Feminist Theory & "Women's Issues" Discussion Thread: All Gender Identities Are Encouraged To Participate

why are a bunch of dudes discussing the offensiveness of another dude's word choice re disabled people on the feminism and wymen's thread?

also in the us an affectation like 'arseholes' has classist connotations i'm guessing you'd want to avoid. you're kinda giving off a rick santelli vibe. is that yr intention?

Stay classy, balls

why are a bunch of dudes discussing the offensiveness of another dude's word choice re disabled people on the feminism and wymen's thread?

Won't argue with that and unreservedly apologise for that. But fuck the rest of these arseholes.

be the change you want to see in the world xelab.

i think it's only fair that we now fill the weird al thread with 150 posts about feminism

ugh, i really did not intend to drag the whole weird al discussion here. i had a tangential thought that there is a gendered dynamic to the downward-punching, derisive sense of humor. while i dont think men are the exclusive practitioners of this style of humor, it is male-dominated.

and up here there is a style of "he couldnt be ____ist because he is a decent guy, its just a joke lighten up" reputation defense that...i dont know if its a male thing especially, but i see it used more for men in male-dominated spaces.

That's like if one country decided to use the word "orange" as a slur for some minority and then insisted that everywhere and anywhere all uses of the word to refer to the fruit or the color were actually derogatory slurs.

hi

decent discussion IMO I find myself in the unfamiliar but not unwelcome position of agreeing with my mayne dayo to a large extent but maybe only cos spastic is p obviously a word not to use, being derogatorily descriptive of certain physical failings by comparing them to ppl with shit medical conditions.

but I would be interested to hear what, exactly,yanks think it means. if that's been explained elsewhere in all this soz I'm a lil drunk

It's not just 'spastic', iirc there's a US series called 'the mentalist'

jesus , the monsters

#accidentalpartridge

I was in local place called YPAT earlier, it is a local authority clubhouse for young people with a wide range of disabilities. For many of them that attend it is the only social interaction they experience other than school and family. I'd imagine even some of the hard-headed zingy types on here would be humbled and revising their attitude towards disablist words if they even spent 10 minutes there.

Sorry about the thread hijacking, last post.

why are a bunch of dudes discussing the offensiveness of another dude's word choice re disabled people on the feminism and wymen's thread?

― sarahell, Friday, July 18, 2014 11:40 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

intersectionALity

HAHAHAHAHAH!

perfect

all this has convinced me to stop insulting people with words that refer to different physical / mental conditions fwiw

including 'idiot', 'stupid' and 'dumb'. still think it's ok to say someone is dull or thick-headed, thank god.

Is dimbulb still safe, do you think? What about nudnik?

terms of contempt (all-purpose, non-bigotted)

Also "lame" xps

How's about fucking Über-Schmoozer, how's life? All this "political correctness gone mad" vehemence is complete shit. I am sticking up for people here who often don't have ability to fight back and I don't really care if I sound like a loon. I am the only able bodied person in my household, my partner has some rare form of leukodystrophy/MS and my son is on the non-verbal side of the autism spectrum. I can't really approach this from any than other vantage other than fuck people who are always arguing for their right to use reductive insults against disabled people. Anyone who who thinks words are harmless is talking garbage and has no appreciation of the insidious, attritional effect they have on vulnerable people, often without the ability to fight back.

Sorry again feminist clique I promise I won't post on here again.

arguing for their right to use reductive insults against disabled people - nobody is doing this

Anyone who who thinks words are harmless is talking garbage and has no appreciation of the insidious, attritional effect they have on vulnerable people, often without the ability to fight back. - you are describing nobody on this thread

Damn dude let it go

yeah none of this actually matters anyway

stop talking, bollocks m8

My daughter has the opposite affliction from spastic disorder (hypertonia). Instead she is seriously hypotonic. I suppose it was a bit of good luck for her that 'hypotonic' has no cachet as a playground insult.

As for her opinion of 'retard' as an insult (nb: her IQ cannot be measured by any existing test and thus is officially set at 60) I think I know her well enough to be sure she would have nothing but contempt for those who bandy it about. Unfortunately she can't speak or sign and therefore cannot share that opinion explicitly.

<3 all dealing with rrealitiesof referenced conditions

but in awe of subset of above realising/allowing for everyday human piggybacking of terms little understood/appreciated nonetheless referenced for everyday effect

Might anyone be able to recommend a gd introduction to 3rd-wave / intersectional stuff for my grandmother (age 88)? It needs to be something reasonably light (she's in pain so finds it hard to read super academic stuff, though she used to a lot) and not get too into technological stuff (no internet etc) but she's keen on knowing more and asked me to find something.

http://38.media.tumblr.com/38d71ee8c8e6af69dbd16f28f359c1a3/tumblr_n9u7kepcfX1qjzfl0o1_500.gif

xp not sure how much it ticks the boxes but Nina Power's One Dimensional Woman is good.

as a v readable take on the state of feminism today

I just recommend bell hooks' Feminism is for Everybody for everything. Very easy read but not light on substance.

one dimensional woman is a good call, v short!

Nina Power's book would fit the bill

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/09/04/men-are-harassed-more-than-women-online.html

Quite interesting. Title had me wary but it's good.

"Demos categorised tweets as offensive if they contained 1 or more of the abusive words included in Google's search language filter"

An offensive tweet according to that list of words: "ah balls, pisses me off when that happens too, sorry mate"
Not an offensive tweet according to that list: "(your address here) I know where you live and you don't deserve to. I'm gonna rape you and kill you tonight"

or, for someone smarter than me but with a pretty offputting URL: http://freethoughtblogs.com/almostdiamonds/2014/09/07/are-men-really-harassed-more-than-women/

yeah I don't need to follow links to know that the only way that could be "true" is through selective manipulation of data

Yet we bolster the same stereotypes when we focus on nasty things said to women while trivializing threats against men even though men are much more likely to be victims of violence by strangers.

this is brilliantly obtuse

Was just going to post the same complaint about the Demos study. And that's probably the most potentially-substantive piece of evidence in the whole article. It's a bunch of dubious claims, dubiously strung together, in a way guaranteed to give ammunition to misogynists looking to downplay online harassment of women and portray them as deluded and irrational.

Yes, that Freethought article is a good takedown

https://zapp.trakt.us/images/episodes/957-3-2.jpg

I know.

The first article was interesting to me mainly because of the various controversies referenced that I was previously unaware of. I realised just as I posted that what I had written sounded like an endorsement of those views and I knew I'd probably regret it.

And also knew that my response to the second article would make me look an embarrasing clown, no way of avoiding it.

lol demos still exists

i think i finally 'get' shanley on twitter. she's basically a feminist ethan with more work ethic. really starting to enjoy some of her protracted 'performance' tweetstorms.

hahahahahahhahahahahahaha

well put

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-yXi-zSHoQ

#womancrushwednesdays

http://cartermatt.com/130797/law-order-svu-season-16-see-fun-promo-mariska-hargitay-chicago-pd/

it's cool, they're armed