Posts Tagged ‘disability’
Wednesday Link Love!
Posted on: March 10, 2010
this ain’t livin’: Before You Criticize the Food Choices of Others
Food policing is an area in which all sorts of assumptions are made about class and ability status. It goes hand in hand with the idea that people have an obligation to be healthy, that all bodies are the same so there’s only one way to be healthy, and that there is virtue in eating “right” as dictated by current authorities in the food world. Like, say, Michael Pollan, who is editorialized fawningly in numerous publications all over the planet for his “simple” and “helpful” food rules.
Here are a bunch of great posts about International Women’s Day:
- Spare Candy: International Women’s Day 2010: Equal Rights
- The Undomestic Goddess: Today is International Women’s Day
- Small Strokes: International Women’s Day: I love being a woman
- Gender Across Borders: Blog for IWD BLOG
Womanist Musings: In the Shadow of Hattie McDaniel Stands Monique
Ms. McDaniel won her award for best supporting actress in the movie “Gone With the Wind” in 1939. At the Atlanta premiere, not only was she banned from attending, her name was stricken from the souvenir program along with all of the other Black actors. Segregation meant that no matter her achievements, she was not worthy to be counted alongside the White actors. She was the first African American to be invited to the Oscars as a guest rather than a servant. What an accomplishment for the daughter of a slave.
feministhemes.com: The Blame and Shame Game
I don’t doubt that the motives here were well-intentioned, but I think that the posters that the students developed are a prime example of how we talk about sexual assault, rape, and domestic violence in our culture.
Criss writes: International ALL Women’s Day: “Feminista”
I was excited to read Erica Kennedy’s FEMINISTA mainly because of the title. I happily bought the book, not just because I could put it on my shiny new eReader but because buying it I was supporting a fellow Latina writer.
The story and characters have turned out to be not be my particular cup of tea, but I wanted to read it anyway. Until the word “tranny” appeared — and didn’t go away.
Also make sure to read Criss’ follow up post: ” ‘Feministas’ and the T-Word: The Aftermath”
Sunday Link Love!
Posted on: February 28, 2010
Guess what! I have a tumblr now! You should read it. It’s for a combination of shorter posts, personal stuff, and things that don’t quite fit into the themes of this blog.
this ain’t livin’: Female Celebrities Behaving Oddly? It Must Be Mental Illness!
You are, literally, not in control of your own body when you are a female celebrity. Hollywood is sometimes called a fishbowl, especially for women, and it’s a very apt comparison. No place is safe. There is no escape. Private phone calls, emails, conversations, all can potentially be used against you and all of them are.
Equality 101: As a survivor of sexual assault…
Then let’s factor in the amount of people who have close friends, partners, or family members who have been sexually assaulted– now you’re talking a good portion of the classroom. Then there are the rest of the students, with various levels of exposure to discussions of sexual assault, and multiple opinions thereof. As the teacher, the compelling question becomes: how can we 1)have a discussion about this without serving as a trigger for those who have been assaulted, 2) respect the personal relationships many students may have with survivors of SA and 3) talk about it in a way that is relevant to the subject of the class?
Womanist Musings: Monstrous Musings: Patriarchal Baddies and Smokey Goodness? Musings on the Monsters of Lost
While Lost is certainly an improvement on most television shows in terms of diversity (and certainly 200x better than Disney), it seems white male privilege still rules the island. The show gives the most narrative attention to LWMs – or lost white males – and people of color are often presented stereotypically (Republican Guard/torturer Sayid, over-controlling and “English-challenged” Jin, simpleton Latino dude Hurley, folksy wisdom Ruth, oppressed Sun, etc).
Bitch Blogs: Need another reason to love Johnny Weir?
In response to two Quebecois commentators who spoke derogatorily of Weir and said he should take a gender test, Weir responded by issuing an awesome statement that touched on identity, free speech, life in the public eye, and the changing acceptance of gender, saying “I think masculinity and femininity is something that’s very old fashioned.”
Sunday Link Love!
Posted on: February 21, 2010
FWD/Forward: Why I Am Not Riled About Every Instance of Crip Drag
This argument comes up in response to critiques of disability in pop culture. It’s often accompanied with the assumption that the writer doesn’t think that it’s ok to portray disability in pop culture ever, or that the writer thinks that only disabled actors should be in disabled roles. This line of thinking, which focuses on which representations of disability people happen to be critiquing at a given time, ignores the structural nature of the critique. It is also accompanied by the implication that it is necessary to do everything at once when it comes to critiquing pop culture.
FWD/Forward: The Island That Heals: Lost, John Locke, and Disability
We were introduced to Locke in the pilot as the man in the wheelchair who walks again as soon as he lands on the Island. This becomes a recurring theme in the series; the Island heals people who are meant to be there, evidently, so John is rewarded for reaching the Island by being cured. At several points in the series, Locke experiences a recurrence of his injury, almost as a warning, before recovering the ability to walk again without any explanation.
The Sexist: Sexist Beatdown: The LOST Women of LOST Edition
In this edition of Sexist Beatdown, Sady Doyle of Tiger Beatdown and I reconvene to solve the enduring mystery of ABC’s LOST: Why have all the compelling female characters been systematically eliminated from the plot, while Jack is allowed to live on as Dr. McFixALot, a character who exists only to fail unspectacularly at everything and shoot enduring looks at Kate?
Viva la Feminista: Women Olympians Face Unique Challenges
The only Winter Olympics event in which women cannot compete is ski jumping. Why? Apparently it’s because women are “too fragile,” along with an outdated system of rules that allow the International Olympic Committee to keep “American Lindsey Van, who holds the world record for the single longest jump by anyone, male or female” from competing for a gold medal. When the IOC tries to explain that women can’t compete because there aren’t enough women jumping, the conversation circles around to, How can we increase interest and participation if women’s ski jumping isn’t allowed at the Olympics?
Sunday Link Love!
Posted on: January 31, 2010
- In: Link Love
- 2 Comments
This was a very big weekend for me. We sold our house and bought a new one. And then I found out that I got into the University of Michigan School of Social Work. So all in all, a good weekend.
I have been noticing in myself that Thursdays are really not a good day for posting for my schedule. So I think I am going to change link love posts to ones on just Sunday and Wednesday.
Equality 101: Gender Equality on College Campuses
Leaders of such institutions, the editorial notes, are responding to students’ interests in having relatively equal numbers of men and women on campus. However, as the dean of admissions at Kenyon College puts so well, “What messages are we sending young women that they must . . . be even more accomplished than men to gain admission to the nation’s top colleges?” Why are good women students being turned away so that more mediocre men students can attend college?
FWD/Forward: The Opposite of “Disabled” is Not “Employable”
According to the United State government, disability is “the inability to engage in any substantial gainful activity by reason of any medically determinable physical or mental impairment(s) which can be expected to result in death or which has lasted or can be expected to last for a continuous period of not less than 12 months.” Or, in non-regulatory terms, disability is when a physical or mental impairment will last at least a year and will make someone unable to work. The ability to work is right there in the definition. A person who cannot work is disabled. If that person can work, they are not disabled. Disability and employability are mutually exclusive states of being.
Gender Across Borders: Equality in Marriage. Is It Possible?
In college I swore I’d never get married (The Sexual Contract by Carol Pateman is to blame/thank). These days I find myself fighting for equal access to the very institution I once denounced.
Bitch Blogs: Race Card: From Adopting Haitian Kids to Giving Them Your Breast Milk
Moreover, in recent days, the adoption community has expressed its concerns about Americans clamoring to adopt Haitian children following the quake. Racialicious.com reports that a group called Adoptees of Colour released a statement asserting that desire by those from privileged nations to adopt Haitian children “contributes to the destruction of existing family and community structures in Haiti.” In addition, group members, many of whom were adopted under questionable circumstances themselves, are alarmed to hear that “Haitian adoptions may be ‘fast-tracked’ due to the massive destruction of buildings in Haiti that hold important records and documents…”
Tuesday Link Love
Posted on: December 15, 2009
Bitch Blogs: The Transcontinental Disability Choir: Pride & Prejudice & Ableism
Which makes it all the more unfortunate that clear notes of ableism were introduced into both of the monster mashups released in 2009. Ableism is not really necessary to the plot (original or new), and it certainly doesn’t add anything to the books. It pushes both books from being playful romps into being something different entirely as they subtly reinforce ableist social and cultural values.
FWD/Forward: Depictions of Disability That Make Us Happy
And I think it might be interesting to have a larger discussion about what makes a depiction of disability “good” by our standards, though I assume that people may have some differing views on this subject. Personally, I think of a well-rounded depiction of a character who happens to be disabled, with a characterization which is not necessarily centered around disability. Where the disability is integrated well into the identity of the character, and acknowledged, but the character is not the embodiment of the disability. I think of characters who avoid common disability tropes, such as the Angry Bitter Cripple or the Telegenic Sick Kid. I think of characters who are rich and complex and who are allowed to have emotions (which can even vary from day to day!). I think, also, of plots which manage to avoid disability-as-tragedy, miracle cures, Empowering Experience for Able People, and other dehumanizing tropes.
Womanist Musings: 7 Year Old Gets Hair Cut By Teacher As a Punishment
Even with all of these concerns, what is not being discussed is Cammon’s race. Black women exist with very little social power and as a result it is extremely easy to devalue a little Black girl. It is already a known fact that in the states in which spanking is legal, Black girls are subject to the most corporal discipline. This is not because Black girls are any more unruly than any other child but that they exist as a group with no social power. Race and gender combine to make them valueless socially from birth.
Feministing: New Moon and domestic violence
However, I was not prepared for the way the movie portrays physical relationship violence, particularly in Native communities. For all the talk of Edward’s abusiveness throughout feminist blogworld, I’ve seen much less written about domestic violence as it relates to the film’s competing love interest, Jacob Black — a 16-year-old Quileute boy who can turn into a werewolf.
fbomb: A Feminist Analysis of “Fifteen”
I love country music. I love it with a burning passion. And inside of my love for country music also comes a love for Taylor Swift. I like her because she is my age, her songs are extremely easy to play on the guitar so I feel like I have some musical talent, and I can relate to most of her songs. Her song Fifteen is now climbing the charts. This is a fine song, and some of the things in it were true in some degree to my life. When I was a sophomore at a new school, I just wanted to be wanted (“when all you wanted was to be wanted”) instead of feeling isolated and friend-less. However there are a few lines of this song I disagree with.
As much as I enjoy my Taylor Swift songs, this one really bothers me. I’m contemplating a post of my own.
Thursday Link Love!
Posted on: December 10, 2009
Blizzard ’09 is underway! And by blizzard, I just mean continuous snow. It’s not really a blizzard but that’s what I’ve heard on the news. And I don’t care if it’s not a blizzard, the roads are still bad and I have to drive to work soon. Don’t forget to leave links to what you have been writing/reading in the comments!
The Undomestic Goddess: 9th Feminist Blog Carnival
Hello, all! I’m Amanda, aka the Undomestic Goddess, and I’m your ringmaster for this here 9th carnival of feminists. Thanks to all who submitted, and to Lindsay for her guidance. And now, grab yer popcorn and step right up – the carnival has begun!
Small Strokes: On Body Image: How Confidence Affects Body Image
I never thought that something like this affected my body image, but now that I’ve been thinking about it pretty much constantly since my original post a few weeks ago, I realized that it had more of an effect than I thought. Since the issues with my thesis came to my attention, I came home every day and put on my pajamas and crawled under the covers, not wanting to be seen by anyone. I didn’t want to blog or tweet or answer my phone. I went to work in bulky sweaters, and there was no way Tim was getting me out of the apartment this weekend. I just didn’t want to see anyone. I didn’t feel worthy of seeing anyone.
Womanist Musings: Feminism is not a dirty word but it is exclusionary
The issue with feminism is that by locating gender as the singular site of oppression in the lives of women, it ignores the ways in which class, sexuality, disability and race also form the basis of marginalization.
FWD/Forward: Needs Are Not Special
“Special needs” is one of those phrases that just kind of irks me.
I see it most commonly used in reference to children or developmentally disabled adults; the implication in both cases is that the “special needs” individual can’t function without someone else’s help. That this person is totally dependent. And it carries, to my ears, a subtle note of disability-as-tragedy and hardship. Because, of course, if someone is “special needs” that means that someone else must need to meet those “special needs,” right? And that person must be sacrificing so much to get those “special needs” met.
Women & Hollywood: Women, Hollywood and Money
Women are second class citizens in Hollywood and the best way to illustrate it is to look at the money — how it’s earned and how it’s distributed.
Glee: Mattress
Posted on: December 3, 2009
This week’s episode of Glee is all about the glee club members trying to fit in…still. Sue gets the principal to take away the glee club’s yearbook picture, which the glee club is surprisingly ok with because a yearbook picture might bring more unwanted, negative attention to them. Except for Rachel, who desperately wants the yearbook picture. She ends up getting the glee club a commercial for a local mattress store. But what they don’t know is that accepting payment for a singing job would get them disqualified from sectionals. Mr. Shue ends up taking the blame for them so that the team can go to sectionals without him.
The day has come. We all knew it was around the corner. In the most dramatic scene that Glee has ever seen, Will finds out that Terry is not actually pregnant. There was yelling, Will got mad, and Terry looked like an emotional, irrational woman. I’m really glad that Will has finally found out because the whole Terry-hiding-her-pregnancy-from-Will storyline was probably my least favorite.
This episode did mark a return of the Will/Emma storyline, which I am also not a fan of. Just thought I’d throw that out there. Emma also proclaims that she identifies with Terry’s decision to fake a pregnancy because losing Will would just be too hard. Yet another example of how the show paints women as irrational and out to get the men. And speaking of that…has anyone else noticed how fickle Rachel’s emotions are? First she’s into Finn. Then she’s into Puck. Then she’s in love with Mr. Shue. And now she’s back to being in love with Finn. Because high school girls will fall in love with anyone who gives them any attention, obviously.
Honestly, I didn’t think this episode had a whole lot of storyline outside of Will and Terry’s fight. But one thing that really stuck out to me was the performance for the mattress commercial of “Jump.” Throughout the entire performance, everyone is jumping around on mattresses…except for Artie. But how could he, he’s in a wheelchair, right? Artie was just propped up in a mattress in his wheelchair off in the corner not really doing anything. And then there was a shot of him laying on a mattress while people jumped around him so that he bounced. Just another example of Glee portraying people in wheelchairs of not being capable of doing much of anything. I’m sure they could have worked some better, more active choreography into the number for Artie instead of him sitting there doing nothing and then having people bounce him.
I do have to say, though, that I did really like the Lily Allen song, “Smile.” I love Lily Allen, so it was great to see one of her songs in the show, even if it did catch me off gaurd.
Sadly, these are really the only comments that I have for this episode. I just wasn’t that impressed, positively or negatively, by much of anything.
Update: meloukhia brought up a really good point in her review. I can’t believe I didn’t talk about this originally, I remember being shocked about it when I was watching the episode…I guess I was so shocked that I forgot to write it in my notes. But I need to bring it up now. When Will finds out that Terry isn’t actually pregnant, we see him as an abusive husband. He yells and throws things. He even grabs her arm quite forcefully and backs her up against the counter with no way of escape.
Ok, yelling I get. He’s upset. I yell when I’m upset. But there’s no reason to be physically or verbally abusive. What she did was a pretty horrible thing (and I am glad the storyline is over because I hated it), but there’s never an excuse for abuse. I think this situation could possibly be grounds for divorce, but it would have been nice to see them talk about it rationally and without physical or verbal abuse. I can even understand Will leaving for a while. It was probably a good thing to cool down so as to not escalate the level of abuse. But can we ever see a mature, honest relationship based on communication in Glee? Apparently not because they can’t even show Will and Terry talking about the situation.
Again, I’m sorry I didn’t include this originally. MAJOR mistake on my part.
Tuesday Link Love on Wednesday
Posted on: December 2, 2009
Last night I just wanted to curl up and watch TV, so that’s what I did. But in doing that, I didn’t create my usual Tuesday Link Love list. So here it is…on Wednesday. This might also mean that I’ll move Thursday Link Love to Friday just for this week so I can make a more complete list. Fun times. As always, don’t forget to leave links to what you have been writing/reading in the comments!!
Small Strokes: The Feminist Lens: Juliet, Naked
But the exact issue I had with his previous novels of his I had read (the lack of well-rounded female characters, for those of you not following along) was turned on its head with Juliet, Naked. (If you haven’t read the book and plan on doing so, DO NOT READ FURTHER! Unless you don’t mind spoilers.)
Bitch Blogs: The Transcontinental Disability Choir: True Blood: Sookie Stackhouse, Telepathy, and Disability
But the reason I looked forward to True Blood is because the Sookie Stackhouse novels feature a disabled heroine. And, as a person with disabilities, that is something that I do not get to see very often. Despite the fact that we make up an estimated 20% of the population, our representation in film and television is quite small. This means that I rarely get to engage with a character who is like me, with whom I can connect because we share commonalities.
Bitch Blogs: New Moon’s success means women hate sex. Obviously.
However, lately it seems like every single teenage behavior is being connected to the franchise in some way, from negotiating gender identity to interacting with parents. Could it be that Twilight is the compass with which we can navigate the state of Young People Today? Do we never have to think about the nuances and complications of human existence again because Stephenie Meyer has done that dirty work for us? Well, Jonathan Zimmerman at the Chicago Tribune certainly thinks so.
According to Zimmerman’s article “Hooking up’s gender gap,” the number of young women who saw Twilight Saga: New Moon (which was a lot) tells us that, “Girls want love, not just sex.” And he got this from New Moon how, exactly?
Tiger Beatdown: Titanic: Girl Power Sleeps with the Fishes
One of the many things you come to appreciate about Titanic, when re-watching it as an adult, are the complexities of Billy Zane’s performance. Zane plays Caledon Hockley – steel magnate, loveless-arranged-marriage candidate, avowed hater of the poor – who, as you can probably guess from his preposterous name and the aforementioned list of qualifications, is the villain of the piece. Oh sure, you might think that in a movie entitled Titanic, the villain would be, I don’t know, an iceberg or something! Ah, but no. You would be wrong. The villain is Billy Zane. And what a villain he is, let me tell you!
Equal Writes: Fear and female experience
You can tell me my fear is unreasoning, childish, deserving of psychotherapy—and maybe it’s true. I know intellectually that the dark isn’t full of potential rapists and attackers, knives and penises at the ready, but it doesn’t stop me walking on the opposite side of the street to avoid the bushes, checking behind all the trees and bins in my front yard before crossing to the house, and keeping an eye over my shoulder while fitting my key in the lock. It doesn’t stop me trembling at every light that turns on, every gate that bangs open, every tree branch that rustles. I also know that my fear of the dark—and especially of being alone in the dark—has intensified since my own assault.
Glee: Hairography
Posted on: November 25, 2009
Oh Glee. This week Will is scared the Sue is leaking his set list and choreography to the competition but then feels bad about accusing one of the teams of cheating, so invites them to a scrimage — which of course leads to inviting the other team to a scrimage. Who are the competition you may ask. Well, they are a correctional school for girls and a school for the deaf. Let’s just throw some stereotypes and ableism in there for a good old time.
I have to be honest, I didn’t really think there was a whole lot of plot this week. Finn likes Rachel, but then Rachel changes her appearance because she thinks Finn will like her better. Quinn is confused about her feelings for Puck, so invites him to babysit with her. But he ends up “sexting” with Santana the whole time they are together. So Finn and Quinn decide that they are in love again.
But despite the lack of plot, there certainly was a whole lot of problematic things about the episode.
Ok, let’s start with some of the very apparent ableism. When one of the girls (the blond Cheerio, I don’t remember her name) is showing the glee club how to fling their hair around, she actually says “it’s like cool epilepsy.” But she’s the dumb blond who says stupid things, so it’s ok. Yeah, I’m sure people with epilepsy love being othered and objectified in this way. And then there was the glee club for the school for the deaf. I actually enjoyed the beginning of their performance of “Imagine.” There was one main guy vocally singing the song and the rest of the club was sign singing the song. It was actually pretty nice. But then “our” lovely glee club was so “moved” (I guess) by the performance that they felt the need to join in. They sang next to them and tried to join in on the signing. Why? Why do you need to take over their performance like that. I’m sure it was meant to be this touching moment of teams joining together to sing “Imagine,” but it just felt to me like some great appropriation.
But don’t worry, they also sang “True Colors” at the end of the show while sitting in a semi-circle with different colored shirts on. I’m sorry, sure “True Colors” has a great message, but I really don’t like that song. It’s just super-cheesy.
And then there’s Kurt’s makeover of Rachel. Kurt (by the encouragement of Quinn) makes Rachel think that Finn will like her more if she dresses more provocatively — or not like a combination between a grandmother and a toddler as they say in the show. Rachel is very beautiful and she already has a fondness for pretty short skirts. But let’s slap some more makeup on her and skin-tight clothes to make the boys like her more. This sends a great message. But, again, don’t worry…Finn tells her that he liked her they way she was, he liked the way she dressed, and he doesn’t like what she’s done to herself. So, yet again, Finn is the good guy and Rachel is just messed up in the head.
Which brings us to, yet again, the overwhelming theme of the show…boys are amazingly great and the girls are just crazy. But this wasn’t necessarily the case with all of the guys this episode. Puck shows us that he is still going to be who he is — which apparently a jerk. He’ll be a father to Quinn’s baby but he’s still going to cheat on her if she doesn’t “give it up” to him. I was really starting to like Puck, but then the writers had to go and do this. Because he is the “stereotypical” high school guy. All he really cares about is sex and doesn’t really care about anyone else. It would be great with we saw some more nuanced characters of Glee.
I was really disappointed with this week’s episode. Not only was there not a whole lot of plot and a whole lot of problematic content, the songs weren’t even that good. That’s usually what keeps me going, as those of you who regularly read these reviews know. But this episode, there just wasn’t really that much. Period.
Tuesday Link Love!
Posted on: November 24, 2009
It’s almost Thanksgiving (in the U.S.) everyone! Which means great food and a crazy day at work the next day! Before we get into some of my favorite posts of the past couple days, take a look at Sarah Haskins’ most recent Target Women video (and don’t forget to leave links to what you have been writing/reading in the comments):
FWD/Forward: On Language, Again
There are a couple of themes which seem to come up over and over again in the comment threads on posts in the Ableist Word Profile series, and I’d like to break them down a bit, because I would rather not see them come up in the future.
* “I don’t use this word this way, so it’s not bad.”
* “You can’t tell me what language I can and can’t use.”
* “But it’s not used in that sense anymore, so it’s ok.”/”You’re focusing too much on the origins of the word, not the modern usage.”
* “I’ve never heard this word used this way.”/”In another language, this word doesn’t mean this.”
* “Are you telling me that I’m lacking in intelligence because I didn’t know about the origins of this word?”
* “My friend with a disability uses this word, so it’s ok.”
* “I don’t agree that this word is ableist.”
* “The feelings of people with disabilities and advocates are not as important as my right to use this word.”
* “The alternatives you suggest just aren’t as strong.”
The Sexist: Sexism and the “If I Were A Man” Defense
Sorry folks, but that’s not how sexism works. Ostroy is right, of course: The Washingtonian cover was criticized for a variety of reasons—from photo-shopping a public official to selling sex for page-views—but nobody accused the magazine of sexism. But Ostroy ignores two major distinctions between the Palin and Obama covers. One, Washingtonian used an ab-tastic photo of Obama to illustrate how hot he is, whereas Newsweek used a leggy photo of Palin to illustrate how bad she is. Second, Palin is a woman and Obama is a man. And the second distinction has everything to do with the first one.
Bitch Flicks: Ten Years of Oscar-Winning Films: In Posters
What do these films have in common?
skepchick: Ew Moon: Why Twilight continues to hurt America…
I went into the movie fully expecting it to be awful. I was actually looking forward to writing a snarky, funny review, with lots of jokes and mockery of the fans of Twilight and their ilk. I came out of the movie less smug. I remembered why I had written my original review in the first place. This movie made me sad and angry, just like the last one.
