I hope the people responsible for Tiller's death feel shame. The sort of all consuming feeling of being wrong, of being terrible that stalks you in the corners of the evening, that strikes in the middle of the night. The stain that can't be washed out with anyone's blood. The feeling that Jesus is hanging on the cross, crying in shame, because of you. Always, under the skin, until they die.

Hey, this activist lady is really awesome. She has some awesome stories about her airforce training, especially the survival training! Uh...this has nothing to do with the actual story, although I must note that it's trangendered people, not transgenders news people. Anyway, it's an interesting interview. I've noticed this blog has become the local news blog, but I saw this video on facebook and wanted to share.

BTW: Discriminating against transgendered people is just plain stupid. Why do people not want to get good talented people in the work place because they worry about trivial things?

Elle has useful things to say. But unfortunately, I'm going to go and say a bunch of unuseful things. I always feel that I am causing slack that needs to be taken up. I'm reminded of a manga, Tramps Like Us[Kimi wa Pet, but I call it by its US name]. The male main character is a male dancer who is too short to be a lead in a ballet. He says that the reason that he is so short is that he tried to jump so high. He noted that it was ironic, but didn't change who he was. The point of that story is that it is ironic that I am so ill because I worked so hard. My true self is irritable and is all like 'Heck, I could have partied instead of studied and had a few kids!'. My adult self says 'well, at least your life is much easier and more pleasant!' But sadly, I still feel resentful, despite the lack of rational need for that to be so.

I'm a sensitive soul. For example, when people ask me how many kids I have, I'm all that's a personal question! And I'd much rather be mistaken as a doctor[sorry about the white coat cosplay in the hospital back in college- we wore white coats over our street clothes to distinguish us from the patients at the mental hospital, and always ate at the children's hospital. Once my classmate's clothes got wet and she had to wear 'patient clothes'[the sort of outfit given to patients who for whatever reason don't have any or enough] and the whole staff gave her a wide breadth for the rest of the day] than a teenage mom[why small children will follow anyone even vaguely related to them around and ask them for candy is a mystery]. Well...progress, not perfection.

I admit that I feel a bit guilty because I can't really relate to Elizabeth's pain here. I was a plain child, a plain teen, and I am a plain adult. I don't have a sparkling personality, either. I didn't know where I was going with this, but I don't know... I know pain is subjective, but I still can't get myself to feel bad about it.

Oh, found at Pandagon. Sorry for goofing off.

Enjoy the BMI project on flickr. Women have different body types, and it is all good.

I was reading this and I feel bad already. I couldn't do 70 hours a week, even at the peak of my strength. At 25 in a week or so, I feel my strength waning. Even if I feel fine today, tomorrow I may be lamenting my fatigue and wondering why my whole body hurts.

For some reason, doing work just makes me more tired.

Black children featured in shocking positive media coverage.

On sf_drama, we blame the patriarchy for the fact that Octomom gets vliified, while we barely hear a peep about men who father lots of babies and do not take care of them. Women having eight babies at one whack is quite rare, and at least she is making an attempt to care for them, unlike Mr. "I know their birthdays' here.

More woman obligations:

Know how many calories are in an orange
Know about the mysterious and fast changing array of beauty implements
Listen to people who think you have no taste in movies b/c of your bits.
If you have kids, you're always a mom first and foremost. Dad can say "I'm a scientist" Mom is a "Scientist and a mom".
Do remember to be 'not committed to your job' because you took off a day to mop up after the projectile vomiting toddler, but a week long golf trip to Spain is fine for your coworkers.

I agree with Catherine here. If some lady wants to have 8 kids, none of my business. The daily mail article about that poor lady whose octopulets died confused me. It's not like the death of the octopulets was her fault. Sounds like they are just embarrassing some lady who had a tragedy happen to her a long time ago.

Police bias against sex workers interferes in the investigation of crimes.Shame on the police. Shame on them!

Pandagon discovers the daily fail and antigone discovers that we're all working too many hours. I agree, although I may be irritable because my bones hurt.

Young latinas struggle with pregnancy, childbearing.

Hey...I think Jesse from Pandagon...is black! But I agree. Amazing people will be amazing, under almost any circumstances, but the rest of us... we need equality.

My upperclasswoman in my program showed everyone this on facebook. Wooo! Let's change that in the upcoming DSM-V!

Also, small things like earrings on babies causes cultural problems... I can't explain it exactly, but somehow it's not as big a deal and doesn't create large questions about human autonomy and integrity in my culture...

Shame on people who don't allow through on their commitments, and disappoint children. Actually, more than shame. Doom, despair and agony on them!


No one likes ladder theory, rick.

Some lady addresses fat hatred in feminism. Instead of a useful comment, I'll complain about how as a black woman, I have hips. No matter how much time and energy I spend on worrying about how many calories a bunch of grapes has, which I don't, because worrying about calories in grapes isn't awesome and life needs to have as much awesome stuffed in it as possible, I'm never going to have thin hips, and my thighs will always be a bit pudgy.

And some women...well...even if they spent every waking moment of every day worried about surviving on 900 calories, they wouldn't get down to an 'acceptable' size. So no need to berate the chubby.

Joan Kelly alerted me to this awesome writer who is talking to inattention.

OMG! I was retweeted by damaliayo! I once saw her speak! And it was awesome. My MONTH was made.

Thanks to Forbes, we learn that since life is boring and horrible, we NEED prostitution. Also, that a woman's bare chest and prostitution are the same.

I think that even if the babysitter was a stripper, it'd be OK just as long as she was also trustworthy around children

In local news, people are fighting to reduce the number of infants dying early in Memphis. Note that lack of prenatal care is seen to be a factor in infant death.

Of course the first few comments[it is now 6:54 am in the local area, and I just accessed the web version of this story] are pretty useless and unproductive. It gives more fuel to the idea that online comments on news are stupid.

Hey, lady, the fact that most porn strips all the joy and humanity from sex is not a bug. It's a feature. Certain people are taught that sex is just disconnected ass and disconnected tits, and even if women are hurt or exploited, well...that doesn't keep them up at night.

The question club in transwank part 1 and part 2. A small point that has very little to do. My bleeding out of my vag every month is artificially engineered using hormones. I find it quite disconcerting to not have a period for two or three months and then bleed out the wazoo, so I use modern technology to change that. It also prevents babies.

A baby dies from whooping cough. *it's very tragic*

Shame on you standing mami up person, shame.

I heard about this shameful gang rape case and felt pretty incensed.

Oddly, somehow my brain feels a connection between the idea that a depiction of a woman=porn[i.e. mechanical unfeeling sex without any thought about any other aspect than the physical display] and the idea that even without any consent or respect for one's partner sex is just sex. There's an idea that sex is all important- that who cares if getting off for the moment traumatizes your partner 7 years on- you need to get your rocks off at any cost, even if it's the cost of your humanity.

Personally, I don't think looking at porn should be conflated with sex. I'm sure plenty of people are humping each other right now, without any need for Larry Flynt's products.

Man is tool of the patriarchy. Hey, let's teach my son that sex is a commodity and to not respect women. [and really, just because she's a sex worker doesn't mean she's OK with screwing a 14 year old.]

I blinded you using science! I think my favorite exchange here is the bit where the lady totally denies that any woman can have really really bad periods. I guess there must be a natural herb for all that self righteousness?

People who benefit from feminism trash feminism, film at 11.

This ties into today's quote:

There were quotas for women[circa 1968, England]; their admission was limited to 15 percent of incoming classes, and most of the successful girls were chemistry applicants right out of the exclusive private schools. But, even so, I believed I could get in. I wrote to the dean of every medical school I could think of. All the responses were the same: I was deemed 'unsuitable' and told, in so many words by one school, to go back to the kitchen sink. In the meantime, I watched medical schools accept my younger male classmates, with poor grades, on the basis of their rugby skills"

-Sue Fisher-Hoch from Level 4: Virus Hunters of the CDC

Luckily, she didn't go back to the kitchen sink, and the world is richer for it. But what about all the talent that was wasted back then? We can't get it back.

The problem here is that there are a million sides to the wider debate about sex in society. which is not just divided into pro gay marriage/anti gay marriage. So of course, I'm extending the discussion somewhat here. There's the 'hey, I don't really care about your kinky sex life, but they are doing WHAT to 13 year olds?' types, the 'Really, I didn't need to know all that about your sex life. Keep it in your bedroom/kitchen/bathroom' side, the 'well, vagina loving feminist divas is OK but I'm not so sure about bangbus' side, the 'well...gay marriage is cool, but I'm not so sure about the marriage of 5 people' side, the 'poly people are more evolved' side, the 'hey, I love more than one person but shut the fuck up with that more evolved' side, and god knows how many other sides.

"The vaccine campaign of the Brazilian government was a Herculean effort and a resounding success. In the two years of the [meningcoccal meningitis] epidemic, health authorities succeeded in vaccinating between sixty and seventy million people, approximately 70 percent of the total population in 1974. That so many lives were saved and so many children spared cruel disfigurement, can only be considered cause for rejoicing. The tragic note was that the vaccination campaign was not begun soon enough. As many as five to ten thousand people lost their lives by the time we started"-

Level 4: Virus Hunters of the CDC

Man this guy is a dick.

RT @yorudan Homophobia is a psychological term of art misappropriated by a therapy obsessed culture. Deal. (I couldn't have said it better)

Grrrr, we don't get enough therapy or mental health care in this culture, btw.

@Popdecay Calling those who oppose same sex "marriage" "homophobic" is just an example of postmodernist rhetoric being used to stigmatize.

Grrr.

Personally, I think rapists rape because they are bastards. If a woman does the thing Hirshman blames her for her, drinking a lot and acting slutty, the asshole says 'well, I did it because she was a slut'. If the woman stays in the house all day, the rapist would say 'well, she needed a good deep dicking to loosen her up'. BTW: while I approve of people with the courage to report their rapes, if it's too dangerous physically or emotionally... I'm not trying to give anyone trauma here. I want to spread healing.

Yet more bitching about alternative medicine. You know, some folks act like they don't know what scope of practice is. Yoga? will not cure cancer. *is annoyed by stupid yoga guy. I only want to do some stretches to relieve my back pain, dude*

Is acupuncture like noodles? Whether acupuncture works is in some doubt and the truth is that we need to make allopathic medicine more accessible in my opinion. I don't want us to get frozen out of new effective treatments, frozen out of doing research, frozen out of knowing whether you have indigestion or uterine cancer... We need to be on the front lines of science influencing it for the good, not sitting back trying to make needle sticks work for non self limiting illnesses.

You can send single mothers of color to a conference.

At feministe there's a mental illness kerfuffle. I wanted to tell some people that some people do not think of their mental conditions as being the same as physical illnesses but comments are closed. Personally, I think folks should get some treatment. I'm not saying you have to take medication, but even doing a plan of what you'll do when you notice your symptoms increasing is better than nothing.

Yet again I must stress that I don't care what school a kid goes to, police officers shouldn't assault the children.

Memphis crime rate down, Memphis bashers don't care. If we reduced domestic violence, I bet the crime rate would decline way way more sharply. Many violent crimes are dumbasses shooting family members and friends with guns.

Hey, today is mother's day, so I have a pet peeve. I really hate it when women append I'm a X,Y, Z and a mom to internet profiles. I think it annoys me because you don't see men saying I'm X,Y, Z and a dad to strangers on the internet. Only women are expected to consider their child bearing as a central part of identity. Men? Everything else is considered important other than the fact that they should be caring for the next generation of human beings[I mean, the kids are their kids too].

BTW my mom annoys me. She is all if you don't wear heels and have your legs look sexay, how will you get married?! Maybe I like being an old maid,you dig?

I repeat myself probably, but if we put as much energy into science as we do into knowing exactly how many calories an orange has or how many months it has been since we had a cookie, we could do wonders.

In short, Amy, I agree.

Why journalism sucks nowadays. and rules for feminism coverage.

The same could be said for coverage of blacks doing anything at all. "Blacks breathe today! Let's hear from a conservative black person saying that blacks suck at breathing and just aren't trying hard enough to breathe and some random white person saying that rates of asthma in the black community are their own damn fault'

Hey, my soul is healed and now I want to pay people back for the kindness that I have received! But that doesn't mean your ass isn't accountable, I still got a hot temper!

I was going to have some terribly deep thoughts on how the media turns everything around. Like black kids are hardworking and smart becomes BUT THOSE OTHER BLACKS ARE HOLDING THEM DOWN. Latinos fight for self determination becomes THEY HATE AMERICA

Yay for allopathic medicine. Thanks to it we get face transplants. It took millions of hours of hard work and dedication to get anti rejection drugs and gain surgical skills to create this medical marvel.

I like how when it's not real women being messed around with, yay porners are like wtf to 12 year olds seeing the pornz.

Black female officer heads stunning rescue. Is erased from news as usual.

Maybe I'm not an expert, but I don't think women don't know that to be on tech panels they need to submit things or that it's fun to blog about technical issues. Stuff like perform like a porn star ads seek to keep women in their place- you're just a disembodied ass, like this computer here.

Through Mother Jones, I found this great post- I especially liked the bit about how homophobes think that gay people just want to talk to their ugly kids or their ugly selves. It shows how self centered racism and homophobia is. Instead of truly connecting with others and seeing them for who they are it's all me,me,me. That reminds me of the racist note writer mentioned in this column- the town is only for whites, baseball- a global past time popular in places from the Caribbean to Japan- is only for whites. That not only prevents them from enjoying little league in their own communities, but also prevents them from enjoying the major leagues and the great talent we get from overseas.

Also, police officers shake down people of color in Texas.

Baby quite ill with measles. Really folks, vaccine your children. This guy's baby was too young to be vaccinated.

For god's sake people, don't use hydroxycut or whatever it is! You know, is it me or do a lot of these weight loss drugs cause some *nasty* side effects? Like that phen fen and those amphetamines that were so popular. And I hear gastric bypass isn't so hot either, with the danger of malnutrition and suchlike. I'm a big meanie, so I guess maybe we should live with the bodies we are given, even if they don't fit the 'desired' type.