- WISCON 34: Activism: When to Speak Up, When to Let it Go: I have to say — every panel I went to was amazing. Some were so good, and had such intense audience participation I didn’t even get to take notes. One of those was the “Tarot Cards for Writers” one, which was EASILY the best writing workshop I’ve been to in a while. In other news: this panel was also, uh, AMAZING. Someone recommended How to Save the World in Your Spare Time by Elizabeth May. BC Holmes talked about how sometimes the ... READ MORE
Self-Help
- Women, solidarity and no-conflict-ever programming: I recently read The Nice Girl Syndrome: Stop Being Manipulated and Abused and Start Standing Up for Yourself by psychotherapist Beverly Engel. I keep thinking I should review it, but there’s one huge glaring lesson I got from it that keeps popping up in my life recently and thereby dominating my thoughts, and it actually came from Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls by Rachel Simmons via Engel: it wasn’t my fault. When I was a girl, ... READ MORE
- Reviews in Brief — Shadowlands series, Mortal Suns, Writing Magic: The Shadowlands series(made up of Silver’s Lure,Silver’s Bane, and Silver’s Edge) is… okay. I’d give this a solid C — interesting use of some tropes, neat inclusion of non-typical Maiden figures (a representation of Brigid as a young female blacksmith was quite nice), some all right sexin’ scenes, but points off for the demonization of queerness, essentialized gender roles, and somewhat predictable characterization. Basically, there’s a Silver Caul that protects Faerie and Mortal-topia from the evilness of the goblin hordes (who don’t… ... READ MORE
- You can live on $40k, as long as you have a wife-servant: CNN interviews this dude who’s written a book called “How to Survive (and Perhaps Thrive) on a Teacher’s Salary.” I’m sure he may have some good tips for living on $39,900 a year, as he claims, but that’s not what he’s doing. The interview begins by explaining that he’s a teacher with a wife who stays home with the kids. They pitch this as if it’s a luxury his wife gets to enjoy because they’re so smart with his income. But ... READ MORE
- “Find Your Strongest Life” actually makes sense: I hate self-help books. Most of them boil down to vague and often victim-blaming platitudes about how everything bad that’s ever gotten in your way was your own damn fault for not thinking positively enough. Even psychiatry books, which should be a grade above self-help, often come across as condescending “mansplaining” when they try to offer solutions to women that we know from experience don’t work. But I was at Borders recently, and I came across a book called Find Your ... READ MORE
- Reviews in Brief — Prospero Lost, Mocha Manual to Military Life, Ice Song: Prospero Lost was really fun. Basically, it takes up a few hundred years after Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Prospero and his children have funded a multinational financial empire. Miranda remains Prospero’s loyal, virginal daughter, devotee of a benevolent goddess. Miranda’s faith, service, and maidenhead stand surety for her family’s immortality. The years pass; Miranda’s grown older (though not old); the family fractures. However, Prospero remains the constant vital center to Miranda’s world… except now he’s disappeared. What follows is a romp ... READ MORE
- Karrine Steffans — The Vixen Manual: Dear God Almighty. The Vixen Manual: How to Find, Seduce & Keep the Man You Want is a misogynist, anti-feminist piece of crap. In Steffans’ view, women have too long relied on the assumption that they’re the more emotional sex (!!!!!!!!) to get away with not acting responsibly (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!). She suggests women have to act like ladies to get respected, which includes not giving it up easily, and playing the submissive role in the relationship (“too much independence can be ... READ MORE
- Real Fitness for Real Women: Real Fitness for Real Women: A Unique Workout Program for the Plus-Size Woman is a workout manual was designed for plus size women interested in feeling more comfortable in their skins. Because of this, it’s focused on movement, not diet, and features workout routines specifically designed for the needs and concerns of plus-sized women. By this, I mean that some of the moves are modified to allow for bigger boobs, tummies, and thighs, and that the models used to demonstrate these ... READ MORE
- Carol Lay — The Big Skinny: Geez Louise. The humor and good sense of Shanker’s The Fat Girl’s Guide to Life is a marked contrast to the neuroticism of Carol Lay’s The Big Skinny. Seriously? They both talk about bananas – Shanker’s all like, “Isn’t it messed up that one banana is two servings? Who only eats half a banana at a time?” Well. Carol Lay. This graphic novel focuses on Lay’s weight management techniques. While it’s helpful in terms of really making clear the benefits of ... READ MORE
- Wendy Shanker — The Fat Girl’s Guide to Life: Shanker is a diva on a mission. She wants to talk about the politics of fat and the politics weight loss. Her hilarious, honest take on one faboo woman’s body politics challenges conventional wisdom about weight, fashion, and the economic forces of the weight loss industry. Plus, she’s suggesting something wicked radical — part of what enrages folks about a fat woman’s body is that they’re rejecting the Contract. You know — the Contract? The one that says women work ... READ MORE
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