This article reminded me of how individuals are linked up with systems, like we were talking about in class.

As I was saying about those who link Planned Parenthood and Genocide

Herman Cain steps to the plate.

Pink ribbon Fail

"But he has boy parts" SO WHAT!

I talked to my dad today and he told me that a budding issue in the news/on talk shows this week deals with inclusion of transgender boys as Girl Scouts. Here's an article I found interesting in relation to our topic about girlyboys:

Transgender Inclusive Policies for Girl Scouts

Video Clip

GID

hello my friends! this week's discussion on masculinity reminded me of a graphic story I read in Dave Egger's Best Nonrequired Reading 2008. This is the story of a boy who likes wearing skirts, and his family's mixed views on the matter. It's a quick and interesting read - check it out!

http://modan.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/09/04/queen-of-the-scottish-fairies/

~Emma Moss

Caster Semanya

The female athlete from South Africa who was required to take a gender verification test due to her excellent performance in the 2009 women's 800m race in Berlin.

My Princess Boy

This video can relate to the article girlyboy. This 5 yr old boy loves to dress up in pink and wear dresses. This story is really touching

When Women Weren't Allowed to Run

When I talk about a world where sports weren't open to women, they look at me like I'm talking about a different planet. That's a great sign, meaning we've come a long way.
Yet, it pays to remember that a world were sports were nearly off-limits to girls and women wasn't that long ago.

This story in the New York Times tells the tale of Dr. Julia Chase-Brand who became the first woman to run a road-race in the U.S., 50 years ago. You might wonder why women weren't allowed to run.

Here's one explanation:

"Even in the Olympics, women were not allowed to run more than a half-mile lest, it was believed, they would risk their femininity and reproductive health. The most alarmist officials warned that a woman who ran a more ambitious distance might cause her uterus to fall out."

Representations of Women in Sports

From the Tucker Center for Research on Girls and Women in Sports, a slideshow on the different ways women athletes are portrayed.

"Training Rules"

The story of Jennifer Harris and Rene Portland is truly disturbing and shows how even blatant discrimination can still exist, and be protected, if those who engage in such practices have enough power.

Training Rules (trailer for the documentary) from Woman Vision on Vimeo.

Though Portland eventually resigned, probably with a sweetheart deal for Penn State, her colleagues in the Big Ten came to her public defense embarrassing themselves in the process. Here is a case where there was no ambiguity - the party in question openly and blatantly had a policy of discrimination, and her colleagues treat it as if it were a mere dust-up between player and coach. Despicable, especially coming from people who are supposed to be role models.

Because it's your problem, not theirs

Girlyboys - whose problem is it?

Women's bodies not the only ones under extreme pressure

Details magazine offered a recent slideshow showing how the pressure to meet body image ideas has now taken root for men as well, breaking the body down into more and more pieces that need to be perfected.

See it here.

So, what does this say about gender? Obviously, we wouldn't call it sexism, so, what kind of power matrix is involved in creating ever stricter hierarchies of body types, for both men and women?

Acting bent

The Harvard University wrestling team took it upon themselves to make a statement during the recent Coming Out Day.

Here's what they did.

This is precisely an example of what Ingraham calls, "acting bent."

"...the sex of technology"

Here is an interesting article on how Apple's iphone 4S uses female voice for its PA function in the US and a male voice in the UK. why might this be?

campus sexual assault

Here is an interesting article on sexual assaults towards women in college and how safety needs to get improved

Famine in Somalia left women victims of sexual violence

Here is an article on how the famine in Somalia has affected women in a different way than imgined.

"Gay Victims Gay Heroes"

Some gay and lesbian victims of 9/11...http://www.angelfire.com/fl3/uraniamanuscripts/sept11.html

Apropos of class today

An article about "gender neutral" policy at Grinnell College in Iowa. The comments, of course, offer a wide variety on views displaying both social constructionist and essentialist views about gender. By now you should be able to identify which are which.

OWS

This critique on Occupy Wall Street makes some important claims related to intersectionality, stratification and our discussions in class about third wave feminism and the inclusion of voices of women of color.

An interesting take on sexism in the media.

Giant pink bubble wrap: ridiculous or awesome? From here.

The 53%

Here's an article I read over the weekend that was actually about a man's response to a person in the 53%...I think it's relevant to the in-class discussion we had today.

Poses

A project called "Poses" by artist, Yolanda Dominguez shows how ridiculously and dangerously model women are often portrayed in media. She created a video in which "average" women are positioned in the same poses as models in the fashion world. Take a look at the public reaction these women recieve!

This is the video I mentioned about the mom who was giving her 8-year-old daughter botox injections. I find it really horrifying.

Ryan Gosling on the Social Construction of Gender

I just thought this was too good not to post.

(via Feminist Ryan Gosling)

Westboro Baptist Church

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hI1mO2eeTY
Here is a video of an intens argument i found between a Westboro Baptist Church member and a news reporter...

Here's an article about how women's roles in computer science were opposite of what they are today for a while a few decades ago. It's pretty interesting.

"Gender Relevant Ads"

I forgot to login to pandora and was prompted to sign up at the end of one of the songs, and now it requires you to select your gender so it can present you with the "most relevant" ads for your gender. 

Just because I'm a female, that does not mean that I'm interested in the scrapbooking, weight watcher's, and nutri-system visual ads that are "relevant to me" and posted on the website. Just because a stereotype of women is that they're constantly on diets and watching their weight does not mean that I personally interested in that. As a swimmer, my food choices often are carbs, and lots of them...yay carbs! I'm pretty sure that if the weight watchers saw what I ate, they would shun me or deem me a lost cause. 

And for the whole "creativity" thing, I'm definitely pro-stick figures. Sorry scrapbooks.

If they're going to make "relevant" advertisements, they'd be much better off giving everyone a quiz to gather what their interests are rather than assuming they adhere to gender stereotypes. There's nothing saying that a man couldn't be interested in watching his weight or making a family scrapbook, and likewise a woman could be interested in gym memberships, oil changes, or other "manly" social constructs.

The girl is in charge..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sj15Gta9ngY
The little boy's reaction was unexpected and funny.

We are all humans!

This is a great image i found on Tumbler. No matter how much we try and clasify people at the end of the day we are all the same..we are humans!

"Dr. Pepper 10: It's Not for Women"

The "manly" commercial for a "manly" drink.

The Glass Escalator?

Reading about the Glass Escalator last week got me thinking about male flute players. This blog post talks about how the flute is considered a "girly" instrument and most flutists are female. However, when you look at the professional flute world, many of them are men. Even in my experience, most of the male flute players I know are fantastic musicians. Interestingly though, I don't think their success is due to the glass escalator effect. In fact, I've heard of band directors who discourage young boys from learning the flute in beginning band because many of them tend to quit before they become proficient. Other flute players I know have speculated that the reason many male flute players are so good is because only the most talented stick with it.

Happy National Coming Out Day Everyone!

For national coming out day, one of my friends shared this video on facebook. I think it does a great job showing intersections of race, gender, and sexuality.

Also, check out this really moving performance of a poem about gender identity.

My aunt posted this on Facebook. It's a great caricature of how people see themselves. :P

Here's a bit of gender role reversal. The more you look at it, the funnier it gets. And it got me mad karma on Reddit.

Sorority House = Brothel?

I found an interesting and informative blog/article about the "sorority brothel" myth discussed in class today; thought I'd share it here. The "law" does seem to have some sort of official basis as discussed by the Panhellenic society, but apparently at the present it's only really enforced by social policing and "tradition."

Check it out here (sorry, the original article in its entirety seems to no longer exist)

Gender identities and creative pronoun use

An interesting NYT article on the creative use of pronouns and gender categories among a certain segment of the young American population.

Dr. Savin-Williams, who is also the author of the book “The New Gay Teenager,” went on to list some of the new adjectives young people use to describe themselves: “bi-curious,” “heteroflexible,” “polyamorous” and even “wiggly.”

Can we identify any possible opponents to this sort of gender practice? Who? Why? What would they argue?

"Kicking Queen" they call her

I've not yet heard a story like this. I wish I could see the picture of her with her uniform on, wearing the tiara.


Homecoming Queen, football kicker


Her biggest complaint? "The main drawback has been the separate locker room provided by the school, which keeps her apart from the male players. After the games, they’re celebrating in their locker room and I’m by myself in my locker room,” she said."

Male Pin-Ups

I find these HILARIOUS