Dear Shallots:
You are both adorable and delicious. I love how you're totes like some ambrosial offspring of an onion and a clove of garlic who fucked.
Thank you for being especially delectable sauteed in avocado oil with mushrooms and spinach and a sprinkling of finely shredded Gruyere de Comté.
Love,
Liss
I Write Letters
This is so the worst thing you're going to read all day.
Actual Headline: Has feminism blocked social mobility for men?
Actual Subhead: "Feminism provided an obstacle to social mobility for working-class men, Cabinet minister David Willetts has controversially argued. But is he right?"
Actual Final Paragraph Following Contextualizing Quotes and Sidebar Stats Proving That He Is, In Fact, Not Right: "But as long as there is a debate over social mobility, there will also be debate about the repercussions of feminism."
Beebfail.
[H/T to Shaker Apolla.]
Today in Rape Culture
[Trigger warning for sexual violence.]
Newsweek has published a significant piece on the issue of military men raping other men in the ranks. It's a very good piece, and I encourage you to read the whole thing, as I'm just going to excerpt three passages here.
Excerpt One:
Less than two weeks after arriving on base, [Greg Jeloudov, who had joined the US military shortly after immigrating from Russia] was gang-raped in the barracks by men who said they were showing him who was in charge of the United States. When he reported the attack to unit commanders, he says they told him, "It must have been your fault. You must have provoked them."During the attack, his fellow soldiers reportedly referred "to his Russian accent and New York City address," suggesting not only that there is a culture of victim-blaming and hostility toward survivors, but a culture of Othering soldiers who aren't from acceptably conservative parts of this country, no less other nations.
It is particularly galling that a New York City address would be contemptuously cited by soldiers as evidence of "champagne socialism" and the city itself virtually regarded as another country, even as the attack on New York City is routinely called an "attack on America" and used to justify military interventions.
And, make no mistake: Othering is a tool of the rape culture.
Excerpt Two:
Women in the armed forces are now more likely to be assaulted by a fellow soldier than killed in combat.Blink. Blink.
(And, no, it is not because women aren't allowed to serve on the front lines, because, irrespective of the rules, they are serving on the front lines.)
Excerpt Three:
While many might assume the perpetrators of such assaults are closeted gay soldiers, military experts and outside researchers say assailants usually [identify as] heterosexual. Like in prisons and other predominantly male environments, male-on-male assault in the military, experts say, is motivated not by [sexuality], but power, intimidation, and domination. Assault victims, both male and female, are typically young and low-ranking; they are targeted for their vulnerability. Often, in male-on-male cases, assailants go after those they assume are gay, even if they are not.There are two issues to tease out here: The first is that a lot of male-male rape in the military is what's known as "corrective" or "punitive" rape, and that's a very difficult thing to combat in institutions with rigid hierarchies. But one thing that actually will help is the repeal of DADT and the associated alleviation of the stigma against gay soldiers. That won't happen overnight, but it will reduce the rate of corrective/punitive rape in the long term.
The second issue is extortive rape, in which sexual violence is committed by someone with a higher rank (or similar influence), either by force or coercion. Much of the corrective/punitive rape that goes on might also be extortive, but there will also be a separate category of incidents in which a "young and low-ranking" servicemember is raped by a superior simply because the superior knows zie can get away with it, via intimidation or by being the gatekeeper through which reports of sexual violence are processed. And that is also a very difficult thing to prevent in an institution like the military.
The military must first be willing to take allegations seriously, and, beyond that, be willing to establish a victims' advocate that exists outside the normal chain of command. That is, unfortunately, something to which the Pentagon has been incredibly resistant—quite possibly because the brass is well aware how many valuable assets they'd lose if they were forced to be accountable for sexual violence.
In its current state, the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office mentioned in the article is, I will say simply, insufficient.
[Previously on sexual violence in the US military: Number of the Day, Yikes, Army Gets Tough on Pregnancy, Congress Must Investigate Crimes Against Female Soldiers, ABC News on Military Sexual Assaults, Another KBR Rape, "Where Has Everybody Been?", New VA Center for Victims of Sexual Assault, Survey Says: The Citadel's Got a Sexual Assault Problem, Recruiting Victims, Pentagon Says No to Office of Victims' Advocate, Pentagon Decides to Take "No Action" on Sexual Assaults at Air Force Academy, Women in the War Zone.]
Daily Dose of Cute
Imagine our delight when the local paper announced that the Farmer's Market would be opening last Saturday -- with a GOAT PARADE!
Of course, this got me out of bed bright and early. Camera in hand, I hastened to the Market to observe the Défilé de Chèvre, where I snapped this beauty:
(Upon seeing this photo whilst talking on the phone with me, 'Liss immediately insisted that this goat's name was "Minerva". I had no response to that except to LOL.)
You have now seen thirty-three percent of the goat parade.
That's right -- the entire Prozession der Ziegen was three goats (really cute, bedazzled goats, to be sure, but just the three).
Because with less than three goats, I suppose you can't really call it a "parade" -- as all true goat-fanciers know, the technical term for two goats is "a couple of goats".
You can see the other 66% of the parade, below the fold.
Ms. Prim and Proper (not her real name).
Baby Goat Zen Master
Disclaimer: Goats were petted in the making of this documentary.
Wednesday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by Shaxco, publishers of the upcoming goat fanciers memoir, Two's Company, Three's a Parade, by Portly Dyke.
Recommended Reading:
Adrienne: Love in the Time of Blood Quantum
Latoya: Janelle Monáe on Music and Being The Other
Stephanie: [TW for misogyny, violence] Seriously? These Are the 40 Greatest Movie Posters?
Rana: Of the 1%, by the 1%, for the 1%
Andy: Julianne Moore as Hillary Clinton
And you're reading Tigtog's regular Femmostroppo Reader, right? If not, you should be!
Leave your links in comments...
Glenn Beck To Leave Fox News
Since I am the resident expert on all things Glenn Beck (straight scoop: he likes piña coladas and walks in the rain!) it is with a heavy heart I bring some sad, sad news: Glenn Beck is leaving Fox News. Oh, whoops! I lied! No, he's really leaving Fox, the lie is it is sad, sad news. I mean, someone will be sad, just no one I know.
Not even his advertisers. Not that he had any other than gold hoarders and the Slap Chop™ guy. Okay, maybe the Slap Chop™ guy will be a little sad. I bet he's the sensitive type who likes to cuddle. Or not. Nevermind. No one wants to talk about Slap Chop™ guy. Not even me!
In a statement issued by Beck's company GRA (Garbage Radio Arts) faithful viewers were reassured that Fox and Beck will continue to work together, kind of like Laverne & Shirley, but full of lies and hatred instead. Which, thinking about it, isn't all that different from Laverne & Shirley at all. Poor Laverne, drink some milk and Pepsi, it'll be okay.
There has been some speculation that Beck is leaving to form his own network, like the Oprah Winfrey Network, but full of lies and hatred. (What? It was a good joke.) I'm not sure how that would work, since Beck seems to have trouble attracting advertisers. Plus he can't be on 24 hours a day. (Can he?) I guess he'd hire a bunch of other racist white guys to have their own shows too? Is Stephen Baldwin busy? (He's not busy. (Duh.))
Bye-bye, Beck. I'm sure, though, soon enough you'll be back with another book espousing your dogshit political philosophy and another TV show full of lies and garbage and chalkboards. See ya then! Or not.
Still the Worst
As I have mentioned once or twice or thrice or a billion times, I do not like Dr. Drew Pinsky.
Yesterday, I read an interview with him, in which he once again illustrated why his medical license should have been rescinded years ago:
YOU'VE GOTTEN SOME FLAK BEFORE FOR PRESENTING A DIAGNOSIS OF CELEBRITIES WHO YOU WEREN'T TREATING, INCLUDING LINDSAY LOHAN, WHO TWEETED "I THOUGHT REAL DOCTORS TALKED TO PATIENTS IN OFFICES BEHIND CLOSED DOORS." DOES THAT CONCERN YOU GOING INTO A SHOW BASED LARGELY AROUND OPINION?Wow. Among the many, many things wrong with that fuckery, the mendacious equivalencies are truly breathtaking. Diagnosing mental illness is the same as diagnosing a rash. Sure. Political commentary is the same as medical diagnostics. Sure. And the Hippocratic Oath's note about abstention from "whatever is harmful or mischievous" is just a recommendation, and as long as he doesn't intend to hurt anyone, the demonstrable evidence that his unsolicited pontifications about celebrities' medical problems hurts them doesn't matter. Okay.
Pinsky: It's bizarre to me that you can have political commentators, sports commentators, weather commentators, but with medicine, people go, "You can't do that." It's like, if you show me a picture of a rash, I don't have to know the person to tell you what that rash is. There are lots of medical conditions that you can diagnose never having met the person. Soon enough, we'll have telemedicine and do it through the Internet -- that's the future. You can educate people about politics, criminality, the law, but not about medicine? It's just silly ... I really don't want to hurt anybody, but to say the truth and to offer words that might be helpful in understanding what some of these conditions are. I can't see any reason not to do that. That's changing things for the better.
Then, last night, I watched the Teen Mom 2 season wrap-up with Dr. Drew. These episodes, in which he interviews the young women and their families, are always a garbage nightmare trainwreck of slut-shaming and retrofuck views on mothering and marriage.
After the episode aired, these were the notes I jotted down:
Shorter Dr. Drew: 1. You're a stupid slut who made a horrible mistake which can only be rectified by getting married. 2. You should be grateful for any ostensible crumb of kindness anyone shows you, even if they have manifestly obvious ulterior motives, like lending you money just to have something to hold over your head and control you. 3. The people in your life who are abusive have good reasons, and here they are, and it's kind of understandable when you consider what a stupid slut you are, amirite?It was awful to watch.
And the only one of the male partners who came in for any serious criticism was the boyfriend who is black, who Drew described, while mocking the woman who dates him, as a homeless criminal. Which he is. But so is the white father of one of the babies who's deeply in arrears in his child support payments and bops between the mother's house and his parents' house without paying rent at either place. He, however, was not described as a homeless criminal. No, he got asked by Dr. Drew if he was considering marrying the mother of his child, who he routinely calls a "bitch."
Dr. Drew: The Worst.
Number of the Day
Seven: Bristol Palin's Nonprofit Paid Her Seven Times What It Spent on Actual Teen Pregnancy Prevention.
In 2009, Sarah Palin's daughter Bristol joined a teen pregnancy prevention nonprofit called the Candie's Foundation. Today, the Associated Press reported that the Candie's Foundation released its 2009 tax information, revealing that Bristol was paid a salary of $262,500.Naturally, the Palin camp has responded by claiming it's just a conspiracy of people out to get them.
But a closer examination of the tax form (pdf) by ThinkProgress shows that the group disbursed only $35,000 in grants to actual teen pregnancy health and counseling clinics: $25,000 to the Mt. Sinai Adolescent Health Center and $10,000 to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy.
...Thus, the nonprofit paid Bristol over seven times what it paid to teen pregnancy prevention groups.
Sure. Everyone knows that math, like facts, has a liberal bias.
Two Things I Learned on Facebook Today
First, one (1) girl messaged me. So, woo hoo for me! All the sexy ladies like the Deeky. (No doy.)
Secondly, I too can work in counter terrorism and cyber security, with a Homeland Security Degree. Also, I get to be the Bat-Man if I go to Homeland Security College. Because, that's the Batmobile, right? Looks like the Batmobile to me. Did Bruce Wayne get his Bat-Man degree from Homeland Security College? Is that accredited? It's accredited. Definitely accredited. Also, financial aid is availble, which is good. Do you think Dick Grayson got a Pell Grant? And will Pell Grants be suspended if the government shuts down?
And what the fuck is going on with this country when we've allowed a bunch of teabagging assholes to shut down the government? That doesn't seem right. Maybe the Bat-Man can go throw his boomerang at them until they get their shit together. Also, this was sooo not supposed to be a post about politics, but about education.
And girls.
So, nevermind.
p.s. This is my favourite Batmobile, just in case you were wondering. You were wondering.
The Olympic Committee Hates Babies
That is the only reasonable conclusion to come to, given that they have spent years arguing they couldn't possibly allow ladies' ski jumping, since the competitors would damage their babymaking bits, but have now decided at long last to include "women's ski jumping and four other new events for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia."
Unless, of course, the IOC was never actually concerned about women hurting their delicate ladyparts and was using that as pitiful excuse to avoid admitting they're actually scared that women might be better at the sport.
Which is, perhaps, why it was that when their concern about male competitors' delicate fee-fees female competitors' delicate ladybits grew thin, they argued, to stop women competing at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, that "the sport lacked enough elite competitors."
The women seemingly sealed their case at the Nordic world championships in Oslo in early March, when competitors jumped in heavy fog and strong winds.No catastrophic injuries to vaginas (or male egos) has been reported.
IOC board member Gerhard Heiberg of Norway said he was impressed by the level of competition and would recommend the event's inclusion to IOC President Jacques Rogge.
Congratulations, ski-jumping women. You've more than earned your place at the table.
Open Thread & News Round-Up: Budgetfuck
Here's some of what I've been reading this morning...
WaPo—Obama, congressional leaders make no progress on budget:
The first federal government shutdown in more than 15 years drew closer Tuesday as President Obama and congressional leaders failed to make progress on a budget for 2011 after back-to-back meetings at the White House and on Capitol Hill.A transcript of the presser can be found here.
Obama and Congress remained billions of dollars apart and at odds over where to find savings after an 80-minute West Wing meeting that included House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) and Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.). In the meeting, Boehner floated the possibility that he may seek as much as $40 billion in cuts, $7 billion more than the two sides have been discussing for the past week.
Growing irked by the prolonged negotiations, Obama demanded that the congressional leaders "act like grown-ups."
"If they can't sort it out, then I want them back here tomorrow. And if that doesn't work, we'll invite them again the day after that," Obama told reporters in a rare appearance in the press room, hours after the meeting.
Politico—John Boehner: Democrats 'win' in government shutdown: "Speaker John Boehner is warning his Republican colleagues that Democrats would 'win' a government shutdown and the GOP would suffer a political catastrophe if the federal government runs out of money at the end of this week. 'The Democrats think they benefit from a government shutdown. I agree,' Boehner said during a closed-door, 90-minute meeting on House Republicans on Monday night, according to several lawmakers who attended the session."
New York Times—Budget Stances Harden as Deadline Nears for Shutdown:
President Obama on Tuesday flatly dismissed a short-term Republican plan to keep the federal government operating past Friday as Speaker John A. Boehner sought deeper spending cuts, putting Congress and the White House on a course toward a government shutdown.Also see:
..."As I've said before, we have now matched the number that the speaker originally sought," the president said. "The only question is whether politics or ideology are going to get in the way of preventing a government shutdown."
The Hill—Obama, Boehner jostle for edge in spending-plan fight as deadline nears.
Wall Street Journal—Budget Talks Head to Brink.
This fight is the Democrats' to lose. The GOP is publicly expressing fears that they'll suffer a backlash if the government shuts down; Congressional Dems and the President just need to have a goddamn spine. At this point, they should be telling the GOP to stuff their budget cuts because AUSTERITY DOESN'T WORK and proposing instead a raft of economy-stimulating infrastructure initiatives, but that would make way too much sense for the Dems. Still. They at least oughtn't cave on anything to a party running scared and bluffing with empty bravado.
Question of the Day
What song is the purple sparkle dragon playing?
I think it's playing "Hip To Be Square."
Your New DNC Chair
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Florida).
I am thrilled to have a pro-choice woman heading the DNC, especially since the outgoing chair, Tim Kaine, was one of those delightful "pro-life Democrats."
However, I share the reservations elucidated by scatx here:
Sarah Jaffe pointed out to me on Twitter today that, as Jaffe wrote about in early February, Wasserman Schultz stumped for Heath Shuler, a Democratic congressman who co-sponsored HR3... As Jaffe wrote then:One gets the impression that it's not possible to have a DNC Chair who considers abortion rights a non-negotiable plank anymore. Terrible.
What does someone have to do to get thrown out of the party? The answer you get from Democrats is usually "Well, it's better to have an antichoice Democrat than an antichoice Republican." Better for whom?So, I just shrug my shoulders. Is this good? Yes. A woman, a pro-choice woman, is head of the DNC. Always good. But we know that she has openly [supported] anti-choice colleagues. Sigh.
Still: Wasserman Schultz, who is extremely charismatic and is decidedly more progressive than Kaine, is an improvement.
[H/T to @scatx. Related Reading: What a Trainwreck; Woman's Work.]
Daily Dose of Cute
Matilda, age 8
Olivia, age 6
Sophie, age 2
Dudley, age 2
Shock is a privilege.
[Trigger warning for sexual violence.]
Actress Ashley Judd has written a memoir, All That Is Bitter & Sweet, which was released today and contains, among other things, Judd's recollections of sexual abuse as a child and young woman.
I've seen a bunch of stories about the book, or about Judd's appearance on The Today Show this morning, during which she was promoting the book, and most of them included, sometimes right in their headlines, a description of Judd's history as "shocking," or some variation thereof: attention-grabbing, headline-grabbing, surprising.
I'm not sure why, exactly, the fact that Ashley Judd is a survivor of sexual trauma is "shocking." It can only be truly "shocking" to someone who's never heard (or doesn't believe) the statistic that one out of every six women is a survivor, or to someone who expects a survivor to behave a certain way: Why, I never would have pegged her as a survivor; she seems so positively unbroken!
It's quite reasonable to feel sad, or disturbed, or angry that Judd was assaulted, but to be shocked, given what is true of the world, is a privilege.
-----------------------
On a related note: I've also noted some curious language being used in regard to Judd sharing her personal history. She "claims" abuse. (Possibly a liar.) She "admits" abuse. (It's so shameful.) She "finally reveals" abuse. (Doesn't she know we are entitled to know everything about celebrities' lives?) It's amazing how much of the rape culture is embedded in the choice of language used to discuss sexual violence.
This is so the worst thing you're going to read all day.
[Trigger warning for misogyny and gender essentialism.]
When a woman should act like a man. Uh-huh.
There are good points buried within this article about, for instance, the impossible task working women face in striking precisely the right tone—not too passive, not too aggressive. (Spoiler Alert: The Sweet Spot is actually the Nonexistent Spot!) But the entire framing, which assigns certain attributes to men and certain attributes to women, without sufficient discussion of gendered socialization, renders the whole thing problematic, to put it politely.
Hold Onto Your Wizard Hats, Nerdz!
"Flight of the Conchords" star Bret McKenzie will play Lindir, an Elf of Rivendell, in "The Hobbit."
As anyone who's anyone already knows: "New Zealand-based McKenzie made brief appearances as an extra in the first and third Lord of the Rings pics in which he achieved fan fame on the Internet with the fan-created nickname 'Figwit'."
No doy, Variety!
Last weekend, Kenny Blogginz brought over the DVD of the 1977 Rankin-Bass animated The Hobbit, which Iain had never seen. (!!!) He loved it OF COURSE. And he finally understood why I was terrified of Gollum well into my adulthood.
It made us all VERY EXCITED about the Peter Jackson version. Or, I guess should say, EVEN MORE EXCITED. It was, however, certainly not a level of excitement that could be sustained until December 2012, so we chilled out afterwards with a Dungeons & Dragons marathon. Because nerdz.
[Nerd Alert: KBlogz actually owns a wizard's hat, which he brought over one night and he, Iain, and I took turns wearing it while watching some shitty totes awesome old film like Beastmaster. I tell you this so that you may trust you're getting your Nerd News from a highly-credentialed professional nerd.]
