sundries

[rm]

First, Annie Le. I've spent a lot of time in New Haven in general and at Yale in particular. From fairly early on it seemed fairly clear that this was not one of those random New Haven crimes, and yet, even as recently as yesterday, articles about Le are telling us that she was street smart and "aware of crime in a college town" and "knew how to protect herself."

1. I hate reporting that explains to us why a woman is or is not to blame for her rape and/or murder. A WOMAN IS NOT TO BLAME FOR HER RAPE AND OR MURDER.

2. Annie Le was not the victim of random crime by a stranger. Walking with a group or any of the shit they tell women to do (because our risk is our fault, fuck you very much), would not have protected Annie Le. She was a researcher, doing her research, and she was most likely killed by one of her peers. When the facts come out, will anyone be surprised if she was killed by a male colleague who was angry that her impending marriage made her unavailable to him?

Second, Caster Semenya is now under close supervision lest she commit suicide. Fuck you world and fuck you Internets. In this whole debacle Semenya has been subject to, in no particular order: racism, misogyny, other people's tall-poppy hostility, the medicalization of gender and identity, society's acceptance of public ownership of private female bodies, and about twenty other things I'm too angry to list right now. Most importantly, she's been subjected to other people's cruelty, and all for really, one simple fucking reason: because she's really goddamn good at something, better, in fact, than most of us will ever be at anything. If you have ever cut someone down for talent or success, take a second and check yourself. Around here, I'm going to assume you all are not assholes on the gender front, but just in case, let me say it again: either gender, any gender, gender status, gendered pronouns: don't ever use them as an insult -- not for yourself, not for anyone else. It's hard; our society teaches us to do this; I struggle with it. But seriously, we can all work on that.

Third, Patrick Swayze died. He was talented as fuck, and gracious, fierce and ordinary in the face of illness. Instead of having an '80s kitsch celebration, learn from that.

Fourth, Crystal Lee Sutton died, and if you don't know who that is, you should follow the link.

Fifth, are we actually asking whether or not the Obama witch-doctor image is racist? CAN WE SOMEHOW NOT TELL? Yes, folks, it's fucking racist!

Now, moving along... I've just found out I have to go to Europe for three days in November. OMG WITH THE TRAVEL ALL THE TIME.

Patty and I are having dinner with some of her colleagues tonight. Yay.

More as it comes.

Comments

[stephl.livejournal.com]

Caster Semenya is now under close supervision lest she commit suicide.

I'm so rage-y over this whole debacle. Starting with the bullshit gendered misogynist assumption that a woman couldn't possibly be that good at something, so she MUST be a man trying to pull a fast one. Then the utterly ridiculous "makover" that magazine gave her, because if she *says* she's a woman, then she needs to know how to perform her gender "properly" -- because there's only one acceptable way to be a woman.

And the way her life has become public property, including the reporting of her test results before even she knew them. To some degree, all well-promoted athletes end up being seen as public commodities, but it's so much worse for women, who are already viewed as public property.

And, finally, the fact that she's intersex is no one's goddamn business but her own. (And if I hear/read "she-he" one more time, I'm going to absolutely lose it.)

[violetisblue.livejournal.com]

Just be glad you haven't run across "it," as I have. My own fault, of course, for being stupid enough to click the reader comments on absolutely any online newspaper story about anything much less this.

[drfardook.livejournal.com]

Did I really just listen to that teabagger weasel fuck in the CNN video brush off racist elements of the movement he's fronting with an "oh well, some people are bigots, can't do anything about it"?

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

Ugh. I want to link them to that "I Expect More" blogpost from (I think) Shakesville.

And yes, another instance of people cutting down someone because he's successful...

[violetisblue.livejournal.com]

"When the facts come out, will anyone be surprised if she was killed by a male colleague who was angry that her impending marriage made her unavailable to him?"

Followed by all manner of shocked chicken-clucking that "someone like that" would stalk, assault and murder a woman, then to be followed by "Well, he was lonely, you know, and women just wouldn't talk to him, so..."

[abnormal-apathy.livejournal.com]

Right! And it's our fault as women because we ya know, owe something to every person who is interested in us - whether that interest is returned or not.

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

I can only view Caster Semenya's trials as being made up to be a reactionary cautionary tale for black women athletes who are just too good.

The "sexual ambiguity" just played into it too easily.

The rage... it's hard to contain.

Norma Rae is one of my favourite movies and Ms. Sutton's death in light of the debate (crazy that it's a debate) over healthcare is poignant in a way it shouldn't be.

[kathrynrose.livejournal.com]

Third, Patrick Swayze died. He was talented as fuck, and gracious, fierce and ordinary in the face of illness. Instead of having an '80s kitsch celebration, learn from that.

I'm doing both.

Also, I totally agree with the Annie Le prediction, and I'm so pissed about Caster Semenya I can't comment.

[rm.livejournal.com]

I'm doing both.

That's because you're awesome

[frodo-esque.livejournal.com]

as recently as yesterday, articles about Le are telling us that she was street smart and "aware of crime in a college town" and "knew how to protect herself."

1. I hate reporting that explains to us why a woman is or is not to blame for her rape and/or murder. A WOMAN IS NOT TO BLAME FOR HER RAPE AND OR MURDER.

Interesting, I didn't feel that in the link you provided, CNN (at least), alleged that her crime knowledge lent herself as a 'victim who should have known better', to me it was an ironic note. She actually wrote an article comparing Yale crime to crime at other Ivy Leagues, how ironic that she should soon become a crime victim herself.

However, I will admit that I have not read other news sources on this subject, and if another 'reputable' news source did allege that she should have known better, that is horrendous.

Caster Semenya is now under close supervision lest she commit suicide. How devastating. ;(

[lonebear.livejournal.com]

giraffeaholic and I are both disgusted with the Caster Semenya issue. I guess giraffeaholic is not feminine enough because she almost never 'gussies up'. Feh on all those bastards who are hounding the poor woman.

We also have almost no respect left for the 'mainstream media'. Our best news and commentary comes from HuffingtonPost, Kos, Rachel, and Keith.

[weirdodragoncat.livejournal.com]

Good gods...I really wish I hadn't clicked on that Obama link...that was offensive as all fuck. Why is it even a question if it's racist???

I didn't recognize the name Crystal Lee Sutton but once I clicked the link....then it 'clicked' (so to speak). I've seen Norma Rae a number of times..it's a good movie. Despite what I think of what unions have become (this does not mean btw..that I think unions are a bad thing...just that some of them have lost sight of what their original purpose is), she did a good thing and I'm sad to see that she's passed.

I'm sad that Swayze is gone...but not surprised. He'd been fighting for a while now. I'm glad he's not suffering anymore. Now I really *do* need to buy a copy of Dirty Dancing.

Oh yeah...and the Semenaya stuff? Gods...why the fuck can't people leave the poor woman alone??? So she has some male characteristics? So what! She's a human being and deserves to be treated with respect. Period.

Unions forgetting what they're for.

[stardragonca.livejournal.com]

A lot of trade unions that didn't forget got clobbered during the Red Scare days. In Canada, not so much(but more because they rebuilt, rather than from not being clobbered.)
One of the main reasons that progressive movements have been more successful in Canada, has been because the Labour movement has been stronger and more militant here.

[imaginarycircus.livejournal.com]

The novel I've been working on for the last 18 months? Is about how rape is not a woman's fault and no woman should ever feel guilty about saying, "No. You cannot touch me."

The Annie Le case is so awful and everytime the press mentions that she was such a small woman I want to scream. And I would not be at all surprised if some asshole snapped because she was marrying someone else. Ew.

My dad took me to see Norma Rae when it came out and then we had a long talk about equal rights for women over ice cream. I love that my dad is such a feminist.

[jinian.livejournal.com]

Have you seen Sexual Assault Prevention Tips Guaranteed To Work yet?

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

Have now! Thankies!

[sunhawk.livejournal.com]

I swear, I am losing track of the number of conversations I've had online where someone says something really racist about Obama, I point out it's racist, the person in question runs off crying that OMG YOU ARE SO MEEEEAN I AM NOT RACIST YOU DON'T EVEN KNOOOOW ME!@@!!!

[laughingacademy.livejournal.com]

It’s only Tuesday, and I am so ready for this week to be over. Memo to world: STOP SUCKING.

[isil-helyanwe.livejournal.com]

I really liked this little speech on Semenya, I thought it was an interesting perpesctive on the whole gender-in-sport issue:



Based a little on this article.

[modpixie.livejournal.com]

The Swayze thing.

I was never a huge fan (though he was wonderful in To Wong Foo and Donnie Darko), but I started paying attention to him more closely when he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. My dad also died of pancreatic cancer, a fact we didn't learn until the autopsy. The disease is so swift and painful, and it was great to see how humble and gracious and -- yes -- human Swayze was in dealing with death. I can only imagine the pain he was in, and if any good comes out of it I hope there's renewed research for pancreatic cancer.

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

Tru dat. It's one of the most aggressive cancers out there - if anything, it's been described as a minor marvel that Swayze hung on that long. I hope that some of the new avenues in cancer research can lead to something that will help.

Ironically, Swayze played a cancer patient in M*A*S*H during his early career - a soldier who conceals his leukemia diagnosis from his buddy so he can look after the latter.

[eac.livejournal.com]

Both the Annie Le and the Caster Semenya stories are making me incredibly sad and angry. I'm almost certain that Le will have been murdered because someone else thought they owned her because she was pretty and Caster Semenya is being abused and humiliated because she wasn't pretty enough. There are a million other things going on there, but her intersexed status would have gone unnoticed if she'd been softer looking. I hate how women are reduced to this, again and again and again. Damn it. :(

I did not know who Crystal Lee Sutton was. Thanks for the head's up.

[klwalton.livejournal.com]

Most of the Annie Le reporting is pissing me off so much I could scream. Mainly for the reasons you pointed out. Also, I almost clocked someone who said something to the effect that she shouldn't have been alone in the building. WTFF????? She was there, as you say, doing her research. Should she have to have a burly man bodyguard and a snarling Doberman babysitter with her to do her job? Seriously? SERIOUSLY? Can people not see how fucked up this is?

*breathes*

Thank you for giving me this space to rant. Or for letting me take this space to rant. Or something. And, yes, to what you wrote.

[rm.livejournal.com]

I am in my office at weird times alone a lot. And people are always telling me I shouldn't be (and you wouldn't believe the shit Patty hears about her work), but at the moment I am supposed to stop exercising my mind and abilities to earn income because of the risk of sexual violation to my gender (and let's face it, it's not about my safety, it's about how uncomfortable the word rape makes a bunch of men who don't have to worry about it on the same terms), is the point I should give up being literate or speaking or being a human being. She was doing her work! Gaaaaaaaaaaaah.

[malle-babbe.livejournal.com]

Re: Caster Semenya. Am I the only one noticing similarities between this situation and the whole Don Imus vs. Rutgers Womens' Basketball team? Aside from issues of femininity and masculinity, I think a lot of this comes down to some men being profoundly unsettled by women that they can't physically intimidate. They could have very well never raised a hand top a woman in their lives, but the sight of women they can't loom over when they get annoyed gives them pause.

Re: Annie Le. As someone who is also very petite, this case is some of my worst fears. Ten bucks says that the guy who did this was creeping out the female staff at the lab for years, but their complaints got blown off by the administration; saying that women were "reading too much into things" and other assorted BS. Because god forbid women stop humoring creeps and jerks once they get out of high school...

[rm.livejournal.com]

Yes to all.

[darthhellokitty.livejournal.com]

CAN WE JUST LET PEOPLE'S GENITALIA BE THEIR OWN DAMN BUSINESS?

I wish I thought it could be that simple.

[wyld-dandelyon.livejournal.com]

How can we let people's genitalia be simply and only their own business when people are only allowed to compete in sports as a man or as a woman?

How can we when people are only allowed to participate in marriage if the couple is recognized as "a man and a woman"?

How can we when there's no recognized place in society for people who aren't simply and totally either male or female?

Some of these things are fixable, in theory at least. I'm not sure about the sports one, though. So long as we don't make all sports competitions unisex (and there's lots of reasonable reasons to have men and women compete separately in most sports), we have to have rules to determine who can compete in which events.

And it's pretty obvious that we need much better rules to govern how people implement those rules.

Ms. Semenya's story is sad on so many levels. She probably intended to have children, most people do. Now she finds she cannot, that she is not what she thought she was, in the rudest and most public possible way. And I heard she was raised Catholic, and I've always heard that African Catholics are very conservative about gender roles compared to American Catholics (which I know full well from personal experience are quite conservative, and uncomfortable with the idea of transgender and intersex people). I don't know about other cultural issues, but I doubt she will ever be totally accepted as a woman (or as a man), no matter where she goes or what she chooses to do next, unless she lets "Caster Semenya" totally vanish and starts a new life under a new name somewhere that no one watches news videos. (Like that exists, so even if she changes her name, how much hope will she have that no one will recognize her much-photographed face?)

How could the doctors agree to tell anyone the results before telling her?

[hab318princess.livejournal.com]

hadn't heard that about Caster Semenya... that is horrible to hear, so hope she is strong!

and woke up to hearing about Patrick Swayze - first item on the news... I loved him in Dirty Dancing
- quite a shock

[usullusa.livejournal.com]

My best friend's uncle heads a lab in the very same building that they found poor Annie Le's body in. This story feels very personal to me because I grew up in New Haven as a part of the Yale community.
It definitely doesn't sound like an arbitrary murder. Somebody was angry for whatever reason and took advantage of the fact that Annie was weaker than them and unsuspecting. Probably it was somebody who knew her. =/

[stardragonca.livejournal.com]

When the facts come out, will anyone be surprised if she was killed by a male colleague who was angry that her impending marriage made her unavailable to him?
I guess all kinds of people will. The MSM in particular never seems to see these things coming. Sometimes not even after they arrive.

Swayze

[stardragonca.livejournal.com]

Amen.

[stardragonca.livejournal.com]

How disingenuous do you have to before you pretend that whole bagger/birther movement isn't fucking racist?
Oh, no wait...Joe Wilson didn't actually say "Shut up, you Negro!" so I guess it couldn't be...

[gwyd.livejournal.com]

I think it was Bill Maher how was saying something like, "Joe Wilson really did mispeak. He meant to say 'Go back to Africa.'" On either Olbermann or Maddow they were comparing the difference between the oposition to clinton health care reform on policy points, vs "We want our country back" which is pretty clearly code for "we don't like brown people." I'm really glad carter called them all on it today.

[upstart-crow.livejournal.com]

Kim and I are just livid about Semenya, and to learn that she's now under suicide watch just broke me. The doctors who broke the results to the media first, the editors and producers who let this story through, and everyone calling her "it" need to be slapped. And I really mean slapped.