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Posts tagged: feminism
Thanks to @ThePurplePagefor pointing this article out.
Natasha C. Brooks skillfully argues that the current narratives around minorities in the sciences are heavily burdened with backward looking themes that can prevent the self- actualization of individuals, with the disturbing potential of stagnating the sciences as a whole.
In this week’s #BlerdChat, we’ll delve into the issue of narrative as it relates to the themes outlined by Natasha C. Brooks.
Does the current focus on past minority disempowerment in the sciences reinforce this problem?
Does the intense attention paid to disparities prevent us viewing the full spectrum of participation? Brooks points to the focus on minority health disparities to the detriment of health successes to make this point.
Does the highlighting of minority science prodigies who have “beaten the odds” reinforce the toxic assumption that minority participation in the sciences is abnormal or freakish?
To be clear, neither Natasha C. Brooks or I contend that the actual fact that barriers have and continued to exist should be ignored. The real bone of contention is how we tell these stories and to what effect.
I look forward to hearing your thoughts!
A quick editorial cartoon about the intersection of self-pity, entitlement, rape, territoriality, misogyny and fear of women. You see it all over the place online in the form of Men’s Rights Activists (of whom there are a few reasonable non-misogynists), Men Going Their Own Way, Pick Up Artists, and dudes touting the “Red Pill”, because The Matrix is a good movie. Look any of these up if you have the stomach for it. These are extreme examples, but watered-down forms of these ideas are everywhere.
In lurking their blogs and youtube channels for a while, I’ve noticed that beyond the standard patriarchal chauvinism there is this deep fear of women - what they will do to me, how they will reject me, how they will use me, how they are changing society in a way that does not favor me, how they are making men into something I don’t like, how they are making themselves into something I don’t like, that they won’t give me what I want, and that they won’t give me what I think is rightfully mine. This goes beyond fear of feminism- this is fear of women at its purest. And that, to quote a puppet, leads to anger and hate. It’s sad.
I am a feminist. I think there’s enough ice cream to go around, but it does mean those of us with 3 scoops might have to give one or two up. Also, The Matrix is a fun movie but probably not anything you should be basing a philosophy on.
It’s like this…
You’re fourteen and you’re reading Larry Niven’s “The Protector” because it’s your father’s favorite book and you like your father and you think he has good taste and the creature on the cover of the book looks interesting and you want to know what it’s about….
I would just like to show you all the best Cosplay at Emerald City Comicon. All other cosplays can go home.
That’s right, I drew a pic of Power Girl with no tit window AND shirtless ballerina Hulk. DWI
Inspired by Anita Sarkeesian’s Video Game Tropes vs Women, I wanted to pitch a Zelda game where Zelda herself was the hero, rescuing a Prince Link.
Clockwork Empire is set 2,000 years after Twilight Princess, and is not a reboot, but simply another iteration in the Zelda franchise. It just so happens that in this case, Zelda is the protagonist. I’m a very big Zelda fan, and worked hard to draw from key elements in the continuity and mythos.
This concept work is meant to show that Zelda as a game protagonist can be both compelling and true to the franchise, while bringing new and dynamic game elements that go farther than being a simple gender swap.
Hope you like it!
Finally, all the homework is done, and I’m safely on holiday in a lovely town in the South of England. So nothing much happened in the Doctor Who community on my hiatus, right? Hold on, let me check.
….
I AM NEVER LEAVING THE INTERNET ALONE AGAIN.
Right, so many things have happened that…
Comics Editor Carol writes about Superman, masculinity, and the American Way:
Since alex, Chris and I decided to write about masculinity this month, I’ve been thinking about Superman. Actually, I’ve been thinking and rethinking Superman almost as long as I’ve been writing for The Cultural Gutter. I began really thinking about him while watching Justice League and Justice League Unlimited. I’ve spent most of my life—and certainly my childhood and teen years—ambivalent about him. I grew up with the stodgy, daddish Superman of SuperFriends. Superman represented truth, justice and the American Way, a way that seemed all about straight white masculinity of the most rigid, hegemonic sort—a way that didn’t seem to include me. Whether as aspirational hero or adolescent power fantasy, it’s easy to see Superman as The Man.
art by Mike and Laura Allred, from The Superman/Madman Hullabaloo (Dark Horse/DC, 1998).
Sometimes I have the time and patience to get from an idea to a fully fleshed-out, penciled, inked and coloured comic.
Sometimes I don’t.
Screen Editor alex ponders self-help books, Mansome and what it means to be a man:
As a transguy, the question “What makes me a man?” has meant both pretty much the same things to me as to any other guy, and also something a bit different. I had to figure most of it out on my own, going through a second puberty of sorts at a point when all my peers were full grown, and in the process I’ve read about and watched a lot of versions of masculinity. From Charles Atlas and men’s exercise magazines to feminist and gender theory, there are so many options and perceived limits around how to be a man. Men’s self-improvement books like The 4-Hour Body and movies like Morgan Spurlock’s documentary Mansome are just a few examples.
