feminist blogs

OMG, you are thinking, did she really start off blogging with a photo of her GRANDCHILD??? (Yes!)

Greetings all, another guest blogger checking in! I’m Daisy, and I blog at the suitably named Daisy’s Dead Air. I don’t mind telling you all, I’m a nervous wreck. I am used to a rather small readership, and a BIG BLOG like this one gives me a substantial case of the nerves. But I figure it’s time grandma had a say, and I will be blogging about age and age-related issues.

I will be 51 in a couple of weeks…and as the expression goes, inside every old person is a young person wondering what the hell happened. My periodic fury over the treatment of old-lady bloggers is likely what inspired Jill to ask me here, so I could rant at length. I’ll try not to disappoint.

In short, the treatment of old women in Blogdonia* is a scandal and mirrors the dismissal of old women in the culture at large. Very few old women are included in the “Big Blogs”–with the exception of Arianna Huffington, who owns hers outright. Older men are more often in established writing careers and have easily segued into blogging. Older women with time on their hands after retirement or raising children, are great candidates to start blogging. Many of us wrote regular book-length letters (in longhand no less), back in the day. Although we were once quite accustomed to writing and journaling, it seems that many of us get near a computer and totally freeze up. This seems like the staked-out territory of the young, and WHAT the devil are we doing here? (Men, it seems, never ask themselves that question, even when they should.) Lots of old-women blogs are started and then never kept up. Others are afraid to stray off a topic of expertise… thus, you have countless cooking and gardening blogs, but not the great variety of content from the average older man’s blog, which will typically include his political opinions, movie reviews, stories from his life, etc.

Why should old women blog?

As I wrote in my “Thank a Second-Wave (OLD) Feminist” post, lots of us were instrumental in very basic reforms that many of you now take for granted. Our stories are part of the feminist legacy, and deserve to be told.

And then there is the matter of history, and who writes it.

I have now been around long enough to see history twisted, revised and rewritten in my lifetime. In fact, just last night, I heard a TV talking head proclaim that although the Democratic and Republican political conventions had some rowdy demonstrations in the late 60s/early 70s, not much happened after that. Huh? Not true. There were ongoing demonstrations, almost non-stop, throughout the conventions in Kansas City and New York City in 1976, as well as in New York City and Detroit in 1980. I realized, while observing the talking head, that he was too young to have any first-hand knowledge of what he was talking about. This was his Received Wisdom, the ‘official’ version that has Been Decided Upon by the Powers that Be. And as progressives, we should worry. History is written by the victors, and consequently, a lot of ours has been erased.

And of course there is this essential truth: older women, in general, are simply not considered very important. Speaking of the conventions, it is this sentiment that we see amplified in Hillary’s supporters, a general feeling of having been ignored and dissed. I daresay their anger is not simply about Hillary, but she makes a great focal point. This is also the furious collective reaction to a culture that seeks to destroy any evidence of aging with surgery, fanatical exercise and botox; that considers sexuality among old women scandalous and forbidden. (NOTE: I challenge you to name any movies or TV shows in which an older women is shown in an ongoing, overtly sexual relationship.** Meanwhile, old male movie stars rate attractive young co-stars closer to their daughters’ ages.) It is understood that age DOES NOT equal wisdom, and people who rebelliously state this controversial fact (snark) in books, blogs, essays, wherever, are roundly applauded for saying so and putting us in our place. Disrespect for old women is at an all-time high, or is it just disrespect for AGE in general? In the meantime, expect a cantankerous display any time old women are consistently ignored or openly treated like shit.

And what can we do about that?

One thing you can do, if you have a blog, is link old lady bloggers. If you go down your blogroll, and you can’t find anyone old, ask yourself why that is. It is no accident. You must make the effort.

To make it easy, I offer the following insightful, wise women that I personally enjoy reading. Please pick one or more, and add to your blogroll!

I’d also like readers to link their favorite old women bloggers in this thread.

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Elderwomanblog is the wonderful work of Marian Van Eyk McCain… no relation, don’t think!

Maitri is a Buddhist who rescues pugs, neurotic birds and writes about literature and spiritual growth.

Jackie is the author of the invaluable blog titled THE VEGAN DIET.

Granny Geek is possibly the best name of a blog, ever.

Marion’s fabulous blog is HERBAL CONNECTION. (Don’t be scared off, she covers other topics extensively, too!)

I was never quite sure of the age of Phyllis V. Du’Gas, until she turned out to be the only woman-blogger besides me who remembered Isaac Hayes’ HOT BUTTERED SOUL album! (You gave it away, Phyllis!)

Stony Run Farm is Risa’s ode to farming, canning, animals, hiking, and all that good outdoorsy stuff.

Unrepentant Old Hippie, also known as JJ, is a Canadian abortion rights activist with an acid wit, highly recommended.

Raven is a socialist who TAKES NO PRISONERS over on her blog, Fly by Night.

TIME GOES BY is Ronnie Bennett’s multi-issued blog dedicated to aging. She taught me to look up my bank’s rating and other common-sense stuff I didn’t know I should be doing. She also has a special section titled The Elder Storytelling Place.

Cat Chapin-Bishop writes Quaker Pagan Reflections with her partner, Peter Bishop. I am HUGE FAN of this one, spiritual junkie that I am.

Rhea writes THE BOOMER CHRONICLES, and covers important topics such as Annie Lennox’s recent back surgery. (Yes, inquiring minds want to know!)

Shadocat doesn’t update as much as she should (wags finger in her direction) but is the fantastic, warm, wonderful dyke grandma that we all should’ve had.

NOTE: This list would be a lot longer if women listed their ages on their blogs as often as men do. As it is, my preliminary investigations show that we are about one-fourth as likely to list our ages. Why?

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*a word I made up from the Marx Brothers’ fictional country of FREEDONIA in DUCK SOUP. Blogdonia doesn’t factually exist either, but we have to call it something. (Even though Freedonia doesn’t really exist, it goes to war anyway, just like Blogdonia.)

**BATTLESTAR GALACTICA is the exception, and that’s of course because she is also the president and can do what she wants!

’cause I’ve been collecting these stories for a couple days.

Fellow guestblogger Renee hits one out of the park: No More Penis Envy. I think I scared my cats laughing so freakin hard.

I am not sure if Nezua is guestblogging this summer but I am sure some of you remember him from last year. He wrote a piece this weekend on age, power, culture, authority and respect that takes a little longer to chew on, but the flavor is rich and the savor lingers long.

A bunch of parents in Fairfax County, Virginia, raised $125,000 to sue the school district for reworking the boundaries so as to integrate the local schools (on an economic basis). The kids were assigned to South Lakes High School, but the parents wanted them to go to the richer Oakton High. It will surprise precisely none of you, of course, that OHS is also whiter. (SLHS: 46% white, 20% black, 16% latin@ and 11 asian. OHS: 67% white, 11% black and latin@.) They argue on the basis of SAT scores for the schools overall, but here’s the thing: when you run the results for white kids in both schools, the SAT outputs are, respectively, 1730 and 1734. This is true on a general basis; in schools that are socioeconomically diverse, minority and poor kids do much better, and white kids do about the same. But, well, what do you really think those parents were suing over? Were they fighting for the right kind of education? Or were they fighting for the right kind of people?

Sir Charles taps into his righteous anger:

So much of the general public, including most of us in the blogosphere, are completely removed from the danger and physical difficulty of this kind of work.  That’s why you hear people talking about raising the Social Security retirement age to 70 — they have no idea what it’s like to hump it on a construction site for 30 or 40 years, no idea what it is like to pick up and lay down cinder block, one after the other for eight hours a day in 90 degree heat or 30 degree cold, no sense of what it takes to walk the iron or hoist re-bar or climb ladders and scaffolding when you’re 58 years old and your back is bad and your knees are screaming and your body is just broken down.  It’s easy for some asshole editorial writer or some glibertarian blogger to talk about working until you are 70 — but my feeling on this is that if the heaviest thing you lift every day is a cup of coffee or a bulky file — just shut the fuck up on this subject.

Preach it, brother.

And let’s wish Cara a happy belated birthday! She thought she was going to get away without mentioning it here, but ha-ha! I will catch up several days later and use my guest-blogging privileges to bring it to light! Take THAT, Cara! (Happy birthday, too. ;))

I have a post coming up that’s riffing off of the complaints in that post. In the meantime, let’s break out the little tooty toys and party hats, and I’ll go get the trick candles…

Yet again, my inbox is full of great stories that I just don’t have time to cover individually. Some to check out:

Meet Gus Puryear, Bush’s latest nominee for a lifetime judgeship. If this article doesn’t make you panic about the kinds of people Bush is using to stack the courts, I don’t know what will. It is simply and utterly terrifying.

Exonerations Continue Across the Country — But Are Innocent Prisoners Ever Truly Free? In a criminal justice system as sprawling as ours, it’s no shock that many prisoners are in fact innocent. But truly clearing someone of a crime they didn’t coming takes a lot more than overturning a guilty verdict.

Rebecca Walker, daughter of feminist icon Alice Walker, has a piece up in the Daily Mail eviscerating her mother and the feminist movement. It’s a bit painful to read, mostly because it feels more like airing the family’s dirty laundry than an actual substantive critique, and I found myself cringing through a lot of it. I think what it illustrates more than anything is that a one-size-fits-all solution isn’t going to work for anyone; having a child didn’t bring happiness to Alice, but it apparently worked for her daughter. Rebecca, though, seems convinced that child-rearing is the best thing for every woman — and odd conclusion, considering her own memories of her childhood.

Women in academia are less likely to have children than women in other professions. What’s going on there?

Almost 300 illegal immigrants are sent to prison in a federal effort to crack down. What makes the case unusual is that the immigrants were tried in criminal proceedings (as opposed to in immigration court) and were threatened with prison sentences instead of simply being deported back to their home countries. In the meantime, the owners of the plant where the feds conducted the raid sound like they were running an incredibly cruel and exploitative business — and so far they face no charges.

And not only were workers at the plant mistreated and over-worked, but there are also allegations of sexual abuse.
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I’m not posting much around these parts, but I am still working at AlterNet. A few noteworthy pieces from over there, in AlterNet’s Repro Justice and Gender Section:

“Pro-Lifers” Protest Contraception

Sex Work vs. Trafficking: Understanding the Difference

Anti-Feminist Backlash Out in Full Force

“Dykes, Whores or Bitches”: One in Three Military Women Experience Sexual Abuse

Anti-Choice Zealots Chase After Patients’ Private Medical Records

Misdiagnosis: Reproductive Health and Our Environment

Men of the Cloth: The Vatican Isn’t So Far From Fundamentalist Mormonism

More here.

And from AlterNet generally:

The Human Rights Crime in Gaza, by Jimmy Carter

Meet Gus Puryear: Bush’s Latest Villainous Nominee for a Lifetime Judgeship

The Violent Language of Right-Wing Pundits Poisons Our Democracy

An Atheist Goes Undercover to Join the Flock of Mad Pastor John Hagee. This article is written by Matt Taibbi, which gives it a whole lot of sneering elitism and progressive entitlement to mock fat people, gays, women, Christians, and basically anyone Matt deems not as cool as himself. The story itself, though, is a good one.

Are Immigration Authorities Going After School Children Now?

How Should States Deal with Polygamous Sects?

Enjoy. And in just three days, I will be done with finals and I’ll have time to read something other than AlterNet.

Six conservative female bloggers on dating. A few observations: Conservative female bloggers dislike arrogance and over-confidence. They do like chivalry, which liberalism and feminism has apparently been trying to kill (weirdly, I still get the door held for me on occasion). They dislike “wimpy” guys (which is apparently defined as “not having a gun”). But the answers are interesting, and certainly differ from woman to woman — something that in itself flies in the face of a lot of conservative talking points about “what women want” and how all chicks dig “real men.” My favorite responses are from Karol, who I met about a year ago and who is really smart and bad-ass (but then, I tend to like uppity broads, even the right-wing ones), and Dawn, who I think is totally wrong, but who has clearly thought out these issues and come up with a cohesive and intelligent view.

Speaking of dudes and dating, CNN has an article on Japanese “geisha guys,” who hang out with Japanese businesswomen and serve as pretty accessories. There is no mention of sex, which is weird — if the article were about female geishas, I’d imagine sex would come in. That said, I’m pretty sure the whole thing is just one more of those “Japan is so weird!!!” articles, which is why it’s light on actual reporting. Thanks to Fauzia for the link.

Can porn and feminism coexist? A very interesting article that doesn’t re-hash the same tired arguments.

From a Saudi website — Want to keep your maid? Pamper her. And by “pamper” the author actually just means “don’t abuse.” Nice.

Jeff Jacoby is a moron. His article is about sex-selective abortion, and the conclusion is “it’s bad.” Someone give this man a Nobel prize. He further argues that parents in backwards oriental lands (like China or India) “may have rational reasons for preferring a son,” but parents in the USA would never have any reason for sex-selective abortion. Because apparently girls and boys are totally equally valued in this country. He doesn’t seem to offer any solution, and he refuses to recognize that there may be reasons (albeit offensive ones) for sex-selective abortions in the United States. As a conservative, he’d rather just put his head in the sand and rail against feminists and brown people (who are the only ones who have sex-selective abortions, of course) instead of strategizing solutions beyond “make abortion illegal.” Although he does want to know “what kind of feminist would it be who could contemplate the use of abortion to eliminate ever-greater numbers of girls, and not cry out in horror?” Apparently “crying out in horror” is the ideal solution, as opposed to agitating for gender equality — you know, what feminists actually do.

Chris Matthews is a ridiculous asshole. Thanks to Kyle for the link.

The Kenyan rape crisis is re-opening the debate on abortion. From the same publication: Kenyan men are deciding that Kenyan women are too uppity, and so they’re pursuing Ugandan women instead. Sound familiar? Apparently MRAs have gone international.

Top Bush advisers approved “enhanced interrogation” techniques. In other words, it was the guys at the top who sanctioned torture. Disgusting.

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Most of you know this since I mention it once a week or so, but I moonlight as the Reproductive Justice and Gender editor over at AlterNet, and I put all kinds of interesting articles up over there that I rarely have time to write about here. So you should head over and check it out — and sign up for my weekly newsletter. Here are a few of my recent favorite pieces, all worth a read:

-The American Health Care System is Failing Women of Color. Not surprising, but the statistics are nonetheless abhorrent. Just stay out of the comment section — I think my personal favorite note (and one that’s particularly representative) says, “hello…um…its failing us ALL… don’t make it about race and/or gender!” Uh, ok. Except that when it’s failing some of us a whole lot worse than others, and those failures are often drawn along racial and gender lines.

-Are Modern Women Miserable? Don’t worry — it’s not another backlash piece arguing that women are unhappy because we have too many rights and we should get back in the kitchen. The author posits that many women are unhappy because the promise of gender equality is dangled in front of us, but not yet fulfilled. Another one to skip the comments on, as the MRAs are out in full force.

-Poverty has a woman’s face. And the lack of political representation is fueling it.

-Horton Hears a Wingnut. Anti-choicers demonstrate at a children’s movie to send the message that “a person’s a person no matter how small.” Unless the person has a uterus. In that case, fuck her.

-Iraqi women hit hard by occupation. Hey, remember when Iraqi women actually had rights? You know, before we brought them “freedom”?

-Women as weapons of war. The Western media depicts women’s bodies as war tools as deadly as guns.

This week has been nuts, so blogging has been light on my end, but here are a bunch of great feminist-minded reads to make up for it. I’m also going on vacation all next week — I have a fabulous guest-blogger lined up for you and I’ll have wireless in my hotel, though, so it shouldn’t have too much of an impact. And I’ll try to drag myself away from the beach long enough to put up a blog post or two every day. In the meantime, enjoy:

-The economics of prostitution — did Spitzer get caught because he didn’t spend enough on sex work?

-Iraqi women have their say — so when will we start listening to them?

-Why I can’t vote for Hillary Clinton — One woman reacts to the Clinton campaign’s racist smear tactics.

-Laura Ingraham is an asshole. Brett Favre cried during the press conference when he announced his retirement — an understandable emotional reaction — and Ingraham pulled out the masculinity-shaming

“All these years, and I didn’t know there was a woman quarterback in the NFL.

“Brett Favre … we’re watching this in the studio, obviously retiring from the NFL, great quarterback, handsome 38-year-old man, he gets up there and he does this press conference that was frankly one of the most embarrassing things I have ever seen.”

“That’s a great message for young boys. ‘Get up there and act like a girl and start blubbering like a baby.”

Then, in her best impersonation of a crying toddler with its favorite toy taken away, she wah-wah-wah’s while uttering in a mocking tone, “It’s about me, it was never about me, but it is about me, bla, bla, bla” before returning to her regular voice and stating, “I could not believe what I was seeing.”

-What women should take away from the Spitzer scandal and the “stand by your man” expectation of Silda: Don’t quit your day job.

-The cure for depression: An apron, some babies and a man to run your life. Stop expecting things and you won’t be sad.

-Elizabeth Hasselbeck is concerned that white people can’t go to Obama’s church (not true).

-Marc Rudov is a moron:

During a segment of The O’Reilly Factor to discuss “What is the downside of having a woman become the president of the United States?” author Marc Rudov’s initial response to the question was, “You mean besides the PMS and the mood swings, right?” Rudov later asserted: “Well, you know, I’m joking. Of course, the main problem I have is if a woman has a female agenda.”

A woman caring about things that affect women? Count me out.

-The gender gap in elections — is misogyny influencing the way that men vote?

-Heather MacDonald is wrong on rape. Too bad she’s still a completely misogynist asshat who refuses to inject a dose of reality into her woman-hating and victim-blaming.

-Amy Winehouse doesn’t need a patriarchal media and society to save her.

-It’s a natural resource curse, not a religious one: How oil in the Middle East has negatively influenced women’s rights.

-RH Reality Check, my absolute favorite site for reproductive health information, commentary and resources, has a salon about a new agenda for women’s health around the world. Check it.

-Men denounce violence against women in Kenya. Way to go, guys — this is awesome pro-feminist activism. Any male readers are encouraged to head over and sign.

-Echidne, one of my favorite bloggers, writes about what it means to be a feminist. See Part 1 and Part 2.

-Contraceptive Crafting for women and girls who want a new space to express their artistic side:

I mean how can it be that the search query for “skateboard designs” has over 19,000 results and two sponsored links while “contraceptive designs” can have 5 results and three sponsored links? Which one is really going to have a bigger impact on you over the course of your entire life? Which actually pushes your design and crafting efforts to consider themes of sexuality, reproduction, personal responsibility, perhaps love, passion, the actual chemistry of choice and other forms of rebellion than having a security guard chase you off the loading dock?

Which is not to say that skateboarding isn’t cool. It is. It’s just that it’s also cool to have an option for not getting pregnant when having sex. Admittedly it’s a small canvas, but it seems like a strategic one.

-Anti-choice nuts demonstrate at a kids’ film — Dr. Seuss’s Horton Hears a Who. Then they wonder why people think they’re nuts.

-Anti-sex-trade activists are reeling in the wake of the Spitzer scandal — particularly because Spitzer signed the toughest anti-sex-trafficking law in the nation.

First, check out AlterNet’s Reproductive Justice and Gender section. I’ve got lots of good stuff going up this week, including stories about anti-choice terrorism, the candidates on choice, and male domestic violence survivors. My favorite article up today is about pro-life Christians panicking about Muslims “out-breeding” us. It illustrates how the anti-choice movement isn’t about life or babies at all; it’s about social control, and requiring all people to live life in a particular way — and it’s about racism.

Erica Jong writes about Hillary and the Patriarchy. I have mixed feelings about Jong (to put it mildly), but at least this piece is interesting.

Malalai Joy on how her country is using Islam to erode women’s rights.

Are Americans hostile to knowledge? I’m gonna go with “yes.”

Bob Herbert on how we need a paradigm shift in how we deal with under-age girls forced or coerced into prostitution. He argues that we should look at prostituted girls as victims, and we should offer them help instead of arrest; obviously I’m inclined to agree. But I wonder how this paradigm shift carries over once the girls turn 18. Herbert, as I understand it, does support criminalizing sex work; does a young women stop being a victim and start being a criminal once she turns 18? And can’t there be something in between “criminal” and “victim”? Herbert is right, though, that the people who exploit girls and women need to be branded as criminals and, where applicable, pedophiles.

A French sex exhibit for children is causing some controversy — but it sounds pretty interesting and positive to me.

Enjoy.

Just because I think this is funny.

As always, there is too much good stuff out there and not enough time to blog it all. A few things to check out today:

-Female race car drivers in Iran kick ass — and one of them, a feminist icon, is the only female athlete to have competed against a man in the past 25 years:

She is a pioneer in Iran, the first female athlete to have competed against a man in the 25 years since Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini established the theocracy. It was in 2004, during a long-distance race in Tehran. “I broke a taboo. I’m proud of it. Why should Iranian women be weak? I don’t know,” she says in fluent English. “Our Prophet Mohammed never claimed that women should be locked up at home and doomed to watch the children while the man enjoys himself outside. On the contrary: He wanted men to encourage their wives and daughters to develop their personalities to the fullest. To be a successful country, we need strong women.”

Thanks to Kyle for the link.

-And here in the United States, a young Muslim athlete (and one of the fastest young women in DC) is being disqualified from track meets because her religious dress violates the uniform code, despite the fact that it gives her no advantage and is unobtrusive: “The custom-made, one-piece blue and orange unitard covers her head, arms, torso and legs. Over the unitard, she wears the same orange and blue T-shirt and shorts as her teammates.”
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Loads of good stuff out there:

Huckabee calls for wifely submission

Senator’s Inquiry Into Megachurch Money Hypocrisy Sparks Church-State Showdown

Abortion Clinic Violence: Is “Pro-Life” Murder An Oxymoron?

Teen Moms Say: Too Little, Too Late

The Secret Ballot (a little elction “fiction”)

I’m a FEMALE Male Chauvinist – a little something to raise your blood pressure and make you roll your eyes all the way back into your head.