Friday Femilinking, I'm off to Leeds for three days 25th of July edition

"I do wish your lot had the decency to shoot me."
-Countess Markievicz, Irish revolutionnary.

(I'm going to go back and add a quote and a description to each of the persons I've put up here. Also, apologies for delays in posting, stuff's been hectic).

Why film schools teach screenwriters not to pass the Bechdel Test (@ The Hathor Legacy) - A woman who studied screenwriting tells the story of why Hollywood is fighting tooth, nail and claw to keep film scripts as white, male and straight as possible.

Well, that was bound to happen (@ Feministe) - Holly dissects upcoming videogame Fat Princess, as well as taking on entitled misogyny and size-ism from the worst parts of the gaming community.

Time Magazine surveys women's rights and declares them a failure (@ Pandagon) - Wherein the fact that Time magazine glorifies sexual puritanism is discussed. And it gives me a headache. Sigh.

Tools for white guys who are working for social change and other people socialized in a society based on domination (@ Colours of Resistance) - This is an oldie but I dug it up this week looking for male feminist ally links. I first read it in the RAG gathering booklet. It's a great read for activists to be aware of class, gender, race and sexuality privileges.

Ashley Crawford: Post-Gender (@ BMEZINE.com) - An interview with tattoo and body modification artist Ashley Crawford, talking about her take on gender-based modifications and transcending social concepts of gender.

Transphobic tropes series (@ Questioning Transphobia) - A great series of articles about typical transphobic tropes from all ends of the spectrum. Emily analyses a number of issues:

"Really" a Man/Woman - About the trope of deception, and the idea that someone can never escape their biology. This tackles both the misogynist and essentialist-feminist perspectives.

Patriarchal privilege - Emily discusses how trans people are accused of having patriarchal privilege, ignoring the great lack of privilege that trans people must face in a great number of areas such as employment and housing.

Reifying gender - Here, Emily discusses the accusation from many theorists that transsexuals are simply sticking to the gender binary when we should all be defying it.

Friday Femilinking, Eleventh of July, Two-Thousand and Eight.

"I taught our women how to speak, but don't know how to make them silent."
Anna Akhmatova, Russian poet.

Stephanie Toumi - an indictment of our immigration system (@ The F Word blog) - The story of Stephanie Toumi's deportation from the UK back to Cameroon, over the course of which she was assaulted and badly injured.

When Fanny Rocked (@ AfterEllen) - Jamie Anderson tells the story of Fanny, a trailblazing all-female rock band from the 1970s. The article includes quotes from the members and tells of their troubles with the male-dominated rock scene of their time.

Activism embodied (@ Clamor Magazine) - A roundtable discussion between Leslie Feinberg Geleni Fontaine, and Shira Hassan, facilitated by Nomy Lamm. The article discusses the issue of personal embodiment's relationship with activism, and how it can be embraced to gather movements together.

Not a happy birthday (@ The F Word) - Amity Reed presents on the issue of childbirth rape, and how it seems to be a rather troubling, prevalent and power-laden form of abuse in society.

Choice Ireland Month of Action against the WRC (@ Indymedia Ireland) - Choice Ireland, the organisation I am part of, calls for a month of action against the anti-choice, anti-women agency WRC. This agency gives false medical information and bullies vulnerable women with a variety of tactics to discourage them from having an abortion.

Kyle Payne: There is no debate, this is wrong (@ Renegade Evolution) - Ren exposes Kyle Payne, an avowed radical feminist male who has pledged guilty to the charge of, while being an assistant in a student hall, breaking into a woman's room and taking pictures of her breasts. Ren links to a blogroll that is exposing this creep on the internet.

On a personal note, Kyle Payne, you're the embodiment of everything you hypocritically claim to hate. And if that weren't enough, you have done nothing but a disservice to all the feminist allies out there that have done so much to help the movement become stronger and more diverse.

Finally, on a lighter note, Alison Bechdel ponders the idea of the compulsory reading of literary classics, in her own, inimitable style as a comic-book artist.

Tuesday femilinking, 01/07/08

"You rarely have [male superheroes] killed in ways that thrust their crotches forward and expose their asses through strategic rips in their super-undies."
Gail Simone, Comic Book Writer, Critic

(I should clarify, the people I highlight up here are going to be both historically relevant feminists as well as contemporary activists, writers and artists whom I deeply respect and have, at the very least, feminist elements in their work. With that in mind, let's get rolling.)

Now, the backlash (@ The Guardian's Gender section) - Kira Cochrane examines the growing backlash against feminism and its achievements for justice and equality. Cochrane explores the origins of the current backlash and why it's spreading, yet points out that hope for feminism is still quite high due to the many organisations active and public interest in it.

Why this queer isn't celebrating (@ Feministe) - Jack analyses the legalisation of same-sex marriage in California. The article focuses on how the current legislation marginalises relationships that are not deemed as 'acceptable', and ponders why some people seem to always get the last wagon in the equality train.

Countering defenses for offensive language (@ Girl-Wonder.org forums) - An interesting discussion on the rationalisations some people use to defend their use of offensive language.

Fourteen year-old girl in HSE care asks court for leave to have abortion (@ the Sunday Tribune, Ireland) - Closely mirroring last year's lamentable D case, yet another teenager in government care is forced to justify herself before a court to exercise her right to choose.

Black transwoman got beaten by cops and no-one cared (@ The Bilerico Project) - Report on the beating of a black transwoman in a police station in the States. Alex follows up with information on the aftermath.

Girlfriends, boyfriends and feminism (@ Hugo Schwyzer's blog) - Schwyzer looks at a reader's concern about introducing her male partner to feminism, and how in the end, actions, palpable everyday actions, are more important than words when confronting sexism as a man.

There's no good way to use 'fag' (@ Shakesville) - Melissa talks about how the word 'fag' is simply not acceptable as a pejorative term outside the queer community.

And finally, because I'm nothing but a comics geek, Cat and Girl talks about ideas and failure, in a comic which I think is relevant to us activists (as well as being cute and funny as per usual for C&G).