feminist blogs

(cross posted on my other blog, Mad Girl in the Attic)

Lately on YouTube a video by Dan Brown has sparked a lot of discussion. His video An Open Letter to Educators can be seen here. Also one of my favourite responses can be seen here.

Now this video and subsequent responses have got me thinking about a lot of things about the Academy today. To me the Academy should be focusing on teaching critical thought, constantly questioning norm, pushing boundaries to create new knowlege, not just consuming pre-made knowledge wholesale.

I feel like, especially at my own university, that the focus of the upper admin is to make as much money as they can. They no longer care about the quality of scholar they turn out, they care only about the bottom line. This means cutting jobs, having less tenured professors, having larger classes and tutorials, all in search of the almighty dollar.

This is especially apparent within the Humanities. Programs are being cut left right and centre. It is hard enough to get into classes that are needed and once you are in them they are often too large to be run effectively.

It has also extended into the library system. There is a large push for e-material over paper material. Jobs are being cut and retirement packages offered over and over again. More space is being allocated as “study areas” and less and less space is being allocated for books.

The worst part about the whole thing? Is that the university isn’t allowing the students to know what is on the agenda. They only release information to the student body once the mechanism has been set in motion and cannot be stopped.

With this in mind I have an urgent announcement for all McMaster Students. It has been recommended that Innis Library be closed.

This would mean that all of the Innis collection would be moved to Mills and there would be even fewer service points for all students. Business students would have to go to second floor Mills for research help from librarians who may or may not have experience in the area of business research. This would mean that the Research Help at Mills would be used by at least 3 extremely diverse faculties.

Even more people would be going to Mills for reserve material. This would lead to longer lines and less time for the student assistants to help each patron.

As both a student and employee of McMaster University I find it disheartening that all that really seems to matter to the upper admin is the bottom line. I feel as though they forget that without students, without employees, there would be no University, just empty buildings.

The bottom line isn’t the be all and end all Mr George and associates. Nor is the quantity of students who can be pushed through the system on a diet of memorized facts.

The quality of education is what matters. And your budget cuts will only hinder our growth as learners in the future.

There was a massive earthquake in Chile this weekend, actually much stronger than the recent Haiti earthquake. While it looks like the deaths from this quake will be much fewer than in Haiti, the devastation is serious. Here is a round up of links about the situation in Chile:

Death toll jumps to 708 from Chile earthquake (LA Times)

There were worries this weekend about tsunami's that could spread as a result of the earthquake. Most of those warnings have been lowered after smaller than expected waves reached Hawaii and other Pacific nations. (MSNBC)

The Chilean President, Michelle Bachelet, declared a "state of catastrophe" after the quake on Saturday. (ABC)

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was set to begin a tour of Latin America today, will now be dominated by this recent disaster in Chile. (NY Times)

The Nation has more on how you can help in Chile.

Or:
Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei licensed. Fans: Bwuh?

ANN reports that Media Blasters has acquired SZS and will release the dvds in American starting in May.

I love SZS, don’t get me wrong. But this is the nichest of niche anime. This show is the dream come true for otaku with a fetish for Japanese pop culture history. This show is out there.

Of course, all this means that SZS is right up my alley. And it is.

Sensei wears glasses. He is suicidally depressed. He is obsessive-compulsive. He takes everything literally and then each literal interpretation to its logical (Sensei-logical) extreme. He reacts with dramatic histrionics to every situation created out of his interpretations of mundane (and not so mundane) events.

He’s perfect. It’s as if Kumeta tailor-made a quirky character designed to appeal just to me. And he’s sitting on my desk. In despair.

But am I a typical American anime fan? I’m going to go out on a limb and say no. I know very little Japanese, but I know enough to understand some of the most basic puns. I read translator’s notes. I have a working knowledge of Japanese history. (Ok, it’s probably a fourth grader’s knowledge in Japan, but still more than your average American, I’m willing to bet.) I buy quirky-ass anime like Here is Greenwood and Gintama and Genshiken.

Not your average American consumer.

So, while I will certainly buy this when it comes out, just as I faithfully buy the manga, I’m skeptical of its chances for success. I wish Media Blasters all the luck in the world, because they are going to need it to take on a project like this. Here’s hoping that they realize what a hardcore otaku fanbase they are appealing to and decide to include translator’s notes!

Also: dub-only people who complain about the lack of a dub of this show can suck it. Seriously, they can suck it. Watch the show, and then tell me that they should dub it. I dare you.

Filed under: Anime Series, News Tagged: koji kumeta, media blasters, sayonara zetsubou sensei, SZS, zetsubou sensei

This isn't good, folks. A bill passed by the House and Senate in Utah this week could make it a crime to have a miscarriage, with penalties up to life in prison. RH Reality Check reports:

The bill passed by legislators amends Utah's criminal statute to allow the state to charge a woman with criminal homicide for inducing a miscarriage or obtaining an illegal abortion. The basis for the law was a recent case in which a 17-year-old girl, who was seven months pregnant, paid a man $150 to beat her in an attempt to cause a miscarriage. Although the girl gave birth to a baby later given up for adoption, she was initially charged with attempted murder. However the charges were dropped because, at the time, under Utah state law a woman could not be prosecuted for attempting to arrange an abortion, lawful or unlawful.

The bill passed by the Utah legislature would change that. While the bill does not affect legally obtained abortions, it criminalizes any actions taken by women to induce a miscarriage or abortion outside of a doctor's care, with penalties including up to life in prison.

Lynn Paltrow of National Advocates for Pregnant Women tells RH that while other states have feticide laws specified to prosecute third-party attackers, directing it at the woman will have severe repercussions. It could create cases where women are prosecuted for having an unintentional miscarriage if there is any indication of "reckless behavior," like drink alcohol and miscarry, or do any number of other things that could be deemed "reckless." Next thing you know, you're sentenced to time in prison for criminal homicide.

The bill awaits the governor's signature. If you live in Utah, contact him and let him know just how dangerous this bill is. Amplify also has a community post with more ways to take action.

Reverend Bavi Edna "Nedi" Rivera, the first Hispanic woman bishop ordained in the Episcopal Church. Let's hope the Church of England follows suit.

Despite "traditionalists" being up in a frenzy, the Church of England is standing their ground and moving forward with drafting legislation that would allow women to be bishops.

The Angelican Communion has 77 million members worldwide and has been debating this issue -- as well as the inclusion of gay bishops and same-sex marriage -- for quite some time now. Meanwhile, several Anglo-Catholics have been threatening to leave because of the announcement to include women in leadership. (And because the Pope offered a nice cushy place in his homophobic, anti-choice, anti-women haven at the Vatican.)

However, supporters of the legislation have been suspect when this will actually happen because there's already been quite a delay in drafting it. (Not to mention where's the legislation for gay bishops?) Let's hope the Church's words of assurance this week offers some faith that change will happen soon.

The main topic of conversation (and tweeting, and facebooking) lately has been the immense amounts of snow falling on the Mid-Atlantic, particularly on Washington DC.

I know it's because I live and interact with many fellow DC'ers online that I feel overwhelmed by the discussion. I felt like I couldn't blog today without mentioning:
There is a blizzard in DC (and now NYC and other parts of the East Coast) that has brought multiple feet of snow upon us, multiple times!! In DC we've broken a 111 year record for seasonal snowfall, surpassing 45 inches. That is a lot of snow, particularly for a Southern city without the capability to handle so much, so often.

I think my favorite part of the recent snow has been the twitter hashtags:

#snomg
#snoverkill
#snowpocalypse
#snomaggedon
#snovereaction
#snowmore

And my personal favorite, #snomas!

But on a more serious note, the 45 plus inches of snow this season in DC have also provided another road block on the road to passing certain legislation, including, ironically enough, the Climate Change bill.

There has been some pretty great organized fun in DC as well, including a 2000 person snowball fight in Dupont Circle, a neighborhood in downtown DC. Check out the video if you have a few minutes to spare for entertainment.

Whole Foods has been getting a lot of bad press lately. Last year, the CEO John Mackey caught a ton of flack for publicly opposing health care reform. Whole Foods has long been known for being anti-union, and they recently scored 27 out of 100 on sustainable business practices.

Well, now, the icing on the proverbial cake.

Via MotherJones and Jezebel, Whole Foods recently announced a new employee discount program based on qualifications like BMI, cholesterol and smoking status. Employees who rank best in these categories will have their employee discount upped from 20% to a max of 30%.

Kind of ironic that a lower BMI means you get to buy more food for less?

Or just gross.

In a letter detailing the program, CEO John Mackey explains that it's an attempt to lower health care costs (since he doesn't support legislative moves to do so, as we know).

In case you needed another reason to stop shopping at Whole Foods.

You can see one of the flyers advertising the new policy after the jump.

The landmark federal lawsuit against Prop 8, Perry v. Schwarzenegger, has begun today. Here is some pretty comprehensive background info on the case.

While Justice has received nearly 140,000 comments in favor of the case being televised, we find via Pam that the Supreme Court has blocked YouTube from broadcasting the case for the next 48 hours. Yep. Fortunately, you can track what's going on at this blog created specifically to liveblog the trial in the meantime.

Pam's House Blend will also be providing legal analysis and recaps by folks from the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) this week.

As Courtney mentioned yesterday, the NJ State Senate said no to same sex marriage in a disappointing 20-14 vote. You can view individual voting records, as well as a play-by-the-play of the debate that went down in the State Senate here.

In light of this monumentally disappointing-- if not entirely surprising-- setback, I offer as very small comfort the following comment on the sanctity of marriage:

pic via. h/t to Kelly.

Update: Some commenters have pointed out there are a couple of inaccuracies in this map. The point of this post was to reinforce the hypocrisy of "sanctity of marriage" arguments against gay marriage. For a more detailed and up to date map of same sex marriage laws in the US, check this out.

From the New York Times, a New Jersey Judge ruled that a woman who was the gestational surrogate for her brother and his male partner can file for custody of the children (they had twins). Gestational surrogate means that her eggs were not used in the pregnancy--her brother and his partner used their sperm and donor eggs to create the embryos that were then implanted in her uterus. She gave birth to twin girls, and is now fighting for custody. According to the NY Times, she is claiming that the surrogacy agreement was coerced.

This Judge cited the famous Baby M case as precedent, which was one of the first legal battles over these types of surrogacy arrangements in the US. The Baby M case was the first to give the surrogate mother rights--but in that case, the surrogate was also genetically connected to the child who was born from her egg as well. What's interesting is that the woman in this case, Angelia Robinson, is being represented by the same lawyer who represented the surrogate mother in the Baby M case, Harold Cassidy.

Surrogacy is undoubtedly a complicated process. It brings up a lot of questions about parenthood, genetics, parental rights. It's becoming a more common practice, probably because of advances in genetic technologies and also a new international surrogacy market. It's also one of the technologies that allows queer people to parent, and for gay men who can encounter difficulty adopting because of restrictions based on sexuality (and who can't give birth on their own using donor sperm), it may be one of their only options.

I have to admit that I was surprised a judge would rule in favor (although this is not the final custody hearing, but does allow Angelina to file for custody) of the non-genetic parent. But carrying a child in your womb for nine months is no small feat and brings up understandable questions about relationship and rights to a child.

I have mixed feelings about surrogacy. While I understand the desire to parent, and to feel genetically connected to one's children, it seems like a long way to go for that. I also question the financial transactions involved in surrogacy arrangements, particularly when the women involved are low-income or in the developing world. I don't think our legal system, which has a narrow definition of parenthood, is adequately prepared to handle these modern arrangements that don't allow us to clearly identify a mother and father.

I think we'll see more and more in the legal realm on practices like surrogacy as the practice gains popularity and these types of conflicts arise.

Related:

The real life accompaniment to baby mama
Gay men becoming daddies
Ricky Martin a new father

Thanks to Taryn for sending us this link