spring palm

these are some pictures i took on my way to the upper peninsula with SCRRB.. a three woman band that i am in. it was amazing!! - Amber

Real good.

Women in music and fetishizing dudes

I am thinking about writing something for the WGSSA zine about women in music and dudes that fetishize them. Like, how someone like PJ Harvey is socially acceptable as the “crazy hot girl” but if she was 200 pounds heavier and wrote the same exact music she would not nearly have the audience that she does. Also I would like to talk about the detrimental impact the idealization and fetishization of the “crazy hot girl” can be be for young women because they see that this is one of the only ways they can embody an alternative femininity. Obviously, this is a not a realistic or multidimensional type of femininity and cannot be sustained and will usually result in some kind of double or triple bind in which the woman is demonized or held to some kind of ridiculous standard that no one can possibly live up to. Courtney Love is a pretty excellent example of what I am talking about. I just started thinking about riot grrls and PJ Harvey and women in music and how it is impossible to be multidimensional when you are a woman playing music - you always have to be in some pigeonhole that leaves you no room to breathe or move or be anything else. Obviously, there are many women who resist and break out and are amazing and resilient but it also destroys some incredibly creative and talented women. And I really get angry at the fauxgressive men who fetishize these women without realizing what they are doing and the climate it creates for other women who do not live up to their expectations. Like, you think you are being awesome and supportive of this female artist but in actuality this makes it even more difficult for women who do not fit into this acceptable package of femininity to create music and art for a living. And really, I think PJ Harvey is brilliant. I just think that there are women who are just as brilliant as she is that may not be as beautiful, and they deserve as much airtime as she does.

No on 3.

This legislation would redefine rape in a new, terrible way by saying that it is only legitimate rape if excessive force is used. This means that women who were drugged or coerced will not be able to have a funded abortion because their rapes will not be seen as "real" in the eyes of the government. Thus, they cannot be included in the "rape and incest clause" that would help them pay for their abortion. This legislation pointedly denies abortion access to poor women and women who cannot prove that their rapes are "real." Tell the GOP and the supporting Democrats (yes, there are Democrats supporting this) that all rape is real rape, whether there are bruises or not. And that all women deserve abortion care and access.

Also, if you have Twitter, Sady Doyle, who blogs at Tigerbeatdown.com is spearheading a protest against the proposed legislation. Check out #DearJohn on Twitter.

There is more here:
http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/01/republican-plan-redefine-rape-abortion

and here:
http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2011/01/chipping-away-at-roe-and-definition-of.html

and here:
http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/02/01/hr3_abortion_rape

here:
http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2011/01/dearjohn-no-on-3.html

and here:
http://tigerbeatdown.com/2011/01/29/dearjohn-for-when-boehner-decides-your-rape-just-wasnt-enough/

Check it out. And contact your representative(s)!

New masculinity

This is so amazing:

Great interview, great lady

Katha Pollitt - check out her articles in The Nation or her books, she rules.