Gretel, by Chris Wind (from Snow White Gets Her Say) www.chriswind.net We read fables in school to teach us a lesson. And we read fairy tales at bedtime to put us asleep. And indeed they do: especially those of us, a full half of the human species, who are lulled lower and lower into a …
August 2018 archive
Aug 24 2018
13 Reasons Why: How to Make a Movie (and maybe Write a Novel *) without acknowledging the Elephant in the Room
So I’ve just finished watching 13 Reasons Why (Netflix) and am struck by the completely unacknowledged elephant in the room. Not one character acknowledges that almost all of the problems leading to Hannah’s suicide stem from sexism and its many tumours – misogyny, male entitlement, male privilege, hypersexualization, objectification, the rape culture, etc., etc., etc. …
Aug 22 2018
Men and Illegal Words
Lying is illegal when economic interests are at stake: libel, slander, fraud, misrepresentation, false advertising.* Why isn’t it illegal otherwise? Why is loss of income more subject to compensation than, say, loss of self-esteem (which may, of course, result in loss of income)? And words are illegal when physical violence is involved: uttering threats, ‘fighting …
Aug 22 2018
The Grammar of Male Violence – quick perception-changing read
Read this (takes a couple minutes) and your perceptions will be forever changed: http://www.ncdsv.org/images/GrammarofMaleViolence_9-10-2004.pdf
Aug 20 2018
Responding to Wolf-Whistles
Many men will wolf-whistle at any woman.* So it’s not a special insult toward the woman in question (yes, men, wolf-whistles are insulting when they occur in everyday contexts—because they emphasize our sexuality when we’re trying to be seen for our personhood and our various competencies; it thus reduces us to sexual objects) (a wolf-whistle …
Aug 17 2018
Gwynne Dyer (along with half the species) misses an obvious point
I highly recommend Gwynne Dyer’s Climate Wars, but I must say he misses an obvious point, especially evident when he says “There are almost seven billion of us, and it is almost impossible to imagine a way that we can stop the growth before there are eight and a half billion” (p.268) — because it’s …
Aug 15 2018
Sex and Salespeople
Given that the people who use washers, dryers, ovens, dishwashers, and the like are usually female, I find it puzzling that the people who sell these items are usually male. Especially because it’s inconsistent with the rest of the sales world, in which men tend to sell things men use, such as hardware and men’s …
Aug 12 2018
Gwynne Dyer (along with half the species) misses an obvious point
I highly recommend Gwynne Dyer’s Climate Wars, but I must say he misses an obvious point, especially evident when he says “There are almost seven billion of us, and it is almost impossible to imagine a way that we can stop the growth before there are eight and a half billion” (p.268) — because it’s …
Aug 10 2018
Noise Trespass
We need a noise trespass law. At the very least, the concept of noise trespass should be as familiar among the general population as physical trespass. Why is going onto someone’s private property without permission (physical trespass) considered a wrong? Because doing so is intrusive (presuming a right to privacy) and potentially damaging. The same …
Aug 08 2018
Made for Men (and so made harder for women)
Because chest-waders are made for men, I have to buy a size medium so the thighs fit. Which means the shoulder straps, even at their smallest, keep slipping off. And, okay, after suffering the frustration of that a couple times – either struggling against them as they restrict my movement hanging halfway down my arms …
- 1
- 2
fiction
