Movie Post! A;ex and Riese watched a bunch of kickass documentaries about religion and specifically the impact of religion on civic life in America and specifically on the Homosexual Experience and here we explain them all for you: Documentaries for Homos: Deliver Us Evil, For the Bible Tells Me So, Tying the Knot, Religulous and Trembling Before G-d.
Teevee Post! Carlytron gives us a dose of Televisionary awesomeness with Weeds Goes Gay, True Blood Gets Hypnotized and Nurse Jackie Hits the Pill-O-Matix.
Stay tuned for Part II of the Televisionary covering our reality show addictions later today!
+ Arts & Culture
HOT GIRL ON GIRL ACTION: Lesbians Are Hot, If They’re Hot: More on the “Lady Kisses” video from current TV (really it’s weird how much this video has made the rounds on a topic that’s old news for most major lesbian media outlets. Is that an oxymoron? Anyhoo). This particular article from Sociological Images includes an intriguing analysis of girl-on-girl porn: Pictures of real lesbians – at Gay Pride rallies, for example – kissing, necking, and flirting are often considered ‘disgusting’ and ‘ugly’ by the same men who enjoy girl/girl fantasy porn. (@contexts)
CHURCH OF TEGAN & SARA: The artwork and tracklisting for Tegan and Sara’s new album Sainthood was released yesterday along with the first US tour dates. PS – Sara’s a total fox!( @teganandsara)
POWER LESBIANS: In London, the entire city “is fascinated with Jeanette Winterson’s love life.” The author of this UK column about the rise of London power lesbians theorizes the fascination comes from the fact that: “We’re jealous. A new generation of rich, successful gay women are smashing stereotypes with their glamour and spending power. These Power Lesbians simply have a nicer life than the rest of us.” She goes on for a bit about this and then concludes: “There’s no denying that the new A-gay couples – wealthy, cosmopolitan, assured – are just a damn sight more fun than anyone else.” (@thislondonuk)
GOSSIP GIRL: Hi it’s me Riese! So I read all the Gossip Girl books before there was a teevee series, ’cause that’s EXACTLY HOW COOL I AM. As I’ve said 500 times to those unfortunate enough to befriend me, Chuck Bass is bi in the books. And now he is bi on the show, which is like a super big deal if you hadn’t already read the book and were like UM OBVS. Only … ok he’s just gonna kinda be bi on the show for like a minute. TV < books. (@queerty)
New poster for WHIP IT:
ASEXUAL PRIDE: “30,000 registered worldwide members of the Asexual Pride group aren’t seeking to create new civil rights. What they want is respect in a sex-obsessed culture: Asexuals leave the closet, find community. ” (@sfgate)
LADY GAGA’S DRESS OF GUNS: It would seem that Lady Gaga’s people are no longer okay with Lady Gaga telling the whole truth. Lady Gaga deems pillow talk inappropriate and instead has “breakfast” with Torgen for her latest interview.
BATTLE OF THE SEXES: The end of sex-segregated sports: What should a “woman” be, for the purposes of international sports? Should socially constructed gender and biological sex be part of the equation? Should believable-looking girl parts be enough to pass the test? (And, if so, what do we do about transwomen athletes?)” (@salon)
+News & Politics
OBAMA: How much of Obama’s approval rating dip is because of the gays?: At this point I am just simply not a fan of statistics.
COURT RULING: The DOMA case that spurred the offensive Justice Department brief back in June was rejected on Monday due to a technicality.(@seattletimes)
FOR THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO: Arizona pastor Steven L. Anderson wants to kill the gays for the sake of the children. (@rightwingwatch)
LABELS: The Right Way To Be LGB Or T? By that I mean, are there universal constructs that many in these subcommunities of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community embrace as models for the entireties of their subcommunities? (@pamshouseblend)
L’CHAIM: Meet Washington’s gay-friendly Orthodox rabbi “Homosexuality is an ‘abomination?’” he asks rhetorically. “We don’t use that language for eating pork, yet it’s described in the same way as homosexuality.” Just as Herzfeld opens his synagogue to non-kosher Jews, he welcomes Jews who may practice non-kosher sex. “We should not assume that the totality of a person’s existence can be summed up in one lifestyle choice,” he says. (@tablet)
ACTIVISM: Meet the fearsome gay gangsters of Bash Back! Founded just over a year ago, the group adamantly opposes what it calls the “gender binary system,” which classifies people as either male or female. Most members consider themselves neither or both. It’s anti-establishment, anti-military, and anti-marriage—for anyone. What Bash Back! supports is gender self-determination, lots of sex and pornography, and confrontation as a first resort—a necessary response to violence. (@details)
Schoolgirls came out in 1995 but sadly not too much has changed since then, and what I learned from it truly changed my perspective on growing up and womanhood and knowing what I wanted to do with my life: “Inspired by a study by the American Association of University Women that showed girls’ self-esteem plummeting as they reach adolescence, Peggy Orenstein spent months observing, interviewing, and getting know dozens of girls both inside and outside the classroom at two very different schools in northern California. The result was a groundbreaking book in which she brought the disturbing statistics to life with skill and flair of an experienced journalist.”
Auto-Straddler of the Day
from Alex:
This is a simple webpage called “DUBAI IS NUTS!” Cause it really is. The city of Dubai loves the future, y’all! And these are all the reasons why. Also, I’m confused about where this money is coming from? Whatever, doesn’t matter. I wanna go here!
Dear Alex:
Comment on the Dubai link. It is oil money. Arranging deck chairs on the Titanic, anyone?
Yeah, Dubai’s money is coming from oil and gas sales.
–
They have a more limited supply of it than Abu Dhabi (the capital of the United Arab Emirates) so they’ve been trying to build up tourism and trade as ways of bringing money into the area. Abu Dhabi is a great emirate to look at if you want to see the right way to build up infrastructure. They’re building the first zero carbon city called Masdar City. Really cool, check it out.
–
Also, with the recession and drop of oil prices, a lot of the projects in Dubai have been stalled.
The economies of Dubai and much of the UAE were built on oil and gas sales but now revenue from real estate, construction, and tourism has already overtaken that of oil in Dubai. There’s a lot of foreign investment going on and the real catalyst for the boom was changing the laws and allowing foreigners to buy land. To your point though, it’s more a matter of survival for Dubai. They need to diversify. Abu Dhabi could probably afford to wait but it’s really something to see them be so forward-thinking and innovative while still keeping their cultural identity intact. My friend from the UAE is pretty vocal on the last point.
–
But before I befriend an Emirati, Abu Dhabi to me was a reference in a Garfield song, which I’m sure not too many people remember:
–
Abu Dhabi, it’s far away
Abu Dhabi, that’s where you’ll stay
Abu Dhabi, the place to be
For any kitten who’s annoying me, yeah!
Abu Dhabi, it’s off the track
Abu Dhabi, now don’t come back
Abu Dhabi, it’s quite a thrill
For any kitten who can make me ill!
Now some take a train, and some take a plane
But I am sending you
Not on a boat, or even by goat
But in a box marked “Postage Due”
Abu Dhabi, you’re what they lack
Abu Dhabi, now you’re all packed
Abu Dhabi, a far commute
For any kitten who is too darn cute!
YES! Garfield was always trying to mail Nermal to Abu Dhabi. Well done.
Agreed. Dubai is having a lot of issues, you know they took a 10 billion dollar loan from Abu Dhabi recently? Most importantly, they are completely overbuilt. Also, their attempt at building the tourism industry is based on Eastern Europeans more than any other demographic and a lot of Eastern Europeans are just trying to flip their condos they bought there.
–
Note, to everyone else, Abu Dhabi has 95% of the oil and gas reserves of the country, so they’re golden for awhile as we’re not going to be completely cutting ourselves off of the need for oil and gas for a bit, even if we have the technology and means to do so. AD is more focused on building itself up as a cultural/technological/educational/top of the line/etc… center. I like watching what it’s up to.
Also, I will read the poem/song in the morning. Haven’t yet.
charlize theron is totally in my top five.
Charlize Theron is my homegirl ;)
That is one huge Whip It poster.
Ellen Page is totally worth the space.
I think it might actually be life-sized. Ellen Page is a little lady.
You know you’re addicted to Auto Straddle when you have had a dream involving the staff of the website – and you have never even interacted with any of them online or in person.
Just thought I’d freak everyone out with my first comment ever on AS. :)
I totes have autostraddle dreams too. Actually I think everyone does ’cause it’s so awesome.
i second this. we could start a support group and be all “hi i’m laura and i have dreams about team autostraddle.”
——–
i also second the statement that sara quin is a fox.
OMG Ann A. That happened to me. I didn;t want to say anything. I thought it would sound weird and creepy. But it wasn’t the whole staff it was just Riese…… um… Even though I am not alone it still sounds creepy…I am going to shut up now.
Please, don’t make me feel self-conscious. :(
haha yeah, at first I thought the same thing as you, but then again it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, you know… it was just like hanging out with friends.
So I hope I didn’t come off as creepy.
By the way, they all spoke my first language pretty fluently in my dream. Weird. :P
OH, I didn;t mean it like that. I;m sorry.
Mine was simular. Like we were friends and lived in the same house. We were talking about something and the she was like Okay see you later. That was it. No big, nothing inappropiate.
What language do you speak? That was nice of your brain to translate. :)
No worries. I was just joking. :)
I’m Brazilian and speak Portuguese.
I can’t quite remember what we were chatting about but I think it was something related to the site.