EDELSTEIN!

So let’s say you’re a film critic.  Let’s say you’re a film critic at a widely distributed publication!  That happens to be located in New York, which means that you get to see a LOT of movies, because not only does New York allow you access to all the big blockbusters, but the independent and foreign films actually play there as well, and your publication would actually like you to review them.  This seems to me to suggest that you would be exposed to a higher number of thoughtful accounts of experiences that are Not Your Own than the average American male living in, say, the Midwest.  This seems to me to suggest that you ought to be capable of a higher level of commentary on a movie about young women than the following:

It’s Fanning’s movie: You can taste the ex–child actor’s relish for playing “jailbait.” But can she be ogled in good conscience? The taste is sweet and sour.

Now, I haven’t seen this movie.  But I mean, look.  I get that this is a movie in which two young starlets are, among other things, engaging in same-sex making out and possibly sex scenes.  I also get that for no reason at all straight men the world over appear to think means they’re doing it so that men in the audience can be titillated as opposed to because, you know, that it’s independently enjoyable for young women THEMSELVES independent of the effect on horny men in movie theatres.  I also get, and think very firmly, that young women, even 15 and 16-year-olds, are sexual beings, and that insisting that any portrayal of young women in the media be stripped of all sexual content is not only unrealistic, it is infantilizing.

HOWEVER.

Friday Fierce Thread: For Reader A

GOLD STAR for Reader A

We occasionally get emails from readers about the sexist stuff they’ve encountered in their lives, with questions like “Did I do something wrong here?”  or “What the eff is wrong with people?”  I just got one last night, and I really wanted to address it, because I know it’s going to seem familiar to lots of harpies.

The reader in question had the misfortune of dealing with a male peer and co-member of a college group dedicated to supporting safe sex on campus who thought that smart-ass remarks about drugging women to avoid that whole sticky “consent” issue were Big Larfs.

To Reader A:  I’m sorry you had to deal with the Rape Joke Posse, and that the president of your org didn’t have your back.  I  think you did exactly the right thing.  Any guy who repeatedly defends his right to make rape jokes is NOT an ally, and calling out hateful behavior–especially in a calm, reasoned way, as you did–is praiseworthy.  And really freakin’ hard to do. Regardless of what you said to that weasel and his bros, or how you said it, you were going to make them really uncomfortable, and they were going to respond with chest-puffery and DOOD! hi-fives.

And taking the matter to your president was right, too, even though I think she dropped the ball.  She may have had her reasons, but given your organization’s mission, I feel like you (and she, and all members) are obligated to shut crap like that down toot-sweet:  how can one advocate for reproductive rights–that is, for control over one’s own body–if one turns around and makes light of taking that right away from women, by advocating the use of drugs to rape them?  Safe sex doesn’t just mean using a condom.  That dude is a hypocrite, and horrible little shit. Self-proclaimed feminists do not joke about raping women, or anyone.

Prom (oting) Homophobia

This month in Fulton, Mississippi, two girls wanted to go to prom together, and one of them wanted to wear a tux. When one of the girls—high school senior Constance McMillen—challenged the school’s written policy that prom dates must be of the opposite sex, the school board decided:  NO PROM FOR ANYONE!

So McMillen–and the ACLU–are suing.

USA Today reports:

JACKSON, Miss. — The American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi today filed suit in federal court against the Itawamba County School System, which canceled the prom for one of its high schools when a student challenged a ban on bringing same-sex dates. The federal suit asks the court to force the school board to reinstate the prom and alleges that district officials have violated the First Amendment rights of Constance McMillen, a senior at Itawamba Agricultural High School.

“It’s shameful and cowardly of the school district to have canceled the prom and to try to blame Constance, who’s only standing up for herself,” said Christine Sun, an attorney with the ACLU national LGBT Project. “We will fight tooth and nail for the prom to be reinstated for all students.”

PhDork correctly summed up the school’s reasoning as: OMG LEZBOHZ!  Honestly, there’s absolutely no logical way you can argue that Constance McMillen’s going to the prom with her girlfriend and wearing a tux poses a threat to anyone. SRSLY.

Harpy Seminar: That’s So Raven

Via londoninflames @ Flickr

Welcome to Harpy Seminar, a regular feature we plan to have at regular intervals, unless we get too busy to have it at regular intervals, in which case it shall appear whenever we have time and inclination for it. Each Seminar begins with a question, which we discuss amongst ourselves, and we then edit the highlights of our conversation into a post. Please feel free to join in in the comments!

I had intended to do my own thorough dashing of Charlotte Raven’s soi-disant book review at the Guardian, but it was just too wrong and fucked up.  So, I sent the link around, and the other Harpies helped me sort it.  It’s still wrong and fucked up, but at least we’ve sifted the wheat from the chaff.

PhDork: Okey-doke. So I’m all “whaaa?” about this article, and I think it’s due to Raven’s all-over-the-map writing (although it could be Spring Brain).

The thing is, she does have some good points:

• Self-consciousness is a hallmark of the current age
• Women and girls are getting horrible conflicting messages in mass culture about how to succeed as women
• A consumer mentality is detrimental to a political one

Birth Control Promoted in Afghanistan

In a country with the world’s second highest maternal mortality rate, health professionals are partnering with religious leaders to distribute condoms and promote spacing births. Afghanistan has one of the world’s highest fertility rates, averaging more than six babies per woman. The maternal death rate in Afghanistan is 1,800 per 100,000 live births; in the U.S. it’s 11 per 100,000 births.

The study–conducted by U.S.-based nonprofit Management Sciences for Health–involved 3,700 families in three rural areas with different ethnic groups. The Health Ministry collaborated with nonprofit organizations to educate people about birth control. Mullahs quoted from the Quran to promote breast-feeding for two years and explained the importance of spacing out births to give women and babies better health outcomes. The mullahs’ message–along with condoms–was often delivered during Friday prayers.

According to the report published Monday in the World Health Organization’s journal, Bulletin, use of the pill, condoms and injected forms of birth control rose to 27 percent over eight months once the benefits were explained one-on-one by health workers. “The fastest, cheapest, easiest way to reduce maternal deaths in Afghanistan is with contraception,” said the study’s lead author, Dr. Douglas Huber. I hope this approach catches on in other parts of Afghanistan (and around the world).

You like feminism, you like books…

…how could you not like The Feminist Press?

In case you’re looking for something awesome to do in New York tonight, you might consider heading on out to Joe’s Pub (part of the Public Theatre) tonight from 6-8pm to celebrate the FP’s 40th Anniversary.

Advance tickets are sold out, but tickets are available at the door ($40, $25 for students).

You might also be interested in the Rainbow Book Fair on March 27, which is totally free, and huge, and which will feature FP books among many others.  More info here.

Whether or not you can make it, you should totally check out the Feminist Press’s website, for a whole bunch of great books (old and new) they’ve published, but also for feminist/womanist/queer titles from other publishers.  They’re also responsible for WSQ (formerly Women’s Studies Quarterly), a now bi-annual academic journal, which includes scholarship, but also poetry and fiction and memoir and other stuff.

Hmmm, with all the writers among us, perhaps we should try to pull off  an all-Harpy issue?  What would you submit?

Thank you abortion providers!

On March 10, 1993, an anti-choice extremist murdered Dr. David Gunn outside of his workplace. In honor of him, Dr. George Tiller, and the others who lost their lives because they performed abortions, we pay tribute to abortion providers today, on the National Day of Appreciation for Abortion Providers. The National Abortion Federation is collecting names and messages in support for those who dedicate their lives to providing women with safe abortion care. You can leave a message at the NAF website.

87% of counties in the U.S. lack an abortion provider. Legal abortion means nothing without access. Thank you to the health professionals who go out of their way to bring safe abortion care to areas without providers. Thank you for risking harassment–and worse–every day in order to give women access to their right to choose.

Hope And Change In India

Indian women celebrate after the Women's Reservation Bill is passed.

The world’s largest democracy made history this week when Indian lawmakers approved a historic bill that would set aside one-third of all seats in India’s parliament for women. Only 59 women were elected to the current 545-member Lok Sabha (Lower House) of Parliament. The new law would raise that total to 181 in the next national election. The bill also includes a provision to increase the quota of women in local legislative bodies to 50%.

Personally, I’m usually a little uncomfortable with quotas, since they can be thinly-veiled tokenism, or a way of circumventing a merit-based system. But misogyny and discrimination are tremendously destructive, and to fight big institutional problems, you need big, institutional solutions. It’s heartening to see such powerful change taking place, particularly as meaningful change seems to be stalling out in my own country.

India’s distinguished and popular Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, lauded the Women’s Reservation Bill for “carrying forward the emancipation of women,” saying,

This is a momentous development in the long journey of empowering our women. Women are facing discrimination at home, there is domestic violence, unequal access to health and education. This has to end. [The Bill is] living proof that the heart of Indian democracy is sound and is in the right place.”

How fucking awesome is that? You’d never hear a US President push for such a bill in such uncompromising terms, even though women make up a paltry 16.8 percent of the US Congress and 22.9 percent of statewide executive offices. Nor would such a bill ever make it out of our Congress alive.

Don’t hang up that mating towel yet, girls!

A detail from my own personal (highly offensive) mating towel. Via sewitsforyou @ Flickr

That’s the good word from Georgia Gwinnett College researcher Steven Platek, who will shortly be publishing his findings on men’s preference for women’s surgically-altered asses.

And thank maude, y’know?  Just the other day, I was saying “You know what we really need?  More studies about what kind of disembodied lady-parts dudes like best!”

Platek’s study included showing 14 men (mmmm, that’s good science!) before-and-after pictures of the asses of 7 women who had undergone surgery to redistribute weight from their waists to their hips.  And those dudes liked the “after” photos better.  Enough so that the feature writer at LiveScience called little-in-the-middle-but-she-got-much-back a “drug” for men.

The good news:  you don’t have to lose weight to catch a man, gals!

The bad news:  you will need serious body-sculpting surgery.

I Support You, Gabby.

Via bioxid @ Flickr.

I want to say something about Gabourey Sidibe.

The day after Gabby attended the Academy Awards, where she was up for Best Actress, the ever-edgy Howard Stern attacked her on his radio show. He and Robin Quivers only ridicule her because they are concerned for her health, of course. Everyone knows mean-spirited jabs are the most effective way to say “I care.”

On Sunday a friend posted a photo of Gabby on her blog, along with the text, “She looks incredible. She’s glowing. Rooting so hard for her.” Someone accused her of “validating unhealthy lifestyles with praise.” He began, “There is no way it’s healthy or attractive to maintain that much subcutaneous fat, sorry.” Political Party Girl wished Gabby well and got lectured about poor health. Gabby’s great qualities are negated by the size of her body, in some people’s eyes.

Gabby’s sins are two-fold:

1. She’s really fat.
2. She doesn’t hate herself for it.

She doesn’t apologize for being fat or make self-deprecating remarks about her weight. She has not indicated that she’s desperately trying to slim down. That makes some people uncomfortable, even angry. I doubt Gabby will ever have the opportunity to read this. And it’s not like she needs my support when she’s got Oprah in her corner. But I support you, Gabby.

Spotted Hyena: UR DOIN IT RITE

I was doing some on-line research on hyenas—don’t ask—and came across this gem on Wikipedia, which I couldn’t resist sharing:

The majority of hyena species show little sexual dimorphism, with males being only slightly larger than the females. The Spotted Hyena is an exception to this, with females larger than males. One unusual feature of the Spotted Hyena is that females have an enlarged clitoris, called a pseudo-penis, demi-penis, or sometimes mistakenly referred to as a nanophallus. Female hyenas give birth, copulate, and urinate through their protruding genitalia, which stretches to allow the male penis to enter for couplation; it also stretches during birth. The anatomical position of the genitalia gives females complete control over which males are allowed to mate with them.

Researchers originally thought that one cause of this characteristic of the genitals was androgens that were introduced to the fetus very early on in its development. However, it was discovered that when the androgens were held back from the female fetus, the development of her genitalia was not altered. Spotted Hyenas have a matriarchal social structure that some biologists speculate evolved because it is in the best interests of the female hyena to dominate the male hyena as it provides no assistance in rearing the cubs.

Happy International Women’s Day!

To our readers–and all women–around the globe.

Today marks the 99th such observation, although the roots of International Women’s Day go back even further, to 1908, when 15,000 New York women marched for their labor rights (and my little socialist heart sings!).

This year’s theme is “Equal Rights, Equal Opportunities:  Progress for All, and nearly 750 events have already been registered with the IWD site.  You can search for them by country here. (The UK has tons!)

Even though IWD isn’t an official holiday in the US, as it is many other countries, there are a number of events in NYC, and my choice of celebration is a screening and networking event hosted by RAHA Iranian Women’s Collective, at Alwan for the Arts here in New York.  (And BeckySharper, there will be cake!)

How are you celebrating?