Weekly round-up and open thread

Hello and welcome to the weekly round-up and open thread! Below are some recent news stories that caught the attention of The F Word Collective this week (linking does not imply endorsement or agreement). Please note that these links range from “ooh yay!” to “very interesting” to *headdesk to rage-enducing, and some articles may be triggering. Want to discuss these topics or add your own? Please comment below!

First of all, this oughta be filed under ‘how did we miss this story last week?!’…

Flasher arrested after being chased for two miles by 16 year old girl (Manchester Evening News):

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/flasher-arrested-salford-after-being-6794633

And here’s some more current stuff:

8 Stories Of Everyday Sexism, As Told By Female Journalists (Buzzfeed):

http://www.buzzfeed.com/erinlarosa/8-stories-of-everyday-sexism-experienced-by-female-journalis

Things you wanted to know about trans people and were rude enough to ask (The Guardian, Life and style):

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/mar/19/trans-people-rude-questions-sex-lives

Negotiating While Female: Sometimes It Does Hurt to Ask:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2014/03/17/should_women_negotiate_for_more_pay_a_female_academic_leans_in_and_allegedly.html

A very thinly disguised analogy (Rantings of the sexy pumpkin):

http://arghmybabydaddy.tumblr.com/post/80006469505/a-very-thinly-disguised-analogyh

A Taxonomy of Objections to “Cis” (Steepholm):

http://steepholm.livejournal.com/370974.html

Chelsea Manning petitioning Kansas court for legal name change (Guardian):

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/20/chelsea-manning-petitioning-kansas-court-legal-name-change

We Need Labels, Because the Alternative is Disappearing (Meloukhia):

http://meloukhia.net/2014/03/we_need_labels_because_the_alternative_is_disappearing/

What happens in girls club: How one teacher stopped worrying and learned to love mean girls (The New Inquiry):

http://thenewinquiry.com/essays/what-happens-in-girls-club/

Inside the UK’s mental health crisis: ‘It is my view that people will die’ (The Guardian):

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/mar/21/inside-uk-mental-health-crisis-people-will-die?CMP=twt_fd

Closure of the Independent Living Fund is one of the most cowardly actions yet by this Government (The Mirror):

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/closure-independent-living-fund-one-3231375#ixzz2x1ImlL9W

Anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church leader Fred Phelps dies (BBC News):

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-26669967

Women’s Aid Chief Executive Polly Neate talks about the issue of domestic violence in rural areas and the importance of community awareness of this crime. (Crimestoppers Blog):

http://blog.crimestoppers-uk.org/?p=773

Two men first to be charged in UK under FGM Act (The Guardian):

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/mar/21/fgm-female-genital-mutilation-men-charged

Revenge porn site ordered to pay $385,000 to victim (Daily Dot):

http://www.dailydot.com/crime/revenge-porn-verdict-you-got-posted/

The Only Moral Abortion is MY Abortion: When the Anti-Choice Choose (Misandry Mermaid):

http://misandry-mermaid.tumblr.com/post/79936326068/the-only-moral-abortion-is-my-abortion

The erasure of women’s research (on girls and gangs) (PlanetCath, A Room of Our Own):

http://aroomofourown.org/the-erasure-of-womens-research-by-planetcath/

and a related article:

Girls in gangs leading desperate lives, says report (BBC News)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26698890

UCL is kicking ass and taking names this week…

Professor David Price, Vice-Provost for Research at UCL, has written an open letter to Paul Dacre, editor of the Daily Mail, to raise concerns about an article commenting on the race and gender of UCL academics appearing on Newsnight:

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/news-articles/0314/200314-UCL-open-letter-to-Daily-Mail

UCL calls out Daily Mail for complaining that women of colour can’t be scientists (New Statesman):

http://www.newstatesman.com/future-proof/2014/03/ucl-calls-out-daily-mail-complaining-women-colour-can%E2%80%99t-be-scientists

…and so does the Guardian:

Daily Mail accused of insulting top female scientists (The Guardian):

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/mar/21/daily-mail-accused-of-insulting-top-female-scientists

The news in STEM (Science, Tech, Engineering and Maths) continues:

Sexist culture and harassment drives GitHub’s first female developer to quit (Daily Dot):

http://www.dailydot.com/technology/julie-ann-horvath-quits-github-sexism-harassment/

In cheerier news, it’s been a great week for music.

Kate Bush announces first live shows since 1979: http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/mar/21/kate-bush-announces-first-series-of-shows-since-1979 Here is Wuthering Heights to celebrate, because Wuthering Heights: http://youtu.be/BW3gKKiTvjs

And finally, happy birthday to Gloria Steinem, Aretha Franklin and Cheryl Swoopes today! To celebrate, here is a poem Alice Walker wrote for Gloria Steinem, a playlist of the best of Aretha Franklin, and an at-the-buzzer game changer from Swoopes!

Image of cherry blossoms, from the Kittenesque flikr stream, used with permission from Sarah-Beth.