So, the event. Last week, January 3rd to be precise, was my second blogiversary! Wheeeee! *throws confetti* *regrets mess* *thinks, "what the hell? the mess is already made," and throws some more*
Now on to more serious things. I would like to refer all of you, ALL OF YOU, to this excellent article by one Doctor Nerdlove regarding Nerds and Male Privilege. It should be required reading for the whole world. The Whole World! (Crikey, I'm repeating myself a lot today, aren't I?)
Also more than worthy of your time and attention is the follow-up, Nerds and Male Privilege Part Two, Deconstructing the Arguments.
These are lengthy, so I won't make this post any longer. Except to put in a little something in for Magoo. (I don't have a picture right handy, so a video of the song that's been on constant loop in my head for the past week is going to have to do.)
(There used to be a video of Shake It Out by Florence and the Machine here. It's not anymore, obvs, but you can find it here.)
(There used to be a video of Shake It Out by Florence and the Machine here. It's not anymore, obvs, but you can find it here.)
Please stop back and let me know your opinions on those articles, I'd love to hear them. Otherwise, see you all Friday!
I'll stop in later to give my opinion on the articles, but I just wanted to say I love Florence and the Machine. I saw them on Saturday Night Live and they sang this song. Naturally, I went out the next day and bought the CD. I sing along with it, very loudly, in the van.
ReplyDeleteOkay, back to getting kids off to school.
Congrats on the blogoversary!!! *runs off to read articles*
ReplyDeleteThose are really interesting posts. I am a nerd, and have often been aware of being one of the few women in the nerd world. It's one of the joys of the internet that we female nerds can find each other. I've been a programmer-- I know the joy of beautifully written code. More times than I can count, I've been the only woman in the room at work, at sig meetings, etc. But you have to have a really thick skin if you're a female nerd, and just decide that you're not going to react to a whole host of built-in sexism. Sometimes it's just because your male co-workers are so socially awkward that they literally don't know how to act around real, live women. So I loved his take on it, especially the more thoughtful second post. Thanks for the links. I started reading some of his other posts, too-- it's called advice for nerds, but some of it is just dang good advice. Congrats on the blogiversary!
ReplyDeleteCongrats.
ReplyDeleteI read both articles. He makes valid points.
Things have gotten so out of balance that I'm not sure what balance looks like anymore as far as equality for the sexes goes.
Congrats on the two years of blogging!
ReplyDeleteI liked the article. As a girl geek, I think the author made several valid points. There are other articles on the site I do not like, esp. his first date advice, but I appreciate any man who is willing to channel his inner feminist and write that way.
First of all, congrats on your blogiversary! :)
ReplyDeleteRe the articles: I tend to agree with Dr. Nerdlove. It's not easy being female in a male-dominated milieu.
Happy Anniversary! (Throws confetti back at you!)
ReplyDeleteSo what I took away from the articles was that I should totally objectify my male characters, to bring about some balance in the Universe.
I mean, has anyone seen the headless, naked torsos on those romance covers?
@Megan, Love her. I was hooked in a couple years ago when I picked up one of the Twilight soundtracks (told you I love those things). After I heard the song she did for the movie, I just had to hunt her down. :)
ReplyDelete@Tessa, Thanks!
@Barb, I've heard one of my own brothers make comments similar to these. (It's not that he doesn't get that it's sexist, he just doesn't care. He's a peach.) There are definitely the I-don't-know-what-to-do-with-a-girl types, but there's also a more vocal contingent of girls-are-only-good-for-one-thing types. I think it's interesting to look in the way that I find it to be more of a microcosm of our society rather than an anomaly.
@Judy, I don't know that we can ever really achieve balance. I don't think it's in our nature as humans. Some faction is always going to be in charge while another faction fights it. I just really like that he gets it, y'know? Because I'll tell you, a few weeks ago, a (sometime) member of my writer's group -- who is always going on about "feminazis" and people trying to emasculate him -- told me that women in this country have more rights than men. To my credit, I think, I walked away before I emasculated him myself, but I really wish I could have given him this article before I'd left.
@BFB, I hadn't read that one. I'll have to check it out. I was just so happy to see a man pointing out the inequalities to other men, and calling them on it. It was refreshing. Plus, I'm a logic-in-debate gal, so his rebuttal made me all warm and fuzzy inside.
@Linda, Thank you, ma'am. As you can see, I agree. :)
@Megan, *pulls confetti out of lip gloss* Thanks! Also, HA! (Though it should be noted, I'm not a big fan of the typical romance cover.) But, hey, your story. ;)
Crap, I'm all late, again. But, whew, I made it!
ReplyDeleteHappy Happy to you and your beloved (ever freaking changing) blog! (Sh, that wasn't really out loud. Was it?)
Julie
LOL I do it because I love you. And look! You get to be my first nested response! Isn't it great? I love that Blogger finally enabled this feature.
DeleteMe too!!!
Delete(but it took away my picture/gravatar and might have also caused me to be blanked out at a few places, not sure, still investigating)
Hmm. I don't know what happened to your Gravatar. Weird. It also makes the font size really small in the comments, but that's a price I'm willing to pay for the convenience of nesting. :)
Delete