Advertisement
“A dream you dream alone is only a dream; a dream you dream together is reality.” — Yoko Ono
Feb
16
Rape: the sinister blame game
Filed Under blogging, personal and self-promotion, rape and sexual assault, violence against women and girls | 2 Comments
A new UK study shows that most people still blame rape victims at least some of the time — and women are even more likely to victim-blame than men. I offer my analysis on these findings in my first ever piece for the Guardian.
A new survey by the Havens service for rape victims shows that most respondents blamed rape victims for their assailants’ assaults at least some of the time. In particular, well over half said that victims should take responsibility if they climbed into bed with someone who went on to rape them. While the widespread notion that getting into bed with another person equals consent to any and all sexual activities is certainly worthy of discussion and dismantling, the headlines are focusing on a different matter altogether – that more women than men held victims responsible.
This news will likely come as a shock to most. Some will inevitably use it to claim that if women blame victims in such large numbers – even though women constitute the vast majority of victims – victim-blaming can’t be too off-base after all. Others will use it to hold women primarily culpable for societal attitudes regarding sexual violence, and in doing so shift the focus off men. As far as revelations go, this one is disappointing – but it shouldn’t be considered particularly surprising.
Check out the full piece here.
Jan
8
One Million
Filed Under blogging, personal and self-promotion | 12 Comments
I’m proud and honored to announce that this past Sunday, January 3rd, The Curvature hit its 1,000,000th visitor since its humble beginnings two and a half years ago.So, I wanted to take this moment to thank all of the readers, commenters, people who send in tips, and especially all of the other feminist-type bloggers who have provided such great support and community over the years. You’re all amazing.
I’m also aware that I’ve been blogging an awful lot less these past few months than in the past. Rest assured, I’m working on changing that. This dusty old blog theme is also in desperate need of replacement, so in the next few months, you can hope to see a new design, and hey, even maybe a new logo, coming your way. Who knows, maybe you’ll even get a guest-post or two.
Thanks again, and here’s to hoping for a million more.
Oct
10
Discussion on Rape Culture on Womanist Musings Blogtalk Radio Podcast
Filed Under blogging, personal and self-promotion, rape and sexual assault, violence against women and girls | 3 Comments
Tomorrow, Sunday, October 11 at 8pm EST, I’ll be on the Womanist Musings Blogtalk Radio show. Melissa McEwan from Shakesville and I will be discussing rape culture, as well as the Roman Polanski case, with Renee Martin and her podcast co-host Monica Roberts from Transgriot.
I’m not quite entirely sure at the moment what I’ll have to say on the subject — let alone in the awesome company of Liss, Renee and Monica — but with any luck I’ll come up with something. You can go to the podcast page to tune in live — and even call in to chat with us — or wait until it’s over and listen on demand. I’m really excited to be taking part, and I hope you’ll check it out!
Sep
25
The Deal With Disability
Filed Under blogging, disability, discrimination | 1 Comment
Via Womanist Musings, I’ve come across a great blog called The Deal With Disability. The blog is written by Eva, a woman with cerebral palsy, and chronicles her experiences with how people treat her — from ignoring her, to being over-bearing and patronizing, or treating her like a child. Sometimes she writes about the experience; other times she actually records the interaction with a camera mounted discreetly on her wheelchair, and posts it along with commentary. The interactions are at turns funny, revealing, and appalling, or all at the same time.
One particularly popular video, of Eva and her aide out at a restaurant with a pushy and hovering waitress, is below:
Though a somewhat extreme example, this particular video shows a lot of common reactions to people with disabilities all at once, from ignoring social cues that would otherwise generally be acknowledged, invading personal space in a rather extreme way, treating disability as something to “feel better” from, and more.
While obviously chronicling Eva’s experiences, and therefore not covering the experiences and treatment of people with other wide-ranging disabilities, the blog exposes a great number of common and entrenched able-bodied prejudices. What it shows is that many able-bodied people respond to people with disabilities in a way that is intended to be helpful, polite, and/or friendly without considering how they would feel if someone was treating them the exact same way — one of the surest signs of privilege and prejudice. I know that I’ve seen myself in several of the interactions, and imagine that many other able-bodied people and people with disabilities different from Eva’s will see themselves, too. In line with Eva’s stated goals with the bog, it has helped me to recognize some of my own ableist assumptions, and the harmful behavior they can spawn. (And some comments on the blog also inadvertently expose defensive and self-righteous able-bodied privilege.)
Eva explains why so many common reactions to her as a person are misguided and offensive, and takes the time to also point out how things can and should go differently if only others would treat her with the same basic respect they afford to most able-bodied people. For anyone interested in social justice and breaking down privilege (whether their own, other people’s, or both), I’d call it a must-read.
Sep
3
Help SAFER Win $10,000
Filed Under action alert, blogging, feminism, rape and sexual assault, violence against women and girls | 2 Comments
During the 24-hour Blogathon just over a month ago, I think that I made my deep respect and support for Students Active For Ending Rape (SAFER) quite clear. And so I just wanted to give them a shout out now — they have a chance at winning $10,000 for the organization, and just two or three minutes of your time can help them win.
Ideablob is a site that allows people to present their ideas to an internet audience. Users vote on the best idea from each round of submissions, and the one that gets the most votes wins a $10,000 grant to put that idea to good use. It’s really that simple.
Click here to vote for SAFER now.
You will have to register for the site first, but that will only take a minute or two. You can make sure that you’re not on any of their email lists after you sign up and vote by going to your profile, then settings, and unchecking the appropriate boxes. Again, it took me two or three minutes, I’m not going to get any unwanted email as a result, and it’s going to a great cause! Go, vote! And then tell others to do the same on Twitter, Facebook, etc.
And while I’m writing, I wanted to just fill you in that I’m rather busy as of late, and of course with the most exciting day of my life coming up next Wednesday, I’ll be a bit distracted on that end as well. I still plan on getting that last Beatles: Rock Band post at you on Saturday (fingers crossed), but other than that, blogging will sadly continue to suffer for the next week and a half. (Assuming, of course, that you consider very light blogging with most posts that do actually go up being about a music video game to be “suffering.” Ha.) See you soon!
Aug
6
Everyone who pledged to donate to SAFER as a part of my Blogathon efforts should have received an email from the Blogathon organizers reminding them to fulfill their pledge. But I know that emails have a way of sitting in my inbox for awhile, and that I often need an extra reminder to get things done — so here’s yours!
The email that you were sent should have a link to SAFER’s donation page — but if it doesn’t work for you, for some reason, it’s here. You can also donate by check, making it payable to Students Active For Ending Rape (SAFER), and sending it to:
Students Active For Ending Rape (SAFER)
25 Washington Street, Suite 411
Brooklyn, NY 11201Thanks again for everyone who sponsored me. And I promise that I’m working on returning to real blogging shortly.
Aug
3
50 Books for Problematic Times
Filed Under blogging, books, feminism, media, personal and self-promotion | 3 Comments
About a month ago, Newsweek released a list of “50 Books For Our Times” — 50 books that open a window to the modern world in which we live. RMJ at Deeply Problematic reviewed this list, and noticed that, apparently, the modern world is remarkably white, male and straight. The writers on this list were, in fact: 84% white, 78% male, 96% straight, 66% both white and male, and 98% either white or male.
Not very “modern,” eh?
In response, RMJ decided to compile a list of 50 Books for Problematic Times, “a list of 50 writers who shed light on society as it is today (its virtues and its flaws) without the benefit of bodies that fit into the canon,” and solicited list entries from readers of the blog and various feminist writers.
The series kicks off today, and I get the honor of having my selection go first. It’s a little bit out of the box for what you might expect from the list, though regular readers wouldn’t consider it out of the box at all with regards to what they might expect from me. After all, it’s a book written by my absolute favorite lady, Yoko Ono. Check it out.
And don’t forget to check out the rest of the series over at Deeply Problematic. One list entry will be posted per day, and I’m excited to see what the other choices are!
Jul
31
Birthday
Filed Under Gratuitous Beatles Blogging, fun, personal and self-promotion | 8 Comments
For The Beatles: Rock Band fans.
How my husband got this video, let alone on my birthday, I do not know.
But he did, and it is.
ETA: There are three more The Beatles: Rock Band videos up at VH1. Check them out.
Jul
26
The Night Before
Filed Under blogging | 5 Comments
So I didn’t disappear after 5am EST without notice because I’m an irresponsible person, or because I’m a person who who fell asleep at her desk. Rather, I disappeared after 5am last night because I’m a person who uses Time Warner’s Road Runner internet service, which in the world’s cruelest irony went out in my area at 5:20. I was in the middle of writing a post about “Oh Yoko!”
My husband tells me that it came back at about 10am EST.
I don’t know what to say about that except that I really, really wish that Road Runner had an actual competitor in the area. It was extremely important to me to make it all the way through the Blogathon this year. I was going to make it all the way through the Blogathon this year. But. Well . . .
In any case, the total pledges for SAFER have come to a whopping $601.59, which is $100 over goal, and almost $150 more than what I raised last year. Of course, some of those pledges were hourly, so it’s up to those sponsors whether they end up donating the amount they would have if I’d been able to make it the full 24 hours, though obviously that would be very nice. (For the record, I was able to complete 20 hours.)
No matter what, I’m awed, thrilled, and humbled by the generosity. So thank you so much to the 26 of you who acted as sponsors. And thank you to all of those who kept me company in the comments and on Twitter while I was still here. That certainly helped a lot.
cross-posted from my Blogathon sub-blog
Jul
25
The 2009 Blogathon: It Has Begun!
Filed Under blogging | Leave a Comment
The 2009 Blogathon has begun. Head on over to have a read (and leave a comment!)
Remember, I’m not just doing this for fun (though I’m going to try to have as much as possible), but to raise money for SAFER. My pledges are currently up to $383.42 — and pledges can still be made throughout the day, giving us a decent shot at my original $500 goal. Please consider making a pledge yourself, whether it’s for $5 or $50. Every little bit helps! And whatever the total outcome, big, huge thanks to my sponsors so far — especially the anonymous ones who I can’t thank personally.
Okay, off to blog!
Subscribe to The Curvature
“Men, their rights, and nothing more; women, their rights, and nothing less.” — Susan B. Anthony
