Posts Written by

By katemoore • 14 years ago

No, Lindsay Lohan’s behavior is not the result of “not having a man in her life.”

From Broadsheet: “Lindsay Lohan’s slow meltdown: It’s all about Dad.”

If the red flags didn’t go up, they should have with the subhead: “The actress’s painful public drama is a lesson in how hard it can be to grow up without a good man in your life.”

It isn’t even an inaccurate headline, either. After delineating Lohan’s public sins (releasing a song called “Confessions of a Broken Heart”! Posing in underwear and stilettos and MAKING IT HER TWITTER BACKGROUND!), we see this quote: “But the Lohan family drama is, more than anything, a potent and painful example of what can happen to girls without good men in their lives.”

Never mind the fact that single mothers and lesbian couples can raise perfectly wonderful children, and have done so for decades. Because in the writer’s view, these people don’t exist, and Lindsay Lohan is living proof! The sample size of one that makes the rule!

What’s going on behind the scenes, so to speak, is the assertion that without a father — or really, a patriarch, because that’s what this is really about — to rule over the family, daughters are going to become uncivilized harlots who drink, do drugs, and take naked photos with guns.

This is the same rhetoric that Compare, for instance, this pamphlet from Concerned Women for America : “Why Children Need Fathers.” CWFA is a conservative, anti-feminist organization, and Broadsheet is a feminist blog, but it’s ...
By katemoore • 14 years ago

News coverage of hookup culture continues to get it wrong

(TRIGGER WARNING later on)

We’ve all heard about The New York Times’ you-may-panic-now article about how much of a PHENOMENON hooking up on campus is.

Now, in what can only be an arms race of fail, CNN has joined them with their own terrible article. Let’s count all the things wrong with this. Small things first:

- The almost mind-boggling use of "coed." Is this Back to the Future?

- The inexplicable detail of Boyle "shaking her blond ponytail." It’s either random or subtle sexualization, and I still can’t decide which.

- The lazy trend-framing of Lady Gaga’s publicity announcement of being "celibate" and Kelly Clarkson’s song [sic] "I Don’t Hook Up" (actually supposed to be a Katy Perry song but kicked ...

(TRIGGER WARNING later on)

We’ve all heard about The New York Times’ you-may-panic-now article about how much of a PHENOMENON hooking up on campus is.

Now, in what can only be an arms race of fail, CNN ...
By katemoore • 14 years ago

Why I’m not gaga for “Telephone”

OK, so roughly half the Internet watched “Telephone” when it premiered last night. I know I did. And although I went in with really high hopes, I think it’s a big step backward. Why?

- The product placement. The product placement . Oh my fucking God, the product placement. Now, I understand that in an interview, Gaga meant this as “commentary” on how many ads people see. This is where people will argue “See? You just don’t get the art!” But look. You can’t do product placement ironically, because it’s still product placement. It accomplishes its goals either way. And you can’t do it satirically either for the same reason. You’ve either got to ...

OK, so roughly half the Internet watched “Telephone” when it premiered last night. I know I did. And although I went in with really high hopes, I think it’s a big step backward. Why?

- The product placement. ...
By katemoore • 14 years ago

Evelyn Evelyn, fandom, and joke culture.

You might be familar with the controversy surrounding Amanda Palmer and Jason Webley’s project Evelyn Evelyn. If not, here’s a summary.

Basically, Amanda Palmer and Jason Webley wanted to do a vaudeville project. Nothing wrong with that. But then they invented a backstory about how it’s really being performed by conjoined twins (who used to be involved in child porn) who they plucked out of relative obscurity, convinced them to come out with the record, dressed them up in black and purple. It’s a lot of spectacle. In performances, they giggle about the whole thing. And it has raised some legitimate concerns about ableism, not helped by some of Palmer’s fairly flippant tweets, like this one:

"setting aside 846 emails ...

You might be familar with the controversy surrounding Amanda Palmer and Jason Webley’s project Evelyn Evelyn. If not, here’s a summary.

Basically, Amanda Palmer and Jason Webley wanted to do a vaudeville project. Nothing wrong with that. ...
By katemoore • 14 years ago

2010 Amelia Bloomer Project books announced!

Screw off, Stephenie Meyer.

The Amelia Bloomer Project was created by the Feminist Task Force of the American Library Association (yes, they have one!) and recommends feminist and feminist-friendly books for young readers, through high school.

2010’s list just came out, and it is awesome.

Screw off, Stephenie Meyer.

The Amelia Bloomer Project was created by the Feminist Task Force of the American Library Association (yes, they have one!) and recommends feminist and feminist-friendly books for young readers, through high school.

2010’s list ...
By katemoore • 14 years ago

It’s the subtle things: iPad edition

As many of you have no doubt heard, Apple unveiled its latest product today: a tablet PC. It’s called the iPad. Almost immediately, the Internet and probably word of mouth was flooded with jokes about how it should’ve been called the "iTampon". From Twitter:

"#ipad , #iTampon … I’m sorry but… Fail"

"#iTampon — What a bloody mess."

"so wit this #iTampon are we gonna see girls wit headphones coming out their ****?"

"Thanks to the #itampon I kno where my gurl is at least one week outta tha month haha"

"LOL @ iTampon . You can always count on things women shove up their watering holes to be funny in most ...

As many of you have no doubt heard, Apple unveiled its latest product today: a tablet PC. It’s called the iPad. Almost immediately, the Internet and probably word of mouth was flooded with jokes about how it ...
By katemoore • 14 years ago

Disability and feminism: one person’s experience

First of all, a housekeeping note: This post is filed under “Random.” Why? There isn’t a category even remotely related to disability rights. This, in a very comprehensive and well-populated category system that has room for such pressing issues of intersectionality like “Hungover Feminist Weekly Report.” Fix this. (Editors Note: There is now a disability rights category available for Community Posts)

–

Now then. I am a feminist, and I have a disability (Asperger’s syndrome, for those who are wondering. Yes, it is diagnosed. Those who would like to tell me about how this isn’t a real disability and/or how I am just using it as an excuse can kindly go fuck themselves.) I believe these two things are related. Here’s ...

First of all, a housekeeping note: This post is filed under “Random.” Why? There isn’t a category even remotely related to disability rights. This, in a very comprehensive and well-populated category system that has room for such ...
By katemoore • 14 years ago

I cannot take it anymore. (vent)

I can’t fucking take it anymore.

I keep reading posts about how everyone has all these wonderful feminist friends and how they’ve taken such a long time to carve out this amazing niche of people just like them. Well, congratulations. Let’s just throw you a party. Most people have to take what they get.

If someone shows at least the slightest indication that they don’t completely hate me — not exactly a common occurrence — I have to hang on them for dear life. I have a deeply vested interest in not pissing it off. But I can’t take it anymore. The people I know make rape jokes at a rate of roughly one per hour, for instance, and they haven’t stopped ...

I can’t fucking take it anymore.

I keep reading posts about how everyone has all these wonderful feminist friends and how they’ve taken such a long time to carve out this amazing niche of people just like them. ...

Load More