Quickies: Older women aren’t useless, the controversy of pants, and online harassment
- Older women aren’t totally useless, study says – “Analysis of 26 species showed that while the initial reason for females living longer than biologically necessary appeared to happen at random, it could be connected to the fact that many women become ‘useful’ once more when there are younger folk to be cared for.” From Courtney.
- In the battle of internet mobs vs. the law, the internet mobs have won – “At the federal level, at least two criminal statutes promise to punish offenders who cause “significant emotional distress” online. But most of these laws cover only narrow, specific cases of abuse, and investigations are rarely so straightforward or clear-cut. That’s made both investigators and prosecutors hesitant to pursue them.”
- Women wearing pants: Still somehow controversial – “Why are we still talking about women’s right to pants? Like many of women’s battles, pants-related activism stretches back centuries and continues with no sign of abating in the present day.”
- 10 must read books about online harassment and free speech – From Amy.
A lot of question about defining “severe emotional distress”, because I can see how it could go in a very bad direction. I mean, technically, Roosh V could say David Futrelle causes him “severe emotional distress”. He’d be crying crocodile tears, but he could say it. (Then again, TBH, I’m pretty sure Zoe Quinn herself said she didn’t want to be a springboard to attack online anonymity; for instance, abuse victims often use assumed names to blog so their abusers can’t find them.)
Regarding women wearing pants, it’s actually funny, when whites first came here, a lot of Indians thought their clothing, specifically pants, was effeminate. You can even see uniforms worn by Indian scouts (such as the Pawnee, and yeah, I still can’t help but find it hilarious that ‘civilized’ whites found allies in people who practiced human sacrifice, but I digress), with one common alteration: The seat of the pants removed so they can wear it as traditional plains leggings.