September 2009
15 posts
14 tags
Is Gossip Girl a Feminist Show?
I can’t decide whether or not Gossip Girl is a feminist show. I think on balance it is, but one could make arguments in both directions:
Why it is:
Rufus is a total type-B caretaker who is a very appealing character. He is a parental figure not only to his own kids but also to Lily’s.
Lily is successfully running the Bass corporation and there’s no discussion around it.
Blair is...
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Beer Isn't Going to Make People Like Tucker Max's... →
NOW’s Young Feminist Task Force (YFTF) tears I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell apart, along with the message board Tucker Max put up making fun of North Carolina State protesters of the film. He ran a competition for the best photoshopped signs from the protest, one of which read: “Women deserve to call rape ‘surprise sex.’” The men in Max’s target demographic that...
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Guys can be So Great Sometimes
A bunch of them, ranging from my 19 year-old cousin to my 9th grade boyfriend, not only read my PsychologyToday.com essay but also wanted to get *into* it with me. This youth culture, where women are supposed to want to look young and perfect and men are supposed to want women that look young and perfect, is getting tired for all of us. As one commenter said, “We’re not all pricks...
My Essay in PsychologyToday.com →
On the experience of dating a man who was more of a feminist than I was.
“I call myself a feminist. Isn’t that what you call someone who fights for...”
– Dalai Lama, International Freedom Award ceremony, Memphis, TN
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When Marriage Pressure Comes from the Guy →
One woman talks about wanting to wait to have kids (and get married) despite pressure to the contrary. I should confess that in order to avoid this pressure I “hide” a lot of people that post baby pictures on facebook (along with those that write status updates like, “Another beautiful day here in [Hawaii/Fiji/Eden]. I love my life!!!”)
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Western Countries Battle Female Genital Mutilation...
In parts of Africa and the Middle East female genital mutilation (FGM) has been a long-standing cultural tradition, even for women that have immigrated to Western countries. Immigrant mothers in Scandinavia are still taking their Europe-born daughters to Africa to be circumcised so that they will be “clean” and virginal, but Swedish, Norwegian and Danish governments are not looking the other way. ...
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Gays Can Quote the Bible Too →
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Comic Writing Moms
My ex-boyfriend’s sisters are these awesome feminist moms, one of whom is a graphic novelist named Jennifer Hayden. When she’s not working on her book, The Story of My Tits, she’s writing a webcomic called Underwire about parenting.
She said this once and I think it’s very wise:
Follow your heart. Be fearless. If a project you have in your head scares the out of you, makes you feel like...
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Three Reasons Having Kids is a Good Idea
Motherhood is the most important part of life: “I wish I’d had the advice that I am giving to my 21-year-old sister: if you find a great guy, don’t be afraid to settle down and have kids because there isn’t anything to miss out on that you can’t do later (apart from having kids).” Mothers make better career women: “You cannot be a mother without knowing something about...
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40 Reasons Not to Have Kids
I stumbled on a 2007 book written by French author Corinne Maier called “40 Reasons for Not Having Children.” Everyone was blogging about it two years ago, but as someone who didn’t even start listening to Nirvana until Cobain was dead and buried, it’s not surprising that I was slow to the draw on this one.
Her chapter titles range from “The child is a kind of vicious dwarf, of...
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National Single Cougars Convention: Palo Alto, CA →
Rachel emailed this to me and wrote:
“this is the most fascinating thing ever. you’ve got to call me after you watch it.”
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The Not Having Kids Option
Dramatic reenactment of a conversation that took place between me and Rachel:
R: I just had the most liberating thought of my life. M: What? R: Okay, hear me out. M: Okay. R: I thought to myself, what if I just don’t have kids? I mean, I know it’s like a given that we’re all supposed to have kids, but what if we don’t? M: [Pause] Then we … get our lives back. R: Exactly. Think about it....