May 2013
4 posts
9 tags
The tyranny of consent →
Emily Witt’s recent essay, within which she describes traveling to San Fransisco, where she watches a BDSM porn shoot for a Kink.com series called Public Disgrace, the purpose of which is to show women “women bound, stripped, and punished in public,” inspired a number of responses.
Despite my, probably obvious, criticisms of both porn and the BDSM genre, the piece is a very good read (by which I...
11 tags
In pornography, there’s literally a market for... →
“If there’s something you don’t like about your body, put it into a search engine, put ‘+ porn,’ and you’ll find a whole host of sites that find that’s the most attractive thing about you,” porn producer, Anna Arrowsmith said in an interview with BBC, with reference to a debate she would be participating in, hosted by Intelligence Squared in London.
The debate was centered around the motion:...
7 tags
Was Danny Brown sexually assaulted on stage? →
This story is pretty all around gross. Trigger warning for grossness, k?
Because we’ve yet to hear from Danny Brown on the whole incident, aside from his bragging on Twitter, it’s hard to say exactly how everything went down or what the context was for Brown getting a blow job from a fan, on stage, at a recent show in Minneapolis, MN.
The story’s getting a lot of attention, not just because it’s...
6 tags
Women’s Coalition for the Abolition of... →
The Women’s Coalition for the Abolition of Prostitution, a pan-Canadian coalition of equality-seeking women’s groups, has, as of today, been granted leave to intervene in the Bedford case, scheduled for hearing on June 12, 2013 at the Supreme Court of Canada.
The Court will decide whether or not to keep the current prostitution laws (which criminalize communicating for the purposes of...
April 2013
8 posts
8 tags
Just because you like it, doesn’t make it... →
Someone messaged me yesterday asking my perspective on Game of Thrones; wondering if I had any feministy links or insights to share with him.
I stopped watching GoT early in the second season, after Joffrey forces one prostitute to beat another unconscious in a horrifically sadistic and gruesome way. I’d already been having a hard time digesting the women’s-bodies-as-wallpaper theme in the show,...
7 tags
Men’s Rights Activists advocate for ‘human rights’... →
By Danielle Paradis & Anne Theriault
The latest from A Voice For Men’s “activism” files is a smear campaign against a protester they are calling “Big Red.” “Big Red” (nothing sexist about that name) is a woman who dared to speak out (USING SWEAR WORDS, OH NO) against Men’s Rights Activists’ anti-feminist agenda.
For those who are unfamiliar with this situation, earlier in April a Men’s...
10 tags
Is this journalism? A response to DiManno and The... →
A piece published in the Toronto Star over the weekend may have led you to believe it would, as the headline: “Feminists take opposite stands on prostitution” alludes, explore different feminist positions on prostitution and prostitution law.
The author, Rosie DiManno (“one of the Star’s best and most prolific writers!“), immediately trips all over herself in an attempt to rile up some page...
9 tags
Tom Matlack: Victim of feminism →
Tom Matlack, who I’d pretty much forgotten about because, well, because he’s irrelevant, is at it again. And by “at it” I mean, of course, whining about the mean, mean feminists. It’s his thing.
Some history on me and Tom: Back in January, Matlack, who is the co-founder of MRA-lite site, The Good Men Project, wrote a blog post for The Times as part of an incredibly inane “debate” about whether or...
9 tags
Why doesn’t anyone talk about unionizing arms... →
No one proposes ending war by unionizing arms manufacturers. Proposing to end violence against women in the sex trade by unionizing them is likewise untenable. The best way to end violence against women in the sex trade is still to end the sex trade. The unionization strategy is a reformist position – and the position that we would like to live in a world where there is no such thing as...
4 tags
'Putting selfies under a feminist lens' by Meghan... →
“Gail Dines, a professor of sociology and women’s studies at Boston’s Wheelock College and the author of Pornland: How Porn Has Hijacked Our Sexuality, doesn’t believe the selfie is about vanity.
“I think it’s the human desire to be visible,” the scholar and activist told the Georgia Straight by phone.
Men, according to Dines, can gain visibility in a variety of ways. “But for us [women...
Meghan Murphy's op-ed at Al Jazeera English today:... →
The truth about me (and Steve) *TW for sexy times →
March 2013
7 posts
5 tags
‘Prostitution Chic’ is a thing now →
Earlier his week, The Gloss featured old photos of prostituted women in order to highlight the fact that being poor and having to service nasty-ass dudes in the early 1900s also involved wearing cool tights. A comment left on the post reads: “Well, I’m obviously going to be an old school sex worker for Halloween this year.” — I can’t tell if that’s sarcastic or not, but I think it shows that The...
8 tags
The Nordic model is the only model that actually... →
An article was published recently in The Independent looking at the Nordic model in Sweden. The journalist, Joan Smith, took a ride in a squad car to see how a model wherein the buyer is criminalized and the prostitute is decriminalized actually worked. What she found will likely be met, by any progressive, intelligent, feminist person, with a resounding “Duh.”
Of course the cries of “uptight!”...
7 tags
The Steubenville rape case: This is masculinity →
Two high school football players from Steubenville, Ohio were found guilty of raping a 16 year old girl on Sunday. They were both convicted of digitally penetrating the victim, and one was found guilty of illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material.
The allegations against the young men, Trent Mays, 17, and Ma’lik Richmond, 16, came after a series of photos, videos, texts, and social media...
9 tags
On ‘gray rape’, Girls, and sex in a rape culture →
About five years ago, I was out and about with some dude-friends. We went to a bunch of bars, danced, drank, etc. I was single and also, therefore, mingling. Flirting, they call it. Eventually when there was no more bar-hopping to be had, we went back to a friend’s house and laughed and talked and made jokes and took stupid photos. One of the men I’d been flirting with, let’s call him Brad*, gave...
8 tags
Postfeminism →
This article was originally posted at Manyfesto and has been republished with permission from the author, Taryn Fivek.
What is postfeminism? Allegedly it is the space where we can move past feminism, where feminism no longer holds appeal to women and where it can even be harmful to women. As Melissa Gira Grant writes:
The patriarchy’s figured out a way to outsource hatred of prostitution....
10 tags
No, being ‘kinky’ does not grant you minority... →
You’ve likely heard about the ‘cannibal cop‘ by now. He was a New York police officer whose wife discovered a website open on his computer displaying a photograph of a dead girl. The officer, Gilberto Valle, had been visiting a ‘fetish sites’ (because murdering women is a ‘fetish’ donchaknow) which “show[ed] women in various stages of forced duress, including one that offered images of women who...
5 tags
For the record, accusing women of being ‘career... →
I’m a socialist. Let’s just start with that, OK? I’m anti-capitalist and I’m feminist and I’m living in a capitalist, patriarchal world. I am working class and I will likely always be. I hope to be able to survive and live comfortably some day, while also doing ethical, feminist work. But God forbid I become successful, lest I join the ranks of the much-maligned ‘career feminists’!
Now, I haven’t...
February 2013
4 posts
7 tags
You want proof that criminalization works? Look no... →
The Nation and Tom Dispatch published an epic, historical look at the successes of the feminist movement over the past fifty-odd years and the long road ahead by Ruth Rosen yesterday.
In the article, Rosen points to various male “behaviours” like rape that, while once were viewed simply as “custom” were redefined, thanks to the feminist movement, as crimes.
Not so long ago, you may or may not...
7 tags
A pro-love story →
Valentine’s Day is tomorrow. I’ve got to write something, I tell myself. But what can I say? Inspirational messages aren’t really my bag, but neither is hopelessness. In truth, I’m a romantic. A skeptical romantic, but a romantic nonetheless.
Romance is awkward for feminists. It’s defined by bullshit like proposals and lingerie and heterosexuality and money. So being a romantic and being a...
7 tags
Girls explains the difference between porn and... →
After all my frustrated and repetitive attempts at trying to explain the difference between porn and images of naked bodies and the difference between objectification and images of female sexuality that aren’t exploitative or sexualized, Sunday night’s episode of Girls basically did it all for me.
Go watch it, if you can, but here’s a super brief recap for those who missed it: Hannah meets a hot...
5 tags
There is no feminist war on sex workers →
I’ve become increasingly frustrated by what feels like a barrage of articles coming from self-described progressives claiming that feminists are the real enemy of sex workers. It seems as though some of those who position themselves as ‘sex worker rights activists’ are intent on creating rigid divisions among women, placing the prostituted woman in a category of her own and placing feminists in...
January 2013
5 posts
4 tags
Defense of ‘the selfie’ confirms that this era... →
Clearly the world is engaged in an elaborate plot to make me LOSE MY MIND. You win, world! You are the dumbest and the worst at everything. I concede.
This morning’s episode of CBC Radio’s The Current featured a debate about ‘the selfie’. Listening was a little agonizing at times, but it provided an excellent portrayal of our culture’s mass confusion about what it means to do something ‘for...
8 tags
Revenge porn is about porn →
If you haven’t yet heard about revenge porn, you’re lucky.
Notorious dickbag, Hunter Moore, is big into the revenge porn game. He can be credited with mainstreaming the concept of punishing your ex by posting their nude photos online without their permission via his website, IsAnyoneUp.com.
Doesn’t take much to get rich these days, just a complete lack of anything resembling a soul.
Not only...
7 tags
New research shows violence decreases under Nordic... →
You probably haven’t heard about the newest prostitution research from Norway. It has been available in Norwegian since last summer when a tiny handful of pro-prostitution peeps wrote about it, but almost no one has noted the report’s English release. Now that I’ve read it I understand the silence from pro-sex work lobbyists and the liberal media that usually loves press releases that hate on...
8 tags
Free speech in Pornland →
No surprise here. The adult entertainment industry has followed through on their promise to file a suit against Los Angeles County, challenging Measure B, which passed in November, mandating condom-use on porn sets in L.A.
The suit, filed Thursday at the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California on behalf of Vivid Entertainment and performers Kayden Kross and Logan Pierce,...
3 tags
At long last: Tom Matlack’s opinion on your face →
Oh gosh, where to begin.
The New York Times‘ ‘Room for Debate’ started it by asking the perpetually boring and irrelevant question: “Does makeup help or hinder a woman’s self-esteem?” and then they punished us all further by giving The Good Douche Project’s Tom Matlack the final word on what you should do with your face (Whatever you want laaaaadies! You’re all beautiful to Tom!).
The question,...
December 2012
8 posts
3 tags
I guess it’s Christmas or something! →
I feel like I’m supposed to post something positive today — to, you know, spread joy and love or some other such crap — but I actually think Christmas is kind of the worst.
If I were to take my Facebook feed at face value, I would have to buy that 100% of people are feeling 100% merry. But sometimes the internet deceives us *gasp*
So today I will be the grinchy one on the internet and point out,...
11 tags
But what about the men? On masculinity and mass... →
“But what about the men?” It’s a question that’s been avoided by the mainstream within the context of mass shootings.
The recent tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut sparked thousands of conversations across the continent about gun laws, mental illness, and violence. And sadly, we’ve been here before.
We’ve had conversations about access to guns – the victims would still be alive today, after all, if...
6 tags
The Men’s Rights Movement, CAFE & the University... →
This article was originally published at rabble.ca and was reposted with permission from the author.
The Canadian Association for Equality (CAFE) and one of its spawns in the campus based Men’s Issues Awareness Group movement have arrived at the University of Toronto with a bang; and a seeming campaign of overt intimidation against those who oppose them.
CAFE, as I have previously written...
6 tags
Hey ladies? Rolling Stone accidentally forgets... →
So Rolling Stone came out with a ‘50 Greatest Hip-Hop Songs of All Time’ list this past week. Though the list includes much hip-hop greatness, there are more than a few oddities — Gang Starr, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, and Pharcyde don’t make the cut, they tacked B.O.B. by Outkast on at number 50 when they could snuck in Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik instead (boooooo), 50 cent is in there but not...
8 tags
It’s not ‘slut-shaming’, it’s woman hating →
We, in feminist land, like very much to encourage folks (particularly media-type folks, as they have a pretty significant role in framing discourse) to use correct language. Or, at very least, language that describes something real. In my last post, for example, I talked about the fact that many mainstream news sources reported on the murder of Kasandra Perkins without ever using the words...
4 tags
What Julia Long actually said →
This article in The Guardian by Marta Owczarek misleads readers in order to make a point that becomes moot once you start doing things like quoting accurately.
Here’s what Julia Long actually said at the screening of Lesbiana:
“I just wonder if there are any men that would like to show their solidarity and leave at this point, out of respect for autonomous women’s space....
12 tags
We ain’t sayin’ she a gold digger: On Kasi Perkins... →
Coverage of the murder of Kasandra (Kasi) Perkins by NFL linebacker Jovan Belcher has been incredibly brutal over the past few days as we bear witness to mainstream news sources rushing to defend Belcher’s character and erase any whiff of ‘male violence’ or ‘domestic abuse’ from the conversation. Most media that covered the story over the weekend barely mentioned her,...
3 tags
Feminist Current was voted Best Feminist Blog in... →
Just a quick note to thankyouthankyou! for voting for Feminist Current as Best Feminism Blog in the Canadian Blog Awards! We won!
Feminist Current only just launched in July 2012 (though I’ve been railing away in the feminist blogosphere since 2010) and I am just so touched by all the support we’ve received from YOU in such a short period of time. I think you all...
November 2012
8 posts
4 tags
Last day to vote for Feminist Current in the... →
Feminist Current has been nominated in the Best Feminism Blog category! Voting ends on Dec. 1
Click here to vote!
Thank you!
xo
7 tags
Don’t much care about the men: Man problems... →
What about the menz is weighing on me this week.
So everyone’s talking about how *gasp* men and boys are dealing with body image issues. Due to a recent story in the New York Times, the CBC’s Q did a segment yesterday morning looking at boys who were overly focused on working out, asking whether or not the issue of boys “reshaping their bodies and fitting a muscular ideal” should be getting more...
1 tag
Vote for Feminist Current in the Canadian blog... →
Heyoooo!
Feminist Current has been nominated in the Best Feminism Category in the Canadian Blog Awards!
Thank you for voting us through to the final round! You can vote one last time for us until Dec. 1, 2012.
Love, feminism, x’s and o’s,
~ Feminist Current
5 tags
Beware sex therapists bearing books: When porn is... →
By Meagan Tyler
Shut-up and spread your legs. That’s the gist of some of the most recent advice offered by Australian sex therapist Bettina Arndt to the heterosexual women of the world in her series of books about what men want in bed and why women should give it to them.
Over the last few years, Arndt has variously suggested that men have innately higher sex drives than women; that wives...
7 tags
Horny men, desperate women, and hookup culture:... →
Margaret Wente is doing her part to contribute to the desperately needed cannon of writing that encourages women to live in fear of growing old, man-free. These kind of pieces have been coming out on a regular basis for some time now. Notably, Susan Faludi addressed ye old ‘man shortage’ scare in her 1991 book, Backlash. Let’s keep that ball rolling, though, eh?
“The men are disappearing! Find...
5 tags
Who votes against decriminalizing prostituted... →
Guest post by Samantha Berg
I am thrilled that California has just passed two laws addressing the harms of the sex industry. Measure B mandates condom use in porn among other sensible workplace safety preventions for the legal porn industry, and Prop 35 increases consequences for illegal pimps, child pornographers, and sex traffickers while decriminalizing victims of commercial sexual abuse....
6 tags
Angel Haze hits Lupe Fiasco’s misses with “Bitch... →
Angel Haze’s intimate and brutally honest track “Cleaning out my Closet” has been making waves as she comes out about the horrific sexual abuse she suffered as a child (I don’t usually do trigger warnings, but this track is extremely graphic and pretty hard to listen to). The track is on her recently released mixtape, Classick, which is awesome in every way.
On Classick, she takes on Lupe...
1 tag
Feminist Current made it to the final round of the... →
Thank you for the love and votes everyone! On to the final round! Please vote for Feminist Current if you feel so inclined xo
October 2012
10 posts
You can vote for Feminist Current in the Canadian... →
Round one closes on November 1st. Vote for Feminist Current in the best feminism blog category!!
xo
6 tags
There is a wrong way to do feminism. And Femen is... →
I was grateful to have been invited to join a conversation about the future of feminism that looked specifically at the tactics of Ukrainian protest group, FEMEN on Al Jazeera English‘s show The Stream last week.
Inna Shevchenko, the leader of Femen International and Chloe Angyal of Feministing.com were guests on the show and the producers invited feminist bloggers Chrissy D, Ariana Tobin, Sara...
7 tags
The end is nigh. And the proof lies in Breast... →
Well this is it. The end is upon us.
By now you’re probably near-bald from tearing your hair out over the effed-upedness that we are subjected to every time Breast Cancer Awareness Month rolls around. Suddenly we’re inundated with pink crap as every company around tries to glom on to the breast cancer epidemic in an offensively opportunistic fashion.
From makeup, to laptops, to Swiffers (clean...
8 tags
Evidence shows that ending demand works: A... →
By Max Waltman
Law enforcement, intellectuals, politicians, and activists all over the United States—last month, even President Obama—are discussing legal approaches toward the related scourges of human trafficking and prostitution. Recognizing that prostitution is a form of sex inequality related to gender-based violence, the Swedish approach criminalizes the purchaser, while decriminalizing the...
okdouchebag-deactivated20130415 asked: words cannot express how much i love this "fuck hipsters" article.
10 tags
Misogyny and porn culture are SO FUCKING IRONIC,... →
Though I occasionally find a good article in Vice, mostly I just find really terrible writing and misogyny/efforts at popularizing pornography. I mean, I like reading about drugs as much as the next person, but I just can’t stomach the constant objectification and glorification of porn (because I’m too fucking uptight or stupid to ‘get’ how objectification is actually artsy and ok if hipsters are...
