Here is your topic: Top Five Favorite Movies That Pass the Bechdel Test*. Go!
Please feel welcome to share stories about why your Top Five picks are what they are, though a straight-up list is fine, too. Please refrain from negatively auditing other people's lists, because judgment discourages participation.
* Original strip. Anita with further explanation.
Top Five
Quotes of the Day
[Content Note: The below quotes and image are in reference to/part of an anti-rape campaign.]
"It is important that the public are aware of what rape is and the campaign will help in raising public awareness on this as well as dispelling any myths about rape. There is no concept of contributory negligence in the crime of rape. Rape is rape."—Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland.
"Rape is a horrific crime and this campaign, led by ACPOS, has my full backing because we need to change attitudes and educate the next generation. This campaign also sends out the message loud and clear to perpetrators that any instance of rape is completely unacceptable and will not be tolerated."—Cabinet Secretary of Justice Kenny MacAskill.
"The tone and language of the campaign marks a significant shift in approach to raising awareness of sexual offences legislation, and I hope it will help remind men that they are in complete control of their behaviour."—Assistant Chief Constable Graham Sinclair, the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland lead for Public Protection.
These are strong words, amazing words, and I desperately hope that they are backed up by equally strong wills to make a change in the prevention and prosecution of sexual violence in Scotland, which has terribly low reporting and prosecution rates, and one of the lowest conviction rates in Europe.
I am feeling almost giddily optimistic reading such uncompromising words from officials (male officials!) who are promising to treat sexual violence with the seriousness it deserves, and who are further explicitly engaging men in prevention.
Normally, I would take issue with euphemising rape as "have sex," but in a campaign aimed at men who don't view "having sex" with an incapacitated woman as rape, and on a poster where it is also clearly defined as rape, I think it's very effective.
My only quibble is the qualifier "too" in front of drunk. "When she's drunk" would be better, as it doesn't suggest there's some magical level of inebriation at which authentic consent is possible. BUT! That is truly a small thing in what is otherwise a very impressive campaign inviting men to engage as accountable parties in rape prevention. Yay!
[Quotes and image from here; hat tip to Shaker Quercki, in comments.]
Today in Fatties Ruin It for Everyone
[Content Note: Fat bias; disordered eating.]
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's proposed "obesity-fighting" initiative to ban the sale of sugary drinks in sizes greater than 16 oz at restaurants, street carts, and movie theaters has been approved by the New York City Board of Health.
Genuinely, the only people who could possibly think this is a good idea are people who do not understand the first thing about fatness.
If you are fat for reasons other than disordered eating—like, say, because you are disabled; because you are ill; because you you are on medication that causes weight gain; because you ruined your metabolism yo-yo dieting at a much lesser weight; because you just gave birth; because of your genetics; because you like the way it looks; because you don't have access and/or cannot afford the healthiest food choices for your body; because of a combination of these things; because of reasons you haven't even identified yet yourself—banning sugary drinks in large sizes in certain places isn't going to change your body.
If you are fat because of disordered eating, and part of your diet is an excess of sugary drinks, banning sugary drinks in large sizes in certain places isn't going to change your body.
...Since you can just buy as many drinks in smaller sizes as you want. And anyone, irrespective of their weight, can still drink a 2-gallon of Mountain Dew with dinner every night of their lives, if that is their desire.
The root of this failure, as with so many other issues of autonomy, is tasking individuals with solving a systemic problem. And the systemic problem here is not fat, but our food supply.
If Mayor Bloomberg and the NYC Board of Health weren't interested in trying to shame fatties into being less aesthetically displeasing and were instead actually interested in increasing nutritional healthfulness across the city's population, then he could, say, lead a national movement petitioning the USDA to ban high-fructose corn syrup in all foods.
Researchers have found that HFCS prompts considerably more weight gain, and that the average USian's consumption of HFCS over the same time period associated with the OH NOES Obesity Epidemic has increased by "an alarming 12,250%." That's a more reasonable place to start, if you genuinely care about what people are putting into their bodies.
But shaming fatties is a lot simpler than fighting Big Corn, which is subsidized to the tune of billions of dollars in the US every year.
That is, of course, only one example of the many intersecting issues that conspire to undermine healthfulness in the US food supply. The rampant use of growth hormones, food deserts, food insecurity, federal subsidies that result in a salad costing more than a Big Mac...
It is a massive systemic problem, which undermines the nutritional health of millions of people irrespective of their size, and tasking fatties with "fixing themselves" not only ignores this catastrophic system fail in order to scapegoat and demonize us; it also critically endangers everyone else whose fucked-up food comes from the same places.
Not everyone would be thin even if all of us were the picture of nutritional health.
Which is why nutritional health should be the goal—not thinness.
And I will suggest again, in regards to individual choices, that maybe we could all let fat people sort out for themselves the business of their being fat.
Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime
Sharleen Spiteri covering "Take My Breath Away" on the Graham Norton Show
I love Sharleen's version of this song SO MUCH.
Libya Embassy Attack & Associated Protests Open Thread
[Content Note: Violence.]
I'm just getting caught up on all the pieces of this myself, but I wanted to open a thread for discussion and share some of what I've been reading this morning. Please feel welcome and encouraged, as always, to drop in comments links to things you've been reading and/or writing.
Nasser Arrabyee and Alan Cowell in the New York Times—Turmoil Spreads to US Embassy in Yemen:
Turmoil in the Arab world linked to an American-made video denigrating the Prophet Muhammad spread on Thursday to Yemen, where hundreds of protesters attacked the American Embassy, two days after assailants killed the American ambassador in Libya and crowds tried to overrun the embassy compound in Cairo.Gillian Flaccus for the AP—California Man Confirms Role in Anti-Islam Film: "The search for those behind the provocative, anti-Muslim film implicated in violent protests in Egypt and Libya led Wednesday to a California Coptic Christian convicted of financial crimes who acknowledged his role in managing and providing logistics for the production. Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, 55, told The Associated Press in an interview outside Los Angeles that he was manager for the company that produced 'Innocence of Muslims,' which mocked Muslims and the prophet Muhammad and may have caused inflamed mobs that attacked U.S. missions in Egypt and Libya."
News reports also spoke of a separate protest in Tehran, where around 500 Iranians chanting "Death to America" tried to converge on the Swiss Embassy, which handles United States interests in the absence of formal diplomatic relations with Washington. Hundreds of police officers held the crowds back from the diplomatic compound, witnesses said.
For a third straight day at the American Embassy in Cairo, protesters scuffled with police firing tear gas, witnesses said, and the state news agency reported that 13 people were injured. In Iraq, a militant Shiite group, Asaib Ahl al-Haq, once known for its violent attacks on Americans and other Westerners, reportedly said the video "will put all American interests in danger." Protests were also reported at American missions in Morocco, Sudan and Tunisia, where the police also fired tear gas to disperse crowds.
In Washington, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton criticized the violent anti-American protests but she also denounced the video in forceful terms. "This video is disgusting and reprehensible," Mrs. Clinton said in remarks at the State Department, broadcast live on CNN.
Reuters—Protest at US embassy in Tunisia: "Tunisian police fired teargas and rubber bullets into the air [yesterday] to disperse a protest over a US-made film depicting the Prophet Mohammad near the US Embassy in the capital Tunis, reporters said."
Matthew Weaver and Brian Whitaker for the Guardian—Yemen Protesters Storm US Embassy: Live Coverage.
Hisham Matar for the New Yorker—On the Benghazi Attack:
No specific group claimed responsibility for the attack, which was well orchestrated and involved heavy weapons. It is thought to be the work of the same Salafi, ultra-religious groups who have perpetrated similar assaults in Benghazi. They are religious, authoritarian groups who justify their actions through very selective, corrupt, and ultimately self-serving interpretations of Islam... They see in these days, in which the new Libya and its young institutions are still fragile, an opportunity to grab power. They want to exploit the impatient resentments of young people in particular in order to disrupt progress and the development of democratic institutions.It is Matar's supposition that the Libyan attack/assassination was not actually "motivated by the film that the assailants, and many news networks, claim was their motive," but that the film is being retroactively cited as motive for a terrorist attack.
Even though they appear to be well funded from abroad and capable of ruthless acts of violence against Libyans and foreigners, these groups have so far failed to gain widespread support. In fact, the opposite: their actions have alienated most Libyans.
Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens was a popular figure in Libya, and nowhere more than in Benghazi. Friends and relatives there tell me that the city is mournful. There have been spontaneous demonstrations denouncing the attack. Popular Libyan Internet sites are full of condemnations of those who carried out the assault. And there was a general air of despondency in the city Wednesday night. The streets were not as crowded and bustling as usual. There is a deep and palpable sense that Benghazi, the proud birthplace of the revolution, has failed to protect a highly regarded guest. There is outrage that Tripoli is yet to send government officials to Benghazi to condemn the attacks, instigate the necessary investigations and visit the Libyan members of the consulate staff who were wounded in the attack. There is anger too towards the government's failure to protect hospitals, courtrooms, and other embassies that have suffered similar attacks recently in Benghazi. The city seems to have been left at the mercy of fanatics. And many fear that it will now become isolated.
AP—Fact Check: Romney Misstates Facts on Attacks:
The gunfire at the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, had barely ceased when Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney seriously mischaracterized what had happened in a statement accusing President Barack Obama of "disgraceful" handling of violence there and at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo.Kevin Drum for Mother Jones—Obama Smear Was a Team Effort, Says Romney Team: "[T]he whole thing was carefully orchestrated: 'Aides said it was drafted by committee—a team effort by one group of advisers specializing in policy, the communications team and the strategy shop. ....Mr. Romney's criticism fed into his larger theme of painting Mr. Obama as apologizing for the United States, and his team stuck by it.'"
"The Obama administration's first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks," Romney said in a statement first emailed to reporters at 10:09 p.m. Eastern time, under the condition it not be published until midnight.
In fact, neither a statement by the U.S. Embassy in Cairo earlier in the day nor a later statement from Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton offered sympathy for attackers. The statement from the Cairo Embassy had condemned anti-Muslim religious incitement before the embassy walls were breached. In her statement, issued minutes before Romney's, Clinton had offered the administration's first response to the violence in Libya, explicitly condemning the attack there and confirming the death of a State Department official.
"I condemn in the strongest terms the attack on our mission in Benghazi today," Clinton said in a written statement received by The Associated Press at 10:08 p.m. "As we work to secure our personnel and facilities, we have confirmed that one of our State Department officers was killed. We are heartbroken by this terrible loss."
CNN—Romney Camp Tries to Manage Fallout from Libya Response: "Facing criticism for its aggressive and politically-charged response to Tuesday's violent attacks on the American embassies in Egypt and Libya, Mitt Romney's presidential campaign is quietly advising Republicans how to respond to questions about the campaign's handling of the episode. In talking points currently being pushed to Republican leaders and top surrogates, the Romney campaign recommends attacking President's Obama 'foreign policy of weakness' and dismissing questions about how the campaign responded to the crisis last night."
Justin Sink for The Hill—Sen. Inhofe: Embassy Attacks a Result of Obama's 'Policy of Appeasement': "Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) said Thursday that the attacks on American embassies in the Middle East were happening as a result of 'the policy of appeasement' and called for immediate congressional hearings into the violence that has left four foreign service officers dead. ... Inhofe was then asked by Fox host Steve Doocy if the attacks were the result of President Obama's foreign policy, and specifically his 'apology tour' when he visited Egypt at the beginning of his presidency. Although the president did not issue any apologies during that trip, Republicans have criticized the tone as too conciliatory. 'Yeah. What foreign policy? The policy of appeasement,' Inhofe said."
Amanda Terkel for HuffPo—Todd Akin: Obama Is 'Apologizing Because He Didn't Like America': "Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, responded to the protests in the Middle East on Wednesday, saying he believed President Barack Obama was 'apologizing' to hostile countries around the world. 'First of all, apologizing to all people, [to] a lot of countries who are enemies, and apologizing to them and everything. You know, if we did something wrong, that's one thing. But he's just apologizing because he didn't like America? I think that's the wrong thing to do,' said Akin, outlining why he disagreed with Obama's foreign policy."
And this fucking guy:
The attacks on our embassies & diplomats are a result of perceived American weakness. Mitt Romney is right to point that out.
— Donald Rumsfeld (@RumsfeldOffice) September 12, 2012
Paul Krugman—Why the Vileness Matters: "There will probably be some voters moved directly against Romney by this spectacle, and none moved toward him. ... [T]he real impact probably comes via the press. ... Romney has really ensured that everyone in the news media, the GOP propaganda organs aside, is going to view him with distaste and alarm—as well they should."
I'm Back
Hi, everyone. I'm back from Washington and the WSCADV conference, which was awesome and about which I'll write more later. Today's probably going to be a slow day, as I catch up on email and what's happening in the world, while I've been largely disconnected from the internetz.
In the meantime, here are some pictures.
Western Washington is...
...very different from Eastern Washington.
Eastern Washington looks like Tatooine. I told Misty I kept expecting to drive past Uncle Owen's moisture farm.
Did you know that Yakima is the Palm Springs of Washington? Well, now you do!
We saw this sign near our hotel and stopped to take a picture of it just on our way out of town. When I hopped out to take a picture, some guy was screaming at someone across the street, and got it in his head that I was taking a picture of them. He started walked toward me, screaming angrily, "Are you taking a picture of us?! Why are you taking pictures of us?!" Blah blah.
Normally, I might have been intimidated, but I'd just come from a conference about domestic violence, and listened to Emily May of Hollaback! speak right after me about an hour earlier, and I was all full of piss and vinegar, so I shouted back. "I'm taking a picture of a sign, not you." He kept coming, yelling at me. Then I just got annoyed. "There is a sign here that says EPIC FAIL," I said. "That's what I was taking a picture of. Come look at it, if you don't believe me." I got my camera ready to take a picture of him for real if he got any closer.
He retreated. Win.
Blog Note
Just a reminder (or a notice, if you missed it) that I'm at a conference this week. I figured I'd better post something, as I've gotten a bunch of emails hoping I'm okay. I'm okay! I'm at the annual conference of the Wahington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence, at which I'll be speaking tomorrow, and at which Misty and I gave a workshop this morning. I'll be back soon!
Open Thread
Hosted by Fruity Pebbles.
This week's open threads have been brought to you by cereals I was not allowed to eat as a child. Sad face.
(I did have one of those Fred Flintstone coin
The Virtual Pub Is Open
[Explanations: lol your fat. pathetic anger bread. hey your gay.]
TFIF, Shakers!
Belly up to the bar,
and name your poison!
Quote of the Day
"When you give a speech you don't go through a laundry list, you talk about the things that you think are important."—Mitt Romney, responding to criticism (which started in conservative quarters) that he failed to acknowledge active servicemembers in his RNC acceptance speech.
Uh, that is not a good answer. Dude is lucky it's Friday.
You know, I honestly think the whole "Mitt Romney didn't mention the troops!" criticism is a little silly, because the omission only matters if we actually believe that he gives a fuck about the actual people who populate the military his party fetishizes, which he doesn't. As confirmed by the above quote.
Which was followed by this extraordinary comment: "I described in my speech, my commitment to a strong military unlike the president's decision to cut our military. And I didn't use the word troops, I used the word military. I think they refer to the same thing."
No, no they do not. The military and the people who comprise it are not the same thing.
Anyway, I wasn't about to pretend like I think Romney cares about the troops in order to criticize him for, in reality, merely failing to offer transparently reflexive and pandering lipservice to the troops.
But I am happy to highlight the fact that he freely admits his apathy.
Photos of the Day
A bottlenose dolphin named Rainbow and her newborn calf play in the waters in Moray Firth, Scotland. [Tim Stenton / Barcroft Media]
The newborn bottlenose dolphin playfully launches himself out of the water off the coast of Moray Firth, near Inverness, Scotland [Tim Stenton / Barcroft Media][Photos via.]
Friday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by sunshine.
Recommended Reading:
Have you been reading what's new at Flyover Feminism? There's so much good stuff, including a new series on voting that started today. I hope you'll consider submitting something!
Pam: ICYMI: Kansas City Bishop Finn Was Found Guilty for Not Reporting Sex Abuse [Content Note: The post at this link contains discussion of rape culture and clergy abuse.]
Gary: Behind the GOP's Diversity Display
Helen: President Obama's Accomplishments for Transgender Americans
Veronica: Our Bodies, Our Votes
Problem Chylde: On Shame, Fitness Consciousness, and What Fat Friendliness Means [Content Note: The post at this link contains discussion of fat bias, body image, and diet.]
Atrios: Banksters
Tami: Making Peace with Tyler Perry
Andy: Michael Stipe Demands FOX News Dease and Desist Use of R.E.M.
Taegan: New Obama Ad: Promises Kept [video]
Leave your links and recommendations in comments...
Daily Dose of Cute
Zelly and Dudley love chasing squirrels in the garden. Actually: Zelly loves chasing squirrels, and Dudley loves chasing Zelly. And the squirrels love to tease her, because she never catches them. Not even close, lol.
Video Description: Zelda lies in the grass, panting and alert. Suddenly she leaps up and runs into the thicket, Dudley in pursuit. I pan right, following a squirrel through the treetops, who is nowhere near where the dogs are anymore.
In The News
Two shallow 5.6 magnitude earthquakes hit mountainous southwestern China, killing at least 64 people and forcing tens of thousands from damaged buildings.
A hacker claims he stole Mitt Romney's tax returns and wants $1 million (payable in Bitcoins) to keep them secret. The Secret Service is investigating.
A new Kinsey app lets you report sexual behavior. How is this different than Twitter?
Clint Eastwood is: Joe Citizen!
Will President Obama disclose the existence of UFOs if re-elected? See also.
Trans porn star Buck Angel talks about his new dating site, "a safe environment for those seeking out relationships or just fun with trans men and the people who love them."
At long last Megaforce has finally made its way to DVD.
Check out the first film appearance by Jonathan Banks (AKA Mike Ehrmantraut in Breaking Bad) in a short titled Linda's Film on Menstruation. Neat!
Jerry Springer is still alive. Also alive: Maury Povich, Jenny Jones, and Abe Vigoda.
