I was recently surprised to discover that in the U.S., men are required by law to register for the “selective service system”. Only men. I thought women were allowed in their military now. And required. I didn’t think they had ‘the draft’ anymore. When I expressed my surprise, hoping to engage someone in conversation, the …
Category: violence
Oct 15 2014
The threats regarding Sarkeesian’s talk
This just posted at feminist philosophers: Terroristic threats against Utah State University regarding feminist Anita Sarkeesian An email sent to Utah State University officials threatens to terrorize the school with a deadly shooting over a talk to be delivered by feminist critic and Tropes vs. Women in Video Games creator Anita Sarkeesian, Polygon confirmed with the school’s …
Jan 28 2014
Porn’s Harmless and Pigs Fly
The fact that ‘you’ claim porn doesn’t harm women is proof that it does. Because such a claim indicates that you are so accustomed to seeing women sexually subordinated you think there’s nothing wrong with it. Such a claim proves that that porn has skewed your perceptions so much you actually believe the women are …
Dec 02 2013
The Provocation Defence – Condoning Testosterone Tantrums (and other masculinities)
According to the Canadian Criminal Code (and probably a lot of other criminal codes), murder can be reduced to manslaughter if the person was provoked. Provocation is defined as “a wrongful act or an insult that is of such a nature as to be sufficient to deprive an ordinary person of the power of self-control …
Nov 22 2013
Testicular Battery and Tranquilizer Guns (what the world needs now is)
Given the relative vulnerability of men to sexual assault (all it takes to disable them is a swift forceful kick, or, at closer quarters, a good grab, pull, twist – almost anything, really) (whereas women have to be partially undressed and then immobilized), it’s surprising that we hear far more often about rape than – …
Jul 30 2013
Parents furious? Please.
http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2013/01/15/parents-furious-after-young-boys-suspended-after-playing-with-imaginary-weapon/ I’d be uncomfortable around any child who enjoyed pretending to kill–anything. Especially if that child was going to grow up to be a man, was going to be flooded with testosterone for several years. I’d also be uncomfortable around any adult who considered that behavior “a game”.
May 12 2013
Take Her Seriously
I used to think that the problem with rape was that women weren’t being explicit – they weren’t actually saying no, partly because men weren’t actually asking. Perhaps because there’s (still?) something shameful about sex that makes people reluctant to come right out and talk about it. Or maybe that would destroy the romance. Whatever. …
May 08 2013
War Rape
It’s not just an enthusiastic spillover of violence and aggression. The act of sexual intercourse is too specific, too far removed from the other acts of wartime violence and aggression. Shooting a person twenty-five times instead of once or twice would be such a spillover; forcing your penis or something else into a woman’s vagina …
Apr 29 2013
How to End War
At one time, bank tellers and secretaries had a certain prestige – the time when such positions were held by men. Schoolteachers used to be schoolmasters – before women entered the classroom. People who boast that many doctors in Russia are women fail to mention that doctoring in Russia, well, someone’s gotta do it. The …
Apr 03 2013
In Commemoration of the Holocaust
I’m not saying it didn’t happen. I’m not saying that, in any way, it was okay. But I’d like to point out that a devout Jew would’ve done, would do, the same thing to the Germans – if God told him to. ‘Oh but God would never command such a thing.’ Take a better look …