Dispatches from Ladyblogland

From PhDs working at Buzzfeed to Photoshop, ladyblogland had a lot to talk about. Join the conversation.

Read the most depressing article you can read if you are getting your PhD: “YES: I’m leaving academia. And second: I’m leaving it for BuzzFeed—more specifically, to be a full-time features writer at BuzzFeed.” The Hairpin

If you are a woman and you write about music, you’ve probably gotten some shit. This author understands. Boy, does she understand. Jezebel

Here’s an interesting read from a photo editor about Photoshop and the real you:

Confession: I digitally manipulate photos professionally. A large part of my current day job is to manage and retouch images. There are no teeth too yellow, crows’ feet too deep, or foreheads too pimply for me to lighten, clone, airbrush, and color-correct. It’s something I had really enjoyed, this fixing of people.
Seventh Grove

Autostraddle gives us a great article on LGBTQ activism and historically black churches. Here’s the introduction:

As of late, LGBTQ rights advocates have challenged religious organizations for endorsing oppressive and discriminatory doctrine under the guise of spiritual guidance. These disagreements with the Church as an institution, while generally valid, particularly target historically Black churches and often reduce these congregations to a monolith of homophobia. Without a doubt, many historically Black churches have stood in opposition to marriage equality; but, it’s also important to recognize how historically Black churches fit into a larger context of LGBTQ rights and that the situation at hand may be more nuanced than it appears at first glance.

White belly dancers: problematic or something else? Randa Jarrar has some thoughts.

I’ve written about the Boston bomber; about the U.S. government’s attempts to deport my brother, which kept him in jail for weeks; and about Israel detaining me – a U.S. citizen – and denying me entry in March 2012, but the essay of mine that has sparked the most impassioned responses is one about …
Belly dancing.

What kind of work does Women’s History Month value? Hint: It’s not housework. Sociological Images

L’Wren Scott was a talented fashion designer who was tragically found dead last week. But everyone remembered her this week as Mick Jagger’s girlfriend.

The New York Times Style section, which would have been eminently aware of Scott’s profile as a New York designer, chose to tweet “Mick Jagger’s Girlfriend Found Dead, Official Says.” The Post retweeted a tweet from television critic Hank Stuever, linking to an article by fashion critic Robin Givhan. The Los Angeles Times tweeted, “L’Wren Scott, fashion designer, found dead in New York.”
Washington Post

Brooklyn Nine-Nine is quickly turning into the smartest comedy on television. But for all its ability to smash stereotypes, its handling of “The Full Boyle,” in which one character turns into a stalker for comedy, leaves some scratching their heads.

It makes it all the more interesting, and worrying, that the show keeps indulging Charles in the “Full Boyle”—a romantic fixation that’s too much to be healthy. It falls flat every time it comes up, a sour note in an ever-better ensemble. Worse, it normalizes a real-world behavior that needs to get called out in pop culture as regularly as we point out more overt sexism; Brooklyn Nine-Nine is in a great position to do so—if they realize it.
A.V. Club

What did you read this week?