Saturday was Blogging Against Disablism Day, and the blogswarm is still ongoing. Since BADD fell on a weekend, I thought I'd bring more attention to it with a BADD-themed blogaround today. The links you leave in comments here need not be about disability or disablism. However, it is not too late to contribute to the BADD blogswarm if you have the time, energy, and interest.
This blogaround is brought to you by my rheumatologist, my mother's orthopedic surgeons, and my father's neurologist, without all of whom I would surely not be online right now to type this.
Here is just a selection of the great posts over at Diary of a Goldfish:
Tasha Fierce: Full Disclosure
Pendulum Tech: Accessibility and Ubuntu
Kaz's Scribblings: The self-pity model
Black Telephone: Morning of A Successful Communicator
A Crippled Carnival: "My Own Disablism" Or "The Self-Hating Crip"
Cara: Addressing Ableist Language (at Feministe); Ableism and Abuse (at The Curvature)
Almost Normal: Hands off my Codeine
Feminists With Female Sexual Dysfunction: BADD 2k10 – sexual dysfunction as disability
the f word: Blogging Against Disablism Day: on being a disabled blogger
this ain’t livin’: Blogging Against Disablism Day 2010:Do You Need Assistance?
The View From Room 7609: Not visible doesn't mean not there.
Do check out the whole blogswarm if you can, and leave your links in comments.
Monday Blogaround: BADD Edition
Quote of the Day
[Trigger warning re: Polanski and sexual assault.]
"I have had my share of dramas and joys, as we all have, and I am not going to try to ask you to pity my lot in life. I ask only to be treated fairly like anyone else."—Roman Polanski, in a statement he released yesterday, in which he repeatedly exclaims "I can remain silent no longer!"
You hear that, everyone? Mr. Polanski wants to be treated fairly, just like anyone else—so let's build a time machine and go back 30 years and, instead of letting him spend three decades as a fugitive getting rich from making highly-acclaimed movies with an endless stream of willing movie stars and attending celebrity parties and getting fancy awards and complaining about having to await possible extradition in a Swiss fucking chateau, we'll THROW HIS ASS IN THE CLINK like anyone else who admitted drugging and raping a 13-year-old child would have been.
Fucking asshole.
Assvertising
Shaker FilthyGrandeur sent me the link to the below advert for Miller Lite. It's quite an amazing feat of bigotry. In 30 seconds, they managed to pack in nearly as much sexism, transphobia, and racism ("We don't have to cast any people of color in speaking roles as long as there's a black guy in the background, right?") as the average 22-minute network sitcom.
[Transcript below.]
Contact MillerCoors, who assert to value diversity, here to politely let them know what you think of their advertising content.[White dudebro walks up to bar, at which a beautiful, thin, young white woman bathed in light is bartending.][Assvertising: Parts One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen, Fourteen, Fifteen, Sixteen, Seventeen, Eighteen, Nineteen, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105.]
Dudebro: Can I get a light beer?
Bartender: Sure. Do you care how it tastes?
Dudebro: No, I don't really care. [He smiles, and makes a "How you doin'?" face at the woman sitting next to him at the bar.]
Bartender: Okay. [She opens a generic bottle of beer and hands it to him.] Well, when you start caring, take off your skirt and I'll give you a Miller Lite.
[Dudebro looks embarrassed; he looks at the woman sitting next to him, who looks disgusted. As he walks away, it is revealed he is wearing an orange skirt.]
Male Voiceover: Man up. 'Cause if you're drinking a light beer without great pilsner taste, you're missing the point of drinking beer. [Dudebro looks back; the women are paying no attention to him; he turns back around, dejected.] Grab a triple hops brew Miller Lite. Taste greatness.
[Dudebro walks up to a table of two other white dudebros. He is now wearing jeans and drinking a Miller Lite.]
Dudebro: Check it out. I lost the skirt and got a Miller Lite. [He holds his hands up, like, "Ta-daaaa!"]
Woman walking by: Your fly's open.
Good Morning, Fellow Mastodons!
In an article titled "Our Big Problem," and accompanied by an image of an anthropomorphized stack of doughnuts, the Wall Street Journal's resident pseudonymous British doctor ("Theodore Dalrymple is the pen name of Anthony Daniels, a British physician. His latest book is "The New Vichy Syndrome.") explains how fatties are antisocial, irresponsible drains on society (who are also threatening the very planet by eating fast food off polystyrene dishes) and can only be helped via "prohibition," because encouraging fatties to exercise would be "extremely irresponsible," since "If the obese were suddenly to start exercising, emergency rooms would not be able to cope. For the sake of our health, let us have no sports."
So: No sport, and government-regulated diets. Got it.
Oh, and, I'm pretty sure the good doctor prescribes shame, too. Lots and lots of shame:
Never have so many human mastodons bestridden the earth as now. At one time, not so very long ago, such mastodons were rare enough to be curiosities, charitably thought by others to be the victims of their "glands." We had such a fat boy at school: His cheeks were so adipose that his eyes had become mere slits. We thought that he was ill rather than a member of a cultural avant garde.Wow.
And once again I'd like to note how the Us v. Them anti-fat rhetoric in a major news outlet is framed with violent, eliminationist rhetoric. The subtitle of the piece is: "Obesity is spreading—and eating away at America's economy and health. Theodore Dalrymple on how society can bite back." Literally: Fatties are threatening America's way of life; society (of which fatties exist outside) must "bite back" before they take everyone else down with them.
It's really frightening how frequently I'm now seeing articles that position fat people outside of society, as an external threat. Separating a group to scapegoat them as a responsible party for the nation's "economy and health" failures is how Very Ugly Things can happen.
[H/T to Shaker Abra.]
Doctor Who Open Thread
Open Thread for discussion of the latest (as per worldwide schedules: Season 5, Episode 3, "Victory of the Daleks") episode of Doctor Who.
Please do not give spoilers from episodes after Episode 3, Season 5. Spoiling comments will be edited by the moderator, who will also be annoyed, because she hasn't seen Episode 4 or later yet.
Discussion of episodes from earlier in the season, from previous seasons, or from other media, are explicitly on-topic. Discussion may contain spoilers for these older media.
Hosted by an Ikea catalogue page I made up.
Open Thread
Hosted by a double harpischord.
This week's open threads have been brought to you by musical instruments.
Massive Medicine Recall
McNeil Consumer Healthcare has recalled ALL non-expired lots of:
Children's & Infants' TYLENOL, Children's ZYRTEC, Children's & Infants' MOTRIN, and Children's BENEDRYL (all liquid medications)
McNeil Consumer Healthcare, Division of McNEIL-PPC, Inc., in consultation with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), is voluntarily recalling all lots that have not yet expired of certain over-the-counter (OTC) Children’s and Infants’ liquid products manufactured in the United States and distributed in the United States, Canada, Dominican Republic, Dubai (UAE), Fiji, Guam, Guatemala, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Panama, Trinidad & Tobago, and Kuwait.
McNeil Consumer Healthcare is initiating this voluntary recall because some of these products may not meet required quality standards. This recall is not being undertaken on the basis of adverse medical events. However, as a precautionary measure, parents and caregivers should not administer these products to their children. Some of the products included in the recall may contain a higher concentration of active ingredient than is specified; others may contain inactive ingredients that may not meet internal testing requirements; and others may contain tiny particles. While the potential for serious medical events is remote, the company advises consumers who have purchased these recalled products to discontinue use.
Blogging Against Disablism Day 2010
Hey, all! Once again, Blogging Against Disablism Day is hosted today at Diary of a Goldfish. Click the logo on the left to visit the BADD homepage at Diary of a Goldfish and read all the BADD posts as they come rolling in.
A reminder from Diary of a Goldfish's BADD 2010 introductory post about how BADD works is as follows:
My own situation, about which I blogged on BADD 2009, has become much more complicated over the past year. I will do my best to get a post up today, but I wanted to go ahead and let others know so they can participate and read along.
How to take part.
1. Post a commentbelow to say you intend to join in. I will then add you to the list of participants on the sidebar of this blog. Everyone is welcome.
2. Spread the word by linking to this site, displaying our banner and/ or telling everyone about it. The entire success of Blogging Against Disablism Day depends entirely on bloggers telling other bloggers and readers in advance.
3. Write a post on the subject of disability discrimination, disablism or ableism and publish it on May 1st - or as close as you are able. Podcasts, videocasts and on-line art are also welcome. You can cover any subject, specific or general, personal, social or political. In the previous three BADD, folks have written about all manner of subjects, from discrimination in education and employment, through health care, parenting, family life and relationships, as well as the interaction of disablism with racism and sexism. Every year I have been asked, so it's worth saying; the discrimination experienced by people with mental ill health is disablism, so naturally such posts are welcome too.
The Virtual Pub Is Open
[Explanations: lol your fat. pathetic anger bread. hey your gay.]
TFIF, Shakers!
Belly up to the bar,
and name your poison!
CNN Headline Nooz
So now just letting some random people spout unsupportable bullshit is a news story? Okay.
Today in Rape Culture
[Trigger warning.]
The top two stories on today's UN Dispatch "Morning Coffee" are:
6 OUT OF 10 MIGRANT WOMEN RAPED - As many as 6 out of 10 women and girls attempting to cross from Mexico into the U.S. will be raped on her journey, according a new report by Amnesty International. Each year, thousands of migrants, most of whom set out from Central America, fall victim to criminal gangs who exploit them financially and sexually. AI is calling on the Mexican government to take action to protect migrants from rape and other forms of predation. LinkThere's nothing I can say that I haven't said a thousand times before. Time to pick up our teaspoons, Shakers.
UN: IMPUNITY AT THE ROOT OF RAPE - A senior UN Security Council official is back from a trip to what she calls "the rape capital of the world," the Democratic Republic of Congo. Margot Wallström is urging the Security Council to make the prevention of sexual violence a top priority. Link
Take action to stop abuse of migrants in Mexico here. Support UNIFEM's efforts on behalf of women in Congo here.
Today's Edition of "Conniving and Sinister"
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.]
Quote of the Day
"We need to repeal the health care law and replace it with common-sense steps that will lower the cost of health insurance in America."—House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Hawaiian Tropic), on the priorities of House Republicans, should they reclaim the majority come November.
I'm glad to hear the Republicans are finally on board with socialized medicine!
What's the Matter with Arizona?
Well. I don't really know what to say about this (emphasis mine):
After making national headlines for a new law on illegal immigrants, the Arizona Legislature passed a bill Thursday that would ban ethnic studies programs in the state that critics say currently advocate separatism and racial preferences.I see. So, really, MLK and his dream? Eh, notsomuch. Scared of Latino/Latina people "taking over" and must have classes about their heritage eliminated (particularly aimed at Tuscon Unified SD's Mexican-American program)? That's more like it. How dare this man try and hide behind Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to promote his racism. (Bill text here)
The bill, which passed 32-26 in the state House, had been approved by the Senate a day earlier. It now goes to Gov. Jan Brewer for her signature.
The new bill would make it illegal for a school district to teach any courses that promote the overthrow of the U.S. government, promote resentment of a particular race or class of people, are designed primarily for students of a particular ethnic group or "advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals."
The bill stipulates that courses can continue to be taught for Native American pupils in compliance with federal law and does not prohibit English as a second language classes. It also does not prohibit the teaching of the Holocaust or other cases of genocide.
[...]
State Superintendent for Public Instruction Tom Horne called passage in the state House a victory for the principle that education should unite, not divide students of differing backgrounds.
"Traditionally, the American public school system has brought together students from different backgrounds and taught them to be Americans and to treat each other as individuals, and not on the basis of their ethnic backgrounds," Horne said. "This is consistent with the fundamental American value that we are all individuals, not exemplars of whatever ethnic groups we were born into. Ethnic studies programs teach the opposite, and are designed to promote ethnic chauvinism."
Horne began fighting in 2007 against the Tucson Unified School District's program, which he said defied Martin Luther King's call to judge a person by the content of their character, not the color of their skin. Horne claimed the ethnic studies program encourages "ethnic chauvanism," promotes Latinos to rise up and create a new territory out of the southwestern region of the United States and tries to intimidate conservative teachers in the school system.
While on the subject of education in Arizona, the AZ Dept. of Education is up to, well...
PHOENIX—As the academic year winds down, Creighton School Principal Rosemary Agneessens faces a wrenching decision: what to do with veteran teachers whom the state education department says don't speak English well enough.Sounds more like it's from the Dept. of Really Ridiculous Ideas, Hello?!. WTF.
The Arizona Department of Education recently began telling school districts that teachers whose spoken English it deems to be heavily accented or ungrammatical must be removed from classes for students still learning English.
[...]
In the 1990s, Arizona hired hundreds of teachers whose first language was Spanish as part of a broad bilingual-education program. Many were recruited from Latin America.
Then in 2000, voters passed a ballot measure stipulating that instruction be offered only in English. Bilingual teachers who had been instructing in Spanish switched to English.
[...]
Arizona's enforcement of fluency standards is based on an interpretation of the federal No Child Left Behind Act. That law states that for a school to receive federal funds, students learning English must be instructed by teachers fluent in the language. Defining fluency is left to each state, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Education said.
[...]
The education department has dispatched evaluators to audit teachers across the state on things such as comprehensible pronunciation, correct grammar and good writing.
Teachers that don't pass muster may take classes or other steps to improve their English; if fluency continues to be a problem, Ms. Santa Cruz said, it is up to school districts to decide whether to fire teachers or reassign them to mainstream classes not designated for students still learning to speak English. However, teachers shouldn't continue to work in classes for non-native English speakers.
About 150,000 of Arizona's 1.2 million public-school students are classified as English Language Learners. Of the state's 247 school districts, about 20 have high concentrations of such students, the largest number of which are in the younger grades.
Daily Kitteh
Why it is so difficult to take a picture of Sovereign in daylight. Can you say over-exposed? I thought you could.
So Sexy Too Soon
I don’t think I knew, outside the realm of those beauty pageants for little girls, that 8-year-olds wore mascara. Not only does this phenomenon exist, according to a NYT article, but
From 2007 to 2009, the percentage of girls ages 8 to 12 who regularly use mascara and eyeliner nearly doubled — to 18 percent from 10 percent for mascara, and to 15 percent from 9 percent for eyeliner. The percentage of them using lipstick also rose, to 15 percent from 10 percent.We’re* prepping them earlier and earlier, with the assistance of the beauty industry, for conforming to notions of “beauty” and “femininity,” for life as the objects of the heterosexual male gaze.
From the article:
"There’s relentless marketing pressure on young girls to look older,” Ms. [Stacy] Malkan said. “Not just from magazines and TV ads, but from shows like ‘90210.’ Those kids are supposed to be in 10th and 11th grade, but they look 25.”Others have documented this ongoing sexualization of young girls. In speaking of her book, Girl Culture, Lauren Greenfield notes the “the exhibitionist nature of modern femininity.” Diane Levin and Jean Kilbourne explore the role of gendered and sexualized marketing on young girls in So Sexy, So Soon. They tell a story of 7- and 8-year-old girls who feel they must be sexy so boys will like them and are upset that their parents won’t buy them sexy clothes. Levin and Kilbourne describe the messages transmitted over and over to young girls
Indeed, the aisles of Sephora and CVS are lined with cosmetics aimed at Miley Cyrus fans. Fashion runways teem with heavily made-up girls of 14. Neutrogena offers a line of acne-clearing makeup featured on the “Neutrogena Teen” section of its Web site. Even Dylan’s Candy Bar, the upscale candy store whose Upper East Side flagship has become a tourist attraction, has a “beauty” line that includes cupcake body lotion and strawberry licorice “lip saver.” (“Lips should always be candy-luscious and sweet to kiss!” reads the Web site.)
In today’s cultural environment, products that channel children into narrowly focused content and activities threaten to consume every aspect of their lives. For young girls, this usually means focusing on buying fashion items, looking pretty, and acting sexy. From newfangled Barbies and sexy Bratz dolls to “old-fashioned” princess fairy tales, young girls… learn to value a certain aesthetic and a certain behavior—be pretty, be coy, and… be saved in the end by the handsome prince. [T]hese gender stereotypes and sexualized messages are everywhere. **They are everywhere and apparently they are effective.
The author of the NYT article says that some young girls might be “sophisticated enough to make… their own beauty decisions.” He points to an 11-year old who denied trying to emulate anyone by wearing makeup; “I try to make myself look like me,” she said.
That immediately reminded me of a scene from Good Hair when Chris Rock tries to go into a hair supply store and sell “black” hair to the store owner who stocks primarily Indian hair. Black women, the store owner tells him, don’t want “black” hair, because they want to look more “natural.” You can see that scene beginning around the 2:09 second mark in the trailer below.
All of that leads me to wonder why looking “natural” is never equivalent to being "natural" (i.e. without artifice) for women. Instead, “natural” is constructed as the outcome of subjecting our bodies, head to toe, to various processes.
As girls began these processes at younger and younger ages, what will be the effect on their physical and mental well-being?
_______________________
*The article says that 2/3 of the girls surveyed reported getting makeup and makeup techniques from a “family member or adult family friend.”
**Diane Levin and Jean Kilbourne, So Sexy So Soon: The New Sexualized Childhood and What Parents Can Do to Protect Their Kids (New York: Ballantine Books, 2009), 30; 32-33.
Fomenting the Mommy Wars
Or maybe the mommy/non-mommy wars, as for some people, motherhood seems to be the only reference for women's identity.
So, Luisita Lopez Torregrosa wrote an article entitled "Childless by Choice," in which she discusses her decision not to have children or get married, how she enjoys her life, and how she's felt distance grow between her married, "child-filled" friends and herself. In other words, she's describing her life.
I didn't like the blanket statement here:Take women with children, especially with young children. They get together -- at the park, at the grocery, at play dates – and can talk about nothing else but their beautiful, brilliant, amazing children.
When I did manage to get with my girlfriends when my kid was small, the last thing we wanted to talk about was the kids. We wanted mixed drinks and a break. I didn't like the generalization, but I don't doubt for a minute that might be her experience and again, she's describing her life.
Which should be just fine, right?
Apparently, that's not controversial enough. The AOL lede/link to the story is "Woman's Column May Anger Moms."* Because all moms decide other women's lives must be read through and judged by moms' experiences and because we get blazingly angry that all women don't make the same choices.
Or something.
_______________________
*Sorry, y'all, wanted to provide a screen capture, but my en-virus laptop is not cooperating. As of right now you can go here, and click to page 5 of 9 in the little lead stories box to see the link.
Assvertising
From the "Patriarchy Is Bad for Men, Too" Files...
[Click images to embiggen.]
This Jota Art Jewelry campaign [via Copyranter] attempts to sell diamonds to (straight) women—or, the (straight) men who buy diamonds for (straight) women—by reflecting the stereotypical "bad behaviors" of (straight) men in the stone (leaving the seat up; toothpaste mess), accompanied by the single word "Forgiveness."
Arguably, the ad is directed as much at (straight) men, conveying to them they should buy diamonds to beg forgiveness, as it is at (straight) women, conveying to them they should expect diamonds in exchange for forgiveness. In either case, the ad basically suggests that (straight) men don't have to be respectful, if they can afford diamonds. And (straight) women shouldn't expect respect, when they can just settle for diamonds.
Ugh squared.
[Assvertising: Parts One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen, Fourteen, Fifteen, Sixteen, Seventeen, Eighteen, Nineteen, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104.]
