Feminist Monday, September 17

Good morning, y'all. I'm going to do something a little different today. I'm going to link you to some wake up music. Because it's Monday. You can listen to it while you read. So, here you are, an oldie but a goodie...The Happy Mondays remixed by Paul Oakenfold and Andy Wetherall. It's one of my favorites from the '90s/'00s. And hey, Monday is in the name. ;)

Hang on. Put the soundtrack on pause a moment. This is something you need to see first. It touches on toxic masculinity and other revenant topics. This video does a brilliant job of analyzing why I feel like giving side-eye to anyone that insists that The Last Jedi is a piece of garbage, particularly if they're a CIS male. The film wasn't comfortable--even for me, but it did have quite a lot of important things to say.

Literature/Entertainment: First up, The Complicated Female Genius of Lauryn Hill. Next,
Why the Fashion World Needs to Commit to an 18+ Modeling Standard. Oh, hells yes. There are so many reasons the industry needs to stop using underage models. So. Many. From the article: ''"...But you know who fits those tiny samples?” Gay shakes his head ruefully. “Teenagers—girls who haven’t finished growing yet.'"" Add in the fact that the fashion world is an adult world, and well...that can lead to multiple kinds of abuse. Underage models are, in fact, children. In Conversation: Emma Thompson, The actress on her new films, the lies women are told, and the two kinds of people in the world. And this next article is particularly apropos today. 'Designing Women' Creator Goes Public With Les Moonves War: Not All Harassment Is Sexual (Guest Column). Next up, This Workshop Teaches People Of All Genders The Art Of Drag. I have complicated feelings about drag that I definitely won't get into here. Largely, I'm good with it. I've seen some great shows. 

General: First up is this story about Serena Williams because what happened is total racist, sexist horse-shit. Serena Williams’ Treatment at the U.S. Open Is About More Than Tennis. Next, let's talk about the singular 'they.' Call Them What They Wants. From the article: "Adjusting ourselves to the supposed naturalness of these backdoor fixes, we tend to miss that English speakers have been using they in the singular since English was anything we'd recognize as English." And now, Black Women's Labor in America Has Always Been Exploited. For the "it's not realistic to have women as warriors in Epic Fantasy because history" folks we have A female Viking warrior confirmed by genomics. Oddly, I've heard it posited that the women warriors in question were only raiding for husbands. Because women often go out for a hot night on the town with a handy ax, shield, armor, bow, and a broadsword. (Or maybe the countries they invaded had a really different club scene?) Because we all know women are only ever motivated by the possibility of getting a man. Riiiight. This is another story that is extremely relevant during a time when a man who was involved in an attempted rape is blithely being put forward as a Supreme Court Justice. Inside One Police Chief’s Hunt for Justice in a Pair of Unsolved Mississippi Murders. And Remembering Emmett Till 63 Years After His Brutal Killing. Lastly, Betsy DeVos Says She Wants to Keep Schools Safe and Equitable. Her Policies Tell a Different Story.