shadowkat: (Grieving)
I tried to read a thinky post about brain stuff and my brain shut off.

1. Scott Allie - Dark Horse Comics Cuts All Ties With Scott Allie Amid Accusations of Sexual Abuse

Warning, the abuse detailed is rather harrowing. It also read a bit like some of the explicit sex scenes in various "erotic" contemporary romance novels. Mother and I, who have both read a lot of romance novels in our lifetimes, and continue to do so - discussed this at some length today at lunch time. (I call my mother twice a day now - once at lunch, and once after work, sometimes three times a day - it breaks up the day for both of us, and helps me stay sane.)

Mother stated that she prefers historical romances to contemporary in part because they are less sexist. The difference in power - makes more sense. While in the contemporary it feels almost misogynistic. As does some of the sex.

We also agreed that comic book industry is not a good place for women. I hate to say this - but it's made up of people like the Trioka in Buffy, and the gang in Big Bang Theory - run, ladies, run. I know this because I've read comics for over thirty years, and I've interacted with a wide variety of comic book fans. The women are rather cool, and so are some of the men. But there's a lot of sexism and a lot of jerks. It's mainly about power. The film industry, to be fair, is no better. My sisterinlaw gave up on film in college and pursued design instead partly due to that.

In regards to Allie? I did not like him. And stopped reading the Buffy comics for a bit, in part, because of him. I skipped S9 for example. I found him obnoxious and his view of the series did not fit mine. Also, he reminded me a little of Warren Mears.

He stopped editing them sometime around Season 10, when a new creative team took over the comics - possibly due to the events that transpired in 2015. And you could tell the difference. Suddenly it seemed to be less misogynistic, and less sexist, also less male fantasy. There was a definite shift in tone. And the artist was female, so that helped as well. Season 10 and Season 11 were good. But I'd skip S8, 9, and 12.

2. In our continuing saga of the State of New York vs. The Corona Virus

Per the Governor's email: New York is reaching out to offer assistance to states with high infection rates. As states across the nation are seeing spikes in new cases, New York's outlook remains good. NY is contacting Florida, Texas, Arizona and other states with high infection rates to offer our help. In our hour of need we had volunteers from across the country who helped us go from the worst situation in the country to one of the best, and we will repay that help and that kindness in any way we can.

Yes, we are making everyone from your states self-isolate for 14 days upon entry, but we are also willing to send aid in your hour of need. Huzzah!

I explained to project manager today that while our agency was part of a bigger transportation agency, it was really it's own little governing force most of the time. Kind of like the State of New York and the United States.

And..according to the NY Times...A federal judge ruled that houses of worship in New York City can hold indoor services at 50 percent capacity, rather than the 25 percent allowed under the state’s reopening plan.

Gotta love that freedom of religion thing - under the US Constitution, you have the freedom to kill your congregation with a virus! Huzzah!

I don't know about you, but I see this as continuing proof that the US Federal Government and specifically the Republican Party is attempting to kill us. Very glad to be a Unitarian - they are not congregating any time soon.

3. In the continuing saga of the World vs. the Corona Virus (which kind of demonstrates and proves my theory that the human species is not only self-absorbed, with the attention span of a hyper puppy (actually I think the puppy has a longer attention span, I'd say a cat - but I've watched cat's stare at a bug for hours), but also colossally stupid.)
spoiler alert - the world is not winning it's war against the virus. )
But it's not all dire, apparently donations and giving hit an all time high, there's more giving and donations to charitable causes this year than any previous one, including 9/11. Something tells me that 9/11 will be kind of a footnote in history after this.

4. Black Lives Matter vs. Latin Lives Matter..

I think people (meaning our ever fickle and somewhat lacking in attention span news media) have begun to get tired of the Black Lives Matter Movement and there's a slow shift to Latin Lives Matter now.

The NY Times reported on two stories - one where a Latino man in Tuscon, Texas also was killed by an illegal choke-hold and the video was finally released, with all three men fired. and two, that the number of Latino deaths and infections out number most other deaths across the US.

excerpt )

This is going to get worse. Apparently our evil federal government has urged the Supreme Court to invalidate the Affordable Healthcare Act Again or Obamacare. This is worrying for me, because my brother and his family are on Obamacare, as are my cousins. Without it - they can't afford medical care or are in trouble.

I hope and pray that the US Supreme Court does the right thing and votes with their conscience, not their greed, and tells Trump to go fuck himself.

Ugh. Painful. Hence the news break. John Scalzi stated he was taking one for a bit, after waking up in the middle of the night with a stomach ache.

It's why I'm reading "The Widow of Rose Hill" - a funny little mystery/paranormal ghost story/historical romance. And watching Black Sails, Artemis Fowl, and whatever else I can find that is fun and fluffy this weekend and has zip to do with current events.

The pic below kind of expresses how I'm feeling at the moment about all of the above..

shadowkat: (Default)
how to defend yourself against a rapist courtesy of 50 Shades of Grey )

What none of the silly reviewers understand about this book is it is not the BDSM sex or the sex in general that has people compelled, but the story within, which is different than anything else I've read in the Romance Genre to date. Oh sure the character archetypes are the same.
But...James does things I've been screaming at these ninny romance novelists to do, and none of them have. That scene is just one of many many examples. Nora Roberts and Rosemary Rodgers should take notes.
shadowkat: (Default)
[Some one actually created a bill about this? Forget about sexism for a second... In a world with teenage pregnancies and overpopulation, hunger, famine, high unemployment, and bone crushing poverty? Are they frigging insane? If I lived in Arizona, I'd do a lot more than sign a petition. I'd find a way to boot that man out of office. Maybe tar and feather him and ride him out on a rail, like they did back in Mark Twain's day.

I am beginning to worry about the West, whatever happened to that libertarian spirit you were so found of? No government involvement. My ass. What are you guys smoking out there in Arizona? I'm also wondering about other sections of my country. This is what happens when people aren't educated. Maybe we should make every man who runs for legislative office take an intelligence test first?]

Originally posted by [livejournal.com profile] rozk at Stop the Arizona birth control Bill
Originally posted by [livejournal.com profile] cluegirl at Stop the Arizona birth control Bill
Originally posted by [livejournal.com profile] aubergineautumn at Stop the Arizona birth control Bill
Originally posted by [livejournal.com profile] enchanted_jae at Stop the Arizona birth control Bill
Originally posted by [livejournal.com profile] mandatorily at Stop the Arizona birth control Bill

I just signed the following petition addressed to: Arizona Sentate, Arizona State Legislature, Debbie Lesko.

----------------
Stop the Arizona birth control Bill

If this bill passes the senate then women of Arizona would be forced to provide documentation that birth control is for medical purposes only. The "company" would not be required to cover birth control if it was for prevention of conception. Additionally this bill would give companies the right to fire women if they discovered that she was using a contraceptive to prevent pregnancy
----------------

http://www.change.org/petitions/arizona-sentate-arizona-state-legislature-debbie-lesko-stop-the-arizona-birth-control-bill#



Cluegirl note: Please don't roll your eyes and click past because you're tired of this nonsense. We're all tired of this nonsense. We're exhausted with the Tiny White Men That Other White Men Seem To Insist Need To Live In Our Ladyparts, and we're tired of being treated like cattle and chattel just because we're capable of conceiving life, but WE CANNOT IGNORE SHIT LIKE THIS! We must speak up, in our thousands, and we must speak up EVERY DAMN TIME! We must roar and shake the bars because every time even one of these appalling little incremental atrocities passes without uproar, then the Tiny White Men use it as a platform from which to to launch another, only slightly more atrocious attack.

Don't get tired, get mad. Talk about it. Yell about it. SCREAM about it. Deny nay-sayers sex over it. Do. Not. Be. Worn. Down. Because once the chains go on, it takes a lot of blood to get them off again.

This signal needs to be louder than all the 'stop internet limitations' signals. This Conservative Agenda includes the enslavement of better than half the human race. It really, really is more important.

Act like it.

Common Sense Disclaimer: If you are not me, then these opinions, relative to the experience of being me, are not yours. Also, if your gender makes it impossible for you to become pregnant and carry a foetus inside your body without resorting to science and surgery, then you must expect that your opinions on a woman's right to choose when and whether to reproduce will NEVER carry as much weight with me as an actual breeder's opinions. For you, it's abstract. For us, it's real. Ergo, I expect any debate on this subject to be handled with maturity, courtesy, and restraint. No poo throwing, no tubthumping, no trolling, and no shaming. I will ban commenters who are deliberately provocative, rude, and cruel over this. Don't be douches.

You have been warned.
shadowkat: (tv)
Be seeing lots of posts on lj about racism and sexism in television casting and storytelling plots lately. So I got curious and wondered if anyone had done an objective analysis. Searched the net and found the following articles, sites and data regarding the topic. Demonstrating several things I more or less already knew - the world is made incredibly small by the internet, the US is not the only country who has difficulty with this issue (unfortunately), and we are actually doing much better than we did a few years ago - sort of two steps forward and two steps back then two steps forward again. I'm beginning to think that's life in general - an absurd version of the Texas Two-Step.

Case in point:

Buffy the Vampire Slayer first aired in 1997. At that time, if you read some of the links below or just scan them like I did, you'll realize that the networks were under the misbegotten belief that placing minorities in lead roles was bad for business. The NAACP got pissed and took them to task over this around 1999-2000. There were of course a couple of exceptions - but they weren't young teen shows. The exceptions were ER, Homicide Life on the Streets, the situation comedies on UPN, and the cast of Star Trek Voyager. DS9 was also an exception, but I think almost off the air at that point. Star Trek unlike most genre television, was actually pretty good with minority casting. Gene Roddenberry sort of broke the barrier wall in that regard in the 1960s with the original Trek - airing tales about racism on his show. But most TV shows contained white casts - such as Friends and Sex in the City, which if you live in NYC, you'll realize how unrealistic these shows are. This did not really change until around 2000, when the NAACP and SAG screamed at the US TV networks over it. SAG began to tabulate the number of female and minority roles in TV , Film and Theater in 1993 - releasing reports on the status, every couple of years, their data backed up the NAACP's claims.

Veronica Mars started after Buffy finished its run, in the fall of 2003, hailed by many fans as the new, albeit more racially diverse, Buffy. At the time Veronica aired, another backlash had occurred - the number of female roles and how women were being depicted was brought into question - articles littered the NY Times - blasting shows such as Boston Legal, Criminal Minds, Supernatural, and several quickly cancelled procedurals, as well as Veronica Mars for their lacklustre treatment of women. David E. Kelly got the message and added Candace Bergen to his cast. Supernatural hiding on the CW, then WB, got little fanfair. BattleStar Galatica was raved about as was Desperate Housewives. Grey's Anatomy starting mid-season, surprised everyone by doing much better than Boston Legal. Women, networks discovered, were a key demographic they could not ignore. Just as minorities were.

If you compare the casts of Veronica Mars to Buffy, you'll notice a couple of interesting factors.

Veronica, which began on UPN, which was targeting African Americans, had more men and less women in its lead cast over the three years it aired. It also had more minorities. The male best-bud - was African American, the biker guy, Hispanic. The Cordelia chick - African-American.

Buffy, which began on WB and was targeting a teen white female and male audience - had less men, but few minorities. In fact, you rarely saw any until around 1998 - or Season 3 of the series. Trick - was introduced around that period as a recurring character.By Season 4 - 1998-1999, we had Riley's friend and Gunn introduced in 1999 on Angel. In 2000...before Buffy moved to UPN, there's barely a minority in sight. When Buffy eventually moves to UPN, she stands out a bit like a sore thumb. If you check out UPN's shows during that period - almost all of them with the possible exception of Buffy and one other tv series, had minority casts. The Jamie Fox Show preceeded Buffy. At the same time, the NAACP and SAG were telling the networks that they had to cast more minorities. 2002-2003 rolls along and we start to see the recurring roles filled by minority cast members - including Iyari as Kennedy, Rhona, Wood, Nikki Wood as the First, several of the slayers, and an African American Pop singer who plays a demon that takes an interest in Xander. Buffy premiered towards the end of the 1990s, a period that had few television series with minorities, and in which the networks and advertisers were ignoring the minority demographic. If you look at the young adult and teen shows during that period, which included Dawson's Creek, Gilmore Girls, 90210, Melrose Place, Friends, Seinfeild, Will and Grace... you'll notice that there were few minorities in them. Prior to this period we had Doogie Howser, Square Pegs, and the Wonder Years - which were also minority free or close to it.

In the 21st Century - The higher rated series - are ones that have minorities and women in their casts now. House, Lost, Desperate Housewives, Ugly Betty, Grey's Anatomy, Heroes, even BSG which is getting higher ratings on cable. In demographic studies - more African Americans, Women, and Hispanics were found to watch television than Caucasions, and men. Interesting. This may or may not have an effect on the change.

I thought about doing a statistical analysis of genre tv shows, to see how many women and minorities each cast, but I don't the time or energy. Curious to know if anyone else has attempted it - just to see the numbers. The one's I'm most interested in seeing are:

Buffy
Angel
Supernatural
Star Trek the Next Generation
Battle Star Galatica
Firefly
Smallville
Doctor Who

In the non-genre series category -

The West Wing (which I know was too lily white when it began and got loads of criticism, it was one of the shows attacked in the 90s for not having a diverse cast)
Grey's Anatomy
ER
Chicago Hope
CSI

I'd also love to see a demographic analysis of those series. How many whites, blacks, hispanics, asians, women, and men watch and what age groups.

Anywho, for those who are interested here's the links I found worth looking at regarding the representation of minorities and women in television roles from 1973-2007. I could not find any data for 2008. These also serve as my endnotes or references for the points I made above.

Stung by Criticism In 1999 Networks Start to Add Minorities to TV Shows - The West Wing is Singled Out"

The Numbers Game - 1994

Minorities and the Media- Little Ownership and Even Less Control

Anything But Racism: Media Make Excuses for White Washed Line-up - 2000

Census 2006 - Shows Changes in TV and Interactive Media Sectors (UK-2006, British Broadcasting employment stats)

Recognition & Respect: a Content Analysis of Primetime Characters across three decades

Gender and Television - how women are depicted on TV - goes up to 90s

Casting the American Scene - a Look at Characters on PrimeTime and Daytime Television From 1994-1997 - Fairness & Diversity in Television: Update and Trends since the 1993 Screen Actors Guild Report on Women and Minorities on TV

Canadian Law regarding Sex-Role Portrayal Code in Radio and Television Broadcasting"

Media Watch - Associations around the world dedicated to monitoring how women are portrayed on TV and how to correct it"

"Stastical Report on Women's Roles on TV"

Media Awareness Reports - Stats on Minorities on TV from 1993-1994

Representation of Women in TV Writing and Film Writing Sectors

Statistics of Women and Minority Representation on UK TV Shows"

Ethnic and Visible Minorities in Entertainment Media

SAG Reports Roles for Minorities and Women Increasing since 2005

SAG Casting Statistic Reports up to 2006

PDF of SCREEN ACTORS GUILD DIVERSITY CASTING REPORT, Including Stats for 2006
shadowkat: (writing)
There's a picture of the Finance team that the Senior Staff Account hung up that I wish they would take down. But I say nothing, because how vain is that, to want a photo taken down because I can't abide my likeness inside it. That's not me I think. I look nothing like that. And I do not want to be seen that way.

On the subway ride home, surrounded by all shapes and sizes and ages and colors of people, I read a passage in Kafka on The Shore by Haruki Murakami that perfectly illustrates my own feelings about how we should perceive others and how I wish others perceived me. It also articulates some of my frustration with the inadequacy of the term "colorblindness" or "genderblindness" - which is currently being batted about lj as a type of racism or racism in denial or sexism in denial. For me, colorblindness does not mean that you can't see what someone looks like, or what color of skin or race you perceive - but rather, that you fight against using that criteria in making decisions regarding them. You judge them as individuals not as members of a *group*. OR at the very least you attempt to do so. Because, what you see or perceive could be a lie. Just as a camera lies about what people look like, so do the eyes. Just because someone appears to be one thing to your eyes does not mean they are. Our senses are not 100% accurate. Nor is our knowledge regarding someone's racial heritage. Our experiences while helpful aren't a good basis for making a judgment about someone we have just met. For example just because someone wears a turban - does not make them a member of a muslim extremist faction. Or just because they are a woman does not mean that they can't be a fireman. But - I'll shut up - because I think Murakami articulates this a little better than I do in his story.

The passage is a conversation between Oshima, the head librarian at a small library, and two women who are patrolling public facilities to determine how they can be improved to meet the needs of women and not be sexist. It is told in first person and in the pov of Kafka, a 15 year old boy. Since it is fairly long, I'll paraphrase the beginning section.
I strongly recommend reading the book yourself if you get the chance.
Spoilers for Kafka on The Shore and rather long...but you can still enjoy the book knowing this. )

[Later after the women have left, Oshima turns to the narrator, Kafka and gives the following speech which struck a chord in me and I wanted to share and keep track of the important bits here, which isn't as spoilery, but it helps to have read the above passage to appreciate the full meaning:]

I know I'm a little different from everyone else, but I'm still a human being. That's what I'd like you to realize. I'm just a regular person, not some monster. I feel the same things everyone else does, act the same way. Sometimes, though, that small difference feels like an abyss. But I guess there's not much I can do about it....

I've experienced all kinds of discrimination. Only people who've been discriminated against can really know how much it hurts. Each person feels the pain in his own way, each has his own scars. So I think I'm as concerned about fairness and justice as anybody. But what disgusts me even more are people who have no imagination. The kind T.S Eliot calls hollow men. People who fill up that lack of imagination with heartless bits of straw, not even aware of what they're doing. Callous people who throw a lot of empty words at you, trying to force you to do what you don't want to do. Like that lovely pair we just me. Gays, lesbians, straights, feminists, fascist pigs, communists, Hare Krishnas - none of them bother me. I don't care what banner they raise. But what I can't stand are hollow people. When I'm with them I just can't bear it, and wind up saying things I shouldn't..."


Kafka:"Cause if you take every single person who lacks imagination seriously, there's no end to it."

"That's it," Oshima says....

"Narrow minds devoid of imagination. Intolerance, theories cut off from reality, empty terminology, usurped ideals, inflexible systems. Those are the things that really frighten me. What I absolutely fear and loathe. Of course it's important to know what's right and what's wrong. Individual errors in judgement can usually be corrected. As long as you have the courage to admit mistakes, things can be turned around. But narrow minds with no imagination are like parasites that transform the host, change form, and continue to thrive. They're a lost cause, and I don't want anyone like that coming in here."

End of paraphrased passage. Pp.176-181 of Kafka on The Shore by Haruki Murakami

The inability to see past our own experience, to imagine something we haven't seen or don't know. The inability to question. The inability to look past categories. The inability to admit when we are wrong, even in abject embarrassment. Moral superiority and self-righteousness scare me - in myself and others - because you risk putting people into categories, you stop imagining. Or attempting to understand. I hate to say this, but I know about 90% of the assumptions I make regarding people are probably wrong. I often learn how wrong when I meet and get to know them. I don't believe in love at first sight. And I don't believe in first impressions. That does not mean I don't make them or go by them. I try not to.

I think you usually have to try something before you can judge it. Whether it be a book, a food, a film or a piece of clothing. And I think you have to imagine what it is like to walk in someone else's shoes, to know what it feels like to be them, before you can put them into a box or category that they won't fit.

Colorblindness to me means not judging by what I see. Waiting until I've got more information before I act. Difficult as that is. Judging a person as an individual not as part of a group based on the color of their skin or religion or gender - and I fall down on the job about 65% of the time.
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