Friday Feminist Roundup


No, I don’t plan on making this a weekly tradition – I’m not organized enough to have required themes for certain days. I just have a bunch of feminism related articles that I’ve accumulated throughout a busy week, and I figure I’d dump them all at once.

  • Australia bans porn containing female ejaculation and small breasts. Why? Apparently they think female ejaculation is just urination and fake body fluids. Yeah, not sure how it can be both. And the small boobies? Apparently if you’re an A cup, that’s too close to pedophilia. Thank you Australia, as if women weren’t insecure enough about their bust size, now a huge group is too creepy to think about sexually because they’re not womanly enough. Awesome.
  • School district pulls Diary of Anne Frank because Anne, a developing young woman, dared to talk about vaginas. Apparently female genitalia is the most horrifying aspect of the book, not the fact that she was forced to live in hiding from fear of death and then later died in a concentration camp. Overprotective parents are awesome.
  • In case games for girls weren’t mollifying enough, you can now get a Ouija board in pink! Because apparently the gender neutral versions don’t channel ghosts who can answer girl specific questions like “Who will call you next?” and “Will you be famous?” Come on, we all know girls only care about talking on the phone, becoming the next Paris Hilton, and pink woo bullshit.
  • Being attractive and feminine in the sciences isn’t easy. Go read about this chemist who also happened to be an NFL cheerleader, and the stereotypes she faced along the way. I actually think being more of a tomboy has helped me avoid negative stereotypes – which isn’t necessarily a good thing.

Comments

  1. says

    In the Sacramento News and Review(Jan 28, 2010 I believe it's online) the cover story "What Women Want" is about 6 women in teens, 20's..up to 60's and their thoughts about feminism. the 20-something rocked and made funnies about Adams rib and eve being armed with produce. I wrote a tiny something something about it, but the article is better. cheers Jen.

    Kriss

  2. says

    In the Sacramento News and Review(Jan 28, 2010 I believe it’s online) the cover story “What Women Want” is about 6 women in teens, 20’s..up to 60’s and their thoughts about feminism. the 20-something rocked and made funnies about Adams rib and eve being armed with produce. I wrote a tiny something something about it, but the article is better. cheers Jen.Kriss

  3. says

    That's a whole lot of bullshit that just made me depressed. I knew about a few of them, but wow. How can people really be that idiotic?

  4. says

    That’s a whole lot of bullshit that just made me depressed. I knew about a few of them, but wow. How can people really be that idiotic?

  5. says

    You're right, NiroZ. They haven't banned them. They just use "small-breasted" and "young looking" as criteria for refusing classification on the grounds of "looking underage", regardless of the actual verified age of the participants.

  6. says

    You’re right, NiroZ. They haven’t banned them. They just use “small-breasted” and “young looking” as criteria for refusing classification on the grounds of “looking underage”, regardless of the actual verified age of the participants.

  7. says

    In my country, portrayals of women who look underage are illegal, whatever age they actually are. So possession of a nude picture of a petite 25-year-old Japanese woman can get you jail time. As far as I can see, there is no criterion for whether they look underage to the Reasonable Man, as opposed to the Public Persecutor.

    I've run across the meme of "men who like small, B-cupped women are actually paedophiles" before, the hard way, from feminist then-friends. When I commented on this on a newsgroup, however, I was called a liar. I was informed that this was a straw-man slander I had learned from someone of whom I had never heard. Reporting feminist idiocy experienced first-hand = thoughtcrime.

    Fortunately I later came across a book by an American journo that explicitly set out the equation. I have written an essay on this book, but it hasn't gone up on my site yet. Executive summary: if I were to fancy a petite Oriental with two kids and a doctorate, as I probably would, and this journo tells me that it's because I consider her a child, which one of us two is actually denying her adulthood?

  8. says

    In my country, portrayals of women who look underage are illegal, whatever age they actually are. So possession of a nude picture of a petite 25-year-old Japanese woman can get you jail time. As far as I can see, there is no criterion for whether they look underage to the Reasonable Man, as opposed to the Public Persecutor. I’ve run across the meme of “men who like small, B-cupped women are actually paedophiles” before, the hard way, from feminist then-friends. When I commented on this on a newsgroup, however, I was called a liar. I was informed that this was a straw-man slander I had learned from someone of whom I had never heard. Reporting feminist idiocy experienced first-hand = thoughtcrime. Fortunately I later came across a book by an American journo that explicitly set out the equation. I have written an essay on this book, but it hasn’t gone up on my site yet. Executive summary: if I were to fancy a petite Oriental with two kids and a doctorate, as I probably would, and this journo tells me that it’s because I consider her a child, which one of us two is actually denying her adulthood?

  9. says

    Ruby: Is it my imagination, or does the picture of the cheerleader in her outfit have something of Jen around the eyes? – Moi, I think that smarts greatly enhance the attractiveness of a woman, but my best gal-pal tells me I'm just weird. – To play devil's advocate a moment, I see this as a matter of energy budget. A beautiful girl is going to face pressure both to become high-maintenance and to live on her looks, and like all of us she only has 24 hours in the day and so much vim. We know how even small children are constantly informed of their place in the beauty hierarchy, and encouraged to use beauty to get what they want. It is, alas, only natural that some will not be able to muster the sheer cussed determination to develop their minds instead. To pinch the religionists' allegory, it will be like the steep and rocky path contra the broad straight way to damnation.

  10. says

    Ruby: Is it my imagination, or does the picture of the cheerleader in her outfit have something of Jen around the eyes? – Moi, I think that smarts greatly enhance the attractiveness of a woman, but my best gal-pal tells me I’m just weird. – To play devil’s advocate a moment, I see this as a matter of energy budget. A beautiful girl is going to face pressure both to become high-maintenance and to live on her looks, and like all of us she only has 24 hours in the day and so much vim. We know how even small children are constantly informed of their place in the beauty hierarchy, and encouraged to use beauty to get what they want. It is, alas, only natural that some will not be able to muster the sheer cussed determination to develop their minds instead. To pinch the religionists’ allegory, it will be like the steep and rocky path contra the broad straight way to damnation.

  11. says

    @Sili: Photo quality could be better, but I see your point. One of my fiercest prejudices is in favour of people who are interested in something outside themselves, of which the corollary is that trying to be attractive (cute, sexy, whatever) isn't always the best way to that end.

  12. says

    @Sili: Photo quality could be better, but I see your point. One of my fiercest prejudices is in favour of people who are interested in something outside themselves, of which the corollary is that trying to be attractive (cute, sexy, whatever) isn’t always the best way to that end.

  13. Pablo says

    The saddest part about the effect of gender on parenting is that the conclusions aren't actually new or groundbreaking – there are already plenty of studies out there examining the effect of same-sex parents on kids, and they pretty much all say the same thing: the kids come out no different from those with heterosexual parents, except they are less likely to have anti-gay attitudes.

    Of course, that's why morons like those at Focus on the Family are so opposed to it.

    "But see, kids with same sex parents won't grow up to hate Teh Ghey enough, and if that happens, homophobes like us might end up actually being in minority. Is that what you want? To be a minority?"

  14. Pablo says

    The saddest part about the effect of gender on parenting is that the conclusions aren’t actually new or groundbreaking – there are already plenty of studies out there examining the effect of same-sex parents on kids, and they pretty much all say the same thing: the kids come out no different from those with heterosexual parents, except they are less likely to have anti-gay attitudes.Of course, that’s why morons like those at Focus on the Family are so opposed to it. “But see, kids with same sex parents won’t grow up to hate Teh Ghey enough, and if that happens, homophobes like us might end up actually being in minority. Is that what you want? To be a minority?”

  15. says

    "Australia bans porn containing female ejaculation and small breasts. "

    What the hell? Since when did the conservatives start actually influencing anyone in my country? This has come as a surprise. It's probably that 'Family First' nutter politician.

  16. says

    “Australia bans porn containing female ejaculation and small breasts. “What the hell? Since when did the conservatives start actually influencing anyone in my country? This has come as a surprise. It’s probably that ‘Family First’ nutter politician.

  17. says

    Thanks for doing this roundup. It's always nice to see links that I have missed during the week. And, boy, these are doozies!

    But, I love the story about cheerleaders and chemists. Talk about breaking stereotypes!

    And, @Sili, that IS the correct response!

  18. says

    Thanks for doing this roundup. It’s always nice to see links that I have missed during the week. And, boy, these are doozies! But, I love the story about cheerleaders and chemists. Talk about breaking stereotypes!And, @Sili, that IS the correct response!

  19. says

    I hope that's sarcasm, I really do.

    Heh? Sorry, I'm a little confused.

    I was commenting on the fact that in Australia we don't have as much opposition or taboo around sexuality as some other countries – America for instance seems to have a love/hate relationship with everything related to sex. People here are just kind of laid back about it.

    I was surprised when a somewhat conservative minded restriction is trying to be passed (as in, you can look at male ejaculation, but not female), especially since no one but the noisy minority cares here.

  20. says

    I hope that’s sarcasm, I really do.Heh? Sorry, I’m a little confused.I was commenting on the fact that in Australia we don’t have as much opposition or taboo around sexuality as some other countries – America for instance seems to have a love/hate relationship with everything related to sex. People here are just kind of laid back about it.I was surprised when a somewhat conservative minded restriction is trying to be passed (as in, you can look at male ejaculation, but not female), especially since no one but the noisy minority cares here.

Leave a Reply