sundries

[rm]

Patty still has a cold, but is recovering. I wish I looked that good when I have a cold.

I have neglected to mention that several nights ago, due to the Doctor Who tie-in novel I am currently reading, I had to ask Patty if neanderthals sounded like parrots. Then she Googled. Then we found some wacky BBC documentary theorizing on the voices of neanderthals and laughed ourselves sick. Parrots sound better.

gulf_aid_now: Fandom auction to benefit the Gulf.

Restrictions on journalists around BP spill finally making mainstream news.

After a fire aqeldroma needs some help.

US state department now recognizes transgender people's accurate gender on passports even if they are pre- or non-op. ETA: Useful details for dealing with this process here (includes template letter for doctors). update via tenacious_snail.

For US LGBT people with foreign partners, the choices are heartbreaking.

Charges dismissed against Warren Jeffs. Jeffs is evil and I know waaaaaaaaaaaaay too much about this topic.

The truth about The Biggest Loser is that it's dehumanizing and dangerous.

deepad takes on the latest round of RaceFail with satire. Stay for the comments.

Natural perfumers.

Oh, suburban Maryland has another moment of grotesque rich boy sexism and predation.

But aside from my "those fucking assholes" reaction to this piece, it made me think about something tangental I've been noodling on for a bit now -- which is how women don't get to play sexual games (either destructive and predatory, or *gasp* normal and healthy) with a peer group, because a woman is always going to be labeled a slut for that sort of thing.

What that thought came out of? What I do and don't get to say on a con panel vs. the men and how it's dictated by my gender presentation. The only reason no one calls me a whore for the ridiculous sex-related bullshit that comes out of my mouth on semi-appropriate con panels is because I'm not wearing a dress. FUCKED UP.

verasteine has thinky thoughts about the UK coalition government, all the RPS in the news, and homosexuality as a punchline.

Torchwood fic rec (god, there are like five GREAT fics today, but I've not time to talk about all of them): Cops & Robbers, Cowboys & Indians by solsticezero. Ianto and Sarah Jane have tea. Totally G rated, completely lovely. Broke my heart into tiny little pieces, and I bet you can all guess at what line.

Comments

[weirdquark]

Hm. I'm not sure I meant to imply that I think dancing is effeminate -- more that I think of "dancer" as being its own gender presentation, and dancing is like sex, except you can do it in public.

But it's true that dancing is considered effeminate in general, and that while it was expected for men to be able to sing and dance if they wanted to be movie stars, these days they just have to stand there and look pretty.

Oddly enough though, I don't consider Fred Astaire's gender presentation to be fluid in the way that I do with Gene Kelly. It may have to do with Gene Kelly's style being more playful, but I'm not sure if this makes him read to me as "kid" or if it makes it seem like his gender is as much of a performance as everything else.

[rm.livejournal.com]

It's all in the hips. Seriously, as dancers they move very differently.

[verasteine.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure you implied it; that might be my subconscious showing through, tbh.

I think, actually, that not only did dancing used to be required, now it would be viewed as a negative asset. That a man who is a good dancer might have his sexuality questioned faster (alas) than a man who's buff and presents as very masculine.

I can't give an opinion on Fred Astaire; I'm very unfamiliar with his work, alas.

[weirdquark]

Fred Astaire was very classy, and tended to do some combination of gentleman/rogue.

Probably the most famous routines he's done are both from Royal Wedding:

Dancing with a hat rack, thus proving that not only can he make anyone he's dancing with look good, but he can make anything he's dancing with look good.

Dancing on the ceiling, which is a pretty good camera trick for 1951.

He's most famously partnered with Ginger Rogers, who did everything that he did, only backwards and in high heels.