Miscellaneous

The Art of Mansplaining

Posted on February 03, 2010
Around the feminist blogosphere, the phenomenon of mansplaining has been duly noted as of late. This is also known as the Men Who Know Things phenomenon, whereby some men mistakenly believe that they automatically know more about any given topic than does a woman and will, consequently, proceed to explain to her- correctly or not- things that she already knows...

Blogger Who Knows Truth About Stuff Doesn't Feel Need To Make Arguments

Posted on February 02, 2010
I know, the title to this post could totally apply to a gazillion bloggers. But today, we're only going to focus on one. PF over in hell passed on a link to me of this blog article called "Gay Agenda: IL School Redefines Family."First off, I peruse lots of different blogs...

Conservative Lady States Obvious: Liberals Can Be Sexist Too!

Posted on February 01, 2010
The other day, I came across this article, wherein a writer named Lori Ziganto note that "Misogyny is funny! If You are a Liberal, That Is (And if You're Talking About Sarah Palin)." She breathlessly claims:"Sigh. It?s quite clear to me that the Left, for all their talk of Feminism, are anything but Feminists...

Howard Zinn (1922-2010)

Posted on January 29, 2010
I read Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States during college. Not as part of any course, but because a character in a Hollywood movie said it would "blow your fuckin' mind."It did.Upon reading it, for the first time in my life I consciously realized two things...

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Prop 8 Trial: Blankenhorn's Testimony

Posted on January 28, 2010
While following the Prop 8 trial, I have been looking forward to seeing how both sides would handle the Prop 8 side's key expert witness David Blankenhorn, author of a relatively well-known book opposing same-sex marriage. Whilst Blankenhorn's book has a refreshingly respectful tone to it, numerous substantive issues can and have been taken with it...

Story About Murdered Woman Focuses Entirely on Poor Accused Man Who Had To Deal With Bitchy Wife

Posted on January 27, 2010
Via IBTP.Straight away, the BBC headline informs us:Missing Gloucestershire wife was 'volatile'Then, of this "volatile" woman who was "allegedly murdered" (oh by her husband, allegedly), the prosecutor informs us that the victim "was undoubtedly a demanding woman...

Lady Bowler Wins PBA Title

Posted on January 26, 2010
I'm hardly a bowling expert, but I still don't get why professional bowling remains a sex-segregated sport. The same with billiards and darts. Unlike, say, basketball or football, in these sports, the average body size and strength differences between men and women would seem to be irrelevant...

Mary Daly, Redux

Posted on January 25, 2010
After my recent post on the late feminist theologian Mary Daly, I decided to do a little perusing around the blogosphere to see what others were writing about her passing. Undoubtedly, the woman invokes strong reactions among many. Among the feminist blogosphere, her accomplishments were often mentioned alongside her errors as a human being...

NOM Emotes the Prop 8 Trial

Posted on January 22, 2010
Well, isn't this nice. National Organization for [Heterosexual] Marriage President Maggie Gallagher has already begun pumping her fists in a premature touchdown dance regarding the to-be-determined Prop 8 trial known as Perry v. Schwarzenegger.Whilst LGBT bloggers and organizations have been busily recounting the legal arguments and substantive issues at stake here, Gallagher has provided her side an overly-confident Week One recap that is long on the pathos of the "Marriage Defender" Persecution Complex and short on actual substance...

Lessons From Another Title IX Article That's All About Male Athletes

Posted on January 21, 2010
While it is true that there are issues with the way Title IX is administered, an unfortunate trend among those who insist that women and girls are inherently not cut out for sports like how men are, is to write articles lamenting all of the losses that Title IX has caused male athletes while ignoring all of the gains it has meant for women...

Prop 8 Trial Review, Days 3-5

Posted on January 20, 2010
This post continues the summaries of the Prop 8 trial. Summaries of Days 1 and 3 can be found here.Day 3At the start of Day 3, the Prop 8 side attempted to demonstrate that gays and lesbians do not face discrimination and are not politically powerless...

Prop 8 Trial Review, Days 1 and 2

Posted on January 19, 2010
Over the long weekend, I finally had time to catch up on transcripts of the Prop 8 trial, Perry v. Schwarzenegger. But first, unfortunately, the US Supreme Court has banned the live broadcasting of this trial. The pro-Prop 8 side argued that witnesses feared public recrimination and possible harassment based on their anti-gay positions and then produced evidence, mostly in the form of newspaper articles, of real and imaged threats and acts of harm against Prop 8 supporters after Prop 8 was passed...

More Thoughts on Peace

Posted on January 18, 2010
Item:Riane Eisler:"Have you ever wondered, for instance, why it is that so many politicians always find money for weapons, for wars, for prisons ? but when it comes to funding health care, child care, and other 'soft' or caring activities, they have no money?...

Riane Eisler's Peace Speech

Posted on January 15, 2010
I first saw mention of this speech on Ellen Snortland's blog. Dr. Riane Eisler, author of the classic challenge to domination-based societies, The Chalice and The Blade, recently received the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation's Distinguished Peace Leadership Award...

Of Girl Writers and Men

Posted on January 14, 2010
In general, it is annoying when "best of" lists of literature, or anything subjective really, are released. Because all human beings who read have their own set of personal preferences when it comes to literature and because determining the quality of literature is a highly subjective endeavor, any set of rankings ultimately says more about the audacity and sense of entitlement possessed by those who create the ranking...

Prop 8 Narratives: An Examination of Christian Male Privilege

Posted on January 13, 2010
For those not familiar, Playful Walrus is a conservative Christian blogger who writes quite often about his opposition to same-sex marriage. I have critiqued his articles before, as I am perhaps endlessly fascinated by those who boast of their strong Christian faith whilst also engaging in feminists-are-ugly namecalling (and failing to apologize when called out for it), comparing homosexuality to having a fetish for sticking bananas in one's ear, and comparing same-sex couples who seek marriage licenses to those who are too lazy to earn diplomas...

Odds 'N Ends

Posted on January 12, 2010
1) Deep QuestionsOpen debate is a good thing. It is more preferable to point out inconsistencies and illogic in people's arguments than it is to shut them out of a debate and then have them consequently claim the role of Censored Victim. Some "issues," however, should not be presented as though there are multiple legitimate "sides...

Review: "The Price of Prop 8"

Posted on January 11, 2010
The conservative-leaning Heritage Foundation has put out a piece called "The Price of Prop 8," by Thomas M. Messner that reports instances of real and alleged harassment that supporters of California's Proposition 8 faced after the 2008 election. Proposition 8, of course, was California's voter referendum that took away the right for same-sex couples to marry...

A Case of "Gay Panic"?

Posted on January 08, 2010
Sadly, a man named Michael Griffin has confessed to murdering writer and Indiana University professor Don Belton. Why?"The former military man told police that Belton, who is openly gay, sexually assaulted him in front of his girlfriend, while they were both intoxicated on Christmas Day...

Odds 'N Ends

Posted on January 07, 2010
1) Mary DalyVia Feminist Law Profs, feminist theologian Mary Daly recently passed away on January 3, 2010. Daly was, in my humble opinion, one of the most influential thinkers with respect to sexism and male-centricity in Christianity. Without apology, she critiqued the notion of "God the Father" and aptly explained how such a notion legitimated the oppression of women and made male superiority appear "natural...

"Ex-Lesbian" Allegedly Flees With Child

Posted on January 06, 2010
Lisa Miller has become a darling of the anti-gay crowd for separating from her former female partner, renouncing her homosexuality, becoming active in Jerry Falwell's Christian church, and seeking sole custody of the daughter she conceived while with her former partner, Janet Jenkins...

Book Review: Beauty Bites Beast

Posted on January 05, 2010
Sometime around the year 1970, my mother wanted to learn martial arts. Her father discouraged her from doing so, ridiculing that she might become one of those "disgusting muscle women" whom men would not like. (I think "disgusting muscle-women" was code for a certain type of woman, if ya know what I mean)...

Those Opposed to LGBT Rights: Girl-on-Girl Is HOT!

Posted on January 04, 2010
Despite their general rejection of Everything LGBT, some anti-gay dudes are really into hot lady-on-lady action. I know this is not a Startling Revelation. While they can't get enough of saying how icky anal sex (between two guys, of course) is, it's just a fact that many straight guys are into watching two women getting it on...

The Twitter

Posted on January 01, 2010
Hello readers. Now that it's 2010, I've decided to join the 21st century and use the Twitter. I haven't decided yet the extent to which I will be using it, but if you are into the Twitter, feel free to follow me @fanniesroom.Neat.

Odds 'N Ends

Posted on December 31, 2009
1) Lilith Fair 2010One event I'm excited about for 2010 is the return of the lady-music fest that is Lilith Fair. Yes. I'm that gay. Funnily enough, I was involved in a conversation at another LGBT blog a while back where a gay guy bemoaned how unfair it was that women got to have their own special concerts that excluded men...

Lady Warriors

Posted on December 30, 2009
I mostly appreciated this article about a female jet navigator serving in Afghanistan, as the experiences of female soldiers, vets, and pilots aren't often reflected in the media. I qualify my praise with "mostly" because of this unfortunate paragraph:"Flying in itself has specific drawbacks for women...

Not Under the Bus

Posted on December 29, 2009
I first saw the Not Under the Bus campaign at Feminist Law Professors. In a nutshell, it serves as "an aggregator for the many campaigns that women?s groups have started to stop the Stupak-Pitts Amendment." For some background, the Stupack-Pitts Amendment is an amendment to the US House's version of the recently-passed health care reform bill known as the Affordable Health Care For America Act...

A Brief History of Sexism in Politics

Posted on December 28, 2009
While many feminists condemn the sexism thrown at Sarah Palin (when it is actually legitimate sexism and not just a criticism that any politician would face), Palin and her supporters unfortunately appear utterly unconcerned about the sexism that other- that is, liberal- female politicians face...

Happy Holidays!

Posted on December 25, 2009
Leftist Gender Warrior invites you to read one of her favorite all-time Christmas stories:"A Portly True Christmas Story"Rather than perceiving this as some sort of attack on Christianity, I see it as a reminder of something that is glaringly missing from most masculine-deity-worshipping Christian sects, especially on this particular day: The divine feminine.

Gay Woman of the Year

Posted on December 24, 2009
In order to honor the "real-life lesbians and bisexual women who were visible at all costs," SheWired has launched an annual Gay Woman of the Year.The competition is tough. My personal finalists were Wanda Sykes (whom I think is hilarious, but wish she would have come out before Prop 8 instead of after), Ellen DeGeneres (who I like for being a positive, funny comedian and being open lesbian whom many people nonetheless adore), Rachel Maddow, and former Top Chef contestant Jamie Lauren (she was a self-indulgent choice as she is my Top Chef crush)...

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