feminist blogs

Just a quick reminder, you can submit links for this column via e-mail at rosiered23 (at) sparecandy (dot) com, and you can catch up with Spare Candy on Twitter, Facebook or Tumblr as well. Or! Leave a link in the comments! Self-promotion is perfectly acceptable here.

Thursday, Aug. 26, was Women's Equality Day, marking the day the 19th Amendment was certified, officially giving (some) women the right to vote. As with last week's roundup of 19th Amendment stories, there were a number of stories this week related to Women's Equality Day (and if you have written something, leave a link in the comments!):

• Associated Press: "Gender gap in U.S. politics remains despite gains." Here's something to consider, from the article: " Worldwide, women hold 19 percent of the seats in national legislatures, according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union. Its rankings of 186 nations – based on percentage of women in the single or lower chamber of the legislature – has the U.S. tied for 90th with Turkmenistan."
• Womanist Musings: "Not All Women Won The Right to Vote Today."
• Presidential Proclamation: "Women's Equality Day, 2010"
• Truthout: "Aniston-O'Reilly Tiff Mirrors Gender Disparities on Women's Equality Day."
• Hello Ladies: "Six Ways to Honor Women’s Equality Day." This is a great list, and I'd like to say thanks to the author for including me!
• Miami Herald: "90 years after women's suffrage, equality issues unresolved."
• TBD: "Suffragettes return, rally for D.C. voting rights." It boggles my mind.
• Daily Camera: "Unused freedom to vote."

In other news:

• ESPN: "Hall of Fame honors Chelsea Baker." I love this story. The Hall in question is the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, and Chelsea is a 13-year-old Little League player who has pitched two perfect games -- against boys.
• New York Times: "How Power Has Transformed Women’s Tennis." Also check out Antonia Zerbisias' article, "Grand Slam," on Broadsides.
• USA Today: "Wal-Mart wants women's pay class-action suit thrown out." No way!
• Bitch: "Mad World: The Huffington Post's Sexist Linkbait Strategy." Love this, because it's so, so true.
• Ms. blog: "Newsflash: Colorado Prisons’ 'Labia Lift' Policy." If you're thinking "what??" you are not alone. I had no idea either.
• The Frisky: "In Defense Of 'Angry' Feminists."
• Daily Kos: "Want a raise? Wash your vagina."
• Fair and Feminist: Check out the posts for the "This is What a Young Feminist Looks Like" blog carnival.
• The Angry Black Woman: "The Dark Side of Being Pretty."
• The Guardian: "Disabled people do have sex lives. Get over it."
• Ms. blog: "Who’s Afraid of the Single Black Woman?"
• Huffington Post: "Is (Black) Beauty Still a Feminist Issue?"
• CNN: "Muslim women who wear the hijab and niqab explain their choice"
• Racialicious: "Another day, another apology – this time to Inuit for high arctic relocation."
• Afghan Women's Writing Project: "A Bold Step For Afghan Women Journalists." Three journalists are creating Afghanistan’s first Women’s Journalism Center. Love that!
• MSNBC: "Some 200 women gang-raped near Congo UN base."
• RH Reality Check: "Haitian Women Fight Sexual Violence."
• Medill Reports: "HIV/AIDS prevention gel gets standing ovation."

LGBTQ:

• The New Republic: "Disgrace: Obama’s increasingly absurd gay marriage position."
• New York Times: "At West Point, Hidden Gay Cadets Put in Spotlight"
• The Atlantic: "Bush Campaign Chief and Former RNC Chair Ken Mehlman: I'm Gay." This article at first infuriated me, but ultimately it's just sad.
• Philadelphia Inquirer: "Transgender rules on driver's licenses changed."
• Memphis news station: "Former Memphis Officer Pleads Guilty in Transgender Beating Case."
• Bay Windows: "Transgender woman pleased with hospital’s response."
• The Atlantic: "Transgender Candidate Receives 22% in GOP House Primary." While I don't hold the same political views (at all) as Donna Milo, this is still important.
• The Advocate: "Bogotá Warms to Gay Marriage."

Pop culture:

• Ms. blog: "True Blood Cast Gets Sexy And Bloody–Remind You of Anything?"
• Vanity Fair: "Vampire Weekend’s Mutinous Muse: Ann Kirsten Kennis says her face appeared on the cover of a No. 1 album without her knowledge or consent. Does she deserve compensation?"
• Pop Candy: "Raggedy Ann prepares to turn 95 years young." Included because as a child, I loved Raggedy Ann and Andy. And I so want the commemorative dolls!
• Spinoff: "Marvel Reacts To 'Runaways' Race Bending Accusations."
• Entertainment Weekly: "Original Blue Power Ranger reveals that he was harassed on set for being gay."
• USA Today: "Heart gets thumping again with new album, tranquil attitude." Consider this: Ann Wilson is 60 years old, and Nancy is 56. Bad ass.
• Jezebel: "In Defense Of Lady-Terrorizing Horror Movies." I love horror movies, even though they're so often problematic.
• Huffington Post: "Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Weiner Speak Out On Franzen Feud."

by Amanda Marcotte

Couple of pop culture stories on the topic of “Women: Widely Perceived As Incapable Of Making Good Choices”.  Let me get one thing clear before I begin this.  I’m not a “choice feminist”.  I’m not one of those people who think women are saints and that whatever choice a woman makes is beyond criticism.  But I am a feminist who believes women make choices about as well as men, and that the general public rejects this theory, especially in cases where there’s conflict between a man and a woman, a woman and some kind of authority, a woman and a bunch of judgmental idiots who don’t know the first thing about her life. And this is the theme of these two stories. 

First, Cee-Lo Green’s new video, an admittedly awesome and catchy tune called “Fuck You”. It might as well have been called the “Nice Guy® Anthem Of Butthurtness”. 

I really, really hate the “gold digger” version of the Nice Guy® whine, for three major reasons:

1) The men who trot out the belief that women are morally obligated to date broke men never turn around and put the moral obligation on men to date ugly women, which is the sexist society equivalent to low-status broke dudes.  This is an odious double standard that implies that men have a right to their standards but women are evil for the exact same behavior.  It reinforces the notion that women’s bodies aren’t their own, but are cookies to be handed out to men for good behavior, or perhaps just because they’re the most pitiable and could use an orgasm.

2) They exaggerate the situation to shield themselves from criticism.  The whole narrative of “gold digger” ends up casting aspersions on the characters of women who prefer to date men with jobs and furniture, who can actually go out on a date once in awhile.  Even if women make their own damn money, they can get tarred with this “gold digger” slam for simply having standards.  A lot of women go through a phase in their youth where, afraid to be called shallow, will put up with dudes who expect you to watch them play video games while you twiddle your thumbs instead of going out on proper dates.  There’s nothing wrong with a woman who wants to enjoy a cocktail and some nice conversation on a date, or who would like to sit on real furniture and not worry about getting fleas when she visits a man.  And yet, the fear of being called shallow is used to shame women who have entirely reasonable standards.

3) The Nice Guy® wants a cookie for being in love with a woman that he, rightly or wrongly, characterizes as shallow, appearance-obsessed, and stupid.  If she’s all those things, why do you love her, then?  Doesn’t that make you stupid?  Oh wait, you “love” her because she’s got such a smoking bod, right?  Well, then, see #1.

There’s some reason to wonder if this song isn’t another example of Cee-Lo doing what he often does, which is to create odious characters to narrate his songs.  He likes to explore the dark side of human nature, and there’s more than a little humor in this process for him.  But he’s indicated that this isn’t really the case this time.  More to the point, the narrative that women are shallow for wanting “money” (which, like I said, often encompasses the relatively rare woman who is angling for a rich man but is also, and more commonly, used to shame women who simply want men who have more to offer than “well, you can blow me on this bean bag after I finish this level") is so ingrained in our society that there was exactly 0% chance this would be taken for satirical by 99% of the audience.  There’s just not enough respect for female autonomy, or sympathy for women’s motivations to suggest that anything else would have happened but what did happen, which is that legions of men immediately swore this was the greatest song ever and Cee-Lo was telling pretty much all of female humanity where to get off.  Again, I have yet to see any real evidence that the vast majority of women---or even “hot” women that are the only women that count to the stalwart critics of being shallow---are willing to throw true love out the window because her true love isn’t a millionaire.  If that was so, our marriage rates would be a lot lower, don’t you think?

Exhibit #2 for today’s events is creeping me out is this story of a woman who explicitly refused to consent to certain things entering her body, but who goes out with a guy that she’s dating while she’s wearing a new dress, and he forces her to do what she explicitly refused to do with him. But she discovers that she likes it!  All she needed was a little force, and suddenly she was having “as orgasm”.  And now she’s ready to chastise herself for the misogynist commenters at Salon to eat up for her previous disregard for sensuality that had to be forced out of her by a loving, sexy man. 

This rape fantasy was brought to you sublimated as a story about a vegetarian being forced to eat meat, and now ruined forever, she has lost her ability to say no to meat again.  But really, the underlying narrative is barely sublimated.  You have a picture of a sexy mouth, and she dwells on how the man who overrode her decisions for her is such a sexy lover and how she was looking good and practically asking for it.  Anyway, her vegetarianism was a hang-up. She had to be forced, for her own good.  She really doesn’t leave any of the sexualizing of the experience of being tricked into eating foie gras to the imagination:

13 years of denial crumbled as I shrugged and told myself that I was ready for it anyway. I liked it. I was not uptight. I was having the best sex of my life with this man. I was wearing a new dress.

As a vegetarian, I have to take issue with the claim that not eating meat is evidence of being sexually prudish, uptight, or unable to feel pleasure.  Or stupid, and needing a man to take control of my life because I can’t make decisions.  Jowita Bydlowska doesn’t leave the bimbo stone unturned; part of the coercion process is her boyfriend exploiting her ignorance of what foie gras is.  Not that there’s any shame in not knowing something like that, but in a narrative about a woman being forced to take something into her body against her will and then discovering she likes it, the Dumb Girl element is often a critical trope.  She links her vegetarianism to pretty much every misogynist trope imaginable about why women simply cannot be allowed to make their own decisions about her body: she’s hysterical, overly emotional, prudish, mentally damaged, vain, spiteful, and really very stupid.  Thank god a man was there to make decisions for her!  She’s just so female, and can’t be trusted to know what’s good for her. 

Seriously, at least Cee-Lo’s song is funny and catchy, and I’ll probably listen to it many times.  But Bydlowska’s overwrought misogynistic pandering is just painful.

Seriously, some days I just feel like giving up.  But then what would I do with myself?

This is a lovely photograph of Rufus and Martha Wainwright on either side of their mother,  Kate McGarrigle, who sadly passed away on 18 January 2010.

I always wanted an awesome sister and a gay brother, so no matter how you look at it, Martha and Rufus Wainwright have something I don't: each other. But they each have suffered a great loss, as their mother, the folk singer Kate McGarrigle, to whom each paid tribute on Friday, passed away earlier this year.

I have seen them together before, but always welcome seeing them perform on the same stage. The last time I saw them both together was in Montreal. Here is a lovely review by Megan Ritt, with photograph gallery by Meghan Brosnan, from here @ CoS: consequenceofsound.net. You can also click on the title below to link back. Thank you Megan and Meghan!


The marquee was bright; the walls were edged in gold; the tickets said “Broadway in Chicago”, for heavens’ sake. When Rufus Wainwright decides to put on a show, you know you’re in for something magical, but his current tour in support of All Days Are Nights: Songs for Lulu takes magical to a whole new level. “Mesmerizing” is the word most often bandied about by the crowd after the first half of his set—but wait! We’re getting ahead of ourselves, and no part of the show, which took place this past Friday at Chicago’s Bank of America Theater, could conscionably be skipped over.

Opening for Mr. Wainwright would be no easy feat for any musician, which may explain why Wainwright chose his little sister Martha for the job. Martha is best known as a folk singer, and I wondered how her music would jive with the audience, who came in want of high pageantry. But if you’ve grown up with someone, of course, it would be hard to be intimidated by him. Martha filled her role capably, comfortably, and dare I say, wonderfully. Her gorgeous, buttery alto poured from her throat, the folk-flavored female compliment to Rufus’ tenor. Like her brother, Martha slides effortlessly up and down the scales, one moment shouting, now quiet; one moment throaty but up to falsetto in an instant. She sings a fearless, bottomless brand of folk comparable to her brother’s music only in its limitlessness. One wishes to be a fly on the wall in their childhood home.

The crowd clearly adored Martha, whooping almost involuntarily throughout her set. Crowd favorites included opener “Bleeding All Over You”, which showcases Martha’s beautiful capability for heartbreak; “This Life”, during which Martha often closed her eyes and looked to the ceiling as if to invoke the gods of music, to a quite moving effect; and “Soudain Une Vallee”, for which her husband joined her on piano, from her recent record of Edith Piaf songs, Sans Fusils, Ni Souliers, A Paris. Martha’s Piaf is throaty, raw, nuanced—in a word, lovely. The crowd was so taken with this latter piece—and with an a cappella last song performed at the edge of the stage, hands wrung—that her Piaf record sold out at the show during intermission. Martha took the great, cavernous theater and made it feel like a small coffeehouse joint, like you were sitting five feet away, like she was the coolest girl you knew from college. Never have I had such a strong desire to sit over whiskeys with a musician.


After a brief intermission, the crowd was reminded of the particulars of Rufus’ set: He would play Lulu start to finish, and there was to be no clapping or interruptions of any kind during this song cycle portion of the program. The lights dimmed, and Rufus appeared stage left in his now-famous costume: the feathers, the jewels, the 15-foot train, all in black. He walked somberly, slowly to the piano and took his seat under a single spotlight. He paused, and then launched into the meandering, river-like piano intro of “Who Are You New York”. The somber black-and-white setting, lit from behind by Douglas Gordon’s art film of a heavily made-up eye opening and closing, threw both the high and low emotional points of the record into sharp relief.



A particular highlight of the set was Rufus’ stark love song to his sister, “Martha”, dealing with their beloved mother’s recent fatal illness. The somber setting and the bareness of his voice all alone on the wide-open stage made the song heartbreakingly plaintive; I cannot have been the only audience member moved to tears. Though the crowd forgot their instructions and clapped at the beginning of the set (possibly an after-effect of their boundless enthusiasm for Martha), Rufus took only a silent sip of water and kept playing; by the third song, the silence between pieces was an actual absence of sound. At one point, car horns could be heard outside the theater. The piano parts on the record are quite challenging at times, and Rufus leaned into the difficult ones, giving the audience a real sense of his effort. The Shakespearean sonnets took on a new drama in that setting, as did “What Would I Ever Do With A Rose”, with its slightly insidious piano part. I never before noticed the darkness of that piece until I heard it live under the spotlight. “Zebulon”, the closer of this set, was given new depth as well; one was struck by the degree to which Rufus laid his soul bare on that stage. This was high drama, living opera– performance art at its finest– and conceiving of and performing it surely took some moxie. Bravo, Mr. Wainwright, bravo.

After another brief intermission (cue the audience to say “mesmerizing”), Rufus took the stage again, this time dressed as himself, to a standing ovation. He played a mix of popular songs from his previous records, with Martha joining him on stage for a few. Highlights of this set (copious applause permitted) included “This Love Affair”, “Memphis Skyline”, and particular crowd favorite “The Art Teacher”, all from Want Two; and “Nuits de Miami” and “Complainte de la Butte”, both sung with Martha and in French (“since we’re in the Paris-Berlin-Moscow of the Midwest!” Rufus proclaimed to adoring Chicagoans). And yes—finally, for this long-time fan– he played a heartrending version of “Hallelujah”.

The crowd brought him back out for an encore, which ended with his late mother’s song for his father, a beautiful rendition of her “Walking Song”. The show lasted three hours, but we could have stayed all night. A mix of operatic drama and coffeehouse warmth, costume and charisma, light and dark, soft and loud, male and female, stark sadness and bright optimism: The Wainwrights surely know how to put on a show for the ages.

Photography by Meghan Brosnan.

Martha Wainwright setlist:
Bleeding All Over You
Comin’ Tonight
Four Black Sheep
This Life
Soudain Une Vallee (Edith Piaf cover)
(unknown)
Baby
(unknown song in French)

Rufus Wainwright first setlist (song cycle):
Who Are You New York
Sad With What I Have
Martha
Give Me What I Want and Give It to Me Now!
True Loves
Sonnet 43
Sonnet 20
Sonnet 10
The Dream
What Would I Ever Do with a Rose?
Les feux d’artifice t’appellent
Zebulon

Rufus Wainwright second setlist:
Beauty Mark
Grey Gardens
This Love Affair
Matinee Idol
Memphis Skyline
Art Teacher
Nuits de Miami (with Martha)
Complainte de la Butte (with Martha)
Hallelujah (with Martha)
Little Sister
Dinner at Eight
Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk

Encore:
Poses (with Martha)
Going to a Town
Walking Song (Kate McGarrigle cover)
——
TAGGED AS: Martha Wainwright, Rufus Wainwright

Just a quick reminder, you can submit links for this column via e-mail at rosiered23 (at) sparecandy (dot) com, and you can catch up with Spare Candy on Twitter, Facebook or Tumblr as well. Or! Leave a link in the comments! Self-promotion is perfectly acceptable here.

This week, I've been really interested in the conversations taking place about the Eminem song "Love the Way You Lie," featuring Rihanna, and the video for the song, which came out this week. If you haven't seen the video, you can check it out on YouTube, or it's embedded in this article on The Stir, "'Love the Way You Lie' Video: Domestic Violence Has Never Looked Like This." (Content warning for depictions of domestic abuse.) I've come across some good back-and-forth discussions on Tumblr, some of which I've reposted and added to, if you want to check them out. Personally, I think both the song and the video are actually really great and thought-provoking, though I can see the other side of the discussion (that it glorifies domestic violence, that it sounds like you should empathize with the abuser, or that you have to consider the source). You can read more about the video at Bitch and Feministing. Also, Megan Fox, who stars in the video with Dominic Monaghan, did something really great: she donated her appearance fee to the Sojorn House, a shelter for abused women. Good on her.

In other reading:

• New York Times: "Indonesia Finds Banning Pornography Is Difficult." As in banning all porn on the entire Internet.
• Wall Street Journal: "Islamic Feminists Storm Some Barricades: Can pray-ins by Muslim women end segregation at U.S. mosques?"
• BBC: "Blog reveals Afghanistan medic Karen Woo's dedication." Woo was one of the medics recently killed in Afghanistan.
• Boston Globe: "Women on Supreme Court no longer 'curiosities.'" Elena Kagan was sworn in this week, as the fourth woman to ever serve on the court.
• Shakesville: "Today in Rape Culture." This post is about a doctor who has been charged with sexually assaulted a number of patients -- and won't lose his medical license.
• Womanist Musings: "Keep Your Cum To Yourself." High "ick" factor here.
• Change.org: "Bangladesh Outlaws Fatwas That Call For Flogging Of Rape Victims."
• The Daily Beast: "A New Fight Over Abortion Access." About crisis pregnancy centers.
• Gender Across Borders: "Abortion and domination in France and Brazil." Also at GAB: "Brava, Kristof: A Column All About Abortion and Misoprostol."
• The Hill: "Senate Republicans push bill to limit abortion coverage."
• GOP Choice: "Guest Blog from Amanda Mountjoy, RMC’s Colorado Chapter Chair," on the personhood amendment on the ballot in Colorado.
• Pride in Utah: "Transgender Woman Refused Hospital Treatment."
• Children's Hospital Boston: "Children’s gives transgender tween new hope."
• Genderbitch: "Feminist Disavowal Of Cissexism."
• The Wonk Room: "In Historic Move, HHS Encourages LGBT-Inclusive Sexual Education."
• Colorlines: "BP's Dumping Oil-Spill Waste in Communities of Color, Study Finds."
• Jezebel: "A Woman's Vagina — In Public — Faces Tough Expectations." I can't get over the prevent-camel-toe-inserts. Cannot even begin to believe those exist.
• Jessica Valenti: "Slut-shaming and misogyny as traffic bait."
• Little Merry Sunshine: "What This Woman Really Wants Is Not A Vacuum Cleaner."
• Deeply Problematic: "Women and bodily functions: poop."
• Feministing: "The Gap wants you to cover up your ugly legs." No really, they do.
• Jezebel: "When It Comes To Women's Issues, Facebook Still Hasn't Figured Out How To Play Fair." And that would seemingly apply to this Facebook event page.
• Women and Hollywood: "If Women Like It, It Must Be Stupid." Excellent post.
• Jezebel: "Ann Taylor: 'We Agree Our Retouching Has Been Overzealous.'"
• Feministing: "Don't Mess with Tami!" about the abortion storyline on "Friday Night Lights."

Given the intense publicity given to Chris Brown’s violent beating of singer, Rihanna, and the subsequent release of her domestic violence-themed single, Russian Roulette, it’s hard to interpret her partnership with Eminem on the new song, Love the Way You Lie, as anything but symbolic.  Unfortunately, it’s also hard to interpret this video as anything other than the message that true love is violent.

Eminem sings about how he hates the woman he loves, and alternates between expressing shame for his violence and describing how badly he wants to hurt her.  Simultaneously, Rihanna’s beautiful vocals tug at the heart strings, representing the love side of the coin against Eminem’s angry voice.  Add to this the acting by Lost’s Dominic Monaghan and super-sex-symbol Megan Fox, who alternate between beating each other and appearing to be deeply, profoundly in love.  Eminem closes by threatening to kill her if she ever tries to leave him and, in the end, they lie in each others arms.

Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s a beautiful song.  Rihanna’s vocals are gorgeous; it’s was hard to not feel heartfelt while listening to them.  And that’s the problem.  It’s a powerful form of socialization.  That we might internalize the message that passionate love and incontrollable rage go hand-in-hand is really very scary. It suggests not only that you should tolerate interpersonal violence but that, if there is no violence in your relationship, perhaps you don’t really love one another.  Better go out and find someone who will beat you.

I’ve never been in an abusive relationship of that sort but as a young adult I thought I knew what love felt like.  To me, it felt like fear.  I knew that I was in love when I became deeply frightened that someone would leave me.  It took me until around my 30th birthday to realize that a strong, loving relationship should make me feel secure, not terrified.  These messages are insidious and ubiquitous and I do believe they shape real relationships.  That Rihanna of all people, a woman who could have made a powerful statement against this type of message, is participating in glamorizing the very violence she suffered, is very disheartening.

But why should she be immune to the conflation of love and hate in our society?  And the cycle continues.

——————————

Thanks to my colleague, politics professor Caroline Heldman, for sending this along.

(View original at http://thesocietypages.org/socimages)

Amid all of Lady Gaga’s gender-bending and hot topic love affairs (most recently, her Phoenix concert appearance in which she bore writing on her body in protest of AZ SB 1070), a work of art was made found. I mean, made. Found…well, here it is: In an act of art historical savviness, Lady Gaga has [...]

Trigger warning: Most of Eminem’s lyrics should probably come with a trigger warning attached. In this post, I’ll mark all particularly graphic lyrics with a “**” on either end. What happens when hip-hop’s most notorious woman-hater releases a frank and somewhat on point song about domestic violence from the point of view of a perpetrator…and [...]

“I’m not pouting. I’m not playing anything up. I don’t have parents that I acknowledge. I’m nobody’s daughter. I’m nobody’s wife. I’m nobody’s bitch. I’m nobody’s daughter. I’m nobody’s widow. I’m somebody’s mother. Other than that, I don’t identify with these other female roles I’m supposed to have.”-Courtney Love (Spinner)

by Tobi-Lea GoGo

The most controversial woman EVER is and probably always will be Courtney Love. Courtney’s band Hole, who’s last release was 12 years ago in 1998, (Celebrity Skin) have “reformed ” and released the album Nobody’s Daughter this year in April. None of the other original band members worked on the album except Courtney. She has recruited so

me new blood, Shawn Dailey (bass) and Stuart Fisher (drums) to fill in. Despite having only Courtney from the original Hole line up; the album looks, sounds and feels like a good solid Hole album.

Courtney has been waiting a LONG time to get this bitch out there. She began writing Nobody’s Daughter back in 2005 in rehab. Originally the songs were going to be for her second solo LP under the same name. I was surprised to find that many old school fans who I told about the release when I bought it, didn’t even know about it! I even offered to lend it out to everyone but no one was interested. I think this is because they were scared it would stink of Courtney’s disappointing failures and they would be let down. Which is a shame because the album actually rocks and I can firmly state that anyone who liked any of the previous albums will like this one. I even conducted a little social experiment and I played this album to people who I knew didn’t like Hole (all men) in their cars without telling them who it was and they ALL said it was a solid rocking album.

From the first song it’s obvious to fans this is a Hole album. This album’s edges are all much softer and generally less abrasive than her earlier work because eight of the eleven tracks all have an acoustic guitar running through most or even all of the songs. The extensive acoustic and cello work is refreshing enough to be a nice new touch and contrasts well with the more brutal songs on the album, as Hole have always done very well mixing razor blades with candy to make their own unique sound. It boasts some nice poppy production similar to Hole’s last album Celebrity Skin, which was shared by the guitarist Michael Beinhorn, Micko Larkin, and Linda Perry (from 4 non blondes).

Courtney’s music, unlike her face, has aged gracefully. Her voice just like her lyrics has lost a lot of hate. You can tell she struggles with some of the screaming. Her voice has matured beyond rage filled screaming and elongated vowels into something much sexier. Sometimes she sounds like she’s so short for air, panting, begging like a stung lover to get let back inside the house. It does it for me.

But don’t worry, songs like “Skinny Little Bitch” (the album’s first single), “Loser Dust” (co written with Corgan) and “How Dirty Girls Get Clean” still have enough balls to sing along to angrily in the car on a day where you just want to punch someone’s face in. You’ll notice her vocals have some distortion on them, probably because of her aging pipes and refusal to give up the cigarettes.

Her lyrics hold a new unfamiliar level of fragility, vulnerability and honesty for Courtney. She’s not playing the ‘tough chip on her shoulder angry young woman’ role she was shoved into years ago. She’s looking in at herself. Not glaring outwards. Lines like “I always wanted to die but you kept me here alive” are pretty powerful and “I never wanted to be the person you see but thank you” in the beautifully introspective track “Letter to God” (the only track written solely by Courtney Love). Billy Corgan and Linda Perry worked on writing some of the songs with Courtney and the whole album is largely a collaborative effort between Love, Perry, Corgan and Larkin. The whole album is very well written, produced, performed, and structured brilliantly giving for a satisfying listen start to finish. It has everything an old or even new Hole fan could want: balls, brains, sex, anger and forgiveness. You will be glad Love took her time with this one. You get the feeling you are hearing something more personal that you have ever heard with Courtney, like she’s whispering away the last of her secrets to you.

The theme of this album that screams out to me, in both the music, lyrics and feel, is Redemption. Forget “Courtney’s come back album” this is her redemption album and she pulls it off. If you own any of Holes other albums go out and buy this one.

Don’t fucking download it.

Go buy it.

It’s worth it.

If you have been too scared to even listen to it like I know a lot of oldschoolers are, forget that and go and buy the album. Its well rounded, well written and solid. Go buy it. You won’t regret it.

If you need some Tuesday morning truth, I highly encourage you to check out this brand new video for the Reflection Eternal track "Ballad of the Black Gold". The song is one of my favorites off their new album, and the video was directed by a very talented up and coming filmmaker named Sam Ellison around my neighborhood in Brooklyn. Plus, it brings a timely-- and feminist-- message about the negative consequences that can come as a result of our collective dependence on oil- the BP oil spill in the Gulf being one of them. For more on the negative effects of the oil spill on women, check out this article on reproductive health concerns in the aftermath of the BP oil spill.

*On a completely non-serious note, if you look closely at this video you may or may not catch a cameo by a certain Feministing contributor. *Shameless self-promotion alert* Enjoy!

If you need some Tuesday morning truth, I highly encourage you to check out this brand new video for the Reflection Eternal track "Ballad of the Black Gold". The song is one of my favorites off their new album, and the video was directed by a very talented up and coming filmmaker named Sam Ellison around my neighborhood in Brooklyn. Plus, it brings a timely-- and feminist-- message about the negative consequences that can come as a result of our collective dependence on oil- the BP oil spill in the Gulf being one of them. For more on the negative effects of the oil spill on women, check out this article on reproductive health concerns in the aftermath of the BP oil spill.

*On a completely non-serious note, if you look closely at this video you may or may not catch a cameo by a certain Feministing contributor. *Shameless self-promotion alert* Enjoy!