[Content Note: Lack of boundaries.]
What in the shit is this commercial?
Video Description: A young white man and a young white woman sit at a small round table at a restaurant. A male voiceover says: "Love drama? Go on a first date." The man on the date pulls out from under the table a hand-puppet that looks exactly like the woman. "My passion is puppetry," he tells her. Close-up on her face as it falls. The shot cuts wide again as the man starts making out with the puppet. "I think we're done here," says the woman, who then gets up and leaves. "Hate drama?" says the male voiceover, as the scene cuts to the woman at a dealership getting keys to a new car (while still wearing her first-date dress). "Go to cars-dot-com. Research, price, find. Only cars-dot-com helps you get the right car without all the drama." The end.
This advert is terrible for about a dozen different reasons, not least of which is that it doesn't even make any goddamned sense, but the thing I hate most about it is its reliance on the increasingly popular designation as "drama" any creepy or outright abusive behavior that a man directs at a woman. Or, often, her reaction to it.
That's not "drama." (Trauma, maybe.) And it's not the equivalent of being inconvenienced by less user-friendly car hunting sites.
The thing is, I'm guessing that the advertiser was hoping that women would find this "creepy first date" scene reminiscent of male car salesmen who can be pushy, aggressive, condescending, rude, and disrespectful of boundaries with female car shoppers, while the scene would simultaneously serve to disguise a commentary on men's very typical hostility for women's boundaries so as not to offend any male viewers who might see themselves in something less "hilarious" than a dude making out with a puppet of his date.
And there's nothing I find more contemptible than an advertiser who wants to reach out to women while protecting men's delicate fee-fees. Especially because the attempt is always gross. Case in point.
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"You shall not pass. Unless you're passing to retrieve a treat for me, of course!"
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.
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This blogaround brought to you by echoes.
Recommended Reading:
Danielle: [Content Note: Racism; threats of racist eliminationist violence; white supremacy] Road Trip While Black: Running into White Vigilantes
Olivia: [CN: Islamophobia; misogyny; disablism] Fox News Attacks Muslima Student Who Challenged Conservatives' Negative Rhetoric on Islam
Prison Culture: [CN: Carcerality; dehumanization] No, Mugshots Do Not "Humanize" Anyone…
BYP: Tona Brown Makes History by Becoming First Transgender African-American Woman to Play at Carnegie Hall
Angry Asian Man: Michelle Wie Wins U.S. Women's Open
Charles: [CN: Transphobic violence] Vigil for Murdered Florida Trans Woman Yaz'min Shancez
Tim: [CN: Misogyny; harassment] Girls Just Don't Wanna Have Fun at Conferences
Leave your links and recommendations in comments. Self-promotion welcome and encouraged!
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[Content Note: There is a strobe-light effect in this video.]
Earth, Wind & Fire: "Let's Groove"
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Here is some stuff in the news today...
[Content Note: War] US respondents to polls are very divided about whether the US has a responsibility to intervene in Iraq during the current crisis. Meanwhile, Secretary of State John Kerry is currently in Iraq, meeting with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Kerry promises that US support for Iraq's pushback against ISIS will be "intense and sustained," whatever that means. Meanwhile, Atrios and David Akins raise good questions about where, exactly, all that time and money we were supposedly spending in Iraq on training their troops went?
[CN: War on agency; hostility to reproductive choice] The war on agency is intensifying (again) in Ohio: "Anti-abortion-rights activists in Ohio are working on a legislative agenda for 2015 that could continue to chip away at access to abortion. Already this year, one clinic is in danger of closing because of a provision in last year's budget and three others face the same outcome. In addition, legislation regulating how abortions are paid for has been introduced. In light of these moves, Kellie Copeland, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio, said the state is 'quickly becoming one of the most dangerous states for women's health.'" Again: Protecting women, my fat ass.
In related news, Robin Marty, one of the most indispensable reporters on the chipping away of reproductive rights across the US, is fundraising for "a 12-part series that will look at 12 different clinics or cities in the country, telling the history of legal abortion through location and the people inside and outside it." Robin's got additional information on the funding of the project here. The great thing about this project is that it will enable Robin to do in-depth original reporting on spaces in which the mainstream media typically doesn't have interest.
[CN: Misogyny] Here is just a major interview with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is still not a 2016 presidential candidate.
Advocates of splitting the state of California into six smaller states are busily gathering signatures to try to get the measure on the ballot in two years. Good luck!
[CN: Defense of bigotry; slurs; antisemitism; homophobia; misogyny] Gary Oldman defends Mel Gibson and Alec Baldwin and their slur-shouting ways on the basis that everyone who criticizes them are hypocrites because "we've all said those things." Whoooooooooooops no we have not all said those things. Like any other kind of abuse, someone who verbally abuses other people imagines that everyone does it. Nope!
[CN: Misogyny] US student is rescued from giant vagina sculpture in Germany. "The mayor of Tübingen told the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper that he struggled to imagine how the accident could have happened, 'even when considering the most extreme adolescent fantasies. To reward such a masterly achievement with the use of 22 firefighters almost pains my soul.'" Lolsob forever.
And finally: Do you want to read some casting and plot news about the Wachowskis' upcoming Netflix series? Wachowskis, YOU HAD ME AT NAVEEN ANDREWS AND DARYL HANNAH.
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[Content Note: Abduction; misogyny; terrorism; abuse.]
It has been two months since more than 200 schoolgirls were abducted by Boko Haram in Nigeria. Two-hundred and nineteen girls still remain missing; of the 57 girls who are home, nearly all of them rescued themselves.
And now, Reuters reports, the Nigerian government has completed its inquiry into the abduction, and refuses to release the results to the public:
Submitting the final report, Brigadier General Ibrahim Sabo said 219 girls remained at large, a total virtually unchanged since Boko Haram militants stormed their secondary school in northeast Borno state on April 14 to kidnap them.
...The government's failure to rescue the girls, or protect them before their abduction, has become a political liability for President Goodluck Jonathan ahead of elections next year.
"We are ... pained that the schoolgirls remain in captivity," Sabo said in a statement. "The hostage situation that this represents is obviously delicate."
The Chibok kidnapping and other increasingly bloody attacks by Boko Haram have underscored Abuja's inability to stamp out the militant group, which aims to carve out a radical Islamist state in the mostly Muslim north.
In what could raise the ire of Jonathan's critics, Sabo recommended the findings of the fact-finding group appointed by the president remain confidential for national security reasons.
Sabo also seemed to try to deflect expected criticism from the government.
"For the Chibok schoolgirls, little will be achieved through finger-pointing," he said in his statement.
"Getting the girls out, and safely, too, is by far more important than the publicity generated by the blame game that has tended to becloud the issue."
All of that sounds familiar. Spin is a global language.
In some sense, it's regrettably true that accountability after the fact might not help the girls who are still missing. But it might prevent or mitigate
future abductions, so, you know, there is reason to have a public conversation about accountability, unless Boko Haram is fixing to mass retire as their next move.
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[Content Note: Racism; antisemitism; racist imagery, including blackface, at link.]
If you were watching the Ghana vs. Germany World Cup match on Saturday, at least the US broadcast, you might have seen a man run onto the field and remove his shirt, before the cameras cut away and the announcers hemmed and hawed and failed to explain what was happening.
What was happening, via Grace, was a white male white supremacist spectator had taken to the pitch to reveal antisemitic and racist writing all over his torso.
During the actual match, however, I was totally confused as to what was happening. Iain's and my best guess was that he was a streaker. Because they never explained why they were cutting away during the broadcast.
Now, I can understand why they might not want to give this guy airtime, and why they might not want to let a camera linger on someone sporting hateful symbols that might trigger audience members, but to not even give a basic explanation, like "There's someone with racist writing on his body on the pitch," is to oblige us to pretend it didn't happen.
And there's not a small dose of "We wouldn't want to make white viewers uncomfortable by talking about white supremacy" in that silence, too.
Do not like.
There has been a lot of racism at this World Cup, and, yes, it's horrible. But not talking about it isn't any way to address it.
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A baby pangolin born May 31 rides hir mother's tail at a zoo in Bali. [via]
Pangolins, also known as scaly anteaters, are the only known mammal to sport keratin scales. And they sleep all curled up in a ball, which I find very adorable!
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This is a great step in the right direction, although it still has to be ratified:
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) voted at its General Assembly on Thursday to change its constitution's definition of marriage from "a man and a woman" to "two people," and to allow its ministers to perform same-sex marriages where it is legal.
Both measures, passed by large majorities, are a reversal for a church that in 1991 and in 2008 barred its pastors from performing same-sex marriages, and that has held ecclesiastical trials for ministers who violated the ban and blessed gay couples.
...But changing the definition of marriage in the church's Book of Order would still require ratification by a majority of the church's 172 regions, or presbyteries — a yearlong process. At the assembly in Detroit, the measure passed overwhelmingly — 71 percent to 29 percent — but only after an amendment that altered the language of the change from "two people" to "two people, traditionally a man and a woman," a nod to conservatives who would otherwise have voted against it.
The votes delighted observers and participants at the assembly who have been pushing for gay equality, many draped in hand-knit rainbow-colored stoles.
After the General Assembly voted to ordain openly gay clergy in 2010, a bunch of congregations left, and that will probably happen again. There are always people who self-exclude in response to inclusion. Godspeed.
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Oh man, it has been a long time since we had a good Holy Folks sighting—and you know those are one of my favorite things—so many thanks to Shaker KatherineSpins for passing along this terrific (if slightly dated) story about a man in Ohio finding an image of Jesus in birdshit on his windshield.
Jim Lawry was in the driveway of his parents' Brooklyn, Ohio, home when he noticed the spot left behind by a passing bird. A closer look gave him quite a surprise and left him amazed.
Lawry's son, parents and friends all came out to look. They too were amazed.
In an email to NewsChannel5, Lawry said he believed it was some sort of sign and wanted to share.
Nice to see you again, Jesus! You really do work in mysterious ways!
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Happy Dog is happy!
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.
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[Content Note: Misogyny; heterocentrism; cissexism.]
I've mentioned many times before that I am a huge fan of stand-up comedy—and there's almost nothing I like to watch better than a great stand-up comedian who can make me think about something in a new way with a great joke.
Because I love it so, I watch a lot of stand-up comedy—but most of it is garbage. And the reason most of it is garbage is because somewhere close to 99% of it is tired, hackneyed, rehashed rubbish (which wasn't even funny the first time) about "relationships." Men are always horny! Ha ha ha! Women are shopaholic chatterboxes! Ha ha ha! Mars and Venus, baby. Mars. And. Venus.
*thatface*
The most unremarkable, uninspired, unchallenging, and unrevolutionary subject in all of stand-up comedy is relationships. Across the comedy spectrum, that well has been mined totally, utterly dry by hundreds upon hundreds of men and women who obligingly insert into their routines some barely indistinguishable variation on the same old unoriginal (and heterocentrist and misogynist) battle-of-the-sexes shtick—observations regurgitated ad infinitum in insipid sitcoms, interchangeable romcoms, and adverts hawking everything from deodorant to luxury cars.
Anyway.
I have been half-heartedly watching NBC's latest season of Last Comic Standing, and I don't even know why I do it to myself, because it's always an exercise in disappointment and frustration, as I watch virtually all of the comics I like (i.e. the ones who do non-oppressive and original material) cut from the competition before the final round.
So many women, many of them women of color and queer women, pushed aside before the competition even begins in earnest.
This season has been less overwhelmingly depressing than usual in that regard, making it merely enormously depressing. And then last night, it just went completely south, as a straight white male comedian started the show with a set that was entirely about the differences between men and women, wrapped inside the frame of video gaming.
So, jokes like: You can tell men make video games for men because you kill the dragon, rather than having an insufferably long conversation about why the dragon is mad at you. Har har.
One of the actual fucking jokes from this actual piece-of-shit set was: If women made video games, there'd be once a month when you wouldn't even be able to play them.
And the judges (Keenan Ivory Wayans, Roseanne, and Russell Peters) thought this guy was amazing. Keenan Ivory Wayans even complimented him on being able to take that familiar material and make it seem new by doing it though the frame of video gaming.
Oh well. I guess Tim Allen will want to retire someday, and there's got to be someone to inherit the kingdom.
The gross, gross kingdom.
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This blogaround brought to you by raindrops.
Recommended Reading:
You know the Feminist Boss Card mdevile did of me? Well, she did one of Imani Gandy, too, and IT IS AMAZING.
Robyn: [Content Note: Racism; misogyny; harassment; threats; appropriation; exploitation] 4¢h@n Plans to Continue Hoax Hashtag War on Feminism, Targeting Women of Color
Jessica: [CN: Transphobia; rape] 'Cards Against Humanity' Co-Creator Publicly Apologizes for Transphobic Card
Miri: [CN: Violence; rape; misogyny; auditing] They Have to See It With Their Own Eyes: Men and Violence Against Women
Cristy: [CN: Domestic violence] Brad Ausmus and Men Joking About Beating Their Wives
Ragen: [CN: Fat bias] Dr. Oz: Scam Artist
Amanda: Uzo Aduba, Winner
And finally: I have previously mentioned No Selves to Defend, an anthology of original art and writing on the subject of criminalizing women of color for self-defense, the proceeds for which will go to Marissa Alexander's defense. It's now available for purchase.
Leave your links and recommendations in comments. Self-promotion welcome and encouraged!
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[Content Note: There is a strobe-light effect in this video.]
Pearl Jam: "Alive"
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Here is some stuff in the news today...
[Content Note: War] A new round of fighting has erupted in Ukraine: "Seven Ukrainian troops and as many as 300 pro-Russian rebels were killed in overnight fighting in Ukraine's restive east, an official said Friday, as clashes between government forces and pro-Russian rebels flared ahead of the publication of a presidential peace plan that includes a unilateral cease-fire. Insurgents who want to split from the government in Kiev were operating tanks in the region—a particular sore point for Ukraine, which accuses Russia of letting the vehicles and other heavy weaponry cross the border. Vladislav Seleznev, a spokesman for Ukrainian forces in the east, said that in addition to the deaths, 30 troops were injured in fighting near the village of Yampil in the Donetsk region."
[CN: War] Meanwhile, in Iraq: "Barack Obama announced on Thursday that a contingent up to 300 'military advisers' will be sent to help Iraq's beleaguered army repel the advance of Sunni insurgents, but insisted the US would not be dragged into another bloody war in the country. The troops, drawn from US special operations forces, will assist the Iraqi military to develop and execute a counter-offensive against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS). Their mission is likely to spread to the selection of targets for any future air strikes, but Obama stopped short of accepting a plea from Baghdad to order US air power into the skies over Iraq immediately. Instead, Obama said the option of air strikes would be held in reserve. Any such strikes would be 'targeted' and 'precise,' Obama said, warning that the fate of the country 'hangs in the balance.'"
[CN: Child neglect and abuse; sexual abuse; racism] Our immigration policy is garbage, and many of the people tasked with enforcing that policy are terrible: "Immigration activist groups have filed a complaint against the US Customs and Border Protection agents, citing 116 allegations of child abuse at the US-Mexico border in Texas and Arizona. The complaint includes the allegation that more than 80 percent of those child immigrants did not receive enough food and water, around half were not given medical care, and nearly one in four minors were abused physically. Unfortunately, the allegations don't end there. The activist groups, which include the National Immigrant Justice Center and the American Civil Liberties Union, are also alleging unsanitary conditions and the sexual abuse of children and the complaints say all of this has been going on for years."
[CN: Child endangerment] Meanwhile, the Obama administration has designated three military facilities to house undocumented child immigrants. Military facilities.
[CN: Homophobia] We need a federal law granting marriage rights to same-sex couples everywhere in the US, because the legal quagmire that has been created by this "states' rights" bullshit is intolerable. We now have separate but unequal on multiple levels.
[CN: Rape; racism; wrongful prosecution] The Central Park Five, Kevin Richardson, Antron McCray, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, and Kharey Wise, all black men who were wrongfully prosecuted and convicted for the 1989 rape and assault of a woman jogging in Central Park, and who were all exonerated in 2002, have settled a lawsuit with New York City. They will collectively receive $40 million, which "equates to roughly $1m for each year the men spent in jail."
HA HA I AM SO SURPRISED (I am not surprised): "Wisconsin prosecutors have alleged that Gov. Scott Walker was part of a wide-ranging 'criminal scheme' to coordinate the activities of conservative groups that spent millions to help him and other Republicans fend off recall efforts, according to documents released Thursday."
Heads-up, Breaking Baddies: "Here's the good news: AMC has renewed its Breaking Bad sequel, Better Call Saul, for a second season—before the first one has even aired. But there's some bad news, too: You'll have to wait a bit longer to see any of it. Better Call Saul, starring Bob Odinkirk as oily lawyer Saul Goodman, was originally supposed to premiere on AMC in November, but now the network is pushing that back to early 2015."
Thelma & Louise, back together again. ♥
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