Feminist Monday, April 9

This morning I woke up with a song from the film Waitress running in my mind. I'm not sure what to make of that. I suspect it's because I caught the end of it yesterday while Dane and I were having a lazy Sunday. The movie is a bittersweet little thing, if you've never seen it before. I relate to it because I live in the south, love baking pie, and...well...when I was younger I had terrible taste in men. Well worth checking out.

So, I'm heading off for Luxembourg on Wednesday. Hard to believe it's only a couple days away. I'm very much looking forward to it. That said, entries here might get a bit spotty for the next three weeks. I'm traveling for a convention (LUXCON!!!), hanging out in Paris for a week, and then I'll be teaching at Writefest in Houston. This is one of the few times in my life where the writing life is what you see in the movies--minus the hordes of adoring fans. Oh, I have fans. They're just not a horde. ;) Anyway, I enjoy it to the hilt while I can as anyone with a lick of sense would.

That said, here are today's video clips. First, this one explains why, sometimes, it's best to let others have something just for them.

Entertainment/Literary: And Amazon seriously needs to get its shit together. There should be an actual system in place to verify that an author is publishing a work--not random, hap-hazard reactions. This shit is why I don't trust Amazon. This next story is an older one but is still relevant THE HARMFUL HISTORY OF “GYPSY”. And Molly Ringwald does an amazing job of deconstructing her early films via Feminism. What About “The Breakfast Club” Revisiting the movies of my youth in the age of #MeToo. And The NFL’s plan to protect America from witches is a brilliant take-down of how the NFL treats its cheerleaders. Also, read this article too--What Fresh Hell Is Going On With the NFL and Its Treatment of Its Cheerleaders? Frankly, the rules are less about morality and more about controlling women's bodies. That is, the ability of the individual cheerleaders to profit from images of their own bodies. If it were honestly about protecting women, the NFL would do something substantive about its male athletes who abuse women problem. Ultimately, it comes down to profit. And the NFL really, really doesn't want these women selling their own calendars or making their own appearances. The NFL makes a lot of money off these women athletes and pay them next to nothing for the privilege. And Why “Black Panther” is such a big deal for women. Frankly, I feel Black Panther is a much bigger push forward for Feminism than Wonder Woman was--even though women weren't the center of the story. Why? WW was the usual Feminism set in a world of misogyny. Diana still had to deal with the day to day drain of sexual harassment and the undercutting of her power as a person. And that's the important thing: Diana's power was undercut. In Black Panther, the women in the film weren't undercut in any way. Their roles in their society were equal. The. End. The difference is huge. Want to know more? Have a look at Writing Women Characters as Human Beings. And watch Black Panther multiple times. "I can't do that. I've only so much story-space to give my characters." isn't a worthy excuse. BP illustrates this principal extremely well in multiple instances and does it in two hours and fifteen minutes of screen time.

General: And this week in news that is profoundly disturbing we have Department Of Homeland Security Compiling Database Of Journalists And 'Media Influencers'. Fascism loves to control the media. And Trump Pulls Back Obama-Era Protections For Women Workers. Also, Twitter is so 'toxic' that Amnesty International is enlisting a 'Troll Patrol' to help police it. It's about time. Next, “Chappaquiddick” Shows The Machinery Behind The Kennedys — But Still Minimizes Mary Jo Kopechne's Death. Yet another story all about how a practically nameless dead woman affected a tortured, powerful man's life. Just. Argh. And now read The missing link: why disabled people can’t afford to #DeleteFacebook. I'm not convinced that FB will do anything about its data breach problem. Why? This is why: Facebook told me it would act swiftly on data misuse – in 2015. Then read how Oklahoma teachers are posting their crumbling textbooks online. Kansas and Oklahoma are two states where the Libertarian experiment was given a solid run and both are hot messes as a result. I'll just say it. I believe Libertarian politics are racist. They're all about keeping the power for white straight cis men (because that's what the system empowers without any regulation) and fucking everyone else. With Vice President Pence breaking tie, Senate passes anti-Planned Parenthood bill. Lastly, I Tried to Befriend Nikolas Cruz. He Still Killed My Friends.

​Trigger Warning: The Silence: The Legacy of Childhood Trauma