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.

• True Tales of Gender Essentialism at the Dog Park

– “These are human stereotypes, which are in conflict even with gender-based stereotypes about dogs, which posit that bitches (where do you think it comes from?) are more aggressive and difficult and willful than male dogs, who are supposed to be easier and sweeter and more compliant. But when we anthropomorphize dogs, we impose human gender-based stereotypes on them instead, superseding the dog gender-based stereotypes we created for them.

Thus does Dudley’s passive nature mark him as girlish, and Zelda’s boisterous nature mark her as boyish.”

• My Name Is "Unwanted."

– “But all these explanations, however obvious they are, amount to nothing but a different way of saying that daughters are not as good as sons.”

• The Montreal Metro System will be fully wheelchair accessible in 2058

– “My colleague argued that it is wrong (“presentist,” the worst thing to accuse an historian of being within the discipline) to chide people in the past for not thinking of people with disabilities when they made the Metro. “They didn’t know better then. We know better now.”

This is a lie. They knew. Disability-based historians and disability rights activists know how far back the fight for equal access goes.”

• A Guest Post by Anna: A Literary Canon of Women Writers, Part Twelve: More From The Nineteenth Century

– Feeling canonical? Check these out.

• Looking back at a year of GMMaS: Trolls (Part 2)

– The Go Make Me A Sandwich blog is a year old and doing some retrospecting

• Is Blogging your Santa Claus?

– Blogging, “monetising” and credibility

• Occupy Melbourne and Police Violence

– “What surprises me, especially now, is that the police are still violent towards protesters (or suspects of crime, or just people walking down the street) now that people have the ability to record the violence, put it on the internet and have everyone see around the world. Especially in nations with an alleged rule of law, where the police are subject to oversight and have alleged rules and regulations that allegedly govern their conduct.

It seems to be a massive blind spot for many police forces around the world (though apparently some police have figured it out) that when people can film you, when it is not a witness’s word against the police’s, then the picture paints the shit in all it’s technicolour glory (that’s a lovely image) and people make up their own mind about the situation (as potentially will courts if legal action is taken).”

• Too Big To Fail? A New Round of Bank Mergers Says Otherwise

– “It seems that the industry hasn’t learned much from the crisis, which is perhaps not a surprise since it was insulated by the government. And regulators also haven’t learned, because if they had, they’d be taking a proactive stance on the continued abuses in the financial industry.

Including the return of large bank mergers. Financial institutions are buying each other up left and right and creating new conglomerates. The same things that were ‘too big to fail’ three years ago are coming back in full force, some very openly. Regulators do not appear to be taking any action, even as these megabanks acquire the same level of power and status that was a cause for concern three years ago. Essentially, another round of bank failures is being set up right before the very eyes of the public, while no one moves a muscle.”

• Sex-Pozzie.

– “If you treat sexy women with disgust and pity, you’re not protecting their rights; you’re just gleefully participating in their public humiliation. (You’re also often attacking them on a subject that’s highly intertwined with culture, class, age, and even body shape. Not everyone who looks “sexy” to you is doing it on purpose, much less doing it to serve the patriarchy.)

And you’re falling into the old sexist trap of judging women by their sexuality.”

• The Ultra-Orthodox: Old World Misogyny in the New World

– Just aaarrrrgggghhhh

• You Do Not Get Any Candy This Halloween, Sorry

– “here’s the problem: due to some, er, choices made by the Hershey Candy Company, you basically cannot buy or eat candy now without accidentally funding the process of FOOLING PEOPLE INTO INDENTURED SERVITUDE”

• Four powerful women is like Ladies’ Day at the races

– “Yes. Complete sexist nonsense from the national affairs editor of The Age that was front page news in two states.”

• Privatize the Profits, Socialize the Losses

– “That’s not meant to be the definition of capitalism. But it is the way American capitalism-gone-haywire operates in the financial markets, and one of the paradoxes those who worship the mythical unicorn of “free markets” never bother to explain.”

Categories: linkfest

Tags: Read-ems