The full Daughter of Feminist Monday post is up over on my Patreon. Supporters get the full entry, but here's the first paragraph.

In case you didn't notice during all the fuss about the US nearly going to war because a geriatric mobster with serious emotional and cognitive issues decided it'd be a great day to murder someone in a foreign country and then threaten to commit war crimes.[1] Virginia is set to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment.[2] The United States lags far, far behind its peers when it comes to women's rights.And if you think the ERA is unnecessary, consider this from the CNN article at the previous link: "Only 32 constitutions do not include an explicit gender equality guarantee. The U.S. Constitution is one of them. Though parts of the Constitution -- like the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment -- may appear to protect women, even Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has said this isn't the case." So, no. The ERA is not redundant. Japanese women now had more rights than their American counterparts. Even Afghanistan's constitution includes equal rights provisions for women. (It's not enforced, but it is there and provides a future path to that end.)

This weekend a popular Thriller author claimed that women can't fight. This week, Daughter of Feminist Monday is my reply. 

Today's Feminist Monday post is titled: 257 Years Until Equal. If you're interested, access Feminist Monday posts via my Patreon account. $1 a month is all it takes. Thank you for your time and attention.! https://www.patreon.com/stinaleicht

Yeah. Not that Invisible Woman. This is just a quick note to say that the newest blog post which is about Caroline Criado-Perez's book Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men  is now available at: https://www.patreon.com/stinaleicht. Thanks so much!

It's been about six months. Sorry. Feminist Monday was a lot of work and stress. So after a good long think I'm moving it to Patreon. It makes more sense. Paying that whopping $1 a month weeds out the random assholes in the comments. It also compensates me for the work involved. It's a good thing all around. So, if you're interested in my Patreon the link is: https://www.patreon.com/stinaleicht

Hopefully, I'll see you over there. The first post will be about Caroline Criado Perez's Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men. It's excellent.

Obviously, I'm taking a longer break than planned. Thing is, my parents are older and not in the best of health. I've a new car and that means I'm going to be doing more long distance driving for a while. (Mom is preparing to move to a different city.) In addition, I've been feeling pretty burned-out on blogging lately. I suppose everyone gets to that point. The internet is a different world than it once was and so are American politics. Frankly, I just need a break. I'm so tired of being angry all the damned time. It's made me feel like a less pleasant, happy person. I want to be an optimist. I think right now the world could use some optimism--the wolf you feed and all that. Will I come back to Feminist Monday posting? Yes. Absolutely. When my batteries have recharged. There's too much work to do, and I can't help feeling like my little blog was opening the eyes of some (men) that needed it. That's a good thing. But I've got to take a rest. There's simply too much going on in the world and at home. It's overwhelming.

I wish I could give you a date. But right now, I can't. I do promise to pop in when I'm feeling I have the energy. So, the blog isn't dead. I'll post on Twitter and FB (for now.) when I've something new to say. For now, thanks for being a consistent reader. Thanks for being there. I'll see you soon.

So, it's getting closer to my novel deadline and the holidays are here, and I have got to focus. And I need to get myself off of social media for a while too. Sorry, y'all. It's just time.

See you on the other side.

Posts have been pretty scarce around here lately. The reason why is because I'm nearing the end of the rewrites on my new novel Persephone Station. And it's time to really focus on making that ending great. Also, it's the holidays. This is a very busy time of year for me. So much baking to do. All to say...Friday's post is going to be sketchy until I turn the novel in. After that, I've a new project on the fire. We'll see how that goes. :) 

Anyway, on to the links. First, the videos. First, Hannah Gadsby talks about "The Good Men" & Misogyny. 

I have to admit that it's a little jarring to see some late night tv comic personalities talk about misogyny because I can't help feeling like they're two steps ahead of a "Me Too" moment themselves--not all of them. Just most of them. And yes, it's weird watching them draw the boundaries and not women. I like how Hannah pushes it farther and says these things apply to white people too, and CIS people, and abled people...and so on. 

It always amuses me when women talk about Barbie and clearly have no earthly idea about her origins as a sex doll. (yes. there's an honest to god reason for her weird proportions. and people wonder about why i bitch about comic book portrayals of women's bodies.) 

​And now...the links.

Dane and I love Comedies--particularly Dark Comedies. He'll watch the schlockiest stuff and giggle. Me, I can't risk my precious StoryBrain Meats.[1] So, every once in a while Dane suggests movies that are far, far better than they have any right to be--or far better than their trailers and budgets indicate. It's how I discovered The Final Girls. and Happy Death Day. That's also how I found myself in a theater watching this delightful little gem. It's called Anna and the Apocalypse, and I'm here to tell you that it's a scrummy little holiday treat--not in the sense that its a holiday movie because it isn't. Well, not in a "Winter Holidays are central to the story". More in the sense that Die Hard is considered a Christmas movie. Also, parents don't take your eight year old to see it, thinking it'll be the next High School Musical.[2] Bad Idea. So, think Shaun of the Dead mashed with a small bit of Rock Horror Picture Show and you might be prepared. Dark British Humor all the way. I love the "I'm cluelessly going about my business as the world falls apart around me" trope. The Brits do it so very, very well. I suspect there's a cultural reason for this. (Remember the UK government response to a possible Nazi invasion partly involved the development of "Keep Calm and Carry On" post-invasion posters.)

I'm extra fussy about musicals, btw. (I often just tell people I don't like them.) This one is brilliant. I definitely want to find the soundtrack. The dance routines are great too. It's well-written. The dialog makes sense and fits the characters. The transitions between dialog and songs make sense. The actors' singing voices are amazing. I seriously want that soundtrack.

And now the Naughty and Nice List. Warning: Contains spoilers behind the cut. Like seriously, I'm not even going to try not to spoil it because the things that make it cool are the things that the does different from Hollywood movies. In fact, the song There's No Such Thing as a Hollywood Ending says it all.