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"In my heart, I think a woman has two choices: either she's a feminist or a masochist." --Gloria Steinem
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Apr
4
“News” Organization Files Offensive “Report” on Trans Issues
Filed Under LGBTQ issues, assholes, bigotry, gender, homophobia and transphobia, media, parenthood, pregnancy, reproductive justice | 8 Comments
By now, you’ve probably heard of Thomas Beatie, the transgender man who is pregnant with his first child. With the exception of the original Advocate story, written by Beatie himself, pretty much all coverage I’ve seen has been extremely obnoxious and sensationalized. Thomas and his wife Nancy say that they came out with the news on their own so that they could have some say on the framing of the media coverage — and one would assume they also have at least some interest in trans rights — but they seem to have underestimated the media.
Yesterday, Beatie was on Oprah (did anyone see it? how did it go?), and so coverage is now even more intensified. Though I’m sure that there are less credible news sources reporting much more offensively, this shit from MSNBC pissed me the fuck off:
Pregnant “man” tells Oprah: “It’s a miracle”
That’s right, according to MSNBC, Beatie who has lived as a man for many years, is legally recognized as a man and is legally married to a woman is now a “man.” You know, can’t let those trans folk get to uppity by acknowledging their legal rights or showing them any basic respect.
Maybe if MSNBC wanted to somehow clarify how a man could be pregnant in their title, if that was so very important to them, they could have used the phrase transman or transgender man, rather than trying to illegitimatize his entire identity with the scare quotes? Ah, but then fewer people would be drawn to click on the link, wouldn’t they?
Then there’s this lede for a related video report: “Is it true? Is it possible? Thomas Beatie of Bend, Ore., says “yes” to both questions, claiming he’s five months pregnant. But is his claim real, or a hoax? KTVZ reports.”
Nothing like getting people to make you some money off of ad viewings by using a teaser that suggests a person’s major life event might be a “hoax.” Also, if you watch the video, you’ll see a reporter harassing Beatie’s neighbors and then feigning surprise when they won’t talk to her or express their support. Also, while intruding on their lives, uninvited with a microphone and camera, they decide to wag a finger at the paparazzi camped outside of Beatie’s home for their completely inexcusable crime of . . . intruding on the neighborhood uninvited with microphones and cameras.
Hey MSNBC, are you getting a good view of my middle finger?
You can contact MSNBC at letters@msnbc.com. They ask that you include the URL of the story you’re responding to in the body of your email.
Popularity: 14% [?]
Mar
24
The Oppression Olympics Continue
Filed Under 2008 election, Democrats, assholes, bigotry, gender, politics, race and racism, sexism | 8 Comments
UPDATE: The Washington Post happens to have an interesting article today on this very subject. It’s actually more intelligent than you might expect, though be forewarned that some of the quotes are really obnoxious and precisely what I rail against here.
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I can’t say that Geraldine Ferraro should have quit while she was ahead, because I’m rather unconvinced that at any point she was ahead. But it certainly wouldn’t hurt for her to stop making things worse on herself (and despite the fact that she is no longer a part of the campaign, Hillary Clinton, too). In addition to complaining that the simple acknowledgment of her remarks about Obama being racist is in fact racist against white people, she is now apparently very offended that her name came up in Obama’s speech about race.
The former New York congresswoman and Democratic vice presidential nominee got the race debate going a few weeks ago with her comments in a California newspaper that Obama had gotten to where he was — on the verge of knocking off Ferraro’s favored candidate, Hillary Clinton — because he is a black man.
Today, she surfaced again in the same paper, the Daily Breeze in Torrance, to say that she objected vehemently to Obama’s linkage in his speech between her comments and the inflammatory excerpts of sermons by Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama’s longtime pastor.
“To equate what I said with what this racist bigot has said from the pulpit is unbelievable,” Ferraro told the paper. “He gave a very good speech on race relations, but he did not address the fact that this man is up there spewing hatred.”
Overall, Ferraro said, she thought the speech was “excellent,” but she lamented that Obama did not go further in condemning Wright. She surmised that Obama was limited in that regard because he did not want to offend black voters, which she called the base of Obama’s support.
“I think they got as far as they could go politically,” she said. “They’re looking at their base. Their base is African Americans. They’re looking at that and they’re trying to walk a very thin line. They don’t want to offend the African Americans, and this is the way he did it.”
Yeah, here’s the thing: he was defending you, asshole.
Do I think it’s a mistake that Ferraro’s name came up? Of course not, it was a deliberate move to point out that if anyone in this campaign can be accused of racism, it’s not the Obama campaign. However, the fact remains that he defended her and in fact criticized the “dismissal” of her comments by referring to them as “racist.”
Popularity: 15% [?]
Mar
6
Mainstream Media Says Wham, Bam, Thank You M’am
Filed Under gender, homophobia and transphobia, media, patriarchy, sex and sexuality, sexism, stereotypes | 26 Comments
Here’s something that will probably not surprise and yet still manage to annoy the crap out of you. There is a new study on the desired length of sex for heterosexual couples, as determined by American sex experts. Check this out:
The US study is the first to review what experts believe is the ideal length of time to have penetrative sex, with the random sample of Americans and Canadians labelling seven to 13 minutes most “desirable”.
Intercourse lasting between three and seven minutes was deemed “adequate”, but anything less was considered “too short” and beyond 13 minutes was “too long”.
The study, published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine, aims to calm unrealistic beliefs that healthy sex should last a long time.
Dr Jane Howard, a Brisbane medical sex therapist, said there was little data on Australians’ expectation of sex. Anecdotal evidence suggested most women were happy with three to seven minutes, while men were not.
Now, as someone who enjoys sex and generally assumes that large portions of the rest of the population also enjoy sex, a question instantly sprung to mind: in what universe? No, seriously, this America? Three minutes? And wait, men are the ones who want sex to be longer, and women don’t? This is, in fact, contrary to every generalized remark I’ve ever heard about heterosexual practice. Don’t tons of straight women complain about how too many men rush during sex? Are the bulk of American men who sleep with women just really bad in bed, and I’ve somehow gotten through life without realizing it? (I am, after all, married to an Australian.)
It almost seems like they’re leaving something out. Of course, no one openly explains or discusses that the study is only about heterosexual couples — I presume that you were supposed to infer this from all the talk of penis in vaginas and the fact that only men and women are described as potential sexual partners. But, you see, this has nothing to do with prejudice or heteronormativity — this is about facts, people. As it turns out, any two people who do not have one penis and one vagina between them cannot have sex. That’s not even a joke — I’m going off of media characterizations.
Popularity: 35% [?]
Feb
22
Female Golfer Sues Club for Discrimination
Filed Under assholes, discrimination, gender, misogyny, patriarchy, sexism | 6 Comments
A woman has sued her municipal golf course for refusing her right to play in a tournament because she is a woman.
Elaine Joyce, a champion amateur golfer, and her father were looking forward to a weekend tournament last May at the respected public course on Cape Cod where they hold full memberships. But their names were not listed when officials posted the tee times for the event at the Dennis Pines course.
The Masters U.S. Open British Open P.G.A. Championship Joyce’s father, Pat, received a call from the club’s head pro, Russell Champoux, who said the tournament was not open to women. It did not matter that Joyce would play from the men’s tees. Or that she had won more than 20 club championships over the years. Or that she had captured the title in 2001 at an event for the state’s top female club champions.
Joyce complained to the town, but over the next several months, Robert Canevazzi, the Dennis town administrator, did not budge. When Joyce filed a complaint with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination in July, the club said its actions were not discriminatory. In a letter, Canevazzi told Joyce that the club would begin scheduling men’s and women’s fields in all tournaments in 2008, giving women more weekend play. The club’s lawyer, Kristin Tyler Harris, reiterated the position. But women would not be permitted to play in men’s tournaments.
On Friday, Joyce, 43, filed a federal lawsuit in United States District Court in Boston to challenge the town and the golf officials. Her case confronts the tradition of men’s tournaments on morning weekends, events that are woven into the fabric of golf life at private and public courses.
The 25-page federal complaint says that by denying Joyce the same “full citizenship status” as men at a public golf course is as unlawful as operating a men’s-only bar or a whites-only drinking fountain. Joyce is “entitled to the equal opportunity to aspire, to achieve and to participate based upon her individual talents and capacities regardless of her gender,” her lawyer, Laura R. Studen, said.
Good for her. As detailed in the article, this isn’t the first case of discrimination that Joyce has suffered as a woman trying to play competitively. A decade ago, a neighboring town apparently tried to disallow her the right to play with the men on weekends — and when the town administration required them to accept her, she faced some really ugly, misogynist reactions:
After the town acted in that case, it took 18 months for her to be admitted as a member. Joyce said some members of the group were appalled and let her know it. One said he would play only if she played naked. Others walked off the course when paired with her. Some refused to speak to her during rounds.
Way to be adults, jackasses. One would think that common decency would bar them from playing if unable to grant their fellow golfers the most basic kind of respect, but apparently having a penis really is the most important requirement for membership.
Now, of course, Joyce is well within her rights to sue. And whatever her ultimate reason for doing so, I think that she is correct and I wish her well. I can, however, make a highly educated guess as to the exact straw that broke this camel’s back. At least, if it was me, and I was wavering on whether or not to litigate, I know that my decision would have been made right here:
Although Elaine Joyce is a member, Champoux, the head pro, did not inform her of the decision to bar her from playing. Instead, he called her father.
Oh yeah, they did. Even though she is a member, even though she was scheduled to play in a tournament with her father, even though the reason for disallowing their right to play was based on her, they couldn’t even extend the courtesy of giving her a fucking phone call. They called her dad.
If these guys are really so damn stupid, arrogant and disrespectful to add that kind of insult to the injury, I say they deserve to be taken for every dime they’re worth.
Popularity: 19% [?]
Feb
13
On the murder of Sanesha Stewart
Filed Under LGBTQ issues, WOC issues, bigotry, class and economics, discrimination, gender, homophobia and transphobia, media, misogyny, patriarchy, race and racism, sex work, violence against women and girls | 16 Comments
You may have already heard about the senseless murder of Sanesha Stewart. Stewart was a trans woman of color who was stabbed to death, apparently by a male sex partner.
In the wake of this tragedy, the media has not only failed to show respect for a fellow human being whose life was cut short, they’ve been downright, outlandishly offensive. Stewart has been called a “hooker,” despite any actual evidence that she was a sex worker and claims from her neighbors that she was not. Her appearance has been commented on repeatedly. She has been referred to by masculine pronouns and her masculine birth name, with her legal feminine name referred to as a “nickname.” Here is one infamous article from the NY Daily News. It was originally called “Fooled john stabbed Bronx tranny,” though after GLAAD made some noise, they changed it to the oh-so-improved “Cops: Ex-con slays Bronx transsexual ‘hooker’.” A warning: the language below is extremely disrespectful and upsetting.
A transgendered prostitute was stabbed to death in the Bronx Saturday by a customer who was apparently surprised by the hooker’s true sex, police sources said Saturday.
The victim - a 25-year-old man who dressed like a woman - was identified by sources as Talib Stewart, who often went by the feminine nicknames of Nesha or Sanesha.
Stewart was stabbed multiple times inside a Belmont apartment building about 6 a.m. Saturday, police said.
A 37-year-old man was later arrested inside the second-floor apartment, police said.
Though the suspect’s identity was not immediately released, the sources said he was the prostitute’s john who became enraged when he learned his partner was not a woman.
Stewart, more than 6 feet tall, was known to wear stylish, provocative outfits with towering high heels, neighbors said.
Stewart also apparently had undergone surgery to give him larger breasts and other female characteristics, neighbors said.
“She looked like a girl but when she turned around, you knew it was a man,” a 17-year-old neighbor said. “She had a big jaw and an Adam’s apple.”
Neighbors said Stewart was a friendly and flirty presence on the block and was rarely hassled for his appearance.
“She’s always been Nesha to me,” said a friend who just gave her first name, Janelle. “She’s funny and outgoing.”
“It’s a shock - nobody should do something like that,” said another neighbor who asked not to be identified. “She never had any problems here.”
Stewart’s relatives visited the crime scene Saturday afternoon and angrily declined comment. Neighbors said they didn’t know if Stewart was turning tricks but they had noticed frequent male visitors to her home.
The suspect remained in police custody last night as the Bronx district attorney was determining which charges to file, officials said.
Must we list off the problems here? I hope not, but here goes, anyway.
Popularity: 24% [?]
Feb
9
One-Quarter of U.S. Women Experience Intimate Partner Violence
Filed Under disability, gender, misogyny, patriarchy, race and racism, rape and sexual assault, violence against women and girls, women’s health | 2 Comments
A new CDC report shows that one-quarter of U.S women have suffered intimate partner violence. This won’t come as much of a shock to those of us who have been paying attention. I also highly doubt that it will change the minds of those who like to deny the extent of violence against women, seeing as how they regularly ignore the FBI stats on the instance of false rape reports. But I do think that the report is somewhat interesting for its demographic findings:
Black women were more likely to report domestic violence than whites or Hispanics, but it was most frequent among multiracial, American Indian and Alaska native women.
Women of all income and education levels suffer such abuse, although it was more frequent among the poorest and those who attended but did not graduate from college.
“Perhaps one of the factors at play here is the high prevalence of sexual violence on college campuses, and dating violence,” Michele Black, a CDC epidemiologist who helped write the agency’s report, said in a telephone interview.
Black said she could not say whether domestic violence rates were rising. The results were comparable with those of a 1995 government survey that found that 24.8 percent of women and 7.6 percent of men reported suffering domestic violence.
The CDC said women who suffer domestic violence are three times as likely to engage in risky sex and 70 percent more likely to drink heavily than other women.
They are also twice as likely to report that their activities are limited by physical, mental or emotional problems and 50 percent more likely to use a cane, wheelchair or other disability equipment, the CDC survey found.
These women also were 80 percent more likely to have a stroke, 70 percent more likely to have heart disease or arthritis and 60 percent more likely to have asthma.
Kiersten Stewart, director of public policy for the Family Violence Prevention Fund advocacy group, said the CDC figures broadly fit other assessments that about a quarter to a third of U.S. women experience domestic violence.
Popularity: 17% [?]
Feb
7
Sheriff’s Deputies Sexually Assault Woman On Camera
Filed Under assholes, gender, human rights, misogyny, patriarchy, rape and sexual assault, sexual exploitation and harassment, violence against women and girls | 9 Comments
I’m a few days late on this (as I seem to be on everything, lately), but this is also one of those stories that doesn’t seem to get any less outrageous with time. In fact the original story is fifteen months old. A woman is suing an Ohio sheriff’s department over, well, there aren’t really any words:
Hope Steffey’s night started with a call to police for help. It ended with her face down, naked, and sobbing on a jail cell floor. Now, the sheriff’s deputies from Stark County, Ohio who allegedly used excessive force during a strip search 15 months ago face a federal lawsuit, and recently released video won’t help their case.
Steffey’s ordeal with the Stark County sheriff’s deputies began after her cousin called 9-1-1 claiming Steffey had been assaulted by another one of their cousins. When a Stark County police officer arrived, he asked to see Steffey’s driver’s license. But instead of handing over her own ID, she mistakenly turned over her dead sister’s license, which she contends she keeps in her wallet as a memento. That’s when the situation became complicated.
“Hope was not treated as a victim,” her lawyer told WKYC News. “The officer said to her ’shut up about your dead sister.’”
Eventually, Steffey was arrested and taken to the Stark County Jail, charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. But once in custody, her attorney says seven jail workers, male and female, forcibly removed Steffey of all her clothes, including her undergarments, while she lay face down in handcuffs. Local news footage shows Steffey wailing, asking “What are you doing?!?”
“And you have to ask yourself, what was the purpose of the strip search?” said Steffey’s lawyer. “What was the necessity of it? This was a disorderly conduct claim.”
The lawsuit says that Steffey remained in the cell for six hours and wrapped herself in toilet paper to stay warm. During that time, she was not allowed to use a phone or seek medical assistance for injuries she accrued that night, including a cracked tooth, bulging disc, and bruises.
Popularity: 24% [?]
Feb
1
Judge Exhibits “Supreme” Stupidity
Filed Under WOC issues, assholes, courts gone crazy, discrimination, gender, misogyny, paternalism, race and racism, sexism, stereotypes, work | 3 Comments
Pardon the pun (come on, sometimes it’s just too easy), but I’m wagering that once you read this, you’ll pretty much forget about anything stupid that I’ve said:
A county judge was reprimanded for calling three black female lawyers “the Supremes” in court and advising the defendant to get “an experienced male attorney.”
Talk about value! Judge Boone’s court apparently runs a two for one special: for a limited time only, come for the racism and get the sexism for free! Sale ends temporarily when a judicial commission calls him out on his shit.
The most unbelievable thing of all, though, is that it gets worse. And as so often happens, the extra insults come flying in the guise of an apology.
Washington County Circuit Judge W. Kennedy Boone has acknowledged that his comments suggested racial and sexual bias. In his written response to a complaint, Boone said he was trying to protect the three public defenders from representing a difficult defendant.
The Maryland Commission on Judicial Disabilities concluded the comments Boone made during a court hearing last April were “undignified and disparaging.” The notice of reprimand was published Jan. 18 in the Maryland Register.
Niiiice. The only thing better than some sexist racism or racist sexism is the kind that is really in the best interest of the insulted, who just aren’t reasonable enough to see it. White Man’s Burden, anyone, or did he just go to the Justice Kennedy School of Law?
Boone can see how his comments might “suggest” some form of “bias” (haven’t we learned yet that words like “sexism” and “racism” are just too mean and should never be used, let alone admitted to?). But it only seems that way because he was so determined in his nice white male savior way to protect the poor little lady lawyers from the big bad legal system. It’s not that he holds some form of prejudice against black women, it’s that he thinks black women are too weak and incompetent and vulnerable to do their jobs as lawyers properly.
That makes me feel much better.
Popularity: 18% [?]
Jan
30
Offensive Remark of the Week: Sometimes You Gotta Smack Up the Bitches Edition
Filed Under assholes, gender, media, misogyny, sexism, violence against women and girls | 5 Comments
There’s apparently some MSNBC show called Morning Joe. I’ve never seen it — I almost never watch TV news unless I’m waiting for election results or a debate. But Media Matters apparently watches, and check out what they caught this morning: Joe Scarborough warned his female co-host Mika Brzezinski that if she didn’t respect his authority(!), he’d have to give her a smack:
HARWOOD: I think, Joe — I know you were holding back, but I think that [Florida Gov.] Charlie Crist [R] endorsement might have had even more juice than a Scarborough endorsement. What do you think?
BRZEZINSKI: I think so.
SCARBOROUGH: I, actually — I don’t endorse anybody because, as you know, I’m a journalist. However, there’s no doubt, there are two things –
BRZEZINSKI: [laughing]
HARWOOD: I get it.
SCARBOROUGH: –that hurt — Mika, don’t make me backhand you . . .
Ha! I see! Because she was being uppity, right? She laughed at you inappropriately in front of other people, bruised your fragile male ego and so you had to put her back in her place. With a backhand! Get it? Not just violence, but gendered violence! You know, like how a man gives his wife a good, harmless smack because she overcooked his chicken, just so she remembers who’s boss.
Damn, Scarborough, that was a close one. You could have almost looked like a guy who maybe didn’t hate women openly and randomly. Way to dodge the bullet.
Popularity: 13% [?]
Jan
26
Everything I Need to Know About Love, I Learned From Time Magazine
Filed Under LGBTQ issues, gender, media, patriarchy, sexism, stereotypes, violence against women and girls | 20 Comments
This being one of those weeks when I wonder why the fuck I get Time magazine (answer: because it often gets me to read about important things I otherwise wouldn’t read about), their cover story last week was “The Science of Romance.” And it’s more than just a “story,” but an entire section tallying almost 50 pages. For a magazine that usually runs between 80 and 110 pages total, that’s quite a feat.
I had a feeling from looking at the cover that I was going to “learn” an awful lot. And Time surely didn’t disappoint. Below the jump, my newfound knowledge. But break out your Evolutionary Psychologist Bingo Cards first.
Popularity: 20% [?]
Jan
25
Final Nail in the Coffin
Filed Under 2008 election, Democrats, assholes, discrimination, gender, media, patriarchy, politics, race and racism, videos | 9 Comments
Dear Mr. Edwards,
Why? When I heard your wife say these horrible, delusional things, I could only hope that it was some sort of weird slip, a fluke. And listening to you in debates and such, I didn’t think that you could possibly believe them, even if she did. Do you somehow think in your twisted little mind that this is okay because you no longer have a snowball’s chance in hell? Was all of the talk about race and gender struggles just an act? Do you have a rare degenerative condition that causes you to act like more and more of an asshole over time?
Oh John. We could have been so happy together, you and I. I hope that someday you find a presidential race that will make you happy. Most likely, one that does not involve mean white women and black men oppressing you due to your minority status. Take care of yourself.
Regretfully,
Cara
Dear Tyra,
Just stop. Please.
With Thanks,
Cara
Via
Popularity: 14% [?]