books

Taking the Word “Judge” Out of Context

by Cara April 1, 2008

A new UK book about sexual assault reveals some judges’ disturbing if not particularly unexpected views about victims of sexual assault and their personal role in “interpreting” sexual assault laws. Judges have undermined a law intended to stop defence lawyers cross-examining women in rape cases about their sexual history, by continuing to insist on their [...]

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My Daughter Has a Hand Mirror, and Other Signs that the Sky is Falling

by Cara February 20, 2008

I know that this is way too easy. But all the same, when I ran across this “opinion piece” in the RH Reality Check news aggregator, I laughed so hard that I nearly sprayed orange juice across the computer screen. It just screams satire, and yet is absolutely, frighteningly serious. From Robert H. Knight, Sex [...]

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And here I was thinking that we should demand structural change

by Cara February 18, 2008

The Times has an article on two new books about how women can get ahead in the workplace. I’m sure that we’ll hear a lot about both of them in the next few weeks/months as the media trips all over itself at the opportunity to spew misogyny while not actually being held responsible for it. [...]

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Prude or Slut? We’re asking the wrong question.

by Cara December 11, 2007

A few weeks ago, Jessica introduced us (or at least me) to the latest nut of the “pro-modesty” crowd: Carol Platt Liebau (watch out for the scary eyes!). She has recently published this new book, just like all of the other pro-modesty books, called Prude: How the Sex-Obsessed Culture Damages Girls (and America Too!). The [...]

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Nurse Clinton, Senator Ratched

by Cara December 8, 2007

This week, Chris Matthews (who, by the way, is still allowed to moderate Democratic debates) compared Hillary Clinton to the infamous villain Nurse Ratched from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. And, as Media Matters notes, it’s not the first time that the comparison has been made, and they manage to cite over a dozen [...]

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Title IX: Separate But Not Equal?

by Cara November 5, 2007

Stephanie at OUPblog (that’s Oxford University Press) sent me a post on a topic that us feminists don’t seem to talk about very often — the discrimination against women and girls in sports. Now, maybe we don’t talk about it often because we’re more theoretically-minded people, more likely to have our noses in a book [...]

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We Don’t Need Another Wave

by Cara October 20, 2007

I just finished reading We Don’t Need Another Wave: Dispatches From The Next Generation of Feminists, edited by Melody Berger. It is a collection of over 30 essays by young feminists talking about why feminism is still relevant today, how the movement is evolving and ways to work on new issues and methods. Of course, [...]

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The Girls Who Went Away by Ann Fessler

by Cara October 1, 2007

I just finished reading Ann Fessler’s The Girls Who Went Away: The Hidden History of Women Who Surrendered Children for Adoption in the Decades Before Roe v. Wade. From the title, it’s clear that this is a book about adoption. To me, it was about what happens when we don’t give women choices. “Girl who [...]

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On Katha Pollitt and the meaning of feminism

by Cara September 28, 2007

Some of you may have already read some of the misogynist hoopla regarding Katha Pollitt’s new book of personal essays, Learning to Drive, but I think that this Salon piece by Rebecca Traister really takes the cake. You see, it’s technically supposed to be a defense of Pollitt and a rumination on the double-standards for [...]

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On Degradation, Violence and Porn

by Cara September 24, 2007

Here is a book that I can’t wait to read: Getting Off (Pornography and the End of Masculinity) by Robert Jensen. It’s a a book by a feminist male against pornography. What the hell is not to like? But from Don Hazen’s AlterNet review, I can tell that it’s going to be a tough read. [...]

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