Hosted by the Dale Chihuly sculpture in London's Kew Gardens.
The Virtual Pub Is Open
Your bartender, the Melissa Model #2009:
[Credit to sculptor Stephanie Halleux; it is her character Scaphandre that I borrowed.]
Are You Feeling Lucky, Steampunk?
Coincidentally, and I can't believe I forgot to mention this until now, I wear a steampunk wedding band IRL:
A perfect gift for the steampunk abortion robot who has everything.
Quote of the Day
"I don't know who The Who is, or are." -- ESPN's Michael Wilbon freaking out over some complete unknowns being booked for halftime at Super Bowl XLIV.
[H/T to SpaceCowgirl]
Is it just me...
...or does this sound in no way fundamentally different from what we could have expected from the Bush administration and a Republican Congress?
Laying out the administration's bottom line, [Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano] said it will argue for a "three-legged stool" that includes enacting tougher enforcement laws against illegal immigrants and the people who hire them, and streamlining the system for legal immigration, but also what she called a "tough and fair pathway to earned legal status."That "tough and fair pathway" includes the understandable requirement to pass a criminal background check and the bullshit requirement to "learn English."
Napolitano also bragged that "the Border Patrol had increased its forces by more than 20,000 officers, and that more than 600 miles of border fence had been completed, both milestones set by Congress." Yay! More militarism at the border! Huzzah! Nothing bad could ever come of that!
Ms. Napolitano has been leading the administration's efforts to gather support for the immigration overhaul, meeting in recent weeks with business leaders, faith groups, law-enforcement officials and other groups to gauge their support for the effort.Excuse me, but why the fuck should I give a flying flunderton if "faith groups" support immigration reform? Is there literally nothing that doesn't warrant pandering to "faith groups" for cover in this country anymore? Criminy.
Random YouTubery: Creed Shreds
[The clip is a Creed video with the audio stripped out and replaced by deliberately terrible guitar playing, awful drumming, and a redonkulously hilarious Scott Stapp impression consisting of nothing but "Yeeeah!" and "Yasseah!".]
One of the many things I do that drives Iain totally trucknutz is sing my half of a conversation in a Scott Stapp voice. "Would ye like tae go out tae dinner wif me tonight?" "Yeeeah!" "Dae ye wanny go tae [insert restaurant here]?" "Yeeeah!" "Stoop singing everyfing in yer fooking Creed voice!" LOL.
In Things Everyone Should Totes Do Before They Die: Play Rock Band with Kenny Blogginz. He can sing anything as Scott Stapp. You just really haven't lived until you've heard KBlogz's Stappified rendition of a Mastodon track.
Meet the Predators
[Trigger warning.]
Via Amanda, and Scott in comments, Thomas MacAulay Millar takes a look at "who commits the vast majority of rapes, the nonstranger rapes." (By way of reminder, women are three times more likely to be raped by someone they know than a stranger, and nine times more likely to be raped in their home, the home of someone they know, or anywhere else than being raped on the street.)
It is notoriously tough to figure out who the rapists are. Reporting and conviction rates for acquaintance rapes are so low as to be useless as a diagnostic tool. And how else can we know? The rapists won't just tell us that they are rapists, right?This is something about which I've previously blogged: The more specific the description of an act of sexual assault or harassment, without actually identifying it as a act of sexual violence or harassment, the more likely (straight cis male) respondents are to admit having done it, whether in a structured study or even in casual conversation. I've also found, in speaking to straight cis men who firmly assert that they are have not sexually assaulted nor harassed anyone, nor do they know any men who have, that providing examples of sexual assault and/or harassment almost always proves "I don't know any men who do that" to be untrue.
That's what I would have though. Turns out I thought wrong. If a survey asks men, for example, if they ever "had sexual intercourse with someone, even though they did not want to, because they were too intoxicated (on alcohol or drugs) to resist your sexual advances," some of them will say yes, as long as the questions don't use the "R" word.
Have you or any of your friends touched or grabbed a woman without her consent? Pestered a woman who has already indicated disinterest in a sexual advance? Met a partner's refusal to have sex with emotional coercion (pouting, huffiness, anger)? Breached boundaries with a consenting partner during sexual activity? Fondled a sleeping partner? Masturbated onto a sleeping partner? Etc.
I don't believe I've ever gotten through one of these conversation (with a straight cis man asserting neither he nor any of his friends have ever sexually assaulted or harassed anyone) without either: A) His admitting with regret that he was wrong; or B) His responding angrily that the things I'm describing aren't sexual assault. Either way, same result.
We live in a rape culture in which men (especially straight, cis men) are socialized and encouraged to be sexually aggressive, and so it is no surprise that they are.
And it is no surprise that a portion of those men are thus sexually violent.
Anyway, back to Thomas, who looked at "two large-sample surverys of undetected rapists," the first of which was co-authored by our friend Dr. David Lisak and answered an important question about whether rapists are responsible for more violence generally.
Lisak & Miller also answered their other question: are rapists responsible for more violence generally? Yes. The surveys covered other violent acts, such as slapping or choking an intimate partner, physically or sexually abusing a child, and sexual assaults other than attempted or completed rapes. In the realm of being partner- and child-beating monsters, the repeat rapists really stood out. These 76 men, just 4% of the sample, were responsible for 28% of the reported violence. The whole sample of almost 1900 men reported just under 4000 violent acts, but this 4% of recidivist rapists results in over 1000 of those violent acts.That rapists are not merely misguided boys who just made a mistake, but in fact devious predators who attack again and again and again, was underlined by the findings of the second study, led by Dr. Stephanie McWhorter:
If we could eliminate the men who rape again and again and again, a quarter of the violence against women and children would disappear. That's the public policy implication.
McWhorter used a Sexual Experiences Survey tool that has been in use for more than 20 years. Of her 1146 participants, 144, or 13%, admitted an attempted or completed rape — substantially higher than Lisak & Miller. But in another respect, her work very much matched theirs: 71% of the men who admitted an attempted or completed rape admitted more than one, very close to Lisak & Miller's 63%. The 96 men who admitted multiple attempted of completed rapes in McWhorter's survey averaged 6.36 assaults each. This is not far from Lisak & Miller's average of 5.8 assaults per recidivist. Looked at another way, of the 865 total attempted or completed rapes these men admitted to, a staggering 95% were committed by 96 men, or just 8.4% of the sample.It's easy to see why there are astoundingly high rates of rape when those figures are juxtaposed with a justice system that generally presumes:
• Acquaintance rape is not all that prevalent.
• Acquaintance rape is really just a result of miscommunication.
• Acquaintance rapists are just good boys who made a mistake.
• Acquaintance rapists should be given a second chance, because they probably won't do it again.
Etc. Consider the number of times you've read or heard a man who's been accused of rape being cast as a boy who's life will be ruined, when the reality is that such apologia enables those men to escape arrest, conviction, or appropriate sentencing, ensuring they'll go on to ruin more lives themselves.
Cultural and institutional reform to reduce sexual assault begins with knowing who we're really dealing with. And it isn't otherwise good boys who just made a mistake. But they're sure grateful we think they are.
Daily Pat
The lonely emo prince played Rock Paper Scissors with his shadow to determine the next step in the course of his fate—but, alas, it was always a tie.
Caitie's Goin' to Chicago!
I realized I hadn't actually said, for sure, that I'll be coming to the Shaker meetup next weekend in the Steampunkabortionmegarobotty City. I mean, I've said so to Liss, who's being kind enough to put my partner and I up, and I've said so to my friends here and my workplace, but I haven't actually had the chance to go "OHMYMAUDEI'MGOINGTOCHICAGOTOMEETLISSANDDEEKYANDALLKINDSASHAKERSOMGSQA-WEE!" here yet.
Ahem.
Or something more dignified, wev.
Friday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by Shaxco, makers of the Melissa Model #2009 Steampunk Abortion Robot. Accept no substitutes.
Recommended Reading:
Igor: EJ Dionne to Democrats: 'Learn To Live' with Health Reform That Leaves Women Behind
Katha: Whose Team Is It, Anyway?
Resistance: So now I know.
Historiann: Maj. Nidal Hasan, MD: Just An all-American Guy
Jessie: President Signs Order to Renew Promises to Native Americans
Melissa: Sexism Watch: Double Dose
Leave your links in comments...
Sentence First, Verdict After
Following up on Space Cowboy's post, it seems that William Kristol has issues with the concept of justice.
He is not going to be innocent of murder. There are a lot of eyewitnesses to that. They should just go ahead and convict him and put him to death.Problem is, there's a little thing called the Constitution of the United States, specifically the Sixth Amendment that guarantees a trial by jury. Now we all know that during the last few years the rule of law was a cumbersome piece of bureaucracy and a nuisance to the True Protectors of Freedom like Mr. Kristol, but without it, we'd be just like, oh, the people we're supposed to be fighting, just to come up with an example.
Besides, if we put Mr. Kristol on trial for being a right-wing reactionary knee-jerk asshole, don't you think he'd demand a fair trial before we execute the sentence? After all, there are plenty of eyewitnesses to his crimes, too.
HT to Think Progress and Lewis Carroll.
Stupid Now, But Not Then
Bill Kristol seems to have an issue with Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano's statement of wanting to bring Major Nidal M. Hasan to justice:
I was very struck also by Janet Napolitano’s comment, I hadn’t read it before to see her say that, that the number one priority is to bring him to justice is such a knee-jerk comment and such a stupid comment.George W. Bush in March, 2006:
George Bush vowed to capture Osama bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Muhammad Omar yesterday on his first visit to Afghanistan since the US-led invasion. "It's not a matter of if they are captured and brought to justice, it's when they are brought to justice."What a remarkably stupid fucking comment he made at that time, wouldn't you agree Billy?
Of course the big difference between the two is that Hasan is actually in custody.
[H/T to ThinkProgress]
Action Alert
by Shaker Quixotess
Shakers,
I have just received a plea for donations from Heather Corinna of Scarleteen, the feminist sex ed website. Scarleteen is the most popular sexual health website online; it specializes in providing free resources and education to teenagers and young adults of all walks of life. Most Shakers know what a valuable resource this free online service is in a time when sex education in schools is so unreliable and when so many families will not or cannot properly educate their children on sexual health.
Heather Corinna, much like Melissa, maintains Scarleteen and keeps it an independent media as a full-time job, surviving on donations and some freelance writing. She has recently had healthcare bills that put her in the financial hole, and therefore needs the money to make a living wage, but she also wants to expand the services that Scarleteen provides and that teenagers so desperately need. My favorite of her ideas for 2010 is Find a Doc:
Find-a-Doc is a user-fueled database we'd like to build to help young people find the in-person sexual and reproductive healthcare, counseling, LGBTQ support, rape and sexual abuse survivor support and other services related to sexuality they need. Unlike many adults, young people often lack the ability to get a recommendation from a friend: many of their peers and partners do not often yet use or know where to get these services, either. Some do, but are reluctant to disclose they have used them. This database would allow a user to enter one of these services they have used and would reccomend to another young person. Scarleteen staff will validate the service/provider by phone before publishing the listing. Our users in need of these services will be able to search for these services by choosing the type of service they are looking for and entering a zip code. They will also be able to read comments from others who have used these providers/services to help them make their best choices in care. Find-a-Doc has been on our list of to-do's for two years now, but the budget has not yet allowed us to pay a tech developer what would be needed to build it.Lots of Shakers, those with disabilities and TABs alike, know how valuable a safe, helpful doctor is. In my opinion, this sort of community review and connections is the best way to find one safely. I am wild about the idea of such a big website working to make this service happen. But first we need the fundraiser to succeed!
Donate what you can to Scarleteen, and spread the word to possible donors you know.
You Go, Grrl: Flt Lt Kirsty Moore
Flt Lt Kirsty Moore has become the first female aviator for the Royal Air Force's Red Arrows, the RAF's aerobatic team (the equivalent of the US Air Force's Thunderbirds).
Only the best are successful and the prerequisites include at least one front-line tour of duty as a fast-jet pilot and a minimum of 1,500 flying hours.There is a great (though non-embeddable) video at the link of an interview with Moore that I highly recommend, in which she talks a bit about how the jets, the air display, being the first woman, and why she joined the RAF. A transcription of that video is provided below.
Flt Lt Moore joined the RAF in 1998, becoming a Hawk instructor and then Tornado pilot. She is not the first woman to apply for the Red Arrows, but she was the first to be shortlisted and then selected.
"It's totally [exceeded] all my expectations," she said.
[H/T to Shaker Gemma.]
Reporter: Now when the Red Arrows fly in formation, there are nine of them, and they all fly these very distinctive red RAF Hawks. Now what's special about the 2010 season is it's the first time that there's a female pilot in the line-up. Kirsty Moore is the lady with the enviable job. Kirsty, we're at the back of the plane here; this is where the smoke comes out of when people see the Red Arrows on display. How does it work?
Kirsty Moore: That's right. Just underneath the jet you can see there the smoke pod, which is full of the diesel fuel and the mixed-up dyes, and then here at the back you've got three pipes, um, that releases the diesel into the hot jet gasses, which is about 5-600 degrees C. That evaporates and produces the smoke.
Reporter: And you can do different colors.
Moore: That's right. We've got red, white, and blue.
Reporter: They're quite small planes, but obviously they're jets; they're quite fast; they can be quick. What speed are you flying at during the display?
Moore: The display's flown at 360 knots for the majority of it, which is actually about 400 miles an hour.
Reporter: So 400 miles an hour, and very close to each other.
Moore: That's right.
Reporter: To give you some idea, all the Red Arrows are lined up on the tarmac here at RAF Scampton, quite close to each other; I probably reckon about 12 feet apart here.
Moore: That's right.
Reporter: How far—how close are you in the actual display?
Moore: The closest in the display is about 6 to 8 feet, which, if you imagine it, is, um, equivalent to me standing just underneath the tailplate of the jet next to us there. So a little bit closer than we would fly in the display.
Reporter: Does it feel close?
Moore: Yes. [laughs] But you get used to it.
[Footage and sounds of planes flying in formation.]
Moore: I was absolutely blown away at being selected to join the Red Arrows, and also to be able to represent the Royal Air Force in the way I'm able to as Red 3. Um, the girl bit on top is that someone was always going to do it sooner or later, and by pure cha—timing, it actually ended up being me.
It's phenomenal. I mean, I've been, um, flying now for four weeks with the Reds and, I have to say, it's totally exceeded all of my expectations and hopes for the job. Um, it's great from a personal point of view; the actual flying is really demanding and challenging, so it's great satisfaction involved in the job. But also the teamwork that's involved, um, is something slightly unique to any other squadron in the Air Force, um, in that we're so close and the way the squadron operates; it's so different. Um, it's just phenomenal. And then the opportunity to get to show this off to the general public, um, throughout the summer, is brilliant.
I think I was 12, 13 years old and I decided I wanted to join the Air Force, um, as air crew. Um, which is, does seem quite young. My father's actually in the Air Force—he was a navigator on Tornado GR1s, as they were in those times—um, and it was really hanging around his squadron in the school holidays when my mum was still at work that inspired me to join this great camaraderie that you get on the squadron—and, seeing the guys planning, I thought it was brilliant and wanted to be part of it.
Reporter: So what does Dad think now?
Moore: [grins hugely] He's pretty proud, yes. Yeah, he doesn't stop talking about me; it's embarrassing.
[Reporter laughs.]
Textbook Blues
Hey, assholes! It's Kenny Blogginz here with another one of my beloved college textbook reviews!
A wise man once said, "College is for NURDZ (not the good kind, either)," and I couldn't help but agree with that sage after a year of attending a local community college.
Look, Shakers, all I've ever wanted to do is to chillax with my smoky bros and brodettes, all up in somebody's basement, watching somebody's copy of Dragonslayer on somebody's flat-screen tv. I don't need a bunch of ex-ministers harshing my buzz! Imagine my horror when I went to my "Intro to Inter-Personal Communications" class, and found this gem in my textbook:
[It's a textbook page reading: Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. They said to each other, "Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly. They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth." But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. The Lord said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other." So the Lord scattered them from there all over the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it is called Babel—because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. Genesis 11: 1-9. And it's followed by an image of Pieter Bruegel's painting c. 1563 painting "The Tower of Babel."]
"Um—sorry, Professor Lordly. I didn't realize this was the Bible Study. I thought I was in college. I am? WHAAA?" Psshh. Whatever, dude.
And don't even get me started on my Writing class. That's right, true believers: I, your beloved Kenneth Quincy-James Blogginz, was forced to take a WRITING class. That's like making Cory Doctorow take a class on being awesome. Or making Neil Gaiman take a class on how to be loved by Kenny Blogginz.
No Abortions in the Big Tent
Yesterday, The Politico reported that the Republican National Committee's employee healthcare plan covers elective abortion and has done so since 1991.
Today, they report that RNC Chair Michael Steele has announced they're changing the coverage immediately:
"Money from our loyal donors should not be used for this purpose," Chairman Michael Steele said in a statement. "I don't know why this policy existed in the past, but it will not exist under my administration. Consider this issue settled."All right then.
Prepare yourselves for a visit from a steampunk abortion robot. I'm just sayin'.
Keiko Fukuda: Be Strong, Be Gentle, Be Beautiful
by Hoyden and Shaker Lauredhel of Hoyden About Town and FWD/Forward.
Olde-tyme Hoydenizens may remember that I wrote about Keiko Fukuda back in 2007, in the Friday Hoyden feature. Fukuda is probably the most knowledgeable and accomplished judoka alive, the last living student of Jigoro Kano, the founder of judo.
Geekfeminism has an update on Fukuda Sensei, with a snippet of film from documentary "Be Strong, Be Gentle, Be Beautiful". Ju-do means, very roughly translated, "gentle way"; judo's key principle is to use minimal movements to turn the attacker's strength back against her. The film's name derives from an attempt to explain the essence of "ju" – "soft, gentle, flexible, adaptable". Filmmakers Flying Carp are currently fundraising to complete the film.
In this excerpt, Fukuda talks about how she was 'frozen' at fifth dan (fifth degree black belt), for no other reason than that she was a woman. She was finally promoted to ninth dan at the age of 93. She talks, emotionally, about having had to choose between marriage and judo. Fukuda still teaches judo in San Francisco at the age of 96, clearly much loved and much respected, and there is rather delightful film of her dispensing wisdom and rising from her wheelchair to demonstrate an armlock on a much larger student.
[Transcript below, courtesy of Quixotess!]
[Cross-posted.]
[Title card: "a sample clip from BE STRONG, BE GENTLE, BE BEAUTIFUL - a film by Yuriko Gamo Romer - 415 641-4232 - ygr@flyingcarp.net"]
Keiko Fukuda [in voiceover; we see an old, yellow sort of footage of a Japanese town with a close up of a building with a banner on it]: At the 1934 celebration of the Kodokan, there were banners commemorating Kano's masters. I learned that my grandfather Hachinosuke Fukuda had been Kano's first influential teacher. This was the first time I met Master Kano (founder of judo). [We see a picture of Kano. Then we finally see Fukuda sensei who is speaking, sitting in a modern room. ] He said there was a new women's division and encouraged me to join, saying it would make me healthy and strong.
[We see two judo practitioners training. Fukuda sensei speaks in voiceover; the camera moves away from the practitioners onto her, who is watching and evaluating them]: Master Kano wanted us to teach judo around the world. In the beginning there were 5 or 6 of us who learned English and wanted to do this. But in the end, I was the only one who did this.
[We cut to a room where Fukuda sensei and another woman are being interviewed. The camera starts on Fukuda sensei who is not speaking and pans over to the speaking woman eventually. ]
Woman: To marry and become a housewife, this was the norm.
Fukuda sensei: Yes, right.
Woman: I felt, to push this aside and find your own true road was an extremely wise and brave decision.
[The camera moves back to Fukuda sensei, who struggles for a long time to speak. ]
Fukuda sensei: This was my marriage…[crying; the first woman comforts her] This is when my life destiny was set. At this time I chose to live my life of judo over marriage. I just never imagined how long this road would be.
[Back to the old yellow footage: two judo practitioners approach each other formally while others look on. They begin to fight. Caption on the screen says "Keiko Fukuda in 1951, 5th degree black belt.]
Fukuda sensei: The Kodokan was old fashioned and sexist about belt ranks. They just decided women didn't need any rank over 5th degree. [We cut to her being interviewed]: I was fifth degree for thirty years. This was the Kodokan's sexism.
[Card: Keiki [sic] Fukuda immigrated to the United States in 1966. Card: She has lived in San Francisco for 43 years.]
[We see Fukuda sensei, in a wheelchair, and another instructor watching two students practice. They complete a move and turn to Fukuda sensei for feedback. ]
Fukuda sensei [in English]: You were like this [imitates]. [Looking at other sensei Eiko Saito Shepherd. ] I show them…[Japanese]
Shepherd sensei: She says she's gonna show you.
[People in the room applaud. ]
Student: All right. [She and Shepherd sensei remove Fukuda sensei's shoes for her; help her stand. ]
[Fukuda sensei demonstrates the move with Shepherd sensei. ]
Fukuda sensei [to Shepherd sensei]: Strong arm.
Shepherd sensei: Yeah, I feel the pain–every bit of it!
[Cut to Fukuda sensei explaining]: Every bit of it [indistinguishable] make straight arm.
Shepherd sensei: As soon as she get my arm, when she moves, my arm's gonna snap.
[Old yellow footage again. ]
Caption: Senseis Fukuda and Noritomi demonstrating "kata" forms.
Eiko Saito Shepherd: Fukuda sensei and her sempai (senior) Noritomi sensei, they got freezed at 5th dan. Thirty years. So I felt it. She got 9th dan when she was 88 years old, and this is a very special birthday. I went to talk to the Kodokan president explaining she will be celebrating this 88 years old birthday. And Kotokan's president, his answer was, [cut to Shepherd sensei being interviewed outside; caption says she's 6th dan] "Well, in the past, no woman got promoted 9th dan. No previous history." So he said they will not give her 9th dan. No woman will not get promoted 9th dan.
[Cut to a banner at the entrance of a building. Modern day. The banner says "20th Annual Fukuda Judo Kata Championship." Next few lines happen in voiceover as we see Fukuda sensei entering the championship hall, shots of the judges' table which Fukuda sensei is in the center of, etc. ]
Young woman in voiceover: This is a special day, it's our twentieth anniversary.
Brent Smith [in voiceover]: The power this little bitty woman has, in her presence. It's not in the strength–I mean, her physical strength, she has trouble right now because she's so very old–she's gonna be responsible for kata reemerging into the judo world. Because of the following that she has, and the importance that people are seeing, because there's nobody left teaching kata! This lady knows firsthand what the founder of judo was trying to teach. [Cut to Brent, who is sensei, 5th dan. ] She's attained a level of understanding that, I believe, surpasses anyone that's existed, that is existing on this planet.
[Card: In 2006 for the first time ever, the Kodokan awarded the 9th degree to a woman. Card: Keiko Fukuda was 93 years old. She reigns as the highest ranking woman in the world.]
[Class of women judo students all sitting in assembly.]
Woman just off-camera: So I think that when she says you will be here next year too, you will. [Students laugh. ]
Fukuda sensei: Therefore…everybody study the meaning of "ju." Blackbelt…
Shepherd sensei: She says it's your homework for one year. One year.
[Card: To study the very complex meaning of "ju" (of judo). Card: Roughly translating to: gentle, soft, flexible, adaptable. Card: This is said to be the essence of judo.]
[End card: "a sample clip from BE STRONG, BE GENTLE, BE BEAUTIFUL - a film by Yuriko Gamo Romer - 415 641-4232 - ygr@flyingcarp.net"]
