Last night's episode will be discussed in infinitesimal detail, so if you haven't seen it, and don't want any spoilers, move along...
Lost Open Thread
Last night's episode will be discussed in infinitesimal detail, so if you haven't seen it, and don't want any spoilers, move along...
Wednesday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by Shaxco, watching CNN so you don't have to.
Recommended Reading:
Amanda: "Men's Studies" Too Feminist For You? Meet "Male Studies"
Resistance: Another First
Sady: Time to Check In With Tina Fey's Feminism!
Chally: Figuratively
Tami: There Are No Black People There
Andy: Openly Gay Candidate Craig Lowe Wins Gainesville Mayoral Election by 35 Votes, Triggering Automatic Recount
Leave your links in comments...
Feel The Homomentum
Via Steve Rothaus in the Miami Herald:
Partners of gay and lesbian patients are now assured by Jackson Health System to have the same visiting rights as heterosexuals, according to a new Jackson policy that redefines the terms "family'' and "family member."Good for them. It's too bad that it took death and a lawsuit to make it happen.
Recognized family members now may include people who are not legally related to the patient, including "spouses, domestic partners and both different-sex and same-sex significant others," announced SAVE Dade, one of several gay rights groups that worked for a year with Jackson to redefine the policy.
Gay and lesbian nonbiological parents are also assured of visits when minor children are hospitalized.
Jackson developed the policy after Janice Langbehn accused a Jackson Memorial Hospital worker of not letting her visit her dying partner, Lisa Pond, in 2007.
Crossposted.
Fat Hatin' in Photoshop Disasters
by Shaker Neintales, a Progressive Texan whose bright coloring doesn't denote toxicity so much as an inability to paint neatly.
So just before the weekend I encountered on Twitter a link to ye olde Photoshop Disasters site, a place I honestly hadn't been regularly, but whenever I have been sent there by a link it generally showed me the latest in Making-Real-Women-Look-Like-Bobbleheaded-Aliens Technology. And the captions for what I had seen were snarky about the job quality and along the lines of "Why do this anyhow?! Realistic women are way more awesome!"
Alas, I may have missed a lot of previous juvenile captioning, judging by some of the comments I saw the other day—and it was the captioning that had actually made my friend on Twitter link angrily asking "What the Poop?"
Because, you see, apparently for some who post* on Photoshop Disasters, while it may continue to be a disaster in workmanship, it's only a disaster against women if the woman being 'shopped is being made to look thinner and is, in fact, herself a known thin woman.
I'm not going to give them a link; it's easy enough to find the post in question, if you are so inclined. I'm going to just post and describe the image and provide the caption that is so completely witty and edgy that my poor deathfat infected brain just didn't get anything funny about it, and in fact found viler than a vile thing made of absolute vileness to help cut down on their page views and any advertising revenue they may get from them.
The image is that of an advert for plus-sized fashions. Unlike most popular changes to nature, the model's head is not made larger—instead, either they shrunk it down, or used a model from a different shoot to go with the larger body, or they actually warped and fish-eyed the body to make it larger. I honestly am not sure which, or if it isn't even a case of all of the above, and the odd angle at which she's posed, as she stands looking at us with her shoulders a bit twisted to the back, compounds the confusion. And the biting caption given to this image at Photshop Disasters doesn't shed light from a perspective of a person who knows what techniques were used or how to do it, but instead reads (vileness ahead):When this image first presented itself in my inbox, I said to myself, well, I'm not going to touch that with a barge pole. Not the lady in the picture - I'm sure she's a lovely lady with a wonderful personality. I'm talking about the political issue of the
So, here is Cosmo7 of PD happily being 'cutting edge' and helping me fill out my fat hatred bingo. Because of course there was NO way xe could have written a caption for a photo that's meant to be a plus size model without a famous name and NOT turned it into a fat joke! That's unpossible and would lead to the world falling off its axis and throwing everyone into space!chubbies sizeable big-boned unboneable people of size. They can be very sensitive. It's important - perhaps expedient is the correct word - to just avoid the whole thing. On the other hand, I've now received this from about five hundred people and it's actually gotten to the point where it's impairing my ability to navigate my mail. So here it is, and if you are a person of heft, please try to understand that, like a moth to a flame, I just tend to follow the path of least resistance.
Thanks to everyone who sent this in!
Let's see, I bet xe was originally intending something like: This is a really badly done image, the woman's head is made to look far too small, and something about the angle and proportions of her body also seem unnatural, as if there was more 'Shopping done to make her body and breasts look larger than it really is.
Perhaps xe also would have added something about "Why again are women supposed to look like strange creatures from another planet or vintage Loony Tune?"
Oh my, how insensitive such a caption would have been, I would have found it incredibly offensive and politically incorrect—no, okay, I cannot keep up that level of sarcasm. That would have been a way, in fact, to have posted the complaint about this Photoshop job without hurting the feelings of anyone except possibly the industry executives and editors that make images like the one given happen.
So I'm rather suspecting that Cosmo7 never had any 'second thoughts' about touching it; I'd put forward a theory that xe was going to run with it the moment it first appeared in xir inbox, and that this poster at PD was absolutely THRILLED that xir chance to step up, break out the strawwomen, and be a comedian running on stale jokes against marginalized women had come, and so the stale tropes (not even jokes) were dusted off.
However, my actual anger didn't fully pop from that contemptible caption job, but instead whence, in the comments (which were for the most part by people in agreement with me about the absolute lack of anything resembling humor in it), I came across this gem in response to a "Gee I'm just a humorless fat woman but that wasn't funny" predecessor that went:...if you're trying to combat the "fat people are touchy and humorless" stereotype you're... uh... failing at it.
Really? I mean, REALLY?
"Marginalized group F is humorless and touchy! This is a sad fact/stereotype and they should be ashamed of this. As proof of how F is humorless and touchy, watch members of this group react in anger and bitterness, maybe with sarcasm, to this 'joke' that was designed in a laboratory to be incredibly hateful and offensive!"
Response to stimulus that was MEANT to be painful isn't proof of how a marginalized group or person needs to change and lighten up; the only thing it is ever proof of is how comfortably privileged and secure the person or persons creating the stimuli situations are—and that things meant to be hurtful are hurtful.
And my wonderful personality is tired of not-so-wonderful personalities excusing their hate and prejudices under the blanket of victim blaming, for which "You are being a stereotype" is one ugly piece of patchwork.
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Post-Script: Oh, I made the mistake of looking further into the comments after I wrote the rest of the post. Apparently we didn't GET the hipster-fat-joke's REAL point which was that we shouldn't be sensitive and also should be, I suppose, psychic in order to know that there is OBVIOUSLY a different meaning entirely, which is that: If we're really cool people we'd know there was nothing personal and the poster was making fun of people who make fun of fat folks. These helpful psychic people however are willing to correct us in our not understanding the parody/satire/paradox/irony.
AUGH MY BRAIN.
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*I know absolutely nothing of how Photoshop Disasters is run, whether it's a one-person show or has multiple contributors. And I really couldn't be arsed to waste more page views or time at that site.
Just Heard on CNN
"Men lagging behind in graduation rates and jobs. Is feminism to blame? Men are now fighting back. The rise of Man Power. That's next."
Return of The Wall
Roger Waters has announced his 2010 tour of performing The Wall in its entirety. Following is an excerpt of his explaining why he's bringing it back:
This new production of The Wall is an attempt to draw some comparisons, to illuminate our current predicament, and is dedicated to all the innocent lost in the intervening years.As part of the tour, Roger has set up a request called "Fallen Loved Ones." He's asking for people to submit photos and bios of loved ones that have been lost to war, which he will include in the actual performance as an act of honor and remembrance. I keep getting chills every time I think of that.
In some quarters, among the chattering classes, there exists a cynical view that human beings as a collective are incapable of developing more ‘humane’ ie, kinder, more generous, more cooperative, more empathetic relationships with one another.
I disagree.
In my view it is too early in our story to leap to such a conclusion, we are after all a very young species.
I believe we have at least a chance to aspire to something better than the dog eat dog ritual slaughter that is our current response to our institutionalized fear of each other.
I feel it is my responsibility as an artist to express my, albeit guarded, optimism, and encourage others to do the same. To quote the great man, "You may say that I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one."
I don't know about all of you, but you can damn well believe that I will be attending more than one of these shows.
Question of the Day
Suggested by Shaker Miss_Led: What saying or motto do you live by?
My Rights End Where Yours Begin is probably the closest thing I have to a comprehensive personal credo. This is a pretty good post explaining the concept as I practice it, for anyone who's interested.
I Write Letters
Dear Britney Spears,
I admire your perseverance. I admire the fuck out of it.
I don't know how it is that you've managed to grow up in the way that you have, trying to navigate your way to adulthood as a woman—a difficult and confusing journey even when one isn't hyper-sexualized at a formative age, tasked with the responsibility of accounting for a professional image one doesn't even have the life experience to contexualize.
I honestly can't even begin to imagine what your life has been like, with paparazzi in your face 24 hours a day and every one of the millions of photos taken of you scrutinized for evidence of the smallest imperfections. Even contemplating trying to achieve body acceptance under those circumstances makes me weep for the pain I can only imagine your life has been at times.
The scrutiny, the ridicule, the unreasonable expectations, the impossible standards, the misogyny (oh, Maude, the misogyny!), the ubiquitous holding out of your failed marriages in particular as the Ultimate Evidence that the sanctity of marriage is a joke, as if you're the only straight divorcee on the planet, the cruel jokes about your anguished cry when you shaved your head, the mockery of the hair extensions you put in afterwards, the classist jokes about your background, the jokes about your family, your parenting skills, your addiction, your music, your talent… Jesus, girl, you've weathered a lot.
All on top of a job in which professional criticism is an integral part.
All before your 30th birthday.
And not only are you still going, but you've got the unbelievable fortitude and courage to release before-and-after-retouching images from your latest photo shoot for Candie. (Which, by the by, handily and cleverly turns the industry expectation that you continue to be a sex symbol to retain your career, on its head.)
[Click images to embiggen.]Britney Spears has allowed the pre-airbrushed images from a shoot she took part in for fashion firm Candie's to be used ALONGSIDE the digitally-altered ones, so people can see the difference.
As well you should be, sister.
The 29-year-old singer made the extraordinary move in order to highlight the pressure exerted on women to look perfect.
…A source told the Daily Mirror newspaper: 'Britney is proud of her body - imperfections and all.'
And you should be proud like whoa of the inconceivable reserves of gumption and grit it takes to be publicly "imperfect"—which is a brave and transgressive act for any woman, no less one who's had to swim through the rivers of shit you have.
That you are still more likely to garner mention in the public sphere as a dismissive punchline than as an example of demonstrable strength and resilience is as grim a travesty as it is marked evidence of how truly fucked up this culture is.
We keep trying to break you, and you just keep being unbreakable.
Wow.
With love and admiration,
Liss
P.S. Related Reading: Quote of the Day; The Rebellyon Continues…
"Lawman" Hit With Civil Lawsuit
[Trigger warning.]
A few people have emailed me about "Lawman" Steven Seagal being accused in a civil lawsuit of "sexual harassment in violation of federal labor laws; illegal sex trafficking; retaliation; wrongful termination; and false representations about employment."
I won't recount the details; they are at the link if you are so inclined, and I direct you with a trigger warning, though MSNBC's coverage is less graphic than other coverage I've read, some of which repeats the specifics of the sexual assaults alleged in the suit.
I don't want to say a lot about this case, because, to be perfectly frank, I think Seagal is a racist dirtbag, and my visceral dislike of him makes me uninclined to be fair.
But I will note that MSNBC reports: "It was not clear why Kayden Nguyen chose to file a civil lawsuit instead of a criminal complaint. Messages left with her lawyers were not immediately returned Monday." As if it's some kind of mystery.
As the alleged assaults took place in New Orleans, where Seagal is shooting "Lawman," the A&E series which follows his stint as part of the New Orleans police force, and Nguyen made a criminal complaint, the same force of which Seagal's a member would have jurisdiction over the case. Aside from the inherent conflict of interest, literally having to report a cop to his coworkers is daunting.
It sounds to me like Nguyen got the hell out of there, flew home (she's from Los Angeles), and then contacted an attorney. Which is the same thing I'd do in the reported circumstances.
Today's Edition of "Conniving and Sinister"
[Trigger warning. Background.]
See Deeky's archive of all previous Conniving & Sinister strips here.
[In which Liss reimagines the long-running comic "Frank & Ernest," about two old straight white guys "telling it like it is," as a fat feminist white woman and a biracial queerbait telling it like it actually is from their perspectives. Hilarity ensues.]
Have I Ever Mentioned That I Love Bob Herbert?
Yes, I know. I've mentioned it like 97,000 times. Once again, let me say, I love Bob Herbert:
We need to pay less attention to the Tea Party yahoos and more attention to the very real suffering of individuals and families trapped in an employment crisis that is unprecedented in the post-Depression era. I've been in inner-city neighborhoods where residents will tell you that hardly anyone at all is working at a regular job.Read the whole thing here.
The recession only worsened an employment picture that was already bleak. In a speech at the Harvard Kennedy School last week, the A.F.L.-C.I.O. President Richard Trumka spoke movingly about Americans "trying to hold on to a good job in a grim game of musical chairs where every time the music stopped, there were fewer good jobs and more people trying to get and keep one."
More than eight million jobs vanished during the recession, a period during which three million new jobs would have been needed to keep up with the growth of the population. "That's 11 million missing jobs," said Mr. Trumka.
Right now there is no plan that can even remotely be expected to result in job creation strong enough to rescue the hard-core groups being left behind. These include: long-term unemployed workers who are older; blue-collar workers of all ages; and younger people in the big cities, in the rust belt and in rural areas who are jobless and not well educated.
It is not possible to put together a thriving, self-sustaining economy while so many are being left out.
Quote of the Day
"I, and many other white journalists, now don't do nearly as many reports on African-Americans or their problems, because we don't want to be put in a situation where our opinion is taken out of context, rammed down our throat as Media Matters and all these other sleazeoids do. So unless it's a big thing, if it's an optional thing where I used to do it, I'm not doing it anymore."—Professional Fucko Bill O'Reilly, whose trenchant as hell reporting on "African-Americans and their problems" will surely be missed.
Today in Rape Culture
[Trigger warning.]
A few times recently, I've seen adverts, usually in print media, using one of my most loathed turns of phrase: "Your mouth says no, but your eyes say yes." There are a few variations, e.g. "Your lips say no, but your eyes say yes" or "Your mind says no, but your body says yes."
Often this yes/no concept is used in advertising to women, to sell something decadent, frequently a food, often chocolate or some rich dessert.
You're saying you don't want it, but you know you really want it.
If that sounds suspiciously like rape apologia, it's no coincidence. "She said no, but she obviously wanted it" has been used in rape defenses as long as there have been trials for rape. What is victim-blaming based on an accuser's appearance or behavior if not a variation on this very concept? "Her mouth said no, but her short skirt said yes."
I could probably write an entire book about the inherent problems in using rape apologia to sell luxury items to women, and the nefariousness of that strategy given what it sells by proxy, but at the moment, I'll just observe, simply: That shit is fucked up.
Actual Headline
In the New York Times: Unshaven Women: Free Spirits or Unkempt?
LOL! Those are the only two options? You have to be making a statement about how free spirited you are, or you're just nasty? Please, Times. Women are way more diverse than that. Some of us are just apathetic!
I'm sure you will not be surprised that the accompanying article is no better.
How we depilate is a function of time and place. Lee Friedlander's 1979 photograph of Madonna spread-eagle, which appeared in Playboy in 1985 — with no sign that she had recently used a razor anywhere — drew cheers and not jeers from readers. Lest we think that hairiness doesn't sell these days, a print of that nude went for $37,500 last year.I don't know about you, but I always base my shaving habits on how much nude portraits of hairy naked pop stars are selling for.
Sometimes a lover finds it attractive; Mo'Nique has said that her husband likes her legs. That raises the question: Is the fear that no man will want you and your hairy legs valid?Valid? Forget valid. That question doesn't even exist in my world.
My shaving habits are not contingent on getting or retaining a partner. It's not much of a stretch to say, however, that who my partner is is contingent on my shaving habits—specifically, his utter lack of investment in them.
[H/T to Shaker MJ.]
I Write Letters
[Trigger warning.]
Dear Susannah Breslin:
I'm guessing that any one of the ladies at Feministing would have happily explained to you what a trigger warning actually is, since—shockingly!—it turns out that "Yahoo! Answers" isn't always the best source on the internetz. But since you didn't bother to ask them, or any of the other feminist/womanist writers in the blogosphere who use trigger warnings, let me offer my services, so that you might base your opinion of trigger warnings on Actual Facts.
It's accurate that a trigger warning is "A warning placed in the title of an e-mail or post to let possible readers know that the content might trigger (or upset) them," but that's not much use as far as explanations go when the word trigger itself hasn't been defined. (Although I note the random answerer you quoted actually did provide a bit of information in a separate response, which you chose to ignore.)
A trigger is something that evokes survived trauma or ongoing disorder. For example, a person who was raped may be "triggered," i.e. reminded of hir rape, by a graphic description of sexual assault, and that reminder may, especially if the survivor has post-traumatic stress disorder, be accompanied by anxiety, manifesting as anything ranging from mild agitation to self-mutilation to a serious panic attack.
Those of us who write about triggering topics (sexual assault, violence, detainee torture, war crimes, disordered eating, suicide, etc.) provide trigger warnings with such content because we don't want to inadvertently cause someone who's, say, sitting at her desk at work, a full-blown panic attack because she happened to read a triggering post the content of which she was unprepared for.
We provide trigger warnings because they give survivors of various stripes the option to assess whether they're in a state of mind to deal with triggering material before they stumble across it. Just like someone who isn't easily triggered can nonetheless have, say, a shorter temper when stressed or tired or hungry, a person whose history of trauma makes some material triggering for them can often navigate triggering material without a problem, except when stressed or tired or hungry. Trigger warnings give them a moment to consider whether they want to deal with potentially triggering material right now.
We provide trigger warnings because it's polite, because we don't want to be the asshole who triggered a survivor of sexual assault because of carelessness or laziness or ignorance.
We provide trigger warnings because we know that 1 out of every 6 women and 1 out of every 10 men is a survivor of sexual assault or attempted sexual assault, many of them having survived multiple sexual assaults, and just because the larger culture doesn't acknowledge the existence of this vast population of people doesn't mean we don't have to.
We provide trigger warnings because we understand what they actually are.
And now, so do you! Yay!
One hopes you will take this information on board and reconsider whether it's not that the ladies of Feministing and their readership are, in fact, too sensitive, but perhaps it's that you were simply not sensitive enough.
Because, I gotta be honest, I'm pretty sure I could make a decent case that ridiculing a feminist site for being thoughtful to survivors is evidence of not being sensitive enough with two hands tied behind my back.
Sincerely,
Liss
I Cleaned My Desk
Following up on Deeky's post yesterday...
I actually had to tidy up a bit because we're getting a site visit from people outside of the office and I want everything to look just so.
