On July 15, 1983, the Nintendo Entertainment System was first released in Japan. Confession: I used to “cheat” at Duck Hunt by putting the gun controller against the screen.
- I understood gender discrimination once I added “Mr.” to my resume and landed a job – This stuff astounds me. What is going on in the head of the average resume reviewer? From Darrin.
- It’s Amazing to Be a Working Mom in France—Unless You Want a Job – This is not the first time I’ve heard of women in Europe having a hard time getting a job (or being promoted) because they have or may have children. Have you experienced this?
- Iowa’s All-Male Supreme Court: Firing Of Woman For Being Too Attractive Was Legal – From Arturo.
- Escaped From the Asylum! – “Bottom-of-the-barrel creature features. Topless-teen comedies. ‘Mockbuster’ rip-offs. In Burbank, California, one low-budget studio cranks out whatever Netflix wants.”
- Hubble telescope spots azure blue planet where it rains glass – Yay, I love news about space! From Anna.
- George Zimmerman On FOX NEWS “It Was God’s Plan For Me To Kill Trayvon Martin” – I’m so sorry to post this. But it happened. From Amy.
- Anime Expo responds to sexual harassment in a responsible manner – I haven’t been monitoring anything else about this but so far it looks like they’re not fucking around! From Heina.
- When Choirs Sing, Many Hearts Beat As One – Neat!
- Changing The Creepy Guy Narrative – “How being a writer helped me rewrite a sexist trope…for real.” From Elyse.
- My Guide Dog Is A Genius – A book review by one of my favorite guest posters, Chris Hofstader. From Amy.
EXTRA: Did anyone see Pacific Rim this weekend? And if so, would you recommend it?
Mary
I used to love playing the old Nintendo games, even though for the longest time I had to constantly blow into just about every single cartridge to get them to work. That was annoying.
Haha, but blowing on it to make it work was like magic!
Mary,
Actually no it wasn’t and didn’t work 1/3 of the time. Then we had to use alcohol to clean them. Man all that was annoying
The unfortunate thing about switched-gender (also switched-race) CV tests is that statistically, every demographic group has the preference for white male applicants. This includes not only white men, but women, black people, young people, old people, conservatives, liberals, etc. The best way to combat this latent bias, apparently, is to educate people about its existence.
Re: Zimmerman – “God’s” plan
Seriously, fuck that guy.
Frankly, a more shocking confession would be if you DIDN’T put the Zapper right up against the screen.
Great article on working moms in France. I always laugh when Americans refer to France as being “progressive”, when from a social standpoint they really are not. I’m not sure if this is still true, but it used to be mandatory to put your age on a resume. A woman of a certain age would not be asked in to interview, not only because of children but because the male bosses only wanted to look at young (potentially good-looking) women. And if you happen to be of Arabic background, forget it.
OK, I’m going a little off-subject, but I found that French employers could be much more overtly discriminatory than US employers.
One thing I found very interesting was that new fathers only get up to 11 days in leave. This sort of institutionalized sexism is a huge part of the problem. It assumes fathers can’t be care givers, and that mothers must be. If both parents were eligible for the full leave, it would make much less sense for employers to discriminate against new mothers when new fathers are just as likely to take leave.
Really, this exactly the sort of cause MRAs should be championing. But no, that would be silly. They’d rather bemoan the dirty looks they get for using the word ‘cunt’ and dream up ‘but what if’ rape apologies.
Excellent points! 11 days of paternity leave is such bullshit too and I feel like it implies that fathers shouldn’t be as bonded to their babies, which is just so sad.
I read “Bringing Up Bebe” about parenting a kid in France (I enjoyed it), and I was shocked at how paternalistic French doctors were to women! After birth, they would measure the strength of a woman’s kegel muscles by asking how pleased “monsieur” was. Also, the Parisian mothers mostly refused to breastfeed their babies (in the author’s experience).
re: “Changing the Creepy Guy Narrative”
That has to be one of the clunkiest, most awkward, self- congratulatory pieces of junk I’ve ever had the misfortune to read. Has this guy just learned about harassment like, last week? Does he not think that his little thought experiment has been performed & documented a hundred times before? That was some seriously tone-deaf mansplaining “I’m a WRITER you see! And WRITERS see narrative! And I thought I’d give the creep a taste of his own medicine! Aren’t I clever? No one else ever sees these patterns but WRITERS do!!!” Ugh. Spare me.
Ha! I felt the same way. I was really disgusted with the self-congratulatory piece AND the use of the presumed homophobia (of the creepy guy) to execute a point. Why not just use common, easy-to-use language to DIRECTLY ADDRESS the problem? For instance, “Hey, do you know her? If not, then mind your own business.” Or “Hey, what are you doing?” Of course there’s the same goddamn threat of physical violence, but the fact that both presumably cis males assumed that simply “conjuring up puppy eyes” is the equivalent of what gay men “do” when they approach men is despicable. Height of an inability to check your privilege.
“No one else ever sees these patterns but WRITERS do!!!”
Was it just TL/DR for you? ‘Cause he clearly says that other people take other paths to seeing it, but writing is how HE got there. And there is context – it is on a blog ABOUT WRITING.
I agree with your assessment, I was a bit taken aback by the vitriolic response.
“I’ve read Feminism 101 and Jezebel…” Oh, great, so you’re an expert in Women’s Studies and the history of oppression in the public sphere, then, are you sir? Has he never seen Hollaback, or read, I don’t know, one of an endless stream of these tales? Or maybe even talked to an actual woman? Oh- and that nauseating reference to the gauzy skirt that makes hjm “want to thank God for inventing summertime”? Great- throw some objectification in there, thanks! Because you know how important it is that the woman be pretty & feminine. Harassment never happens to any other kind of woman, so you know, just to be clear. Nevermind the quality of the WRITING!!! is some of the limpest and most cliche ridden to hit the page. WRITING!!! I’m a WRITER!!!
So, no cookie?
I’m intrigued. What is this cookie that you speak of?
“Changing the Creepy Guy Narrative” because he’s a WRITER y’all. a WRITER. Even though he doesn’t cite anyone beyond mainstream (White) feminist sites OR any projects that specifically address street harassment and the role of allies (of any and all genders). E.g., Hollaback and Men Can Stop Rape. I love rabbitwink’s comment too.
I have mixed feelings. I didn’t like the tone of the article he wrote, but I liked the thought of a dude giving another dude a taste of his own medicine on the train. Without writing paragraphs of a feminist analysis of this dude (which you two have taken care of), that sums it up for me.
No cookie. In fact, a two cookie penalty for mentioning 1) what his fucking father would have said about the woman’s appearance (because that’s just so relevant) and 2) mentioning how he’d deserve sympathy sex from his girlfriend for this magnanimous act.
Yes, objectifying the same woman he then went on to “rescue” was definitely distasteful. I didn’t see the “sympathy sex” part because I read it too fast, but ew, that’s gross.
oh, this just fucking infuriates me, especially because I just saw someone cross post the article, praising this presumptuous asswipe for his “actions”. HE HASN’T EVEN DONE THIS!!!! This is an outline for a shitty story he hasn’t even written!!! He hasn’t even put to page the tired and mawkish tropes his fevered brain is concocting from the “two to three dozen” articles he’s read about harassment. Oh, man.. This boils my blood.
He made it all up? For a story? I need more coffee before I read stuff sometimes.
No, he did not make it up. It actually happened. Seriously, there are legit criticisms that can be made, but just plain calling someone a liar because they write for a living (and some of it is fiction) is pretty rude.
she’s “thin but not skinny” – also totally relevant to harassment
Since no one else will bring it up YES SEE PACIFIC RIM IMMEDIATELY. Fantastic summer fun.
“Pacific Rim” is the best one star movie you will ever see! Here is my quickie review:
http://www.alittlerebellion.net/2013/07/15/movie-review-pacific-rim/