Weekly round-up and open thread

4630934121_cd37e9b15c_bWelcome to another weekly round-up, where we share (what we see as) the most interesting and important articles and essays from the previous seven days. We’d love to hear your thoughts on any of the issues covered in our chosen links!

As always, linking to articles does not mean endorsement from the F-Word and certain links may be triggering. We welcome debate in the comments section and on Facebook/Twitter but remind readers that any comments containing sexist, racist, homophobic, transphobic or disablist language will be deleted immediately.

If you notice that we’ve missed out any important articles from the past week, feel free to let us know.

Piers Morgan, you don’t like Beyonce in Lemonade because her blackness isn’t white enough for you any more (The Independent)

When Robots Are An Instrument Of Male Desire (The Establishment)

Nicole Cooke: welcome to the world of elite cycling where sexism is by design (The Guardian)

You can also read F-Word writer, Liz Smith’s review of Nicola Cooke’s book HERE.

Beyoncé’s Lemonade, and the power it bestows young black women (The Pool)

From the article: “Here, there is no pandering to the white gaze; Beyoncé will not apologise for creating art for black people. It is especially pertinent for me, a teenage black girl who is still trying to find her feet to see another woman embrace her blackness in its totality. The term “empowering” is one that we arguably throw around too much, but what Beyoncé has done is empowering for black women, and perhaps even goes beyond that: it is soul-affirming and life-enriching.”

The fathers saying ‘Dads don’t babysit’ (BBC News)

Your silence will not protect you: racism in the feminist movement (A room of our own)

From the article: “No, talking about race does not divide women. It is racism that does that – specifically, the racism white women direct towards women of colour, the racism that white women observe and fail to challenge because, ultimately, they benefit from it. Whether intentional or casually delivered, that racism has the same result: it completely undermines the possibility of solidarity between women of colour and white women.”

Traumatised disabled teacher says council allowed bullying to continue (Disability News Service)

Prince & The Sparkle Brains (A true testimony)

From the article: “Prince had a Sparkle Brain. Prince dreamed big. Prince made music so sparkly the neurotypicals are jelly. I wish I had known about his epilepsy back then. As a working class (and often poor) kid with parents who didn’t get it and didn’t have the money or time or education to advocate, pre-ADA, I believed what the neurologists said. Don’t dream big. Don’t dream big. Don’t dream big. I heard it in my head like an ear worm, like tinnitus made of words.”

The Outsider Within: Racism in the Feminist Movement (Sister Outrider)

“Headless Women of Hollywood Project” Highlights How Film Posters Dehumanize Women (Women you should know)

Read the short, devastating speech Sandra Bland’s mother just made to Congressional leaders (Fusion)

Violent Parents – Calling for the End to Child Contact at any Cost (Huffington Post)

Porn stars and sex workers targeted by facial recognition app (News week)

How to criticise Israel without being a dick (Vice)

Cameron’s government rocked by major defeat just days before election time (The Canary)

Bodyhackers are all around you, they’re called women (Fusion)

Diversity, Political Correctness and The Power of Language (Mikki Kendall)

From the article: “It’s easy to justify shoddy writing by proclaiming it is art. Well, okay your art is your art. Your art can also be offensive, your art can be harmful, your art can be wrong as wrong can be. You have a right to create it, you don’t have a right to never see it challenged. You don’t have a right to never have your biases questioned, or to never be told that you fucked up.”

Parents have been spanking children for millennia. 50 years of scientific evidence says they were wrong (Vox)

From the article: “What it suggests to us is that there is this continuum of hitting. And as a society we say, “When it’s physical abuse, that is definitely bad.” But what we’re showing is that there’s this continuum of violence against children, and spanking falls along that continuum.”

Blogging Against Disablism Day (Diary of a Goldfish)

Labour, antisemitism and where Jeremy Corbyn goes from here (The Guardian)

25% rise in people reporting pregnancy and maternity discrimination to Citizens Advice (Citizens Advice)

The image is used under a creative commons license with thanks to Alexandre Dulaunoy. It shows white and yellow daisies against a lush green background.