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Politics
Media Circus: Blaming/Shaming Women Edition
In just the last week Anita Sarkeesian, Zoe Quinn and over 100 female showbiz celebrities brought it all on themselves, doncha know.
Also in the last week our current Federal LNP government has kept on working to push its ideological agenda through Parliament, against what seems horribly likely to be insufficient opposition despite the best efforts of the Greens.
What news story/commentary/analysis has grabbed your attention lately?
Media Circus: No Snappy Title edition
I have been mostly speechless/typingless at the latest news, taking refuge in offline activities. But I should still put up a post for the rest of you to vent/rant or even ideally substantively discuss these issues, because disengagement is never going to be a solution, even if it’s sometimes necessary for some self-care. Go for it.
What news story/commentary/analysis has grabbed your attention lately?
Friday Hoyden: Emma Goldman
Emma Goldman was a Russian Jewish immigrant to the USA, who spent her life being persecuted for her work campaigning for the rights of workers and marginalised groups of all kinds.
The 75th Down Under Feminists Carnival is up!
All the details on the latest edition and how to submit to the next one!
Procedure Fail: WisCon, Feminism and Safe Spaces
Readers who are already part of SF fandom have probably seen a lot of this WisCon 38 fallout already, but since this sort of institutional memory-holing of relevant history regarding serial harassers is precisely the sort of social convention that serial harassers rely upon in order to keep getting away with what they do, alongside the fallacy that harassers are obvious deviants who could never be part of my well-ordered community (when in fact they are commonly those with the well-liked/respected status to be given the benefit of the doubt when/if reports are made against them), it’s worth reading about the mistakes of communities with which one isn’t familiar so that one can learn about patterns to watch out for and procedural standards which need to be known and practised by decision-makers.
Media Circus: Hockeynomics edition
Good news everybody! Our esteemed Treasurer Joe Hockey just told the Kiwis that the Australian economy is not in crisis nor even in trouble!
What news story/commentary/analysis has grabbed your attention lately?
QOTD: Neutrality is not neutral. Neutrality supports the status quo.
[Content Note: discussion of graphic rape threats and links to posts that quote them]
the way you personally feel about rape threats is irrelevant. What’s relevant is how you behave when they happen. When you support and promote the work of someone who makes rape threats, you are tolerating rape threats.
Friday Hoyden quick hit: Linda Brodsky
A piece came across my Twitter feed a few weeks ago about an American doctor who died earlier this year. Rebecca Greenfield wrote describing the pay discrimination her mother experienced, the retaliation she suffered when she protested, and the enormous personal cost of the years she spent fighting the injustice.
Today in ‘You can’t make this sh*t up’ because no one would believe you’
A nurse-midwife with anti-contraception religious views sues a Family Planning Clinic that declined to hire her.