New York is considering a law that would make recycling those damn plastic bags a requirement – for businesses.
I think that rocks.
Tell Mayor Bloomberg to pass it.
Designa Vagina
An interesting commentary from The Guardian about all the new surgeries available to women to “fix” their vaginas.
“We rightly condemn female genital mutilation (FGM) when it’s forced on women and girls in the name of culture and tradition, yet we’re quick to embrace it when it’s sold to us packaged in the language of choice. There’s a glaring inconsistency in the western notion of female empowerment, when enshrined within that is the right of women to go under the surgeon’s knife in pursuit of a socially imposed model of physical perfection. It’s no wonder we face accusations of hypocrisy and cultural imperialism, when glossy magazines carry worthy articles about the horrors of FGM in the developing world on the one page, and advertisements offering the latest in designer vaginas in the classified section at the back.”
(Thanks to Petra for the link.)
Intersex Pony
Betty’s always joking about wanting a magical pony, but I don’t think she had this one in mind.
(thanks to Xtine).
here! Podcast
I really enjoyed doing this podcast with Josh & Sara, so I’m pleased to say it’s up on their website as an MP3 now.
Not Mine
I just found out that my publishers missed the deadline to nominate my book She’s Not the Man I Married for a Lambda Literary Award. Considering that it’s probably the only award that has a Transgender category at all, I’m – well, beyond words about how shitty this is.
It’s like the last kick in the ass from 2007 arriving a little late.
But congrats to all my friends & fellow writers on the list: Reid Vanderburgh, Eli Clare, Julia Serano, Mattilda, Virginia Ramey Mollenkott. May the best person win.
Gone Betty Gone
Betty just left in the Shitwaffle, driven by Megan to Milwaukee Airport, to return to Brooklyn, for at least a month.
Feh.
She’s Still Right
I hope Hillary Clinton calls Gloria Steinem to say thank you.
Illogic
A Romney staffer on MSNBC said, just now, in one sentence, how we need a Republican president who isn’t establishment, who will get the 12 million illegal immigrants out of the country and cut taxes to make government smaller.
Astounding. Because I’m sure, when asked, those 12 million illegal immigrants will leave without any government personnel there to “encourage” them.
I wonder too how they’re going to keep the homosexuals from marrying and the women from having abortions if they shrink government so much.
Teaching Trans
I’ve already team-taught my first class in Gender Studies 101, and later today I get to teach my first session of Transgender Lives. It’s a 200-level course, and I opted to allow trans people to speak about their own lives instead of focusing on what other people have said about trans lives. How? I used books written by trans people: Jenny Boylan’s, James Green’s, Kate Bornstein’s, some of Julia Serano’s Whipping Girl, Leslie Feinberg, and… a lovely little book by The Lady Chablis called Hiding My Candy. Plus a few chapters from my own My Husband Betty in order to represent the crossdressers.
I figure as a non-trans person teaching trans, I’ll already be there as a kind of lens, so getting as much primary reporting from trans people themselves was important.
Top Ten of 2007
Yours Truly was interviewed for an article on “Ten Hot Sexuality (and Gender) Issues of 2007 by Naked on the Internet author Audacia Ray. My bit is mostly the “(and Gender)” part of it, about ENDA & the Hate Crimes Act.
I think it’s the first time I’ve been interviewed for anything that was also about pole dancing.