Crystal Gayle: "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue"
Whooooooops on Women
[Content Note: Religious institutional misogyny.]
FMF News: Church of England Begins Debate on Female Bishops.
The governing body of the Church of England is set to begin discussions about whether or not to allow women to become bishops. All three branches of the General Synod, the House of Bishops, the House of Clergy, and the House of Laity must approve of any decision to allow women bishops by a two-thirds majority. If these branches fail to approve the change, the measure cannot come back before the synod for at least seven years.Ha ha this debate is PERFECT already. Don't worry, ladies—if 66% of us don't agree that you're not garbage, we'll definitely take up the issue again in seven years!
Twenty years ago, the Anglican Church first approved that women could be ordained as priests and now women are a third of all clergy in the Church of England. The subject of women bishops was argued earlier this year, but was dismissed over language in an amendment that allowed parishes to request a male bishop who shared their beliefs if they were opposed to women bishops. Since then, the amendment has been rewritten to include slightly less discriminatory language.Oh don't worry—parishes can still totally reject female bishops. Obviously. The language about it is just politer!
Forget "less discriminatory" (which is SO generous): If the church decides whoooooops we were wrong about our deity creating women as certainly and eternally inferior to men, why would parishes get a veto? Well, church doctrine is sorta optional when it comes to the fundamental equality of women!
In a letter by over 1,000 bishops, clergy, and laity that was published in the Independent, they agreed "Just as the Churches have repented of our historic anti-Semitism and endorsement of slavery, so we believe that we must now show clearly that we no longer believe women to be inferior to men."Still a controversial position that needs lots of rigorous debate in the year of our lord Jesus Jones two thousand and twelve.
Let me save the Church of England and everyone else in the fucking world some time: Women are not inferior to men. The end. Please proceed accordingly.
* * *
UPDATE: Church of England Refuses to Allow Female Bishops: "The Church of England's governing body on Tuesday narrowly blocked a move to permit women to serve as bishops, leaving the church facing more years of contentious debate. Following a daylong debate, opponents mustered enough support to deny the necessary two-thirds majority among lay members of the General Synod, with backers falling six votes short of passage." Cool. What a neat church!
Assvertising, Part Wev in an Ongoing Series
[Content Note: Rape culture; gender essentialism; hetercentrism.]
I have seen this Brut advert half a dozen times lately, and I don't normally watch programming for which it's a natural fit, so it must be in heavy rotation:
A young, thin, traditionally attractive white woman and a young, thin, traditionally attractive white man stand at a bathroom vanity getting ready to go out. She's in a little black dress; he's in a shirt and tie. "You better hurry up," she tells him, as she walks out of the bathroom. "We don't wanna be late." He splashes some Brut cologne into his hand, then slaps it on his cheeks. We hear her scream from the other room. She walks back in and is now in an advanced stage of pregnancy. "What the heck did you just do?" she asks, cradling her belly. Grinding guitar music as he picks up the bottle of Brut and lifts an eyebrow with a devilish grin. A male voiceover says, "Let your man out. Brut. The essence of man."In the version I've seen running on television, which doesn't appear to be available on YouTube, not only is the man's female partner shown to be pregnant, but their dachshund is shown to be pregnant, too. Yeah.
Now, obviously, this isn't an ad designed to appeal to feminist women, and it might hardly be worth my time, except for the fact that I want to point out how deeply contemptuous of men this advert is, too, despite the fact it's ostensibly meant to appeal to them.
Men, per Brut, are all straight. All cis. All aggressively hypersexual. Their masculinity is centered in their genitals, and proven by their capacity to reproduce. They are all hostile to consent.
MRAs routinely complain about the "feminization" of our culture and assert that it's ruinous for men, but the humanization of our culture, which seeks to expand definitions of manhood, is hardly more offensive or contemptible than this gross, reductive, rape culture upholding characterization of the "essence of man."
And it ain't feminist women who are the primary gatekeepers of that bullshit. It's other men. About the last place on earth you'll find active feminists is in the executive wing of any advertising firm. These disagreeable stereotypes of men brought to you by The PatriarchyTM.
Update on Indy Explosion
[Content Note: Fire; violence; death.]
Earlier this month, I wrote about a massive explosion in Indianapolis which killed two people, injured seven others, leveled two homes, and did about $4 million in damage to surrounding homes. It was originally suspected of being a terrible accident. It is now a homicide investigation.
Indianapolis Homeland Security Director Gary Coons made the announcement Monday evening, shortly after a funeral was held for the husband and wife who were killed. The couple lived next door to the house where investigators believe the blast occurred.Officials believe that natural gas was involved in the explosion. No arrests have yet been made.
"We are turning this into a criminal homicide investigation," Coons said after meeting with local residents, marking the first time investigators have acknowledged a possible criminal element to the Nov. 10 explosion.
Search warrants have been executed and officials are now looking for a white van that was seen in the subdivision the day of the blast, Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry said. Federal authorities are offering a $10,000 reward for information in the case.
...Hundreds of people attended the funeral earlier Monday for the couple killed in the explosion, 34-year-old John Dion Longworth and 36-year-old Jennifer Longworth.
She was a second-grade teacher remembered for knitting gifts for her students, while her husband, an electronics expert, was known as a gardener and nature lover. The school where Jennifer Longworth taught was closed Monday so teachers and students could attend the funeral.
...The couple lived next door to the house where investigators are focusing.
The co-owner of that house, John Shirley, told The Associated Press he had recently received a text message from his daughter saying the furnace in the home, which she shares with her mother and her mother's boyfriend, had gone out.
Shirley's ex-wife, Monserrate Shirley, said her boyfriend, Mark Leonard, had replaced the thermostat recently and the furnace had resumed working.
She and her boyfriend were away at a casino at the time of the blast. The daughter was staying with a friend, and the family's cat was being boarded.
Whoever did this, it appears that the Longworths were not even the targets. Just collateral damage in a plot of explosive hatred. Seethe.
Top Five
Here is your topic, suggested by Shaker Secjwick: Top Five Favorite Ocean/Sea Animals. 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.
Question of the Day
Inspired by Shaker Constant Comment: If your present-day self could go back in time to talk to your younger self, would you? And, if so, what point in your life would you choose and what would you say?
Man Notices Misogyny
[Content Note: Misogyny.]
So, this piece is going around today. In it, film critic Michael Calleri recounts the collapse of a paper after its turnover to a misogynist dude, and shares an email said misogynist dude sent him about how he refuses to run reviews of any films with strong female characters.
Lots of people are saying things about it. Like Echidne, who says smart things about it! A lot of people are saying less smart things.
Not a whole lot of people have observed that it's quite an admission of privilege that Calleri could spend so much of his career not experiencing destructive misogynist impulses. Being surprised by rank misogyny is a luxury I cannot comprehend.
There are those who will argue at least it's good we're having this conversation. Is it? Is it good we're having a conversation in which a man expresses shock at rank misogyny that affected him, and lots of other men are expressing shock at rank misogyny as reported by a man? As if this indeed profound (but hardly extraordinary) incident of rank misogyny is a rarity, and not simply the vile contempt experienced by women every day put into a badly formed email?
I know. What a sourpuss. I guess I just can't get past the irony of a collective gasp at misogyny reported by a man that would never yield such notice if reported by a woman.
Tweet of the Day
Whew, finally. We were running behind schedule this year. twitter.com/bendimiero/sta…
— Ben Dimiero (@bendimiero) November 19, 2012
[The image is a screen cap of the Fox Nation website featuring an image of a Nativity Scene and the headline: "War on Christmas begins..."]
Hardy Boy
Here Are 8 Photos of a Very Scruffy Tom Hardy. You're welcome.
I may have mentioned I am a fancier of Tom Hardy. One night, Iain and Kenny Blogginz and I decided to watch Bronson, which is a biopic of one of Britain's most notoriously violent criminals, starring Tom Hardy in the titular role. I'll just note that the gentlemen were interested in watching the movie for different reasons than I was.
The thing about Bronson is that Tom Hardy is naked in it. A lot. By which I mean he is naked for much of the film, and also that he is very naked. And, while very naked, he does a lot of dramatic physical fighting, with lots of body parts stretched and splayed and exposed and flopping around.
Neither Iain nor KBlogz are the kind of straight dudes who squirm at the sight of another man naked. It was, however, A LOT of nudity. We commented on it. Great observations like: "This is A LOT of nudity."
At the end of the film, I observed, "Welp. I've seen Tom Hardy's taint now." Iain laughed. A big belly laugh. I said, "For real, though. I saw body parts on him that I'm not sure I've ever seen on you after ten years of marriage."
Iain laughed for a hundred years.
Monday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by spinach.
Recommended Reading:
Helen: ENDA Update
Hao Ko: These Skyscrapers Are Designed to Make You Happy if You Work in Them
Akiba: The Big Military Story No One Wants to Talk About Right Now: Rape
rboylorn: Chasing Time: A Reflection of Thanks(giving) [Content Note: Reproductive and relationship auditing.]
Jeremy Hooper: Basically, the Whole Marriage Inequality Game Is Crashing—Hard [Content Note: Racism; homophobia.]
Kim Adelman: Wanted: Female Astronauts: Geena Davis Celebrates "Add Female Characters" Month at Third Symposium on Gender in the Media
Maya: Photo of the Day: Hillary Clinton and Aung San Suu Kyi
Leave your links and recommendations in comments...
Quote of the Day
Republican United States Senator from Florida Marco Rubio, in response to being asked by GQ magazine how old he believes the earth is:
I'm not a scientist, man. I can tell you what recorded history says, I can tell you what the Bible says, but I think that's a dispute amongst theologians and I think it has nothing to do with the gross domestic product or economic growth of the United States. I think the age of the universe has zero to do with how our economy is going to grow. I'm not a scientist. I don't think I'm qualified to answer a question like that. At the end of the day, I think there are multiple theories out there on how the universe was created and I think this is a country where people should have the opportunity to teach them all. I think parents should be able to teach their kids what their faith says, what science says. Whether the Earth was created in 7 days, or 7 actual eras, I'm not sure we'll ever be able to answer that. It's one of the great mysteries.Wow.
We are going to have a very different political landscape moving forward if reporters continue to do their job and force Republican politicians to seriously answer serious questions about their beliefs. Or the "beliefs" they espouse, in order to pander to their base.
The Walking Thread
"Why do I have to put up with the rest of these people?"
(Spoilers are taking calls on a rotary phone herein.)
You guys, how great would it be if Daryl and Carol got their own spin-off? Leaving Grimes Gangs 1.0 and 2.0 in the literal dust as they peel off into the sunset on Daryl's hog? "Fuck all y'all! I'm Daryl and me and and Carol are gonna go hook up with Colin Farrell at the headquarters of NARAL and then go over Niagara Falls in a barrel! SEE ya!" Cue wacky theme music. Because it's a sitcom, obviously.
Until THAT HAPPENS, however, we are stuck splitting our time between Zombie Prison and our timeshare at Unpleasantville. Yay. Said no one.
At Zombie Prison, Grimes is losing his mind while taking imaginary phone calls on a dusty rotary phone that is probably plugged into his own butt, because he's convinced he can save everyone AND double as a telephone transformer. Ghost Lori tells him to get his shit together, and he tells her whooooooooooooops he was waiting to get them safe before not treating her shit. Great plan, chief. Your excellence in decision-making continues to inspire.
Daryl tells Carl a touching story about how his mom burned herself to a crisp with a Virginia Slim. From underneath his comically large hat, Carl points out that at least Daryl didn't have to shoot his mom to stop her turning into a zombie. Good point, kid! Daryl should have taken that moment to Katniss the fuck outta Carl, to send him off on a high note.
Something something Hershel. Glenn and Maggie go on a run for formula and bullets. They make out. I might have thought it was sweet if I wasn't fuming at Glenn for failing to murder Grimes and take control of the situation so this ragtag group of assholes can finally have a leader with a consistently level head.
Meanwhile, in Unpleasantville, Governor Niam Leeson and Andrea have sex, and it is so gross. Because he is suuuuuuuper creepy. And she is a weirdo who wants to do sexytimes with sociopaths like Shane and Governor Niam Leeson. Eugh. Get me outta here.
Speaking of getting outta there, Michonne is somewhere in the wilderness between Unpleasantville and Zombie Farm, and she leaves just a really excellent code that everyone would definitely figure out in zombie body parts for Merle and his gang of miscreants who are chasing her. They do not heed her warning to "Go Disembodied Torso," and eventually catch up to her, where a fight ensures and she is expectedly kickass. Merle does manage to put a bullet in her leg, though, just before he puts a bullet in the head of one of his compatriots who questioned his authority.
Welp, you'd better hope Michonne doesn't leave you any more gross but perfect dismemberment messages, because that brain you just exploded was the only one who could figure 'em out, Merle! You dumbass.
In typical WTF ARE YOU KIDDING ME fashion, Michonne finds her way to the abandoned Wev-Mart where Glenn and Maggie are making out. And then Merle shows up, and he takes them hostage because they won't tell him where his brother Daryl is. "Merle, Daryl is in a better place now, far away from your white supremacy and general surly demeanor! You've just got to let him be! Now git!" Merle does not consider that a compelling argument. Huh!
Michonne witnesses all this, and so then she goes and finds Zombie Prison. "Hi, I'm here! 'Zup, Grimes Gang 1.0?" Grimes dumps his baby which he'd been holding for all of two seconds and looks at her with his annoying Grimes face. The end.
Oh yeah—and Daryl found Carol. Because no doy she wasn't dead all along.
Discuss.
The Parks and Rec Open Thread
"See you tomorrow!"
(Spoilers are municipal bonding herein.)
Hello, Vice President Joe Biden! Fancy meeting you on MY FAVORITE SHOW! Is it your favorite show, too? I bet it's not. I bet your favorite show is, like, Swamp Trains, or The Real Doctor Wives of D.C., but I'm going to pretend it's Parks and Rec, just for the duration of this thread!
I also want to say this about Parks and Recreation: For whatever its other flaws may be, it will always have a special place in my heart, FOREVER, for giving us the character of Ben Wyatt—a man who loves unabashedly; who prioritizes his life with his partner over career ambition, because that is what fulfills him. Men like that exist, but they are rarely shown onscreen.
There have been male characters who sacrifice careers for partners (especially female partners), but it is always played for laughs, and/or he is shown to reluctantly come to appreciate his life in spite of his resentment at losing the career that defined him. Ben Wyatt is a man who is capable and competent with seemingly limitless potential, but he is also a man who doesn't want to spend his life at work at the expense of building the happy family he wasn't given. He has to build his own, and he wants to.
I love Parks and Rec for giving us Ben Wyatt, and I love Adam Scott for playing him with such fondness and humanity.
Here are other things!
"He is precious cargo!" "Just call me Bond. Municipal bond." (OMG SO MUCH LOL.) "Well, well, well. If it isn't Mr. Looks and Professor Books!" "Can you say per capita again? I want to take a picture of you saying per capita. I am so proud of you. Now stand next to the screen and think about all the strong female role models in your life." "Okay, something is different about my computer. A-ha! It's gone! A game is the foot!" "Ricky Jordache. He's new. He used to be a slacker, but now he's realizing his full potential—but at what cost? He's smart and he's beautiful, and I think of him in many ways as a daughter, but that would be crazy because he's a man. His name's Ricky." "You hate this show." "I love this show!" "What's your favorite part?" "The heavy-handedness." "You just got Jammed." "Uggghhh I hate when he says that." "Maybe we should find the person who stole his positive attitude." "And! I get a gun, and I can point it at people's faces." "Incorrect." "I just said, 'Let's get to work.' How else do people enjoy things?"Also? Andy's interrogation of Jerry was AMAZING. "I can never tell when people are lying to me. Hopefully that doesn't come up in my police work." Pow.
Discuss!
In The News
[Content note: child abuse, homophobia]
News in Spurts:
Fox News ignored the election of Rep. Tammy Baldwin to the U.S. Senate and underreported the marriage equality wins in Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, and Washington. Surprising.
NYC-based photographer and artist LaNola Stone wanted to help her local animal shelter, so she created this photography series of the dogs who had been at the shelter for the longest time.
Brad Bird won't be directing Star Wars Episode VII. Okay then.
I don't know.
Lisa Biron, a lawyer associated with Alliance Defending Freedom, an anti-gay Christian law group, was arrested Friday morning on child pornography charges.
Tea-baggers hate government so much they'll do anything to be part of it: Tea Party Republican Allen West is still not ready to concede defeat.
Neat photography of "plants".
Adela Hernandez, a 48-year-old transgender woman, this month made history by becoming the first openly trans person to be elected to public office in Cuba.
Zeppelin company goes belly up. Sad face.
Watch this: Winsor McCay's Dream of a Rarebit Fiend.
Photo of the Day
President Barack Obama jokingly mimics U.S. Olympic gymnast McKayla Maroney's "not impressed" look while greeting members of the 2012 U.S. Olympic gymnastics teams in the Oval Office, Nov. 15, 2012. Steve Penny, USA Gymnastics President, and Savannah Vinsant laugh at left. [Official White House Photo by Pete Souza]I love this so much. President Obama's rapport with young people is the best of any president in my lifetime. Maybe ever.
[H/T to everyone in the multiverse, and thanks to each and every one of you.]
Top Five
Here is your topic: Top Five Favorite Advertising Campaigns, which could include individual commercials, marketing slogans, jingles, whatever. 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.
Israel-Gaza Conflict: News & Thoughts
[Content Note: Violence, war, eliminationism.]
As this is a highly volatile topic, and a complex subject without easy answers, please take extra care in commenting and remember to engage in good faith. If the thread cannot remain civil, or if I feel at all like the thread is about to slide off the rails, I'm simply going to close it. I absolutely will not host a flamewar that makes this space unsafe for Jewish and/or Palestinian readers.
Below, some recommended reading (please note some of the stories below include images of war and injuries; as many of them are being updated, specific content notes aren't feasible, so proceed with caution):
The Guardian had excellent live coverage again yesterday, if you need to get caught up. You can follow live coverage of today's events, including the truce talks ongoing in Cairo, here.
The Hill—Sen. McCain Calls for Bill Clinton to Lead Israel-Palestinian Talks. Not a terrible idea.
AP—US, Britain Warn of Risks of Israeli Ground War:
The U.S. and Britain on Sunday warned about the risks of Israel expanding its air assault on the Gaza Strip into a ground war, while vigorously defending the Jewish state's right to protect itself against rocket attacks.Reuters—Gaza Journalists Wounded by Israeli Attack on Buildings: "Israeli aircraft hit two Gaza media buildings on Sunday, wounding eight journalists and drawing concern from press covering the fighting between Palestinian militants and the Jewish state. The Israeli military said the attacks were pinpoint strikes on Hamas communication devices located on the buildings' roofs, and accused the Islamist group of using reporters as human shields to try and protect their operations. Britain's Sky News, German ARD, Saudi-owned Al Arabiya, Beirut-based al Quds television and other broadcasters operate from the two buildings, which are a block apart. One employee from al Quds TV lost his leg in the early morning strike. ...Israeli military spokeswoman Avital Leibovich denied that journalists were the target of the strike."
The remarks by President Barack Obama and Britain Foreign Secretary William Hague were part of a diplomatic balancing act by the West as it desperately seeks an end to the escalating violence without alienating its closest ally in the region.
"Israel has every right to expect that it does not have missiles fired into its territory," President Barack Obama said at a news conference in Bangkok at the start of a three-nation visit to Asia.
"If that can be accomplished without a ramping up of military activity in Gaza, that's preferable," Obama said. "It's not just preferable for the people of Gaza. It's also preferable for Israelis, because if Israeli troops are in Gaza, they're much more at risk of incurring fatalities or being wounded."
A lot of the framing around Israel's side of the conflict right now is reminiscent of the framing used by the Obama administration to justify its drone war. Targeted strikes. Limited civilian casualties. Precision hits. Et cetera. And, like the US' drone war, there are some problems with those claims. Namely, that they necessarily reject the basic human rights concept that even one civilian death is too many.
It is also troubling to me that the principle of having a right to defend oneself is limited exclusively to Israel. (Steve Hynd has more on that here.) Particularly in light of the eliminationist language like this: Israeli Interior Minister Eli Yishai said over the weekend: "The goal of the operation is to send Gaza back to the Middle Ages. Only then will Israel be calm for forty years."
Or this: Gilad Sharon, son of former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, wrote in an op-ed for The Jerusalem Post, "We need to flatten entire neighbourhoods in Gaza. Flatten all of Gaza. The Americans didn't stop with Hiroshima—the Japanese weren't surrendering fast enough, so they hit Nagasaki, too."
That is certainly not to suggest that there is not eliminationist language directed at Israel. Because there is. A shit-ton of it. Which is (ostensibly) a major reason that Israel's western allies have been reluctant to concede the right to defend itself of any organization, territory, or country that considered eliminationism an option on its list of possible defenses.
Ultimately, the most incendiary escalation in this conflict may be a rhetorical one.
Which is of grave concern when the best hope for lasting peace and mutual prosperity has always been diplomacy.
Rep. Keith Ellison:
I have been to Sderot, Israel and the Gaza Strip, and conditions for ordinary people are horrific on both sides of the Gaza-Israel border. Israelis endure relentless rocket attacks fired at innocent Israeli citizens in violation of international law. At the same time, Gazans, 57% of whom are under 18, live in extreme isolation, limited access, and deprivation of nearly everything including food, building materials, and water. Combatants on both sides of the conflicts must begin to address the root causes of this conflict through a real peace process. Military escalation will not resolve this—just as the 2008-2009 conflict in Gaza did not end hostilities. I join Noam Shalit, the father of former Hamas prisoner and Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, in calling for talks between the parties to resolve this crisis. Talks in the past helped to secure the release of Gilad Shalit and thousands of Palestinian detainees. Dialogue and negotiation can help save lives now.Let us hope.
