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By jessica_arant • 15 years ago

Looking for Writings on Gender

I’m teaching a 100-level writing class and thought it would be interesting to use gender as the theme for all of the readings.  My background is primarily English, not gender studies, so I would appreciate some reading suggestions from the collective feministing brain.

Please keep in mind this is a 100-level English class. Most of these students are taking the class because they need an English credit, not because they’re interested in Gender Studies.  In other words, complex essays from Simone de Beauvoir or Judith Butler wouldn’t work. I’ve used newspaper colums, blog posts, published books and essays. I like to use readings that address current situations (say, Caster Semenya or Sarah Palin,) but I am open to classic works as well ("A Room of One’s Own.") I want to include writings on masculinity, so as to dispel the "this is just male-bashing" response.

So how ’bout it? If you wanted to introduce someone to the basic concepts of feminism and gender studies, what would you suggest they read? What writers, cloumnists and bloggers really speak to you?
By jessica_arant • 15 years ago

Women in PETA

The Washington Post has an article on interns at PETA.  It describes a few of the protests that PETA has held recently. Many of which, of course, involve naked women:

This self-assured knowledge is useful when the PETA interns are naked, which happens occasionally, like at a recent Friday demonstration when Kelsey Jaye stands with another "PETA Beauty" in a makeshift shower on Pennsylvania Avenue by the National Archives. They languidly wash each other with cruelty-free soap and ignore heckles from the gathering crowd.

This isn’t an unusual display, of course. PETA has a long history of objectifying women in the name of animal rights. What I found to be interesting about the article was a quote from one of the ...

The Washington Post has an article on interns at PETA.  It describes a few of the protests that PETA has held recently. Many of which, of course, involve naked women:

This self-assured knowledge is useful when the ...
By jessica_arant • 15 years ago

Having Babies Made Her ALL Better

Holy. Crap.

A woman named Irene Vilar has published a memoir detailing the 15 abortions she had over 15 years.  She identifies these abortions as “self-mutilation” that stemmed from a deep pathology:

Yet, in Vilar’s deft hands, her story of serial abortions mostly bypasses the volatile abortion rights standoff, instead plumbing her “self-mutilation,” her “pregnancy fantasies” and multiple suicide attempts, her conflicts over submission and control, and, ultimately, her healing. She wants to steer readers to a subtler point: that abortion was, for her, an addiction, a warped and tragic vehicle to assert control over her life.

This woman’s personal story involves abusive relationships and childhood trauma. I have no place, no interest, in questioning her assessment of how she coped with that ...

Holy. Crap.

A woman named Irene Vilar has published a memoir detailing the 15 abortions she had over 15 years.  She identifies these abortions as “self-mutilation” that stemmed from a deep pathology:

Yet, in Vilar’s deft hands, her story ...
By jessica_arant • 15 years ago

More From Dana Milbank

Yes, the Dana Milbank from the Washington Post who made the awful "Mad Bitch Beer" joke.  He wrote a column today pointing out recent instances of paternalism and patriarchy in both Republican and Democratic leaders:

The old boys are back in town.

Item: President Obama hosts a basketball game at the White House on Thursday evening for Cabinet secretaries and members of Congress. Of the 15 participants whose names are put out by the White House, not one is a woman — even though Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius was a college basketball player and U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, who was in town for the afternoon, played high school ball.

Item: On Thursday morning, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is asked ...

Yes, the Dana Milbank from the Washington Post who made the awful "Mad Bitch Beer" joke.  He wrote a column today pointing out recent instances of paternalism and patriarchy in both Republican and Democratic leaders:

The old ...
By jessica_arant • 15 years ago

wahoo, XKCD

I love the webcomic xkcd and wanted to share today’s edition. The premise is a set of images of the human body, presumably for an anatomy textbook. The gag is the photo session is taking place at a TGI-Friday’s and fellow customers are less than thrilled with the naked photo session by the salad bar.(If you go to the site, make sure to read the pop-up text when your mouse pauses over the image. Randall’s commentary is usually just as funny as the comic itself.)

Here’s the cool part, the first two panels of the comic are about the female body: a female breast with the nipple and areola labeled, a close-up of female genitals wtih the clitoris, vagina and ...

I love the webcomic xkcd and wanted to share today’s edition. The premise is a set of images of the human body, presumably for an anatomy textbook. The gag is the photo session is taking place ...
By jessica_arant • 15 years ago

“Congo’s Rape Epidemic Worsens During U.S.-Backed Military Operation”

Washington Post has a deeply disturbing article about the rape epidemic in the Congo. Rape was widely used as a tool by rebel forces during the Congo-Rawandan conflict, but now it is the Congolese soldiers who are raping women.

"The number of soldiers roaming these eastern hills has almost tripled to 60,000, and rapes have doubled or tripled in the areas they are deployed. Aid groups said the number of rapes so far this year is probably in the thousands.

Though Congolese President Joseph Kabila recently declared a policy of "zero tolerance" for sexual violence, fewer than a dozen soldiers have been convicted of rape this year. In May, the U.N. Security Council handed Kabila a list of five senior army ...

Washington Post has a deeply disturbing article about the rape epidemic in the Congo. Rape was widely used as a tool by rebel forces during the Congo-Rawandan conflict, but now it is the Congolese soldiers who ...
By jessica_arant • 15 years ago

In Defense of Milbank

"Mouthpiece Theater" was a goofy idea, and I never got more than a chuckle out of it.  Milbank and Cillizza don’t have the timing necessary for performance comedy and their columns didn’t translate well to video. The "Mad Bitch" joke was inappropriate, not funny, and deserved censure.

That said, I am truly bummed that so many people now know and dismiss Milbank as "that asshat who made the Mad Bitch joke." I have been a Dana Milbank fan for several years. I love his "Washington Sketch" column and I look forward to his weekly live chats. Milbank is an intelligent and talented writer. He exposes political hypocrisy and posturing with greater detail and nuance than either Stewart or Colbert. He covers ...

"Mouthpiece Theater" was a goofy idea, and I never got more than a chuckle out of it.  Milbank and Cillizza don’t have the timing necessary for performance comedy and their columns didn’t translate well to video. The ...
By jessica_arant • 15 years ago

“New Policy Permits Asylum for Battered Women “

From the New York Times:

The Obama administration has opened the way for foreign women who are victims of severe domestic beatings and sexual abuse to receive asylum in the United States. The action reverses a Bush administration stance in a protracted and passionate legal battle over the possibilities for battered women to become refugees.

Women seeking asylum still have to meet a fairly high threshold of evidence, "bused women will need to show that they are treated by their abuser as subordinates and little better than property, according to an immigration court filing by the administration, and that domestic abuse is widely tolerated in their country. They must show that they could not find protection from institutions at home ...

From the New York Times:

The Obama administration has opened the way for foreign women who are victims of severe domestic beatings and sexual abuse to receive asylum in the United States. The action reverses a Bush ...

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