Posts by Danielle
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And yeah, I was pretty much torn between "Don't read this, Danielle, it's bad for your head" and "Please read this Danielle, because I want to see your reaction"
And there I was, distracted by changing nappies and washing window-frames (feministly, natch) and generally failing to read the piece at all. To the interwebs! To (no doubt) splutter with incoherent rage!
I think I read somewhere she never has two male characters talking in a scene where there isn't a lady present, because she didn't have any experience on how they behave in such circumstances.
"The little bit (two inches wide) of ivory on which I work with so fine a brush as produces little effect after much labour." I love her so.
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Barbara Stanwyck in Double Indemnity
Ooooh. Can we just take a moment to think about Barbara Stanwyck in that role, tool of the patriarchy or not? Swoon.
(Please, don't make me link to the famous Joss Whedon is a Sexist Arsehole essay, please.)
Is that at all like Giovanni's link to the 'The Wire is actually totally racist, y'all' blog entry? (Yes, yes, I am completely incredulously bitter about that blog entry, I know. I need to shut up about it.)
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Topless Women Talk About Their Lives
and a great local soundtrack, too...
On high rotate in our house, even all these years later.Us too! I *loved* that movie when it first came out. I was all 'it's me! and my friends!' I wonder if it still holds up? (And isn't there a scene shot inside the pre-refurb Civic?)
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Yeah, that OK Go Rube Goldberg video is the shit.
(Also: Bob likes Kim Deal? Bob continues to be awesome.)
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But sometimes I get the feeling the other side isn't listening.
Isn't that the problem with every broad-church progressive movement, though? We gather around in little groups to endlessly rag on each other and eat our young, while the actual douchebags often get a semi-free pass. (See also: pinko commies, etc.)
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And seeing as feminism, in however broad a way you want to look at it, is also about the right of women to speak for themselves, I'm quite happy to accept that their utterances on the subject have inherently greater value than mine.
Doesn't that get us back to essentialism again, though? So, as an example, my mother's first job was as a bank teller, and she was paid seven pounds a week. The chap next to her at the counter was paid nine pounds a week, by virtue of having a twig and berries. Now, I have never experienced doing the same work for a lower rate of pay, but that doesn't mean I'm not a feminist. Because I advocate for men and women to receive the same amount of pay for the same work. And you've never experienced any number of 'being-a-woman'-related sexist things, but if you're advocating gender equality (equalities?), that makes you a feminist to me.
To bring us back to the immortal lyrics of Helen Reddy: 'I'm still an embryo/ With a long long way to go/ Until I make my brother understand'.
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SATC is a show about four women who act like...?
I can't rewrite the joke, but I wanted to note something. If I cast my mind back to lo those many years ago to when the show was first on, I liked it because I saw some aspects of my friend-relationships reflected back to me. There really weren't (aren't?) very many shows about groups of women friends, and although it all got overwhelmed eventually by the whole Big/Aidan/Carrie thing, it did have some story arcs that dealt with more than Jimmy Choos. How do you support a friend who keeps doing something really bad for them, which drives you totally crazy? What should your friends do when a parent dies? What if your marriage ends up being completely wrong for you and you forced your friends to be bridesmaids and now you look like a doofus?
Plus, it was nice that they all had sex with people regularly without being killed off or taking part in some sort of 'punish the sluts' narrative. It was also, in parts, very funny. And this was despite how ham-fisted Carrie's voiceovers were, or the fact that I totally hated her character (god, all that *simpering* around her love interests was so annoying!). It's a pity that we all seem to have such a reduced view of the show now - which I suppose can be partly blamed on Michael Patrick King and the two films. But I also lay a fair amount of blame on reviewers and the gendered double standard Megan so eloquently expresses in her post.
PS I feel like I have been unconscionably wishy-washy about feminism, and would like to be Deborah when I grow up. Unfortunately I'm nearly 36 already and I don't think it's likely to ever happen.
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I don't know where to draw the line, what with half of actual feminists taking pains to tell everyone that they're not a feminist but they believe in equality, and half of non-feminists telling people they are feminist because they believe women's traditional roles should be embraced.
God, yes. I find it all immensely confusing. (For some reason I am reminded of that Lollapalooza scene in The Simpsons, where one audience member asks another 'are you being ironic?' and he replies 'I don't even KNOW anymore.') So while we're in the midst of all this flux, I'm just going to stick with calling myself a feminist and trying to avoid calling other people not-feminists when they say they're feminists (even Sarah bloody Palin, which sticks in the craw somewhat), and not really knowing what I think about some of the Big Feminist Issues. Which is... not all that helpful, actually. (And if Gio's One Dimensional Woman author-person tries to take away my shoes and handbags, I am going to be *peeved*.)
(Also: Megan, I love 'I Am Woman' too! In all its earnest, cheesy glory.)
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Join us, Sacha. Jooooooooooooooin usssssssssss...
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the trip back to Women Shouldn't Talk About Rugby Land
See, I thought that only happened when we *lost*. Have the rules changed?