July 2009 Archives
Ellie Levenson.
I suppose that I should really say 'who is really irritating', not 'what'. But I don't know the woman, nor does she know me. But that hasn't stopped her trying to speak for me.
"... Part of the reason our generation does reject feminism is it is so earnest, po-faced and prescriptive. that I can be earnest at times, there are things that aren't fun, that you can't approach lightly, that you can't easily laugh about. Feminist things, too. You have to be earnest, especially if you're wanting to be taken seriously.
What attracted me to feminism was the energy to change things, to break free from the prescriptiveness of patriarchal norms. Thou art female; thou shalt diet,thou shalt learn to walk in high heels, thou shalt spend an hour in the bathroom removing body hair, thou shalt spend a fortune on bras to make your breasts look bigger, thou shalt earn less than your male counterparts, thou shalt do unpaid work and like it, thou shalt covet marriage and kids, thou shalt sublimate your sexuality in the pursuit of a man in the name of 'pleasing' him. Thou shalt walk an impossilbe line between being seen as sexually available to all men and being blamed for attracting sexual attention, especially if it's unwanted.
Feminism? Prescriptive? All the feminists I know are more concerned with all women being safe and happy in their lives, rather than hair removal and make up and footwear. Some even fancy women! I know! The whole world doesn't revolve around the pursuit and maintainence of a heterosexual relationship!
And the thing that Ms Levenson wrote, that has really pissed me off?
"But is it (rape) as bad as being violently attacked by a stranger down a dark alley and not knowing whether you will live or die? No - page 65"
quoted from Subtext's review of the book.
I guess she means being raped by someone you know, as opposed to the media darling, the monster in the bushes. Based on her assumptions, I would guess that she's been in a dark alley and attacked, not knowing if she would live or die. Or never been raped at all. Or, at least, never had an experience that she would call rape. Oddly, she doesn't make clear in that one line whether the attack in the alley involved sexual assault or not. Anyway. To be so dismissive of plenty women's experience, is unbelievable, especially from someone who identifies as feminist. That makes me mad.
Anyways. Seeing as all choices I make are feminist, because I'm a feminist and I'm making them, I'm going to have a feminist cup of coffee. And I might check my feminist auctions on WoW. Then maybe I'll have a feminist shower. And by then, a feminist poo. Gosh, I feel, like, totally empowered! I might even have a feminist poke at the wobbly bit on my belly, then have a feminist mope that nothing seems to shift it so I can't be THIN! THIN! LIKE SOCIETY EXPECTS ME TO BE! Which is totally feminist. And I apologize for mumping and moaning about rape; that just brings a bad light on feminism, all that complaining about something that will never change. Also, the last man who bought me dinner was my brother. I had no idea that he expected something sexual afterwards, it would be disingenuous to think otherwise....
....
...
...
OK, can't do it. It's making my brain hurt.
And lastly; the quiz that apparently features in the book, reproduced here. The B answers? Gross caricature much? And, yes, it really is the Daily Male. I'm not making this up.
I suppose that I should really say 'who is really irritating', not 'what'. But I don't know the woman, nor does she know me. But that hasn't stopped her trying to speak for me.
"... Part of the reason our generation does reject feminism is it is so earnest, po-faced and prescriptive. that I can be earnest at times, there are things that aren't fun, that you can't approach lightly, that you can't easily laugh about. Feminist things, too. You have to be earnest, especially if you're wanting to be taken seriously.
What attracted me to feminism was the energy to change things, to break free from the prescriptiveness of patriarchal norms. Thou art female; thou shalt diet,thou shalt learn to walk in high heels, thou shalt spend an hour in the bathroom removing body hair, thou shalt spend a fortune on bras to make your breasts look bigger, thou shalt earn less than your male counterparts, thou shalt do unpaid work and like it, thou shalt covet marriage and kids, thou shalt sublimate your sexuality in the pursuit of a man in the name of 'pleasing' him. Thou shalt walk an impossilbe line between being seen as sexually available to all men and being blamed for attracting sexual attention, especially if it's unwanted.
Feminism? Prescriptive? All the feminists I know are more concerned with all women being safe and happy in their lives, rather than hair removal and make up and footwear. Some even fancy women! I know! The whole world doesn't revolve around the pursuit and maintainence of a heterosexual relationship!
And the thing that Ms Levenson wrote, that has really pissed me off?
"But is it (rape) as bad as being violently attacked by a stranger down a dark alley and not knowing whether you will live or die? No - page 65"
quoted from Subtext's review of the book.
I guess she means being raped by someone you know, as opposed to the media darling, the monster in the bushes. Based on her assumptions, I would guess that she's been in a dark alley and attacked, not knowing if she would live or die. Or never been raped at all. Or, at least, never had an experience that she would call rape. Oddly, she doesn't make clear in that one line whether the attack in the alley involved sexual assault or not. Anyway. To be so dismissive of plenty women's experience, is unbelievable, especially from someone who identifies as feminist. That makes me mad.
Anyways. Seeing as all choices I make are feminist, because I'm a feminist and I'm making them, I'm going to have a feminist cup of coffee. And I might check my feminist auctions on WoW. Then maybe I'll have a feminist shower. And by then, a feminist poo. Gosh, I feel, like, totally empowered! I might even have a feminist poke at the wobbly bit on my belly, then have a feminist mope that nothing seems to shift it so I can't be THIN! THIN! LIKE SOCIETY EXPECTS ME TO BE! Which is totally feminist. And I apologize for mumping and moaning about rape; that just brings a bad light on feminism, all that complaining about something that will never change. Also, the last man who bought me dinner was my brother. I had no idea that he expected something sexual afterwards, it would be disingenuous to think otherwise....
....
...
...
OK, can't do it. It's making my brain hurt.
And lastly; the quiz that apparently features in the book, reproduced here. The B answers? Gross caricature much? And, yes, it really is the Daily Male. I'm not making this up.
Blogging at blogger is like living in a halls of residence. You have some control over what goes on in your space, but you can't stop annoying people from impinging upon it, no matter how many times you tell them that they are not welcome. And now that my obsessive internet stalker is really getting obsessed, it's time to move to a place of my own. Where I can lock the doors, as it were.
So, here's to my new blog home!
So, here's to my new blog home!
My 93-year-old Granny died early on Sunday morning. In hospital, totally expected but still a shock. We'd been to see her last Thursday after Mum got a middle-of-the-night call to say that the hospital had phoned my aunt and that things weren't looking good. We arrived later that morning to find her still in bed, of course, but in rare form. She recognised me immediately, something she's not really done for a good few years now. She also commented on my hair being lighter and the lip ring. I usually took it out before seeing her, this time I forgot. But she was more like the Granny of my childhood memories than she had been for a while, I'm glad I got to see her.
Today was the funeral. I hate seeing coffins that I know hold someone I care about. Or their earthly remains.
The god stuff got really, really annoying by the time we were at the crematorium. Trying to get through The Lord's My Shepherd, especially the line about being protected from ills really stuck, given how ill Granny was when she died. But I kind of wanted to honour Granny, so I think I managed to mumble and squeak about half a dozen words. None of which were god, or Jesus, or were male personal pronouns that had been capitalized. At the crematorium, I found that putting love in place of the g word made it much easier on my blood pressure, and helped me to deal. I was thinking of the love that everyone (at least, nearly everyone) has in them and the love that links people, no matter how much of a stranger they are to one another. Every donation to charity is an act of the kind of love that I'm meaning.
And that, more than empty words about something I really don't believe in, is something I associate with my Granny.
That, and the time that she, Mum and I went on the waltzers at the shows, while Granpa, Dad and my brother chose not to. Granny, as I recall was all for it and game for a laugh. I hope that I have the same joie de vivre in my 70s.
I love you, Granny.
Today was the funeral. I hate seeing coffins that I know hold someone I care about. Or their earthly remains.
The god stuff got really, really annoying by the time we were at the crematorium. Trying to get through The Lord's My Shepherd, especially the line about being protected from ills really stuck, given how ill Granny was when she died. But I kind of wanted to honour Granny, so I think I managed to mumble and squeak about half a dozen words. None of which were god, or Jesus, or were male personal pronouns that had been capitalized. At the crematorium, I found that putting love in place of the g word made it much easier on my blood pressure, and helped me to deal. I was thinking of the love that everyone (at least, nearly everyone) has in them and the love that links people, no matter how much of a stranger they are to one another. Every donation to charity is an act of the kind of love that I'm meaning.
And that, more than empty words about something I really don't believe in, is something I associate with my Granny.
That, and the time that she, Mum and I went on the waltzers at the shows, while Granpa, Dad and my brother chose not to. Granny, as I recall was all for it and game for a laugh. I hope that I have the same joie de vivre in my 70s.
I love you, Granny.
Last time I sat down to watch Jesus Camp, I lasted 8 minutes before I had to stop. There was a moment in which an evangelical Christian kids' minister proclaimed that GWB had given Christianity 'credibility' in the US; I was eating and really didn't fancy carrot jullienne in my sinus. This time, I made it 20 minutes in. Only another hour to go!
The thing that got me this time was the homeschooling evangelical mother who was telling her kids that the global temperature had only risen by 0.6F, and that that wasn't a problem for them. Nevermind that the figures are suspect at best, it's the narrow selfishness of the statement that got me. In developing nations, the rise in global temperatures is killing people. But it's far, far away from the US, and the people who are dying are mostly brown and don't believe in that version of god. How can anyone live in such an inward-facing, isolating bubble? And call themselves Christian? From what I remember being foisted upon me at school, it's all supposed to be loving thy neigbour and being compassionate and treating others as you would like to be treated yourself. Help someone out because things could be different and they could be helping you.
That said, I never actually read the bible, and given how so many folks seem to disagree about what it actually says (word of the men in charge when it was written and all) who knows?
Also, one last thing; the movie has the kids speaking in tongues near the start. Wasn't that supposed to be a sign of possession by Satan or something?
The thing that got me this time was the homeschooling evangelical mother who was telling her kids that the global temperature had only risen by 0.6F, and that that wasn't a problem for them. Nevermind that the figures are suspect at best, it's the narrow selfishness of the statement that got me. In developing nations, the rise in global temperatures is killing people. But it's far, far away from the US, and the people who are dying are mostly brown and don't believe in that version of god. How can anyone live in such an inward-facing, isolating bubble? And call themselves Christian? From what I remember being foisted upon me at school, it's all supposed to be loving thy neigbour and being compassionate and treating others as you would like to be treated yourself. Help someone out because things could be different and they could be helping you.
That said, I never actually read the bible, and given how so many folks seem to disagree about what it actually says (word of the men in charge when it was written and all) who knows?
Also, one last thing; the movie has the kids speaking in tongues near the start. Wasn't that supposed to be a sign of possession by Satan or something?
see more Funny Graphs
What about women who play and then their partners join in because they want to spend more time with their partner and then get hooked themselves? Also, the blue portion should be about 85% of the graph. I clearly recall the delightful comment rapist Ben made about his old main, a Night Elf hunter (I know, so original!); that he figured he might as well have something nice to look at while he played. Cuz, as we all know, that's all the female form is for him. His sole pleasure. Cum dumpsters or eye candy. What a distressing way to look at the world!
Anyway. All my toons are female because the males look really weird; the arms are waaaaaaaay to muscular or they just look ridiculously top heavy or they're just flat out ugly. Over the past 3 years, I have had a few brushes with misogyny in game but what's more upsetting IRL is when people talk about being 'raped' in the trade channel and the endless gay bashing. And, lest we forget, the delightful guild SappedGirlsCantSayNo. (While the first one I saw is gone, there are now 4 more in the EU servers and 8 arena teams called that now... I will be reporting them to Blizzard as soon as I'm done here.) And it was more than the lack of proper punctuation that had me reporting them and still /spitting at Bananaskall when I see him in a city.
Maybe I should form a new guild; SappedGirlsCan'tSayYes?
Edited to add:
I posted my concerns on the GM forums for WoW Europe. I'm somewhat nonplussed to see that the word 'rape' has been filtered to read @%@@*!#@@%!@!**! rather than 'rape'. And once more, with feeling;
"Rape is not what George Lucas did to your childhood. Rape is not what happens when a sports team beats another sports team by a wide margin. Rape is not what happens when your electric bill is higher this month than it was last month. Rape is when a person violates another person in the most despicable, degrading way imaginable and among the myriad of terrible things humans can do to one another, rape is among the worst. I think the casual misappropriation of the concept of rape extending all the way to its widespread comical usage is disgusting even by Internet standards. Off my chest."
http://www.overcompensating.com/posts/20081211.html
