Quickies
Quickies: Illegal upskirts, Scarleteen, hope for an HIV cure, and zombie swallows
- UPDATE: Massachusetts legislature swiftly passes ban on upskirt photos – The bill specifically bans taking secret photos or video of, “the sexual or other intimate parts of a person under or around the person’s clothing.” Thanks to everyone who let us know about this heartening update.
- Scarleteen needs your help! – One of the best sexual health information resources for teens is having trouble maintaining their funding. Show your support and help them to keep offering all of their amazing services. From Angela.
- Doctors hope for cure in a second baby born with HIV – “A second baby born with the AIDS virus may have had her infection put into remission and possibly cured by very early treatment — in this instance, four hours after birth.” From Mary.
- Gal Science: Stalking zombie tree swallows at dawn – This latest post in the great Gal Science series from The Toast follows an ecologist.
- Cute Animal Friday! Elvismorte sent us this completely adorable video of Whirlygig the kitty, whose foster human (Jessec) is running the LA marathon to support Kitten Rescue. Also, there are few things cuter than leopard kittens.
I’m impressed by both the speed of the no-upskirts law implementation (which also seems to cover down-blouse, infra-red and whatever else) and the comments in that column.
There was only one “I’ll be arrested for taking pictures of cheerleaders?” comment, one “Don’t we have more important things to do?” comment and *zero* “but men have a biological need to take upskirt photos” comments.
Does anyone know if the law is gender-neutral? That is, does it outlaw people lifting men’s kilts (or skirts, if that’s what they’re wearing) without their consent?
I’m told that men who wear kilts to places like bars frequently have people lifting up their kilt, and they encounter the attitude that since they’re men they have nothing to complain about and they should just laugh it off. It’s true that a man has far less reason than a woman to feel threatened by someone lifting hir kilt/skirt, but it’s still pretty unpleasant.
Not that kilt- or skirt-wearing men face anywhere near as much of this as women do.
Yeah, this is a problem for kilt-wearing dudes. Most men may have less reason to feel threatened, but not all of us. I sure have reasons to worry about it. #transmanproblems
It doesn’t help that the underwear thing is kind of a running joke about kilts. #bagpiperproblems (and yes I do play them)
I assume it’s about power. A number of powwow dancers can tell you stories of women lifting the apron over their shorts (an attempt at simulating a loincloth, though a traditional loincloth would just be one strip of material). Russell Means discussed it before.
No doubt upskirt photos similarly work off the power dynamic, in that case men having more power than women.
“Zombie” tree swallows: I read the article, but can’t figure out what “zombie” has to do with anything.
Did she add the word “zombie” to the term “tree swallows” just for the lulz? Or is there some behavior or phenomenon that could be described as “zombie” which I just missed?
Amanda
I’m glad they banned taking upskirt photos. It was so stupid that they allowed that in the first place.
I’ve got to admit through, Colbert’s take on this was hilarious!
http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/433576/march-06-2014/legal-upskirting-in-massachusetts
Amanda
On a much more serious note, to have a baby born with HIV, must be really upsetting. That’s incredibly sad. I hope they do find a cure.
This is good news about the girl with HIV. Though the comments section tells me AIDS denialism and eugenics are nowhere near dead.
I have seen, somewhere on Tumblr, this majestic picture of some lionesses. Wish I could find it right now.
Jon Brewer,
Well at least those people aren’t in the majority right now.