Links round-up

Posted by Lashings of Ginger Beer Time


Alternative Sex Education - an e-Petition to the Department for Education to include domestic violence, rape and sexual assault, and safe-sex for same-sex couples in sex education.

What looks set to be an epic discussion kicks off at Shakesville: Melissa McEwan on nationalism and stereotyping in the new Disney/Pixar film Brave (link contains spoilers). [TW: discussion of rape]

The blogosphere gets a-rumbling with numerous discussions of sexism and geek culture: Foz Meadows writes eloquently on gaming's rape culture and the misogynist attacks on FemFreq's Anita Sarkeesian, shortly before the issue reignites with several responses to the new Tomb Raider trailer. The thoughtful responses from Cara Ellison and Susan Arendt are very different and both worth reading, as is this [potentially highly triggering] article from an anonymous male survivor of rape: this story has also hit the Guardian twice, via Mary Hamilton and Charlie Brooker. Meanwhile, The Vicious Pixie and Ellen Lundgren take on a self-congratulatory meme about 'geek culture' beating 'pop culture' for female role models.

Merritt Kopas creates an amusing in-browser game that satirises TERFs (trans exclusionary radical feminists) and predicts their becoming 'utterly irrelevant'.

Femfresh, purveyors of the sort of 'feminine hygiene' that encourages shame, faced a hilarious social media backlash on their Facebook page - it's been deleted now, but check out some archived quotations and the parody poster made by Adventures in Menstruating!

 Virginia Howes laments the count-down to Independent Midwifery becoming illegal, decreasing the freedom women will have to make choices about how and where they birth their babies. More info about the institutionalisation of birth and therefore the restriction of the rights of mothers and midwives in the short film Freedom for Birth.

 A testament to the power of online activism - 9-year-old schoolgirl Martha Payne's blog documenting her poor-quality school lunches leads to improved meals within weeks, a global media storm, and over £100,000 raised for a charity feeding impoverished children.

Last week's Cutlery Drawer fundraiser, which featured a double set from Lashings, raised £244 for The Harry Harris LGBT+ Library!

A collection of poetry dealing with gender, sexuality and identity is reviewed by Tor, including particular mention of "Hair" by the awesome Hel Gurney.