gender & feminism

Pinktober is upon us

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We’ve written a lot about the problems with pinkwashing of cancer “awareness” in the past, but this is the hardest month of the year to match actions with ideals on this issue, because (a) the pink products are everywhere, and (b) it is at least a good reminder of a worthy cause to direct our donations towards, if only we can be sure that the money is being used effectively.

Pepe Le Pew assaults a woman who has repeatedly said no.

Schrödinger’s Rapist: ever-reliable source of women being told that (yet again) we’re doing it wrong

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BTW, women are also assessing strange men they meet as Schrödinger’s Thief, Schrödinger’s Drunk Who Vomits On New Shoes, Schrödinger’s Teller Of Long Boring Tales, and they’re also assessing every car for whether Schrödinger’s Hit And Run Driver is behind the wheel. Do those background safety checks upset you as much as Schrödinger’s Rapist? If not, why not?

Moral panic stifles useful dialogue on social media “trolling”

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From work I’ve been doing for a forthcoming book on new media and Australian politics, I have some useful data that may partially inform this discussion in the form of Facebook wallposts from 600 Australians collected before this recent debate took off (late 2011). In recent days I’ve reanalysed this dataset to shed some light on the treatment of women in the social media space.