(was pointed to this by a member of my f-list on my LJ.)


So, a "study" says that 70% of Americans think a woman should take her husband's name after marriage, and of those 70%, half of them think it should be required by law. If that's not bad enough, their reasons are even more *headdesk*-inducing.

http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/2009/08/12/2009-08-12_70_percent_of_americans_.html

( Full text for the link-phobic )

(nb: since when did 815 people come to represent the entire country? How is a survey with 815 people surveyed reflective of "all Americans"?)

Tower of London Beefeaters Suspended for bullying 1st female Beefeater

LONDON – Something is rotten — again — at the Tower of London, long known for its treachery, bloodshed, and executions.

If the new charges are true, it's time to add bullying to the litany of foul deeds committed at the notorious royal fortress where many were tortured and three English queens were executed centuries ago.

At issue is the alleged bullying of a contemporary trailblazer: Moira Cameron, the first woman to serve as yeoman warder at the Tower, which dates back to the 11th century.

Hers was supposed to be a happy story about how one of the traditional bastions of male supremacy became a place where women, too, could serve queen and country. But it now appears Cameron, 44, was isolated and harassed by resentful male colleagues, despite her long experience in the military.

Embarrassed Tower officials said Monday that two male warders have been suspended and a third is under investigation for suspected harassment of Cameron, who joined the prestigious warders two years ago, integrating what had been an all-male preserve for centuries.

A statement released by the Tower of London said harassment among its staff was "totally unacceptable" and that an internal investigation started last week as soon as the allegations were received.

"We can confirm that three yeoman warders are under investigation in response to allegations of harassment," the Tower statement said. "Two have been suspended. We take such allegations very seriously and our formal harassment policy makes it clear that this is totally unacceptable."

The bullying allegations are an unpleasant wrinkle in what had been a generally popular move to bring women into traditionally male military roles.

The warders, who patrol the fortress on the banks of the River Thames, are popularly known as "Beefeaters," mostly because of the extra rations of meat they were given during medieval times.

Their brightly colored Tudor-style uniforms are part of the picture-postcard London that often enchants visitors from around the world. Cameron's ceremonial, red-and-gold outfit was specially modified to fit her female frame.

Her introduction to the exclusive service went relatively smoothly, as far as the public could discern, but some tensions were present right from the start.

Cameron, with military experience both in Cyprus and Northern Ireland, said when her appointment was announced that some of her colleagues resented her presence.

"I've had some comments," she said at the time. "I had one chap at the gate one day who said he was completely and utterly against me doing the job."

Her reply was quick and piercing: "I said to him, 'I would like to thank you for dismissing my 22 years' service in her majesty's armed forces'."

But she seemed thrilled with her job, telling The Associated Press of the joys of giving historical tours and describing the Tower as a wonderful place to work.

Simmering tensions were kept behind the fortress walls until Monday, when the Sun newspaper reported that Cameron's uniform had been defaced and that "nasty" notes had been left in her locker.

In addition, the newspaper said that Cameron's entry in the online encyclopedia known as Wikipedia had been defaced as part of the campaign against her.

Scotland Yard confirmed Monday that a 56-year-old man had been reprimanded about improper use of the Internet. Details were not disclosed, but it was believed this man is the third warder being investigated for alleged harassment.

Tower spokeswoman Ruth Howlett said she could not confirm the details cited in the newspaper report or elaborate on the reported harassment.

The Tower statement said an internal investigation should be finished within two to three weeks in accordance with the Tower's harassment policy.

The revelations did not appear to bother visitors to the Tower.

"There's always teasing in the army," said Miles Gurrin, a frequent visitor. "The army is known for this sort of thing. It's not as if she is an outsider. She served in the army for 22 years, so she is one of them."

He said the public would probably withhold judgment until the investigation is completed.

The 35 warders — all ex-military personnel — guide visitors around the popular tourist attraction, which houses the priceless crown jewels as well as rare coats of armor and other items of incalculable historic value.

Warders were first used in the 11th century, and early on were used to monitor and occasionally torture high profile prisoners kept in the Tower, which was founded by King William I in 1066. There is a long history of bloodshed and treachery at the Tower, including the executions of three queens: Catherine Howard and Anne Boleyn, both wives of Henry VIII, and Lady Jane Grey, known as "the nine days queen."

The warders and their families live on the Tower grounds so they can be on call both day and night.

The fact that the public doesn't care really makes me shake my head. :(

Oh here we go again:

Man goes apeshit, murders his wife

( article underneath cut, beware graphic descriptions of violence )

I personally am getting really fucking sick of seeing stuff like this in the news. It's not even that uncommon anymore, I see at least one of these stupidass man-murders-wife/girlfriend news stories every month (often along with any children or step-children who happen to be in the way), at minimum. DEAR LOSERS: IF YOU CAN'T DEAL WITH SOME ISSUE WITH YOUR SIGNIFICANT OTHER, JUST GET A DIVORCE/BREAK UP AND GO AWAY. >:C

I have never been so ashamed of my gender.

( Cutting for triggery content. )

You are forewarned.

Murderer of Dr. George Tiller has supporters planning an online auction to raise money for his defense.

Supporters of Roeder, the man accused of murdering abortion provider George Tiller, say they're planning an online auction to raise money for his defense, Judy Thomas reports. (It's not clear if it'll actually happen -- eBay has a policy that should bar this sort of thing from happening.) Among the items to be auctioned: an Army of God manual for disrupting abortion clinics, drawings from Roeder himself and a prison cookbook compiled by the woman who shot and wounded Tiller back in 1993.

Leaving my opinion out of this, but hopefully no one here actually believes that killing doctors is somehow justifiable.

Also, Law & Order episode to be based on the death of Dr. Tiller.

Designer Christian Louboutin thinks Barbie's ankles are too fat for his shoes.

Text under the cut for the link phobic:

( Read more... )

I just...this is Barbie, a known cause of poor body image in women. WTF.

Apparently the only thing "worse" than gay men in the military... is lesbians in the military.

This is disgusting. Not the article itself, it's fine. But what it covers is so far from fine that I'm surprised this hasn't already been posted here.

The opening sentence says it all: Women are far more likely than men to be kicked out of the military under the "don't ask, don't tell" policy against gays in uniform, according to government figures released Thursday that critics said reflect deep-seated sexism in the armed forces.

For those who are link-phobic, here is the ( full text of the article )

I... have no words. If someone cannot be investigated or punished based on their sexuality, how come they can be dismissed/discharged based on suspicions of their orientation? What the hell, U.S. Military?

(Normally news headlines on my RSS feed don't really grab my attention, but this one did, and reading the article just made me want to scream and rip something apart.)

12-Year-Old 'Bride' Dies Giving Birth.

( Snippet under cut. )

_{On a side note, it makes me quite angry that such children are referred to as 'brides' instead of, oh, I don't know, 'victims', maybe?}

Carleton University Blames Rape Victim For Being Raped

Jane Doe believes the University did not take sufficient responsibility in ensuring the safety of it's female students, and sued the University. The court case was recently settled. In the midst of the case, the University stated, “the victims injuries were caused or contributed to by the plaintiff, through her own negligence. She was not keeping a proper look out for her own safety.”

Carleton University (in Canada) does not have a Sexual Assault Center.

Link is to a summary of an interview that is in audio. I haven't listened to the audio.

The topic here involves rape so I'll put behind a cut to avoid triggers. Short version is that a hotel blames the victim for her own rape. And not even in a subtle way.

( Newspaper article quoted here because it will get taken down by the site )

Evony: How Not to Advertise on the Internet

For those who haven't seen them, the article contains several ads for Evony, a web game. They go from advertising generic medieval world-building to . . . boobs. It would almost be funny if it weren't for the fact that it's sexist as hell. Seriously, I've seen those stupid ads every time I go to my favorite Mac Games site, and the message I've gotten is that the game Isn't For Girlies. Surprise! Girls don't play medieval world-building web games! Betcha didn't know that.

Brb, off to slap a few ad execs.

From Ars Technica:

EA puts sexual bounty on the heads of its own booth babes

EA is running a contest related to its upcoming Dante's Inferno, and it's encouraging Comic-Con attendees to "commit an act of lust" with booth babes and take a picture. (NB: According to the official rules, it's "any costumed spokesperson at or outside Comic-Con," and the picture is the "act of lust" in question. Not that this makes it any better.)

Contestants could win "dinner and a sinful night with two hot girls, a limo service, paparazzi and a chest full of booty."

The booth babes at Comic-Con--or any convention--are already being objectified...they really did not need this on top of it. I expect lawsuits. I hope for lawsuits. Big ones, that take EA to the cleaners.

Thankfully, the comments at Ars Technica are not generally full of fail. Oh, there are a few real princes--mostly, variations on "it just means taking pictures, it's not that bad" or "they knew the job was dangerous when they took it"; a few are worse--but many commenters are as disgusted with EA as I am.

Open source, why must you be so fail?

This has shown up all over the Planet Gnome RSS feed lately. It started when Richard M. Stallman gave a tongue-in-cheek speech at the Gran Canaria Desktop Summit about the text-editor-worshiping 'church of Emacs'. The epic command-line text editor wars between emacs and vi would normally be entertaining, but... not this time.
( Where did religious parodies go so wrong? )
More blog links: A much better summary than mine, Monotonous is all for fighting sexism, rodrigo thinks it isn't there, and uraeus insists that sexism cannot be to blame for anything short of a trail of bloody footprints leading to sexism's front door.

This may come as a shock to some of you, but G. Gordon Liddy is, in fact, an asshat. Today's asshaberdashery: declaring that Obama's pick for the new Supreme Court justice, Sonia Sotomayor, is unfit for the court because she might be menstruating during judicial conferences, which would make her decisions suspect.

I only wish I were kidding.

Well, golly gee whillakers, Mr. Liddy! I never thought about it like that before, but now that you mention it, I guess we womenfolk ought to just let you menfolk make all the decisions for us, since you're obviously all so sane and reasonable.

Unsurprisingly, Jezebel is not impressed. I, personally, would like to hear what Sandra Day O'Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsberg have to say.

Remember this awesome girl? Sad case, seriously impressive girl and judge. That was in Yemen; this one's in Saudi Arabia.

There are two major differences: first, that her mother actually sought the divorce for her (her father was the one who sold his daughter arranged the marriage); and second, that the marriage was completely legal, and still is. As the article states:

There are no laws in Saudi Arabia defining the minimum age for marriage. Though a woman's consent is legally required, some marriage officials don't seek it.

Women's rights groups within the country and the US is pressuring Saudi Arabia to set a minimum marriage age of 18 for girls. Unfortunately, they're running into roadblocks among the Usual Suspects:

Saudi Arabia's conservative Muslim clergy have opposed the drive to end child marriages. In January, the kingdom's most senior cleric said it was permissible for 10-year-old girls to marry and those who believe they are too young are doing the girls an injustice.

I'd like to tell that guy to please never, ever use the word "injustice" in connection with the female gender again. EVER. I do not think it means what he thinks it means.

ETA: By popular demand, a link to the actual news story! You people are so picky, I swear.

I suppose this is a reminder of how far the LGBT community in the West has come.

( Some background )

( The actual unfunny part )

You think this is bad, though? At the very least she’s Singaporean. At least in Singapore there’s a rather thin veneer of intellectual respectability that gives Our Friendly Neighbors the ability to sneer at their brutish uncivilized cousins across the Tebrau Strait.

Remember this Mary-Jane statuette that induced a lot of rage about two years ago?


Even fandom_wank were wanking about it.

Well, snappapple of deviantart just found out about it and is very angry because those damn "feminazis" are out to oppress her.

"I stumbled upon this little gem- an entire herd of feminists all making waves about a Mary-Jane statuette that portrays a woman doing some sexy laundry... So? If my man was out saving the world all the time, I'd bloody well hop to that laundry. In fact, my fiance comes home to a hot meal and a clean house every night- he makes the money and I bloody well thank him the way a woman should.

Seriously- we're equal already. Get over it."

The conversation goes just as would be expected. There's a lot of gender stereotyping done by the OP, discussion about what a woman should be doing, and idealization of the perfect family model and how it's evil to stray from it.

Lifted write up from Mousie on wank_report 

Fanficrants has just been a carnival of fail lately, but this really takes the cake.

( Cut due to potential sexual assault trigger. )

I don't know how reputable this is. But... I'm just... I'm shaking with rage.

Women should be hit for wearing sexy clothing in public, one in seven believe

One in seven people believe it is acceptable in some circumstances for a man to hit his wife or girlfriend if she is dressed in “sexy or revealing clothes in public”, according to the findings of a survey released today.

A similar number believed that it was all right for a man to slap his wife or girlfriend if she is “nagging or constantly moaning at him”.

The findings of the poll, conducted for the Home Office, also disclosed about a quarter of people believe that wearing sexy or revealing clothing should lead to a woman being held partly responsible for being raped or sexually assaulted.

KILL