links

[such_heights]

+ Julie Bindel brings the transphobic fail once again. This link comes with a blood pressure warning, for it is full of offensive vitriol. Get off my team, Bindel, you make us look awful!

+ Via the New York Times, not all groups have felt the recession equally. It's US stats, but i suspect relevant across other countries too. In any case, illuminating and rather dismal.

+ Disability and Asexuality by kaz on FWD/Forward, a really great new-ish feminist disability blog. Highly recommended reading.

+ Also on FWD, avendya posts To Whom It May Concern.

+ ressie_noldo writes on the monstrous other; for the asian women blog carnival.

+ Lastly and unrelatedly, who_daily and torchwood_three are looking for new newsletter editors. I'm stepping down from my position as a back-up editor due to time constraints, but I do recommend it unreservedly to anyone who likes being part of the cogs and gears of fandom - things are quiet at the moment, too, so it's a good time to step in and get to grips with things.

Comments

[woldy]

*sigh* In addition to the vitriol, Julie Bindel is also completely mis-representing what protections & provisions are currently afforded to trans people under UK law. There's a pretty good summary of the legal stuff (and many other issues) in the recent Equality & Human Rights Commission Trans Inequalities Research Review. I hope someone writes to the publication and gets them to print a retraction on the factual inaccuracies in her rant.

[such_heights]

As a friend of mine said, it's like she's immune to facts. Ugh. However, thanks for the link, that sounds like good reading!

[gorgeousnerd]

Oh wow, the two FWD/Forward posts were amazing. I've only recently been coming to terms with the fact that I am disabled, but the Disability and Asexuality post in particular really hammered it home. I'm not asexual, but I have been thinking a lot about how the main support for a disabled person is a romantic partner, and how that would be difficult for me to find due to both my disability and my current living situation. So, yeah, that was a big kick in the pants.

In contrast, ugh ugh ugh in Julie Bindel's direction. I had to skim the last half of the post simply because I couldn't take it. At the same time, as horrible as it is, I feel that similar (although hopefully less strong) feelings are common in the gay and lesbian segments of the LGBT community, and I'm kind of glad someone's openly voicing them, if only so others who might have thought along the same lines can see plainly how offensive they are. That might be too much to hope for, though.

[such_heights]

I'm so glad they were useful for you! ♥

I would like to believe that's true, but I fear that people actually believe her shtick about being somehow oppressed/silenced/attacked by the sekrit trans cabal or whatever. *sigh*

[gorgeousnerd]

There probably are...but I like to believe there are more people out there that see her hateful speech for what it is. Even if that's naive. *sigh*

[glass_icarus]

ack, thanks for the kick in the pants! (am writing the awbc post as we speak, omg.)

will read the others (except ave's; i've read that already) when time permits, sdglkshdf /o\

[such_heights]

*cheerleads* Hope you're managing everything okay!

[zahrawithaz.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the blood-pressure warning on the Bindel piece. SO DISTURBING. I was heartened by how good the comments were, at least on the front page.

The links generally here are awesome. The NYT unemployment rate chart was amazing. And the asexuality piece too...I've done some work with bisexual activists in Japan, and it struck me how much they assumed crossover and collaboration with the asexual movement; in the US that's highly unlikely to happen. Very interesting the way different social movements are separated from each other or allied depending on different cultural contexts.

[such_heights]

Me too! I forgot my usual rule of 'under no circumstances scroll down to comments', but I'm glad I did.

That is really, really interesting about activism in Japan, thanks for sharing that! I'm doing some work now on bisexuality with a side of asexuality, and people's responses to both identities are constantly surprising.

[secondsilk]

I read all the Bindel article. Then I had to go look at the baby photos my mum forwarded for a colleague of hers. And read some porn. The comment were heartening, though.

Also the other links. Thought provoking, but also heartening just in their existence and the proof that the voices of unPrivileged people do have space and can be heard even when the likes of Bindel get to publish things.

[such_heights]

I hear you. I ranted with the friends I read it with for a good few minutes.

Yes, I was glad to be able to share some really good writing too! FWD, especially, I am just constantly amazed by how great the stuff is there, and also how much I'm learning.