So I first heard of the movie Ex Machina when I read a review (by Chris DiCarlo) in Humanist Perspectives—and was so disgusted that I wrote a letter to the editor. Why? Because the reviewer had revealed his own misogyny by failing to address the elephant in the room: the fact that the body the …
Category: feminism
Dec 13 2017
a couple poems from UnMythed, by Chris Wind
from UnMythed, by Chris Wind Narcissus she unwraps the traditional gifts: first, the brush-comb-and-mirror set, pale pink marbling with gilded edges— they lie heavy in her hand; then the jewelry box, gold and cream lined with velvet— it plays “Fascination” the new thirteen-year-old hands them back to her mother and says “Narcissus was a …
Dec 08 2017
The Waiting-for-the-Elevator Thing
So I’m sure this has happened at least once to every woman. You’re standing in front of an elevator, waiting for it, and a man comes up and presses the button. Oh is that what that’s for? I saw the button, with an upward-pointing arrow, and I understand that elevators go up, but you know, …
Dec 08 2017
Brunettes, Blondes, and Redheads
So the other day I started reading iron shadows by Steven Barnes. He’s apparently a bestselling author. Which is really disturbing. Because four sentences in, he describes a woman as “a small wiry brunette”. Seriously? Does anyone actually identify women by their hair colour any more? That’s so—1940s. Isn’t it? I check. The book’s copyright …
Dec 04 2017
Imagine that …
…all males had to have their DNA on file with the government. …all newborns had to have their paternity established by law. …all males discovered to be fathers had their wages garnished at the source to support the mother of the child for six years (assuming she would be the one to be with the …
Dec 01 2017
Where are the independent (unattached and not seeking attachment) hetero women?
I have lived a lone life. For a long time, well into my thirties, I attributed that to my personality — I’m a loner, not a joiner. I also attributed it to my work life — part-time, relief, occasional, and done-at-home, none of which tend to result in the development of collegial friendships. And I …
Nov 08 2017
Kids Behind the Wheel
The other day, I was walking on the gravel/dirt road I live on. It’s a back road that might see a dozen cars in a day. As one such car passed us, I noticed that a kid was at the wheel in dad’s lap. Proud dad, happy kid. What is it with that? Why, of …
Oct 25 2017
The “M” word on Prime Time TV!!!! (Misogyny; Scandal)
I’m delightfully surprised by the current season of Scandal. I had trouble getting into the show, and actually, I’m surprised I’m still with it; catching a glimpse of a political debate between two women and Melly’s bid for the presidency kept me involved, even though I don’t really like her, or Olivia … And this …
Oct 19 2017
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED – Traister’s All the Single Ladies
Just at chapter 3, but I can highly recommend Rebecca Traister’s All the Single Ladies. A few bits… “…as the legal scholar Rachel Moran argues, while the feminist movement of the 1970s was in part a ‘direct response to these conditions of early and pervasive marriage,’ the ironic side effect was that single women had almost no place …
Sep 25 2017
A Postscript to Why Feminist Manuscripts Don’t Get Published
So here’s a query letter my friend Chris Wind sent to a publisher recently: Editor, [XYZ Publishers]: Feminist theorist Dale Spender wrote, in Women of Ideas and What Men Have Done to Them, “We need to know how patriarchy works. We need to know how women disappear….” Indeed we do. Where are all the straight-A …
fiction
