Shrub

All text from the Pretty Bird Woman House blog .

In May of this year, the progressive netroots pulled together to save a tiny women’s shelter on a Lakota Sioux reservation in South Dakota. Thanks to over 680 strangers who donated a combined $27,000, Pretty Bird Woman House was able to keep its doors open for the duration and [...]

Jeffrey McKee was convicted of raping two women, but received a lighter prison sentence because his victims were prostitutes. Luckily, there are people in the Washington state judicial system who aren’t total fuckwits. Read the article for the full story, but here are a few notable quotes that illustrate the persistent sexism and victim-blaming in public [...]

I realize that a quarter-long series of articles about violence against women can be depressing, and I’d like to end this on an optimistic note. Unfortunately, I don’t have The Solution to violence against women. Even I don’t have delusions of being that wise. But – and here I’m engaging in a bit of hubris [...]

In “The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action,” Audre Lorde writes the following description of her thought process when faced with a potential diagnosis of cancer:

and what I most regretted were my silences. Of what had I ever been afraid? To question or to speak as I believed could have meant pain, or death. [...]

In an article titled “‘Femininity’ and women’s silence in response to sexual harassment and coercion,” Kathleen V. Cairns describes how harassment of women functions as a method of social control over women’s behavior:

vert practices include the public, ritual shaming of women in the form of catcalls, lewd remarks and so on which serves to demonstrate [...]

Yesterday some of my classmates gave a presentation about female genital cutting (though the terminology they used, and which is probably more familiar to people, is “female genital mutilation” – a difference which I’ll address later on). It’s an important, worthwhile issue, and I’m glad our class is addressing it. Still, every time the topic [...]

Next week I’m giving a presentation in class on cosmetic surgery in regards to women of color. Now, cosmetic surgery does not readily fall under most common definitions of ‘violence,’ and I find myself hesitant to categorically label it as such. On the one hand, while cosmetic surgery does involve bloody alterations on a person’s [...]

One of the most insidious ways of normalizing and justifying gendered violence is by tying it to tradition. By portraying perpetrators as if they were enacting the accepted practices of a culture, those in power position victims of violence not only against their victimizer, but also against the weight of a culture’s history. Additionally, “tradition” [...]

A couple of disclaimers, to start: -First, this is not about me being angry at, or blaming, any particular individuals. This is also not about placing the responsibility for a society-wide problem on these particular individuals. -Second, this entry is for everyone to read, even though I refer to a specific example in which only [...]

One of the first readings assigned for this class has been Albert Bandura’s “Selective Activation and Disengagement of Moral Control,” published in volume 46, number 1 of Journal of Social Issues . The purpose of the article is to examine how, in normal and everyday circumstances, people can commit actions that they typically consider immoral. Most of [...]

This is a bit of an experiment. This quarter I’m taking a Women Studies course titled “Women and Violence.” The final project for this class is open to creative interpretation, and so I’m attempting to bring together my academic feminism with my online feminism by using blogging as a part of that project. Over the [...]

As I mentioned in my previous post , I recently took a class on racism and white privilege. My professor was unflinching in his recognition that some things about anti-oppression work are “impossible.” And while this sounds like a pessimistic view of things, I think it was very important that he acknowledged this concept and repeatedly brought [...]

Today, for the last meeting of my class on racism and white privilege, we had a panel of guest speakers who do anti-racist work from within the university. One was a white man, one a white woman, and one an African American man, so the issue was raised about allies. Allies, in the context of [...]

Body Outlaws , published by the woman-friendly Seal Press , is a collection of essays by women attempting to rewrite body image outside of conventional beauty standards – and not just white, middle-class, straight women, but women who experience all forms of oppression, including racism. The first essay is “My Brown Face,” by Mira Jacob, an Indian-American woman who [...]

You know what’s sexist? White guys who see Asian women as exotic sex objects, something they can use in their porn-based fantasies about “sideways” vaginas. Why? Because everything about me is obscured by my sexual utility for them – they are attempting to define my identity through their penis. You know what’s also sexist? Asian guys who think [...]

When I was growing up, I didn’t wish I was white. I didn’t look at my Barbie dolls and ask my parents why I didn’t look like her. I didn’t envy my white friends and think, “If I was their race, my life would be better.” Of course not. It was never that obvious. Here’s [...]

Aaaaaaand there’s more! Via , we have another response by Ellison regarding his groping of Connie Willis. And no, this isn’t him dropping all sarcasm and misguided attempts at humor in order to make a straightforward, sincere apology. (We can only dream.) Since jfpbookworm did such a great job deconstructing the first “apology” , I think it’s only fitting [...]

A few days ago at the Hugo Awards ceremony at Worldcon, Harlan Ellison groped Connie Willis on stage. The primary source of the news is Patrick Nielsen Hayden , though Ellison himself confirmed it in the (ostensible) apology on his message board . (Text provided here by Elizabeth Bear . Also see her post on the original incident .) He wrote the “apology” yesterday, even [...]

I realize that, lately, I am an angry person. I read the news, I get angry. I read my blogs – most of which are political in nature – and get angry. I see things in my daily life that make me angry – hateful misogyny, self-serving racism, ruthless economic exploitation, and on and on [...]

I’m lucky in the people I geek out with, because it’s a mixed-gender group, mostly socially aware, and made up of generally good people. I don’t have to worry about guys telling me I can’t play something because I’m female, or looking down on what I’m interested in. But I never hear the word “bitch” [...]