gender

Hey everyone, take it easy with some of these fine links, hand-picked from all over the web.

• Caitlin Boston gives us some pretty concrete pointers on how to hit on not harass an Asian girl.
• Feministe dances a jig over Nepal's landmark gender legislation.
• Attention students and academics! Of Another Fashion, a Tumblr started by Threadbared's Minh-ha Pham to archive the overlooked fashion of American women of color, is now available on the academic search engine WorldCat. 
• Gamepro doesn't buy the "but no one was supposed to read that" defense after a slur slips into a popular game's code.
• The Huffington Post's fair Canadian branch calls out a supposedly "ethical" pro-oil ad campaign on Oprah's TV network.
• Fbomb reminds us that this whole Dominique Strauss-Kahn ordeal is still bad news.
• The Pursuit of Harpyness decided that her boss is so awesome she deserves her own tribute.
• The XX Factor slap their forehead after reading a psychological study that thinks sex hormones influence your fetus' future career.

Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!

Sophia Wallace is a photographer living and working in New York City. Wallace uses photography and portraiture to challenge normative assumptions about gender, race, and heteronormativity. I could probably write a blog post on each of her series, the photographs are so striking. Instead, I'll highlight a few of them and I encourage you to visit her site and browse yourself.

Bringing you fine, feminist work from around the web!

• Bitch YA Blogger Jessica Stites follows up on police response to Ms.' petition demanding they apologize for having a woman who reported her rape fined.
• Queerty shares a video and list, "Just In Case You Forgot Why The Family Research Council Is A Hate Group."
• Monica at TransGriot provides a history lesson about the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot. (Trigger warning for discussion of racism and physical violence.)
• Bitch contributor Sady Doyle reports on Friday's protest of last week's shameful "not guilty" verdict at the Raw Story.
• Shakesville's Melissa McEwan comments on the latest fail by the New York Times. (Quotable: "This column smells like barf.")
• Tom at Original Plumbing talks about the Lambda Literary Awards and being an out artist.
• Check out V-Girls' latest project: collecting photo, video and text submissions for the I Am an Emotional Creature workshops they'll be leading with Eve Ensler in South Africa.
• The Guardian reports on author Naipaul's eyeroll-inducing insistence that no woman could write as well as him.
• Feministe's Clarisse gives us the rundown on feminist sci-fi awards!
• Bitch contributor Emily Manuel blurbs about the "fauxtreversy" around baby Storm's biological sex being a secret and the "imposing their ideology" accusation at Tiger Beatdown.
• At AlterNet, Laura Rena Murray explains the wrongheaded practice of police pointing to condom-carrying as evidence of being a sex worker... and the oft-dismissed bill that would prevent it.
• Mother Jones reports on the FIFA soccer scandal.
• WTF? Feministing discusses Cadbury's new ad, which compares Naomi Campbell and a chocolate bar.

Any reactions to the pieces we've shared? What else have you been reading?

Time for a blog roundup!

• Former Bitch intern Katie Presley reviews Anuradha Roy’s novel, An Atlas of Impossible Longing, on the Ms. blog.
• Bitch contributor Chally writes on representing representations of feminism, saying, "when feminism becomes about defending the identity rather than doing the work, that’s when we have a big problem."
• The Crunk Feminist Collective shares their post-Mother's Day musings.
• Bad Reputation compares retellings of The Little Mermaid.
• HuffPo reports on a pro-QUILTBAG church ad... and the "progressive" group that refuses to run it.
• Bitch contributor Sady Doyle discusses H.R. 3 and so-called pro-life Democrats at Global Comment.
• In better news, Mother Jones relates that the Navy will now perform same-sex marriages!
• Bitch contributor Jaclyn Friedman spoke at the Boston SlutWalk; check out the video and transcript of her speech!
• ColorLines praises the web series "The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl and Friends."
• Feministe's Clarisse Thorn names her "Central Sex-Positive Feminist Ideas."
• At Gay YA, Bitch contributor Everett Maroon talks about his goals as a trans writer. On his personal blog, he writes of Chaz Bono and the simplistic ways in which people talk about gender.
• AfterEllen takes on a subject near and dear to the hearts of many queer web addicts: lesbian shipping wars!
• Feminist polygamy? Katherine Butler explores the concept on AlterNet.
• xkcd had a recent win with an edition about female scientists. Feministing reprints the "Marie Curie" comic and talks about why it's right on target.
• Community star Ken Jeong is excerpted on Racialicious regarding Mother's Day and his wife's battle with breast cancer.
• The new Topside Press is looking for short fiction by and/or about transgender people! Read more at their homepage.
• Original Plumbing debuts the trailer for Nick Krieger's memoir, Nina Here Nor There: My Journey Beyond Gender.
• Garland unpacks Lady Gaga's "Judas" at Tiger Beatdown, including a phrase I never knew I always wanted in my life: "racy biblical slash fic."

Thoughts? What else have you been reading?

Let's talk about Bounce. Specifically, let's talk about the "Sheets or Bar" campaign, the only ad series I've seen lately that can compete with the obnoxiousness of Virgin Mobile's stalker humor.

When I was a wee sprite of a thing, I remember changing my idea of what I would be "when I grew up" frequently. I wanted to be a fisherman like my Papa and uncles at one point. I believe I spent some time thinking that being a firefighter sounded cool because the hose truck looked like fun. I am sure there may have been some time where I thought that baby-sitting or raising kittens might have been fun as a career choice. I never imagined my choices were limited, because no one ever told me they were. The Imagine line of games from Ubisoft, however, almost seems to be telling young girl gamers that they have limited wants, indeed.

Meanwhile, in the land of blogdom...

• Tiger Beatdown's Garland Grey reports from SXSW!
• On Salon, Bitch contributor Page McBee talks about not fitting into the gender binary.
• At Racialicious and Bold as Love, Rob Fields explores the limited film-buzz surrounding I Will Follow.
• Ms. and AlterNet look at how budget cuts could affect HIV-positive women.
• Matt Kailey talks about the class dynamics of clothing on Womanist Musings.
• At Trans/plant/portation, Bitch contributor EvMaroon discusses redefining terrorism.
• Helen at Questioning Transphobia reports on some bad reporting regarding the supposed average lifespan of trans* people.
• RH Reality Check continues to keep us up-to-date about anti-choice politicians with a profile on Republican maybe-candidate Chris Christie. In the humor category, Colbert has something to say about all this maybe-running business.
• Still furious about the New York Times' awful coverage of the gang rape in Texas? So are we, and so are the folks at Bitch Flicks, who talk about rape culture, the media, and the defensive chorus of "You just want to be offended!" (via Gender Focus)
• The Drop the I-Word video campaign continues at ColorLines with "I Am... Undocumented."
• Jos at Feministing shares and discusses the LGBT documentary "Always My Son."
• If you're in the San Francisco area, be sure to attend next week's Girl Talk, A Trans & Cis Woman Dialogue, co-curated by Gina de Vries, Elena Rose and Julia Serano!

When I talk about women's choices regarding children, pregnancy, and childbirth, someone usually asks about the men. Last month, I interviewed half a dozen men of varying ages, backgrounds, and life experience about why they never want to have children. A number of them had considered getting (or had already gotten) a vasectomy. The number one reason? It's easier (from a surgical/recovery standpoint) and cheaper than any option women have.

On Friday, I saw the Noboru Iguchi, Yoshihiro Nishimura, and Tak Sakagucki-helmed Japanese flick Mutant Girls Squad as part of the Northwest Film Center's Portland International Film Festival (PIFF.) From the synopsis, I expected a girl power-y saga of young women bonding over their new superpowers and fighting off comic book-esque villains at each other's behest... something like X-Men meets D.E.B.S. (the latter of which I will defend until my death, and not just because of name loyalty). Basically, I went into Mutant Girls Squad thinking it would be ridiculous and entertaining. I was half right.

Comments, spoilers and a gruesome trailer after the jump!

(David Bowie, "Life on Mars." My favorite music video ever, directed by Mick Rock. Lyrics here.)

Dear Bitch readers, it's time for me to leave you.

Thanks for indulging me in all manner of things, from my teenage crushes on Axl Rose and Trent Reznor to my all-consuming current Robyn obsession.

But I did save the best for last. And I'm not even equivocating on that one.