Sometimes when I check the stats for this blog to see which sites are referring people here, I find a URL for the stats page of somebody else's blog - usually one that has appeared on the links roundup - and I wonder if clicking on it will lead to an endless recursion of links back and forth. Enjoy this week's roundup!
This is chord-striking: Hugo Schwyzer on self-deprecating jokes as a means of defusing feminist anger. I've seen this done by quite a few men, sometimes without any conscious intent to perpetuate oppression. TW for misogyny in some of the comments.
But one thing I remember from my own college days that I see played out over and over again is this male habit of making nervous jokes about being attacked by feminists. In my undergrad days, I often prefaced a comment by saying "I know I’ll catch hell for this". I’ve seen male students do as they did today and pretend to run; I’ve seen them deliberately sit near the door, and I once had one young man make an elaborate show (I kid you not) of putting on a football helmet before speaking up!The always-awesome Marianne Kirby on 'passing' in terms of class, and the invisibilisation of working-class people's experiences:
... There’s a conscious purpose to this sort of behavior. Joking about getting beaten up (or putting on the football helmet) sends a message to young women in the classroom: "Tone it down. Take care of the men and their feelings. Don’t scare them off, because too much impassioned feminism is scary for guys."
When people look at me (and my extensive wardrobe) I’m pretty easily pegged as solidly middle class. I wear a really good dress made of middle-class acceptability, middle-of-the-road class identity. I work an office job in an urban area. I travel for work and recreation. I own a computer and a smart phone. My income puts me in this bracket, as do my actions, my education, my interests, and my expectations for what I should be able to accomplish.
But sometimes I think I am only passing as middle class.
OK, so I shouldn't have been watching YouTube videos at work, but I didn't expect to end up in tears in front of the whole office! This clip from a US TV show, about bystanders in a Texas diner responding to homophobic abuse, is just so completely joyful that I couldn't help myself.