Our last Palin thread is getting a little long, so here’s another bit to chew on: via Bitch PhD: Back in 2000, Alaska’s then-governor, Tony Knowles, signed legislation protecting victims of sexual assault from being billed for tests to collect… Read More ›
peeves
“I think that’s why he gets himself into trouble!”: Rebecca Carmody on Troy Buswell’s “quip”
We’re still looking at a hung parliament at this stage over here in Western Australia, with National leader Brendon Grylls continuing to refuse to fall into line behind either of the major party leaders to form a coalition. But this… Read More ›
Devastated by Dame Helen
Ack. I can’t even write about this. Coverage from others: Helen Mirren tells men’s magazine date rape shouldn’t be illegal – why, oh why?! from The F-Word Blog by Jess McCabe Helen Mirren thinks date rape shouldn’t be illegal? from… Read More ›
In other important news, you will get wet if you walk in the rain
An ad on telly for some sort of “oil candle” that uses, as its tagline, as if this is a super-duper high tech feature, “WHEN THE OIL RUNS OUT, IT STOPS BURNING”. So very unlike the home life of our… Read More ›
Mt Isa men willing to get drunk and fuck – even ugly chicks
Lonely? Ugly? How about moving to copper-silver-zinc mining town, Mt Isa? (Shhh, don’t mention the heavy metals.) Remember John Molony? He’s the mayor who said that Indigenous people were the “wrong sort of people” for Mount Isa, and demanded that… Read More ›
Big Brother Friday Fauxpology: Mo’s been in the headmaster’s office before, hasn’t he?
Just thought I’d revisit Big Brother UK with a little “Oh no he didn’t!” post.
As clip one begins, Mikey, the blind cross-dressing Scotsman radio dude, has just had his hair shaved off as part of a task. The task involved the housemates cutting or clipping their hair such that the combined hair filled a flask to the top.
[Transcripts/summaries of clips are at the bottom of the post.]
I’m guessing Mo would justify this action, outside the house, as being just him, paragon of equalism, treating everyone equally badly. You can sure tell that he’s been in that hot chair before, and knows exactly the script to follow, though he still stumbles over it. It grates.
But why are women so worried about their looks?
I took a lot of flak in a recent discussion elsewhere for suggesting that women who have cosmetic enhancement surgery might be responding to just a little bit more than their own psychological insecurities about attracting a mate – that there might actually be some much larger social issues about why women choose to be surgically enhanced i.e. that it’s not just about getting sex, even if the surgery they are having is aimed at increasing their sexual appeal (by certain widely acknowledged to be fucked up standards).
Here’s just one high-profile example of how women are trained from a very young age to believe that their looks matter more than anything else about them, not just when it comes to finding a sexual partner, but also in terms of recognition and reward in other aspects of life:
Amandaw is kicking arse and taking names when it comes to able-bodied privilege
Amandaw has been writing an absolutely white-hot series of guest posts at Feministe about invisible disability and her illness experience. I intensely, wholeheartedly urge you to make an effort to set the time aside to read them all. Start at the bottom, read the comments, and work your way up.
If you had to pick just four, though, try
Shonks and sensationalists
Andrew Funnell on today’s Radio National’s Media Report [transcript] examines the reaction to ABC-TV’s Gruen Transfer from the public and from within the industry. GT was a ratings hit, is being attributed as the source of new interest in advertising as a career from bright young things, and is also accused of doing more harm than good to the industry through the panel-members playing up to an existing image of advertisers as quipping show-ponies with a cynical streak.
The range of opinions about the show is interesting, and the controversy obviously plays into why the show has been renewed. To me the criticisms of the show as lightweight ring a very loud bell, as I was disappointed by the lack of substantive discussion regarding the manipulations of advertising – they keep on circling the issue and backing off.
Anyway, one line in the program caught my attention as especially well expressed:
How more vile (and thick (and don’t forget vile)) can McCain possibly be?
He pimped his wife to voters as a potential contestant in a local “beauty contest” that involves skimpy swimwear, topless parades and simulated sex acts – (edited to addwhich to be fair I’m sure he didn’t know was quite so “risque”, but it’s still totally objectifying his wife). (Video here of both McCain’s “quip” and a typical night’s entertainment in the contest) As I’m sure you’ll all
Hoyden About Town 