Women, Sex and S&M: Mainstream Media Totally Wrong About Female Desire—Again
AlterNet
The real place women are getting spanked is in state legislatures across the country.
Spanking is en vogue. Or at least it’s popular to write about women who like to bend over. Jumping on the S&M bandwagon, writer Katie Roiphe’s cloying Newsweek cover story links wage-earning women with masochistic desire.
Sh*t Men Say to Men About Sexual Harassment
Ms. Magazine Blog
A group of New York City activists recently [created a] new video, “Shit Men Say to Men Who Say Shit to Women on the Street.” The team that created the video believes that street harassment is flat-out wrong, and that guys have a role in ending it. With humor, the video directly addresses harassers.
Oh Bondage! Up Yours!
Huffington Post
Music fuels our anger and buoys our spirit. Lyrics break down the political problems we face. Songs offer solutions and give us hope. Share with us here and let the world know what moves you. Help create our collective mixtape, the soundtrack to our era.
It’s a Dress, Not a Yes
Ms. Magazine Blog
“It’s a dress not a yes” is more than a catchy rhyme. It means that what a woman (or a child or a man) is wearing is never an invitation to rape. Sexual assault is never caused by sartorial display.
Ending the SlutWars: Fight Rape Not Each Other
Voice Male Magazine (revised reprint)
Ending the SlutWars
Huffington Post
We need as many as possible involved in preventing rape and sexual assault. Critical self-reflection is important to any political movement. But, at some point that self-critique becomes unproductive — or worse, it divides a movement from within.
Why Are Conservatives Obsessed With the Sex Lives of College Kids?
AlterNet
Peering into the bedrooms of grownups and judging their private activities is infantilizing. There are stronger strategies for promoting positive sexual agency.
Remote Control
Bitch Magazine
Jennifer Pozner’s new book, Reality Bites Back: The Troubling Truth About Guilty Pleasure TV, is a comprehensive look at how so-called reality programming manipulates real-life events by scripting these interactions to appeal to advertisers. Along the way, reality shows serve up troubling messages about race, class, sexuality, and gender that infuse the rest of pop culture entertainment.
Own Your Power to Make Change: Ms. Interviews Gloria Feldt
Ms. Magazine Blog
Women must be fearless in wielding power. “The most confounding problem facing women today,” Gloria Feldt writes, is that doors of opportunity are open, but “not enough women are walking through them.” Feldt’s new book, No Excuses, points women toward those doors and then gives a firm, supportive nudge to move past internal and external roadblocks.
Pornography 101: Why College Kids Need Porn Literacy Training
AlterNet
Mobile technology and abstinence-only guarantee that more young people get their sex ed from pornography. It’s time to talk to them about what they’re watching.
The Silence Around a Fraternity Sexual Assault Case
Jezebel
Last spring, Drake University hired me to provide recommendations about campus sexual assault prevention and response policies. Months later, I faced a moral dilemma: a Drake student was charged with third-degree felony sexual abuse for assaulting his fraternity brother. (Republished from Ms. Magazine Blog.)
Is Pornography Racist?
Ms. Magazine Blog
In her new book Pornland, author Gail Dines argues that our sexuality is hijacked by the multi-billion-dollar-a-year porn industry. Dines also argues that pornography is racist. But not everyone agrees.
Porn: Pleasure or Profit? Ms. Interviews Gail Dines
Ms. Magazine Blog (Part I, Part II, Part III)
Staunchly anti-porn, Gail Dines argues that pornography is an industry that turns women into products and hijacks our sexuality. But with feminist porn on the radar, sex-workers rights groups gaining volume and Dines’ new book Pornland joining the line-up of other titles like Good Porn: A Woman’s Guide (Seal Press), it’s clear that feminist debates over sex-for-sale are not finished.
Free Speech. Hate Speech.
Huffington Post
Hate-speech, hate-motivated violence, and gender-based crime can incite widespread fear, frustration, isolation, and anger, even among those who are not directly victimized … promoting free speech even in the face of hate speech … sends a powerful message to all who struggle for freedom and safety that we’ve got your back.
Wheaties Fuels a Breakfast of Stereotypes
Ms. Magazine Blog
After 80-plus years on the market, Wheaties has put more muscle in its brand by launching Wheaties Fuel. On the new Wheaties boxes and you’ll find more than your recommended daily allowance of race and gender stereotypes.
Getting Down About Hooking Up
Ms. Magazine Blog
The 1960s had Free Love. The 1980s was about the cazh (as in casual sex). Today we can knock boots, hit it and quit it, find an FWB or a ONS. Call it what you want, it’s still consensual sex outside of a committed relationship. And while the language may change, the moves remain the same. What is new on the sexual landscape are debates about whether casual sex is all about fun and free will, or if hooking up is linked to sexual assault and women’s objectification.
The Hurt Locker Blows Up More Than Bombs
Huffington Post
Sunday, February 28, 2010. I wake up, brew a pot of coffee, and sit down to read the Los Angeles Times. Then my world shifts ever so slightly. On the front page of the Calendar section, I see the headline, “Redeploying Gender.” Jumping off the page this time around, the gender in question is masculinity. Finally, splashed across the corporate page of a mainstream publication, gender is no longer code for women! I read this and it feels damn good.
With Budget Cuts to Higher Education Lower-Income Students Struggle
Women’s Media Center
Funding cutbacks not only make tuition less affordable for many college students relying on government loans, but they also affect course availability, campus jobs, and other essential factors for earning degrees. College students across the country face increased costs and decreased funding. The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that next year will be worse.
California College: Up in Smoke?
Huffington Post
The fact is that our state and national future relies on a well-educated, conscientiously trained populace. Without it, we’ll have a few at the top with continued access to the goods and resources of society. The rest will be left scrambling.
Guy Trouble: Are Young Men Really in Crisis, or Are These Boys Just Done Being Boys?
Bitch Magazine
These days, most men’s movie roles feature hard-talking, heavy-hitting leads. Or self-conscious, socially awkward types bumbling through social relations. Or there are the sweet-hearted slacker dudes glued to the couch—and maybe their bongs—allergic to steady jobs but true to their friends. Sometimes the men are a combination…
Sonia Sotomayor: The Answer Rhymes with “Fender”
Huffington Post
Look at it this way: If Sotomayor were a highly trained surgeon would she be called “too exacting,” “picky,” or “a clean freak”? We want surgeons who are focused, precise, and hygienic. We want Supreme Court justices who are forceful, assertive, and lucid. We also want surgeons and judges who care. These are not mutually exclusive qualities.
Hip to Strip? Or Is It Time for Men to Stop Watching?
Huffington Post
Yes, women go to strip clubs. We drink beer and eat wings at Hooters. We hire prancing men in Speedos for our bachelorette parties and Cardio Striptease is women’s domain at the gym. But the primary market demand for stripping, lap dancing, and other forms of fleshertainment come from men.
Can High Necklines Cure Low Morals?
Bitch Magazine
The modesty movement makes some good points about the effect a hypersexual culture can have on women’s well-being and sense of self. …But by claiming that modesty is the only solution, and by overlooking long-term feminist efforts to expand both women’s access to sexual pleasure and the right to say no, the new-modesty hucksters are doing women no favors.
The Little FemBlog That Wasn’t
Barnard College, The Scholar & Feminist Online
Because “What Is Third Wave?” was an independent study, and because my students and I were working closely together on our venture, it made sense to stay flexible with the pedagogy. When the “Sex Workers Art Show” came to town, we went. When we got hungry during a marathon theory-fest, we ordered pizza. When we realized we wanted a forum to continue exploring theoretical dialogue outside of our once-a-week scheduled meetings, we started a blog.
Men Speak Out on Gender, Sex and Power
Voice Male Magazine
When I set out to collect a series of essays that are direct and expressive in their interrogation of masculinity and power, I posted my request to a number of relevant websites and listservs. I wanted to compile as diverse a selection as possible. Queries came from activist men, university men, men who used to be women, men from the South, men from the North, and men from places in between.
