Thursday Tune: Revolution

Because I am fed up with the war against women and this sort of thing, this is my mood.

Review: Hunger Games

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BitchBuzz: Women's Dangerous Desires

Just a tad bit too late to make it into the column, two news stories today: HarperCollins has a new erotica imprint, Mischief, and the Wall Street Journal has another gasping-for-the-shock-of-it story about what women read on their Kindles (oooh, scandal!). All this frothing shows the ultimate futility of the attempts to stuff women back into the genie-bottle of the past. Annoying that these old geezers keep trying, but we will triumph in the end. After all, women have more endurance. And multi-tasking!

Women's Dangerous Desires

By K.A. Laity

We may have accustomed ourselves to the bizarre hysterics of the Republican war on women in the States, but there's a more subtle campaign against women's desire. I guess it's a way of getting to the root of the problem. Apparently snapping some kind of chastity belt on the vagina just isn't enough. These busybodies would love to shackle women's minds as well.

It can be very subtle and often masquerades as "positive" coverage. The Independent Magazine had a story this past Sunday on a number of erotic romance writers, women of various ages and backgrounds. The male author approaches the writers as if they were some kind of lost species. The idea that he must ask, "Do women write porn?" flabbergasts. The shock angle is they are "shy introverted woman [sic] with a love of reading and writing." Like most writers of every genre, I suppose.

The editorial side plays up the sensationalism: "Kinky Books" the interior title screams. The first pull quote, "I write in secret, using words I would never, ever say," makes Kay Jaybee sound very different than her other words like, "Sadly, many people can't separate the art from the subject matter," rightly noting that people seldom assume crime writers to be murderers. Predictably perhaps, although the authors write mostly erotic romance, the cover blurb has it, "WOMEN WHO WRITE PORN." Porn triggers a more sensational reaction, of course...

Read the rest at BBHQ.

Rationalizing

I am back to columnizing while I panic about the big move. Reminding myself: break it down, do it little by little, stop looking at the enormity of it all! Applies to both subjects, I suppose. Sigh.

Atheists, Rationalists & Rape

By K. A. Laity

The "rational answer" depends entirely upon your starting point.

While most of the hubbub on both sides of the pond focuses on various egregious examples of tabloid mayhem (depending on whether you hate Nancy Grace or Rupert Murdoch more), there's been a smaller but just as shocking story developing in the rational (not necessarily to distinguish it from tabloid) world.

At a student leadership conference where she had been invited to talk about the religious Right's War on Women,"Skepchick" blogger Rebecca Watson had an unpleasant encounter:

You may recall that last week I posted this video, in which I describe an unpleasant encounter I had with a fellow atheist that I thought might serve as a good example of what men in our community should strive to avoid – basically, in an elevator in Dublin at 4AM I was invited back to the hotel room of a man I had never spoken to before and who was present to hear me say that I was exhausted and wanted to go to bed.

 What she was unprepared for was an atheist community—both men and women—who dismissed her discomfort with an unsolicited sexual comment and accused her of everything from outlawing sexuality to "constantly" telling men " how sexist and destructive they are"...

Read the rest at BBHQ.

Ms. Russ & Horror

Lesson: this is what happens when you complain about something to generally nice people -- you get asked to share your opinion, too. I commented on Ms. Magazine's initial post on Joanna Russ' passing by expressing my disappointment that the piece was so cursory and written by someone who said she didn't really read the genre (always distressing). So here's my piece:

When Joanna Russ Changed Us

May 15, 2011 by K. A. Laity · Leave a Comment

Michele Kort’s vivid remembrance of Joanna Russ (who died April 29) based on a single encounter with Russ’s short story “When it Changed” is a testament to just how far this woman’s influence continues to spread. Few have come away from reading Russ without a strong opinion. Ideas she posed as many as 30 years ago—a world without men, kick-ass action heroines, feminist romance—continue to vex and inspire us.

The Russ’s unflaggingly popular novel The Female Man and its development of the world known as Whileaway—a place devoid of men for centuries—will long be part of her fame. This imagined future is an agrarian reverie filled with hard work but little advanced technology beyond the ability to merge ova to make babies. People tend to refer to Whileaway as “utopian” but I doubt that Russ would agree. Simple answers never suited her....

Read the rest at Ms.

Today I begin the summer intensive,  Three Weeks of Terror -- or a sort of abbreviated history of the horror film. It's always a bit of a breathless run which tantalises more than it teaches, I fear. As a boot camp in the genre, at the very least it usually introduces the students to films they've not seen and a way of looking at familiar films that makes them completely new. It also funds my travels in England for June, so whoo hoo! Doubtless I will have much to say about the class in the coming days.

Frankenstein v Frankenstein

Check Todd's blog for other featured items in Tuesday's Overlooked A/V or add your own.

It was impossible to resist the urge to see both versions of the National Theatre's Frankenstein. Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller rotated the central roles which was fascinating in itself, never mind the rest of the new script by Nick Dear. The new production, directed by Danny Boyle, focuses on the creature to a much greater extent, including a prolonged "birth" scene where he moves from first sentience through an accelerated childhood. It's a real showcase for the actor playing the role and where some of the differences in portrayal appear. Miller's creature was a more feral one, animalistic and somewhat more intimidating. Cumberbatch's seemed to center more on vulnerability (though they both did to a great extent) and discovery. In the pre-show interviews they both mentioned closely observing Miller's toddler Buster for inspiration. I didn't realise that the broadcast version was slightly different than what folks saw most nights on stage, but you can't have everything, eh?

The play has some great moments: the train run by people is a great visual but it gave me the expectation that more of the play would be impressionistic like that. The creature's development remains the focus, so we see his stay with the Laceys more vividly (though Felix's sister and wife have been combined O_o). Naomie Harris has a nice turn as Elizabeth, but there's not much for her to do here other than suffer the more explicit revenge of the creature. I loved how Cumberbatch in particular made Victor so arrogantly clueless. Miller's creator seemed more compassionate, although he was more awkward with Elizabeth. In both cases, it was thoroughly enjoyable and the final stark denouement in the frozen north both touching and grim. A great pair of nights out.

Check in your area for NT broadcasts: so worth it! Next up the fabulous Zoë Wanamaker in The Cherry Orchard. Of course I hope to catch a couple NT shows in London next month.

RIP: Joanna Russ

I can't add too much to the fine encomium that Todd wrote; I'll just say that bringing The Female Man to a bunch of students at UHD, while definitely a challenge, offered a real eye-opening (and mind-expanding) experience to them as well. I've been talking about Russ a lot lately with folks in the romance field, but it seems she doesn't have the same cachet with the spec fic audience that other elder statesmen have. Just too hard to pigeon-hole. For that I have always admired her: a true iconoclast. If you haven't read her, do. I highly recommend How to Suppress Women's Writing as well. As I have spent my afternoon with some particularly awful academic writing, I appreciate once again Russ's clear-sighted ability to convey complex ideas with verve and style. She refused to be anything but herself in every way: a very out lesbian and an unapologetic feminist. Raise a glass to her name: more importantly, take her books off the shelf, read them and talk about them.

Update: The Locus obit (thanks, Todd).

Little Girls Should Be Seen and Heard

Well, I had to stop eventually...

BitchBuzz: Women's History Month WTFs

It's the middle of Women's History Month and we're facing some of the most aggressive attacks on women ever in this country, while people are overwhelmed by the terrible tragedies in Japan and the desperate battles for autonomy in the Gulf as people fight against dictators who have traditionally been propped up with help from our government. So you may find this week's column reflects some of that bitterness.

A Series of WTFs for Women's History Month

By K.A. Laity

 "I do not wish them [women] to have power over men; but over themselves." — Mary Wollstonecraft, 1759-1797


It's Women's History Month and I have to say it depresses the hell out of me this year. I'm old enough to remember the second wave feminists, and all too well the backlash and splinter groups and the endless, endless "You've come a long way, baby!" smug pats on the back or behind. All of which tried to give the impression that we'd had enough already, missy.

Third wave feminists have re-energized the key issues, trying to keep the momentum going and forging bonds beyond class and beyond the borders of the privileged West. On many days, I can be hopeful, I can see the progress, I can admire all the men who do not see a woman's strength as a threat to his masculinity, all the parents who don't park their daughters in front of the Disney channel to brainwash them into Princesses, and I revel in being surrounded on a daily basis by charming, energetic, creative and awesomely smart women.

And then there's today, where I feel overwhelmed by the virulent attempts to shut women down in all possible ways. This is only a small part, but I've got a little list:

Read it here: http://news.bitchbuzz.com/a-series-of-wtfs-for-womens-history-month.html#ixzz1GrYHZhdQ

I also received the most sublime negative criticism from an academic peer: "the anti-academic tone is off-putting in the extreme" and "The author’s desire to drug the audience seems self-aggrandizing." Seems?! Well, yeah! I'd like to think I am a Dalí-esque drug. I should explain that this was the paper I gave last year at the Alan Moore conference in Northampton. It was never meant to be a traditional scholarly paper: it was a performance about Moore's performances. The editors had intended to publish the proceedings and thought it fortunate that a newish journal expressed interest, though now that the journal has nixed several of the presentations, the editors are regretting that decision. C'est la guerre. Unless I can think of another place for it, I may just record it and make a video from the Powerpoint pres when I have a spare moment (which looks to be about July now). 

With a little luck, I will get some pictures from Rome up tomorrow and tell a little more of my adventures. Promise! With the usual caveat that unexpected things keep arising...

BitchBuzz: Tubes

I had tried to call my latest column for BitchBuzz "Strong Men Also Cry" because it's always good to make a Lebowski reference, but from the start, it was really all about the tubes:

What is it with men and tubes? Particularly when they're men who hold powerful offices and feel the need to wield that power in a grandstanding gesture so everyone knows just what they have in their hands—it can be an embarrassing display.

It's Mad Men in a kind of perverse wish fulfillment for a time that never really existed except of course on television. But if they can send women back a few decades, it will be a first step in creating that paradise apparently.

The oppressive abortion laws passed in Oklahoma have apparently already give rise to copycat legislation in Texas. Never mind that regular access to birth control has made the abortion rates fall; it's the idea that women can just willy nilly start or stop a pregnancy that has these types in an uproar. Good god, what if women could just have sex whenever they wanted without having life-threatening consequences?! It would change everything…

As always, read the remainder over at BBHQ; and why not share it with your friends on Twitter or Facebook?

As you might guess, I am more than a little fed up with politicians of late. Okay, let's admit it: I am always fed up with politicians. I'm tired of opportunistic miscreants feeding on pig-ignorant fear. Yes, maybe it's always been that way. But it's particularly dispiriting to see this country trying so hard to go backwards. Let's just say it clearly: Leave it to Beaver was a television show and that world never existed except on television. Health care is a good thing for all people to have. Rich people and the banks they run are not there to help you (um, unless you are also a rich person who runs a bank).

At least in Britain they have the Lib Dems as a third party with some effect. If you've not been following the news there, you're missing a fun show that demonstrates the influence of social media. The Tory attempt to spin things their way with slick advertising resulted in hilarious mash-ups instead. Brown's inadvertent mic insult spawned a host of unexpected responses that filled Twitter.

It gives me a little hope, I guess, that the voice of the people (at least those with internet access and sufficient time on their hands) is being heard a bit more and a bit more quickly, but the madness of crowds is no assurance of "democracy" any more than the smoke-filled room.

At least teaching is over (as those on Facebook heard me WHOOHOO loudly) and there's just finals to get through, the first one tomorrow morning. Right after it, I head off to Connecticut to see Miss Wendy before she moves to Mississippi (sob!), Marko, the QoE, Johnny 10X and the rest of the gang (i.e. whoever's going to be around). Will be fun -- always is.

Had it with you, Simpsons

All right, it's been bugging me for at least this whole season and maybe a little longer: the misogynous thread that's crept into The Simpsons. Yeah, the show that once trumpeted stories like Lisa Lionheart and Marge going round the bend because of the stress of her family's unreasonable demands, has not had a show lately that didn't feature some moment of head-jerking anti-feminism. I've skipped more and more episodes because of it. Like the recently rerun Pranks and Greens episode, where Bart discovers he pales in comparison to a super-pranker in the past. Bart asks who he is and Skinner says, "Who said it's a he?" After Bart's stunned, "Huh?!" Skinner tells him nah, it's a guy, of course, and they both laugh at the absurdity of thinking it might have been a girl.

Last night's episode capped it for me. While the B story about Lisa getting popular when she receives an F and featuring Angela Bassett as Michele Obama made a feeble attempt to prop up the "girls can do anything!" message that was once key to the series, the main story had to do with a poorly written cameo by Sarah Silverman as a girl Bart kisses and whose parents threaten to sue the school. The "character" is simply defined by the way she capriciously jerks Bart back and forth between affection and scorn. But as the final lines of the show proclaim, that's just the way women are.

It's sad to see this happen to a show that was once groundbreaking. Enjoy your "poor men are just victims of wily women" scripts, guys. Seems I'm not the only one giving up on the show (even though it's miles better at its worst than anything from craptacular Seth McFarlane).

Why can't I be seeing Lizzie & Sarah?!

BitchBuzz: The Worth of Women's Words

My latest column for BitchBuzz was inspired by a random confluence of things -- or, if you don't believe in coincidence, a surprising (to me) confluence of wyrd. Love the image from the Gagosian exhibit on J.G. Ballard's Crash, Douglas Gordon's Self-Portrait of You and Me (Jayne Mansfield) from 2007:

Somehow a weird collision of events sparked a realisation for me - or really it was a reaffirmation, I suppose.

When you add together the narrow escape from tragedy dramatised in Lone Sherfing's An Education, the inescapable tragedy that was the University of Alabama in Huntsville shooting and the head-scratching success story of mixmaster/plagiarist Helene Hegemann - "There’s no such thing as originality anyway, there’s only authenticity" - with the news that social media supposedly means big opportunities for women, you get an equation with a solution so convoluted that Schrödinger's cat just hid in the litter box.

The internet -- and not coincidentally, social media -- are supposed to take away the stigma of gender assumptions by allowing us to relate immediately without that bow in the hair or tie around the neck.

Read the rest at BBHQ as always -- help spread the word by sharing it on Facebook or Twitter or with links on your own blog.

If you're in Albany, the last showing of An Education is today: I recommend you go see it. Yeah, sure -- it will depress you, but you'll have a greater appreciation for the power of education particularly if you are a woman. Not that it doesn't slam the bland world of standardised education, too. When Emma Thompson's headmistress tells Jenny that there are alternatives for her future, "It doesn't have to be teaching. There's always the Civil Service," you do share her dumbfounded outrage.

I have a potentially unpleasant meeting this afternoon. Wish me luck. I will either come away with less work to do or with a renewed level of support. So win-win once I get there, I think. Still trying to catch up from being sick; much to do before spring break which is coming up in a week (for me).

The 11th Carnival of Feminists

Drop by the 11th Carnival of Feminists and see me there as one of the revelers writing about BitchBuzz, blogging and gender! Read all the entries and leave comments so folks know they have been heard. Thanks!

Working on my syllabuses today: revising one, creating the other out of whole cloth. Now where are all those links I thought I had saved? I finished a 10K story last night, so a fleeting sense of accomplishment that will be drowned out no doubt by the complexity of figuring out the semester's schedule. Could be worse: could be snowing...

It's not, right?

BitchBuzz: Julie & Julia & one unfortunate part

Yes, it's Thursday so my latest column for BitchBuzz is up, a piece on Julie & Julia, the film about Julia Child and the blogger Julie Powell, which I saw with my pal Peg last weekend.

I went with a girl friend to see the new film Julie and Julia which was just about what I had expected from the pen of Nora Ephron and from the reviews I had read up to that point.

Everyone raves about Streep as Julia Child and well they should. She's absolutely magical. Her ebullience as Child discovering the intricacies of French cooking is contagious. It's impossible not to be charmed by the fearless Child...

Read the rest to find out why this woman-friendly film nonetheless managed to annoy me.

Kazoo Round-up

Just back from my meeting with the VP and the Dean, where I formally accepted the position of Coordinator of Women's Studies. What was that I said about only suckers taking up administrative positions? ;-) Let's consider it the first step in my plan for World Domination or perhaps as a new hat (we all know how I love hats).

Kalamazoo: In lieu of a long digressive recap, let me give you a short surreal one. Fly to Detroit, Amy forgot her license so I drove the Prius (nice!), late the first night, busy the first day, meet ups at the wine hour, dinner with Steve derailed by his flat tire, but conveniently invited along to another dinner, conversations into the night in the quads at Valley III, Friday meetings and panels with Societas Magica, my roundtable (went well!), dinner with Pearl, conversation until 2!, Saturday more panels including the bloggers, mead with Frankie, dinner with Steve at Bilbo's, the DANCE! Sunday driving back to Detroit, counting the dead deer and bloated raccoons along 94, flying back to Albany, sudden realisation that the summer class starts in the morning...

Still feeling like Alice running with the Red Queen: unlikely to change before the end of the month. Then I can catch my breath!

BitchBuzz: 21st C Women's Studies

Check out my latest piece for BitchBuzz where I try to focus on the duties I'll be taking on as coordinator of the Women's and Gender Studies program at my college. It's going to be a challenge to revitalise the program as we had an off-year last year for a variety of reasons. My thought is to shift focus to targeted topics and events that invite participation from a wide variety of folks: students, staff and faculty as well as the wider community. I also hope to forge closer relationships with like-minded groups on campus.

Suggestions welcome!

BitchBuzz: Terminated

Check out my latest piece over at BitchBuzz, about how the cancellation of the Friday night Fox double-header of Terminator and Dollhouse will doubtless be taken as more evidence that "chick shows don't sell" rather than "not so good shows with little support or worthwhile writing don't gain much of an audience."

Review: King Kong Theory

See my brief review of Virginie Despentes' King Kong Theory over at BitchBuzz. Be sure to check out all the other fun pieces at the mag, too. I'd like to write a longer and more thoughtful review of the book, which it deserves. Despentes comes to the topic of women today from very disparate experiences: as a rape survivor, former prostitute and punk rocker as well as writer/director of the controversial film, Baise-Moi.