Monday Reading List

I Don't Care If You're Offended:

Now, I think many people who write about and try to fight structural bias are just accustomed to using “offensive” as something of a shorthand for this notion of harmful-because-it-reinforces-pernicious-memes; I know I generally have. But offense is only defined in terms of how the offended person feels, which means it’s an insufficient concept. It actually obscures the real problem.

The Looting Lie

For example, I was watching CNN, and there was a CNN reporter that was talking about a Haitian hotel that brought a hose out for people to take water from if they came by. Were those people looting water? I’d say no. The norms changed. What if people are together in a group and they decide that they need to go get some rice. Is it looting to get rice and feed your family in desperate situations? No. It’s a new norm developing in the midst of a very extreme situation.

Remembering National Tragedies: The U.S. vs Germany:

Plantations were many other things, but they were also the engine of slavery. It is this that should stand out as the most important thing about them. Concentration camps were many other things as well (e.g., a military training site, a daily job site for German soldiers, a factory producing goods, and a strategic part of the war effort), but we have absorbed the important lessons from them so thoroughly that it is difficult to even imagine what an alternative tour might look like. In contrast, one can visit the Lara Plantation and come away not really thinking about slavery at all, in favor of how pretty the china was and oooh did you smell that candle as we walked by? Delicious. I need a coke, you?

At War With Our Bodies:

We live in a society that makes money off of making us feel bad about ourselves, after all people who are 100% content with their body don’t go on expensive fad diets or purchase tons of expensive beauty supplies.

Female Sexuality As A Weapon:

With the recent release of Bayonetta, I was reminded of female sexuality being used as a weapon or a power in games. This is not an original idea. Having not played Bayonetta I will only mention some other games that use this mechanic.

Rape Analogy Redux: The "Stroll In The Jungle" Theory:

What is the fate of the man-eating bear? Many of the past decade’s person-eaters were either shot, killed in some other way, pepper-sprayed, lured out of the wilderness with elaborate traps, or quarantined in animal training. Sixty percent of rapes are not even reported to police, which seriously impedes the government’s ability to trap rapists. Why aren’t these women reporting their rapes? Oh, perhaps it has s0mething to do with jungle rape theorists who suggest that everyone who gets raped is a big ‘ol dumbass.

Also, Felicia Day, otherwise known in these parts as that girl who lives through Epitaph One and the girl who doesn't live through Dr. Horrible's Sing Along-Blog has her own blog! In it, she is as witty as one could hope. I highly recommend reading her, and I defy you from coming away fantasizing she'll be you're new BFF. And Stuff You Should Know's Kiva team, of which I am a part, has raised $64,225 so far. Go Team!

And comic:

toothpastefordinner.com

Monday Reading List

From 'Vibrator' to 'Cougar Town', Sex Is Still A Man's World:

“Men comprise the majority of the creative community,” said Martha M. Lauzen, executive director of the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University, and one result is “male fantasies of women’s sexuality.” Dr. Lauzen studied the 2008-9 television season, surveying more than 2,100 of the most powerful jobs in prime-time network broadcasting, and found that only one out of four was held by a woman.

Bending Gender Online for Fun, Profit, and Faux Feminism:

Ironic, but not surprising. Sociologist Shelly Correll has demonstrated that women with kids face a “motherhood penalty.” They’re less likely to be offered jobs and less likely to be paid well. When Correll gave potential employers fake resumes that varied only in subtle references to parenting activities, she found that supposedly childless women were twice as likely as mothers to be called for an interview.

Back!:

What I like about the atheist reactions to these pieces is that they are not down with the sexism in them. What I don't like is that atheist authors are more likely to see misogyny as a problem of these authors and religious folks, and thus not our problem. But sexism is alive and well among atheists, and while it shouldn't be tackled by people like Lofton, who are clearly hostile towards atheists, it can't just be projected onto religious folks and ignored in our own community.

Disability Symbology:

Notice how the second symbol represents people with disabilities as active and independent. There are motion signs and the figure is pushing its own chair.

An organization called Not a Doll is taking the human trafficking element of Dollhouse and bringing attention to it (via Stephanie, who also says, "if Whedonites can get a giant studio to make a high budget movie out of a show that didn't even get a full season, they might just be able to create quite a bit of real life change.")

The How Stuff Works Kiva team has raised $46,950 as of this morning.

And comic:

Monday Reading List

Clothing: The Newest Weapon Against Sexual Assault:

Adam Whiton, an MIT student, and Yolita Nugent, a clothing designer, are leading a research project to develop sensor-studded clothing for women that will record data about an attack in real time and store that information on a computer. Having such hard evidence about an attack may persuade more women to turn to the authorities in crisis situations, and this evidence may make it easier to prosecute and convict offenders.

Just How Pro-Choice Is America, Really?:

...in late 1995, a Florida Republican congressman named Charles Canady had a stroke of insight that would shift it to the realm of both the metaphysical and brutally physical, which is precisely where the pro-life movement wanted it all along. On the floor of the House, he introduced a bill that would ban so-called “partial-birth abortions,” a second-trimester surgical method previously known as intact dilation and extraction. The procedure was extremely upsetting to behold. In it, the fetus—or is it a baby?—is removed from the uterus and stabbed in the back of the head with surgical scissors. It’s a revolting image, one to which the public was ritualistically subjected on the evening news as the debate raged on the House and Senate floors. Defending it was a pro-choice person’s nightmare. Pat Moynihan compared it to infanticide. Clinton still vetoed the ban in 1996, but it was eventually signed into law in 2003 and withstood a Supreme Court challenge in 2007. More important, women were spooked. “A lot of our patients started asking whether or not the fetus felt pain after that, even if they were early along in their pregnancy,” says Albert George Thomas, who until two years ago had spent eighteen years as the head of the family-planning clinic at Mount Sinai.

Ads Gone Bad: The Dockers Man-ifesto:

Once upon a time, men didn't have anyone questioning their shit. They wanted to be congratulated for opening doors and walking across streets. Men were in charge because they kept everyone else down. But somewhere along the way, women wised up and were like, these dudes are fucking assholes and we'd like some freedom and autonomy now, please.

Three Examples of Rape Culture in Nice Guy (tm) Breast Cancer Activism:

Do you feel safer yet? Oh, but this is hilarious, right? Because no-one ever ACTUALLY touches breasts against their owner’s will! See? It’s SATIRICAL. Don’t you get it? The threat is just a JOKE! Lighten up, chicks! God, you’re so SERIOUS.

John's working on a new project, Operation Backlog Slog, Days 1-5, Day 6, and Days 7-9:

Beginning December 1st, I swore off purchasing any new music, movies, TV shows, video games, graphic novels until I finish my existing stockpile of each. I haven’t done a full inventory yet, but I’ve got at least 10 video games, 10 graphic novels (here, plus hundreds back home), two high-capacity DVD binders full of movies and TV shows and several albums to go through.

Stuff You Should Know's Josh and Chuck have a Kiva Team, of which I am a part, has raised $38,600, well on their way to the $100,000 challenge they've set for themselves.

And Toothpaste for Dinner!

toothpastefordinner.com

Charity Via Cake Wrecks

I like mocking the unfortunate results of other people's faulty creative output and I also love looking at pretty things, so I really love Cake Wrecks, the site featuring horrible, professionally made cakes days Monday through Saturday and really fantastic professionally made cakes every Sunday. Also, I have a love for passive aggressive notes, which, while not fulfilling the "pretty things" quotient more than makes up for that in the hilariously creative ways people passive-aggressively communicate via the written word.

Anyway, Cake Wrecks has a large following, due in part to the heinous cakes and in part because of the snark that accompanies them. And so, the creator(s) of the site have decided to do this really cool thing, charity-wise. And that is this:

So here's the deal: instead of buying gifts or trees or decorations this year, John and I are going to donate a minimum of $200 to a different charity or worthy cause, every day, for the next two weeks.

Which ones?

Well, that's where you come in.

See, we have a few organizations in mind, but certainly not 14. So, I'm asking for your recommendations.What are you passionate about? Where do you volunteer your time, talents, and money? Who do you know that needs help? Tell me in the comments (not e-mail!), so that we all can read and learn and maybe even give a little together.

Oh, and if you're worrying that CW is going to turn into a charity-pushing propaganda site for the next few weeks: don't. I'll just be adding a footnote to each day's post giving you the name of the organization, a one-sentence summary, and a link if you want to learn more.

Now, John and I will be choosing each day's charity based on our own individual passions - which might not match up exactly with your own - but even so I'm going to issue you a little challenge. Ready? Here 'tis:

Give one dollar to each day's charity.

If you each give one dollar - just one solitary smackeroo - together we can raise over $80,000 each day. BAM. Just like that. Imagine that 14 times over, all for worthy causes. Imagine the number of lives that could impact. Imagine, if you will...the bragging rights.

Yeah, you heard me. When you get involved in something that awesome, you get major bragging rights.

Ok. So. You pumped? You with me? You...ready for this post to be over? Heh, I hear ya.

I, for one, am pumped! I am ready and willing and able to give one dollar per day to a charity for the next 2 weeks! And I've decided to spread the word! They've already got three charities up. Those are:

Charity: Water

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

Heifer International And, for ease of payment, Cake Wrecks has set up a Firstgiving page.

So, if the Christmas spirit grabs you, stop by Cake Wrecks, check out the wreckage (or wonder), and peruse the charity o' the day.

Josh & Chuck (Well, Mostly Josh) Issue Stephen Colbert A Challenge

That's pretty much it, actually:


In case anyone doesn't know, Stuff You Should Know is one of my favorite podcasts. I also contribute to Josh and Chuck's Kiva team, because I don't know how to say no to organizations who want my money. Actually, I do. It's called "I made a 12 month list, 12 organizations get a month, and if you harass me about giving you more money during that 12 month period after I've explained the system, you're sitting out for at least a year while another equally worthy organization takes your spot". Josh and Chuck have a month, and they don't harass me for more money. Because they're unaware I exist. Which works out well for them as well as me, since that means whenever I get fed up with an organization (ACLU, I'm looking at you!), I tell them they've lost their month to the Stuff You Should Know Kiva team.

All of this is to say: Josh and Chuck bring the hilarity. And cue cards. And so I'm hoping many, many people help them reach $100,000 in loans. Also, I'm amazed at the 750,000 downloads a week stat, though not surprised by Chuck bringing it.

So, if you feel like joining in the weekly hilarity, the Stuff You Should Know podcast is on iTunes, and also here. Their blog is here. And their Kiva team is here. They're one of the brightest spots to my week.

February's Charity

When my maternal grandmother was 14, she contracted the polio virus. One day, she was winning hopscotch tournaments and being the one of the best jump ropers (specifically double dutch) in her area, and the next, she was bed-ridden. She was taken to the hospital like all of the other sufferers of polio, and because my mother's side of the family were and are mostly poor, rural folks, the March of Dimes stepped in and paid the bill. The March of Dimes also paid for my great-grandparents to travel to the hospital and see their daughter. Eventually, my grandmother got well enough to go home, go to work, get married to a man who had lost his left arm at birth, and have two children, but never well enough to walk again, or play hopscotch or double dutch. 

The March of Dimes has an odd story; founded by Franklin Roosevelt to find a cure for polio, it was headed by his legal advisor Basil O'Connor, who agreed to be its treasurer not because he had any pressing wish to cure polio but because he was so loyal to Roosevelt. It became the March of Dimes during the depression years by asking the general population to send in a dime to the charity; the thinking was that even during hard economic times, everyone could spare a dime (which was also probably the thinking behind the song, "Buddy, Can You Spare A Dime"). And the people did, partially because most could find a way to spare a dime and partially because the specter of polio loomed so large nearly everyone feared getting it and nearly everyone wanted to find a way to ensure not to. It was a rousing success, and it led to - along with Jonas Salk's vision and Basil O'Connor's impatience - a vaccine. From that point forward, March of Dimes shifted from being about curing polio to preventing premature birth, birth defects, and infant mortality.

Today is my grandmother's birthday; her favorite charity is the March of Dimes, for obvious reasons. And even though we bought her earrings and some cupcakes and we brought her balloons and flowers, I thought that her favorite charity and the one she has been giving to her entire life could be this month's charity for me as well, as my way of continuing to fulfill #5 on my New Year's Resolution list.

Playing For Change

On my birthday, I indulged, had a bit of cake, and spent much of the rest of the evening on the couch trying to stop the world from spinning. In that state, my father decided that I could watch Bill Moyers. On the Journal, Bill had on a man who traveled the world, recording music from different countries and recording songs, old and new:

Although the idea of connecting people and changing the world through music is very much a 1960s, flower-child idea, and although this kind of movement is incredibly and naively idealistic, there is something thought-provoking about the film and the idea that lives can be changed and the world can be bettered by an acknowledgement of interconnectedness that is exemplified by music. Mark Johnson, the film maker, says it well when he said, "We all know the world is changing. And we get to decide if it's changing for the better or if it's changing for the worse." And it is incredibly moving to see "Stand By Me" sung and played by such a wide breadth of people:

What is also wonderful is Johnson's commitment to bettering the communities he visited by building music schools there. Johnson says, " now it's a chance for kids to get together, to have something positive to look forward to. And what we're doing with this foundation is we're going build hundreds of schools around the world. And installing them all with recording equipment and cameras. So that people can log on to the internet and they can watch recitals and concerts in the schools we're building, to kind of break down that whole distance barrier."

Another Love, And Another Cause

First, the new love:

I have to admit, I don't normally like Aussie accents. I'm weird like that, I know. Most people I know swoon over them, but the only accents I really swoon over come from the British Isle. Oh, Sean Connery! And Christopher Eccleston! Anyway, I like Natalie here for several reasons. First up, anyone who makes with the grammar corrections attains almost god-like status in my book. Secondly, I love how she goes on a mini-explanation about the toothpick holders and restaurants. Mainly though, I enjoy her cool and costumed way of making such blatant racism ridiculous and mockable. Props to The Feminist Underground for finding me a new interweb love who will never know of my existence. I may beat Habladora to the newest of the new Sarah Haskins videos, but I think she wins in the long run by continually alerting me to people like Natalie. Also, check out her YouTube channel for her other videos.

Now for the new cause, found via Feministing:

What can I say? I'm a sap. And I like the idea of bettering the world through female empowerment and entrepreneurship. This reminds me of something I saw on PBS a couple of weeks ago that I had planned on blogging about, and it was a school for women. It taught them -grandmothers, mothers, and girls- how to hook up and maintain solar powered cells in order to provide electricity to their villages, giving them a skill set and also improving the way of life for those of their communities. It seemed really cool, and if I can track down the link, I'll add it. The Girl Effect seems to operate under the same premise, that improving the lives of women helps their communities and the world at large.

Paul Newman

Paul Newman, resident of Westport Connecticut for more years than I've been alive and star of such films like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and Cool Hand Luke, died yesterday after a battle with lung cancer at age 83.

Paul Newman was an actor my mother adored, not only because of his looks and talent but also because of his philanthropical ways. We bought Newman's Own products in part because they were delicious and in part because the proceeds -after taxes- went to charities. We bought his daughter's off-shoot of Newman's Own because it was organic. She bought Shameless Exploitation: In Pursuit of the Common Good, a well written, funny, moving, and sad book about Newman and his charities and how he and AE Hotchner came up with the idea for the first product -the salad dressing. And it talks about the development of his Hole In The Wall Gang Camp, a summer camp for seriously ill children. It is hard for me to greatly admire actors as people rather than just admiring their craft in many circumstances. But I admired Paul Newman as a person; I admired his dedication to his charities, and I admired the way he developed those charities and worked at those charities instead of just signing over a good deal of money to one already founded. I think it speaks to what he was passionate about, and what force of good he thought he could be on the world. And his charities and products will continue to live on, which is the best outcome Paul Newman or anyone else could ever hope for.

In honor of Paul Newman, I may break out some of his movies; The Sting, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, maybe even Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. And I'll wish he and Robert Redford had made one more movie together. And maybe, once I'm financially solvent, I'll write a good sized check to the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp.