Why does it matter to you if someone gets an abortion? If someone has non-heterosexual sex? If someone is transgendered or transsexual? If gay marriage is legal? If polygamy is legal? Continue Reading →
Jeana
Jeana Jorgensen, PhD recently completed her doctoral degree in folklore and gender studies at Indiana University. She studies fairy tales and other narratives, dance, body art, feminist theory, digital humanities, and gender identity.
Recent posts
Would Limiting Men’s Freedom End Sexual Assault?
The brilliant post What If We Responded to Sexual Assault by Limiting Men’s Freedom Like We Limit Women’s? turns sexism on its head by suggesting that since men who assault cannot control themselves, we should put restrictions on all men, such as making them wear blindfolds in places where they might encounter women in skimpy clothing. The author’s not serious, of course, but the satirical technique of role-reversal can reveal the underlying assumptions of well-meaning advice. Does this make you uncomfortable? Good, it should. Continue Reading →
Sexual Assault And Burning Man Culture
Those of you who know what Burning man is (here’s a link for those who don’t) probably have positive mental images of the festival – after all, it’s an intentional community based on art, freedom of expression, and radical inclusion and participation. However, sexual assault does happen at burns, and so it’s good to be aware that the possibility exists. I highly recommend this essay on rape at Burning Man by Clarisse Thorn. She discusses an assault, the community response, and some of the legal and cultural issue affecting consent and vulnerability. Not all of us will go to Burning Man, but we all should have conversations about how to create safe environments and spot abusers. Continue Reading →
Tangerine Consent
On a lighter note, my partner and I were recently driving somewhere, and I was feeding him a tangerine (as he was the one driving). We generally have good communication in our relationship, especially when it comes to consent, which we took to a silly level with the act of eating a tangerine. Me: *tries to put a tangerine slice in his mouth*
Him: “I don’t consent to this. My silence is not consent.” Me: “But your body language made it look like you were asking for it!” Continue Reading →
The Politics Of Regulating Guns And Regulating Sexuality
Buckle up, folks, I’m going to draw a number of parallels and ask you to put on your metaphorical thinking-caps while reading this post. Maybe you don’t automatically think “vaginas!” when you’re tuning into the gun debate in America, but I do, and I think you should consider doing the same. Here’s why. Continue Reading →
Further Explanation Of Why “Creepy” Can Be A Useful Term
Here at MSP, we’ve touched on the continuing debate on whether the word “creepy” is useful or reductive, including its place in the geek community, its relationship to respecting boundaries, and how not to be creepy in public. Feminist blogger Xenologer wrote a comprehensive post explaining why women “need a word to refer to guys who freak us out and make us feel unsafe, and that word for ‘failed my risk assessment’ doesn’t need to meet the approval of men.” Basically, while the word “creepy” is about men, it is not for men. This is a useful way of thinking about the word and its functions; it refers to the insider/outsider distinction we use in the study of folklore (often termed esoteric/exoteric). Sometimes the insiders of a group use special terminology related to their social needs, which outsiders can misunderstand, and this may well be one of those cases. Continue Reading →
Why Legislating Sex Work Is Problematic
In light of California’s mandatory condom laws for adult performers, I’ve been thinking about why governments feel the need to step in and legislate sex work (I say legislate when often it is criminalized, but here I’ll be focusing on laws that regulate rather than prohibit). First, let’s think of people we categorically make laws about. Children: they have to go to school, they have to be under a legal guardian until they reach a certain age, and so on. Prisoners: they do not have full legal rights, but they retain many other rights, such as access to basic minimum living standards. The poor: there’s a whole body of laws, historically dating back to the Elizabethan era in England, governing employment and aid opportunities for the underprivileged. Continue Reading →
Your Life Could Depend On Your Ability To Sit Or Rise
On the general health front, a new study shows that people who have trouble sitting on the floor or rising from the floor are more likely to die early. This holds true even when variables like gender are controlled for, which is interesting given the well-documented gap in men’s and women’s life expectancies. Researchers don’t know precisely what the correlation is, but the sitting-rising test score (which you can perform easily at home) is a predictor of all-cause mortality. If you’re interested in improving your health as part of your New Year’s plans, consider looking into your sitting-rising abilities. Continue Reading →
Amelia Earhart… Was Non-Monogamous?
The story about Amelia Earhart’s marriage negotiation letter is making the rounds on Feministing, but it was reported over five years ago on a polyamory blog, too. The basic gist is that before accepting her suitor’s marriage proposal, she let him know that her work came first, and required that they not adhere to “midaevil [sic] code of faithfulness.” Click on either of the links to see a scan of the original 1931 letter for yourself. Continue Reading →
Why Firing A Sexy Employee Reflects Implicit Sexism
By now, the news that an Iowa court upheld a (male) dentist firing his (female) assistant for being too sexy has made the rounds. It doesn’t seem to matter whether the employee has been flirtatious or dressed inappropriately; the employer’s comfort level was the main factor in the decision. Other bloggers have tackled why this is a problem, pointing out, for instance, that this ruling sends a negative message by objectifying women (which is not technically illegal) – so maybe the law should change. Perhaps a new law preventing employers not just from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation or gender, but also discrimination based on the employer’s feelings of sexual attraction (or lack thereof) would help. However, I believe that this case reflects an unconscious level of sexism that many Americans don’t even question, which is what we really need to be discussing in order to change things for the better. Continue Reading →