Perhaps I am slow on the uptake, but I was just recently exposed to The A.V. Club's resident sassypants The Hater, who splits sides on topics ranging from French's mustard commercials to the Jamie Foxx v. Miley Cyrus fiasco. Today, however, she tackled the most bizarre gendering of the most random board game I have ever witnessed (perhaps because I cannot think of anything that rivals its randomness): the new pink Quija board! Not only is it pink, signifying it is indeed made for the ladies, but it comes with questions because, as Gillette points out, "Thinking up questions about your own life to ask the dead is hard!" Quite frankly, I am not sure why Hasbro chose this particular moment in time to decide that genderized Quija boards were the way to go. I grew up playing what I can now only assume is the masculine version of the game, and I turned out okay. Gillette does a smashing job of explaining just exactly why the pink version is better for girls. Read the full story here, and for the love of God, Amelie, keep up the good work.
Like Jessica at Feministing, I'd love to rip this article to shreds, but following her lead I'm going to focus on what feminists all over are doing for the movement...starting with you. What have you done for feminism? Whether it's speaking up when you hear sexist or homophobic jokes or organizing a rally for immigrant women's rights, I want to know what you've done lately to keep feminism alive and well.
Feminists have long struggled with some non-feminist’s notions that our mantra is man hating. While that is not true of feminists as a whole, that was the main focus of a movement in the UK in the late 1970s. Called Revolutionary Feminism and lead by Sheila Jeffreys, the movement advocated political lesbianism and the complete denouncing of heterosexual relationships, which they felt was the only ultimate way to liberation. It did not matter if you slept with women or not; to be a true feminist, to them, was to be a lesbian. In 1979, they wrote Love Your Enemy? The Debate Between Heterosexual Feminism and Political Lesbianism, which further pushed the Revolutionary Feminists into embodying that man-hating stereotype, which the media and non-feminists latched on to in an attempt to discredit the feminist agenda in general. Yet their impact on the feminist movement was much larger than the controversy that surrounded them for their literature and ideals. Read more after the jump!
May is National Masturbation Month! Here it is May 18 already, and I am just learning about this celebration now. Where have I been?
I hope you were more enlightened than me on this, but in case you weren't, let's make up for lost time! Here are some National Masturbation Month fun facts, and some great links to get you celebrating! (And by celebrating, of course, I mean masturbating. Hey, it's more fun than your cousin's graduation, right?)
- National Masturbation Month was started by Good Vibrations in 1995, to protest the firing of sex-positive U.S. Surgeon General Jocelyn Elders (Elders suggested that - gasp! - masturbation should be a part of sex education)
More facts, links, and masturbation celebration, after the jump!
I'm a couple weeks late on this, but did you all hear about Skinny Bitch's new uber-masculine brother, Skinny Bastard? Finally, gender equity has arrived! Now men and women can be separately but equally body shamed!
Sarah Wendell and Candy Tan of the Smart Bitches, Trashy Books blog defend the legitimacy of romance novels in their newly published Beyond Heaving Bosoms: The Smart Bitches’ Guide to Romance Novels. After years of sifting through smut books in order to find the ones that are worth the $4.99 you’ll pay for it, these two ladies have created a humorous guidebook for the discerning smut reader.
Now, I understand there being concern over sex-based abortions. Technology is advancing at a rate that allows possible potential parents to learn the sex of their fetus earlier and earlier all the time -- often with enough time to legally abort the fetus if they are unhappy with the sex. It is awful that anyone anywhere would value one sex of a fetus over another, and I get why people don't like that idea (I don't like it myself). In fact, we wrote about it a little bit on this very blog a while back.
What I don't understand, though, is how the motivations behind an abortion can be legislated. Isn't that like arresting someone for thoughtcrime? How can the state decide whether or not a pregnant person's motivations are good enough to warrant an abortion? I am seriously confused, so if any of you legal smarties out there have any insight, help a sister out.
Many of you are anxiously awaiting your summer issue of Bitch, which was due to hit your mailboxes at the end of this month. Well, there's been a slight change of plans. You'll still be getting that issue...but not until September.
These pages have yet to honor King Douche, but of course it was only a matter of time.
This week The Donald - speaking of anti-gay activist and Miss America contestant Carrie Prejean - reminded the world that if you're not hot, no one cares what you think.
But that's just the low hanging fruit...let's take a look at some of Mr. Trumps doucheyist days over recent years.
From her television appearance as a phone sex operator to her penchant for night cheese, 30 Rock's Liz Lemon has provided a lot of laughs this season. Since the season finale of 30 Rock airs tonight on NBC, this seems like as good of a time as any to revisit some of Lemon's more memorable third-season moments. Since this is Bitch, this also seems like as good of a time as any to ask the question that is burning a hole in all of our minds: Is Liz Lemon a feminist? And does that matter?
Let's start this retrospective way back at the beginning of season three. Here is a recap of the season premiere (sorry about the annoying NBC promo stuff):
So... Liz Lemon is baby crazy and (sadly) not the victim of sexual harassment. Yeah, I guess that might not be overly feminist. Is it wrong then that I laughed out loud (especially at all of the Will Arnett parts)?
Let's watch a few more videos after the jump, shall we?
.gif)
.gif)
