Reading Time: 6 minutes No way, no how did Burnett Robinson come by his opinion recently. No way, no how did he get any significant pushback for his views from anyone he counted as important — until now, at least. Instead, he was telling us exactly who he was, and exactly who he’s been for a long time. But he also told us a lot of other important stuff.
rape culture
Posted inCulture, Education, General
You Cannot Teach Someone Who Feels Unsafe
Reading Time: 4 minutes I have a lot of thoughts on what happened yesterday, but I’m responding first in my capacity as an educator, to remind us that even when people’s positions are at best misinformed, we don’t stand much of a chance of correcting them when they feel unsafe.
Posted inReligion
False Accusations in Jesus-Land in ‘This Present Darkness’ (LSP #150, Ch. 30)
Reading Time: 7 minutes Hi and welcome back! It being Monday, we turn our attention to Frank Peretti’s cringefest 1986 novel, This Present Darkness. In this installment, we discover the literal only reason that anybody ever accuses TRUE CHRISTIANS™ of serious crimes. Today, Lord Snow Presides over the theology of false accusations in toxic Christianity. (Please click here to find […]
Posted inEducation, General, Myth & Folklore, Sex & Gender
The #MeToo Take Two Panel at #AFSAM19 (Part 2 of 2)
Reading Time: 4 minutes Part of grappling with sexual assault from a folklorist’s perspective means taking into account how it impacts communities and their cultures, and wow are there some ethical considerations to be discussed.
Posted inEducation, General, Myth & Folklore, Sex & Gender
The #MeToo Take Two Panel at #AFSAM19 (Part 1 of 2)
Reading Time: 5 minutes One of the highlights of the recent American Folklore Society meeting was a panel discussing events in #MeToo, what folklorists can specifically contribute to the discussion, and continuing problems with abuse/assault in our field. In what follows, I’ll summarize some of the highlights of the panel on #MeToo (labeled “Take Two” because we had an […]
Posted inCulture, General
Trauma Stewardship
Reading Time: 6 minutes As we all know, I like to nerd out about trauma. But sometimes, it hits too close to home, and I need help in continuing to do the work that brings me into contact with trauma (in addition to continuing to, like, be a human in contact with other humans).
Posted inCulture, General, Sex & Gender
Legalizing Sex Work to Stop Male Violence Is As Bad As Jordan Peterson’s Enforced Monogamy
Reading Time: 5 minutes In the wake of yet another mass shooting, I’ve seen men on Twitter suggesting that we legalize sex work in order to give these poor sexless dudes an outlet so they don’t go on shooting sprees. But this is just as bad as the enforced monogamy nonsense from Jordan Peterson, and it relies on women’s bodies and emotional labor to build peace.
Posted inCulture, General, Sex & Gender
Stop Building Plots on Women’s Bodies
Reading Time: 5 minutes This post contains spoilers for Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. Consider yourselves warned (fyi, the blog image is from the trailer, so it is not itself a spoiler for anything).
Posted inGeneral, Sex & Gender
Sex Is Not Contagious (Part 2)
Reading Time: 3 minutes Sexual arousal does not leap from person to person like a virus, duh. But what if what many conservatives actually fear is not physical, but rather moral, contagion?
Posted inCulture, General, Sex & Gender
The Impact of the American Plan
Reading Time: 7 minutes The anti-sex-worker bias seen in the American Plan dovetails with forced sterilization and medical experimentation, as well as straight-up misogyny. It was enforced until the 1960s and 70s, if you can believe it. Here’s a rundown of the American Plan’s impact.