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 …
Category: gender issues
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 …
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 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 …
Sep 25 2017
Toller Cranston on Janet Lynn
[Obviously written a while ago, and yet … this shit keeps being said.] Toller Cranston, as Janet Lynn takes the ice: “You wouldn’t know by looking at her that she’s a housewife and mother of three.” What? Would he have said of Kurt Browning, “You wouldn’t know by looking at him that he does …
Jul 09 2017
How Being in Public Feels: Men VS Women – GREAT VIDEO!
https://gendertrender.wordpress.com/2017/07/08/how-being-in-public-feels-men-vs-women/
Jun 25 2017
The Academy Awards – why sex-segregated for acting?
Why is the acting category of the Academy Awards sex-segregated (Best Actor in a Lead/Supporting Role, Best Actress in a Leading/Supporting Role)? We don’t have separate awards for male and female directors. Or screenwriters, cinematographers, costume designers, film editors, soundtrack composers, or make up persons. Is one’s sex really relevant to one’s acting ability? In …
fiction
