bunsen_h: (Default)
In 1993, my friend Alana started the "involuntary celibacy" / "incel" project as a website and mailing list. At the time, it was a mutual-support thing for people who were, for whatever reason, unable to find partners. (I was part of the group briefly, but found that it was much more about celibacy than about romantic partners, i.e. not really what I was looking for.) Though there was a lot of social cluelessness, there wasn't the bitterness, anger, and misogyny that are hallmarks of "incel" today.

After a couple of years, Alana handed control of the site and mailing list over to someone else, and moved on with her life.

A few years ago, when "incel" got into the news as a violently misogynist movement, she was shocked by the transformation of something good into something terrible. Every time another incident has come up, she's been smacked by it. And with the van attack on April 23rd in Toronto, where she lives, it's come home. She has been a "media darling" and is tired of it. Her Twitter feed is full of both hatred from men and hatred of all "incels". Some "incels" are merely socially awkward; even some of the misogynists could be educated.

So a couple of days ago, she set up a new site, "Love, Not Anger", to try to educate people. She's trying to get back to her original premise.
bunsen_h: (Popperi)
Yesterday morning, CBC Radio's national Sunday-morning show played a piece by musical satirist and comedian Randy Rainbow: "Putin and the Ritz".  (Trump is orange.  And round and flaky.)  I went to his YouTube channel and found lots more, such as "Fact Checker, Fact Checker".  Lovely stuff.
 
bunsen_h: (Popperi)
A somewhat weird British advert, worth watching.


 
bunsen_h: (Popperi)
There's a bit from Heinlein's Podkayne of Mars that's been relevant lately.

Girdie smiled her sweet and secret smile that always means she is thinking about something she doesn't intend to be fully frank about. Then she said, "Poddy, girls are taught to be 'insulted' at such offers for their own protection—and it is a good idea, quite as good an idea as keeping a fire extinguisher handy even though you don't expect a fire. But you are right; it is not an insult, it is never an insult—it is the one utterly honest tribute to a woman's charm and femininity that a man can offer her. The rest of what they tell us is mostly polite lies ... but on this one subject a man is nakedly honest. I don't see any reason ever to be insulted if a man is polite and gallant about it."

Even when I was young and read the book for the first time, this advice seemed dubious.  Assuming, for the sake of argument, the gender roles in the quotation... I don't see a proposition as necessarily indicating anything more than that the guy has decided that she's of a sex that he likes, meets his minimum standards of hygiene, and has one or more orifices that he thinks would be fun to play with.

Taking another look at it, I don't understand the comparison to a fire extinguisher and an unexpected fire.  The all-too-rare occasions when a woman might be propositioned?  The extremely unlikely possibility that the guy might not be sincere in his intentions?  The vanishingly-unlikely possibility that the guy might be too sincere in his interest, i.e. an obsessive stalker?

See also: Elise Matthesen's post on how to report sexual harassment.
 
bunsen_h: (Default)
Fifteen years ago, there was a plan to do a graphic adaptation of Gaiman and Pratchett's wonderful novel, Good Omens.  The plan never went anywhere, and the two pages of artwork by Phil Foglio sat around the studio.  Now they're selling it on eBay, with the proceeds going to the Alzheimer's Research Trust.

Just thought I'd help to spread the word.  The art is on display on the Studio Foglio website.

July 2025

S M T W T F S
  1 2345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728293031  

Syndicate

RSS Atom

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jul. 3rd, 2025 04:15 am
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios