Feminist Monday, December 11

Good morning, y'all. Ready for some righteous rage, serious thought, and maybe a little laughter? Okay. Let's do this thing, shall we? Today's videos (sorry for all the white cis women, y'all. i'll do better next week.):

I'm going to complain again about YouTube. I subscribe to The Freq Show. Why the fuck do I need to see an anti-feminist barf her internalized bigotry all over the screen after I watch a Feminist video? Fuck Off, YouTube. Fuck. Off. (In other words, don't just let the video continue to play after it's done, folks.)

And now for the links.

Entertainment/Literary: Justin Baldwin talks about why I'm done trying to be "man enough." It's a good discussion and a necessary one. We can't dismantle systemic misogyny without also removing toxic masculinity because the two are entwined. Men need the freedom to have emotions and be vulnerable human beings. We really need to understand that these things hurt EVERYONE. An Ode To the Women Who are “Too Much”. (I was often told I was too emotional, sensitive, and expressive. All necessary qualities in creative fields, by the way.) Great article by URSULA K. LE GUIN: WHO CARES ABOUT THE GREAT AMERICAN NOVEL? And, Women are the Champions of the Rebellion Now. And, Race: the Original Sin of the Fantasy Genre. And, Someone Asked Twitter To Name A Badder B*tch Than Taylor Swift, Probably Did Not Expect A Reaction Like This.

General: Don't let the alt-right hijack #MeToo for their agenda. "It was apparent that, like Cernovich’s attack on Seder, Project Veritas’s attack on the Post was meant to discredit the #MeToo movement. Feminism is now being weaponized for right-wing agendas. At which point it’s not feminism: it’s misogyny using feminism as a cover." No shit. I've only been waiting for this from the instant the MeToo movement started. Folks, this happens all the damned time. Stop acting shocked. This is exactly how it works.[1] Every. Time. Come on. You knew it was going to devolve into an argument over little things. That's how you stop a movement that's doing important work and affecting real change. So, when I say I was holding my breath waiting for this to happen, I'm not lying. I want to see more sexual harassers removed from government office and entertainment and all aspects of American life. Women deserve to be able to walk to their cars, dine out alone, and work in peace. I want to see sexual harassers replaced with women. (Also, this.) Because this power imbalance is how sexual harassment and abuse gets normalized. No, I don't think Franken should remain. I think he should've gotten the ethics investigation he wanted. (But that didn't happen because it'd expose the rot all the way to the top.) At least this means the GOP will have less of a leg to stand on when they're taken down in droves. That's my hope, anyway. Next up: “Bad Sex,” Or The Sex We Don’t Want But Have Anyway. I started my morning reading a story about bad sex--not this one, but another. And really, that shit is just depressing. The man in that Cat Person story clearly acted out a role he'd seen in porn--that he wasn't expressing himself sexually.[2] He certainly didn't know how to be himself, let alone actually talk to a woman and listen to her as well. It's obvious he can't relate to women as a person. She's an object to be impressed and gamed. Now, from the Bad Sex article: "The hard truth is that we teach young women and girls to not make a scene, even when there’s no one else in the room. Don’t be difficult, don’t be selfish, don’t be inconvenient, don’t be rude. Your discomfort is less important than his comfort. Your feelings are less valid, less valuable than his feelings. Not to mention most teenage girls — and too many adult women — think “blue balls” are a real issue and that refusing a man who is already erect means causing him physical pain." (Uggh. Today's post is going to be long. There's too much to comment on.) In other news,  Official Toll in Puerto Rico: 64. Actual Deaths May Be 1,052. I knew, when I saw what was going on in Puerto Rico, that I was watching Katrina Part II: the Return of Killer Racism. Make no mistake. That's two of those horrific incidents on the GOP's watch--never mind the ones still ongoing. And next, Harvard Thinks It’s Found the Next Einstein — and She’s 23. And speaking of systemic misogyny noir: Black Mothers Keep Dying After Giving Birth. Shalon Irving's Story Explains Why. Also in another example of what happens when Capitalism is used in Healthcare scenarios and is mixed with racism have:  Hospitals find asthma hot spots more profitable to neglect than fix. On a more upbeat note: The Art of Discovering and Combining: Ada Lovelace on the Nature of the Imagination and Its Two Core Faculties. And this still holds true, Ruth Schwartz Cowan. More work for mother: The ironies of household technology from the open hearth to the microwave. New York: Basic Books, 1983. (Reviewed by Louise A. Tilly) And, Why I Can’t Have Coffee with You: Saying No to the Patriarchy. And, I Hid in a Back Room at Target During a Shooting. But I Didn’t Die. So NBD! Just Carry on Holiday Shopping. And, The Casualties of Women's War on Body Hair. And, #MeToo Movement Is Person Of The Year, 'Time' Says. And, Thousands Circle North Carolina’s Busiest Abortion Clinic as Anti-Choice Group Marches On.  Lastly, Facebook Is Banning Women for Calling Men ‘Scum’.

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[1] Women discover their sexuality? And then Misogyny uses it against them. One of the oldest stories since women started talking about equal rights.
[2] Sex is an art form in a way. It's about truly expressing yourself. It's about collaborating with your partner(s) on a project that is the mutual pleasure of all the consenting adults involved. You can't do that if you're not fully present in the moment. Largely, I've no issue with porn, except one: what bad porn teaches men about how they should be with women.