Friend of Shapely Prose Elysia (who writes the blog Born That Way) is an evolutionary biologist, and she had some choice words for the latest dude to use evolutionary psychology as an explanation for why he believes seriously douchey things about women. Please give Elysia a warm welcome. — Kate My friend Sweet Machine brought a … Continue reading »
Filed under Feminism …
Cha-Cha-Cha-Chaka Chubby
I once signed up for a dating site and despite stating I was chubby/fat/whole lotta woman I frequently received messages of the “well just exactly how fat are we talking?” variety. These assclowns had a lot of cheek demanding I clarify shit that was spelled out when their own profiles often rocked euphemisms like freelancer. … Continue reading »
The Last Three Paragraphs
I wrote another piece for Broadsheet yesterday because this Daily Beast piece made me tremendously ranty, and I figured I might as well get paid for it. I’ve been thinking a lot about the social advantages and disadvantages of motherhood these days, so once I started, I couldn’t shut up even more than usual. Which … Continue reading »
CNN Makes Jaclyn Friedman Sound Like a Victim-Blamer! Again!
It’s hardly a well-kept secret that journalists can make an interviewee sound like she said pretty much anything. Those of us who are asked to speak on controversial topics know we risk seeing our words twisted to fit a predetermined narrative — even to suggest the exact opposite of what we clearly meant — every … Continue reading »
Slightly Pre-Friday Sorta-Fluff: I’m Kate Fucking Harding
So, the other night, I went to see my friend (and sometime Shapeling) Tari play at a local bar, and as usual, I was slightly surprised by how awesome she is. Not because I have any good reason to underestimate her, but because A) I just don’t hear her play all that often, and B) … Continue reading »
“but who can distinguish one human voice amid such choruses of desire”
America lost a great voice this weekend: the poet Lucille Clifton died. She was 73 years old. Clifton wrote wonderful, poignant, witty poems whose formal simplicity belies their emotional and political depth. She wrote of the realities of living in a large, black, female body in a racist, sexist culture; she survived cancer and wrote … Continue reading »
Me? A mansplainer? Let me mansplain.
There is some hilarious shit going down over at Zuska’s. See, she posted a definition of “mansplaining” that included stuff like this: You May Be A Mansplainer If… 1. You MUST explain why everything I said is beside the point, and wrong, and silly. 2. You MUST explain why you are not a mansplainer, then … Continue reading »
Black Women Need Not Apply
I found an OK Cupid forum post asking for honest answers to the question of attraction to black women. Look, no rational person goes in search of nuanced discourse on a dating site forum, so save that critique for someone who gives a shit. However, it does shed light on the way in which the … Continue reading »
Meat and metaphors
The wonderful Jenna Sauers of Jezebel posted recently on PETA’s attempts to be edgy and arresting in their support of animals at the expense of women, minorities, and basically all people except thin white patriarchy-lovin’ youngsters. Jenna outlined some of PETA’s worst antifeminist offenses — equating women with meat, putting them in cages, building campaigns … Continue reading »
In which I am defeated by a billboard
I hate this ad. I stood waiting for a bus the other day while another bus idled in front of me. It had this ad on the side, bigger than life. I stared at this passive, anonymous woman, done up all ’80s-retro so you can pretend she’s not even in the present, much less someone … Continue reading »
