Forward Thinking: What is the purpose of marriage?

Libby Anne and Dan Finke at Patheos have started a project called Forward Thinking, which is a series of questions they put to bloggers to encourage them to think productively. The replies to these questions are then rounded up and a new prompt posted. This is my second crack at it. The first can […]

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Further adventures in abusing the notion of respect

Previously I wrote about how it’s incorrect to say that you respect women if that respect is contingent on their dressing and behaving according to your notions of modesty. It’s also incorrect to say that you respect people while maintaining that for them to have children is “child abuse”: Francis […]

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Shame, sexism, and soft bigotry

So last month I wrote about the difference between the feelings of guilt and shame, and what they address. I noted that they’re not synonymous, actually work quite differently, and that one is far more productive than the other– that, actually, one may be necessary (albeit sometimes incorrectly applied) while […]

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Look at you, all flaunting your autonomy

Women are not entitled to respect when they walk around without a [hijab]. They are to blame for it when they are attacked. said an imam from Denmark, Shahid Mehdi, who was arrested in Malmo, Sweden for reportedly exposing himself to a woman in a park. When I read about this, […]

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Demystifying “premarital”

Sex advice show Savage U (hated by Idaho legislators) As Idaho lawmakers take a symbolic stand (was there ever was a more useless stand, or a more wasteful use of taxpayer money?) against premarital sex by “urging the Federal government and the FCC to prohibit the portrayal, even implied, or […]

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Thoughts on the first Tropes vs. Women video

So the first Feminist Frequency Tropes vs. Women video has been posted, and I was very excited to see it. I was not disappointed. If you haven’t seen it yet, have a watch: What we have here is a thorough, polished bit of media analysis with obvious effort and expense […]

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Skeptics of Oz

Skeptics of Oz is a free skeptical conference held in Wichita, Kansas, this year on March 16-17 at Wichita State University’s CAC Theater. Here’s the Facebook page. Here’s the line-up of speakers: Introduction to Skepticism by Caleb Lack Depression and Mental Illness by JT Eberhard Busting Sex Myths by Emily Boyer Psychic […]

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Sexy old lady

Credit: http://www.tomandlorenzo.com/ I don’t generally do this, but I just want to write a blog post to gush about another blog post– this one, by Greta Christina, about an episode of Project Runway in which the contestants, fashion designers, were asked to design an outfit for an older female client. Now, […]

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Haunted socks

In which Pat Robertson advises someone who frequently buys second-hand clothing that she should “rebuke any spirits that happen to have attached themselves to those clothes” lest there be any demons who might have become connected to them via the prayers of a witch, as he heard had happened once […]

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We saw your tortured discussion about sex and humor

Mockery, generally speaking, is a punishment. Right? We admire people who can laugh at themselves, but generally don’t expect them to when they’re the butt of a joke, unless they actually did something stupid and/or wrong. If wrong, you can take a “my bad” approach and mock yourself as a […]

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