amazon_syren

Here! Have a very distressing link about the sex-trafficking of aboriginal women and girls in Canada.
This is really fucking horrifying, just FYI.

Of Wolves and Women -- Naamah_Darling's take on the similarities between how our culture(?) treets wild animals, especially large carnivores, and how our culture treats us.


From The Nation:
Reflections on Marriage.


From The Guardian:
Seeding a Safer World -- Hillary Clinton on Food Security, small farms, and infrastructure.


From Blogging While Feminist:
Heterosexuality, Intercourse and Rape,
AND
Feminism, Lesbianism, Class and Race.


From Hoyden About Town:
Mother of Merciful Fuck, What the HELL??? Intersex Australians who need to take Androcur get put on the national sex offenders' list for life. EXCUSE ME?????


From Shapely Prose:
Would It Kill You to be Civil -- On that awful XKCD strip that ran in early October.


From Fetch Me My Axe:
On Women who have the Gaul to be "Unfuckable". Covers fat-hate, racism, anti-feminism, and all sorts of other stuff.


From The Curvature:
Judge Refers to Convicted Rapist's Actions as "Rough Play" -- Stuff that will make you cry and/or rage.


From Questioning Transphobia:
Trans Virgin Marys and Other Such Heresies -- An LTBG organization in Spain released a religious calendar featuring trans women as various classical images of the Virgin Mary. It was a tad controversial. The QT article talks about trans bodies vs cis bodies and how that relates to western/xian/etc notions of sacred vs profane. Go read.


From The Angry Black Woman:
Verb Noire Call for Submissions -- Seeking original works of genre fiction (science fiction/fantasy/mystery/romance) that feature a person of color and/or an LGBT person as the central character.


Thorn Magazine submission guidelines (a magazine about "Paganism in the Silicone Age"). Takes all sorts of different types of submissions.


From Youtube:
Too Big For My Skin -- A spoken word piece on motherhood and beauty.
AND
"Rise" by the Flobots -- Because Commodorified likes it. Also, I agree that the mingling of U.S. nationalistic symbols with black!flag/Anarchist symbols is very effective.

Via Mostcuriousblog:
Judge challenges anti-marriage advocates to "prove it" regarding how queer marriages threaten het marriages. Good.


This, however, will totally disgust you:
Racist judge claims he's not racist, yet denies interracial couple a marriage license on the grounds that he doesn't "believe in mixing races like that". Uh... What year is this, again???
Related link: Shakesville's commentary on the situation.


From Geek Feminism:
Scud explains why having our backs is important.


From Feministing:
I Live in a Place -- About life in the caribbean and, among other things, the tourist trade there.
AND
Hir - Links to the video of a performance poem on being trans.


From Facebook:
If you're in NYC, you should check out Feminist Sex, TONIGHT at Bluestockings at 7pm. A host of fabulous women, including the awesome Audacia Ray, will be performing on the subject of what it means to be feminist and sex-possitive in relation to the subject of feminism and men.


From Heartless Bitches International:
Poly People I Can Do Without.


The olympic medals are gorgeous, fyi. I love how they're not flat. Also... Is it just me, or are the bronze medals actually copper this year[1]?


- TTFN,
- Amazon.

[1] I don't know if copper is as big a deal to the Tlingit and the Komoyue as it is to the Haida, but if it is, the choice of copper over actual bronze would make a lot of sense.

Hey! Who doesn't want a free download of Ivan E. Coyote's book Loose End? Click the link and enjoy the bounty courtesy of Arsenal Pulp Press! :-D


Check Out teen feminist blog The FBomb.


The city where the bicycle rules the road -- "It took time and political courage. But today, Copenhagen is an example to cities seeking to develop a bicycle culture of their own."


Arnie Okays an official Harvey Milk memorial day, BUT screws trans folks and queer/trans prisoners over at the same time. Unimpressed, Arnie. Unimpressed. :-P


Check out Skyler's Awesome Interview with Natalie of Autostraddle. (Hat Tip: It was linked on Feministing).


From Waking Vixen:
Thoughtful MAsculinities: Theory and Practice.


From Shakesville: Cool Chicks in the News:
Ruth Frith breaks shotput record at the age of 100.
AND
Elinor Ostrom wins Nobel Prize in economics for her work proving that communities can trump state control and corporations.
Rock on.

Also from Shakesville:
The Trials and Travails of Transness: Trans-Sexualization (Part Six in an ongoing series).
AND
Toyota is Quite Possibly Evil Incarnate. What the fuck kind of "advertising campaign" stalks random people over the internet with the intent to terrorize them????? That is REALLY fucked up!!!!!


From Geek Feminism:
One Laptop Per Child and Gender -- relates to gender and open source communities in general.
AND
Quick hit: how are you ruining a perfectly good men-only geek interest today? -- A link round-up of reactions and responses to douche-assed dude writing about how teh wiminz and minoriteeees are ruining teh SF. Go. Read. Mock. :-) (Hat Tip to Hyel).


From Feministe:
Contraception Use Up, Abortion Rates Down. No surprises there.


From The Sexist:
Steep Price: Gay Sex Club Closes After Fatal Injury -- On the definition of "safe space", among other things. (Haven't read it yet, don't know what it'll be like, but it looks interesting so I'm linking).


From The Hathor Legacy:
Polanski: It's Not Just About Age - on more goddamn fucking rape appologism. >:-P
AND
So That's Why Men (and Women) are Afraid of Me. On not putting up with garbage from people who are being assholes.


- TTFN,
- Amazon.

Two links:

Shweta_Narayan would not like John Ottinger III to Shut Up. More stupid, self-entitled white men in SF wanting the rest of us to stfu. Goody. This is a signal boost.

Two from Questioning Transphobia:
London trans activists call for boycott of sham demo on October 17th (via Hyel).
AND
Trans Suicide Prevention - two PDFs worth of information, suggestions, dos and donts, contact numbers, warning signs and the like to help keep yourselves and/or people you care about alive and not in despair.


And one from Shakesville (via Tithenai):
Rape Culture 101.


In other news:
I've sent notes to my Toronto photographers checking studio/shoot times, and have started hunting for a place to stay while I'm in Toronto over Hallowe'en weekend.

I feel (vaguely) like I've accomplished something today.


Still no closer to getting 2000 words done on my story, but some of the other stuff is in the works.

Go me. :-)


Also: Apparently it's National Coming Out Day in Belgium. :-)


- TTFN,
- Amazon. :-)

Via Hyel:
Conservative Bible Project Cuts Out Liberal Passages -- Because there's nothing new under the sun.


From Pandagon:
Women like politeness, being treated like humans: news at 11 -- About how women respond to various opening salvos on internet dating sites.
Note to Nice!Guys(TM): Boy are you wrong. (Duh).


Via Shakesville, from The Globe and Mail:
The casting couch is all too real, but no one will discuss it. Great! Just fantastic! [/sarcasm].


From [M]etabrain [E]ntry [L]og:
Hi. My name is Mel, and I’m female… and feminist. - About sexism online. Very interesting.


On a Related Note, from Infotropism:
Standing out in the crowd -- Kirrily/Scud's OSCON keynote speach.


From Feministe:
How I Wore a Hijab and How Much it Sucked for Me -- About a non-muslim gal living in Jordan who wore a fake[1] hijab in order to stop the street harassment.


From Feministing:
What About Out Military Moms? -- About the career/famiy divide and who is expected to derail their careers to look after family and who is expected to ditch their families to look after their careers.

AND

German women's magazine to ban professional models.


Re: The Last One:

Okay. I'm not a professional model. I rarely get paid for my work and I mostly do it with people whose company I enjoy, even when I only know them through Model Mayhem.

That said, I am a *good* model. Not a phenomenal one. Not one who is expecting to be able to make her living off posing for pictures, certainly not one who's learned all the tricks of the trade yet. But I do good work.

Which means I damn well know what it takes to do good work, and I know how much I still have to learn[2] before I get anywhere near "great".

Models aren't passive.

Sitting there and looking pretty actually *does* take effort. It takes both the ability to take dirrection *and* the ability to improvise in front of a camer.

It takes a shitload of body-awareness.
As in: comprable to professional dancers and professional actors.

You have to know what your different facial expressions *feel* like so that you can throw them on in any kind of an accurate way and not end up looking like a deranged hyena when you're going for "fierce" or "sultry" or "cheerful" or whatever[3]. You have to know what to do with your hands/arms so that they aren't flapping all over the place but aren't hanging uselessly by your sides, either. You have to know how to plant your feet so that you look solid in a photo even if you palance pretty precariously where you are, how to make uncomfortable, contorted body postures look easy and natural and comfortable.


So when I see a headline like that? Part of me goes: Not if they want good cover-shots, they aren't.
And, as such, wonders why they would say such a thing when, perhaps what they mean is more along the lines of "We're going to stop hiring models whose body-shapes are distressingly skinnier than the average of our target audience" (which is far more likely) or "We're going to hire professional models, but we're going to turn the focus from their body-shapes to everything else they're involved in" (My ass. See below for more fury).


The other part of me goes: Assholes. that's someone's JOB you're taking away there, either by litterally not hiring someone who makes her living in this field, or by totally ignoring the skill-set required to do that job and so making the fact that it's a skill and a trade invisible/ignorable in the name of your damn PR.

Seriosuly. Comments like this?
"We will show women who have an identity -- the 18-year-old student, the head of the board, the musician, the football player[...]"

Are just like all that shit about models vs "real" women.

As if professional models aren't *also* musicians, athletes, CEOs and students. Or caterers, office-workers, teachers and parents, for that matter. As if we have no identity beyond being "just a pretty face".

This is fucking insulting on a lot of levels, not the least of which being that it plays into the idea that (1) you can either be pretty or smart, and that (2) modeling is easy and that it requires no skills what-so-ever. :-P


If you want to expand the definition of "super-model body-type"? More power to you. I'm well aware that mine is not the only aesthetically pleasing body-type in the world.
But DON'T do it by pretending that it doesn't take skills and talent to do the fucking job. >:-|


- Sincerely,
- A Pissed Off Amazon.


[1] As in: Worn for reasons other than faith or cultural ties, as far as I can tell.

[2] Yes, LEARN. You heard me!

[3] I have a long way to go on this one which, I suspect, is why so many of *my* good pictures involve fairly neutral facial expressions.

Firstly, this looks cool:
The Goddess Alchemy Project.


Secondly, via the rarely updated blog of the above-linked Goddess Alchemy Project:
Equinox Wishes. Thought-provoking Pagan (and/or New Age... A little bit of both, I think) stuff. Go take a look.


From Kaigou:
A really good run-down of the Lambda Kerfuffle and why definitions (of, say, "literature") matter. Go have a look.


From The Sexist:
Frat Boys at GW Rush to Undo Homophobic Stereotypes.


From Feministe:
On Men's and Women's Shoe "Choices". It's really short, but I think it brings up a good point re: "Femininity: Damned if You Do, Damned if You Don't".


From The Angry Black Woman:
The Do’s and Don’ts of Being a Good Ally,
AND
Race, Terminology, and Self-Identification.


Via Feministing:
School librarians won't let censors throw the book at them -- About censorship and how to fight it.


Remember Shakesville's Terrible Bargain post, to-which I linked a while back? Well, there's a follow-up, explaining that terrible bargain in further detail and offering an alternative. It made me cry. :-) I was thinking: "This is what happened in my marriage".
It's here.

From The Sexist:
You’re Drunk. It’s Inside You. It Kind of Hurts. Is It Rape? -- On slut-shaming, "hook-up culture", and the normalization of date-rape. Eugh.

Related Link, from Pandagon:
On Rape Charges, False[1] Rape Charges, and Slut Shaming.


From Abyss2Hope:
If People Don't Understand The Difference Between Consent And Compliance When... -- On that very, very, very important distinction.


From Fugitivus (I've linked this one before, but it's important and should be read again):
Rape Doesn't Happen in a Vacuum. Read it. Read it again.


From Tiger Beatdown:
Perfect Disguise: Isaac Brock, Samantha Shapiro, and the Ethics of Journalism In Rape Culture. That's... interesting. Not remotely surprising. But Interesting. Go check it out.


From Salon (of all places):
Reminder: Roman Polanski raped a child -- About how "we" as a culture (and as The Media) talk about rape, and women and girls who get raped, largely by trying to skip the part where it was rape at all.


AND On a Happier Note...


From Fugitivus:
Stuff What Boys Can Do. Stories about guys who help prevent violence against women. A lot of it feels like "cookies for not being assholes" to me (and my cynicism), but some of them are awesome.


AND


Caster Runs for Me. You'll see.


AND


The Jim Collins Foundation, a group that raises money to help cover the costs of gender confirmation surgery for people in NYC, has put out an open call to trans artists for submissions[2] for their show, Expressed Identities (which will be held at the Campbell Soady Gallery in NYC, on October 8th).
If you're in New York City at the time, you might want to check it out. :-)


AND, on the subject of trans experiences:

From Questioning Transphobia:
Transphobic Words and Deeds -- On cis privilege and transphobia, and what they are.


- TTFN,
- Amazon.


[1] Or dropped.

[2] Are you reading this, sweetie-pie? ;-)

Some interesting links via Sex Geek:

The full-length version of Andrea's key-note speech at Ottawa's Dyke March this year.

AND

Andrea's response to a post from Pandagon that I linked to a while back, about "facials" being inherently degrading. (I think Pixxelpuss will like her response).

AND

At Sex Advice By Sasha:
On bisexuality, binary everything, and the assumptions that come along with "monogamy=normalcy". Check it out. :-)

Via Reyl:
If you're trans and live in Ontario, please take the Trans PULSE Survey.
From the website:
We are documenting how discrimination affects trans people's health and we need as many trans people as possible to participate.
Please link this all over the place. :-)


Via Ami_B:
Pro Choice Coalition Ottawa who are pretty much what they sound like. Go check them out, and maybe hang out in front of Morgantaller with them curing the next month or so, if you've got the hours free. :-)


Via the Goddess Scholars yahoo group:
School of witchcraft opens in Taiwan -- While I suspect that the term "Witchcraft" is being used for sensationalistic reasons, I think it's really awesome that the Paiwan (one of the aboriginal groups in Taiwan) have opened a training school[1] in order to preserve their communities' traditional healing techniques, rituals, and ways of interacting with the gods and the ancestors.


From Pandagon:
Once again, sexists choose punishing a woman over their own self interest. On how rape culture, the shaming of sexual women, and "false rape accusations" go together like a horse and carriage.


From Karen Healey (Attention Rebelious Jezebels):
Heck Yes, I've Got Spirit! -- In Deffense of Cheerleaders and, quite a bit less-so, their portrayal in/by the media.


From Dira Sudis:
A Review Of Sorts (of How to Suppress Women's Writing, by Joanna Russ) -- on women's writing, fanfiction, and taking ourselves seriously.


From Tiger Beatdown:
On Douchebags, Willful Ignorance of One's Own Misogyny, and Various Forms of Harassment! Jolly Good Fun!


You Remember the Sexual Assault Prevention Tips (Guaranteed to Work) that I linked to, a while back?

Well, apparently there's been a bit of a ruckus happening over it.

The is the response from the author of said list of tips.


AND


Two from The Man Files:
A View from the Pole -- about the kind of guys you find in strip clubs and what they're like to work with.

AND

In honour of Take Back the Night, which is tonight:
Take Back the Night -- About how the cultural memes about "women should learn how to protect themselves better" and "rapists are strangers in the bushes, not people you actually *know*" and so on, and the more typical types of "rape prevention tips" that get circulated widely on campuses, for example, are really not remotely effective and actually contribute to (or bolster) the problem.


- TTFN,
- Amazon.


[1] As opposed to passing the techniques down through bloodlines, which is how it's traditionally been done -- I guess maybe the children of these ritualists don't necessarily want to learn the techniques or take over the family business?