round-up
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Michelle Williams dressed up as “Native American” for a magazine photo shoot, and compared munchkins to Native people. In an open letter to Ms. Williams, Aura Bogado at The Nation explains why that’s deeply offensive.
- CNN reports on the Middle East’s first museum dedicated to women’s history, recently opened in Dubai.
- In another example of cringe-worthy gender-based marketing, the Mary Sue reports that Eurostar group has come out with a tablet “for women”.
- In the New York Times, Gloria Malone speaks out against New York City’s shame-based anti-teen pregnancy campaign, sharing her experience of being a teen mom.
- QWOC Media celebrates 10 bisexual women of colour.
- The recent release of the UN Human Development Index rankings made headlines in Canada as, for the first time, we dropped out of the top 10. Well the HDI includes data from the Gender Inequality Index and Feminist Philosophers has more information on those numbers and how they were determined (Canada ranked 18th there).
- At Fem2pt0, Soraya Chemaly gives context for the Steubenville gang rape trial, discussing common threads and attitudes behind 50 other cases of rape involving “impairment”.
- And Bitch has their own round-up of reactions to the Steubenville verdict if you want to read more on that topic.
- Hillary Clinton has finally expressed unqualified support for marriage equality (via the Rachel Maddow Show blog).
- Jezebel shares new US studies that show at least 40% of police families experience domestic violence.
M-408 is a motion brought forward by anti-choice Conservative MP Mark Warawa with the stated aim of condemning sex-selective abortion. In advance of its debate on March 28, the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada has put together some information about why this “pretender” motion is not really being put forward to stop discrimination against females.- At The Nation, Katha Pollitt argues feminists should at least read Lean In before judging Sheryl Sandberg.
- I’m interviewed in this IWD article at The Loop on the state of women in Canada (although I had a mini-cringe at the re-stating of the bra-burning myth in the intro).
- Via Rachael K Albers at Bitch, in Chiapas, Mexico, Ni Una Más is a campaign using art to reclaim public spaces with an aim to ending the murder of women.
- The iconic Ubangi gay jazz club, is being demolished, but Queerty has a bit of the history of its role in the Harlem Renaissance.
- Megan at The F Word UK reviews the new comedy Gayby, about a woman who asks her gay best friend to father a baby with her.
- UN Women Director Michelle Bachelet used International Women’s Day to call for an end to violence against women worldwide. Check out her message here.
- Elizabeth Rappe at Jezebel wasn’t impressed with the choice of a male protagonist for Oz the Great and Powerful.
- This month, women tomato harvesters are marching across Florida to raise awareness of poverty wages, sexual harassment, and abuse and to fight for the right to work freely with dignity (via Ms. Magazine).
- At Sociological Images, Lisa Wade recaps research that shows there is no real gender difference in math aptitude.
Amanda Hess at Slate looks at a study out of the University of Manitoba that looks at how men’s magazines sell images of masculinity to young and low-income men.- Jessica Luther at Shakesville talks about why we need a better response from white feminists against the Onions’ Quvenzhane Wallis tweet.
- At Flurt! Courtney Cliff gives an update on establishment of gender-neutral washrooms at Canadian universities.
- When we think about climate change, it’s important to look at the disproportionate impacts on people of colour (via The Root).
- When talking about paid work and gender inequality, Kendra at The F Word asks if feminists are giving up on the struggle against capitalism and commodification.
- A friend asked me to write something on the UFC’s first women’s MMA fight, but I haven’t had time so instead I suggest you check out this recap of the fight from The Mary Sue.
- Colorlines shares new data showing women veterans who have experienced sexual trauma in the US military are among the fastest growing segment of the homeless population.
- Loved this article by Tara M. at xojane on how to not be “that guy” when talking with your disabled friend.
Of course, a lot of feminists were upset about Oscar host Seth MacFarlane’s sexist jokes. One of the best responses I read was from Margaret Lyons at Vulture on “Why Seth MacFarlane’s Misogyny Matters”.- And the F Word Blog reminds us that a bunch of the “boobs” mentioned in MacFarlane’s opening number were shown during a scene where they were being raped.
- If you want a quick action to take, sign on to Bitch’s letter to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences asking them to diversify the Academy and the awards ceremony.
- At The Nation, Bryce Covert looks at how, over time, employers have used the entry of women into the workforce to lower the bar and require new skills for everyone.
- How far would you go to “perfect” your body? Diana at Fem2pt0 looks at how women suffer most when the FDA lowers its standards under pressure to get products (like “gummy bear” breast implants) approved and available to the public.
- Law and Order: SVU is really disappointing me this season. First they had convicted rapist Mike Tyson guest star as a rape victim, and now, B.Scott reports that they’ll soon be airing a story based off Chris Brown’s domestic abuse of Rihanna (h/t Feministing).
- I’ve written before about the ridiculous debate whether girl should be able to wear yoga pants and leggings to school. So I loved this response from Amelia at The Frisky taking down a ridiculous Good Men Project article that argued women who wear yoga pants outside the gym must be trying to turn men on.
- A fascinating article at Ms. Magazine looks at a time in the 1960s when groups at some Catholic universities mobilized in support of birth control.
- Grace Gipson is a Georgia State grad student doing research on black women comic book superheroines. Read more about her research in this interview at the Huffington Post.
- Via Colorlines, a student at USC spoke up against a planned racist “Phi-esta” frat party and got an apology and expulsion of the organizers from the fraternity.
Renee at Womanist Musings uses pictures from Sports Illustrated to show white women’s privilege even while they’re serving as objects for the male gaze.- At Feministing, Chloe Angyal takes down the sexist, glamorizing coverage of the murder of Reeva Steenkamp.
- At Bitch, Grace Bello looks at how immigrant parents and their Americanized children are portrayed in mainstream TV.
- My kind of academic study looks at how gendered voice cues affected in-game harassment in Halo 3 (via the Mary Sue).
- Last week Eve Ensler’s One Billion Rising campaign held events across the globe, but not without controversy. In this Huffington Post article, Natalie Gyte of the Women’s Resource Centre outlines her issues with the campaign. On the other side, Zerlina at Feministing was cautiously optimistic about the campaign’s potential.
- Tomi Gbeleyi at the New Brunswick Media Co-Op talks about Karen Cho’s new film Status Quo?: The Unfinished Business of Feminism and its discussion of barriers to abortion access in NB.
- A new systematic search of government and other records shows at least 3,000 children died in Canada’s residential schools (via the CBC).
- Thanks to Feminist Philosophers for summarizing a recent interesting UK study linking men’s preference for women with bigger breasts to sexist behaviours and attitudes.
- Finally, feminist UBC sociologists are looking for study participants: heterosexually-active, South Asian women living in the Vancouver area, age 19-25. You can find more information on the study and how to sign up here.
- Rose Aguilar writes at The Nation about a population we don’t often think about: homeless women over 50.
- At SkepChick, Will looks at scientific arguments around the importance of sex vs. gender and explains why it’s too easy to argue that either biology or culture is more important in human development.
- In a rare dose of common sense from the National Post, Jesse Kline weighs in on why the status quo of having no abortion law is probably the best-case scenario.
- Via Ms. Magazine, a new version of the “Don’t Say Gay Bill” has been reintroduced in Tennessee.
- Gail Simone is working on a new DC project based on Occupy (via The Mary Sue).
- To mark the 50th anniversary of the death of Sylvia Plath, The Guardian has collected reflections from several prominent women writers on Plath’s legacy.
- Queerty has some practical ideas for celebrating Valentine’s Day as a single person, or even just someone who doesn’t like the usual Valentine’s traditions.
- Women getting into radio technology in the 1920s faced a significant backlash, Nerd Rage reports.
- At SciFind, Alasdair Stuart suggests an alternate Doctor Who reality where all the Doctors are played by women. Would’ve liked to see some women of colour in there, but the list is geekily entertaining.
When some people found out the person who runs the Facebook page I Fucking Love Science is a woman, they were shocked, shocked! (The Guardian)