thusspakezuska | August 5, 2009Dear Zuskateers, I feel I am letting you down by taking so long to bring you the next Gender Knot post. Personal life has just been immensely chaotic. (I actually intend to blog about a recent piece of that shortly.) I just haven't had the concentration it takes to produce a Gender Knot post. I'm going to give you a few smaller tidbits in the next day or so and, god willing and the creek don't rise, back to the Gender Knot next week.
thusspakezuska | August 5, 2009UPDATE: Pat Campbell has asked that if you did take the survey initially when it was returning 404 errors, and you subsequently re-took it, drop her an email and she will send you cookies! She has promised to send cookies to the first 10 of my readers who had to retake the survey, if you let her know by email. I've had her cookies. They are great! If you got the 404 error this is a nice incentive to retake - just do so and then drop Pat an email :
campbell AT campbell-kibler DOT com
UPDATE: If you took this survey right after I first posted this entry and got a 404 error when you tried…
thusspakezuska | August 4, 2009You are a male physics professor, and you want to improve science education. What could possibly be a better idea than to team up with a bunch of professional cheerleaders and make a video of them shouting out science tidbits while they shake their pompoms? Science cheerleaders!
I know, right? You wish you'd thought of it first, don't you?
The only thing worse than this loathsome idea is the Chronicle of Higher Education reporting on it with the headline "Blonded By Science". Seriously.
I am not sure whether James Trefil, of George Mason University, seriously thinks that women…
thusspakezuska | July 18, 2009Folks, I had expected to surely have my next Gender Knot post up by now but life isn't working out that way. Too much craptastic stuff going on.
Meanwhile, Mr. Z and I are taking off for a few days. They have wireless internet where we're going but...we're not taking a computer with us. There, I said it.
It's possible I may put a hold on my Unscientific America review, too, until I get back from a trip to DC the last week of July. The book authors will be speaking at Politics and Prose during the time I'll be there and I'm planning to stop in and listen. Probably won't post my review…
thusspakezuska | July 15, 2009Everybody's talking about Unscientific America 'round these parts lately. I've almost finished reading it and will post a review of my own sometime soon. In the meantime...Isis has a post up where she makes note of ERV's displeasure with the book. In response, ERV comments thusly on Isis's blog:
Isis-- I havent read Unscientific America. I called foul on some shit Mooney wrote in 2006 he has yet to address, I would have been shocked if he sent me a copy.
My issue with Mooney initially had nothing to do with atheism, nor does my problem with him today have anything to do with atheism.
PZ…
thusspakezuska | July 15, 2009Via the WEPAN listserv, I just learned about a new book about African American women in science:
Temple University is proud to announce the publication of Swimming Against the Tide: African American Girls and Science Education by Sandra L. Hanson. In her book, Hanson uses Department of Education data as well as a recent survey of young African American women to examine the experiences in families, communities, and peer-groups that help young African American women "swim against the tide" of the white, male science education system. Sandra L. Hanson is Professor of Sociology and Research…
thusspakezuska | July 9, 2009Ed Yong has started a "who the heck are you, dear reader?!?!" meme that is floating around with my Sciblngs. If you haven't already visited a thousand other blogs and read it a million times, here's what he posted:
1) Tell me about you. Who are you? Do you have a background in science? If so, what draws you here as opposed to meatier, more academic fare? And if not, what brought you here and why have you stayed? Let loose with those comments.
2) Tell someone else about this blog and in particular, try and choose someone who's not a scientist but who you think might be interested in the…
thusspakezuska | July 9, 2009Because you do not want them to think you're crazy. Also, do NOT put on that hospital nightgown, no matter what they say.
Mind Hacks gives us another perspective on patriarchal norms for female appearance. Don't run out to the convenience store without brushing your hair, make sure to always dress well, or else you'll be taken for a CRAZY LADY! And you wouldn't want that to happen.
Oh, never mind. We already know all teh wimminz is crazy anyway.
Mind Hacks post found via this David Dobbs post.
thusspakezuska | July 8, 2009
Throughout the month of June, Philadelphia-area residents had the opportunity to take advantage of an extraordinary arts festival - Hidden City Philadelphia.
This unique arts festival...brings Philadelphia's best unknown historical and architectural landmarks back to life through original works of art...There are many historical and architectural landmarks around Philadelphia that at one time were all important to the city's neighborhoods, but their significance - and in some cases their existence - has been forgotten over the years, making them hidden to the people who walk, run, or drive…
thusspakezuska | July 8, 2009If you've seen this post over at Isis's place, you have already read this:
A few minutes ago I received this email from the Overlords:
Hi Isis,
As far as I can tell they finally corrected it- they halted all ads from that network. I haven't seen any bad ads last night or this morning andfriends I've been clicking around for awhile. Our ad VP suggested that if some readers are still seeing bad ads, they may need to clear their cache for them to stop showing up. Otherwise, all looks good!
- The Overlords
That was yesterday, around noon. Nevertheless, in the afternoon and near midnight…
thusspakezuska | July 2, 2009While I've been away from the blogiverse, it appears that you've had the misfortune to be treated to all manner of disgusting ads popping up here at ScienceBlogs. Mail Order Brides, Naughty Singles, and I don't know what all else. Isis has some details here. She says:
...if you've been visiting me for any length of time then you know how I feel about the exploitation of women, especially racial minorities and women from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. That's the entire point of the Letters to Our Daughters Project and the Silence is the Enemy Project, right?
That said, I cannot in…
thusspakezuska | July 1, 2009Hi folks. I had kind of a rough visit home to mom at the end of last week/weekend that took a lot out of me, followed by several days in a row of pretty bad migraines. I had hoped to post my next Gender Knot installment today but it just ain't happening. Rather than promise another date I will just say - ASAP. Between the trip and the migraines I am just worn out. Please bear with me. Thanks.
thusspakezuska | June 25, 2009Christina Pikas has a nice post about finding information in books.
Sadly, however, she notes the following:
What kinds of things might a book work best for?...not for cutting edge, mostly
What does this imply when you think about our ongoing project to work our way through Allan Johnson's The Gender Knot? Oh crap, we're doing gender equity work, but we're not on the cutting edge?
That's okay, d00dz. Trust me, you so do not want to jump right to the cutting edge of discourse on the patriarchy. Did you walk right into the lab as an undergrad or a fresh grad student and start banging…
thusspakezuska | June 24, 2009Bloggingheads.tv has John Horgan interviewing Richard Wrangham of Harvard on a variety of topics related to his new book Catching Fire. The part of interest to me - and to our ongoing discussion on patriarchy - relates to cooking as a "primitive protection racket" in which men agree to protect women's food supply in return for being fed so they can just hang out and do manly shit. It's a fascinating discussion, if you can get past Horgan giggling in sheepish delight every time Wrangham points out what a shitty deal patriarchy is for women.
Interestingly, this section of the interview is…
thusspakezuska | June 22, 2009Hi all...just wanted to let you know that I am planning to do the first post for Chapter 2 of The Gender Knot sometime next week, probably mid-week. I have the new edition of the book and have been reading but there's a lot of stuff going on with mine and Mr. Z's family this week. I hope to do a few posts on other topics in the meantime, but we will be back with the Gender Knot next week. Meanwhile. there are still some pretty active discussions on the last few posts. Thanks to my readers for such intense conversation.
thusspakezuska | June 16, 2009What does it mean when a woman ogles a man in the patriarchy?
Reader RichB commented:
...men being looked at as sexual objects increases their power, but women being looked at as sexual objects decreases their power.
Reader Hope isn't buying it:
Really? So if I ogle a man, I'm increasing his power? If a man ogles another man, he's increasing that other man's power? Or is it just that I, as a woman, have no power to objectify a man? No power, period?
What's the answer? Can a woman objectify a man, or not?
Yes, she can - under certain conditions. If she's his supervisor or superior in a…
thusspakezuska | June 15, 2009In light of the great discussion you all have been having on the second post on Chapter 1 of The Gender Knot, I thought it would be a good time to direct you to this most excellent Feminism 101 post at Shakesville, "Sexism Is A Matter Of Opinion". The whole thing is pure gold but I'd like to point out in particular this section on intentionality.
Whether something is sexist (be it a word, a consumable item, a practice, or anything else) is neither dependent on how it is intended nor how it is received, but on whether it serves to convey sexism, which itself is determined by its alignment…
thusspakezuska | June 15, 2009Kim at All of My Faults Are Stress Related asks:
I've got a question for women readers, especially those in the geosciences, environmental sciences, or field sciences: what do you get out of reading blogs? And if you have a blog yourself, what do you get out of writing it?
I'm asking because there's a session at this year's Geological Society of America meeting on "Techniques and Tools for Effective Recruitment, Retention and Promotion of Women and Minorities in the Geosciences" (and that's in the applied geosciences as well as in academia), and I wondered whether blogs (whether geo-blogs or…
thusspakezuska | June 11, 2009Welcome to our discussion of The Gender Knot by Allan Johnson. This is the second post in the discussion series. We will be discussing Chapter 1 "Where Are We?" You can find all posts connected to this discussion here.
As noted before, there is an updated edition of the book now available. In the first post, I was working with the 1997 edition. I now have the new edition and this post is based on that edition. The first chapter is available online here. If you haven't had a chance to read the chapter, maybe you'd like to go now and read the pages covering "Women and Patriarchy" and "…
thusspakezuska | June 9, 2009When I was a young girl, I used to watch my mother at her ironing board. There was always a lot of ironing to be done. She kept a big clear plastic bag of clothes waiting their turn at the ironing board, and would sprinkle them with water - there was a special bottle for this sprinkling. I do not think we owned a steam iron when I was very young, and dampening the clothes in this manner was an attempt to help ease the wrinkles out during the ironing process.
Eventually I became old enough to assist in the never-ending ironing chores, and my mother let me practice on pillow cases, just as…