Miscellaneous

Weighing In On the Phelps Case

Posted on October 18, 2010
So, the Phelps clan recently brought their traveling circus of bigotry to the Supreme Court to defend their right to hold anti-gay protests at funerals.Neat. I've seen a lot of people throughout the liberal and progressive blogosphere quote Voltaire: ?I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it...

OkCupid's Sexuality Analysis

Posted on October 15, 2010
While some online dating companies throw shitfits about not wanting to provide their services to gay and lesbian users, some do not. OkCupid, which falls into the latter category, has somewhat humorously analyzed 3.2 million profiles in order to make comparisons about its gay and straight users...

The Privilege to Walk Away

Posted on October 14, 2010
An interesting thing went on at Alas, a Blog, recently. Namely, a discussion was had about when and whether it is appropriate to refer to those who oppose same-sex marriage as bigots. The title of the post, "In Defense of the B-word," suggested that perhaps equality opponents see the word bigot as akin to the n-word...

Still Doing It Wrong

Posted on October 13, 2010
[TW: Suicide] In more news of the How Not To Write a Gay Suicide Article, we have this gem from Gregg Easterbrook, entitled "Gay Suicides and Media Hype." So, basically, right away you get an inkling of where this one's going. First, Easterbrook notes that the recent suicide of gay youth Tyler Clementi "brings tears to the eyes," which of course erases anything offensive he might say later...

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Tuesday Random Roundup

Posted on October 12, 2010
1. Writing in Religion Dispatches, Baptist minister and PhD student Cody J. Sanders takes Christians to task for letting anti-LGBT voices dominate LGBT-affirming voices: "The most insidious forms [of anti-gay bullying], however, are not those from groups like Westboro Baptist Church...

It Gets Better

Posted on October 11, 2010
[Cross-posted at Our Big Gayborhood]The following narrative was inspired by Dan Savage's It Gets Better Project, which he formed in response to recent suicides committed by youths who were bullied for being, or perceived as being, gay. LGBTQ youth, especially those who are rejected by their families, are much more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual peers...

College Journalist: Flamboyant Adult Gays to Blame for Suicides

Posted on October 08, 2010
[TW: Sexual prejudice, Suicide] So, this article in The Crimson White, by junior political science major Michael Patrick, starts off well enough. First he refers to the "recent string of suicides in homosexual teenagers" and informatively recounts some of the media response...

The Dangers of Gender Essentialism: Crappy PR Campaigns for Marriage and Men

Posted on October 07, 2010
[TW: Discussion of male rape fantasies]Tying into last week's conversation about that undercurrent of essentialist fear lying within many conservative arguments against same-sex marriage, is this post on the alleged "dangers of [gender] neutrality" at the Family Scholars Blog (FSB)...

Note to NOM: Current Marriage "Defense" Strategy Failing

Posted on October 06, 2010
In the 2004 election, social conservatives used the equality of LGB Americans as a political football to get the conservative vote out by putting same-sex marriage bans on the ballot in 11 states. All of these bans passed. Then, in 2005, the Louisiana Supreme Court re-instated the state's same-sex marriage ban...

Man Explains White Lady Unhappiness

Posted on October 05, 2010
Do you ever get the feeling that some people just wake up one day thinking "You know, today I think I might try writing about feminism and the ladies"? I get that impression frequently. Usually when reading unfortunate attempted internet smackdowns of feminism that my Google Alerts feeds to my inbox...

More Definitely-Not-Bigotry

Posted on October 04, 2010
Writing a somewhat dull op-ed piece in The Washington Times, conservative commentator Rebecca Hagelin opines: "A recent survey suggests that Americans are more accepting than ever of homosexual 'families.' Although only about one-third of Americans consider homosexual couples with no children to be a family, 68 percent say homosexual couples with children do indeed make a 'family...

Links: Round 'em Up Cowgirls!

Posted on October 01, 2010
I haven't done one of these posts in a while. Basically because I'm a blabbermouth and prefer actually writing posts of my own. But here is some random stuff around the world wide web I've read recently. Feel free to include links to stuff you've been reading, in the comments...

MRA Essentialism of the Day

Posted on September 30, 2010
Many men's rights activists (MRAs) are not fans of gender essentialism. When it is men who are being negatively stereotyped, that is. Indeed, for all of their whinging about women/feminists/society framing men as violent, sex-crazed cavemen, one might expect that a logical next course of action would be to reject other assertions of alleged essential characteristics of men...

Sarah's Choice

Posted on September 29, 2010
"In the sorrow of having children there is the recognition that one's humanity is reduced to this, and on this one's survival depends." -Andrea Dworkin, Right-Wing Women This is not a post about whether or not Sarah Palin is a Real Feminist. Indeed that is the wrong question...

Man: Princessy Women's Races Are Feminist Plot

Posted on September 28, 2010
The Wall Street Journal ran an article about the plight of male runners who enter women's running races. Apparently, that some corporations market certain races toward women constitutes "reverse Title IX." Now, depending upon the justifications for it, I don't think sex-segregation in sports is a bad thing...

Traditional Marriage "Equality"

Posted on September 27, 2010
While some folks wax on about the supposed inherent "equality" that exists in the heterosexual marriage, and only in the heterosexual marriage, I actually love it when folks are more up front about their sexism. Instead of cloaking their gender complementarist sexism in the language of equality, they just outright admit that they long for the days of old, when men were in charge and women lacked the legal and financial means to live without husbands...

Subverting Dr. Dre

Posted on September 24, 2010
[TW, Lyrics NSFW]. Check out this video at Sociological Images. It is an all-female, mostly-white a cappella group singing Dr. Dre's "Bitches Ain't Shit." Over at Sociological Images, there was a wide range of commentary there about whether it was anything from "ironically racist" to a brilliant "use of race, class, and gender contradictions" to "mock" the original song and expose its misogyny...

Prop 8 Update: Marriage Defense Brief

Posted on September 23, 2010
And so the Prop 8 saga continues.I read through the recently-filed "marriage defense" Prop 8 brief (PDF), in which the private initiative group that put Prop 8 on the ballot is claiming to have standing to appeal, and was tempted to briefly summarize the 134-page document with the phrase same shit, different day...

So, Did We Win?

Posted on September 22, 2010
[TW: Sexual assault, gender-based violence, murder, war]In Iraq, I mean. Now that President Obama has declared an end to combat operations, and given that the 7+ year war in Iraq was predicated on an "intelligence failure" that former President Bush has said was his "biggest regret," what would a victory look like? President Obama has said that "the Iraqi people now have lead responsibility for the security of their country," but I am left wondering: Which Iraqi people?In war, victory and defeat have not always meant the same for women as they have for men...

We Are Not Amused

Posted on September 21, 2010
[Trigger Warning: Violence] Why did FoxNews put this article in its "Entertainment" section?FYI, the article is about how an actor in the movie The 40-Year-Old Virgin arrived at his girlfriend's house only to find her drinking with another man. He then proceeded to, admittedly, stab his girlfriend 20 times...

Batwoman: Lesbian

Posted on September 20, 2010
Although many lesbian and bisexual ladies love reading sapphic subtext into movies, books, and television shows, it is still quite fun when subtext because maintext and a fictional character "comes out." In somewhat old, but relevant, news, comic book character Batwoman is apparently a lesbian, and was "partly based on the experiences of Dan Choi" who was discharged from the Army under Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT)...

Learning Gender Through Ads

Posted on September 17, 2010
Thank you to occasional Fannie's Room commenter and special lady friend "hammerpants" for passing along the following Target ad. (Are we still boycotting them, by the way? I haven't received this month's copy of the Gay Agenda Meeting Minutes). Anyway, let's see what this ad tells us about the sexes: On the left, we see a pregnant-looking woman who has gathered an assortment of pink stuff in her shopping cart...

Attention Women: New Beauty Standards in Effect

Posted on September 16, 2010
The Global Accords Governing the Fair Use of Women (to use a Twisty phrase) have apparently mandated new standards of beauty that, like the previous standards, few women naturally meet but should try to emulate anyway. In this CNN article, we learn that because the US in general, and the fashion industry in particular, is now awesomely post-racial, "ethnic" (read: non-white?) women are now the new "it" standard of female beauty:"More voluptuous figures, fuller lips and darker skin, features traditionally associated with women of African, Latin and Asian cultures, are 'in...

Don't Ask, Don't Tell Ruled Unconstitutional

Posted on September 15, 2010
What do you know. Despite being conservative, the Log Cabin Republicans can sometimes serve a purpose. In Log Cabin Republicans v. United States of America (PDF), a federal judge last week found Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT) to be unconstitutional. (All quotes from Log Cabin Republicans unless otherwise indicated)...

The Totally-Not-At-All-Prejudicially-Worded "Are You A Pro-Gay Bigot" Quiz, Part II

Posted on September 14, 2010
This post is a continuation of yesterday's post, where I take on the "Are You a Pro-Gay Bigot?" quiz. The quiz questions are in bold.10. Do you believe that only churches that accept homosexuality have interpreted the Bible in the ?correct? way? No, although I do wish Christians would take a course in textual criticism before they begin quoting scripture...

The Totally-Not-At-All-Prejudicially-Worded "Are You A Pro-Gay Bigot" Quiz, Part I

Posted on September 13, 2010
[Cross-posted at Our Big Gayborhood]For a brief moment during the Prop 8 debacle, the national discourse surrounding same-sex marriage shifted away from families and instead centered around whether one man, "marriage defender" David Blankenhorn, was a bigot...

End Not Near In Post-Same-Sex-Marriage Iowa

Posted on September 10, 2010
I am not going to suggest that the correlation in the following bit of evidence implies causation. I post the following because as actual evidence it automatically trumps the anti-gay "same-sex marriage is a bad idea for society because I say so" argumentation that some of those who oppose same-sex marriage arrogantly use: "The angst over marriage in Iowa comes after year in which the state of marriage has made a turn toward statistical bliss: More people got married and fewer split up [after same-sex marriage became legal]...

Book Review: Self-Made Man

Posted on September 09, 2010
Previously, I have considered the experience of scientist Ben Barres, a transgender man who has written of how others treat him differently as a man than they did as a woman. Writer Norah Vincent, who is not transgender, decided to disguise herself as a man in order to document some such differences in treatment...

Gendered Language Shapes Our Minds

Posted on September 08, 2010
I write often about the English language's role in perpetuating notions of male superiority. Those who feel similarly might be interested in this article, written by linguist Guy Deutscher. Once you get past the creepy, disembodied images of lips gracing the top of the article, you will find that Deutscher renders a thought-provoking article about language's role in shaping how we think...

"Marriage Defender" Plays Social Darwinist, Badly

Posted on September 06, 2010
It's been a while since I've read the amateur "marriage defense" blog Opine Editorials. However, after perusing their usual smattering of echolalic articles there recently, I found one brief nugget that was worth pointing out. In it, our friend "On Lawn" evidences the hetero-supremacist Prop 8 mindset that Judge Walker rightly struck down...

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