Love in the Time of Darwinism by Kay S. Hymowitz, City Journal Autumn 2008
http://www.city-journal.org/2008/18_4_darwinist_dating.html

A very engaging look at the current practices of male/female relationships. "Today, though, there is no standard scenario for meeting and mating, or even relating. For one thing, men face a situation—and I’m not exaggerating here—new to human history. Never before have men wooed women who are, at least theoretically, their equals—socially, professionally, and sexually." I think the most interesting point is this idea about female expectations: "[Women] want to compete equally, and have the privileges of their mother’s generation. They want the executive position, AND the ability to stay home with children and come back into the workplace at or beyond the position at which they left. They want the bad boy and the metrosexual." This last sentence is the major sticking point in my mind, though I've wondered since reading it if I'm just attracted to it because it justifies/reinforces my, shall we say, lack of aggression in dating.

"Earlier this year, I published an article in City Journal called “Child-Man in the Promised Land.” The piece elicited a roaring flood of mailed and blogged responses, mostly from young men who didn’t much care for its title (a reference to Claude Brown’s 1965 novel Manchild in the Promised Land) or its thesis: that too many single young males (SYMs) were lingering in a hormonal limbo between adolescence and adulthood, shunning marriage and children, and whiling away their leisure hours with South Park reruns, marathon sessions of World of Warcraft, and Maxim lists of the ten best movie fart scenes."

2 funny. and 2 true.

OMG. Even I was duly shocked

Politically incorrect classic ads

funny advert posters

Horrifying: LYSOL DOUCHING.

Wow. This photographer took photos of what she imagined Disney and fairytale princesses would be like in the real world where happy endings don't exist. The Rapunzel one if particularly disturbing and intense.

General online magazine by and about women

Maira Kalman of the N.Y. Times "And the Pursuit of Happiness" delivers a kind of art essay on the law and the court system. Hard to explain, but looks very cool.

Really interesting presentation of an interview with justice of the Supreme Court of the US and inspiration for feminism (and everyone, I believe)

Awesome illustrations re: the supreme court and women in US history

"And then I meet Ruth Bader Ginsburg. I think, move over Jane Austen as my imaginary Best Friend Forever."

Hey, Shakers, Liss has graciously allowed me to yell in her forum. Many thanks, Liss. I have no other outlet for what I'm about to say. I want to tell you first: at least one of you knows me in person. What I'm about to say is something you do not know about me. If it's not you, then one of your friends might be like me.

Post-adoption and post-abortion effects on women compared.

I have given a baby up for adoption, and I have had an abortion, and while anecdotes are not evidence, I can assert that abortions may or may not cause depression - it certainly did not in me, apart from briefly mourning the path not taken - but adoption? That is an entirely different matter. I don't doubt that there are women who were fine after adoption, and there is emphatically nothing wrong with that or with them; but I want to point out that if we're going to have a seemingly neverending discussion about the sorrow and remorse caused by abortion, then it is about goddamn time that we hear from birth mothers too.

Piece by Jimmy Carter about his decision to sever ties w/ his church, after six decades b/c of the church's treatment of and opinions about women.

Women and girls have been discriminated against for too long in a twisted interpretation of the word of God.

Just...yeah. Unfortunately.

Being male, as a programmer, means:

This is an interesting list --it sounds like it was written by a aging female developer who had trouble achieving her goals or had low esteem. I wish there wasn't continued reinforcement of gender roles. I think it's a privilege to be surrounded by such smart people and in my near decade of experience, have yet to "sleep my way to a bug fix", feel threatened, or be treated like a "secretary". I am aware of my surroundings and chose to be here, so...

Excellent, clear and unarguable

improving diversity in communities

English - "They asked me to speak about women in open source, and most specifically about two recent open source projects that have a majority of women developers. But first, I need to give a bit of context."

女性比率は1.5％

This explains the need and a lot of the trials of feminism (and also acknowledges commanalities with other kinds of discrimination). It's about trust and how so many men fail at being trustworthy.

"This, then, is the terrible bargain we have regretfully struck: Men are allowed the easy comfort of their unexamined privilege, but my regard will always be shot through with a steely, anxious bolt of caution. A shitty bargain all around, really. But there it is." [Sometimes the worst isn't the asshole strangers. Sometimes the worst is a guy you care about casually, offhandedly acting like you're not a person. Making a rape joke, dismissing women as overemotional, telling you when you're offended and hurt that you have no sense of humor. The most damaging attacks are the ones from supposed friends. What can we do, but live in anticipation of the next betrayal?]

the everyday language of sexism and how much it hurts

"There is the perplexity at my fury that my life experience is not considered more relevant than the opinionated pronouncements of men who make a pastime of informal observation, like womanhood is an exotic locale which provides magnificent fodder for the amateur ethnographer. And there is the haughty dismissal of my assertion that being on the outside looking in doesn't make one more objective; it merely provides a different perspective."

English - A feminist about her feelings about men. [Warning: Page is huge and hard to load.]

Women sacrifice their rights to make men's lives easier. Beautifully written, and about all the little ways in which patriarchy is enforced. Use for teaching feminism 101.

OMG A BLACK GIRL! Zoe Saldana is a major character in a summer action sci-fi blockbuster. OMG A BLACK GIRL! She is ambitious and intelligent and clever without being a caricature. OMG A BLACK GIRL! She is not forced into asexuality by the inexplicable disinterest of every male character. OMG A BLACK GIRL! She is one half of the principle romance. OMG A BLACK GIRL! She is in love with and desired, romanced, and loved by one of the most iconic figures, not just in all of nerdom, but in all of popular culture. OMG. A black girl is fucking Spock. Nyota Uhura is not a white girl. Her just being there is still worthy of a fuckton of notice. This, right here, is one of the biggest coups in media representation that I've seen in my entire lifetime. Goggle adjustments may be in order. Just saying.

My essay on Nyota Uhura in STXI and holding women of color to white feminist standards.

Nyota Uhura is a black girl and there is no angle from which her actually being allowed to have consensual sexuality, being desired, and being loved (in addition to having her job and intellect, no less) is a fundamental downgrade from what she had before.

"Uhura being single in TOS was not empowering. She was single because the male leads were all white and as a black woman she was less of a person than them, she was less of a person than a white woman, and the fact that this serendipitously ended up meaning that she didn't have to spend all of her time mooning pathetically after dismissive men does not make that any more acceptable."

"Now, in general, I don't like the idea that because a female character has a love interest that is all she is and/or that she is automatically reduced by it. It's not that I don't want female characters to have as wide a range of roles in the story as male ones because I absolutely do. It's that, inkeeping with that, I don't feel the need to restrict or limit female characters any more than they already are. Saying that a female character can't be a strong character if she's in a romance is just as shitty as various alternatives."

A reminder of why Uhura and Spock's romance in XI is just so incredibly awesome...and why the way Uhura is portrayed is one of the best things to happen to mainstream media ever. As one parody/recap says, Uhura has an "MA in Advanced Linguistics, PhD in Badass", and she is all that and so much more.

Meta: Why Uhura being in a relationship in STR is noteworthy.

Simply put: Nyota Uhura is not a white girl.

Wow. Perfect.

"If you fail to respect what women say, you label yourself a problem."

I set my own risk tolerance. you must be aware of what signals you are sending by your appearance and the environment. Learn to understand and respect women’s communication to you. If you fail to respect what women say, you label yourself a problem. Don’t rape. Nor should you commit these similar but less severe offenses: don’t assault. Don’t grope. Don’t constrain. Don’t brandish. Don’t expose yourself. Don’t threaten with physical violence. Don’t threaten with sexual violence. Shouldn’t this go without saying? Of course it should. Sadly, that’s not the world I live in. You may be beginning to realize that it’s not the world you live in, either.

a man's guide to talking to strange women without seeming crazy/serial rapist by Phaedra Starling

Shouldn’t this go without saying? Of course it should. Sadly, that’s not the world I live in. You may be beginning to realize that it’s not the world you live in, either.

Newsflash, Mr. Nice Guy: Being pushy or creepy tends to set off alarm bells.

When you approach me in public, you are Schrödinger’s Rapist. You may or may not be a man who would commit rape. I won’t know for sure unless you start sexually assaulting me. I can’t see inside your head, and I don’t know your intentions. If you expect me to trust you—to accept you at face value as a nice sort of guy—you are not only failing to respect my reasonable caution, you are being cavalier about my personal safety.

As a child, the actor regularly saw his father hit his mother. Here he describes how the horrors of his childhood remained with him in his adult life

As a child, the actor regularly saw his father hit his mother...

An eloquent and personal appeal for greater awareness and proactive confrontation of the scourge of domestic violence from Captain Jean Luc Picard himself.

In civilian life it was a different story. He was an angry, unhappy and frustrated man who was not able to control his emotions or his hands. As a child I witnessed his repeated violence against my mother, and the terror and misery he caused was such that, if I felt I could have succeeded, I would have killed him. If my mother had attempted it, I would have held him down. For those who struggle to comprehend these feelings in a child, imagine living in an environment of emotional unpredictability, danger and humiliation week after week, year after year, from the age of seven. My childish instinct was to protect my mother, but the man hurting her was my father, whom I respected, admired and feared.

Discrimination based on a person's sex is as alive today as it ever was.

An excellent piece of writing.

Struggling with this article...

A reminder why I don't always feel guilty about coming off as a little bit arrogant

Could there be a more thoroughgoing humiliation for America’s women?

"But shouldn’t a woman who is prepared to be commander in chief be intimidating? Because of the intelligence, experience, talent and drive that got her there? If she isn’t, at least on some level, off-putting, if her presence inspires national commentary on breast-pumping and babysitting rather than health care reform and social security, then something is seriously wrong. If she doesn’t elicit at least some degree of awe, then something is missing."

“This election is not about issues,” Rick Davis, John McCain’s campaign manager said this week. “This election is about a composite view of what people take away from these candidates.” That’s a scary thought. For the takeaway is so often base, a reflection more of people’s fears and insecurities than of our hopes and dreams.

Funny review of SATC2

SATC2 review

the BEST SATC2 review EVAR http://bit.ly/dfu2zB [thanks @doclorraine @doctorcdf @BangsandaBun]

sex and the city review

Via http://silentwordsspeakloudest.blogspot.com/

A delightfully snakry and scathing review of the latest entry into Carrie Bradshaw's episodic stretch-mark-ridden monster series...

Kermode on SATC2 http://bit.ly/bstWN7 The Stranger piece http://bit.ly/beslgb and VC for good measure http://bit.ly/bOV89A

Earlier this year, women became the majority of the workforce for the first time in U.S. history. Most managers are now women too. And for every two men who get a college degree this year, three women will do the same. For years, women’s progress has been cast as a struggle for equality. But what if equality isn’t the end point? What if modern, postindustrial society is simply better suited to women? A report on the unprecedented role reversal now under way— and its vast cultural consequences

Daughters preferred over sons, women more successful

Earlier this year, women became the majority of the workforce for the first time in U.S. history. Most managers are now women too. And for every two men who get a college degree this year, three women will do the same. For years, women’s progress has been cast as a struggle for equality. But what if equality isn’t the end point? What if modern, postindustrial society is simply better suited to women? A report on the unprecedented role reversal now under way— and its vast cultural consequences

"Earlier this year, women became the majority of the workforce for the first time in U.S. history. Most managers are now women too. And for every two men who get a college degree this year, three women will do the same. For years, women’s progress has been cast as a struggle for equality. But what if equality isn’t the end point? What if modern, postindustrial society is simply better suited to women? A report on the unprecedented role reversal now under way— and its vast cultural consequences"

In his final book, The Bachelors’ Ball, published in 2007, the sociologist Pierre Bourdieu describes the changing gender dynamics of Béarn, the region in southwestern France where he grew up. The eldest sons once held the privileges of patrimonial loyalty and filial inheritance in Béarn. But over the decades, changing economic forces turned those privileges into curses. Although the land no longer produced the impressive income it once had, the men felt obligated to tend it. Meanwhile, modern women shunned farm life, lured away by jobs and adventure in the city. They occasionally returned for the traditional balls, but the men who awaited them had lost their prestige and become unmarriageable. This is the image that keeps recurring to me, one that Bourdieu describes in his book: at the bachelors’ ball, the men, self-conscious about their diminished status, stand stiffly, their hands by their sides, as the women twirl away.

As thinking and communicating have come to eclipse physical strength and stamina as the keys to economic success, women begin to have the advantage.

They mean 25 horribly awesome vintage ads

Since the 50's, a lot has changed in way of women's rights and their duties in and out of the house. I highly doubt any company could get away with phrases like

Sorry, forgot to add the link: http://www.icanhasinternets.com/2010/05/25-horribly-sexist-vintage-ads/ – dave trott (davetrott) http://twitter.com/davetrott/statuses/16293067134

25 Horribly Sexist Vintage Ads - http://bit.ly/cROHMZ via @sarahisback

http://newevolutiondesigns.com/75-shocking-advertisements http://newevolutiondesigns.com/30-amazing-stop-motion-videos http://www.evilsunday.com/evil-creatures-night/ http://dornob.com/design/apartments/ http://imgur.com/gallery/wyxVv http://www.toptenz.net/ http://2leep.com/ http://www.crystalkiss.com/