Fearless Friday: News round-up

[wordsrmylife]

(Icon via garwlban)

It's been a week to mark progress on the march toward gender and sexual equality.

1.
Vermont's alternative newspaper, Seven Days, noted victories scored under the radar. The smaller of the two is one the public will perhaps notice most, but it's one that makes so so much sense: All single-stall bathrooms in state buildings must

Comments

thanks!

[anonymous]

wow, katherine, love the eddie izzard photo that tops this list, and enjoyed all the links, as well as appreciate the shout outs! I always tell people that a lifestyle "choice" is growing your hair out past your butt. Being a vegetarian, that's a lifestyle "choice." If you're GLBTQ the only choice you get is if you're going to be honest about it or not.
Namaste,
Lee

Re: thanks!

[wordsrmylife]

Thanks for visiting! I like your lifestyle choice examples & may well borrow them. With attribution, of course.

[wordsrmylife]

I'm with you on that. The only time "lifestyle" works for me is if it's a fairly narrow category--"urban hipster," "aging hippie," "punk."

There isn't even a typical teenage way of life.

In fact, the whole reason I've been interested in gender for as long as I have, namely, since college, is that I questioned the essentialism of second wave feminism from the moment I noticed it.

[wordsrmylife]

"Essentialism" is the idea that "women are x", where x stands for characteristics such as nurturing, caring, supportive, pacifist, etc., while "men are y" where y stands aggressive, violent, strong, individualistic. It's the attribution of characteristics by gender. It's a concept that was around during the first wave of feminism, too, which helped women start such organizations as the Women's League for Peace and Freedom, which, as Martha Stuart would say, is a good thing.

However, what essentialism fails to do is take into account all the factors that shape an individual, of which gender is only one. The idea that women were always dependent, for example, never flew with me, because I had too many widowed great-grandmothers, all of whom managed well enough on their own or in a household of women.

[annan_dum]

Wow, that's a lot of great news! I've stopped reading/listening to the news lately because I've had so much stress, all I've wanted to do is read fiction and rock out to the radio. But that means I miss out on good news, like this, which would really be a shame. So I guess I'd better switch the radio back to NPR....

[wordsrmylife]

I like your stress-coping. I don't remember enough to get in motion, and rocking-out would be a good way to do it.

I do hope the birth certificate provision spreads. Again, it makes so much sense.