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Showing posts from April, 2009

Grease - a summary of the movie from a feminist perspective

Flashback Friday, a column on feminist notions... Danny falls in love with Sandra. She is sweet and lovely and believing and innocent (virgin). He loves her. When he gets to school and sees her through the eyes of his friends, he rejects her because she doesn't put out (whore). She realizes that unless she puts it out there that she wants him, and everyone knows she wants him as a boyfriend, now they need to know that he's the one whose body she wants. She needs to flash her body sexually and be very very thin and wear very very clingy clothes and speak very very dirty(ish) then she will get her man. She does. He is pleased that he can have the nice girl, who will put out, who realizes that virginity is lousy. Sadly, I know every millimeter of this movie by heart. This film tells me, that I can be virgin and whore and I will get the guy, but he gets to tell me what he wants and I must be that. If I choose to do as he wants, I will be cool. ... Cinnamon Gurl sparked thi

Post-World-War (condescending) advertising encouraging women to return to the home

The war years. Men are fighting, women are cooking. There are women who have been 'encouraged' to join the workforce - temporarily - please toodle off back home when we don't need you anymore, make some more babies. Toe, toe! The ad's copy reads: "She has the same spirit as her grandmother who crossed an ocean or a continent to build a good life in a new way. She has replaced the words, "I don't know," with "I'll learn." Instead of saying, "My family doesn't like that," she says, "I'll cook it so well they will like it." While cradling a pack of meat like a baby. This ad is testimony to how women have changed. I would be horrified to see this in contemporary media. Source: TheScienceBookstore

Hackerspaces, a how-to create one

Hackerspaces always have a fantastic vibe, a palpable buzz that you get from gathering a lot of smart, passionate, creative people inside each others' spheres of attention and set them to work, a cross-pollinated vigor. Hackerspaces tend to be loosely organized, governed by consensus, and infused with an almost utopian spirit of cooperation and sharing. Sounds like everyplace should be a hackerspace. I am going to start turning the space around me into a hackerspace, starting with the first three feet. A howto at Make, Technology on your Time . You need 2+2 people. Two idea people for scheming and and two implementation people to get real work done. Don't start until you have 4 and then once you've got it going, expand to 10 to start off.