rmj

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By rmj • 14 years ago

Fat is an adjective, not an attack.

Fat is just an adjective.

That’s it. It’s a word that describes, subjectively, a physical characteristic. Like big, or thick, or curvy, or beautiful.

It’s not an insult. It’s not definitive. It’s not an argument.

Yet so many people take it that way. To many readers, “fat” is a declaration of war.

When I wrote about Joan from Mad Men, people immediately criticized me, a size-14 woman who identifies as fat, for calling a size-14 woman fat. When Tasha Fierce described the lovely Sara Ramirez as fat, people immediately attacked her for her word choice. Fat is a word that gets people going; those three letters contain all of the sizism and prejudice that kyriarchy force-feeds women. Fat seems to erase any positive description – even if it’s paired with beautiful or sexy, many readers will ignore it and focus on fat. If these readers don’t see the noun attached to this particular adjective as disgusting or unattractive, it’s wrong, and a personal affront.

Read the rest at Deeply Problematic

By rmj • 14 years ago

Women and bodily functions: poop

My fella is pretty modern-thinking. He’s well-acquainted with the necessity of my diaphragm, and he is not afraid of my period. When we camp out, I get pretty smelly and greasy, and often piss within his visual and aural range. Farts are not a big deal. He understands that I am a person and thus have bodily functions. He is comfortable with the processes of my existing.

But he does not like evidence of my bowel movements. If something does not sufficiently flush, he is upset. If I mention being backed up, he is visibly uncomfortable. If someone brings it up in conversation, he goes suddenly silent.

Though poop, feces, bowel movements are ...

My fella is pretty modern-thinking. He’s well-acquainted with the necessity of my diaphragm, and he is not afraid of my period. When we camp out, I get pretty smelly and greasy, and often piss ...

By rmj • 14 years ago

Teenage girls and internalized sexism

I’m very emotionally tied to feminism; feminism alone got me through years when I did feel the weight of having a non-standard body. When I was a teenager, I hated myself. I was smart, but no one would listen because I was a teenage girl with non-evident disabilities. I hated my body, and so did everyone else, because I was big and because I actively rejected beauty standards. I felt judged, harassed, and hated – by my peers, by my teachers, by society at large. It was not some conspiracy theory: I was not well-liked by most.
But feminism loved me, feminism understood me. Feminism told me that I was still okay, that I was still worth loving, that I ...

By rmj • 14 years ago

Transgender is an adjective. Not a noun. Or a verb!

Originally posted at Deeply Problematic

What does the word transgender lack?*

It is not a noun. Or verb. It describes an aspect of a noun. But like other adjectives in formal language– green, strong, female, etc. – it describes the type of noun in question, and explains something about a noun that’s relevant to the context.

Transgender, as a word, describes folks who were assigned a sex or gender at birth incongruent with their actual sex or gender. Transgender is an adjective – it cannot stand on its own, but must be attached to a noun. Like other adjectives, transgender exists to modify and clarify some aspect of the noun at hand.

Transgender is a word that modifies, but when I ...

Originally posted at Deeply Problematic

What does the word transgender lack?*

It is not a noun. Or verb. It describes an aspect of a noun. But like other adjectives in formal language– green, strong, female, etc. ...

By rmj • 15 years ago

CALL FOR ENTRIES: 50 Books for Problematic Times

Cross-posted at Deeply Problematic

Last month, I covered Newsweek’s myopic list of the 50 books that define and explain these confusing modern times . To recap: the list was 84% white, 78% male, 96% straight, and 66% both white and male, and that is not relevant to these modern times.

In response to this list, I presented 50 Books for Post-Modern Times , and began soliciting submissions from the Feministing Community and the readers of Deeply Problematic. I’ve already gotten a lot of great responses from folks – thank you so much!

I have re-named the project, and it is now called:

50 Books for Problematic Times

What is 50BPT? It’s a ...

Cross-posted at Deeply Problematic

Last month, I covered Newsweek’s myopic list of the 50 books that define and explain these confusing modern times . To recap: the list was 84% white, 78% male, 96% ...

By rmj • 15 years ago

Police taser disabled man for not leaving bathroom

Crossposted at Deeply Problematic

In Mobile, Alabama this week, policemen used lethal force on Antonio Love, a deaf and mentally disabled man, who would not come out of the bathroom.

Their excuse? He had a lethal weapon himself….an umbrella.

Love was in the bathroom, a place where everyone should expect privacy and respect. . In Love’s words, given in sign-language, he had "a badly upset stomach last Friday and went into a Dollar General store to use the restroom."

When he had been in there an hour, store employees called the authorities, which is reasonable enough. The police appropriately identified themselves, but Love, who was scared and believed the Devil was trying to get in, did not respond.

They ...

Crossposted at Deeply Problematic

In Mobile, Alabama this week, policemen used lethal force on Antonio Love, a deaf and mentally disabled man, who would not come out of the bathroom.

Their excuse? He had a lethal ...

By rmj • 15 years ago

Announcing: 50 Books for Post-Modern Times

Yesterday in my blog, I covered Newsweek’s myopic list of the 50 books that define and explain these confusing modern times. To recap: the list was 84% white, 78% male, 96% straight, and 66% both white and male.

Now, I’m not putting down white male writers. But there are many wonderful writers who are subject to significant oppression, and choosing to promote already coddled and significantly advantaged writers disproportionately contributes to that problem. Our country and our world is filled with brilliant and illuminating writers who do not fit perfectly into Jon Meacham’s narrow idea of what the canon looks like.

In response to this list, I present:

50 Books for Post-Modern Times

One upcoming week in

Yesterday in my blog, I covered Newsweek’s myopic list of the 50 books that define and explain these confusing modern times. To recap: the list was 84% white, 78% male, 96% straight, and ...

By rmj • 15 years ago

Do you know what an older man can give you?

Crossposted at Deeply Problematic

This problematic poster is currently making the rounds

Issues:

1) The onus is placed on the women being preyed on, not the predator. The young women manipulated and hurt by older men are constructed as more culpable than the men wronging them.

2) The girl in this picture is clearly white, but is the man black? The lips and the dark hair seem to code him as black, and it would fit neatly into our cultural narrative of relations between black men and white women as predatory and scurrilous .

3) Illegitimate children constructs the family as necessarily nuclear (along with other issues).

4) AIDS is not equal to death.

Thoughts?

Crossposted at Deeply Problematic

This problematic poster is currently making the rounds

Issues:

1) The onus is placed on the women being preyed on, not the predator. The young women manipulated and hurt by ...