This blogaround brought to you by Shaxco, makers of Dudley's naptime Zs, for all your napping needs.
Recommended Reading:
Jordan: [TW for sexual violence, transphobia, homophobia, racism, classism] Challenging Louisiana's 'Crime Against Nature' Law
Madame Thursday: [TW for fat hared and body policing] Body Policing and Fat Hate Are Related, But They Are Not the Same
Andy: [TW for homophobia] Indiana Senate Panel Approves Amendment Banning Same-Sex Marriage and Civil Unions in 7-3 Vote
Renee: Pole Dancing for Jesus
Brinstar: In the Plants vs. Zombies World, There Are Only Men
Stephanie: Miniseries Preview: Mildred Pierce
Leave your links in comments...
Wednesday Blogaround
Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime
Tina Turner, "Legs," Live 1993
Btw, when you're done with this one, you should totes watch her do "Honky Tonk Woman," which would have been today's TMNS, if embedding hadn't been disabled on the video.
Sure
Glenn Beck Contemplates Starting Own Channel.
The possibility that Glenn Beck will exit the Fox News Channel at the end of the year has prompted a big question in media circles: if he leaves, how will he bring his considerable audience with him?Yep. Great idea.
Two of the options Mr. Beck has contemplated, according to people who have spoken about it with him, are a partial or wholesale takeover of a cable channel, or an expansion of his subscription video service on the Web.
Let's discuss what its name should be. I nominate Whoooooooooooooops TV.
[Via Memeorandum. Commenting Guidelines: Disablist comments musing about Beck's psychological state or outright calling him crazy, nuts, deranged, delusional, unstable, a lunatic, in need of commitment, etc. are both unwelcome and not on-topic. I have a mental disorder, for example. It doesn't make me a lying rightwing dipshit.]
An Observation
If Victoria Jackson had, back in the day, done a skit on SNL in which homosexuality was a punchline*, and there had been blogs, and I had objected, people would have called me the Most Humorless Feminist in all of Nofunnington, accused me of overreacting, and admonished me that IT'S IRONIC and I just don't get the sophisticated humor of comedy geniuses like Victoria Jackson.
Whooooooooooooooooops.
In totally unrelated news, Bill Maher, who I have been repeatedly assured is a staunch feminist ally, called Sarah Palin a "dumb twat" on his show last week.
Oh, and did you hear this? Sarah Palin finally heard what happened in Japan, and she's demanding that we invade Tsunami. I mean…! She says, "These Tsunamians will not get away with this!" Oh! Speaking of dumb twats… [The audience howls and applauds, followed by some groans.] Yeah, I let the cat out of the bag on that one, huh, folks?I guess it's "edgy" in the sense that it's not even a joke; now just nakedly calling a woman a misogynist slur is meant to be good enough to get a laugh. Cool.
-----------------------------------
* And maybe she did; I certainly don't remember/haven't seen every skit in which Victoria Jackson appeared during her tenure on the show.
Oh Dear
[Trigger warning for homophobia and Islamophobia.]
Hey, speaking of homophobes, here's a fun clip of former SNL star and current rightwing blogger Victoria Jackson on CNN opining that Glee is "trying to make kids gay." (Sure.) Normally, I would be annoyed by CNN providing a bully pulpit to a rampant homophobe, but I'm not sure it's technically a one-sided debate when the bully in question simultaneously provides the best argument against herself, sheerly by virtue of her undiluted jackassery.
Anyway, Glee is horrible because it's trying to make kids gay through the cunning use of boy-on-boy kisses, which is terrible because Jesus. Also: Muslims kill gays. It's in the Bible. Look it up.
[Transcript below.]
[Commenting Guidelines: Disablist comments musing about Jackson's psychological state or outright calling her crazy, nuts, deranged, delusional, unstable, a lunatic, in need of commitment, etc. are both unwelcome and not on-topic. I have a mental disorder, for example. It doesn't make me a rightwing dipshit.]
A.J. HAMMER, CO-HOST: Hello. I`m A.J. Hammer coming to you from New York City.
BROOKE ANDERSON, CO-HOST: Hi, there, everyone. I`m Brooke Anderson in Hollywood with big news breaking today - "Glee" gay kiss outrage. There's a brand-new debate raging over that kiss on "Glee" between two of the show's leading teen characters.
HAMMER: Yes. And Brooke, some say it's a great way to let kids know it's OK to be gay. But today, former "Saturday Night Live" star, Victoria Jackson, is generating big outrage over what she just blogged about the kiss. She called it "sickening."
ANDERSON: And Victoria Jackson is with us today in Atlanta for an exclusive SHOWBIZ TONIGHT newsmaker interview, speaking out and defending what she wrote. Victoria, thank you so much for joining us.
VICTORIA JACKSON, BLOGGER AND FORMER "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE" STAR: You're welcome.
ANDERSON: All right. First, I want to take a look at what you wrote in your column for the Web site "World Net Daily" about the kiss and the show. Here it is, "Did you see 'Glee' this week? Sickening! And besides shoving the gay theme down our throats, they made a mockery of Christians again. I wonder what their agenda is. Hey, producers of 'Glee,' what's your agenda? One-way tolerance?" And Victoria, you previously wrote about gay marriage, men in gay relationships. In the article, you said, "I don't care what is politically correct. Everyone knows that two men on a wedding cake is a comedy skit, not an alternate lifestyle. There, I said it. Ridiculous." Victoria, I want to get to your response to how people are responding today. But first, let's take a look at the kiss in question on "Glee" last week between the characters Kurt and Blaine. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DARREN CRISS, ACTOR (as Blaine Anderson): You move me, Kurt. And this duet would just be an excuse to spend more time with you. [They kiss.]
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Victoria, I've been reading the responses today on websites all over. And basically, you are being accused of being homophobic. How do you respond to that?
V. JACKSON: Well, I'm - it doesn't matter what I think. What matters is what the Bible says. [holds up Bible] And I'm really concerned about our country because immorality is - well, let's see. Secular humanism rules the airwaves, and it's stealing the innocence away from this whole generation of children. My daughter's a teenager and I can't find any show that she can watch.
ANDERSON: So you're - you don't believe you're homophobic? You just believe in -
V. JACKSON: That's a cute little buzz word of the liberal agenda. Basically, the Bible says homosexuality is a sin. But it has also - gossip is listed in the same paragraph as an equal sin. And the reason the Bible tells us what is a sin is to point us to the savior and show us we need one, Jesus Christ. And I have noticed that the liberal agenda is anti-Christ and - I mean anti-Jesus.
ANDERSON: Let's keep this focused on "Glee" and what you wrote about the show.
V. JACKSON: Well, that's what it's about.
ANDERSON: We posted what you wrote on our SHOWBIZ TONIGHT Facebook wall today. And Victoria, frankly, we were blown away by the response. Listen to what Nicole Ann writes, "This is America. Things you see on TV are things that are happening in real life, and there are gay/lesbian kids out there who are afraid to express themselves. Everyone should be treated equally." So Victoria, do you understand the other side of the argument in defense of "Glee"? Some are saying the show could actually be helping kids.
(CROSS TALK)
V. JACKSON: I would like - no, it not helping. They should have a celibacy campaign and tell kids that 50 percent of teenagers now have this new STD from oral sex. That's what they should be, you know, doing instead of trying to make kids gay. Now listen, I just want to know why the liberals are pro-Muslim and pro-gay. Muslims kill gays. That's what's confusing to me. And the only thing I can come up with is that the Muslims hate God and the gays hate his word.
ANDERSON: You did also write about your concerns about Muslims, your fears about Muslims in the same article where you did include this blistering (INAUDIBLE) about "Glee." But I also want to say, Victoria, that you say that producers of "Glee" have an agenda of one-way tolerance that mocks Christians.
V. JACKSON: Yes.
ANDERSON: OK. The show's creator, Ryan Murphy, has told "TV Guide" that he was all too aware there was not a strong Christian presence on the show. So in June, he decided to add a Christian character saying, quote, "We've taken a couple of jabs at the right-wing this year," he admitted that. "So what I want to do with this character is have someone who Christian kids and parents can recognize and say, 'Oh, look, I'm represented there, too.' If we're trying to form a world of inclusiveness, we've got to include that point of view as well." So Victoria, good enough or not good enough?
V. JACKSON: I think there's a spiritual war in our country right now, Ephesians 6:12. And I want to encourage people who love the word of God to stand up for what they believe in and not hide in church and preach to the choir. This culture is affecting our children and making them run away from Jesus Christ and that is - God can't bless our nation if we are spitting in his face. Leviticus 26 says, "God will bless the nation that blesses him." And that's all I`m trying to say. I have gay friends and we love each other.
ANDERSON: OK. Thank you so much for expressing your point of view. We definitely appreciate your time today, Victoria. Victoria Jackson, thank you so much.
Breaking News: Mike Huckabee Still Homophobic
And inventing whole new phrases to express his tired-ass bigotry!
Former Arkansas governor and Fox News host Mike Huckabee said Tuesday he would support re-imposing the ban on gays and lesbians serving openly in the military if elected president.Same-sex orientation people? LOL. What a ridiculous jackass he is.
"I would -- because that's really what the military wants," Huckabee told OneNewsNow. "There's been some talk that the military is fine with having same-sex orientation people. But if you really surveyed the combat troops, that is not at all the case."
"I don't think that these are decisions that politicians should make," the potential Republican 2012 presidential candidate added. "These are decisions that soldiers should make. And when the soldiers in the foxholes make the decisions, they choose something different -- and we should listen to them."I love how Republicans can't get it through their impenetrably thick skulls that "soldiers" and "people who are attracted to people of the same sex" are not mutually exclusive groups. (See also: John McCain, Tim Pawlenty, et. al.)
Nonetheless, I agree with the good Reverend Huckabee that we should listen to the members of our military on this one:
A 267-page Department of Defense report (pdf) published in November 2010 ... found that 70 percent of troops surveyed said having a gay or lesbian member in their unit would have positive, mixed, or no effect on the unit's ability to "work together to get the job done."Your move, sir.
The report also found that 69% of troops surveyed believed they had worked in a unit with someone who was homosexual and 92% of those who believed they worked in a unit with someone who was homosexual rated the ability of unit to work together as very good, good, or neither good nor poor.
Open Thread & News Round-Up: Libya
Here's some of what I've been reading this morning. Please feel welcome and encouraged to leave additional links in comments. The same commenting guidelines are still in effect.
The Guardian's live blog is here.
Al Jazeera's live blog is here.
CNN's live blog is here.
New York Times—Air Strikes in Libya Continue as NATO Starts Sea Patrols: "Amid differences among allies about how to manage the five-day-old military campaign in Libya, air strikes continued to rock Tripoli early on Wednesday while some units loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi were reported to have ceased firing on a key rebel-held city after allied airplanes attacked loyalist tanks and artillery. At sea, news reports said six NATO warships started patrolling off Libya's coast Wednesday to enforce a United Nations arms embargo, but Germany, which has opposed military intervention in the Libya crisis, said it was withdrawing four of its ships in the Mediterranean from NATO command."
McClatchy—A new uncertainty in Libya operation: Who's in charge?: "The fragile international coalition supporting military action in Libya showed fresh signs of strain Monday, as the U.S., Europe and Arab nations wrestled with the issue of who will take charge of military operations if the U.S. gives up control in the days ahead."
The Hill—White House denies regime change is part of Libya mission:
The White House strongly denied Tuesday that regime change is part of its mission in Libya, despite a statement earlier in the day that characterized the goal there as "installing a democratic system."That is one carefully threaded needle.
Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser, issued a statement acknowledging that President Obama would like to see a democratic government in Libya, but explained that the aim of the U.S. military's intervention there is not to enact regime change.
"We're clarifying, as we've said repeatedly, that the effort of our military operation is not regime change, that as we actually say in this readout, it's the Libyan people who are going to make their determinations about the future," Rhodes said. "We support their aspirations, their democratic aspirations, and have stated that Gadhafi should go because he's lost their confidence."
Elizabeth Taylor RIP
Reuters is reporting that Elizabeth Taylor has died. No details as of yet. She appeared in over 60 films, won two Oscars, in a career that spanned five decades.
In addition to acting, Taylor helped found American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) and the Elizabeth Taylor Aids Foundation.
She was 79.
UPDATE: "She died at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles surrounded by her four children after having been hospitalized six weeks ago with congestive heart failure."
Question of the Day
[Originally run May 2009.] The natural follow-up to yesterday's QotD is: What film adaptation do you consider to be superior to the source material on which it was based?
(By source material, I'm excluding screenplays and previous motion picture iterations, so we're not talking remakes or TV shows made into movies, but a novel, novella, short story, graphic novel, comic book, poem, song, etc.)
The GOP War on Uteri
Did I say "an almost daily series"? Silly me. I meant a "several times daily series."
The Arizona state senate has passed legislation making it a felony for a doctor to perform an abortion to select for sex or race. Never mind that there's no evidence that Arizona women are terminating pregnancies based on sex or race: It's just another way to chip away at Roe.
But the GOP majority contend that they're just protecting women of color, who are apparently even more incapable of self-determination than white women are. The GOP must usurp WOC's agency in order to protect their freedom! Or something!
Republican supporters have said that statistics show a high percentage of abortions are being sought by minority women and that abortion clinics intentionally locate in minority areas.There is no evidence that gendercide is a problem in the US.
...Sen. Don Shooter, R-Yuma, said he doesn't understand why women wouldn't support a measure that protects them.
"It's a way to pre-empt what's happening in China and India," he said.
I know I'm a broken record and all, but this state-by-state erosion of the right conferred by Roe is what I was talking about during the last presidential election when I said, over and over until I was blue in my fat fucking face, that "You can't vote Third Party because only Democratic Candidate X will protect Roe!" isn't a viable argument anymore because state legislatures are the battleground on which this war is being fought.You know, I'd love it if it were true that President Obama is a fierce defender of Roe, but being a fierce defender of a woman's right to choose is more than just appointing Supreme Court justices who will uphold Roe, which will mean nothing if Roe has been rendered an empty statute in most of the country on the state level.
President Obama's yawning indifference to this sustained attack on reproductive rights, his shameful dereliction of duty in defending the rights of people who can get pregnant, is an absolute scandal. And it will not be forgotten when his reelection campaign comes begging for our support.
Photo of the Day
Taken and tweeted by James Franco.
What—did you think that James Franco believes you should take on projects that are frivolous and easily realized? You're so weird.
In all seriousness, I love this quote and have loved it for a very long time. In fact, I may have even used it in Shakesville's design once upon a time, when it was still Shakespeare's Sister and I frequently updated the header image, inserting favorite quotes as the tagline.
OH NOES FATTIES RUIN EVERYTHING
[Trigger warning for fat hatred.]
Actual Headline: Overweight Americans throwing off safety of city buses.
Actual Lede: "It's official: The federal government says more overweight Americans are squeezing onto buses, and it may have to rewrite bus safety rules because of it."
Actual Point of Article: Fatties are gross ruiners of everything, no doy.
Because, seriously, have any of the people associated with this article—writing it, editing it, commenting for it—actually ridden a city bus during rush hour any time in the last 20 years? The only guideline governing that Lord of the Flies melee is: Make sure you're exhaling when the next round of passengers squeeze on if you want to be able to keep breathing for the rest of your ride.
(And, as an aside, in my experience, fat people are the least likely to try to squeeze onto crowded public transport of any description, for the evident reason that they'd like to avoid exactly this kind of fat-shaming.)
I'll worry about being fat on a bus when the transit authority actually gives a fuck about how many people cram onto a bus.
In other words: Never.
[H/T to Shaker aulocks.]
Today in Barf Books
Mitch Daniels, the incumbent two-term Republican Governor of Indiana who is considered a possible candidate to run for the Republican presidential nomination, has signed a book deal with Penguin's Sentinel imprint. In the book, which has the tentative title Keeping the Republic: Limited Government, Unlimited Citizens, Daniels will "address America's urgent need for limited but more effective government, fiscal discipline at all levels, increased liberty for individuals, and a restoration of our national greatness," according to the publisher.If Daniels were really going to be addressing effective governance with sound fiscal policies and increased liberties, the book should be titled My Garbage Governorship: What Not To Do.
[H/T to Shaker Beth.]
Local Color
[Trigger warning for transphobia]
While Liss and Iain were watching Dancing with The Stars, Westsidebecca and I were watching Harry's Law. It's one of only 57 law shows on network tv, but Kathy Bates! (Also: Christopher McDonald!)
I'm not familiar with David E. Kelley's other work (although yes, I know), but on this show, the local color looms large. The show is set in one of those colorful neighborhoods in Cincinnati, where all sorts of people show up for legal advice (or to buy shoes). A lot of these folks are different from normal people.
Last night's local color was a trans woman played by a gay guy (because apparently there aren't any trans women who act). The storyline was a not-unsympathetic picture of a boy-crazy trans woman (with a penis, we're told!) who's basically stalking the guy who fired her from her job as a night club singer.
We're told that she could get a job at any other club in the city (even though she's got A PENIS!), but she's really attached to this guy who fired her-- they were lovers, but he's afraid it would ruin him if word got out that he was sleeping with a freak.
The character thinks of herself as a woman. However, it's easier for her to do that when she's on stage in buttloads of makeup and girly costumes, so she's really attracted to her particular line of work. Her name's Amanda. Because of course.
Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwnnnnnnnnnn
I hate being the local color.
Here's the thing: There are trans women who are attracted to guys, trans women who work in nightclubs and trans women named Amanda. And :cough: trans women do get fired from jobs for being trans, although (and this is important) we usually don't have several offers on the table when it happens.
I hate being the local color, because good neo-liberals really appreciate diversity. Kelley's trying to show how, even though non-regulars are totally one-dimensional stereotypes, deep down, we're just as human as people. This nugget of compassion makes a lot of privileged people slow to criticize this typecasting. But ultimately, I still feel like my life (or something that doesn't really resemble it) is being used for entertainment.
What I do love is when people are surprised that I'm trans. Because, you know, I'm nothing like trans people. While some of this may have to do with passing privilege, I don't think that's the whole story. For one thing, I'm a young lesbian woman. Did that make your brain explode?
The issue here is that trans people, like members of all marginalized groups, can't win this game. It's not fair to erase those aspects of individuals' experiences that parallel stereotypes, so I can't dismiss Amanda because OMG MY FRIEND AMANDA WORKED IN A CLUB FOR YEARS. Cis-washed characters would be just as marginalizing (and invisible to boot), so they're not showing up in the media any time soon. We're not going to see diverse, fully-formed trans characters, either, because that's not the point. Like members of most marginalized groups, we're merely there for color.
I hate being the local color.
The GOP War on Uteri
It is profoundly contemptible that this has become an almost daily series, but here we are again: Republican South Dakokta Governor Dennis Daugaard has signed into law a bill requiring women to abide a 72-hour waiting period, the longest in the nation, and "consult with a counselor at a pregnancy help center" before being allowed to get an abortion.
"I think everyone agrees with the goal of reducing abortion by encouraging consideration of other alternatives," Daugaard said in a released statement. "I hope that women who are considering an abortion will use this three-day period to make good choices."Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.
"Abortion" and "good choice" are not mutually exclusive concepts. I don't know why Daugaard doesn't trust pregnant people, primarily women, to make the best choices for their own bodies, but maybe the fact that he doesn't trust women isn't, in fact, the great political attribute we're meant to believe it is, but is instead evidence of precisely why it is that he shouldn't have the power to encroach on women's agency and bodily autonomy. Ever.
I am really running out of ways to make the point that women are not imbeciles who are unaware of their options (even though Republican-favored abstinence-only sex ed programs endeavor to turn them into exactly that). Women don't need time to "make good choices" or "consider alternatives" or whatevthefuck Governor Dipshit and his Mendacious Band of Anti-Choice Fuckheads are alleging will happen in the three days they delay women from terminating a pregnancy.
Forcing a woman to wait three days and consult with some asshole trying to convince her not to abort 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 absurd 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 start arguing for universal healthcare, just for a fucking start, considering about one-fourth of women seeking abortions cite their own health or possible health problems with the fetus as reasons for the termination, owing to concerns including "a lack of prenatal care."
But they're not pro-life. They're just anti-women.
And they can caterwaul about how that's not true all they fucking want, but, the truth is, they refuse to listen to women, to the millions of women who are telling them they don't need waiting periods or ultrasounds or parental/spousal consent or anti-abortion counselors or any of the other disincentives being proposed to deter them from terminating unwanted pregnancy, but do need jobs and healthcare and childcare and parental leave laws and associated institutional framework that supports successful parenthood.
And when you refuse to listen to women, your argument that you're not explicitly anti-women holds precious little water.
Particularly when your state has failed utterly to fund a robust social safety net, but has been trying, with various degrees of success, to chip away at Roe virtually since the decision granted people with uteri the right to terminate pregnancies.
Dancing While Fat
Last night, Iain said something to me I never thought I'd hear him say: "Can we watch Dancing with the Stars?"
Now, it's no secret that we watch lots of garbage television, but DWTS doesn't even meet our barrel-bottom requirements for garbage entertainment. The thing is, Iain loves boxing, and he wanted to see Sugar Ray Leonard, who's one of the contestants this season. This worked out very well for me, because I was too embarrassed to tell him that I wanted to watch this season because of Ralph Macchio, whose trifecta of playing Johnny Cade (The Outsiders), Daniel Laruso (The Karate Kid), and Bill Gambini (My Cousin Vinny) made him a staple on my Wall of Crush Posters for the entirety of my teenage years.
So we watched. Sugar Ray Leonard sinks. Ralph Macchio, on the other hand, is pretty great, at least by DWTS standards.
Shakers, this man is 49 years old and still looks like he's 23, which is the age he was when he made The Karate Kid, convincingly playing a teenager. When I remarked upon how he truly has not aged a day, Iain said, "There's a portrait in an attic somewhere..."
Okay, but Iain's and my respective crushes or whatever aside, I had also been debating tuning in just to see Kirstie Alley perform, because, for weeks, ever since this season's cast was announced, I've been seeing multitudinous headlines about how she's too fat, such a fattie, how can that fatsronaut think she can dance, what a fatso, fattity-fat-a-tat-fat etc. And I was hoping (and, truthfully, expecting) that she would prove all that shit wrong and shove her fat dancing awesomeness right in the faces of all the haters who were tuning in just to watch her fall flat on her fat ass.
Well. I wasn't disappointed.
Alley and her partner landed the second-highest score of the night. (Macchio came in tops.) She was a good dancer, a good performer; she was fun and sexy. I said to Iain, "Tomorrow, all the headlines will still be about how fat she is."
This morning, the first DWTS-related headline I saw was: Kirstie Alley Celebrates Her DWTS Lead by Going out to Dinner – Naturally!
Naturally.
That story contends Alley "surprised everyone with her cha cha cha," but a more accurate assertion might be that she surprised everyone who's an ageist and/or fat-hater with her cha cha cha. Because there's really no legitimate reason to be surprised that one of the best physical comediennes to ever grace the small or big screen can successfully navigate her way through a cha-cha unless one believes every single woman who reaches the age of 60 or a size 16 automatically ceases to function.
Which isn't actually true.
Actually.
Certainly no one is more keenly aware of the fucked-up expectations of older women and fat women than Kirstie Alley, and surely no one was more eager to see her defy those expectations than she was herself. That's a lot of extra psychological baggage to carry onstage, in front of a nation, in addition to the usual nerves and anxiety of performing live, no less at something outside your expertise.
That she performed with grace and humor, despite balancing the weight of those hoping to see her succeed because of her age/shape, and the weight of those hoping to see her fail because of her age/shape, makes me admire her like whoa.
She is a feisty and fearless lady, and she made me glad I tuned in to Dancing with the Stars.
Today in Transphobia
[Trigger warning for transphobia and enforcement of a gender binary]
In case you weren't aware, riding the bus in Philadelphia is a lot like ordering a Happy Meal- you need to tell someone if it's for a boy or a girl. SEPTA, the regional transit authority, sells monthly passes. There are two extremely odd things about this:
1) They really are monthly passes. I guess an organization that runs a bazillion buses would find it too difficult to let people buy a 30 day pass that starts on whatever freakin' day they'd like.
2) Each pass comes in two flavors: male and female. It's sort of like how drivers' licenses and passports generally include gender markers, except in the case of SEPTA passes, there's no photo.
I'm pretty sure I can figure out the rationale for the monthly passes. SEPTA is lazy, and/or needs the money. Fair enough. (Government, amirite?)
As for sticking the gender on the pass, it's a theft prevention thing, on the grounds that men borrow or steal things exclusively from women, women exclusively from men, and that these are the only two possibilities. Interesting theory, that.
When I was in Helsinki, my transit pass had my picture on it. It seemed like a good way of demonstrating that it was mine, on those rare occasions when the women in the blue jumpsuits checked up on me. In Minneapolis and New York, a pass is a pass. If you want to go through the inconvenience of sharing your pass with someone, knock yourself out. Besides, the transit authorities in those places just don't have the money to pay employees to perform a gender test on every single passenger. Evidentially, SEPTA does.
Because SEPTA is sensitive to the needs of the community is purports to serve, it's working on a way to not put the gender stickers on the passes. Late last month, they announced that this would take around three more years-- technology, you see. But what's another three years of [TW] discrimination among friends?
You can sign the petition against SEPTA's discriminatory passes here*.
--
* "Gay Rights Petition"? Fail.
[Via @MaraKeisling and @change]
