And still mooore tabs – this is an endless battle.
- Chris Clarke is blogging again. In this entry he writes about Sarah Palin, Hillary Clinton, Obama, sexism, racism, the environment and such-like.
But the primary tenet of feminism is that women are ethically, intellectually, and politically the equals of men. To refrain from criticizing Palin’s ecocidal policies (among so many other things) based on her gender is an insult to the more than one hundred million women in the US who manage not to be power-mad Christofascist thugs. And failing to call her out on it just because she’s accepted the label “feminist” as part of the dissembling context of the most ridiculous Presidential campaign in recent US history not involving Lyndon LaRouche is, to my mind, to debase the work of millions of other feminists.
- Comparing depths of oppression is always a bad idea, but people do it. Echidne responds to the notion that racism is worse than sexism because women can get cabs more easily. Sure, but women can’t freakin’ go outside as freely as men.
In most societies women who go out alone at night are at greater risk than men who go out alone, because women have to deal not only with the risk of getting mugged but also with the risk of getting raped. They are seen as prey. So women adjust to this, accommodate themselves to this, stay at home and agree to live lesser lives because of their sex.
I have never met a woman who isn’t aware of this difference, who isn’t used to carefully mapping out routes to new places, who isn’t cautious about going anywhere at night on her own. But despite this and all those take-back-the-night marches the idea that women should somehow have the right to go out alone and not be at any greater risk than anyone else is — what? A stupid idea? Impossibly idealistic?
Whatever it is it is also a human rights issue.
- John McCain is an adulterer. Somehow, the press doesn’t care though. IOKIYAR. (It’s ok if you’re a Republican.)
- Read your email (in gmail) without touching your mouse. I must confess I don’t take advantage of keyboard shortcuts nearly as well as I should. It is a failing in my geekiness.
