Sunday Linkfest!

Hi folks! Sorry I was late with the Sunday Linkfest. I woke up late today (the_afterlight woke me around noon, and good thing too, since I was going to meet castusalbuscor at 2.30 to head out for the 3.30pm showing of Princess and the Frog. (I cried again!) And the former was free too, so we all three headed out together! We had a great time at the movie, the_afterlight and I played some DDR, we met Leslie (who used to work at Night Magic) at the bus stop, did some catching up, the two boys helped me install Photoshop (CS4, so I'll have to figure it out all over again! XD) and we went out for dinner at Freeman's. Satisfying. Anyway, links!

By now, you must have heard about James Chartrand, a rather well-known copywriter and blogger in the copywriting industry, actually being a woman. James took on a male name in order to distance herself from her current industry, and she ended up with more jobs, so went from being unemployed to being able to buy a house just about as soon as she used a male name. figleaf of Real Adult Sex and Amanda Hess of The Sexist weigh in on how it goes to show how the construct of masculinity hurts men and women. Most of the other feminist bloggers are completely unsurprised. And are mostly surprised at people being surprised.

At the Harpyness, BeckySharper shares with us a way to shut the Mansplainer up.

Female prisoners' rights are stripped beyond just keeping them down - they are shackled during labour. Look, I know they're criminals, but they're still people.

lauredhel transcribes this horrid "award-winning" Toyota Yaris ad.

The US military bans abortions for their female soldiers, endangering the lives of the women who serve.

Mo'Nique shares how her role in Precious helped her forgive her molester. Melissa McEwan notes that despite its flaws, the movie is still sensitive about the issue, probably due to the number of survivors involved in the project.

This is super: Rape educators in NZ are training bar staff to identify predators:

Programme co-ordinator Kylie Tippett said the workshops trained bar staff to watch out for "red flags" such as patrons being sexually harassed, being plied with double or triple drinks or drugs without their knowledge, simply getting drunk very quickly, or leaving the bar with no way to get to their next destination safely.

Is that not awesome?!

There's actually a carnival of Feminist Science Fiction! Check it out to read past carnivals. The latest post is the organizer looking for a new person to take the reins.

Catherine Traywick at Femmalia talks about Filipina feminism.

A story from Gender Across Borders on the effect of the Vietnam war on children of the soldiers.

A new report about sexual violence on college campuses, wherein Cara points out how it's more likely no action is likely to be taken, except to silence the victim, so the campus can pretend they're peachy keen and awesome for their students!

NC Commissioner is a bigot. He is so bigoted:

Commissioner Vilma Leake delivered personally emotional remarks in favor ot the measure—she cited her late son, who had died from complications of AIDS. The cruel James leaned over to her (with a hot mic broadcasting) and said ”Your son was a homo, really?"

Awesome 101 on how to treat transgendered people with respect, and knocks aside all the major arguments one could have.

Iranian men are wearing the headscarf in protest after one of the protesters was shown in a headscarf. They decided that if the government thought to humiliate one of them own by dressing him up as a woman, they would all wear headscarves in solidarity with their women too.

"Proud to wear my late mother's rusari, the very rusari that was forced on my wife in Iran, the very rusari for which my sisters are humiliated if they choose to wear it in Europe, and the very rusari that the backward banality that now rules Iran thinks will humiliate Majid Tavakoli if it is put on him -- He is dearer and nobler to us today than he ever was."

Jessica Yee, sex activist, being awesome on the Highway of Tears Initiative.

Stuff White People Do: implicitly deny that other people are fully human and ask non-white people how to fight racism.

There is an anti-racist FAQ here.

Here's a very nuanced post on white privilege and how it manifests subtly.

Did you know Chinese people can wear Chanel too? Except, of course, in Lagerfeld's vision of China, there aren't really any Chinese people.

Here's a fascinating context: if a relatively minority-like white group (i.e. not known for any cultural imperialism) does brownface, is it appropriation?

Some ruminations on vintage clothing, wearing vintage clothing, often from a problematic era. I like it, it's very close to the issues I deal with in steampunk.

The Disgrasian Ladies are on the cover of Hyphen Magazine! Congrats!

Ethnic groups say that "white" isn't enough. 'Cos you know, some white people are Arabs, some of whom are brown people.

Interesting stuff on copyrights and zombies.

At Tor.com, an awesome post about tentacled sex! Now THERE's a post for Chthulu Month!!!

Timberland Hong Kong made "Year of the Rat" boots. Had I known about this, I would have been all over it.

melissagrey has her own website to showcase her work. Go check out Melissa's work, ya'll! There's abstract stuff, and there's Wonder Woman stuff. I kid you not.

And now, City of Shared Stories: Kuala Lumpur, a really neat site which combines the Google Maps app with story-telling, and people can set a story in someplace very specific.

If you need more reading, check out Feministe's Sunday Shameless Self-Promotion to see what folks have been writing!