Maybe a discussion about the "sinfulness" of a particular sexual orientation isn't actually a valuable contribution to the national discourse. Maybe it's not even news.
Technically that was two thoughts. If you count the embedded contempt and implicit commentary about what a homophobic wankstain Joel Osteen is and what a terrible journalist, even by CNN's increasingly questionable standards, Piers Morgan is, it's even more than two thoughts.
Whatever.
A Thought
Texting! With Liss and Deeky!
Deeky: I am sending you those Bieber cards when I am done with them.
Liss: LOL. Of course you are. Because you're a closet hoarder who just sends me his garbage treasures.
Deeky: No doy!
Liss: "I can't bear to throw away this 17-year-old porno mag with the centerfold who looks like Brian Bloom! Too many nice wankmemories! I know - I'll send it to Liss!"
Deeky: LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!!! I can't stop giggling.
Liss: "I'll keep my house nice and clean and send my garbage treasure hoard to Indiana!"
Deeky: You love my treasures!
Liss: Your treasures, lol. Yes, I love them so much I put them in plastic treasure chests and put them out by the curb every week to be collected by the "treasure man" for safe keeping. He buries them at the "treasure dump" for me.
Deeky: LOL! How thoughtful!
Liss: It's like a safe deposit box, except EVEN BETTER.
Deeky: LOLOLOL! I wish I was back in Missouri. I would sooooo send you a mountain of treasures right now.
Liss: LOLOLOLOLOLOL! I bet you would.
[Click to embiggen.]
Above: An actual image of some of the recent garbage treasure that has been mailed to Liss by Deeky: A torn-out magazine photo of Brett Anderson circa 1993, a M4M phone sex ad, a random magazine photo of an eagle, New Kids on the Block trading cards, a doodle in colored pencil with a food stain on it, a Czech grocery specials flyer from 2001, an anti-McCain bumper magnet, and a glittery sticker featuring a cartoon of disembodied boobs being grabbed by hands reading "Free Mammograms."
Pennsylvania Senate Committee Votes to Ban Abortion Coverage in Private Insurance Plans
From The Philadelphia Inquirer:
HARRISBURG - A state Senate committee is advancing a bill to ban abortion coverage from policies obtained through health-insurance exchanges that are to begin in 2014. The bill passed the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee on Tuesday, 12-2. No public hearing was held.
Last year's landmark federal health-care law requires states to set up the exchanges to provide a marketplace where small businesses and individuals can buy coverage.
However, some abortion-rights proponents say that federal law already restricts taxpayer funding for abortion coverage and that this bill goes further than federal law by restricting abortion coverage in private policies.
For more on yesterday's vote, let's go to Planned Parenthood Pennsylvania Advocates:
Senate Committee Votes to Further Endanger Women’s Health and Safety in Pennsylvania
January 25, 2011
Author: Sari Stevens
HARRISBURG – Two days after the November 2nd election, President Pro Tempore Senator Scarnati was quoted in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette cautioning his colleagues to focus on statewide fiscal matters and avoid divisive fights over abortion rights. On just the second day of legislative session, that commitment to Pennsylvania voters was broken when the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee voted to ban private insurance plans sold in the Pennsylvania health insurance exchange from covering even medically necessary abortion services.
“Rather than focusing on job creation and stimulating the economy, the State Senate is pulling a bait and switch and has made clear that government interference in private medical decisions is their top priority,” said Sari Stevens, Executive Director of Planned Parenthood Pennsylvania Advocates. “Pennsylvania voters are not interested in reopening the debate around abortion. Our lawmakers should focus on improving our health care system and stop using women’s health as a divisive issue.”
The debate over private insurance coverage of abortion in the health insurance exchanges was settled by U.S. Senator Ben Nelson, a staunch opponent of abortion. The Nelson amendment stipulates that women who want to use their own money to purchase a health insurance plan that covers abortion services must send a separate payment so the funding for abortion coverage is completely separate and paid entirely by the individual.
Read the whole thing.
This vote comes just after the Kermit Gosnell case broke. Last week, Melissa wrote,
This case is already being used by anti-choice advocates as evidence for why abortion should be criminalized. But, in fact, the opposite is true: It is because of the increasingly limited access to safe, affordable, first-term abortion, as well as safe, affordable, late-term therapeutic abortion, that a heinous anomaly like Gosnell exists. He is an unethical opportunist who made lots of money exploiting desperate women without a better alternative.
And now the PA State Senate is acting opportunistically to limit women's reproductive freedom.
If you live in Pennsylvania, you can
Contact PA State SenatorsH/T to Planned Parenthood Pennsylvania Advocates
Wednesday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by Shaxco, publishers of the upcoming Deeky's Guide to Smart Investing.
Recommended Reading:
Shani: Ask a Woman Who Knows [TW for gender essentialism]
scatx: Rape in the Peace Corps [TW for sexual violence]
Fannie: The Ignorance of Non-Feminists, Part Whatever
Renee: Toy Story 3: Lessons in Race and Gender
Dori: Thousands of Cuts [TW for discussion of circumcision]
Andy: Peruvian Catholic Bishop Uses Gay Slur; Apologizes "For Everyone Who Felt Offended" [TW for homophobia; Christian supremacy]
Living ~400lbs: Microagressions
Leave your links in comments...
Quote of the Day
[Trigger warning for anti-Semitism.]
"He's into history."—An anonymous Jesse James "insider," explaining why more pictures have surfaced of James playing around with Nazism: "In one pic, James grins and sits in a convertible alongside a pal who gives the infamous "sieg heil" salute [while wearing what looks like an SS cap]; another image features a children's book character, Flat Stanley, dressed as Adolf Hitler."
No, people who watch WWII documentaries are into history. People who play Nazi dress-up are anti-Semitic fucknecks.
"He's into history." Please. That would be fucking hilarious if it weren't so terrifying.
And by "terrifying," I'm not referring to Jesse James or his "anonymous friend," but to a culture that finds eliminationist anti-Semitism an acceptable position to hold.
This post sponsored by The Beaver, coming to a theater near you in March!
[Related Reading: No.]
Situation Normal
[Trigger warning for violence.]
If you are a rightwing extremist who advocates "repudiation of the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision with mass bloodshed," you can still totally have a job as a CNN commentator, even sitting on a panel discussing the State of the Union.
And why not? It's not like the president even mentioned reproductive rights, anyway.
Assvertising
Kate's post about the manflu reminded me that I've been meaning to post about this obnoxious Vicks Dayquil advert for ages (it's the first of the two in this video):
A white man is lying on a couch, looking pathetic and coughing. His wifemommy walks in. "I can't reach the remote," he whines, looking at her plaintively. She tosses a box of Vicks Dayquil at him. Cut to a whitescreen with the text: "Thankfully, it even works on the man-cold."Whooooooooops I barfed on your Vicks Dayquil.
For The Fiscally Responsible Collector
Need some solid financial advice from Shakesville's resident Wall Street Insider™? (That's me, by the way!) Buy some of these! They are guaranteed to appreciate in value! It's practically like buying cash money at half off! It's all about the Benjamins! It's all about the Biebers! Yes! Get in on the ground floor of the Bieberdollar bubble!
[Image: Pack of Justin Bieber trading cards!]
5 cards! 1 sticker! No purchase necessary! (I have no idea! Shoplifting, what?) Stock up now! Rare and foil cards! And remember: After the Bieberpocalypse, the only currency recognized by the NBO (New Bieber Order; Glenn Beck's ghostwriters are already working on a new novel) will be the Bieberdollar! Don't be left behind! Don't be Left Behind! Ages 9+ only!
State of the Union Open Thread
President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and Speaker John Boehner. [Getty Images]
So the president gave a speech last night. So did Rep. Paul Ryan, who gave the official GOP response, as well as Rep. Michele Bachmann, who gave the Tea Party Caucus response. The Green Party response, which was not aired on television, naturally, is here.
Discuss!
Stock up on cold ones, it's a manmergency!
[Trigger warning for misogyny and gender essentialism]
We live in a world where it's still controversial to openly discuss the scale of the GRID AIDS crisis, where migraines, if the dominant culture is to be believed, are primarily caused by reading too many Danielle Steele novels, and where women are encouraged to squirt toxins down there into their vaginae to promote health. In this world, still reeling from a prolonged he-cession, I give you the latest public health emergency: MANFLU!
The Daily Mail (sigh):
"Women have suspected it for years – and finally, they have proof: when it comes to illness, scientists say men really are wimps.
According to research, the working man is much more likely to succumb to a cold than his female colleague when the pressure’s on."
Yes, men, why do you have to be so feminine and sick? Can't you learn to be fighters?
The Scotsman [Edinburgh] has a pretty good take down of the research and the accompanying Mail story. Since my sweetie tells me CBS' The Early Show covered this super serious story this morning (as of this writing, they don't have anything online), here are a few thoughts:
The study The Mail cited involved surveying workers from 40 South Korean manufacturing firms. So, the results are (as always) grounded in a specific cultural and socioeconomic context.
Researchers asked participants if they thought they had caught a cold in the past 4 months. I briefly worked for some epidemiologists, and this methodology is certainly, um, easy? It's like that time when NIH asked 50,000 bank employees if they suffered from any undiagnosed cancers. Except in this case, it actually happened.
Here's a fun fact: the South Korean study found that women were more likely than men to get colds. Whoops!
The manflu (or man cold, as The Scotsman helpfully points out) is all in the interaction between reported stress and reported illness. Men who reported being under more stress were more likely to report that they had a cold in the past four months. There wasn't a correlation between reported stress and reported illness in women.
This might be an interesting finding. I mean, why might this be the case?
Maybe women tend to be under more stress than men, what with that oppression business and all. That could overwhelm any effects of workplace stress.
Maybe men are more likely to be in management positions than women, which, if correlated with stress (positively or negatively), could make the statistics tricky.
Maybe (um,
Maybe (absolutely) there are gendered aspects of socialization that impact perceptions of stress and illness.
Or maybe men are a bunch of girls and therefore we should feel sorry for them, because unlike girls, they are more likely to get sick (except they aren't).
Tough call.
The State of the Union Pub Is Open
President Obama will be giving his State of the Union address tonight, starting at 9pm EST. (Find out how/where to watch it live online here.) The seating will be bipartisan, Obama will propose a five-year spending freeze on non-defense spending, and Michele Bachmann will deliver an unofficial rebuttal.
I just received an excerpt of the speech as prepared, and this is part of it:
Half a century ago, when the Soviets beat us into space with the launch of a satellite called Sputnik¸ we had no idea how we'd beat them to the moon. The science wasn't there yet. NASA didn't even exist.Wait, what?! No. That should be "This is our generation's Apollo moment," right? Unless the president intends to suggest this is the moment we are surpassed by a burgeoning superpower who has the will to invest in better research and education. Which, admittedly, would probably be honest but not very inspiring, lol.
But after investing in better research and education, we didn't just surpass the Soviets; we unleashed a wave of innovation that created new industries and millions of new jobs.
This is our generation's Sputnik moment.
It's gonna be a long night, Shakers.
Anyone got any suggestions for a good virtual drinking game? Deeky says take a shot every time he says "fiscal responsibility," and I say take a shot every time he says "bipartisan." If he says "people of faith," down the bottle.
Question of the Day
Pretending, naturally, that Hell exists, we're all going there (no doy), and it's comprised entirely of a screening room with a single uncomfortable chair molded perfectly to your ass, what movie, if forced to watch over and over on a loop for eternity, would constitute your personal Hell?
(I mean, I know any movie over and over for eternity would be hellish, so, for the pedants among us, please feel free to read the question as: What movie would you least like to watch three times in a row?)
My answer: Barry Lyndon, for sheer unsurpassed dullery. Ugh, Stanley Kubrick. UGH.
Whoooooooooops
Sexy News Anchors Distract Male Viewers.
Whoooooooooops! Straight Male Viewers' Ability to Concentrate Undermined by Lifelong Socialization to Sexually Objectify Women.
B-b-but it's in their BRAINZ!!! Blah blah evo psych blah!
Yes. That's true. And brains wired to see things one way will start seeing them another way within a matter of days when forced to do so. And brains that hold socialized biases, like associating dark skin with a lack of ethics, release those biases when exposed to counter-narratives on a regular basis. And brains that are remapped with cognitive behavior therapy can stop doing things they have done for years.
The thing about brains, and how they perceive things, is that they're adaptable based on the external factors to which we subject them. That's demonstrably evident, even granting that we may be predisposed to certain psychological patterns and processes.
But something about sex and gender makes us certain everything is hard-wired.
That's just how men are! You know what women are like! Boys will be boys. She's such a girl. He's a man's-man. She's a girly-girl. Men can't help it. Women can't help it. That's just how they're born.
We don't feel socialization happening, which is why it's so easy to believe that our brains are just built one way or another by biology and that's that.
Easy beliefs are often the most dangerous ones.
Photos of the Day
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (right) and Spain's Foreign Minister Trinidad Jimenez at a press conference after their meeting at the State Department in Washington January 25, 2011. [Reuters Pictures]
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (right) walks with Mexican Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa (left) on a one-day trip to Mexico through the streets of Guanajuato, January 24, 2011, prior to lunch at Teatro Juarez. [Getty Images]
Saudi talk show host Hiba Jamal (left) takes a picture of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (right) with Lebanese presenter Rania Barghut after recording a special episode of the Arabic ladies' talk show 'Kalam Nawaem' at Zayed University in Abu Dhabi on January 10, 2011, to be broadcast on the Saudi-owned MBC-1 satellite channel. [Getty Images]When I was a little girl, I never saw images of women like this in the news. Even when I saw pictures of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, she was almost always the only woman in the picture. More often than not, Clinton is still the only woman in the picture, too, wearing her brightly colored suit in a sea of pinstriped charcoal. When I see pictures like these, they make me blub with joy.
I long for the day when they don't, because they are so routine as to be totally unremarkable.
Chipping Away at Roe
On the 38th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, Governor Rick Perry told the crowd at the "Rally For Life" that the Supreme Court's decision is a tragedy and Texas would no longer sit idly by.Because women are stupid babies who don't know what being pregnant means.
John Seago, Senior Legislative Associate with Texas Right To Life, says with the Republican supermajority, the bill [which would require women seeking abortions to undergo a sonogram] has a strong chance of becoming law.
...In addition to the sonogram, the bill would require women to hear a doctor explain the physical characteristics of the fetus as well as listen to audio of the heartbeat.
I don't know how many different ways I can say this, and I've already said it what feels like 3,000 times in the last six years, but forcing a woman to stare at an ultrasound and listen to a heartbeat will not change the fact that that woman does not want to have a child. Even if it changes her mind about terminating the pregnancy, it doesn't change whatever circumstances brought her to an abortion clinic in the first place.
She'll still walk out just as devoid of choices, just as un- or underemployed, just as broke, just as in debt, just as uninsured, just as lacking daycare, just as unable to care for herself and/or her existing children, just as in need of medication that she can't take while pregnant, just as enmeshed in an unhealthy or abusive relationship, just the same as she was when she walked in.
She'll just have been guilted into making sacrifices she doesn't want to make, to honor someone else's mistaken perceptions about her morality.
All of these "LOOK IT'S A BABY!" barriers to termination are utter hogwash, rooted in the damnable fairy tale that women are incapable of making the best decisions for themselves and their own bodies (and, frequently, for the children they already have).
The reality is this: There is an inextricable link between the economy, the funding of social services, and abortion. If "pro-lifers" really wanted women to want to have babies, they would stop forcing them to look at ultrasounds and start arguing for universal healthcare, just for a fucking start.
[H/T to @PeterDaou.]
"Let's Talk"
by Shaker Superior Olive
So, if you've been watching Canadian TV lately, and I know you have, then you've probably seen this commercial (transcript at end) starring Clara Hughes, 6-time Olympic medalist.
(There is a another, longer video here, for which there's a transcript at the end of the post, as well as a French version here for which I apologize for not providing a transcript, but my French isn't that good, lol!)
The commercial is Clara Hughes for Bell Canada, talking about mental health, and introducing the company's Let's Talk initiative. On February 9th, for every long distance call and text message its customers make, Bell Canada will donate 5¢ to mental health related programs across the country. The initiative was launched last fall, but this is the first I've heard of it, through this commercial. More information on their initiatives and goals can be found on their website under the Gain Perspective and Bell Initiatives links.
(Note: By the way, all of Bell's commercials are structured around the blue "Bell" in a white space like this one, and the music at the end is the same as in their other commercials, if you were wondering why it's so chipper for a mental health commercial, lol.)
What caught my attention was someone as well-known and high-profile as Clara Hughes as the spokesperson. I've been reading about her for years, but I was quite surprised to hear that Clara Hughes had battled depression.
For those unfamiliar with her, here's what I know about her: She's from my hometown, Winnipeg; she won two bronze medals in road cycling at the Atlanta Olympic games; she switched to speed skating, a sport she had previously tried as a teenager, and won bronze in the 3000k in Salt Lake City, making her one of only a handful of atheletes to win medals in both summer and winter Olympics; at the Torino Olympics she won silver in the team pursuit and gold in the 5000k, making her the only athelete to ever win multiple medals in both summer and winter Olympics; and finally another bronze in Vancouver in the 5000k. After winning gold, she also donated $10,000 of her own money (i.e. not a medal bonus) to Right to Play, announcing it in an interview hoping to inspire Canadians to donate to the organization. She's a highly recognizable and beloved Canadian.
I'm not sure when it was, in relation to her professional timeline, that she was, in her words, battling depression for two years.
She's an interesting choice of spokesperson, because the image I, and I think most Canadians who've watched her, have is that of a bubbly, smiling, generous, and overall happy personality. To hear that someone so successful and with such a seemingly sunny disposition has/had depression can be surprising to those unfamiliar with depression, in a good way. Part of the stigma of depression and other mental health issues is that nobody ever thinks that someone like that would have to deal with it. Clara Hughes challenges stereotypes about mental illness.
I admit I'm a bit biased, as I admire and have had a huge crush on her for ages, but I'm pretty impressed with this initiative. It's rare to see a company doing their philanthropic work in the area of mental health, and Clara Hughes as a spokesperson is an excellent choice. I'm interested in seeing where this initiative goes, if it does ease some of the stigma around mental health issues (or not).
What do you think?
Transcripts:30-Second Commercial:
A shot of Clara Hughes standing on top of the "e" in Bell, tall and confident.
Clara Hughes: Hi! You may know me as a six-time Olympic medalist in both the summer and winter olympics. What you might not know about me…
camera pans down the "e" to another Clara sitting down, in a different shirt, this time a head and shoulders shot, leaning forward, elbows on knees pose.
…is that for two difficult years I battled depression. One in five Canadians is affected by mental illness, and many will not get the help they need because they're afraid to talk about it. And this has to change. So, on February 9th, let's talk.
Clara holds up an iPod or other large-screened phone in front of her mouth: the phone has a proportional picture of her smiling mouth. music plays as camera zooms out to show both Claras, one standing on top of the “e”, the other sitting in front of it text reads: Bell Let's Talk bell.ca/letstalk
---------------------------
Longer Video:
A shot of Hughes standing against a white background
Being committed to sport for over 20 years and being an Olympic athlete, I've obviously had to overcome a lot of obstacles, including countless crashes and lots of bumps and bruises along the way. But that's just the physical side, the kind of injuries that often heal on their own. Mentally, it's a different story. Sport can be difficult on a person, but so can everyday life. No matter what we're doing, it's important that we have support mechanisms in place. And that means making sure that we're up to the tasks and challenges before us, and if we're not, then turning to others for the help that we need.
It's not by accident that high-performance athletes depend on physiologists and psychologists as part of what I like to call the Circle of Strength. All of those people who, as an athlete, I rely on for comfort, courage, technical support, and on and on. I think the same can be said for society overall. At times we need others, including leaders in the business world like Bell, to be part of our larger Circle of Strength. There are a lot of organizations around the world that are doing tremendous good through their philanthropic programs, and I count Bell among them.
Mental health is a perfect case in point. It affects everyone, yet it impacts each of us differently on an individual basis. And, all too often, the stigma surrounding it prevents people from getting the help that they need. Bell understands that mental health is a huge issue, and I applaud them for doing something about it.
text appears: Bell Let's Talk bce.ca/mentalhealth
This is so the worst thing you're going to read all day.
[Trigger warning for discussion of eating habits and associating morality with eating. Also: Classism.]
Kurt Gray never actually says in "Self-control from Helping Others" that fat people are immoral and lazy. He only says that doing good deeds helps people increase their self-control so they can "dodge the cheesecake" and "resist the office donuts better" and "stick to their workout routine."
And he never actually says that poor people are immoral and lazy. He merely suggests over and over that being able to provide financial charity to others is a good deed that make you physically stronger: "Those who donated a dollar to charity could hold up a weight significantly longer than those who kept a dollar." Never mind that he fails to provide any context for why those people kept their dollar. Greed, as is the implicit suggestion? Or were the people who kept dollars people who had experienced poverty in their lives, or were currently in poverty?
Is there any possibility that people feel physically weakened by the stigma of accepting charity...?
I mean, after all, we live in a culture where Harvard-trained social psychologists write articles that tacitly marginalize the already-marginalized and more deeply entrench narratives that fat/poor people are immoral and lazy, while privileged people are told that their privilege is evidence of morality and hard work.
That seems like maybe it could get demoralizing. Ahem.
