This past weekend saw the cable TV premiere of a movie about animal behavior expert and autism advocate Temple Grandin. WVFC contributor Tamar Bihari writes about watching the film with her son, who had been diagnosed as being on the autistic spectrum.
Whenever I watch or read an account of someone with autism, I have one of two default reactions. If it rings false to me, I feel angry. Betrayed. I threw a bestselling novel across the room a few years ago because the depiction of a boy with Asperger’s Syndrome felt hollow and contrived, all tics with no sense of what it would actually be like to be that boy, to wrap yourself in his skin.
If, on the other hand, it rings true, I cry. I’m not even sure why. Tears of recognition, maybe. A feeling that the creators get it. This is the way it is.
Continue reading at Women's Voices For Change.
Originally Posted at WomenUndefined.Com
Hey Women's Studies majors, no need to take those extra sociology courses - If you watched last night's Super Bowl and the accompanying advertisements, you're an expert in sexism and misogyny!
You can now say with confidence and pride: "I aced Sexism and Misogyny in Society 101". Well, you can only say that if you didn't break your TV after the whole shibang was said and done, no doubt some of us failed the course, myself included.
If you haven't taken this course or are interested in applying please see course features, prerequisite requirements and goals of the course below.
The cost of this course is monetarily free (cost upon society unquantifiable and unaccountably negative-for certain reverberating for generations, as the course will be reenacted every day.)
The Time and Date of Course: Super Bowl 44 - but if you missed it, there will be another Super Bowl next February!
Course Features : Reified notions of gender, race, class and sex. Dehumanization through sexualization of women to sell a product. Reassurance of masculinity and power, perpetuated notions that these "values" have been lost in recent years. Objectification of minorities and women. Displaying the paternal complex between a hetero-normative couple and even a scripted 30 second short film on how to be a heterosexual, hetero-normative , man and woman in our society! (Such a cute wedding and birth scene... )
Prerequisites for the course include owning a television (over 90% of America qualifies!) , being born (or having a mother like Tim Tebow's , who chose life!) and possessing the ability to use all of ones senses (ie: hear, see, smell etc.) No further requirements are necessary, although most people will either be unaware of their presence in class or not care about the content.
Intended goals of the course are to display how sexist our society is and portray mass media's (owned by a scant 8 corporations) role in reifying notions of gender and class.
What you will gain : nothing
Okay, maybe not "nothing" (I am being dramatic again). Students will gain the reaffirmation that sexism, misogyny and gender constructs/norms are alive and well in society. That the content viewed in advertisements during the Super Bowl are deemed acceptable by mass media and society in general. That advertisements for Gay Dating Websites are denied for being too "scandalous" while GoDaddy.Com can buy 6 spots all featuring a woman ripping her shirt off- literally. That it is okay to use lines such as "take your skirt off, man" to convey the reclaiming of one's masculinity, even though dehumanizing women are completely trashed in the process.
Legal Disclaimer: Participants in course may obtain a "passing grade" ,but if you are a Super Bowl ad buyer- you receive an automatic F.
Sophia | Twitter: @sophiabiabia | sophiabiabia@gmail.com
By now, unless you've lived in a cave or have Sprint as your cell phone carrier, you've heard all there is to be heard about "sexting" and all of its controversies. The main problem, it seems, is the legality behind it, and that many teens with significantly older significant others are sending racy text messages and pictures of themselves to those, and as a result, those photos and text messages might be publicized, begging the question of what constitutes child pornography, and what is a private matter between lovers.
There are also those who are worried that the main problem is that teens are sexuality active, or that they're starting to think about sex way too early. For some, "sexting" is sort of like the marijuana of drugs - it's a gateway to many others deeds that are bad for you - you know, like - I don't know, physical intimacy and exploration between two consenting partners.
Continue reading "Parents, Media Going "OMG" Over "Sexting""This made me so angry, It's hard to even think straight right now. However, if anyone can find contact info for Judge Robert Lemkau please post it in the comments, this man needs to be fired immediately. I have never seen such a blatant case of woman hating, disregard for life of child and mother and disgusting paternalist "We know what's best for your child" thought.
*Trigger Warning*
You can read the actual transcript right here: transcript. It's time to raise hell, this is the last straw, I don't want to here another word come from some domestic abuser-apologists mouth.
In case you weren't angry enough here is the facebook suicide message this piece of dirt wrote blaming his ex-wife for having to kill their son: Simply disgusting
For the sake of our generation, I hope this is not a reliable survey:
59% of young women (and men??) think that not getting pregnant from unprotected sex is a clue that you are infertile...
28% of young men (women???) think that using two condoms at the same time is better than using one...
90% of those surveyed believed they knew everything they need to know about safe sex
...
I was not happy with the superbowl commericals. In a nut shell, the consensus was that women are only props that's only here for men to use sexually and reproductively.What a nice message to instill into our little girls of tomorrow. Why so threatened, macho men?
Other than the Betty White commercial, I am extremely disappointed.
[Also posted to my blog]
So I open up my New York Times today and find this:
"On College Campuses, A Shortage of Men"
What followed was a portrait of college life that basically offends everyone. Men are either cads who revel in "not having to work that hard" for a date or pining for dates with the school's "enchanting, beautiful women" (whatever happened to smart, funny, kind, or talented?) that they still can only barely get (and stay with out of habit) with the math skewed in their favor. Women are either sluts who "grab men by the wrist, spin them around [...] and start grinding" or shy and lonely shut-ins that are "left alone on Valentine's Day, staring down a George Clooney movie over a half-empty pizza box." They also seem to only be straight.
This article appeared at the front of the Style section. It involves slut shaming (the passages about sexually aggressive women or women who-God forbid!-ask men out), anti-male sentiment (men are cads, men only want to "use" women), and rampant heteronormitivity.
Just when I think print media is dead, you manage to make everybody look bad, New York Times. I'm so glad I'm going have to pay to read articles like this soon.
I just thought this was too funny not to post. Apologies if you've heard it before:
Q: How many anti-choice activists does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
A:Five. One to screw it in and four to testify that it was lit the moment the screwing began.
Enjoy the rest of your evening!
While this is a bit delayed, its too good not to post! Jon Stewart discusses the dumbing down of Gretchen Carlson on Fox News. While Jon takes a shot at the Fox audience that "sees intellect as an elitist flaw", I wish he had also made the connection to the fact that Gretchen is a female and blond - both of which are likely factors in her dumbing down. Nice to see this sort of 'playing dumb' pointed out. Plus, its comedy gold.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Gretchen Carlson Dumbs Down | ||||
| ||||
Today is Super Bowl Sunday, and even if your hometown’s team is one of the competitors, none has completely escaped chatter about the brain-injury controversy—from CNN’s report on the long-lasting damage suffered by former players, after years of impacts like those at left, to stories from Business Week and others on how states are already changing practice rules for school sports.
If you watch the game, you’ll see at least one of those expensive PSAs on the subject. And if you're a New York Times reader, you might have seen the following quote from a 1928 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association: “There is a very definite brain injury due to single or repeated blows on the head or jaw which cause multiple concussion hemorrhages. ... The condition can no longer be ignored by the medical profession or the public.”
Read more at Women's Voices For Change
