One of the downsides to going away on holiday and finding myself with no Internet connection was that when I finally logged back on on Monday morning I found 956 blog posts waiting for me on my Google Reader. Nerdy nerd that I am though, rather than just delete them all and start the week from scratch, I’ve instead spent the last two days reading through everything. And now I’m really glad I did that, because there were some great pieces posted while I was away: here’s a selection.

Top of the list is Melissa McEwan’s piece over at Shakesville, The Terrible Bargain We Have Regretfully Struck, which I have to say is possibly, imho, one of the best blog posts ever written. You know those moments you sometimes get when you read something and think “OMG, I so wish I’d written that“? Well that’s how I feel about this one. It’s just brilliant.

(Addendum: Melissa’s piece is now up on CiF America with the title Misogyny, up close and personal.)

Harpymarx meanwhile has an interview with Sarah Learmouth of the Coventry Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre (CRASAC).

Here’s Sian and Crooked Rib taking issue with Ellie Levenson’s continued book-promoting-trying-to-make-a-name-for-herself assertion that rape jokes can be funny.

bfp over at flip flopping joy examines white supremacy and William Calley’s alleged remorse over the My Lai massacre in Apologies.

Sweet Machine opens up a new feature, Straw Feminist Weekly, over at Shapely Prose, with a piece about those hoary old straw-feminists, the so-called baby haters.

At The Curvature Cara is rightly appalled by a rape case in which the defence attorney wants the victim to act out the alleged rape in court. Words fail me.

Morgan Elizabeth at Stiletto Revolt has compiled a selection of truly terrible suggestive t-shirts for children for our viewing pleasure/displeasure.

Following its relaunch the 2nd Carnival of Feminists has gone up at Female Impersonator.

And finally, many many thanks to Lady McScamp for pointing me in the direction of this site, Cat Ladders, because I do in fact have an arthritic cat in need of a ladder (because of the dog we have to keep her food off the floor and she’s finding it increasingly difficult to climb up to it), and now they’ve seen this my family are taking me a bit more seriously when I say “we need to build her a ladder ffs!”

Obviously this is just a small selection of posts from the 900+ that I’ve just trawled through, so my apologies to those I’ve missed off. Please feel free to highlight any in the comments that you think I might have overlooked or that you’d like to share with the five or so people who read this blog….