Sunday Feminist Links

Here's some feminist stuff that I've been looking at online lately

Pet Peeve: Dads Who “Babysit” Their Kids

- The title says it all, but as a dude who doesn't think much of leaving the wife at home and taking his kid with him to a rugby game all day or having his wife go out of town for a conference for a couple of days (although that hasn't happened for a couple of years now) I definitely feel the sentiment of this post. I'm not fucking "babysitting" I'm parenting my child, having a dick doesn't render me incompetent in the child care department.

This one comes from the womyn at The Pursuit of Harpyness, a feminist website. For the most part the authors and denizens of the site are a little too hardcore for me but they link to, as well as write, some cool and interesting shit so I continue to check them out.

What do I mean by "too hardcore?" Well, I got ripped into for having the temerity to say that I'm a reluctant feminist. They seem to not realize that that kind of shit is a big part of why feminism has such an image problem. I appreciate and respect their blood & thunder, take no prisoners approach; they're Malcolm to Ms. magazine's Martin; but at the same time it doesn't do much to bring people into the fold that aren't aligned with them and their world view.

Is It "Perilous" To Be A Female Blogger?

- Rather than a rant about how tough it is for women bloggers, it's a jumping off point for discussion. The author talks about some of the ridiculous comments they get on Jezebel and cites an article from the Washington Post (that I read when first published) about women bloggers who have been threatened with violence, but doesn't extrapolate that out to the entire internet. The comments that I saw were pretty reasonable and some bordered on thought provoking.

The nonsense about the threats was disappointing but not surprising to me, especially when you think about who's blogging and commenting on blogs. I usually imagine a pasty, overweight, thirty-something loser, who's still living in the basement of his parent's house, or maybe a socially inept but professionally successful tech guy, or 19 year olds showing off for each other in the dorms. None of these guys are doing very well with the ladies and they're all clueless as to why. They're not getting laid, so it has to be 'cause those stuck up bitches are dykes or they just don't want to be with a "real man" like them, right? No surprise that group of Casanovas is using the anonymity of the internet to work out their anger towards women.

That's Not My Name: Beating Down Online Misogyny

- I guess I found this via a Tweet from the Reverse Cowgirl earlier today. The title link just takes you to a panel description at SXSW, this link right here was posted by one of the panelists and has a ton of links to hot shit.