Because I’ve been busy the past few days and haven’t had time to write anything myself, I thought I’d share instead some of the thought-provoking pieces that have come my way recently via my rss reader:
Feminist Law Professors provide links to a really interesting debate entitled “Is it wrong to pay for sex?” Participants in the debate include both Catharine A. MacKinnon and Melissa Farley.
Sarah at Paperhouse has been reading Charlotte Roche’s Wetlands. (And so has Suzanne Kleid at Bitch Magazine) And so have I. And I think Sarah’s conclusion that “just because Helen has a smart mouth and eats her own pus doesn’t make her any less of a poster girl for self-harm” hits the nail on the head.
Harriet Jacobs at Fugivitus has written an awesome piece about abuse.
Women on the Web have an interview with Gloria Steinem, who’s “still committing outrageous acts at 75” apparently.
Margaret at AROOO has been thinking about privilege. Butterflywings has too. And Amy’s Brain adds to the debate (thanks again Polly for the link).
Maggie’s coming out
Celie’s not impressed with so-called feminist dudes.
And witchywoo and friends have been dining out in their pj’s. (and judging from the reaction this news received from some of my friends, I suspect they may have started something!)
Too Much To Say For Myself 
Thanks for linking to my post, Cath. 🙂
Wetlands sounds like rare old shite to me, I have to say. But as with ‘mad men’ the great thing about huge meeja fuss is you can know about these things without actually bothering with the original.
Thanks for the link, too 🙂
Great piece Butterflywings
Thanks Polly 🙂
Hello! Thanks for linking me.
“And witchywoo and friends have been dining out in their pj’s. (and judging from the reaction this news received from some of my friends, I suspect they may have started something!)”
They tried to ban that in Ulster. Thankfully I am opposed to banning most things, and I came out in favor of the PJ initiative.
Get dressed, head tells the pyjama mamas – Times Online
8 Jun 2007 … So many women in Belfast take their children to and from school while still dressed in their pyjamas that a headmaster has appealed to them …
women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/article1901953.ece – Similar pages
I also sided with parents, well Moms, actually, in relation to the school thing.
I’m opposed to Fathers for Jim Jams, on the grounds that they are a gay performance art group and intrinsically evil.
The ‘dangly bit’ legislation working through the NI Assembly is down to me, sadly it has to apply to everybody, ‘gay dangling’, not doable within a discriminatory context,
so perfectly innocent dangling, is going to be illegal as well.
Gregory
Actually, “presenting at the school gates in her pygamas when bringing the children to school” has been cited as evidence of **bad motherhood** at a conference I was at recently.
There were quite a few of us (women) looking at one another and mouthing ‘doesn’t everyone do that????’.
Going out for a meal in your pj’s is a subversive act; no matter how normal it feels.
Witchywoo – I love the going for dinner in PJs idea!
I am so doing it!
I have no problem not getting dressed on lazy Sundays, but have yet to venture outside in PJs.
I used to live in Liverpool – it is quite common for mums to hang out on their doorteps, go to the shops in PJs.
And that sounds incredibly harsh to that poor mother; bad motherhood?! Interesting the way once someone is labelled in some way pathological (mental illness, for example, as well as ‘bad mother’) everything they do is seen as evidence of that, when it may be perfectly normal.
Now that smoking is banned in most hotels, it’s quite common to see people standing around outside in their jamas puffing away, especially first thing in the morning……
…..Not that I’ve ever done it of course 🙂
…..Not that I’ve ever done it of course 🙂
Neither have I – I just hang out of the window.
“Now that smoking is banned in most hotels, it’s quite common to see people standing around outside in their jamas puffing away, especially first thing in the morning……”
It is appalling, criminalizing a Duke, or Earl of the Realm, from sleeping under a public bridge, that was equality, the same law for the aristocracy as for derelicts, but smoking
what kind of deranged radical would equate puffing, and I do mean puffing, on a limited edition Cohiba, with a fat cleaning lady chewing her woodbine in a doorway?
And that is also what is wrong with Cath’s blog, she does make that mistake, I’m sorry but I have to say she does.
Gregory