Feminist Monday, September 17

This week promises to be hectic. Dane had a minor problem with his car. On top of it, I need to help out my Mom with some things, and somehow manage to keep up with the word count while I'm at it. Here's hoping it all works out without my getting too far behind. I'm sure it'll be fine but...arggh. :) Anyway, on to more important things.

And today's comic is about the unfortunate LEGO Friends. Personally, it isn't as much about fem lego hair as it's availability in sets as well as its being featured on box fronts, advertising and so on. (I've seen the argument that 'girl hair' has always been available and thus, isn't a problem. [eye roll]) Look as long as women are treated as a separate species in toys there will be a persistent sexism problem. And now, those links.

Literary/Entertainment: The Only Female In My Crew is an example that teaches us why the 'token female' is a problem. Hell, tokenism in general is a problem, but hey, we knew that. George RR Martin signs on to the HBO team to help translate Nnedi Okorafor's Who Fears Death to the small screen. Unfortunately, the entertainment news cycle gets it all wrong and fails to credit Nnedi as the author of the novel upon which the soon to be series is based. Yeah. That was a mess. And have two reviews of diverse media projects. BGN TIFF 2017 Review: ‘Five Fingers For Marseilles’ and BGN TIFF 2017 Review: The Drop In. Also, these look interesting too: Revealing the Covers for Mary Robinette Kowal’s Lady Astronaut Books. As a hobbyist photographer, I paid attention when it was revealed that Kodak's films were not POC friendly. So, it's no surprise to see this headline: @HBO’s Insecure has mastered the art of lighting black faces. And one day, Hollywood will stop shooting scenes with camera lenses that require the female actors to be unhealthfully skinny in order to appear normal.[1] BGN’s Own Jamie Broadnax Joins Syfy Advisory Council. That's a very good thing. Hopefully, SyFy will make more headway regarding diversity in its programming. And here's a different perspective on Stephen King's IT. Mike Hanlon, the black kid in Stephen King’s ‘It,’ has a remarkable backstory. The movie erased it. I'm still processing, myself. It makes perfect sense that Princess Leia should have a PhD – but we need more female academics. Poor Leia has the weight of so much put on her. I don't know how the character is able to hold up to all the pressure without collapsing under it.

General: This week in No, Really. Trump Supporters are, in fact, White Supremacists this story: Study: A Picture of a Black Person Can Anger Trump Supporters and Change Their Politics. So, more and more evidence is cropping up regarding the link between Russia and Trump. This time, it's linking Clinton-bashing and Russia. Shuttered Facebook group that organized anti-Clinton, anti-immigrant rallies across Texas was linked to Russia. As much money as was dumped into anti-Clinton ads and so forth, it's going to be a hard sell to convince me that the continued Clinton-hate isn't a result of that in addition to misogyny. A second troubling example: Facebook Enabled Advertisers to Reach ‘Jew Haters’. For a start, Facebook needs to stop enabling Hate Speech. Second, these stories also reveal (once again) the ethical issues around marketing and its information gathering systems as well as the needs for individual online privacy. Without that being addressed, monopolies (which Facebook pretty much is) will be a danger to democracy in that they have undue influence on public opinion just as newspapers once had. It's the same issue as the Hearst/Spanish American War only the electronic variant. And two more HRC articles: Hillary Clinton Is 'Done,' But Not Going Away and No, Hillary Clinton, the First Woman to Win a Major-Party Presidential Nomination, Does Not Need to Shut Up About It. Good. From Prison to Ph.D.: The Redemption and Rejection of Michelle Jones. Something definitely needs to be done about the bias against ex-convicts. We cannot expect them to turn their lives around if they aren't given a chance to do so when they get out. If you add on the ridiculous numbers of people incarcerated in this country, you begin to see that the problem is vast. Think rural areas are falling behind? Think again. Because recent Census Bureau data suggests otherwise. We need a smarter narrative about rural America. Another American Massacre Just Went Almost Totally Ignored. More than half of women murdered with guns in the U.S. in 2011 — at least 53 percent — were killed by intimate partners or family members. Face it. Gun regulation is a Feminist issue. Also, The New Science of Sex and Gender is an important article on biology and genetics of gender. Let’s stop romanticising the misguided, possibly dangerous actions of spurned men.

Trigger Warning: Amber Tamblyn: I’m Done With Not Being Believed, POLICE SLOW TO PROBE BIRACIAL BOY'S HANGING IN NEW HAMPSHIRE, FAMILY ALLEGES, A woman interviewed 100 convicted rapists in India. This is what she learned.

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[1] Yes. That's a thing. The lenses used are designed for wide angle shots more often than not. They're designed to make landscapes and sets look bigger than they are. Thus, when actors are filmed using the same lens, the actors look about forty pounds heavier than they are. (I used to date a man who worked in the film business.)