Tag Archive for "Masculinity"

Posts Tagged Masculinity

Back in Steubenville, rape culture is still winning as football coach’s contract is renewed

Ed. note: This is a guest post from Mychal Denzel Smith. He is a writer, social commentator, and mental health advocate whose work on politics, social justice, mental health, and black male identity has appeared in outlets such as The Nation, The Guardian, The Atlantic, Gawker, Salon, The Root, and more.

It seems simple enough: If you participate in the cover up of a rape, especially one that involves minors, you should lose your job. If your job requires you to be responsible for teenagers, then two of those teenagers rape an intoxicated 16-year-old and share photos of the act through social media, and your response is to joke about it with them, it’s not that hard to decide ...

Ed. note: This is a guest post from Mychal Denzel Smith. He is a writer, social commentator, and mental health advocate whose work on politics, social justice, mental health, and black male identity has appeared in ...

By Sesali B. • 11 years ago

“I Hit It First”: The art of hoe shaming

I’ve finally stopped rolling my eyes hard enough to talk about Ray J and his new single “I Hit It First.” This (terrible) track is basically three minutes and 20 seconds of shade thrown at Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, based on the well-known fact that Ray J was Kim’s partner in the infamous sex tape that put her on the radar. Amidst Kim Kardashian’s ever growing fame, Ray J is here to remind us that he “hit it first,” and made her the person she is today.

*stifles laughter*

One of my favorite contemporary subjects is what I like to call “hoe politics.” It is the modern language, messages, dialogue, and critique spawned from the concept that there ...

I’ve finally stopped rolling my eyes hard enough to talk about Ray J and his new single “I Hit It First.” This (terrible) track is basically three minutes and 20 seconds of shade thrown ...

By Maya Dusenbery • 11 years ago

Street harassment, masculinity, and impressing other dudes

“Ay yo, get that bitch in front of you son, she mad wavy!”

I’m still not exactly sure what “mad wavy” means, but even without that knowledge I knew what was happening. This was a couple of years ago and I was with a group of friends in the Adams Morgan section of D.C. The sidewalks were filled with people, with the gender breakdown largely consisting of men sitting/standing in clumps ...

By Alexandra Brodsky • 11 years ago

Weekly Feminist Reader

Fully dressed superheroines are about questioning the genre, not imposing a moral code.

Kai M Green: “I will never straighten out my wrist.”

Hillary Clinton: Helping women isn’t just a “nice” thing to do.

Speaking of which, check out Politico on Hillary Clinton Fever.

The New York Times reports on the NYPD’s policing of trans people of color.

Muslimah Pride, FEMEN, and feminism as self-determination.

Keyword research on retail sites has a lot to tell us about gender and “neutral” defaults.

The Crunk Feminist Collective interviews Kathryn Buford of Live Unchained.

“My culture not outfit” campaign launches against cultural appropriation in fashion.

The idea of the “bikini body”

Fully dressed superheroines are about questioning the genre, not imposing a moral code.

Kai M Green: “I will never straighten out my wrist.”

Hillary Clinton: Helping women isn’t just a “nice” thing ...

By Lori Adelman • 11 years ago

Fox News host decries American men’s “wussification” after abusive Rutgers basketball coach is fired

Yesterday Rutgers University fired its men’s basketball coach, Mike Rice, after video surfaced of him abusing his players both physically and verbally. In addition to kicking, shoving, and pelting them with basketballs, he used homophobic slurs against them including the f-word. After the video went viral, Rice was quick to apologize for the shameful behavior he had obviously been exhibiting remorselessly and with great vigor for years, but it was too little too late. His swift removal from the post was a victory against abuse in college sports, where student athletes already bear a ton of responsibility and pressure, for which many argue they are under-compensatedt.

Except that Fox News host Eric Bolling doesn’t view this as a positive development, apparently. ...

By Maya Dusenbery • 11 years ago

Rick Ross, Don Draper, and the fantasy world of masculinity

I’ve been thinking a lot about Rick Ross as of late, given all the controversy surrounding him and his disgusting, indefensible lyrics condoning rape (and his subsequent non-apology that was almost as bad as lyric that prompted it). In a way, I feel partially responsible, having been a fan of Ross’ music despite the overt misogyny, and I’ve ...

By Maya Dusenbery • 11 years ago

Steubenville teens are found guilty but rape culture remains alive and well

*Trigger warning*

Yesterday, the verdict was handed down in the Steubenville rape case. The defendants, Trent Mays and Ma’lik Richmond, were found guilty. Mays will serve at least two years in the state juvenile system; Richmond was sentenced to at least one year. And the attorney general may also bring charges against others who turned a blind eye to the assault.

I feel great relief that I’m not writing about a “not guilt” verdict today. Justice was served–as best it could be by an imperfect system–in this case. Since it so often isn’t, that is something–not only for Jane Doe, who I hope has the support she surely needs right now, but also for the rest of us, who live in ...

*Trigger warning*

By Lori Adelman • 11 years ago

The Wednesday Weigh-In: White working class masculinities

Joseph Osmundson, a scientist and activist based in New York City, has penned an important and deeply personal piece for the Feminist Wire discussing the ways in which “working-class white men live their masculinities”. After sharing a story about trying out for the middle school basketball team in 7th grade and then crying when he saw his name on the cut list, he writes:

“These were not things that boys back home were supposed to do, and yes, I took shit for it later that day. Boys weren’t supposed to cry (men are strong, not weak), we’re not supposed to need support from anyone, in particular not our mothers (men are providers, supporters, not those in need of support). And on ...