The Vermont legislature has overriden Governor Douglas’ veto of the same-sex marriage bill passed last Thursday. The Senate passed it 23-5 and the House just squeaked through, approving it 100-49. As compared to Iowa’s legalization (just 4 days ago!!!) this is less groundbreaking in that Vermont is a stereotypically hippie-dippie state unlike steadfast, corn-fed, All-American Iowa, but this is revolutionary in a different sense – this is the first instance in which same-sex marriage has been legalized through the legislature rather than the courts, indicating widespread popular support. The right wing can’t whine about “activist judges” this time*. And they actually overrode the governor! HAH! Way to stick it to him. (more…)
Body Hair In Commercials April 6, 2009
As apparently body hair is my bête noir, please allow me to share with you three FOUR recent commercials that dealt with the PHENOMENON that adults grow hair on their body on places other than their scalp and their perfectly arched eyebrows.
This first one is by Boost Mobile (via); the thesis of the commercial seems to be that their product is less “wrong” than others. The main character in the commercial says that her luxurious armpit is “not wrong”, but it’s ambiguous as to whether or not we are supposed to take that at face value (she’s right, body hair isn’t wrong!) or laugh at her (dude, her armpit hair’s three feet long! WTF?). In any case, insinuating that if women were to let their body hair grow, it would be even more rampant and uncontrollable than that of men is both idiotic* and does nothing to stop the perception that the only thing that stands between a woman and utter bestial hideousness is a Schick.
Our Fearless Leader Speaks (about some things) April 5, 2009
Okay, so Obama has actually made a public statement about that law that stripped away women’s rights in Afghanistan, publicly condemning it while at the G20 conference (via).
I’m glad that he took a firm stance on women’s rights being human rights, and an important thing regardless of one’s culture or religion; only time will tell if his speaking out against the law will actually do any good. Karzai, for his part, has promised to review the law, but to me it doesn’t sound like he’s planning on actually changing anything rather than attempting to cover his ass (emphasis mine).
Karzai did not mention Article 132 [the infamous "marital rape clause"] during a news conference Saturday. But he said he had studied the law earlier in the day and that “I don’t see any problems with it.”
He complained that Western media outlets had mistranslated it [which would imply that the women's rights issues were exaggerated, except...]. He read an article of the law during the news conference that appears to restrict Shiite women’s right to leave their homes, though Karzai underscored a provision that allows women to leave in emergencies.
Call me a militant feminazi, but if the least misogynistic thing you can say about your new law is that it lets women leave the house when it’s on fire, you’re doing it wrong. (more…)
Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey hey… January 24, 2009
Curse my lack of faith! The Global Gag Rule, officially known as the Mexico City Policy?
To celebrate, please enjoy the following clip of the late and irrepressible George Carlin, on abortion rights: (more…)
Money – it’s a gas. Don’t give me that do goody-good bullshit. January 7, 2009
Today’s post will be on (drumroll please)…the wage gap! Woohoo!
First, a couple of YouTube videos to get you in the mood. The first (via Feministe), by the Get Out of the Way of Fair Pay Campaign, featuring Batgirl along with her more famous counterparts, Batman and Robin.
The second is an ad (via Feministing) – subtitled in Dutch, so probably distributed in Belgium or the Netherlands. Original actors seem to be speaking with non-American accents, though, so I would imagine it’s from the UK.
The thing about the wage gap is that it persists, to this day, when feminism is supposedly no longer needed and men and women are completely equal and everybody farts rainbows. (more…)
Sarah Haskins For The Masses (and The Win!) October 25, 2008
It has recently come to my attention that several of my readers don’t know who Sarah Haskins is. I decided that this should be rectified post-haste and forthwith. Or something.
Who is Sarah Haskins, you ask? She is a comedy writer and actor on the TV channel Current. She’s on a weekly 30-minute show called Infomania. The reason that she’s become so popular, particularly in the feminist blogsophere, is because of a recurring segment on Infomania called “Target Women”, in which Sarah (hilariously) analyses and mocks advertisers’ attempts to sell products to women. There is, of course, lots of fodder for this endeavor; as she puts it:
I think they’re trying to toe a very fine line between seeming “with it” in terms of modern female roles and responsibilities while trying to do the tricky dance of selling us products that are related to much more traditional things: cleaning, cooking for your family, being a wifey… Hard to do both and not seem insane or ridiculous.
The above quote, by the way, comes from a recent interview Jezebel did with her. I know a lot of my friends, as well as I, have been craving info on Sarah – there is precious little of it on the Interwebs (Wikipedia seems to think she’s some Olympic triathlete). So for all of you out there dying to know her alma mater or hometown, go to this interview at The Bastion, or this one at Jezebel.
For the unitiated out there – I know I could offer some lengthy, boring explanation of why precisely Sarah Haskins is so awesome, complete with references to the patriarchy and societal privilege. But I think it be more effective (and more fun) to just show you why her clips still make me laugh out loud, after having watched them at least 5 or 6 times each. Below is one of my favorites, on birth control:
McCain admits Palin selection was anti-Feminist October 20, 2008
No, really. He totally did (via Feministing). In an interview with…idk, some dude, he said, and I quote, “she is a direct counterpoint to the liberal feminist agenda for America” to justify picking her to be his running mate. Watch it.
Which is rather rich, of course, as one of Palin’s major selling points (at least nominally) has been how she gives hope to women that we can be powerful too, and she isn’t afraid to stand up for what she believes in, and oh yeah – she explicitly calls herself a feminist (about 0:20 in the video below). (more…)
A-maz-ing: Les Misbarack October 5, 2008
Well, I’ve always been an unabashed Broadway junkie, and love Les Miserables in all of its melodramatic glory, so the following video makes me all sorts of tingly:
My favorite part is when the lead staffer, holding his coffee cup, walks behind someone who’s holding out a note for all he’s worth, and just tosses out a “One Day More!”, and keeps walking. Like – yes, this is a very moving musical number, but c’mon people! These electoral votes won’t win themselves!
One quibble, though – why are all of the staffers white? I’d imagine, and think I read somewhere, that the Obama campaign was one of the most racially diverse staff. Ah well. And I’m 99.9999% sure that they’re lip-synching, but if they weren’t, that would be several kinds of awesome. I think it was genius to use the McCain-Palin ticket as Javert and the Thenardiers; I nearly fell over laughing. Now, if they would only do “Master of the House” next…
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