Bitch HQ

This has been a week, and now it's Friday, so turn on your television and let's get these Summer Games crackin'!

• Did you hear? The Olympics start today! Oh, and Caster Semenya gets to carry the South African flag in the opening ceremony! Who's excited? We are! [Colorlines]
• Yes! Sasheer Zamata's video about meeting her flasher is pure gold–super spot-on social commentary, plus, she's just hilarious. [Punch!]
• A model with Down Syndrome is being featured in a children's swim catalogue. Is this a "progressive" ploy or geniune want for and real step towards diversity in ability amongst models? [xoJane]
• This week in sexism and the Olypics: Leisel Jones is no stranger to the summer games—she has some world records, a bunch of medals, and basically, she's awesome, but all people can talk about is her weight. Seriously? Step off. [Feministing]
• Take a look at this super informative, and deeply saddening inforgraphic about women and HIV/AIDS. [Ms. Blog]
• Check out this fascinating interview with Keelin Godsey, the first out American trans person to to be a serious Olympic contender. Unfortunately, it did not work out this year, but maybe 2016? We can hope. [Feministe]
• The panelists for The Queerness of Hip-Hop/The Hip-Hop of Queerness symposium at Harvard University were just announced! [QOOH]
• Is it Girl Scout season yet? I could go for a box or five of some Thin Mints. Learn about the history of the cookies you love so much! [Collectors Weekly]
• The Miss Zee Coloring Book is being created to empower underrepresented girls of color, but it can't happen without your help! This is important! [Kickstarter]
• Viola Davis on what to expect from the Barbara Jordan biopic, plus, what critics of black actors don't understand. [IndieWire]
• Help Autostraddle build a better Autostraddle! Really, donate or buy some merch, any little bit counts! [Autostraddle]
• The Visibility Project, a national portrait and video project seeking to bring presence and representation to the queer Asian and Pacific Islander communities, who we've featured on the blog, are looking for more folks to participate in New York until August 7th! They'll also be in Portland on August 11th! [The Visibility Project]
• Portland update: The 12th annual Portland Zine Symposium is in two weeks! Come support local artists and all sorts of DIY awesomeness!

Riled up yet? Here are more things that might make you angry, but also some things that should make you excited! Take this as your cue to go out and get some sun this weekend. I think we all need it.

• Daniel Tosh may have taken the cake for being the scum of the week, but Domino's Pizza is riding in the same douchebaggy boat with their new "no is the new yes" campaign. Really, Domino's? Must we shout it from the top of our lungs? "NO" MEANS "NO." [Feministing]
• Janet Mock explores why "trapped in the wrong body" is a convenient and lazy explanation that victimizes trans individuals. [Fish Food For Thought]
• An exploration of the fetishization of race, and how your assumptions based on ethnic background aren't gonna get you any dates with people of color. [Feministe]
• LPAC–the first ever Lesbian Political Action Committee–launched this Wednesday! Jane Lynch approves. [Autostraddle]
• As if we weren't already psyched by the new Smart Girls at the Party show Meow Meow Music, the channel launched a new web series this week, Ask Amy, where Amy Poehler gives advice to girls. Can someone ask Amy if she'll be our BFF?
• The racial dynamics of street harrassment, and how catcalling has reached an all-time high. [Oshun Returns]
• As a follow up to Julia Bluhm's petition against using photoshop to alter bodies in Seventeen magazine, a group of young women petitioned for Teen Vogue to feature more diverse and relatable bodies, but had their concerns dismissed by the the editor-in-chief. Put down your Teen Vogue, there are quality magazines out there–with friendly staff who will actually listen to you! We promise. [Ms. Blog/Jezebel]
• A town in Germany has designated certain tricky parking spaces "Men Only." Um, what? [AP]
• Mitt Romney responded to being booed at the NAACP conference. Not such a people pleaser, but he's still under the assumption that he'll get the black vote. Dude, seriously? [Colorlines]
• Are you in the New York Metropolitan area? Have you been under a box for the last few weeks and need some excitement, i.e., a weekend full of queer and feminist bands and workshops? Well, here's a reminder that C.L.I.T. Fest is tonight, tomorrow, and the next day. Seriously though. Get your butt on NJ Transit. I know you hate it, but it'll be worth it. Go. For me.
• Portland update: In Other Words is hosting its last Dirty Queer X-rated open mic event of the summer TONIGHT at 6:30pm. Come down and celebrate Friday the 13th with some dirty Portland queer cuties. After that, head up to The Know to see Forever, Swearin', and Waxahatchee. Yeah, that's right, Katie Crutchfield from P.S. Eliot has some new heartbreaking tunes for you. 

Here's what we've been thinking about this week that isn't the TomKat divorce announcement.

• A fourth edition of Gloria Anzaldua's Borderlands/La Frontera is to be published, but it can't happen without your help! [Kickstarter]
• Jay Smooth tells us why "don't feed the trolls" is a stupid piece of internet advice. Feed them or relinquish your position on the internet forever! [Ill Doctrine]
• We all know (or at least we all should know) that the myth of the "model minority" is super problematic! Here are some solid reasons why it hurts not only the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities, but why it hurts everyone. [Colorlines/Feministing]
• Sexual harassment isn't a joke. This mall in New Jersey doesn't seem to agree. [TDN]
• Speaking of things that aren't jokes, abuse against women, and abuse IN GENERAL is not something to make a "funny" t-shirt design out of. It's not funny. Stop that. [Open File]
• Jos Truitt explores cissexism, the undermining of trans identities, and unexamined privilege and oppression within queer communities. [Feministing]
• Remember the Bechdel Test? Well here's the Roberts Test for trans people of color in film and television. [Transgriot]
• Flavia Dzodan responds to the Anne-Marie Slaughter piece on feminism's "failures." [Tiger Beatdown]
• Wanna be a "reverse racist" and learn how to oppress white people? Check out this step by step guide. Wait, you don't think I'm serious, right? That's not how oppression works. But get a kick out of this hilarious racial satire. [Black Girl Dangerous]
• The Allied Media Conference is this weekend in Detroit! Browse the schedule here, and follow #AMC2012 on Twitter. [AMP]
• Anne Helen Peterson discusses the female gaze, desire, and Magic Mike! Stay tuned for our review (via Popaganda–back by popular demand!) of Channing Tatum's fantastic acting skills naked bod later today! [Anne Helen Peterson]
• Check out this piece on Nora Ephron's early years when she was a feminist New Journalism pioneer. [Salon]
• Portland update: For Bitch Media's second installment of CineBitch, we'll be screening 9 to 5 at Mississippi Studios on Monday, July 2nd at 7pm!

This has been a week! Here's what we've been thinking about.

• After the giant mess around Rep. Lisa Brown's oh so horrifying use of the word "vagina" (GOD FORBID!), thousands of people watched in delight in Lansing, Michigan, as women legislators enacted The Vagina Monologues on the steps of the state Capitol in response to the passing of HB 5711. [Ms. Blog]
• Where do you wanna be when 20,000 dykes take over New York City? At the 20th annual NYC Dyke March, of course. It's happening this Saturday – there's an after party too! [NYC Dyke March]
• Listen to this great conversation with our very own Andi Zeisler on gains and setbacks for working women, family policy, women's status in developing countries, and the path of women's progress in the last fifteen years. [Chicago Policy Radio]
• C.L.I.T. (Combatting Latent Inequality Together) Fest, an awesome three-day DIY, music, and arts festival is happening in New Brunswick, NJ in July (previously in DC, PDX, LA, Chicago, etc.), and they need your help to get things done! [C.L.I.T. Fest NB]
• Super queer, super feminist, super rad, Sourpatch is on tour, and they're playing in Portland with Joyride and Forever on Monday! [PC-PDX]
• Skills vs. Luck – The Olympics prove their blatant sexism once again! Because clearly, females can't have skills, especially not athletic skills. [Feministing]
• Check out Jay Smooth's video about those terrible Adidas "shackle shoes," a criticism of thoughts about intentionality, and how racism doesn't come just from overtly racist intent. [Animal New York]
• Alyssa Rosenberg wrote an open letter to the creators of Tomb Raider for their horrific insensitivity and perpetuation of rape culture. [Think Progress]
• In Palestinian solidarity, Alice Walker declined a request to publish an Israeli edition of The Color Purple. [The Guardian]
• Oy gevalt, True Blood! There are respectful ways to tap into Jewish culture and religion, and this is definitely not one of them. [Tablet]
• Here's what went down at the End Stop-and-Frisk silent march against racial profiling. [Colorlines]
• Portland update: Bitch's own Kelsey Wallace is a judge at this year's Offkey Karaoke (a benefit for the YWCA). Come help her cheer on (or heckle, if need be) the contestants this Saturday!