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.

• Have Yourself a Rapey Little Christmas

– Yet another song where most of us just never think about what those lyrics are really conveying

• I Like Matt Damon

– “It shouldn’t be notable to read about a famous man who regards his wife as his equal, and values her opinion, and their daughters as deserving of more respect than jokes about living on Venus. But it is.”

• ‘Die Hard’ Is My Favourite Christmas Movie

– Yippy-ki-yay!

• Feminist-friendly books for kids

– thinking about some titles for a stocking?

• Andrew Sullivan joins LGF's Charles Johnson in kissing off the current 'conservative' movement

– The conservative movement in the States is losing those with any principles at all – who do they have left?

• U.S. Pastors Silent in the Face of Genocide in Uganda

– Absolutely appalling.

• Feminist leaders decry the "Bo-tax"

– “But fortunately for the poor, unheard masses, you really don’t need on-the-ground activism when you’ve already got Big Pharma in your corner. Women who hope to maintain access to plastic surgery will do just fine without any organized leadership or the support of prominent feminists, as long as the people who profit most from sexist beauty standards are leading the charge against this tax. Heaven knows they have more political power than middle-aged women do. In fact, it’s almost like that’s the core fucking problem here or something!”

• Trig, the anti-abortion straw baby

– “I think it’s wonderful for there to be a public example of a family happily raising a baby with Down syndrome; women should be exposed to a whole range of role models for the various paths that are possible in life. But, again, it comes down to the issue of, hello, choice.”

• Toy Website Shows Girls Playing with “Boy” Toys

– “The degree to which toys are gendered really struck me when I realized how surprising these images are–that a girl dressed up as an FBI agent, or using tools, was something to be excited about because it’s so unusual.”

• Let's turn this into an opportunity

– “The Government has always been keen to frame this as a question of action vs inaction on climate change, but even they, in their now almost certainly defunct negotiations with the Liberal Party, agreed that there comes a point when action is so weak that it becomes functionally equivalent to inaction. The Greens and the majority of environmentalists in Australia believe that that point was passed long ago. But this scheme goes beyond weak – it will actually take Australia in the wrong direction”

Categories: linkfest

Tags: abortion, blogging, ETS, rape culture, Read-ems