Jessica

Posts Written by Jessica

By Jessica • 13 years ago

Farewell, Feministing!

Words I never thought I’d write: I’m leaving Feministing.

While I’ll always be a part of the Feministing family with love for you’ll see me at events and I’ll to continue to work with the site in an advisory capacity – I’ll no longer be blogging or contributing to Feministing’s day-to-day work.

As you may have noticed, I haven’t been writing on the site much the last few months. This is largely due to the early arrival of my daughter – my and her health were both tenuous, and I needed to focus on getting us better. This time away from Feministing provided a lot of room to reflect, and – as sad as it makes me – it’s become clear that it’s time to move on.

This decision is partly logistical; I’m working on two new projects that require my full energy and attention. I’m in the process of writing a book on parenthood, Why Have Kids?, for HarperCollins – a fun but daunting undertaking my first year of being a mom! I’m also excited to announce that I’ll be writing a weekly column, Body Politics, at the iPad newspaper The Daily, which is launching today. (My columns will also be available online; I’ll tweet and post the urls as they’re published.) I’m thrilled to have these new opportunities and want to give them my all.

But the main reason I’m leaving – one that I’ve been thinking about for some time – is ...

By Jessica • 13 years ago

Proof that powerful feminists are enabling conservative faux-feminism

In a piece I wrote for The Nation this September, I argued that mainstream feminists’ continued erasure of young activists was paving the way for conservative appropriation of the movement:

Part of the reason Palin and her cohort are so successful at positioning themselves as the “new” women’s movement is because we fail to push forward and support new feminists of our own. This is not to say that younger women aren’t at the forefront of the movement—they certainly are. But their work is often made invisible by an older generation of feminists who prefer to believe young women are apathetic rather than admitting their movement is shifting into something they don’t recognize and can’t control.

One example I mentioned was ...

In a piece I wrote for The Nation this September, I argued that mainstream feminists’ continued erasure of young activists was paving the way for conservative appropriation of the movement:

Part of the reason Palin and her ...

By Jessica • 14 years ago

My new normal

As you may already know, I had a baby – a daughter named Layla Sorella Valenti-Golis. That’s the good (nay, wonderful!) news. The bad news is that she was born way too early; I developed severe pre-eclampsia and HELLP syndrome and had to deliver Layla when I was 29 weeks pregnant.

I was hospitalized after a routine exam showed I had dangerously high blood pressure – Andrew and I assumed it was all an overreaction because I didn’t feel sick. Even though the doctors were telling us I wouldn’t leave the hospital until I gave birth and that I might need to deliver in days, we didn’t really buy it. We even pooh-poohed the neonatologist who spoke with ...

By Jessica • 14 years ago

Marriage: Better than getting raped all the time

Via Amanda, I found the most…let’s say interesting take on the recent Prop 8 decision. Lots of people have been talking about Ross Douthat’s bizarro justification for why same sex partners should be discriminated against (Adam Serwer’s take down was perhaps my fave), but this was the first I heard of Sam Schulman’s piece in the CS Monitor.

Schulman argues that folks who want same sex marriage to be legal because it’s fair, right and promotes equality don’t understand what marriage is really all about: protecting women. For reals.

As a species, we need to protect female sexuality in order to assure ourselves of a future…Marriage is a necessary defense ...

Via Amanda, I found the most…let’s say interesting take on the recent Prop 8 decision. Lots of people have been talking about Ross Douthat’s bizarro justification for why same ...

By Jessica • 14 years ago

Love the Way You Lie (Feministing Group Chat)

The new Eminem/Rihanna music video, Love the Way You Lie, has been getting a lot of play lately. We posted the video and you weighed in, and now some of the Feministing crew takes apart the video and whether or not it’s a win for DV awareness… Check out our chat after the jump.

For more takes on the video, read Broadsheet and Sociological Images.

The new Eminem/Rihanna music video, Love the Way You Lie, has been getting a lot of play lately. We posted the video and you weighed in, and now some of the Feministing crew takes apart ...

By Jessica • 14 years ago

GRITtv: Celebrating Justice on Proposition 8

More GRITtv

By Jessica • 14 years ago

What We Missed: Fired for being pregnant, audio goodness and the small (white male) world of book reviewing

A new study says that traditionally attractive women are less likely to be given jobs in professions considered “manly.”

Listen to the latest RealityCast where Hollaback founder Emily May talks fighting street harassment, Amanda Marcotte reviews “12th and Delaware”, and a segment the intersection of immigrant rights and reproductive justice.

The Price is Right seems to have a problem with firing pregnant employees.

A new report from FAIR shows that when it comes to political books – who is getting reviewed and who is doing the reviewing is largely limited to the pale male sect.

A new study says that traditionally attractive women are less likely to be given jobs in professions considered “manly.”

Listen to the latest RealityCast where Hollaback founder Emily May talks fighting street harassment, Amanda Marcotte reviews ...

By Jessica • 14 years ago

Domestic violence awareness campaign uses interactive video

This new ad out of the UK asks users if they’d like to call 999 (their version of 911) when they hear a violent argument; depending on what the user picks, they’re brought to a different video ending. Thoughts?

Find out more about the campaign here.

The interactive video has been shared on other social media platforms as well, including Parler and TikTok. Elaborating on the latter, it seems that the individual who posted the TikTok video helped get the word out with the help of TikTok boosting services, which are popular among top users on the platform – including Charli D’Amelio, the sister of Dixie D’Amelio who recently faced scrutiny for her vaping fiasco. Both sisters found TikTok fame ...