ff

don't be that guy.

but seriously. don't be that guy.

this week i've learned that some people i know and don't hate consider themselves MRAs. which is veeerrrrry disappointing. because men's right activist is not a catch-all for people-who-think-that-there-are-issues-that-affect-men. yesssss there are issue of gender inequality which affect men. if you read/learn feminism that ISN'T written by MRAs (feminazi, gag, vomit, punch, scream, i hate that term so much, i can't even) you would know that feminism does consider those issues... the hyper-masculine-ideal-culture ain't good for many/most people. duh. fucking duh. MRAs are a hate group. is every single MRA a piece of human garbage? probs not. some are probably relatively well intended but immensely ignorant to their privilege and the realities of gender politics. but, well-intended or not, aligning yourself with them is supporting their baseline which is: anti-female, hateful, aggressive, harassing, disgusting. it is like saying that you are a white supremacist, but, like, you aren't a racist. come. the. fuck. on. i was exceedingly kind to these people-i-know-who-call-themselves-MRAs. i gave them a reeeeaaal benefit of the doubt, gentle, polite, considerate kind of conversation about why they might not wanna be linking arms with these groups. i didn't go into the absurdity of reverse-sexism and the fact that hetero white men are not exactly lacking for platforms. consider that my good deed of the month. what i wanted to do was submit them to a fear-campaign where their private information gets published and dispersed all over the internet to people who hate them just for existing and having thoughts, i wanted to drown them in hateful, violent, name-calling and threats, i wanted them to be publicly ridiculed and harassed at such a rate that they think 'fuck it, i'm too scared, to sad, too tired', except, oh wait, that's not feminism's m.o. that's some other group's... but don't just take my word for it. educate yourself, yo:

"It is a backlash group against women's rights and feminism. Other backlash groups include the KKK and "white pride" who wish to reverse the rights of blacks by arguing that white people are oppressed. Similarly, MRAs want to abolish women's rights by lying that men are oppressed. Also, groups like KKK have been known to support violence against blacks, and MRAs are known for their support of violence against women. Both groups argue that blacks and women should stop "whining" and that racism/misogyny are not real."

* urban dictionary does a good job of breakin it down, as quoted above

* the belle jar sums up nicely why MRAs are garbage

* the american prospect points out that MRAs are harmful to men too, duh

* lots of info and links and so on here

happy friday, all y'all scaaaary ladies.

ff

i have hearts in my eyes for geena davis, i sure do. of course, you say, we all do... why do you bring her up on the blorg today? because she wrote a little somethin somethin that i very much like about women in cinema.

* two easy steps to make hollywood less sexist

easy steps, you say? there are NO easy steps in the war that is feminism! ha HA! you're wrong, genna is right, there are easy steps. check it!

"OK, now for the fun part: It's easy, fast and fun to add female characters, in two simple steps. And I want to be clear I'm not talking about creating more movies with a female lead. If you do, God bless and thank you. Please consider me for that role.

Step 1: Go through the projects you're already working on and change a bunch of the characters' first names to women's names. With one stroke you've created some colorful unstereotypical female characters that might turn out to be even more interesting now that they've had a gender switch. What if the plumber or pilot or construction foreman is a woman? What if the taxi driver or the scheming politician is a woman? What if both police officers that arrive on the scene are women — and it's not a big deal?

Step 2: When describing a crowd scene, write in the script, "A crowd gathers, which is half female." That may seem weird, but I promise you, somehow or other on the set that day the crowd will turn out to be 17 percent female otherwise. Maybe first ADs think women don't gather, I don't know.

And there you have it. You have just quickly and easily boosted the female presence in your project without changing a line of dialogue."

 {geena davis for the hollywood reporter}

captain awkward, who is awesome, recommends that you - when struggling with something like, say, the blah-lazies of depression - do little tiny things and acknowledge them as accomplishments. small tiny things that you can actually handle and then LET YOURSELF FEEL GOOD about those things. don't say 'today i will clean this apartment top to bottom!!!' and then find yourself crushed under your pathetic inability to do so. (that's mean depression voice talking. i don't think you're pathetic.) say 'today i will do one load of laundry so i have clean underwear!!!' and be proud and pleased and satisfied with that getting done. done! you did it. it is done.

so this advice here from geena? same same! it is an incredibly easy thing to do. blammo! just like that. it is so insanely simple it seems silly. but it isn't. not at all. it is brilliant and great. be proud and pleased.

ff

oh yes. it is friday. it seems like saturday cause it is warm out and also i went for a walk with sarah in the outdoors on the queen west where all the hipsters were. so i would swear it is saturday, except that it isn't.

that is to say i PLAAAANNNNNNED on reading this article and then talking about it. but didn't get around to it, cause, confusing week. so here's the piece. let's all read it together, yeah?

* why gender equality will make you rich and popular (sounds pretttttttty great, right?!)

okay, great job. i'm going to go see a movie about girls robbing stuff and so on. bubble gum and guns. super, byeeeeeeee.