This is an interesting article about young women "being ahead of the linguistic curve," which seems to me to take great pains to avoid giving young women credit for being linguistic trendsetters as opposed to "incubators of vocal trends for the culture at large."
It's also disproportionately focused on the influence of young white women's speech patterns, to the exclusion of young women of color, who are themselves extremely influential, often in ways different from young white women.
That young women are being acknowledged as linguistic trendsetters is compelling, though, particularly in the sense that their speech is mocked and then adapted.
Maybe we can, like, have a more comprehensive and inclusive conversation about that idea here?
"He Looks Like a Rabbit."
Whoooooooooops!
[Content Note: Reproductive rights, including mandated transvaginal ultrasounds.]
Hey, remember when Representative Darrell Issa (R-Ealpieceofwork) held that superb all-male anti-contraception hearing? Ha ha that was GREAT, right? Well, Rep. Issa now admits it maybe wasn't the best idea he's ever had.
Last week there was a hearing that was spun, it was terribly spun. We all saw it. I won't call it my greatest success to get a point across on behalf of the American people.Yeah, the media spin was definitely the biggest problem there—not the fact that women aren't considered experts in their own healthcare and reproductive choice.
On a related note, perhaps if the men who are leading the charge against reproductive freedom listened to women, they would know by now that: 1. Mandating transvaginal ultrasounds is rape, because a person with a uterus who cannot access a legal medical procedure without submitting hir body to a vaginal probe cannot be said to be meaningfully consenting, as consent requires a choice, and "consent" without a choice is not actually consent; it's coercion. 2. Mandated rape isn't a political "winner" with the ladies. Or anyone else with a uterus. Or anyone sans uterus but functional sense of decency.
And yet:
In Alabama, State Senator Clay Scofield, a Republican man, "is pushing SB 12 [which] would mandate the physician 'to perform an ultrasound, provide verbal explanation of the ultrasound, and display the images to the pregnant woman before performing an abortion.' The physician could also require the woman to submit to a transvaginal ultrasound—'in which a probe is inserted into the vagina, and then moved around until an ultrasound image is produced'—if she or he determines it necessary."
In Idaho, Senate Assistant Majority Leader Chuck Winder, a Republican man, is "sponsoring a bill to require women to have an ultrasound before receiving an abortion... The measure does not specifically mention transvaginal ultrasounds...but would leave it up to a doctor and the patient to decide which ultrasound would be best."
A mandatory ultrasound bill is also under consideration in Pennsylvania, and laws have been passed in Texas and Oklahoma.
In the year 2012, women et. al. in the United States are being told by their government that they must submit their bodies to state-sanctioned rape if they want to access a legal medical procedure, while being totally shut out of legislative sessions in which increasing control of their bodies is assumed by elected men and their "experts."
Post-feminist world etc.
Primarily Awful
On a scale of 1 to ONE MILLION, how excited are you about today's primaries in Michigan and Arizona? A million?! That's what I thought!
This is a BIG DAY for Mitt Romney, who may well lose in his home state of Michigan where his father was once governor. The general consensus among boring old political pundits is that if he can't win Michigan, he should go home and TAKE A NAP!
But the general consensus in my brainpan is that he should keep running FOREVER no matter what! Even if he has to form a third party called the Mittocrats. In fact, he should do that anyway! One man, one party, one platform plank: WHATEVER IT TAKES TO GET ELECTED! The Mittocrats.
In related news, as I've mentioned previously, liberals are planning to make hay with Michigan's open primary by showing up to vote for Rick Santorum. It's a calculated strategy to try to help Santorum win the primary, because he's viewed as less of a general election threat to President Obama. HA HA I HOPE YOU'RE RIGHT, BECAUSE OTHERWISE PRESIDENT SANTORUM!
Whooooooooooooooooops!
Santorum is getting in on the liberals' action by running a robocall in Michigan urging Democrats to get out and vote for him to stop Romney, and only reveals at the last moment, i.e. after most people have hung up, that it's paid for by the Santorum campaign:
By voting for Rick Santorum—that's right: Michigan Democrats can vote in the Republican Primary on Tuesday! Why is it so important? Romney supported the bailouts for his Wall Street billionaire buddies, but opposed the auto bailouts. That was a slap in the face to every Michigan worker, and we're not gonna let Romney get away with it. On Tuesday, join Democrats who are going to send a loud message to Massachusetts Mitt Romney by voting for Rick Santorum for President. This call is supported by hardworking Democratic men and women, and paid for by Rick Santorum for President.HA HA HA HA HA! Oh boy. What a very fun and super cool election this is! BARF BAGS FOR EVERYONE!
In other Santorum news, Rick Santorum remains very smart and totally honest.
"Just the facts, man."—Rick Santorum.
Something something Ron Paul. I can't even believe I'm still obliged to mention this guy. Wev. I expect my payment in solid gold Ronpaulbuxxx, sirs.
Newt Gingrich is a human person who is running for president. At least, that's the rumor. He's also, in case you didn't know, a foreign policy genius:
"We're not going to fix Afghanistan," the former House speaker said [at a Republican luncheon in Nashville on Monday]. "It's not possible."LOL FOREVER. You know what the problem with Afghanistan is...? Not enough bootstraps.
His prescription: "What you have to do is say, 'You know, you're going to have to figure out how to live your own miserable life… Because you clearly don't want to learn from me how to be unmiserable.'"
Talk about these things! Or don't. Whatever makes you happy. Life is short.
Question of the Day
What pervasive negative cultural narrative kept you from trying something for a very long time that you ended up liking?
I have a terrible gut, and I am always looking for things that will help with some problem or another. Not long ago, I tried castor oil for the first time in abject desperation, which of course is associated with being used as a punishment for children and an instrument of fascist torture (!). I'd also always heard it was the worst-tasting stuff in existence, so I was pretty terrified of it.
But I found it really rather pleasant tasting and helpful. Huh.
Awesome.
Since every single person in the multiverse (and thanks to each and every one of you!) has either emailed this to me or tweeted it at me, here it is! Enjoy!
Monday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by crows.
Recommended Reading:
rboylorn: Battle of the What?: A Brief Reflection on the Battle of the Complexions Controversy [Content Note: The post at this link includes discussion of body policing, beauty standards, and colorism.]
Indian Homemaker: A Name of Your Own, to Keep or to Change
Lauredhel: The Rise of Fetal Personhood Notions in Western Australia Politics
Brian: Disney's Habit Heroes Has Closed [Content Note: The post at this link includes discussion of fat hatred/shaming and weight loss talk.]
Pam: DENIED: Wife Says 'No Nookie' to VA Delegate Over Transvaginal Ultrasound Bill
Elle: Sweetest Thing I've Ever Known
Resistance: Nerd Dream Come True
Leave your links and recommendations in comments...
Blog Note
I've got some personal stuff to do this afternoon, so posting will be light.
Please remember that when I'm not around, we're down one moderator, so take extra care in commenting, and be patient with and respectful of the other mods who will be picking up my slack.
Garbage Treasures
What is this?
An artistic rendering of RPattz (AKA: Robert Pattinson, for all you squares). An artistic rendering of RPattz that sparkles. Obviously. You can't tell it sparkles because you have to see that in person. Like the aurora borealis a photo of it just can't possibly convey the beauty. But it sparkles. It's also bulges:
It arrived unassembled, as it were. I nearly threw half of it out by accident. Whoops. Then I read the instructions. (Art! With instructions! So very Geffen Contemporary.) So I put it together and it hangs on a wall in all its convex glory.
Thanks, Liss! I can't wait to see what's next!
Fix for Comments Not Appearing in India
Hello, Indian Shakers! I have heard from many of you that you're having the same problem as readers in Australia and New Zealand, now that Blogger has added the .in suffix to the URL.
This causes a compatibility failure with Disqus, our third-party commenting system. For comments to load correctly, one must be viewing the blog at blogspot.com.
To access comments, replace the '.in' at the end of the URL with '/ncr' and press enter. If you then right-click on post titles from that page and select 'open link in new window,' the page in the new tab will allow you to view and post comments.
My thanks to Shaker Praveen for helping test this in India to make sure it works.
Photo of the Day
Members of the United States Marines Corps Brandon Morgan (right) and Dalan Wells celebrate Morgan's homecoming with a big kiss. Morgan posted the sweet picture to the Gay Marines Facebook page yesterday, and, as of this writing, it has 14,411 likes. Brandon Thorpe has more.
[H/T to Shaker elky.]
Primarily Horrendo
Whooooooooooooooooooooooooops!
This weekend, Mitt Romney gave an economic speech in Detroit, which the Detroit Economic Club incredibly decided to relocate from a downtown Detroit hotel to the 80,000-seat Ford Stadium after selling 1,200 tickets. Not only did 80,000 people not show up, but "Romney couldn't even sell out the space on field. Things were so bad that the Romney campaign tried to fill the empty area by moving the media in close in order to make the crowd look bigger on television that what it really was."
Yiiiiiiiiiikes. Here's a neat video of the Laird of Whoopsington Manor giving his garbage speech to an empty stadium:
Romney: By the way, congratulations to the Lions on a great season—and to the next great season. [tepid applause as the camera pans around the empty stadium] It's, uh, it's good to be back in Michigan. This, of course, is where I was born and raised. I, uh, I was actually born in Harper Hospital!Oof.
Think Progress has some
On the one hand: HA HA THIS IS SO FUNNY! YOU STINK, ROMNEY! YOU'RE THE WORST AND NOBODY LIKES YOU! On the other hand: This is pointedly indicative of how truly detached from the needs, wants, and realities of the 99% Mitt Romney really is. Perhaps no city in the US better understands the failures of the federal government and the harrowing effects of a greed-driven corporatocracy more than Detroit, and the fact that Mitt Romney wants to try to sell them "managed bankruptcy" and a tax plan that makes the rich even richer is straight-up laughable. He is comprehensively clueless.
That is not even a thing I made up. To an empty stadium in decimated Detroit, Mitt Romney listed all the many, many automobiles he and his wife own, in order to appear "relatable."
He also noted this weekend that he is not much of a NASCAR fan himself, but he has "some great friends who are NASCAR team owners." www.wow.eek
Something something Ron Paul. Liberty, freedom, liberty, freedom, forcible pregnancy, honest rape. It's in the Constitution! Look it up.
Newt Gingrich is a person in the world who is running for president!
In Rick Santorum news, a phrase which is always a harbinger of GOOD THINGS, Rick Santorum says he "almost threw up" when he read John F. Kennedy's 1960 Houston address on the separation of church and state. HA HA RICK SANTORUM YOUR BRAINZ ARE FULL OF GARBAGE!
As if to underline that point, Rick Santorum has also penned a TERRIFIC op-ed for the Wall Street Journal titled: "My Economic Freedom Agenda." It's really good and you should definitely read it. By which I mean, of course, that it is terrible and you should not waste your time reading it unless you need a good, old-fashioned chuckle-a-doo.
Spoiler Alert: Rick Santorum does not believe that control over our reproduction is a necessary component of women's economic freedom. I KNOW YOU'RE SO SHOCKED! This way to the fainting couch.
Talk about these things! Or don't. Whatever makes you happy. Life is short.
The Oscars Thread
Octavia Spencer, left, and Meryl Streep at the Governors Ball following the 84th Academy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 26, 2012, in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles. [AP Photo]MERYL!!! OMG I loved Octavia Spencer's dress so hard. Esperanza Spalding's performance of "What a Wonderful World" is one of my favorite Oscar performances ever. MERYL!!! The End.
Also: I loved Meryl's acceptance speech, which is probably one of the best Oscar acceptance speeches of all time:
[Meryl's name is announced, and as she walks to the stage, stopping to kiss Viola Davis, the voiceover says she won Best Supporting Actress for Kramer vs. Kramer and Best Actress for Sophie's Choice. She gets a standing ovation from the audience.]Love her.
Streep: Ohhhhhhh my god. Oh, come on! Ohhhhhhh ohhhh, all right. Thank you so much. Thank you, thank you. When they called my name, I had this feeling I could hear half of America going, "Oh no. [laughter] Come on: Why her? Again?" you know? But...whatever. [she gives a dismissive wave and laughs to more laughter and applause] First I want to thank Don [her husband, Don Gummer], because when you thank your husband at the end of the speech, they play him out with the music, and I want him to know that everything I value most in our lives [she gets choked up], you've given me. [In the audience, he gazes back at her and puts his hand over his heart.] And now secondly [applause], my other partner: Thirty-seven years ago, my first play in New York City, I met the great hairstylist and make-up artist Roy Helland, and we, uh, we worked together pretty continuously since the day we clapped eyes on each other. He, uh, his first film with me was Sophie's Choice, and all the way up to tonight when he [chokes up again], he won for his beautiful work in The Iron Lady, thirty years later. [applause] Every single movie in between! And, um [deep breath], I just want to thank Roy, but also I want to thank—because I really understand I'll never be up here again [she laughs; audience laughter]—um, I really want to thank all my colleagues, all my friends; I look out here and, you know, I see my life before my eyes—my old friends, my new friends—and, really, this is such a great honor, but the thing that counts the most with me is the friendships, and the love, and the sheer joy we have shared making movies together. My friends, thank you, all of you—departed and here [she touches her heart]—for this, you know, inexplicably wonderful career. Thank you so much. Thank you.
