Some parts of Elizabeth Moon's Park51 posting are more difficult to address than others. For example:"The same with other points of Islam that I find appalling (especially as a free woman) and totally against those basic principles of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution...I feel that I personally (and many others) lean over ( Read more... )

Given his feminist cred, I wonder if Neil Gaiman remarking that "George R. R. Martin is not your bitch" can be read not as a misogynist slip, but a use of the culture's current popular metaphor for exploitation and abuse. In which case, the insult is not directed at the targets of abuse, but at the abusers, with the sense of "stop treating other ( Read more... )

I have the rampaging thoughts tonight. Parking some of them here, just to get them out of my system ( Read more... )

Remember these fuckers?

Mercy Ministries admits claims were falseFormer directors of Mercy Ministries yesterday admitted the evangelical Christian organisation had engaged in false, misleading and deceptive conduct by wrongly claiming their residential care programs were free and included support from psychologists, dietitians, general ( Read more... )

Looking for any recent news on the prosecution of Asqa Parvez's alleged killers, I stumbled across this ( Read more... )

Library FAIL. I'll go tomorrow morning. In the meantime I think I'll post some news from the world of SCIENCE here, in between efforts at unearthing the household from its current layer of filth.

Cervical cancer vaccine reminds girls of sexual risks rather than promoting promiscuity.

Bans 'do not cut abortion rate' (but contraceptive access does ( Read more... )

GOP senators who voted against anti-rape law refuse to explain why

Survivors of boat explosion granted refugee status

Rummaging in the mathom house, I found my old copy of Phyllis Chesler's Letters to a Young Feminist, published in 1997. Chesler has written some questionable things since then, but her advice in that book still rings true - here are a few things I'd underlined:Do not hesitate because your actions may not be perfect enough, or beyond criticism ( Read more... )

Further to yesterday's posting re drag kings: qthewetsprocket continues the discussion with her own thoughts on the subject. (Many thanks to all for your thought-provoking responses!)

"... it's worth asking why FTM [Female to Male] drag has gained MTF's acceptance in neither mainstream popular culture nor queer communities... MTF [Male to Female] drag is about performing, and often ridiculing, femininity - a state that, in its exaggerated drag form, is fake, plastic, shallow, and lacking in power. FTM drag is about performing ( Read more... )