Linkspam:

Posted by Lashings of Ginger Beer Time


The first two service dogs for people with early-stage dementia have recently started work!

Shani / andustar - the graphic designer who creates all of Lashings' most iconic imagery, including the Cabaret-face above -  writes about the process of learning about gender and starting to unlearn cissexism in "Gender and Lies-To-Children".

At Body Impolitic, evolutionary psychology gets the thrashing it deserves [content notes: willpower, fat-shaming, intellectual elitism].

In terrifying political news - quite apart from Monday's announcement of a "curb on porn", likely (as these things so often do) to also restrict access to sites about sexual health and LGBT issues - we have Disagree With An ATOS Decision? Then Starve, Says the DWP [content notes: institutional ableism, poverty, ATOS, DWP].

On a vaguely related note, Autostraddle brings us an article on queer lady dating while disabled [content note: ableism].

In slightly more encouraging (though heartbreaking) political news, a 12-year-old Egyptian boy rocks a political interview [note: video; no transcript at link].

Still grim: MacDonald's released a suggested budget for employees - which neatly demonstrates how impossible it is to live on the wage the corporation pays.

Sorry - I'm not managing much cheerful this week - but have yet another post on why same-sex marriage is not equal marriage. And another one.

-- and, to end on a slightly more cheerful note...

... via Storify, we get a glimpse at a talk entitled Investigating the Female Gaze.

... the ever-marvellous CN Lester has, over the past several weeks, been hosting a series of Q&As on gender, answered by a panel. Here's the masterpost for the Beyond the Binary series.

What have you been reading, writing, or thinking this week?

The author is dead: on boycotting creations because of their creators

Posted by kaberett

Here is my premise: I exist.

Over the past few months, there has been ongoing discussion of Orson Scott Card, his vile views on queer people and equal marriage, and the upcoming release of the film adaptation of Ender's Game. Over and over again - as in the most recent such article I've stumbled upon, by John Scalzi - people say:

Personally speaking, I have a pretty high tolerance for artists and creators being obnoxious/offensive/flawed/assholes/otherwise seriously imperfect. This is partly because I believe art is a highly composed, refined, edited and intentional end result of a process that takes place in a mind which can be almost anything. The only thing creators fundamentally have in common is the ability to create, and to shape their creations to speak to others.

[...]

So, yeah, I can put up with a lot when it comes to creators. It’s not usually  the art’s fault the brain it came out of is directly connected to an asshole.

To be clear, in fact I think Scalzi is generally competent, and I've deliberately pulled out the most unpleasant part of the article: but it's representative of a broader idea, the idea that a creator's reprehensible views don't affect the art they create.

They do.

It is one thing for me to consume media that doesn't contain queer people, trans people, just because we've been forgotten and overlooked.

It is quite another to consume media from which we have been actively erased.

My boycott isn't about material created by an author who holds irrelevant views. It's about my unwillingness to give money to people who deliberately erase me as an active political position.

I. Exist.

Linkspam: mental health, dudes discover feminism, and awesome toys for kids

Posted by Lashings of Ginger Beer Time

One man talks about how he discovered gender discrimination. And he's a male voice, so people might listen to him. Here endeth the cynicism...

Our very own much-beloved Annalytica will be performing in Oxford in late July, sharing a show with Mae Martin. Event details are available from Eventbrite (with ticket-booking) and from facebook.

We've been hearing a lot about the bloke who intervened when a creepy dude started harrassing a woman on public transport in San Francisco; here's his own account: Changing the Creepy Guy Narrative [content note: harassment].

Samantha Mawdsley, an Aussie living in London, writes about how she reached out [content notes: suicide, self-injury]: mental health -- how to save a life.

Just because it didn't exist yet didn't mean demand wasn't there: how an engineering toy for girls went from kickstarter to bestseller.

What have you been reading (or writing!) this week?

Linkspam!

Posted by Lashings of Ginger Beer Time

Round-up of news and blog responses to the McNally sex-by-deception case.

Autostraddle brings us an article on queerbaiting in current media.

At The F Word, Romance, Misogyny and Near Misses [content note: abuse] takes a look at the ways in which abuse is coded as "romantic gestures".

Trans activist Sarah Brown has written a FAQ/explanation on the topic of why trans people are currently talking about a "spousal veto", and what it means.

This weekend at Captain Awkward, there's a suggested strategy for dealing with depression that has kaberett punching the air and saying "IT'S NOT JUST ME!": make the job smaller [content note: depression].

John Scalzi, writer of beautiful military speculative fiction heavy on the sociology and diverse characters, wants people to know he has their back: My New Convention Harassment Policy, which he followed up with a co-sign thread and a FAQ/detailed explanation, in which he name-checks Nine Worlds' anti-harassment policy!

On a related note, sasha_feather has begun a list of conventions and conferences with accessibility policies at the geekfeminism wiki - and has provided more details of their thinking in their own blog.

Photographer John William Keedy has put together a photo essay about what anxiety feels like, entitled It's Hardly Noticeable - and it's extremely powerful.

At Huffpo, Diane Ehrens writes When Talking About Children's Gender, Words Matter [content notes: gatekeeping, cissexism].

Once again, kaberett's been writing elsewhere this week - an article on open-source culture and oppression inherent in meritocracies, entitled tech competence vs tech confidence.

 What have you been reading - and writing - this week?

Linkspam: poems and schooling and art, oh my!

Posted by Lashings of Ginger Beer Time

People of Colour in European Art History (Because You Wouldn't Want To Be Historically Inaccurate) is a brilliant, brilliant response to the tired old argument that we can't have characters of colour in historical/mediaeval fantasy because it's just not accurate...

Dr Meg Barker (pronoun: they) has put out a call for speakers on the subject of Mindfulness and Mental Health, to coincide with their book launch (London, November 1st).

One of Jill Peters' recent projects involves photography and interviews with burnesha ("Sworn Virgins") of Albania, preserving some of the history of the variety of gendered reality and expression in European history.

On the topic of photography, via the tumblrs we also bring you Hidden in the Open: A Photographic Essay of Afro American Male Couples.

New York City has redesigned the symbology denoting accessibility [content note: use of "handicapped"], with the impact expanded on by Sociological Images in the past.


Want some (more) history? Alas, A Blog brings us Male Feminism in 1914.

And finally, elsenet kaberett wrote a personal exploration of the poem How To Make Love To A Trans Person [explicit; contains detailed discussion of surgery].

Linkspam: libraries, accessibility, family

Posted by Lashings of Ginger Beer Time

In a post entitled Fitness and Accessibility, Fit, Feminist and (Almost) Fifty does an excellent job of - among other things - deconstructing the difference between accommodations and accessibility.

On a related theme, this week at Captain Awkward sees letter #487: I use a wheelchair, and people are condescending as fuck. It's great not only because of the scripts the Captain provides, but also because of the detailed, respectful conversation in comments about solidarity and education and how to do things better (content note: comments do include ableist language and internalised ableism - but also a lot of excellent examples of how to react to being called out on same).

Amal el-Mohtar writes brilliantly about the backlash she faces for calling for the expulsion of an SFWA member (content note: racism, misogyny; for context, please see last week's links round-up.)

An MA student from Sheffield is seeking information on secondary-school library services for LGBT pupils via a survey.  Aims of the research include exploring what members of the LGBT community think about the support and services offered to them by their secondary school library; exploring the views of secondary school librarians regarding provision of support and services for LGBT students; and establishing recommendations for how secondary school libraries can best support their LGBT students.

In the New Statesman, Paris Lees explains Why I won't be sending you a father's day card (content notes: abuse, bullying, heterosexism, cissexism) - for all of us who've been feeling alienated this weekend. Well done, us: we did a great job of bringing ourselves (and each other) up. <3

Ursula LeGuin writes, in The Diminished Thing, about the experiences of age and aging, and of others' reactions: it's fascinating stuff, and it's so very her.

The charity Signature is calling for British Sign Language to be introduced as a modern foreign language at GCSE level - and is working with exam regulators to put together a syllabus!

Lashings Trivia Quiz Answers

Posted by Lashings of Ginger Beer Time

Well, the first run of Fanny Whittington is over and done with -- thank you so much to everyone who came along and made such wonderful audience members (and a special thanks to a certain performer's parents, who heckled the show gloriously and then took the cast out for drinks!).

Below the cut are the answers to the Lashings Trivia Quiz, so don't click through unless you've already answered all the questions -- we'll be back to your regular scheduled blog post next week!