November 2009

  • Mike Penner/Christine Daniels, An Obituary

    By erika on 11/30/09 7:26pm
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    Christine DanielsChristine DanielsWhenever the "transgender" topic comes up in public discussion, I am always surprised and appalled anew by the public's reaction.  You think we have come so far as a society, where public figures feel comfortable being openly gay, and (not to trot out the increasingly tired cliché) a black man can be elected President of the United States.  But mention a transgendered person, and people freak the [censored] out.

     Unlike so many other topics, like race and homosexuality, people don't even bother to have a coded conversation.  Transgendered people are flat out called "wrong" and "deviant," and seem to bring up a deep, gut level reaction from the masses.  


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  • Holding Out for a Heroine

    By sarajean on 11/29/09 7:06pm
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    After reading an article about sexism in children’s films—particularly the absence of female leads in Pixar movies, and the general absence of female leads who are not princesses overall—I started thinking about how wonderful it would be to have a bunch of new kid flicks starring strong female leads. Wouldn’t you love to see movies like that?

    It’s true that a few such films do exist. Monsters vs. Aliens, Mulan, Ferngully, Coraline, Flushed Away, Lilo and Stitch, and…what else? Is it really that hard to find good female-led kid movies? Incredible!

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  • A Little Self-Love Goes a Long Way

    By sarajean on 11/28/09 10:47pm
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    When I was a little girl, my mother always told me I had to love myself before I loved anyone else. I never really understood what she meant. Even during my sulky teen years, when I declared that I wanted to die, nobody understood me, blah blah blah, she would roll her eyes at me—and still tell me that I had to love myself. I’m really just now learning what the hell she was talking about. I do notice that when I'm a little nicer to myself, I'm a lot happier--and even more productive.

    Both women and men are bombarded with reasons to hate themselves (and one another, of course) every day that really often don’t stem from ourselves at all. Relatives, well-meaning friends (and of course, friends in misery who love company), and especially the media are constantly telling us why we’re ugly, no good, and above all else, unworthy of being loved.

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  • Bruised Avatars: New Second Life Skins Cause Controversy

    By erika on 11/28/09 4:27pm
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    Second Life throws off the most interesting controversies, doesn’t it?  I recently read about the latest dust-up over an artist who designed a series of custom female skins that include heavy bruising.  The designer, Gala Phoenix of Curio, named her series “Battle Royale,” referencing the cult Japanese film where teenage schoolgirls end up beating the crud out of each other in order to survive. 

     

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  • Anonymity on the Internet Cuts Both Ways

    By erika on 11/23/09 4:20pm
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    Female MajorityFemale MajorityI have been thinking a lot lately about how the author of anything on the internet is presumed to be male.  People have even referred to my articles here as having been written by a "he," even though they are on feminist issues, and my author's name is clearly female.  (In many languages, even!)This is annoying as hell, particularly when you start noticing it everywhere.  However, I do think that we ourselves are partly to blame for this. And for the larger perception that the internet is a boyzone, even though men are the minority of internet users.

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  • Listen To Your Instincts, And Ignore The Fact Checker

    By erika on 11/4/09 4:04pm
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    This afternoon I happened to stumble across blogger and freelance writer Raincoaster's story about her brush with Canadian pig farming serial killer Robert "Willy" Pickton.  One of the fascinating things about Raincoaster's story is that she knew this guy was Bad News about five minutes into their first conversation.  

    We talk about "instinct" and "gut feelings," and those terms are a useful (if vague) way to describe it.  And at the time, it can feel like a sudden flash of insight, the warning bells go off in your head and you don't really understand why.


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