There are two ways to change an organization: the first is from the inside out – joining existing structures, working one’s way up through them, turning like minds to your cause, and revolutionizing the institution from the inside out. The other way to do it is to burn the fucker down to the ground. The […]
Burn it All Down: Wiscon’s Failure of Feminism Read More »
I admit that looking at pictures of myself the last couple of years always involves a bit of dissonance. Since God’s War came out and I switched to a job that no longer requires me to bike into work every day, I have – as has happened to many writers – put on about 70
On Public Speaking While Fat Read More »
I generally prefer to stick to positive imagery and commentary here, and I may eventually delete this post, but I keep seeing these lists of “vintage” sexist ads from the 50’s,60’s, and 70’s shared online so that folks may gloat about how “enlightened” we are in “this day and age.” I work in marketing and
You Don’t Have to Be Evil to Sell Things: A Primer on Ad Writing & Sexism Read More »
Spoilers ahoy! When I was sixteen, I dated a guy a with a madonna/whore complex. I had no idea what that was, at the time, being a young woman from a rural town where belittling women as sluts and whores was pretty typical. You were either “the type of woman men married” or you
Some Men Are More Monstrous Than Others: On True Detective’s Men & Monsters Read More »
I had the questionable delight of hanging out with a 3 year old for the last week, and at some point, when I hauled off his pants so he could go “Pee-pee in the potty” he proceeded to sit on said toilet for a solid five minutes having an argument with me because I’d said
With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility: On Empathy and the Power of Privilege Read More »
I watch Die Hard at least a couple of times a year; it’s one of the best written films out there. But there were always two moments in the film that confounded me from the very start, even when I watched it as a kid. There’s a moment when John McClane is upstairs in the
Die Hard, Hetaera, and Problematic Pin-Ups: A Rant Read More »
This post was originally hosted at Kari Sperring’s place. For those who find the format a little awkward to read, or who are having issues with LJ, I’ve reprinted it here: __________ In the movie The Jewel of the Nile, sequel to Romancing the Stone, romance author Joan Wilder has written herself into a
Women and Gentlemen: Unmasking the Sobering Realities of Hyper-Masculine Characters Read More »
My body has always been a place of battle. When I was younger, it was personal, self-inflicted strife encouraged by schoolyard taunts of “water buffalo!” and “pig!” supplemented by family matriarchs who were permanently obsessed with the width of their own asses (and, very often, mine and that of my siblings), despite advanced degrees, working
The Body Project, a Prelude (or, your body is a battlefield) Read More »
Forgotten Fantasy Favorites: An irregular series In the rush of GRRM and Joe Abercrombie madness these days, I couldn’t help but notice that a good deal of excellent grimdark-y fantasy from the last thirty years seems to have been tucked under the rug and forgotten, as if nobody wrote about incest or political intrigue before
Forgotten Fantasy Favorites: Assassin’s Apprentice Read More »
Back when I first started this blog in 2004, I grew an audience that was primarily and deeply feminist. My regular traffic was about 400 visits at day, which – at the time – seemed like a whole lot of people. Then I wrote a post about “women-only” forums that pissed off a whole lot
The Blog Post that Lost Me Half My Audience Read More »