gender & feminism

A woman in early twentieth century dress, gazing into a yawning chasm 5000 feet deep, Moran's Point. (c1902-1903) rift

Dawkins stirs the pot again

By on • ( 9 )

I’ve just posted at Feministe about the latest developments in the skeptosphere’s Deep Rifts TM. For those who’d rather discuss the ongoing cyberstorm that began with Elevatorgate here, this is the thread for you. Links to other people’s posts especially welcome.

2 Lego minifigs, one a girl from 'friends' one a boy from regular set.

All those people giving Lego the benefit of the doubt?

By on • ( 5 )

The news has come in that the “female scientists” Lego set, produced after a huge grassroots campaign and petition from parents who wanted more variety in female minifigs, will only exist as a limited edition set. Despite selling out almost immediately, it will not be released as a standard line.

B&W early C20th of young white woman.

Friday Hoyden: Emma Goldman

By on • ( 5 )

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.

Procedure Fail: WisCon, Feminism and Safe Spaces

By on • ( 8 )

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.