Items of interest come across recently in my feed-reader. What did I miss? Leave your own interesting links in comments. Shameless self-promotion entirely welcome!
n.b. Comments threads have not necessarily been read. Some may be NSFW or triggering, so please report back any problems you encounter so the post can be marked.

• On the UK Riots, Part Two

– “I feel like I’m stating the obvious here (although this idea appears to be anything but obvious virtually everywhere the riots are being discussed), but “hundreds of youths” don’t go on a “rampage” without any reason, even if that reason is simply having no incentive not to. And, truly, feeling utterly devoid of any reason to not take to the streets of your community and destroy it is a profound injustice.”

• What Do You Mean When You Say You Want ‘Strong Female Characters’?

– “She’s the characterisation many people say they do not see enough of, want more of in their pop culture. Most of those people have a list of women they think of when they hear ‘strong female characters,’ and are happy to provide that list upon request.

But what exactly is a strong female character? Who is defining ‘strong female characters’? Who, specifically, is asking for them? And who is being left out?”

• Smurfette and the Decline of “Sexism” in the English Language

– “Unfortunately, in my opinion, sexism has retreated from the language, and kids’ stuff seems to be more shamelessly gendered than ever. I think this sad state of affairs is at least partly the result of what you see in that green line above — the backlash against feminism (and anti-racism) that made it seem more unpleasant or unwarranted to make a “big deal” out of sexism than to treat girls like this.”

• An American in Birmingham: My Perspective on the London Riots

– “People are angry. Very angry. I share that anger. In Birmingham, eyewitness accounts indicate that mobs are largely after cash. They have straight up robbed people, casinos, bars and even yanked ATMs out of the walls of banks. I just feel like I want to shake them and say: Is this what you want your life to be? And for what? £25 from a slot machine and a few pairs of jeans? But through all of this, the spirit of community is emerging. It started late Monday night on Twitter and Facebook with people forming #riotcleanup crews. They came out in force in affected communities with their brooms and gloves. This is the spirit of a country that has lived through violence in past decades and the Blitz of World War II. It’s not quite the “Keep Calm and Carry On” motto from the war, but there is a sense of getting on with things even as we grapple with deep questions.”

• Whoops Your Trojan T-shirt!

– “a hilarious stealth action for social justice”

• The Female of the Species*

– “But the ensuing years have shown me that I wasn’t imagining his ever-so-slightly-curled lip. Inevitably, when I hear the word female repeatedly used as a noun in speech, it’s either from someone who isn’t used to talking about sex and gender issues (in which case I try to look past it, assuming the person is in good faith)—or, more frequently, from a card-carrying misogynist who, intentionally or not, manages to make every utterance of female sound like he’s spitting directly onto our collective ovaries.”

• Lifetime Earnings Gaps, by Sex and Race/Ethnicity

– crunchy statistics

• Wednesday Blogaround

– regular linkfest from Liss at Shakesville

• If I found out my next-door neighbor was an abortionist …

– “the creepy questions the anti-choice American Life League periodically poses to its Facebook friends. Such as: “If I found out my next door neighbor was an abortionist…” and “If I went to the county fair and found out Planned Parenthood had an information booth, I would ….” You know, prompts that basically say: tell us your secret vigilante savior fantasies, guys! Because that never turns out badly.”

• What if male superheroes posed like Wonder Woman?

– exactly what it says on the tin

• Better Health Care for Millions of Women? The Right Wing Is Outraged, Outraged!

– “The idea that birth control could be considered preventive seems to be news to many of these folks. It’s pretty clear to me that preventing unwanted pregnancies would qualify as a “preventive” health care service. But Congressman Steve King (R-Iowa, and no relation to me) got a little frightened by the idea and took to the House floor to warn that if we “apply that preventative medicine universally, what you end up with is, you’ve prevented a generation.” I guess King thinks that if all women knew how to avoid having children, no woman would have one. I find that kind of strange. But, after watching his performance, I have to admit, the idea of birthing another Steve King might be enough to give a lot of women pause.”

• Fat shaming for four year olds

– “I am appalled that this sort of fat shaming is being incorporated into an otherwise pretty innocent kids TV show. I am appalled but I am not surprised.”

• What is “natural”?

– “I don’t want to give Fred Nile more air time, because I don’t think he deserves it, but I do want to focus on just one tiny point he’s made that is just so silly that it needs to be looked at.

She needn’t have made it public – it just promotes their lesbian lifestyle and trying to make it natural where it’s unnatural.

Fred Nile is clearly an arbiter of what is and what is not natural and he should be the man we all approach whenever we want to ask what is and what is not natural. Because really, what is “natural”?”

• She got away with blue murder and loved every minute of it: vale Nancy Wake

– “Here’s a question*: why is it that Australian history devotes thousands of words to that pair of expensive, incompetent show-ponies Burke and Wills, not to mention the criminal and obviously a bit disturbed Ned Kelly, but that there are few books, and I was never taught anything at school or university and I bet nobody else reading this was either, about this heroic ratbag and tearaway of a woman?”

• The line between reporting and stalking

– “Journalists from print, tv and radio, as well as photographers and probably a few international journalists, have been loitering outside her home for six days now, reporting the every move of a victim of crime.”

Categories: linkfest

Tags: Read-ems