Welcome one and all! I'm honored to host this edition of the Carnival. Readers, some of these posts are downright juicy; Yours Truly is quite pleased, and very grateful to all of the bloggers who contributed such thoughful posts. I'd like to give a special shout-out to Nimue of
Recollections Blog, who wrassled some very high quality posts for me at the eleventh hour. That said, dive in and enjoy yourselves!
DISCLAIMER: but of COURSE the illustrations below are meant to be ironic. I may not be able to change negative stereotypes all by myself, but I can and will make fun of them, n'est se pas?FUNNY FEMINISM
Let's have some laughs straight away! Madeleine Begun Kane of
Mad Kane's Humor Blog starts us off right with her brilliant poem, "Ballsy Limerick":
Although males come equipped with two balls,
There are men who ain’t ballsy at all.
Folks with guts are quite rare,
And they don’t need a pair.
In fact, some gals are brimming with gall.
snark scribe is a fairly new blogger whose writings I find utterly addictive. A sample of her acerbic wit can be found in her post,
Grim Reality: Some advice for the naive male.Shakespeare's Sister submits
Wicked Witch of the West, a superbly sarcastic skewering of the outdated idea that if it's wearing a skirt, and it dares to enter the political arena, then it MUST be innately eeevil!
Shudder.Shannon over at
Egotistical Whining has written
Jurimprudence for feminism, a satirical yarn in which she pontificates on the "Murphy's Laws" of feminism. My personal favorite:
The Faux Card Cred Law: Anyone disavowing their various prejudices by using the phrase "I'm not anti-_____, I have _____ friends!" or some variant thereof will summarily lose the argument and be subjected to a vicious fishbeating by members of the group in question. Double fishbeatings will be enforced if the "faux-cred card" is utilized more than once in one argument.
The whip-smart
Twisty Faster shows us how it's done with
Sod off, God!, in which she explores the supposed "deep human need" for ritual.
THINKING GLOBALLY, ACTING LOCALLY
One of my very favorite bloggers is Shark-Fu of
Angry Black Bitch. In her post
Get found... she talks about her volunteer work at a local women's shelter, and how it changed her life:
I had never witnessed feminism in action in my community, working through me and yet still empowering me, until I began working at the shelter. Theory was replaced by reality, rose-colored glasses got new lenses and bullshit was hosed down to reveal the world as it is for many of my sisters. The struggle was made clear to me…my own and my fellow sisters…and we were united through our oppression.
Pamela Taylor at
Warped Galaxies shares
Men and Women in Islam: Complementary or Equal?, in which she challenges Muslim views regarding traditional gender roles:
People like to see things in black and white, but reality is always, always gray. Thus we like to divide humanity into men and women, rational and emotional, intellectual and instinctive, dealing with the outer world and dealing with the inner world. Of course, the reality is far, far more complex than that.
Kelly Bell from
For Whom the Bell Tolls submits
Ms. President, in which she examines the unique goals and challenges facing women who want to serve the people, and addresses her dreams for her own daughter.
Marcella from
abyss2hope attacks rape apologists and the concept of consent with
People Who Refuse To Believe Certain Rape Scenarios Enable The Rape Scenarios They Do Believe. Sound confusing? It's actually very simple. Go read.
Ellee of
ProActive discusses whether brothels should be legalized in
this post. Like many feminists, I'm torn on this issue. I believe that prostitution is inherently harmful to women. The fact that some men feel entitled to purchase women's bodies makes my skin crawl. However, I recognize that economic, social and class hardships can create a desparation that drives women to rent their bodies to survive. Until certain societal problems are eradicated, the "profession" will always exist. While it does, sex workers should have legal rights and protection. Ellee also submitted a good post about
sex trafficking.PARTS IS PARTS
Laurie and Debbie at
body impolitic submit
Where Did That Grunt Come From? an interesting look at how the Planet Fitness gym chain applies a social policy to its members that is directly at odds with the kind of physical activity required to burn calories in the first place!
The goddess
Echidne graciously offers
The Arid Land Of Politically Correct Debate. I'm not going to summarize this post, but I'll just quote from the article: "Gimme sterility or gimme cunt." Does that whet your appetite or what?! As usual, the goddess delivers.
Ann Bartow of
Feminist Law Professors documents the lawsuits of flight attendants who were suspended for gaining weight in her post,
Thin Air. Please! If flight attendants were all male, you
know they'd be allowed to have beer bellies and ear hair.
DISSING THE SISTERHOOD
Alyx of
Mad Sheila Musings asks, "How are women pitted against one another in a woman-hating society?" She counts the ways in
this post.Suzanne at
Thus Spake Zuska takes a young engineering student's denial of institutionalized sexism to task with her post,
Let Her Eat The Oppressor's Cake:It is frightening to admit that there might be something to all this. To admit that there might be something that is going to affect your career that is completely outside of your control and that has nothing whatsoever to do with how talented and accomplished you are, that does not respect how hard or how long you work. It sucks. It is much more comforting to pretend that such things do not exist. In that sense, your near-hysterical sense of denial is completely understandable.
History Geek expresses
rage at how the gaming industry falls back on tired gender stereotypes when it markets to females.
Marcella strikes again with
Empowering Women Or Blaming The Victim. This one really hit home for me; a very good friend of mine was date raped not long ago. After a night of drinking, she passed out, waking up to find her date penetrating her. She told him to stop, which he only did because he couldn't maintain his erection. To my shock, all of her other girlfriends blamed her for what happened, even though she and her date were both drunk, and she was unconscious (unable to give consent). I urged her to report the rape, but she didn't think she would be believed. After all of her closest "friends" except me turned on her, I can understand that. For her own sanity, she decided to write the whole experience off as "bad sex" instead of the RAPE that it actually was. Read Marcella's post - it's amazing.
Speaking of blaming the victim, the Wannabe Indian Punkster sends us
What is Essential is Invisible to the Eye, and expresses some righteous vitriol at a
very scary precedent set by the Supreme Court in India. A must-read.
Belledame of
Fetch me my axe presents
Secretaries, a morality tale that examines the ways in which women enforce sexism. Almost all women have experienced pressure to suppress anger, to get along with others, to always be a "good girl." Good girls don't get angry! They aren't selfish! They sacrifice! They starve! They beat themselves up, and then, like true sorority sisters, sometimes encourage their friends and daughters to seek out the same suffering - for their own "good."
Appropriate Aunt from
Tiny Cat Pants responds to "Secretaries" with
this post, and she has an important question to ask of other women:
Do we really want things to be different or do we just want to be the ones with free reign to hurt whomever we want?
THE "Y FACTOR"
Hugo Schwyzer talks about how men can become effective members of the feminist community through
self-transformation. Laurie and Debbie at
body impolitic submit
Big Brother is Watching You Pee, which chronicles the hullabaloo going on in Norway over a school rule that boys must sit when they urinate. Laurie and Debbie ask, "Who is enforcing this rule?" Dear readers, I'm not sure we want to hear the answer!
Alan Baumler explores the creepy gender dynamics of
ancient Chinese sex advice. "Women conquer men as water conquers fire"...sounds eerily similar to the Christian concept of Original Sin, doesn't it? Watch yourselves, men, or we'll steal your essence!
(insert wicked cackling here) Muahahahaaaaaa!
Adam at
Daylight Atheism discusses
a subject very near and dear to my heart - the harmful effects that organized religions have had on women's rights. He ends with a provocation:
There is only one realistic way to end religion's harm to women, and that is to cut it off at the source: every feminist should be an atheist.
Not sure if I agree with Adam, but it bears repeating that being religious and being
spiritual aren't always the same thing.
'TIS THE SEASON
snark scribe gives all of us singletons some ammo for the "Holiday Inquisition" with
this hysterical post.THE NEXT GENERATION
Natalie over at
Heartless Bitches International submits
Socialized Stupidity: There IS a Cure!, a fabulous dissection of the societal pressures that obstruct women's progress in math, science and engineering. All too often, young girls are taught that they should start "playing dumb" once they reach puberty:
They don't need to make laws that keep women down and prevent equality. They just have to keep us preoccupied with ludicrous activities that distract us and keep us from learning, improving our brains, developing our physical strength, and asserting our right to equality by simply being there in equal numbers. Unfortunately, too many women are still in front of a bathroom mirror, instead of a boardroom table, or a lab bench.
Nimue of
Recollections Blog discusses the
common tendency that many people have to refer to adult women as "girls." I'm often guilty of this, but I also refer to grown men as "boys" a lot. Lots of food for thought in this post.
In the same vein,
LibraryTavern Liz submits
Men and girls and dirty words.Faith at
Feminist Nation offers
"...a place for all women and men who have been the victims of male violence - be it physical, emotional, sexual or psychological to discover that they are not responsible for the abuse they have endured and allow them to begin or further their healing." Her blog is brand spanking new, and from the passionate tone of her introduction, I think that we'll be treated to plenty of intelligent, intense posts in the future.
Veronica from
Nine Pearls takes on the porn industry. In her post
Porn And Not Getting It, she recounts the effect that the ubiquitous "Girls Gone Wild" culture has had on her social life.
stroppybird also explores pornography in
Galloway, Portuguese porn and naked Courtney Love... The comments thread is particularly interesting.
(WARNING: Post contains a picture that may not be safe for work).COOL MISCELLANY
Kate of
Babylune has a terrific post up called
Covert Motherhood Activism. Like so many women, she is a working mom who struggles to balance career and parenthood. One day, she found herself sans childcare, and couldn't take the day off. She found a creative way to handle the problem...a heartwarming story.
Laurie and Debbie at
body impolitic have hit a triple in this edition of the Carnival!
Politics and Recovery discusses the concept of disease as social control. Check it:
To say that our agonies are caused by a society that mistreats and frequently tortures us in childhood (not to mention later in life) is not to say that help is not possible. It is rather to say that help which ignores or denies the context of the larger social issues will frequently tend to be both palliative and limited.
Finally, from the archives: LaLubu of
Feministe gets a standing ovation for her post,
Like a Natural Woman.FIN.I hope you enjoyed my version of the Carnival! Many thanks to Natalie at
Philobiblon for allowing me to host. Thanks once again to all those of you who contributed! Please forgive my humble self if you submitted something that wasn't chosen...there was so much to sort through!
The 29th Carnival of Feminists will be hosted by Sandy at
the imponderabilia of actual life on December 20th. Be a good doobie and get your
submissions in early!
Labels: Carnival of Feminists
Yours Truly had an absolute blast on The Lisa Birnbach Show this morning. Lisa is a very funny lady, and her cohorts at the studio all contributed to a very cool experience. Many laughs were had. 
Mark your calendars!
Readers, I've been agonizing as to how I would herald my 100th post on this blog. First of all, I can't believe I've gotten to 100 already. Dear readers, the freaktastic roller coaster that is my life is even worse than I thought! (Or better, if you're one of my loyal readers who enjoys my weird little stories). Secondly, I should have known that my 100th post would have dropped right into my lap when I was least expecting it. 
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