[Content Note: Language policing; harmful language.]
Former Obama speechwriter Jon Lovett: "The Culture of Shut Up: Too many debates about important issues degenerate into manufactured and misplaced outrage—and it's chilling free speech."
Yawn.
Evey single thing about this shit is the worst, from the author's contention that self-censorship because you don't want to harm people or get yelled at constitutes an encroachment on free speech to his absurdly tiresome invocation of green, aqua, and purple people to avoid meaningful racial disparities, but my "favorite" part has to be where he gives a minute to the subject of how marginalizing language can harm people, but then skates on by it to the typically horseshit conclusion: OH WELL. Chaos is for sure ultimately better for everyone because it allows me to say whatever I want and then discredit critics by calling them hypersensitive thought policers.
Without a trace of fucking irony.
Many of the things that people like Lovett want to be able to say without consequences are the sorts of things that are disallowed by the commenting policy here, which regularly attracts accusations of thought policing. And I will say once more: I am not the thought police.
Challenging someone to think about things in a way in which they may have never thought about them before isn't thought policing.
The entire rest of the world, with its privileging of men and heterosexuals and cisgender people and thin (but not too thin!) and tall (but not too tall!) and able and healthy white bodies and religious people and people who have sex and people who can and want to be parents and the wealthy and the educated, and all the ways in which the rest of the world facilitates and upholds that privilege, and all the ways in which the rest of the world marginalizes and demeans and treats as less than all the people who deviate from those privileged "norms," and all the ways the rest of the world indoctrinates you into that system of privilege, and socializes you to believe it's the natural and right and immutable state of the world, and all the shills for the kyriarchy who fill the ether with self-reinforcing rubbish on a constant loop so you swim in a sea so thick with the detritus of Othering that you don't even notice it on a conscious level anymore, and all the bullies who appear to kick you back in line if you do, if you have the temerity to question the message, and all the other bits and bobs of the brainwashing to which we are all subjected since the day we're born as part of scheme, nearly incomprehensible in scope, to ensure that challengers to these traditions are never made, and, if they're born, are squashed with the weight of mountainous tidal waves of blowback in the other direction…? The purveyors of that shit are the goddamn thought police.
And you know what one of the biggest lies they tell you is?
That it's the other way around.
This is so the worst thing you're going to read all day.
Funny Women (Again)
[Content Note: Misogyny; privilege; rape culture.]
My friend Ben passed on this article—which, though published on April 1, does not appear to be an April Fools' joke—about the new "feminist" comedy shows on Comedy Central, Inside Amy Schumer and Broad City.
I've watched a couple of episodes of each of these shows, and they're of the "ironic misogyny equals feminism" variety. Your mileage may vary, but I personally don't find ironic misogyny to be particularly effective feminism. An example of one of the sketches from Inside Amy Schumer:
Another new sketch shows Schumer playing a Call of Duty-like video game in which her female avatar is raped by a superior officer and then pressured into not reporting her sexual assault by prompts in the game: "You were just assaulted by a fellow soldier. Do you wish to report?" "Yes." "Are you sure? Did you know he has a family? Does that change your mind about reporting?"Of course I get that the joke, such as it is, is intending to send up rape culture (not uphold rape), but I don't find a whole lot at which to laugh when it's not actually a send up as much as it is just a pretty solid example of what rape culture looks like. Ha ha?
The article is all about how these female comedies are attracting male viewers, despite the allegedly feminist content, and I think the answer to that question is in the problem inherent to all ironic comedy: There are lots of guys laughing for the "wrong" reasons.
So do we have to disguise feminism in our TV shows in order to market shows starring feminists to male audiences?Is it even "disguised feminism" if it can just be read as straight-up misogyny by misogynists?
Naturally, the exploration of these particular shows does not include any reference at all to the fact that they're made by and feature young, traditionally attractive, white women in an urban media center. That privilege gives them a particular ability to do ironic misogynist humor that women who don't share their privilege don't have.
Which also raises the question: Even if ironic misogynist humor constitutes feminism for privileged women, does it constitute something altogether different for non-privileged women?
(Spoiler Alert: Yes. Yes it does.)
Lest you be left with any doubt about the privilege intrinsic to the success of these shows, I will quickly note that this is the amazing lede:
We've finally settled the ridiculous question "are women funny?" Bridesmaids and Tina Fey ended that conversation years ago.LOL. Sure. I love the implication that what "settled" that question is when young, white, straight, cis, thin, able-bodied women-centered comedy finally made tons of money in a traditional, male-centered venue.
I'm pretty sure for people who aren't misogynists, that questioned was "settled" at the dawn of humankind's capacity for humor by the very existence of funny women.
The Thing about Equal Pay Day
[Content Note: Privilege.]
The reason that the Obama administration released the fact sheet about measures to address the pay gap today is because today is Equal Pay Day: "Each year, National Equal Pay Day reflects how far into the current year women must work to match what men earned in the previous year."
I just want to make a quick note about Equal Pay Day: It's based on an average of 81 cents earned by women to the dollar worked by men. But using that average elides disparities among women.
Black and Latina women, on average, experience a bigger gap from the median income of non-Hispanic white men than do non-Hispanic white women.
Women with disabilities, on average, experience a bigger gap—and, in fact, it is still legal in some cases to pay workers with disabilities "according to their abilities, with no bottom limit to the wage."
Trans* women, on average, make less than their cis counterparts.
Fat women, on average, make less than their thin counterparts.
Education, class, location, religion, whether one is a parent—there are a lot of individual factors that get flattened beneath the average salary of "women" full-stop.
Equal Pay Day suggests that privileged women have to work harder than they do, and disappears realities of a vaster disparity for lots of non-privileged women. Which makes its moniker rather unintentionally ironic.
In the News
Here is some stuff in the news today...
Susannah Bartlow, Stephanie Gilmore, and Duchess Harris have launched a new intersectional feminist forum at The Feminist Wire called "Beyond Critique." The introduction to the series is here, and click through to the main page to find individual entries.
[Content Note: Terrorism; guns; explosives; Islamophobia] Late last month, the FBI "arrested a man who allegedly was plotting to use C-4 explosives and weapons to kill police officers, rob banks and armored cars, and blow up government buildings and mosques. ...After setting up a Facebook page called American Insurgent Movement (AIM), Talbot allegedly sought to recruit five or six like-minded people who wanted 'to restore America Pre-Constitutionally and look forward to stopping the Regime with action by bloodshed.'" Somehow, this story has not gotten widespread mainstream media coverage. I'm sure it has nothing (everything) to do with the fact that Talbot is a white conservative.
[CN: Misogyny] Former NSA and CIA director Michael Hayden says that the "Senate intelligence committee's landmark report on torture and coercive interrogations was not objective because [committee chair Dianne] Feinstein, a California Democrat, was too 'emotional.'" Well, you know how those ladies are.
[CN: Disaster; death] There are now 34 confirmed deaths from the Washington landslide. The search and rescue/recovery continues, as there are still unaccounted-for people from the area.
An absolutely amazing experiment done by a team of researchers at the University of Louisville and the University of California-Los Angeles, with the participation of four paralyzed patients, has resulted in all four of those patients having some of their mobility restored: "By coursing an electrical current through the four men's spines, the research team, which included scientists from the Pavlov Institute of Physiology in Russia, appears to have 'dialed up' signals between the brain and legs that were believed to have been completely lost. All four men, after being paralyzed for two to four years, can lift their legs, flex their ankles, and support their own weight while standing, though only when the device embedded under their skin is turned on. In a response that shocked researchers, all four have regained bladder and bowel control, sexual function, and the ability to regulate their blood pressure and body temperature—even when the epidural stimulation device is not running." Extraordinary. Further research will be done, and it will be quite a long while before this treatment could become widely available. Right now, it's the promise that's exciting.
Sheryl Sandberg wants to ban the word "bossy," because of course she does. And even though she "has learned to talk fluently about race and class: 'women of colour' is now part of her lexicon" (OMG), she apparently hasn't gotten the memo that "bossy" does not mean the same thing to all women.
[CN: Guns; violence] Oscar Pistorius broke down on the stand while testifying about killing Reeva Steenkamp. Reading his account, I just cannot relate to this guy's thinking at all. Like, the first time he considered it might be her in the bathroom was after he'd fired four shots into there? Even if that's true, it's incomprehensible to me to not do everything in your power to establish it isn't your partner before you start shooting. This fucking guy.
[CN: Transphobia; trans* appropriation; ciscentrism] Eleven writes a great piece on cis actors playing trans* roles: "Cis people are represented in every facet of media and culture and society, while trans people are erased from most conversations. So when the opportunity arises to depict a trans person, it's important that we showcase that trans people are real, that trans people are living, breathing human beings and not just exotic novelties that only exist in the imagination. I want people to see beyond a cinematically constructed entity to a real person behind that character."
[CN: Drones; killing] The international rights group Reprieve has placed in a Pakistani field a large portrait of a girl reportedly killed by a drone strike "as part of an effort to communicate directly with Predator drone operators and humanize innocent victims of American strikes, activists say. The picture laid out in a field in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region 10 days ago is of a girl who activists say lost her parents in a drone strike. It is part of a campaign entitled #NotABugSplat, which draws its name from the slang term 'bug splats,' which Predator drone operators sometimes use to denote direct kills."
[CN: Fat bias] Today in Blame the Fat Parents: "A child born to an obese father has nearly double the risk for a condition within the autism spectrum." Wow, that does sound terrible! "Overall, a child born to an obese father had a .27 percent risk of developing ASD, while a child born to a normal-weight father had a .15 percent risk." Um. "[Dr. Pål Surén, lead researcher and professor of the Norwegian Institute of Public Health in Oslo] told Philly.com that it's possible that the fathers' obesity has some direct effect—by altering sperm quality, for instance. But for now, that's all speculation." FAT SPERM! Sounds good. Let's irresponsibly publicly speculate about it A LOT!
Microsoft will stop providing support for XP, so, if you're still using XP, it's about to get even shittier.
Here is a video of a French bulldog puppy arguing about bedtime. Oh em gee.
When Women Succeed
This morning, I got a dispatch from the White House Office of the Press Secretary titled: "FACT SHEET: Expanding Opportunity for All: Ensuring Equal Pay for Women and Promoting the Women's Economic Agenda." It details some of the things the President is doing in order to address the wage gap:
[T]he President is taking two new executive actions to help combat pay discrimination and strengthen enforcement of equal pay laws:Good news for women who work for federal contractors. As for all the women who work for other employers, well, that will depend on the good will of the US Senate:
The President is signing an Executive Order prohibiting federal contractors from retaliating against employees who choose to discuss their compensation. The Executive Order does not compel workers to discuss pay, nor does it require employers to publish or otherwise disseminate pay data – but it does provide a critical tool to encourage pay transparency, so workers have a potential way of discovering violations of equal pay laws and are able to seek appropriate remedies.
In addition, the President is signing a Presidential Memorandum instructing the Secretary of Labor to establish new regulations requiring federal contractors to submit to the Department of Labor summary data on compensation paid to their employees, including data by sex and race. The Department of Labor will use the data to encourage compliance with equal pay laws and to target enforcement more effectively by focusing efforts where there are discrepancies and reducing burdens on other employers.
This week, the Senate is considering the Paycheck Fairness Act, which the President believes Congress must pass to ensure the standards put forward by the executive order he will sign are applied to all employers covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act. The President is using the power of his pen to act where he can on this issue, and will continue to urge Congress to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act to ensure all employers are held to the same high standard working women deserve.Get it done, Senate.
Now, I know I am the brokenest of all broken records, but I need to mention that that the Fact Sheet opens thus: "When women succeed, our families succeed and America succeeds. President Obama believes that ensuring that women earn equal pay for equal work is essential to improving the economic security of our families and the growth of our middle class and our economy."
There's that frustrating "our" again. "Our families, our middle class, and our economy" is an improvement on "our wives, mothers, and daughters," in that at least it doesn't define women by our relationships to other people, but it still suggests that Obama is speaking to The Men of America about their country. About their women.
Which is, of course, the very point. Because there is no other reason to open this fact sheet with a concession to the profoundly misogynist idea that addressing the pay gap needs to have some sort of reason beyond "because it is the right thing to do to not treat women like second-class citizens," unless you're speaking to someone you believe needs convincing.
The whole objective of this opening salvo is to persuade people who don't benefit directly from equal pay that they'll still get something out of it.
Because "when women succeed, it's good for women" isn't enough for misogynists.
And I am just exhausted to my very bones of the President indulging that frame by positioning statements ostensibly in support of women's equality to appeal to the men who resist it.
To concede their frames is to empower them. And that will just never be good for women.
I don't get what's so difficult to understand about that.
Republican Congressman Undermines Sanctity of Marriage
[Content Note: Heterocentrism; homophobia; coercion.]
Whooooooooooops!
Freshman GOP Rep. Vance McAllister of Louisiana — who ran for office as a principled conservative Christian — has been caught on video in a romantic encounter with a woman believed to be on his congressional staff just before Christmas.In the nearly ten years I've been writing in this space, I've had occasion to write about an awful lot of married Republican legislators' infidelities. I think we might want to criminalize allowing Republicans to serve in a public capacity, because it's undermining the sanctity of marriage.
...The video shows McAllister kissing a woman identified by the newspaper as a congressional staffer for the first-term lawmaker. Federal payroll records show she is a part-time aide who began working for McAllister the day after he won his seat last year.
...McAllister's Washington office door was locked Monday. He issued a statement in the afternoon apologizing for the incident and asking for forgiveness.
McAllister also asked for privacy as his family deals with the fallout from the scandal. McAllister and his wife, Kelly, have five children.
"There's no doubt I've fallen short and I'm asking for forgiveness. I'm asking for forgiveness from God, my wife, my kids, my staff, and my constituents who elected me to serve," McAllister said in his statement.
Of course I'm not being serious. But the suggestion makes about as much sense as the argument, made by these very people, that same-sex marriage undermines the sanctity of different-sex marriage, that it somehow threatens their marriages.
So maybe conservative Republicans can stop making this garbage argument.
In truth, Rep. McAllister's marriage is none of my business, and I have no idea what agreements he and his wife may or may not have had. My only concern is whether he was using taxpayer dollars to give a long-time romantic partner a not-job to be near him, and/or whether he coerced an employee to have a sexual relationship with him in exchange for employment. And what kind of potentially hostile workplace environment that may have created either way.
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!
Blog Note
I will be putting up the Virtual Pub in a moment, but I wanted to quickly let you know that we're taking Monday off, and we'll be back on Tuesday. See you then!
Quote of the Day
[Content Note: Gender essentialism; heterocentrism; misogyny; classism.]
"I feel like the feminine has been a little undervalued. We all have to get our own jobs and make our own money, but staying at home, nurturing, being the mother, cooking—it's a valuable thing my mum created. And sometimes, you need your knight in shining armour. I'm sorry. You need a man to be a man and a woman to be a woman. That's why relationships work."—Actress Kirsten Dunst, in the latest issue of Harper's Bazaar.
Wowee wow. That is a lot of gender essentialism (parenting and cooking are not inherently female traits), heterocentrism (not all relationships are comprised of two people of different sexes), misogyny (I mean), and classism (stay-at-home parenting is a privilege not all families can afford) packed into one quote!
And, you know, not for nothing, but there are some relationships that work specifically because they're not at all like that.
TV Corner: Scandal
[Content Note: Rape culture. Spoilers from the recent episodes of Scandal.]
Sad trombone.
It's been a minute since we last discussed Scandal. First, the show went on hiatus for like a million years, and then I got behind an episode, but now I am ALL CAUGHT UP! So here is a thread to discuss the recent episodes.
First of all: WHUT.
Second of all: What is even happening.
We are barreling toward Something Big, which we now know is a bomb with Fitz's name on it, care of Mama Pope. Plus the election. And, presumably, Pope & Associates' imminent bankruptcy, since no one can even remember the last time they actually took on a paying client.
Well, besides Fitz. I guess being a Republican campaign operative pays keep-all-your-hackers-spies-and-sundry-gladiators-happy kind of money.
Anyway! A lot has happened. RIP James. RIP a time in my life when I had never seen Huck licking Quinn's face.
And Mellie. Poor Mellie. The scene in which I had to watch Mellie stand there in vibrating silence while Fitz screamed at her about how she ruined them, how she'd never really sacrificed anything. I could hardly take it. "TELL HIM!" I screamed at my TV. "TELL HIM HIS FATHER IS A FUCKING DIRTBAG RAPIST!"
I felt so sad for Mellie and so angry at the show, because I still haven't forgiven the show for "Everything's Coming Up Mellie" in the first place, and because there is really no reason that Mellie would not tell Fitz what happened at this point, except to save it for Maximum Reveal Explosiveness, and that is just gross.
Also: I hate Fitz, and I hate his man-baby tantrums, and I hate that Olivia even gives a fuck about this guy anymore. If I have to hear about Vermont one more time, I'mma lose my shit.
DISCUSS!
Welp
[Content Note: Privilege; silencing. For background on "splaining," please read SKM's terrific post "It Looks Like We're Going to Have a Mansplainer Thread After All."]
Y'all, I think Kevin Drum just 'splained at us about 'splaining:
Hey there. Is there any chance that we could deep six the splaining meme? You know, mansplaining, straightsplaining, whitesplaining, and all their myriad offshoots. I get that it's a useful term, but it's gotten out of hand. Obviously we should all be careful when we talk about things outside our personal experience, and nobody gets a pass when they say something stupid. Still, we should all be allowed to talk about sensitive subjects as best we can without instantly being shot down as unfit to even hold an opinion.Shaker Mod Scott Madin dubbed this splainsplaining, and I have been humming "Splainsplaining" to Bowie's "The Jean Genie" ever since.
The splaining meme is quickly becoming the go-to ad hominem of the 2010s, basically just a snarky version of STFU that combines pseudosophisticated mockery and derision without any substance to back it up. Maybe it's time to give it a rest and engage instead with a little less smugness and narcissism.
Anyway!
There are a few things Drum gets wrong here. Like, for example, that splaining isn't a "meme," but a useful piece of language used in social justice spheres for succinctly describing the dynamic of a person of privilege condescendingly pontificating at a marginalized person about our own lives in direct contravention of our real lived experiences.
Also, "it's gotten out of hand" at least has the honesty of being a straightforward statement instead of a mendacious rhetorical, but it's still got the same problems as "Have we gone too far...?"
And, sure, there are probably people (it's a big universe!) who deploy "splaining" when it's not totally appropriate, but it's typically deployed not in response to someone merely "talk[ing] about sensitive subjects," but talking about a marginalized person's life having positioned themselves as an expert, while denying the marginalized person authority on their own lived experiences.
Usually, someone who objects to being accused of splaining thinks zie's just sharing "an opinion," in a way that suggests they believe having an opinion on what's the best place for Italian food in town is the same as having an opinion on whether a marginalized person's expressed experience of oppression is valid.
Splaining is about auditing other people's lived experiences. It's not just about having "an opinion" on a "sensitive subject."
What Drum identifies as "narcissism" is marginalized people's assertion that our perceptions matter. That we are the definitive authorities on our own lives. And what he identifies as "smugness" is our contempt for the idea that someone of privilege thinks they are qualified to educate us about our own lives.
And what Drum misses about the fact that, yeah, sometimes an accusation of splaining does shut down debate (such as it is) is that that's okay. It is really and truly okay for a marginalized person to communicate, without apology: "I don't want to listen to you tell me about my own life. Fuck off."
Daily Dose of Cute
Lazy wee doggies, waiting by the front door for Iain to get home last night.
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.
The Friday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by lollipops.
Recommended Reading:
Jen: [Content Note: Criminalization of need; misogyny; racism] The Real Crime Is Homelessness
Lauren: [CN: Racism; rape culture] Decolonizing SAAM: Colonial Violence & #MMIW
Momo: [CN: Sexual harassment; misogynoir] Filmmaker Freida Mock on Anita: Speaking Truth to Power
Mannion: [CN: Class warfare; worker exploitation] A Grand Theory of What's Wrong with Everything
BYP: [CN: Violence; guns; misogynoir] Marissa Alexander Trial: Jury Selection Set for July 21
Christian: [CN: Homophobia] Democratic Arizona Senator to Gay Colleague: 'Act More Gay'
Rebecca: 20 New Game of Thrones Pics to Make the Wait Until Sunday Even More Hellaciously Difficult
Leave your links and recommendations in comments. Self-promotion welcome and encouraged!
Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime
[Content Note: There is a strobe-light effect in this video.]
Chumbawamba: "Tubthumping"
This week's TMNS have been brought to you by songs about food and drink.
In the News
Here is some stuff in the news today...
[Content Note: Racism; misogyny] David Letterman is retiring. And now the search begins for the white dude to replace him! Cosmo, however, helpfully suggested "17 Women Who Should Replace David Letterman When He Retires in 2015." Amadi noted, "of course 1 & 2 on the list are racist embarrassments." (Which is obviously not the only problem with some of their suggestions.) To which I replied, "And for many of the women on that list, a late-night hosting gig would be a professional step backwards. Well done, Cosmo!" It's literally like they just threw together a suitably diverse list of women, without any regard whatsoever for their actual talents or careers.
(Like, for example, the suggestion of Melissa McCarthy. Yes, Cosmo, I have seen her blockbuster films, which is why I know that suggesting she host a late-night talkshow is a fucking insult. On the other hand, if you were aware that there are many hilarious fat ladies on the planet, including those whose current career trajectory would trend upwards by the gig, maybe you would have suggested Aidy Bryant.)
[CN: Disablism; racism; death] "The Boy Who Ran: The Life and Death of Avonte Oquendo." I have no words for the catastrophic failing of Avonte's tendency to run having not been communicated to the people charged with his care. Such a profoundly sad and infuriating case.
[CN: Homophobia] Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich "resigned from his post Thursday after an almost two weeks-long public backlash against his controversial appointment. Mozilla, which owns the popular Web browser Firefox, immediately came under fire for promoting Eich, who donated $1,000 to support California's Proposition 8 campaign to ban same-sex marriage in 2008." Eich had promised to keep his personal politics separate from his work, but, somehow, lots of people weren't convinced that someone who actively donated to a campaign of discrimination would be willing and able to do that.
[CN: Misogyny; reproductive coercion] I don't even know where to begin with this garbage: Boomer Esiason says Mets' player David Murphy, who missed Opening Day because he was using his union-negotiated paternity leave to be with his wife Tori and their new baby, "should have insisted his wife 'have a C-section before the season starts. I need to be at Opening Day, I'm sorry.'" Yeah. You are sorry, Esiason. Fuck you.
[CN: Racism; worker exploitation] Uncle Bubba's, the restaurant owned by Paula Deen and her brother, has closed. I don't feel a single shred of sympathy for Deen or her brother, but I do feel sad for the employees who are now out of a job. Even if it was a shitty job.
There's water up in that moon: "Saturn's icy moon Enceladus, 850 million miles away from Earth in the outer solar system, seems an unlikely place for liquid water. But the small body orbiting the giant ringed planet can be added to the growing list of places beyond Earth that have oceans—and prospects for hosting life—according to research published Thursday in the journal Science. Gravity measurements taken by NASA's Saturn-orbiting Cassini spacecraft indicate the moon contains an underground ocean in its southern hemisphere. The ocean is believed to be at least as big as Lake Superior—almost 32,000 square miles, according to the research." Neat!
Would you like to see some of former president George W. Bush's paintings of world leaders? Art is subjective, but I think they are terrific! I especially love his self-portrait!
[Note: Video may begin to play automatically at link] And finally: "Hometown Heroes: Dog credited with saving the life of ex-soldier who adopted him." I mean. Blub.
