Technollama writes about a legal threat sent to a knitter by BBC Worldwide. Her crime? Putting a free knitting pattern for an Adipose critter on the internet:
“Doctor Who: Partners in Copyright Crime”
[Hat tip to Clive]
Bluemilk hits it out of the park on maternity leave not being the same as a “holiday”:
“Let’s get something straight about maternity leave”.
News.com.au brings us a steaming heap of woman-blaming. Amber Petty feels for the poor put-upon cabbiejohns tempted by drunken “fare maidens” with “hairy chequebooks”. This burst of sympathy occured after one tried to solicit her, a fact which seems to have gone right over her head:
“Fare ‘substitutes’ out to tempt cabbies”
Last weekend, I was picked up by cab driver, who raised the subject of the bad reputation of Adelaide cabbies. He said, “You know, there are always two sides to a story.”
I could feel myself tensing up at the thought he was going to imply that maybe some of the victims of assault and in someway deserved it.
“Yes there are some very bad men driving cabs out there but there are many women out there who behave equally as bad?”
Where was he going with this?
“You know how many women offer sex instead of paying the fare?”
At this point I think I almost gave myself whiplash as I hurtled closer to the driver seat like an eight-year-old kid. Surely I wasn’t hearing him right?
“Are you for real?” I said.
“Oh yes, it happens very regularly. It’s always they same. The woman fumbles around looking for her purse, and then says ‘oh I’ve left my wallet somewhere! Is there any other way I can pay you’?”
At this point I realised that all cabs should carry sick bags!
[…]
Adding another layer to these unladylike accusations, my co-host at SAFM, Cosi, told me that when he went for his cab licence, the first thing the new student drivers were told by their trainer was that “you WILL be offered sex in exchange for a free fare.”
Not if, but when.
Yes, apparently it’s a given that at some point, it’s likely that a driver will be faced with a moral and financial dilemma, thanks to certain women!
Read the comments. Bring a sickbag and a stress ball.
Lastly, two cheezburgers, because I just couldn’t choose between them.
Late addition: [spoilers for Dr Who s04e03 “Planet of the Ood”][via ihasatardis]
(Ask me in comments for an explanation if it’s not accessible to you. I’ll explain later.)
Categories: gender & feminism, law & order, work and family
Abortion will remain in the NSW Crimes Act 
DUFC #69 
Queen Victoria and now 
Hoyden About Town 
Quite silly re: BBC knitting outrage. The smart thing would be for the BBC to partner with Mazz for the designs and everyone makes money. I have fond memories of a Cybermat mother made me as a child from a BBC book of patterns. I bought a Brandon Bird Law and Order/”Crimefighters” t-shirt and you’d think he’d be seriously in breach but they leave him alone and I’m glad cos I do love that shirt. http://www.brandonbird.com/shopping.html#shirts
Amandas last blog post..A Country Muxtape
I guess all doctor who fans have worked out by now that some kind youtubers have uploaded all of series 4 to date. They go to air saturday night UK time, am hoping the next installment will be available on Sunday. Nothing like a episode of the good doctor combined with some subversive knitting!
The cabbie/sex thing is difficult. The few cabbies I’ve known have all said they’ve been offered sex for fares and seemed uncomfortable about it, rather than thinking it was a perk or expecting it in any way. It really happens. As a feminist, I have to accept that some women are choosing to barter sex for a heap of things (and I’m not just talking about those severely economically disadvantaged, even within relationships this can occur).
Thanks for linking to the technolama blog. I’ve subscribed.
The Dr Who/trademark/copyright thing has been widely discussed in onlline knitting forums. But I’m interested you’re assuming the knitting designer of the adipose was a woman. The original story deliberately blurs this info, and the identity of mazzmatazz has remained a mystery – do you have better info?
Andrew Bartlett links to Huffpo discussing this sobering statistic:
bluemilk’s post on maternity leave is marvellous. It applies to so many other social-commons stuff as well.
I also like her White Feminists Have Lunch post: it expresses a discomforting truth in much of the rhetoric around the NT intervention etc.
No assuming – she refers to herself as a “fangirl” on Ravelry.
Thanks both of you for saying such lovely things, made my day.
The end of that video still slays me on a rewatch. Har!
Wow – I hadn’t seen that she was on Ravelry. You’re ahead of me there. 🙂