Archive for the ‘feminism’ Category

She Said She Said

Tuesday, July 1st, 2008

Ingrid Robeyns at Crooked Timber heard from a friend of hers in Italy that his children’s school gave the following (translated, I assume) directions for picking up kids for an early dismissal: “Today Mothers should pick up their children at 2 pm rather than 4 pm.” Ingrid writes, “If I ever were to read such a note, I would be outraged that the school would assume that it could only be mothers who would get the kids from school; he, as a father, was outraged that the school assumed that there would be no fathers picking up the kids from school.” And, sure, that is some pretty crude sexism there, but is the primary feature of the note that it is outrageous, or that it is really bizarre and anachronistic?

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Posted in feminism | 13 Comments »

Women Around the World at Wonk

Sunday, June 15th, 2008

On reason magazine’s website, it’s Kerry Howley versus Michael C. Moynihan on Sexism versus Hillary Clinton. Howley gets much the better of the argument when she writes

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Posted in Democrats, feminism, libertarianism, vulgar libertarianism | 5 Comments »

If a woman can do it…

Tuesday, May 20th, 2008

My co-worker Alix has a weblog devoted to peace. She is now traveling around America, on back roads, stopping everywhere and interviewing people, asking them what their personal definition of peace is. She did this last summer as well, 11,000 miles on a scooter (but with a 120cc engine, so legally it is a motorcycle), engaging people in conversation and encouraging them to go to her website and leave a thought about peace. She plans to take a route that will ultimately be (when viewed on a map) in the shape of a peace sign. On her weblog she usually writes about her travel, and the people she meets. Today, however, she shares her frustration over a comment she keeps getting from men, and about how the biology of her sex effects her travel:

I hear this comment a lot, “Well, I was thinking, if she can do it, so can I.” 100% of said comments come from men. And so I think, yes, yes, YOU CAN. You always could. But could you do it in a woman’s body? Perhaps I don’t offer a lot of my personal impressions ( which from this moment on, is going to change) because I don’t want anyone to minimize my personal experiences because of my sex. Perhaps this custom comes from one specific thing we don’t talk about. And once in a blue moon, it affects most of my day. Fellas, could you do a ride like this in my body?

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Posted in feminism | 13 Comments »

Handwringing over Hillary

Tuesday, May 20th, 2008

I really don’t understand much of the handwringing  and lamentations from some feminists over Hillary Clinton’s tanked campaign.

It’s true. She faced a lot of misogynist crap. It’s also true that she did not get the nomination.

But it’s also true that she rose above the misogynist crap thrown at her and nobody seriously suggests that being a woman was what lost her the nomination. Indeed, her own campaign, have indirectly pointed at Obama’s race in suggesting that he would be less electable than she in the general.

So, why all this negativity? (more…)

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Posted in feminism | 5 Comments »

Who needs Fair Pay?

Monday, April 28th, 2008

 Last week, Senate Republicans blocked a bill that would have enabled women  to more effectively sue employers over gender based wage discrimination.   The bill was intended to overturn the Supreme Court’s 2007 ruling in Ledbetter v. Goodyear , which limited the ability of workers to seek legal recourse under Title VII by enforcing a statute of limitations of 180 days from the first instance of wage discrimination (despite the fact that this type of discrimination is often as subtle as it is insidious and therefore can take much longer to uncover).  John McCain was absent on voting day, but made clear through comments that he opposed the bill.  Times op-ed columnist Gail Collins had this to say about the bill, the vote, and the absent McCain’s stance in the debate: (more…)

Posted in Republicans, corporate state, feminism, labor, your friend the state | 2 Comments »

I choose atomization

Thursday, April 17th, 2008

Human are social animals and I think it is an illusion to think that we can ever be, or would ever want to be, completely free of others. However, I think that as societies we can choose how to structure that obligation. When we talk about freedom on this blog, it is usually in relation to the state. But the truth is freedom from tradition and family obligations can be just as important.

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Posted in Family, feminism | 60 Comments »

No chance of dealing with the problem so you might as well outlaw conversation about it (anorexia)

Wednesday, April 16th, 2008

France is likely to enact a law to ban websites that encourage anorexia. If I was feeling cynical, I might suggest that there is a kind of cowardice in banning the sites, rather than addressing the social forces that might cause women to starve themselves to death. The law would be defensible in a “You can’t shout ‘fire’ in a crowded theater” kind of way if it could be shown that banning these sites would actually save a life somewhere. As it stands, I have trouble believing this law will actually save lives. Also, how in the world can such a law be enforced? If a law such as this was passed in America, it would mean that all the pro-ana groups on MySpace and Facebook would be illegal. Who would be responsible for enforcement, the government or MySpace and Facebook? Would usernames such as “Ana is my sister” and “I love Ana” become illegal? Such a law would mean that the folks who started Ana Friends would face criminal charges. It would also raise tricky questions about who holds the responsibilty for the forums that users start on big websites. For instance, who would face criminal sanctions for the pro-anorexia forum on LiveJournal, LiveJournal, or the woman who started the forum?

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Posted in anorexia, feminism, france, free speech | 10 Comments »

If only Scalia had been right

Friday, April 4th, 2008

In an article this week for TNR entitled Legal Bondage, Jeffrey Rosin gives moral legislation in the US a clean bill of health, despite Justice Scalia’s alarmist dissent five years ago in Lawrence v. Texas warning that the majority’s decision to decriminalize sodomy would send the country down the “slippery slope” of unchecked moral degeneration: (more…)

Posted in GOP morons, abuse of power, education, feminism, gay rights, neoconservatives, religion in politics, sex work | 79 Comments »

(Update) Spitzer’s Hypocrisy Aside, and Contra Some Feminists, Sex Work Should Be Legal

Tuesday, March 11th, 2008
To the discontent of some of his regular readers, Glenn Greenwald deviates from his usual analyses of FISA issues, neocons, the pathologies in the media & etc., and posts about the sheer inanity of the public’s giving a tinker’s damn who Eliot Spitzer has sex with per se – but he carves out the exception for harping on the hypocrisy factor, and withholds personal sympathy for Spitzer who has prosecuted “prostitution rings” — and with those caveats in place, he asks in his title: Who cares if Eliot Spitzer hires prostitutes? Then inquires: (more…)

Posted in feminism, libertarianism, sex work | 2 Comments »