August 23, 2009
by guest blogger BelowZero A recent article in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology demonstrates that when people are instructed to focus on a woman's physical appearance, she is perceived to be both less competent and less human. The study...
May 29, 2009
Well, that took a little longer than I thought but this morning in the NYT piece about Sotomayor's "judicial temperment, there it was: "strident." I also expect more spicy, fiery, emotional and the like. Just so we all know that...
September 15, 2008
From Shakesville: So, Alaska has a pretty serious sexual assault and domestic violence program.How serious? "Alaska leads the nation in reported forcible rapes per capita, according to the FBI, with a rate two and a half times the national average—a...
September 02, 2008
She is so against it, she even believes that a fourteen year old who was raped shouldn't be able to get an abortion. That makes her the fringiest of the fringe. p.s. Fringity fringe fringe!...
August 20, 2008
This would imply Obama is going to pick a man. But wouldn't this be a fun spectacle to watch? Please, please, please let it be a woman not named Clinton. And no, not just for my amusement. As a policy...
June 13, 2008
Because the wife of every Democratic presidential nominee since 1984 has been accused of being unpatriotic. [Yes, the linked post is from last week, but I never got around to linking to it then.]...
May 02, 2008
Well, at least according to the Oklahoma Statutes on forcible sodomy, and forcible sodomy being what they have legislated. And given that they have just proposed to "[force] another person to engage in the detestable and abominable crime against nature"...
December 02, 2007
With "when I was working on my PhD," and "summer camp/athletic" with "high school/girlie" and Jay could be writing about my experience: [T]here were years of my life when I would have agreed with Valen about the menace of being...
November 29, 2007
So, Roxanne links to this clip to make a point about Sully, and heaven knows I am no Bill Maher fan, but the last thing he says in this clip struck me as being on target, even though it was...
September 08, 2007
The latest dust-up in the feminist blogosphere serves to remind us all why PETA will never win the hearts and minds of the masses, and how self-important moralizers - be they vegans or religious fundamentalists - excel at creating a...
July 30, 2007
The argument that a "critical mass" of any population is necessary before adequate representation can occur is often found in discussions of electoral politics (some examples from my area of the world). Pandagon has a discussion of this article, about...
May 25, 2007
...I mean, come on! Who wants better relationships? * So-called "egalitarian marriages" where wives work outside the home and husbands do their share of housework and childcare are more likely to last versus the marriages where wives don't work. *...
May 16, 2007
In the mail today arrived the health newsletter sent to all those on the state insurance plan. Generally it is full of useless tidbits and bland advice about various healthy living items. Presumably, the prevention advice will save the subscribers...
March 24, 2007
March 08, 2007
It's blog against sexism day, and I was thinking about the idea of critical mass and various professions. Even though we've been talking about law, and obviously I've written about academia, what I thought of was the profession of my...
March 01, 2007
If anyone cares, a good chunk of the left-wing blogosphere is busy shooting itself in the foot here. It's entertaining in the same way that watching cars crash or William Huang sing is entertaining....
February 25, 2007
Via the NYT, we read about the Delta Zeta sorority at DePauw University. They had declining membership, see, and were described as "socially awkward," see. So the National came to town, and interviewed 35 of the members (what percentage that...
February 13, 2007
So now both Shakes and Amanda have resigned their positions. Shakes has been less public about the details of the harassment she has received, but this has gone into the realm of witch hunt. There will be some who clamor...
January 31, 2007
She's gone. Far, far too soon: Best-selling author and columnist Molly Ivins, the sharp-witted liberal who skewered the political establishment and referred to President Bush as "Shrub," has died after a long battle with breast cancer, the managing editor of...
January 23, 2007
That's what this article should have been titled. It's a terrible shame that this woman has suffered a life of misery starting with sexual abuse by a sibling and being raped at the age of 14, if that was truly...
January 16, 2007
The NYT reports that 51% of women now live without husbands. And then they say that these women live without spouses. I'd say, You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means. For...
January 05, 2007
I'll let her speak for herself: This is an historic moment - for the Congress, and for the women of this country. It is a moment for which we have waited more than 200 years. Never losing faith, we waited...
October 24, 2006
GAO report critical of abstinence only sex education. Some addition tidbits: According to Columbia University researchers, virginity pledge programs increase pledge-takers' risk for STIs and pregnancy. The study concluded that 88 percent of pledge-takers initiated sex prior to marriage even...
September 20, 2006
Larry Summers, when asked for a comment about the study discussed in this article. For 30 years, the report says, women have earned at least 30 percent of the nation's doctorates in social and behavioral sciences, and at least 20...
September 17, 2006
Molly Ivins wrote a touching obit, and Ryan has up a wonderful photo of the lady. Bitch PhD says she should have been the first woman president. Not being from Texas, I don't have much to say about her policy...
September 16, 2006
The conclusion of the weekend is that no person with breasts should ever pose for a photo with Bill Clinton....
September 15, 2006
Apparently, there are still people out there who read Ann Althouse. I know. Total shocker. Anyway...her attitude reminds me of something. Hmmm, wait, what could it be. Hmmm.... oh yes, I have it now... Now now young ladies, don't you...
September 09, 2006
So tell me, which of these sounds more like a warrior (from two stories posted next to each other)? New research has shown that men bond together and cooperate well in the face of adversity to protect their interests more...
September 01, 2006
Agree or disagree - the CEOs of Sara Lee and RiteAid are more powerful than Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and the president of Chile? I ask because apparently Forbes believes that, given the make-up of their list of the most...
August 27, 2006
Money magazine has a story about how to balance a relationship with both a spender and a saver. Buried in there is a tossaway half-sentence (emphasis mine): A series of recent events have exacerbated the differences in their financial styles....
August 03, 2006
She taught at Pitt while I was there, and I had the fortunate experience of being in a few of her unofficial seminars. Obit....
July 12, 2006
Fetal protectionism is what they're calling it, eh? Here's a hint: if it doesn't really protect fetuses by helping women be healthy, emphasizes punishing women, and has nothing to do with the consequences of male behavior too, it's more likely...
June 30, 2006
Re-emphasizing the "not demonizing moms for working" would also be an essential component. Richard Castellini, senior career adviser for CareerBuilder.com, reports that the company's recent "Working Dads 2006" survey showed that 40% of working dads would stay home with their...
May 19, 2006
Ladies and gentleman, I bring you a man with a regular publication outlet in one of the best known conservative media outlets in the country. He's a severely messed-up man, with all sorts of purient sexual obsessions. That's been clear...
May 03, 2006
Why the difference? A 17-year-old Hispanic boy was allegedly attacked, sodomized with a pole, and burned with cigarettes by a couple of skinhead freaks in Houston. The two skinheads, who are charged with aggravated sexual assault, encountered the victim at...
April 25, 2006
It prefers lying to you to support a political agenda over telling the truth about science. Via Bitch PhD...
April 19, 2006
Not. Sex is more satisfying in countries where women and men are considered equal, according to an international study of people between the ages of 40 and 80 by researchers at the University of Chicago. Via Pandagon....
April 17, 2006
The state of Kentucky has been taking the children of women who flee abusive relationships, for no reason other than that they have sought refuge in domestic violence shelters. (emphasis mine) Domestic violence shelter directors say the state is increasingly...
April 01, 2006
Food for thought from A White Bear, who is minding the store over at Bitch PhD. Anytime any women get together to have a conversation about women's problems, there's always a man there to say, "That happens to men, too!"...
March 19, 2006
Our neighboring state - I'm talking to you Ohio - harbors extremists who would prevent the free movement of citizens of the United States, and would give property rights over women's reproductive organs to third parties. No, I am not...
March 16, 2006
Via this Lawyers, Guns, and Money post, I found the comments by the Missouri Republican Party interesting: An attempt to resume state spending on birth control got shot down Wednesday by House members who argued it would have amounted to...
March 05, 2006
No, I don't think I'm better than you. However, I also don't think you are better than me....
February 19, 2006
Generally I like Wolcott, and criticism of Matalin's defense of Cheney is understandable. However, when it's a woman, why does it always come back to her appearance? [emphasis mine] Mary Matalin's pout-fest (I'm sure Arianna will issue a full forensics...
February 09, 2006
The Happy Feminist ON TURNING INTO A PUMPKIN AT DUSK explores why "the cultural assumptions regarding women's need for male protection often do a disservice to both women and men." Scott Lemieux describes Phylis Schlafly's love for spousal rapists and...
February 05, 2006
Liz has a musing on religion, science and trolls. She links to this story about Susan Wood, who quit the FDA in protest over the anti-science shutdown of Plan B. I'm not going to say much, because I know Baltar...
February 04, 2006
Betty Friedan, whose manifesto ''The Feminine Mystique'' became a best seller in the 1960s and laid the groundwork for the modern feminist movement, died Saturday, her birthday. She was 85. Friedan died at her home of congestive heart failure, according...
January 31, 2006
Feeling a bit defeated this morning, Amanda notices a little something about right wing rhetoric: I just thought I’d like to point out something interesting I noticed while perusing Townhall, the internet presence of everyone’s favorite propaganda mill conservative think...
January 24, 2006
...they threw in "kitchen" too. Still have any doubts about the rest of the agenda? Finder's fee to Pandagon....
January 18, 2006
I love me some Twisty! Even in the midst of chemo, she has the energy for a Patriarchy Blame-o-rama!...
January 07, 2006
Just like cows. Word got out that a South Dakota politician compared pregnant women to cows, saying that they were more valuable when pregnant. No one got good notes, so some ex post facto questions were asked: Gordon also apologized...
January 01, 2006
Today's NYT Magazine has a "The Way We Live Now" piece on vaginal plastic surgery, and other ridiculous genital beautifications women feel the need to undergo in order to be more appealing. Pardon me if I don't use time on...
December 21, 2005
...when they say they are worried about "tips" and "icebergs", eh? That limiting or outlawing abortion has nothing to do with controlling women, and only saving the babies, eh? That contraception is off the table, eh? Why don't we ask...
December 10, 2005
Since I've posted in three languages in less than 24 hours, my work here is done (for today). Instead of a post, I offer a referral to Ampersand who picks apart the "women are crowding men out of college" argument....
December 08, 2005
“The leading cause of pregnancy-related deaths in American today is murder,” Paltrow coolly informs the SDTFSA. Perhaps “a Task Force to examine why men commit violence against women…would reflect true valuing of mothers, pregnant women and their families, and life...
December 01, 2005
That should have been her post title. Personally, I'm a huge believer in what Hirschman calls "ignorance and dust"--not caring about tidiness and not cultivating any special skills to produce domestic order. One of the way society controls women is...
November 20, 2005
It's about that time. Time for raking leaves, you ask? No! Time for another asinine article about how the end of the world is coming because girls dress like sluts. When I flipped open my Washington Post this morning, there...
November 15, 2005
Picked up via Feministe, more coverage of the woman blogger "phenomenon". Some good points, some less good points, but the one thing I liked best: "Blogs"--short for web logs--have become the most popular political tool since Thomas Paine stamped "Common...
November 14, 2005
...here's more good news (pdf) on how the public sector is contravening its own procedures to affect your health care. I've added some bold/italics to help elevate your blood pressure: November 2005 FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION Decision Process to Deny...
November 10, 2005
Light blogging this week as the real world makes repeated demands on all of us. In the meantime, via Twisty, a post by Redneck Mother about the stupidity of thinking about pregnancy as a linear process. A sample: I think...
November 06, 2005
...and the Christian Right wants to prevent its legalization. It's been covered here and there over the last month or so, but via Pharyngula a link to this thoughtful post by Brent Rasmussen (no relation to yours truly, despite the...
October 25, 2005
Let's start with a definition: Emergency contraception is a backup method for preventing pregnancy and is not for routine use. Plan B® can reduce your chance of pregnancy after unprotected sex. For example, if you were using a condom and...
October 04, 2005
When the ladies get a little upset about political control over and restrictions on women's autonomy over their own bodies, they always get painted as hysterical. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. WAKE THE FUCK UP ALREADY....
October 01, 2005
On NPR I caught a clip of Scott McClellan commenting on the upcoming search for Sandra Day O'Connor's replacement. He said that the White House hoped that the Democrats wouldn't be prisoner to "liberal special interest groups." That means you,...
September 27, 2005
From the LA Times (reprinted at NYNewsday) a report that the Bush administration has sent its lawyers to the Supreme Court to ban late-term abortions. In their appeal to the Supreme Court, the Bush administration lawyers said the lower courts...
Scott Lemieux at Lawyers, Guns and Money does an extremely fine job breaking down the "logic" behind a Tacitus post: And so, of course, Tacitus’ attempt to catch supporters of reproductive rights in a contradiction is only useful as an...
September 21, 2005
Nah, the data don't show it... the evidence is only anecdotal. However is does seem to be encouraging lots of anal and oral. Because we all know the hymen is the shiznit....
September 20, 2005
A New York Times story focuses on the attitudes of young women at elite universities who are "smart, disciplined, competitive, musical, athletic, altruistic, and full of ambition" [edited slightly for clarity]. Many of these women, according to the story, plan...
September 13, 2005
Planned Parenthood recently announced that it would conduct a feasibility study on the possibility of opening a clinic in Our Fair City. I sincerely hope they do. Already in our town the local anti-choice activists are mobilized to block the...
August 29, 2005
Amanda at Pandagon has this very intelligent summary of some academic work about cognition and perception of women's rights as related to reproductive autonomy. It marks out a clear link between world view, and beliefs about contraception and abortion. Very...
August 27, 2005
Separatists in India, from the National Liberation Front of Tripura in northeast India are financing their activities by producing pornography. The people in the pornographic films are coerced "captured tribal women, and some men" who are made to participate by...
August 16, 2005
What on earth does this have to do with "conservative and libertarian intellectual philosophy and politics"? It sounds more like how to become (or enhance your existing status as) an angry, bitter, deceitful obsessive. And of course, it's all about...