Links & Bits for 6/3/11

Stop saying "X is the last acceptable form of bigotry" (What Tami Said)

You win no one to your side by pretending yours is the only oppression that still exists. (Especially if your "oppression" is really a petty grievance, but that's another rant.) More than that, you offend everyone who labors under other oppressions every day. "X is the last acceptable form of bigotry" is a thoughtless, self-centered and privileged thing to say. More than that, it carries it's own form of bigotry. Inherent in the phrase is the idea that all that civil rights activism on behalf, for instance, gays and POCs is really just whining. X has been solved. The REAL issue is Y.

Why Wearing Mini-Skirts is a Feminist Issue (Feministe)

This is how victim-blaming works: You point to something a victim of assault did wrong, and you imply (or just say) that if she hadn’t made X choice, she wouldn’t have ended up raped. You say, of course no one is to blame but the rapist! But I’m talking about prevention! Except rape isn’t a drunken miscommunication. It’s not a gray area. If you’re blacked out and a dude takes your clothes off and penetrates you, I promise it’s not because he was under the impression you consented. It’s because he’s a rapist.

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About My Sexual Orientation And Were(n’t) Afraid To Ask (Autostraddle)

I felt like I needed to pick a label so I’d know what to wear — like I couldn’t go to a lesbian bar unless I had short hair and a gauzy vintage t-shirt and lazy jeans slouching against my hip-bones and I couldn’t go to a straight bar unless I was wearing a dress and boots. Now I know I just need to wear what I want to wear, and let the cards fall as they may. It’s so fucking obvious, I’m not surprised I missed it. It wasn’t my perception of men/women that changed, it was my perception of myself.

One Disturbing Thing (Tiny Cat Pants)

And so, it’s not like I can comfortably watch that and feel like “Oh, Kellie Pickler, what a dumbass.” She’s clearly sharp. So, I sat there watching, thinking “How the hell does a bright woman end up not knowing that France is a country?” The presenter alluded to her very troubled home life growing up, so I was thinking, “Well, maybe she was just in and out of school a lot.” But she graduated from high school, according to Wikipedia.