Recommended
Feminism 101
In a patriarchal society, men are the default humans. Women are the sex class. They are defined in terms of their relationship to the default humans, the men: whether as daughters, mothers, sisters, wives, or potential mates. This definition is automatic and fundamental. A woman’s femaleness—and thus her sexual potential—is, in a patriarchy, always uppermost. [...]
Lee Harvey Oswald has left the building
The past week has been full of bizarre responses to the Arizona shooting, and if I weren’t so tired and depressed I’d grace you all with a 10,000 word essay on the subject. But I am tired and depressed, so I’ll just pick the one moment that continues to intrigue me. It was this: Robert [...]
Palin (and Clinton) obsessives suddenly discover that violent discourse is a bad thing
That Keith Olberman is a piece of work, isn’t he? This is the guy who suggested in 2008 that Hillary Clinton be discreetly murdered in order to get her out of the way. Now he has a Special Comment® devoted to the message that “violence, or the threat of violence, has no place in our [...]
Rape culture
That’s why all the men are backing Assange. It’s why they don’t understand what he did wrong (allegedly), or even care what he did wrong, or even have the faintest clue what it’s like to be a woman living in a rape culture. I read the Guardian piece with the details of the Swedish charges. [...]
Today’s dose of casual sexism
From Glenn Greenwald, famed advocate of human rights for men: …as soon as Scott Ritter began telling the truth about Iraqi WMDs, he was publicly smeared with allegations of sexual improprieties. As soon as Eliot Spitzer began posing a real threat to Wall Street criminals, a massive and strange federal investigation was launched over nothing [...]
People-watching
My mother imbued me with a love of English history from an early age. When I was six years old I memorized the list of Henry VIII’s wives, including the godawful things that happened to them. (I think I got my feminism and my love of history at the same time.) I next set out [...]
Day 4 of the Mop ‘n Glo preliminary rounds
Here’s my problem with curling (okay, one of my problems with curling): I don’t believe it. I don’t think it’s true. The people with the Swiffer mops, furiously scrubbing in front of the rock? Bullshit. I don’t think they’re accomplishing anything. Think about it. Curling is basically bowling on ice. Can you imagine if bowling [...]
Why I love the Winter Olympics
They’re fast. Everything at the Winter Olympics is fast — except the curling, which proceeds at a normal, floor-waxing, houseworky kinda pace. But other than the curling, everything is fast. People ski, skate, and slide at superhuman speeds. The Summer Olympics, on the other hand, is just sweaty people running. The 100-yard dash is glacial [...]
The Unresolvable Paradox
When long-time commenters write to tell me they’re confused, then I know that what we have here is a failure to communicate. The topic in question is Sarah Palin (who else?), and the scene of confusion is this thread. So let me quote part of what I emailed to one commenter: What drove me crazy [...]
k.d. lang singing “Hallelujah” at the Opening Ceremony
Found the video: I still think it was a strange choice for the Olympics, but it is a gorgeous song, and lang’s performance was absolutely jaw-dropping. So I guess it fit simply as a representation of Canadian excellence or something. In case you have trouble with the video above, here’s k.d. singing “Hallelujah” in 2005, [...]
