Thursday round up...
by Jess McCabe // 22 May 2008, 15:54
Parents in New York are protesting sex education classes that refer to masturbation as pleasurable, notes Feministing: "How dare an educator tell the truth about sexuality! Where's the shaming and misinformation about how sex is dirty, wrong and bad?!"
The Angry Black Woman has another perspective on Barack Obama's infamous "sweetie" remark.
Pink News reports that the Foreign Office has told its embassies to do more to promote LGBT rights. Meanwhile, pass the roti on the left-hand side has news on efforts to decriminalise homosexuality in India.
Karen Bass has become the first black woman to lead a state legislative body in the US, more at What About Our Daughters.
Figleaf points to a story about an elite high-school where students ran a sexist and racist Facebook group mocking teachers. They were caught - but the teachers subjected to this abuse had their contracts put under review.
Stroppyblog passes on a bit of good news - 19-year-old gay Iranian teenage Mehdi Kazemi has been granted asylum by the Home Office. Now, if only it didn't seem to take a massive publicity campaign every time...
On a similar subject, Fighting Monsters considers the debate on the appropriate term for people seeking sanctuary from oppression in another country - asylum seekers or sanctuary seekers? Does renaming do any good?
Anji at Shut Up, Sit Down has collected together links to some of the blog responses to the news on abortion and IVF.
And, finally, via Wonderland and with permission from the photographer -Allouette, a photo of Amish girls on one of those simulation bike racing games:
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Kochanie // Posted 17 June 2008 at 15:05
Jess,
I'm Kochanie, who posts as a guest blogger at Figleaf's site, Real Adult Sex. Thank you for your link to my post about the scandal at the prestigious Horace Mann School in New York.
I think the most eye-opening information in that post is the link to the article entitled, Sexist Humor No Laughing Matter, Psychologist Says published in Science Daily. Please note the conclusion of the research study:Our research demonstrates that exposure to sexist humor can create conditions that allow men – especially those who have antagonistic attitudes toward women – to express those attitudes in their behavior. The acceptance of sexist humor leads men to believe that sexist behavior falls within the bounds of social acceptability.
That conclusion came to mind when I read Sokari's post about the murder of Daisy Dube. Before Daisy's murderer pulled the trigger, his hostility towards lesbians probably was shaped by sexist jokes that reinforced the belief that killing a "lezitabane" is not a crime.
Should any reader ask why feminists are so "humorless," please direct them to Sokari's post and that research study in Science Daily.
Kochanie