More offensive than thou T-shirt contest!

So go vote, though it’s hard to decide which shirt is most hurl-worthy. My vote is for the one above, mostly because of the (evil) genius way it plays on both body image and sexuality issues. This one comes in a close second.

I won’t deny that I’m absolutely ecstatic that Margaret Cho linked to us on her blog yesterday. In all honesty, I had a dream last night that we met and became best friends instantly. Sigh.

Aside from my new imaginary relationship, check out her thoughts on Gwen Stefani’s Harajuku Girls that Samhita posted on a while back.

Oooh, this good! Bloggers such as Liu Man Yin aka Lost Sparrow, are breaking and shaking cultural taboos about talking sex in the public sphere with their openly so so sexual blogs.

Liu's outspoken posts about sex include a "bedside encyclopedia" of love-making noises, broken down by the type of response it can elicit from your lover, and by geographical regions in China -- that is, how pillow-talk may sound in regional dialect or slang. She talks openly about masturbation ("I have no worldly possession, except for two vibrators") and muses about why men are afraid to say "I love you."

Am loving it!

Liu is the latest of a string of Chinese women bloggers who have become famous, some even worldwide. They talk about sex and relationships openly, changing the dialogue between the sexes. In a culture where sexual attitudes are still repressive, the racy details shared by the women bloggers are thrusting them into the spotlight, despite China's most recent crackdown on the Internet news media.

Anyway, this is rad. My favorite line...

"Nowadays, if you're on a date with a Chinese man, the first thing that comes out of his mouth would be, 'You're not going to blog about me, are you?'" she says.

HA!

Salon launched Broadsheet today, a “cheeky” women’s blog:

The issues we'll tackle are limitless, really, given the fact that our subject includes half the world's population. Katie Holmes' pregnancy, Harriet Miers' Supreme Court nomination, the FDA's stalling over Plan B -- we've got something to say about all of it. Our goal is to be opinionated about topics that affect women, but also a filter by which we can look at the news from a (mostly) female point of view.

Awesome. Check out one of today’s posts, Rockettes refused maternity leave.

Kathryn Jean Lopez at The National Review thinks we're "nuts" to be pissed over Harvard professor Harvey Mansfield's recent comments. This I don't mind. In fact, I'm quite pleased.

Describing Mansfield's lecture as "sensible talk" is another story...

A bevy of folks respond to the recent NY Times article that says really smart girls would “opt out” to be moms: Katha Pollitt at The Nation; Jack Shafer at Slate; Linda Basch, Ilene Lang and Deborah Merrill-Sands at Alternet.

Pinko Feminist Hellcat takes on those “pseudo-sex positive people who claim that sexual harassment is overblown.”

Feministe reveals more about the Suicide Girls.

Stone Court gives a tidbit on Harriet Miers and abortion.

In the tradition of I’m Not Sorry, IGotAGirl tells the story of her abortion.

Completely unrelated to anything important: Ray proves that appropriate birthday attire must include a sparkly tiara and shrubbery.

Last night marked Christine’s final post on Ms. Musings. Sniff, sniff.

She wrote for Ms. for nearly three years and is off to new adventures that we wish her well with. While she will be missed as a voice of Ms., she’ll now be on Poppolitics.com, so make sure to check her out there.

Good luck, Christine!

While it’s pretty clear that we’re fucked on this one, you can still make yourself feel better by letting your senators know what you think of the fiasco.

Also, make sure to check out this excellent statement (assuming you haven’t seen it in a million places already) that a collection of women bloggers have put together in opposition to John Roberts. Kudos, ladies.

Make sure to check out Bill Scher’s (of LiberalOasis) excellent take on the hearings yesterday. He calls Roberts out for his statements on privacy. Cause really--they didn’t mean shit.

Much is being made of John Roberts’ claim that he believes there is a right to privacy in the Constitution.

But it was a meaningless statement.

Favorite line ever: ...And you get one nasty anti-privacy sundae.

(Can’t help it; I like ice cream.)

By the way, I'm also guest blogging at Alternet's The L-Files while Lakshmi Chaudhry is on vacation. So yeah, I'm fucking busy today.

It looks like feminist comic and radio personality Carol Ann Leif is joining Christine as a new Ms. blogger with A New Leif.

This lady has been spreading the love and laughs to craploads of political and charitable events for some time, including talk radio's The Free Speech Show.

So make sure to check out our new funny, feminist friend. We need as many as we can get!

Check out this blog-versation from MensNewsDaily.com. I don't quite understand how the female author was able to both attract and repel me in one page of writing. Impressive.

Her article deals with the Men's Rights Movement (MRM) and its blanket assault on women for their "leg up" in admissions, false rape reporting and unfair custody attacks. The author does a good job of identifying the holes in MRM logic, and rightfully criticizes the movement for its harsh and dangerous portrayal of the female gender.

But guess what? She does so by equating the men's rights movement with feminism, claiming that feminists' portrayal of all men "as rapists and oppressors" is just as bad as the MRM portraying women as "lying, cheating whores who marry only to divorce and take hubby’s stuff."

Grrrrr...

I hate when women misrepresent the objectives and ideologies of feminism in order to prove a point. It boggles my mind that in 2005, educated people (and women!) still believe that feminism "faults" men for everything. If the author knew more about the feminist movement, she'd realize that her arguments are actually fairly feminist.

Read the article and let me know what you think. Is the author wrong about feminism? Is she actually making a feminist point? Is the "feminism" mentioned here a mythical creature created by misogyny? Or, is feminism simply an unforgiving and accusatory movement responsible for creating the logic now used against it?

You tell me.

You may have noticed our new ad for hurricane relief--click on that mother and give generously.

Feministing is taking part in an effort with the liberal blogosphere to raise $1 million for the American Red Cross to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Here’s part of the call to action put together by Kari Chisholm (Mandate Media) and Chris Bowers (MyDD.com and Liberal Blog Ad Network):

As President Clinton once said, "There's nothing wrong with America that can't be fixed by what's right with America."

The most prominent lefty blogs in the nation, represented by the Liberal Blog Advertising Network, are leading the way by running donated ads and asking readers to join us in making a difference. Combined, these blogs will display their ads over 12 million times each week over the course of the campaign.

Of course, we invite all progressive bloggers to participate in our community-wide campaign - both BlogAds subscribers and non-subscribers. Get the HTML to post the ads on your own blog or website.

This effort is a combined effort of four organizations:

The Liberal Blog Advertising Network who are donating their ad space.

MandateMedia.com - producing the creative and organizing the campaign.

BlogAds.com - donating their advertising infrastructure to deploy the ads.

DropCash.com - providing the mechanism for tracking our progress.

All of the proceeds will be sent to the Red Cross. Donations are being tracked by Drop Cash. Transactions are secured through Paypal. You can be certain that your contribution will be secure, for a good cause, and people will know it came from the liberal blogosphere.

Thank you. Together, we can do this.

ms. musings points to a report by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) that says network television still falls short in its depiction of homosexual characters.

Atrios highlights racist media coverage of Katrina. Apparently black people “loot” and white people “find.” Nice.

Meghan O'Rourke at Slate says that there’s nothing wrong with men who don’t want to watch their partners give birth. You know, cause vaginas are gross. Hugo and Amanda respond.

Pam’s House Blend tells us that the latest radical, feminist, homosexual threat is none other than the Girl Scouts. (Move over Sponge Bob!) Bitch PhD, however, insists that it’s coffee we have to worry about.

SistersTalk introduces lesbian superhero Faggot Girl (she promises an interview soon!).

Just came back from my first eye exam in over a decade and my eyes are numb and creepy feeling. So I just can’t bring myself to stare at the computer screen for as long as it would take me to write a full post. Instead, I’ll leave you with this interesting blog-related question from Trish Wilson (via The Heretik):

What women of the past would have been a killer blogger in her day?

I say Mata Hari...though the whole blogging spy secrets thing probably wouldn’t have worked out too well.

If you haven’t already, go check out Amanda’s article in Alternet, Camp Casey, PTA, about her her trip to Crawford.

My fave part:

It seemed so ridiculous, all these people in such a rage, arranging over-the-top counter-protests and bringing out an army of motorcyclists all to bear down on a group of floppy-hatted, middle-aged women in matching pink shirts. But the more people who turned out to protect George Bush from having to answer Cindy Sheehan's questions, the more ridiculous he looked -- it's hard to maintain the manly man cowboy image when you cower in fear behind a group of bullies who stoop to attacking the character of a bereaved mother.

One thing is for certain -- I never thought I'd see the day that a bunch of Harley-riding men in leather jackets would come out to scare a bunch of hard-working soccer moms because they were angry that the soccer moms were counter-cultural threats to authority.

The UN Wire is a free service sponsored by the United Nations Foundation that supports the United Nations' efforts to address the most pressing humanitarian, socioeconomic and environmental challenges facing the world today. It sends a daily email with information on the most pressing and important issues and has millions of subscribers worldwide.

Guess who made the August 16th UN Wire? Our very own Vanessa! Her post about women and children in Afghanistan was featured as their Blog Roundup selection.

Right on, V!

Trish Wilson tells us that about the Law Failing Rape Victims In The U. K.

Pseudo-Adrienne on the delay of the Iraqi Constitution.

Blackfeminism.org gives an update on the Tamika Huston case.

Ferdette at Media Girl explains why Common Dreams’ "In Praise of Female Sexuality" is just the same old shit.

Jill at Feministe calls out the FDA for loving the implants, hating the contraception.

Hugo and Amanda duke it out (well, not really...I just like the saying) over conservative women pundits and physical appearance.

Media Girl on the glorious metaphor of padlocked testicles.

Feministe calls out Tucker Carlson for supporting terrorism.

Brutal Woman explores “Girl Crushes,” (or “I swear-I’m-not-gay” crushes.)

Stone Court looks into Sexism and Sports Broadcasting.

And Rox Populi inspires a girl crush with her honest question:

If 65% of Americans support Roe v Wade, who's doing more damage to the Democratic Party:

* Groups that support choice?
* Bloggers who continue to marginalize choice?

I have so much to say on the NARAL/Kos debacle yesterday, but I still need to get my thoughts together (and my cursing habit down) before I respond fully. I would like to point one thing out however.

Kos’ post revealed a lot more than his feelings on NARAL; it made clear how he feels about women’s rights in general.

DailyKos has taken issue with this post on BushvChoice, which called on pro-choicers to make their presence known in the comments threads of the major liberal blogs.

As Kos seemed to read it, the post was declaring war on lefty bloggers and, by proxy, the Democratic party. Not so. It was simply calling on pro-choicers to speak up.

Why is it so hard for the heavyweights of the liberal blogosphere to undersand that, for many of us, choice is not something that "gets in the way" of more important Democratic party platform issues. It is the number one issue.

Sure, the Democrats are better than the Republicans on choice. But when Howard Dean is snuggled up with Democrats for Life and the party backs an anti-choice minority leader, forgive me if I'm not swooning in adoration.

I definitely don't think NARAL should be endorsing pro-choice Republicans who are running against pro-choice Democrats. Their strategy should also be focused on holding pro-choice Republicans (and Democrats) to their word. If Lincoln Chafee votes the wrong way, NARAL needs to pull their support. And be vocal about it.

But the underlying problem here is not NARAL endorsing pro-choice Republicans. The problem is the Democratic party's creep toward the center on reproductive rights. If Democrats want the support of the pro-choice movement, they have to earn it.

Yeah, yeah...I know I mentioned BushvChoice already. I don’t care. The guest-blogging extravaganza has come to an end over there, and the posts are a really great collection of repro rights writing. So go check it out and comment away--it seems the introduction of TypeKey is scaring off the regulars.

BushvChoice’s lovely guest bloggers included...

Dr. B, More on the Culture of Li(f)e(s)

Amanda at Pandagon, Thank god we don't have to pretend we're in this to save babies anymore

Alas a Blog’s Ampersand, How They Could Destroy Roe Without Overturning It

Echidne of the Snakes, Pataki and Romney play games with women's lives

Bill Scher of LiberalOasis, Roberts Threatens “The Life And Health Of The Mother”

If you haven’t been perusing anti-feminist sites lately, you may not know that the ladies we love to hate at the Independent Women’s Forum have a blog. It’s been up for a quite a while...I think I chose to ignore it until Amanda’s always-smart posts on the “IWF Inkwell” made it impossible. Damn you, Amanda!

The content is laughable enough, but I just couldn’t let this post title go unnoticed:

Mailbag: Dissing the Roberts Children, and More

Dissing? Is it just me, or is there nothing worse than uncomfortable slang-use? It makes me have visions of IWF editorial meetings where Carrie Lukas and Charlotte Allen brainstorm on how to include the word “hot” in a post. A conservative Supreme Court appointment? That’s hot.

The Washington Post has a piece today on bloggers’ responses to the Roberts nomination.

This is the first Supreme Court nomination of the Internet age, meaning that liberal and conservative opinion-mongers are already blanketing cyberspace with arguments, facts, taunts, polemics, gossip and electronic links to raw data, hoping to rally the faithful and influence the mainstream media coverage.

And apparently we have. So go check it out--especially since Feministing and Tennessee Guerilla Women are mentioned. We are so super cool.

If you’re like me and need to think about something else than goddamn John Roberts, check out gossip blog Gawker. Their take on Jude Law’s recent admission of sleeping with his nanny has surprising tinges of feminism:

Jude Law’s recent confession to having an affair with his nanny didn’t just destroy the confidence of his fianceé Sienna Miller; it also shattered the faith of nanny-employing mothers everywhere. What if the nanny is so hot, it’s simply inevitable that your husband will throw her against the foyer wall and do her like she’s never been done before?

How very true. Any nanny who’s even slightly attractive is clearly a husband-fucking varmint, only in your home to debauch your children and destroy your marriage. Besides, everyone knows that the best domestic servants are the ugly ones. It’s God’s way.

Thanks to Deanna for the link.

While I pull out my hair trying to work around this Movable Type insanity, go check out these folks:

Amanda at Pandagon explores the glorious marriage of Miss America and Country Music Television.

Alas, a Blog (Amp) discusses covert affirmative action for men.

If abortion was illegal, what would happen to the women? Goddess Musings points to a video of anti-choicers answering this question (not very well).

Media Girl argues the politics of replacing O’Connor with another woman.

I Blame the Patriarch (quickly becoming my new fave blog) takes on female genital mutilation (FGM) in Djibouti.

I always am amazed at the sites that link to u, but this one has to be my new favorite: MenAreBetterThanWomen.com. Oh yes, there’s no shame in his game. The site aims to “expose the clumsy feminist dogma of equality,” and put “a boot in the ass of feminism.” Are you scared yet?

With post titles like Women Are So Anti-Gay It’s Not Even Funny; Cinderblock is to Comfortable as Women are to Clever; and Women Are As Cold As An Ice Cold Beer, there’s a pretty slim chance of attracting female readers. But no worries, Dick Masterson (yes, I’m serious) doesn’t want you there anyway: Ladies as always, this site is totally off limits.

Well, at least he’s upfront about his misogyny.

Armando at DailyKos on why O'Connor’s retirement is more significant for choice than a Rehnquist retirement.

ThinkProgress on what’s at stake, as well as O’Connor’s letter.

ms. musings has an overview on how O’Connor voted, and links to Ms. magazine’s report on what a Supreme Court retirement means for women and article on the implications for women’s right to choose.

LiberalOasis points to an older post on how to fight a Supreme Court nomination.

For a much bigger roundup of blogs covering O'Connor’s retirement, check out the Daou Report.

Ampersand takes on the wage gap and those would argue it doesn’t exist;

Blackfeminism.org points out the gender (im)balance in black America;

ms. musings explains the Disneyification of Feminism;

Pandagon and Bitch.Ph.D. on call out the blaming-the-victim bullshit going on lately;

And the always-prolific Feministe puts this post to shame with a link dump so big it will make you dizzy.

...and have made my job a lot easier this morning:

Amanda at Pandagon tells John Tierney what women really want.

LiberalOasis on the filibuster deal. He's not loving it.

Tennessee Guerilla Women give an update on the spousal rape bill.

Jill at Feministe takes on the stem cell bill and Bush's bullshit.

And go check out these other fab ladies:

Echidne on the Politics of Women's Health.

Pandagon for an update on Tennessee's spousal rape bill.

Feministe on Orgasm Science. (Turns out the female orgasm could have no evolutionary purpose--it's just for fun!)

CultureCat urges us to Support Research by Eighth Grade Girls. (Seriously, go give them some cash.)

Make sure to check out the latest Sex Talk podcast from Rebel Dad. He takes on the Supreme Court decision on Title IX, NARAL's pharmacy petition page, and the controversy over Elaine Lafferty's "resignation" from Ms. magazine.

He also interviews June Zeitlin, executive director of the Women's Environment & Development Organization (WEDO), on their latest publication Beijing Betrayed. (Yeah, I'm pushing it...if you spent a year working on a book you would push it too!)

Cause assholes like this still exist:

Before anybody gets too het up over the resurrection of the ERA, let’s give this some thought. In the first place, I can’t believe the old girls are that bored they’d bring up something that would be so damaging to their cause of female supremacy. It’s true, you know. An ERA would toss most of their manipulative anti-male, anti-family laws right out the window. This would include the wicked stepmother of them all, VAWA.

You think that's bad? Just wait till you read the whole post, especially the part about the attention the ERA is getting from "lots of minor feminist bloggers and silly girl(s)."

And you have to love a blog whose sub-head is STOP the Violence Against Women Act! Unabashed misogyny at its best. Fantastic.

Check out Jessica talking with Ben Carter of BlueGrassRoots yesterday on WRFL (Radio Free Lexington).

In giving props to Alas, a Blog’s Ampersand.

Always on top of shit, Ampersand called out Peek (Alternet’s blog) on their blogroll’s lack of women. Peek responded by adding seven blogs by women. Well done!

And break out the liquor—a tremendous congrats to Amanda at Mouse Words for winning the Koufax award for Best New Blog!

Ok, my ass-kissing is done for the day.

Go check out Third Wave Agenda and Lefterer immediatel