Items of interest found recently in my RSS feed. What did I miss? Please share what you've been reading (and writing!) in the comments.
- An Australian double standard
- Update on "coma man" Rom Houben: Dr. Steven Laureys still just doesn't get it
- Naturalizing Male Harassment of Women in Dance
- The boys’ turn
- The Maguindanao Massacre
- ID cards now available to people living in Manchester
- Interesting (Where "interesting" = "totally predictable.")
- Carnival Against Sexual Violence. #83
- Federal Opposition Follies: how it looks to a feminist
- The female Andrew Jackson
- This is what justice looks like?
- Questioning the merit of meritocracy.
– Our government refuses to fund an atheist conference while blithely funding a religious convention.
– Orac lays it down on facilitated communication and Rom Houben
– “My question is: Is this theme gendered? That is, is it usually the woman who is desperately trying to escape the man and her attraction to him, and not vice versa?”
– “the perplexing sight that is a bunch of cute babies wearing slogans positively screaming “my parents are finding baby cuteness a very stifling time in their lives, please give them some shock and disgust so they can still feel young and rebellious”.”
– [trigger warning] I’ve read nothing in the MSM about this – how about you?
– “as seems to be the norm with this project, there’s a catch”
– “I find it interesting who suddenly has an interest in domestic violence, when it’s a woman accused of doing it”
– Abbott can be a gift for feminists in Australia, but he is a dangerous gift. Make sure you’ve got your bomb disposal kit handy.
– Violet Socks lays out how Sarah Palin is already running for President, and how political opponents need to stop insinuating that she’s any nuttier than most other Republicans, just point out that she isn’t any better than most other Republicans, and that is more than bad enough.
– “This is the Swiss chalet where Roman Polanski — an admitted, convicted, and escaped rapist — will be confined to house arrest after being released on bail.”
– Do “we all learn” that hard work pays off? Or do lots of us learn that hard work is expected but that if we talk about our work/achievements we will be shunned as uppity/unattractive?
Categories: linkfest
The 109th Down Under Feminists Carnival is up! 
The 105th Down Under Feminists Carnival is up! 
Hoyden About Town 
The maguindanao massacre made the MSM in the UK. The BBC included it in their main evening news bulletins, though the sexualised violence against the female victims was glossed over.
I’ve heard and read all about the Maguindanao Massacre, but I am half Filipino so I pay more attention to Filipino news than I otherwise would. Since it’s apparently the deadliest ever attack on journalists, though, the lack of coverage in the MSM is surprising.
I expect it probably was reported by our MSM, but it doesn’t appear to have been emphasised the way that it would if that many people had been killed (especially with the political aspect) somewhere in North America or the EC. I tend to check news aggregator sites fairly regularly online, and certainly nothing with the word “massacre” jumped out at me.
Funny – there’s been an interesting developoment in Victoria – but I only found out about it through Twisty. (Net reading has been sporadic of late, and it wasn’t in the AGE or on the ABC I don’t think(?).
Here’s something on Maguindanao.
That one crossed my radar a few days ago, meant to read more about it and maybe blog it, but didn’t chase it. Astonishing how the simple idea of teaching boys that they should not sexually coerce women, that a woman not saying yes to sex with them should have that lack of assent be respected, is presented as feminism gone mad.
Bek did a quick takedown of it.
Somebody needs to take this to pieces
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/opinion/blogs/modern-times/are-men-really-that-bad/20091129-jypl.html
ABC News Radio mentioned the Maguindanao massacre, but I only heard a fraction of the report – probably, as you say, far less emphasis than it would get if it occurred in “the West”.
Re. the Brisbane Times article: What kind of newspaper gives someone a forum when they have nothing more than “I don’t believe the statistics reported by people who know much more about this than I do, because it doesn’t suit me to”?
I like Violet Socks’ posts. Ridiculing a politician for the class of voter they attract has to be the most self-defeating strategy ever (although it often seems to be overzealous supporters rather than fellow politicians who do this). When faced with a choice between a party of exploitative, patronising but polite silvertails and a party of openly contemptuous sneerers for whom the appellation ‘left’ has become more a class marker than an indication of their convictions, the silvertails will often get the vote.
Which is why our Julia will someday be Queen of all she surveys : )