"There is difference and there is power. And who holds the power decides the meaning of the difference." --June Jordan

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Girls Rock

Sorry I haven't posted much lately. It's finals time at school, and I told myself that if I'm good and get all my work done early this week, I can go see this movie on Thursday night:

Monday, November 24, 2008

Today in Double Standards: Google and Human Anatomy Edition

Susie Bright:
If you set your Google SafeSearch filter on "strict filtering" and search for clitoris, you get zero returns.

But if you try a Google SafeSearch "strict filtering" search for penis, you get...

33,000,000 returns.

That's because "clitoris" is on Google's list of naughty words which are never, ever "safe."

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Thank you, Shakesville!

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This screenshot depicts the number of visitors I've had at this blog since June, 2008. See all of those totally giant peaks?

Those peaks represent the days that Melissa at Shakesville linked to little old me in one of her Blogarounds.

Dang, right?

I know I already link there all the time, but I really just can't say enough good things about Shakesville, or about my favorite feminist blogger, Melissa McEwan.

And despite my piddly links here and there, and even though I wear my teaspoon with pride, I can't shake the feeling that I don't do enough to recognize all the work she puts in over at Shakesville to write tirelessly about feminist and other activist issues and to foster an amazing community of readers (many of whom are kind enough to stop on by at my little corner of the web just because she drops me a link). She's done WAY more for me as a feminist blogger than I could ever even begin to do for her, and I just thought it was time I wrote her a thank you.

I know there's been an outpouring of love for this amazing blogger over the last week (just read the comments here), but I wanted, no-- needed to add to it.

Liss,

If Judy Chicago updates The Dinner Party to add more place settings, you totally deserve a spot at the table.

Love,
Tracey

Thursday, November 20, 2008

When Commercials Objectify Men

Just wonder what you all think about this new Clearasil commercial in which a (rather Bowiesque) guy seduces a female ice cream shop worker by unbuttoning his shirt a little:



Aside from the inversion of traditional gender roles in the ad, there's something about this guy's version of masculinity that interests me, too. As silly as the situation is in the commercial, I somehow find him more believable as enticing to women than the typical macho/muscular guy women are usually seen drooling over in ads.

Like, for example, in the old classic Diet Coke ad:



Thoughts?

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

There was no not posting this:

Roomba Cat Goes for a Ride


Totally lives up to its title, right?
(Via)

Secretary of State Position = Pink Ghetto?

Astraea at Astraea's Scales:
You know what's not a good question?

"What's with women and the Secretary of State job?"

That's how NPR posed the question in a promo for a piece on the the radical possibility that three out of the last four Secretaries of State have vaginas. Seriously, what's with those women? There are a couple problematic things going on here.
Read the whole thing.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Transgender Day of Remembrance this Thursday

One of my close friends is a professional musician, and when a colleague asked her to play flute for a Transgender Day of Remembrance event a couple of years ago, she was a little confused. She agreed, but she later asked me, in a hushed voice, "Is it because of hate crimes against transgender people? Is the situation really that bad? Do you think this is an annual event?" I told her that she was right, and that it really is that bad. She played at the event and walked away from the experience with the knowledge that over the last decade, more than one person per month has died due to transgender-based hate or prejudice, regardless of any other factors in their lives.

Thursday is the 10th Transgender Day of Remembrance, and Monica at TransGriot has just posted this list of people who will be memorialized:
Kellie Telesford
Location: Thornton Heath, UK
Cause of Death: Strangled
Date of Death: November 21, 2007
Kellie was strangled to death with a scarf, by 18 year old Shanniel Hyatt, who then covered the body of 39-year-old Kellie Telesford with a white blanket - with the brown furry scarf used to choke her still bound tightly round her neck. Hyatt said her killer her after discovering she had a penis.

Brian McGlothin (Liked to dress in Women's clothes)
Location: Cincinnati, Ohio
Cause of Death: Shot in the head with an automatic rifle by Antonio Williams who is serving a six year sentence. Brian was 25 years old.
Date of Death: December 23, 2007

Gabriela Alejandra Albornoz
Location: Santiago, Chile
Cause of Death: Attacked and stabbed
Date of Death: December 28, 2007

Patrick Murphy (Found Dressed in Women's clothes)
Location: Albuquerque, NM
Cause of Death: Shot Several times in the head
Date of Death: January 8, 2008
Patrick was 39 years old.

Stacy Brown
Location: Baltimore, MD
Cause of Death: Shot in the head
Date of Death: January 8, 2008
Stacy was 30 years old.

Adolphus Simmons
Location: Charleston, SC
Cause of Death: Shot to Death (Aldophus was 18 yrs. old)
Date of Death: January 21, 2008

Fedra (a known transvestite)
Location: Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia
Cause of Death: Was found lying face up in a pool of blood,
cause of death was not reported.
Date of Death: January 22, 2008

Ashley Sweeney
Location: Detroit, Michigan
Cause of Death: Shot in the head
Date of Death: February 4, 2008
The age of Ashley Sweeney is unknown, she was only described as a young transgender woman in a press release.

Sanesha (Talib) Stewart
Location: Bronx, NY
Cause of Death: Stabbed to Death
Date of Death: February 10, 2008
Sanesha was 25 years old.

Lawrence King
Location: Oxnard, California
Cause of Death: Shot to death by a classmate because he liked to wear
women's clothes. (Lawrence King was 15 years old).
Date of Death: February 12, 2008

Simmie Williams Jr.
Location: Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Cause of Death: Shot to death, Simmie was found wearing women's clothing. (Simmie was 17 years old)
Date of Death: February 22, 2008

Luna (no last name reported)
Location: Lisbon, Portugal
Cause of Death: Brutally beaten to death and tossed into a dumpster.
Date of Death: March 15, 2008

Lloyd Nixon
Location: West Palm Beach, Florida
Cause of Death:Repeatedly beat in the head with a brick.
Date of Death: April 16, 2008
Lloyd was 45 years old.

Felicia Melton-Smyth
Location: Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
Cause of Death: brutally stabbed to death by Francisco Javier Hollos, who said he killed her because she would not pay for sex. Felicia was an HIV activist on vacation from Wisconsin.
Date of Death: May 26, 2008

Silvana Berisha
Location: Hamburg, Germany
Cause of Death: Stabbed to Death
Date of Death: June 24, 2008

Ebony (Rodney) Whitaker
Location: Memphis, Tennessee
Cause of Death:Shot (Ebony was 20 yrs. old)
Date of Death:July 1, 2008

Rosa Pazos
Location: Sevilla, Spain
Cause of Death: Was found in her apartment, she had been stabbed in the throat.
Date of Death: July 11, 2008

Juan Carlos Aucalle Coronel
Location: Lombardi, Italy
Cause of Death severely beaten causing fractures to the head and face before being run over by a car.
Date of Death July 14, 2008
Juan Carlos was 35 years old.

Angie Zapata
Location: Greeley, Colorado
Cause of Death: She was found in her home with two severe fractures in her skull.
Angie was murdered by 31 year old, Alan Ray Andrade. Angie was 18 years old.
Date of Death: July 17, 2008

Jaylynn L. Namauu
Location: Makiki Honolulu, Hawaii
Cause of Death: Stabbed to Death
Date of Death: July 17, 2008
Jaylynn was 35 years old.

Samantha Rangel Brandau
Location: Milan, Italy
Cause of Death: beaten, gang raped and stabbed numerous times before being left for dead.
Date of Death: July 29, 2008
Samantha was 30 years old.

Ruby Molina
Location: Sacramento, California
Cause of Death: Drowned
Date of Death: September 21, 2008
Ruby's naked body was found floating in the American river.
She was 22 years old.

Aimee Wilcoxson
Location: Aurora, Colorado
Cause of Death: undetermined (Police have yet to reveal cause)
Date of Death: November 3, 2008
Aimee was found dead in her bed. She was 34 years old.

Duanna Johnson
Location: Memphis, Tennessee
Cause of Death: Shot
Date of Death: November 9, 2008
Duanna was found dead in the middle of the street. She was 42 years old.

Dilek Ince
Location: Ankara, Turkey
Cause of Death:Shot in the back of the head
Date of Death: November 11, 2008

Teish (Moses) Cannon
Location: Syracuse, New York
Cause of Death: Shot
Date of Death: November 14, 2008
Teish was 22 years old.

Ali
Location:Iraq
Cause of Death:executed for being transgender
Date of Death:2008, Month is Unknown
Video of Ali before she was executed: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2tDVtjQNfQ

*IMPORTANT NOTE FROM ETHAN - (In case I don't get the details posted in time) There were 2 other Iraqi transgender women who were executed at the same time as Ali. Please remember them at your TDoR event.

TransGriot Note: For further info you can contact Ethan at radicalguy@gmail.com

Monday, November 17, 2008

Did Anyone Just See Big Bang Theory?

A genuine fat girl played a love interest for the character Leonard, which is amazing enough, but here's the coolest part:

NOT A SINGLE FAT STEREOTYPE WAS EMPLOYED.

Not a one. She was portrayed as an attractive and desirable doctor with no self esteem issues whatsoever. The other characters made no mention or issue of her size, and even though she totally got. it. on. with Lenoard, she was in no way hypersexualized. I'm just... floored. I already loved this show, but it just won major points with me.

(I'm not going to mention the interesting fact that maybe the show found it more okay for Leonard to date a fat girl, since his character is also non-traditionally attractive due to his geekiness. I'm too impressed in general to try to diminish it.)

Anyone know who that actress was?

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Two Things That Keep Me From Reading Your Blog

1.)If you post too often, I will likely unsubscribe. I like to be able to get through my entire feed-reader each day without leaving anything "unread", and it's hard to do that when ONE blog has posted 10, 20, or even 30 times.

Example: As much as I sometimes like Jezebel, they got axed from my Google Reader for precisely this reason.

Exceptions: The amazing Shakesville, which is stellar from post to post and has a perfect mix of commentary, anecdotes, YouTube fun, and open threads, and Queers United, which, despite posting several times a day, posts short and sweet commentary, news, and action alerts that I am sure to take the time to read.


2.) If your entire post does not appear in my feed-reader, I am unlikely to click over to read the rest of it. (In blogger, you can check or change this under the "Site Feed" tab in the "Settings" menu.) It's nothing personal, but unless I am so engrossed in your post from the title and first couple of sentences alone that I absolutely have to know what comes next, I am likely to just scroll on by it. And even if I DO click over to read it, I am annoyed that I had to open a new tab and wait for it to load.

In case you need more convincing to switch to displaying full posts in your feed, here's a scenario to think about. When I used to use my Google Reader as a way to allow me to read blog posts on a work computer in which nearly all blogs were blocked, having to click to a blog to read the post meant I had no way whatsoever to read it. I would sometimes try to mark the posts I wanted to come back to and read later at home, but it almost never happened.


What keeps you from reading blogs?

Friday, November 14, 2008

I met Susan Faludi yesterday!

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And when she signed my copy of Backlash, she wrote:

Nov. 13, 2008
For Tracey,
In sisterhood!
Susan Faludi


(*OMG-feminist-girlcrush-SWOON!*)

Friday, November 7, 2008

The Implications of Gendered Lube

Have you seen those commercials for KY Yours and Mine, the new "his" and "hers" lube? Here they are, all on one convenient YouTube video:



Now, read what Rachel from Women's Health News has to say about it:
Earlier this week, I was waiting around the drug store for a prescription, and was able to take a good long look at the crotch aisle (condoms, lube, and pregnancy tests) as the products were actually on the aisle rather than locked up in a case.

Now, I’ve recently been seeing commercials for KY Yours & Mine, and was curious enough to read the package. The “Yours” is supposed to be “for him” and the “Mine” is supposed to be “for her,” so I will now refer to them as “his” and “hers.”We’re going to leave aside for now the obviously problematic nature of assuming all sex takes place between “him” and “her.”

Get this: his has sweeteners - honey and sucralose (which is Splenda!) - while hers has “fragrance.” Seriously. Hers does not have sweeteners, and his does not have “fragrance.”

Now, I suppose it’s possible that the other ingredients in his just taste terrible and need some help, and the other ingredients in hers smell bad and also need a boost. The message I’m going to walk away with, though, because I think it’s more likely, is that his (and only his) body is for tasting while hers is naturally stinky.

Harumph.
Harumph is right.

I know those commercials go on and on about how the "sensations" these lubes give are somehow gender-specific (whatever that means), but this flavor/fragrance ridiculousness is maddening.

And sucralose? Seriously? I could make so many jokes about Diet Cock right now...

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Change.gov

I am totally diggin' Obama's transition team website. I haven't looked through the whole thing yet, but here are a couple of my favorite features so far:

-The ticker at the top of the pages counting down the days until Obama's inauguration

-The detailed (and totally kickass) page about women's issues.

-And, as Queers United reports, the site's job page clearly states:
The Obama-Biden Transition Project does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or any other basis of discrimination prohibited by law.
HOPE: They're doing it right.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

YES WE DID

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Vote for Lando!

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

Get out your blue and red crayons!

The CRAFT Magazine blog just posted a link to this awesome Color Your Own Electoral College Map.
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Click here to download the full-sized image. Just print it in landscape, and you're good to go!