Here is some stuff in the news today...
[Content Note: Martial law] The Thai military has imposed martial law in Thailand "to preserve law and order," but says that it's not staging a coup: "Soldiers have taken over TV and radio stations, and blocked off roads in the capital, Bangkok. Martial law comes after months of escalating tensions between the government and the opposition. Correspondents say the move could enrage supporters of the government, especially if it is seen as amounting to a coup. The army has staged at least 11 coups since the end of the absolute monarchy in 1932. ...The military has also ordered media censorship in the interests of 'national security.' Both pro and anti-government protesters have been told not to march anywhere in order to prevent clashes." Yikes.
[CN: War; violence] Russia has promised to draw back troops on the Ukrainian border: "NATO, which estimates that Russia has 40,000 troops along the border with Ukraine, said it is watching the situation closely but could not yet confirm a change. NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu challenged Russia on Tuesday 'to prove that they are doing what they are saying.' The Russian Defense Ministry said it would take time for troops to dismantle their camps and load equipment on trucks for a march to railway stations. It did not say how many troops were being pulled out from the three regions or how long it would take."
[CN: Class warfare] NPR's "All Things Considered" has done a yearlong investigation and found "that the costs of the criminal justice system in the United States are paid increasingly by the defendants and offenders. It's a practice that causes the poor to face harsher treatment than others who commit identical crimes and can afford to pay." That is not justice. That is wholly antithetical to any meaningful concept of justice.
[CN: Misogyny] Speaking of NPR, Ira Glass, the host of "This American Life," says he doesn't know who former New York Times editor Jill Abramson is and doesn't care. Neat! What a neat guy!
[CN: Misogyny] Meanwhile, New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger, Jr. says he "would have done it differently." By which I can only assume he means fire Abramson in a way that is less humiliating for him, rather than pay her what she deserved and support her in her position as the first female editor of the Times from the start of her tenure.
News from the Conservative Legislation Lab: "[Republican Indiana Governor Mike Pence], who as a conservative Republican congressman in 2010 fought bitterly against [the Affordable Care Act] and who as governor of Indiana refused to implement it...just announced his intent to take the money Obamacare provides for Medicaid expansion and to use it on his own terms to broaden health-care coverage for the working poor. ...He thinks he has a conservative alternative to the new law's expansion of Medicaid: He wants to broaden the 'Healthy Indiana' plan started by his predecessor Mitch Daniels (R) by using financial incentives to get the working poor to contribute to their health coverage under a private alternative to Medicaid. The Obama administration appears likely to grant Indiana a waiver for the experiment—and if it works, other states will be free to follow the example." Welp.
[CN: Misogyny] Sarah Palin kind of has a point, about how some lefties were totes okay with policing her reproductive healthcare but not okay with Karl Rove policing Hillary Clinton's health. I say she "kind of" has a point, because: 1. Despite her conflation of the media with the political left, Salon is not Karl Rove. 2. Her conclusion is essentially that if she was policed, it's cool to police Clinton, whereas I would strongly argue it's not okay to police anyone this way—which is why policing her reproductive health was off-limits at Shakesville.
(Also? No one—but no one—was a more tenacious Trig birther than Andrew Sullivan, who is a conservative.)
[CN: Misogyny] Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers [football] cheerleader Manouchcar Pierre-Val has alleged that the team only paid her $2/hour. This is part of an ongoing raft of complaints against NFL franchises for egregiously underpaying their female cheer employees.
The youngest-ever player has qualified to play in the Women's Open [golf]: Lucy Li is only 11 years old! Wow.
[CN: Cancer] And finally! Dogs are being trained to detect prostate cancer with their powerful noses—and though findings are still very preliminary, they currently have a 98% accuracy rate. "Dogs are also being tested in their ability to detect lung tumors and ovarian cancer as well." GOOD DOGS!
In the News
Childfree 101: "You Should Try Being a Parent"
[Content Note: Reproductive policing; parenting privilege; discussion of threats and harassment. Please note that I am hardly the first person to write about this concept. Blogs like STFU, Parents have been documenting and deconstructing this for ages. This post is about my personal experiences with the dynamic.]
In my private life, I don't talk a whole lot about the bad parts of doing this job. There are a few trusted friends I have to whom I can talk, who help me process the effects of getting rape and death threats, of being the target of unrelenting hatred, as a routine part of my every day.
It isn't something I share with a whole lot of people in my life for a bunch of reasons, not least of which is that people simply don't know how to react—and to confess such intimate ugliness only to have the subject be changed, or to get an uncomfortable joke or empty platitude in response, is actually worse than having kept it to myself in the first place.
But the absolute worst of all the common responses I get, when I talk even in vague terms about the difficulties of my job, is this: "You should try being a parent!"
It usually goes something like this: How're things on the blog these days? Oh, the same. Good days and bad days. Ha ha you should try being a parent!
This response does not come from people who don't know that "bad days" at my job means adding emails to a file where I collect all the violent threats I get against my life, emails that may come with a threat accompanied by my home address or a picture of my house. They know what a "bad day" for me really is.
And yet comes the admonishment that, however bad it is, I should try being a parent.
I shouldn't have to reflexively issue this caveat, but I know that I do: I understand that parenting can be extraordinarily difficult.
In fact, despite the fact that people who choose not to parent are often spoken to as though we have no idea how hard parenting is, one of the many reasons I choose not to parent is because I do understand how extraordinarily difficult it can be.
And it is not to demean that hard work at all to say: Please stop telling me that my lived experience is nothing compared to parenting.
This construct, which sets parenting and work as competing objectives, doesn't seem particularly helpful for working parents, either—although it is almost always working parents who tell me that I should try parenting.
And I understand why it is that, to a working parent, parenting might easily take absolute precedence over work.
But my work is fundamentally incompatible with parenting—both because the demands on my time are too great and because I would not subject my theoretical children to the safety risks that my work demands. Many of the threats that arrive in my inbox make threats not just against me, but against my family.
Iain can make an informed decision about how much of his own safety he is willing to risk on my behalf; a child could not meaningfully consent to risk hir safety for my work.
Admonishing me that I "should try being a parent" not only elides these realities of my work, but implicitly polices my choice not to parent, suggesting that nothing I do has any value compared to parenting.
I absolutely respect that parenting is, for many parents, their most important and valued accomplishment. (I also respect that, for many parents, it isn't. And I really, really think that's okay.) But universalizing that priority, implying that parenting alone could only ever be anyone's most important and valued accomplishment, is a shitty thing to say to someone who has chosen, for any reason, not to parent.
My job doesn't have to be of the sort that puts my safety at risk in order for it to not be demeaned by people asserting their own priorities onto my life.
But the fact that it is makes the admonishment to try parenting even more curious. If parenting is truly comparable to, and even worse than, living under a constant stream of threats against one's life, why would I want to try it?
But of course the point is not that I should want to try it. Not really. The point is to remind me that my life is petty and empty and devoid of meaningful value, and my problems aren't real, because I am not a parent.
Which is a pretty contemptible instinct, in any context.
[Commenting Note: Please note that I am fully aware that this is not a thing that not all parents do to people who are not parents. If your instinct is to argue "not all parents!" don't. If the shoe doesn't fit, just don't wear it.]
Macklemore's Antisemitic Garbage Costume
[Content Note: Antisemitism; misogyny; appropriation; intent arguments. Antisemitic imagery at link.]
Macklemore, professional cookie-seeking bro, pulled a super dirtbag move, dressing up as an antisemitic caricature at Seattle's Experience Museum Project. Then, when he was called out on it, he offered the most pathetic excuse imaginable:
Ha ha whoooooooops! Incorrect.
Also? I love how his defense is basically: "That fake nose isn't a dehumanizing caricature of Jewish people; it's a dehumanizing caricature of women!" Of course, we're not supposed to care about the history of dehumanizing women as witches, nor the fact that there is an existing, marginalized religion in which there are practitioners of witchcraft.
Which is to say nothing of the fact that his excuse is total bullshit anyway. That get-up might not be his "idea of a stereotype of anybody," but that doesn't mean it isn't nonetheless a recognizable antisemitic stereotype.
Eventually, he issued a "letter of apology" on his blog:
He claimed, once again, that he chose the "disguise" so he "could walk around unnoticed and surprise the crowd," and that he randomly picked out a bunch of items to wear.Good grief.
"It was surprising and disappointing that the images of a disguise were sensationalized leading to the immediate assertion that my costume was anti-Semetic [sic]," he wrote. "I acknowledge how the costume could, within a context of stereotyping, be ascribed to a Jewish caricature. I am here to say that it was absolutely not my intention… I respect all cultures and all people. I would never intentionally put down anybody for the fabric that makes them who they are. I love human beings, love originality, and… happen to love a weird outfit from time to time."
(Pro-tip: If you're apologizing for antisemitism, it's best to make sure you spell "antisemitic" correctly.)
Over and over, white people appropriate caricatures of marginalized populations and then claim they didn't know they were caricatures. That's not an excuse. That's the result of privilege, and living in a culture where you can live your entire life being insulated from those caricatures.
Which is the thing to address. Not your love of "a weird outfit from time to time."
[Related Reading: My Identity Isn't Your Costume.]
Question of the Day
We've done this one before, though not for a long time, and it's always fun, so I'm recycling it again: If you were asked to describe yourself using only one word, what word would you choose?
I'll stick with irrepressible, which, depending on context, can be either complimentary or critical—and both are certainly applicable when the context is me.
Oregon's Ban on Same-Sex Marriage Ruled Unconstitutional
Woot! Earlier today, US District Judge Michael McShane ruled that Oregon's voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional:
McShane said the ban unconstitutionally discriminates against same-sex couples and ordered the state not to enforce it. State officials earlier refused to defend the constitutional ban in court.Yayayayay!
... Oregon state officials have said they'd be prepared to carry out same-sex marriages almost immediately, and couples lined up outside the county clerk's office in Portland in anticipation of the McShane's decision.
Laurie Brown and Julie Engbloom arrived early Monday at the Multnomah County Building to form the line for marriage licenses. The two have been a couple for 10 years. Engbloom proposed in April, when they celebrated their anniversary by climbing Smith Rock in Central Oregon.
"We always knew we wanted to spend our whole life together," Brown said. "This opportunity has come, it feels right, everything has fallen into place."
Assvertising
[Content Note: Emotional abuse.]
Have you seen these fucking ads for DirecTV (hereafter "Advertiser") with the straight white guy who's married to a marionette lady and has a kid who is a marionette boy? Jesus Jones, these things are terrible. The basic premise is that the guy is SO THRILLED to have gotten rid of cable wires after getting Advertiser's service that he can't stop talking about how awesome it is to have no wires.
Which is a stupid conceit made even stupider by the fact that Advertiser is basically driving home this WIREFREE UTOPIA message with adverts featuring the guy's marionette family being all freaked out by how he can't STFU about his new blissful wireless life.
The last advert in the series was his having to reassure his kid that his marionette wires are totes awesome (right before the kid gets caught in a ceiling fan), and this is the latest fucking disaster in the series:
The straight white thin young dude is chilling in bed, remote control in hand, staring at a TV on the wall across from him. His white thin young marionette wife — and I cannot emphasize enough that she is a marionette with strings attached to her leading who knows where — comes galloping into the room wearing a white robe and stands between him and the TV. She sighs. "Do you still think I'm pretty?" she asks.See, it's meant to be funny because his family members are marionettes, and we're definitely not supposed to see a basic form of emotional abuse replicated for our supposed amusement.
"Of course I do!" he replies. "What's this about?"
She explains: "Since we got [Advertiser's Service], all you talk about is how we can put TVs anywhere without having to look at those ugly wires." She flops her stringed limbs about.
"No, baby," he says, gesturing at the television. "I meant the cable wires, not you!"
As she rips off her robe (in physical defiance of the existence of the wires that are the centerpiece of this garbage advert), she whispers, "Okay then." She reveals a red teddy. Her husband makes a sexyface at her. "So you like what you see?" she asks.
"Yeah, I do," he says. She begins to "dance" for him. "Like it?" she asks. "Yeah," he tells her. She starts doing the Charleston, looking totally desperate. "How about that?" she asks. "Yeah, that's sorta jazzy," he says.
Male voiceover: "Now you don't need to see cable wires and boxes in every room." Blah blah Advertiser info fart.
One of the most common forms of emotional abuse within family structures is the expression of negative judgment against people like that by parents, siblings, etc. when one family member is, or will be, a person like that. And one of the most common responses when it's called out is: "I didn't mean you."
Why the fuck is this dynamic, which we're meant to recognize in some way as his self-doubting son appeals for his acceptance and his insecure wife shimmies for his affection, being used to try to sell a TV service, as if it's not abuse because the guy's family aren't human?
Whoever is doing the calculations over at Advertiser that dehumanizing people in order to abuse them is appropriate and amusing needs a remedial math course.
I'll give Danger Guerrero the final word:
This is the second straight commercial where a marionette member of this family has come to this guy with concerns that he considers them to be hideous monsters, because this bozo — who is married to a marionette and has a marionette son — has been running around telling everyone he can corral for 10-15 consecutive seconds how happy he is to be rid of the "ugly" cable wires all over his house. Hey, ding dong, SHUT UP. You're tearing your family apart over six inches of cable that no one even notices because it's stuffed behind a dresser or something. Jesus. This is all just a sad, disturbing mess now. Shut it down.For real.
Daily Dose of Cute
As I've mentioned, Matilda loves ribbons and she loves lamé, so when my birthday gift from Alison arrived wrapped in a silver lamé ribbon, Matilda basically got THE GREATEST PRESENT EVER!
She has been going completely wild with this thing, demanding that I play with it with her 24 hours a day. If I stop playing with her for two seconds, she immediately begins nudging me and howling like I'm trying to murder her.
And, suffice it to say, she enjoys playing with this string. A LOT.
Rrrrowwwrrrr MY STRING! My precious!
I WILL DESTROY ALL OF THE STRING!
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.
I Write Letters
[Content Note: Misogyny.]
Dear Men Who Email Me Demanding Personal Feminism 101 Education:
No.
Unless you are a personal friend, or a long-time trusted Shaker who is emailing me like a human being asking me if I have time and inclination (and it's totally cool if I don't) to help him work through something about which he's already done a lot of thinking and listening, and wants some assistance connecting the last few dots, you are not welcome to email me asking for feminist education.
I do not do education on demand in this space, and I do not do education on demand via private email.
You don't own me.
You are not entitled to my time and talents and energy. I am not a resource that you can treat like a book to be pulled off the shelf and consumed at your convenience.
You are not even owed a response, and sending me a second email, after I have failed to respond to your first, scolding me for being a Bad Feminist and asking me how I expect men to learn if I don't provide education on demand and informing me of your disappointment in text walls riddled with misogynist slurs, does not help your cause.
It does, however, validate my decision to not engage with men who approach me as if they own me.
You don't own me.
Also? You don't fool me. You don't want to be educated; you want to argue. You want to ask me to justify my positions and you want to play Devil's Advocate and you want to give me a laundry list of exceptions. You want to use phrases like "misandry" and "female privilege," and you want to put up a fight and challenge me to win a debate in order that I might convince you.
You don't care about how draining and unfulfilling and pointless that is for me.
You don't understand that I am not convinced by your impassioned argument that it is my best interest to spend every last ounce of energy I have trying to convince individual men to get on board with feminism. My reserves could not be more futilely spent. I have no interest in investing a single modicum of energy trying to persuade men who treat feminism as a game, when I could invest my energy empowering other women to navigate a world filled with fucking clowns just like you.
And if you are the special shimmering unicorn who really does want an education, congratulations. Here's the Feminism 101 section. Enjoy.
Contemptuously,
Liss
The Monday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by robin's eggs.
Recommended Reading:
Digby: Overinterpreting Doom to Help the 1%
Danielle: [Content Note: NiceGuyism; misogyny] Why Am I Nice to "Nice Guys"?
Renegade Mama: [CN: Policing; disablist language] The No-Bullshit, No-Drama Friendship Manifesto for Moms
BYP: [CN: Injury] 5-Year-Old Girl Saves Caregiver's Life
Jamilah: [CN: Colorism; misogynoir] Zoe Saldana's Nina Simone Biopic Is in Trouble
Prison Culture: [CN: Violence; racism] Ossie Davis on Malcolm X
Veronica: Book Review: This Is Not a Test by José Vilson
Leave your links and recommendations in comments. Self-promotion welcome and encouraged!
In the News
Here is some stuff in the news today...
[Content Note: Abduction; terrorism; misogyny; abuse] Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan is facing increasing pressure over his government's actions (or lack thereof) regarding the hundreds of girls kidnapped by Boko Haram: "Campaigners for the release of more than 200 kidnapped schoolgirls in Nigeria plan to march on the office of president Goodluck Jonathan this week amid growing calls for him to stand down at the next election. Activists from the #BringBackOurGirls group said they will present a 'charter of demands' to the president, including calls for a more effective presence in militant strongholds and greater engagement with the community of Chibok, where the girls were abducted by Islamic militants more than a month ago. ...The march, planned for Thursday, risks provoking a harsh response from the security forces. Last week police in Abuja moved in to disrupt a rally and disperse protesters who were shouting, 'Bring back out girls now and alive!' Members of #BringBackOurGirls also intend to visit Chibok, contrasting with a public relations debacle in which Jonathan cancelled a visit there last week." I hope that the activists are treated with the respect and safety they deserve.
The US Department of Justice has charged five members of China's People's Liberation Army "in connection with stealing trade secrets from some of the largest American companies, including Westinghouse, United States Steel, and Alcoa. The move was a rare instance of the United States charging foreign government employees with economic espionage, and it increased the tensions between American and Chinese officials who have accused each other in public and in private of using military assets for hacks and cyberattacks." Welp.
[CN: Disaster; death; displacement] Major flooding and landslides in Serbia and Bosnia has caused 35 deaths so far and displaced more than half a million people. The Nikola Tesla power plant, which "supplies electricity for half of Serbia and most of Belgrade," is under threat from the record-breaking rainfall, and the flooding has "disturb[ed] land mines left over from the region's 1990s war, along with warning signs that marked the unexploded weapons." My god.
[CN: Gender essentialism] The ACLU has filed a complaint with the US Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR) against the Hillsborough County Public School district in Florida, alleging that the district's single-sex classrooms violate Title IX: "The Hillsborough School District has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer funds to implement a hidden curriculum promoting the theory that boys and girls are so fundamentally different that they need to be taught using different teaching methods," said Galen Sherwin, Senior Staff Attorney of the ACLU Women's Rights Project. "The truth is that every student learns differently, and our public schools should not be in the business of making crude judgments about children's educational needs based solely on whether they are a boy or a girl."
Heads-up: "A Detroit meat packing company is recalling 1.8 million pounds of ground beef after it was linked to nearly a dozen potentially dangerous E. coli infections in four states, federal agriculture officials said Monday. Wolverine Packing Co., issued the voluntary notice early Monday, pulling ground beef products produced between March 31 and April 18, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service."
[CN: Sexual violence; ideation of self-harm] Actress Pamela Anderson disclosed during a speech at a fundraising event in Cannes that she has survived multiple incidents of sexual abuse. In the moving address, she talks about how her connection with animals helped her survive. I imagine there are a lot of us who can relate to that.
[CN: Death] This is a lovely video of a little boy giving a lovely impromptu eulogy for his grandpa. The sweet wisdom of his acknowledgment that his grandfather lives on via what he taught to others. Blub.
Happy 40th anniversary, Rubik's Cube! You are definitely one of my favorite things ever!
And finally: Here is just a terrific picture of Brad Pitt throwing a can of beer to Matthew McConaughey, followed by another terrific picture of McConaughey drinking that beer.
Wendy Davis Transcript Update
I am happy (for a definition of "happy" that could more accurately be rendered as "exhausted joy relief thrilled excited tired jubilant" if I were being especially wordy today, ha) to announce that the transcript project is, well, if not finished then at least at a very major milestone in the sense that the book is now available in the Amazon Kindle store and the Barnes & Noble Nook store.
There really are not enough Thank Yous in the world for everyone who supported me on this, and I know that the 150 volunteers we had over the course of this project are themselves a subset of a larger group of supporters. Thank you. To each and every one of you. Thank you.
Women, Amirite?
[Content Note: Misogyny.]
And here is the opening paragraph of EJ Dionne's latest column about Senator Elizabeth Warren:
Elizabeth Warren is cast as many things: a populist, a left-winger, the paladin against the bankers and the rich, the Democrats' alternative to Hillary Clinton, the policy wonk with a heart.The Democrats' alternative to Hillary Clinton. Despite the fact that Warren has said repeatedly that she isn't running for president in 2016.
Here is Dionne's second paragraph:
The senior senator from Massachusetts is certainly a populist and her heart is with those foreclosed upon and exploited by shady financial practices. But she is not nearly as left-wing as many say — she can offer a strong defense of capitalism that's usually overlooked. And here's betting that she won't run against Clinton.That seems like a pretty safe bet, considering she has repeatedly said she's not running.
Nor has Clinton announced that she's running.
This sort of speculation is par for the course in US presidential politics—but what is not par for the course is having two female politicians considered viable potential candidates for the presidency from the same party.
And commentators are pretending like that doesn't require a different sensitivity than it does when it's nothing but a solid field of male candidates as far as the eye can see.
Right now, we are living in a time in the US in which the narrative that women don't know our own minds is being used to justify all kinds of reprehensible legislation to create barriers to access to reproductive healthcare.
And a time in the US in which the narrative that women casually lie about subjects as grave as sexual violence is being used to justify the routine denial of justice for assaults against us.
The last fucking thing we need is a bunch of male commentators trading on the "women don't know their own minds" narrative and "women say one thing but mean another" narrative in any way at all.
It is frankly irresponsible to continually talk about Hillary Clinton and Elizabeth Warren as lying about their presidential ambitions and/or not knowing what they really want.
And if the fact that they are obliged to speak differently about female politicians annoys male commentators, then they can take it up with the misogynists who make it so.
More Great Mysteries of Life
[Content Note: Misogyny.]
It continues to be a real mystery why Hillary Clinton might be genuinely indecisive about running for president:
It's widely accepted that it hasn't been a good couple of weeks for Hillary Clinton. She is being attacked by Republicans over various foreign policy problems, including Benghazi and Boko Haram; her approval ratings are sliding, Monica Lewinsky spoke out, and Bill Clinton's vocal defense could be making things worse.These are people in her own party. And irrespective of whether one feels that Clinton projected an air of entitlement the last time around, it's manifest garbage to lay that at her feet at this point. If she announced her candidacy more than two years ahead of the election, she'd certainly be accused of entitlement, but somehow not announcing her candidacy, for whatever reason, also gets construed as a belief that her nomination is inevitable.
And now some Democrats are questioning aspects of her strategy.
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick said he is concerned about the "inevitability" factor with a potential Clinton nomination.
"I do worry about the inevitability thing," Patrick said on CNN's "State of the Union," adding that it's "off-putting to the … average voter."
"I think that was an element of her campaign the last time," he said, without having to specify how that turned out (Barack Obama won). "I just hope that the people around her pay attention to that this time around."
...Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, expressed concerns similar to Patrick's.
"I did talk with her and thought it would be better that she not get out there early, because her favorability was so high, that all that could happen in this is go down," Feinstein said on "State of the Union."
Feinstein was right. Clinton’s approval rating has slipped.
California Gov. Jerry Brown, who is dealing with severe wildfires in his state, said on ABC's "This Week" that while Clinton is the "overwhelming favorite" for the Democrats in 2016, front-runner status comes with challenges.
"Being a front-runner is being on a perch that everyone else is going to try to knock you off of," he said on ABC's "This Week," adding that Clinton needs to be "wise" on how she proceeds.
Can't win. Can't fucking win.
Meanwhile, even people in her own party are happy to assist the media in promulgating the meme that she's definitely made up her mind, but is just playing games with the announcement. This is just routinely taken as truth, despite the fact that it's easy to imagine Clinton's decision might be affected by how the midterm elections shake out.
If the Republicans retake the majority in the Senate, as well as retaining their majority in the House, it will be extraordinarily difficult for a Democratic president to be an effective president. Clinton's so ubiquitously framed as a voraciously ambitious harridan who just wants to be president for the sake of being president that commentators don't seem to imagine that she might have some interest in being a successful president.
I don't think Hillary Clinton just wants to be president. I think Hillary Clinton wants to govern.
And a wall of Republican Congressional obstructionism would make the kind of governance she wants to do all but impossible. If that's not something she's taking into consideration, I would be shocked. Because she is a good politician. And a smart politician.
Funny how she is ruthlessly calculating when people want to demean her, but never so when they want to compliment her. Or even see her as a human being making a very human decision.
Anyway. This is the shit that's going on when she's not even running. She knows damn well what will be unleashed if she decides to run. Again, it's a real mystery why she might be reluctant.
Even as she somehow simultaneously conveys to the world that she is INEVITABLE!
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!
Fat Fashion
This is your semi-regular thread in which fat women can share pix, make recommendations for clothes they love, ask questions of other fat women about where to locate certain plus-size items, share info about sales, talk about what jeans cut at what retailer best fits their body shapes, discuss how to accessorize neutral colored suits, share stories of going bare-armed for the first time, brag about a cool fashion moment, whatever.
Chevron skirt by Lane Bryant; Mary Janes by Born.
I am continuing to use my wardrobe to will spring into existence, even though it's sleeting today and this outfit (paired with a purple sleeveless top) is truly only appropriate in the house, lol.
I got this skirt on clearance (wheeeee!) a few months ago; it was probably part of last season's summer collection. It's a delightfully versatile item, as I can pair it with a purple top, a red top, or a black top—and it looks like a totally different piece depending on what color I'm wearing above it.
The shoes I've owned for three or four years, and they are some of the most comfortable heels I've ever owned.
They're so comfortable, in fact, that after I originally bought them in silver, my next two shoe purchases were the exact same pair in this brown and in camel. I know not everyone can do heels at all, but, if you can, Born does a pretty solid job of making comfortable heels.
(And I got all of mine at a discounted price at 6pm.com.)
Anyway. As always, this is a general thread for fat fashion, but, if you need a topic: What's your favorite brand of shoe for "dressy" shoe wear?
Have at it in comments! Please remember to make fat women of all sizes, especially women who find themselves regularly sizing out of standard plus-size lines, welcome in this conversation, and pass no judgment on fat women who want to and/or feel obliged, for any reason, to conform to beauty standards. And please make sure if you're soliciting advice, you make it clear you're seeking suggestions—and please be considerate not to offer unsolicited advice. Sometimes people just need to complain and want solidarity, not solutions.
