Weekly Round-Up and Open Thread 23-30 May 2011

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Here are some articles and blog pieces we’ve been reading over the past week that we’d like to draw your attention to.

NB: The weekly round-up post is a place for us to share links to articles that we think may be of interest to readers or were of interest to us. We don’t always agree with every viewpoint expressed in the items and, as with actual pieces on the site, none of them reflect any ‘official view from The F Word’ because not all members of the team will necessarily hold the same opinions on the topics. We also have no control over the content on external sites so you are advised to use your own discretion and approach them with due caution.

Please feel free to add more relevant links or comment…

A letter to Denis Macshane MP

Britain before and after the NHS (UK Uncut)

Want to kill your daughter’s self-worth? Stop by at the nearest toy store (empowering-girls.blogspot.com)

Why drinking coffee makes me feel queer (Hanne Blank)

Child soldiers, child wives: wounded for life (Open Democracy)

School bosses sent ‘purity packs’ (BBC)

Geena Davis hopes to shift gender balance in film (PBS Newshour)

The IMF: violating women since 1945 (Foreign Policy in Focus)

Anti-abortion group drafted in as sexual health adviser to government (The Guardian)

Also see this (apparently one of the organisations on the sex and relationships council launched this week) and

A feminist’s response: The appointment of LIFE to the government’s sexual health forum (Percolate Magazine)

Nine Reasons Women Don’t Edit Wikipedia (in their own words) (Sue Gardner)

Promotion of condom use increases risk of HIV infection, suggests theologian in Vatican newspaper (New Humanist)

The Virgin! Roar. The feminist virgin blog carnival (it’s probably worth mentioning that some of the pieces on this site do question the notion of “virginity” as a concept.)

The Rayanne Project (We’re looking for media — writing, photography, videos, essays, photocollages, some amazing thing you came up with that we haven’t even thought of — that will use the lens of My So-Called Life (and, in particular, the character of Rayanne Graff) to talk about female adolescence, punk identities, and marginalized persons or subcultures.)

Audio version of A Queer and Trans Fat Activist Timeline (Obesity Timebomb)

Immigration campaign from Lush (The Guardian)

The menace of surfing’s stereotypes (Comment is Free)

Where are the girls in children’s lit? (Ms Magazine)

Michelle Obama addresses London schoolgirls (The Guardian)

Where Are the Black Characters With Speaking Roles? (The Root)

Doing maths is for ugly girls (The Society Pages)

Interview with Maura McHugh about her demon-slaying suffragette comic (Bad Reputation)

Reteaching gender and sexuality: Put this on the map (We Got Your Back Project)

World Science Festival most elusive women in science blog (World Science Festival)

The story behind the world’s oldest museum, built by a Babylonian princess 2,500 years ago (io9)

Asexuality and the queer community (Lashings of Ginger Beer Blog)

More Policing of Sernea Williams (Womanist Musings)

Poverty link to starting periods younger (BBC News Health)

Feminism and Race (New Left Project)

Abandon the knife: In the Pokot community in Kenya young girls are starting to fight against the brutal rite of female circumcision

(Aljazeera)

What if you looked at war as though women mattered? (ITVS)

What can we learn from Norway’s feminist success? (New Statesman)

Larry Flynt: Pornographer, freedom fighter, monster? (The Independent)

Baby Storm’s mother speaks on gender, parenting and media (Vancouver Sun)

(Also see our coverage of this story)

Whose Slow Food? (Tangerine and Cinnamon)

Why White Men Should Refuse to Be on Panels of All White Men (Good Media)

Dame Barbara Mills dies after a stroke (The Guardian)

Facebook blocks anti-women driving Saudi campaign (Emirates 24/7)

Lawsuit: Sheriff’s department took lesbian drug addict to evangelist instead of rehab (GA Voice)

Baking is feminist, says UK TV chef Nigella (Daily Mail via Women’s Views on News)

“You Were So Pretty Before”: Gender and its Implications within Modern American Tattoo Culture (The Alt Librarian)

And, finally, here’s a super-catchy song from Jonathan Richman:

Thanks to emmmaz1’s channel on Youtube for helping me discover it!

Image at the top of the page shows an apple and an orange. Courtesy of TheBusyBrain – shared under a Creative Commons license