Happy International Transgender Day of Visibility!

sex sells...

Del Monte's Fruit Undressed campaign: juicy moronism
and not to forget to mention their company goals:

Del Monte.
Nourishing Families.
Enriching Lives.
Every Day.™

via

Essaywriting is going slow... might need to make use of this.

a good mindset to survive in the minefield of academia.

i have to confess i own a corduroy skirt... he rocks nonetheless.

marion cotillard offers an innovative solution for an old problem.

Forehead Tittaes w/ Marion Cotillard from Marion Cotillard

Interesting links of the day...

I am supposed to be writing my dissertation proposal, so I'm going to resist writing too much about these, but here are some links that have been flying around facebook recently. Go Australia; well done Kotex (slightly disturbed that I just said that); my current favoutite blog "That's what ze said".

Coming soon: my thoughts on anthropology and kinship. (When my dissertation proposal is over and I'm supposed to be revising.)

misc.

In defence of Gaga

I know this is a fairly academic blog but I couldn’t let a queer feminist blog let that I write for let this pass without comment...

I heard Lady Gaga had posed for Q magazine topless, then I read this article on the Guardian website about it, and then I got angry.

I think it’s preachy, self-righteous, and smacks of double standards. Women have been subjugated for thousands of years, and our actions are criticised and scrutinised. For me, the reason I’m a feminist is because I’m stubborn (I think it’s a good thing) and want to be able to do what I want (within reason) without being endlessly criticised – and I want other women to have autonomy over their lives too. If I want to wear a leotard, I damn well will. If I want to wear a beard and a suit, I will.

In the article, Goby says ‘In true lads’ mag style, the image is of a topless blonde, in black leather-like trousers, one gloved hand coyly positioned over her boobs, the other not so coyly rammed against her crotch. Jutted hip, parted lips and vacuous expression tick the remaining boxes that constitute the mainstream image of sexy.’ Fair enough, you might think, but Goby misses out a key point- and the part of the photo shoot that has caused the most controversy: as a commenter helpfully points out, ‘Gaga may be topless and even shows a bit of nipple, but she also has a dildo down her trousers!’ Someone else comments, 'Since when has a woman with a ten-inch love truncheon shoved down her drawers been mainstream sexy?'

Gaga is not a perfect feminist. She’s a human being, insecure and prone to succumbing to the pressure of the overriding heteronormative, sexist culture. She’s under tremendous pressure from many sides – one of the drawbacks of being so damn successful.

But Gaga is doing something different. Despite the huge mainstream appeal of her music, which is pure, commercial pop, she refuses to fit into the restrictive mould record company bosses tried to put her in. She refuses to define her sexuality as anything other than liking ‘people’, she ‘fought for hours and cried in meetings’ to get her record company to give her creative licence over her own image. She dealt in a very good-humoured way with the rumours that she was packing something down in those leotards. She thanked ‘God and the gays’ at the VMA awards.

She’s playing around, having fun, doing her own thing, and I think she deserves huge props for having the courage to do so in such a sexist, heteronormative and paranoid industry.

You go, Gaga. It’s a Saturday night, and I’m feeling right. So I’m going to don my favourite strap-on and best faux-leather trousers and Just Dance.

i don't even know what to say...

... but I believe this image from a current campaign in Poland speaks for itself. It reads 'Abortion for Polish women was introduced by Hitler on March 3, 1943'.

Apparently there are people who genuinely believe Poland's legislation is not restrictive enough already - allowing abortion only in cases of rape or incest and giving doctors the option of refusing to carry out abortions for 'moral reasons', even when a woman's life is in danger.

Dear people responsible for this campaign: You are irresponsible morons and you need to shut up and mind your own business. I am very, very angry with you.

Leo McKinstry on 'The sinister forces behind that threat to banish school skirts.' - Kate's response

This article is like Fox News, in that McKinstry has constructed a narrative with a few tiny grains of truth and a scaffolding of idiocy.

Firstly, the logic of there not being enough transsexuals for us to bother protecting them is baffling. Would he say the same thing about other minorities, like black people or disabled people? Maybe we shouldn't bother fighting racism, because black people only make up 2% of the population.

'The sexualisation of children...by the aggressive promotion of the so-called rights agenda' falls just short of accusing gay rights campaigners of encouraging paedophilia. Because heterosexuals never talk to children about sex, do they Leo? And nor should they, those filthy bastards. Children knowing about their bodies and understanding them? Disgusting filth.

‘…A new system of lining people up for class by mixed-sex group labelled using basic shapes… rather than by gender.’ Well, this already happens. Children are split into teams often enough, like the red team or the yellow team. And their classes are a way of grouping them. Class 2A: now that just shows that political correctness has gone Too Far. You know, they’re calling classes things like ‘2A’ instead of ’10-year old penis carriers’.

Secondly, what's wrong with splitting people into groups based upon something other than gender? Maybe we could be perceived as human beings rather than sets of characteristics based upon our genitals.

'Prisons are warned against stopping hormone therapy for transgender convicts.' Yes, because it is a human rights and a health issue, just as prisons cannot stop giving diabetics insulin so prescribed hormones should not stop being given.

'When speaking to transgender people, public officials are instructed to use the pronoun that is consistent with the person's appearance and gender expression.' Um, don't they do this to everyone? As far as I'm aware, they don't strip-search everyone checking for willies before they address them in order to be able to speak to them.

Thinking that gender identity is subjective does not 'contradict almost a million years of biology', just as saying 'I have feelings' does not. Human beings are allowed to have feelings. (And, not all trans activists have that view anyway.)

The EHRC is giving grants to charities helping LGBTIQA people and travellers. The clue is in the name, Mr McKinstry. Equality and Human Rights Commission. It is there to promote equality: it is not there to buy Jeremy Clarkson cars or start up shoe shops.

It is not shocking, either that ’15 Commissioners are from the politically correct nexus of public bureaucracy, trade unionism and progressive politics.’ So the commissioners are civil servants and politicians? Really? A body funded by the government is full of civil servants?!

I like the idea of Harriet Harman’s ‘sinister social order’. If there’s any politician who does not look sinister, it’s Harman.

‘Schools who have the audacity to make their pupils wear skirts should be very afraid indeed.’ You can already opt out of wearing a skirt on religious grounds – most of my Muslim friends at school did. But opting out on the basis of your gender identity is apparently uncool according to McKinstry.

It is hard to understand why anyone would have these views: fair enough, a lot of people have problems with the EHRC, but if McKinstry pointed out the EHRC’s flaws in a sensible way instead of spouting a load of reactionary bigotry, perhaps he would have written a rather more interesting article.

'The sinister forces behind that threat to banish school skirts', Leo McKinstry, Daily Mail