The Year in Review, Sexually Speaking

A year of focusing on sex scandals like Anthony Wiener's while reproductive rights were under viscious attack.

Street Harassment

Great article.

Scotland on Rape - "No, Not Ever"

Transcript:

A scene of a party. A pale blond woman in her 20s stands talking to two men, one pale and one with darker skin. She wears a black top and sparkly blue skirt, and all parties hold drinks in their hands and appear to be having a good time.

Woman: (laughing playfully) You’re terrible! (laughs) You’re so bad! Shut up!

Cut to two presumably white men across the room.

Man One: (looks at woman, sucks in air between his teeth) Check out the skirt! She’s asking for it.

Man Two: (laughs)

Cut to scene of the same woman in a department store. She pulls two skirts off the rack, one the sparkly blue skirt she wears at the party, and takes turns holding up each one to her hips. A sales assistant, a pale middle-aged woman, walks up to her.

Sales Assistant: Can I help?

Woman: Yeah, thanks. I’m going out tonight and I want to get raped. (smiles) I need a skirt that will encourage a guy to have sex with me against my will. (holds up each skirt again)

Sales Assistant: (smiles eagerly and folds arms across chest) The blue one. Definitely the blue.

Woman: (nods and smiles)

Woman turns and directly faces camera, with a sarcastic look on her face.

Woman: As if.

Male Voiceover: Nobody asks to be raped. Ever.

more at The Curvature

Effects of Street Harassment

We have recently moved to a big city. My sixteen year old daughter is afraid of taking public transportation, which I had THOUGHT would be so liberating for her after four years stuck in a tiny town, because of the way men treat her on the street.

And it is a big deal, it’s a big thing. Don’t minimize it. What, are we just supposed to accept that we have breasts and asses for the purpose of immature men to ogle at and touch without asking? Is that supposed to be something that’s just ‘okay’ with us because ‘that’s the way it is’? Fuck no. I’m not asking the moon and stars here.

"Why Even Street Sexual Harassment is Hard to Get Over"

abyss2hope: 7 Simple Responses Which Help Support An Anti-Rape Culture

abyss2hope: 7 Simple Responses Which Help Support An Anti-Rape Culture

Marcella has seven great responses. Very sharp!

Texas Removes Thomas Jefferson From Teaching Standard - AOL News

Texas Removes Thomas Jefferson From Teaching Standard - AOL News

Speechless. Truly speechless!

By dropping mention of revolution, and substituting figures such as Aquinas and Calvin for Jefferson, Texas Freedom Network argues, the board had chosen to embrace religious teachings over those of Jefferson, the man who coined the phrase "separation between church and state."

According to USA Today, the board also voted to strike the word "democratic" from references to the U.S. form of government, replacing it with the term "constitutional republic." Texas textbooks will contain references to "laws of nature and nature's God" in passages that discuss major political ideas.

The board decided to use the words "free enterprise" when describing the U.S. economic system rather than words such as "capitalism," "capitalist" and "free market," which it deemed to have a negative connotation.

Serving 4.7 million students, Texas accounts for a large percentage of the textbook market, and the new standards may influence what is taught in the rest of the country.

Girls Gone Anti-Feminist -- In These Times

Girls Gone Anti-Feminist -- In These Times

This may be the best analysis of "fun feminism" I have yet read. This is REALLY good!

Enlightened sexism sells the line that it is precisely through women’s calculated deployment of their faces, bodies, attire, and sexuality that they gain and enjoy true power— power that is fun, that men will not resent, and indeed will embrace. True power here has nothing to do with economic independence or professional achievement: it has to do with getting men to lust after you and other women to envy you. Enlightened sexism is especially targeted to girls and young women and emphasizes that now that they “have it all,” they should focus the bulk of their time and energy on being hot, pleasing men, competing with other women, and shopping.

Enlightened sexism is a manufacturing process that is constantly produced by the media. Its components—anxiety about female achievement; renewed and amplified objectification of young women’s bodies and faces; dual exploitation and punishment of female sexuality; dividing of women against each other by age, race and class; and rampant branding and consumerism—began to swirl around in the early 1990s, consolidating as the dark star it has become in the early 21st century....

This essay was adapted from Susan J. Douglas’ new book, Enlightened Sexism: The Seductive Message that Feminism’s Work is Done (Times Books, March).

Eve Ensler: Embrace your inner girl | Video on TED.com

Eve Ensler: Embrace your inner girl Video on TED.com

WONDERFUL, EVE!

"Shaming and Blaming"

"Shaming and Blaming" via the "this ain't living blog." Really good! My big thing was that we were always told to "sit like a lady." This meant keeping one's knees together, of course, I would like to know why now, today, at a movie theater, my husband spreads his legs wide open and invades my space while I make myself smaller and smaller. I read some analysis that said the whole concept of space - where women are encouraged to take up as little as possible, while men take up as much as they want - is actually all about power.

Girls Need Less Power?

"Leigh snapped this picture of a Toys ‘R Us catalog. He noticed that, for both microscopes and telescopes, the version coded “girl” (i.e., the pink one) is the least powerful one (600x magnification vs. 900 or 1200x and 90x vs. 250 or 525x). Coincidence?"

Girls Need Less Power?

Feminizing Women’s Sports Teams

I think this is really interesting. It is about the ongoing trend to "feminize" female athletes. College recruitment materials like the one shown below picture women athletes in evening gowns and, well, doing things OTHER than playing their sports, which is clearly NOT the case with male players.

Feminizing Women's Sports Teams

A.P. Puts Pandemic of Anti-Female Violence in Quotation Marks

So, the U..N. wants to do something about the widespread abuse of women worldwide, and the A.P. article about the effort calls it a "pandemic," with the quotation marks coming from the original. It's a QUOTE pandemic of violence against women? Really??? Like the A.P. isn't sure? Really???

abyss2hope: Investigation Into Sexual Assaults On College Campuses

abyss2hope: Investigation Into Sexual Assaults On College Campuses

In this post, Marcella writes about the sickening shortcomings of established procedures for reporting on-campus rapes.

When I was at Gonzaga, we had several rapes happen in the dorms during the first month of school. One male student accused of rape was an eduation major who was nearly finished with his program. The rape charge would leave him unemployable as a teacher in the future, as Gonzaga was going to be required, if the rape was established as fact, to report to the Washington State education authorities; the student would then not be eligible for teacher certification.

So, the stakes were high.

The female student accusing him of rape was discouraged from contacting police. Campus policy was to do something along the lines of an arbitration. Hmm - in how many other types of crimes is the victim required to sit in a meeting room, without armed police presence, to try to "work things out" with her attacker? This approach still assumes that there was some "misunderstanding" that can possibly be sorted out - some sort of "he said, she said" that a wise third party might be able to resolve.

So, she showed up for the meeting. She did not have legal representation, as she had been told by campus authorities not to bring anyone. The young man, however, had two attorneys with him, and no one made them leave.

Not long after that, we in the Women's Studies club sponsored a "Take Back the Night" rally which included a speak-out on rape. Some of us noticed someone filming the entire speak-out, and at first everyone thought SOMEONE ELSE in our group had authorized it. Over the coming days, however, we learned that school officials had, without permission, set up a video camera to film these women speaking out about their rapes. The video then went to Robert Spitzer, priest and president of the university, who watched it, he said, to be sure the school was legally protected over anything any of the women claiming to have been raped on campus might say. The idea of this priest sitting alone in his office watching that tape wants me feel like vomiting even as I write this, several years later.

The Women's Studies department did succeed in getting shool policy for rape accusations changed after that. We also started doing things to protect women on campus, such as offering escorts for walks home across campus after dark and having many escorts available following school dances and any other organized events.

Part of the problem with reporting rape is that universities are required by the feds to maintain statistics about on-campus crime, and that information must be made available to parents of potential enrollees. Schools, of course, seek to minimize their crime stats, thus they have a strong incentive to keep rape charges quiet, away from the police, in "arbitration," etc. I don't know what the answer is to that one, I really don't.

(I just went to add tags to this post and realized I have NEVER before used "rape" as a tag in one of my posts. WHAT THE HELL?)

Racism on the Elevator?

I don't care for calling the woman "stupid bitch," (I don't think using sexism is good for fighting racism), but this is funny.

The Price of Pleasure - The Movie

"The Price of Pleasure"

synopsis:

The Price of Pleasure: Pornography, Sexuality and Relationships

Directed and Produced by Miguel Picker and Chyng Sun Co-Writer and Associate Producer: Robert Wosnitzer

Once relegated to the margins of society, pornography has become one of the most visible and profitable sectors of the cultural industries in the United States. It is estimated that the pornography industry's annual revenue has reached $13 billion. At the same time, the content of pornography has become more aggressive, more overtly sexist and racist.

The film features the voices of consumers, critics, and pornography producers and performers. It is particularly revealing when male pornographers openly discuss their views about women and how men should relate to them, and when male and female porn users candidly discuss the role pornography has played in shaping their sexual imaginations and relationships. Honest and nonjudgmental, the film paints both a nuanced and complex portrait of how pleasure and pain, commerce and power, and liberty and responsibility are intertwined in the most intimate aspects of human relations.

At the same time, the film examines the unprecedented role that commercial pornography now occupies in U.S. popular culture. Going beyond the debate of liberal versus conservative so common in the culture, The Price of Pleasure provides a holistic understanding of pornography as it debunks common myths about the genre.

The film features interviews with scholars of mass media (Gail Dines and Robert Jensen), economics (Richard Wolff), and psychology (Dr. Ana Bridges); writers on pornography and popular culture (Ariel Levy and Pamela Paul); producers and performers from the pornography industry (John Stagliano, Joanna Angel and Ernest Greene); and a former stripper/porn performer-turned-author (Sarah Katherine Lewis).

Payne

I'm not going to type his full name here (because it turns out he is now googling himself and getting off on all the attention he's getting in the feminist blogosphere), but most of you already know about he-who-will-not-be-named, he who spent much time masquerading as an anti-porn activist, pro-feminist, and rape victim advocate and has now pled guilty to the unthinkable. I was away from the computer for two months, so I am hearing about this late.

Years ago, I quoted to Mr.Me something a guy in one of my Women's Studies classes had said. Mr.Me was surprised that there were any men in such a class and told me, "He's just there to get laid."

At the time, I was furious with Mr.Me. Now I realize he was guilty of nothing more than telling the depressing truth.

I attended the Stop Porn Culture conference six months ago in Austin. I can not adequately express how disgusted I am - both because of Payne's behavior and my own utter lack of suspicion. I guess I should have known that Mr.Me knows all about these things from a male perspective and that somebody like Payne indeed was up to no good.

During that three day conference, we viewed graphic slideshows showing how women are depicted and exploited in pornography and in advertising. We had discussions that were rather personal in nature, especially outside the conference room. We hung out together in the hallways, outside the building late at night before heading back to our hotels, and during lunch and rest breaks. We discussed things like rape and rape prevention, protecting children, women and body image, and we brainstormed about activism.

There were only - I'm pretty sure - four men present.

Now I find out that one of them had child pornography on his computer and had - I believe before the conference - been charged with assault for touching and photographing an intoxicated young woman he had been asked - as a college R.A. - to escort safely to her dorm room (being the pro-feminist, anti-porn rape crisis counselor and oh-so sensitive truthworthy dood that he was).

Recently, as he prepared to plead guilty, he emailed his sick pity-party confession to hundreds of feminist bloggers, like he's apparently expecting - hoping - to someday possibly be welcomed back into his old clique again. For the record, Payne, if you and I end up sitting around the same conference table again, one of us is gonna end up gettin' shown to the door.

Then it turns out that he's reading over all the comments about himself at all these feminist blogs, spending hours doing it like the self-obsessed ass he is.

Dude, you really make me sick.

For some reason, this makes me remember a Roseanne episode in which Jackie's boyfriend Fisher had beaten her. Roseanne tells him, "You know, I'm a pretty good judge of people, which is why I don't like none of 'em, but you really slipped beneath my radar. I liked you. And that really pisses me off."

I remember standing outside the conference building talking to a woman who, like me, was married to someone who had used pornography but had eventually realized it was wrong and given it up. Like me, she had for years been okay with pornography until she saw what it was doing in her own life and began to understand what it was doing in others' lives. I actually stood there and told her, "If I end up leaving my marriage, I will never again be involved with any man unless he is truly a feminist activist. I mean, he would have to really get it. He would have to be someone so committed that he would decide to attend a conference like this - you know, like the couple of guys who are here this weekend."

I am an idiot. Somebody just smack me.

Now, courtesy of Payne, I'm revising that night's statement. If I end up leaving my marriage, I will never again be romantically involved with any male person.

That's it.

Even the members of dood nation who show up for anti-porn conferences aren't necessarily the real deal.

Even the guy I married wasn't necessarily the real deal (although he is doing some training with these issues, I don't trust how deep that really goes). He too has always been seen as oh-so sensitive and sweet by every woman he meets.

Individual members of privileged groups should never, ever be completely trusted by members of oppressed groups. Never - not even if they, like Payne, manage to talk a good game. Never.

And I say that as a white person too. I try my best when it comes to racism, but I, of course, always have the option of taking a break from that fight, of choosing not to fight if it's inconvenient for me at that moment. In other words, I am privileged, and because I am privileged, I can not, should not, be completely trusted as an ally.

I heard somewhere about a group of native American activists in Washington State who were mobiling around a particularly urgent issue and found that several white would-be allies were offering assistance and attending some organizing meetings. The original members of the group decided to tell the white attendees that if they really wanted to help, what they could do was provide free childcare so that 1) as many native Americans as possible could attend, 2) white allies could actually be involved, but by doing support work rather than leadership, and 3) native Americans would be in charge of their own activism.

Maybe this should have been the only role for someone like he-who-shall-not-be-named at a Stop Porn Culture conference. Instead of sitting at a conference table doing his oh-so sensitive pro-feminist male routine, convincing an idiot like me that he's the rare man who gets it (when am I gonna learn???), he should have only been allowed a support role, like making coffee and picking up conference room trash at the end of the day.

I had thought that having male allies against pornography was important, because, after all, when women make the case against pornography, we get called uptight bitches who just need a good fucking. Andrea Dworkin, in a speech to "men's movement" men said the following:

What's involved in doing something about all of this? The men's movement seems to stay stuck on two points. The first is that men don't really feel very good about themselves. How could you? The second is that men come to me or to other feminists and say: "What you're saying about men isn't true. It isn't true of me. I don't feel that way. I'm opposed to all of this."

And I say: don't tell me. Tell the pornographers. Tell the pimps. Tell the warmakers. Tell the rape apologists and the rape celebrationists and the pro-rape ideologues. Tell the novelists who think that rape is wonderful. Tell Larry Flynt. Tell Hugh Hefner. There's no point in telling me. I'm only a woman. There's nothing I can do about it. These men presume to speak for you. They are in the public arena saying that they represent you. If they don't, then you had better let them know.

Then there is the private world of misogyny: what you know about each other; what you say in private life; the exploitation that you see in the private sphere; the relationships called love, based on exploitation. It's not enough to find some traveling feminist on the road and go up to her and say: "Gee, I hate it."

Say it to your friends who are doing it. And there are streets out there on which you can say these things loud and dear, so as to affect the actual institutions that maintain these abuses. You don't like pornography? I wish I could believe it's true. I will believe it when I see you on the streets. I will believe it when I see an organized political opposition. I will believe it when pimps go out of business because there are no more male consumers.

You want to organize men. You don't have to search for issues. The issues are part of the fabric of your everyday lives.***

So, as Andrea said, it would, I knew, require men to convince men if they were to be convinced at all. As Andrea said, "I'm only a woman." And women in the patriarchy can't convince men ourselves - because we just get dismissed. No, I figured, we would need male allies in this fight.

But then look what happens when someone like a Payne does show up at conferences pretending to be an ally.

I don't know. Maybe they should attend if they want to and listen but not be allowed to speak - and this guy definitely did speak. Fucker.

I can't decide. I'm not even making any sense. I just know I'm pissed off because, as Roseanne put it, "You slipped right under my radar. I liked you, and that pisses me off."

Well, anti-porn conference attending doodz, as George Bush would say, "Fool me once, can't get fooled again."

***source: Take Back the Day: I Want a 24-Hour Truce During Which There is no Rape

Memo: Sisters Know How to do it for Themselves

Female Orgasm and the Need for a new Definition of Sex

Yes!

The Hite Report on Female Sexuality presents a large body of research showing that women can easily reach orgasm. The report documents, in women's own voices, how women reach orgasm privately through masturbation. The great majority of women can masturbate to orgasm and do not use penetration during masturbation. The report shows that women do not have a problem reaching orgasm, but rather that society does have a problem in accepting how women reach orgasm. Society insists that women try to have orgasm during intercourse or coitus, even though this is not the easiest way for them to reach orgasm. Clearly, they do not use vaginal stimulation or penetrate themselves during masturbation.

via anji at shut up, sit down

A Modest Request of Cheating Husbands, Part II

Last week, I made my first modest request of cheating husbands.

Prompted by Elizabeth Edwards' brother's statement that John Edwards "revealed the details of the affair to his wife slowly and only gradually," I offer my second installment.

Okay, here's the thing. Have you ever removed a band-aid that was really stuck to your skin? You know how if you try to peel it off slowly, it just hurts more, so you have to go ahead and just rip real fast?

It's kind of like that, the "oops-honey-I-broke-our-wedding-vows" thing.

If you confess what there is to confess and get it over with, the ripping is done and the processing of the pain from that ripping may begin.

If, on the other hand, you try denying it for a while when it's clear you've been busted, then you try to reveal as little as possible for as long as possible, then only gradually admit to worse and worse details, that's like ripping off the band-aid an inch a month over many months.

Do you understand yet?

First it's "Oh, no, there's nothing going on - really."

Then it's, "Okay, well, yes, I did have sex with her. But it was just once. I'm not even sure why I went over there. But I felt so guilty about it, I got the hell out of there and never went back."

Then it turns out that it happened more than once, multiple times.

Then it turns out that he had the children around this woman (or perhaps the whole family)***; that he snuck away from a big family reunion to meet this woman; that he was talking to her months before he's previously admitted that it all started; that he was still seeing her months after he's previously claimed he'd stopped; that he told her things about his wife and marriage that are hurtful and horrifying; that although he's been claiming it was "only sex," he did indeed lead this woman on in other ways (Memo: if you're bitching to another woman about your marriage and you're fucking that woman, most likely she doesn't think this is "just sex;" she thinks you may be considering actually leaving your marriage. Why are you shocked to learn she actually thought you might be "available" when you are, after all, out bitching about your wife and fucking someone else? To many women, these things do not signal "committed" - big shocker. Quit pretending to be oh-so fucking shocked when you learn that your girlfriend actually thinks you might divorce your wife, okay? Expect that.). Then maybe it turns out that his claims that he always (I was tempted to write "religiously" or "faithfully" here, then I realized how out of place these words would be) used condoms were lies.

With political scandals, we so often hear media pundits say, "It's not so much the crime as it's the coverup."

This is also the case with adultery. How fucking hard is it to get this through your heads???

So, my modest request, part II is as follows: once you're busted or you have, for whatever reason, decided to confess, confess it all. Period. Anything less is, for your wife, death by a thousand cuts because every time she starts to think maybe she's recovering, she finds out still more horrifying shit she didn't know about. Just confess in full when you confess.

Thank you.

***I have seen this happen in at least half a dozen cases with people I know, where it turns out that a cheating husband allowed his family to end up in the same place with his "girlfriend." Recently, since it's now happened to both of us (my sister just recently, which is why the subject came up), my sister and I were trying to figure out this particular salt-in-the-wound pathology. What the hell is that about? Excitement from the danger of getting caught? An ego stroke from having both women right there, together? My brother-in-law actually claims he was hoping for his wife to catch on so she could somehow stop him, stop the other woman, that he was hoping that when this woman saw him with his wife, she would leave him alone (odd, since he was always the one pursuing her!)...WTF? My cousin reports that she later realized that she had apparently served fried chicken and fresh lemonade, in her home, to her husband's "girlfriend." Okay, then, I guess I need a modest request of cheating husbands, Part III: Please do not, if you can help it, allow your wife and your "girlfriend" to end up in the same room together.

To recap:

A. First, just don't cheat on your wife

And then:

1. Don't babble about how wonderful your wife is once you've gotten caught. It only makes it worse.

2. Don't hold back bits of information so that each new revelation hurts your wife all over again, every time she thinks she's recovering. It only makes it worse.

3. If you can possibly avoid it, do not allow your wife and your "girlfriend" to end up in the same room together. Once your wife finds out that this happened, it will only make her want to murder you in your sleep.

Thank you for your understanding in this matter,
one of you fuckers' wives

What the Hell is Twittter?

Okay, via an Obama myspace page, I clicked on a link that offered to give me updates on Obama's schedule via something called "Twitter." I don't really know what it is, but I joined so I could get the updates on events in real time, often with streaming video.

Today, I got a message at the associated email account saying this guy is "following my updates on Twitter." I don't have any updates on Twitter. I don't even know what it is or how I would update it or what I would say (what the hell, I'm no Barack Obama; where would I be GOING and why would I give anyone regular updates? Do ordinary people do this these days?? My god, I felt guilty because I thought blogging was a bit narcissistic!). And I really think this same guy tried "friending" me on myspace a few months ago, via my page at DailyKos.

I just followed his Twitter thing to his blog and he's pretty conservative, (I think) Christian conservative, definitely very homophobic. He mentions "gay 'marriage,'" with those damn quotation marks around the word marriage, which means he doesn't think there can be real (no quotation marks) gay marriages - right, because all the straight women I know with asshole unfaithtful husbands have the REAL marriages, and it's so helpful and good for one's self-esteem. Then there is his bit about Katy Perry's "I Kissed a Girl:"

This is an alarming trend as the song itself promotes unhealthy relationship between same sex genders especially for easily impressionable young females. Imagine this song becoming the talk of school playgrounds, neighborhood backyards or even at dinner tables. Little girls experimenting among themselves to see whether if the song is true or not. What would you say as a parent if your daughter brings up the content of this song? Is it ok to kiss another girl? Is it normal? Is it natural? Or your daughter telling you... Mom I want to kiss Jennifer or Ann and why not because it should feel good right!!! ??***

My daughter already played it for me because we actually talk like that (otherwise - I must admit - I wouldn't know a thing about it, because I don't listen to much new music - yep, my fortieth birthday will be this Saturday; just think of the song "1985" as my anthem and you've got the picture). Girls are already talking about the Katy Perry song, dope; it's number 9 on the pop charts. So what? And what would I say if my daughter asked me about it? Well, she's kissed a few boys without asking me first, so I doubt she would ask me first if she should kiss Jennifer or Ann. She has talked to me about the couple of boys she's kissed afterwards though. So, if she asked me about Jennifer or Ann, I would ask her if it felt right to her (which is what I've asked her about individual guys she's kissed before - does it feel right?). I would tell my daughter that if kissing Jennifer or Ann feels right to her, then it is okay (although she and I have talked about the popular phenomenon of faux lesbianism among young straight women being used as a way to titillate the straight boys, and we both agree that that's annoying). So I'd be okay with it, Twitter dude.

I don't know why he would be trying to connect with me again via Twitter, as he did before from my myspace page, since I'm the same person on myspace that I am here - as in, definitely no conservative.

I did just post some things at DailyKos this weekend - where I have a link to my myspace page - about the difficulties of parenting and protecting our children from toxic culture (but when I say toxic culture, I tend to mean violence and graphic sex and objectifying women, but I don't give a shit about there being a song about a teenage girl kissing another teenager girl at a slumber party, "liking it," and finding that "she tastes just like her cherry chapstick;" as long as you're not homophobic, this is just a cute little song about a frickin' KISS (although the video seems annoyingly designed to titillate the straight boys who like thinking about lesbian kisses, as long as the "girls" involved are hot, pornolicious babes). When it comes to the sexual content that's out there generally, I see this song about a kiss as practically G-rated. So, yeah, I wrote about protecting kids from toxic culture, but I didn't mean that like a conservative thing. I mean, geez, it was at liberal Daily Kos! What's this guy doing there?

I notice too that his blog is FULL of criticism of Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, and Hannah Montana, and that he calls them "pop tarts" (ah-ha-ha; how about at least coming up with some creative or original misogynistic bullshit, eh?). He worries about little girls not wearing panties to school "just like Britney" (dude, spare me your sick little daydreams - OH shit, I just accidentally typed "daycreams," how totally Freudian!). I don't want Britney to be my daughter's role model either, so I try to provide other models and some conversation about women-as-sex-objects, but I don't insult Britney either, for god's sake. And if he is SO concerned about toxic culture affecting our kids, why doesn't his blog have ANY criticism of any males - like Eminem and all the woman-hating (and gay-bashing) lyrics sung by men that I know my daughter is also hearing? Why are Britney, Paris, and Miley the great pop-culture evil-doers, with no mention on the blog of my new "Twitter buddy" (whatever the hell that is) of any male counterparts?

So, anyway, back to the whole Twitter thing...anyone reading who is younger and hipper than I am - Should I be concerned? Ignore it? Are there any potential consequences of being "followed on Twitter" that I should know about? What can he see about me from that? Can I somehow cancel him as my "Twitter buddy" or should I just cancel the damn account completely?

Thanks in advance,
technologically out of touch old lady who turns 40 this weekend

NOLA radfem turns forty - indulges in some eighties nostalgia

1985 by Bowling For Soup


***I have a longstanding policy of NEVER challenging what's written on someone else's blog here on my blog. I just don't think it seems fair to, you know, borrow someone's words, run back to my own little space, and then trash them. But I've made an exception here because this guy seems to be following me around the intertubes and I wanted some input about it.

Buying and Selling Women - Who Gets In Trouble?

A teenage girl in New York City is charged as a prostitute:

As her advocate points out, she could not be said to have legally consented to sex in any other context, yet prosecutors will charge her for prostitution.

Meanwhile, the Bejing Olympics promise to be a boon to prostitution and human trafficking in China:

Just a few weeks from now, on August 8, 2008, the Bejing Olympics will begin and sex-for-sale will probably be part of the festivities….

When the World Cup was held in Germany in 2006, Julie Bindel wrote an article, "Foul Play",” in the UK Guardian (30 May 2006) about the explosion in sex trafficking that would be an overlooked sideline of the event. She also pointed out that other major sporting events, like the Olympic Games, are venues for this kind of exploitation. In my dumbness and innocence, it never occurred to me to connect sports and prostitution before reading Bindel’s piece; but I have since learned that sex-for-sale is rife and common, whether it be at the Olympics or the NFL Superbowl. Inevitably, girls are trafficked in, to meet the high customer demand.

Bindel interviewed Alina, “a woman who knows something about the link between sex and sport. She escaped as traffickers tired to bring her into the UK from Athens….She had been abducted from…Moscow for the Olympic Games. When the games ended, Alina was considered ‘second-hand’ and sold on to another criminal gang who transported her to London in the hope that she would make money in a Soho brothel. ‘I was worn out, literally used up and spat out,’ she says, talking from a safe house in London. ‘During the games I saw hundreds of men, some British, who thought that a good time was watching sport, drinking and having sex. We were part of the entertainment.’”

The Olympic torch had a tough time on its journey due to protests over Tibet, a widely covered story. Animal groups have done some protesting of open-air markets where dogs are butchered live and of the bear farms where animals are milked for their bile. But, of all the ‘rights’ violations being leveled against China in order to discredit the Olympics, this particular one–trafficking, which involves all the nations of the world in a spirit of rape and degradation of women–is being ignored, as usual.

For the World Cup, British men could buy condoms at 500 branches of Superdrug with slogans emblazoned on them like ‘Lie Back and Think of England,’ and decorated with the cross of St. George....

China is the largest importer of trafficked Russian girls in Asia, with Korea being second. For the Olympics, will there be a large importing into Beijing and sale of Russians and their Chinese counterparts, along with all the other nationalities currently trafficked into the Chinese sex trade: girls from Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Taiwan?

If this is a typical Olympics, it seems a certainty. (Back during the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, some male athletes insisted they be given geisha. The Japanese dressed up some pathetic prostitutes in geisha style and sent them to the men.)

Will girls be put to use to service the Olympic tourists in Beijing? Will the athletes themselves be celebrating their victories by buying sex?

via Heart at Women's Space

Yes, because under the patriarchy, every moment of every day is fine for objectifying women, even buying coffee (Occasionally, Best Friend does theme days, such as "schoolgirl" or adding glasses for a sexy "secretary" look, manager Heather Bacon said....At places such as Cowgirls, the barista is the brand."If I'm going to pay $4 for a cup of coffee" said one male customer, "I'm not going to get served by a guy.") and maid service.

In this world of misogyny mated with hyper-capitalism, being sexualized is oh-so empowering for women. Prostitution is "sex work," a free choice (and God knows, individual free choice is to be worshipped). Actresses in pornography are also sex workers, sexually liberated women making free choices (not). Even stripping as exercise is oh-so empowerfulizing. It's even possible to get a stripper pole in your hotel suite. And now, Tesco toy company in the U.K. has been offering stripper poles as toys for young girls - after all, a girl can never be too young to begin learning the joys of sexualized empowerfulment.

Seriously, I'll be post feminist in the post-patriarchy.