Shakesville

Quote of the Day

"What is this 'mac and cheese'—is that a black thing?"—Pat Robertson, Professor of Huh at LOL University.

Kristi Watts, a black woman, on video, interviewing former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, also a black woman: What's that one thing at Thanksgiving you just have to have?

Rice, grinning: It's mac and cheese.

Watts: [claps] Sister, that is my dish!

Rice, nodding and grinning: Yes. Yes.

Watts: That's the one thing that I can rock!

Rice: But only once—once a year.

[edit back to studio at The 700 Club, where ancient white man Pat Robertson, a professional Christian Supremacist asshole, sits with Watts]

Robertson: Good interview, Kristi. Congratulations.

Watts: Thank you, Pat. [claps]

Robertson: What is this 'mac and cheese'—is that a black thing?

Watts: It is a black thing, Pat! It is! Listen, and you guys, other people, the world needs to get on board with macaroni and cheese. Seriously! I just—okay, Christmas and Thanksgiving, we have to have macaroni and cheese, and it just, it trips me out that you don't!

Robertson: I really don't! I don't and I have never!

[They both laugh.]

Personally, I enjoy my mac and cheese with some emeffing iced tea.

In my experience, mac and cheese isn't "a black thing," so much as it is a class thing, i.e. poorer folks tend to eat more mac and cheese (and other variations on pasta + dairy/protein, like tuna casserole). What a splendid example of ignorance and privilege that Pat Robertson, introduced to an unfamiliar tradition, just assumes it must be "a black thing," because obviously there can be no tradition shared among many people on which he, Super-Privileged White Dude, isn't an expert. Must be "a black thing" if he doesn't know about it. Yiiiiiiikes.

[Via.]

Shit.

I had something important that I was going to post, but I totally forgot what it was. I hate it when that happens. If I remember it, I'll drop it in the comments. In the meantime, here's some stuff I cut-and-paste from other feminist blogs:

Many disagree on the place of feminism in the contemporary world. Dzodan (2011) argues that "MY FEMINISM WILL BE INTERSECTIONAL OR IT WILL BE BULLSHIT!....My cats would be delighted to pee on you." While this is a belief, it has also been said that "Goats are assholes, man. [Emphasis mine]" (Shakestown, Porn)

However, "After a while one miraculously learns (from a parallel universe, most likely) that girls' knickers!!!!!1!! are not available at the fish counter of the local supermarket!" [Emphasis Awesome!] (Snakes, The Internet)

In light of this, [Benjamin Grumbles, Esq.] exhorts us to remember that "The lady-brain is a highly delicate instrument that must never be taxed with complex thought, lest it overheat and cause a dreadful case of the vapors, requiring a cooling period in repose upon a fainting couch, preferably on a shaded veranda, during which the swoonful lass must be cautiously revived with a steady influx of mint juleps. The lady-brain cannot be stressed writing for web windows! Complete uterine collapse will not be far behind such wanton willynillying!

Such fragility is precisely why no one of the female persuasion is allowed on the airship! Not only can I not abide the exploitation of gentlewomen by the unnecessary strain of their pitiable mental facilities, but I cannot fit a fainting couch in the infernal contraption, anyhow—not with Bruce's enormous collection of classic gentlemen's calendars and physique magazines lying about!"

And yet, "Uninspected bacon" (Gashtoncrumblesworthton).

In conclusion, the Internet is a land of contrasts.

Wednesday Blogaround

This blogaround brought to you by stripes.

Recommended Reading:

Ragen: [TW for fat hatred] I See Fat People…They're Everywhere

eeshap: [TW for war and violence] Conflict Is Forever: Can We Change Attitudes About Diamonds?

Simba: [TW for racism] Ethnic Hatred Taints Liberated Libya

Monica: [TW for racism] Beckham Calls for End to Racism in Soccer

Victoria: On Women, Psych Meds, and the Rape Culture

Tigtog: Quote of the Day: Racism, Diversity, & Meritocracy

The Heretik: Scream in My Coffee

Andy: UC Davis Pepper Spray Officer Also Homophobic and Racist

Leave your links and recommendations in comments...

FIFA's Sepp Blatter Puts Down Shovel, Hires Mechanical Digger

(TW racism)

Last week, I wrote a pair of posts about FIFA president Sepp Blatter, the white man who said that racism during games was inevitable, and should be forgotten after handshakes.

Understandably, reaction around the world was fiercely negative, with a number of prominent figures in the game, and many, many fans, calling for Blatter's resignation.

Speaking at the opening of the executive committee meeting of the Asian Football Confederation in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Mr. Blatter asserted that he now considers the racism row to be over, and that his feelings were terribly hurt that we all think him a racist. Why, he began his career in FIFA working in Africa, he adds, blithely failing to recognize how appalling it is to suggest that simply having worked in Africa means that racism is over.

I don't know how much more clear he can make it, that he has absolutely no business being in charge of a world organization, one with a serious and ongoing problem with racism. More news from this weekend, as Norwich City forward James Vaughan was the target of racist abuse on Twitter, reported to police by his club, and an accusation of racism against Dutch legend Johann Cruyff in his role with Ajax Amsterdam - that he told Black ex-player Edgar Davids that he was only on the board for his skin colour. These are only the incidents from the last weekend, and only those reported in the media.

Time to step down, Mr. Blatter. Step down, go home, and nurse your wounded feelings, and just keep telling yourself how not-racist you are. Just please do it somewhere else than as the leader of the so-called Beautiful Game.

To finish on a more upbeat note, there's a new film coming out about Arthur Wharton, the first Black professional footballer, signing for Rotherham Town in 1889: The Rise of the North Star.

Update to Women Gaming Post

(TW sexual violence)

Yesterday, I posted (TW sexual violence) an e-mail that I'd written to a friend in my gaming group, asking him to speak up for me in asking our fellow gamers (a group of white cis men in their 40s) to stop making references to sexual violence around me.

My friend wrote back last night, after the session (which I couldn't attend), and I share the response with his permission:

I spoke to the guys, they all said pretty much the same. No offense meant and if something is said, just let them know. It has been mentioned to them now.

Teaspoon raised, and a bit of bailing done.

ô,ôP

Number of the Day

32.8%: The percentage of the 4,342 speaking characters from the top 100-grossing movies of 2009 who were female; 67.2% were male, and the percentages remained unchanged from 2008, according to the study done by the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism.

"We see remarkably stable trends," said USC Annenberg associate professor Stacy L. Smith. "This reveals an industry formula for gender that may be outside of people's conscious awareness."

It's not just the ratio of female to male characters that continues to be imbalanced but the manner in which they're depicted, according to Smith.

The USC study determined that women were still far more likely than men to wear sexy clothing in movies, such as swimwear and unbuttoned shirts (25.8% versus 4.7%), to expose skin (23% versus 7.4%) and to be described by another character as attractive (10.9% versus 2.5%).

Revealing clothing and partial nudity was just as prevalent among 13- to 20-year-old female characters as it was among those 21 to 29, suggesting that females are sexualized on-screen at young ages, Smith said.

Behind the camera, the gender inequality is just as dramatic: only 3.6% of the directors and 13.5% of the writers on the top-grossing films of 2009 were female, according to the study.

Researchers found that the sex of the storytellers had a significant effect on what appeared on-screen. In movies directed by women, 47.7% of the characters were female; in movies directed by men, fewer than a third of the characters were female. When one or more of the screenwriters was female, 40% of characters were female; when all the screenwriters were male, 29.8% of the characters were female.

Marginalization is a snake eating its own tail: The more any non-privileged group is marginalized, the more they're marginalized.

Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime

Sal Mineo: "Girl Across the Way/Save the Last Dance for Me"

More on Hair

by Shaker GoldFishy

[Trigger warning for brief mention of surgical procedures.]

Hi all, Shaker Goldfishy here...

After I commented on Liss's post about my own recent change of hairstyle, and how it required me to overcome some internalized judgements of a different flavor, Liss invited me to open a thread for further discussion based on my experience.

I'm 40 years old, and my hair has been thinning quite noticeably in the last 5-10 years. I've always loved the look of very short hair on men, anyway, and, once it became clear that as time marched on, it was planning to take my hair with it, I wanted to closely cut my hair. (If you know about hair clippers, I've wanted the #1 setting, which is 1/8 inch.) My hair wasn't very long to begin with, but the texture of my hair and the thinning always left me feeling like it was a mess and not very flattering.

But I had one big hesitation: When I was much younger, I had a series of surgeries to remove a birthmark. The birthmark straddled my hairline on my forehead and was of a type that could eventually become malignant. When I was 13, doctors surgically removed the birthmark (then about 2.5 inches wide and 3.5 inches long) and replaced it with a skin graft from my leg. At age 18, I underwent a series of surgeries to "expand" (i.e., stretch) the skin and tissue around the graft so that it could be removed. A small amount of the skin graft remains at the top of my forehead and the final surgery left scars around the "crown" of my head. I was worried that if I cut my hair too short that I'd draw unwanted attention to them. The scarring includes a couple "bumps" that to my fingers feel HUGE but I think in appearance are all but invisible. I don't think I look awful, but I know that my scars are noticeable and I sometimes feel self-conscious about that.

My partner, The Captain, has been cutting his hair very short for a little while, and I loved it so much I felt more determined than ever to take the leap. So this fall, I finally took a chance and got a "#1 all around." I figured that the worst that could happen is I'd have to wear a hat for a few weeks while it grew back in.

Well, I LOVE it!!! A couple folks have commented on the scarring, but if people are noticing, most of them aren't indicating so.

Shaker GoldFishy before (with Liss) and after haircut

Left, with Liss, before haircuts. Right, after haircut.
The Captain and I were in Chicago last week (while Liss was so terribly sick...talk about unfortunate timing!) and I felt so terrific with my new style. It just feels...right. (What you see in the photo is me with a couple weeks' growth...I'm due for another trim this weekend.)

Liss suggested--and I agree--that my little story might present an opportunity for other lines of discussion about how insecurities impact our hairstyle choices. I acknowledge that a great many factors affect one's choices (or lack thereof) about hairstyle, and I value that Shakesville provides a safe space to discuss topics that affect us personally.

Hells Yeah News

True facts:
1. I am a lady
2. I like teh sports
3. I like teh sports video games

I'm a particularly big fan of hockey, because I grew up in Minnesota and hockey is part of my religion. :cough:

Stop me if you've heard this one before, but sometimes the people who design video games (always) forget that I exist. So, if you're playing EA's hockey game, you can create an avatar, provided that avatar represents a dude.

Lexi Peters, a 14-year-old girl from Upstate, was all like 'What the fuck, yo?' So, she wrote to EA.

In a show of savvy public relations, EA decided to add an option for a female avatar, using Peters' likeness as the model. Score.

Via @ShelbyKnox

So the Republicans Had a Debate Last Night

And it was garbage no doy. Anyway, it aired on one of the cable news networks, but I just can't remember which one:

[Click to embiggen.]
Oh well nevermind that. Wolf Blitzer was the moderator, and the subject was ~~warmongering and exceptionalism~~ National Security. If you're so inclined, you can read the full transcript here. My paraphrase of the evening's debate is below.

Blah blah debate national security. "It's a president's most important and daunting responsibility, to protect and defend the United States of America. Millions of lives in the hands of one commander-in-chief. It's what legacies are made of." Blah blah Reagan. "The National Anthem performed by Mauricio Perez, from the Tony Award winning musical, Jersey Boys," lulz. Blah blah we're all definitely straight and married. Blah blah terrorism. Blah blah Patriot Act. Blah blah Constitution. Blah blah war. "We are a nation of values." Blah blah targeted identification.

It is at this point in the debate that Herman Cain responds to a question posed to him by moderator Wolf Blitzer: "No, Blitz. That's oversimplifying it." LOL. He then babbles a bit more national security nonsense before correcting himself: "I'm sorry, Blitz, I meant Wolf, okay?" To which Wolf Blitzer replies, "Thank you, Cain." LOL. Oh my god.

Blah blah Al Qaeda. Blah blah Pakistan. "And I also think that Pakistan is a nation, that it's kind of like too nuclear to fail." Blah blah Afghanistan. Blah blah pull out. (That's what she said.) Blah blah Osama bin Laden. "You tell the Pakistanis, help us or get out of the way, but don't complain if we kill people you're not willing to go after on your territory where you have been protecting them." Blah blah radical Islam. Blah blah Iran. "We need a strategy of defeating and replacing the current Iranian regime with minimum use of force." Blah blah sanctions blah.

And more endless blah blah blah peppered with belligerent posturing from a bunch of aggressive defense hawks who are under the foolish impression that the United States is still a thriving empire, and of the ghastly opinion that the role of an empire is to put on big boots and stomp all over the world. The end.

[Previously in Debate-a-Thon 2012: One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven.]

Happy Birthday, Deeky!

Deeky's birthday cake, which is a Chewbacca head with a banner reading 'Happy B-Day Deeks!'

Happy Birthday to youuuuuuuuuuuuu!
Happy Birthday to youuuuuuuuuuuuu!
You're forty-one and that maaaaaaaakes meeeeeeeee
Four years younger than you!

Happy birthday, asshole!

P.S. I love you.

Happy Birthday, Elle!

Elle's birthday cake featuring Jesus cradling a baby dinosaur.

Happy birthday to youuuuuuuuuuuu!
Happy birthday to youuuuuuuuuuuu!
You look like a radical kyriarchy-smashing feminiiiiiiiist!
And you smell like one toooooooo!

(Mmmmm...lavender!)

Happy Birthday, Elle. I love you, grrl.

Open Thread

A pork pie with a small slice cut out.

Hosted by a pork pie.

Question of the Day

In light of Fox News host Megyn Kelly's absurd, horrifying, and utterly indefensible proclamation that pepper spray is "a food product, essentially", what food(s) would you most like to see available in aerosol form?

Note: In case it's not evident, I'm not making light of the pepper-spraying itself; I'm contemptuously mocking the 'it's just a food!' defense or what I view as an indefensible use of pepper spray.

Krissy Bates Update

[Trigger warning for violence; transphobia.]

Arnold Waukazo, the killer of Krissy Bates, a trans woman who was murdered in January of this year, has been convicted of second-degree murder.

Waukazo waived his right to a jury trial and Hennepin County District Judge Allen Oleisky presented the verdict today.

Defense counsel had argued to downgrade charges from First Degree, Pre-Meditated Murder to Manslaughter as a result of "heat of passion" and self defense. Waukazo and Bates had been involved in a relationship prior to Bates' death. The prosecution repeatedly argued that the aggressive and deliberate attack which resulted in Bates' death at the hands of Waukazo, in fact, the antithesis of self-defense and a passionate response.

"This is cold blooded murder," states Mike Freeman, Hennepin County Attorney, in his summation. "This was a premeditated planned committed action... he killed her and left her to die."

Nonetheless, Judge Oleisky apparently bought the defense's argument, which doesn't appear to have been an explicit "trans panic" defense, i.e. Waukazo murdered Bates upon discovery she was trans, but instead some variation that cast Bates as a potential threat to Waukazo.

I can't comment much on the case without further details, but I did want to pass on that Waukazo has at least been held accountable for his crime.

[H/T to Shaker GoldFishy. Previously: RIP Krissy Bates, Krissy Bates Update 1, Transgender Day of Remembrance.]

Once More, With Feeling

Again: If your revolution doesn't implicitly and explicitly include a rejection of misogyny and other intersectional marginalizations, then you're not staging a revolution: You're staging a change in management.

I dedicate this to you, OccupyChicago.

Post-Feminist Entertainment

[Trigger warning for misogyny.]

I've been really excited to see the previews for this awesome new show, coming next week to Fox:

Male Voiceover: Just because you have a teenage daughter doesn't mean you're not all that.

Blond White Woman working behind counter at cafe, to Conventionally Attractive White Man: I am definitely a cool parent. I'm always online, networking socially. [canned laughter]

Auburn-Haired White Female Friend, leaning against counter: I'm a cool mom, too. LOL. Whatevs. Justin Bieber. [canned laughter]

Male Voiceover: I Hate My Teenage Daughter. Wednesday, November 30th, on Fox!

HA HA! Perfect. Definitely what this post-feminist world needs is some post-feminist programming with edgy narratives about how women are jealous bitches who resent their own daughters as they age disgracefully and mourn their lost youth. WELL DONE, FOX.

And what a title! Goooooooooooood one. In this post-feminist world, where there is definitely no concern about the emotional health of teenage girls and bullying is not a problem and misogyny is FOR SURE a thing of the past, where no one uses "girl" or "schoolgirl" as an insult, where no one accuses anyone of throwing like a girl or crying like a schoolgirl, and companies would never do something like conflate a teenage girl with mayhem, where teenage girls are all totally secure in their worth as full and equal beings and their humanity is never diminished by objectification or exploitation or marginalization or myriad narratives that daily communicate you are less than, in this amazing new world where feminism has been rendered moot, this is obviously a perfect show that is super funny.

Thank Maude we live in this remarkable new frontier of undiluted equality, because can you even imagine the horror of being a teenage girl in a misogynist world and having to hear I Hate My Teenage Daughter played for laughs week after week after week...? Shiver. I don't even want to contemplate it.

Fuck you, Fox.

Neat!

Sarah Posner: Both Sides Expect Obama to Side with Bishops on Contraception Coverage

Pro-choice advocates... say they expect imminent action from the Obama Administration to broaden the exemption [from birth control coverage for employer-sponsored insurance plans] beyond churches and other houses of worship. That action could come as early as tomorrow.

That's just super.

Atlas Emails!

I got an email a little while ago from Atlas Shrugged Movie. That's really the name in the from field. It is really from the movie's marketing department. I must have signed up for email alerts from them at some point. Whoops. Personally, I think this should have come from "John Galt." That would have been neat. "Hey, Mom, John Galt just sent me an email!" See? Marketing 101.

Anyway, misery loves company (so says that Goo Goo Dolls song), so I thought I'd share:

The copy in the email reads:

THIS FRIDAY, GIVE THE GIFT OF KNOWLEDGE.

Mark your calendar. This Friday, November 25, is the special one-day Gulch Store shopping event. Visit us online and give the very special blu-metal gift of lasting knowledge to your friends and family.

Browse the Gulch Store now for great gift ideas.

I don't really know what this means. It references a one-day event on Friday, but the online store is open now and will, free-market willing, be open Saturday and I see nothing about special Black Friday discounts. Marketing 204 (an elective class) I bet teaches: Be sure your message is clear. Whoops.

I guess, maybe, if you're going to buy an Atlas Shrugged: Part I: The Undiscovered Country DVD do it on Friday? It's now available in nine (NINE!) different editions. Oof. To be an Atlas Shrugged: Part I DVD completist: Sad face.

See you Friday, Shruggians!

Quote of the Day

"He did say the words. That's his voice."—Tom Rath, senior adviser in New Hampshire to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, on the Romney campaign's bullshit ad that quotes President Obama out of context.

In the ad, which goes up Tuesday in New Hampshire, Mr. Obama is heard saying "if we keep talking about the economy, we're going to lose."

But when Mr. Obama made that statement, he was actually quoting an aide to John McCain, his 2008 rival for the presidency. "Senator McCain's campaign actually said, and I quote, if we keep talking about the economy, we're going to lose," Mr. Obama said.

And in their defense, all the Romney campaign's got is: "He did say the words. That's his voice."

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.