March 28, 2013

Seventy-two years ago today, Virginia Woolf drowned herself.

Woolf was one of the most significant, influential writers of the twentieth century. The Atlantic had the privilege of publishing her work, as you can see below.

  • “Equality of Opportunity and Pay” (May/June 1938): As war brewed in Europe, Woolf responded to a letter urging “daughters of educated men” to join in opposition to the conflict. Her surprising retort called for fair wages for women—not just to advance equality, but to hasten the fighting’s end.

[Images: Wikimedia Commons]

12:37pm
(Notes: 333)
  
Filed under: Lit Virginia Woolf History Feminism 
January 11, 2013
One Dad’s Ill-Fated Battle Against the Princesses …There is no one theme that has anywhere near the prominence and influence that Disney Princesses do. Regardless of the more recent generations of empowered princesses in Disney movies, the overall princess trope promotes traditional notions of femininity and an unhealthy focus on physical beauty. Even the most feminist-friendly princess derives her social currency, her political power, and her personal identity as “princess” from the make-believe patriarchy. Read more. [Image: Disney]

One Dad’s Ill-Fated Battle Against the Princesses

…There is no one theme that has anywhere near the prominence and influence that Disney Princesses do. Regardless of the more recent generations of empowered princesses in Disney movies, the overall princess trope promotes traditional notions of femininity and an unhealthy focus on physical beauty. Even the most feminist-friendly princess derives her social currency, her political power, and her personal identity as “princess” from the make-believe patriarchy.

Read more. [Image: Disney]

12:20pm
(Notes: 327)
  
Filed under: Gender Sexism Feminism Fatherhood Women Princess Disney Children Marketing 
November 16, 2012
At Its Core, the ‘Twilight’ Saga Is a Story About ________ TO THE NAKED EYE, IT MAY APPEAR THAT: The Twilight saga is a story about love. And vampires. And family. And abstinence. And racism. And the founding of the Mormon faith. And orphans, in a really weird way. BUT ACCORDING TO SOME EXPERTS WHO THOUGHT REALLY HARD ABOUT THIS: Twilight is a story about all of these things. And more things. Read more. [Image: Summit Entertainment]

At Its Core, the ‘Twilight’ Saga Is a Story About ________

TO THE NAKED EYE, IT MAY APPEAR THAT: The Twilight saga is a story about love. And vampires. And family. And abstinence. And racism. And the founding of the Mormon faith. And orphans, in a really weird way.

BUT ACCORDING TO SOME EXPERTS WHO THOUGHT REALLY HARD ABOUT THIS: Twilight is a story about all of these things. And more things.

Read more. [Image: Summit Entertainment]

11:50am
(Notes: 108)
  
Filed under: Twilight Feminism Literature Writing Ideology Religion Sex 
November 6, 2012
"The GOP’s retrograde positions on gender, and general ignorance of human biology, has evidently cost them a shot at the Senate."

— Ta-Nehisi Coates

11:05pm
(Notes: 162)
  
Filed under: Election 2012 Feminism 
November 1, 2012

The Age of Hipster Sexism

Hipster Sexism is a distancing gesture, a belief that simply by applying quotations, uncool, questionable, and even offensive material about women can be alchemically transformed.

But have we really reached this stage of enlightened irony? We think we’re over sexism yet our ironic expressions of it can only reinforce the basic problem, which is that women are paid less and (degradingly) sexualized against their will far more than men.

Interesting. What do you think of this essay? 

4:00pm
(Notes: 197)
  
Filed under: Sexism Feminism Lena Dunham 
September 24, 2012
On Being the Lady with the Microphone, by Carole Simpson Way back in 1992 I became the first woman and first minority to moderate a presidential debate. This past summer I was constantly asked, “Why hasn’t another woman moderated a presidential debate?” Why people thought I had the answer, I don’t know. It should have been directed to the Commission on Presidential Debates. Supported by the Republican and Democratic Parties, the Commission has been responsible for producing the debates since 1987. Together with campaign officials for the candidates, Commission members decide the dates, locations, formats and moderators for the one debate for vice president and the three for president. Allow me to point out here that of the 17 members most are male and white. Only two women serve on the Commission. Perhaps a problem? Read more. [Image: C-SPAN]

On Being the Lady with the Microphone, by Carole Simpson

Way back in 1992 I became the first woman and first minority to moderate a presidential debate. This past summer I was constantly asked, “Why hasn’t another woman moderated a presidential debate?”

Why people thought I had the answer, I don’t know. It should have been directed to the Commission on Presidential Debates. Supported by the Republican and Democratic Parties, the Commission has been responsible for producing the debates since 1987. Together with campaign officials for the candidates, Commission members decide the dates, locations, formats and moderators for the one debate for vice president and the three for president.

Allow me to point out here that of the 17 members most are male and white. Only two women serve on the Commission. Perhaps a problem?

Read more. [Image: C-SPAN]

10:21am
(Notes: 91)
  
Filed under: Politics Election 2012 Carole Simpson Debates History Journalism Feminism 
September 18, 2012
Can a Toy Inspire Girls to Become Engineers? How could a toy engage girls in engineering? What would make it different from the “standard” (that is to say, geared-toward-boys) Lego and Erector sets? Debbie Sterling, who trained as an engineer at Stanford, spent more than a year researching these questions and, gradually, GoldieBlox — a female engineer character, Goldie, and a related construction toy — emerged. It hit Kickstarter this morning as Sterling seeks to raise $150,000 for a first round of production. Read more. [Image: Susan Burdick/GoldieBlox]

Can a Toy Inspire Girls to Become Engineers?

How could a toy engage girls in engineering? What would make it different from the “standard” (that is to say, geared-toward-boys) Lego and Erector sets? Debbie Sterling, who trained as an engineer at Stanford, spent more than a year researching these questions and, gradually, GoldieBlox — a female engineer character, Goldie, and a related construction toy — emerged. It hit Kickstarter this morning as Sterling seeks to raise $150,000 for a first round of production.

Read more. [Image: Susan Burdick/GoldieBlox]

2:02pm
(Notes: 271)
  
Filed under: Toys Kickstarter News Engineering Education Feminism 
September 12, 2012
'The Baseline Is, You Suck': Junot Diaz on Men Who Write About Women
The Atlantic: It sounds like you're saying that literary "talent" doesn't inoculate a writer—especially a male writer—from making gross, false misjudgments about gender. You'd think being a great writer would give you empathy and the ability to understand people who are unlike you—whether we're talking about gender or another category. But that doesn't seem to be the case.
Junot Diaz: I think that unless you are actively, consciously working against the gravitational pull of the culture, you will predictably, thematically, create these sort of fucked-up representations. Without fail. The only way not to do them is to admit to yourself [that] you're fucked up, admit to yourself that you're not good at this shit, and to be conscious in the way that you create these characters. It's so funny what people call inspiration. I have so many young writers who're like, "Well I was inspired. This was my story." And I'm like, "OK. Sir, your inspiration for your stories is like every other male's inspiration for their stories: that the female is only in there to provide sexual service." There comes a time when this mythical inspiration is exposed for doing exactly what it's truthfully doing: to underscore and reinforce cultural structures, or I'd say, cultural asymmetry.
3:27pm
(Notes: 10,012)
  
Filed under: Books Lit Feminism Junot Diaz Writing Fiction 
September 7, 2012
At Long Last, Someone Finally Stepped In and Explained the Internet to Women Women: Have you been struggling to use a computer? And forget about the Internet — too hard. Good news: a series of books will help, you just need to speak French.

At Long Last, Someone Finally Stepped In and Explained the Internet to Women

Women: Have you been struggling to use a computer? And forget about the Internet — too hard. Good news: a series of books will help, you just need to speak French.

2:56pm
(Notes: 53)
  
Filed under: Tech Feminism 
August 28, 2012
The Quiet Racism of Abortion Bans As national Republicans in Tampa consider adding a ban on abortions as an official plank in their party platform — a proposal whose draft language is so severe, it doesn’t make exceptions for cases of rape or incest — liberal commentators have grown accustomed to speaking of the right’s strict stance on reproductive issues as a war on women. But it might be more accurate to say that it’s really an attack on women of a specific stripe: those from disadvantaged minorities and the poor. Read more. [Image: Theodore Joyce, Ruoding Tan, Yuxiu Zhang]

The Quiet Racism of Abortion Bans

As national Republicans in Tampa consider adding a ban on abortions as an official plank in their party platform — a proposal whose draft language is so severe, it doesn’t make exceptions for cases of rape or incest — liberal commentators have grown accustomed to speaking of the right’s strict stance on reproductive issues as a war on women. But it might be more accurate to say that it’s really an attack on women of a specific stripe: those from disadvantaged minorities and the poor.

Read more. [Image: Theodore Joyce, Ruoding Tan, Yuxiu Zhang]

2:17pm
(Notes: 176)
  
Filed under: Abortion Politics Maps Feminism Racism Women's rights 
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