Mercifully, there wasn’t a lot of news this week, though Reddit continues to be terrible and Pat Robertson proved once again what a moron he is. However, I’ve got a ton of good posts from elsewhere on the internet for y’all to read, on topics ranging from Gisele Bündchen’s breastfeeding controversy to progressives who still have misogynist attitudes. (As usual, trigger warnings for pretty much everything apply.)
In “fuck Reddit” news, an MRA board organized a campaign to flood Occidental College’s online sexual assault reporting system with false claims. Moderators deleted some of the worst comments on the r/MensRights subreddit, but screencaps are forever and shockingly, many of the assholes thought it was hilarious to target feminists at the school. (Happy holi… ugh. ~ed.)
A Chicago-based anti-choice organization is planning “empty manger” protests outside several women’s clinics to sing carols and ask patients “Would Planned Parenthood Have Aborted Jesus?” (Mary probably could have, had she wanted to, and historically, it would have been NBD. History bomb. ~ed.)
Despite the announcement that rape charges wouldn’t be filed against FSU star quarterback Jameis Winston, his accuser isn’t going down without a fight. Her attorney is calling for an investigation into the police department’s mishandling of the investigation and redaction of key evidence that could have altered the prosecutor’s decision.
Ian Watkins, former singer of the now-defunct band Lostprophets, received a 35-year sentence on charges of child sex abuse, including the attempted rape of a baby. While he admits to many of the charges, he told a fan, “I’m going to put out a statement on the 18th just to say it was mega lolz. I do not know what everybody is getting so freaked out about.”
Porn filters that have been put in place by the UK’s major ISPs are having unfortunate side effects — they’re also blocking sex education websites and support pages for rape, sexual assault, and domestic violence victims.
Good news! Nine democrats have introduced a measure in the House that would end federal funding to abstinence-only sex education, since it doesn’t work and many programs spread all kinds of lies and misinformation.
Pat Robertson advised a 700 Club viewer not to let a childhood friend bring her partner over to meet the kids because that might make said kids grow up to be lesbians. Oh for fuck’s sake, “the gay” isn’t contagious!
Justin Bieber reportedly called a bikini-clad fan a “beached whale” at a hotel pool in Australia.
The Cartoon Network has reportedly cancelled several of its shows because they’re more popular with girls than boys and they’re too lazy to figure out how to market branded merchandise to girls (which assumes that girls won’t play with action figures, which just isn’t even true). There’s a petition at the link asking them to stop ignoring female viewers.
Meanwhile yet another British retailer, Marks & Spencer, has announced that they will stop marketing toys based on gender stereotypes.
Roundabout, an industry newsletter about traffic issues in New Zealand, decided to “honor” women in transportation on the cover of their most recent edition. The image they selected, though, is ridiculous and hardly reflective of actual attire worn on the job by transportation engineers.
Recommended Reading
- Geena Davis (BAMF, HBIC) has two easy ways to make Hollywood less sexist. Hopefully people will listen!
- Mary Elizabeth Williams at Salon defends Gisele Bündchen against the haters who mocked her for posting a picture on Instagram in which she breastfeeds her daughter while a team of stylists preps her for her day.
- Mia McKenzie on Beyoncé’s feminism and why most of her detractors and defenders get it wrong.
- Nichole Black discusses how black women are frequently turned into caricatures.
- The Village Voice has the full details of R. Kelly’s many sexual assault accusations. They’re horrifying.
- Amanda Marcotte responds to a Jezebel article that laments the author’s frustration with the over-use of the phrase “slut-shaming” as a way to respond to sexism.
- Why some pregnant women still claim that they’re virgins.
- Mychal Denzel Smith talks about how we shouldn’t ignore misogyny in progressive movements; just because people are right on some issues doesn’t mean we can’t stand up to them when they get it wrong on others.
- Ann Friedman on why Ross Douthat is wrong about why 20-something women are worried.
- Amanda Hess on the stereotypes assigned to redhead s —ginger ladies are fiery sex machines, ginger dudes are gross and funny-looking. (Pro-tip: If you don’t want a redhead to get royally pissed at you, don’t call her a “firecrotch” or ask if the carpet matches the drapes. It does, but you’ll never get to see the proof.)
- A-fucking-men! “The customer is always right” doesn’t apply if they’re sexually harassing you. This was written over the summer, but seems especially apt during the holiday season, when people are ruder than ever to customer service workers.
7 replies on “This Week in Misogyny”
Cartoon Network, I’m very disappointed. You gave me Power Puff Girls. Poop on you.
And as a fiery redhead: I will give you a firecrotch in reply to such a question.
Do I need to show them my massive pile of Pinky and the Brain crap from back in the day? Or my daughter’s toys, half of which are from cartoons (and half of those from “boy” shows)? Such dumbasses.
Nooo you probably stole all that from your brother or father, you’re just confused!
To an extent, I can see the logic of porn filters, however, I think they may risk doing more harm than good. Surely more can be achieved by greater supervision of young children and greater education of older children.
I do find the M&S toys and gender news interesting, but there’s something I do find frustrating about it. I guess it’s that M&S aren’t a huge toy retailer, but they are a huge clothes retailer, and this move away from how they market toys won’t be reflected in how they market their clothes. Is there going to be an increase in unisex clothing? Somehow I suspect not.
The only thing I can maybe see with clothing is that even in toddler sizes, the boy clothing is cut bigger than the girl clothing. Lexie barely fits in some of her size 5 girl pants but her 4T boy pants are still loose on her. I imagine the disparity gets bigger as kids get older. Sizing may be different in the UK, though.
I do wish it were easier to find cute stuff that didn’t blatantly say “Daddy’s little princess” or other stupid gendered slogans, though. And I hate that it’s so much easier to find branded shirts from TV shows and movies in the boys’ section, but they frequently leave off the female characters.
I think sizing is an interesting point, but the difference in clothing and the staggering lack of choice that isn’t slogans – it’s bizarre. We often go out of our way to try and find neutral/plain clothing for the boys. One things that sticks in my mind is that we bought a fair few white/cream pieces of newborn-ish clothing for the boys; jackets and snowsuits in particular. They were absolutely plain, there wasn’t a stitch of embroidery or a hint of anything but a plain colour. Without fail, they were always categorised as “girls” clothing.