Thinky thoughts
This essay, Common People was one of the best critiques of ~this american life~ that I've read in a long time. He makes the simple but often overlooked point that "We always make it about race in America, when it really has a lot more to do with class than anything else."
A lol-erific addendum to the culture wars; the Republican Party in a town in South Carolina wants their candidates to sign a pledge affirming that, among other things, they've never had pre-marital sex and will never watch porn. Women are getting the shit kicked out of their sexuality and reproductive rights, so I can't help but take a little vindictive pleasure in the fact that someone is trying to control men's sexuality, too, wrong as that may be. On the other hand -- this is ridiculous, and humorous. If this were being required of women, no one would take it as a joke. In our culture, it's ludicrous to even imagine people trying to tell men who and who not to have sex with and when. It's funny. But that happens to women in one way or another every single day. And this is why we fight.
A professor at my alma mater went on record saying he agreed with Rush Limbaugh, and applauded his analogy requiring people using subsidized contraceptives to post videos of their sex lives. People flipped shit, obviously, and the president of my school responded with a really strong denouncement. It just drives me crazy that people are missing the whole goddamn point of the entire birth control thing which is as follows: birth control is a medicine prescribed by doctors. Prescriptions are covered by insurance. Therefore, birth control should be covered by insurance. Why is that such a hard point to grasp? Whenever sex is thrown into the picture people just lose all sense of rationality.
I would really like to read some more books on social justice/feminism. Any recs? Some books that I've read and enjoyed include The Purity Myth by Jessica Valenti, Gang Leader for a Day by Sudhir Venkatesh, Reviving Ophelia by Mary Pipher, etc.
Originally posted at http://aidenfire.dreamwidth.org/285615.html.
A lol-erific addendum to the culture wars; the Republican Party in a town in South Carolina wants their candidates to sign a pledge affirming that, among other things, they've never had pre-marital sex and will never watch porn. Women are getting the shit kicked out of their sexuality and reproductive rights, so I can't help but take a little vindictive pleasure in the fact that someone is trying to control men's sexuality, too, wrong as that may be. On the other hand -- this is ridiculous, and humorous. If this were being required of women, no one would take it as a joke. In our culture, it's ludicrous to even imagine people trying to tell men who and who not to have sex with and when. It's funny. But that happens to women in one way or another every single day. And this is why we fight.
A professor at my alma mater went on record saying he agreed with Rush Limbaugh, and applauded his analogy requiring people using subsidized contraceptives to post videos of their sex lives. People flipped shit, obviously, and the president of my school responded with a really strong denouncement. It just drives me crazy that people are missing the whole goddamn point of the entire birth control thing which is as follows: birth control is a medicine prescribed by doctors. Prescriptions are covered by insurance. Therefore, birth control should be covered by insurance. Why is that such a hard point to grasp? Whenever sex is thrown into the picture people just lose all sense of rationality.
I would really like to read some more books on social justice/feminism. Any recs? Some books that I've read and enjoyed include The Purity Myth by Jessica Valenti, Gang Leader for a Day by Sudhir Venkatesh, Reviving Ophelia by Mary Pipher, etc.
Originally posted at http://aidenfire.dreamwidth.org/285615.html.