reading list

[helenic]

In lieu of actual content, here's some of the interesting stuff I've been looking at lately:

• Breastfeeding: radical, feminist and good for you by Kate Joester at the F Word (via ailbhe)


• "On a more sobering note, President Obama has killed his first civilians (that we know of) since taking office" by smhwpf.


• Is the Policing and Crime Bill 2008 a productive and reasonable compromise when it comes to legislating prostitution? - Penny Red argues that she thinks it might be, for all its flaws.


• Obama's LGBT agenda looks promising, although the I think the inclusion of HIV/AIDs policies in this list is problematic.


• The view across the bar - a new political leftie blog which I'm enjoying immensely.


• Calls to action regarding the BBC refusing to air an appeal for aid to Gaza - from smhwpf here and khalinche here


• An open letter to male humans on the subject of unwanted sexual attention. I don't fear rape as much as this essay suggests, but my awareness of the possibility of it makes me uncomfortable, angry, defensive and certainly colours my interactions with male strangers and acquaintances. The rest of what emmelinemay says is spot on.


• Minor Delays - a short story for every station on the London Underground.


• A Wordle illustration of Obama's inaugural address


• Call for submissions: Spilling Over: A Fat, Queer Anthology - might interest a few of you? The deadline is this Sunday.


• Obama reverses 'global gag rule' on family planning organisations


• From the No2ID Project: Privacy Invasion by the Back Door - via ms_katonic


• Obama issues executive orders to close Guantanamo, ban torture, and ensure transparent and open government.


• The Bush Years: All Circus, No Bread by pfarley - via ms_katonic


• "This is not culture, this is not custom, this is criminal" - Hillary Clinton on women's rights in the Middle East


• Racism! QED - an incisive social analysis by vito_excalibur

Comments

[whatifoundthere.livejournal.com]

An open letter to male humans on the subject of unwanted sexual attention.

I enjoyed reading that entry and I'm glad emmelinemay wrote it. However, I don't think it will do a whit of good among its intended audience. The creepy assholes of my acquaintance are all, to a one, "open-minded," "liberal," "enlightened" sorts who pride themselves on being "nothing at all" like the wolf-whistling construction workers that are caricatured in that post. How can they be! They are geeks! They understand what it is like to be ostracized and threatened! They share women's experiences and would never hurt anyone!

I wrote a while ago about a former acquaintance who found me in Facebook and swiftly started exhibiting ugly, ugly stalkerish behaviour. I imagine that someone like him would stop reading emmelinemay's post around the second paragraph, cheerfully write a "hear, hear!" comment, and then go right back to being a suffocating, disgusting jerk. Posts like that need to be directed toward the "liberals," not the guys in alleyways.

If I were to rewrite that post (and who knows, maybe I will some day), I would write it completely differently -- which is to say, in a way that makes the OH SO CHIVALROUS, NEW AGE guys think twice about their assumption that I'm keen for their attention. That guy who jumped me in the alley in Paris is never going to read a post like that one, no matter who writes it... but people like the Facebook creep might, so I think it's ultra-important to make people like him realize that they are implicated.