Hey peeps! I’m still getting caught up on sleep (and links!) so this post is not totally representative of everything I’ve got piling up in the queue. If you’ve sent me a link, neat! I’ll probably post it next week. 
Oh, Tosh Tosh Tosh. (He better watch out tho: I heard rape gives you superpowers!)
On world building and language!
Help Clockwork Phoenix!!!
Poor me, I get to accomplish my life goals. Siiiiiiiiiiiigh.
Haters gonna hate.
An intro to the hymen.
The problem with staying “friends” with rapists.
THIS JUST IN: Orson Scott Card is a homophobe.
Fitness and the politics of grunting.
Sometimes the Internet gets it so right.
Jesus, George RR Martin sounds like a creeper.
How to have safe, sane, consensual sex with someone who identifies as asexual.
“The Exceptional Smurfette”
“Quit Telling Us We’re Not Special!”
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
LOVED the missing step article!
Nuri(Quote) (Reply)
The comments section from the second Tosh post blew my mind….though of course, I’ve read worse. Can’t these dudes just keep their mouths shut and stay out of the way when women decide to get pissed-off at something?
mortadella(Quote) (Reply)
From the Daily Beast comments: “Aaaand once again, the fembots are out preaching why rape is some elusive and uniquely horrible thing, yet they have no problem with every other awful concepts (murder, slavery, genocide, etc.)”
Okay, I’ll bite.
So, two Tutsis visit the Laugh Factory. As it turns out, everyone else present, including Daniel Tosh, is a Hutu. Tosh starts making some very generalizing statements about genocide jokes always being funny. When one of the Tutsis calls him on his statements, Tosh pauses, then says, “Wouldn’t it be funny if that Tutsi was murdered by like, 5 Hutus right now?” The crowd of Hutus laugh, as the Tutsis flee the room.
Nope, still not funny.
Søren Løvborg(Quote) (Reply)
I think I may have actually seen this Tosh guy some years ago when my sister did comedy. he made rape jokes then and they weren’t funny. I couldn’t laugh.
Seems little has changed.
A good comedian is creative with his subject matter. The fact that he resorts to such tactics to get a cheap laugh and for simple shock value is NOT the mark of a real great. It shows he doesn’t know what’s really funny. If people are laughing out of discomfort and not out of real humor, then you’re failing as a comedian.
All those people claiming ‘it’s just a joke’ should keep in mind; some jokes just aren’t funny.
Red(Quote) (Reply)
There’s also the (not improbable) explanation that David Tosh isn’t joking at all. Using “it was a joke!” as a cover for hatespeech is hardly a new tactic.
Otherwise respectful people often do it subconsciously, to avoid confronting the nasty little xenophobe that lives inside most of us.
(It’s most easily recognized when people lead with “I’m not a racist, but…” and similar alarm bells.)
Søren Løvborg(Quote) (Reply)
Søren Løvborg,
Well if you’ve ever watched Tosh.0, you’ll know he’s misogynist (and every other -ism) as fuck and just uses hack jokes to get away with it.
Casey(Quote) (Reply)
Man, that Exceptional Smurfette says exactly what I’ve been thinking lately, but, you know, better thought out.
The thing that really bothers me about the Exceptional Smurfette is that it seems to be an excuse for writers (who usually seem to be male in this situation?) to make a cheap point or joke. Like, the Norse goddess in Thor (I haven’t seen the movie in a while) seems to exist mainly for that scene where Thor says “Who was it that put you in a position of power?” and she says “Me,” and he says “Well yeah, but I helped,” and it’s, you know, supposed to be funny, because obviously women can do anything a man can do and grrl power and such.
And jokes/plots like that, especially coming from a male writer or director, seem to be saying “Hey, look how feminist I am!”, without actually getting on with the business of not being awful to women, or even saying something with a little more substance (see, for example, http://www.shortpacked.com/2011/comic/book-13/05-the-death-of-snkrs/falseequivalence/ for a dude writing a feminist rant that I approve of). It’s the same problem I have with Joss Whedon, he seems more interested in saying ‘Look how feminist and sensitive and feminist I am!’ without fully thinking through what he’s saying.
Tristan J(Quote) (Reply)
Tristan J,
“Look at how sensitive and feminist I am! (whilst all I do is write stories about super-powered waifish blonde white women who can never be happy)” XD
Casey(Quote) (Reply)
The hymen article was pretty hilarious. XD Even female writers get it a bit…off sometimes. It’s a bit confusing, and really…do we really need such ‘proof’ of virginity? In some cases it might be important, sure, but generally it feels very much like a “hey, look how ‘pure’ she is!” :p
eldritchMortician(Quote) (Reply)
The missing step article was a real keeper. That’s going to come up in my NPD series (yes, I swear, it’s going to happen someday).
Re: the hymen. I never encountered mine, that I know of. I just did some web searching on this, and a lot of sexually inexperienced girls are confused because they can’t find theirs. They don’t know if it’s still there and they’re just not recognizing it, or if it’s long gone because of masturbation, tampons or just stretching. So, maybe NOT a very reliable indicator of, oh, ANYTHING? And certainly not the most significant body bit ever, if so many of us would never have known we supposedly had one, if it weren’t for the romance novels.
Jennifer Kesler(Quote) (Reply)
Jennifer Kesler,
Yeah and don’t forget the Bible :/ I’d have been stoned to death as a non-virgin, apparently. :p Depressing to wonder how many women *were*.
eldritchMortician(Quote) (Reply)
eldritchMortician, it seems like it’s supposed to act like a wax seal on an envelope: if it’s still there, you know no one has read the letter before you. If it’s broken or missing, there’s no telling who all has had their grubby mitts on your precious missive! Now it’s trash!
Meanwhile, there is just absolutely no fetishization of male virginity.
Jennifer Kesler(Quote) (Reply)