Reduce the Rate

So, after a strange series of events that included Jesse Jackson kissing me on the forehead (twice!) and being in a press conference (airing this evening on Chicago stations) I’m apparently handling the viral marketing for Reduce The Rate. I’ll be pestering you all to plaster info all over creation about this movement to:

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What Is Cultural Appropriation?

A few years ago at WisCon (the feminist SF convention) there was a panel about Cultural Appropriation that sparked an online discussion about the topic that is generally referred to as the Great Debate of DOOM. This was partly due to the wide-ranging nature of it (over 20 blogs, I believe) and due to [...]

Things You Need To Understand #10: The Dictionary Is Not A Perfect Rhetorical Tool

I’ve been meaning to write this post for a long time, but one of the comments on the Avatar post finally pushed me to do it.  I am just so tired of people using the dictionary in discussions of complex issues as if the dictionary definition trumps, well, everything.  No, people.  The dictionary is a [...]

BlackBird Browser — Because The Internet Isn’t Black Enough

I know I put this in the BlackLights yesterday, but I’m still so appalled by it that I think it deserves its own post.
In case you didn’t see it, there’s a new browser out called BlackBird, aimed at the Black community.  It’s essentially Firefox but rebranded, a new black and white theme, and some add-ons [...]

Open Thread

As usually happens when a post blows up like Friday’s Thank You, White People, there is a lot of off-topic chatter that doesn’t need to be there. However, some of that chatter is interesting conversation, it’s just not about what the post is about. So here is an open thread, where people can [...]

The Politics of Hair (the kind not on your head)

In my other life I work for a fashion magazine, as I’ve mentioned. One of my newest assignments is to find the best products to remove hair, whether cream, blades, electric shavers, waxes, whatever. I’m going to surprise you all by saying that I jumped on this assignment. Asked for it, even. [...]

The Privilege of Politeness

Posted by: Naamen Gobert Tilahun
One item that comes up over and over in discussions of racism is that of tone/attitude. People of Color (POC) are very often called on their tone when they bring up racism, the idea being that if POC were just more polite about the whole thing the offending person would have [...]

Catherynne Valente : Many Voices

A little over a year ago I met a writer named Catherynne Valente at an SF con. Since then I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know one of the most amazing people on the planet and acquainting myself with her fabulous fiction. My favorite of her books (so far) is The Orphan’s [...]

On Feminism, part 1

I came across this yesterday and, considering some of the things we were talking about in the Irrational Men thread, I thought many people would find this interesting.
Why I am Not a Feminist, or “My Anti-Feminist Manifesto”
1. Being a woman, and being a woman of color, and being a Muslim, I choose to not be [...]

No, we’re not gonna take it

In the October 15th issue of Newsweek I read a little sidebar piece on Race & Gender titled “We’re Not Gonna Take It”.
At no small personal cost, Anucha Browne-Sanders stood up and demanded an end to the kind of abuse African-American women regularly tolerate from some black men. We are not “bitches” or “ho’s” [...]