feminism

I'm sad now. Jen has a video of Greta Christina talking about atheism and sexuality, and for several days I've been trying to get it to work…and no matter what I do, it won't play. Greta is great, though, so it's almost certainly an excellent talk…maybe it will work for you. Greta Christina on Atheism & Sexuality from Jennifer McCreight on Vimeo. Jen also has the results (and more) of a survey of her readers, with the somewhat sorta kinda surprising result that even as a young feminist atheist writer, 75% of her audience are male. We need to encourage more women to participate and lead…

Here's another odd pink phenomenon. This is a page from a Toys 'R Us catalog, illustrating some science toys, and note the odd distinctions being made. Both the telescope and the microscope come in special pink versions, just for the girl who is apparently more interested in getting an instrument that matches her nail polish than being functional, and note also (you may have to click through to see the larger image) that in every case the pink model is less powerful than the black and gray model. There is a message being sent here. Being feminine, being girly, means you belong in a separate…

...when the misogynist internet comments start? Anyway, you should go read the article.

tags: Women: Don't Drive!, entertainment, comedy, satire, funny, fucking hilarious, BBC Worldwide, Harry Enfield, streaming video More homework. Actually, even though blind agreement with whatever a man tells me is part of my social etiquette homework, I must point out that women are much safer drivers than men, based on miles driven. Better yet, this research was carried out by a man, so it must be true.

tags: Women: Keep Your Virtue!, entertainment, comedy, satire, funny, fucking hilarious, BBC Worldwide, Harry Enfield, streaming video More homework into the social/cultural side of things. Hrm, how did the BBC comedy chaps learned the story of my spouse and why I married him?

I have yet to meet anyone who has read this book, myself included. But apparently some sciency blogger picked up a copy the other day and noticed a near absence of female scientists represented in the anthology. Why? Y, apparently. As you probably know, Richard Dawkins is presently being raked over blogospheric coals for having edited a volume of science writing that includes only about 3.6% of its works written by females. The observation was first made here at hgg, and has been discussed here at The Intersection, here at Aetiology, here at Questionable Authority, at Blue Lab Coats, here…

"Get her drunk then get her done." So reads one of the decals on the F-150 pickup truck parked in my new neighbor's driveway. Of all the objectionable aphorisms on that particular truck, that's the mildest one. I wonder what my daughter will think of that when she notices it some time over the next few days, which she surely will. There is a mud fight going on over at Ed Brayton's blog regarding his use of the word "shrew" in reference to Sarah Palin. The Kliqueons (rhymes with "Klingons") have called Ed out for being sexist. He says they should lay off and it is not OK to call him a…

I have to recommend this criticism of sexism in the skeptical community: skeptifem points out that while we're quick to outrage when someone like Bill Maher violates science norms, we seem to shrug off the fact that he's been rudely anti-woman at times. When someone does try to share the perspective of being a person of color or a woman in skeptic communities the majority of people in the groups I have encountered dismiss their viewpoint on extremely typical grounds. This article from richarddawkins.net has some really disturbing comments that illustrate exactly what I am getting at; an…

Fawziya Ammodi was 12 years old. She was a little girl in Yemen — she would still be in elementary school in the US, or would be just entering middle school. Twelve year old girls are still interested in dolls, and are maybe giggling over those gawky immature boys, and should be learning prior to the awkward business of growing up. In Yemen, Fawziya was married to a 24 year old man. She was pregnant. She was in labor for 3 agonizing days — twelve year old girls usually aren't physically developed enough to cope with childbirth, at least not with the relative (emphasis on that word, please,…

She wore pants. A Sudanese woman has been jailed for a month after refusing to pay a fine for "dressing indecently" by wearing trousers, her lawyers say. Lubna Ahmed Hussein did not want to "give the verdict any legitimacy" by paying the fine of about $200 (£122), her lawyer, Nabil Adib, told the BBC. Ms Hussein, a journalist in her 30s, could have been given up to 40 lashes. Before the verdict, she had said she wanted her trial to become a test case for women's rights, correspondents say. Ms Hussein had resigned from her job at the UN, which would have given her immunity. More here.

A Sudanese woman, Lubna Hussein, is facing the barbaric punishment of 40 lashes for a crime against public morality: wearing pants. Not not wearing pants, but wearing pants. She was busted in the act of wearing pants while having dinner at a nice restaurant in Khartoum. They were green. I'm sure those little details have got your imagination churning away now. This is an interesting case, illustrating the way some people feel that social mores are a club to be used to smash individual freedom, and how women especially are targets for opression. Hussein's 'offense' was so trivial, and her…

Is the Natural World a valid source of guidance for our behavior, morals, ethics, and other more mundane areas of thought such as how to build an airplane and what to eat for breakfast?1 When it comes to airplanes, you'd better be a servant to the rules of nature (such as gravity) or the airplane will go splat. When it comes to breakfast, it has been shown that knowing about our evolutionary history can be a more efficacious guide to good nutrition than the research employed by the FDA, but you can live without this approach and following FDA guidelines will not do you in. A naturalistic…

A three part conversation between two women overheard on the University of Minnesota campus. Part 1 of conversation: "So, did you read that obnoxious post that that Isis the Scientist, that Goddess blogger, did and her yelling at ERV and all?" "Yeah, I did. What a bunch of stupid." "If you listen to Isis, all you get is 'misogyny this, misogyny that, he touched me, he looked at me, yadayadayada' but if you listen to ERV you get a whole different thing about what working in a lab is like." "Yeah, I know. S'all stupid shit." "You work in a lab, right?" "Yeah." "You're hot, right?" "Yes, baby,…

... by Skepchick by "carr2d2" ... touch on a wide range of topics that make TAM7 seem like a microcosm of the blogosphere, academia, and to some (limited) extent the broader society. "...a lot of men in the skeptical movement, well intentioned as they may be, have a tendency to look at women as though we are some sort of separate species; monolithic and mysterious..." Regarding commentary on women's dress at the conference by Drescher, "I honestly find it difficult to know where to begin here. You want more women in skepticism, but when they show up without properly camouflaging their…

Sometimes, it just takes a little sharp humor to clarify our current situation. Well, to understand the Sonia Sotomayor fracas you have to realize that the timespace confundulum has actually fractured into two frozen moments, one having to do with the sudden appearance of emotional, abrasive Latinas and their strange cuisine amid the eating clubs of Princeton, and the other having to do with ungrateful women of color getting named to positions where they can dole out their reverse-racist versions of "justice." Yes, that's right, it's always 1972 and it's always 1993--and at the same time. I…

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/5/27/735707/-Ronald-Reagan,-the-… With the Sotomayor nomination, many conservatives have been shrieking about 'reverse racism'--you know, how the white man is being kept down, in this case by TEH LATINAZ!! AAAIEEE!! Well, wouldn't you know, but conservative icon Ronald Reagan was a big supporter of reverse sexism (video and transcript): Partial transcript: As I said during the campaign, I've long believed that the time has come for the highest court in our land to include not only distinguished men, but distinguished women as well. ... I had the…

Please read the following vignette of an actual incident. I am a scientist observing the culture of the Namoyoma people. I am sitting in a shady spot just outside the village, writing up some notes, and I observe a disturbing event. Four men are trying to drag a young woman from the road into the nearby forest, and from what I hear them saying, they intend to rape her. There are also four older women trying to drag the young woman back to the village, and they are yelling that she must go back to her father's house where she will be protected. The battle over this young woman continues…

Probably not, but not for the reasons suggested by the subject of this excellent post by Sheril Kirshenbaum.

While I'm immersed in writing, planning, and reflection and Alice is uncurling, other people are actually writing the sort of amazing posts that make the blogosphere such a valuable and powerful place to be. These are the sort of posts that make you look at the world a different way or that validate and crystallize the ideas that have been floating around in your head for days, months, or years. Please go at least one of the following posts, and please add your own suggestions of the best of the blogosphere in the comment thread. Historiann's inspired series on Lessons for Girls. I…

I never sign up for these things, but apparently many people think it's hilarious to give crazy right wing sites my email address, so part of my daily flood of email is crap from places like WorldNetDaily. Most of it just gets a filter entry and I never see it again, but I have a soft spot for WND — it's barking mad, full of the craziest deluded wackos with this strange sense that, since the Bush years, they represent the mainstream. I learn the wildest stuff from their mail. Did you know that the Girl Scouts are out to turn your daughters into lesbians? It must be true, since WND says it is…