I share a lot of links on Twitter and Facebook that I don’t blog about because I don’t have much to add. The reading list is a periodic feature where I share those links with my blog audience too. Of course, you’re still welcome to follow me on Twitter.
Around FtB
- That he had personally witnessed–“Slime pitters are all agitated, asking me in unapproved comments if I have a source for the non-anonymous allegations of Shermer’s sexual harassment.”
- The Latest Word On Mabus–A Second Guilty Plea–“There is much more there if you want to read it, but the gist is, he couldn’t keep from making threats.”
- “I just want to rape you,” “you dirty piece of property”–“Still more joy from Twitter, in response to my #YesAllWomen tear.”
- I wonder if there’s a gene for thinking there’s a gene for everything–“It’s all fruit of a rotten tree, carrying the taint of human xenophobia, and now all tied up in a twisted view of the all-powerful gene.”
The Wider Web
- Wishing for Alternate Universes on the Nebulas Panel “Writing About Other Cultures”–“I recognized many of the names on the panel, but in my excitement and preparations I did not notice the problem that was immediately brought up once all of the panel members appeared together at the same table.”
- It’s not just Jill Abramson: Women everywhere are getting pushed out of journalism–“What we’re ultimately talking about is a serious consequence – the type of news we get stands to be less diverse and ultimately, may fail to capture some of the diversity of experiences that need to be reflected in journalism to tell a complete story of social life.”
- I Am Not an Angry Feminist. I’m a Furious One.–“I’m furious that walking alone at night feels more like an act of rebellion than a simple act of transit.”
- Lessons From a Day Spent With the UCSB Shooter’s Awful Friends–“How many times do they have to tell us before we believe them?”
- Separating wheat from chaff in gluten sensitivity–“Some might say that this study’s results mean that gluten sensitivity in general is ‘bogus.’ But the study authors propose that something else entirely is to blame for gastrointestinal distress in IBS patients.”
- The Secret of Calm–“Why aren’t you freaking out!?”
- A Clockwork Clarion–“When it first started happening, I couldn’t believe it. Literally couldn’t believe it. It was when they put the tape on my mouth that I freaked out.”
- The Erasure of Maya Angelou’s Sex Work History–“The most detailed accounts currently online are making sure to emphasize that she spent a ‘brief stint,’ a ‘short time’ in the sex industry, so as to, without explicit words, solidify the shame they believe she should have felt, the shame we should feel as well.”
- Somaly Mam And The Cult of Glamourized Victimhood–“It’s easy to see why non-profits trying to fundraise, as well as the media industry used to raise attention to various social justice issues, are drawn to the ‘heroes beating the odds’ stories that Mam told not only of herself but of the various girls she used for media and fundraising appeals.”
- In Historic Move, Medicare Lifts Ban On Sex Confirmation Surgery–“National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) Executive Director Mara Keisling said in a statement that today’s ruling ‘represents the medical community’s clear understanding that gender dysphoria is a serious medical condition, and the government should not stand in the way when doctors recommend treatment.'”
- Science fiction’s real-life war of the worlds–“What the conservative authors protesting the Hugo awards perceive as a liberal clique is simply science fiction outgrowing them, and their narrow conception of the genre’s worth.”
- ‘Slut-shaming’ has more to do with class than sex, study finds–“‘Surprisingly, women who engaged in less sexual activity were more likely to be publicly labeled a slut than women who engaged in more sexual activity,’ Armstrong said.”
- Here Are the People Who Wanted Shinseki Fired but Didn’t Vote for VA Funds–“But some of these hecklers themselves aren’t so blameless. In 2013 many of them voted against the appropriations bill (later passed) that increased funds to the Veterans Benefits Administration, granted money for construction of state extended care facilities, and released funds to operations of Defense Department/VA medical facilities.”
- Mike Thompson tries again on gun violence–“He said the bill would improve crisis intervention efforts, give law enforcement more tools ‘to enforce laws and keep guns away from those who shouldn’t have them,’ and improve ‘the submission of mental health records into the criminal background check system.'”
- San Diego Comic-Con Responds To Fan Petition Asking For A Formal Harassment Policy–“Glanzer seems to be saying posting signs about harassment would make it seem as if there’s a harassment problem which in turn, is implying there is no harassment problem. That is the opposite of true.”
- Bigotry, Cognitive Dissonance, and Submission Guidelines–“First, all stories are political. In fact, the paragraph banning ‘goddammits,’ ‘shit,’ ‘asshole,’ etc. is a political decision. When someone says they’re not political, what they really mean is that their politics belongs to the status quo, and they don’t want to challenge that.”
- How A Troublesome Inheritance gets human genetics wrong–“Their samples from chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans each had two to three times as much DNA sequence variation as a human sample from multiple continents. In fact, the worldwide human sample had less variation than three subspecies of chimpanzees.”
- #YesAllWomen, and Why We Need To Keep Discussing Sexism–“In general, ‘Stop politicizing this tragedy’ seems to mean, ‘I don’t like your conclusions about the causes of this tragedy.'”
- Dean Baquet Confirms He Played A Role In Jill Abramson’s Ouster–“However, after Folkenflik pointed out that Baquet was known to have punched several holes in the walls of the Times’ Washington bureau, he acknowledged that he has a ‘temper,’ though he added, ‘in each case I was mad at somebody above me in rank.'”