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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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May
12
Need a laugh?
Filed Under feminism, fun, marketing, media, pop culture, products, random, sexism, stereotypes, videos | 5 Comments
Writing this blog everyday, I sure as hell do! And this cracked me up.
If like me, you’re fed up with stupid sexist commercials, check out a few getting some feminist skewering:
I want to see more of Sarah Haskins. And I also might have to start watching InfoMania. It kind of looks like VH1’s Best Week Ever . . . but with jokes that are funny.
Popularity: 2% [?]
Apr
18
I Think I Like John Edwards Again
Filed Under 2008 election, Democrats, fun, media, politics, pop culture, videos | 7 Comments
Alright, alright. So I went from loving John Edwards to really hating on him. And I stand by everything I said.
But . . . dude’s starting to win me over.
I mean, he makes some excellent points; who doesn’t want to be a jet ski-riding spy? I know that I do.
Also, happy anniversary to me.
Popularity: 14% [?]
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% [?]
Jan
21
Remembering Dr. King
Filed Under WOC issues, activism, class and economics, human rights, media, paternalism, politics, pop culture, race and racism, reproductive justice, videos | 3 Comments
We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people. — Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
As I’m sure you know, today is Martin Luther King Day. I have no illusions that I have anything original to say about the great man, his legacy, civil rights, non-violence or social justice, and I’m not going to pretend that I do.
I’ve recently had brought to my attention that Dr. King was one of the very first recipient of the Margaret Sanger award. The following is from the speech he wrote for the occasion (but due to situations beyond his control, was never able to personally deliver). It’s very interesting, in that it expresses an earlier notion of what we know today as reproductive justice:
Popularity: 15% [?]
Jan
7
This is what I hate about politics
Filed Under 2008 election, abortion, disability, marketing, misogyny, patriarchy, politics, reproductive justice, sexism, videos, women’s health | 11 Comments
The Clinton campaign has put out a last-minute attack mailing against Obama in New Hampshire, and the content really pisses me off:
Barack Obama’s campaign fought back Sunday against rival Hillary Rodham Clinton in an under-the-radar dispute over who would best protect abortion rights.
Obama’s campaign made automated phone calls to New Hampshire voters accusing Clinton of “last-minute smears.”
The recorded message came in response to a Clinton mailing that said Obama failed to stand up for the right to choose abortion. The mailing said that while serving in the state Senate in Illinois, Obama voted “present” seven times on abortion legislation instead of taking a yes or no position.
In the Obama call, Wendy Frosh, of Planned Parenthood in Northern New England, said Obama “has a 100 percent pro-choice record and has always been a champion for women’s rights.”
Yes, this does look very bad on paper. But here are the facts: Obama’s “present” votes were Planned Parenthoods’ idea.
Pam Sutherland, president of Illinois Planned Parenthood Council, said Mr. Obama was one of the senators with a strong stand for abortion rights whom the organization approached about using the strategy. Ms. Sutherland said the Republicans were trying to force Democrats from conservative districts to register politically controversial no votes.
Ms. Sutherland said Mr. Obama had initially resisted the strategy because he wanted to vote against the anti-abortion measures.
“He said, ‘I’m opposed to this,’” she recalled.
But the organization argued that a present vote would be difficult for Republicans to use in campaign literature against Democrats from moderate and conservative districts who favored abortion rights.
Lisa Madigan, the Illinois attorney general who was in the Illinois Senate with Mr. Obama from 1998 through 2002, said she and Mr. Obama voted present on the anti-abortion bills.
“It’s just plain wrong to imply that voting present reflected a lack of leadership,” Ms. Madigan said. “In fact, it was the exact opposite.”
I recommend reading the full article, because it explains some of the weirdness of the “present” vote culture in Illinois. I find it to be odd, too, but Obama didn’t make the rules. As for the rest of his “present” votes, I think that he has given adequate explanations for most of them. Others, not so much. But then again, Clinton doesn’t exactly have a perfect voting record, either. What pisses me off is that Clinton and her campaign are smart enough to know better. They know that the ads are huge manipulations of the truth and that Obama is actually an incredibly strong pro-choice candidate. In fact, it’s probably my favorite thing about the guy. So I call bullshit very loudly and indignantly.
The upside, I realized, after the burst of anger subsided, is that there really must be parts of this country where abortion rights are a winning issue. Otherwise, the mailing never would have seen the light of day.
I also can’t bring myself to pick on Clinton too greatly. Earlier today, during a Q&A session, she teared up while answering a question about “how she does it.” The video is after the jump.
Popularity: 17% [?]
Dec
9
Food for Thought
Filed Under WOC issues, activism, class and economics, feminism, patriarchy, sex work, videos, work | 5 Comments
Discuss.
Popularity: 12% [?]
Dec
6
Offensive Remark of the Week: Tom Tancredo Crosses Lines You Didn’t Know Existed Edition
Filed Under 2008 election, Republicans, WOC issues, assholes, bigotry, class and economics, discrimination, human rights, offensive remark of the week, politics, race and racism, stereotypes, videos | 7 Comments
Anyone who has watched a single Republican debate knows that Tom Tancredo is a raving, racist lunatic. You’d think that all of his bullshit about how immigrants are terrorists who steal “our” jobs and refuse to learn English would be bad enough. But now, via Racialicious, he has called undocumented immigrants child rapists.
Check out the ad:
[Transcript:
Tancredo: Hi, I'm Tom Tancredo and I approve this message -- because someone needs to say it.
Voice over: Mothers killed, children executed, the tactics of vicious Central American gangs now on U.S. soil. Pushing drugs, raping kids, destroying lives, thanks to gutless politicians who refuse to defend our borders. One man dares say what must be done, secure the borders, deport those who don't belong and make sure they never come back.]
Actually, Tom, I’m quite sure that nobody needed to say that. Ever.
The best part, of course, is that it’s not only a lie: even if it were true, the children they would be raping would be, um . . . their own. You know, the kids that Tom Tancredo doesn’t give a shit about and wants to deport so that they can go live with all of the drug pushers, kid rapists and life destroyers. Because almost all sexually abused children in non-war torn countries are abused by someone they know. Like here, in America. By white people.
But hey, you heard it here first, folks: they don’t belong. Not that he means that in a racist way or anything.
Popularity: 15% [?]
Nov
24
The Joke That Never Gets Old
Filed Under assholes, cross-post, misogyny, pop culture, rape and sexual assault, videos, violence against women and girls | 4 Comments
Via Melissa at Shakes comes this video from Will Ferrell and some of his moron “comedy” buddies (no, I’m not a fan) that is so bad I couldn’t bring myself to use the “humor” tag. The whole thing is ridiculously stupid, but if you can sit through the first two and a half minutes of non-jokes about people who are eco-friendly, you’ll be rewarded at the end with a completely random and blatant joke about gang rape, and who doesn’t love one of those? Enjoy:
I take back everything I’ve said. Will Ferrell could in fact get less classy.
Popularity: 18% [?]
Nov
4
Dressing up sexist humor?
Filed Under 2008 election, Democrats, gender, media, politics, pop culture, sexism, stereotypes, videos | 18 Comments
Via The Caucus, I’m curious about opinions on Barack Obama’s surprise appearance in the SNL opening sketch last night. Here’s the video:
Personally, I’m not an SNL fan (at least not since the early 90s), but a few of the scenes did make me laugh — Bill Clinton dressed up as Mystery, Dodd and Biden, Richardson, Mike Gravel and Kucinich all got a chuckle out of me. And though I disagree with the implication, the subtle dig at Edwards in having him dressed up as a hobo was actually pretty clever.
But I have to say that I’m not exactly pleased with Hillary being both the main butt of the jokes and the nagging wife who Bill begrudgingly tolerates. The whole “witch” joke was sexist and not even funny — which I thought was particularly disappointing, since the opportunity could have been used more effectively to mock how the male candidates supposedly view and act towards her. Instead, she was the one portrayed as catty, which, for all of her negative faults, does not seem to be a word that describes her. And the whole conniving aspect of wanting to dress up as a bride and groom? Blahhhhh.
On the other hand, compared to the sexism you usually see whenever Hillary comes up, this is pretty benign. And at least they didn’t try to ugly her up, like is done in most “comedy” — the woman who plays her is actually attractive.
But what about Obama? He was the only non-sexist male in the bunch, but he still acted in what was essentially a sexist sketch. And then there’s his actual line — I’m pretty sure that it was meant to be a dig at Sen. Clinton’s supposed lack of integrity, but to me, ended up accidentally mocking Obama’s occasional propensity towards coming off as overly earnest and self-important, instead.
So, what do you think? Sexist and obnoxious, or mostly harmless? Funny or not funny? I thought that it was an interesting piece for discussion.
Popularity: 14% [?]
Nov
2
Bad Ass Women’s Activist of the Week
Filed Under abortion, activism, anti-choice extremism, bad ass women’s activist of the week, blogging, religious fanaticism, reproductive justice, videos, women’s health | 5 Comments
I’m bringing back the Bad Ass Women’s Activist of the Week segment for some particularly bad ass people.
For those of you who aren’t currently reading the new Planned Parenthood blog I Am Emily X, you should be. Every day they post a different story and video of a different, anonymous Planned Parenthood clinic worker or volunteer (all of whom they call “Emily X”), talking about their experiences working at their clinic, and namely dealing with the protesters who are outside. They started it as a counter to the insane “40 Days of Life” protests taking part across the country. Whether the blog will continue once the campaign is over, I’m not sure, but I really hope that it does.
Today’s video is particularly interesting. It’s by a doctor who used to work with Dr. Slepian, and was one of the first doctors to go back to work at his clinic after the murder. He was assigned 9 federal marshals for his protection.
It’s chilling, and particularly so for me. Dr. Slepian was killed about an hour from my home. I was only 13-14 years old at the time, so my memory of the news coverage is vague and spotty. But since I now work at an abortion clinic a little over an hour from Dr. Slepian’s old clinic, it’s hard for the story — and the mere mention of Dr. Slepian’s name — to not strike a chord. Here’s the doctor, and please, make sure to check out the other videos of Emily X.
Popularity: 19% [?]
Oct
4
Very funny, very sad, very true
Filed Under 2008 election, Republicans, WOC issues, assholes, bigotry, media, politics, race and racism, videos | Leave a Comment
Via brownfemipower.
Popularity: 8% [?]
Sep
18
Emmys Roundup
Filed Under homophobia and transphobia, media, misogyny, objectification, pop culture, sexism, videos, violence against women and girls | 6 Comments
Oh Emmys, how do I hate thee? Let me count the ways.
I know that this post is a little late, but it really does have to be said. Sure, Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert and Steve Carrell were awesome. But what else is new? The Kanye West/Rainn Wilson rap battle made me laugh out loud, particularly Kanye’s “I never win anything.” But the rest. Shitty, offensive or shitty and offensive. And no, I’m not even talking about the censoring of Sally Field.
First there was Ryan Seacrest wearing an absolutely ridiculous outfit (you can see it at the beginning of the Kanye clip), for what seemed to be the soul purpose of calling it “gay.” Haha– get it, gay is gross and feminine, so gay is funny! Let’s just forget the fact that no self-respecting gay man would ever wear that outfit (and no, you don’t get to bring up Carson Kressley or Ant. I said “self-respecting”).
Then there was Brad Garrett’s seemingly endless string of misogynist jokes. I couldn’t find the clip anywhere, but it’s partially quoted here as one of the funniest moments of the night (it wasn’t). And it was a lot worse than that. How long do you think that you can berate, mock and shamelessly objectify a woman on stage for daring to show some cleavage? A long, long time, apparently.
And this, I thought, was the worst of all. The Jersey Boys Tribute to The Sopranos. I don’t know why other feminist bloggers haven’t been all over this one– maybe because The Sopranos is supposedly so fucking untouchable. Look, I’ve never watched the show. I don’t get HBO, and I quite honestly do not have any desire to follow the lives of a bunch of violent white men. But hey, whatever, to each their own.
What I have a massive problem with is the point almost 3:00 into that clip where scenes from the show depicting extreme domestic violence are accompanied by a song apparently called “I Love You, Baby” by the Four Seasons called “Who Loves You, Pretty Baby?” –all about how the guy loves and cherishes his female partner. Um. You know, I can only hope and assume that the original context of the Soprano’s clips portrayed these men as been completely unredeemable pieces of shit. So what the fuck is going on here? Oh, yeah, I get it: “irony,” right? Well guess the fuck what, people: just because you’re being “ironic” doesn’t mean you’re being funny. And “irony” is not a free license to offend and laugh off violence against women. And acting as though domestic violence is a joke is really just reinforcing and sanctioning its existence, “ironic” or not. Really. I know, it’s shocking. But the sooner we realize it, the better. And the sooner I can stop wanting to throw my television out the window.
Popularity: 8% [?]