gender bending

Summer's winding down, I'm reporting from the East Coast, and this has been another week. What's up?

• The latest episode of The Peculiar Kind features queers of color in media, plus, there's bonus part of the episode where we get to know the featured artists a little bit better! [The Peculiar Kind]
• In case you haven't heard, Todd Akin is the worst. Let this sink in, any kind of rape is "legitimate." Rape is rape. That's all. There are no questions or arguments against that. [BBC News/Penny Red]
• Whoa, have you seen this new car commercial that totally twists gender expectations? How queer of you, Toyota. [Salon]
• Amy Poehler filmed a PSA in support of the passage of the California Domestic Workers Bill of Rights, and it's predictably great! [Colorlines]
• If you're like us, you've been keeping up with True Blood, and you're maybe really excited about the season finale this Sunday. Need to prepare yourself further? Check out this hilarious and on-point round table discussion of last week's mess of an episode (and while you're at it, check out the discussions of earlier episodes too)! [Racialicious]
• Bitch contributor Michelle Dean on "Hillbilly culture" and what Here Comes Honey Boo Boo says about America. [Salon]
• After a visit with my grandparents today and refusing my grandmother's kindhearted, but midguided Nair offer, my body hair has been on my mind. This is something that is talked about all the time, but that's because it's always relevant–here are some thoughts about hairy legs, pits, and body image. [Feministe]
• Stop it with the sex panic. Hanna Rosin breaks it down–feminism and "hook-up culture"–these are things that go hand in hand. Glad we got that straight. Wait, speaking of straight, I think it's important to point out that NOT ALL HOOK-UPS ARE SO HETERO. [The Atlantic]
• New York update: AfroPunk Festival is happening in Brooklyn this weekend! It's free, amazing, sweaty, and it's probably the best way you can end your summer. And how can you possibly resist Erykah Badu AND Janelle Monáe?

What have you been reading, musing, raging, or raving about this week? Share your thoughts in the comments!

I like to think of cover songs as a gift from a band. In the holiday spirit I decided to put together a whole mix of gifts, and to carry on in the tradition of a previous Bitchtapes, make a playlist of gender-bending covers. 

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's Friday, and that means BitchTapes! (Located on the sidebar to your right as well as after the jump, for you newcomers out there.) Today I thought it would be nice to visit the fabulous land of cover songs. Because this is BitchTapes, I thought it would be even nicer to hear some covers that incorporate a healthy dose of gender bending (they're good songs, too).

I have always enjoyed a good cover song, and to me that means that the artist doing the covering interprets the song in her/his own way, keeping the lyrics the same but altering the song's meaning through the performance. This happens especially when the coverer and the coveree are of different genders, and it can make for some pretty interesting listening.

Read on for the track list, and a little bit of background info as well. Enjoy!