Hello little monsters! This week I ate an entire family size bag of white cheddar popcorn in two days. But I took a short break from the hypnotism of UTZ brand snacks so I could round up all of the stories we missed this week!
Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous
Mila Kunis, the girl you wished you were banging on your date to see Black Swan, is going to produce a feminist series called Meridian Hills for the CW. And Sara Ramirez of Grey’s Anatomy is a self-described gay ally for life! BFFLZ! Maybe all of these sweet celebrities can help smooth over the conflict between seapunks and Rihanna.
Also, LOL at a female anchor from Ohio’s Fox station calling Rachel Maddow “an angry young man.” Jesus Christ, fuck off already.
Also, there’s an Amanda Palmer video out that Crystal says is basically porn. See for yourself!
Gays Around the Globe
This week in Spain, the Constitutional Court reaffirmed gay marriage. And the incoming Archbishop of Canterbury (so chivalrous) pledged to think a little more about hating gay people and evaluate if it’s still okay. Lesbians from mainland China lived it up at Hong Kong pride, which drew 4,000 in an effort to smash homophobia and the patriarchy forever and ever amen.
Yet in Liberia, gay marriage is just one of the targets of a new homophobic campaign, and in New York, queer homeless youth are stuck on the streets.
While the outpouring of support has been heartening, Siciliano hopes that the renewed awareness will stretch beyond Sandy. “This is an ongoing crisis in the city, and the Mayor has been unwilling to increase the funding,” he said. “I was really struck by something yesterday. People were asking how long shelters will be open, and he said, ‘We’re not going to let anybody go sleeping in the streets.’ Well, there are thirty-eight hundred kids out on the streets every night. The day-to-day situation for gay homeless youth in New York City is a hot mess. It’s appalling that we can’t provide more shelter beds. What kind of city are we?
Let’s all take a lesson from Brazil, where homophobic doofus J.R. Guzzo, who formerly worked at Veja magazine (one of the most popular in the region) denied that the gay community existed and attracted the vitrol of basically everyone else who lives there. When he compared gay marriage to goat marriage, the newest meme was born: Goats to Marry.
If You Need a Reason to Crush on a Mountie, I Have One
Look no further than this “It Gets Better” video for another reason to visit a Canadian park.
Good to Know
This week, HuffPo printed a lengthy thing on bisexuality that turned out not to completely suck! Also, keep your eyes peeled for an anti-DOMA video for the ages. Because it’s on the way! OutServe SLDN and Freedom to Marry coming together can only mean the best PSA of all time, I think. Maybe while we wait we can review great gaycation packages and destinations.
And in case you were wondering, your period really is ruining your life and your health. At least sort of.
According to recent reports, a woman’s monthly cycle is more than just an inconvenience. Certain times of the month can contribute to worsening asthma symptoms, an increased risk of certain types of knee injuries and even the cycle of poverty.
Lastly, did you know Brittani Nichols went to Yale? She’s so amazing. And hilarious. Here’s a video of LGBT people who went from Yale being typically overachieving people with great voices and theatrical properties!
I really like this from the bisexual article: “What you can name, you can talk about. What you can talk about, you can educate about. A word is a label. Words make language and communication possible. I hate the idea of a world without labels. It would be a mute world. However, labels should be self-chosen. Putting a label on someone that they haven’t chosen for themselves isn’t kind. Ask people how they like to be identified.”
Personally, I’ve never quite gotten the discomfort with labels. I mean, I get why some people are, but I’ve never felt that way. I like being able to say that I am this one particular thing, because it helps me to show the world that my sexuality is real, and it also makes it easier for me to come out to people. I also think using the bi label is important for bisexual visibility, although I agree that no one should have to use a label that makes them uncomfortable just for that reason.
I also like her explanation for why “pansexual” doesn’t fit, because that’s basically the reason that it doesn’t fit for me (basically, that I have particularly preferences in men and women, I’m not attracted to people all over the gender presentation spectrum – I’m also not sure whether or not I’m attracted to non-binary people).
I can’t speak for others, but my discomfort with labels simply stems from the fact that literally none of them feel like they fit right. It’s like trying to find a pair of corduroy pants in a second-hand store – I could pick a pair if I really had to, but they make my butt look kinda weird, you know? Maybe I’m overextending this metaphor.
The other cool thing about that article, the final bit on the slideshow at the bottom, Alan Turing. Seems to finally being getting the recognition he deserves after dying in ‘disgrace’ for being gay.
I hate the headline that implies that just having a period leads women to poverty. That portion didn’t even feel related to the other two, which discussed health issues that are ostensibly related to menstrual cycles in general. The third issue was that in Zimbabwe women don’t have access to proper protection and miss school. I’m not at all trying to minimize the importance of those women having sanitary protection — I think it’s incredibly important and isn’t something I’d thought about before — but it’s ridiculous to put it in a headline as “Menstruation linked to poverty cycle.” It sounds like some shitty reason to keep a woman out of upper management of a company or something.
Crushing on mounties, indeed. What a wonderful video. Thanks for sharing
That Amanda Palmer video. I watched it several times in a row when it first came out.
Omg, Carmen! I can’t believe you made me watch that Amanda Palmer video right before class. How am I supposed to concentrate today?! I’m totally telling my mom it is all your fault when I get my report card.
omg white cheddar popcorn
I remember that once some Republican’s secretary referred to Maddow as an angry cross-dresser. Excuse me while I go talk to my goat <3 about how some people are JUST. SO. STUPID. At least she finds it amusing, because I have neither enough faces nor palms for things like this.
I can totally back up how your period ruins knees that way. Female athletes are 3 times more likely to tear their ACL while ovulating (which happened to me) because of the hormone that makes your ligaments lax so you can give birth.
Also, that same article makes me want to start a drive at school to raise money for tampons for girls in Africa. I need to find out how this can happen!
http://africabags.org/id95.html
The Amanda Palmer video is pretty hilarious. Saw her in concert in philly a while back and it was pretty awesome.
Also +1 for HK pride. I follow them on FB so I’ve been seeing their updates/posts and it brings oh so much happiness! Hopefully I’ll get to visit HK again in a few years but I’ll make sure i go during Pride… and not middle of the summer!
In the midst of a webpage link-a-thon starting with that Rachel Maddow article, I discovered that she is half-Canadian! This made my day.
I’m so happy you link to stuff about bisexuality as well as post your own. It’s helping convince me even more that Autostraddle is actually a safe space for me too, and that I’m not just sneaking into a site aimed at Lesbians™ because it has a lot of good articles. Because I am shy, unconfident and don’t want to go where I’m not welcome. So it feels really nice not to be invisible. Thank you for that!
Amen? I think you mean AWOMAN!
Great also as always.
Terrible about periods though. Apparently it can suck even more.
Am I supposed to know what a seapunk is? Or should I just chalk it up as “old age”? Shit, these days I just can’t keep up :(
Seems to be another [word here]-punk thing, which actually has very little to do with punk culture and is purely about aesthetic, like steampunk has become. IIRC Cyberpunk was the first of these things, in which you tended to have a protagonist in a near-future hi-tech setting who is in some way trying to undermine monolithic corporations or the government, Examples are things such as Blade Runner an the matrix.
I’m going to stop now because i can actually rant forever on this sort of thing.
AHEM! ..so this Mountie video… at 0:20, hoooooly poutine, she can investigate my pants traffic ANY TIME.
yowza