Webcomic of the Week

a softer world

Sadly, yes

So....I've been posting really sporadically lately. You may have noticed. But it means I've been missing some of the things I usually post on with some degree of regularity. And violence against trans people is one of them. In a comment exchange on an earlier post someone asked if it seemed like lately there's been an unusually high number of cases where a trans person is assaulted and/or murdered, and to add insult to injury the police/media handle it horribly. And as distracted as I've been, it does seem that way. I don't have any statistics to share, but do a quick survey of recent posts on individual instances of trans violence on all the usual blogs and you'll see what I mean. Here's the most recent example. I don't really know what to say about this, but I feel like something needs to be said. Is it that awareness of this problem has increased so it's getting more coverage? Is there some social shift going on that's causing an increase in the violence? I have no answers.

Video of the Day

My kids' favorite song right now...

Monday Miscellanea

Ya know who kicks ass? Elizabeth Warren.
Consumer advocate to set up watchdog agency
Warren has been known to say such kick-ass things as this:

Motherhood is now the single-best indicator that an unmarried middle-class woman will end up bankrupt. In the world of financial devastation, there are two groups of people: single mothers and others.

Check out 5 reasons to love Elizabeth Warren here.



And while we're talking about ass-kicking women...check 'em:

Just sayin'...


During a recession, the effects of ageism are more clearly visible:
For the Unemployed Over 50, Fears of Never Working Again



And according to this review, the presence of shows like Huge and Mike and Molly reflect the positive influence of the Fat Acceptance movement in mainstream culture:

And yet despite its disappointments, “Mike & Molly” is significant as the second fictional series in recent months to take weight not as a sideshow but rather as a central, animating subject, surpassing even the efforts made by “Roseanne” in the 1980s and ’90s. “Huge,” a drama about teenagers at a fat camp, which appeared this summer on ABC Family, displayed a similar sensitivity, a tone aimed at correcting for the reflexive cultural judgments levied against the overweight at a time when obesity has been cast as one of the greatest blights of our age.

Both series indicate the extent to which the countervailing sentiment, the fat-acceptance movement, begun in the 1960s, has gained traction in the mainstream as a rebuttal to political and social forces seeking to tax Mountain Dew and convince you that every time you have a second slice of pizza the devil grows an extra pair of horns. “Mike & Molly” is a mushy and human exploration of the struggle to find pleasure away from the bakery aisle, and the fight fat people wage against objectification.

I wouldn't bet the show will be unproblematic, but it seems like a step in the right direction.

What did I miss?

Tea-Partiers @ the courthouse

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Video of the Day

Seems like alls I got to post lately is videos... enjoy!

Video of the Day

Christine O'Donnell, now the official Republican candidate in the Delaware race. It's delicious, y'all.

An unhealthy, overly-processed food additive by any other name

...is still an unhealthy, overly-processed food additive. Good try, though.

Corn syrup producers want sweeter name: corn sugar

Before the "Ground Zero Victory Mosque"

One thing I know is

... that I am going to read the heck outta this book.

Stuck

So...as I mentioned in an earlier post, my grandpa the molester died a few weeks ago. And this has dredged up all kinds of conflicting emotions and thoughts. It's kind of therapeutic for me to write about this stuff, and in my experience it's therapeutic to read other people's thoughts about their similar experiences, so I'm working on a post about it. But I've started it three or four times and keep getting stuck. Usually I bang these things out and post them without much delay, but this time is different.

I think part of the problem is the strange response these kinds of posts get. When I post on something like this (or an intensely personal post on my childbirth or breastfeeding experience) the hits that post gets jumps from the usual hundreds to thousands very quickly. But the comments don't always reflects that. If a post like this gets 80 comments it's often getting read about 8,000 times. One such post got over 23,000 hits and only 17 comments. So first of all it's weird that I'm talking about this really private intense stuff and there are all these people out there reading it silently. Some of them are linking it or posting it on Facebook, according to my stat counter. But I don't know who they are or what they're thinking about. What made them read it in the first place, and what response did they have? Why does such a small percentage of the readers for these posts comment compared to other posts? Does it feel more dangerous to comment, or do they not know what to say? When I read a really personal post I feel more inclined to comment, but maybe that's just me.

So anyway, I'm curious about this dynamic and what it means. Your thoughts?

Video of the Day

I know,my musical taste is all over the map, right? Have a good weekend, y'all.

OMG WTF is UP with Feminism, y'all?!?

So...feminism. Doesn't it just totally suck ass? What with all the calling out and flaming and triggering and swarming and OMG what the fuck is wrong with feminism?!?

I've been on a bit of an internet hiatus lately, what with my busy life and all the thoughts cookin' in my head and a vacation to the land of thick rainforests and come-and-go internet signals. But, of course, you can't step away from the feminist blogosphere for long without missing some kind of kerfuffle or other involving calling out and/or flaming and/or angry discussions about triggering behavior, which is always followed up by a widespread and generalized panic about OMG The State of Feminism. Maybe I'm just cynical and world-weary, but here's how I tend to feel everytime this dog and pony show commences:

1. It would probably behoove us all to remember that Feminism≠Internet Feminism.
2. It would probably behoove us all to remember that Internet Feminists are not a monolithic group. There's a huge range of perspectives and writing styles and personalities and outlooks among feminist blogs, y'all. Feeling disillusioned by the actions of some? Seek out new voices. They're there.
3. Criticizing someone's fucked up words or actions is totally different and generally more effective than attacking their character. Maybe their words or actions truly are a reflection of a deeply flawed character. Or maybe they're a generally sincere and good person who has this one flaw or a total lack of experience in this area or whatever. Attacking their character probably isn't going to result in a learning experience for them or a furthering of the dialogue.
4. If you're getting a giant ego boost off of calling someone out and escalating the situation into a flame-war, then you probly need to engage in a little soul-searching. Gettin' your metaphorical rocks off in a flame war? It's quite likely that you're oblivious to the beam in your own eye even while you're attacking someone else for the speck in theirs. Step away frm the computer and take a look in the mirror, my friend.
5. And finally, feminism is a human activity. It's a social movement engaged in by humans. And humans ain't perfect. We've all got our shortcomings and blindspots and bad days and impulsive moments. So quarrels will arise and insensitive things will be said and tempers will flare. It doesn't mean Feminism is busted. It means feminism is a human activity with it's ups and downs and flaws and moments of beauty and warmth and banality and pettiness. And that's OK.

And anyway...the fighting and hating and swarming...it takes a lot of energy. I need all my energy for the good stuff and the meaningful stuff and the tough stuff in my life. And the ego boost you get from that kinda stuff? It lasts, and it doesn't have a bitter aftertaste.

I'm back

...and scrambling to get caught up. So no Monday Miscellanea this week. However, there is this to chew on:
New Study Estimates Neonatal Circumcision Death Rate Higher Than Suffocation and Auto Accidents

Interesting, no? For more info on circumcision and a good resource for research realities vs cultural misconceptions and medical dogma, check out Intact America.

More later, y'all. Happy Wednesday!

My grandmother, with her plane and her firstborn.

Happy Labor Day weekend, from Seattle.

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