gender

The trailer for An Emasculating Truth opens with the following...
"There's always that fear that masculinity is in danger, that it's being lost, men are becoming feminized in one way or another."
"Men are definitely finding their feminine side."
"Their masculinity's kind of questionable."
"Maybe too superficial."
"Settling for less."
"Not...manly."


In fact, "kind of questionable" and "superficial" are great descriptions of the movie itself, where Concerned Male Citizen Oscar reports "Testosterone levels are down 17% in the past 14 years among American men."

If you've ever felt like the cost of being a woman was somehow higher than that of being a man, guess what? You were literally correct! Via Psychology Today:

The January 2010 Consumer Reports has an article that's sure to provoke some outrage. "Roam any drugstore and you'll see products that seem to be twins, except for one thing: One is for women, the other for men. We discovered that products directed at women-through packaging, description, or name-might cost up to 50 percent more than similar products for men."

WTF?

Everyone! This just in! The "gender wars" are over, and women won!. That's right; after fighting for centuries for equality, our struggles have finally paid off BECAUSE MEN ARE BECOMING JUST LIKE WOMEN. Which, you know, means not only are we equals now, but women are actually the conquerors in this scenario. WE WON!!!


Imagine a woman holding this sign and you'll get the idea.
OK, we might want to hold off on the victory parades for a minute, because the news of our triumph comes from The Huffington Post courtesy of Marcus Buckingham, whose bio describes him as a "personal strengths expert" (totally didn't realize that was a job, btw). In today's issue of the online journal, Buckingham claims that

In a war, no matter the outcome of a certain skirmish or battle, the winner is the party whose attitudes, behaviors and preoccupations come to dominate the postwar landscape. By this measure, the outcome of the gender wars, if wars they were, is clear: women won.

Does this argument seem flawed to you in any way? Yeah. Thought so.

You've got eight more days to bid in The 6th Annual Chevy Chase Green School Auction, a fundraiser for Jayni Chase's beloved MGR Foundation GREEN Community Schools initiative that aims to "transform school buildings into centers for green development" by "spread[ing] environmental literacy and awareness." While the proceeds from the auction definitely will support a good cause, this year's prizes fail to impress an overall valuing of social justice.

Rebecca Swan's "Assume Nothing" series is a photographic study of gender diversity--spiritual, playful, and powerful. Full interview--including one of her amazing nude pieces--after the jump.

Caster Semenya is fast and strong and far from dainty. When it came to light last week that an athletic organization was secretly testing her sex, the sports world and mainstream media got a refresher course on an important reality: while our society tries to strictly divide people in male and female, the science of sex is far more murky.

South African Semenya is shaping up to be one of the fastest runners in the world, but if the International Association of Athletic Federations' (IAAF) forced battery of tests (including a gynecological exam) find she's too "male", she could be stripped of her medals. The IAAF stopped mandating the outdated sex tests for athletes back in 1992 and the reasons for testing Semenya range from fairness to racism, depending on who you ask.


Over at the Huffington Post, Jane Devin points out that males whose genetics make them sports stars are groomed and applauded, not subjected to embarrassing tests. You have to ask—if Semenya had thinner shoulders and a more delicate chin, would her competitor's allegations ("Just look at her," sniped a fifth-place finisher at a recent race) be given legitimacy for even a second? I think not.

It wasn’t until moving to India that I realized just how much I’d been taking toilets for granted, and it wasn’t until coming across the newly published Ladies and Gents: Public Toilets and Gender that I realized the extent of what I’d been missing. So, naturally, I decided it was time to dive head first into the loo… metaphorically, of course.

After interviewing Olga Gershenson and Barbara Penner, the authors of the book, I needed some visual to accompany my article—no small feat for a piece on toilets—so I turned to Google to see what was available in the way of tasteful toilet art. Instead I found gender reification and male sexual anxiety.